Something I heard that I thought was good:

#Journalnotes

1. People are resilient, but they need something to hold on to as they let go. (Heb 6:19) Our anchor holds.

2. With disorder comes disappointment and discouragement …so cook the meat, clean the stove, clean the fridge, and chuck those boxes. (James 3:16) Stop looking at everyone else and pinning over what you think you deserve. Get to work and create order. Make the spaces you love, lovely.

There are prophesiers and there are propheliars –
How do you know the difference? READ THE WORD OF GOD.

In thinking about that quote, I wrote “Don’t just scroll on, or roll your eyes, or change the channel when it comes to these, add your prayers and confirm the word or take authority over every lie, cast it down in the name of Jesus.”

(Is 52:7) Go speak and pray good tidings!

In continuation of Spiritual Warfare class:

Satan has a primary weapon that he uses against us. That weapon is guilt. It is the key to our defeat, but righteousness is the key to our victory.

¹³ When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, ¹⁴ having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. Colossians 2:13-15

Jesus dealt with this problem fully. We no longer are required to keep the law in order to be righteous. Jesus is the end of the law as a means of achieving righteousness with God.

²¹ God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21

Here is the divine exchange that we must grasp! The fact that we have been made righteous with the righteousness of Christ. When we get that – the devil cannot make us feel guilty anymore. His main weapon has been taken away. He has been disarmed. Jesus won the victory for us.

Jesus’ death on the cross forcibly took the authority Satan had out of his hands.

¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20

Then he gave it to us. To go and exercise it.

• at the temptation in the wilderness, Jesus defeated Satan on His own behalf
• at the cross, Jesus defeated Satan on our behalf

It is not our responsibility to demonstrate and administer the victory of Christ.

We have been given weapons of defense and weapons of attack.

¹⁰ Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² 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. ¹³ 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. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. ¹⁸ 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

We won’t address all of these because the class only covered 4 (you’ll have to wait until next week) but I do want to quick touch on that section that says put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground – this is not the evil day of tribulation or the end of the age but rather the evil day when the day comes that you will have to confront the forces of evil, where your faith will be challenged and every kind of opposition and problem will be let loose on you. Will you stand? I pray that you and I will indeed stand our ground, and after we have done everything, to stand. We will stand firm using the armor!

1. Belt of Truth – daily putting on honesty, sincerity, openness, and frankness. Paul seems to be using the armor of a soldier. In those days you would not want anything to be dangling down like a tunic or fabric. When you went to work or battle, you would take up anything that was dragging around or hanging down and belt it up. So that you were able to move freely. Falsity, hypocrisy, lies, saying yes or no when you mean and intend to act the opposite is all flappy, draggy stuff hanging around. Be straightforward. Truthful.
2. Breastplate of Righteousness – This plate covers the heart where everything flows from in you. It is made of us faith and love (1 Thess 5:8) Knowing and remembering on a daily basis where your faith lies. In the righteousness of Christ that He won at the cross for you, is this covering. And this faith works by love. (Gal 5:6))
3. Shoes of Peace – These shoes give mobility and make a soldier available to the commander. The soldier is ready! Ready with what? With the gospel of peace. Specifically, it says, with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In other versions it says preparation of the gospel of peace. Do you know how to communicate that God has brought peace to someone? Do you have this peace yourself? You can’t give what you don’t have. The gospel produces peace of mind and peace of heart. Learning to communicate how God brought peace, and how you received the peace of God is being prepared to share it with someone else.
4. Shield of Faith – This is a head-to-toe shield in front of us. It is like a door shaped shield that protects the whole person as they move forward in the Lord. We have the word of our testimony when we put the shoes on and now, we have the shield that covers like the blood of the Lamb. It covers completely.

We decided in the class to write a kind of protocol. We have a plan to put on the armor.

Be honest, remember where your faith lies, know God’s story and know your own, lift the shield in prayer for yourself and others.

Song:

Thanks for listening,

Starla