Unless otherwise marked, Scriptures are taken from the HOLY BIBLE,
NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984
International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.

EPHESIANS 6:10-19 (My paraphrase):

"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. For we wrestle not
against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, rulers of the
darkness of this world, and wicked spirits in the heavenly places. Therefore
put on the whole armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be
able to stand your ground, and, after you have done all to stand, stand firm,
with your loins gird about [prepared for battle] with the belt of truth, with
the breastplate of righteousness, with your feet shod with the preparation of
the gospel of peace. In addition to this take up the shield of faith, with
which you can snuff out all the fiery darts 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 at all times with all mannor of prayers and requests. With all of
this in mind, stay alert and always pray for all the saints. Pray as well for
me [paul, and therefore folks in the ministry]...."

"Be strong in the Lord, and in His mighty power, put on the full armor of God"

When you face the enemy, remember that the weapons of your warfare are NOT
mearly carnal, fleshly, temporary, but ARE Mighty Through God (2 CO 10:4), they
are Spiritual, and Eternal Weapons, and are litterally God's Full Armor. He has
equipped you with His best. Isn't that just like the Father, to give us His
best, never second best, never just enough to get by, but HIS BEST, the FULL
ARMOR OF GOD, not the armor of an Angel, or some other created being. NO God,
my Father, and yours, has provided us with His Armor. When you are in a trial,
remember that His Armor has withstood every assualt of the enemey, God is still
around, is He not? If His Armor has kept Him safe, and secure, and IT HAS, why
would it ever fail us? It will not! Now you may say, "But we aren't as strong
as God", well, then you better get EPHESIANS rewritten, because it SAYS:
"In HIS mighty power".

So you have to ask yourself, do I believe God's word, if not then you had
better learn to, if so Praise The Lord, for His word is ever true, you CAN
put His armor on in HIS Mighty Power. No lack there, again, He is giving us
His best! So just how do we become "strong in the Lord" so we can Put His
WHOLE Armor on and wield it in His MIGHTY STRENGTH?

PS 18:32 - It is God who Girds me with strength, and makes my way perfect.

PS 144:1 - He prepares my hands for battle.

PS 18:39 - You armed me with strength for battle.

ROM 1:16 - I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the Power of God, for in it
a righteousness is revealed, one that is by faith.

PS 28:8 - The Lord is the strength of His people, a fortess of salvation for
His anointed one.

PS 46:1 - God is our refuge and strength, an always present help in trouble.

PS 68:35 - The God of Israel gives power and strength to His people.

PS 86:16 - grant your strength to your servant.

COL 1:11 - Growing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might by His
glorious power unto all patience, and longsuffering with great joy.

"so you can take your stand against the devil's schemes"

You can surely stand against the enemy armed with God's Armor, and
Strengthened with His Mighty Power. What could the enemy possibly do against
God's Armor wielded with His strength? If it will only take ONE ANGEL to toss
satan into the pit when the lease on the earth, that God gave to Adam, expires
what will the Mighty Power of God be able to do! One other thing, God promises
to put His Armor on you, guess what He promises to clothe your enemies with,
shame! (PS 132:18)

"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
powers, rulers of the darkness of this world, and wicked spirits in the
heavenly places."

Our enemies, are not other human beings, we are in a war, but it is God's
battle. Satan is the prince and the power of the air(EPH 2:2), and the god
of this world(2CO 4:4). He managed to usurp (by deceiving Eve and through
Adam's dissobedience) the Authority that God gave Adam, satan has managed
to maintain control of this "earth lease" of the world because he controls
sinfull men. The authority still belongs to man, but with the exception of
Jesus and His Body, all men are slaves to sin, and therefore slaves to satan.
"So God created man ... God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and
multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, rule over the fish of the sea, and
the fowls of the air, and over every living creature..." (GENESIS 1:27+28).
There is comming a day when The Lamb (Jesus) repossess it (REV 5:1-5, REV 6:1 +
REV 8:1 + REV 10:7, REV 11:15), and Michael, and his angels will fight
satan and his angels and they will cause them to loose their place in
heaven (REV 12:7-10), and throw satan and his angels down to the earth.
I wish to note here that "heaven" doesn't necessarily mean a place in the
Heaven where God is. The word speaks of the Heavenly Realms, there are
several "heavens" spoken about in the word. One is the atmosphere of the
earth, another is the universe, yet another is the Heaven where God has His
throne. This may be a planet, since the word seems to speak of its having
Compas Points (IS 14:13). But it is not 100% clearly defined in the word...
In anycase, the word does clearly say that satan has a place in the heaven
that is in the atmosphere of the earth, he is the prince of the power of the
air, this is why Daniel was told "the prince of the persian kingdom resisted me
for 21 days Till Michael, one of the Cheif Princes, came to help me"(DAN 10:13).
The angels of the enemy will wrestle with the Angels of God, trying to prevent
them from making the passage to you with the answers to your prayers. This is
why it is Very Important for you to Praise The Lord, and maintain your
confession, for you will be adding the force of God's Word to the conflict, as
well as enabling the angels of God to continue in their work. You should also
speak to these wicked spirits in the heavenly realms, Bind them! Speak to their
works and command them to crumble! Remind them that NO WEAPON FORMED AGAIST YOU
PROSPERS! Remember that you, like Jesus, have Both levels of authority, you have
the Authority of the Kingdom of God, which is the name of Jesus, and you have
the Covenant/Lease authority that God gave to Adam. You can speak to these
hindering spirits in the heavenly realms from both positions of authority, one
in Jesus' name, speaking as one seated with God in the throne room of Heaven in
Christ, and secondly speaking as one of the rightfull heirs of the Adamic Lease
on this planet. When you do praise Jesus, who is the only one of us with both
sets of authority that is without the stain of sin. He will soon take back the
World, and its kingdoms will become the Kingdom of Our Lord and of His Christ.

PS 115:16 - The highest heavens are the Lords but the earth He has given to man

REV 11:15 - The kingdoms of the world have become the Kingdom of Our Lord and
of His Christ, and He will reign forever.

"Therefore put on the whole armor of God, so that when the day of
evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground"

In addition to the warfare against the heavenly angels of satan, you will have
occasion to confront the enemy in people's lives, including your own during
trials and temptation, these are the "principalities, powers and rulers of the
darkness of this world". When you face trials, and temptation, consider it an
opportunuity to grow, James 1:2 says "consider it pure joy", because "the
working of your faith develops perserverance" preserverance is, if you will,
an active type of patience, where you are exerting the force of your faith and
the word, by confession, by praise and thanksgiving to God for His
faithfullness to fullfil His promises, against the circumstances. The word says
that God will make a way out for you so that you can stand up to the temptation
and walk through it in victory (1 CO 10:13). As James 4:7 says "Submit
yourselves to God, resist the devil, and he will run away from you in terror,
draw near to God, and He will draw near to you". When you are tempted, draw
nearer to God, don't pull away, resist the devil, not the Holy Spirit. And if
you do slip, draw near to God, because it is another form of temptation,
to react to your having sinned with worldly sorrow, which has no hope, react
instead with godly sorrow, which is an eagerness to see that it doesn't happen
again. If you consider the game plan of the enemy regarding sin, it is to get
you to doubt God's word, and thus to take him at his word instead. But God's
mechanism to right this set of circumstances it to get you to choose to believe
His word that if you confess your sins He is faithful, and just and will
forgive you, God will reverse the belief/doubt relationship! Look at the cycle
as it worked in Eve, satan said "did God really say" then when doubt was sown
"if you eat of this you will become as wise as God." (GEN 3)
1 John 1:8-10 however says that if we claim to be without sin, we are deceiving
ourselves, but that if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just, and will
cleanse us from all unrighteousness, if we claim we have not sinned it says that
we are hindering His word, and that it has no place in us, and we are making Him
out to be a liar. Whatever your temptation, counter it by speaking the Word of
God, that is what Jesus did: "It is written...." over and over again. If Eve had
responded with: "Yes, God DID say...." when satan said "did God really say", we
might never have been in the mess we were in, and the whole world is still in.

"after you have done all to stand, stand firm"

2 Peter 1:3-11 says that "God's divine power" has already given us "everything
we need for life and godliness" through our knowledge of Him, (it is paramount
that we KNOW God's nature, that we are sure when He says something He really
means it, and that we know what He has said). And that He has given us His
Promises, through which we can "participate in the divine nature" (Love!!!) and
escape the corruption that is in the world, which is caused by the lusts of
the flesh. Verses 5-7 list seven stages of Personal Growth, which can be in
areas of our lives as well as overall, that we should be diligent to build
each one upon the foundation of the other, and all upon the initial foundation
of faith. They are Goodness, Knowledge, Self Control, Perserverance,
Godliness (in the greek this is defined as "Well Worship", to worship well),
then Brotherly Love (In the Greek this is Philadelphia, the kind of love that
share a common experience), the Love (Agape, in the Greek, which means the
love that isn't based on any shared experience, but rather is unconditional).
The next verse promises that if we possess these things in increasing measure,
they will keep us from being unproductive in our knowledge of our lord and
savior Jesus Christ. And verse 10+11 say that if we do these things, we won't
ever fall, but will receive a rich welcome in the Kingdom of God. These are
the things we should do to stand, and they will enable us to stand firm!

"With your loins gird about [prepared for battle] with the belt of truth"

Jesus said if we continued in His word, we would be true disciples, and
then we would know the truth, and that the truth would make us free. The term
"gird" relates to preparations for battle, where the warrior would put a
garment on that allows the freedom to manuver, but provides protection.
God has a great desire to set us free, and to allow us great mobility in life,
if you stumble in several areas He may not be able to use you very much as you
cannot stand your ground, but if you are free in many areas, you can be usefull
in a larger portion of the spectrum of life.

"With the breastplate of righteousness"

Your main protection in life is the fact that you are the righteousness of
God in Jesus! You may never even know of the many times when you are kept safe
from external situations primarily because you are RIGHTEOUS. God will often
protect His people simply because they are righteous! Psalm 5:12 says that He
blesses the righteous and surrounds them with His favor as a shield. Psalm 55:22
says you should cast your cares on God, He will sustain you, and that He will
never let the righteous fall. David when faced with an enemy more formidable in
the natural than any of Israel's army, even though he was a young man, looked
instead at the "Righteousness Factor" and said, "hey! this guy doesn't have a
covenant with the Lord God, he is an uncircumcised person, in the name of the
Lord I will prevail over him". Your enemy has No Covenant with God, he broke
all of them that he might have had, he has no right to favor from the judge of
the universe, but you call Him Father, even Daddy! (ABBA), and can approach
His throne with boldness (HEB 4:16), so rejoice in your God given, and God
enforced, righteousness.

"With your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace."

When the Angels anounced the arrival of the Prince of Peace, they said:
"Glory to God in the highest (Heaven) and on earth, peace and good will
toward man" The word says we have "Peace with God" in Jesus. Jesus said:
"My peace I leave you." The Gospel declares that we are at peace with God!
But our advarsary is NOT at peace with God, you can walk free of concern that
you will fail because of anything, "nothing can seperate us from His love"
you can cast all your cares on the Father, and be at peace in all circumstances!

"In addition to this take up the shield of faith,
with which you can snuff out all the fiery darts of the evil one."

When you can see the attack, or when you are just confessing the word in faith
for general protection in your daily lives, you can use the Shield of Faith.
The word says that His faithfullness is your shield and rampart (PS 91), that
The one who trusts in Him will never be put to shame(ROM 9:33). That No weapon
formed against you can prosper, and you will condemn everything that raises its
voice against you(IS 54:17). And many are the afflictions of the righteous, but
the Lord delivers them from them all(PSA 34:19). You can snuff out all of the
enemy's attacks!

"Take the helmet of salvation"

Hebrews 1:14 says that God's Angels will minister for we who are Heirs of
Salvation. The greek word, soteria, means Deliverence, Rescue, Preservation,
Protection, and Healing as well as Salvation. You have only to confess the word.
Psalm 103:20 says His angels hearken to His word to perform it!
Additionally, PHP 4:6 says your mind will be kept with God's peace, which goes
beyond any understanding, it will garrison your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.
When you can not see any way out, and the pressure is great to give up and give
in, seek His peace, humble yourself, cast your care on Him anew, and He has
promised that A peace from Him, which exceeds the natural, or any other
understanding, will occupy, like a batallion, your heart and mind.
It will carry you through to victory.

"The sword of the spirit, which is the word of God."

God's word is as powerfull when you speak it as when He does!

Remember it is His Armor, and you wield it with His Power........
The entire universe is sustained by the power of His word (HEB 1:3). He is
seeking hearts that will believe it, confess it in faith, and allow Him to
perform it. JER 1:12 says that He is will hasten his word to perform it.
The hebrew word [Strongs #8245] is the word used elsewhere for "watching",
its meaning is "alert", as in "sleepless" you could say God "will not rest"
once His word is spoken until it has been performed. Isaiah 55:10+ says the
word is the mechanism He has established that accomplishes His will, and
achieves His purpose. He says it does so in the same mannor that the rain and
the snow water the earth and cause it to produce. His word in your heart will
bring forth the fruit He desires. Fill your heart with the word, and you will
find it will bring forth pleasing fruit, and you will see His purpose
accomplished in your life.

"And pray in the spirit at all times with all mannor of prayers and requests.

You can pray in the Spirit, the Holy Spirit will give you the words you need
you may not even be aware of what you need to pray for, trust him, pray in
tongues continually. Pray with your understanding then be sure to follow up
with prayer in tongues, this way all your bases are covered.

"With all of this in mind, stay alert and always pray for all the saints.
Pray as well for me [paul, and therefore folks in the ministry]...."

In addition to your personal warfare in possesing your life for God, in the
same manor that Israel was to posses the promised land (see Heb 10:39(KJV)),
and in addition to direct warfare on behalf of a person who you are with,
there is the intercessory aspect to your warfare, you can release the weapons
of God against the enemy on a continuall basis on behalf of others, on behalf
of people in the ministry, and with all mannor of personal prayers and requests
(you too are one of the saints). Your intercession should begin with the
awareness that you are praying in agreement with Jesus himself, HEB 7:25 tells
us that He everlives to intercede for us! So as you confess the word over
peoples lives start with the prayer of faith that is aware that it is in
agreement with Jesus.