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Prayer To Put On The Whole Armor Of God | Full Armour Of God Prayer
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The Armor of God Prayer
The Armor of God Prayer. Ephesians 6:11-18. “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For.
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Date Published: 6/28/2021
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Morning Prayer to Put on the Armor of God Charles Stanley
Armor of God – The central truths of Scripture that make up the spiritual defenses of the believer. Good morning, Lord. Thank You for assuring me of victory …
Source: www.ccc-mbc.org
Date Published: 10/17/2022
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PRAYING ON THE ARMOR OF GOD
PRAYING ON THE ARMOR OF GOD. “Father, I pray on the belt of truth (Eph. 6:14), and I ask that you surround me with your truth. I declare that Jesus is the …
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Date Published: 3/12/2022
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Pray on THE ARMOR OF GOD – The Navigators
Pray on THE ARMOR OF GOD. EQUIP ME, LORD: (Ephesians 6:10-18, KJV). □ With the belt of truth (v. 14). May your truth rule in my heart and be in.
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Date Published: 11/26/2021
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ArmorOfGod.Prayer.pdf – – Wendy Blight
Finally, brothers and sisters, draw your strength and might from God. Put on the full armor of God to protect yourselves from the devil and his evil schemes …
Source: wendyblight.com
Date Published: 12/22/2021
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Praying the Armor of God
Part 2 is a guebook for daily prayer, illustrating how we can pray the armor of God. How is this book different from other books on prayer? It’s this: the.
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Praying on The Armour of God
(The following prayer mixes in the text of Ephesians 6:10-20 followed by specific prayer language that you can use to. “put on” each piece of armor God …
Source: cornerstonechurch.ca
Date Published: 10/24/2022
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Armor Of God Family Prayer Guide – cloudfront.net
Armor Of God Family Prayer Gue. “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can …
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Date Published: 11/6/2022
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The Armor of God Prayer PDF – Scribd
The Armor of God Prayer.pdf – Free download as PDF File (.pdf), Text File (.txt) or read online for free.
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Date Published: 6/25/2021
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[PDF] Praying. Armor. God. the RICK STEDMAN. Copyrighted material
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Praying Armor God
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RICK STEDMAN
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Unless otherwise noted, all Bible quotations are from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used with permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Verses marked nkjv are from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved. Verses marked nasb are from the New American Standard Bible®, © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used with permission. (www.Lockman.org) Cover by Garborg Design Works, Savage, Minnesota Back cover photo by Jodi Burgess Published in association with Books & Such Management, 52 Mission Circle, Suite 122, PMB 170, Santa Rosa, CA 95409-5370, www .booksandsuch.com.
THE ARMOR OF GOD PRAYER Copyright © 2015 Rick Stedman Published by Harvest House Publishers Eugene, Oregon 97402 www.harvesthousepublishers.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Stedman, Rick. Praying the Armor of God / Rick Stedman. Pages cm ISBN 978-0-7369-6069-4 (pbk.) ISBN 978-0-7369-6070-0 (eBook) 1. Spiritual Warfare. 2. Prayer – Christianity. I. Title. BV4509.5.S74 2015 248.3’2 – dc23
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording or otherwise – without notice, except for brief quotations in printed reviews, with the publisher’s permission . Printed in the United States of America 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 / VP-JH / 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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CONTENTS Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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PART ONE: How to Pray the Armor of God Why pray the Armor of God?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Sunday: Buckle up the belt of truth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Monday: Fast the breastplate of righteousness. . . . . . 31
Tuesday: Step into the Shoes of Peace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Wednesday: Use the Shield of Faith. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Thursday: Thinking in the Helm of Salvation . . . . . . . . . 49
Friday: Battle with the Sword of the Spirit. . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Saturday: Pray steadfastly in the Spirit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
PART TWO: Prayer Guides for Praying the Armor of God Daily Instructions for Using the Daily Prayer Guides. . . . 67 First week: Begin praying the armor of God. . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Week Two: Learning to pray for our families. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Week Three: Praying to be clothed in Christ. . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Fourth week: Prayer for spouses and marriages. . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Fifth week: Prayer for friends and single adults. . . . . . . . . . . 125
Sixth Week: Prayer for Children and Youth. . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Seventh week: Prayer for men. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 Eighth Week: Praying for Women . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 Ninth week: Prayer for the lost. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 Tenth Week: Praying for Leaders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 Guide for Small Group Leaders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
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To our three children, Micah, Noah, and Jesse, with prayer that God would put on each of you His full armor of protection and strength, “that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to resist the ground, and after you have done all you can to stand.” (Ephesians 6:13)
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introduction
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Do you want to improve your prayer life? I definitely do. In fact, I’ve been searching for years to improve my prayer life. I have read books, attended seminars, filled magazines, listened to countless sermons, and given over a hundred sermons on prayer. In one year I taught fifty-two weeks straight of what we called “2001, An Odyssey of Prayer.” In three decades of ministry, it was the only sermon series that people asked me to repeat the following year. I even chose to focus my PhD on prayer, mainly to deepen my devotional life. But the most meaningful, practical, and easy-to-remember method of prayer for me was praying the armor of God. In this book I share my journey with you. Part 1 explains why we should pray the armor of God, including what the different parts of the armor mean. Part 2 is a daily prayer guide that illustrates how we can pray the armor of God. How is this book different from other books on prayer? It is this: The pieces of God’s armor are arranged to correspond to the seven days of the week. Since you already know the days of the week, you can easily memorize how to pray the armor of God. For example: on Sundays we buckle on the belt of truth, on Tuesdays we step into the shoes of peace, on Fridays we fight with the sword of the spirit, and so on. In the beginning you may wish to pray the prayers of Part 2 verbatim. Just pick a day of the week or a weekly theme and pray one of the suggested prayers for your loved ones. If you pray a page each day corresponding to each day of the week, you will be finished in about ten weeks. Then you can start over and do it all over again… and over and over again. 7 Copyrighted Material
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After a while, of course, you will memorize the essential elements and the prayers will take on your own voice. You may be driving, taking a walk, or lying in bed and feel drawn to prayer. You’ll think, Well, today is Sunday, so I’m going to put the belt of truth on those I love. You begin to ask God to reveal His truth in your life, to fill your spouse with His truth, and for your children to love the truth and desire to be honest people. You can pray that your friends will be guided by the truth, your church will be a beacon of truth, your nation will come back to the truth, and all the world will discover God’s truth. It’s a great way to pray! Also: • Parents and grandparents can help their children—even lost children—through prayer. • Spouses can pray for one another and for the growth of their marriage in key areas. • Singles can pray for friends—or for their future spouses and families. • Women can embed these essential qualities in the lives of their loved ones. • Men can finally find a comfortable way to pray in this method. After all, armor is something most men can relate to. It’s male. It’s military. It’s tough. While men in churches sometimes feel pressured to act in sensitive ways, this allows men to approach God in ways that do not compromise masculinity. To begin, here is my prayer for you: I pray, Father Almighty, that as we pray the armor of God, you will clothe us in Jesus Christ himself, transform us into his image, comfort us by your Spirit, and protect us from evil. I pray that the readers of this book will be filled with your truth, cleansed with your righteousness, calmed with your peace, strengthened with your faith, eternally protected by your salvation, instructed by your word, and empowered to rest in prayer. In the name of Jesus, amen.
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PART ONE
How to pray the armor of God
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Why Pray the Armor of God?
“If we follow Jesus and look only to His righteousness, we are in His hands and under the protection of Him and His Father. And when we are in fellowship with the Father, nothing can harm us.” — Dietrich Bonhoeffer 1
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A few years ago, I drove my fourteen-year-old son home from school. Like every other parent on this planet, I asked, “How was school today?” He casually replied, “School was fine – except my vet was stoned in English.” A wave of angry thoughts raced through my head. At first, I was mad at myself. As a parent, I felt like a failure for allowing my son to attend a drug-ridden high school. Also, I was upset with our public education system. My child was exposed to someone – no less than the teacher’s assistant – smoking weed. Should we kick him out of school? Should I speak to the teacher? The principal? The governor? The president? (Okay, I’ll admit that my feelings were taken a little.) Instead, I asked, “Is this the first time this has happened?” “No, he’s a serious stoner and smokes weed every day.” That made me even angrier. My child had been exposed to this before and I was completely clueless. I asked, “Are other kids on drugs?” “Sure.” “And you?” I said, trying to appear calm. “Have you ever tried drugs or wanted to try them?”
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“No way. Doing drugs is stupid. These kids are idiots.” At that moment, I was both elated and scared. I was delighted that my son was resisting temptation and that he and I were having this conversation. Throughout the rest of On the drive home we talked about drugs, temptation and peer pressure. So on the one hand it was an amazing day for me as a dad. But on the other hand I was scared. As a father, how could I protect my son in a public school? I couldn’t physically be with him. I couldn’t get rid of all temptations. So what could I do? What would help my children be safe in a world of moral and spiritual dangers? I’m sure most parents share this concern. How can we protect our children from the onslaught of “a corrupt and crooked generation” (Philippians 2:15) How can we defend ourselves and our loved ones from the “flaming arrows” of the enemy? (Ephesians 6:16)? These questions do not only concern parents. How can married couples protect themselves from the temptations that bombard them? How can grandparents, neighbors, single people, or classmates protect their families and friends from the enemy who wants to “kill and destroy” (John 10:10)? After all, our human defenses are no match for this enemy. Fortunately, the apostle Paul answers that question in Ephesians 6:11: “Put on the armor of God, that ye may stand against the designs of the devil.” But how does one put on the full armor of God? Paul says he should do it but doesn’t mention how. As a young Christian, I assumed I had to do that. So I tried to put this armor on myself for many years. I tried to be honest, peaceful, righteous and so on. I’m sure you can guess the result. Despite my righteous efforts, I failed repeatedly. Then it occurred to me that since this is the armor of God, it probably wasn’t something I could put on myself. I would need God to put it on and in me. So instead of trying to be peaceful, I asked God to clothe and fill me with His peace. In other words, I began praying the armor of God. How to Put on the Armor Paul ends the section on the armor of God in his letter to the Ephesians: “Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and
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Requests. In that spirit, be vigilant and keep praying for all the Lord’s people” (6:18). In other words, what he’s saying is, in essence, “Keep praying about it.” That was an exciting realization for me, and I began to pray the armor of God with enthusiasm. First, every day I prayed through the full armor of God for myself, for my family members (individually), for my friends, for my church and for the world. But it was overwhelming, and the issues were too important to cover quickly. So I focused on one piece of armor per day. I found this more manageable and enjoyable. But there was a problem: sometimes I forgot which piece of armor I had prayed for the day before, so I started the list all over again. Over time, I found that I prayed more often for the belt of truth than for the helmet of salvation or the sword of the Spirit. Then one day I noticed that the armor of God consisted of six parts, plus the instruction to “pray in the Spirit on all occasions” (6:18). Realizing that these seven themes would go well with the seven days of the week, I devised a simple memory device to help me (and our parishioners) remember which piece of armor to pray for each day. Having already memorized the days of the week, it is easy for you to memorize the armor of God and use it in prayer. Sunday: Buckle on the girdle of truth Monday: Fasten the breastplate of righteousness Tuesday: Step on the shoes of peace Wednesday: Bear the shield of faith Thursday: Think in the helmet of salvation Friday: Fight with the sword of the Spirit Saturday: Pray steadfast in the Spirit I can drive, sit at my desk or walk and feel the need to pray. My first thought is: Okay, what day of the week is it today? Well, it’s Wednesday, so I must wave the shield of faith. I pray to God to increase my faith, I pray to God to fill my wife with faith, and I pray that my children will always be people of faith. I pray that my friends will be strengthened in their faith that our church is a place where we fight side by side in the good fight
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of faith. I pray that our nation will return to the faith on which it was founded and I pray that people around the world will have their hearts’ eyes enlightened to the saving faith found in Jesus. Or if it’s Thursday I pray God please help me think in the helmet of salvation. I continue this course every day of the week, systematically and joyfully praying the armor of God. If you want to learn to pray the armor of God, I encourage you to start right now. Don’t read the whole book before you pray. Instead, pray as you walk. Make this a prayer journey. As you read, take time to stop and pray from time to time, especially about the Bible. So let’s begin: Take a moment, focus your thoughts, and pray this prayer aloud now: Lord, I want to put on Your full armor through prayer, and I want my loved ones to be protected from evil. Teach me through Your Word how to pray on the armor of God for myself and for those I love. In the name of Jesus, amen. Living in a Battle Zone Before we learn to pray every piece of armor, we may first ask ourselves, “Why do we need armor at all?” The answer is: We are in the midst of a dangerous spiritual battlefield with demonic arrows flying at us. Without the right armor, we’re sure to get wounded. Christians often forget this. A woman at our church called me once, quite upset. She and her husband were committed Christians and had raised their children to love the Lord and to be active in the Church. She was shocked and embarrassed to find out her teenage daughter was experimenting with sex. “How could that happen?” she exclaimed. “She knows we think that’s terribly wrong.” Part of my response was, “You have an enemy who is trying to destroy your family. If he can attack one of your children, he will. You and your family are in a combat zone and a fiery arrow from the enemy has hit your daughter.”
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Why Pray the Armor of God?
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“But I thought Christians were protected from Satan’s attacks!” she said. “I never thought this could happen to us. What do I do now?” Every pastor has received calls like this. The evidence is compelling: We live on the battlefield. Spiritual warfare is very real. We have an enemy bent on destroying us. “Your enemy, the devil , goes about like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). According to the Bible, this war has been going on since the creation of the world. In Ephesians 6:10-12, the apostle Paul describes it the reality of this daily conflict: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the machinations of the devil. For our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against them Rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms On a philosophical level, this helps to answer some of life’s most difficult questions locate. Have you ever wondered why life is so difficult? Why do bad things happen to good people or why does life seem to be such a series of struggles? Why is it that committed Christians have a hard time staying married, and why are churches going through bitter divisions? Despite all our cultural and technological advances, why can we still not achieve world peace? The reality of spiritual warfare provides an answer: Life is difficult because we have an incredibly vicious, highly organized, persistent, and sinisterly sneaky enemy bent on destroying us. Let me be blunt: Every day, your evil enemy’s goal is to destroy your marriage, your children, your friends, your church…everyone and everything that is important to you. What are you doing to protect them? Try starting with this prayer, Lord, I want my loved ones to be protected with the full armor of God. But Lord, we have enemies who don’t want that. They want us to remain vulnerable and unprotected.
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Now that this is clear to me, I pray even more urgently and fervently: Please put your armor on those I love. In the name of Jesus, amen. Buckle up How can we protect our loved ones from evil and its nefarious powers? The answer is simply common sense: we must put on spiritual armor at the start of our day, much like we put on our seat belts when we get into our car. Just as we can physically buckle our children into their car seats, we can pray the armor of God upon them spiritually. When I was a kid, cars didn’t have seat belts, we didn’t use sunscreen, and nobody wore bike helmets. Our parents taught us to look both ways before playing in the street. Parents are so safety-mad these days that kids aren’t even allowed on the streets. Today’s kids have seatbelts on, bike helmets on and antiseptic hand gel in packed lunches. (The emphasis on safety is funny at times. A father was taking his family on a holiday trip and happened to pass a nudist colony. As he sped past, his young son noticed some cyclists and said, “Father—did you notice? They.” weren’t not wearing helmets!”) Precaution is a good thing, and parents would do well to protect their children physically. My request is that parents do the same spiritually. Unfortunately, many seem unaware that they are in the middle of a spiritual war zone. They don’t realize that the evil one has their sights set on them the same day while their children are at school and has a plan to harm them. You need protection. Spiritually, life is no cakewalk – it’s a struggle. Once we understand that, the reasonable question is: How can we protect ourselves and our loved ones from this enemy? Fortunately, after explaining the reality of our struggle with evil, Paul tells us what to do: Put on the full armor of God, therefore, that when the day of evil comes you will be able to stand your ground and after you have done everything to stand. Then stand firm, with the girdle of truth buckled about your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place
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Your feet are endowed with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. Also, grab the Shield of Faith, with which you can snuff out all the flaming arrows of evil. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. And pray in spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. In that spirit, be vigilant and keep praying for all of the Lord’s people (Ephesians 6:13-18). Before we continue, let us pause again for a moment of prayer. Say the following prayer aloud to your loving Lord. Lord, this is beginning to make sense to me. I understand the need to wear seat belts and I take great care to physically protect my family. Now I realize my family needs spiritual protection as well, so teach me how to diligently pray your armor for those I love. In the name of Jesus, amen. Are we strong enough to fight this enemy? Paul repeats himself at Ephesians 6:10-13, saying twice, “Put on the armor of God.” His repetition is intentional: it makes it clear that we are not strong enough to fight this wicked enemy alone. If we try to fight on our own and protect ourselves with human armor, we will fail miserably. But that’s exactly what most of us do. For this reason Paul emphasizes that we must fight in the strength and power of the Lord, and we must be armed with His weapons and not just our own. Indeed, confession is good for the soul, so let us confess to the Lord that we must rely on Him and not on our own strength:
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Lord, I’m not strong enough to fight the wicked one. If I try to fight it on my own, I will fail miserably. In the name of Jesus, amen. Pray it again… and then a third time! That is why it is so important that we learn to pray the armor of God. To be honest, it took me many years – and I failed repeatedly – to learn this. In the past I was taught to logically analyze each piece of armor. Then I was encouraged to really try hard to be those things. For example, I was taught the biblical understanding of truth and then instructed to try to live that way. The image of the girdle of truth as the armor of God melted away, and I was instructed to try to speak truthfully, act truthfully, and try to live truthfully. I should try to hang out with genuine friends and try to challenge dishonest people to see their faults. In short, I was unknowingly attempting to create a piece of armor for myself. It was my job to be honest, that means the armor would be as strong as I could make it. But that was the problem. I’m not strong enough to make my own armor, and neither are you. None of us can fight successfully on our own. Remember Paul said we should be “strong in the Lord and in his mighty might.” To be honest, I can’t trust myself to be totally honest – even with myself. So a belt that I designed and made myself will not suffice. I don’t need my girdle of truth about me; I need the girdle of the Lord’s truth. It is an admirable and important goal to try to be honest, but God’s belt is infinitely stronger. Let’s try this prayer of confession again, with an additional request: Lord, I am not strong enough to fight the wicked one. If I try to fight it on my own, I will fail miserably. And if I try to arm myself against him, I will also fail completely. Give me the wisdom to rely only on your armor, Lord. In the name of Jesus, amen.
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Why Pray the Armor of God?
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The question that naturally arises at this point is who should we pray for first: ourselves or our loved ones? I personally like the airlines’ advice. During the pre-flight safety briefing, passengers are advised to secure their own oxygen masks in an emergency before attempting to fit their children’s. Likewise, it makes sense to first pray the armor of God upon ourselves in order to find our way spiritually before God. Then we can better pray for our loved ones. This will be an important part of our prayer journey in this book. First we can pray each prayer for ourselves and then pray it for those we love one by one by inserting their names. Let us try it. Pray the same prayer again, this time for someone dear to you: Lord, ______________ is not strong enough to fight the wicked. If ______________ tries to fight it on his own, ______________ will fail miserably. And if ______________ tries to arm themselves against him, ______________ will also fail completely. Give ______________ the wisdom to rely only on your armor, Lord. In the name of Jesus, amen. Now pray this again for someone else you love and one more and one more. In time, not only will you learn to adapt the prayers in this book for those you love, but you will also learn to pray the Scriptures personally and powerfully. How does the Armor of God work? As we learn to pray the armor of God, notice that Paul said twice that we should put on the armor of God. Some Christians naively (perhaps unconsciously) believe that they are protected from evil because they have been saved. “Oh, I’m saved, so I don’t need anything else.” They’re wearing the Helm of Salvation, but they’re still vulnerable. Other Christians may feel that they are protected because they are people of peace (they wear the shoes of peace). But they leave the rest of their body and soul open to attack. If we want to protect our loved ones and ourselves,
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we must pray for the full armor of God, for God’s armor works best when all the pieces are in place, not just a few. Before I learned to pray the armor of God, I prayed diligently for those I love, but I emphasized some aspects of the Christian life over others. The sevenfold method of praying the armor of God solved this problem. Praying the Armor of God has taught me to pray in a balanced and inclusive way as I desire my loved ones to be fully armed. Praying the Armor of God also taught me not to focus on evil. I was shocked to find that Paul’s instructions in Ephesians 6:10-18 on how to defend ourselves against evil had very little to do with evil. In my opinion, this is where some books on spiritual warfare deviate from the biblical text. You try to fight against the evil by focusing on the enemy’s various plans and tricks. Instead, the biblical way of making war and fighting the darkness is not to focus on the darkness. We fight the enemy by focusing on the Lord. For example, in Ephesians 6:10 Paul does not say that we should be strong in deliverance tactics, in exorcism prayers, or in our understanding of evil. Instead, he writes, “Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.” We conquer evil and darkness by focusing on Jesus. After all, what is the armor of God other than the attributes of Jesus himself? He is truth, righteousness, peace, the word and so on. As followers of Christ, the best way we fight is to clothe ourselves in the character and person of Christ, and then allow the light of Jesus to shine in and through us. In fact, Paul connects with the Christians in Rome these themes of armor, light, and being clothed with Christ: “Let us therefore put off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light…clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 13:12,14). . Of course, this is just common sense in the natural world. How do we get rid of the darkness when we walk into a dark room late at night? Do we look at the dark, study the dark, and speak against the dark? Do we cry out loud, “Darkness, go away!” or say emphatically, “Darkness, I rebuke you”? Of course not. We turn on the light. It is the same in the supernatural realm. To get rid of the darkness of evil, we turn on the light of Christ. We put Jesus in a position to ask him to fulfill us and let the light of glory shine through his presence. Light always conquers darkness. Light always prevails. Konzentrieren Sie sich eher auf Jesus als auf den Bösen; es funktioniert besser und ist sicherer für deine Seele.
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Warum die Waffenrüstung Gottes beten?
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Nehmen wir uns in diesem Sinne einen Moment Zeit, um innezuhalten und zu beten. Kombinieren wir die Gebete, die wir bisher gelernt haben, zu einem vollständigen, von Herzen kommenden Gebet zu Gott und beten wir zum Abschluss ein paar Worte aus Epheser 6,10: Herr, ich bin nicht stark genug, um den Bösen zu bekämpfen. Wenn ich versuche, ihn aus eigener Kraft zu bekämpfen, werde ich völlig scheitern. Und wenn ich versuche, mich gegen ihn zu wappnen, werde ich kläglich scheitern. Stattdessen bitte ich dich, Herr, mich mit deiner mächtigen Kraft zu stärken. Ich verstehe die Notwendigkeit von physischem Schutz; Jetzt erkenne ich mein Bedürfnis nach geistigem Schutz. Ich bitte Sie, mir den wahren Charakter Christi anzuziehen, denn es ist Licht, das die Dunkelheit überwindet. Ich bitte dich, o Gott, mir deine volle Rüstung anzulegen, damit ich mich gegen die Pläne des Teufels stellen kann. In the name of Jesus, amen. Ich schlage vor, dass Sie dieses einfache Gebet oder etwas Ähnliches verwenden, um Ihre tägliche Zeit des „Betens der Waffenrüstung Gottes“ zu beginnen. Ich bete gerne eine Form dieses Einführungsgebets für mich selbst, bevor ich für diesen Tag auf dem spezifischen Rüstungsteil bete. Als nächstes bete ich normalerweise eine Variation dieses Gebets für meine Frau mit Namen: Herr, meine Frau Amy ist auch nicht stark genug, um den Bösen zu bekämpfen. Wenn sie versucht, ihn aus eigener Kraft zu bekämpfen, wird sie komplett scheitern. Und wenn sie versucht, sich gegen ihn zu wappnen, wird sie kläglich scheitern. Stattdessen bitte ich dich, sie, Herr, mit deiner mächtigen Kraft zu stärken. Wenn sie die Notwendigkeit körperlichen Schutzes versteht, helfen Sie ihr, ihr Bedürfnis nach geistigem Schutz zu begreifen. Ich bitte Sie, ihr den Charakter Christi anzuziehen, denn Licht überwindet die Dunkelheit.
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Die Waffenrüstung Gottes beten
Ich bitte dich, o Gott, ihr deine volle Rüstung anzulegen, damit sie sich gegen die Pläne des Teufels stellen kann. In the name of Jesus, amen. Ich schlage vor, Sie probieren das gleich aus. Beten Sie das vorhergehende Gebet laut, aber ersetzen Sie es durch den Namen und die Pronomen einer Person, die in Ihrem Leben von Bedeutung ist. Beginnen Sie das Gebet zum Beispiel mit „Herr, ich bete für meinen Freund Alex …“ oder „Herr, ich bete für meine Nachbarin Karen …“. Nach diesem Einführungsgebet bete ich die spezifische Rüstung des Tages für meine Frau. Als nächstes bete ich dasselbe für meine drei Kinder, eines nach dem anderen. An diesem Punkt ändert sich die Routine, und ich kann für meine Eltern, meine Geschwister, die erweiterte Familie oder enge Freunde der Familie beten. Oder ich fühle mich veranlasst, für einen Mitarbeiter, unsere Gemeinde, unsere Gemeinschaft, unsere Regierung, unsere Nation oder sogar unsere Welt zu beten. Wenn wir nur jeden Tag für ein paar Leute beten, können wir in ein paar Monaten viel erreichen. Sobald Sie den Dreh raus haben, fließen die Gebete reibungslos und natürlich. (Die zweite Hälfte dieses Buches führt Sie durch diesen Prozess.) Nachdem ich für mich und einige andere die Waffenrüstung Gottes gebetet habe, beende ich meine Gebetszeit mit anderen spezifischen Bitten (wie Gebete für Kranke, Bedürftige, usw). Es ist eine großartige Art, den Tag zu beginnen. Wie man diejenigen schützt, die man liebt An dem Tag, an dem mein Sohn mir erzählte, dass der Assistent eines Lehrers an seiner Highschool gesteinigt wurde, wusste ich, dass eine großartige Möglichkeit, ihn zu schützen, darin bestand, die Gesprächslinien offen zu halten, weiter zu reden und ihn zu ermutigen. Ich wusste auch, dass ich seine Freundschaften überwachen und nach Ausrutschern Ausschau halten musste. Aber als ich nach Hause fuhr, betete ich im Stillen für ihn, selbst als wir weiter redeten und fuhren. Ich betete ein stilles Dankesgebet – und dann mehrere intensive Schutzgebete: Herr, bitte beschütze meinen Sohn vor bösen Mächten. Bitte halte sein Herz weiterhin dir zugewandt. Bitte helfen Sie ihm, den vielen Versuchungen an seiner High School zu widerstehen, und halten Sie ihn rein, klar und nüchtern.
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Gib ihm Weisheit über sein Alter hinaus und hilf ihm, ein Licht für diese Kinder zu sein, die dich und deine Liebe so dringend brauchen. In the name of Jesus, amen. Dann betete ich natürlich und leicht mit der Waffenrüstung Gottes über ihm. Nachdem ich jahrelang auf diese Weise gebetet habe, kann ich bezeugen, dass es nicht langweilig oder alt wird. Jetzt, wo meine Kinder erwachsen und tot sind, genieße ich es immer noch, durch ihre Zimmer zu gehen (oft morgens und abends beim Zähneputzen) und die Waffenrüstung Gottes für sie zu beten. Wenn ich mit dem Beten fertig bin, fühle ich mich großartig. Ich kann es nicht wirklich erklären, aber ich weiß: • Ich habe wertvolle Zeit mit dem Herrn verbracht. • Ich habe biblisch, effektiv und einfach gebetet. • Ich bin bewaffnet und ermächtigt, mich den Kämpfen dieses Tages zu stellen. • I’ve asked God to arm and protect those I love from spiritual warfare. • I’m ready to look to God, this very day, to answer these prayers. Here’s the Plan as We Proceed In the remainder of Part 1, we will look at the seven pieces of the armor of God and how each fits with its day of the week. Before we begin praying the armor of God daily, it’s helpful to understand how each piece of armor protected an ancient warrior, and how each corresponds to the character qualities of Christ. Why did Paul liken truth to a belt and peace to shoes? In addition, how might these relate to the different days of the week? In Part 2, the daily prayer process will begin. We will pray every day for ten weeks, each day writing down the date and the person(s) prayed for. We will learn that each week has a different topic, which will give our prayer experience breadth. And most importantly, we will discover that all the prayers are full of Scripture, which will give us depth. With that in mind, let’s begin by learning why it is appropriate, on Sundays, to ask God to “strap on us the belt of truth.”
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Strap on the Belt of Truth
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he first piece of armor God directs us to put on is the belt of truth: “Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist” (Ephesians 6:14). Why a Belt? We probably wouldn’t have guessed that the very first item to guard us is a simple belt. After all, we’re already on the battlefield and spiritual darts are being shot at us––now. Perhaps we would pick up a shield first, or put a breastplate over our hearts or a helmet to cover our heads. How could a skinny piece of rope or leather protect us? Historically, for both Greek and Roman soldiers, their full armor was called panoply (which literally meant “a full suit of armor”). Wilbur Fields provides a good summary of the panoply in his commentary on the book of Ephesians: The historian Polybius (about 200 B.C.) wrote a description of Roman armor in his time. Polybius said that the Roman panoply consisted, in the first place, of a shield (thureos), and that along with the shield was a sword (machaira). Then next came two javelins (hussoi), a helmet (perikephalaia) and a greave (knemis). The majority, when they had further put on a bronze plate, measuring a span 25 Copyrighted material
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every way, which they wore on their breasts, and called a heart guard (kardiophulax), were completely armed. But those citizens who were assessed at more than 10,000 drachmae wore instead, together with the other arms, cuirasses made of chain mail. 2 Paul’s first item, the belt, was not even mentioned in Polybius’s list of armor. Technically, a belt was not a piece of armor, but simply an essential piece of clothing for both soldiers and everyday citizens. It was not like the belts worn by police officers today, full of devices and holders for various weapons. It was not like, in comic book fashion, the famous “bat belt” from which Batman always had at his fingertips any crime-stopping or life-saving device needed. The belt of truth Paul is talking about isn’t a military belt, an ammo holster, or a superhero belt. Instead, Paul is referring to the simple strap––for the poor, probably just a piece of rope—that nearly all adults wore. In biblical times, most people wore simple tunics. A tunic was a single, rectangular piece of cloth, folded and sometimes roughly sewn on two sides, with holes cut for one’s head and arms. Tunics would fall naturally along one’s torso and down to the lower legs or ankles. Because tunics were not fitted, they would be cumbersome to walk or work in, and especially difficult to fight in. For this reason, a belt was strapped around one’s waist to keep the flowing garment out of the way. If a person were to run or fight, the lower portion of the tunic would be raised up and tucked under the belt, a process called “girding the loins.” In fact, the word gird means “to encircle or bind something with a flexible band.” This is just what the belt did for the tunic. It encircled and bound the loose and flowing parts of the tunic to the soldier’s body so he could fight less encumbered, and it did the same for the civilian so he or she could work. The image of utilizing a belt is found throughout the Bible. God instructed Moses how to eat the Passover meal when leaving Egypt: “This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover” (Exodus 12:11). They were to eat in readiness to flee, symbolized
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by, as the older translations translated it, their “girded loins.” In the same way, we believers are instructed by Jesus to be ready for his return by being “dressed ready for service” (Luke 12:35), which reads in some versions, “let your loins be girded about.” Peter also uses the same expression concerning the believer’s mental readiness (1 Peter 1:13). In all of these cases, the point of girding a belt around one’s waist is to prepare and ready oneself. To have “the belt… buckled about your waist” (Ephesians 6:14) simply means: get ready for action. So, to pray on the belt of truth signifies we understand a struggle is just ahead of us, and we are preparing ourselves for the fight. Why Truth? Truth is necessary because we humans are habitual liars. We even lie to ourselves. Why is this? Jesus said, to the leaders of his day, You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! ( John 8:44-45). According to Jesus, our enemy, the devil, is “a liar,” “the father of lies,” and “there is no truth in him.” While studies reveal that two-thirds of spouses lie to each other, and while over 90 percent of Americans lie routinely, 3 Satan lies 100 percent of the time. There is no truth in him. This is why it’s so important to put on the belt of truth. Satan attacks and attaches himself to us when we deceive. When we lie, we “give the devil a foothold” (Ephesians 4:27). For me, this has been a revolutionary insight. In the past I thought a white lie was just a little sin. I came to realize, as a result of praying the armor of God, that lying is no minor matter. There is no such thing as a white lie; a lie is a lie. A small foothold is still a foothold—in fact, a foothold is small by definition. Fortunately, into our world of deep and deceptive darkness, Jesus came to shine the light. The bad news is that Satan lies 100 percent of the time;
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the good news is that Jesus is 100 percent truthful. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” ( John 14:6). When we put on the belt of truth, his light, love, and truthfulness shine in us. So why is the first item of armor the belt of truth? Why aren’t we told to put on the belt of peace or the belt of salvation? The answer is this: truth is God’s view of reality, which enables us to correctly add the additional pieces of armor. Without truth, how can we be sure that the breastplate of righteousness is really God’s concept of righteousness and not some mistaken version of righteousness foisted on us by our culture? Without truth, how can we be sure any piece of armor is truly God’s version: His view of peace? His understanding of faith? His definition of salvation? Yes, before we can put on any other piece of armor, with full assurance, we first must solidly pray on God’s truth. In this deceptive world, only then can each ensuing piece of armor be correct. I love Sundays, partly because I love praying truth into the lives of those I love. I pray we would cherish honesty, be repelled by dishonesty, and be able to discern the truth of a matter. I pray that Jesus himself, the Truth, would inhabit and reveal to us any self-deception and so fill us that there would be no room for darkness or satanic footholds. Give it a try: pray aloud the following prayer, and start your week by prayerfully strapping on the belt of truth. Lord, It’s Sunday, so it’s a great opportunity to strap on the belt of truth. I pray for you to increase my understanding of your truth. Please fill my wife/husband (if single, insert the name of a close friend) with truth in her/his inner being. I pray for my kids (relatives) to always be people of honesty. I pray for my friends to be strengthened in the truth. I pray for our church to be a beacon of truth, for in this world, side by side, we fight the good fight of truth. I pray for our nation to return to your truths, upon which it was founded, and I pray for people throughout the world to have the eyes of
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their heart enlightened to the saving truth found only in Jesus. I pray this in his name who is Faithful and True. Amen. Proverbs 23:23; Psalm 51:6; Proverbs 12:17; Psalm 119:28; Matthew 5:14-15; Colossians 2:1; Ephesians 1:18; Acts 4:12; Revelation 19:11.
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1 Praying the Armor of God RICK STEDMAN2 Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, N…
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