Ephesians 6:10-12 ESV
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
Oh, yes, we most certainly have an enemy who is fiercely
against us and who will do everything within his power to destroy us, if he
can. And, he knows where to hurt us, too. If he can’t get us one way, he will
try another, and then another and another, and on and on until he can break us,
for that is his goal.
So, we have to put on the strength of the Lord to survive
his onslaughts against us. We can’t let life’s difficulties and tragedies take
us out and cause us to lose hope. We have to press on in the strength of the
Lord, no matter how fierce the battle becomes.
The harder our enemy presses against us, the more determined
we must be to fight him off with the armor of God and to not give him one inch
of victory over us. In fact, the harder he presses against us the more we
should realize where this is all coming from, and the quicker our responses
should be to his evil schemes against us.
The WHOLE ARMOR OF
GOD
Ephesians 6:13-18a
ESV
“Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.”
I like it that it says here to take up the WHOLE armor of
God, for if we don’t, and we only put on part of that armor, then that leaves
us exposed to the enemy for him to attack us and/or to scheme against us.
And, putting on his armor is not just some routine or some
words we say, but it is applying all these things to our daily lives in how we
conduct our lives and in how we respond to trials and temptations and the enemy’s
schemes against us.
The Armor
The BELT OF TRUTH is a HUGE one for me, because the enemy
loves to come against us with his lies, and he will use other humans to spread
those lies, too, and to try to convince us that we are doing wrong when we are
doing right, or that we are weak and helpless when we have the power and
strength of the Lord at our constant disposal.
So, we have to know the truth of God’s Word, which is the SWORD
OF THE SPIRIT, so that we can fight off Satan’s lies with the truth of God’s
Word and with the truth of what is right. And, that battle can get really
fierce at times, when we may even have to yell at the enemy, at times, and let
him know powerfully that we are children of our heavenly Father and that He is
watching over us.
Also, the enemy will try to tempt us to do evil or to make
compromises or to be ashamed of Christ and his gospel. And, this is where we
must have on our BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, which we have in Christ, because
of his sacrifice for us on that cross. But, we must apply it to our daily lives
in how we live and in how we conduct our lives, not in impurity, but in
holiness, godliness, honesty, purity and righteousness.
For, if we follow Jesus Christ, in obedience to his
commands, we “will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of
life." Jn. 8:12
And, we need to always be READY TO SHARE THE GOSPEL of Jesus
Christ with all who will listen. For, many need to hear the truth that will set
them free so that they can be delivered from their slavery to sin and so that
they can walk daily in Christ’s righteousness and holiness (Rom. 6:1-23; Rom. 8:1-17;
Eph. 4:17-24; Lu. 9:23-26; 1 Jn. 1:5-9; Tit. 2:11-14).
That SHIELD OF FAITH is critical!! And, faith isn’t just
something we think or we feel but it is evidenced by what we do (See Heb. 11).
It is putting feet (action) to what we say we believe, for truly our actions
speak louder than words. We can profess one thing with our lips, but our consistent
actions reveal our true character and they reveal what we truly do believe.
So, one of Satan’s biggest weapons against us there is to
get us to doubt God, and to doubt his Word, and to be fearful and to lack faith
in our Lord’s promises to us, and to try to convince us that God will abandon
us.
And, the HELMET OF OUR SALVATION is also not some prayer we
prayed one time in our lives where we were assured we were saved and headed to
heaven. Our salvation is deliverance from slavery (bondage, addiction) to sin
and it is empowerment of the Spirit of God to walk in obedience to our Lord’s
commands, and it is ongoing and it won’t be complete until our Lord returns.
So, when we apply this to our lives daily, we are walking
according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh, and we are not giving
the devil a foothold in our lives, but we are walking in purity of devotion to
our Lord, and then when tempted, we will fight off that temptation in the
strength of the Lord.
And, PRAYER is essential. We have to be in continuous
communication with our Lord, listening to what he says to us, and doing what he
tells us to do. We can’t make it without this! The doors of communication
between us and God must remain open at all times, but we shut those doors when
we put up our hands and we tell God “No!” and we tell our flesh “Yes!”
Pray for One Another
Ephesians 6:18b-20
ESV
“To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.”
When we are sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ, especially
daily, and when we are exposing the lies of Satan so that people’s eyes will be
opened to the lies and so that they will know the truth which will set them
free, Satan and his hordes are going to come against us strongly to try to
defeat us.
So, for those of us who are on the front lines, speaking the
truth in love, preaching the truth of the gospel and exposing false teachings,
which are leading people astray by the thousands, please know that we need a
lot of prayer. For, the enemy is attacking, and we need to be courageous in
continuing to speak the truth and to keep on exposing the lies.
But, we all need to be praying for one another. We can’t
pray for everyone, at least not individually, so we need the Lord to direct us
how to pray and who to pray for and when to pray for them and in how to pray
for them. For, we all have different needs, and we can’t always share publicly
everything we are going through. So, pray as the Lord leads you, and let him
guide you in how to pray and who to pray for and when and how often.
And, if you are going through a trial, which I presently am,
be encouraged. The Lord gave me three songs today to encourage my heart. The
first one was “Jesus, Draw Me Ever Nearer.” Beautiful song with beautiful
words. The second one was “Leaning on the Everlasting Arms.” So encouraging! And,
the following hymn was the last one, which really touched my heart. And all
three were just what I needed to hear today. Praise Jesus!
All The Way My Savior
Leads Me
Lyrics by Frances J
Crosby, pub. 1875
Music by Robert Lowry,
pub. 1875
All the way my Savior leads me,
What have I to ask beside?
Can I doubt His tender mercy,
Who through life has been my Guide?
Heav’nly peace, divinest comfort,
Here by faith in Him to dwell!
For I know, whate’er befall me,
Jesus doeth all things well;
For I know, whate’er befall me,
Jesus doeth all things well.
All the way my Savior leads me,
Cheers each winding path I tread,
Gives me grace for every trial,
Feeds me with the living Bread.
Though my weary steps may falter
And my soul athirst may be,
Gushing from the Rock before me,
Lo! A spring of joy I see;
Gushing from the Rock before me,
Lo! A spring of joy I see.
All the way my Savior leads me,
Oh, the fullness of His love!
Perfect rest to me is promised
In my Father’s house above.
When my spirit, clothed immortal,
Wings its flight to realms of day
This my song through endless ages:
Jesus led me all the way;
This my song through endless ages:
Jesus led me all the way.
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