Ephesians 6:11
Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.
Hey there my beautiful people! How are y'all feeling?
I'll be honest and say right now I haven't been really feeling my best.
The only description I have for what I'm experiencing is, it's like as if I can feel the ebbs and flows of the world.
The heaving and lurching and violent rushing of waves crashing up against rocks.
I can truly say that I've found a new meaning of what it is to be anchored in Christ.
And yet I press!
Despite how I feel, I press on towards the mark for the prize of the higher calling of Christ Jesus, like Apostle Paul told the Philippians in chapter 3 verse 14 of that book.
Now that right there should have done something in your shando.
(inner man, ha!)
I wanted to be transparent for anybody who may be feeling a similar way.
Be encouraged, beloved. You are in good company. Stay anchored.
Alrighty then. I'm glad I brought up Apostle Paul! He did a phenomenal job at introducing what kind of armor the Ephesians ought to put on to be able to withstand the enemy. Most likely I assume, he deemed this necessary as I mentioned in a few of my other posts, that the church of Ephesus was made up of uncircumcised converts.
They needed to be made aware of how to fight and what to fight with. They needed to be made aware of the fact that this walk in Christ is not always going to be a bed of roses, sunshine, and puppies and some heavy duty armor will have to be worn for the rough side of the mountain.
I am often amazed at how quickly believers will reserve the right to use the armor of God against their fellow brothers in sisters in Christ. But when the enemy comes in like a whole flood they assume that God raises up a banner and that's it.
Really?
The standard is a high ranking insignia advertising WAR! It's not some flimsy flag that the enemy can just crash through. It's a billboard, serving notice to the enemy that the Angel of Armies is here for the smoke. Ha!
Listen, if you don't want to fight for yours, I don't know what to tell you.
However, every now and then you will find yourself walking straight through the pastures of peace right onto a battlefield of war.
Beyond the Thunderdome.
So I won't say I'm an EXPERT, expert at spiritual warfare, but you know I've taken a few crash courses in this area of which God paid my tuition for.
I've learned that trauma makes you fight sloppy. Trauma will have you all the way out here messed up and fighting in the flesh.
You will never win a battle in the flesh.
I don't care what anybody has told you.
I can specifically remember a time a while back in my journey with God where I was going through probably my first taste of severe spiritual warfare.
It's like in an instant, somebody turned off all of the lights and I was shrouded in darkness.
I could no longer SEE!
Anybody seen the movie The Silence of the Lambs? Here's a particular scene that reminds me exactly of my explanation.
*!Warning! The clip is a little graphic*
Ephesians 6:13
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...
Sidebar, Jodie Foster the actress in this clip, was my favorite in the movie.
Anyway, I was so traumatized by what I'd already seen, that when it'd reached the forth watch of the night, I could not see anything.
But, I could still sense I was being stalked by the enemy.
The only difference is, unlike in this movie clip, there were moments early on that I was shooting at practically everything attempting to hit whatever was harassing me.
?Question?
What do you do when you can't see your enemy but you know you have one on your trail?
Why my friends, we must dress ourselves in the whole armor of God!
THAT'S what it's for.
It wasn't until I retreated to activate God's gear, that I'd become precise in my aim.
I was no longer loosely shooting at random shadows and objects that appeared menacing. I was hitting targets. And I was hitting them well.
Let us examine the full breakdown of the whole armor of God described in Ephesians 6, please.
1. Belt of Truth vs. 6:14
We all know that belts are primarily worn to hold up our bottoms.
Referring back to my last post, (please read it, if you haven't)
I brought up how our truth is nothing but our trauma.
I must share that our most sensitive and most private parts of ourselves must be held up by the belt of TRUTH. God's truth.
Can you imagine someone trying to fight on the battlefield while trying to cover up the shame of their past?
To the enemy it just looks like a believer struggling to keep his or her pants from falling down. An easy target for him.
#Yikes
Needless to say the belt of truth is in place to protect and keep covered your weak spots. Your Achilles heel.
2. Breastplate of Righteousness vs. 6:14
Breastplates not only protect your heart, it protects almost all of your vital organs. It covers your kidneys, intestines, lungs, gall bladder, appendix, spleen, and pancreas.
All of these organs serve specific individual tasks.
If one or more of these organs are hit, the person stands the risk of malfunctioning.
From a spiritual standpoint, attach righteousness to this breastplate. Righteousness meaning, to be in right standing with God, expressing no compromise.
So therefore, the breastplate of righteousness is in place to protect your posture in God.
It blocks you from becoming prideful, arrogant, conceited, selfish, haughty, messy, vengeful, ill-seeking.
Need I say more?
Show me someone who's either of the sorts, I'll show you someone who's misplaced their breastplate of righteousness and has been instead placed into a full nelson by the enemy.
No lies!
3. Gospel of Peace (for the feet) vs. 6:15
The only place I know right now other than some parts of the country down south where you can walk barefoot is at the beach.
With that being said, for sanitary reasons, it's not really a good idea to walk anywhere without shoes on.
Even on the battlefield of the Lord!
Hear me out, you are going to walk into atmospheres of chaos, and you CAN NOT bring your chaos with you.
Moreover, if you're chaos free, you don't want to be contaminated by whatever unholy is present in the atmosphere.
Them feet must be shod with the gospel of peace.
This will keep you from allowing the enemy to trip you up or distract you with lies, gossip, and hearsay.
None of that is your portion.
Keep your feet secured in the gospel of peace at all times to maintain your integrity.
4. Shield of Faith vs. 6:16
You know that mustard seed of faith Jesus said has the power to move mountains? (Matthew 17:20) Well that thing can actually transform into a shield when you need it.
Cool right?
What do you need a shield for? Uhhh...duh because the devil shoots fire darts made up of all kinds of crap to throw you off key.
Them fire darts can be people's word curses, slander, smear campaigns, temptation, even self deception and life's setbacks.
He has an entire arsenal designated just for you, dear and he will use it.
That shield of faith will return all of the clapbacks from hell back to sender.
5. Helmet of Salvation vs. 6:17
I researched old battle armor and saw that helmets covered the whole head which was made to protect the brain, ears, eyes, nose, and mouth.
With that being said, the helmet of salvation is to be in place to safeguard your identity.
1 Peter 2:9 put it this way,
"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light."
Yit-ta-deeeeee! Catch this please!
You may encounter situations where the governing faction is to chastise the heaven out of your identity in Christ.
Do you remember how Jesus' character, authority, and call was constantly attacked by the religious? What makes you think you're exempt from these types of demos?
The helmet of salvation is to give you a forever reminder of who you are when everything around you is vying to either force you to compromise or to denounce who you are.
6. Sword of the Spirit vs 6:17
This is probably my favorite out of the armor of God. I mean the entire armor is dope. But the sword is SICK! Check it out, the sword of the spirit is none other than the word of God.
I remember one day, I injected myself into a conversation via someone's post on IG where a commentator stated that they don't believe in the Bible but they do believe in God.
____________moment of silence____________
Believe it or not it's a lot of people who actually share the same sentiments.
This is beyond me.
What initially encouraged me to commit to my journey in God was the preaching of the word of God.
What kept me fastened to this journey, was the time I spent studying the word of God for myself.
And what sustains me now, is my continuous pursuit of His word and His bold reiterations in the natural. Everywhere I turn I hear an echo of His word of which I would have never known had I not heard it preached and had I not further explored it myself.
The more you're willing to actually dig deep into the treasure troughs of God's word the more fierce the sword of the spirit will be.
The word of God period, is sharper than a double edged sword that cuts through bone and marrow. (Hebrews 4:12)
The problem is though, there's so many believers trying to fight multi-headed hydras with dull daggers made up of old wives tales, recycled cliches, and their own limited understandings and are getting tore up out here!
#Negative
You've got to get DEEP in the word! There's no such thing as getting too deep or being too deep.
It's the shallow people who are being swallowed up whole!
You've got to go head first, minus your time constraints, prejudices, and preconceived notions. Or risk being ill equipped when the enemy comes in throwing everything at you but the kitchen sink!
I'll close here until next week, we are in a very sensitive time, folks.
The end of an era is vastly approaching.
I compare it to the series finale of a show that had its host of drama filled seasons.
You know when it's a series finale of a show, that means the show is not coming on anymore, right?
There isn't going to be another show like it.
Nothing will be the same.
A new show is in the works with new actors and actresses.
New episodes with new plot twists.
But in between that time is where it's cracking!
Just picture a woman experiencing contractions. Contractions is when the birthing canal dilates to create a safe passage for the infant.
WE ARE RIGHT HERE!!!!
In the crux of the moment. That's where the war is.
It's a ferocious battle to get the infant out of the womb!
All the sons and daughters are being challenged to push forth hard in this battle!
Just as Romans 8:22 put it,
"We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time."
We must be willing to go beyond the thunderdome!
A place where the heavy hitters give it all they've got.
Where we're sooted and booted in the full armor of God to fight!
It's the endgame.
What say you?
Yes and amen! This right here was good to me! I have not heard many break down the armor and it is so VERY important know how vital it is along with just knowing each pieces function. We need more of this in the churches of God.
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