There's a Crack in Your Armor Perry Stone

by wielding the sword of the Spirit. The devil departed “for a season” (Luke 4:13, KJV ). This is the type of test that Samson encountered as Delilah continually wore down his resistance with her words, weakening his will and finally causing God’s champion to break under the pressure. He failed the test, lost his eyes and strength, and ended up in a Philistine mill house going in circles—blind, bound, and going round and round. The word peirazo is used when Jesus was preaching to a hungry multitude and He went to Philip and asked him, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” (John 6:5). Jesus knew there were not enough stores in Galilee or enough money in the ministry account to feed this crowd. John reveals why Christ actually asked the question: “But this He said to test [ peirazo ] him, for He Himself knew what He would do” (v. 6). This was a test to reveal if Philip had faith or a lack of faith for a miracle. Philip was counting the offering and calculating the numbers, indicating the money and the numbers didn’t add up (v. 7). At times we are tested, not to determine if there is good or evil, for the carnal man always has a tendency toward an evil inclination and must be brought under subjection to the spirit, but to expose a possible weakness that could later be used by the enemy to bring us down. Another important place where the word periazo is found is in the Apocalypse, where Christ informs the church at Ephesus that He knows that they have “tested” those who said they were apostles (Rev. 2:2). These strangers in the church were to be put to a test by the believers to determine what was actually in their minds and hearts. We are uncertain what this test was,