Put on the full armor of God

Ephesians 6:10-11 (NIV)

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.  

Paul concludes his letter to the Ephesian church by describing the warfare each Christian faces every day, warfare that involves daily attacks by the main enemy of the Christian faith—Satan and all his demons.  D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote a 373 page book entitled The Christian Warfare (Baker Books, 1976), an exposition of Ephesians 6:10-13.  The book deals with the character and all the strategies of the devil to defeat Christians from being effective for God and demonstrates how discouragement, anxiety, false zeal, lack of assurance, and worldliness are the mainstays of the devil’s schemes. 

Right now as you are reading this, if you are dealing one or more of the following:

·  faith problems (e.g. God is not answering my prayers, doubts)

·  money problems (both having it or not having it where money has become an idol)

·  moral failure problems (e.g. sexual immorality whether you have been caught or not)

·  relationship problems (e.g. conflicts becoming exaggerated, jealousy and envy)

·  psychological problems (e.g. excessive worry and fear, insecurity, frustration, addictions)

·  spiritual problems (e.g. apathy, discouragement, deception)

·  confusion (e.g. your life is filled with uncertainties and you are paralyzed by these)

·  depression (e.g., I’m not any good, I’m not useful, no one cares for me)

you are being attacked by the schemes (strategies) of the devil.   He will attack you daily, persistently, and especially when you are most vulnerable to his attacks.  No Christian escapes these attacks, you have to be on guard all the time (I Peter 5:8).   

Satan’s main goal is to remove you from being an effective Christian.  Pastor Scott Luck preached about the “Christian Atheist”, people who say that they are believers in Christ, but don’t act like it, are people who have been removed as effective Christians.  They have been knocked out of the match, the game, the combat zone.  Nominal/casual Christian people---Satan won’t waste much time on you.  Who Satan really is interested in attacking are Christians who are effective in their ministries and in their walk with the Lord.  The more effective you are as a child of God, the more you should expect to experience major attacks by the enemy. 

So, how do your defend yourself against Satan’s attacks?  You cannot win if you rely on your own strength.  Examples of relying on human strength include making resolutions, using human therapists, reading self-help books, and trying to ignore the attacks.  Likely any mature Christian will admit that at some time in his/her life he tried to resist these attacks without the help of the Lord and failed.  Note that Paul writes that Christians must be strong “in the Lord and in His mighty power”. The sooner the Christian realizes that he/she cannot fight satanic attacks on his/her own, the more successful you will be in overcoming these attacks.

The Lord’s mighty power involves five defensive and one offensive weaponry written in Ephesians 6:14-18.  You need the whole armor of God (“put on the full armor”) not just one or two pieces. Basically, think about the power of God when you think of the resurrection of Jesus Christ where God’s power is so great that He can bring people back from the dead.  Think of God’s power when you witness forces of nature.  Think of God’s power through the realities of all His creation, the beauty and majesty and order of it.  You need this kind of power to help you overcome the attacks of Satan currently in your life and will occur throughout your life.

What do you need to do resist and defeat the attacks of Satan in your life?

Do not hinder children

Mark 10:13-14 (NASB)

And they begin bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; and the disciples rebuked them.  But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, “Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” 

Jesus definitely has a very special place in His heart for children.  If you were fortunate to go to Sunday School as a child, you might recall all the stories you heard from the Bible about Jesus’ love for children.  Recall the story In Matthew 18:1-6.  The disciples asked Jesus who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  Jesus replied that children are the greatest.  His point was that children are humble and it takes humility to be part of the kingdom of heaven. 

Children represent Jesus Christ!  Jesus stated in Matthew 18:5 that “whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me”.  Children are humble in that they depend on others for their guidance, protection, even existence.  Perhaps the only time Jesus described Himself personally was in Matthew 11:29.  What did he say?  “…..for I am gentle and humble in heart…..”.  Humility describes Jesus, humility describes children, and humility must describe you if you are to consider yourself a member of God’s kingdom (Matthew 18:3). 

Jesus showed righteous anger (indignation) when He saw children mistreated.  Again, in Matthew 18:6, He stated that “whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea”.  It is an extremely serious offense to do harm to children.  Doing harm to children is not only physical harm, but in doing anything that causes children to stumble in their faith in the Lord.

I believe, although realize others might disagree, that these verses and those in Matthew 18:1-6 give great comfort to parents who have lost infants or young children, that the souls of these children are with the Lord in heaven.  The kingdom of heaven belongs to all children, those who died too soon and those who have become young and old adults whose hearts are humble to accept and follow Jesus as Savior and Lord.

A healthy, dynamic church emphasizes children’s ministries.  You must do your part to enable children to grow in their faith and never do or say anything that causes children to stumble.  This certainly includes your own children.  What are you doing personally to help your child(ren) increase in their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ?  

Faith, hope, love

I Corinthians 13:13 (NLT)

Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

The number three represents completeness.  God exists as three persons--God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  Jesus was tempted three times.  Peter denied Jesus three times.  Jesus asked Peter ‘Do you love Me?” three times.  Mankind has three components--body, soul, and spirit.  Time has three components--past, present, and future.  Space has three dimensions--length, width, and depth.  Human capability has three components--thoughts, words, and deeds.  God has three main enemies—the world, flesh, and devil.  People are tempted in three main ways---lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and the boastful pride of life (I John 2:16).  We often repeat words three times to emphasize a point or a question (e.g. are you sure, are you sure, are you sure?).

Faith, hope, and love are the three greatest words in life.  They describe the three descriptions of the grace of God that last forever.  Faith is the starting point.  Faith gives you light to have hope.  Hope is a positive word that allows you to demonstrate love.  Love is the pinnacle of these virtues.  Is it possible to love another and to be loved without faith and hope?  Ponder that question for awhile.  Think about your relationship with a loved one.  Your faith in him/her saying/doing/accomplishing something might not always come true.  Your hope that your loved one might say/do/accomplish something might not come true.  But, your love of that person will always be true.   

On the topic of “threes”, here is a list of trilogies that describe other aspects of life’s truths:

On the topic of “threes”, here is a list of trilogies that describe other aspects of life’s truths[1]:

Three things that once gone, never return:  Time, Words, Opportunity

Three things that can destroy a person:  Anger, Pride, Unforgiveness

Three things you should never lose:  Hope, Peace, Honesty

Three things that are never certain:  Fortune, Success, Dreams

Three things that make a person: Commitment, Sincerity, Hard Work

Three things that are most valuable:  Love, Family and Friends, Kindness

Ty Lacy and Kevin Stokes wrote a song about faith, hope and love recorded by Point of Grace[2].  Here is their refrain: 

“Faith, hope and love is more than enough when times get tough.  Faith, hope and love will tunnel through what's in front of you.  If you just trust in faith, hope and love”

Reflect on these words.  Better still, listen to the actual song, as you deepen your thoughts about the grace of God through His faith, hope, and love given to you.  How can you increase your faith, hope, and love for God and for those closest to you?

---

[1] Found on dozens of websites, search by “three things in life” or “three things in life that once gone never come back”

[2] http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Faith-Hope-Love-lyrics-Point-Of-Grace/4204BBE805D22AF248256A56000BFDFC

Christians need to motivate and encourage one another

Hebrews 10:24-25 (NLT)

Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.  And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

These two verses describe true fellowship in the church.  The main purpose of attending church is not to worship or hear a sermon, but to apply what these two verses teach.  Christians meeting together involves mutual encouragement and stirring up of one another.  You should be saying things to others that will help them be more loving and others say things to you to help you be more loving.  God desires for us to face each other so that we can exhort and encourage one another to press on with the challenges of our lives.

Think about interactions amongst others after a worship service or at a life group meeting, or any other gathering of Christian people.  Think about your own experiences during these interactions.  Do you think that there is mutual encouragement and admonition occurring during these interactions?  Are you yourself doing any encouraging?  Are you yourself motivating others to acts of love and good works?  Everyone wants to be motivated and encouraged, yet hardly anyone actually makes it a point every time he/she interacts with others to apply these verses. 

A primary reason why people stop attending church or are sporadic in church attendance is because they are not encouraged in the experience.  As an unbeliever and a beginning Christian, it is not expected that you would go to church to encourage others as much as you need encouragement yourself.  However, as you mature as a Christian, with hopefully maturity coming in part due to the encouragement from others, then you should do more encouraging others than others encouraging you.  Mutual encouragement is the biblical model with the more mature Christians setting the example.

Note the phrase “let us think of ways…….”  You are not to take any kind of Christian gathering lackadaisically.  God has given you a great mind to think creatively and unselfishly if you simply ask Him to help you.  The next time you are assembling with other believers and, yes, non-believers, ask God to help you think of ways that you can motivate and encourage others.  It’s really not that hard.  Simply asking others what the Lord is doing in their lives or can you pray for a need they have or asking them to help you with something or talking about something you learned this week from your daily devotional…….these are examples of ways that you can motivate and encourage others.  No one should leave a meeting with other Christians without more power, resources, motivation, and wisdom to love and do good works.  Otherwise, the whole gathering is nothing more than a religious rite with no biblical reason for being there. The visible glory of God is at stake.

Encouraging another is one of the most important acts of love and humility that you can ever do in your life.  It is a rare human being who does not like hearing or reading personal words of encouragement from another.   Yet, why is it that so few people offer encouragement to others and, as a result so few people feel encouraged?  When was the last time someone spoke or wrote to you words of encouragement?  A better question……..when was the last time you spoke or wrote words of encouragement to someone else?  

Encourage means to inspire with confidence; to stimulate to action by assisting and supporting; to make another feel special, to transmit trust, to challenge another to be the best he or she can be.  The Greek word for encourage means to help, to comfort, to set free so that a person can move forward and realize his or her potential. God has commanded His people through the Scriptures to encourage one another.   It’s important enough to God that encouragement is mentioned 63 times in Scripture.  Words of encouragement should be intentional as Barnabas’ intentional encouragement of Paul in the book of Acts (e.g. Acts 9:26-27).  Words of encouragement should be timely and on the mark (e.g. Proverbs 25:11).  Words of encouragement should never be withheld, yet, frankly, most of us choose to withhold such words……why?

Who is a model of encouragement in your life?  I hope that everyone reading this has at least one person in your life who is like Barnabas was to Paul.  I feel so fortunate because I can list several models of encouragement in my life. Encouraging others is not a natural human characteristic as it is to criticize and complain and condemn.  A great evidence of spiritual growth and maturity is the ability to consistently to encourage others. 

Where do you stand as an encouraging person?  Are you a model of encouragement in lives around you? 

“A word of encouragement during a failure is worth more than an hour of praise after success” — Unknown“

“There is nothing better than encouragement from a good friend” — Katherine Hathway