I wasn't sure if anything happened. If any outsider tried to get in as sometimes, being near to the Releases Area, some inmates mistakenly took the wrong path and were found walking across the Administration building, where we entered. They knew they were not allowed in those premises. It was only meant to be for staff and our parking lot was just across from this building. We had to still dash across and open the 1st door that was always locked, as it was the first entry to get to the jail.
I swiped my card to which I heard the immediate sound of the door being unlocked. With one hand remaining as I carried my stuff with the other, it was easy to open it and as it slammed right behind me, it automatically locked itself. But what a great comfort I had since seeing that change that night. I felt more security. I felt more confident that the entry to where we all worked would not be easily accessible by some unexpected intruders.
How true it is with us donning God's Armor. We can't let any part of the Armor open to any of the enemies' attacks. It is not the Armor that changes. It is us who are wearing it. If we start relying on our own strength and being confident with ourselves, that weakens all of these pieces. We must not forget that it is our dependence on God and His strength that makes every piece powerful. Yes, we are wearing the helmet of salvation but do we have a sturdy belt of truth around our waists? Yes, we are so knowledgeable with His truth but are we wearing the body armor of God's righteousness? And let's just say, we have the helmet of salvation, the sturdy belt of truth and the armor of God's righteousness, but are we forgetting to put on the shoes? How much faith do we truly have to stop the fiery arrows aimed at us? Are you armed with the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God? [The Bible says, "...my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge - Hosea 4:6].
With any missing piece, just like that open electronic door in the prison, we are open to the enemies' attacks. The battle is real. And putting on God's Armor as a child of God is not an option. It is a must! The whole piece comes in one unit, not for us to choose a particular piece that we like. So, why don't we all assess any open door, any weak part of the Armor we are wearing and most important of all, rely on the One Who provides this Armor, not the Armor itself nor ourselves.
"A final word: Be strong in the Lord's mighty power. Put on all of God's Armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies and tricks of the devil." - Ephesians 6:10,11
Amen, so very powerful sis.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad we have weapons to fight the devil. Sometimes he seems to be working overtime, but we are on the winning side.
ReplyDeleteI know that the Lord has his protection around you while you are serving him at your job...but I am glad he provided a little extra protection with the door.:)
ReplyDeletePraise God for the Armor..The devil will try to get to us anyway he can, in our mind, illness etc. Thank you for this reminder..
ReplyDeletepowerful video. I agree - the armor is essential - so much more today. I used to be so big on this - I have gotten lazy and not dressed me each morning. I must begin anew. Dress me Lord. Dress me.
ReplyDeleteI'm in the Lord's Army! Yes Sir!
thanks RCUBEs for this - I pray safety for you - God's favor is upon you as you work and walk behind those prison doors.
Patrina <")>><
warrior bride in boots
This was a really good anaolgy Rosel. It is just soo true as well. The battle is real and the fight must be fought with His whole armor if we are to stand a chance. Thanks for this. HUGS, Debbie
ReplyDelete".......and most important of all, rely on the One Who provides this Armor, not the Armor itself nor ourselves."
ReplyDeleteYea and Amen, Rosel.
Miss you, sister!
Hello Rosel and guests above me,
ReplyDeleteThis post is interesting, develops a theme, contains a movie giving a tad of insight to Ephesians 6:10-20......followed by comments that reflect mere scintilla's of understanding of the Armor of God.
It drains and exhausts me to the point of tears to see the miscommunication, albeit unintentional. It is incomplete, fails to encumber the Truth, the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth, and I cried when I read all that is written by so many above this comment.
There is a huge disconnect going on here.
I long ago wrote on this in The Girl In a Glass House, but she saw fit to leave online the word of Girl in the Glass House, and dimish all that was left as comments were obliterated at that site.
It was one of few locations where comments built upon comments to the betterment of all, but the blogger preferred focus only on herself in the end.
That leaves us with the above misconceptions in place all over again.
It is so exhausting to see this again.
One example will show you how far off this is re Armor of God and the Truth it all contains.
Do you wake up in the morning, shower and get dressed completely to face another day?
Fine. You won't be arrested.
It is inferred that we do the same with the Armor, and that is an absolute mistruth.
There is never a reason to put on the Armor of God, with the exception of the first clarion call to do so. Once the Armor is put on, it is NEVER taken off.
This would be akin to say...the Belt of Truth goes on and off daily. True or false?
Well, the Lord proclaimed "I am the Way, the Light, the TRUTH".
Now, if you put the Belt of Truth on, you are surrounded 360 degrees in protection by the Lord Himself. Why would anyone ever take such a belt off for even a second? Do you wish to be unprotected in your subconscious as you sleep? In your dreams?
God is FOR YOU 24/7 and need never be removed.
Once you wrap yourself in the Lord, leave Him on forever and never take Him off.
It would be akin to worshipping God on Sunday, and stealing all week from your employer, only to worship anew the next Sunday.
On. Off. On. Off. No wonder worship seems like the Clapper! Clap On! Clap Off! Armor On! Armor Off! This is widely inaccurate.
We serve a God who never wants to depart our use of surrounding us with Him.
Never get dressed in the Armor daily.
Put it on and leave it on forever.
It tells satan you are a serious foe, and know what you are doing.
Ephesians does not tell us to put it on, put it on, put it on. The "Put" is stated precisely once. "Put on the Full Armor of God" followed by putting on each piece for a reason. Nothing there about taking it off ever.
Forgive me as I can not hear the film, I am deaf. However, it was inaccurant in several keen points, especially the Sword and also the Shield of Faith.
If Rosel wants to delve into this and remove the inherent confusion, I will pray for the ability to post it all anew and explain each piece and why it is employed and never removed.
These are among our most powerful tools of protection, offensively as well as defensively. But if we remain in the dark, confused, misunderstood as to their power and applicability, satan need never worry about such 'christians".
Indeed, he has time for great battles as people BELIEVE that their thoughts on the Armor of God (each piece) are complete, yet are worn on our body, like Swiss Cheese...or worse, taken off for zero protection, to be put on again some day. Oh Yikes!
Forgive me Rosel,....this one upset me for all that is missing. I'll see if I can dig up my old comments from a long ago post called "Weary Knights", comments obliterated to give satan some breathing room anew. TRUTH is power.
I leave it up to you as you may want to move on to new issues.
I'd like to hear from "IKE" on this too.
@ Keystone: First of all, so great to hear from you and what a timely visit you gave! Just know that I'm keeping you in thoughts and prayers...
ReplyDeleteBusy mornings here so I'm glad I have this chance to reply as soon as I had read your comment earlier. Forgive you? Why should I when I'm not upset in the first place! I welcome all comments and much more, positive criticisms that desire to speak only for Him and His truth! That is my prayer after all....is to glorify Him and no one or nothing else every time I post about something and to share His Truth in the simplest way I can...
No excuses on my part but every time I post, I don't really prepare much. Much of the time, I find myself praying and asking Him for specific topics He wants me to share in relation to my work experiences and my walk with Him. So, usually, it takes me only a few minutes as feel led and then, I post about something. Like this...
I am aware that we have the Armor 24/7 and even commented on one blogger or more, that we should sleep with It!!! We must never remove it. But now that I'm reading what I posted, it did sound as if, we can remove It on and off.
But what I wanted to imply in writing this is that God's Armor is available 24/7, just like that electronic controlled door. I never understood why it had been opened for so many years and recently was being locked. It was functional after all, as "it immediately locked by itself" as soon as it closed behind me...
Same thing with the Armor...we have to depend on it to withstand the attacks of the enemies that are constantly working, day and night, to make His children ineffective for His Kingdom.
My point was it is US that become vulnerable, not the Armor, to these continuous attacks being hurled at us, thereby, weakening the Armor. When we desire for those things that go against what God wants for us, we open a weakness to the Armor, like our pride, of if we don't read His Word, how can we have a sharp sWORD?
That's why I am inviting everyone [including me] to assess the areas of our lives that make us vulnerable to such attacks. And I want to stress how important it is that our strength only comes from depending on God and no one else, especially not ourselves.
Thank you Keystone for your timely visit and continuing to encourage me with my spiritual walk. I respect everyone's comments but I want to proclaim nothing but the Truth! That is my heart's desires. We are all in different stages in our walks in this journey. Some are way ahead, some are in the middle, some are behind despite walking on it for a while now...Hebrews 12 is about running the race of faith successfully. But it emphasized more about endurance and discipline, not winning! It is a blessing to be encouraged and to encourage each other as Paul said, and through blogging I had found that amazing blessing from the Lord! We are not competing against each other, but OURSELVES! And what a great way to learn from those who are ahead and remaining strong in Him. In all of this, to God be the glory always.
God bless you Keystone. Praying all is well with you.
Love the video! Most Christians are absent without leave from God's army. They need to wake up and get back into the battle before it's to late.
ReplyDelete~Ron
Wonderfully powerful Rosel. Thank you for sharing. Blessings.
ReplyDeletewhat a great analogy and yes yes yes...we need His armor. Stay safe out there okay.
ReplyDeleteI love the way you wrote this. You make it crystal clear of the safety of God's armor. Love it. Always praying for you my friend!
ReplyDeleteMary
Rosel...
ReplyDeleteSo blessed by this post....Love the part about our armor being one unit/one piece and we can't just pick and choose which piece we want.
Praise God He's prepared for us the whole armor of God to wear for our protection in the battle!
Thanks so much for sharing!!
HE IS FAITHFUL!!
Hugs and Blessings!
Jackie
Hello Rose, Yes, the enemies attack is very real. My daughter and son-in-law have been here praying all over my house...so wonderful!! I have had so much attack, but I am rejoicing as the Lord is neigh.
ReplyDeleteGod Bless sweet sister. Crystal xxx
Hello Rosel,
ReplyDeleteYou are always so kind and welcoming. I am grateful for that! Were you a next door neighbor, I would always be over, borrowing coffee, or tea, or extra plates for company, and you would be popping in at my house to gab the latest of what Christ has brought to your life.
You would be a smashingly wonderful neighbor to have. The Internet allows that in part. The part I most appreciate is the unsolicited prayers you send up on my behalf. They contain "The Rest Of The Story" and are just in time so often, that in heaven, there will be a corner of giggles, as you and I compare notes on your prayers matching my needs precisely.
Oh to be there and gab one day!
My note is not criticism, it is caution.
And I think you caught it best when you noted we are all on different levels with Bible things, and with God.
I never heard the term 'spiritual warfare" until 20 years ago, nor did any pastor ever speak on the topic.
Yet, since that time, spiritual warfare is easily seen by me in so many situations, not because I see a bugaboo of spiritual warfare everywhere I look, but because it is real and I can see the realness.
My sadness is the misunderstanding so many others have on the topic, but as I read your personal response, I again become aware that there was a time I walked in their shoes, extremely unaware of spiritual warfare, and allowing its' toxicity to reign all around me needlessly.
When my girls were little, I took the topic up boldly with God. Our God does not mince words, but is crystal clear.
I asked:
If spiritual warfare is so damaging and so necessary to know and be waged, why do you not have more preachers teach the people of this? Why is it buried in the final pages of Ephesians? Why do you not point it out to all, and have the war waged effectively from that widespread knowledge?"
God answered swiftly:
"It takes very little of MY Holy Spirit to defeat ALL.... of the evil spirit.
I only need a few!"
I will never forget His response.
But I must admit that at times, I have seen so much error on the topic I have to hold myself silent.
One pastor in Florida had his congregation come forward and, after a sermon of waving a large military sword in the air, he laid it down and promised that all who jumped this sword would be saved. There was only one person in the church who declined to walk up and jump that sword....me.
But others jumped with glee, cried tears to heaven, clasped hands in prayer that they were now saved.
Satan smiled in the corner.
You are not responsible for the YouTube movie, and due to deafness, I did not hear it. But I saw it and had concerns with the Sword of the Spirit, as I believe the picture misleads. And I was concerned with the Shield of Faith, as I feel people will be mislead on the Divine brilliance of this weapon and how it came to be employed to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
But as you note, we are all on different levels of learning. This is true.
But sometimes, on this subject, I want all your commentors, readers, and wayfarers who see a post on spiritual warfare to become "a few" for Our Lord, and not speak of how wonderful the Armor of God is, but EMPLOY it!
And later, speak of that EMPLOYING of each or any weapon, and what the Holy Spirit did when they engaged the battle personally.
Rarely do I ever see such writings.
Whatever the standing, I am glad to see that you engage in spiritual warfare, and are "a few" and EMPLOY the Armor of God, often, willingly, and effectively.
Then, you take time to chat about it.
(continued)
My first area of concern:
ReplyDeleteOur church today lacks unity.
In Roman times, St. Paul watched war waged by soldiers. He noted their shields, and used it in the Bible writings in his letter to the Ephesisans.
Roman shields were tall, not a hand held arm protector. The soldier could advance a step at a time, just as Christians advance with the Shoes of Peace....."How happy on the mountain are the feet of him who brings Good News".....shoes of Peace do that for us.
But the shield had a unique feature.
On each side, there was an interlocking spot, where shields could be locked from the left or right side. As the enemy came into view, soldiers joined rank closer to one another, and immediately slipped their shields into the interlocking spaces.
The effect was a tall wall that could not be penetrated by the enemy.
So the enemy dipped arrows in tar and lit that with fire, shot the arrow at this huge advancing wall, and tried to destroy it with fire. THESE are "all the flaming arrows" discussed by Paul.
But prior to battle, Romans took moss and soaked it in water. The moss was attached on all frontal surfaces of their weapon, the shield. It was as if a river of water was advancing on the battlefield.
As soon as a "flaming arrow" of fire hit the wall of interlocked shields, the water-soaked moss extinguished "all the flames".
This weapon from God is now a living water of faith, advancing on Shoes of Peace throughout the world, extinguishing all the flaming arrows satan can devise. He is powerless against this weapon (and sometimes, I suspect that the Holy Spirit directs the most perilous flaming arrows of our lives to the wettest moss of our faith, to dramatically deal with the problem.
That is not in the Bible, just a thought I hold in this ongoing struggle and the miracles I have seen waged.
continued...
Second weapon of concern:
ReplyDeleteThe Romans actually carried two swords, not one.
One is the long sword you see in movies with actors swinging it to chop and cut the enemy.
The long sword is unwieldy, for as soon as you mightily swing it, you are exposed to the enemy, until you reset yourself to swing in reverse.
In the Bible, the long sword is called Logos. This is the "Big Picture" from A to Z, the Alpha to the Omega. It encompasses the entire plan of God from begiining to end and it recorded in your Bible from Genesis to Revelations. The Logos informs Christians of God, what He is all about, Us, our relationship historically with God, and the future and present as well. It is the Word of God, the Sword of the Spirit.
But as battle goes on, the enemy at times gets very, very close. In these cases, a long sword is not a proper fighting weapon, as you have no time to swing the entire picture, or Logos.
Roman soldiers carried a second sword, it was more like a short dagger to engage the enemy up close. In your Bible, this is known as the Rhema. A rhema is a personal revelation to you, of a particular phrase in the Bible. An entire church audience may hear it spoken in a sermon, but YOU are the only one to slap your forehead and wonder why you did not see that before! Because God is revealing it to you now.
BOTH swords are our only offensive weapon in spiritual warfare. ALL other weapons are for defensive purposes. The Sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. (Sometimes short sword, or a particular passage, revealed promptly by the Holy Spirit for you to say, and satan to flee).
The Word is spoken aloud, not for us, or for God, but for the enemy. He is a created being and canNOT read your mind. But he can hear your thoughts when you express them as words from your lips.
This is why our speech is so critical. We can edify or destroy with a bunch of syllables strung together as words, and speak them aloud. We can start a forest fire of ruined reputations with gossip, or we can end the vow to God and our spouse by uttering aloud in a moment of passion with an adulterer "I love you", NOT because we do love them, but because those words increase the chance of successful adultery.
Words have power.
Not the words in a book on a library shelf, silently sitting there.
Nor the words in your Bible, silently never expressed, just collecting dust on the book cover.
No. The Sword of the Spirit is both Logos and Rhema and the Holy Spirit is both!
The rhema is as if the holy Spirit is next to you and the enemy has moved in for the kill and the long sword no longer does the job, so the Holy Spirit tosses you a particular phrase from the Bible, NAY, THE PARTICULAR phrase that will destroy the enemy in the given battle you encounter. It is awesome to behold every time.
It is humbling that God would bother to work with us in the battle against the enemy.
Imagine the Holy Spirit tossing you a Rhema to use in your personal life battles, and you do not employ it, for you do not read your Bible (Logos) and know it, or recognize a Rhema when given one.
Everything we need is there. The enemy is constant, but we have great resources.
One third of the angels left heaven with Lucifer, but TWO THIRDS remained on our side.
closing.......
The disciples watched this and STILL did not get it. They asked Christ after driving out demons why they sometimes can, sometimes can not, but He always can.
ReplyDeleteJesus told them some spirits require prayer and fasting for removal too.
In the Bible, Jesus always did those things.
The disciples not so much. And us? Barely at all.
We do not even join closely and lock our collective shields of faith together, nor employ the Sword of the Spirit by uttering the Word of God aloud, especially the rhema, or precise dagger of words in a specific situation.
Luke 10:17-19 says this:
"The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name."
He replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given YOU authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome ALL the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you." (emphasis on YOU and ALL is mine; note the speaker is Christ).
A great place to begin to understand spiritual warfare is 2Chronicles 20.
The problem surfaces.
Group prayer is incorporated in unity at once.
The Holy Spirit gives guidance and direction.
V.12 says "We don't know what to do, so we place our eyes on you (God)"
The battle belongs to the Lord!
They engage the enemy as the Holy Sprit revealed.
They THANKED God IN ADVANCE for what He was about to do in this specific war.
Do you have wars in your life?
Hunger, someone in jail, gossip, adultery, job loss, bad health, impossible disease (cancer, MS and the like?
All of the answers to all of your wars and all of the weapons you need to fight are available to all who seek to know them.
Read aloud, and let satan know your thoughts. Read aloud in unity.
James 4:7 says "Submit yourselves then to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you".
I urge you to note the order.
We wage war with out supposed weapons we discuss. We will lose that way. James says that is step two. Step one must be done first, or satan will not flee from you. You are no threat to him, and he can continually toss flaming arrows at you to discourage or even kill you.....because you did not submit to God first.
A better word for "submit" is "choose".
Choose God. Resist satan and he will flee from you.
I would love to expand on each of the weapons, but this day is gonna be busy. Enough for now.
Rosel, thanks for choosing God first.
When you pray for me, your prayers are powerful and effective for you have followed the steps given in the Bible.
I pray some of the above comment may improve the effectiveness and understanding of spiritual warfare to your audience. I suspect you already know all this stuff.
Blessings and thanksgiving,
Keystone
@ Keystone: Thank you for the return visit and there's so much to chew with everything you had laid out here. I appreciate all that and I'm learning so much more...
ReplyDeleteI understand your concern because I was there before, too. Defeated because I didn't know that God's weapons are available and thought it was done when I got saved. I didn't know that was only the start of a very real battle that needs supernatural weapons...which is of God's.
I am grateful the Lord had shown me and made me see [the unseen] the reality of this in my own family. Which is still going on as one of my family members got involved in a cult. If you can imagine me fumbling, groping in the dark, so confused as to what was the best thing to do to battle against something I couldn't see yet knew that was there. But by His grace, He guided me and showed me the sWORD to get. Everything happened in His perfect time and praise God, I knew He wanted me to know that He "is in control!"
Little did I know, that...that experience was only a preparation from Him because where He brought me [prison], I needed to know what to do because the enemies were everywhere. As a nurse believing in mental illnesses, my perspective changed after I emerged from my own personal battle to see that at that time, some cases could be spiritual.
If the Lord didn't make me aware, the enemy would always be rejoicing because I would always be paralyzed! But no! Glory be to God for even uttering His Mighty Name, the wonderful Name of Jesus, these enemies cower!
I loved the way you explained piece by piece of the Armor. God willing, He would want me to explain and write more about this not so often talk about topic, I am a willing vessel for His glory!
I agree that not too many share about the Armor, even the topics of "hell"...We err by forgetting God's love when we think that our sins are hopeless...Yet we can also err by forgetting His wrath against our sins.
The last time I prayed about you, when the Lord brought you to mind, He wanted me to pray for your physical strength. But I pray for the Lord's richest blessings to always cover you and your family [daughters]...Thank you for taking your time to always be a part of this important topic. May His truth shine! And to Him be the glory always. God bless.
Have a blessed week end!
ReplyDeleteI posted something today. Good to be back but not sure i can post as often as i would before due to work.
But it's good to be blog walking when i can again..
Hugs,
Silver
Thank you Rosel for another wonderful and thought provoking post. Each morning when I wake up I consciously put on the Armor of God so I can go to battle with the temptations of the devil throughout the day. We need to always remember that the Armor of God has to be put on completely and not haphazardly...If we forget to place on the helmet or the breastplate we will not be prepared for battle. Blessings, Lloyd
ReplyDeleteI thank God for giving us spiritual weapons and attire so we can defeat the devil and all his evil schemes. Blessings to you always!! :)
ReplyDeleteGood post Rosel. The analogy to the electronic door is very good. We feel secure when we know we have a spiritual armor on, and all its pieces serve a very good purpose.
ReplyDeleteI appreciated this post, and reading the comments as well.
You are a humble woman... I do lift you up to the Lord for protection. Your humility is refreshing.
Love
Lidj