Armor Up

For the past 8 years I have been serving the high school ministry at our church. But last November I felt God shifting my heart and I felt I was to go and serve in our women’s ministry. This was a change I didn’t see coming for myself, but in April of this year I fully changed over. The Lord has been so gracious to confirm I did make the right move. It’s been amazing to see Him going before me and confirming along the way that I did indeed hear him, and that I did indeed make the right decision by coming to women’s ministry. I have been given some opportunities to step out of my comfort zone & step into places where all I can do is rely on God because I have no clue what I am doing. That’s not a very fun place to be as a leader either. You want to feel like you at least have this semi together and that you are worth following, but I have found myself smack down on my knees learning a ton and being shaped and molded like never before. 

You see we are doing the study, Armor of God, by Priscilla Shirer. You guys---it is rocking me; in SUCH a good way. I feel like I have been awarded an opportunity to take this past year of struggling with fear, and really face it head on with this study. I feel like I am being equipped to do something about it! 

We have become a culture that is relatively unaware of the enemy’s presence, unaware of his conspiracies to destroy our lives, unaware the he’s distracting us from reaching our destinies. We tend to rely most on what is visible and physical, instead of zeroing in on the invisible & the spiritual. I have been learning that the attacks of the enemy are always wrapped in the packaging of deception, always designed to manipulate the truth about God and about you (me). The evil temptations that appeal to my/your specific desires are not accidental. The discord and disharmony that threaten your most valuable relationships are not coincidental. The temptations that tug at you during your weakest moments are not uncalculated. 2 Corinthians 10:3 says, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.” Meaning there is a bigger fight going on that we don’t see in the physical world. We still have to deal with the physical ailments, environmental evils, and relational hardships of this plant, but if you are in Christ & you have a personal relationship with Him—we always have hope! 

The main thing that I have been struggling with this past year is my mind. I will go from zero – death in milliseconds! You name it; I have played out the scenario in my head. Most of the time when these thoughts come, I have already gone down the death path before I even REALIZE what I am actually thinking about. This study has been bringing that to light in my life. One thing that has really made an impact on me is this quote by Priscilla…..speaking to followers of Jesus…. “Satan knows that he cannot destroy you….the best he can do is to make your time here on earth futile and unproductive, to suffocate you with sin, insecurity, fear, and discouragement until you are unable to live freely and fully. He can’t “unseat” you, but he can intimidate you and render you ineffective and paralyzed.” This is another goal of Satan, “He knows that you, as a follower of Christ, cannot be destroyed. But he has other goals in the meantime: to distract you, discourage you, divide you from others, and disable you from experiencing everything that is rightfully yours as an adopted member of God’s family. He wants to terrorize you until you’re rendered incapacitated, miserable, and incapable of living in the benefits of a victory that has already been won.”

I can honestly say this past year I have been hit hard with insecurity, fear, and discouragement. I have been distracted, divided from others, and I have been disabled from experiencing everything that is rightfully mine as an adopted member of Gods family. Which, like Priscilla has said, renders me incapacitated, miserable, and incapable of living in the benefits of a victory that has already been won! I have been in some of the worst places in my mind lately, which has made me place blame and judgment on completely innocent people--simply because I have not have had self-discipline with my mind. Or because I haven’t been recognizing what has been actually happening….the enemy is the master at choosing the right kind of bait to snag you! He carefully considers and calculates your current situation, taking into account your weaknesses and strengths, your interests and tendencies, your history and past abuses…everything and uses this information to craft a specific strategy to hook you and reel you in. most of the reason why he gets the best of us so often is because we make his job way too easy for him. 

I am done making his job easy. I am done being deceived in my mind. I am done allowing these thoughts to develop into full blown accusations toward innocent people. I am done allowing mind to divide my relationships based of fabrications. Ephesians 6:10-19 tells me how, and tells me everything I need in order to be successful in this. The Truth of God’s word is mine/our core support. Its what makes everything else fall into the appropriate place. Without Gods word, there is no true compass to go back to. Truth—which we could basically define as God’s opinion on any matter—is our standard. Truth is who God is and what He says it is, which best summed up for us within the Person of Jesus Christ. With the standard of truth in place, you can adjust everything else in your life—your ambitions, choices, and feelings; your MIND, will and emotions—until all of it is tuned correctly. When you have a strong stable, well supported core, you can’t easily be lead astray by the enemy’s clever lies. Gird yourself with truth, and you’re on guard from the word “go.” Freedom comes when we unapologetically follow the truth that we discover in Him and in His word. That is what makes the difference. That is what disarms the enemy’s influence and his impact in our lives. 

And I want to end with one more quote from Priscilla Shirer: 

“Refuse to be a woman who walks around with a Bible under her arm but doesn’t actually stand firm on it, affirm it, and actively support it. Instead, ask the Lord to give you the courage to hold it up as a banner over your life.” 

And ask the Lord for courage is exactly what I plan to do! 

*all italicized words came directly from the Armor of God workbook study