PUT ON YOUR ARMOR, EVERY DAY (PART 4)

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Stand firm then... with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.”

Ephesians 6:15

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In this series, we have been looking at the individual parts of the full armor of God, armor all Christian believers need to put on every day for protection against the schemes of the devil.

These schemes in general serve to bring a person into iniquity and evil for on the devil’s side of the spiritual battle, you will always find wickedness and malevolence. Conversely, on God’s side of good and virtuous living, there is righteousness or right living, and as we looked at in yesterday’s message, Christ followers are to ensure that they strap on the breastplate of righteousness so their behavior will be focused on the ways of the Lord, not the ways of Satan.

Something else you will find on the enemy’s side, the place where the powers of the dark world and spiritual forces of evil operate, is chaos. For when the devil has his way, and we see it happening every single minute of every day, a person will find disorder and disarray whether it is on a personal level or on a broader scale. The frequency leaves us yearning for peace and thankfully, we only need to look to the Lord’s side of the spiritual battlefield to find it.

Now, this all seems like an oxymoron on the surface. We’re in a spiritual battle so that means there should be fighting on both sides of the war, right?

From a worldly standpoint, it would seem to be impossible but as we always see in our God, the impossible will always be possible.

You see, when a person remains on the side of the Lord, they will find peace despite the spiritual war raging around them because God is fighting for them and He will always have the victory. All we need to do is place our trust in Him.

Need validation of this truth from the scriptures?

Take a look at another of Paul’s letters, his epistle to the Philippians, and you will find this in chapter 4, verses 6 and 7:

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Turmoil is disruptive by its very nature and I don’t think I know anyone who likes disruption. Disorder breeds unrest and unrest gives birth to anxiety, worry, stress, or fear which are the enemies of peace. Satan wants nothing more that for God’s people to live immersed in these emotions.

To counter this, Christians can put on peace, the shoes that are put on as a part of God’s full armor. Look again at today’s verse:

“Stand firm then... with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.” Ephesians 6:15

Note that when the storms of bedlam rage all around a Jesus believer, they can stand firm as long as they fit their feet with the “readiness that comes from the gospel of peace”. We can make strides toward reaching that place of readiness when we lay down anything that might be a peace-disruptor at the feet of our God, the One who can do all things. The matters of life that bring disruption to our serenity are so often bigger than we are but they will never be bigger than the God we serve, the God who is with us and fighting for us. On His side of things, no one can stand against us (Romans 8:31), even our mighty enemy, the devil.

The way to the peace of God that transcends understanding is through placing our complete trust in our Great Protector and the eternal hope He gave to all who believe in His Son. The good news of salvation, freely given by God through Jesus, is the Gospel of peace, a peace that can never be taken from us, a peace that will always be ours within any spiritual battle as long as we fit our feet with this part of the full armor of God.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com