Locked and Loaded

“Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. ¹⁴ Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. ¹⁵ For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. ¹⁶ In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. ¹⁷ Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Ephesians 6:13-17 (NLT)

When the title of this blog came to me, I chuckled to myself.  I have been in the military for over 17 years.  As part of our training, we must be qualified in marksmanship which means shooting our weapons.  The reason being is because if we must go down range, we can protect ourselves and our fellow troops.  For those who are not military, I would like to bring it closer to home.  Most Americans have been licensed to carry a weapon.  Some even have a concealed permit to carry.  They feel like they need this to protect themselves and their family.  We have a natural component to protect ourselves.  Do we have a spiritual one?

When David went to fight Goliath, he had no armor.  Saul gave David armor to wear, but when David put it on, it was too heavy, so he took it off.  David went into battle with a shepherd’s staff, sling shot and 5 smooth rocks he picked up from by the stream.  Whereas as Goliath, as big as he was, had armor from head to toe.  With Goliath being over nine feet tall, why would he need a whole armor?  He was fighting in the natural while David was fighting in the spiritual.  David knew by all accounts he could not defeat Goliath if he went in from a natural mindset.  He would have lost.  That is the same mindset we must have.  Every battle we fight is not meant to be fought in the natural, but the spiritual. 

The verse prior to the ones above says that we wrestle not against flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12) which brings us to the devil’s purpose which is to kill, steal, and destroy (John 10:10).  No one is exempt.  I do not care how much you go to church, how much you tithe, how much you pray, etc.  How does he do that?  He starts with our mind while also bringing in natural things as well.  We must combat it all with the word of God.  If we already know the devil’s purpose, it should be easy.  It is not.  It takes an everyday effort for me sometimes to remember.   

Before you leave your home each day, put on the whole armor of God. Why?  Because it is a possibility that you are going to encounter something or someone that you cannot fight without it.  We must stay Locked and Loaded in order to make it through.