Preparing for Revival: Know Your Weapons

By:  Dale Weckbacher

Ephesians 6:13

For this reason, take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand.

(CSB)

This Monday is Memorial Day in the United States, a day when we pause to honor those that paid the ultimate price of their lives in defense of the United States.  I, and many of my readers support a strong military, viewing it as the means of providing safety and security for the nation and its citizens.  While the military is comprised of dedicated individuals who will sacrifice themselves if necessary in defense of their nation, those like myself that support the military support providing them with weapons that make it possible to defend the nation without sacrificing their lives. 

God has provided His people with an arsenal of weapons listed in Ephesians 6:13-17.  In previous postings to this blog, we studied each of these weapons and I would encourage those reading this to review them by conducting a search using the word armor.  In this posting we will be looking at how each weapon assists us in preparing for revival. 

1)      Belt of truth (Ephesians 6:14) – In John 18:38, Pilate asked Jesus “what is truth?”  This is in response to Jesus replying to Pilate’s previous question “You are a king then” in John 18:37 with Jesus stating that He came to testify to the truth.  Unknown to Pilate, truth was standing right in front of Him for in John 14:6, Jesus had declared that He was the truth.  Those who have made Jesus their savior have this truth in them plus we have the Bible, God’s Word which declares the truth.  As we prepare for revival we must begin to understand that we wear truth as a belt holding all things together for those without Christ in their lives are bombarded with post-modern philosophy in their education and entertainment (1) (2) claiming there is no absolute truth.  Those we meet that are devoid of truth in their lives will try to convince us that the Bible is not the absolute authority and that there are other ways to know God and why we must wear our belt of truth. 

2)      Breastplate of righteousness (Ephesians 6:14) – Righteousness in the armament of the child of God is a breastplate that covers vital organs.  Notice it is not something emanating from the believers heart but a covering over believers hearts which are sinful (Romans 3:23).  Our righteousness is Christ’s righteous that we can wear because of what Jesus did on the cross and not according to our own efforts (Ephesians 2:8-9).  When we begin sharing the Gospel with others, they may point out unrighteous behavior in our lives.  When they do our biblical response should be yes, we all have sinned and is why we need a righteous savior, Jesus, to die for us, providing a breastplate of righteousness to protect us.

3)      Sandals of the Gospel (Ephesians 6:15) – Gospel shoes telling us to prepare to take the message of the gospel with us wherever we go and to share it in our words and how we live our lives everywhere we go.

4)      Shield of faith (Ephesians 6:16) – John 16:33 reminds us that in this evil world even God’s people will have trouble with the promise that Jesus has overcome the world through His death and resurrection.  This overcoming faith is our shield against the attacks of Satan as we participate in sharing the Gospel and making Disciples (Matthew 28:19-20). 

5)      Helmet of salvation (Ephesians 6:17) – Our salvation helmet protects our thoughts against doubts about our salvation.  While Romans 3:23 reminds us that we have all sinned, we also have 1 John 1:9, our spiritual 911 line to remind us that Jesus has forgiven our sins.  It is important to protect our knowledge of the completeness of our salvation through Christ so that doubts about our salvation in Christ do not relegate us to the sidelines instead of staying on the field, taking part in revival. 

6)      Sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17) – This sword is a two-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12) with one edge surgically removing areas of our life that need removal and the other edge cutting down the obstacles of Satan in sharing the Gospel with others.  To use this sword effectively, we must learn the Word of God and apply it to our lives revealing what needs changing as well as a tool against Satan like Jesus used it during His temptation (Matthew 4:1-11). 

While these weapons are important, Ephesians 6:18 reminds us to pray so we remain prepared for any attack that may come our way.  This Wednesday’s posting reminds us of the importance of time in the prayer closet.  As we begin preparing for revival, we must not only have the right weapons and know how to use them, we must also remain spiritually and mentally motivated through quality time with God in the prayer closet.

Next Saturday we will learn how to engage in revival. 

1. Sanbonmatsu, John. POSTMODERNISM AND THE CORRUPTION OF ACADEMIC INTELLIGENTSIA. socialistregister.com. [Online] Socialist Register. [Cited: March 31, 2017.] http://socialistregister.com/index.php/srv/article/viewFile/5851/2747.

2. Saugstad, Andreas. Postmodernism and the Media. bolesblogs.com. [Online] November 20, 2000. [Cited: March 31, 2017.] https://bolesblogs.com/2000/11/20/postmodernism-the-media/.