Putting On Your God Gear: A Detailed Instruction Manual for Spiritual Warfare Based on Paul's Revelation of the Armor of God

63 Pages·2007·0.89 MB·English

by  Perry Stone Jr

PUTTING ON YOUR GOD GEAR
Voice of Evangelism Outreach Ministries PO. Box 3595
Cleveland, Tennessee, 37320
[phone]
Fax: [phone]
www.perrystone.org
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
scanning, recording or otherwise, or by any information storage and retrieval
system, without the permission in writing from the author.
All Scripture is taken from the New King James Version of the Bible, unless
otherwise indicated.
Design and Layout by Michael Dutton • www.atomicpress.com
Cover Illustration by Glen Angus • www.gangus.net
Copyright © 2007 by Voice of Evangelism, Inc.
All rights reserved.
ISBN 978-0-9785920-3-5
First Edition
Printed in the United States of America
Contents
Title Page
Copyright & Permissions
Introduction
Chapter 1: The Greatest Weapon You Have
Is Faith the Greatest Weapon?
Is Prayer the Greatest Weapon?
Is Worship the Greatest Weapon?
Why Obedience is the Best Weapon
The Results of Obedience
Examples of Obedience
Other Scriptures to Study:
Chapter 2: The Whole Armor of God
A Vision of Spiritual Warfare
Armor for Spiritual Warfare
The Context of Paul's Message
Four Kinds of Soldiers
Chapter 3: The Helmet of Salvation
Roman Headgear
Protecting our Thoughts
Protecting our Face
Protecting our Confidence
Chapter 4: The Breastplate of Right Standing
The Protection of Righteousness
The Provision of Righteousness
The Procedure of Righteousness
Chapter 5: The Belt of Truth
The Need for Truth
Truth on Trial
Truth Is Its Own Defense
Securing the Armor
Chapter 6: The Two Lances
Targeting the Enemy
Prayer
Praise and Worship
Chapter 7: The Sword with Two Edges
Using the Sword
Four Swords in Rome
Logos and Rhema
Logos and a Rhema Word Distinguished
A Rhema Is a Sword
The Angel with a Sword
The Two Edges
The Dividing Power of the Sword
Chapter 8: The Shield That Extinguishes
Levels of Faith
Faith vs. Emotions
How to Anoint the Shield for Battle
Quench them Quickly
Anoint Your Faith with the Holy Spirit
Chapter 9: How to Stand in the Battle
Standing Anyway
Elisha
David
The Training Process
The Strengthening Power of Warfare and Wrestling
Maintaining Your Balance
The Peace of God
The Peace of a Balanced Life
The Importance of Endurance, Patience and Longsuffering
Standing Firm in the Face of Evil
Endure with Patience
Chapter 10: Battle Strategies for the Last Days
The Resource of Godly Counsel
Reasons for increased Satanic Activity
Levels of Wickedness
Do Not Lose Heart
Christ's Kingdom Will Prevail
The Roman Army and Churches in America
The Standard
Four Reasons Alexander Was Great
Conclusion
Appendix
Being a Soldier
Parallels with Roman Warfare
David's Defeat of Goliath
The Power of Words
How To Be Saved
Backcover
ILLUSTRATION BY FRANCIS VALLEJO
Introduction
As a child, when I heard people talking about a war between God and Satan, I
imagined a tug-of-war with God at one end of a big rope and Satan at the other
end. Sometimes God was winning, sometimes Satan was winning. I figured that
this battle had been going on for a long, long time.
There was no tug-of-war, of course, because God has already won the war.
When Jesus went back to heaven, He sat down as a priest at the right hand of the
Father. In the Old Testament, a priest could never sit down until the work on the
Day of Atonement was finished. Only then could he sit down and say, "It is
finished."
Although the war has been won, there are continuous battles between good
angels and bad angels, or between angels of God and what we call principalities
and demonic spirits.
Daniel 10 contains an excellent example of an evil spirit wrestling with an
angel of God. Daniel fasted and prayed for 21 days. During that time God sent
an angel to answer Daniel's prayer, but the angel was hindered as he wrestled an
evil angel, called the prince of the kingdom of Persia. The archangel Michael
was sent to fight the prince. With Michael's help, the angel was able to get to
Daniel and answer his prayer.
In the heavens, Satan is the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2).
However, Revelation 12 tells us that one day Michael and his angels will cast
Satan and his angels out of the second heaven and into the heavens of the earth.
Yes, there are battles; but we know who has won the war.
When I first began to study spiritual warfare, I soon realized that the New
Testament speaks a lot about warring and warfare. For example, Scripture
reveals where our warfare is and refers to our weapons:
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For
the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling
down strongholds. – 2 CORINTHIANS 10:3, 4
Scripture also reveals that we can have a war within ourselves:
Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from
your desires for pleasure that war in your members? – JAMES 4:1
The Book of Peter speaks of fleshly lusts that war against the soul. Expositors
interpret the soul as the intellect or the mind:
Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts
which war against the soul. – 1 PETER 2:11
And in the Book of 1st Timothy, the Apostle Paul says:
This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies
previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good
warfare. –1 TIMOTHY 1:18
In the previous four scripture references, the words war, warring and warfare do
not specify that you are fighting a demon or a principality These scriptures are
speaking to Christians. Before you accepted Christ, the enemy of your soul
blinded you from the truth. There is no doubt that spirits attacked you to keep
you from hearing and believing the gospel. But now that you are saved, where is
the battle?
The war is with the flesh. Your flesh can contain attitudes of the old nature and
old ways of thinking, known as mental strongholds. Controlling the flesh is a
serious aspect of spiritual warfare.
With this in mind, Ephesians 6:14-17 tells us that we have armor for our
warfare:
the loin girdle of truth
the breastplate of righteousness
shoes of the gospel of peace
the shield-of faith
the helmet of salvation
the sword of the Spirit
When I was a young minister, I believed that warfare involved only
principalities and powers – a demon here and an evil spirit there. In fact, I
preached on demons so much that they started showing up. Then an experienced