At His Feet

Ephesians 6:10-20

3/2/23:

Ephesians 6:10-20 talks about the Armor of God. It reminds us to put on the armor and that we don't fight flesh with flesh but with principalities and authorities and the dark forces roaming around. We fight things we can't see, so we fight with things we can't see. We fight with the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, being ready for the fight with the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. It also tells us to pray in the Holy Spirit's power about anything: all kinds of requests and prayers - keep praying.

All these things are sadly easy to write off because we DON'T physically see them. Some people do too much and by that, I mean they blame EVERYTHING as a spiritual matter - to the point it gets annoying. Example: a person is driving to church and they get a flat tire because they forget the day before to check the air in the tire. Immediately, they blame the enemy and throw a huge fit because of it. That's just a natural consequence of not maintaining the car, bro. However, if a person is trying to get back to God and dealing with something and suddenly, a message on the radio or tv begins speaking to them (explaining exactly what they are going through) and how to heal, pointing to Jesus as our healer but suddenly the tv or radio keeps messing up even though it was working perfectly seconds earlier when it was on another channel - yeah, that's supernatural I think. It happened to me. That or people's attitude: a person doesn't have to be possessed to be controlled by something. We're enslaved by sin and because our flesh is flesh, it craved the sins of the world. The enemy is the biggest liar and manipulator so he uses our weakness and dangles things in front of our flesh to control or trap us - he especially tries that with us Christians who are saved. This is why it's important for us to get in our word and pray and stay connected with our Father God almighty. Because when we're filled with our God the Holy Spirit, the enemy can not get a foothold in our minds or hearts. God pushes the enemy back and it's a constant battle - an everyday battle in ourselves. When a person is rude to me, my flesh wants to fight them back: demand my rights and sometimes even slap the person depending on what they did to me. However, I need to align myself with my God in heaven and respond with the armor: tell my flesh to shove it and instead pay the insult back with respect and kindness. It's a way to fight back and 1) the enemy doesn't like it because now he can't get a foothold via my anger and 2) the person who insulted me is now shocked and either scoffs it off or will ignore me - which is fine with me. If I keep swallowing my pride and obeying God by being kind to the mean person, it chips at their hearts and slowly but surely, they open up to me. It happened before so I believe it can happen again.

That is how we fight back.

Or even writing this devotional: I didn't feel like writing at all. Didn't have the energy or desire to write my devotional or read my bible and study. I wanted to continue reading the comics and fanfiction I have on my phone but when I obey, God comes through and gives me the strength and focus I need to sit, listen, and obey. It takes doing sometimes to get into it. See, God wanted me to understand this because the days are getting dark and the love in people are dwindling; we are representatives of Christ in these last days: when people see us, they see the light of Christ in us and it will draw people near. So we all have to be prepared and also pray for one another because God says that too: to pray for all our brothers and sisters; for each other's needs and for the courage and words to speak the gospel as we should.