Sharpened Together - Week 17

Key Scripture: 
Ephesians 6:10-11
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.

God has already given us everything we need to stand.

The armour isn’t something we build. It’s something we put on.
 
Notice where the strength comes from. Paul doesn’t tell us to be strong in ourselves. He tells us to be strong in the Lord.

Our grit and our mental strength are beside the point. It is the Lord’s strength we stand in, and the armour he provides that we stand behind.

Then Paul says something we tend to skim straight past: put on the whole armour.

We’ve all got our favourites.

Be honest for a minute — most of us reach for the same two or three pieces every day, the ones we’re comfortable with.

Some men live in the sword. Others have a well-worn shield.

Now look at what’s still hanging on the hook.

Because the enemy isn’t coming at the part of you that’s covered. He’s coming at the gap. T

The piece a lot of us leave off is the helmet of salvation. Someone asks if we’re saved and we say yes. We mean it. But a voice starts up in the back of the head straight after — why do I keep doing the things I don’t want to do? (Romans 7:15)

That’s Paul. The apostle. He knew that exact fight.

So when the enemy uses your own struggle to convince you that you were never really saved, understand what he’s doing. He isn’t showing you evidence. He’s planting a seed. Questions are fine. We all have them. But they get answered in God’s word — the solid ground we stand on — not in our own heads at two in the morning.

And here is the ground. We are saved by grace. Not by performance. By grace, purchased by Jesus at the cross, at a price we could never have covered.

When that settles in your heart — not just your head — everything changes. You know you are loved. You know you can come to him boldly. A man sure of that has a faith with real strength in it. If it isn’t settled, that’s the gap. And the enemy knows exactly where it is.

Hebrews 12:1–2 says, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

It’s the same with our righteousness. The pieces we leave on the table, we leave because we’re weak in ourselves. That’s honest. But it’s the wrong place to be looking. Hebrews tells us where to look. Not at ourselves. At Jesus, the one who started our faith and the one who will finish it. Our righteousness was never ours to manufacture. It is his, credited to us. Get wobbly on that and the enemy has an opening, and the thought he plants is always the same — you’re not good enough, why bother.

1 Peter 5:8 - Peter tells us our enemy prowls about like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. A lion doesn’t charge the strongest part of the herd. He watches for the weak link. So don’t give him a foothold. Don’t leave the helmet on the hook because you’ve got a good grip on the sword. Work on wearing the whole armour.

The fight is so much easier when you face it with the lot on. You already have everything you need. Be ready, and be confident — not in what you can do, but in what the Lord has equipped you to do.

Which piece do you reach for without thinking?

Which one is still hanging on the hook?