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Ephesians 6:11 and 1Sam. 17:38, 39
You are invited to join us Sunday mornings at 9:30 for worship. We are continuing our study in putting on the full armor of God. One would think that since Christ defeated Satan at Calvary, and our redemption forgives all our sins, our lives would be “happy ever after” as Christians. The problem is that even though Satan has been defeated, he is still allowed to spring his “terrorist” attacks on us. The reason is so we choose to love God rather than just be puppets with God pulling all the strings. It Biblical doctrine is that of freedom of choice! As we look at the armor, let’s consider first
- THE CHRISTIAN’S PROVISIONS! We are told to put on the full armor, or all the armor of God. We normally think of all as being totally inclusive, which is correct. So we are to put on all the pieces of armor God provides. Having done all that we ought to be able to stand against the devil, right? So how come so many Christians have such a hard time standing? Read 1 Samuel 17:38, 39. Have you ever considered that “all” may not be the same for everyone? Think about this, if a child cleans his/her plate by eating all the food on it, has that child ingested the same amount of food an adult did by cleaning their plate? No! Even though both ate “all” (everything) on their plate, what was all to the adult, was more than all to the child. The point here is that God always provides “all” for every one of His children. But all for you might be more than all for me, because you are more mature, stronger, or further along in your Christian walk than I. Why is it that we think every Christian, no matter how long they have been Christians must “all” be the same? It’s like we try to dress every Christian in the same size armor and send them to defeat their giants. We must all put on the belt of truth, but could it be that we “all” wear different size belts, depending on how long we’ve been saved? I wonder if we as cause many of our own problems within the Body by expecting everyone to be the same size! Sometimes we ask people to be teacher, deacons, elders, or hold positions that are just too big for them. It’s not they aren’t capable, they just aren’t qualified yet, because they haven’t had time to learn “all” they need to learn. Whenever God provides “all” for His children it is always in their size! A good lesson to remember! Why? Consider
- THE CHRISTIAN’S PURPOSE. Christians are to STAND and stand FIRM! In what? God’s Truth! We are to stand firm in God’s Word representing it to a lost and dying world, exactly as God has presented it, and exactly as He directs us. He isn’t going to put the armor on us, because we can choose to dress ourselves. God also won’t stand in your place. He did that at Calvary! Without all the armor (in our size) we are literally telling God, “let the Devil get me. I refuse your provision and your power.” Is that really what we want to do? I think not! The concept of being fully dressed in all the armor of God (in our size) is so that He is able to empower us to do that which we can’t do ourselves. That empowerment comes to us only when we are dressed in His armor, fully, and standing for His truth, the way He tells us to stand. We don’t get to pick and choose what we want to do, the way we think best. We must remember we are the servants, God is the Master. If you think you are in over your head, check the size of your armor and be sure you are not wearing someone else’s armor. You can only allow Christ to do all things through you, when you are dressed in your armor!
If we can help you with this or any other spiritual matter, call us at (574) 643-9419.
