Covering Your Armor in Prayer: The Armor of God Series

   “To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing” (Martin Luther).

   Once upon a time when I was young I used to only go to God in prayer when I needed help. If I was being bullied, I would pray for the bullying to stop. If I wanted a dog, I would pray for a dog. If I was tired at soccer, I would pray for strength. But, during the good times, I didn't pray. I never really thanked God for all he had given me. I fell into the trap of treating God like a Genie.
   Prayer is one part of the armor that we don't talk about much. I think it is because the Roman soldiers did not have a metaphor connection to prayer. Paul puts prayer at the end like this: "praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints" (Eph.6.18). 
   Prayer is like a protective coating of the armor. If the armor is not taken care of then it will not be able to do its job. We must pray to God. I'm not talking about praying to him like he is a Genie. I am saying we talk to him throughout the day. We thank him for our blessings, whether they are good or bad. We tell him about our day like a friend. We question him like a father.
   Prayer is our link. It is like the chain that keeps the armor together. It keeps us connected with God. That's why prayer is so important. We could pray just to talk to God. Or we can pray for something as major as healing from cancer. It just takes some faith and a little bit of time for us to talk with our maker. 
   So, will you stop treating God like a Genie? Will you choose to pray to God at all times and in all things?

   Philippians 4:6, Romans 8:26, Ephesians 6:10-18
   Image from here. 

Going on the Offense: The Armor of God Series

   “We need to encourage new believers to feed on God’s Word—it is nourishment for the soul” (Billy Graham).

   When I was in my sophomore year of college I decided to go to Homecoming with a few of my friends. We were getting ready and talking. One of the girls said that my friend was a rebel. They were talking about how my friend dresses (she wears leather jackets, jeans, and Nike shoes. That's a style you don't see too much at LBC. But, she pulled it off awesomely I must say).
   Anyhow, the other girls asked me if I thought this friend was a rebel. I said "She is a rebel, but in a good way. She doesn't always believe what people tell her about God. She does more digging to find the answers for herself. She does that to make sure that she finds the truth. That's how she is a rebel."
   Sometimes Christians accept what others say without question. We hear a pastor tell us about the word of God and just accept what he says. What if the pastor is wrong? We are told that there will be false prophets out there. The only way we can be sure not to fall into the trap of false prophets is by knowing the word.
   The sword is the only offensive weapon that Paul mentions in the armor of God. The sword is how a Roman soldier was able to take on the enemy. But, it was also for defense.
   In the same way a Christian uses the word to attack and defend. Who better to prove this than the one that we try to emulate: Jesus. In Matthew 4:1-11 Jesus is tempted by Satan. He uses the word to defend himself as well as attack the devil. Each time Satan uses scripture to tempt Jesus blocks the blow and comes back with scripture. The way Jesus was able to defeat Satan was because he knew the Word.
   As Christians it is vital for us to know the Word that way we can defend and attack when the devil comes. The way to do that is to get into the Word. We need to memorize scripture and read it every day.
   So, will you choose to question your teachers to make them accountable to the Word? Will you get into the Word and memorize it? Will you use the Word as defense and offense against the devil?
   2 Timothy 3:16-17, Joshua 1:8, Ephesians 6:10-18
   Image from here. 

Our Salvation is Protection: The Armor of God Series

   "No man is excluded from calling upon God, the gate of salvation is set open unto all men: neither is there any other thing which keepeth us back from entering in, save only our own unbelief" (John Calvin).

   I grew up in the church my whole life. When I was in second grade my Sunday school teacher asked us if anyone wanted to pray "the prayer" to accept Christ. I thought I understood what that meant so I prayed the prayer, but I wasn't sure. When I was going into 4th grade I was at Camp YoliJwa and I prayed to redirect my life to Christ again.

   When I grew up in went to camp YoliJwa again the year before 11th grade. My counselor told me that she used to do drugs. She had other issues too. She got so low that she took pills to kill herself. But, the overdose didn't work. She sat in her room and saw a Bible. She was really mad at God so she threw the Bible. The Bible hit the wall and fell to the ground. My counselor went over and picked it up. A specific verse jumped off the page at her Romans 8:38-39 " For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." She had thought she would never be worthy of anyone, let alone God. She prayed the same prayer I did.

   The helmet was another vital piece of a soldiers armor because it protected the head. Many enemies would go for the head because it was a quick way to defeat the enemy, thus why the helmet was needed.

   In the life of a Christian the helmet of salvation is our knowledge of salvation. We know we are saved but our job isn't done. We are called to go save others by sharing our testimonies. Both my counselor and I prayed the prayer of salvation but our testimonies are not the same. Some people may relate to my testimony more than hers and vise versa. But we both share our testimonies to reach others nonetheless.

   Christians have our story as a tool to help us spread the Gospel. Our testimony is also a defense like the helmet. There are times when we all get really low. But if we know what we believe and why we believe it we can say "Jesus is my lord and he has saved me." That is the knowledge we can rest in and share with others.

   So, will you put on the helmet of salvation if you have not already? Do you find rest in the fact that Jesus has saved you? Will you spread that good news with others? 

   Romans 10:9-10, Matthew 19:25-26, Ephesians 6:10-18
   Image from here. 

Do You Trust me? The Armor of God Series

   "Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase" (Martin Luther King Jr.).

   Do you trust me? That's the question I asked some children that I was teaching. I had only known these children for 3-4 days. The first child said, "yes I trust you." Children are very trusting, which can be good or bad depending on the situation. 

   I had this child sit down on a chair then explained my experiment to the rest of the children. I had a pack of Jellybelly Beans Boozled. In this pack of jellybeans there were beans that tasted good like juicy pear, peach, or chocolate pudding. But, there were also bad flavors that looked exactly the same as the good flavors. Some of these bad flavors tasted like booger, barf, or centipede. 

   Thus, after I asked "do you trust me?" The child would get a bean. I didn't know if it was good or bad. Therefore, the child actually couldn't trust me. This helped the children have fun while also realizing that people are going to let them down; no matter how much that person doesn't want to let them down. There is only one person who we can have faith in and know that he won't let us down: God.

   The shield was a vital tool to the Roman soldiers. It was their only defense from flaming arrows. The shield was so tall that the soldier could crouch behind it when he saw those arrows coming.

   For the Christian, we need to crouch behind our faith. We don't have arrows flying at us, but we do have other things thrown at us. We have lies, guilt, and many more things thrown at us by the devil. When these are thrown at us we must have faith. 

   Faith is the only thing that may keep us going at times. When many bad things happen at once we must cling to our faith. If we don't cling then we have a danger of losing the only thing that truly matters in life: our relationship with God. Sure, people also matter to us but, as stated in other blogs, we need to take care of our faith first before we can take care of others.

   How can we have faith? We need to dig deeper into our relationship with God. When you first accepted Christ you were on fire for God and you wanted to know more about him. Like in any relationship, that fire fades. In order to keep our faith we must dig deeper. We need to find out more about God. We need to pray and talk with God. That is what will help our shield of faith grow.

   So, will you dig deeper into your faith? Will you get to know God more as you grow? Will you continue to keep your shield of faith up?

   Hebrews 11:1, Romans 10:17, Ephesians 6:10-18

Be Prepared: The Armor of God Series

"To be prepared is half the victory" (Miguel de Cervantes).

   Those of you who know me know that I am a soccer player. I have played soccer for many years and used many cleats in that time. One time I was playing indoor soccer and I was warming up before the game. Suddenly one of the spikes on my cleat fell off. 
   If you ever played soccer you understand how much of a predicament this was. But, since I had been taught to push through whatever is going on, I played in the game. If you saw me during that game you might have thought I was drunk because when I ran I tipped to one side. I was not ready for the game.
   Roman soldiers wore comfortable shoes. If you've ever worn uncomfortable shoes you know how important it was for these soldiers to go into battle ready and comfortable.
   For the Christian, putting on the boots of readiness means that we are ready and willing to do whatever God calls us to do. Our equipment may be different depending on what we are called to do, but we still need to be ready.
   Does this mean that if God calls us to go preach the Gospel to cannibals in another country we won't be scared? No, it just means that if God calls us to do something then he has given us the proper equipment to do that job. We may be scared to do that job, but we will still do what he calls us to do because we trust in him. 
   The boots of readiness teach us that we need to be prepared to do what we are called to do. In order to be as prepared as possible we need to do what any solider does before battle-study and train. We must study the Bible so we know our enemy and how to combat him. We must train our minds and body to know what to do in whatever we are called to do (that may be different for each person).
   So, will you put on the boots of readiness and be prepared to do what God calls you to do? Will you study and train to be ready when God does call you? Will you trust in God's plan?

   1 Peter 3:15, Isaiah 41:10, Ephesians 6:10-18

A Tale of Morals and Righteousness: The Armor of God Series

   “Our assurance is anchored in the love and grace of God expressed in the glorious exchange: our sin for His righteousness” (Tullian Tchividjian).

   The next piece of armor is the breastplate of righteousness. During battle, soldiers would normally use their sword and shield to block blows. However, sometimes an arrow or sword would sneak through and would hit the chest. Thus, the breastplate protected the most vital organ of all: the heart.

Human hearts are finicky. The heart needs protected because it is so important and because it can be turned easily.

   Righteousness is defined as “acting in accord with divine or moral law: free from guilt or sin” (Merriam-Webster). In other words one must have a good moral compass in order to be righteous. How do we get morals? When we are young we are told stories that have morals in them.

   In my K5 class the Bible curriculum always tried to pull out a moral of the story. As a writer and reader I love to pull morals out of stories, thus why our church once did a Moral of the Story is VBS. Morals are important in society. If no one had morals then society would crumble. And yet, it is the people who choose to lie, cheat, and steal who are glorified while those who have morals are stomped on. At least, that is what it seems like. That may be why the heart is so finicky. We want what we want when we want it.

   Is it possible to have morals all the time if we have sinful desires? No, it is not possible to have morals all the time. Those of you who are wondering why I am saying this listen to this story. Once there was a man and his wife who lived in a farm in the country. It was a fairly secluded area and they did not get visitors often. One day a man knocked on the door and asked for help. The man said he needed to be hid. The farmer agreed. It was just how he was. He would help anyone who needed it. The guest went into the bathroom. A few minutes later another man knocked at the door. He asked the farmer if anyone had come by. The farmer had a choice. He could either rat the man in the bathroom out and not know what this other man would do to him, or he could lie. Either way the farmer would be party to some form of wrong. The farmer said he had not seen anyone. The man at the door went away. In order to save someone the man lied. He was not free from sin.

   As stated before, no one is ever totally righteous. That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try to have good morals. It is just important for us to realize that the only one who walked the earth who was righteous was Jesus. Because he was righteous, he covered our sins with is blood. That is why we can have the breastplate of righteousness. It isn’t our righteousness that covers us, it is his.

   So, do you realize that you can never truly be righteous without the blood of Jesus? Do you still try to choose to do the right thing? How can you guard your heart from the Devil’s lies?

   1 John 3:7, Romans 5:1-5, Ephesians 6
   Image from here.

What is Your Truth?: The Armor of God Series

   “Honesty (truth) is the first chapter in the book of wisdom” (Thomas Jefferson).

   The belt of truth is the first piece of armor in the armor of God. Why is the belt of truth so important? Nowadays we don’t see too many people wearing belts unless it is for a fashion statement. However, belts are a vital piece of clothing for some because if you do not have a belt you will be stuck holding your outfit together.

   Just like belts are vital so is truth in the life of a Christian. Unfortunately we have a tendency to forget, ignore, or manipulate the truth.

   I once heard a story of a girl who went to a counselor. Her counselor had met with the girl for a while and then the counselor asked to meet with her and her mom at the next meeting. The girl had been talking with the counselor about her life. She had made decisions about her life that her mom did not agree with. Her mom was trying to talk it out with the girl when the counselor stopped the mom and said, “that may be your truth but it is not her truth.”

   When I heard this story I couldn’t believe my ears. Our view of the truth has become so distorted that we now all have our own truths?! I thought truth was truth. Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines truth as “the property of being in accord with fact or reality.” Truth must be fact. It must be real.

   For years people accepted the truth that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. Many people considered themselves Christians. Now everyone has their own idea of what to believe in so we call that truth? No, we need to get back to what truth actually is. Truth is just what I said before: fact.

   In the case of a true Christian the truth is the gospel. We believe that it is true and we accept it. Not only do we believe in the Gospel of Christ, but we also dispense of the Devil’s lies. Without the gospel of truth the whole outfit falls apart. We must believe it and know that it is true.

   So, do you believe that the Gospel is true? Do you know that Jesus is the only way? Will you choose to put on the belt of truth?

   John 14:6, John 8:32, Ephesians 6
   Image from here.