Your "Armor of God" -- nice and shiny?

Here's one that had been saved in an old email folder since 2007. It's based on thoughts by Jim Weidmann, a VP at Promise Keepers.

I enjoyed playing football at the Air Force Academy. I’d pass by the full length mirror on the way to warm ups and feel pretty impressed with myself; decked out in my football armor of helmet, pads, and a bright white and blue uniform emblazoned with lightning bolts. I soon became aware there was an unwritten rule of being on the squad:  DO NOT return to the locker room wearing a uniform as clean as when you went out!  The proof that you had engaged the adversary on the football field was seen in coming back with a “well used uniform” containing grass and blood stains. Ending the game in a clean-as-new uniform proclaimed to everyone that you hadn’t even made it off the bench and onto the field.

The rise of the Roman Empire was due in no small part to the well-equipped Roman soldier, so much so that the Apostle Paul uses the Roman soldier's armor as a visual example to describe the Armor of God.  In Ephesians 6:10-18 we are told to put on this whole Armor of God — powerful both on defense and offense — so we "can take our stand against the devil’s schemes."  We are instructed to put it on with the intention and understanding that IT WILL BE USED; and by the way, nowhere are we told to take it off.

Christians, we forget that God’s armor equips us for battle with our very real, relentless, powerful, malignant enemy.  If we are making a difference for the Kingdom (and thus making inroads into Satan's dominion), we can expect many skirmishes with that enemy.  By the time we reach the end of the day we should expect our armor to be dinged, dented and “well used.”  Coach Mac, PK’s co-founder, once asked: "We are at war, but have we been *in* the war?"  Put on your armor and engage the enemy in your sphere of influence – and remember that the fight comes to you whether you are ready for it or not. What you do with it is up to you. Will you stand? Or will you cave?

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

"Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people."

(Ephesians 6:10-18)

So, following Paul's exhortation:

You've been prayed for today.

J