What's there not to love ?
This post deals with Christian concepts yet may appeal to a seeker after truth because for all such a seeker knows, he or she may learn a thing or two from discussion of the Christian concept in question.
"Loving the Armor of God" expresses appreciation for the spiritual protection God provides, as described in Ephesians 6:10-18, which includes the belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, shoes of the gospel of peace, shield of faith, helmet of salvation, and sword of the Spirit (God's Word). Believers "put on" this armor daily by focusing on God's truth and strength to stand firm against spiritual challenges and the schemes of the devil.
What the Armor of God Means
A Spiritual Defense:
The armor is a metaphor for the spiritual tools God gives Christians to stand firm against spiritual evil, not physical battle.
A Call to Action:
Christians must actively "put on" the armor each day by engaging with God's Word and relying on His power.
Facing a Spiritual Reality:
The struggle is not against people but against unseen spiritual forces, making this armor essential for victory.
The Pieces of the Armor.
1. Belt of Truth:
Represents God's Word and truth, serving as the foundation and source of strength for all other pieces of the armor.
2. Breastplate of Righteousness:
Protects the heart by covering the believer in Christ's righteousness, providing God's approval and protection from spiritual attacks.
3. Shoes of the Gospel of Peace:
Symbolize being equipped and ready to share the good news of God's peace.
4. Shield of Faith:
The ability to extinguish all the "fiery darts" of the evil one through steadfast belief in God.
5. Helmet of Salvation:
Protection for the mind, ensuring that a believer's hope and identity are in the salvation offered by God.
6. Sword of the Spirit:
The Word of God, which is used to discern truth from lies and to fight spiritual battles.
How to Put On the Armor Daily.
Study God's Word:
Spend time in the Bible to learn and internalize His truth.
Pray:
Engage in prayer, asking God for His strength and wisdom to apply the armor to your life.
Live Righteously:
Demonstrate Christ's righteousness in your daily actions, words, and attitudes.
Embrace Faith:
Hold onto God's promises and believe in Him, allowing faith to be your shield against doubt and fear.
Personally, in all of my readings of posts by Buddhists thus far, Buddhist theology incorporates many teachings that remind me of Christian concepts.
While particularities differ, the belief we can assimilate into Godlikeness — become one in essence with God — is a very Christian belief.
Whenever I come across such similitude in my readings, I find reinforcement for my beliefs because concepts that have lasting value tend to multiply across different platforms.
Android phones have come into being but differ from iPhones because the iPhone represents lasting value or innovation.
Android phones are not exactly like iPhones, do not perform exactly like iPhones, but are designed to achieve similar objectives.
Do not get me wrong, I do not believe all paths lead to exactly the same practical revelation of God.
When we walk paths that are similar, the likelihood that we arrive at practical revelations of God that are similar experiences some sort of exponential increase.
We all may be seeking God in one form or another, rationality demands different paths cannot induce exactly the same practical revelation of God.
If all we have in our pursuit of God is our senses, with God totally non-revelational, any concepts of God are products of our minds only.
While the notion of God revealing Himself can be abused, if God exists and endowed us with thinking faculties, He has prepared us with capacity to reason out claims of revelations of God.
Christianity is man’s pursuit of God conditioned on revelations of Himself within course of history of Forefathers of Jews, Jews, Jesus Christ, Jesus’ Apostles, and all subsequent history, all of which span about 4,000 years at the very least.
The Whole Armor of God.
Armor protects in battle and enables a warrior attack the enemy because face it, attack always is the best form of defense.
No army ever won a war simply by defending itself against an aggressor; that is via refusal to inflict a mortal wound.
If we say faith is the confidence that God rewards those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6), loss of faith implies loss of all of the other components of the Armor of God.
If we cease to believe faith in God will be rewarded, how can we continue to maintain the helmet of salvation or the breastplate of righteousness, the sword of the Spirit or the preparation of the gospel of peace, or continue to regard the Bible as source of truth?
If we say faith is evidence of things hoped for, substance of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1–2), loss of faith again implies loss of all of the other components of the armor of God.
Blessed be the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, there is a rationalizing answer
In a key verse (Galatians 5:6), the Holy Spirit declares through the Apostle Paul as follows:
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
In this verse, which is consistent with all of the writings in the New Testament Scriptures, the Holy Spirit declares faith is evident in love. This perhaps is what the Apostle James meant when inspired by the Holy Spirit he wrote in James 2:18–19:
But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
If our works our acts of love, the love demonstrated is evidence of our faith. We see then that it is impossible to declare faith merely as some abstract declaration.
The imagery of the armor distinguishes between our abstract beliefs, and evidence of our beliefs.
The helmet, breastplate, belt, sword, and protections for the feet or lower leg all are abstract faith in our minds.
The Shield of Faith, which is our works of love, is evidence abstract faith we claim to have possesses practical reality in our lives.
The God of the Bible, Jehovah Father of Jesus Christ declares His version of spirituality eminently is practical.
If the Shield of Faith is our works of love, the ‘Whole Armor of God’ imagery begins to make sense.
That is, in the event an evil day arrives and our love breaks down — because we are overwhelmed by the attack and make mistakes or repay evil for evil — maintenance of faith in what Jesus has done continues to protect us against the darts of the devil.
When our love evidence breaks down, we are to take refuge in the assurance of our salvation, in the fact that we are covered by righteousness of Jesus Christ, in our knowledge of truth, in comfort of the Holy Spirit, and reassurance of the word of God until we receive strength for overcoming, strength that enables us return to and maintain our love walk.
The word of God states in Colossians 2:6–7:
As therefore you received the Lord Jesus so walk in Him, rooted and grounded in the faith.
How did we receive the Lord Jesus? By confession of our sinful state, repentance from our sinful state, acceptance of His grace, request for and acceptance by faith of power to conform to the image of our Lord Jesus Christ.
When the devil’s darts get past our Shield of Faith, we walk as we received.
We confess we have fallen short of the standard of our Lord Jesus Christ, we repent, we accept the grace of God for our sinfulness and weakness, believe we are forgiven, rise up making sure never to allow the devil keep us in feelings of condemnation, request and accept by faith power to make up for our shortcomings so we can rise up to the stature of the fullness of our Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 3:14–21).
The faith we have in the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is not some abstract concept. It is faith that finds expression in acts of love.
Speaking through the Apostle Paul, the Holy Spirit declares in 1Corinthians 13:1–5 that “without love a Christian is nothing.” Regardless of function in the body of Jesus Christ,
if all a Christian can attribute to faith is cars, houses, or riches, he or she is nothing, as such does not have any meaningful revelational knowledge of Jesus Christ.
God expects and promises we will prosper in the things of this earth if we focus on expressions of faith through love. Prosperity is part of the reign of God.
We prosper as God continuously provides us with wisdom we need for attainment of progress and stability in our lives.
But if the only prosperity we have is of the things of this world, such that we do not have evidence of the love of God in our lives, the faith we have is not faith that comes through the Holy Spirit.
It is an earthly, demonic perversion of true faith in Jesus Christ. The promise in regard of prosperity can be found in Matthew 6:33, in which Jesus declares:
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
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