Put On Your Spiritual Armor

Dear Friends,

The following message was written by my friend Deborah Mac Manes. It's an excellent meditation on Paul's metaphor about our spiritual armor that we need to wear daily for, as the apostle writes in his epistle to the Ephesians,  "we wrestle not against flesh and blood."

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Debby's Message

Scripture tells us that a Roman guard was stationed with Paul in his prison cell. Paul must have seen this guard put on his suit of armor many times, which is why he wrote the metaphor about winning the spiritual battle with spiritual armor.

I would like to elaborate on my, daily, prayer with a more in-depth meaning behind each piece of armor:

I wear the helmet of salvation to filter my thoughts ... The spiritual battle begins with a thought that enters our mind. If it is an evil thought and we dismiss it, we have won that fight. If we retain the thought and dwell on it, we are entertaining Satan's whisper. Finally, if we act upon this evil thought, Satan has won this particular battle, we have sinned, and we have grieved the Holy Spirit who dwells inside of us. The helmet of eternal salvation is to protect our thoughts right from the start.

I put on the breastplate of righteousness to protect my heart ... The old testament High Priest would wear a breastplate of judgement. Inside this pouch were two stones called the Urim and Thummin that he would, sometimes, use to determine God's will. Since Christ is our Lord, Savior, High Priest, and King, our breastplate is of righteousness in Christ Jesus and our hearts are protected in Christ Jesus from this unbelieving and evil world.

I am protected by the shield of faith from the flaming missiles of Satan .., Satan attacks us with fiery darts and our steadfast faith in Christ Jesus is the shield that protects us against anything that he is allowed to throw at us. We need to fight the good fight of the faith.

I carry the sword of the Holy Spirit, the Word of the living God ... A sword is both an offensive and defensive weapon. We carry the sword of the Scriptures or Bible which is God's Word. We need to live and breathe God's Word so that we will be strong and effective in helping to save souls, along with strengthening the souls who have been saved. We need to be able to wield the 'truth' in whatever direction the Lord leads us. We can, only, do this with a firm understanding of His Word.

I am belted with truth and righteousness, to glorify you, Holy Father, while walking in the Gospel of peace ... Our fight is a spiritual one; not physical. The bible tells us to live a quiet and peaceful life, and we are to mind our own business. Our responsibility in this life is to walk in the shoes of peace and be the light of the world. We are to carry His teachings in our minds and hearts, spread and abide by His Word wherever we go, and give all glorify and honor to our Holy Father through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. All glory to Him!

 

The author of this message, Deborah Mac Manes, is a bible study teacher and servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. As captain and founder of the Spiritual Elegance Team, she moderates this online ministry group which is part of the Etsy marketplace. Deborah is the creative artist and owner of Designs by DM Candles located at designsbydmcandles.etsy.com. 

Unto The Least of These "Put On Your Spiritual Armor" © 2016 Deborah Mac Manes All Rights Reserved. Illustration Roman Soldier  © 2016 Suzanne Davis Harden All Rights Reserved. 

Take Captive Every Thought

But you, dear friends, use your most holy faith to build yourselves up even stronger. 

Pray with the help of the Holy Spirit. 

Keep yourselves safe in God’s love, as you wait for the Lord Jesus Christ in his mercy to give you eternal life. 

~Jude 1:20-21 

Prayer is not only one of our greatest spiritual blessings because it is our means of communion with our precious Creator and it unites us as believers, it is also one of our most effective weapons in our arsenal against the enemy of our souls. 

As we use prayer along with studying the Bible which St. Paul calls the sword of the Spirit, we grow strong spiritually and closer to God. We also become a source of Christ's light to those around us. 

The book of Proverbs says that the righteous is a guide to his neighbor. Our lives become a blessing as we follow Christ each day through prayer, bible study and obedience to His word.

The Lord Jesus rebuked Satan in His wilderness temptations with God's word when He said,  “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4)

St. Paul says we are to pray every kind of prayer and at all times.

 Pray in the Spirit at all times. Pray with all kinds of prayers, and ask for everything you need. 

To do this you must always be ready. Never give up. Always pray for all of God’s people. ~Ephesians 6:18

St Paul wrote that we must be careful how we think. 

"For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ..." ~2 Corinthians 10:4-5 

Often the enemy attacks us in our thought life, discouraging us, filling our minds with accusing or condemning, depressing or hopeless thoughts. But Philippians 4:4,8 exhorts us to rejoice in the Lord always, no matter what our outward circumstances are and to think about good things in ourselves and others!

Philippians 4:4, 8 

Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! 

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. 

God is light and God is love. He is looking at all those good things in you and me in that list in Philippians 4:4-8 or He would not have inspired Paul to have us to think about those things.  

God tells us to be like Him in His word. 

St. Paul wrote these scripture verses under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit--a man who was often severely beaten for his faith, put in cold, dirty prison cells and left to languish, and persecuted mercilessly. 

I imagine that he might have often been tempted to feel sorry for himself under such conditions but his epistles are the writings of a victorious warrior for Christ! 

I too want to be a victorious warrior for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! I pray the declaration prayer in the scripture picture above to take captive every thought that exalts itself against the wisdom and knowledge of God and I ask the Lord to make my will line up with His. 

I pray to be led by His Holy Spirit always for His word declares in Romans 8:14 that all who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 

Amen and amen!

1 Thessalonians 5:16-22 

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; 

for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 

Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. 

Test all things; hold fast what is good. 

Abstain from every form of evil. 

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, teach us to pray without ceasing, thank You, Lord, we love You, in Jesus' name, Amen.

Unto The Least Of These/ "Take Captive Every Thought" Copyright © 2015 All Rights Reserved. Scripture Quotation 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 (ERV) Easy To Read Version Bible © 2006 World Bible Translation Center /NKJV ©1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc/Scripture Picture&Prayer~SD Harden