LESSON
45
The Armor of God
Part 5
Feet shod with the gospel of peace.
The armor of God is not
meant to be put on ritualistically. Each
piece of the armor is a revelation.
Eph. 6:10-15 (NIV) Finally,
be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.
Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the
devil's schemes. For our struggle is not
against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against
the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the
heavenly realms. Therefore put on the
full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand
your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth
buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with
your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
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Eph.
The feet
shod with the gospel of peace does not imply that you are to be ready in
season and out of season to share why you believe. Each piece of the armor has a defensive
purpose and an offensive purpose.
‘To shod’
comes from the Greek word meaning to bind up.
It means to bind up your feet like sandals. It gives you the ability to stand firm. This piece of the armor gave the soldier
protection for his feet and firm footedness to face his enemy with promptness
and readiness.
It is a preparation that
is actually produced by the gospel of peace.
There is a preparation that gives you stability, promptness and
readiness to stand against the enemy by the gospel of peace.
What is the gospel of
peace? The word gospel means “the good
news.” The word peace comes from the
Greek word, eirene, which means ‘at one
again’. The preparation is produced by
the good news of at one again.
Remember, each piece of
the armor is a revelation and is put on by you entering into an experience of
that revelation. We put on the gospel of
peace by entering in to the revelation of the good news of being at one
again.
Eph. 2:15-20 (amp.) By
abolishing in His [own crucified] flesh the enmity[caused
by] the Law with its decrees and ordinances [which He annulled]; that He
from the two might create in Himself one new man [one new quality of
humanity out of the two], so making peace.
And [He designed] to reconcile to God both [Jew and Gentile, united] in
a single body by means of His cross, thereby killing the mutual enmity and
bringing the feud to an end. And He came
and preached the glad tidings of peace to you who were afar off and [peace] to
those who were near. For it is through
Him that we both [whether far off or near] now have an introduction (access) by
one [Holy] Spirit to the Father [so that we are able to approach Him]. Therefore you are no longer outsiders
(exiles, migrants, and aliens, excluded from the rights of citizens), but you
now share citizenship with the saints (God’s own people, consecrated
and set apart for Himself); and you belong to God’s [own] household. You are built upon the foundation of the
apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus Himself the Chief Cornerstone.
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The gospel of peace is
the good news of man and God being at one again.
Jesus came to bring the
gospel of peace, which is the good news that God has reconciled man to Himself
through Christ.
Eph. 5:31-32 For this cause shall
a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two
shall be one flesh. This is a
great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
Christ abolished the
enmity between God and man and made in Himself one new man.
You can stand against
the devil when you come to the understanding that you are one again with
God. Jesus came not only to forgive you
of your sins but to join you together eternally with Himself and reconcile you
to the Father.
The reason the devil has
the power to come and attack you is because you don't
know who you are. We are not only sons
of the King, but are also one again with the King.
John 17:20-21 Neither pray I for these alone, but for
them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as
thou, Father, [art] in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that
the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
Jesus is praying for us
who believe.
John
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The Greek word for glory
is doxa, which means “all that God is and all
that God has”. Jesus gave all that God
is and all that God has to us. There's
nothing that God has and nothing that God is that He has held back from
us.
John 17:23 I
in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one;
and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as
thou hast loved me.
There is a preparation
produced by the gospel of peace.
This piece of the armor
gives to us one of the greatest weapons against satan’s oldest and most effective lie to
mankind. This lie has rendered powerful
men and women powerless when they believed it.
It has the ability, if you are not armed to fight against it, to disable
you and render you unable to fight.
It’s satans 2 greatest lies...
Insecurity
and Inferiority.
Inferiority is the sense
or feeling of being reduced in position or stature.
Insecurity is the
undermining of your stability or ability to stand.
In this generation, the
spirits of inferiority and insecurity are the two primary spirits from which
all the rebellion, lust, drugs, violence, and other identifiable spirits get
their strength from. Most of this
generation doesn't know who they are. As a result the devil has offered them
contrary or false strengths and securities to give them a false sense of
position.
The devil did the same
thing with Adam and Eve in the garden.
Gen. 3:1-5 Now the
serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had
made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye
shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the
trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which [is] in the midst of
the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it,
lest ye die. And the serpent said
unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for God doth
know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye
shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
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Adam and Eve were
created in the image of God. They knew
they were created in the image of God because God told them. The devil came and told them that God was
lying and that they were not really in the image of God. He then enticed them by saying "If you
eat of this tree you will be in the image of God."
The moment the devil
challenged the Word of God and the credibility of God, Eve rejected that by
using the Word (Gen. 3:2-3). The devil
didn't stop there. He then began to tell
her that God was lying and she was not who she thought she was. At that point the devil released a spirit of inferiority. Eve was no less in position of stature after
the devil said that than before.
The fact was that Eve
was created in the image of God. Eve
allowed herself to be affected by a spirit of inferiority, that made her feel
less than she was. She believed a lie and
thus believed that she wasn’t who she thought she was.
The devil attacks you in
this way, day in and day out. He
challenges your relationship with God, your salvation, your strength, your
faithfulness, and God's Word in your life.
He challenges you and causes you to think less of yourself than what God
thinks of you. The only thing that
matters is what God thinks about you.
God thinks big things about you, not little things.
Rom.
Deut. 28:13 And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the
tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the
commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and
to do [them].
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God speaks good things
about you, but the devil speaks lies, deceptions, and imposes inferiority upon
you. After he throws inferiority upon
you, he will offer you something to make you feel bigger or more powerful than
you already are.
The devil challenges the
Word of God, which is your stability and strength. If you believe his lies, he will offer you
something to give you security and a sense of position. This is exactly what drugs do. The main reason that drug users continue to
do drugs is because when they do it, they feel invincible. Cocaine users love the drug because it makes
them feel like they can do anything.
They are searching for the feeling of security and the feeling of
stature, position and importance.
This is also why many
engage in lust or sexual immorality. It
gives them a sense of power and control.
It's a lie!
Eve didn't lose her
position or stature because she heard the lie of the devil. She lost it when she believed the lie and
took his substitute.
It's when you eat of the
devil's substitute that you die and truly lose your position. The devil's substitute does to you what the
devil said it would cure you from.
The church is rampant
with pride because of the spirits of insecurity and inferiority.
Prov.
What gives you the
ability to stand against the deception of the devil, the spirits of insecurity
and inferiority, and any other spirits that are at work in your life? It is knowing you
are at one again with Almighty God.
The two shall become
one. You are who God says you are. There is no higher position than being one
with Christ. Being a pastor does not put
you in any higher position. It gives you
authority in the church structure to lead, guide and instruct, but it doesn't
make you of any higher position in the
In Review:
1.
Explain feet shod with the gospel of peace?
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2.
Define glory.
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3.
Define inferiority and insecurity.
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4.
Memorize Romans 8:37.
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5. Why
did Eve lose her position of security?
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6. What
gives us the ability to stand against the spirits of insecurity and
inferiority?
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