Tweet
Glory Seed Devotionals, 2016: Year of the Blessing
The armor of God, believe, choose, and integrate…
Shalom!
“Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—” (Ephesians 6:14–18, NKJV, emphasis mine)
I remember as a kid my father telling me the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. What he was trying to tell me was there are times when rather than detour around something the best thing to do is to go through it. I am not sure where or who he picked it up from but since he was a bible believing man it could have been from the Old Testament Book of Isaiah. “When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you.” (Isaiah 43:2, NLT)
Isaiah says pretty much the same as my dad did however Isaiah adds the shortest and best route is not always the easiest route. I can testify to the validity of that and I suspect you’ve had some experience along those lines as well.
I understand the intended purpose of the “whole armor of God” is to do battle “against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12, NLT) However, I also understand there’s a secondary purpose to protect and assist us as we meet our difficulties head on rather than detour around them. While there are times when I am guilty of procrastination (especially when it comes to my honey-do list) but when it comes to the serious things I am learning to be a let’s-get-going-and-get’er-done-guy.)
For me the priceless lesson I have learned by trying not to circumvent the difficulties life confront me with is compassion, humility, longsuffering, faith not just in the whole armor of God but in the Ever Present God. I have learned it is God’s desire to equip us for our journey on the straight and narrow path ahead no matter what it holds in store for us.
Believe in presence of the GOD and in the strength of his GRACE!
GRACE and PEACE,
Gary
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Note: Should you want to go back and review this Glory Seed or if you would like to subscribe so you can receive them in your email you can do so by clicking on this link: http://gloryseeds.wordpress.com/.
If you would like inspirational music playing as you read this Glory Seed may I suggest clicking on this link: http://www.abidingradio.org/listen/
Scriptures marked NKJV are from The New King James Version. (1982). Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
“Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.”
Comment