Ephesians 6:11 Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

The devil does not desire to see you live a life that is pleasing to the Lord. The devil is a tricky individual who will bring many temptations into your life in an attempt to cause you to stumble. However, God has not left you defenseless against the attacks of the enemy; God has given you armor to put on to protect you and enable you to withstand. In the same way that God gives you the choice whether you are going to accept the free gift of salvation, so likewise, HE gives you the choice whether you are going to put on the armor of God so as to protect you from the attacks of the evil one.

From the very beginning, Satan has been out to destroy the children of God. Satan transformed himself into a serpent and tempted Adam and Eve into partaking of the forbidden fruit. Satan is constantly attacking and he is looking for your weaknesses so that he can cause you to stumble and fall short of the glory of God. Adam and Eve did not have to sin, they were use to walking daily in the garden with God. All they had to do was cry out to God and ask HIM about the truth of what the serpent was saying and God would have given them the strength to resist the serpent.

David had a heart after God’s own heart. Satan was able to get David to not go out to war as the other kings and rather take it easy back home and relax. Because David was home and not out to war with his men, he was more susceptible to temptation when he saw a beautiful woman. David did not have to yield to temptation, he had a heart after God’s own heart and he could have simply turned to God and relied upon HIM. David had been strong when it came to not destroying Saul when he had the chance; but he failed with Bath-sheba because he let his guard down.

Judas had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Judas walked with Jesus every day. Judas was given the interpretations of the parables that Jesus was sharing with the people. Judas was in a great position to live a life pleasing to the Lord, but he chose instead to pursue great wealth. Judas was willing to betray Jesus for money. It was not until after he had sinned and the consequences of his actions were revealed to him that Judas realized what he had done. By this time, it was too late to undue his sin.

If Adam and Eve sinned and they lived in a perfect world, if David sinned and he had a heart after God’s own heart, and Judas sinned when he was a disciple of Jesus Christ; what hope do you have that you can resist the devil and cause him to flee from you? The answer is simple; you have the armor of God. You can put on the armor of God and it will protect you.

Satan will attack you with the things of this world. Satan will try to tempt you with money, with things of the flesh, and with bitterness for the terrible things that others have done to you. Your only ability to stand up to these attacks is to put on the armor of God. Just as a soldier without his armor is not wise, so you are a soldier of God and you need to put on the armor God has given.

Take the time to put on the armor of God. Spend the time in the word of God so that you understand how God desires you to live this life. As you add temperance to your life and put the things of God above your own selfish ambitions, you will find the strength that you need to avoid yielding to temptation.

Judges 7:6 And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water.

Gideon had blown a trumpet and had sent messengers across the land and 32,000 men answered the call. However, 22,000 men were afraid and did not have the faith necessary to see God work through them. God knew the hearts of the 10,000 men that remained and HE set up a test at a brook to reveal to all the hearts of these men. God had Gideon have the men go to a brook and drink. 9,700 of the men bent their knees and drank from the brook. Many Bible scholars believe that those who bowed their knees revealed to all that they had bowed to false gods of the enemies. This test by God revealed to all who had worshiped other gods and whose hearts were pure before God.

If Gideon were to show up today and declare that it was time to rid this land of the false gods of materialism, which group would you be? Would you be one who does not even show up to the battle? Would you be one who is afraid of taking on the enemy so you would simply rather go home then to see what God could do through you? Would you be one whose heart is not pure before God and you would have to be sent home because you are compromised? Or would you be one of the 300 who answered the call, was not afraid to see God work through you, and whose hearts was pure before God?

God is looking for those whose hearts are right towards HIM. If you cannot say that you would be one of the three hundred, it is time that you seek God’s face and ask HIM to forgive you and transform your mind so that HE is once again number one in your life. God has commanded us that we are to have no other gods before HIM. God has commanded that we do not make any false gods. We have all sinned and fallen short of God’s perfect commands. All of us at some point in time have put something or someone before the Lord God our Maker and Creator.

The gods of this world are strong. They are deceptive and they easily lead you astray. However, if you set your heart right before God and purpose to serve HIM, God can give you the strength to overcome the temptations of the wicked one. God has promised not to give you a temptation that you are not able to handle. You however must first take the time to seek the Lord and to ask HIM to give you the strength every day to withstand the temptations that beset you.

Paul taught us about the armor of God and how we are to use it to withstand the attacks of the enemy. Jesus taught us in the Lord’s Prayer how we are to ask God to keep us from temptation. Temptation is a part of the enemies plan to ensure that you become one of the 9,700 and not one of the 300. Satan desires to diminish the effectiveness of all who call upon the name of Christ. HE hopes to use your mistakes to reduce your effectiveness of destroying his kingdom here on earth.

You need to fill your mind with God’s virtue. By filling your mind with virtue you are establishing a plan for success since you are ensuring that the things of God are a priority. As you desire to please God, you will find the strength to overcome the temptations of the wicked one and one, and be rewarded be seeing God work mightily through you.

Psalms 141:3 Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.

Do you pray daily for God to protect you from evil? Do you pray that God will put a guard over your mouth so that you do not say foolish things? Do you pray that God will guard your eyes so that you will see no wicked thing? Do you pray that God will protect your mind so that you do not think thoughts that are not pleasing to God?

There is a spiritual battle going on around you. Every day the enemy will attempt to cause you to sin and fall short of the glory of God. Since the battle is constant, you must be spiritually ready for the battle.

David was a man after God’s own heart. One thing that David did as we can see in this Psalm is that he asked God to protect him from evil. David asked God to guard his mouth and to guard his heart.

God hears our prayers. If you have the fear of God in your life, you will have no desire to sin and fall short of the glory of God. However, because you know your own sin nature, you know how easy it is for you to slip from God’s perfect path. Those who desire to please God will take the time to ask God for deliverance. God will hear your prayer and HE will protect you from evil.

When Jabez prayed, he asked God to “keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me!” Jabez received the desires of his heart and God protected him. When Jesus’ disciples asked him how they were supposed to pray, one of the elements of the Lord prayer was that we are to pray “and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”.

God can protect you from doing that which is displeasing to HIM. You must first learn to hate doing evil. When you learn to hate evil, you can then come to God in prayer and ask HIM to protect you from that which is displeasing to HIM. God hears your prayers and HE is willing to show HIMSELF strong in your life.

Very often, you do not know all the ways that God has protected you. However, you need to learn to praise God every evening. Praise God for how you did not face temptation. If you know how HE protected you from evil, be specific in your praise. If you do not know how HE protected you but you made it through the day without being tempted to do evil, thank HIM that HE protected you from the attacks of the enemy.

Every morning when you get up you need to pray to put on the full armor of God. Every morning you need to establish your mind to do that which is right in the eyes of God. Every evening you need to praise HIM for all that HE has blessed you with including HIS protection from evil.

God is real; HE knows your thoughts, actions, and deeds. You desire to have the fear of the Lord and to do that which is right in HIS eyes. Establish your heart and mind upon the things of God. Focus your attention upon those things that are pleasing to God. As you fill your mind with virtue, and that which is pleasing to God, God will bless you by protecting you from temptation so that your borders might expand and you can do even more for HIS glory.

I Thessalonians 5:8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

This verse sounds very similar to the passage in Ephesians six which deals with the armor of God. However, in Ephesians six, there are six different pieces of armor mentioned whereas this verse only lists two. In Paul’s list in Ephesians, the breastplate is righteousness. Both lists have the helmet represented by salvation. The list in Ephesians puts faith as a shield. The Ephesians list does not mention love.

While these two lists may be different, they do not contradict. In both of these passages, Paul is using something that people of that day see and understand in order to illustrate an important point. You could be speaking to someone today and make the analogy that someone was so fast they were like a Ferrari. Tomorrow, you could be speaking to someone and be talking about something expensive and you could analogize the expensive item to a Ferrari. Neither analogy is incorrect and neither analogy contradicts the other analogy.

In this verse, Paul is analogizing the breastplate that a soldier wears to a Christian’s faith and love. A breastplate is designed to protect a soldier’s heart and vital organs. Your adversary the devil would like to destroy your relationship with the Lord. Satan would love to ruin your love for the Lord and make it impossible for you to serve HIM. Paul is letting you know that it is your faith and your love that will protect you from falling into sin. Your faith in God is a shied to quench Satan’s fiery darts; it is also your breastplate to protect your heart.

God has given you the tools to protect yourself from Satan’s attacks. Your faith in God as you learn to trust and obey HIM will give you the strength that you need to overcome the attacks of Satan. While faith alone can assist you, Paul illustrates here that your faith needs help and that help comes from love. Your faith and your love enable you to defend yourself better.

A five-year-old boy could love his father, but if the boy is sitting on top of a roof and his father is telling him to jump and he does not do so, the boy is demonstrating a lack of faith and obedience. That same boy could obey his father all day long but not love his father because he is angry and upset over something and the boy is simply obeying because he has no other choice.

Your faith and your love are two elements that when mixed together enables you to withstand Satan’s attacks. Just because you have faith and love, it does not mean that you are immune from Satan’s attack. Instead, what it means is that you are better equipped to withstand the attacks and the better equipped you are to withstand, the better position you will be to overcome.

If you would like to sin less, then you need to live your faith and your love. God has given you the tools to overcome temptation. Each time you sin and fall short of the glory of God, you are demonstrating your lack of faith and love to God. Satan is not quick to give up. Draw near to God and use HIS tools to do many great things for HIM.