"Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil." - Ephesians 6:11
God's Word and counsel is clear in today's verse. Knowing that the Evil One will try to undermine your faith and your life today, God calls us to put on the whole armor of God.
There is one thing, though, that we should all remember. When you put on the armor of God, make sure it's your own armor! This too is not my word and counsel; it's God's.
Very simply, in 1 Samuel 17:38-47 (which is included below), we hear about Saul "helping" David as David got ready to fight the devil, er, I mean Goliath. Saul thinks he's helping David as Saul "clothed David with his [Saul's own] armor".
But if you read the story below, you'll see that David "tried in vain to go, for he had not tested [Saul's armor]. Then David said to Saul, 'I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them.'" In sum, David couldn't move in Saul's armor because it was too big. In other words, Saul's armor didn't fit David for the very fact that it was Saul's armor and not David's armor.
David would have to go battle the devil, er, again I mean Goliath, with David's own armor and nobody else's. And if you read all of Ephesians 6 and 1 Samuel 17, what you'll see is that God's telling us all that we must go into the day with our own faith and nobody else's faith.
Yes, it helps when someone prays for you. But someone praying for you is nowhere near the defense against the offensive assaults of the Evil One and the World and Your Own Sinful Flesh that will come at you today compared to someone praying for you and, most importantly, your own deep faith and conviction that God reigns over all life, including yours!
The battle before you today is the battle for hearts. It's a battle of faith. And no one can believe for you. Just like no one can live for you, and, when it's time for you to breathe your last, then no one can die for you.
Our once great nation is losing the battle of faith. We're losing to the Philistines, and we're losing to the Evil One. And our nation is losing this battle for one simple reason: there's way too many people expecting someone else to fight this battle, er, I mean believe in God for them.
Absolutely, God alone can defeat the Evil One. And in Jesus Christ, God already has! But you, dear friend, are the one who must paradoxically surrender to the Holy Spirit of The Sovereign God in order to be victorious over the Evil One.
As nice as old Saul's gesture was to young David, David took off Saul's armor because David knew he had to go into the battle and into the day with his own [David's own] personal and living faith in God.
And you, my friend, must do the same.
And when you believe, God's armor and God's victory, will be yours!
(And P.S., it will help our nation today if each of us tells at least one more person the same!)
Praise God!
1 Samuel 17:38-47 - 38 Then Saul clothed David with his armor. He put a helmet of bronze on his head and clothed him with a coat of mail, 39 and David strapped his sword over his armor. And he tried in vain to go, for he had not tested them. Then David said to Saul, "I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them." So David put them off. 40 Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd's pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine. 41 And the Philistine moved forward and came near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. 42 And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. 43 And the Philistine said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 The Philistine said to David, "Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field." 45 Then David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47 and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hand."
(For an archive of "Day of Praise", please visit my daughter Calley's website at http://dayofpraisepc.blogspot.com/?m=1)
Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson
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