The Armor of God.

The great theme of the letter of the apostle Paul to the Ephesians is God's purpose to establish and complete His body, the church of Christ.
He starts explaining about:
· Our position in Christ;
· What happens when we receive our new life in Christ;
· About himself as an apostle, and
· Makes a prayer for us.
Then he goes on to clarify the body of Christ, the unity of the Church, as it should be our new proceed.
Since then, Paul shows how to community life, the Christian community, and various duties within the home, ie, the subordination of one another in the Christian family.
· Duties of the couple;
· Duties of parents;
· Duties of children;
· Duties of employees;
· Duties of employers.
In the end, a council, almost one order, ie, a duty on using the panoply of God.
Why is it that the apostle Paul, who has been talking of things peculiar `Christian life at home and at church, complete with a typical military dress?
The protection of believers
In Ephesians 6:10 to 20, we call to seek spiritual power, the power of God, and clothe His armor.
(Vrs 10) - strong in the Lord and His power
(Vrs 11) - wear the whole armor of God
(Vrs 13) - wear the whole armor of God
(Vrs 14) - stand firm:
· (14) is girded
· (14) wearing
· (15) feet with shoes
· (16) using the shield
· (17) using the helmet
· (17) and the sword
· (18) pray in mind ...
· (19) also pray for me that, remaining in Him, I may speak boldly, as I should do.
That power is conferred through the influence and operation of the Holy Spirit, therefore, the search for the Lord supplies us this power.
The power is given to the soul, transforming it into the image of Christ (II Corinthians 3:18), assuring the victory of the believer and the defeat of evil powers that seek to destroy the image of Christ in us. This is the renewal of the mind (Ephesians 4:23) and the lining of the new man (Ephesians 4:24), which is to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). It is as if Paul had said: "Become powerful by such means."
This power is of God and in His strength we get the victory.
Victory against whom? - Eph 6: 10-12
Victoria using what? - Ephesians 6: 13-20
As the power of God is, so is the armor, which are the weapons of offense and defense, which He gives us to fight against our enemies - the demonic hosts of Satan - always prepared for mortal combat .
This armor is made up of truth, righteousness, the power of the Gospel, faith, the salvation of the inherent powers of the intimate operation of the Holy Spirit that leads us towards our heritage, and also the Word of God, ie His redeeming and empowering message of Christ, with its many provisions.
The armor shall be coated as a soldier prepares for battle by equipping yourself with the pieces of protection and defense of their equipment. The parts of the armor, of course, are presented in the order in which the soldiers wore before.
Armour's translation of the Greek panoply, from whence the modern term range, collective term that means armor. Thus, Paul advises us here a complete conditioning of deep spiritual preparation, deficient in nothing, implying that a victorious battle can not occur if we settle for anything less than the full armor.
So many believers unsuccessful, illustrating the fact that such person is not fitted with all the provisions they Divine are offered, for reasons of laziness, indifference, or for not wanting to recognize the seriousness of the battle force and cunning of the enemy.
In the original Greek, the term used to talk about the armor of the heavily armed soldiers. Yes, a successful believer must be heavily armed.
The armor is from God, of course that this armor belongs to Him, and He gives it her, for He is the supreme standard of the virtues mentioned as righteousness, truth and faith. Those virtues that give us victory over sin and Christian victory in the conflict can only be given by God himself, so there are human qualities.
Our party must be the appropriation of the power of God as the power that is in Christ, and we must put on full armor of God living in heavily armed and heavily protected.
2nd Part
The word fight, literally, dispute, shows that our struggle against evil requires preparation, strength and courage. This word, in the original, is used exclusively in this paper, focusing on the intensity of combat, and to know that the Christian soldier should seek the preparation and strength. The fight against evil, therefore, should be seen as a serious battle, nothing easy. Perhaps the defeat of so many believers, in their moral lives, is due to the fact they do not take this fight very seriously, being too undisciplined soldiers.
In Greek, the wiles of the devil wants to say gimmicks, plans, schemes, and in military language, strategies, showing that it is not a trap any but a well prepared trap, designed so that your application gets deep into the "damage ". Their war is waged by a strategic system that seeks to take advantage of every opportunity to attack. When such a word applies to Satan, always indicates his evil designs because it is the great ludibriador, engodador, libelous and our accuser. Being in command of Satan's evil forces, it is obvious that the whole spiritual armor is necessary for the believer, with all prayer and supplication, so that the forces of evil are defeated. The fact that so many believers are defeated in battle is evidence that has not been given due importance in preparing for spiritual battle, acquiring the necessary spiritual armor and complete, nor pray with sufficient perseverance to the devil to be overcome.
The pieces of armor
Although the Greek and Roman armor were different, probably the armor in question is the Roman, but an older model that seen by Paul. The whole armor consisted of a shield, sword, spear, helmet and armor of the legs (which covered the thighs to the knees) and were made especially for the size of each soldier, or customized, making it impossible to replace or otherwise handle perfectly person.
Paul was a man intensely traveled the Roman Empire, having been detained and released several times, and be familiar with the armor of his time. In the letter to the Ephesians, the apostle added the belt and sword in his list, but these two objects are not part of the armor worn in his time, were very suitable for the purpose of illustrating the spiritual equipment in the defeat against evil.
Description of the pieces that made up the ancient armor used in the illustration of Paul.
Weapons of defense:
(Vrs 17) - the helmet, which protected the head, was done in various ways and various metals, and decorated with a variety of figures. Some helmets had a crest, or as ornaments or for the purpose of terrorizing, with figures of lions, crows or italics, etc.. Paul makes the helmet represent salvation.
(Vrs 14) - the belt or belt was placed around the waist, useful to tighten the armor around the body, but also to support the daggers, short swords or other weapons that could be hung there. Paul's Belt symbol of truth.
(Vrs 14) - the breastplate, which consisted of two parts, called "wings". The first covering the entire region of the chest, the front of the chest protecting the major organs of life, and the other covering a part of the back. Paul does this represent justice.
The greaves, boots and shoes, protected from the knee down.
The shield, of various types and various forms, in Paul's day there were two types that were more common, one of them was called thureos intended for heavily armed soldiers.
Offensive weapons:
The boom, usually brass or iron, with a long rod of hard wood.
The dart, smaller and lighter the spear was thrown against the enemy is still at a distance.
The blade, which have various shapes and sizes, were made of various metals. This is the symbol used by Paul to indicate the presence of the Holy Spirit.
It was customary among the ancient Greeks and Romans, after they had covered their armor, eat together and precede the attack made with a plea to the gods, asking for success. And this custom is reflected in verse 18, because, besides the coat of armor, Paul urges us to do it with "all prayer and supplication praying at all times in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication."
"Stay strong" in the original means offering resistance, stand firm, implying that the believer must resist the assaults of evil, must battle successfully, trying to get the win. This expression indicates the language of the soldiers: DO NOT EVER GO BACK! GO BACK? NEVER!
Instead of running away and declaring defeat.
Our desire is that you may have seen the importance of asking the Lord armor, believing in its possession for the daily battle. And you trust the power of God strengthening him.

I hope these brief remarks on the ark of the covenant have been somewhat enlightening for you. May God (a) bless.
By: Pastor Valni Borges - BrazilChristian Ministry of Evangelism
A hug to all brothers in Christ Jesus.