The Whole Armor Of God - Ephesians

"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.", (Eph. 6:10). Last night, while praying about this passage, I began to think about something I have never really noticed before; the word finally. I remember the illustrations from teaching Sunday School, of the Armor of God; you know, the cartoon sketches of a Christian Solider dressed in armor, each piece being labeled with what it represented. What I say now, I say with caution and a warning; I am not a Bible scholar, nor have I been schooled in any seminary or other type of school of theology; I do not claim to speak for my church; so if by any means I am called a heretic, it is because of my own stupidity and lack of knowledge to the things of God. That being said; I realized something last night, that is pressing into my spirit; we can not just put on the armor of God like we would some kind of an outfit; or even as if it were an actual suit of armor. Paul had written this epistle towards the end of his life; and it was being written based on not only what God had placed upon his heart, but what God had instructed him in. Instruction which can only be learned during application; by actually applying the principles of it into his daily life. Each and every component of the 'Whole Armor of God' is an application... Okay, are you still there? This is really a different way to look at this portion of scripture; at least it is for me. I had always considered each component as something that represented Jesus and the power He gives us over sin, or to take on the powers of darkness; but what I think God was showing me last night, was something I had never seen before, or more importantly, been taught before. I have to ask myself if I even dare venture down this road; but as I said earlier, this is pressing into my spirit, and I feel that I must. There are nine separate applications to the 'Whole Armor of God' that Paul is illustrating here; the first being that we must be "strong in the Lord and in the power of His might"; the next being that we must "stand", (you can not put any armor on if you are not standing); then there are three components to the armor which we put on and are based upon actions lived out in our daily lives, "truth, righteousness, and the gospel"; then there are three components which are provided to us which we take up and are used in our daily lives, "faith, salvation and the word"; and then there is the final application, prayer; and when I say prayer, I mean 'Man-Up-Prayer'. This is Soldier time; and before we can put on the Whole Armor of God, we must be trained to wear it. I thought about how many people have been injured trying to do battle with just a portion of the armor. There are certain instances were we can actually cause people to stumble, by not being trained up and fit to the use of God's Armor; a prime example would be, yielding the sword around without first being grounded in love...(part 1)