2 Corinthians 10: 3
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
We have been given by God many different weapons to use to win this war. First we look to Jesus our Saviour who shed His precious blood to cover us with His righteousness as if it is our own righteousness. Jesus died and rose from the dead so that we become equal heirs with Him. We have all His power and authority at our disposal. If we do not believe that, we become powerless. The power is there but if we do not use it, we may as well not have it. God has given us spiritual armour and weapons to protect us from the enemy and also to defeat Satan and his army well and truly. Unfortunately for approximately the last two thousand years most of our spiritual leaders rarely taught it, probably because they were never been taught it themselves. So Christianity would have looked weak, because it has not lived up to its full potential. We all admire the first Century Christians, because they walked with God in boldness. They could do that because they could see the power of God working through them.
I am not sure when the church started to become lukewarm, but I have read things in the 3rd century that I do not think personally was that good for the church. The Catholic Church has always accepted the fact that God can use people of all centuries to do miracles. But they also believed that you had to be specially chosen for it, such as supper holy person. Many Protestant Churches believed that all the miracles only occurred in the first Century that they will never happen again. People who were more informed would have realized that miracles will occur in the last of the last days as being normal, because it is clearly written in the bible that it will happen. And I am sure most of us realized that we are in the last of the last days now. More and more people are being blessed with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, as more and more people are being taught that the gifts are there for everybody who truly believes that they can receive them from our Lord Jesus Christ.
The gifts of the Holy Spirit are some of our weapons against the attacks from Satan, his demons and the world. If we do not use them how can we fight back, how can we convince people who are in complete darkness that God really cares about them and will help them in life and protect them from evil, if the people of God cannot demonstrate this in their own lives.
We are told about how to protect ourselves by wearing the armour of God. Saint Paul in his letters in the New Testament explains the armour that God has given us. Many of us including myself were never taught how to put our armour on. It was never fully explained how powerful our armour does protect us from the onslaught of Satan and his demons. I have just read a book called 'WE ARE DRESSED TO KILL' it has truly open my eyes. Once you know what the armour is and how to use it you are truly ready for battle against Satan and his army. And you know you are more powerful than he is if you believe that Jesus has given His authority and power to you to win.
I will go through quickly the armour that God has given us. Paul compares our spiritual armour with the Roman soldier's armour of his day that they use to wear when they went to war.
1. The Loin belt of truth: This is what kept the whole armour together. Without it the Roman soldier would surely die in battle. The loin belt in truth is the word of God.
2. The Breastplate of Righteousness: The righteousness of Jesus protects us, not only do we need to know the word of God, we have to practise it.
3. Shoes of peace: If you live for God on His terms you will be given His peace. If you live in His peace, it does not matter how hard life treats you, you can remain calm so that nothing disturbs you. If you are calm you can think clearly, you can hear the voice of God speaking to you, giving you needed direction on how to deal with all problems. Satan does everything in his power to disturb your peace. So that you will panic and do what is harmful which will result in causing even a greater problem than what you started with.
4. The shield of Faith: When you have faith that God is with you, you will know that all things can be served for good to all those who love Him. In other words you know Jesus has already won the war, and all you have to do is to stay strong in faith and do what is right and all things will work out for the glory of God. You may not see it straight away, but your faith will protect you from all the arrows Satan and his army hurls at you. You need faith to keep going, if you lose your faith you will give up the good fight.
5. The helmet of Salvation: You must learn to keep your mind on what is holy, positive, and keep thoughts of love and peace, all the things that Jesus has taught you. Do not give into anything negative such as judging others in the way you know is wrong or seeing the worst in every situation. Satan will attack your mind I believe first. If he can get you to think negatively and believe all the lies he presents to you, then that can change your direction in life. It will also change your heart. If he can win over the affections of your heart you will turn away from God and therefore lose your soul.
6. The sword of the Spirit: The word of God is the sword. The word of God has power. When we declare the word of God is true and not back down from it, it has power to save, to heal, protect and change the whole cause of our lives.
7. The lance of prayer and supplication: I remember reading a book called 'He and I' it is one of my favourite books. In it this women went past a place where prostitutes lived and her heart went out to them, she basically wanted to help them but felt powerless to do so and then the Lord spoke to her and said to her, 'how many times do I have to tell you if you cannot go in yourself, your prayers will enter there.' That to me is one of the most powerful lesson I learnt from her. Prayer is powerful and deadly to the enemy. If you pray with all humility, faith and love of God, He will answers your prayers one way or another.
I believe that Christian don't often think just how powerful their prayers can be, so they pray for small things and only for people they know. I believe in praying big because I know God wants to do great things through us.
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