Put on the Full Armor

No matter where you stand on the events of our world right now, one thing is certain: there is so much more going on in the spiritual realm than we could even begin to imagine. The battles that we face day in and day out on this earth are all part of a bigger, spiritual battle that we can’t see. Now, more than ever, Christians need to be on guard, dressed and ready to fight. Ephesians 6:12-13 reminds us, “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. 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.

Today I want to take a look at the armor of God and what that means for us today. All of this is taken from Priscilla Shirer’s study, The Armor of God if you want to go check it out (note: this study was so rich. She spent an entire week on each of the pieces of armor. Below is only a teensy snippet of what you will find in her study.)

The Belt of Truth

“Truth—which we could basically define as God’s opinion on any matter is our standard. Truth is who God is and what He says it is, which is best summed up for us within the person of Jesus Christ. God’s truth. Biblical truth. Without concrete allegiance to and affirmation with this truth –with real truth—you’re left weak and susceptible to things that may look right yet aren’t right. But with the standard of truth in place, you can adjust everything else in your life—your ambitions, choices, and feelings; you mind, will, and emotions—until all of it is “tuned” correctly. When you have a strong, stable, well-supported core, you can’t easily be led astray by the enemy’s clever lies. Gird yourself with truth and you’re on guard from the word go.”

The Breastplate of Righteousness

“Righteousness literally means justice—the quality of being upright, fulfilling the expectations set in a relationship. In our case as believers, this relationship is with God Himself. Righteousness, then, is upright living that aligns with God’s expectations….Wearing the belt of truth, putting on the shoes and the helmet, using the shield or sword- they’ll do you no good if you leave your heart open to a full frontal attack by the devil. You must intentionally protect the organ that pumps vibrancy into your spiritual life. So pray fervently. Seek God fully. Ask Him to reveal anything “spoiled” in your life that’s attracting the pesky fruit flies of demonic activity. Then confess it and repent of it, defusing the accusations of the enemy.”

The Shoes of Peace

“Of all the things the enemy seeks to steal, kill and destroy in your life, peace is almost always near the top of his list. He intentionally stirs up discord, division, disruption, and disturbance, both within you and around you. He is the lord of chaos and confusion, using every opportunity to upset your sense of wellbeing and stability. He wants you uneasy, unbalanced, filled with anxiety, worry and turmoil. Lacking peace….any time you feel worry or anxiety creeping into your heart, take it as your cue to turn your attention to God. Pray. Trust Him. Be grateful. And watch His peace—a peace you cannot even begin to explain—swell in your experience…When God sees this type of prayerful, grateful faith, when our mind is squared on Him, the peace of God expands within us. It stabilizes our runaway emotions, centers our minds, guides our footsteps and even overflows into our experience with others…”

The Shield of Faith

“Simply put, faith is acting like God is telling the truth…It is the process of adapting your behavior, your decisions, and ultimately your whole lifestyle so that it accords with what God has asked you to do—without needing to see the evidence that it will all work out in the end…Faith is acting like it is so, even when it is not so, so that it might be so, simply because God said so…. With the belt, breastplate and shoes, he conveys them as a spiritual uniform that should be worn by believers at all times. Minute by minute. Day by day. But he approaches this piece of equipment differently. With the shield, he commands for it to be “taken up.” Look at it this way. A nurse might wear scrubs to work every day because it’s her uniform. But when the need arises, she will pick up a stethoscope, blood pressure machine, thermometer, or any number of tolls to use on her patient. Likewise, we must always wear our daily, divinely given uniform, but also be prepared to “take up” the others when required.” The first of these pieces of armor is the shield of faith. The moment when we first sense a flaming plumbata infiltrating our life in some way, we activate faith as a shield of protection over our lives. So don’t miss the irony here. The enemy sends flaming arrows into your life specifically when you are being called to walk in faith. Those arrows are deliberately intended to disable you from doing the only thing that has the power to extinguish them: walking in faith!...He knows that if you’ll ever push past the insecurity or doubt or fear that’s burning in your soul, choosing instead to believe the truth of God and walk in accordance with it, you’ll erect a shield of protection that will smother his plans.”

The Helmet of Salvation

“…part of what it means to wear the helmet of salvation is to live every day in light of eternity and the promised future that we have. Doing so will, without a doubt, change the way we live in the present… Receiving salvation is not the same as applying salvation. The first redeems us; the second restores, protects and shields us daily from the attacks of the enemy…Understand that living in light of this salvation inheritance enables you to not only stop living below your spiritual station in life, but it also protects your mind against the enemy’s attempts to cripple your thinking, to convince you that you are worth less than you really are. The ripple effect of this protection will be a change in your mind set, lifestyle and the choices you make. All of that will now be based on your wealthy spiritual income status…. This helmet of salvation, positioned to a snug fit, is representative of the high value items that are ours “in Him”—our inheritance in Christ. Choosing not to wear it means leaving our mind exposed, unprotected, like people who don’t even own a helmet…what the brain is to the body, your mind is to your soul. It is the spiritual expression of your brain. The control center. If your mind doesn’t send out healthy impulses, your soul will not respond in healthy ways. This is why the enemy works so diligently to cripple you through negative thoughts and unhealthy patterns of imagination.”

The Sword of the Spirit

This was the only piece of armor that Shirer did not spend a week on in the study. But it is interesting to note that this is the only piece of armor mentioned that is actually used for fighting. And what is it that we fight with? The word of God. Take a look at these verses:

“and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” (Ephesians 6:17)

“For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword…” (Hebrews 4:12)

Knowing, believing and living the Word in our lives is what will keep us alive. It is our only defense against the schemes of the devil. It contains the truth we need to know to build our lives on and will provide us victory for whatever battles that we may face.

Whatever battle you are facing today, suit up---with the FULL armor. Victory is promised to those who believe (Ephesians 6:13; 1 John 5:4). Have a great weekend!

Jennifer

IG: @lifeintherace

Crafty Details

For this page, I started by stamping all the images from Armor of God onto cardstock and coloring them with my Prismacolor pencils. I cut them out and laid them aside and then stamped the words for all the armor pieces (belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, etc) with Tattered Rose distress oxide.  I then stamped “Put on the Full Armor” with both Armor of God and County Fair Alpha. I added some texture with Texture Tiles 1 and then glued down my armor pieces around the page.

Shine Bright

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”

Matthew 5:14-16

From the time I was young, I have always loved a good book. You can ask my mom – I’ve been an avid reader ever since my first grade teacher read The Boxcar Children aloud to us in class. Even now, one of my favorite things to do at the end of the day is to curl up with a good book and get lost in someone else’s story. A series that I am currently (re)reading is The O’Malley Chronicles by Dee Henderson. The series is about a family in which all the siblings have high-profile jobs: US Marshall, Hostage Negotiator, Forensic Pathologist, etc. and the story line follows their lives and experiences. One night, while I was reading, I came across this passage:

“He’d been a Christian a long time, but some of his friends were not Christians. It was a dichotomy he had accepted over the years as the place God had put him. He couldn’t be a light among a sea of candles. It wasn’t a comfortable place to rest, constantly having to tug a dark world toward God while not getting sidetracked by it….Life was about choices, the toughest ones involving where he would put his time.” (The Truth Seeker)

For several weeks I couldn’t get that passage out of my mind. Over and over I kept hearing, “you can’t be a light among a sea of candles.” You know, God calls us to be the light of the world, to shine bright in the darkness. And the more I pondered the passage from that book, the more I asking myself, where am I trying to shine? Am I trying to shine among a sea of candles? Am I trying to shine brightest among other believers? Am I trying to present the gospel to people who already know and believe it or am I trying to penetrate the darkness with the light of Christ?

Don’t get me wrong. We need other candles around us. We need to surround ourselves by those who are strong, bold lights so that we can learn from them, encourage them and get strength from them when we are weak. We need those other candles to help us make the light be a little bit bigger. But we have to be very careful that we are not focusing our energy on trying to shine brightest among other candles. Light is not brighter than light. Light is brighter than dark. At the end of the day, when we return to our candle stand, we need to have the confidence that we worked our hardest trying to penetrate the dark. We need know without a doubt that we did everything in our power to show them the love that Christ showed us. We need to know that we extended His mercy and grace towards others. We need to read our Bibles and live out what we post on social media. We need to be the “real deal” – not a fake image of a perfectly put together Christian who never struggles or gets things wrong. We need to show the world that despite our failure, there is still hope and there is still a never-ending love that we can rest in. We need to step out of our little “Christian bubble” and go to the uncomfortable places and face the hard things so that we can make a difference. 

So I will ask you: where are you shining? What are you doing today that will make a difference for Christ? Are you comfortable staying in your jar shining brightly? Or are you leaving that zone of comfort and providing light for a dark world? We can’t be a light among a sea of candles…. but we can be a light to a dark world. Let’s take it there. Together we can make a difference!

Crafty Details

I started this page by stamping the candle image from Birthday Borders at the bottom of the page and coloring them in with my Prismacolor colored pencils. I then stamped the words with a combination of BittyMinnie Alpha and Bold & OutlineAlpha. I finished with some neocolor ii splatters of yellow, carmine, greenish blue and cobalt blue and a messy border drawn with my Micron pen.

Singing His Praises

Psalm 91:4

"He will cover you with his feathers;

you will take refuge under his wings.

His faithfulness will be a protective shield."

Have you ever read a daily devotion that really stuck with you? That made you set it down and cry? I read one like that a couple years ago. It spoke to me and gave me a message I didn't even know I was looking for. It told a story about a strong storm that make the ocean waves crash heavily on a rocky shore. Nestled amongst the rocks was a mother bird. She tucked herself away from the crashing waves, trying to weather the storm. And under her wings she shielded her young babies, protecting them from the harsh wind and waves. She sits fearlessly on the rocks shielding her babies. Sometimes God calms the storm, and other times he will calm the sailor. I love that! Times won't always be easy, and when they aren't, God is still there for us, protecting us and keeping us safe until the storm passes. 

I used a variety of materials to create this vintage page. For the turquoise background, I brushed acrylic paint on a piece of burlap and smooshed it onto my page. Then I ripped up some paper pieces including a couple hymnal pieces, added them to my page and brushed them with a little dried white acrylic paint to soften the edges. For the bird, I used my Singing Praises stamp and stamped it in a Wheat color so it left a light outline. Then I went back in with my Prismacolor pencils to add color and detail. Then I finished off the image by adding some sketchy shading with a ballpoint pen. 

I used various ephemera pieces on this page to add different levels of texture. After staining this card with distress inks, I stamped the verse and again lightly brushed some dry white acrylic paint on top to lighten it up. I finished up my page by adding a tab, a few fabric pieces and a little bit of washi tape!

xoxo,

Stephanie Gammon

@faith.and.creativity 

Singing Praises