SUIT UP

Finally, my brethren, be strong in
the Lord, and in the power of
his might.
Ephesians 6:10

Lately I have been so blessed by spending time in the book of Ephesians. I realize we are living in a culture that is tossing and turning in pain. However, it must be noted that this culture of ours is made up of individual people. Like it or not, we're in the middle of it and need all the encouragement we can.

How comforting to know that we are not left defenseless. Our loving Father saw down through eternity our need of tools with which to fight the attacks of Satan. He has given us pieces of spiritual armor with which to deal with the wiles of the evil one. Each piece is important. Without even one piece, Satan will attack that weak area of our lives. Thus we are commanded:

Put on the whole armour of God,
that ye may be able to stand against
the wiles of the devil.
Ephesians 6:11

All pieces of that armour are for the purpose of protection except for one and that is the gospel of peace. We can fend off any spiritual attack with the Word of God. Without that weapon, we just aren't going to have the strength needed to fight any spiritual battle we are faced with.

Many of such spiritual skirmishes I seem to experience are at night, in bed, in the dark, morning hours, and can't sleep. This happens off and on with me and I've learned to just grab my sword (Bible), head for the living room and allow the sword to do it's work. If we aren't very acquainted with our sword (Bible) we wouldn't know what to do with it. However, the Holy Spirit in His loving patience, can steer us in the right direction.

This kind of thing happened to me just about four nights ago. I had some folks and situations on my mind, things God is very capable of taking care of. I got up, headed for my chair in the living room and turned to one of my comfort zones in the Word...Philippians. At my age, I at times think maybe God is ready for me to “hang up my spurs.” There it was...1:6”

Being confident of this very thing,
that he which hath begun a good
work in you will perform it until
the day of Jesus Christ.

I can't tell you how that warmed my heart at about 2:00 AM. You see, when we think of the spiritual armor and the sword, we think of huge negative events that come into our lives. What I'm thinking is that God wants us suited up for any kind of warfare Satan may bring into our lives. A soldier takes great care to know his weapon, how to shoot it, how to clean it, etc. Without that effort, a soldier could be in great danger when in the course of battle.

Let's determine to know our swords (Bibles). Among all the pieces of spiritual armor, only the Word is our defensive weapon. We need it for battle in the hardest of times, but also perhaps in the midnight hours when we need to come out swingin'.

Dear Jesus, You not only died to save us but you have given us the best of tools with which to fight evil the assaults us. Through Your Holy Spirit, may we be encouraged and even excited about being in Your Word for strengthening and encouragement. Forgive our remiss in not making it more a priority in our lives. In Your precious name....Amen