Jesus, help me yield and submit to this phase three of spiritual growth. Help me allow You to empower me and teach me how to keep my internal spiritual condition the way You like it, keep it the way it helps the most people, and keep it in the best condition for me; help me realize that this is where You and the Armor of God come in. In this phase, called Preventative Spiritual Warfare, I ask You to teach me how to prevent wrong, bad, and evil things from getting into my life in the first place. Since You designed the full armor of God to keep all of those harmful things out that You and I don’t want in my life, let it prevent me from having to let them in and then have to deal with them from the inside. Convince me that prevention is far superior to letting bad deeds, mistakes, and wrong decisions in and then trying to get rid of them.

Jesus, empower and train me so I can put on the full armor of God SO THAT I can take my stand against the devil’s schemes. For my struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore train and empower me to put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, I may be able to stand my ground, and after I have done everything, train and empower me to stand (Eph 6:11-18).

Jesus, train and empower me to Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around my waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with my feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, train and empower me to take up the shield of faith, with which I can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Train and empower me to 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, help me to be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

Put on the full armor of God SO THAT you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. Since two things are presented here: First, help me allow You, Jesus, to empower and train me to put on the full armor of God. Second, let You and I join together to take my stand against the devil’s schemes.

Since the “so that” words are saying that the putting on of the full armor comes first. And, since it is saying that, that makes it possible for You and I to stand against the devil’s schemes, help me take advantage of the fact that You taught me, in the previous studies, how to submit to God; and, now that You have empowered and trained me to live in a submitted relationship with God, I am ready to start resisting the devil. Since I have submitted myself to You, Jesus, I am ready to resist the devil, and he WILL flee from me (James 4:7).

Jesus, in Study One of the General Spiritual Growth, You taught me how to close the doors to my body, the world, and the devil. Now in Preventative Spiritual Warfare, teach me how to KEEP those doors closed. Use James 4:7 to keep me heading in that direction. Help me accept it as the main instruction for how this all works.

James 4:7 (NIV) SUBMIT yourselves, then, to God. RESIST the devil, and he will flee from YOU. Jesus keep teaching me how to SUBMIT and RESIST; show me who and what to submit to and who and what to resist.

Jesus, to put on the armor of God I am going to have to do the first part of the above Scripture, submit to God. To take my stand against the devil’s schemes I am going to have to do the second part of that Scripture, resist the devil. Submit yourselves, then, to God. That is what I have to do to get the armor of God on. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. That is why I submit to You. And, it is why I put the full armor of God on.

• Put on the full armor of God tells me WHAT to do. But, it doesn’t tell me HOW to do it. It just says do it.
• Submit yourselves, then, to God. That is telling me HOW to put the full armor of God on and HOW to resist the devil. Since they both happen through submission to You, I ask You to teach me how and empower me to be able do it.
• SO THAT you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. Resist the devil, AND HE WILL flee from you. These two Scriptures tell me WHY I submit to You and WHY I put the full armor of God on. This is how You and Your armor give me victory over Satan. Help me join You in accomplishing all of this, I pray.

Now You have given me all the information. You have shown me WHAT I am supposed to do (put the armor on), You have shown me HOW I am supposed to do it (through submission), and You have shown me WHY I am supposed to do it (victory over the satanic). I thank You for leading me into this victory system over all that Satan is trying to do to me. I thank You for giving me the training and the power to win. I thank You for joining me in this life of victory.