Notes on the Armor of God

Ephesians 6:13-17

Take the whole armor of God. You need all of it to withstand evil coming through. Stand with loins girt about with the truth. The foundation of your attire is truth. Knowing what is truth will hold you together and has to be in place before anything else. If you are consumed with a lie, it will not allow you to fight evil. Having the breastplate of righteousness. Next, you have to have God's righteousness on your heart. Not your own righteousness, His! Your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of piece. You have to be prepared to know where your feet will take you and you will be prepared with the Gospel, word of God and His message of guidance. We will have peace and assurance in God as we make our moves in the battle.

Above all, taking the shield of faith. Our faith shields off the doubt evil throws our way. Take the helmet of salvation. Keeping the mind of Christ and kowing what He did to save us will help protect our mind from wicked thoughts to distract us from the fight. Sword of the spirit whic h is the word of God. Now that we have ourselves protected by God and what He has equiped us with, it's time to cut through the wickedness and destroy it with the word of God and the Spirit He gives us to have such power. NO GO FIGHT. :)

Shopping with Autumn

Shopping with Autumn is the worse. This uncontrollable 4-year-old takes the task to a new level and extends the time spent gathering food or other products far beyond my patient limit.

She is so distracted by displays, loves to pile unwanted and sometimes unhealthy merchandise into the cart, runs off on occasion, definitely has difficulty hearing when given directions, and has a million questions along the way. There is also the sudden need for restroom breaks at least twice while I am trying to find the right product for a coupon. Plus we cannot forget the few fits thrown about causing anyone in attendance to star our way.

Like I said, shopping becomes another playing field when brining along a preschooler.

While shopping, it is my only goal to get what is necessary for my family to tackle the upcoming week with the items they made need along the way. So while I think on my adventures shopping alongside my child, I can see a reflection of how God must feel with His children while seeking to provide for His family.

He is ready to supply us with necessities to approach our spiritual lives, all the while we are beside Him making things more difficult.

We are distracted easily by the junk food of this world and its displays of lust, greed, and hatefulness, while God is shopping for love, kindness and charity for our lives.

We run away from His will on occasion unaware of the danger that can present itself if we are not at our Father’s side. Following directions is not our strong suit as we can be head strong on our selfish desires with preconceived expectations and ideas because we aren’t hearing what God tells us. We definitely can develop a tendency to question what God knows we need in our life, making the journey more time consuming as we forget to trust that God knows best.

Sometimes we find any excuse to have pit stops delaying God’s goals for us. And of course, some of us have thrown tantrums as we try to turn the attention to ourselves.

Like I said, we make things more difficult for us as God is working to supply our spiritual needs. We have turned into spiritual preschoolers fighting what God knows is good for our growth and development.

Of course, much like Autumn at the grocery store, we are unaware of the difficulty we are creating as we stumble to learn what is acceptable and was is not. The best way to move beyond the preschool selfish mindset is to learn and mature. So, the next time God is dealing with you spiritually, stop and see if you are on his side or playing tug-a-war.