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In this blog, I share what the Lord shares with me. I reference scripture a lot in support of what is being said. I realize that what is in each entry is NOT a complete 'word' on what is being said, but is rather enough information to stimulate our spirits to dig deeper (remember the Bereans Acts 17:10-11) thereby gaining a fuller understanding for ourselves.

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Saturday, March 2, 2019


3-2-2019    Armor of God and Today

  
     
Father used the Armor of God to springboard the whole revelation about our three areas of spiritual battle.  I originally talked about this on November 24, 2018 in “Who is fighting Whom?”  As Father started answering that question, He started unfolding the scriptures showing that this is reflected in the “The Law”, Ezekiel’s “Valley of Dry Bones”, the life and ministry of Jesus, the Godhead and so forth.  He continues to show me how our three battle fronts are laced throughout scripture. 

Actually this goes all the way back to Genesis and the Garden of Eden (Gen. Gen. 2:7-23).  God put man in a garden to take care of it and freely partake of its fruit (except the tree of knowledge …).  The heart of man was working with God, Almighty. 

Initially Adam named all the creatures God had formed but there was no suitable companion for him.  God also knew Adam needed one like unto himself with whom he could fellowship so God created Eve from Adam’s rib (Gen.2:21-22).  Now we know God visited (communed) with Adam.  How do we know God communed with Adam?   Adam and Eve heard His voice, as He walked in the garden, and hid, for they had already violated His trust by this time (Gen. 3:1-9).  The indication was that this was God’s “normal fare”, not just a one-time event.  God’s visitation, not man’s hiding.

Adam and Eve lived in complete harmony with the Lord – for a while – until they decided to do what ‘they wanted to do’, eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  And that, my friend, is when the three battle fronts began.

Adam and Eve were created eternal to fellowship with Father.  If you will, their hearts were knitted as one with the Lord.  When they took of the forbidden fruit, their “spiritual man” was shattered as their heart was separated from God, dying in the spirit.  God told them that the day they ate of the fruit they would surely die (Gen. 2:17).  And indeed, their heart and their spirit died in this separation.  This led to the final battlefield for the natural man.  They didn’t die physically at the time of the sin, but 950 years later Adam experienced the loss of the final battle – for the natural man.  His natural body died.  Adam and Eve moved from the heart of man, through the spiritual man to the natural man in death to their relationship with the Father. 

To reconnect, we have to come back in reverse order.  The natural man needs to be convinced that he needs more that what he sees.  He has to reconnect with Father spiritually, which is receiving Jesus into our heart, unto to the ‘salvation’ of our souls, yielding our will to the Lord.  That is coming back into the kingdom of God from which Adam separated us.  Finally, to add final assurance (the icing on the cake), Father continually draws our hearts closer to Him as we abide (live) in His will, in His love.  As we grow closer and closer towards Him.  In his letter, John says “I have written these things to you that you believe on the name of the Son of God; that you may know that you have eternal life …” (1 John 5:13).  What things?  That’s where we have to read the bible and learn for ourselves.  The bible, from Genesis to Revelation, reveals how God has loved us and how we can give our love back to the Father.  We love Him for He first loved us (1 John 4:19).

God shares how He equips us through the “armor of God” (Eph. 6:10-18).     

 So, if you have missed “Who is Fighting Whom?”  This is a recap, concerning the armor, with a little more insight.

In studying the Armor of God, Father has shown me the three areas that are addressed in our relationship with Him, the natural man, the spiritual man and the heart of man. 

He showed me how the first three pieces of the armor, the girdle of truth, breastplate of righteousness and the shoes of the preparation of the gospel of peace all reflect protection for the natural man.  The shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the Sword of the Spirit all protect the spiritual man.  I said, Father, that’s only six pieces of armor covering only two areas.  Then Father asked me “What about verse eighteen?”  Always praying in the Spirit, watching and praying for the saints.  All about where our heart is!  I said “Wow! That’s pretty cool.” 

Father showed me that the first three pieces don’t require salvation to be true.  That’s why they reflect things of the natural man.  People who don’t know the Lord can (and some still do) refrain from lying or gossiping.  Yet they may tell “little white lies” to protect themselves or not bring harm to someone else – they think.

They can live ‘what they think’ is a righteous life.  They may treat people equitably and fair.  That is right up to what ‘they think’ is righteous.

They can read the bible. May not understand it, but they can read it.  They can know what the words say, but the deeper meaning is beyond their understanding (1 Corinth. 2:9-16).

Without the leading of the Holy Ghost, they can only get a ‘surface’ understanding of what the Word is saying (John 16:13), what righteousness is or what really constitutes a lie.

Unfortunately, that is where too many people stay –knowing only a surface relationship with our heavenly Father.  Even those “in” the church.

This is where faith comes in.  We have to have faith to receive Jesus into our hearts (1 John 5:10).  If we don’t realize we need Him, we won’t search for Him.   If we don’t believe who He is, we’ll never accept Him (Rom. 3:19-23).  If we don’t have Jesus in our hearts, the bible will never truly open for us.  Faith is the beginning of our spiritual experience (Heb. 11:6) and it carries through protecting us from the fiery darts of the enemy (Eph. 6:16) to be with Him in eternity.  We need to believe in our hearts that Jesus is for us.   How can He protect us if we don’t believe in Him?  We have not because we ask not (Matt. 7:7-8) and even then, we have to believe it to receive it (Mark 11:24)! And it always helps to be asking for the right reasons (James 4:3).  God will protect us (Psalm 91:4)).

The helmet of salvation is self-explanatory (I think).  I mean, through Jesus, our eternity is secured (1 John 5:13) but without some sort of faith, we would never have accepted Jesus to begin with. 

 Also, without Jesus, how can we effectively use the Sword of the Spirit how can we rightly divide (understand) what is before us without His guidance through the Holy Ghost dwelling in us (Heb. 4:12)? 

All this deals with our spiritual man.  After all, the sword of the Spirit is the Word of God and the Word of God IS Jesus Christ and Jesus IS God (Eph. 6:17, John 1:1)!  The sword shows us how to deal with what is before us, naturally or spiritually, even dividing the intents of our heart (Heb. 4:12).  Without Jesus our sword would be just waving in the air, looking good but doing nothing.  Father had to give us a touch of faith to receive Jesus to begin with.  Ergo, our spiritual man is being dealt with.

Father gives us the Holy Ghost when we accept Jesus into our hearts (John 14:16-17), but Jesus promised His disciples a greater impact on their lives once we receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost, which is evidenced by speaking in the Spiritual language (tongues) which God gives us in that baptism.  Jesus says that when the Holy Ghost is come upon us we shall receive power (Acts 1:8).  Power (strength) to do what?  For one, live this life in this world.  To have the authority to do what Jesus did (just as He said we could John 14:12-14) while He walked with us and helps us to witness to His love in this world (Matt. 28:18-20).  Jesus give us authority over our enemy (Luke 10:17-20) and the disciples experienced this. 

Paul says we should always be “…praying … in the Spirit …”.  Communicating with Father in our heavenly language because the Spirit opens up the mysteries of God to us (1 Corinth. 14:2) and helps us to pray when we don’t know how (Rom. 8:26). 

We should always be watchful for we don’t know when or how the enemy will strike. Satan roams the earth (Job 1:7) seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8).  Obviously Satan is NOT Jesus so he (Satan) has come to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:7-10) so we are watchful under the protection of Jesus (John 10:11).  We need to know what our enemy is up to (Eph. 6:11).  Do we spend all our time watching him?  Of course not.  Yet we shouldn’t be ignorant of our enemies devices keeping him from getting an advantage over us (2 Corinth. 2:11).

And because we all need support, we should pray for the saints and they should be praying for us (Eph. 6:18).  We should always seek to edify one another (1 Thess. 5:11) having compassion (Jude 20-23). When we operate in unity, it is hard to break a three stranded cord (Ecc. 4:9-12).

These things reflect where our heart is as well as strengthening our hearts in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Father knows our hearts (Jer. 17:10) and He wants our hearts to always be right with Him (Acts 8:18-21).

Father equips us with the armor so that even though we’ve done all that we can do to stand against the enemy (Eph. 6:13), we can still stand!  Remember the footprints in the sand.

The armor does protect our body (the natural man), what motivates us (spiritual man) and our attitudes (our heart).

I’ve heard Doug Addison speak of the three cords.  He was speaking of strength and how a three stranded cord is hard to break. 

This is a three stranded cord – natural, spiritual and the heart of man.  When these three cords are operating in unison in the Father’s love, we can stand against anything the enemy throws at us.

Amen?




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