Are you wearing armor?

Watch me paint “Armor of God” in 2 minutes (time lapse)

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”
– Ephesians 6

The passage goes on to describe the armor as a belt of Truth, a breastplate of Righteousness, shoes of Readiness that comes from the gospel of Peace, a shield of Faith, a helmet of Salvation, and the sword of the Spirit. The passage concludes with a plea to pray all kinds of prayers and requests. So, when referring to armor, we don’t mean to protect us physically, but spiritually.

Are you wearing armor?

Here are the spiritual protection words from the above passage, as defined by The Free Dictionary. These words are worth pondering.

Truth: “Conformity to fact or actuality”
Righteousness: “In accordance with virtue or morality”
Readiness: “Prepared; willingness to do something”
Peace: “Quiet, calm; the absence of war”
Faith: “Confident belief in the truth, value or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing”
Salvation: “Preservation or deliverance from destruction, difficulty, or evil; redemption”
Spirit: “A force or principle believed to animate living beings; The Holy Spirit; the part of a human associated with the mind, will, and feelings”

How you define these words of spiritual protection, and how you apply them to the situations in your life, will change from day to day. A good exercise is to revisit this reflection from time to time. But for now, how are you feeling today? Today is all that is guaranteed, and today is your primary concern.

Notice that all of the spiritual protections describe ways to guard your individual human self from being mislead, exploited, and steered away from what we know to be true, moral, and loyal to what we believe. It takes courage to remain strong in who we are when the powers of this dark world mock us and tear us down. But a knight has courage, does he not? He may stand alone against an army with nothing but his armor and sword.

The difference here, is that you are not alone. There are more of us humans who have empathy for each other and wish goodness and prosperity for all people, than there are those who want to control us and steal our life’s energy and labor for themselves. Those who choose to break the spirit of others, so that they may enslave us for their own enrichment are few. We are many. WE are part of your armor.