In order for me to face day to day trials and tribulations, I have to prepare myself for the battle. I do this by putting on my "Armor of God".
I will put on my armor of God:
The Belt of truth:
Satan fights with lies and sometimes his lies sound like truth; but only
believers have God's truth, which can defeat Satan's lies. God's truth
is that he loves my husband. He Chose Leo for me. I am to be Leo's
Christian example which means forgiveness... not just 7 times, but 70
times 7 times.
The Breastplate of righteousness
The devil often attacks our heart--- the seat of our emotions, self
worth and trust. God's righteousness is the breastplate that protects our
heart and ensures his approval. He approves of us because he loves us
and sent his so to die for us. By not keeping in the word, I had taken
off my breastplate. That allowed the devil to attack my heart and mess
with my emotions. And what an attack he made!!
The Footgear for Readiness
to spread the Good News. Satan wants us to think that telling others
the Good News is worthless and hopeless task. The size of the task is too
ig and the negative responses are too much to handle. But the foot-gear Go
gives us is the motivation to continue to proclaim the true peace that is
available in God--news everyone needs to hear. I no longer felt like
posting up bible verses or encouraging others on facebook. In fact, I
had the opportunity to tell Leo how he could get hope and talk to him
about God and I stayed quiet. I didn't say anything because my thoughts
told me that it was useless because he wasn't going to listen to it
anyway, his heart wasn't ready...but I see now that those are lies...big
lies... No one who knows me can doubt that God exists after seeing
where he has brought me to. My life should stand as hope against the darkness. I survived so that I can share this hope with
others...but by listening to the doubts in my mind, I kept my mouth
shut. No more...
The Shield of Faith.
What we see are Satan's attacks in the form of insults, setbacks and
temptations. But, the shield of faith protects us from Satan's flaming
arrow's. With God's perspective, we can see beyond our circumstances and
know that ultimate victory is ours. SELAH! When I got home from
spending a month away, I felt like I was getting nothing but insults and
setbacks and temptations. I blamed my husband for that. But, as a non
believer, it is easy for Satan to use him to get to me. He doesn't
understand faith. But, I do. I understand how it works. And, I fell for
it. I let my shield down. By doing that, I blamed everything on my
husband. It was all his fault. Blame is a HUGE emotion...and one that
will allow us to excuse our behavior when we know it's wrong. But, no
more. My shield is back
up!!
The Helmet of Salvation...Satan
wants to make us doubt God, Jesus and our salvation. The helmet
protects our mind from doubting God's saving work for us. Doubt is HUGE
when it comes to depression. After all, that's where i all
starts...doubting ourselves, doubting our abilities. Doubt can have a
HUGE controlling effect on our outlook.It can make us see things that
aren't there. It can cause us to think something is bigger than it is.
and finally:
The Sword...the word of God. The sword is the only weapon of offense in this list of armor.
There are times when we need to take the offensive against Satan. When
we are tempted, we need to trust in he truth of the word of God. The
Bible says that the truth will set you free. And, indeed it does. It
doesn't free you from battle or free you from life's circumstances,
but it frees you from the loneliness that trying to fight a battle on
your own can bring. Many times, I say to myself that I have no one to
talk to. I can't pick up the phone and talk to someone about my
feelings...but the truth is, God is always near. I can talk to him first
and he listens. He speaks the truth in love to me.
