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Verse 15

….and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace

Peace is the key word.  When the gospel is presented, and accepted, the result is peace in the Holy Spirit.  Notice the reference to the feet.  No one can come a place of preparation unless they first walk out their faith and get tested and matured.  The testing of faith and the associated character development holds us firm as we engage the enemy.  It is also our feet that holds us upright.  I’m sure we can all remember there have been times when we have been rocked by a strong wind.  As we feel the wind pushing against us, we instinctively position our feet to gain a more sturdy position so that we don’t get knocked down.  It is the same principle in warfare.  As we get rocked by the onslaught of attacks, we need to reinforce our position so that we can stand and not fall over.

Verse 16

…above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.
Faith is our armament against attack.  We hold our faith in front of us to protect us against the circumstances being brought against us.  This faith shield is a part of our weapons collection.  However, no soldier goes to war unless they are first proficient in the use of their weapons.  Its called practice and experience.  It is the same with our faith.  We must come to a place knowing from multiple encounters and gained experience under the leading of the Holy Spirit that we are confident in our faith.  Such a place is one of peace, assurance and victory.  Without being in this place, the enemy is able to bring us deception, intimidation and doubt.

Notice how it is darts that are being propelled against us, and not spears.  Darts hurt and cause some damage and pain.  However, the more mighty weapon of the spear, penetrates deeply and maims and kills.  The enemy attacks us with a small arms fire, so to speak.  However, without maturity and a knowledge of how to fight back in victory, we then become recipients of fear and that fear escalates to something bigger so that we become weakened, dejected and ultimately give up.  A mature Christian who know their King cannot lose.  It is our King within us that carries us to His victory.  Why?  Because every knee will bow and declare His Lordship. 

Verse 17

And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;

The helmet covered the head.  The head is the place where our warfare takes place – in our minds.  That is why the Bible tells us to renew our minds so that we start taking on a God perspective and not a world perspective.

 The sword – interesting.  A Roman soldier carried two swords.  One was a long one that was used to wage battle against one or more foes at a distance that was not too close to the body.  It was however, useless in close situations where an enemy was right on top of you.  The Roman soldier would use the shorter sword.  It was effective in close quarter combat.  This is what is being described.  Each encounter we have is at the close quarter point.  It becomes hand to hand fighting.  WE engage the enemy, but our sword is what we have come to know from the Word.  When we take authority over the spirit we are engaging, we have confidence that and peace, and our minds are at ease, that our declaration will result in the demon spirit fleeing.  We hold fast to the truth, knowing full well that our God will back up His word, and victory is obtained!

 A major point is that Christians engage on a hand to hand combat battle.  Anything above that requires us to pray that our Father will bring about changes.  In Scripture, the only demons that Jesus cast out was the ones that He encountered.  Any level above the personal encounter is battled on our knees.

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