Weapons of Our Warfare

Have you ever played a videogame in which you are going along just fine then, BOOM, Boss level. Sure there have been other obstacles, but you just take care of them, no big deal. But then, out of nowhere, comes the big man. This challenger has the strength and combined power of all the foes before and he is coming at you with vengeance. Unless you are a beast at such games, this guy will come as a shock to you and you probably will not beat him the first couple times around. What if life was the same way. You journey through your own adventure, collecting skills and traits along the way, and then you are suddenly thrown into a huge battle that you may or may not be ready for. I have to admit that depending on the game, I am not a beast at video games, and most of the time, I can't even get to the Boss level, let alone defeat it. But thankfully, God does not require us to be good at video games in order to beat the real Bad guy trying to ruin our lives. In many game scenarios, in the events leading up to that final battle, you spend your time preparing. By this of course I mean that you strengthen your avatar and collect things along the way that allow you to be the best you can be. Of the things collected, one of the more important powerups are those that increase your armor. in games like these, the strength of your armor could determine how you will fair when you are being attacked. Isn't it cool that God gives us our own personal armor to fight off things outside of the virtual reality. In Ephesians chapter 6, Paul talks about putting on the full Armor of God and he lists 6 "pieces" of equipment that we must clothe ourselves with. These pieces are the Helmet, the Shield, The Breastplate, the Belt, the Shoes and the Sword.

The Helmet of Salvation- This piece protects not only the outside, but more importantly, the mind. Satan knows that if he can get into your head, he can infiltrate your whole body. He has ways to use our thoughts against us, to pull us into fear and doubt or tempt us into sinning even though we know the consequences. This is the technique he used in the Garden of Eden. God had told Adam and Eve to not eat of the forbidden fruit, or else they would die. All it took for them was a little seed of doubt placed in Eve's head and the whole world was plunged into sin. The Helmet helps to protect our mind against such attacks.

The Shield of Faith. For any person who has experience with sword fighting, they could tell you that knowing how to use a sword is important, having a sturdy shield in your other hand is just as important. Having a thing solely as defense is just as useful as a good offense with the sword. The spiritual Shield is our line of defense against the attacks from the devil. Satan will fire spiritual arrows at us, and this shield protects the heart from being pierced.

The Breastplate of Righteousness. This piece also protects the important organs from any attacks. The righteousness Paul is talking about is not self-righteousness, but rather the righteousness of God the Father, imparted on us once the Faith has been placed inside of us. This protects us from any and all accusations that come from deceiving lips from the enemy.

The Belt of Truth. Like a belt holds up a pair of pants, this belt holds up our integrity as Christians. When we walk in truth, and honesty, people feel safer trusting us, knowing we won't stab them in the back with false assumptions. Just as we feel more secure with a belt holding up our pants, Truth helps us feel more secure in holding up our lives.

The Shoes of the Gospel of Peace. Walking in shoes of peace, we are able to walk up to the enemy with head held high knowing that none of the enemies' trap will destroy us. Yes they may get us down for a minute, but through God's grace, they will not get us down for an eternity.

Finally, The Sword of the Spirit. This is God's Holy word. When someone is getting ready to fight, they first study the technique and they practice with the weapon. God's word is the same way. In order to fight back against the Devil, we need to know our stuff, and that requires us to get into his word and study his message so that when the enemy comes against us, we will be ready for him.

It is time to upgrade our armor and get ready for battle, For the enemy is coming and he won't come with a warning. He will come when you least expect it, so lets always be ready, not getting lazy with our spiritual training and getting prepared every way we know how.
The time for battle is coming, and its time to fight

Adam Semple- a young man on a mission from God.