Suit Up!

God calls.

You answer.

You’re full of enthusiasm and gusto. You see visions of the amazing things God’s going to accomplish. You can see so clearly where His glory will shine through this calling and it’s beautiful!

You can’t wait to get started...until it’s time to get started.

Suddenly it’s bad timing, you’re tired, or things just aren’t lining up. You just need to wait for XYZ to happen, and then you can pursue this calling. Obstacle after obstacle and excuse after excuse start piling up and before you know it, you’re questioning whether God called you in the first place.

Maybe this is just a waste of time. It’s too hard. It’s too much. You can’t do it. So you give up and the dream dies.

Have you ever felt this way?

I might as well replace all of those “you’s” with “I’s” because that’s how I feel about writing sometimes. I’m so energetically eager to pursue this calling to write, yet when the hour comes to open my laptop, I get lazy. I feel sluggish, unmotivated, and distracted.

I believe that’s the enemy trying to stand in the way of God’s glory. You see, the enemy knows the power that lives in us and he knows it’s a big victory for the kingdom of God when we walk in our callings and pursue the things of God.

“You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.” - James 2:19

The demons shudder at the thought of God’s power and might. That’s why the enemy is going to make it a battle to pursue the thing God has called you to. And that's why we have to suit up with the Armor of God daily.

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” - Ephesians 6:10-11

I grew up thinking the Armor of God was just a cute and clever sermon illustration or a fun VBS theme. While it can be both of those things, it goes so much deeper and holds so much more weight than that.

This is Paul’s final exhortation to the Church of Ephesus. His last word.

You might even call it a battle cry.

I think Paul knew what he was doing here, because he had seen what it’s like to walk with Christ. He experienced first-hand the attacks of the enemy as he began to seek the Lord. He knew the life he led and was asking the church to pursue was full of excitement and endless joy. But he also knew that it would be met with a lot of resistance, struggle, and fighting to keep up (fix this wording). He knew they (and we) wouldn’t be able to do it without Christ every step of the way. So he gave them a battle cry. A tangible way to position themselves under Christ and take up their battle stance.

“Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.” -Romans 13:14

To put on the Armor of God is to put on Christ because every piece of the armor is a different angle of the person of Christ.

That bolded word “clothe” is the same Greek word as “put on” in Ephesians 6:11 (enduō). It’s a word that means “to put on in the sense of sinking into a garment” (Strong’s Concordance). How beautiful is that!? Paul calls the Romans to sink into Christ and then calls the Ephesians to sink into His armor.

When I think about “sinking into a garment,” I picture my favorite sweatshirt. It’s old, oversized, and oh so cozy. When I put it on, I relax and quite literally sink into it as I give into the warmth.

I find it so pleasant to think of God’s Armor feeling this way when we put it on. It’s not like the bulky and stiff armor that young David tried to wear before he faced Goliath. Rather, it’s something we can put on with joyful anticipation because it’s not only a protection over our mind, soul, and spirit, but it’s also a comfort that makes us want to relax and sink into it. To sink into Christ Himself and surrender to His power.

What I love about that word, “enduō”, is that there is so much significance in the layers of its meaning. It indicates both an intentionality to put something on, and a surrender to sink into it, giving in to its power. It’s the exact tension that we have to have in our relationship with God.

We seek Him and we surrender to His power.

We step out in faith and He carries us on His wings.

It’s both an active choice to do something and in the same breath to surrender our own will to the will of what we’ve put on.

So when the enemy attacks, which he will if you’re walking with God, we can relax into the protection that we have under Christ by putting on the Armor of God. This really is an important practice for believers to make a habit of because we are choosing a life of facing spiritual battles every day when we choose Christ.

“The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10

The enemy is not only going to attack that one calling you have in mind. He’s going to fight everything in your life that is good and glorifies God. That means this battle is going to happen daily, hourly, even second by second sometimes, and the only way to win is to sink into God’s armor and surrender to his power.

That’s why the Armor of God is so crucial. You really can’t survive without it.

So, suit up!