The Whole Armor of God

First of all let me say to all my readers that I am sorry it has taken me so long to post! I looked back and it's been over two weeks! But rest assured that I have not been idle. :) Actually I have been very busy! But now, I am happy to say that I found some time to write, so, without further a do, I'll drive down into my post. :)
Ephesians 6:10-20
"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and as shoes for your feet having on the readiness given by the Gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take up the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that the words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the Gospel, for which I am a ambassador in chains that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak.
We read this scripture a couple of weeks ago as a family in our devotions, and I was intrigued and inspired. Why I was intrigued by this scripture, is because I wanted to know why God through Paul put peace, righteousness, salvation, etc. to the specific pieces of armor. I never had really thought about till a couple of weeks ago, so one by one in the series of post, I want to "investigate" each one. :)
So, to begin our investigation we have to ask the 5 investigation questions. What? When? Where? How? and Why? So, first let's see if this passage can answer the "what" question.
What? vs 10- the beginning of 11-"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God." 
This isn't a question or a suggestion, this is a command. Paul is saying through the Lord to be strong, to not let our guard down, to be wise and aware. Why? Because of what's coming. What lays ahead of us.
When? vs 13 and the beginning of vs 18- "Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day having done all to stand firm." vs 18 "Praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication."
Is Paul talking about a specific "evil day"? No, I don't think so, I think he's talking about every day. Because there is evil all over the world, every single day. He's talking about here and now.
Where? vs 16- "In all circumstances take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one."
So, Paul is not say, "Do this in the near or far distance future at this time, when your talking to this person," he's saying do it all the time, not matter where you are, no matter who you are talking to. It says in I Peter 3:15-"but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,"
So to answer our "where" question, the answer is, all. the. time.
How? vs 13-18"Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and as shoes for your feet having on the readiness given by the Gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take up the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints"
Truth. Righteousness. Gospel of Peace. Faith. Salvation. The Word of God. Prayer. Supplication. This is how we put on the whole armor of God.
Why? vs 10-13-  "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand firm."
So, why does God wants us to have all these things? Because the schemes of the devil, because God knows we don't war against flesh and blood, but against the rulers of this present darkness. God knows what we all struggle with. We may all have different area's with which we struggle, but we all struggle with sin. As Followers of Christ we know that we cannot fight sin on our own. We cannot resist temptation on our own. I think that's why it's called the full armor of God. ;) Notice in vs 10 where it says, "be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might." IN HIS MIGHT!!! God knows that without Him we are nothing. Without Him we have nothing. Without Him, we have no chance, but with Him all things are possible (Phil. 4:13) 
So, here's my introduction, that wasn't actually supposed to be a introduction and that turned out actually quiet long. XD :) But that's ok, things don't always happen the way I plan them and God can use that for His glory. :)
I hope you are blessed and encouraged and will continue to read my future posts as I learn about putting on the whole armor of God! :)
May the Lord bless you and keep you~

How Will They Know?

When you love someone or something, you feel strongly about it right? Meaning, if anything tried to hurt that someone or something you would get defensive, you would stand till the last, right? Well, I love Jesus. Not near as much as I should, but I do love Him and strive (not nearly hard enough though) and will be defensive about my faith.    

So the other day I was having a conversation with a very good friend of mine, and she was talking about a famous person she really enjoyed in a film she saw recently. Now, me and this friend have been friends long enough to where we can be brutally honest with each other so the next thing I said did not surprise her, 

"You know," I said, my voice raised a little in defense, "that person was a really good at portrayal, but someone told me recently that they hated Christians."    

She was quiet for a moment then said, "Well, there are those people who say they are Christians and are so hate filled and angry that they stand out on street corners and scream at people that they are going to Hell... if I didn't know God wasn't like that, I wouldn't like Christians either. I mean God's a just God, but He is a God of love also."

This made me stop and think, and I haven't actually stopped thinking about it since then. I began to wonder, how many people turned away from the Lord and said, I don't want anything to do with that Jesus, He causes people to hate others. I wondered if people didn't know the Lord because they said, those Christians are just like everyone else. I began to wonder how many people didn't know the Lord because they had never seen what love really was... and it was the Christians fault. 

Now, don't get angry and click off and think that I am saying that everyone is wrong and we are all failing. I am not trying to be depressing or blame anyone. The purpose of this blog was to encourage others, so, now I am getting to the point of this post.

So, now your either mad at me and wondering where in the world I am going with all of this or your sitting there and thinking, Man, that's awful! But what can I do?

*Ding a ding* we have a winning question, and I am going to give you the answer. Actually God gave you the answer, I am just going to write/read it to you. :)   

John 13: 34-35

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another."

So, my underlining might have helped you get my point. We are supposed to love one another, LIKE CHRIST LOVED US. 

Now, you might be sitting back thinkin phew wee! that's a lot of work! It is, but as Christians we are s upposed to follow what the Bible says and the Bible says to, LOVE. ONE. ANOTHER. 

Ok, lets pause there for a moment and think about something else. You see people all the time who are angry. They hate their family members, their friends, the people around them. The Bible says that this is wrong;

1 John 4:20

"If someone says, "I love God" and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen how can he love a God whom he has not seen?"

So, the Bible is clear, we are to love one another. That doesn't mean we are going to be best friends with everyone, it does not mean we are going to like everyone. There are people we are going to run into that we will have difficulty with, there will be people whom we thought were friends that will turn on us. But the Bible says that we are to love one another. Just because we don't necessarily like somebody or have a hard time with them, doesn't mean we can't show kindness to them. Now, granted this is all very hard, but each person knows his own depravity and the sins that we commit everyday, and yet God loved us so much that He sent His only Son Jesus Christ to die for us, and He loves us still with all of our sinful depravity. When you look at it that way, our job doesn't look so hard.

I hope that through this article (it feels like I have been rambling :p) that your are convicted and encouraged. May God bless you richly~

Thankful for family

So today I am doing a thankful post. What's a thankful post? It's a post where I say 5 things that I am thankful for, and this time I am posting pictures. :)

Today I am thankful for the 5 most awesome people...my family!

Poppa and Momma. They are constantly encouraging me and teaching me in my walk with the Lord. I am so blessed to have parents who care about their children's hearts and want to be invested in their lives.

 Jacob. His diligence and hard working attitude is such a great example to all of us younger kids! His constant joyful attitude and joking personality always keeps us laughing. :)

 Sarah. Her joyful attitude even in times of trouble is such a great encouragement to me. God has given her a heart of grace that shines through her, she is my not only my sister but my closest friend who knows me inside and out and still loves me. :)

Elijah. Constant energy and and smiles. :) He is always making me laugh, he's loads of fun, and is always there to help ya when you need a extra pair of hands. His, always looking on the bright side attitude is a example to all of us. 

Family is a treasure. We can't take them for granted. I know that some people have more difficulty with their family than I do, I have difficulty with some of my extended family, but the Bible says to give thanks in all things. So, let's be thankful for the awesome family that we do have in our lives. I know God blessed me richly. I am so thankful He did. :-D