Vibrant Faith-Dressed To Overcome

My FAITH in GOD is Vibrant and Alive and Active.
We know that "Faith Comes From Hearing and Hearing By The Word of GOD" (Romans 10:17) and we know that "Faith is the substance of things Hoped for, the Evidence of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1).

When we apply The Word of God to ourselves, we are covering ourselves with The Word of God, Jesus Christ. We are clothed in Him from head to toe.

Ephesians 6:17 tells the believer to "take (up) the Helmet of Salvation"; in other words, put that helmet on our heads.
And several times we read that we have many crowns: Crown of Life, Crown of Righteousness, Crown of Glory, Crown. We are each other's Crown. We are the Crown of Splendor in The LORD's hand. He is our Crown.

Ephesians 6:13 says we wear Him like armor and goes on to describe what our armor is.
Ephesians 6:14 Belt or Sash of Truth & Breastplate of Righteousness
Ephesians 6:15 Shoes of Peace, not as the world knows peace, but The Preparation of The Gospel of Peace
Ephesians 6:16 The Shield of Faith, which quenches all the fiery darts of the wicked. This shield is actually not held in our hands, but in our hearts. As is
Ephesians 6:17 The Sword of The Spirit, which is The Word of God.

Since we know that The Word of God is Jesus Christ, we learn now that both the Shield and the Sword are articles of clothing. How cool is that?

1 Thessalonians 5:8 also tells us that our Breastplate is not just His Righteousness on us, but His Love, as well.

Are you fully clothed in your Faith before you begin your day? or your night? Or are you dressed like the emperor in his new clothes, who goes out in his birthday suit believing himself to be beautifully clothed, when in fact he is wearing nothing at all.

Clothed in the Armor of God

Thank You for the armor which I have on today,
It will help defeat the missiles surely sent my way.
Your Name is glorified!
Your Name is ho-oly.
Your Name is glorified!
Your Name is ho-oly.
Your Name is ho-o-o-o-o-o-oly!
Your Name is ho-o-o-o-o-o-oly!
Holy LORD, You are ho-oly.

On my head Your salvation is life.
On my head Your salvation is life.
You are ho-oly. Holy LORD, You are ho-oly.
Holy LORD, You are ho-oly.

You are righteousness and love
Across my shoulders and over my heart.
You are ho-oly. Holy LORD, You are ho-oly.
Holy LORD, You are ho-oly.

Your Name is glorified!
Your Name is ho-oly.
Your Name is glorified!
Your Name is ho-oly.
Holy LORD, You are ho-oly.
Holy LORD, You are ho-oly.
Your Name is ho-o-o-o-o-o-oly!
Your Name is ho-o-o-o-o-o-oly!
Holy LORD, You are ho-oly.

My faith is strong in You
You go before me
My faith is weak and You are strong
You are my Strength and
You are ho-oly.
You are my Strength and
You are ho-oly.
Holy LORD, You are ho-oly.

Wrapped in The Truth of Your Word
Holding in all that is righteous and good.
Your Name is ho-o-o-o-o-o-oly!
Your Name is ho-o-o-o-o-o-oly!
Holy LORD, You are ho-oly.

Your Name is glorified!
Your Name is ho-oly.
Your Name is glorified!
Your Name is ho-oly.
Holy LORD, You are ho-oly.
Holy LORD, You are ho-oly.
Your Name is ho-o-o-o-o-o-oly!
Your Name is ho-o-o-o-o-o-oly!
Holy LORD, You are ho-oly.

Wearing shoes of Peace, showing mercy
I walk in Your Word, walk in Your ways
for You are ho-o-o-o-o-o-oly!
Your Name is ho-o-o-o-o-o-oly!
Holy LORD, You are ho-oly.

Your Word O LORD
My sword, my strength!
For You are holy, holy holy, holy LORD!
For You are holy! holy, holy holy LORD!
Your Name is ho-o-o-o-o-o-oly!
Your Name is ho-o-o-o-o-o-oly!
Holy LORD, You are ho-oly.

Thank You for the armor which I have on today,
It will help defeat the missiles surely sent my way.
Your Name is glorified!
Your Name is ho-oly.
Your Name is glorified!
Your Name is ho-oly.
Your Name is ho-o-o-o-o-o-oly!
Your Name is ho-o-o-o-o-o-oly!
Holy LORD, You are ho-oly.

An Open Letter To My Children

     I will always love you. Nothing you do can ever stop me from loving you. You will always be my sons, my daughters, my children. Whether I brought into this world or adopted you into my heart and my life, you are my sons and my daughters.

     In case of emergency, the plan is to meet at home. And if home is where the heart is, then my home is with Jesus, 'cause that's where my heart is. So, I plan on meeting you all there.
     I'm saved because someone never stopped praying for me to receive Christ as my Savior. I am right with God because I acknowledged the sin in my life, repented of it, and God forgave me for it.
     One day, you, too, will know Christ as your Savior. One day you, too, will come to the full knowledge of what it means to be saved and set apart. Because I and so many others are praying for your salvation.
     You may think you are already saved because I raised you in church. And while that helps you more than realize now, it is not enough to attend church when the doors are open. It is not enough to pay tithes on your incomes. It is not enough to donate your time and money to charities. It will never be enough.
     You are not rebelling against me, nor against the way you were raised: you are rebelling against God. Think about that, if you can, if you will. And know that just like Job of the Bible, who met with God daily for the sake of his children, I too, am meeting with God daily for the sake of mine.


Love,
Mom

P. S.  And, as a side note, I pray for your friends and their families; I pray for your girlfriends and/or your wives/husbands. I pray for their families. I pray for your children and grandchildren. I know God hears my prayers. The Bible tells me so.

Fully Clothed

     Well, I went to church last night. And the whole sermon was meant for me. Yesterday's blog, I was so exhausted, it was a cry for help on my part and also an encouragement because it reminded you that I am just a person, too. Everyone gets tired at some point; it's natural. But to be exhausted to the point where thought and motion are next to impossible, that's different. 
     Ephesians 6:10-20 describes the armor a Christian is to wear each time we go begin our day, every day. Because every day that we remain in God's will we are a double threat to Satan. Knowing this we need to exercise great wisdom and strength in overcoming his tactics against us; one of which is 'weariness'. What I have been feeling for the last few days is exactly that: weariness. Until now.
I got the message I needed to hear and I got the rest I so badly craved; 1 1/2 hours of the Word of God preached (and taking notes) and 10-12 hours of rest.

     This a small example of the armor a Roman soldier would wear. The armor Paul instructs us to put on is compared to this. Half of his ministry he was in prison, guarded by Roman soldiers. (Think how many of them came to know Christ through Paul's witness and faithful testimony!) Knowing what the Roman soldier needed to protect himself, Paul was able to line up each piece of our spiritual armor on that same scale. As each of them needed to dress himself daily, so do we also need to wear the full armor of God. 
     BREASTPLATE: Protection. Worn on the back and the front, it is held together on the sides and the shoulders; on the sides with straps; on the shoulders with metal shoulder pads. Protects the back (kidney, spleen, spine), the front (heart, lungs, ribs) and the sides (liver, pancreas, abdomen). This part of the armor is so heavy that they needed to help each other put it on. Underneath the breastplate, a soldier wears a protective garment, called a tunic, which reached to the middle of his thigh.
     GIRDLE: Protection. It would have been more than just a belt. The higher the rank, the more costly the item. Decorated leather strips hung down from the middle of the belt to protect the soldier's manhood. Other strips would hang down all the way around the belt, like a leather skirt, protecting the hips and thighs. The higher the rank, the prettier or more decorated the girdle. These belts jangled when the soldiers marched to warn their enemy that they were approaching, giving the enemy an opportunity to flee the vicinity.  
     HELMET: Protection. Centurions and other officers wore crests on top of their helmets so the other soldiers would know who to follow in battle. The helmet protects the head, the neck and the sides of the face. 
     SHOES: Protection and Weapon. Their shoes were made of leather. The topside of the sole had leather straps attached to it which were laced across the foot and up the leg, tying in the back of the calf. While some soldiers wore greaves which reached over the knee and up the thigh, most wore a shorter greave which covered the calf up to the knee. This would protect them from falling down and being killed if the enemy stabbed their legs. For marching purposes the underside of the sole had metal studs, to make them last longer. In times of battle, some could switch shoes to ones that had a metal spike attached. This gave them the ability to grip the ground and fight better. The spike could also be used as a weapon. Either by lifting that leg and striking out, or if the soldier had fallen he could still lash out at his enemy and do some damage. 
     SWORD: Protection and Weapon. A short sword (18"-24"), it was used in hand to hand combat in the crush of battle. Worn close to the hip it was always at hand. Kept sharpened it could wreak havoc on the enemy. 
     SHIELD: Protection and Weapon. The Roman soldier's shield was the nearly the full length of his body. It was rectangular and rounded, able to protect the soldier not only from a frontal attack, but from the side also. Some shields had decorations on the front, showing where each unit was from. Sometimes they would raise the shield above their heads, together, giving them protection from an aerial assault in the mountain areas of battle. 

     And just how does knowing all this about a Roman soldier's armor help us today? Each piece of armor is also needed in our daily walk, our daily battle with God's enemy, the devil. And all of us need to be wearing it.
     Ephesians 6:10-17 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 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. 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. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

     Now we are ready. Ready to face the day. Ready to face the enemy. Ready to win.