A Fight to the Finish

 Ephesians 6:10-18 (NIV)

The Armor of God


"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. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints."

Ephesians 6:10-18 (The Message)

A Fight to the Finish

"And that about wraps it up. God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no afternoon athletic contest that we'll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.  Be prepared. You're up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it's all over but the shouting you'll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You'll need them throughout your life. God's Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other's spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out."

I couldn't decide which translation to use so I thought you'd appreciate both!  Everyday we should make a conscious effort to put of the full armor of God.   We are to be prepared and as believers, we should be aware that attacks from our enemy will come.  We should use what God has given us for the battle eveyday!

Dear Lord,  Thank you for all of the pieces of armor which You have given us: Truth, Righteousness, Peace, Faith, Salvation, the Word of God, and Prayer.  Please help us to remember  to put them on and use them daily! 

Artwork courtesy of Photobucket.com

Don't Take Any of This for Granted...

You've heard it said, "Except by the grace of God,  go I."  We need to remember where we have been while continuing on the path the God has set before us.  "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a results of works, that no one should boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9 NASB)  I really love this translation of Ephesians Chapter 2, The Message, and so am hoping that you will read it from beginning to end.


Ephesians 2 (The Message)

He Tore Down the Wall

 ^1-6It wasn't so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn't know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It's a wonder God didn't lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.  ^7-10Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.
 ^11-13But don't take any of this for granted. It was only yesterday that you outsiders to God's ways had no idea of any of this, didn't know the first thing about the way God works, hadn't the faintest idea of Christ. You knew nothing of that rich history of God's covenants and promises in Israel, hadn't a clue about what God was doing in the world at large. Now because of Christ—dying that death, shedding that blood—you who were once out of it altogether are in on everything.
 ^14-15The Messiah has made things up between us so that we're now together on this, both non-Jewish outsiders and Jewish insiders. He tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance. He repealed the law code that had become so clogged with fine print and footnotes that it hindered more than it helped. Then he started over. Instead of continuing with two groups of people separated by centuries of animosity and suspicion, he created a new kind of human being, a fresh start for everybody.
 ^16-18Christ brought us together through his death on the cross. The Cross got us to embrace, and that was the end of the hostility. Christ came and preached peace to you outsiders and peace to us insiders. He treated us as equals, and so made us equals. Through him we both share the same Spirit and have equal access to the Father.
 ^19-22That's plain enough, isn't it? You're no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You're no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He's using us all—irrespective of how we got here—in what he is building. He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he's using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day—a holy temple built by God, all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home.

Dear Lord,  Thank you for the gift that You have given so freely that has brought us in close and made all who say, "Yes, Lord!", to have equal access to You.  Thank you that we are saved by Your grace alone. Help us to walk in the good works that You have prepared for us, knowing that they are a sign of who we are becoming in You.

Artwork courtesy of Garret Walker @Art.com.

How did I get this Way?

Thinking of a clever, catchy title for my testimony isn't easy.  "Testimony" sounds boring so I thought I'd try to explain how I got this way.  "What way?" you may ask.  Well, when I first accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior, I was told that I shouldn't become a fanatic!  People asked me, "What do you want to do, be a minister or something?"  To them, anyone who was as committed to something as I was had to want to go into full time ministry.  But I had been saved from the law of sin and death and to me that was worthy of devoting everything I was (and am) to...

It was October of 1978 (the 28th, to be exact) and a friend and I had gone down to San Diego to look at San Diego State University.  We were both considering going to college there and were checking it out.  I had a childhood friend, Terri, who lived down there in El Cajon, CA with her husband.  My mother was (and is) dear friends with Terri's mother and although we had attended the same church as children my mother informed me that Terri and her husband, Ronn, had something "new".  At the time, I thought I was going down to San Diego to check out the college but God had another plan in mind.

We visited Terri and Ronn and almost upon arrival I had asked them about their "new" thing.  I knew it was somehow religious and I had always been curious and seeking answers to my deepest questions.  What is this life all about?  Why does time pass so quickly?  What is my purpose?  Is there an answer to the  heartaches and tragedies that I see every where I turn?  Does God really love me?  Can Jesus change my life?

Ronn began telling us about heaven and hell, the rapture, the millennial period, (these topics were extremely popular in the 1970's even to the general public due to a number of "End Times" books that were released), judgment day, and how Jesus Christ had come to set us free from the law of sin and death.  He told us about heaven and how its streets were paved with the purest of gold.  He told us about Jesus dieing on the cross so that we could have eternal life. He told us about the marriage supper of the Lamb.  Now both my friend, Tina, and I had been raised knowing about Jesus, but I had never had it made personal before.  Suddenly, Jesus was someone who cared about me so much that He had suffered greatly for my sake. 

I had been seeking answers for several years prior to this moment but I still hadn't understood how personal this was.  I had been reading the gospels.  I had been searching and asking and talking but no one had been there to give me the information I needed.  The truth of the gospels just seemed to make me feel guiltier and I didn't know how to get out from underneath the weight of that guilt.  I knew how selfish I was.  I knew who I was on the inside, and I didn't necessarily like what I saw.  I knew I needed a way to be different.  I knew that I couldn't do it on my own.  I now realized that Jesus wasn't just God way out there;  I now saw Him as a real person as well as God, the God who lived here on earth for a time but lived a different, sinless way of life as our example.  I saw Jesus as someone who could show me the way, the truth, and the life that I so desperately wanted to live.

I found myself jumping out of my seat shouting, "I'll go!  That's for me!  That's what I have been looking for!"  And from that moment on, I never looked back.  Oh, I had a lot to learn and am still learning how to do things His Way, but my insides felt different immediately.  I had hope for myself.  I had hope for this life.  And no matter how quickly time passed, I knew that now my life would count for something, no matter how brief it was, no matter how ordinary it was, I now had in my possession the Extraordinary Love of God.

Thirty-two years have nearly passed, and I am still following Jesus, I am still wholly devoted to Him, to His truth, to His love.  It has been a long road so far and hopefully it will stretch out into the future and I will continue to be transformed into His image.  There are many bumps and potholes along the road of this life but for me then and now, "To live is Christ." Philippians 1:21  And that's how I got this way...

"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."  Galatians 2:20 (KJV)

"Now that we are set right with God by means of this sacrificial death, the consummate blood sacrifice, there is no longer a question of being at odds with God in any way. If, when we were at our worst, we were put on friendly terms with God by the sacrificial death of his Son, now that we're at our best, just think of how our lives will expand and deepen by means of his resurrection life! Now that we have actually received this amazing friendship with God, we are no longer content to simply say it in plodding prose. We sing and shout our praises to God through Jesus, the Messiah!"  Romans 5:10 (The Message)

"It's in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This signet from God is the first installment on what's coming, a reminder that we'll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life."  Ephesians 1:13-14 (The Message)  

"Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day."  2 Corinthians 4:16 (NASB)

Dear Lord,  Thank you for Your indescribable gift of salvation through Your Son, Jesus Christ.