Armor Of God

Ephesians 6: 10-17, NIV Translation

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against flesh and blood, but against schemes. 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. 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. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace, In addition to all this take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one, Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.

As you look above at the woman warrior, what do you see? How can you describe her? What is she trying to portray to you? What does that mean for you in your day-to-day walk in what we call LIFE? Do you feel like a warrior on a daily basis? When you wake up, do you feel strong and determined to begin your day no matter what that may look like?

There are so many questions that we can ask ourselves as we reflect on what and how God wants us to be his Warrior in his kingdom. Most often than not, we allow our mindset to take over our behaviors and reactions in all of our situations and circumstances that come our way, whether it is within our control, out of our control, or past traumatic experiences we have endured.

Since being a Christ Follower myself, I never really understood the concept fully of ensuring that I plant my feet on the ground and put on the armor of God, day and night. Through prayer, time with God, reflection, and trial and error, I know that this area in my life I tend to struggle with.

Why do I/we struggle so much in our minds? As I have been working through a study called “Fight Back” by Pastor Vladmir, something so simple stood out to me that just made sense. “We are what we think, not what we feel”. How powerful is that! If we look deeper into that statement, what does that really mean, and how does the Armor of God help us withstand the negative thoughts in our minds that cause us to fall down all the time.

Our way of thinking can change so much in our day, have you ever tried to end your night with positive thoughts of what can be for the next morning? Or do you fill yourself up with frustration, resentment, offensiveness, and anger about what didn’t go well that day or the things that need to be checked off the following day that really only causes us to have anxiety while we rest and sleep. In the end, we don’t rest, we are tossing and turning at night, causing the increase of negative thinking patterns to fill our dreams and peace to be ready to knock us down when we wake up.

We live in a world that causes us to run in all different directions and all at the same time that we are unable to truly stop, breathe, think and allow ourselves to do one task at a time. Our minds are filling up with so much chaos, negative occurrences of the news, social media trends, addictions, and exhaustion that we are always running on empty. Our mindset was created for so much power to use for the greater good of our purpose in life but we have allowed our mindset to be stuck on the negative thoughts, “shoulda, woulda, coulda, and what if, and’s buts” that we end up feeling defeated in every direction that we turn.

I’m sure you are asking, what does the Armor of God have anything to do with our mindset? Let me tell you, it helps a whole bunch, that we can’t always explain the power of God’s protection over us. In my own experience, when I set my mind for peace and joy in my heart because I followed the instruction of God on putting on the armor as I sleep and as I wake, I find myself positive and transformed. If we begin to make healthier habits that make us feel good, you can feel that all the time. You can stand firm and strong in all situations that come your way because you are protecting yourself from others negative words, reactions, and behaviors towards you that it doesn’t impact you as much because you know that you are able to break through the negative aspects of that day.

It all starts on reading the word of God, journaling what is being placed in our hearts that allows us to reflect on our own thinking patterns that we can acknowledge are not always Godly and allow us to open our hearts to be renewed in our mind.

Here are some simple practical things that you can start implementing in creating healthy thoughts:

1. Put on the Armor of God day and night (Read Ephesians 6: 10-17, in any translation that you understand and that speaks to you; write out the scripture and memorize it)
2. Write down all the negative thoughts in your head that you can’t seem to let go and give it to God to renew them through his word and love for you.
3. Sit in silence, reflect on the things that you are telling yourself that are negative and reframe it by using positive affirmations over yourself.
4. Remember you are God’s warrior, he made you for a purpose, even if you do not know what that may be, allow yourself to take steps towards the presence of God to show you, teach you and guide you on the next steps.

Prayer

Lord thank you for reminding us how we can use your word over our ongoing struggle of our mindset. Lord, we come to you asking and pleading that you renew our minds, bodies, and spirits to withstand any negative thinking patterns and evil temptations of this world. So that we may allow ourselves to create positive thinking patterns and find your heart and ways within us to carry us through the ups and downs that we will experience. You are so good to us Lord, and we are grateful that we can turn to you when we are restrained with our own worldly views and thinking that causes us to be distressed and overwhelmed. Keep us whole and in your daily presence, as we are your warriors, we pray all of this in Jesus Name, Amen-Amen.