Tag: Armor of God

Living in the Light of Jesus, daily!

nofearlindaLeave a comment

For those of you who follow me, I apologize for the error in yesterday’s blog. Once I publish something, I can update it but it still is sent out to you without the correction. Going online and pulling it up brings up the corrected blog. I use 1 Corinthians 9:12 not 12:9. Hopefully, it did not interfere with the message as the scripture was written correctly.

Today I am looking at 1 Thessalonians 5:8 “But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.” This is a great verse with very clear message of what we are to ‘put on’ as believers. Paul is talking in this passage about Christ’s return and our belonging to His light as we not longer live in the darkness of sin. Verse 5, “You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.” We can live each day in His light assured that we belong to Him. I love 1 John 1:5 “This is the message we have heard from him (Jesus) and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.

Since we are children of His light, we are to put on faith and love and live with a knowledge of the hope we have in Jesus. Each day when you rise, greet the day with ‘God morning Lord’. You are assured that He is with you and that in His love He cares for you. Our faith in Jesus lets the love of God into our lives and brings with it hope for each day and for eternity with Him. Paul uses the analogy of armor in this verse. Our faith in Jesus protects our heart and the hope we have in him covers our minds as protection against the attacks of the world and its unbelief. We can live assured that Jesus has us covered. What a great way to live!

Because Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead, I can live each day in His light filled with His love and hope. May you rise each day and put on faith knowing with it comes His love, His protection and light for living that very day.

Linda

Prayer, Are you using it as a Weapon in Life’s Battles?

nofearlindaLeave a comment

Paul has described the armor of God in terms of those pieces worn by Roman soldiers of the time.  The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit.   All of these are physical weapons in our arsenal for fighting our earthly battles of seen and unseen forces that are against us because of our faith.  They are to be worn in all circumstances so that we are never without protection from God and His Holy Spirit.  The last piece of armor Paul lists is a non-physical weapon that we are to use constantly, prayer.   Ephesians 6:18 describes this weapon,  ” 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 Lord’s people.”

ephesians 6 18Prayers are to be constantly on our lips for other believers.  It is a weapon that is to be used at all times for all occasions.  Paul exhorts us to stay vigilant for attacks upon our faith, trials that test our resolve or ideas that cause us to doubt.  Being alert keeps you or other believers from being taken by surprise by the things of the world that would cause you to stumble.  What kinds of prayers should we be offering for other believers?  Faith that is growing and maturing seeks to be more and more like Jesus so anything that would strengthen the walk, character, resolve, purity, thankfulness, kindness, gentleness, self-control, hope, salvation, purity, pursuit of righteousness….  the list is endless.  All these things we are told in scripture are desirous for the believer.   Here are a few examples:

Leviticus 19:2 “‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.”   We can pray for our own holiness and purity as well as all other believers.

Psalm 25:9  “He guides the humble in what is right  and teaches them his way.”  We can pray for humility in ourselves and others and commitment to walking with Jesus daily.

Colossians 2:6-7 “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”      Pray for each other’s daily walk, grounding in scripture, strength of faith and a life showing great thankfulness.

Galatians 5:22-23 “ But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”   We can pray for the fruits of the Spirit to be evident and developing in our life and other believers.

Pope-Francis-Quote-Let-us-always-pray-for-one-anotherBecause Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead, I have the privilege of lifting myself and others up in prayer as we face life’s battles.   Take this privilege seriously and make it a habit to pray for yourself and others so that all would be strong in faith and rooted and grounded in Christ.  Satan desires that we stumble and falter as he wants to destroy our witness for Christ.  Jesus reminded the disciples before His death, “ I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33  Pray that we will all be over-comers and live victoriously in Him.

Linda

Holy Week- Jesus’ Friday was incredibly grueling.  He was tried in various courts in the night and early morning, beaten, brought before Pilate and condemned to be crucified.  He was brought to the cross and crucified then buried in a new borrowed tomb.  “Good Friday”  was good for us but physically hard, painful and demanding all from our savior.   Matthew 26:47-27:66, Mark 14:4-15:47,  Luke 22:47-23:56 and John 18:2-19:32. 

Truth and Right Living, Armor up with Christ

nofearlinda3 Comments

Do you suit up properly for life’s battles?  Here are the first pieces of armor in Paul’s list- the belt and  breastplate.   Ephesians 6:14 “Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness”,  The first things we are to put on involve our godly ephesians 6 14-beltcharacter- the belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness.  The root of the believer’s strength is the character he/she has in Christ.  Godly character is based on the truth of God, who He is, and how you are bound to Him through faith in Christ.  Jesus is truth and knowing Him brings truth into your life.  John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  His Holy Spirit brings believers truth “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” John 16:13 and His Word is truth “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.”  John 17:17.   The truth of godly character is base on Christ, the Holy Spirit and His Word and are the essential building blocks for godly character in our lives.

Another element of godly character that we are to put on that provides for our defense is His righteousness as ephesians 6 14-breastplateour breastplate.   The breastplate covers the heart and protects our vital organs. Since we cannot be righteous on our own because of our sin nature, we have to depend upon Christ and His righteousness.  Romans 3:21-24 “ But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. 22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. 23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.”   Jesus made the way for us to be righteous before God and give us (imputes) His righteousness to us.  We are renewed through this righteousness from Christ as Paul reminded us in Ephesians 4:20-24 in The Message translation, “But that’s no life for you. You learned Christ! My assumption is that you have paid careful attention to him, been well instructed in the truth precisely as we have it in Jesus. Since, then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything—and I do mean everything—connected with that old way of life has to go. It’s rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you.”  Righteousness is a key to a life filled with godly character and can only be obtained through Christ.  Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, only through Him can we have His character.

ephesians 6 14Because Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead, I can have godly character that is based on His truth and righteousness.  These first pieces of armor are crucial to living a life for Christ. Put them on then stand firmly rooted and grounded in Christ.

Linda

 

 

 

Battles, unseen forces vs. Christ and His Holy Spirit

nofearlindaLeave a comment

Paul reaches the conclusion of his letter to the Ephesians after exhorting them to live godly lives, to depend upon each other in the body of Christ and to live lives submitted to one another filled with love and grace.  He tells them that the battle of living for Christ involves both the physical world we live in and the spiritual world we cannot see.  His advice is to put on God’s armor.

ephesians 6 11Ephesians 6:10-12  “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 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.“

Later in the chapter Paul fully explains each piece of armor and why we desperately need them for our battles.  Here he reminds us that spiritual battles are being waged in the heavens of which we are unaware,  and yet we have to come up against them in our daily lives.  One of my favorite Old Testament stories shows the forces of evil that surround us and how Satan would love to destroy our faith and witness is found in 2 Kings 6:15-17.   Elisha, the prophet of God, was telling the king of Israel the battle secrets of the king of Syria that God was revealing to him.  The king of Syria was very upset and sent horsemen to come and seize him.  Elisha’s servant looked out of the house they were staying in and ran to tell Elisha that they were surrounded.  Amazingly, Elisha was not afraid and asked God to reveal what he saw to his servant to explain why he was unafraid. He then asked God to confuse the enemy and He did with blindness.

15 When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant 2kings 6 16said, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” 16 He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 17 Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.18 And when the Syrians came down against him, Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, “Please strike this people with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness in accordance with the prayer of Elisha. 19 And Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.” And he led them to Samaria.

What I love about this story is that the servant was unaware of the ring of fiery angels that were ready to do battle on Elisha’s behalf.  We too have power of the Holy Spirit that indwells us and gives us power to thwart sin and Satan’s plans. “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world,” 1 John 4:4.   Paul is telling us to be ready to do battle in a serious fashion using His power and might.  We are on the winning side because Jesus is greater than anyone or anything physical or spiritual that we may encounter in life!

Because Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead, we are able to battle against unseen forces through the power of the Holy Spirit.   We need to be ready and willing to walk with the Lord and be empowered by Him each day.

Linda