#094 "Put it On Isn't a Checklist -- It's an Identity" (Ephesians 6:11)

"Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil." (Eph. 6:11)

What if the reason you feel unprepared for spiritual battle… isn’t because you don’t know enough—but because you haven’t fully put it on?

In this episode, host Kate steps into Ephesians 6:11 and uncover what it really means to “put on the whole armor of God.” This isn’t a surface-level habit or a spiritual checklist—it’s an invitation into full immersion in Christ.

Using a powerful picture of what it feels like to be completely immersed in a different world, we begin to see what Paul is actually calling us into: not casual Christianity, but identity-level transformation.

You’ll learn: Why “putting on” the armor is far more active and personal than we often think, How the enemy strategically works through deception, distraction, and distortion, What it means to live from your position in Christ—not just know about it, and Why many of us feel spiritually unsteady… and how to begin standing firm. 

If you’ve ever felt unsure how to actually live out your faith in the middle of real struggles, this episode will help you move from simply hearing truth… to stepping into it.

Because the battle is real. But so is the victory—and the armor you’ve been given to stand.

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Transcript

Welcome And The Big Theme

Kate 0:00

Hey guys, this is Kate from Abidible.com, and you're listening to the Abidible Podcast. I'm just a regular wife and mom who's had my life transformed by learning to study the Bible on my own. If I can, you can. On this show, I help you know and love God more by abiding in Him through His Word yourself. Star Wars Galaxy's Edge at Disneyland is designed. Disney is so, so good at this. It is designed as a living land, and it offers a total immersion experience where guests are really literally transported to the planet Batu to live their own Star Wars story. It's it's so much more than just visiting a theme park. They focus on 100% authenticity from the language to the signage to the themed food. The whole point is to make you feel like you are in another world. They use quotes like if you talk to any of the cast members, like bright suns for good morning and rising moons for good evening. They say things like only the ancients know, which they talk about if they don't know the answer to something that they're asked, or Till the Spire, a common farewell in the Black Spire outpost. When talking about this land, source from CNBC said every aspect of this land, from the droid tracks on the pavement to the spires that reach the sky is 100% authentically Star Wars. Disney Parks blog says it's a hidden, authentic Star Wars world where you can build your own lightsaber and sip blue milk like you've lived on Batu your whole life. You're not just visiting a land, you're stepping into your own story in a galaxy far, far away. And even things like the Rides, Disney Imagineering said that rise of the resistance will blur the lines between fantasy and reality. Our good friend Ian, who you guys know edits the podcast for us, has a lifelong buddy named Nick, who is a massive, well, they both are, but Ian brought Nick to Disneyland to experience Galaxy's Edge for the first time, like over a year ago, a couple years ago. And I just got to meet Nick and I asked him because I had seen a video that Ian had shared with us. Actually, Kelsey, Ian's wife shared it with me about Nick's very sweet experience seeing Galaxy's Edge for the first time. And so I asked him about it, and he said that walking in, I mean, he got emotional. Like let's just say it was a very special emotional experience for him because what he was telling me in person when I just met him is that he grew up with Star Wars and as a boy, and then all his life, it was such a significant story to him, completely obsessed with all things Star Wars. So to step into this land and experience it in that way was super special for him. And so he got emotional and he was just sharing like that. He and Ian felt like completely immersed, like everywhere that they went. The things that I was just sharing with you, from the science to the language, to even how the cast members talk to the food, to the rides, you feel like you're there. You feel like you're in Star Wars, you feel like you're in a galaxy far, far away. And so they would be in there and they'd say, immersed, immersed everywhere that they'd go, seeing all the experiences, having all the experiences that they had. But then when they left the land, or if anything wasn't on point, they would say, Demersed, demersed, which is so true with Disney. Disney does such a good job at immersion. And and I'll tell you, I have a little clip that I want to play for you. You guys know, probably know. If not, here you go. We are huge Disney fans ourselves. And in our most recent trip to Disney, I got accosted. It's not the right word, but I got questioned, shall I say, by a stormtrooper. And I am not a lifelong Star Wars fan. In fact, it wasn't until about five years ago that I watched all the movies for the very first time before we went to Disneyland because I had heard about Galaxy's Edge. And I was like, well, I don't want to miss this whole land in the park that I know nothing about. So we binged all of the movies, which completely changed and improved my experience. I was able to really enjoy it once I understood. I can't imagine if I had gone, I would have not had the same experience at all. So it was really cool to watch the movies and then to go and have the experience. But still, I'm not Nick. I'm not Ian. I have not watched these movies all my life. I'm not a Star Wars nerd. Sorry, guys. So when this stormtrooper came up and asked me what I was doing with my camera, you'll see how I had no idea what to say. Yeah, so clearly you could tell I had no idea what to say, and it was really intimidating. But today, what we're going to be talking about actually has a lot to do with immersion. We all immerse ourselves in something. And the point today is that you should be more like Nick with Star Wars than me with Star Wars, in the sense that you and I, we want to fully immerse ourselves in Christ so that we're ready for the daily battle that we face in the realm that we cannot see. And you get there by spending time, by learning, by studying, by experiencing, just as Nick has all his life. And so transitioning that thought to Christ and putting on Christ. That's what we're going to be discussing today. And you're going to see why I introduced this idea, this theme today, with just the idea of immersion and even demersion. So our verse for today is Ephesians 6.11, which says, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. Now, quick refresher. Last week we talked about Ephesians 6.10. Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might, and really understood that this is passive voice, meaning that it is something that is done for you, done to you, that that's really the idea of strengthening yourself in the Lord. God gives us his strength. We stand in his might, we stand in his power. And if you miss that episode, stop here and go back because Paul intentionally talks first about being strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might before we ever put on the armor. You can't put on the armor, you can't wear the armor, you can't use the elements of the armor if you are not first strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. And so there's a purpose to Paul's order. And if you've missed that episode, I really encourage you to listen to that one first. So that was last week. Today we're going to be talking about putting on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. And then next week, we are going to be diving into the whole point, the whole reason why we need to be strong and stand and wear the armor as we look at what we are actually wrestling against: flesh and blood, rulers, authorities, cosmic powers of this present darkness and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. So that's where we're going next week. But today, this emphasis is going to be on putting on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. Now we are going to revisit this. Paul's going to use this phrasing, similar phrasing, one more time in verse 13. So this is verse 11. Next week is 12, spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. And then he's going to repeat again in verse 13, therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand firm. And then he starts 14 again with stand. So because we're we're going to hear this theme of standing, and it's repeated more times in verse 13, I'm going to hold off on discussing what it means to stand. And I'm also going to hold off on discussing the idea of the whole armor, since that's again repeated in verse 13. We're going to address that when we get there. So today, what we're going to be focusing on specifically from verse 11 is what it means to put on. We're going to take a pretty in-depth look at that Greek word because it's significant in our understanding. And then we're going to focus on what the schemes of the devil are. So that's just gives you a little roadmap for what we're going to be doing today. But real quick, if you want to be a part of what God's doing here at Abidible for just a few dollars a month, you can support our mission to help people know and love God by abiding in him through his word themselves. Check out the link in the show description to learn more. Okay, so we all immerse ourselves in something. And the idea today is going to be about learning to immerse ourselves in Christ, which for me, maybe for you, is feels challenging, feels confusing. How do I do that? And our goal is to be sort of like Nick and Ian, to recognize, to have the desire, first of all, to be fully immersed, to enjoy the experience of being fully immersed in Christ, to be all in, and to avoid by any means possible being demersed. So, first of all, let's take a look at this Greek word put on. It is in duo, which is a Greek word that means to clothe oneself, to be dressed in the sense of sinking into a garment. If you guys are doing this study with me and you looked up this word in the interlinear tool, like on Blue Letter Bible, you saw that it meant to sort of to sink into a garment, which is like, what does that mean? So the idea here, this word is an aorist imperative middle voice. Yes, I had to look that up. I have no clue what that means, which is intended to communicate that it is an in a decisive, urgent command. Do this now fully. It is the idea of being actively involved yourself. You are to clothe, to immerse yourself in the armor of God. Okay, sinking into a garment. This is not casual or simply external, but it is immersive. It is not something that you just throw on, but it is the idea of stepping into something, sinking into it, being enveloped by it. And this nuance really matters because it means that the armor is about more than just clothing. Paul is using this metaphor as he is in prison. Remember, we learned in our intro episode, check it out if you haven't, because that was really significant for foundation and understanding where Paul was writing from, who he was writing to, who the Ephesians are, what Ephesus was. A lot of really important foundational pieces in our understanding of this passage. But as we learn, Paul is in prison, probably house arrest in Rome. And that means some say even that he was handcuffed to a Roman guard. So whether he was physically handcuffed or he was being guarded by a Roman guard. And this time period, like we have to understand, I'm not going to the grocery store and seeing someone in armor. I'm not headed to the airport and seeing someone in armor. We're not walking around the neighborhood and seeing someone just hanging out in armor, right? Like that's not our reality, but it was Paul's reality. That was how the Roman soldiers dressed themselves. And so he is probably in a very personal, intimate way seeing someone, a guard, a Roman guard wearing a full armor, helmet, breastplate, sword, shoes, all of the things that he's going to use here in this metaphor for us to put on the full armor. He's seeing that. And while it is a metaphor, we have to understand that it is actually meant to be more than that. Okay. This is Paul talking about physical pieces of armor, belt, breastplate, helmet, shield, sword, shoes, all of it. But he's trying to make a spiritual point, a deeper point, a much more significant point. And what he's he's expressing here is that we are to have a change of identity, and that change of identity is expressed through what clothes us by what we put on, what covers us. Paul wants us to understand that this is an identity thing. God provides the armor for us, which we're gonna get into today, but we have to be the ones to put it on. This is not just an idea of like Paul's not just saying be aware of the armor, but step fully, okay. Be fully immersed into what God has provided for you. Live in it. And the problem is we often misunderstand this into thinking that it's like a checklist or a metaphor or a nice devotional idea, or like we talked about last week, some sort of incantation or spell, like I put on the helmet, I put on the breastplate, I put like some sort of um routine or regimen or checklist, you know, that we must do in order to fight our battles. But Paul is like using this metaphor and using this word and duo to express something much more comprehensive, much more immersive than that. It is an identity, it is a full immersion of stepping into something, being enveloped by it, living in it, and having it become your identity. So here's the issue for me and for you that we have a former life and we have a former self, and we still have a battle even against the flesh and our previous identity. Ephesians, Paul talks about this. Remember, we talked about the book of Ephesians. The first half is our gospel story, who we are in Christ, our position in Christ, what the gospel accomplished for us. And then the second half of Ephesians is all about walking in that, walking in a manner worthy of the Lord who did all of that for us, practical daily life. And so part of what Paul is saying, he talks all in Ephesians. We're gonna get into this in a moment. He talks about our position in Christ because of what Jesus accomplished and his finished work on the cross. But Paul wants to remind them of what they are to put off as a result of what Jesus did. And he reminds them who they were, who he was. And so he does this a little bit in chapter two. He says, You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the courts of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. This was our immersion. This is who we were. Uh, he says, Among whom we all, and himself included, we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. And we have a big butt God coming there. We will get back to that in a moment. But here's another little picture that he gives us in chapter four of our previous life. Now, this I say and testify, so this is verse 17. This is I say and testify in the Lord that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding. So this was who we once were as well, right? Darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to the hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to put on, right? Sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. And so then he does a but and he's going to transition, assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him as the truth in Christ Jesus. That's not what you've learned. He's saying that's not you any longer. You have been taught to put off your old self. This is verse 22, 422. Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your mind and to put on. And then he's going to get into. So this put on the full armor of God is not the first time that we hear Paul saying put on, not only in the book of Ephesians, but there are other places where he has developed this idea, and we're going to get into that. But but that's our issue, right? Like, just like me trying to talk to the stormtrooper, like uh the like I didn't know what to say. I didn't know how to like, I don't know, how to engage in that. Like Ian and Nick surely would have, or any other Star Wars obsessor, but I didn't. And so sometimes that's how we feel in our walk with Christ. That's sometimes how we feel when we encounter something in the spiritual realm. We don't know how to walk with Christ, how to put on fully immersed the armor of God, because we are still learning what it means to put off the flesh, who we used to be, how we used to walk, how we used to think, what we used to go to for comfort, for peace, for anything. And so this is a little bit of a struggle for us. Like and it's what Paul, it's it's why Paul is calling for us to understand the fullness of this, the full immersion of this, that it's not just a checklist, that it's not just a metaphor, not just a nice devotional idea. It is intended to be a full identity, clothing yourself in the sense of sinking into a garment, letting it become who you are. So that's our first sort of battle. We just kind of don't know how to do it. We're not naturally prone to understand what it means to fully immerse ourselves in Christ. The second very important issue is that we're clothing ourselves, putting on the whole armor of God is essential because of who we face. And that's what Paul's getting into here at the end of the verse, to stand against the schemes of the devil. And that's what he's going to get into in verse 12, which we are going to deal with next week. So let's first try to figure out, better get a better understanding of who the devil is and what his schemes are. So first, I want to mention, in case you're doing the study with me, that you saw probably under Schemes of the Devil for cross-references, that it was a massive list. There are a ton of verses that talk about who the devil is and what he does in the Bible. And so I'm going to sort of summarize it by using uh part of the Priscilla Shire study on Ephesians on the full armor of God that I did actually several years ago. Some of you maybe have done it too. It's exceptional, but she does a nice job of summarizing not only the schemes, but also who the devil is. So I'm going to talk about two parts here from her study. First of all, what are the tactics? And she says that they refer to deceptive strategies, schemes, dirty tricks, which we also saw in our word study schemes. You guys saw mean cunning, arts, deceit, craft, trickery, while the idea of lying in wait. So schemes or tactics are dirty tricks. His attacks, she says, are always wrapped in the packaging of deception, always designed to manipulate the truth about God and about you. What Satan wants is to lead you into sin so that fellowship is broken between you and God, between you and the one who provides your true power and strength. Then, weakened and vulnerable, you'll be susceptible to his plans to destroy you. That's why he seeks to stay hidden as much as possible. She says, So don't believe for one second that the false ideologies of the culture, obsession with appearance, perceptions of worth, the redefinition of the family, all of it, have been developed by chance. The evil temptations that appeal to your specific desires are not accidental. The discord and disharmony that threaten your most valuable relationships are not coincidental. The temptations that tug at you during your weakest moments are not uncalculated. None of these things are happenstance. They are his deceptive tactics and that of his evil entourage, specifically designed and personalized to keep you from experiencing abundant life. So this is comprehensive. Satan's attacks are strategic, they're dirty, they are comprehensive. And so that's why Paul is saying that we have to put on, be fully immersed, let it be our identity, let it be enveloped by the full armor of God. Our life is not a playground, it's a battleground. We have a real enemy who disguises himself as an angel of light. His servants disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. The demons disguise themselves as servants of righteousness at 2 Corinthians 11, 14, and 15. There is a strategy, a dirty, dirty strategy here. And Satan's desire is to break our relationship, to break our bond and our fellowship between us and God in order that, or so that we can be susceptible to his plans. Okay. So so there's a full court press in terms of what the devil is trying to do on a daily basis to destroy and interrupt our fellowship with God. So that brings me to the next point that I wanted to discuss from Priscilla Shire, which just is on point. She gives us eight descriptions of who Satan is based on how he is named in scripture. What's in a name? So the first is that Satan means adversary of God. This is Job 1 6, comes from Job 1 6. The enemy is antagonistic to the plans and purposes of God. He will always seek to misconstrue and malign the character of God and to Thwart the purposes of God. So he is the adversary of God. Two, devil means slanderous. The enemy's intention is to defame and malign the character and intentions of God and others. He will whisper lies in hope of denigrating God's reputation, which in turn will diminish, this is what he's trying to do, diminish your confidence in God and cause you to mistrust his direction. The verses here are Matthew 4.1. Hello, that was our study, right? Then the devil tempted Jesus in the wilderness, right? Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. That was Matthew 4.1. And then also that is referenced in Ephesians 4, 25 to 27. The third thing, third name, Lucifer, means day star or shining one. We talked a lot about this in our Into the Wilderness study. The enemy's appearance is attractive, right? He was a guardian cherub, beautiful, created by God. And so his appearance, he disguises himself as an angel of light, as we just read. It is attractive, alluring, and charming. But because of this, he can approach you. Listen to this in an appealing way to lure and entice your attention and admiration. This deceptive package will often be the furthest from repulsive or foul, making his handiwork difficult to detect. And the reference verses here are Isaiah 14, 12 to 14 and Luke 10, 18. Fourth, so we've got the adversary of God, slanderous, devil means slanderous, Lucifer means day star or shining one. And fourth, tempter means one who tempts people for the purpose of enticing them to sin. The enemy seeks to mislead your passions so that you will seek to fulfill them in perverted, illegitimate ways. He'll intentionally set personalized temptations in your path that are distorted variations of God's gifts to you. So Matthew 4.3 and 1 Thessalonians 3.5 there. Number five, ruler of the world means the enemy's approach is not isolated to individuals. He has, and we see this, we see the effects of this right now in the world, right? He has collective, cultural, and global methods designed to derail entire nations and people groups from God's intended plan. He carefully crafts and proliferates philosophies, doctrines, and moral perspectives across entire demographics in order to steer whole societies away from God. So the references there, John 12, 31, and 2 Corinthians 4, 4.6. He is called the Prince of the Power of the Air or the Prince of Darkness. And this means that the devil does not work alone. He is the chief leader of the tribe of dark forces who seek to carry out his purposes in the domain of darkness, a very real yet invisible realm that affects everything seen and heard in the physical, visible realm. So these are the third of the angels who rebelled with him. We talked heavily about this as well in our Into the Wilderness study. The references here are Ephesians 2.2 and Ephesians 6.12. Then number seven, accuser means one who condemns. The enemy seeks to weaken the believer's confidence and influence by conveying condemnation and guilt. He points out and constantly reminds you of sin and mistakes in order to cripple the believer with discouragement and shame. So the reference there is Revelation 12.10. And the last name she mentions is father of lies, which means liar and falsifier. The enemy's character contains no truth and no light. When he speaks and acts, he will always seek to falsify and deceive. He will blatantly and unapologetically misconstrue the truths of your personal reality and circumstance. He will also seek to mislead you with inaccuracies regarding God, his word, and his plans for you. And that's from John 8, 44. So our first problem is that it can feel a little unnatural, a little uncertain to put off the old self, the familiar, comfortable old self, and walk in the new self to be fully immersed, put on the armor of God. And the second issue here is that we face a very real dirty strategic enemy. And all of this, third problem, is taking place in a realm that we cannot see. Just because we aren't in Galaxy's Edge right now doesn't mean that Galaxy's Edge doesn't exist in Anaheim, California. It's there. I can't see it right now, but it's there. Similarly, transition with me, the heavenly places, the realm of all this spiritual activity is a realm that we cannot see with our eyes, though we feel the results, the effects of it on a daily basis. So Paul is very intentional about using this phrase heavenly places multiple times in the book of Ephesians. We're going to see it next week in verse 12. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil, where? In the heavenly places. And he also talks in Ephesians 3.10 that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. So there is this whole realm that we cannot see where a lot is happening and we are having and feeling and experiencing the effects of what is going on in that spiritual realm, in those heavenly places. And Paul wants us to be aware of it. And Paul wants us to understand that we cannot pretend that it doesn't exist. We can't stick our head in the sand. We cannot go about our lives as if the heavenly places are not real. So we're going to learn a lot more about this specific phrase, the heavenly places, right after this message. I'm behind. You can jump in at any point. And honestly, this is the kind of study that you don't want to just listen to. You want to, you need to step into it yourself. Because Paul says, put on the full armor of God. And we're going to see that that is active. It's personal. It's something you do. I can't do it for you. And one of the clearest ways we begin to be able to do that is by actually opening the word for ourselves, reading it, marking it up, asking questions, slowing down and abiding in it. Because when you do, it stops being my study and it becomes your study. You start seeing things, making connections, and applying it right where you are to your circumstances. So that's where this moves from just hearing the truth, just hearing me talk about the truth, to actually putting it on, putting on the full armor of God. So if you haven't grabbed the study yet, jump in. You can learn more at the link in the show description. Don't worry about being behind. You're not. You're right on time. And now back to the show. In our verse today, Paul is saying, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. He's not saying maybe sorta kinda, you might be able to. He's saying if you do this, then this. How can he have that level of confidence? Well, he's basing it on the finished work of Christ. Because here's the big shift. We have already been clothed. What Christ did on the cross for us gave us a new identity, a new life, so that we can live in and walk in what he has purchased for us. So there's a little bit of a complication here because it has already been given to us by God, but we also play an active role. He provides the armor, but we have to put it on. And part of that just means being in agreement with what he has accomplished for us and what he says about us. And that's why it was so important, as I've said multiple times now, for us to read the entire book of Ephesians, you know, chapter six, verse 10, where we start our study, starts with the word finally. It is a final point that Paul is making to put on the armor of God based on everything, in light of everything that he has already said to us. And so here are our spiritual blessings in Christ. This is the identity that we have been given to walk in, to put on. And it comes from the very beginning, Paul's first chapter of Ephesians. He wants them to know blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing. Where? We said this last week, right? In the heavenly places. Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory. And then Paul prays a prayer for them, wanting them to understand, have God give them the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of their hearts enlightened, having the eyes of our hearts enlightened, that we may know what is the hope to which he has called us, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power. We talked all about this last week, toward us who believe according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at the right hand in the heavenly places. And this is where we see Christ's victory, Christ's position over all powers and authority. Verse 21 says, far above. So Christ is seated in the heavenly places at the right hand of the Father, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church. So that's Christ's position. That's what we've gained. Those are our spiritual blessings, every blessing in the heavenly places. And then this is crazy. This is Ephesians 2.6. It says, Remember before I was talking about you were dead in the trespasses and sins. This is who we once were. This is what we are to put off, walking as sons of disobedience, walking in the course, following the course of this world, the prince of the power of the air. And I said there was a but God coming. This is Ephesians 2.4, but God being rich in a mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We are seated, we have been raised up with him, and right now are seated with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Right now, that is our position. That is the authority. So in this realm that we cannot see, we are seated with Christ. This is a hard concept to understand. I love how Priscilla Scheyer puts this like, what does that mean? This invisible, unseen realm where this battle goes on and on, where it rages, real activity is taking place, that is daily affecting you and I. There are real weapons and battles taking place that are earthly weapons and artillery, which might be impressive, she says here on earth, have no impact. They have I can't fire a bomb, an atom bomb, a nuke into the spiritual realm, into the heavenly places. They have no impact there. Only the ones that have been sanctioned divinely by God, authorized by God, the ones that we're going to learn about in this study, the full armor. Only those weapons can have an effect here in the heavenly places. So the enemy is in heavenly places, the war is raging in heavenly places, and the weapons required for achieving victory are designed to be operational in heavenly places. She says it's easy to feel a bit confused and unsure about how you could possibly engage in this battle, since we are mortal down here on earth under the pile. And that's an understandable thing, she said. And that's where she says it is important to have a lesson in our spiritual location, which is what I was just reading to you. That by salvation, Ephesians 2, 6 says we have been raised up and seated with Christ in the heavenly places. So she says, turns out you're not such an earthling after all. I keep thinking of a galaxy far, far away. This is the heavenly places, far, far away. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. That's 2 Corinthians 10 3. Not only is every spiritual blessing you will ever need for walking in victory in heavenly places yours, but even right now, as you hold this book, as you study Ephesians, you are seated. You too are seated in heavenly places with Christ at the right hand of the Father. She says, pause and let the worship fall over you from that statement. You're not just present in heavenly places, you're sitting down in those heavenly places. So then she goes on to talk about how in ancient times the idea of a king sitting down meant that he had been victorious. It was like a proclamation of victory over the enemy, that that the battle had been accomplished, uh they had won. And so he was sitting down. And so the fact that we are, I mean, it's Paul says seated with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. We we are sitting down because the victory has already been won. And in the sense of being clothed in the armor of God, we have already been clothed in the armor of God because of what Jesus accomplished for us. It is our identity, whether we fully grasp it or not. However, this is where putting it on is about agreement with. We have the attitude of being seated because the victory has already been won. We have the provision of the armor because the victory has already been won. But there is the very daily practical application of living as if it's so, because it is. It is so, but we can often struggle and battle with believing it and walking in it. And that is the process of sanctification. That is the process of living in the identity that he's purchased for us. And so, first we have to understand that Christ Himself won this victory for us by first, what did he do? He put on flesh, he fully immersed himself in our world, becoming like us and experiencing all the brokenness of this world, leaving the right hand of the Father, leaving the heavenly places, leaving perfection to come down and put on flesh, to be fully immersed in the human experience, to do what we cannot do in terms of fully putting on the armor of God, walking faithfully in sinlessness, going to the cross, dying the death that we should have died because of the sin, because of who we were, dead in our trespasses and sins in which we once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air. But we have been saved by grace through faith from our sin because of what Jesus did, what he accomplished by putting on flesh. And this is where a story from Luke is super encouraging. Do you guys know the story in Luke 11 of the strong man and the strongman's armor? I'm gonna read it to you. Jesus is here talking about casting out demons and the authority that he's been given. And he says, But if it is by the finger of God, this is Luke 11, 20, but if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man, Satan, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe. But when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil. Jesus is the stronger man. He has disarmed, we've talked about this many times. He has disarmed Satan and demons by what he accomplished on the cross. This is Colossians 2. Um, he has been disarmed, 2.15, Colossians 2.15, disarmed and embarrassed. He put him to open shame. Ephesians 1:20 to 22 says that he has been overruled. Satan has been overruled by a stronger man, Christ. He has been mastered. We're told this in Philippians 2, 9 through 11. He has been rendered powerless. That's Hebrews 2.14, and all his hard work destroyed. That's 1 John 3:18. Jesus has been victorious. He has already won over the devil. So all of the schemes, all of the things that he's trying to accomplish, we experience victory over because of the victory of Christ. We don't stand, that's the whole point of our previous verse, Ephesians 6.10. We don't stand against him in our own strength. It is very important for us to understand this. We cannot stand against him in our own strength. Satan is too powerful for us. His demons are too powerful for us. We stand in the strength of God, in the power of his might. And that's the whole point of putting on the armor of God. It is the putting on, it is the agreeing, it is the mindset that I am seated because Christ is seated. I look to him, he is seated because he has already been victorious. It's the mindset of being seated so that I can then take action. I cannot resist the devil. Without the armor, I cannot stand against him. So everything that Christ accomplished on the cross is critical to my understanding in this battle. Because Christ put on flesh, because he was victorious, because he battled with God's armor and won. He then gives us the victory. Our victory, our ability to stand clothed in his strength, comes completely from what he accomplished. So our position, our home court advantage is that we are seated in the heavenly places because of what Christ has done. I can put on the armor because of what Christ has done. So we now need to figure out close by this, close with this. How are we to then live based on that knowledge? What does it look like to actually put on the armor of God? Well, putting on the armor is connected directly to our big idea from today, which is just that we are meant to have identity-level immersion in Christ for battle. We are to become what we are already clothed in. Our position has been secured by Jesus. He is the stronger man. He has the superior authority. He has overcome all things demonic and has broken our bonds, right? Satan was the original strongman in the story with Luke, symbolizing his demonic power, which keeps all of us in bondage. The armor that that strongman Satan was wearing is representing his tools and his strategies and his tactics, all those things that we talked about. Putting on the armor of God starts with fully immersing ourselves in the identity that we already have, our position, our home court advantage, that we have been seated in the heavenly places with Christ. How do we do that? Well, a lot of it is what we do here already at Abidible. I was thinking and just talking to Jason about this, saying, as I was first studying the armor, I was like, I don't know how to do this. I don't know how to put this on. And the more I'm getting into it, the more I'm like, yes, I do. This is what I've been doing. This is what you and I do every time we open the word and we dive in and to abide in him and in his truth. It's what we do every time that we commit to and participate in community. When we go to church as a part of the church, the bride of Christ, bearing each other's burdens, praying for one another, confessing our sins, walking in repentance, sitting under teaching in truth, dividing the word of God together correctly, all of those things, that's part of how we put on the full armor of prayer. Every time that we pray, every time that we just cry out, like last week we were saying. There is so much freedom and understanding being strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might comes from boasting in our weakness. What it means to be strong in Christ starts with boasting in our weakness. That's what Paul did. We learned about that in 2 Corinthians 12. That God told him that his power is made perfect in weakness. And so Paul said, Well, then I'm going to boast in my weakness. His grace is sufficient, and his power is made perfect in weakness. So part of putting on the armor is boasting in our weakness and putting on Christ. Like essentially what we're going to gather by the end of this series, it's super exciting that we're going to get to go into the specifics of each piece of the armor because each piece is very intentional. It protects a specific part of the body, which represents a specific part of our walk with Jesus. So it's going to be really exciting. Like understanding how to put on the full armor is going to come more and more as we dive into what each part of the armor is, what it represents, and what it gives us, what having it on actually protects us from and what purpose it serves. But a big piece of just for today, for us to understand that putting on the armor of God is the idea of clothing ourselves fully, being dressed fully, sinking into an identity-level immersion in Christ. That's how we battle. We become what we are already clothed in. And that's a process. That is a process. That's the process of, you know, moving from justification. We are saved by grace through faith to sanctification. That is moving from our identity, what's already been given to us, seated in the heavenlies with Jesus, to daily obedience. Because of what our position is in Christ, we can walk out daily obedience. It's from justification to sanctification, identity to practice, position to daily obedience. There is an awareness of what Nick and Ian were talking about, you know, immersed, immersed, immersed, demersed, like wanting to have a red flag fly up for us because we're walking in the spirit, and a red flag pops up the moment that Satan is trying to do something to demerse us from our walk with Christ, to distract us, to take us out, to take us down. Priscilla Shire says Satan knows that he cannot destroy you. It's too late for that. The best he can do and intends to make full use of is to make your time on earth futile and unproductive, to suffocate you with sin, insecurity, fear, and discouragement until you are unable to live freely and fully. He can't unseat you, but he can intimidate you and render you ineffective and paralyzed. And then she just says, if you feel anything like I do right now, you've had enough. You won't let him have one more moment of victory in your life, not today, not on your watch. And that idea of being alert and watchful, I was just driving my parents to the airport. And then on my way home, I was coming up the hill by my house, and people are going to work. It's early in the morning. So there was a lot of traffic. I'm coming up the hill. There's a whole line of cars coming down the hill. And just as I'm about to pass the guy coming down the hill, a car in his lane, going the same direction as him, who was trying to parallel park, suddenly cut out, like was not paying attention and cut his wheels out the front of his car out in front of the guy who was coming down the hill. I saw that start to happen. And because I saw it and I was driving alert. Thank you, Dad, for teaching me to be a good defensive driver. Because I was driving alert, I swerved to my right to make room for the guy coming down the hill who was going to potentially hit this guy who cut right in front of him as he was trying to parallel park. But that guy was also driving alert and stopped in his hit his brakes. And then everybody behind him was also driving alert. And so what could have potentially been a multi-car accident, him cutting in front, that guy hitting him, swerving a little bit, me not paying attention, me hitting him, that could have been a pretty bad situation. All of that was avoided because the driver coming down the hill was alert, and me coming up the hill, I was alert as well. And that's what I'm super excited to get into next week because what needs to happen for all of us is that we need to, Jesus help us to be more aware of what is going on in the heavenly places, of the spiritual battle that rages on. Though we cannot see it, it is very real and we experience its effects. And it's really important. This is H.B. Charles Jr. that we don't deny. He says it is foolish to deny the existence of the devil. You do not believe the Bible if you do not believe in the devil. If Jesus viewed Satan as a real person, so should you. It is also foolish to become preoccupied with the devil's plans, works, and hosts. We talked about that in our last series. Uh C.S. Lewis quote about the two dangers, either pretending he's not real or being coming obsessed with the devil. So back to Charles, he says the power of Satan is not force but cunning. It is not might but deceit. It is not strength, but trickery. Ephesians 4.14 states that the goal of the spiritual growth process is so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. And I want to close with you with the vision that Paul gives us sort of an envisioned future for us, what it looks like to walk in the spirit once we have put off everything that belongs to our old self. So this is Ephesians 4. We already kind of touched on this, but I want to talk about the new self, what he says to put on. So this is a lengthy passage, and I'm just going to end with this. This is Ephesians 4. First of all, let me just say this. He introduces Ephesians 4 by saying, I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called. To walk in a manner worthy of the Lord requires us to put on the full armor of God. We cannot walk worthy of the Lord in our own strength. So first we have to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. We boast in our weakness and we put on Christ. We fully immerse ourselves in Christ. And this is what it looks like. This is what he describes in verses 22. He says, Put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds. Put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. And then here's here's what he said it looks like. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you. Continuing in five, therefore be imitators of God as beloved children, and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness, nor foolish talk, nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous, that is, an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ in God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not become partners with them. For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true. And try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them, for it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is, and do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. And then he goes into relationships between husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and servants. And then we get to our finally be strong in the Lord and the strength of his might. And so the idea of putting on the full armor of God, that is what enables us to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. I think back about that story, you know, like Nick loving Star Wars, being a fan of Star Wars, being fully immersed in the entire series, the saga, he knows it front to back, he could win any trivia competition. And so for him, being at Galaxy's Edge was such an incredible experience. And for me, somebody who only watched it for the first time five years ago, when I was faced, encountered the stormtrooper asking me what I was doing with my phone and stuttered. I think what would have been different if Nick had been standing there and could have answered for me, or even my son, who like knows all things Star Wars, if Liam had been there and could have helped answer for me. It's okay for us to not know, to feel weak, to acknowledge that we don't fully know how to immerse ourselves in Christ, how to put on the armor of God. I think this is a really important place for each one of us to pause and say, Lord, like this, that list of things, for example, that I just read of how to live in a manner, how to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. God, I don't know how to do that. I don't know how to do that on a consistent daily basis. In my flesh, I battle every single day. I fall short. I break the rules. I worship other idols. I go to other things. I forget. Like I don't, I mean, constantly I could be saying, demersed, demers, like I fall out of fellowship with him. And yet what I have on my behalf before the Father is an advocate that Jesus is forever making intercession for me, advocating for me before the Father, answering the lies of the enemy for me, responding to the accusations, the questions, whatever of the enemy, just as if like Nick had been next to me and could have answered that stormtrooper and said something cool that I didn't know, or my son could have said something cool that I didn't know. That's Jesus who answers on our behalf. And he is in the process of sanctifying us. It is a process, and it is not something that we should be discouraged about, but that we understand we we are invited into. And it is Christ alone who works in us so that he one day will be able to present us blameless and pure before God. But we are in process. He is transforming us from one degree of glory to another. So there's a very interesting push and pull in the sense that we already have been given this identity. It is our position in Christ. We are seated in the heavenly places with him, and he has given us the full armor, but we play an active role in putting it on and in responding. So that's what we're going to continue to learn how to do over the course of this entire series. But for next week, we are definitely going to focus on getting new eyes, being able to see and understand, sort of like what I was describing with that traffic situation, being alert that there is a real battle with real enemies, not flesh and blood, every single day, and being ready to swerve when we need to, to hit the brakes when we need to. I'm just super excited in this series to learn to fight, learn to defend, to go on the offensive, and to be alert when we need to, to stand when we need to stand, to flee when we need to flee, and to not be tricked anymore by the schemes of the devil. And that's where we're headed. So, friend, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. And that's it for this episode. If you know someone who would be blessed by what you just heard, please share the Abidible Podcast with them. Keep spreading the word so we can make much of the word. Drop us a review, tell us what you love and what you're learning. Check out the link to learn more about partnering with us by buying us a coffee one time, by joining our Abidible Plus women's Facebook membership community for $10 a month, or by becoming a monthly supporter. For those of you following along in the workbook, go ahead and begin working on our next verse in this series, Ephesians 6.12, on pages 16 to 19 in your study workbook. Ideally, you would have this section done before you listen to our next episode, number 95. In this episode, we dive deep into the unseen realm. Our verse next week again is Ephesians 6.12, which says, For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. What does all that mean? And why does Paul give us four categories rulers, authorities, powers, and forces, instead of just saying evil? It is time for us to fully comprehend just how serious the battle is and how imperative it is to be dressed in the whole armor of God. Now, as we see, our passage of Ephesians 6, 10 through 20 ends with a call to pray at all times in the spirit. And so I want to share a beautiful prayer that I found from author Kevin Halloran for putting on the full armor of God. I made this into a PDF for our Abidible Plus Facebook members who I love to serve by sharing things like that, or our episode transcripts, or just videos and conversations as we study and learn together. You can learn more about that community in the episode's description. So I'm gonna pray that prayer over us right now, and then I will close us out with our memory work for verse 11. Heavenly Father, thank you for all that you have done for us in Christ. Thank you for forgiveness through his blood, for adoption into your family, and for the gift and indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Thank you for new life and for the privilege of belonging to Christ's church. It amazes me how you empower us in your great strength to live out the gospel in our relationships, in our homes, in our work, and in our daily witness. Strengthen us today to walk in faith and obedience as you desire. Help us put on your full armor so we can stand firm against the schemes of the enemy. Give us spiritual alertness and sober minds to recognize real threats, not just the obvious ones, but the subtle lies, the distortions, the discouragements, and the temptations that creep in unnoticed. Help us fasten on the belt of truth by reminding us of what is true when our emotions say otherwise. Help us reject every lie about who you are, lies about who we are in Christ, and lies about what truly matters. Anchor us in your unchanging words so that deception cannot take root. Help us put on the breastplate of righteousness. Protect our hearts from the enemy's accusations, shame, and condemnation. When our failures rise up to define us, remind us that we are declared righteous by faith in Christ, and by the power of your spirit, help us walk in righteousness, choosing what honors you even when it is hard, costly, or unseen. Help us put on the shoes of the gospel of peace. Keep the good news of Christ alive and burning in our minds and hearts. Give us courage and compassion to share it. Use the stability of our peace with you to help us stand firm when life feels chaotic, when relationships fracture, or when fear presses in. Help us take up the shield of faith. Teach us to trust you in every circumstance, the joyful ones, the painful ones, and the ordinary ones. Grow our faith and expose where our faith is thin. When the enemy fires darts of doubt, discouragement, fear, temptation, or false ideas, help us extinguish them by relying on your character and your promises. Help us take the helmet of salvation. Fix our hope on Christ and the future He has secured for us. Lift our eyes above present sufferings to our blessed hope, the day when Christ returns, and every tear, sin, sorrow, and battle will be swallowed up in victory. Let that hope steady us, strengthen us, and fill us with perseverance and joy from the Holy Spirit. And help us take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Father, let your word dwell in us richly, shape our thoughts, direct our decisions, and fuel our obedience. Make us skilled in applying your word to the challenges and temptations we face so that the enemy flees and your purposes advance in us and through us to others. And finally help us to use the weapon of prayer. Father, as your scripture commands, help us pray at all times in the spirit. Make prayer our first response, not our last resort. Teach us to pray with perseverance, with sincerity, and with watchfulness for ourselves, for our families, for our church, and for all your people who are in the midst of spiritual battles. Father, we bring all of this to you because we need you. Strengthen us with your might, clothe us with your armor, keep us faithful, standing firm and rooted in Christ until the day we see him face to face. Amen. Let's close by doing our memory work together. I'm going to repeat Ephesians 6 11 five times. Say it out loud with me or quietly to yourself. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. Ephesians 6, 11. Remember, you are able to abide in the Bible. We'll see you next time. Until then, let's abide.