The Armor of God

Ephesians 6:10-18

New International Version (NIV)

The Armor of God

 ¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. ¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

 ¹⁸ And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

1.      Belt of Truth

2.      Breastplate of Righteousness

3.      Shoes of Peace

4.      Shield of Faith

5.      Helmet of Salvation

6.      Sword of Spirit (word of God)

It is important to always supply yourself with armor of God. Until there is a day on this earth were you are not attacked by the enemy, whether it be spiritually, physically or emotionally by people, places or things, you must be prepared.

Of course we don’t physically put on armor, but since we are beings that have to visualize everything and relate everything to something we are familiar with, God gives us those images to show us how His word and His power can protect us, better than any military grade armory. 

I will go more in to detail as to what exactly each item means for us another time.

In the meantime think about what it means to you and how you can benefit from having the armor of God.

Know Jesus

John 17:3

New International Version (NIV)

^“3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”

This is an important verse, to know the one and only true God. This is our mission in life! To have everyone know who the one true God is amongst all these false idols and false gods that people claim to the one or ones.

With the amount of false gods and idols out there it’s easy to got lost and confused. I know I was one of them, because there were soo many options of who to follow, I decided not to follow any of them and just do my own thing. In the midst of not believing in any gods or God, I ended up going down a dark path…I decided to research religion from the BOTTOM up, meaning I would start from hell and work my way up….

Let me just say that’s no way to find God…

The one and only true God does not force you to participate in rigid rituals on a regular basis, He doesn’t require you to face a certain direction to pray, He doesn’t make you offer Him food and incense to please Him every year or when we need something from Him, and so on.

Make a decision to know God and realize that there is someone out there that loves you unconditionally and would never turn His back on you.

Go To Church

Can you never go to church and still be where you need to be in your walk with God?....

Romans 10:14-18

New International Version (NIV)

 “¹⁴ How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? ¹⁵ And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”^[a]

 ¹⁶ But not all the Israelites accepted the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?”^{[b] 17} Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ. ¹⁸ But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did:

   “Their voice has gone out into all the earth,
   their words to the ends of the world.”^[c]

A big misconception is that you don’t need to go church if you don’t feel like it or have wronged at a particular church, and still continue to progress on the path God has for you. How can you continue to learn and receive revelation when you aren’t connected to the body of Christ?

People forget that the pastor/preacher in the church are men or women of God that were called to the ministry to deliver God’s word and revelation of the word. The people of God that are in attendance get to be amongst a group of like-minded people and worship and pray together and hopefully have a prophetic word go forth.

Like in verse 17, faith comes by hearing the word, not just reading it in the confines of your own home, that’s only part of it. You must hear it from those who were called to minister the word as well; you should be gaining new revelations from God’s word when you hear a sermon go forth. Faith is built up based on the knowledge of the heard from both hearing and reading-meditating the word with gaining new knowledge of your authority in Christ and how the Lord works.

Who wouldn’t want a faith led life? When you can believe the God will come through for you for anything at anytime and not worry about a thing….

Do not be like the Israelites, and accept the “good news”, go to church and be amongst other believers and get the word. Don’t rely on your own understanding of the Bible and gain the God kind of faith!

Believe and Receive

One of my favorite scriptures is Mark 11:24.

Mark 11:24

New International Version (NIV)

^“24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

This is one of the most powerful scriptures that anyone could ever utilize. In these times people are more desperate than ever for “things” and opportunities, a new home, car, money in the bank, or a job.

If you are one those people who need or simply desire something, this is the scripture for you!

It’s important to know that you requests have to be in line with God’s word, for example if you desire to have more money so you can gamble or buy drugs, this is not in God’s word. He will not bless you with things that will destroy you, nor does He want you constantly wanting things just because and do not “pay it forward” so to speak. He blesses you so you can be a blessing to others.

Never think that there is anything to great to ask of God or anything to small. God will not ignore you or be upset with you if are believing for a car part so your car can run properly or believing for a five bedroom home in a nice area for your growing family.

*Key point- Remember that your words have to be in line with what you are believing for!!

Do not let anyone or anything mess up your road to the manifestation of what you are believing for. Do not doubt that you are going to get what you asked for. Do not say “Maybe it will happen” or “You’re probably right” when people ask you when something is going to happen or why don’t you physically have what you said yet….

Just remember you have what you say and you have whatever you ask for!! Stand on it!

Religion pt.2 - Eclectic Lifestyle

Religion

Have you noticed how in some way or another, people manage to bring up Jesus or God in their conversations or in jokes…more so now than ever??

It has become increasingly more acceptable to use Jesus in inappropriate jokes and mocking biblical characters, yet people, at least in the media. They don’t even think about making jokes about other religion’s gods…

Not to say that anyone’s religion to should be made fun of…..

Eclectic Lifestyles

Just the word “religion” tends to provoke people only if it relates to some form of Christianity or Judaism, but when it comes to Yoga, Buddhism and others, it gets treated as a lifestyle  that everyone should incorporate in their lives….how does that work?

In most cases, people do not even realize that doing something like Yoga is a religious practice-not a weight loss fix or calming treatment. You do yourself more harm by participating in it than not.

In other cases people tend to lean towards Buddhist teachings or methods, even if they acknowledge as being affiliated with a completely different religion….

To be fair, Christians are not to look at themselves as being a part of a “religion”, but as a child of God who inherits the Kingdom of God. Not using the word “religion” when referencing Christianity is difficult because we ALL have gotten used to categorizing everything that exists.

To be continued….

Religion Remix

Religion has been a hot topic for centuries.

Lately, religion has become more “open” and among the most talked about.

It’s interesting to see how topics that used to be taboo to talk about outside of the home, have become the most talked about in the world. Topics such as, race, religion, sexuality and even plastic surgery have all become the focus of the “hottest” topics to chat about. Even more so religion has become the epicenter of issues people have with one another.

It’s not hard to find people who have decided to create their own “religion”, for a lack of a better word, that they live by and raise their children in.

For example some people may have been raised Catholic and may still go to mass on occasion, but uses Buddhist mediation techniques to calm themselves during the week and does yoga every Saturday morning and consults a psychic every now and then to make sure they are on the right track.

Another example is a family that has Buddha statues around their home and allows their children to choose their religion and lets them experiment with various teachings.

In today’s society it’s all about how to make your life easier and being “open-minded” about other religious philosophies. It has come to a point that if you say you only follow Jesus you are immediately looked as a closed-minded and strict person who has “old fashioned ways of thinking”.  

The divide between the saved and unsaved are becoming more clearer through the ways people accept most religions but not Jesus Christ….

To be continued……

Good is the new ‘bad’

Continuation…..

It has never seemed more apparent that those who do not engage in stereotypical risque behaviors are considered to be the rebels-the outcast. 

It has been interesting and mostly disturbing how the most common things that we were told not to do as children or even what our parents were told not to engage in have now become the standard for which someone is deemed normal. 

Things such as:

Experimenting with drugs

Having premarital sex

Underage drinking

Clubbing

Getting pointless tattoos

And so on have all become something that is to be expected when people talk about their youth, a lot of those who engaged in those behaviors have a harder time “transitioning” into adulthood. Of course this is not to say that anyone who has participated in these things never come out of it or become better people, but it isn’t necessary to “explore” these avenues. The purpose is to prevent others from making the same poor choices, not everyone can “handle” being in these dangerous situations and come out of it without any “scars” whether emotionally or physically.

 

We have literally becoming a society that if enough people do participate in a certain act often enough, we automatically dismiss it completely or let it go with a “slap on the wrist”. 

We cannot continue to let things that we know are wrong and potentially dangerous from becoming the new norm and then criticizing and judging those who do not participate in these behaviors. It is shame that those who choose not to drink are first asked if they have or have had issues with drinking before because of the fact that the person does not want to drink alcohol. It’s a shame that it has hard to find any women or men who stay virgins until their wedding nights. Don’t let ANYONE make you feel like you are weird or not cool because you chose to keep your body holy and not give in to what everybody else is doing.