ARMOUR OF GOD

INTRODUCTION
In his letter to the church at Ephesus Paul points to her high
responsibility, her special place in the plan of God. She has been
called to victorious life in her risen Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
victorious life in the spiritual warfare against invisible and perilous
powers of Satan, continuously opposing her on her way to perfection.
There is a terrible war around us, a war at many fronts. A
frightful offensive has broken out against the children of God, a
battle increasing in ferocity as this closing age draws to an end.
Everyone of us is personally engaged in this final battle; this struggle
leaves no one untouched. Therefore, it is necessary that we be very
conscious of this battle, that we know the enemy and also ourselves
in Jesus Christ, that we own weapons and are able to use them. We
can be sure of Gods's help. 'But for us fights the proper Man, Whom
God Himself hath bidden.'
Paul wrote this letter to the Ephesians from prison, as he did the
letters to Philippians, the Colossians and to Timothy. The apostle
had suffered much for the sake of Jesus' name. He had spent many a
year in prisons and suffered a long list of trials and afflictions as he
reminds us in 2 Cor. 11 : 23. Paul had been jailed on one occasion
with Silas at Philippi, where they 'made their feet fast in the stocks'
(Act 16 : 24). In later years, when in Rome, he had more freedom to
move, although he was always surrounded and guarded by soldiers
of the Roman army.
Surrounded by these warriors, who had occupied a large part of
the then-known world, Paul heard how they always spoke of battle,
successful feats of arms, courageous conquests often with much
bloodshed. He heard them boast of their personal achievements in
hand-to-hand fights, he heard them talk about robbery and booty and
contribution, all sorts of things concerning 'flesh and blood'; the
subject was always taken from the material, physical battle. This
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