“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.”

A few years ago I wrote about “identifying the enemy”, being able to recognize “the great deceiver” even when he camouflages himself as a beautiful creature, which he has ALWAYS been more craft, cunning and deceptive (Genesis 3:1) than ANY of GOD’S Creation.  We are instructed to put on “THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD”, that you may be ABLE TO STAND against the schemes of the devil”, for our enemy never relinquishes his onslaught!

Our struggles aren’t with a political party, a social class, nor any human, rather THE SCHEMES OF THE DEVIL are what we to be prepared for.  When we are bathed in “THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD” our protection is at its greatest.  But when I am consumed by the cares of “this world”, worrying about health, finances, and anything except the VICTORY we have in JESUS, I am allowing “the enemy” to have a stronghold in my life and he will use it to erode my FAITH that GOD IS IN CONTROL!

In my Spiritual immaturity, I am afraid that I have given TOO MUCH credit to “the enemy” at times in the past when GOD might have been using difficulties to increase my FAITH and DEPENDENCE on HIM?  Remember in Acts 9:15-16 when JESUS told Ananias “Go, for he (Saul) is a CHOSEN instrument of MINE to carry MY NAME before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.  For I WILL SHOW HIM HOW MUCH HE MUST SUFFER for THE SAKE OF MY NAME.”  We are left here on earth for THE SAKE OF MY NAME, not to grow a huge bank account and horde wealth that HE can remove completely in one fell swoop!

My prayer is that my goal will forever be to live inside of “THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD” and not be swayed by what is happening all around me.  It is hard to SEE everything from “the enemy” when I am clothed inside “THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD”!!!

“HE FREQUENTLY WITHDREW!”

 Luke 5: 12-16                 (Berean Study Bible)

The Leper’s Prayer

“12 While JESUS was in one of the towns, a man came along who was COVERED WITH LEPROSY. When he saw JESUS, he fell facedown and begged HIM, “LORD, if YOU are willing, YOU can make me clean.”

13 JESUS reached out HIS hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” HE said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him.

14 “Do not tell anyone,” JESUS instructed him. “But go, show yourself to the priest and present the offering Moses prescribed for your cleansing, AS. A TESTIMONY TO THEM.”

15 But the news about JESUS spread all the more, and great crowds came to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. 

16 Yet “HE FREQUENTLY WITHDREW” to the wilderness TO PRAY.”

Having never been exposed to leprosy, all I can do is read about the hideous caused by this nearly extinct disease.  In Biblical times, lepers were made to announce themselves as “unclean” when their paths crossed with others as it was believed to be highly contagious.  JESUS had just healed a man with leprosy and instructed him “Do not tell anyone”, but he had just been cleansed of a severe impurity in his life and there is little doubt that keeping this miracle to himself wasn’t on his “to do” list??

JESUS says in John 10:30 “I and the FATHER are ONE.”  With that being the case, why did JESUS have to FREQUENTLY WITHDRAW to be able TO PRAY to HIS FATHER?  The Divinity of JESUS would mean that HE never sinned, therefore HE never needed to come to HIS FATHER requesting forgiveness?  Why, then, does Scripture state in Luke 5:16 “HE FREQUENTLY WITHDREW” to the wilderness TO PRAY?  

Philippians 2:8-9 says JESUS HUMBLED HIMSELF, JESUS willingly pour HIMSELF out for mankind for that IMPUTATION was the ONLY WAY for someone as vile and wicked as me to enter eternity with HIM!  While it is true that I once had SPIRITUAL LEPROSY, the righteousness and Holiness of JESUS is what GOD sees when HE looks at me!  The miracle of healing the leper was something that was never forgotten BY THE PERSON HEALED.  It might be that the reason “HE FREQUENTLY WITHDREW” was to make sure there was NO OTHER WAY to save a wretch like me???

“THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE!”

 John 8:31-38                                          (ESV)

The Truth Will Set You Free

“[31] So JESUS said to THE JEWS who had believed HIM, “IF YOU ABIDE IN MY WORD, you are truly MY disciples, [32] and you will know the TRUTH, and “THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE”.” [33] They answered HIM, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

[34] JESUS answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, EVERYONE WHO PRACTICES SIN IS A SLAVE TO SIN. [35] The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. [36] So if the SON sets you free, you will be free indeed. [37] I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill ME because MY WORD finds no place in you. [38] I speak of what I have seen with MY FATHER, and you do what you have heard from your father.”

Being able to identify THE TRUTH is something that a lot of people are unable to do.   THE JEWS in the Scripture above “had” believed JESUS, but their EYES were not opened to THE TRUTH of knowing WHO was speaking to them.  Knowing “THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE” is totally and completely different than knowing that JESUS was a real human being.  HE IS GOD, our CREATOR, WHO spoke these worlds into existence, yet WHO “humbled HIMSELF” (Philippians 2:7-8) to purchase salvation for mankind.  

Knowing about JESUS and ‘ABIDING IN MY WORD’ aren’t exactly the same thing.  Allowing the HOLY SPIRIT to continually TRANSFORM our lives into vessels that are used to Glorify HIM.  Since HE is our CREATOR, JESUS knows our hearts better than we know them ourselves.  We can fool ourselves, but convincing THE ONE WHO “chooses” us is beyond our capabilities.  Proof of “THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE” is evident by us ABIDING IN HIS WORD, and HIS WORD ABIDING in us!

Our physical bodies are built as temporary vessels.   Genesis 3:19 says in part “for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”  ABIDING IN HIS WORD and being used by HIM and for HIS GLORY brings PEACE!  We cannot WORK to attain our FREEDOM.  “THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE” is our only HOPE!!!

“IRON SHARPENS IRON!”

 Proverbs 27:17                                  (ESV)

“”IRON SHARPENS IRON”, and one man sharpens another.”

There are some people that “just rub me the wrong way”!  No matter how hard I try to acquiesce to their point of view, when “IRON SHARPENS IRON”, most of the time it causes sparks to fly, displaying BOTH points of view are being finding resistance, causing each to become sharper tools???

Being CHANGED, as “IRON SHARPENS IRON”, is commonly an uncomfortable experience.  When two pieces of metal are brought together and the jagged edges are sometimes forcibly removed, sparks and heat are commonly generated by the friction.  But that friction can also bring about a sharpening affect when the rough edges are made smooth.  

Some people are “blessed” with greater abilities to SHARPEN than others.  For most of my adult life I have been too rigid caused  in my strict view of “how things are” to BELIEVE that GOD might be WORKING HIS WILL in their lives, even if they were causing persecution with their actions.  The Apostle Paul comes to mind.  He held the coats of the people that stoned Stephen in Acts chapter seven, and then in Acts chapter nine Saul was TRANSFORMED by JESUS into a NEW MAN!  

The pain and discomfort caused by Saul (later known as Paul) towards Stephen was used to bring great distress and turmoil, but GOD was in CONTROL, even in Acts 7:54-60!  Stephen was martyred, Saul was converted, and ultimately as “IRON SHARPENS IRON” GOD used ALL THINGS to work for HIS GOOD!  What APPEARS to be “good” at times IN OUR VIEW might need to be placed into a different prism!!!

“NOR DO THEY UNDERSTAND!”

 Matthew 13:10-13                          (ESV)

The Purpose of the Parables

[10] Then the disciples came and said to HIM, “Why do YOU speak to them in parables?” [11] And HE answered them, “TO YOU it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but TO THEM it has not been given. [12] For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. [13] This is why I speak to them in parables, because SEEING they do not see, and HEARING they do not hear, “NOR DO THEY UNDERSTAND”.

Even the very disciples of JESUS could not SEE what was needed for everyone else’s needs to be met.  “Why do YOU speak to them in parables” was as good as them saying that they did not understand the methods used by JESUS to accomplish HIS PLAN with HIS CREATED.  It might have been that the disciples were so entrenched with what they were seeing was in their future that they could not SEE what ALMIGHTY GOD was unveiling right before their eyes?  

When TRUTH is revealed to we who “thought” we had a “preconceived” idea of what the will of GOD is for our lives, the resulting journey can be less than ideal.  The Children of Israel left Egypt headed for the Promised Land, a journey that should have taken a few days.   They wound up with a forty year excursion “through the wilderness” simply because they DID NOT exhibit the FAITH that GOD was WHO HE said HE was!  They couldn’t SEE nor HEAR how GOD was directing them, “NOR DO THEY UNDERSTAND” how HE was directing them FOR HIS GLORY!

SEEING and HEARING TRUTH is something that can be “hidden” (Matthew 11:25) by THE ALMIGHTY from those needing to see it most. Until we in a position of being used by HIM and for HIS GLORY, we will “wander in the wilderness” without a clear direction of where we are going.  UNLESS we have our EYES and EARS OPENED and we will be Spiritually blind and deaf, “NOR DO THEY UNDERSTAND” what GOD is planning for us???

“THE LORD GOD COMMANDED THE MAN!”

 Genesis 2:15-17                                   (ESV)

“[15] The LORD GOD took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. [16] And “THE LORD GOD COMMANDED THE MAN”, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, [17] but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.””

  

There can be many interpretations of what “THE LORD GOD COMMANDED THE MAN” to do or not to do, and whether the punishment lined up with the crime for simply partaking of what GOD said was “off limits” for mankind?  Contemplating how far we are allowed to venture into “selfish desires” can be a dangerous place to visit, especially when we begin trying to be more than we were CREATED to be?

The COMMAND OF GOD was “You may SURELY eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you SHALL NOT EAT, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die”!  When we are deceived into doing that which we ARE NOT CREATED, we are operating outside of HIS PLAN for our lives!  According to Genesis 3:1, “The enemy” is “more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD GOD had made”!  Lies and Deception have ALWAYS been his “modus operandi” (John 8:44) so he will do ANYTHING and EVERYTHING he can to discolor TRUTH!

Adam heard TRUTH from GOD in Genesis 2:16-17.  He allowed his wife to listen to propaganda (lies) originated by the enemy instead of encouraging her to listen only to TRUTH!  Listening to anything except TRUTH can be a dangerous experience to find ourselves in.  When “THE LORD GOD COMMANDED THE MAN” to do what only he was CREATED to do, it was for our good!  We must recognize and realize that our enemy is the GREAT DECEIVER and his lies are hard to distinguish from TRUTH!  It is always best for us to do what “THE LORD GOD COMMANDED THE MAN” and reject lies!

“WHERE WERE YOU?”

 Job 38:4-5;12-13

    “[4] “WHERE WERE YOU” when I laid the foundation of the earth?

        Tell me, if you have understanding. 

    [5] Who determined its measurements—surely you know!

        Or who stretched the line upon it?

    [12] “Have you commanded the morning since your days began,

        and caused the dawn to know its place, 

    [13] that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth,

        and the wicked be shaken out of it?”

When “we think” we deserve to have answers to a few questions about life and its surroundings, we need to STOP and reconsider just who we are, but more importantly, WHO HE IS???