Put on Your Spiritual Armor

Every day brings battles—but God never intended for you to fight them unprotected. In this episode, Stormie shares how believers can stand strong by putting on the spiritual armor God has provided. She explains the meaning behind each piece of armor described in Ephesians 6 and how they help guard our heart, mind, and faith against the enemy’s attacks. Stormie also highlights the power of prayer, Scripture, and worship as spiritual weapons that drive back darkness. When we arm ourselves daily and rely on God’s strength, we can stand firm in faith and live with confidence in the victory Christ has already won.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to the Stormy Omardian Podcast, where we explore the power of prayer to change lives, strengthen faith, and deepen relationships. In this episode, Stormy explains why prayer warriors must put on the full armor of God in order to stand strong in spiritual battles. Discover how truth, faith, righteousness, salvation, and God's word equip you to resist the enemy and walk in the victory God has already given you.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Hi, I'm Stormy O'Mardian, and I'm speaking to you today from my book, Prayer Warrior. This is episode three, put on your spiritual armor. You know, as prayer warriors, God doesn't want us carrying anything unnecessary into battle. That's because it's going to weigh us down and hinder what He has called us to do. And we must not go to battle without the things we need in order to win. Remember, our battle is spiritual, and what we accomplish in the spirit realm is as important as what the highly trained, prepared, and equipped soldier does in the physical. First, we must put on the armor God has given us in order to stand strong against the enemy. The Apostle Paul said, Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. That's from Ephesians 6, 10 and 11. He did not say, if you're smart, you might take up the whole armor. Or if you feel like it and have the time, you could maybe take up the armor. Or try to take up the armor at least once a year. God's word says, take up the whole armor of God. Ephesians 6.13. This is not suggested, it's commanded. The Bible would not have told us to take up the whole armor of God in order to withstand evil, if evil could have been withstood without doing that. Prayer warriors need to put on the armor of God every day because the war is always going on. In order to put on the armor of God, we must first identify what that armor is. Paul talked about how to identify and battle the forces of evil using the Roman soldiers as his model. They were by far the most powerful army of that time, and he relates the pieces of armor they had with what God has given us in the spirit realm. This is in Ephesians 6, 14 through 18. Now some people think that because Jesus accomplished everything on the cross, we don't have to do anything at all. But if that's true, why did Jesus teach us to pray, deliver us from the evil one? That's in Matthew 6.13. Why did Paul say to pray without ceasing? 1 Thessalonians 5.17. Yes, the victory over evil was accomplished on the cross, but the enemy is still here. He is a defeated enemy, but he is still waging the war. We don't want him winning any battles on our watch, especially as long as we can be part of the force God has called to stop that from happening. We must have the whole armor of God protecting us at all times so we can stand successfully against the enemy's plans for not only our life, but also the lives of others, especially our families. When you get up every day, put on your protective armor. Don't leave your day to chance. Take possession of it and surrender it to the Lord. Don't let it get out of control and give the enemy an invitation to have input. You need this armor to stop any onslaught of the enemy's destructive arrows into your life and the lives of those you care about. In Ephesians 6, 14 to 18, it says to put on the following pieces of armor God gives you to protect yourself. First, it says to gird your waist with a truth. Roman soldiers girded their waist with something similar to what a weightlifter wears to give him strength and support, so it will protect the core of his body. It enables the soldiers to stand stronger against their enemy. We too need that kind of support to give us strength in our spiritual core. That means we must tightly surround ourselves with God's truth and not allow for anything other than the truth to enter into our thinking or situation. It means asking God to keep us undeceived so that we never allow deception to take root. Knowing the truth liberates us from all possibility of deception and it illuminates any darkness in our life. It protects us. Next it says to put on the breastplate of righteousness. Now a Roman soldier's metal breastplate covered his chest and kept him from being fatally wounded in the heart. The perfect righteousness of Jesus is what covers our heart when we receive him. And that's what God sees when he looks at us. But we still have to put on the righteousness like a soldier puts on a bulletproof vest. That means we must choose to live God's way every day. We cannot be protected if we deliberately walk outside the ways and will of God. Next it says to shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Every soldier learns to protect his feet. They have special shoes for that purpose. Roman soldiers had strong military shoes studded on the bottom of the soles in a way similar to cleats. Properly shod feet can stand strong against the enemy and keep you from slipping. As a prayer warrior, you need to have the foundation we walk on to be solid and protective. The good news is Jesus already prepared that for us. Having peace with God and peace in God is an unshakable foundation from which we can defend ourselves and stay standing strong. The enemy wants to steal our peace and keep us stirred up and anxious and fearful and upset and always in a stance of waiting for something terrible to happen at any moment. The enemy wants us unable to forget the terrible things that occurred in the past and instead remember them as though they happened yesterday. God has healing for upset memories. It's not that he gives us amnesia. We still remember that it happened, but not incessantly and not with the same pain and torture. Next, in order to protect ourselves, we must take up the shield of faith. Every soldier needs something to shield and protect him from the weapons of the enemy. In Roman times, the weapons were arrows and swords. The soldiers sometimes shot flaming arrows and darts over protective walls to set people and their dwelling places on fire. In the same way, the enemy shoots spiritual arrows and darts at us, designed to pierce our heart with discouragement and make us fearful or anxious, uncertain, or incapacitated. The shield we have against these arrows of the enemy is our faith. And it powerfully protects us from all that. Even if our faith is shaky one day, it happens to all of us until we learn to have faith no matter what we see happening around us. We can still depend on the faithfulness of God to cover us and increase our faith as we hide ourselves in Him. So when you feel the enemy trying to tempt you in your weakest area, focus on God and His Word and His faithfulness to do what He says. Say, the Lord God is a son and shield. The Lord will give grace and glory. No good thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly. That's from Psalm 84, 11. Also, take the helmet of salvation. The helmet protects a soldier's head. Our spiritual helmet protects our head as well. And what does our head most need protection from? The lies of the enemy, of course. The enemy wants to keep you from understanding and living in all that salvation means for you. He wants you blinded to everything Jesus died for you to have. He wants you convinced that you are worthless, rejected, weak, bad, unimportant, hopeless, and unlovable. Or if he can't get you to think that way, he tempts you to go in the opposite direction and be full of pride. Either way, you fall. God sees us from the perspective of who He created us to be. But we too often see ourselves from our limitations instead of our possibilities. We put on the helmet of salvation the moment we receive the Lord. But we must constantly remember what Jesus saved us for and from and who we are in Him. Also, take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. No spiritual battle can be fought and won without our greatest weapon, the Word of God. The Word of God is so powerful that it is a double-edged sword in our hands. That's from Hebrews 4, 12. That means it is an offensive weapon as well as a defensive weapon. As prayer warriors, we need both. Next, pray always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit. God wants us to be persistent in our praying. That's what it means to pray without ceasing. It's not intermittent start and stop whenever I'm desperate kind of praying. It's deliberate. It's with knowledge of what we are doing and why. It's not random, just throw it up and see if it sticks, kind of praying. It's praying always, which means praying through things and not giving up. In other words, keep praying. And lastly, we are to be watchful to the end. Part of our protective armor is our own praying. It must be consistent. The now and then praying doesn't do that. It is the everyday, without fail praying that seems to build up rewards for us in a holy bank in heaven. We keep making deposits, and when we need to make a big withdrawal on earth, we have enough to cover it. Now I can't prove this to you, but I know from experience that it's true. That means keep praying frequently and relentlessly and don't give up. This is not hard, so don't give me that look that says this is too much work. Remember what I said in episode one about what really is too much work? You can do this. We can all do this because we stand strong in God's power and strength, not our own. That takes the pressure off of us trying to do it ourselves. We just have to show up and pray. Just as there is spiritual armor, we have spiritual weapons as well. And these are our defensive weapons. For example, the Word of God is not only part of our protective armor, but also a powerful weapon as well. It's highly accurate. And if you are knowledgeable about how to handle it as a weapon against the enemy, it's unfailing. If you aim correctly, it hits the target dead on every time. The more skilled you are at using this powerful weapon, the greater advantage you will have. In fact, the enemy cannot stand against it. No soldier resists the enemy without his weapon. Neither does a soldier ever attack his enemy without the weapon he knows best how to use. He understands his capabilities, is completely familiar with it, and has practiced with it countless times. A soldier's weapons are always kept up to the highest standard and ready to use. We must do the same with our spiritual weapons. We cannot wait until the enemy attacks to become familiar with our spiritual weapons. We have to know each weapon now so we are prepared for anything. The Word of God is our best weapon because it will always be exactly what we need in order to face every threat. God is unchanging. That's because he doesn't need to change. And his word is the same. The sword of the Spirit is never irrelevant, no matter how much the enemy tries to make it seem that way. That's why you can claim promises in the Bible as absolute truth for your life. When Jesus was tempted by the enemy in the wilderness, he resisted that attack with Scripture, specifically aimed at thwarting the enemy's temptations. Even the enemy knows that the word of God is powerful and unfailing, and he can never prevail against it. That's why he finally left Jesus alone. He could not fool him the way he can with far too many of us. Our faith is extremely important in the effectiveness of this main weapon. And the more we train and practice in our knowledge and retention of the word, the more our faith develops, the more diligently we read the word, quote the word, pray the word, and do the word, the stronger our faith will be. Our greatest weapon, God's Word, mixed with our faith, will prove to be the invincible weapon we need in every situation. When you speak the word of God in the face of every attack of the enemy, you are driving a sword through his plans. Although the Bible calls the Word of God the sword of the Spirit, we must not wield it like a weapon against people. We must always remember who our real enemy is. Another example of an extremely powerful weapon is praise and worship. The enemy despises our worship and praise to God so much that he cannot even be in the presence of anyone who's actively doing that. So whenever you want the enemy to flee, worship God. It is one of the greatest enemies in the war against evil, and it is our best response to God for all he has done and is doing in our lives. When we worship God, we lay down whatever consumes us and become consumed with him. Praise and worship, take the focus off of ourselves and put it entirely on God. We fully recognize Jesus as everything and praise him for all that he is and all that he has done for us. He is Lord, Savior, deliverer, healer, provider, protector, and so much more. In other words, we never lack a reason to worship and praise God. Prayer is always a powerful weapon against the enemy. That's because prayer is the battle. Would you pray with me about this? Oh Lord, help us to put on our full spiritual armor that you have provided for us so that we can stand against the wiles of the devil every single day. Show us how to gird up the core of our being with your truth so that we don't fall into deception of any kind. Teach us to not only know your truth, but to live in it. Help us to put on the breastplate of righteousness that protects us from enemy attacks, which is your righteousness in us. Grow our faith in you and your word so that it becomes a shield from the enemy's arrows. Help me to put on the helmet of salvation to protect my head and my mind by remembering all you have saved me from. Help me to take up the sword of the Spirit every day, for your word not only protects me from the enemy, but it's also my greatest weapon against him. Teach me to be the strong and unshakable prayer warrior you want me to be, so I can accomplish your will. Enable me to keep asking and keep seeking and keep knocking and not give up. Remind me how these actions are weapons against the plans of the enemy, so that only your plans for my life and the lives of the people for whom I pray will be done. Thank you that you've given me protective armor, powerful weapons, and the promise that you are always with me. Help me to always keep that in mind, no matter what is happening in me, around me, or in the world. Thank you that no weapon formed against me or the people for whom I pray will ever prosper. Help me to never stop praying to you. In Jesus' name I pray. So remember everyone to put on your protective spiritual armor every day and don't forget what your greatest spiritual weapons are. There is so much more you need to know about this. So I pray you will get my book, Prayer Warrior. God is very specific about what he wants from us, and you must be specific too. As you pray, tell God that above all, you want his will to be done. And do not sit in judgment on how well you think you prayed. That's not your job. Your work is to pray. It's God's work to answer the way he wants to. And definitely do not sit in judgment on how God has answered unless you're fond of lightning. You simply pray and leave the outcome in God's hands to answer in his way and his time.

SPEAKER_00 20:02

Thanks for joining us. In the next episode, Stormy explains why every prayer warrior must be confident in the authority God has given them in prayer. You'll discover how your relationship with Jesus gives you the power to pray in his name, overcome doubt, and stand boldly against the enemy.