Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Ephesians 6:10-17 NIV)
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“Beauty In The Battle” Acrylic by Amy J Heath
The Helmet of Salvation–Protects your mind as you sanctify it through a life with Christ.
The Breastplate of Righteousness – Covers your heart so that you can love and mend old wounds.
The Shield of Faith–Reflects light to shield you from the schemes of the enemy. The shield I painted is a buckler, used for hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. This shield is heavily marked up from many past battles.
The Belt of Truth–Covers your guts, emotions, and soul, holds your sword, and helps you keep your pants up during the battle.
The Sword of the Spirit–The word of God teaches you the truth of God so you can cut through lies of deception.
Feet Prepared with the Gospel of Peace–Brings the word of peace to others. After painting in the shoes, I realized I had two left feet. As an artist, you do want to create proper-looking subjects, but then I thought about how often we do things for the Lord when we are weak and feel insignificant with two left feet; how much more must we trust in the Lord to get us through the battle. 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NIV)
The armor lies in a field of flowers after the battle to show that beauty in the Lord can be found at any time, especially after a victory. But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. (2 Corinthians 2:14 NIV)
Finally, I would like to add that there is no armor for the back. Turning to flee will only expose you to the enemy. It is better to hide under your shield to rest and remember who you are in Christ. You are not alone. Others in Christ are close by to fight with you.
Author, Jervae Brooks, in her book, A Battle for Destiny Part III—Rest—Rest and the Full Armor of God, (published by Isaac Publishing, Inc., pp 145-147) emphasizes the importance of understanding and wearing the full armor of God from the perspective of “rest”: One of the definitions of the word rest in the dictionary is “a projection or attachment on the side of a breastplate of medieval armor for supporting the butt of a lance, or a sword.”
Some years ago, when I was in Spain for their Aglow conference, I was taken on a tour of the palace in Madrid. While at the palace I saw the king’s armory. Here they have a large display of the armor that had been worn by both soldiers and their horses in days gone by. The soldiers also carried large, heavy swords to be used in battle. In order to carry them while they were riding on a galloping horse, they had a projection of metal sticking out from their armor on which they could hang the handle of their heavy sword. So, as I’ve already said, this projection from the body armor – or breastplate – is called a “rest” and is for supporting the butt of a lance or a sword.
I think that is so interesting. In the natural a sword is a tool of war. But, when being carried by a soldier wearing body armor, it needs support of something called a “rest.” And in the spiritual realm, rest is also a powerful tool of war. I began to search out scriptures, first about breastplates that support this “rest”. I found that the word “breastplate” is used 28 times in the new King James Bible. One of these is in Isaiah 59 where we read, “For He put on righteousness as a breastplate” And in Ephesians 6 it says, “Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth having put on the breastplate of righteousness.” And I Thessalonians tells us, “But let us who live in the light think clearly, putting on the breastplate of faith and love.”Just from these few scriptures we can see that this breastplate represents righteousness – vital to helping us walk in integrity. It also represents faith and love, and most importantly, strength to stand – even in the midst of battle. In today’s world it is all too common to be in the midst of some kind of battle or another. That battle might be taking place in your home, or in your workplace. It might be taking place inside your mind, threatening to rob you of a victorious walk with God. Or it might be taking place in a hospital room in the intensive care ward!
During medieval times when this armor was worn it protected the vital parts of the body during battle. Today we use bulletproof vests, armored tanks and bulletproof glass. The vivid picture of this body armor helps in our understanding of the importance of the full armor of God. Ephesians chapter 6 gives us keys in the spiritual understanding of the importance of armor. In verses 13 – 17 we read: “Use every piece of God’s armor to resist the enemy in the time of evil, so that after the battle you will still be standing firm. Stand your ground, putting on the sturdy belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the good news, so that you will be fully prepared. In every battle you will need faith as your shield to stop the fiery arrows aimed at you by Satan. Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.” NLT That spiritual body armor, and especially the breastplate of righteousness, was vital to me in the season of spiritual warfare that we were in throughout Dwight’s illness. This piece is so important to wear at all times because, in the natural, it protects our heart and our vital organs.
And we need that same protection spiritually too. While we were in the hospital, Satan tried to attack my spiritual heart – my faith and resolve. Because our heart is the seat of our emotions, and all that is closest to us – family, sense of self-worth, even trust in God- Satan knew if he could destroy my spiritual body armor, he would win a victory over Dwight and me and everyone else who was praying for us. But God’s righteousness is the body armor that protects our heart for God, and that is powerful!
As I have said, Psalm 71 was a great place of refuge for me throughout Dwight’s hospital stay. Verse 2 reads, “Deliver me in Your righteousness, and cause me to escape.” God provided a breastplate of righteousness for me to hide in, and here it even speaks of it being a source of deliverance. Isn’t God amazing! Rest in the beauty and under the protection of the armor of God.
Amy J. Heath (Sonrise Magazine Art Director and Manager) and author. Grew up in Everett, Washington and graduated from Mariner High School. Author of Creative Heart, a 31-day devotional inviting you to join Amy’s journey with Father God in a creative way. Each day highlights a painting, along with narration of the thoughts Amy shared with God about the meaning of the picture, Then, on the following page, space is provided for you to write or draw inspiration you gathered while reading and viewing the painting. The goal of this book is to help you creatively express your thoughts. Art Director and Magazine Manager amyjheathdesign@gmail.com. Creative Heart is available at the Sonrise Christian Center bookstore.
Jervae Brooks (Sonrise Magazine editor) and author. Retired in 2021 after 40 years of service at Aglow International. A longtime member of Sonrise, she has authored a number of books, most recently Sustained for the Journey, A Battle for Destiny available through the preceding link as well as at the Sonrise
Christian Center bookstore. Reach Jervae at jervaeb@aol.com
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