Faithing Puts On

Eph 6:13-18  13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.  14  Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, 15 and having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE; 16  in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  17 And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  18  With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit,  NASU

Tonight during our cell group, we concluded our study of the personal benefits of the blood, body and Cross of Jesus Christ, by reviewing this passage.  I've typically examined this passage with a magnifying glass-type of perspective, but tonight was a good opportunity to take a few steps back and look at it with a broader view in mind.  A broader view helped me to view this passage from the "battle" perspective.  The terms "armor" and "stand firm" and "sword" and "breastplate," all make it clear that this passage is about battle!  Battle is a hostile engagement by two or more foes.  And our foe is the Devil!  It was encouraging to not only review the personal benefits of the blood, body and Cross of Christ, but to take a stand on that which is promised to us, the inheritance of the saints.

The enemy, the Devil, has come to steal...and, if possible, to steal our inheritance.  Jesus came to give us an inheritance and the Devil has come to take it away.  We receive the inheritance by faith and the enemy tries to take it away by tempting us to doubt what God has accomplished for us on the Cross.  This is the fight that Paul urged his spiritual son, Timothy, to wage...the fight of faith!  I was reminded afresh tonight that we need to contend for these benefits, to "stand firm" against Satan, the one who would desire to steal away our inheritance by deceiving us into doubting the benefits of the Cross.  Paul encouraged Timothy to "fight the good fight of faith."  Who was Timothy to wage this fight against?  The Devil is our foe!  He desires to use our past experiences, or even most recent experiences against us in his scheme to get us to believing amiss.

But the Word of God says we are to embrace the truth only, and not to fall for Satan's deceptive trickery!  And as we stand on the truth, and appropriate the inheritance through faith in Christ and what He successfully accomplished through the Cross, we will defeat Satan!

Let us not be ignorant of the blessings Christ so painfully worked to deliver to us!  He went to great extremes to provide an inheritance to us, how apathetic it would be to not delve into the Word of God and discover the great treasures He has paid for us to possess by faith!

Be encouraged!  Father loves you with an everlasting love, and He desires that you discover every bit of the inheritance that He has purchased for you.  It is not greedy or self-centered to diligently discover what He longs for you to possess!  Will you search the Word of God thoroughly to discover how rich an inheritance you have through Christ?  It's definitely worth the effort!