6:17
The helmet of salvation protects our heads. We can think of this as protecting our minds. Our understanding is vital. We need to know that we are saved and why we are saved. Our natural inclination, and one that the enemy will always try to make us focus on, is to look to ourselves. This will result only in defeat, for there are no grounds within ourselves for our being saved. Christ alone is the basis for our salvation. A lot of the armour is concerned with protection and we need protection, but our life is not to be one of just lying low, fending off various attacks. We are to also go on the offensive, and the first weapon we have is “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God”. Note that it says it is “the sword of the Spirit”. It is not the word in an abstract sense, but it is the Holy Spirit that uses the word of God. We are not wielding a weapon on our own, rather we are cooperating with the Holy Spirit.
6:18
The second weapon is prayer. We pray “in the Spirit”, once again we are cooperating with the Holy Spirit. God’s plan is to involve us in the battle, and in the victory. Note that both prayer and the word are spiritual weapons. In 2 Cor 10:3,4 Paul says that we do not fight with the weapons of this world, but with godly weapons which have divine power. And we pray with all sorts of prayers. So we are to keep alert. Remember that the disciples failed to keep alert in Gethsemane when Jesus asked them to pray with Him. And we are to pray for “all the saints”.
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