{"id":44453,"date":"2010-10-04T15:56:00","date_gmt":"2010-10-04T15:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/rewriting-ephesians-614-18\/"},"modified":"2010-10-04T15:56:00","modified_gmt":"2010-10-04T15:56:00","slug":"rewriting-ephesians-614-18","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/rewriting-ephesians-614-18\/","title":{"rendered":"Rewriting Ephesians 6:14-18"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In Ephesians 6:14-18, Paul writes:<\/p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>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. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>Sadly, there are a lot of Christians who wish Paul had written the following words instead:<\/p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Lay back and relax, then, with the belt of evasion buckled loosely around your waist, with the breastplate of defensiveness in place, and with your feet fitted with the pluralism that offends no one. In addition to all this, take up the shield of grudges, with which you can hold on tightly to hurts and slights. Take the helmet of entitlement and the bludgeon of the flesh, which is the word of anger. And air what&#39;s been done to you on all occasions, with all kinds of criticisms and complaints.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[440],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3559,3661,3726,4073,4154,4264,5036,5064],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-44453","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-character","tax_ctp_tags-conduct","tax_ctp_tags-culture","tax_ctp_tags-godliness","tax_ctp_tags-holiness","tax_ctp_tags-integrity","tax_ctp_tags-spiritual-armor","tax_ctp_tags-spiritual-warfare"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Rewriting Ephesians 6:14-18 - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/rewriting-ephesians-614-18\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rewriting Ephesians 6:14-18 - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In Ephesians 6:14-18, Paul writes: 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. 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