Do you have your weapon(s) next to you? 1 Thessalonians 4-5

1 Thessalonians 5:8 (NASBStr)

But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.

When I was in the military we were NEVER allowed to be without our rifle.   It was with us as we walked, talked, ate, slept and even in the latrine.   We NEVER were without our weapon.   That was the norm.   The reason?  The enemy may attack at any time!  The war was "always on!"   So, too, Paul says, in the Christian life.  We are never "on leave."   So, as in Ephesians 6, Paul lists the armor of the believer, here, to remind them to stay sober (abstaining from what the world is "drinking") and vigilant as the enemy (the world, the flesh and the devil) attempts to stale us or prevent us from fulfilling God's desire for a sanctified life.   Here, unlike Ephesians 6, the armor is all defensive.   We are to have in our possession at all times faith.   We should be reminded that four times in the Bible the writers tells us, "The Just shall LIVE by faith" (Habakkuk, Romans, Galatians and Hebrews).   Our fight is the one of faith.   We have no ability to please God.  It is only through faith we can please Him (Hebrews 11:6) and secure His salvation (Ephesians 2:8-10).   We are to have at our disposal at all times, "love."   Love is a gift of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22), not something we conjure up by warm affections.  As we walk in the Spirit we won't fulfill the lust of the flesh and instead allow the Spirit to love through us.   Lastly, we see hope as a weapon for the sober believer.   Hope is not seen as something the world thinks of: An anxious expectation of something that "might" happen.   Hope, here and in the Christian faith, is a certain belief of what God can do and WILL do as a result of His promises.  It is a motivating factor in our lives toward holiness (1 John 3:2,3).   Hope (as well as Faith and Love) is often referred to as a defensive weapon.  But, it may be that it (and all three) are offensive, in that we believe in hope to defeat and attack the fears and apprehensions we have in this world.   God has given us these three "weapons" to empower us and to motivate us toward a holy life.   Note what Word Biblical Commentary says about just one of these three Christian graces:

WORD: Plainly the Advent hope is treated as an incentive to Christian life and conduct here and now. The motive power for Christian life and conduct is supplied by the indwelling Spirit (cf. 4:8); it is his indwelling presence, indeed, as other letters of Paul make plain, that insures that the Advent hope is no vain hope but one which, because it is so well founded, is ethically fruitful in the present mortal existence.