Christian Living

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Ephesians 6:10-18 NIV
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
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. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
There is a battle going on today and I am not talking about the riots everywhere in the world. I am talking about the spiritual battle that we seem to have ignored. Yes, we acknowledge that good and evil are in our world but we deal with it only on a human level most times. The problem is that we have been looking at life through our human eyes only.
Many times the above passage is preached and we focus on the armor and miss the weapons. Sure we need to go into battle with armor to protect us but if we just have armor and no weapons we are in trouble. Armor is a defense against the enemy but it doesn't do anything about defeating him. [Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.]
Each piece of the Christian armor is defensive in nature until we come to the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Now to use a sword effectively we must know how to use it. It will take practice and many hours to become proficient . Sadly, we don't seem to even find time to read God's Word. We can talk about it but often we don't practice its admonitions. We are sorely lacking in our swordsmanship. [2Timothy 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman who needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. KJ] We don't study.
The sword of the Spirit is a powerful weapon that cuts to the heart of the matter always. [Hebrews 4:12 NIV For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.] I don't think I could put it any plainer. We have a culture that tells us what to think and how to act. If we don't know what God's Word says we cannot discern truth from lies. A powerful weapon we need to read, study, know and practice if we want to win this spiritual war.
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. This is our other powerful weapon. Yet, again I think we aren't even using it properly if at all. I both love and hate that little word- all. For you cannot take anything away from it and still have all. We are told to pray on ALL occasions with All kinds of prayers and to pray for ALL the Lord's people. That is pretty extensive so lets dissect it a bit.
Prayer should cover every action of every day. That means start the day with prayer, pray as you go through your day and end the day with prayer. What are all kinds of prayer? Well they are prayers of thanksgiving and gratitude. They are prayers for direction and strength. They are prayers for others in all the world. Especially prayers for the lost and those who do not live according to what is right and good. Pray for the suffering. our government and leaders, all those that serve on every level of society; just to name a few. I think you get the idea. But this last one is one that can be the hardest of all because we may all love the same Lord but we don't always agree on how that should be done. Instead of judging perhaps we need to pray for those with whom we do not agree and let God deal with it. The old adage is still valid, Prayer Changes Things.
These are the two mighty weapons we need to be using today as we face all that is going on in our world today. God's Word will guide us and show us the right way. Prayer will give God permission to work in the lives of all we pray for. We can totally change our world if we learn to use these two weapons and use them daily.

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