Saturday June 2, 2012

Spend the entire day today in the Lord’s presence.

 

Read Ephesians 6:14-18

 

A believer I once met told me that he daily put on the armour of God. When I inquired as to how he put it on, he told me that he would imitate a Roman soldier getting dressed each and every morning. I tried hard not to insult him by laughing.

 

Paul uses a metaphor or comparison to describe how the things of God protect us and how they are to be used in spiritual warfare. Pretending to get dressed is about as helpful as me pretending to kiss my wife. It achieves relatively little. As you read through the list of armour, look at what the armour is compared to and forget about the armour for a moment.  We have truth - the Word of God that we must put on daily. We must live in that truth, not in our own lies or the lies of the world. We have the helmet of salvation, the assurance of salvation that no one can take away. We know that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ Jesus. We have the righteousness of Christ and our own imputed righteousness to live in. We are righteous in Christ and free from the condemnation of the law. That means satan can no longer attack us with the lie, for example, that we are not good enough or that we are a hopeless Christian. We have the gospel of peace so that our hearts are at peace with God and we know that He has no condemnation in store for us. That peace allows us to approach the throne of grace with boldness (not cockiness) in our hour of need. That peace allows us to serve others, to share the peace with them and even to love our enemies. We have faith to step out with. By faith we walk in obedience and do what we know God likes even though the world and (sometimes) our own instincts would tell us differently. We also have the Word of God. We must know it, memorise it and use it throughout our day. The Word of God lights our path and provides all that we need for life and godliness.

 

And notice in vs 18 that we are to be praying with all kinds of prayers and supplications. Prayer is the means by which we appropriate the truth, the salvation, the righteousness, the peace, the faith and the Sword of God into our lives. We must keep the receiver from God off the hook and continue to abide in His presence 24/7. We should never utter the prayer, “Lord we come into your presence” because we never left His presence. Prayer is vital. Prayer is powerful. Prayer is taking the armour of God and putting it to good, effective use.

 

Prayer:

¥ Pray for the work of Shiloh Church Ministries in India. Pray that God would provide for them all they need to continue serving, reaching out and blessing the poor and needy. Pray that many more would continue to come to Christ in repentance and faith.

¥ Pray that God would allow you and every one in your congregation to see the real battle that is not against flesh and blood. Pray that God would equip you and everyone in your congregation for the battle.