There are too many naked Christians. 

I was reading through Ephesians 6 today – very familiar passage to most of us who connect regularly with the Bible and that phrase popped into my head!  

It struck me how often we just view this as metaphorical, rather than vital. We don’t wear what we’ve been told to wear.

Put on the full armour 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.

So here’s why we fall.

Why we don’t keep standing.

We go out into a battlefield without the armour on.

I have this picture sometimes of something like the D Day landings – Saving Private Ryan– bombs, bullets, blood sweat and tears. Then through the middle of it all is a guy walking across the beach with his Labrador. Totally oblivious! That’s the church. Wondering why we get so many wounded. Leaders too – supposedly, taken out so easily, so often, so soon. 

When I was in the police, I spent a lot of time on ‘PSU’ support units, my baptism of fire at the age of 18 being the miner’s strike. I spent some time on the riot squad too (TAG as it was then called). Even training for it was tough and dangerous. In those days there wasn’t much ‘health and safety’ about, they threw bricks – they threw fridges! You made sure you had a shield up and the armour on. You checked you had every piece in place. You never knew what was going to come at you.

I recall one ‘well known’ Christian leader speaking at a conference years ago, “I don’t need to put the armour on because I never took it off…” and I thought it sounded pretty cool.

A year later his marriage was over and he was out ministry. 

Put it on. 

Prayerfully. 

Carefully. 

Regularly. 

Like your life depends on it. 

Because as AW Tozer said, the Christian life is more like a battleground than a playground. 

Have you put the armour on- today?

Check it’s in place now. Armour up. Do it every day. Then step out, stand firm, take ground.

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.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.