“THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD!”

 

Ephesians 6:10-20                 (ESV)

The Whole Armor of GOD

“[10] Finally, be strong in the LORD and in the strength of HIS might. [11] Put on “THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD”, that you may be able to STAND against the schemes of the devil. [12] For we DO NOT WRESTLE against flesh and blood, BUT AGAINST the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. [13] Therefore take up “THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD”, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to STAND FIRM. [14] STAND therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, [15] and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. [16] In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; [17] and take the helmet of salvation, and the SWORD OF THE SPIRIT, which is the WORD OF GOD, [18] praying at all times IN THE SPIRIT , with all prayer and supplication. To that end, KEEP ALERT with ALL PERSEVERANCE, making supplication for all the saints, [19] and also for me, that words may be GIVEN to me in opening my mouth boldly to PROCLAIM THE MYSTERY OF THE GOSPEL, [20] for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.”

There are times, and MANY THEY ARE, when I NEGLECT discovering a TRUTH OF SCRIPTURE to find something else that is surrounding whatever I am focused on at the time!!

The MAIN THING that I must glean from the passage above is that “THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD” has to be kept in my Brain Damaged Mind when I am contemplating THE WORD OF GOD!!

John 1:1-5 informs me that JESUS, GOD IN THE FLESH, is THE WORD!!  I can do NOTHING GREATER than to put on “THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD” to GUIDE my life into HIS PLAN!!

“WHO SAT AT THE LORD’S FEET!”

 

Luke 10:38-42                 (ESV)

Martha and Mary

“[38] Now as they went on their way, JESUS entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. [39] And she had a sister called Mary, “WHO SAT AT THE LORD’S FEET” and listened to HIS teaching. [40] But MARTHA WAS DISTRACTED WITH MUCH SERVING. And she went up to HIM and said, “LORD, do YOU not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? TELL HER THEN TO HELP ME.” [41] But THE LORD answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about MANY THINGS, [42] but one thing is necessary. Mary has CHOSEN the good portion, which will NOT BE TAKEN AWAY from her.””

My wife is THE BEST caretaker ever!  She used to have company over to our home and cook EVERYTHING, AND serve EVERYTHING, then clean up EVERYTHING, with hardly any assistance!  My grandmother was precisely like this.  She would do EVERYTHING for her family and guests, except she would permit the dishes to be washed by others.  

But JESUS was dealing with Mary and Martha at this particular moment.  Martha was SO engrossed with performing the “earthly needs” of those around her that she was unable to SEE the HEAVENLY NEEDS of those who THE LORD had allowed to be in her presence!  Mary was “content” hearing THE WORD from THE LORD, when Martha was consumed with filling their stomachs, while THE SOULS of the guests were what JESUS was dealing with at the time!!!

My wife has “the gift” of taking care of the physical needs of the guests who GOD has assigned to our family, probably as well as my grandmother!!  But I don’t fulfill the “heavenly needs” requirement NEARLY as well as my SAVIOR!!!  Mary, “WHO SAT AT THE LORD’S FEET”, was yielding to HIS TEACHINGS.  Martha was TOO BUSY “doing” rather than making sure that the SPIRITUAL NEEDS were being addressed!!!

People wouldn’t appreciate my culinary skills if a meal was served to them by me!  But do I perform the servant skills that I have been SET ASIDE to perform???  I need to discover what GOD has set me aside to do and perform those DEEDS precisely how HE reveals them to me!!!  Perhaps I can provide the scenario for those “WHO SAT AT THE LORD’S FEET” to be alone with HIM???

“IN THE MORNING!”

 

Psalm 5:1-3                 (ESV)

Lead Me in YOUR Righteousness

To the choirmaster: for the flutes. A Psalm of David.

    “[1] Give EAR to my words, O LORD;

        consider my groaning. 

    [2] Give ATTENTION to the sound of my cry,

        my KING and my GOD,

        for to YOU do I pray. 

    [3] O LORD, “IN THE MORNING” YOU hear my voice;

        “IN THE MORNING” I prepare a sacrifice for YOU AND WATCH.”

King David began this Psalm pleading with THE LORD to Give EAR to his pleading and groaning!  It is EVIDENT to say that King David understood that the ONLY ONE WHO had the power and authority to get him out of the predicament that he was experiencing was THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSES!!!

Notice that David writes “IN THE MORNING”, or when everything is starting for a new day, he needed THE ALMIGHTY to direct his thoughts and mind!!  Most of the time I begin my day without thinking that GOD in HEAVEN, busy with the “cares of this world”, might not be concerned with an insignificant being in an insignificant place?  But John 17:23 says “I (JESUS) in them and YOU (THE FATHER) in , that they may become PERFECTLY ONE, so that the world may know that YOU sent ME  and LOVED THEM even as YOU loved ME.”  GOD IN THE FLESH freely gave HIMSELF on Calvary’s tree to PURCHASE Salvation for this “insignificant” creature, so HE CARES ABOUT ME!!!

HEARING the Stillness and Quietness (silence ) of before the birds start chirping, traffic begins to make noise, and everything starts trying to gain our attention is a TREASURE that isn’t duplicated by anything in “this world”! Maybe that is why I awake sometimes “very early in the morning” and can HEAR instructions from HIM, when distractions are limited….”IN THE MORNING”???  

“HE BECAME POOR!”

 

2 Corinthians 8:8-15                 (ESV)

“[8] I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. [9] For you know the grace of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, that though HE WAS RICH, yet for your sake “HE BECAME POOR”, so that you by HIS poverty might become rich. [10] And in this matter I give my judgment: this benefits you, who a year ago started not only to do this work BUT ALSO to desire to do it. [11] So now finish doing it as well, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of WHAT YOU HAVE. [12] For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. [13] For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness [14] YOUR ABUNDANCE AT THE PRESENT TIME SHOULD SUPPLY THEIR NEED, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. [15] As it is written, “WHOEVER GATHERED MUCH HAD NOTHING LEFT OVER, AND WHOEVER GATHERED LITTLE HAD NO LACK.””

Accumulating a tremendous amount of wealth is something that from time to time I have dreamed about, but whenever I had the opportunity to INCREASE MY WEALTH, supplying “the needs of others” always seemed to be more important???

In HIS OMNISCIENCE, JESUS CHRIST surrendered HIS POSITION in HEAVEN to come among the unholiness of humanity, in poverty, to PURCHASE the salvation of ALL, even me!  “HE BECAME POOR” has to reflect “worldly wealth” (or lack there of) because HE was STILL THE CREATOR walking amongst us!  “HE BECAME POOR” so that HE WOULD NOT have worldly status interfering with HIS MISSION!!!  

Do I have that mindset in my life???  Or do I have the desire to be wealthy enough to do whatever I please??  

Saying this with ALL HUMILITY, I BELIEVE that because THE SPIRIT OF JESUS lives inside of me, that I CANNOT HELP but to live as HE did during HIS MANIFESTATION to “this world”!  My heart, the heart that JESUS CHRIST now lives in, tells me that “HE BECAME POOR”, and I will never be better than HIM!!!

“THOSE WHO ARE TRYING TO DECEIVE YOU?”

 

1 John 2:15-27                 (ESV)

Do Not Love the World

“[15] DO NOT LOVE THE WORLD or THE THINGS OF THE WORLD. If ANYONE loves the world, the love of the FATHER is NOT in him. [16] For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is NOT from the FATHER but is from the world. [17] And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the WILL OF GOD ABIDES FOREVER.

Warning Concerning Antichrists

[18] Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist IS COMING, so now many antichrists HAVE COME. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. [19] They went out from us, but they were NOT ALL of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are NOT of us. [20] But you have been anointed by the HOLY ONE, and you all have knowledge. [21] I write to you, not because you do not know THE TRUTH, but BECAUSE YOU KNOW IT, and because no lie is of THE TRUTH. [22] Who is the liar but he who denies that JESUS s is the CHRIST? This is the antichrist, he who denies the FATHER and the SON. [23] No one who denies the SON has the FATHER. Whoever confesses the SON has the FATHER also. [24] Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the SON AND IN THE FATHER. [25] And this is the promise that HE made to us—eternal life.

[26] I write these things to you about “THOSE WHO ARE TRYING TO DECEIVE YOU”. [27] But THE ANOINTING that you received FROM HIM ABIDES IN YOU, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as HIS ANOINTING teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, ABIDE IN HIM.”

Briefly this morning, GOD is PLAINLY telling me that I MUST NOT listen to “THOSE WHO ARE TRYING TO DECEIVE YOU”!  This morning HE wakened me and I COULD NOT get back to sleep!  Was GOD trying to get across to me that “the enemy” will “dress up” in raiment so very close to THE TRUTH that it will be difficult to SEE, ESPECIALLY if our EYES are engaged in looking at “this world”!!!!

“DO NOT LOVE THE WORLD or THE THINGS OF THE WORLD. If ANYONE loves the world, the love of the FATHER is NOT in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is NOT from the FATHER BUT IS FROM THE WORLD.” (Verses 15 & 16)

“THOSE WHO ARE TRYING TO DECEIVE YOU” have NO INTEREST in seeing you GROW in the SPIRIT of THE LORD!!!  Please consider this FACT when determining who you are listening to.  

From Bishop Robert E Smith Sr

 From Bishop Robert E. Smith!

“Are you among the firstfruits (Rom. 8:23; Rev. 14:4); or in the harvest (Matt. 13:30; Rev. 14:15)?  To be otherwise is unthinkable (Mark 13:20; Rev. 19:15).”

“IF WE DO NOT GIVE UP!”

 Galatians 6:9                 (ESV)

“And LET US NOT GROW WEARY of doing good, for in due season WE WILL REAP, “IF WE DO NOT GIVE UP”!”

It seems like these 65 years GOD has allowed me to exist on “this world” is such a long period of time?  But ETERNITY IS COMING, and that will be FOREVER!!!!