Monday, November 19, 2007

The Armor of God - Spiritual Armor to keep fighting the good fight!

The Armor of God (I added) NIV New International Version
Ephesians 6:10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12 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. 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. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
================================
Oh, lately I've been feeling those flaming arrows of the devil's schemes! It is SO hard to keep the peaceful feeling when under attack. My feet want to run, not stay and fight! But this verse says stand, so fight I must. I need to daily remind myself to put on this armor that God so readily provides. Some of my thoughts on the pieces:

Belt of Truth around the waist: Our waist is pretty much the center of our body. We need to make the Truth only found in God, our center.

Breastplate of Righteousness: I looked up the word righteous and found: acting in accord with divine or moral law : free from guilt or sin. A breastplate would protect our heart. We need to keep our hearts free from guilt and sin.

Feet fitted with the gospel of Peace: I believe another version refers to the shoes of peace and good news. We can use our feet to go and tell others about the source of our peace.

Shield of Faith: A breastplate stays on the body. A shield can be moved around to protect us from attack in any direction. Bigger attacks need a bigger shield of faith!

Helmet of Salvation: A helmet protects our head and salvation protects our minds. When that helmet is in place, we can focus on the truly important and weed out those negative thought tapes that try to play in our minds. We are saved and protected by God. His voice, even when it's that still small voice, speaks truth and love.

Sword of the Spirit - word of God: Like the shield...bigger attacks require bigger equipment to fight. Spending more time with the Bible gives us the reminders of verses to use when things look worse than they might be.

Pray - in the spirit....we do not fight alone!

No comments: