Wednesday

Related Verses
Eph. 6:11, 13-14
11 Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the stratagems of the devil,
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.
14 Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness

Eph. 5:2, 8, 15
2 And walk in love, even as Christ also loved us and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor.
8 For you were once darkness but are now light in the Lord; walk as children of light
15 Look therefore carefully how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise,

1 John 5:4, 18
4 For everything that has been begotten of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory which has overcome the world — our faith.
18 We know that everyone who is begotten of God does not sin, but he who has been begotten of God keeps himself, and the evil one does not touch him.

Eph. 4:20-21
20 But you did not so learn Christ,
21 If indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him as the reality is in Jesus,

Related Reading
Ephesians 6:10-20 reveals that Christ is the constituents of God’s armor. In this portion of the Word, the church is revealed as the warrior to defeat God’s enemy. As the warrior, the church needs might and the whole armor of God. 

The church is a corporate warrior, and the believers together make up this unique warrior. Only the corporate warrior can wear the whole armor of God; no individual believer can. We must fight the spiritual warfare in the Body, not individually. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 3459) 

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The charge to put on the whole armor of God is an imperative, a command…We must exercise our will to cooperate with God’s command to put on the armor. 

The Lord with His might is the armor that we put on for our protection. We as the Body need to put on Christ Himself as our armor. In order to fight the spiritual warfare, we must have Christ as the whole armor of God. 

For us to gird our loins [Eph. 6:14] is to strengthen our entire being. Our whole being needs to be strengthened with truth. This strengthening is not for sitting but for standing. 

According to the way the word truth is used in chapter 4 (vv. 15, 21, 24-25), truth here refers to God in Christ as reality in our living, that is, God realized and experienced by us as our living. This is actually Christ Himself lived out by us (John 14:6). Such truth, such reality, is the girdle that strengthens our whole being for spiritual warfare. Our living must have a principle and a standard. This is nothing less than God Himself expressed in our living in a practical way. 

If our daily living is loose, we are not able to stand against the powers of darkness. In order for us to stand, our daily living must be according to the principle of the truth and up to the standard of the truth—that is, God Himself expressed as the principle of our daily walk, as the standard of our daily living, and as the pattern of our life. 

Those who have such a living certainly have their loins girded with truth. These are the ones who are able to face attack and opposition…But if God is not expressed in our daily life and walk, we will not have a girdle about our loins, and we will have no strength to stand against the enemy. We will not have the power to face opposition or controversy. 

The truth with which we are girded for spiritual warfare is actually the Christ whom we experience. In Philippians 1:21 Paul says, “To me, to live is Christ.” This Christ whom Paul lived was his girdle of truth. This Christ was God expressed and revealed in Paul’s daily walk. Because Paul’s daily living was conformed to the pattern of Christ, he had the strength to face all opposition and adverse circumstances. Because Paul had been girded with truth, he had the strength to stand. 

The breastplate of righteousness [in Ephesians 6:14] covers our conscience, signified by the breast. Satan is our accuser. In fighting against him we need a conscience void of offense (Acts 24:16), but no matter how good we may feel our conscience is, we need to have it covered with the breastplate of righteousness. Righteousness is to be right with both God and man. If we have just a little problem with either God or man, Satan will accuse us, and there will be holes in our conscience through which all of our faith and boldness will leak out. Hence, we need the covering of righteousness to protect us from the enemy’s accusations. Such righteousness is Christ (1 Cor. 1:30). (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 3459-3461) 

Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 344