We Shouldn’t Omit Anything

The Holy Spirit always wants to co-operate with us. This leads us to another area of misunderstanding which must be cleared up. A careful study of the New Testament makes it plain that God has made full provision to meet every need of every believer, in every area of his being and in every aspect of his experience. As clear proof of this, we may cite two very powerful verses from the New Testament.

“And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, have an abundance for every good work.” (2 Cor. 9:8)

“His [God’s] divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue.” (2 Pet. 1:3)

These verses reveal that God’s grace and power combined, through the knowledge of Jesus Christ, have already made complete provision for every need of the believer. No need can ever arise for which God has not already made a perfect provision through Jesus Christ.

If we now go on to consider the various parts of God’s total provision for the believer, we find that they are manifold and that one part of God’s provision is not a substitute for any other part. It is here that so many believers make a serious mistake: They try to make one part of God’s provision serve as a substitute for some other part. But God never intended it to be that way, and therefore it does not work.

As a practical example of God’s provision for the believer, we may consider Paul’s list of spiritual armour. Paul says: “Put on the whole armour of God” (Eph. 6:11). And again: “Therefore take up the whole armour of God” (Eph 6:13).

In both these verses Paul emphasises that, for full protection, the Christian must put on the complete armour, not just a few parts of it. In the next four verses Paul enumerates the following six items of armour: the girdle of truth; the breastplate of righteousness; the shoes of the preparation of the gospel; the shield of faith; the helmet of salvation; the sword of the Spirit.

The Christian who puts on all six items of armour is fully protected from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet. But if he omits only one part of the armour, his protection ceases to be complete.

For example, if a Christian puts on all the other five items but leaves off the helmet, he is likely to be wounded in the head. Once wounded there, his ability to make use of the rest of the armour will be impaired. Conversely, a Christian might put on the helmet and all the rest of the armour for the body, but omit the shoes. In this case his ability to march over rough ground would be affected, and thus his total usefulness as a soldier would be impaired. Or again, a Christian might put on all five items of defensive armour but fail to carry the sword. In this case he would have no means of keeping his enemy at a distance or wielding an active attack against him.

We see, therefore, that for full protection a Christian must put on all six items of armour which God has provided. He cannot omit any one piece and expect that another piece will serve as a substitute. God does not intend it that way. He has provided a complete set of armour, and He expects the Christian to put it all on.