The Shield and Sword
I had a battle fierce today within my place of prayer.
I went to meet, and talk with God, but I found Satan there.
He whispered," You can't really pray; you lost out long ago.
You might say words while on your knees,
but you can't pray, you know."
So then I pulled my helmet down, way down upon my ears;
And found it helped to still his voice, and helped allay my fears.
I checked my other armor too; my feet in peace were shod.
My loins with truth were girt about.
My sword; the Word of God.
My righteous breastplate still was on, my heart's love to protect.
My shield of Faith was still intact; his fiery darts bounced back.
I called on God in Jesus' name; and pled the precious Blood,
As Satan sneaked away in shame,
I met and talked with God!
(Author unknown)
On a spiritual battlefield we stand as soldiers under the bloodstained banner of God. In our mouth is the Word of God, the divine power of our Lord. On our head is the protective helmet of Salvation. We are clothed with the armor of righteousness. In one hand is the sword of the Spirit, in the other we have the sheild of Faith to protect us. These weapons that we have to wage war against the evil come from God. They are only ours by virtue of our relationship with God. Without Him, we are truly nothing! We can get up every morning and go through the "imaginary exercise" of putting on our armor with all of it's weapons, but to truly walk in this position and to see them really work in our life means that we must live in the presence of God. Just as we draw our power from Him, our nature from Him, so we draw our weaponry from Him. Alone we fall, but together we are made strong.
Isa 59:16-17 (NAS) ...Then His own arm brought salvation to Him, and His righteousness upheld Him. He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head...
Salvation...
Salvation is our Helmet of protection.
It is a most beautiful gift from God. When we wear this beautiful helmet people will notice it. We must know what our salvation is and what jesus death and resurrection bought for us. Then it wont matter what evil people do, because we have the helmet of salvation.
Heb 4:12-13 (NKJ) For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
The Word of God.
Of all the weapons, it's the most important one we possess. Just as the soldier had his loinbelt on every day to keep his armor together, so we must apply the Word of God to our lives on a daily basis or we will come apart at the seams. We can't function as a believer without the Word of God being central in our life. If we lay it aside we lay aside our righteousness, our peace, our joy.
But put on the loinbelt and it all comes together. For example, Spend time in the Word studying ,start meditating and praying about it and soon it will become a part of you and a part of your thought life. You will have on your breastplate of righteousness by first putting on your loinbelt of truth. And it will work that way with every other weapon...the peace, the salvation, the faith. It all comes from the Word...our loinbelt of truth.
1 Cor 16:13 (NIV) Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.
Faith...
Evil will throw arrows at all of us. What are those arrows? Temptations, lies, insults, setbacks. The question is. . . What are we going to do when we see those fiery darts coming our way? Are we going to stand there and allow ourselves to be hit, or are we going to shield ourselves? Hopefully we will be alert enough to see those arrows coming and put up our shield to stop them.
Our shield is faith in God.
Faith is His love for us.
Faith in what Jesus did for us.
Faith that God has given us everything He promised.
Faith that we are victorious through Christ. Live by faith.
Trust God.
Zec 4:6 (NIV) ..."'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the Lord Almighty."
Holy Spirit
Our sword of the Spirit is the word of God,.
In John 14:26 Jesus made the promise of the Comforter who would "bring all things to remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you."
When the Holy Spirit reminds us of a verse or promises it floods our entire being with faith. It is His rebuff to the devil's attempt to penetrate the mind with slanderous lies and accusations.
Hebrews 4:12 says that the Word is a "two-edged sword" that cuts two ways doing double damage. It cuts through the muck and mire of your mind and emotions and gets to the heart of the matter.
Ps 18:32-35 (NIV) It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights. He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great.
Peace...
“And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds”. Phil 4:7
Peace of mind will keep, guard, protect, stand watch over you. It will keep out fretfulness, anxiety, worry.Where does the peace come from? Jesus promised it to us in
John 14:27 "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world
gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be
afraid."
This peace will not let any circumstances devestate you, This peace will let you stand with your feet planted firmly on the Word of God and stay there.
Read 2 Cor. 10:3-6.
Our weapons are the weapons of the soul; this is how the believer receives strength. The basic emphasis in Christianity is not "doing something" but "thinking something". Divine production follows divine thinking. The soul is "armed" when the believer is edified.
Bible truth applied to the life will include orientation to Grace, a relaxed mental attitude, a capacity for personal and impersonal love, great inner peace and happiness, and a divine frame of reference. These are all ingredients of moral courage
Evil will vigorously attack any nation which protects the divine institutions, allows personal freedom to its citizens, and protects the nation against immorality. In nations like that there is evangelism and missionary activity, so evil activity will be stepped up with respect to those countries.
In addition, all Christian believers are placed under direct attack in the world system, with particularly heavy attacks against those who are advancing in the Christian way of life.
We are not left to our own feeble strength, but there is "divine strength" that we can "put on" to protect us in the "battles" we must face.
With such strength, we are able to resist and stand firm against anything Evil might throw against us But the choice to "put on the whole armor of God" is up to us. We must take care to adorn ourselves with this wonderful armor.
Remember to put this armor on each and every day, and like the credit card commercial says, “Don’t leave home without it!”
Watch your thoughts they become words,
Watch your words they become actions,
Watch your actions they become habit,
Watch your habits they become your character,
Watch your Character
It becomes your Destiny
by: Gayl Wells and Greg Belcher July 2002