The Armor of God

It's been a pretty long day today. An unfortunate situation basically erupted today and I'm still a little worked up about it. I need to learn to keep my mouth shut, but all this happened before I made my commitment to change and it's just like one thing after the other these days...I've got a lot of people praying for me and I know prayer is a powerful tool. I called my friend Steve and kind of talked through some things with him and he told me about what he had gone over in Bible study that morning. They were going over the Armor of God found in Ephesians 6. After telling him about the commitment that I made he started reading out of his NLT. There is a section of application on the armor of God and this is what it has to say....

God's Armor For Us : We are engages in a spiritual battle--all believers find themselves subject to Satan's attacks because they are no longer on Satan's side. Thus, Paul tells us to use every piece of God's armor to resist Satan's attacks and to stand true to God in the midst of those attacks.

The Belt of Truth : Satan fights with lies and sometimes his lies sound like the truth; but only believers have God's truth, which can defeat Satan's lies.

The Body Armor of Righteousness : Satan often attacks our hearts--the seat of our emotions, self-worth, and trust. God's righteousness is the body armor that protects our heart and ensures his approval. He approves of us because he loves us and sent his Son to die for us.

The Shoes of Good News : Satan wants us to think that telling others the Good News is a worthless and hopeless task -- the size of the task is too big and teh negative responses are too much to handle. But the shoes God gives us are the motivation to continue to proclaim the true peace that is available in God -- news everyone needs to hear

The Shield of Faith : What we see are Satan's attacks in the form of insults, setbacks, and temptations. But they shield of faith protects us from Satan's fiery arrows. With God's perspective we can see beyong our circumstances and know that ultimate victory is ours.

The Helmet of Salvation : Satan wants to make us doubt God, Jesus and our salvation. The helmet protects our mind from doubting God's saving work for us.

The Sword (Word of God) : The sword is the only weapon of offense in this list of armor. There are times when we need to take the offensive against Satan. When we are tempted we need to trust in the truth of God's Word.

So I realize that was long but it was definately applicable to my life right now. I made the commitment to change, Satan's mad I'm done with his ways...so now he's trying to get me to give up. Right now he's using the lies, my emotions, and setbacks. I'm trying to fight back but I'm afraid that I'm failing...I've pulled out the stops and have enlisted the help of people to pray for me and encourage me. God I know you are pursuing me and I am pursuing you...I want to live my life for You.