MY STRENGTH IS OF/IN THE LORD

My Strength is of/in the Lord...       Ephesians 6: 10     April 13, 2004

                          “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord,
                                     and in the power of his might.” 

Everyone  who attends worship or Bible study at an evangelical place 
of worship has at some time been encouraged  to  have faith and to be 
a  “strong”  Christian.  Having  heard  this kind of  encouragement all 
my life,  it has been  refreshing  during  the  past  several  years  to be 
involved in Bible study demonstrating how this is accomplished.  The  
key for a Child of God’s  strength is  “in the Lord,” without  any might 
of his own.  The 6th chapter of Ephesians is key to understanding this 
strength.  Verses  11 through 17 list the armor  available  to  believers,  
and the order in which it is acquired.  (see Eph 6: 10)

    The first of the seven parts to the armor is truth.  (some may  not list 
the last,  prayer, as part of the armor)  It is important to  remember the
Word  of  God  says,  “Thy  Word  is  truth."  It  also  lists  the  Word  of  
God;  the Sword of the Spirit.  Since the Word is speaking in metaphor,
that could be expected.  Use of  metaphor in the Word is always appro-
priate, but every use of metaphoric language is not of  necessity bound 
to a  previous use of  that word in another setting.  Here we have truth 
likened  to a  belt or girdle.  The use of  a  belt or  girdle  by a soldier of  
Bible times was essential. Parts of  the armor were held in place by the 
belt and without the belt a soldier was  severely  handicapped.  Just as 
a modern  day soldier  requires a  belt,  the  same  is  true of  the Child
of God.  Without  truth there would be no reason for the battle and no
ammunition for the fight.  Since we  battle against ideas and  ideology,
truth is the basis for everything the Child of God does.  

The second part of the armor,  listed in Ephesians is the breastplate 
of righteousness.  This is a difficult part of the armor to quantify since 
righteousness is in two parts.  First and foremost, the Child of God has 
no righteousness of his own to put on and  must  put on righteousness 
of Jesus Christ through faith.  There is, however;  the  element of  per-
sonal  "righteousness"  or a state of  being  above reproach in conduct 
in the world.  The second part of the breastplate is  the outer garment, 
a result of an inward condition. That inner condition is Christ, taking 
residence in our lives and living through us.  The  results  is  apparent 
righteousness,  to  our  culture,  but  in no  way can  the Child of  God
think himself  as better  than others,  becoming   proud or  "self  righ-
teous."    With   the  Apostle  Paul  we  are  to  consider  ourselves  the
“chief of sinners.”   This  armor  does,  in  fact,  prevent  Satan  in  the 
form of the people around us  from bringing  accusations  against our  
good  conduct.   (“Who  shall   lay any  thing  to  the  charge  of  God’s  
elect?   It  is  God that  justifieth.  Who is  he  that  condemneth?  It  is 
Christ that died, yea rather,  that  is  risen  again,  who is  even at  the 
right hand of  God, who  maketh intercession for us.”   
                                                                               Romans 8: 33-34)

      The third part of the armor builds on  the first two.  When we think 
of having our  “feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of  peace,” 
the passage,  “How beautiful on the mountain are the feet of  him that 
bringeth good tidings...”  Isaiah 52: 7 (In this instance, the same meta-
phor is used;  both passages for preaching the gospel.)  Not only must 
we be well prepared in the truth of  God’s word, in particular we must 
be  knowledgeable  and  prepared  to use  the gospel of  our lord Jesus 
Christ (Prince of Peace) as a firm foundation or footing.

The fourth element of  the armor for a child of God is  faith.  “Above 
all, taking  the shield  of  faith,  wherewith  ye shall be  able to  quench 
all  the fiery darts of the wicked.”  When one has his faith grounded in 
the Lord Jesus Christ,  he is unshakable.  This shield protects us from
anything the enemy might hurl at  us and is the basis for  our relation-
ship  with our God.  One warning at this  point.  We do not  have faith 
in faith.  The only entity worthy of our faith is the Lord God and  he is 
faithful.


     There is no one part of  the armor more important or most impor-
tant, for it all works together  in God’s plan for our  deliverance and  
our success in spiritual warfare.  Along  With the other parts of  the 
armor,  the  helmet of salvation is  indispensable.   This, our current 
condition,  is our ultimate state in Christ. The helmet metaphor sim-
ply means the enemy is unable to deal a mortal  blow to the Child of 
God because of  the salvation of his soul,  and we believe in security
of the one who has this salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.

  The only offensive weapon in our arsenal is the Word of  God; the
Sword of  the Spirit.  This element of  the armor cannot  be separa-
ted from any of the above. The Word of God,  the truth we use, tea-
ches us righteousness,  contains the  gospel of  peace and  gives the 
basis for our  faith and salvation.  It is not only our handbook, with 
instruction on how to fight  the good fight.  The word of God  is  the 
weapon that  cuts through spiritual  darkness  and  the power to be
used against the enemy, Satan.  It  is  important  to  remember how 
Christ,  who  is  called  the "Word,"  used  the  Word to  keep  Satan
at bay during his temptation in  the wilderness.  Since the enemy is
Satan, his name means adversary. We must remember, our friends,
acquaintances,  relatives  and  others with whom we may come into 
contact, are not the enemy, any more than you or I were the enemy 
before coming to  Christ in salvation.  This  Word  of  God  is used to 
lead others to our Lord, and to disciple them, or school them in that 
new, eternal relationship.     

Finally, there  is prayer.  This is our means of communication with 
our resource.  It could also be called logistical support.  Everything 
we need or desire in the conflict is available at the throne of  grace. 
We have a  Father  who  is available 24/7  as  the  need  arises.  The 
only weakness  relating to prayer is, most of  us do not  take advan-
tage of  the privilege of communication with our  God  as we  ought.  
This is the only possible reason we  find ourselves  overwhelmed by 
the enemy at  times.  In order  to  achieve a  victory,  a soldier  must 
maintain communication with headquarters at all times, at all costs.

To close,  there is  a source of  strength not  mentioned here.   It is our
fellowship  with  like  minded  believers in  Jesus Christ within  a local 
church  body.  We  call  this a "body of  baptized  believers,"  or  those  
who are like minded, having similar faith, goals and mindset as do we. 
We draw much from such a  resource.   This resource is  not  included 
in the armor of God since it is not always dependable, made up of per-
sons not unlike ourselves.

   
                                                              donporter 8.04.12, edited 8.27.14