Sue J Love
Loyal
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2015
- Messages
- 3,434
“Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Ephesians 6:13-17 NASB’95)
We who are followers (disciples) of Jesus Christ have an enemy, Satan (the devil), who will “pull out all the stops” (make every possible effort or use all available resources to achieve an end) to try to keep us from obeying our Lord and from walking in his ways and in his truth and righteousness. And so we are given this spiritual armor by God in order to fight off Satan’s evil attacks against us, so that we can live for our Lord in holy living, and so that we can withstand the evil day and stand firm on the teachings of Christ.
So, if we have fastened on the belt of truth, what that means, in all practicality in daily living, is that we have put off lying, and now telling the truth is our practice (Ephesians 4:25), but not just any truth, but mainly the truth of God’s Word in the Bible (Genesis to Revelation). For even withholding the truth that is owed to other people is lying, and it is sinful for us to keep back the truth of the gospel from other people out of fear of what they might think of us and how we might be treated by them (Luke 9:26).
But it isn’t just that. Satan is a liar and the father of lies, and he has convinced many people, even some pastors of churches, to accept his lies and to spread them as truth, and to call them “the gospel,” when they are not the gospel. And so, not only should we be spreading the truth of the gospel, in opposition to his lies, but we need to be refuting the lies of the enemy, for many people are being led astray by them, convinced heaven is secured for them, even though they are still walking in sin in disobedience.
And righteousness has to do with what is deemed right in the eyes of God, i.e. what is approved by God. But this is not just a status that we wear, but we must be those who are walking in righteousness, and for whom sin is no longer what we practice. And faith is not just words that we speak, but it is action. For faith comes from God, it is gifted to us by God, it is not of ourselves, but it is persuaded of God as to his holiness and righteousness and of our need to repent of sin and to now follow Jesus in obedience.
Our salvation is not just forgiveness of sins so that when we die we get to go to heaven, and not to hell. For Jesus died to deliver us out of slavery to sin so that we will now be slaves of God and his righteousness. He died so that sin will no longer reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, and not obedience to our Lord, it will lead to death, not to life eternal. But if we obey obedience to God, it leads to righteousness and to sanctification and its end is eternal life (Romans 6:1-23; 1 Pet 2:24).
And we are to take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And this is not just going through the ritual of reading a passage of Scripture each day, but this is about applying the truths of God’s word, meant for us who believe in Jesus Christ, to our daily living. So, we walk (in conduct) according to the Spirit, and not according to the flesh, and we deny self, and we die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord’s commands in holy living, doing what pleases our Lord Jesus (Luke 9:23-26).
For, Satan wants nothing more than to get us to give up and to retreat back into sinful practices and to not obey our Lord. Or he just wants to make us afraid of what others might do to us or say about us so that we won’t be out in the world sharing the truth of the gospel, calling people to repent of their sins and to walk in obedience to the Lord. If we are servants of the Lord, and his messengers in sharing the gospel with others, the devil will try every which way he can to stop us, to discourage us, and to get us to give up.
So, we must resist him, and put on that armor of God daily, in practice, so that we can withstand the evil day, and so that we can combat Satan’s lies, and so that we do not get discouraged and give up because life got too hard all of a sudden. And we must keep speaking the truth, for the lies are gaining ground and they are drowning out the truth, for the most part. And the truth says we must deny self, die with Christ to sin, and follow Jesus in walks of obedience to his commands or we don’t have eternal life with God.
[Matt 7:13-14,21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 10:27-30; Ac 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10]
As the Deer
By Martin J. Nystrom
Based off Psalm 42:1
As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after You
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You
You alone are my strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You
Caution: This link may contain ads
The Whole Armor of God
An Original Work / March 22, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
We who are followers (disciples) of Jesus Christ have an enemy, Satan (the devil), who will “pull out all the stops” (make every possible effort or use all available resources to achieve an end) to try to keep us from obeying our Lord and from walking in his ways and in his truth and righteousness. And so we are given this spiritual armor by God in order to fight off Satan’s evil attacks against us, so that we can live for our Lord in holy living, and so that we can withstand the evil day and stand firm on the teachings of Christ.
So, if we have fastened on the belt of truth, what that means, in all practicality in daily living, is that we have put off lying, and now telling the truth is our practice (Ephesians 4:25), but not just any truth, but mainly the truth of God’s Word in the Bible (Genesis to Revelation). For even withholding the truth that is owed to other people is lying, and it is sinful for us to keep back the truth of the gospel from other people out of fear of what they might think of us and how we might be treated by them (Luke 9:26).
But it isn’t just that. Satan is a liar and the father of lies, and he has convinced many people, even some pastors of churches, to accept his lies and to spread them as truth, and to call them “the gospel,” when they are not the gospel. And so, not only should we be spreading the truth of the gospel, in opposition to his lies, but we need to be refuting the lies of the enemy, for many people are being led astray by them, convinced heaven is secured for them, even though they are still walking in sin in disobedience.
And righteousness has to do with what is deemed right in the eyes of God, i.e. what is approved by God. But this is not just a status that we wear, but we must be those who are walking in righteousness, and for whom sin is no longer what we practice. And faith is not just words that we speak, but it is action. For faith comes from God, it is gifted to us by God, it is not of ourselves, but it is persuaded of God as to his holiness and righteousness and of our need to repent of sin and to now follow Jesus in obedience.
Our salvation is not just forgiveness of sins so that when we die we get to go to heaven, and not to hell. For Jesus died to deliver us out of slavery to sin so that we will now be slaves of God and his righteousness. He died so that sin will no longer reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, and not obedience to our Lord, it will lead to death, not to life eternal. But if we obey obedience to God, it leads to righteousness and to sanctification and its end is eternal life (Romans 6:1-23; 1 Pet 2:24).
And we are to take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And this is not just going through the ritual of reading a passage of Scripture each day, but this is about applying the truths of God’s word, meant for us who believe in Jesus Christ, to our daily living. So, we walk (in conduct) according to the Spirit, and not according to the flesh, and we deny self, and we die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord’s commands in holy living, doing what pleases our Lord Jesus (Luke 9:23-26).
For, Satan wants nothing more than to get us to give up and to retreat back into sinful practices and to not obey our Lord. Or he just wants to make us afraid of what others might do to us or say about us so that we won’t be out in the world sharing the truth of the gospel, calling people to repent of their sins and to walk in obedience to the Lord. If we are servants of the Lord, and his messengers in sharing the gospel with others, the devil will try every which way he can to stop us, to discourage us, and to get us to give up.
So, we must resist him, and put on that armor of God daily, in practice, so that we can withstand the evil day, and so that we can combat Satan’s lies, and so that we do not get discouraged and give up because life got too hard all of a sudden. And we must keep speaking the truth, for the lies are gaining ground and they are drowning out the truth, for the most part. And the truth says we must deny self, die with Christ to sin, and follow Jesus in walks of obedience to his commands or we don’t have eternal life with God.
[Matt 7:13-14,21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 10:27-30; Ac 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10]
As the Deer
By Martin J. Nystrom
Based off Psalm 42:1
As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after You
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You
You alone are my strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You
Caution: This link may contain ads
The Whole Armor of God
An Original Work / March 22, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
