Dressed for War

In the morning, before you start your day, get dressed for the battle, the battle against our enemy the devil that roams around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

You spiritual armor, as described in Ephesians 6, are the written words of God as recorded in the Bible. The weapons are the spoken words.

First: the armor: Each morning, prepare your mind and soul for battle, go through the motions, as if you are putting on physical clothing, visualize as best you can:

Put on the shoes of peace: the peace that comes from knowing that your Savior who stands behind you is far, far, greater and more powerful than the enemy or giant facing you. This will help you stand firm and calm, filled with an inner peace - you will not run away in fear, leaving the battle field behind, making no difference for the King and Kingdom. It is important to heed the warning in James 1: don't only be hearers of the word and not doers as well. If you are faced by giants today, be that bills, illness, human enemies, or spiritual enemies: stand firm, remind yourself that it is not about the size of the giant or the enemy, but about the greatness of God who will never leave you nor forsake you.

Next, imagine putting a belt around your waist - the belt of truth. The belt supports your body's frame to be strong during the battle, but also, it is to truth that your weapons attach. If you lose your belt, your ability to fight is lost as well. The truth is what you need to counter temptations. Temptations - those appeals to the ego, the desires of the body, the desires of the self. It is when Adam and Eve succumbed to Satan's temptation in the garden that, well, you know the consequences of falling for that temptation. You develop the strength of your belt by practicing discipline. Discipline such as the discipline of fasting, praying, studying the word of God, and withstanding temptations. Temptations to sin, such as: it is just a little white lie; every one else is doing it; God will understand and forgive you; if God did not want you to do this He would not have put the desires in your body. Counter these temptation lies with the truth in the word - no, it's not just looking, Christ said to look lustfully is the same as adultery; no, God will not understand that I am not willing to forgive regardless of how badly I have been injured. Remember God's promise in 1 Corinthians 10 that He will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear.

Next, put on the breastplate of righteousness. This will protect you from Satan's accusation that you are not good enough, not righteous enough, failing and falling down too often. When he challenges your right standing with God, remind him, it is not about your righteousness, it is about the righteousness of Christ. About His goodness, faithfulness, and love. This will protect your heart, protect you from believing the lies and accusations. Of course, this does not mean you can continue to be an unrighteous person. We are instructed to die daily, to become more and more like Christ, and that the prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. So the effectiveness of your prayers depend on your righteousness, your salvation solely relies on Christ's righteousness, which is why we wear His breastplate.

Next, put on the helmet of salvation. For this protective gear, it is vital that you study and know the written word of God. You will need this in order to obey the command to take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ. Remember, not all the thoughts in your awareness are your thoughts, a large number of them are incoming 'emails' from your brain after these were triggered by incoming signals, either externally from the world through your physical senses, or internally from your body. Hence the command to take every thought captive. Once you have transferred the written words from the pages of the Bible into your memory, it becomes your 'anti-virus software.' If the thought does not comply to the requirements of: Pure, Lovely, Admirable, Noble, True, Right, Excellent and Praiseworthy - reject it. (You can remember the requirements with this mnemonic: PLANT your thoughts Right and what will grow from it will be Excellent and Praiseworthy.") As your thoughts go, the direction of your life goes. Do the work of taking every thought captive.

Next, take up the shield of faith. With this, we are promised, we can extinguish the flaming arrows of the enemy. Those arrows are doubt, the opposite of faith. The enemy will make you doubt God's promises, promises such as: He will let good come of all things, that by His name, we can drive out demons and heal the sick. This shield too you develop by use; as you test the promises your faith will grow with each victory.

Now for our weapons, which are spoken words:

Make time, each day, to fight the enemy, for a sword that is never wielded is nothing more than a useless weight you carry around. In Genesis 1, God gave people dominion over the earth. This was our place to rule, until of course, Adam and Eve gave that dominion over to Satan. At the cross, Christ took it back, and in His name, we can now rule again. People often ask: Why did God allow this or that tragedy? Well, He did not, we did, this is the place we rule. But as we have limited knowledge over how to best fight and defeat the enemy, yield control back to God by speaking in tongues. The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God spoken through us. This next guideline is not in the Bible, it is a suggestion for your consideration: Before beginning to speak in tongues, ask Christ to sanctify you and your speech centers and then ask the Spirit to use your words.

Next, make time each day to wield your second sword, your words of warfare, which Paul defined as: stay alert and persevere in praying for the people of God, your fellow believers. Pray for those who are being persecuted, or are in the midst of a great battle, pray for those who teach and are in leadership, that they will not fall prey to Satan's deceptions.

Brothers and sisters, do not only be well dressed and safe and protected in your armor. Fight with all your might for the time is short.

Reen