The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him. The Lord is the strength of his people, a fortress of salvation for his anointed one. Save your people and bless your inheritance; be their shepherd and carry them forever.

--Parallel verses:
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭6‬:‭10‬-‭13‬
Finally, 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, and after you have done everything, to stand.

Imagine with me for a moment, that a soldier commissioned a well-known armorer to build him the best armor money could buy. He paid a healthy sum. It was to be delivered to the battlefield. When the day approached, it was delivered and it was indeed the best armor money could buy. There was, oddly, also a money bag with it and a note. Half of the money he had paid was returned and the note said this: “I ran out of metal and so I was only able to build you armor for half of your body. The armor for the other side will arrive in two weeks and I will build it then.”

So the man went into battle with armor only on his left side (which covered his heart). The blows he took against that armor did minimal damage, if any, it was so well built. But the blows he took on the right side were brutal and set him back in his ability to fight. He ended up in the infirmary awaiting treatment.

This morning as I prayed and asked God to impress upon me his thoughts and his heart, he gave me this picture of a man fighting spiritual battles with only half of his God-given spiritual armor on. He was fighting the other battles only relying on his own muscles and strength.

Now the enemy is crafty and cunning and he smartly focused his attack on this man where he did not have his spiritual armor on. And his attacks were successful and they wounded the man. I have seen this play out in my own life and in the lives of those I love, my family and friends. Half-armored fighting is always painful!

The difference from the physical story at the beginning and the spiritual battle is this: the man fighting the spiritual battle had access to the armor for his whole body, but out of pride he only wanted to put on half of it so he could do some of the fighting in his own strength. He wanted to rely on his own muscles he thought were strong enough on their own.

Do I fight my spiritual battles with only half of my armor on? Will I submit to God’s sovereignty and surrender my whole body to him? Will I put on the FULL ARMOR of God?

Our Ephesians passage is clear about this. Partial armor is really not that helpful. We must take the time to fully armor up. Only then will we be able to stand firm, and when all the attacks are levied by the evil one … simply be Left Standing. Only one in a battle remains standing. The victor is the one standing over the defeated foe. And this fully-armored fighting spiritually gives us the joy of the Lord, which is our strength.

This is the Armor of God: Salvation/sanctification, righteousness, faith, God’s Word, truth, peace, a readiness to share the gospel of Jesus Christ, and prayer (Eph. 6:14-18).

Lord, you gave me spiritual armor forged in the hard trials and sacrifices of Jesus Christ, and perfected by his blood. I need to be fully-armored, as I armor up in the morning. Teach me to take time to receive the gifts you give me and process through the attacks of fear, worry, and false identity. I need to give you all the fears as I call them out by name. And then, take time to fully armor up. Then I will be fighting my battles 100% in your strength and not partially in my own strength, which is not really that strong at all. ARMOR UP!