Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. Ephesians 6:10-11.
“May your lovingkindnesses also come to me, O LORD, Your salvation according to Your Word so I will have an answer for him who reproaches me, for I trust in Your Word.” Psalm 119:41-42.
The entirety of Your Word is truth, and every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever. Psalm 119:160.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
There is only one way to win over lies—with the truth. In a court, the judge is looking for the truth to make the correct judgment. The verdict goes with the truth, established by the facts and the applicable law, and the facts are established by two or three witnesses.
The word “Satan” means “accuser,” “adversary,” and “prosecutor.” And that is what he is. He pulls you into sinful behavior and then he turns around to accuse you of it and give you fear and self-condemnation which he will never free you from but which will lead you into more sin. That is what he did to the first man and woman. They hid from Me in fear after they gave in to his wiles. And he became a very cruel master to them, ruining their relationship and their children’s relationship. But what grieved Me so greatly was he took them away from being comfortable to fellowship with Me. They did not understand My love and what began as sin ended in total rejection of My lovingkindness.
My Word is truth, and if you remain, abide and continue in My Word and My Word remains, abides, and continues in you, then you will truly be My disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. But My Word does more than just give you the truth, My Word is a living Word, it is Spirit and Life, and it will give you life and healing, it will sustain you, reshape you, and wash you clean. I sent My Word to heal you and deliver you from destruction. I am My Word. When you renew your mind to My Word, you come to know Me for who I really am, filled with grace and truth.
So what do you do when Satan attacks? What do I tell you to do? “Submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you.” James 4:7. And in the very next line after that one, I tell you to draw close to Me and I will draw close to you.
You submit to Me, or to anyone for that matter, by submitting to their word, to their directions and commands. When you submit to My Words, which is what renewing your mind is about, that is, to think according to My Words and not to the contrary words of the world, your flesh, and the devil, you take on My thoughts and ways. My thoughts are higher than yours and so are My ways, which are love and truth. My thoughts take you up to the spirit realm rather than just living by your flesh, that is, what you see and hear in the natural and what you feel in your body and think with your own intellect without tapping into My font of wisdom and supernatural activity that makes the impossible (such as total healing, even new body parts and limbs) possible. And not just possible, but easy. Things that are impossible for man, are possible for Me, in fact, they are easy for Me, and once you have faith in My ability to perform My promises, knowing the power is from Me and connected to by your faith, it becomes easy for you as well. This is when you learn to lean on My Word and not on just your own understanding.
To resist the devil just means to answer whatever he is causing or telling you in your life with the truth. He is a liar and the father of lies, he cannot tell the truth, it as impossible for him to tell the truth as it is for Me to lie. You must check him immediately the minute he starts ANY activity against you and shut it down, no matter what it is. And, just as in chess if you check the advance of the enemy king, he cannot proceed unless he finds one of three means of escape, and before My Word and your strong stand on it he has no means of escape except to flee before you declare checkmate.
Truth prevails over lies. Once the truth is established in court, that is it. The controversy is over and the verdict is given. And I have already given you the verdict for all who are in Christ: NOT GUILTY. There is now no condemnation for those who are IN Christ Jesus. He took your sins, your sentence, and your punishment. It is finished and over as far as I, the highest court, am concerned. There is no higher court to which the devil can appeal to try to get you declared guilty.
And I have given you an advocate, Jesus Christ, the righteous One, who is My Word which advocates for you along with His blood, and He gave you another advocate to be with you always, and He witnesses with your spirit that you are My child, a joint heir with Christ, and that your sins and lawless deeds I remember no more. And He reminds you of My Word and tells you what to say when accused.
But the devil will keep trying to drag you down and clutter your mind and life with lies so he can capture you to do his will. I have equipped you and fortified you against this with the Blood of Jesus, by which you are redeemed and your sins forgiven, and My Words, which are the two-edged (two mouthed—yours and Mine) Sword of truth. But I give you very explicit instructions and equipment to put these into action in your life on a daily basis. For he never gives up and will attack, and not just once. But once you know how to play on the battlefield, like expert chess players, you will begin to enjoy the game. Victory is sweet. And I have already given you the victory. I have already judged in your favor. And when you fight with My Word, I am the one who fights the battle.
Let Me show you.
My Holy Spirit, through My apostle Paul, in chapter six of his letter to the Ephesians, gives you the instructions so let us begin. And today’s Life Lesson in this manual for believers is: “Girded with Truth.”
He begins at the end, I speak the end from the beginning, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.” Ephesians 6:10.
First, I tell you that your strength and power come from Me. David, who never lost a battle, sang, “I love you, O LORD, my strength.” Psalm 18:1. And what did I tell Jehoshaphat when as king of Judah he faced three enemy armies coming against Jerusalem that it was impossible to defeat in the flesh? “Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God’s.” 2 Chronicles 20:15. David knew the same as he answered the giant Goliath, “Then all this assembly shall know that the LORD does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD’s, and He will give you into our hands.” 1 Samuel 17:47.
But then I told Jehoshaphat, as David understood, that he had to go down against the enemy, I was involving him in the deliverance, but he was not going alone, “You need not fight in this battle; station yourselves, stand and see the salvation of the LORD on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out to face them, for the LORD is with you.” 2 Chronicles 20:17. And remember Moses at the Red Sea on one side and the army of Pharaoh on the other bearing down on the Israelites? “Do not be afraid. Stand and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.” Exodus 14:13-14. Peace that surpasses understanding. Great peace have those who love My Word. Safe in the secret place of My Word the snare of the fowler will not trap you.
And you see this command to stand firm as we continue with the instructions in the letter to the Ephesians: “Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.” Ephesians 6:11-13.
My Word is the solid rock foundation on which you stand and build the house of your life, and having been built on solid rock no storm can take you down. When it passes, you will still be standing strong. And Jesus is My Word made flesh and in Him you are rooted and grounded in the Word, drawing all the strength, wisdom, and knowledge you need from Him, for in Him, that is, in My Word, are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
I have given you MY armor. And I tell you that if you put on My full armor, which covers every area of your life, and makes you impenetrable to attack, you will be able to stand against the schemes and wiles of Satan and win. Every time and in every area of your life.
Do not dismiss My armor as some cute cartoon or meaningless image. It is the armor of light. Jesus put it on. Isaiah 59:17 (“For He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head.”) And you see that in His life among you. He answered the devil with My Word. He only spoke My Word. He is My Word. The armor is being encased in My Word and using My Word to check and trump the devil. It makes you bullet proof, or should I say, “fiery dart proof?” My armor and weapons that I give you are not carnal but Spirit and life.
“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every imagination and high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:3-5. I told you that the devil works with thoughts he brings to your mind through actual words from him or things you see and hear that he draws your attention to, words that come from his thoughts in your mind or from those people around you or on the media, and influences (feelings and emotions) which the unclean spirits attempt to invade you with and pull your bodies toward that come with the thoughts and images he presents to you, and these can be fear, depression, worry, anxiety, infirmity, lust, sensuality, gluttony, and the life. However, if you recognize these influences (“familiar spirits”), for now you know what to look for, you must answer them and take them down. Check. But how do you check a lie, that is, resist it and bring it to naught? By knowing and answering with the truth. My Word alone is the ultimate truth and the last word in every situation.
So that is the first piece of My precious armor that I tell you to take up: “Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth.” Ephesians 6:14. Girded in and held in the position of victory by My Word. Gird yourself with truth. And here I tell you to gird your loins, this signifies what you are producing from within your deepest hidden places from which issue the issues of life. The Word saved you and gave you new birth. You have purified your souls in obeying the truth. By the Spirit you have been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through My Word which lives and abides forever, and this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you. Make sure you continue in and gird yourself with truth because then that is what you will produce and reproduce.
“Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:13-16.
I sanctify you and make you clean and holy by My Word. And you see it is the loins of your mind I am speaking of, your thoughts for your mind is the gateway to the spirit. What do I mean? I mean if you close your mind to My Word in doubt and unbelief, or just from indifference to it, you will not benefit from My Word. If you reject that I am the LORD your healer and that My Will as seen in My Word and by Jesus, My Word in action among you, is not true, even though My power is there to heal you, you will not connect with it and you will allow the devil to put sickness upon you though this is not My Will for your life. You have not renewed your mind by hearing and hearing My Word and receiving it as truth. And this is how faith comes, by hearing and hearing My Word about Jesus, and what I have done for you in Him by making you a new creation in the sense that your spirit is alive to Me and dead to sin and I have made you by the blood of the Cross, holy, blameless, and beyond reproach. And I mean the reproaches of the devil.
“May your lovingkindnesses also come to me, O LORD, Your salvation according to Your Word so I WILL HAVE AN ANSWER FOR HIM WHO REPROACHES ME, FOR I TRUST IN YOUR WORD.” Psalm 119:41-42.
You have to know My Word and you have to answer every attack of Satan with it. Never let him have the last word. Look to My Word for the answer to everything the devil throws at you. FOR THAT IS HOW YOU MAKE THE BATTLE MINE. I am My Word. John 1:1.
And did you notice how Jesus fights the end time battle with the devil? The Sword out of His mouth.
“For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged (two-mouthed) sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Hebrews 4:13.
Bring Me into every battle by speaking My Word. You fight by releasing My Word and then I fight for you. I have put My Words in your mouth and covered you with My hand. That is where the power is.
“His radiance is like the sunlight; He has rays flashing from His hand, and there is the hiding of His power.” Habakkuk 3:4.
Jesus, the Light of the World, is My hand reaching out to embrace your humanity and raise you up to divinity as a new creation in Him. And He stood against the attack of Satan by answering with My Word as it is written. The revelation of My Word gives light and light drives out all darkness. By My Son, the Light of the World, My Word, I rescued you from the realm of darkness and brought you into My own marvelous light. I redeemed and reconciled you to Myself by My Word and now I have entrusted to you that Word of reconciliation. Use it.
Gird yourself in My Word and then employ it. As you received Christ by believing in your heart and speaking with your mouth, so walk in Him. That is the only way you will stand in the place of joy and peace always.
And you will find My Word is delightful. It is full of treasures that are yours in Christ.
“I rejoice at Your Word, as one who finds great spoil.” Psalm 119:162.
Isn’t it wonderful to know that I have taken all your sins away from you on Jesus and you are now as if you had never sinned before Me? It is true.
And when Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah heard My Word delivered to them that I would fight the battle for them and they need not fear, just go out and face the enemy, do you remember what they did? They did not fear and beg until it came to pass, no, they rejoiced greatly and worshipped right there when they heard My Word.
“Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the LORD, worshiping the Lord. The Levites, from the sons of the Kohathites and of the sons of the Korahites, stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel, with a very loud voice.” 2 Chronicles 20:18-19.
And it did not stop there. They went out to face the enemy rejoicing and declaring My goodness in songs using My Word. And that brought Me right down to inhabit the praises of My people and I quickly brought down the enemy and gave the wealth of the wicked over to My people. 2 Chronicles 20:20-33.
When you start answering with My Word you will become so joyful over who you are and what I say about you in Christ, and My many magnificent promises which are all “yes” to you in Christ, you will be so joyful you will be strong to win. My joy is your strength. You go out with joy and are led forth by peace.
“When you go out to battle against your enemies and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, is with you. When you are approaching the battle, the priest shall come near and speak to the people. He shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel, you are approaching the battle against your enemies today. Do not be fainthearted. Do not be afraid, or panic, or tremble before them, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’” Deuteronomy 20:1-4.
I, the God of peace, have equipped you with My armor of light, which is My Word in every aspect of your life. And tomorrow we will consider another piece, the breastplate of righteousness.
I love you. Gird up the loins of your mind. Get My Word in you richly. Be serious about this. My Word is not an idle word but your very life. This is not time to be sluggish for the devil is prowling around looking for a chink in your armor. And if you do not know My Word, you will fall.
Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Hebrews 13:20-21.