Monday, September 17,
2012, 8:16 a.m. – the Lord woke me this morning with the song “Pray, Pray, Pray” playing in my mind.
Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. I read Ephesians 6:10-20 (NIV 1984):
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 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. 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 one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of
the Spirit, which is the word of God. 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.
Pray also for me, that
whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make
known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray
that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
Be Strong in the Lord
I don’t know about you, but when I was much younger in the
faith, I had difficulty grasping this concept of putting on Christ’s (God’s)
armor. I couldn’t quite sink my teeth into it. I used to think that I had to
verbally recite this passage of scripture as though that would somehow
magically clothe me with the armor of God for that day. I know I struggled for
several years to truly understand what this means. And, I don’t know for sure
at what point I finally got it, but I did, though certainly I am still growing
in my understanding. Yet, I will share with you what I have learned and hopefully
it will encourage some of you, too.
I like it that this section of scripture describing our
spiritual armor begins by saying that we must be strong in the Lord and in his
mighty power. Amen! This is not something we can do in our own flesh, willpower
or might and strength. This passage of scripture is speaking about a spiritual
battle that is fought with spiritual weapons of warfare. We can’t fight it
without the strength and power of the Lord Jesus Christ working in and through
us for his glory, will and purposes for our lives. If we try to fight Satan and
his forces with the weapons of this world or with our own devices, we will fail
for sure. We must be in Christ, at his feet, listening to what he says, obeying
him, relying upon him, and doing what he says to do daily if we are going to be
able to put on the armor of God.
We can’t put on the armor of God daily if we are putting on
the world and/or are giving way to our flesh natures and sinful desires, and/or
if we are playing with sin and/or with temptation. We can’t put on the armor of
God daily to fight off Satan’s attacks against us if we are giving the devil a
foothold in our lives via any of these influences where we are entertaining or
are being entertained by sinful acts: the media, TV, movies, music, wrong kinds
of friendships or relationships, the internet, and/or social media or
activities, etc.
In other words, if I have a problem with temptation to
overeat, and I want to put on the armor of God to help me to overcome this, it
is counterproductive if I fill my cupboards and refrigerator with food that
will naturally call out to me to over consume. Or, if I am struggling to not
spend beyond my means, it would not be good for me to “window” shop or to
possess a plethora of credit cards. We can be our own worst enemy, you know? If
my problem is lust and sinful thoughts, it would not be good for me to “surf”
the internet casually, to watch movies with sexual situations, or to read
literature or participate in any kind of activities, even in a church, where
sensuality is allowed free reign. We can’t put on the armor of God, in other
words, without first putting off the flesh and the world.
Putting On Your Armor
Ok, so first we realize that we can’t do this in our own
willpower, resources and strength, but only in the strength and power of the
Lord. Then, we realize that we cannot do this (putting on our armor) if we are
putting on the world or our sinful flesh daily. So, we, in the power and strength
of the Lord, put off our flesh and willingly yield to God’s will for our lives,
and then we can begin to put on the armor of God. So, how do we do this?
The first thing mentioned in this passage is to understand
that our battle is not against human beings, though at times it may appear that
way. This is not to say that people are not our enemies, for many may be. We
will be hated and persecuted for our testimony for Jesus Christ or just because
people don’t like our personalities or what we stand for. Yet, at the root of
all this hatred is Satan and his spiritual forces working through other people,
maybe without them even realizing it, to get at us and to try to get us to give
up on Christ, on the Christian life, on serving and obeying God, and especially
on sharing the gospel. Satan wants us down and discouraged and he wants us defeated
and useless. We need to understand this is his goal so we don’t let him or people
get to us or to shake our faith.
The next thing mentioned is for us to understand the
necessity of putting on our spiritual armor daily. “The day of evil” can
certainly refer to the time of tribulation to come upon the earth when the
beast, the false prophet and the dragon (Satan) will rule the earth for a time,
times and half a time. If we are not raptured ahead of time, as some believe,
we need to be spiritually prepared for this time as it will be Satan unleashed
like we have never known before. Yet, the “day of evil” is not just that time
to come. We encounter evil every day of our lives, in our own hearts, and in
the lives of others and the world around us. And, Satan is knocking at our
doors all the time looking for a way into our lives to defeat us, and to
overtake us. So, we must be on our guard by wearing our spiritual armor so that
we can stand (be resolute; determined; steadfast) on our faith and against
evil.
Belt of Truth
One of Satan’s biggest tools against us is his lies. He lies
to us all the time. He tries to convince us that we can have a little “poop” in
our brownies for the overall benefit of the brownie itself. He tells us it is
ok to have a little bad that we take into our minds, in other words, for the
overall benefit of the entertainment value of whatever it is we are consuming. He
tries to convince us that we need to become more like the world around us in
order to reach the world for Jesus Christ. Yet, we are taught in scripture to
separate ourselves from the ways (patterns) of this world, to not be yoked
together with unbelievers in close, intimate relationships or partnerships, and
to not love the world of sin or to follow after its desires. He lies and tells
us that we don’t have to turn from our sins and we don’t have to obey Christ in
order to be saved. He lies and tells us that we should not confront another
believer with sinful behavior until we have developed a friendship with that
person over a long period of time, meaning we leave that person still in his or
her sin.
So, putting on the belt of truth means first of all that we
dig into God’s holy word with a willingness to hear the truth from God, and
then to obey it. When we know the truth, and we are living the truth that we
know, then we can fight off Satan’s lies with the truth.
Breastplate of
Righteousness
Again, one of Satan’s biggest lies against the church today
is to convince the church not only that they do not have to repent of sin or
obey Christ for salvation, but that they should become more like the world in
order to win the world to Christ. Yet, we don’t win people to Christ via
worldly means and methods. We win them with the truth of God’s holy word, which
has the power to convict of sin and to transform lives, because it is the
living word of God. So, to put on the breastplate of righteousness means we
must first of all have a heart change of the Spirit of God in which we turn
from our sins and we turn to walk in faithful obedience to Jesus Christ, and
then we daily die to self and we take up our cross daily (die daily to sin) and
follow (obey) Jesus Christ. We also daily choose Christ and his righteousness
over our own flesh and selfish desires. This is a process of a lifetime!
Feet Fitted
Our feet represent our walk with Christ and they also
represent movement forward as opposed to standing still or being stagnant (complacent
or apathetic). We are moving forward in our faith and our obedience to Christ,
in our putting off our flesh daily and in putting on the full armor of God. We
are living out the gospel in our daily lives, and we are taking the gospel of
Jesus Christ to the world around us. We are actively sharing our faith in a
purposeful way in order to see others come to know Jesus Christ, too.
Shield of Faith
This begins at our initial decision to accept Jesus Christ
as Lord and Savior of our lives and continues day-by-day as we grow in our
understanding of who Christ is and in all that he has for us to be and to do as
his children, friends, co-heirs, servants and witnesses. When Satan throws his
fiery darts at us to try to get us to doubt God, to doubt God’s word, to doubt
the promises of God to believers in Christ, and/or to doubt God’s calling upon
our lives, we respond to Satan with the truth of God’s word in full assurance
of faith in what we know of God and of his word. What we don’t know or are not
sure of we will investigate and we will learn so that we can fight off his
attacks against our faith with the truth of God’s word and with full assurance
of faith in God; in Jesus; in God’s holy word.
Helmet of Salvation
and Sword of the Spirit
Many of these pieces of armor overlap each other in that
they all involve fighting off Satan’s attacks with the word of God and with our
faith in the truths of God’s word. We must first of all be in Christ and have
been saved by his grace and in the process of sanctification in growing in our
faith and relationship with Jesus Christ day-by-day for us to be able to put on
the full armor of God. Then, we must be in the word daily so that we know what
it says, and we must believe what it says and put it into practice, thus
demonstrating that we truly do believe. Then, when Satan comes against us with
his attacks on our Christian walks or on our faith, with his lies, or with his
plots to deceive us or to get us to give up and to give in to our flesh, then
we can fight his attacks with our relationship with Jesus Christ and with the
word of God, fighting lies with truth. In Jesus’ temptation he always answered
Satan back with “It is written,” i.e. with scripture.
Pray
We must be consistent in prayer for ourselves, in
confession, thanksgiving, adoration of God, and in supplication (requests), as
well as we must pray for one another because the devil is out there to defeat
each and every one of us. We must call on God in prayer whenever we are being
attacked, asking God for his mercy, for wisdom and discernment, for strength
and power from on high, and for the Holy Spirit to intercede for us in prayer.
There are times when all I can pray is “Help!” And, God helps!! He allows us to
go through difficulties so we learn to not rely upon ourselves, but upon him.
So, when Satan is attacking you or others, call on God in prayer, listen to
what he says, obey him, and follow him wherever he leads you, for this is how
we put on the full armor of God daily.
Pray, Pray, Pray
/ An Original Work / September 6, 2012
Based off Various Scriptures
Pray that eyes may
enlightened be,
So they may know
Christ.
Pray that they may Him
better know,
Strengthened by His
pow’r.
Pray that they may
grasp
How wide and long
And high and deep
Is Christ’s love.
Pray that they may be
filled
To the fullness of
God’s love.
Pray with
thanksgiving.
Pray for an open door
for me,
So I may share Christ.
Pray when the gospel
is proclaimed –
Shared with clarity.
Pray words are given
me so
I declare the gospel
fearlessly.
I pray for you to be
active
Sharing your faith,
too.
Pray continually.
We oft not know for
what to pray,
So we ask for help.
The Spirit intercedes
for us –
Words cannot express.
Just keep on praying
for the saints
With all kinds of
requests to God.
Pray they may have
faith to
Please their God in
ev’ry way.
Pray with joyfulness.
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