October 21, 2009

Enjoy our guest writer's devotional today!

Putting on the armor of God

Ephesians 6:10-13 “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.” NIV

Did you catch a cold in this season? When the seasons change so quick from summer to fall to winter, we often times don’t dress warm enough and are unaware of the cold temperature. And how easy do we underestimate the need of a good immune system in this time. The sun is still shining and it seems to be so nice outside, but as the nature is preparing for change into the winter season, we also have to prepare our bodies and make sure, that we develop a good immune system, which is ready to face this change from warm to cold.

Our spiritual man functions in the same way. We always have to make sure that we are fully armed with the armor of God to be able to “take a stand against the devil’s schemes.” If we neglect the continuous care and maintenance of our spiritual immune system, how then can we expect to win the battles in our daily life? In Ephesians, Paul calls us to be “strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.” He also tells us how we can get to this place – even better - he gives us the instructions with it! God has indeed given us ALL the tools we need to not just survive day by day but to walk each day in victory! We just need to learn how to use and apply these tools. And we can’t just start to do that, when we are going through trials and difficult times already; like our mortal body we need to make sure that our spiritual immune system is intact before we enter those seasons. We’ll be able to go through them with more faith, confidence and in a shorter amount of time. If we are not armed, we just make it harder on ourselves. Instead of going from victory to victory, we drudgingly drag ourselves from one situation into another. But would you ever go out on the battlefield without any weapons???
“Put on the full armor of God…” I would like to add the word “daily”, since it is so important to be always, ongoing, at any time ready for battle, to be alert and to have maximum protection through our spiritual immune system. As you start your day, just pray that God would help you to put on the full armor that he has provided for you and simply speak Ephesians 6:14-17 over your day and your life. In addition to that, “pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” Ephesians 6:18.
My prayer for you is that you would be strong in the Lord and learn to apply Ephesians 6:10-18 in your daily walk with him. You are meant to walk in victory and nothing else!