Derek Prince - The Spiritual Armor Does Not Grow On You
Going on. The next thing we must do is put on the whole armor of God. We need to turn to Ephesians 6 for a moment. Immediately after the 12th verse, which speaks about the kingdom of Satan in the heavenlies, Paul says, (and the next word in my version is "therefore") alright, verse 13: Therefore take up the whole armor of God. And notice, you have to take it up. It does not grow on you. God does not fit it on you. You have to take it up. Paul was writing to people who were Christians, just as much Christians as you and I. But he placed on them the responsibility to take up the armor.
And if you look through the armor (we’ll go through it very quickly), in verse 14: the girdle of truth, the breastplate of righteousness; verse 15: the shoes of the preparation of the Gospel; verse 16: the shield of faith; verse 17: the helmet of salvation, the sword of the spirit. If you analyze that, you are completely protected from the crown of your head to the soles of your feet, except one area, which is... the back, that’s right. If you turn your back, there is no protection. It is important to remember. But that’s not the full list.
There are six items there and in the Bible usually when a thing is complete and it’s good, it’s seven. And the next one is perhaps as important as any of them, verse 18: "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit". I think it was Charles Wesley who taught about the weapon of all prayer. And really all prayer is the weapon by which we can reach out into the heavenlies and attack Satan’s kingdom at its base. The others are mainly weapons of self-protection. But all prayer is, if you like, it’s our intercontinental ballistic missile. It can reach any target, anywhere, if we set the computer right.