Full Armour of God!

“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. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” – Ephesians 6:10-18 NIV

Why following Jesus Christ until the end of our physical lives is so hard? Didn’t Jesus defeat Satan, the enemy of God, very long time ago by His crucifixion? Why God allows the evil to come among us, that we may lose faith in Christ? Does He want to test us all the time?

Jesus Christ has defeated Satan by His crucifixion. The main reason that Christ was crucified on the cross is to pay death penalty and His resurrection illustrates us that we are able to have resurrection too at the end of our physical lives (Hebrews 2:14-15). “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23) To be more specific, God used Jesus’ crucifixion to get our sins removed (Colossians 2:13-15) and He used His resurrection to show us that He can raise us up from dead (Romans 8:11). This is the reason that believing in Jesus Christ until the end of the age is so important (John 3:16-18). To make assurance our faith, we have to be water-baptised—just like Jesus was baptised in the Jordan River by John (Matthew 3:13-17). This does not mean that we suddenly have an incredible faith in whatever we are doing and in wherever we are as soon as we have been baptised. By being baptised in Christ’s name, it proves that we have no desire to sin anymore and gives us hope in the resurrection (Romans 6:1-14). Grant Harris, the lead pastor of Windsor Park Baptist Church, has put it like this:

Friends, one of the sacraments that is at the core of the practice of our faith here at Windsor Park is baptism; we believe that Jesus showed us the centrality of baptism by immersion as being more than just a public profession of faith,  but as an act that has deep spiritual significance in our journey as followers of Jesus. The demonstration of repentance, the willingness to follow the example of Jesus, the desire to be in acknowledgement of our belief in the death and resurrection of Jesus all point to baptism as being a  key part of our faith  journey. The baptism of Jesus was so significant and our willingness to follow in that act is just as significant for us.

Because believing in Christ’s name is so important, I believe this is why that Jesus has given us strict teachings, such as in Mark 8:34-38 and Luke 14:25-35. Satan is very cunning at distracting us to move forward with Christ. I believe His main method is making us to feel guilt, shame and discouraged. He uses worldly materials as well, such as money and addicting programs. Nonetheless, God wants every one of us to make peace and reconciliation to each other (Colossians 3:15; Matthew 5:9, 21-26; 18:15-20) and God (2 Corinthians 5:11-21; Romans 5:6-11). Due to Satan’s clever tricks to distract us from walking with God, we should wear the armor of God all times. God uses trials and temptations to test our faith in Christ. I think the best way to handle trials and temptations is to think and make them as opportunities to grow our faith in Him. I think this is what James has told us to do (James 1:2-8).

Listen to “Armor on for Jesus” by Jesus Peace again and listen to “Perfect Place” by John Waller. As a soldier and an obedient child of God, ask yourself questions today: “Am I putting the full armour of God all times? How can I be more obedient to God through faith in Jesus Christ?”