Now let's examine each piece so we can see how they can be used to protect those people around us.

Belt of truth: The Truth about God and the things of God from us to others - Defense mechanism that reveals the true God to them.

Breastplate of righteousness: The character and deeds of God living in us are allowed to flow into the lives of others - Defense mechanism that reveals a different way of life available to them.

Gospel of peace shoes: The message about Jesus, The Christ, Who wants to set them free - Defense mechanism that reveals a way of escape for them.

Shield of faith: Protection from the devil and his devices - Defense mechanism that provides them with miracles from God.

Helmet of salvation: Protection for the command center - Defense mechanism that sets them free from satanic control.

Sword of the Spirit: The Word of God - Attacking mechanism that protects the unprotected and sets them free from the lies of the devil.

The full armor of God has four major aspects to its functionality:

1. It protects us so that we can remain effective in our relationship with God and His ministry.
2. It becomes a delivering mechanism for setting lost (unsaved) people free from Satan's control.
3. It becomes a protective barrier between Satan and new or immature believers in Christ.
4. It exemplifies, for those who don't have theirs on yet, the procedures for putting it on, keeping it on, and how they are to use it skillfully.

First, the full armor of God protects us so that we can remain effective in our relationship with God and His ministry of helping needy people:
The quality of our Christian life is a ministry in itself. It isn't just important that we live a victorious life for our own benefit. Our life, as people view it, and our life story, as we tell it, has a tremendous impact on those around us. Our life and our message are either pure or contaminated based on the success we are having with our full armor of God. People see how we live and compare it with what we preach (express to them). People also see how God takes care of His children as they watch Him provide for us. God doesn't always give us everything we would like to have. However, very often we are living without certain provisions of God because of spiritual failure.

This gives the people around us the impression that our lack of provisions are because we are Christians. There are passages of Scripture in the Bible that, if incorporated into our armor and into our heart, would totally change our life and circumstances. Not only would that help us, it would help those watching our life. Here is how the various pieces of the full armor of God serve to make our life and ministry to the people around us better.

Belt of truth protects us from believing any lies about God and the things of God. It helps us and our message to stay on target as it relates to the Truth about God and the things of God.

Breastplate of righteousness protects us from living different from the character and deeds of God. As people look at us, they see the life of Christ being lived right in front of them.

Gospel of peace shoes protects us from getting the message we proclaim contaminated. An uncontaminated message provides those we are ministering to with a true gospel presentation that causes their faith to be in the power of God rather than in the wisdom of men.

Shield of faith keeps our faith, trust, reliance, and dependency on God while protecting us and those we are ministering to from the attacks of Satan. This keeps Satan's plans from being implemented and it causes the plans of God to be fulfilled in our and other's lives.

Helmet of salvation protects us, new, and immature Christians from living below the salvation provisions. The truths or lack of truths concerning the provisions of salvation resident in the heart and mind of the believer changes every aspect of how victorious or defeated they live.

Sword of the Spirit attacks and completely thwarts the plans and efforts of Satan in us and in those we are ministering to. The promises of God have to be taken. They are ours; but, Satan will do everything he can to prevent all of us from benefiting from them.

As we successfully use our full armor of God, our ministry becomes more and more powerful and beneficial to the people around us. God is able to flow through us with a greater stream of His love, grace, mercy, and provisions. People start getting their needs met, God starts doing God-sized miracles, Satan is thwarted, lives are changed, people are saved, and we get mightily used for the glory of God. More Christians see for the first time how great God is. More lost people meet God and are saved by Him for the first time. Praises pour forth to the throne of God in a new and increased fashion. Instead of God and the things of God being blocked off in the lives and ministries of His people. God is able to show Himself to all in a full way. This is the battle that God will bless in a supernatural way. Now, let's look at the battle that is one of the dearest to God's heart. The setting of a captive free.