PUT ON YOUR ARMOR, EVERY DAY (PART 5)

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Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com

In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

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

In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Ephesians 6:16

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

For the past four days, we have been looking at the individual components of the full armor of God, armor that Christian believers are to put on daily so to be able to stand against the schemes of the devil who is ever lurking around like a hungry lion waiting to devour (1 Peter 5:8).

As we turn to our scripture verse for today, we find the Apostle Paul adding to “all this”, a referral to the parts of the armor we have already covered which were:

1. The belt of truth

2. The breastplate of righteousness

3. The shoes fitted with the readiness that comes from the Gospel of peace

To these, Paul adds the “shield of faith”, the armor piece at the center of today’s message.

In biblical times, a shield was a critical part of a soldier’s self defense as it could absorb a strike from a sword or deflect arrows shot from a distance. Anyone who would go into battle without their shield was incredibly vulnerable to attack and in a position of danger.

Just as an enemy would seek to injure and take out an opponent in war, so too does the devil work to take out Christian believers. He does so with malevolent allies which include the “powers of this dark world” and “the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms”. This is why the Jesus follower needs to carry a spiritual self-defense element with them every day so to absorb and ward off the attacks of Satan.

As we look again at our verse for today, we see that this self defense element is the shield of faith, a shield that a believer can “extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one”. Note here that the shield of faith doesn’t just extinguish some of the flaming arrows but rather all of them. This happens because of the One we place our faith in, namely the Lord God Almighty, the One who will always have the victory over the devil.

Maintain a steadfast faith in the Lord and you will have His steadfast protection, an incredibly powerful supernatural shield that ensures that good triumphs over evil, not just some of the time but all of it.

Let your faith waver and you will put yourself in a place of spiritual compromise, a place where the enemy can strike and cause damage. Maybe you can relate to this. I know I can.

That’s what makes this passage so critical as we see Paul spare no small detail in instructing all Christians, whether in Ephesus or elsewhere, on how to protect themselves and stay in the fight with God by their side through life. For while donning His full armor, a Christian possesses a power well beyond their own, the power of the Lord which always assures victory.  

Tomorrow, we’ll finish this series with the helmet and sword, seeing what they are associated with.

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

PUT ON YOUR ARMOR, EVERY DAY (PART 4)

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

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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

PUT ON YOUR FULL ARMOR, EVERY DAY (PART 3)

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

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

“Stand firm then...with the breastplate of righteousness in place...”

Ephesians 6:14b

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

When a soldier would go into battle in biblical times, they would do so wearing armor to protect their body against weapons that could be used against them.

In chapter 6 of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, we find the Apostle using an illustration that people would be familiar with (donning armor for physical combat) to convey spiritual direction in regard to defense against the attacks of the devil. You may remember these words from Peter about the spiritual adversary of all Christian believers:

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8

Indeed, Satan is always in the destruction business as we live each day within a spiritual battleground. There, we find our God fighting against the devil and his minions, the powers of the dark world and evil spiritual forces of the heavenly realms. Being a part of God’s enlisted forces through Christ Jesus, we are under attack daily and this is why the scriptures advise us to be put on the full armor of God so we can stay strong in His mighty power and be able to take a stand against the devil’s schemes.  

Each component of this armor is critical to our spiritual safety and yesterday, we began looking at each part individually, beginning with the belt of truth. Today, we find Paul adding the breastplate of righteousness.

“Stand firm then...with the breastplate of righteousness in place...” Ephesians 6:14a

Go back to the physical armor that military men would wear. While all elements of the armor were important, the breastplate was particularly significant because it guarded the soldier’s heart, lungs, and other internal organs critical to life.

Now translate this to what Paul said. He likened the breastplate to wearing righteousness. In other words, righteousness needs to be in place to shield the most critical areas of our spiritual health and life.

At the most fundamental level, righteousness is what keeps us from ending up on the devil’s side. For if one lives in the ways of wickedness and transgression, they are in company with Satan who thrives in that place. In fact, when Paul talks about the schemes of the devil, he is talking about falling into sin instigated by the enemy and the only way for Christian believers to avoid this trap is by putting on their full armor of God every day and making sure the breastplate of righteousness is firmly strapped in place.

The belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness.

These are the first two pieces of the spiritual armor that God’s word calls for us to wear daily.

Tomorrow, we’ll see what goes on our feet.

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

PUT ON YOUR ARMOR, EVERY DAY (PART 2)

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

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

“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist...”

Ephesians 6:14a

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

While it can often appear that things are at peace, the fact is that there is a constant war taking place, every minute of every hour of every day. This fight isn’t a physical one but rather a spiritual one, a conflict between the goodness and righteousness of the Lord God Almighty and the wickedness and malevolence of the devil, the ruler of the dark world and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Since Satan posses no power to defeat God, he turns his attention to the people of God with the goal of destroying every good and perfect person God has even created. The fact that every person is a sinner who falls short of God’s glory creates a huge disadvantage in this war against the enemy because everyone is vulnerable in some way and Satan knows those weaknesses, sometimes better than we do.

To counter this and be able to stand against the devil’s schemes, we need protection and the only place we can gain it is by carefully putting on the full armor of God. Today, we begin looking at each component of that armor, starting with the belt. Look again at these words here:

“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist...”

If you’ll recall from the recent series of messages centered on putting on a new self in Christ, Christian believers are to be honest with others. Lying is a sin, plain and simple, and yet I think many people have told so many fibs that they are comfortable doing it. In other words, for a lot of people, it is just as easy to be untruthful as it is to be honest. Without putting on the full armor of God, it can be an easy place to get to, especially when you forget to put on the belt.

We know this because the belt is associated with truth. When buckled, a belt serves to keep everything in place and so too does truth from a spiritual perspective. It’s been said that honesty is the best policy but the Lord would want us to know it’s the best because it is His policy and frankly, it’s only through Him, that we can have this belt in place.

As Christians, we need to remember these words from Jesus who is One with the Father:

“I am the way and the truth and the life.” John 14:6a

Jesus said that He is the truth. That means that Christians need to be fully in Him and He in them if they have any hope of being truthful and honest.

Fail to allow Jesus to lead you and watch how fast Satan will enter in to guide you onto the road of deceitfulness, a road he travels daily since he is the father of all lies (John 8:44).

Allow Jesus to lead you and you will always walk the path of honesty, wearing the belt of truth as a part of your full armor.

Tomorrow, we will examine the breastplate of righteousness.

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

PUT ON YOUR ARMOR, EVERY DAY (PART 1)

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

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

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.

Ephesians 6:10-13

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

From the moment we are born until that moment when we draw out last breath in this earthly existence, we are immersed in a spiritual battleground, one where there are only two sides.

On one side, we have the side under the command of the Lord, God Almighty. This is the side defined by good and righteousness and holiness.

On the other side, we have the devil in charge of the forces of darkness and evil. Their side is bent on destruction and chaos, ever seeking to injure anyone who is not in company with them.

Take notice of what is going on in your community, municipality, state, nation, and world, and you will see acts of goodness as well as acts of malice and wickedness. The latter never rests and so ever Lord-serving person had better have their guard up because Satan has them in his sights.

This is why the latter part of this last chapter in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is so critically important. For if Christians have any hope of staying protected against “the powers of this dark world” and the “spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms”, they had better put on the “full armor of God” and do so each and every day. No one can afford to leave a piece of the armor behind because it creates a point of spiritual vulnerability, one the devil can exploit. 

With this, the only way we can be “strong in the Lord and in His mighty power” is if we wear all components of God’s spiritual armor for it is then and only then that we can take our stand against Satan’s schemes when the day of evil comes upon us.

Tomorrow, we’ll begin looking at each part of the full armor of God by examining the belt of truth.  

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