Life Out Loud

Fortifying Your Daily Life with Scripture's Blueprint: The Armor of God

• Desireé Melfi Bozzo • Season 4 • Episode 3

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The battle for your soul is real – are you properly equipped for it? 

Taking inspiration from the Apostle Paul's powerful imagery in Ephesians 6, this episode unpacks the ancient concept of spiritual armor that remains startlingly relevant for today's challenges. Written from prison, Paul's description of the Armor of God provides a comprehensive protection system for Christians navigating a broken world.

We dive deep into each piece: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of peace, the helmet of salvation, the shield of faith, and the sword of the Spirit. Each component serves a specific purpose in fortifying our spiritual lives on a daily basis.

This isn't abstract theology – it's practical protection you can "put on" daily. Desireé shares her own practice of mentally armoring up each morning alongside her physical routine, you'll discover how these spiritual disciplines create unshakable peace even when life feels like an all-out war. The enemy prowls like a lion seeking to destroy your peace, family, and purpose, but proper spiritual protection changes everything.

Whether you're facing overwhelming challenges or simply wanting to strengthen your spiritual foundation, this episode offers both ancient wisdom and modern application. The armor isn't just for surviving – it's for thriving with unshakable joy in a world that desperately needs the peace that only comes through Christ.

Ready to armor up? Listen now and discover how to stand firm when spiritual battles come your way. Your heart, mind and soul deserve this protection.

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Desireé Melfi Bozzo:

Ciao and welcome to Life Out Loud. I am your host, desiree Melfi-Bozzo. We are going to use this space to share experiences and help you find lasting, unshakable, unwavering, unmessable. With joy and gratitude. We're going to be throwing around encouragement a little bit like confetti, and giving you support to live your very best life.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo:

Ciao, friends, welcome to episode three of season four of the Life Out Loud podcast. I am the creator of this podcast and your host, desiree Melfi Bozzo. This season we're focusing on prayers and scripture that have helped to shape the world, and in this episode we are going to talk about how important it is to fortify our lives with something called the armor of God. The armor of God is found in the book of Ephesians and scripture in the New Testament. It is so powerful and so helpful in navigating life on this side of heaven and I thought it was pretty important to share it with all of you. So before we talk about the actual armor, I want to tell you a little bit about the book of Ephesians, where it's found in scripture, and just a little bit of backstory and background on it. So Ephesians was written by the Apostle Paul and it was written when he was in prison. It was about 60 to 61 years after Jesus died. Commentary and I love this commentary and I love this commentary says that Paul's letter to the Ephesians has been called an anthem to the sovereign grace of God displayed towards sinners in Christ. I thought that was beautiful when I read it. It kind of stopped me in my tracks to just read just the eloquence and the beauty and the power of the book of Ephesians. In Paul's writing, and definitely obviously in the armor of God, he uses military imagery. It was most likely inspired by where he was. Commentary tells us that Paul was most likely chained to a Roman soldier. He had a front row seat to what, like a battle ready warrior would look like. He got a front row seat to. You know this armor and the purpose of it. So that's a little bit of backstory.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo:

In Ephesians, chapter 6, verses 10 to 18, is where Paul talks about the armor. It is our protection in this fallen world. And, friends, to say I'm obsessed with the armor of God is a bit of an understatement and that's okay. I own up to that. Just as I ready myself for the day taking a shower and brushing my teeth and doing my hair and all the things I armor up and I truly mean that Like I take a minute to pause and I walk myself and my mind through the armor as a Christian woman, as a wife, as a mom living in a broken world. It's the protection that every single one of us needs on a soul level. I quite literally put it on and if you're sitting there listening like, um, this is weird. Also, how do I do this? Hang tight, and I will explain everything. Before we get to the explanation, though, I want to read to you Ephesians 6. So we're going to pick up in verse 10.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes, for our 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, verse 13,. Therefore, put on the full armor of God so that, when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground. And after you have done everything to stand, verse 14,. 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.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo:

One, verse 17,. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Verse 18 finishes us off with and pray in the spirit on all occasions, with all kinds of prayer requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for the Lord's people. My loves, there is an enemy in this world, and he's after our souls, he's after our families, world, and he's after our souls, he's after our families, he's after our children, he's after our joy and he is absolutely after our peace. He is the greatest adversary we will ever have on this side of heaven.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo:

It is imperative that we armor up for the fight. As Christians, as people who believe that Jesus died on the cross to save our sin, we need God's armor for protection every single moment, to stand firm against the devil's schemes. It's not an if they come into my life, it's a, but when they come into my life, we must be ready, and the armor helps us do that. And so I want to take the next little bit to break down the six pieces of armor, and my hope is that it moves your hearts to understanding. Ready or not, let's go.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo:

We're going to start with the belt of truth. This is the very first part of the armor that a warrior will put on. Every other piece of armor hinges and listen up because this is important. Every other piece of armor hinges on how well the belt is fastened around the soldier's waist. The same is true for us today. Just as the belt gave a soldier core support of stability and fortification, when we fasten the belt of truth on, it keeps us stable, it keeps us strong, it keeps us upright.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo:

The belt of truth gives us the unshakableness we need when we are in spiritual battles that wage war on our lives. When we take every choice we have in this life, every opportunity we're given, and we run it by the truth of God's word. It might feel restricting to the flesh, but the reality is it gives us more freedom in life. See, when a Roman soldier went into battle, they had a tunic and it would be tucked up into the belt to keep them from tripping over it. It essentially gave them like shorts that offered freedom to run and to move.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo:

My loves, truth must be the standard for our lives and when it is, every choice, every decision can be confidently made in ways that glorify our God and his will. The belt of truth, firmly on our waist, keeps us from tripping up. If I can be honest, perhaps this applies to you too. I look back over the times in my life when I've faltered, when I have failed and when I have absolutely obliterated any chance of success that laid before me. It is in direct correlation sorry, direct relation to how tightly the truth of God and scripture was in my life, was in my life. The truth hems us in.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo:

So, after a Roman soldier put on his belt, he would then put on his breastplate made of bronze. It would cover him from his neck down to his thighs to guard his core and his organs. It is imperative that we put on the breastplate of right, living with God. See, if truth is this standard that we fasten around us, then righteousness is living that standard out in behaviors and obedience. The breastplate of righteousness is this piece of armor that protects our heart, and your heart is the centerpiece of your soul.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo:

Friends, there is a real enemy in this world and he prowls like a roaring lion, crouching in wait for someone to devour. That's scripture, that's not me. He looks for someone to lead off the path and lead right into temptation. His demons are on assignment and living a life of unrighteousness is all they need. That's all the invite they need to come in. Scripture is crystal clear when it comes to this, proverbs 4, 23 reminds us guard your heart, because everything you do flows from it. Luke 6, 45 says a good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart. An evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart For the mouth. And if you're listening to this and you're thinking to yourself, you have no idea. I am too far off the path to even be remotely considered righteous. Sweet friend, I ask you to pause and I ask you to consider Calvary. Our sweet Savior Jesus already paid the price of your righteousness. It's time to put it on my dear.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo:

The breastplate of righteousness allows us to live well. So with the belt fastened securely and the breastplate firmly in place, next I want to look to our feet. This piece of armor was a nod to the Roman soldiers' footwear. Military shoes were like half boot, half sandal, and they were made of leather. The bottoms of them had these metal spikes that gripped into the ground. The shoes kept the soldier stable and able to stand firm his ground. Having our feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace is an unshakable posture.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo:

If you've lived any amount of time, I'm certain you can see that the enemy of our soul doesn't want us to have peace. He wants us stressed and depressed, full of strife, envy, discouragement and chaos. He knows if he can still our peace, he can infuse anything that he can that can break us, he can pull us from our purpose. My dear stand guard, because wherever there is a lack of peace in your life, you can be certain, certain what you can be certain that Satan is there, prowling, trying to gain ground, prowling trying to gain ground. The good news of the gospel is that Jesus gives us true, lasting, eternal peace when we have a relationship with God. Through Jesus, we can access that lasting peace in our life, no matter the circumstances. I read once that peace intimidates the enemy and perhaps that's why he's after it so badly in this world. Can you imagine if we walked in peace with each other, the unity we could have in this world, regardless of political or religious affiliations? Can you imagine if we could just stand in peace with each other? Peace leaves us empowered to live out his will and be his hands and feet in this world. If Satan can shut that down, he can gain a lot of ground Each day as we lace up our J's or we slide into our stilettos. I encourage you to think about how you can show up in your life bringing peace to any and every situation that you walk into.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo:

And now we move on to the helmet of salvation. The helmet of salvation is seen as this protective device for our most vital driving forces, our minds. For the soldier in ancient Rome, the helmet was made of iron and it was covered in bronze. Commentary states that when the helmet was so firmly strapped and placed, it exposed little besides the eyes, the nose and the mouth. So you can vividly imagine how fortified and safe the helmet made such an important part of the soldier's body. And when we put on the spiritual armor, this helmet of salvation, we protect our minds from the attacks of the enemy. Romans 8, 6 tells us the mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the spirit is life and peace. We can live well when our mindsets are fixed on truth. Can you imagine who you could be and how might God use you as his hands and feet in the world? If he can get us thinking in tune with his spirit, the possibilities are literally endless for eternity.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo:

The next thing I want to move on to after the helmet of salvation is the shield of faith. This is our protection against the fiery darts of the enemy. Now I want to break down these darts. See, they're not made to kill us. Fiery darts are made to distract us from the path that God has us on. The enemy knows that if he can keep us distracted enough putting out fires, we cannot possibly advance against him. The soldier's shield Paul is talking about in Ephesians was massive. It was two feet wide by four feet tall and it was so massive that when a soldier crouched down, it covered him completely. The shields, they were massive. They were made of wood, covered in canvas, then leather, then iron.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo:

In Ephesians 6, paul tells us to take up the shield of faith, using the shield of faith as an active thing. It's also something that wasn't done alone. Soldiers never advanced in battle on their own. They stood shoulder to shoulder, shields interlocked when crouching down. There's a significance here. If you're anything like me, you might have a lone wolf approach to life. Okay, this rarely works when the fiery darks begin to ascend. I've said it for over a decade now that we are never meant to do life alone. We never have been and we never will be. Life happens side by side, so take up your shield of faith and make sure there's a soldier, or few, next to you.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo:

The sword of the spirit is the next piece of the armor, and this is different than all the other pieces If you look at them. Every piece of armor is for defense and acts as a protective shield for our body, except the sword of the spirit. The sword is our offense. Our sword that we wield is the word of God. His word is our offense against all the other things that try and stop us from living out God's will for our life. Hebrews 4.12 says the word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword. It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo:

Your sword of the spirit, the God-breathed scripture in our Bibles, offers protection in our life from a God that would leave the 99 to go and fight for the one Dear ones. The grace of God saved us. Scripture and the armor of God prepares us. Scripture and the armor of God prepares us. It prepares us to stand strong in a broken and fallen world. My loves, if you feel like some days you are in an all-out battle. Scratch that war. It's because we are Build your life on the firm foundation of Jesus and then armor up against the schemes that come your way. It's not always going to be easy, it won't always be a clear path, path forward, but if we walk in obedience, in lockstep with the Holy Spirit, we will all walk through it protected. There was a lot here that I unpacked.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo:

I love the armor of God. I love talking about it. If you are interested in diving deeper and talking more, please, friends, reach out. As we close this episode, I'm going to pray number 6, 24, 26 over you and your dear ones. May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace. My love's to add to the blessing.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo:

I pray that the God of heaven lets the importance of the armor of God permeate your heart and your mind. I pray that you bravely wear his armor every day and be bold enough to share it with your spouses and your children and the people in life who you love the most, helping to equip them for the life ahead of them. My dear friends, I hope you enjoyed this episode. Come back next time. We're going to throw more encouragement and more scripture around like confetti. But be careful. You know, if you get too close you're totally going to get some on you. And remember there's always something to be thankful for.

Desireé Melfi Bozzo:

Ciao. Thank you for joining me, desiree Melfi Bozzo, for this episode of Life Out Loud. I would love to hear from you, leave me a comment, tell me what topics you want to talk about and how you take your coffee. If you enjoyed what you heard, text a friend the link, share it on social media. Or if you're interested in becoming a supporter, beep up over to my webpage, lifeoutloudme and sponsor a cup of coffee that keeps this podcast fueled Until next time, sweet listeners.