Love and Protection

 

And take the helmet of salvation and the sword that the Spirit wields, which is the Word of God. (Ephesians 6:17 [AMPC])

Yesterday, I was reading about the armor of God in Ephesians 6 in the Amplified translation of the Bible. In verse seventeen, Paul said, “Take the sword that the Spirit wields, which is the word of God.” I had never read that last part before, “that the Spirit wields.” Yes, we understand each of these pieces of armor is God’s armor for His children who take and wear it. In our heads, as we read this chapter of Ephesians, we know this armor comes from God and helps us in our battles. The question though is this; how many of us just take it and do what we think we must do? God did not intend His children wear it without His power, strength, guidance, encouragement, and knowledge.

Consider verse seventeen. The point of this verse is you must take hold of God’s sword and join Him in holding the sword while He defends you or leads you. Do you understand this? The same thing should happen as we put on each piece of armor. The armor is God’s. He gives it to us and commands us to put it on each day, just as Paul commanded the Ephesians. Never do Christians have ownership of the armor they wear. The armor comes from God to help us.

This same thing applies to each piece of the armor we take and wear. Consider it this way. Wear the helmet to protect your head and keep remembering God is your salvation. Put on the shield of faith so you douse the flaming darts and arrows Satan shoots your way to kill you and lead you to doubt God and His protection and goodness over you. Continue to have a strong faith. Put on the armor of preparation to cover your feet. These armored shoes will prepare you to be ready with the good news of Christ, with firm-footing and stability to battle in rough terrain without doubting God. They will lead you in God’s path for your safety and His purpose of peace. Put on God’s breastplate to protect your vital organs and to give you His integrity and righteousness through Jesus. Tighten the belt of truth around you so you will always know God’s truth and can defeat Satan’s lies and not become distracted and forlorn by them. With each these pieces of armor, always pray in the Spirit with every kind of prayer. By doing this, God encourages you as you wear it and you have faith in Him in all things remembering He is almighty. Most of all, put on God’s complete armor, by which He saves you from Satan’s distresses, so you can resist him and stand firmly in your faith in God.

So many of us pray for the armor of God then walk away thinking, “I've got this.” Instead of this attitude, we should put on God’s armor and walk with Him holding onto His sword, wearing His helmet, tightening His belt around our waist, stepping in faith in His shoes, and raising His shield, so He wins the battle for us. By doing this, God receives the glory, He encourages us in our faith, grows us to be like Him, and we become closer in oneness with Him. Each piece of the armor of God is for bodily protection and a minute-by-minute reminder that God is the One who goes before us, behind us, above us, and with us. His armor protects us from doubting, from fearing, from quitting, and from falling. 

The Spirit wields the sword.

We hold it with Him while He swings it for God’s glory and our good. 

When was the last time you took God’s armor and allowed Him to protect you and be your champion?

The High Diving Board

On this Women’s Day, I reflect on two of my favorite Bible characters, Ruth and Esther. Both these women proved their faithfulness to God. To get there, each had to do scary things – go to a foreign land where she only knew her mother-in-law (Ruth) and stand strong for God and His people against a hateful leader (Esther). Those were their big leaps of faith. Yet, first, God raised them up to that point in their relationship with Him.

Ruth married an Israelite and came to know his God for herself. She showed her dedication to her husband’s family and their ways by choosing to return to Israel after her mother-in-law’s, Naomi’s, husband and two sons died. Ruth listened to Naomi’s advice, gleaned grain from a kinsman’s field, and proved her love to her, the Israelites, and Yahweh.

Esther, an orphaned girl raised by her cousin, Mordecai, stayed true to God and His moral laws when the king’s servant chose her to present her before the king as a potential queen. While in that role, she heard of Haman, a leader of the king’s, plotting to annihilate the Hebrew people. Esther sought the counsel of her family elder, Mordecai, and obeyed what God said through him. Eventually, Esther considered herself less important than her people’s lives and asked for an audience with the king. She risked her life and new status with the king to tell him of Haman’s plot.

Both these women faced death, but with their faith in God and their obedience to Him, they stepped out to follow His will for their lives. God walked them through one faith step after another to get them where He wanted them in time and place, and in their faith for these big decisions and stances. They allowed God to prepare them to jump from the high diving board. God does that with each of us still. He grows us gradually for His purposes. We learn we can trust Him in all things. I’m glad God doesn’t give up on us when we choose not to jump from the high diving boards in life. I rejoice that He loves us, has a purpose for us, and is always faithful. What step of growth is God leading you to take today?  

Take Courage

"But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." Luke 21:28 [NASB]

Jesus spoke these words to His disciples and followers. He had just told them about what would happen before His return to earth. It began with telling them the stones of the temple would be torn down. The things they called beautiful would be no more.

What Jesus told His disciples and followers distressed them and they questioned Him about the signs of when these things would happen. Jesus listed several things that would occur before His return in Luke 21. He said people would come proclaiming they are the Christ. Nations and kingdoms would battle. Great earthquakes, plagues, and famines would rock the people of the earth. Terrors and signs from heaven would happen. People they knew and people they loved would persecute them. Some believers would die because of people who hate Jesus’ name. Armies would surround Jerusalem. The Gentiles would trample Jerusalem under their feet until their “time is fulfilled.”

Each of these horrible things are enough to scare most people. To hear them all put together as a string of things that would happen before Christ returns is horrifying and would have been even more so for the believers of Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the city of God, Zion. To fathom the city of God as being laid ruin was hard for them to imagine.

Today, we experience or hear of things hard to fathom. Why would a friend say slanderous things about you at work? Why would a family member betray you and say you mean nothing to them? How can our nation be so much under the influence of Satan? What is happening with the world? So many places are in ruins because of wars and terrorists. Why must I live in fear wondering if a bomb will explode near me or my family while at work, school, worship, or play?

“What is happening to our world?” you may wonder. Jesus explained it in Luke 21. He said,

There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among the nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Luke 21:25-27 [NASB]

Because these things occur, does that mean we should be afraid, run, and hide? That is the natural instinct of at least a third of the people, according to psychologists. They say people either fight, flee, or freeze when confronted with something horrible/scary. Jesus did not tell people to do that. What He said gives us courage and hope. Jesus said, “But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:28) The reaction Jesus told His disciples and followers to have completely contradicts what psychologists consider normal. Straightening up requires having courage in the face of difficulties. Jesus’ followers could have courage because Jesus is the overwhelming conqueror of the world-over Satan, sin, and death. These things Jesus said would happen before His return to earth are what He conquered. Satan causes them and, thus, Jesus is the Conqueror. Believer’s in Jesus Christ can have hope because our redemption is near. As believers, Jesus redeemed us from slavery to sin and death when we confessed Him as our Lord and Savior. He will redeem us when He returns to earth to take us to His heavenly kingdom.

Today we face horrible things. Bombings occur often around the world. Countries antagonize each other and prepare for war. Children rise against parents and parents against children. Friends betray friends to religious activists to save themselves from torture and death. Famines, plagues, floods, and earthquakes happen more than in history. These things make people wonder if the end of the world will happen soon. They cause fear to rise in the hearts and minds of millions of people. As Christians, we can remember Jesus’ words. We can gain courage and hope in Him, and “straighten up and lift up our heads” because He told us these things would happen and that He would come to redeem us. The day of His coming is nearer with each day. Hold on to hope. Keep the faith. Find joy in knowing Jesus knew these things, is Conqueror, and is coming to take you with Him.

Consider what Jesus said as recorded in John 16:33.

“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulations but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

Take courage. Have Hope. Lift up your heads. Jesus is coming.

Lord, forgive me. I get lost in my personal storms and forget to look to You. I allow the trials, setbacks, and disappointments, in my days to distract me and I take my eyes off You. That is when the storms become too violent in my mind and I cannot see where to go or what to do, then I give up. Please help me keep my eyes on You, my Savior, and not on my storms. Help me straighten up and hold my head up because You are my Hope, my Redeemer, and the overwhelming Conqueror of the world. Give me the strength, perseverance, and faith to keep walking with You when I feel blinded by the day’s trials. Guide me through those days, Lord. Help me not to faint and stand back, but to keep holding Your hand and looking at You. Nothing can overwhelm me when I keep my eyes on You. Thank you for being God and being greater than anything that comes against me. Thank you for loving me.

Never Leave You or Forsake You

(Deuteronomy 31:6, 8; Joshua 1:5; Hebrews 13:5)

When times become troubling and one is not sure what can be done, many people fall back on God’s promise never to leave or forsake them. God first promised this to the Israelites as they waited to cross the Jordan River and inherit the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 31:6). He restated this promise to Joshua two verses later when He told him he would lead the Israelites into the Promised Land. In both these instances, Moses was the spokesman for God. God spoke to Joshua Himself relaying this promise to him in Joshua 1:5. In Hebrews 13:5, the writer of the book reiterated to the Hebrew Christians God would not desert or forsake them.

The three Old Testament passages use the word “fail” but the Hebrews passage uses the word “desert.” The Old Testament word for “fail” is raphah and means to let go, drop, abandon, forsake, and neglect. The New Testament word for “desert” is aniemi and means to send back, relax, loosen, give up, leave, not uphold, allow to sink. Note that both the Old and New Testaments then say God will not let go His grasp on His children, will not give them up (which means fiercely to protect and fight for them), will not abandon them, and will not allow them to sink. God is the strong right hand that leads, preserves, and protects His children. He will not abandon them to the world and evil.

This promise gives hope for the immediate future and reminds God’s children of their eternal hope. This promise should remind His children, too, of God’s requirements of them. In the Old Testament passages, God called them to walk with Him in obedience and faith, and to cross the Jordan River and take possession of the Promised Land. As the smallest nation, the thought of routing a territory from an established people would have been intimidating and terrifying. Yet, with God going before them and routing their enemies as He did Sihon and Og, they could have strength and courage, not being afraid or dismayed. The Israelites remembered God went before them earlier and were reminded He would go before them now. He would not abandon them to a fate of death, but give them victory because He would go before them and cause the victory.

This is what the writer of Hebrews explained to the Christians of the New Testament. The people experienced severe persecution, but not yet to the shedding of blood. The Hebrew writer reminded them of God’s promise from the Old Testament. He told them God would not desert or forsake them. God would not give them up or leave them behind and helpless. He continued to be God and no matter the circumstances. The writer reminded them Jesus suffered to the point of giving blood and they had not. God did not abandon Jesus and He would not abandon them in the midst of Nero’s persecution  of them.

God’s promise continues down through the centuries. He does not change. God is always faithful – to Himself and to His children. What do we have to do to retain this promise? Be faithful to God. Be content with what God gives knowing He will give what is needed. Remember the Lord will not forsake, desert, or fail you. His promises hold true and are everlasting for His children.

What are you going through now? Is it to the point of shedding blood like Christ? No matter if it is persecution or trials of each day, God has not and will not forsake you. Continue to follow and obey Him. Continue go with Him wherever He says go. Have faith, be strong, and be courageous. God goes before you. He will give you your inheritance – salvation now and in His kingdom.

Each of us must choose to have faith in God, be obedient children of His, and persevere and have hope knowing God brings the victory.

Deuteronomy 31:6-8 A Devotion

Deuteronomy 31:6-8

"Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you." Then Moses called to Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, "Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall give it to them as an inheritance. The LORD is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed." 

Moses spoke these words to the Israelites before crossing the Jordan River into the Promised Land. He also said them to Joshua who would become God’s leader for His people. Moses had taught the Israelites over the years who the LORD God was by pointing our His actions for the Israelites - provision of food and water, clothing, signs and wonders, and the defeat of their enemies. The Israelites learned to trust and follow the LORD over their 40 year history with the LORD. Now Moses tells and reminds them that the LORD will be the one who goes across the Jordan River before them and who will defeat the Canaanite nations so as to give them the land He promised to their forefathers – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

In our lives, we have encountered God, too. We have seen His hand heal family and friends. The Lord brought healthy babies to us. During droughts of income, He made food available to us. During times of despair, the Lord sent friends and His messengers to encourage and help us. In the sunrise, He showed us His grandeur. Through storms, the Lord showed us His power. We learned about and came to know the Lord just as the Israelites learned about and came to know the LORD.

This message Moses gave the Israelites then is one we can take to heart, too. The Lord is the same today as He was during the Old Testament times. Through Moses He said, “Be strong and courageous; do not fear.” He meant this then and even today. We find these same words about God being our strength and shield in Joshua 1:5 & 10:25 (against enemies), and Hebrews 13:5 (for needs). Those words of God 3400 years ago are just as pertinent and valid today. We can take heart, be courageous, and not fear because He will never fail or forsake us.

Are you going through a difficult time now? Does it feel you cannot keep going or that you might not make it through? Remember God loves you; He is your strength. Remember He will never leave you or forsake you. You are not alone and you do not have to rely on your own strength. Take the strength of God. Remember Jesus said, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and You will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-20 [NASB])

Call on the Lord today for your help. He will come to you.