The Thursday Update

OCTOBER 23, 2025

Lakeshore Friends,

Last Sunday, we kicked off a new series, “Heaven, Hell, And Everything In Between” by looking at the invisible battle we all face. As Ephesians 6:12 tells us, our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the spiritual forces of evil. After we understand the schemes of Satan, we have to embrace God’s battle plan for victory. The only way to do that is to rely on Christ's victory on the cross and then put on the full armor of God as described in Ephesians 6:13-18. Ephesians 6:11 calls us to, “Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil.”

As promised, I want to explain the full armor of God pictured below and how we can do so by explaining each piece of the armor.

(Image courtesy of Concord Church of Christ, concordchurchofchrist.org)

Notice that the entire body of the Christian can be protected by the armor of God. It all starts at the top with the helmet of salvation. Our head is the command-and-control center of our bodies so everything must begin there. It makes sense, then, that our spiritual life begins by embracing salvation through faith alone in Jesus alone. Everything starts with the helmet of salvation.

The breast is where our vital organs reside and if they aren’t protected, we are very vulnerable to an easy attack that can lead to injury and death. When we protect it with the breastplate of righteousness, we live with a moral “rightness” that matches the fact that God declares every forgiven Christian righteous in God’s eyes. Since God declares us righteous when we become Christians, we simply live righteously in the power given to us by God’s Spirit. The degree that we do live righteously this way, we have a solid breastplate of righteousness.

The belt of truth is the foundation of our armor, the core of our being that connects our legs and our torso. It can also hold various items and weapons needed. The Bible is our source of truth and is the core of our life. To the degree that we know and live out biblical truth, we have a strong belt that holds us all together at the core.

The shield of faith is essential to defending against the flaming arrows that come at us. It can be moved around to defend against attacks from all places that come at us in all different ways. Faith is how we defeat the fiery darts and arrows of doubt, diversions, deception and discouragement that Satan fires at us all the time.

The feet fitted with shoes are needed to move in battle. They help us go where we can to avoid trouble and attack. The gospel is the protection we need to stand against the attacks we face. When we embrace the gospel (which means Good News) and live out the gospel in our lives, we can move through life safe and secure. After all, Romans 1:16-17 says that the gospel is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe.

All of these pieces of the armor of God are defensive. The final piece is the only offensive piece of equipment, the sword of the Spirit. Here we use the Bible to slay our enemies. How? Well, consider Jesus and how He responded to Satan’s three temptations in Matthew 4. Every time, the first words He spoke in response to Satan’s temptations were, “It is written” followed by the right quotation of Scripture for the situation. We need to do the same. Tempted? Remember that God does not tempt any person but provides a way of escape (1 Corinthians 10:13). Tired? Remember to come to Jesus and find your rest (Matthew 11:28-30). Troubled? God is our refuge and a very present help in times of need (Psalm 46:1).

What about the back of the warrior? How is that protected? God always has our back!

So make sure to put on the full armor of God in your life consistently. As always, being at church will always help because we’re always better together.

Warmly,

Vince
Senior Pastor