Thanks to many great influencers in my life I have a regular practice of putting on my spiritual armor each day. (DON’T STOP READING – THIS GETS GOOD!) Some people say they put it on once and it hasn’t come off. I think they feel it is a bit religious to “put on the armor”. I get that. It sounds like a rule to them. I have learned that it is a powerful principle that makes a true difference in my life. My experience has been that it is far from a religious practice or a meaningless routine.
There are many things I do in my daily time with God that are done out loud. I sing out loud. I pray out loud, sometimes in English, mostly in the Spirit. I take communion out loud. I read the Bible out loud, I put on my armor out loud. Sometimes I whoop and holler and jump, sometimes I dance, sometimes I am silent and soaking, all the times I listen. I never run out of things to do with God, the getting started part is where the fight can be – ahhhh, but that is for another time.
The reason I took fingers to keyboard this morning is because of what just happened when I was doing my armor thing. I usually ask that the shield of faith will EXTINGUISH the fiery darts of the enemy. I’m visual. I picture flaming weapons, sometimes dart-like and sometimes spear-like with which the devil tries to kill me or at the very least steal something from me. (Peace of mind, faith, love, my destiny, sanity – you get the idea!) This morning I said, “I pick up the shield of faith that it would DISTINGUISH the fiery darts of the enemy.
WAIT. Ohhhhhhhhh. Ding ding ding! Don’t you just love the Holy Spirit and how He reveals His treasures? Ephesians 6:16 states, “ABOVE ALL, taking the shield of FAITH, with which YOU will be able to quench ALL the fiery darts of the wicked one.” O.K. – a whole shoe closet of possibilities has just been opened!
Extinguishing sharp, fiery projectiles headed to kill me is a really good thing. REALLY GOOD! Thank you so much God that you have saved my life countless, innumerable times! Today, He highlighted something else – DISTINGUISHING whether those darts/spears are really deadly weapons from the wicked one, OR, could they possibly be……….us? You know, that fleshy, carnal, sinful, disobedient us that has to die moment by moment? Could it be we are somehow attacking ourselves? Have we set up some kind of crazy contraption to shoot fiery arrows and then run in front of it and press the remote to let them fly? Are we playing some ridiculous, unknown game using ourselves for deadly target practice and then blaming it all on the devil? No! NEVAH! (Please insert accent or that line doesn’t work.)
I say yes. Yes we are. Don’t kick and scream. You know it’s true. The stinkin’ devil gets too much credit.
So YES GOD! Give us clean hands, give us pure hearts, let us not lift our souls to another! (Thanks Pastor Judy Holland for singing this song in the early days of my walk with God, it is forever etched upon my spirit J ) Let us RECOGNIZE and DISTINGUISH where those weapons are coming from. Ask God. Who do I need to forgive? Where do I need to repent? Show me Lord, what is displeasing to you? Sorry Lord for the sin of gossip, laziness, disobedience, lack of self-control, selfishness, unbelief, whatever it is. The list can go on, but the MIRACULOUS news is, as soon as we say we are sorry – it is over! Over in a good way, you know, forgiven – washed as white as snow – totally forgotten by God! Wow, how does He do that forgetting stuff? He’s God.
I leave you with a “revelation” that I must have forgotten. (Wonder who stole it? Well, hahaha, I got it back and I’m keeping it!) Sorry, my childlikeness often MUST make an appearance. Anyway, the re-revelation is in the scripture in Ephesians quoted earlier. The Word of God said I, Me, Angele, You, Us, THE PEEPS will be the ones quenching the enemies fire! “WHAT?!?!”, you say! Yup. It’s us. Read it and rejoice. Don’t be afraid! We can do it because He says we can.
“Take the shield of faith with which YOU will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.” Man, we gotta’ pick up the shield! It is the amazing and unmerited gift of FAITH that we use to extinguish AND distinguish those weapons! Is your shield on the ground? Is it rusty and muddy? Worse yet, did it even come out into the battle or did you leave it in the barn, or hanging up on the family room wall like some trophy to be admired? YIKES!!! Let’s pick up our shields! We are in a battle! Even if you don’t think you are, it doesn’t matter, you still are. Fight or die. Wow Angele, that’s pretty harsh, do I want to end on that note? Mmmm….yup, I think I do.
