Armor of God (Part 3)
Ephesians: 6 (10) Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. (11) Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. (12) For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (13) Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. (14) Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; (15) and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; (16) above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. (17) And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: (18) praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; (19) and for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, (20) for which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
Ephesians 6:15 and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
I remember back in high school football during spring training, one day our coach was giving us a lecture on being healthy and taking care of ourselves. One thing he mentioned was so profound to me that to this day I still hold on to what he said. He had made it very clear that we should take extreme care of our feet. He noted that when you have any kind of foot problem, whether it be blisters, large calluses, athlete’s foot, etc… it will affect your overall performance. What an ever-true statement. If your feet are not properly taken care of, you are practically never 100 percent functionable.
When the prophecy of the coming of Jesus was made I Isaiah 9, He would be called the Prince of Peace. How fitting that when we preach the gospel "good news”, that we would preaching the Prince of Peace. Of course, the gospel, (good news) in simplest terms is that Jesus Christ died for our sins. Jesus once again became the bridge or link that connected us back to God that sin caused separation in the Garden of Eden. When we go back to that story in Genesis 3 on the fall of man, we see that the perfect world God created for us, a world of peace was disrupted by the sin of Adam and Eve, and they were expelled from that garden of peace, and from the presence of God as they had known it.
Before we move on, I want to make sure we do not get confused.
Matthew 10:34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
I do not want this verse to be a stumbling block. Jesus is clearly talking about there will be much resistance when we follow Jesus more than we follow our loved ones here on earth. The peace we are talking about in Ephesians is the peace knowing that Jesus is Lord and died for our sins. That is the peace we should be walking with and presenting everywhere we go. No matter our earthly situation, we still have our peace in Christ.
Luke 2:14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Remember this is what the angels were saying after sharing with the shepherds that Jesus was born. We now have that peace, Jesus is this peace on earth, direct link back to God. I do not want anyone to think that Jesus would be contradictive, that is not the case. We know that the actions of Jesus at times were going to stir the pot.
We now have the confidence in who we are in Christ. That allows us to walk in God’s peace.
John 14:26-27 (26) But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. (27) Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
This goes back to my earlier story of my high school coach talking about keeping your feet healthy. See we have all the right tools to walk in this comfort of the good news. Our feet (walk in Christ) are protected by what God has given us. We can confidently walk in peace. There should be no doubt in our confidence in Christ. He is with us.
John 20: (19) Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. (20) And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the Lord. (21) Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. (22) And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: (23) whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.
This story in John is the perfect example. Jesus had been crucified, the disciples were gathered, practically hiding from the Jews. They thought they had lost Jesus, no longer were walking with the confidence they once had with Jesus. How quickly they had already forgotten what Jesus told them in John 14. Then Jesus comes in the room, and apparently, they did not recognize Him, what does Jesus say, "PEACE BE WITH YOU”, I emphasize that because Jesus is with them. Get it, peace be with you, I am here with you. Jesus shows them the wounds, and they are glad to see Him. Their confidence in Christ is restored. Remember when we are talking about our feet shod with the gospel of peace, we are talking about our armor, our defense against the things of this world spiritually. It is not about us going out to make peace, we should, but peace is our confidence, our comfort that we can carry on in this physical world which is not very peaceful. We do not have to be like the disciples and have their confidence shaken when Jesus died. Jesus is with us always; he would never leave or forsake us. (Hebrews 13:15)
The apostle Paul really grasped this idea.
Romans 10:15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
Romans 15:33 Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen
2 Thessalonians 3:16 Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all
In conclusion, we must be prepared with the gospel of peace, which is Jesus. Jesus is our gospel of peace. If we are to look for peace in our life, we need to look for Jesus. We should be continually searching for Christ and His righteousness. He is the only true peace we can experience here om Earth. This is a subject we can pretty much start quoting the whole Bible, mentioned over 400 times throughout, but I think we get the main idea, what Ephesians 6 is telling us. When we look up the definition of peace in the dictionary, there will be many different definitions.
DEF::cessation of or freedom from any strife or dissension. :freedom of the mind from annoyance, distraction, anxiety, an obsession, etc.; tranquility; serenity. These are just a few
We can notice that these are not physical attributes but will be very spiritual. Where our mindset is. When we are filled with Christ in our body, there is no room for any of the above attributes, but the freedom of them. It is not that we would not experience them but have the freedom to not have them consume us. If we are attacked by the enemy and are experience not having Jesus’s peace in us, we will surely fall. We would not be able to stand properly without the gospel of peace in us.
