Friday, November 25, 2016

Practical Application- Armor/Weapon

Practical application-

From yesterday-

'We fight against the devil.
We fight against things that aren’t of flesh and blood.
We fight against principalities.
We fight against powers.
We fight against rulers of darkness.
We fight against spiritual wickedness.

When was the last time you saw the devil? Can you see the power you are to wrestle against? What rulers of darkness are you familiar with? Where have you had contact with spiritual wickedness? 

All those things- the devil, principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, and spiritual wickedness are to be FOUGHT against. We have a helmet, our loins covered, a breastplate, footwear, a shield, and a sword.  Our body is all protected, and we have a weapon. Protection and a weapon of warfare.

TRUTH, RIGHTEOUSNESS, PEACE, FAITH, SALVATION - These ALL protect us!

SPIRIT of the WORD of GOD- This is our defense. '
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Protection against evil.  Why are we told to "PUT ON" the spiritual armor if we DON'T put it on? If we don't even have it in our wardrobe? If we never even think about it? When a person wears tangible armor they are very aware of it on them. Most can't wait to take it off- the armor is cumbersome, it adds extra weight, it add warmth which is only good if you're in a cold climate.  Armor is not clothing, it's an addition to clothing. We are told to--

Eph 6:11  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 

PUT ON the WHOLE armor of God.

And yet we refuse protection when we don't seek ONLY-

TRUTH, RIGHTEOUSNESS, PEACE, FAITH, SALVATION.

To be protected we  must have TRUTH.  Christ's truth! We must have Christ's righteousness! We must have Christ's peace! We must have Christ's faith! We must have Christ's salvation!

To fight we must have the Spirit- The WORD of GOD.

The practical application of the armor and weapon is for us to recognize when we NEED to use the weapon and to realize that we ALWAYS need our armor. Unlike tangible armor, spiritual armor will never be cumbersome or uncomfortable in a physical way- but it CAN be very cumbersome and very uncomfortable to the soul-self in us that wars against the spirit-self in us. 

Just as in a tangible war soldiers wear their armor no matter how awful it may feel. In our spiritual war we spiritual soldiers need to wear our spiritual armor no matter how awful it makes us feel, because it is those feelings we are warring against being predominant in us, over the spirit. Our trust in Christ must grow, it must. 

Recognizing the state we are in at any given moment- this is the Spirit's revelation to us. What we do with the revelation is a CHOICE for us make.   The practical application is recognition, realization, relenting- it is acting mentally, emotionally, physically, and most of all spiritually. 

The weapon is tangible, we can literally hold it in our hands, we can read it with our eyes, we can memorize it, we can study it, it is a weapon that is so incredibly alive that we could read it a million times and each time we would learn from it anew.

More about this tomorrow by the GRACE and MERCY of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ now and forever!

Amen!


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