Passage of the Day

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Passage of the Day - February 26, 2013

Ephesians 6:10-20

¹⁰Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. ¹¹Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. ¹²For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. ¹³Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. ¹⁴Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, ¹⁵and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; ¹⁶in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
¹⁸With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, ¹⁹and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

The helmet of salvation protects our head. The best way to describe it is Magneto’s helmet. In X-Men Magneto wears a special helmet to prevent Charles Xavier from getting into his head. Our helmet of salvation prevents Satan from messing with our mind, making us doubt our purpose and salvation. A soldier without a helmet is exposed and can be killed in one crushing blow. When going through a spiritual battle, crushing blows will come, but our salvation will not waver and the salvation God provides can absorb anything Satan chooses to unleash.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®,
© Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission." (http://www.lockman.org/)

Monday, February 25, 2013

Passage of the Day - February 25, 2013

Ephesians 6:10-20

The shield of faith is what we need for the initial onslaught. At the beginning of battles, archers would fire arrows from long distances. Those who were not properly protected were killed. The same is true in spiritual warfare. The Enemy will fire off a barrage of attacks in order to defeat us. If we hide behind something besides our faith, we will be incapacitated. The darts will be doubt, worry, fear, other priorities, grumbling, lack-of-heart, coveteousness, dissension, etc. Without our faith protecting us, we will become non-participants very quickly.

The evils of sex/human trafficking, abortion, neglected orphans, etc. is the realm of Satan and he will fight us tooth and nail every step of the way. We must be perpetually prepared.

Passage of the Day - February 24, 2013

Ephesians 6:10-20

The most important part of battle is being able to do the right thing when you are in the right position at the right time. The right footwear gives us the ability to fight after getting our position at the right time. We can have footwear that allows us to stand our ground, but is too clunky for us to get in position. We can have footwear that allows us to get there, but then we’d be slipping all over the place with any resistance.

The gospel of peace is similar. Digging in and getting to know God’s message of peace to the world (not only between God and man, but also man and man) will help us to know where to go and will give us the tools to know what to do when we are there. This is the message we are to share wherever we go. We can often be listless in life because we embrace the cheap fire insurance gospel. Where our feet go, we go. Our feet are like our will. If the gospel of peace does not penetrate our will, we will go nowhere and do nothing.

Passage of the Day - February 23, 2013

Ephesians 6:10-20

Here’s the deal with spiritual warfare; sin is no longer an option. The destructiveness of sin becomes severe when battling the evil forces of this world. The Enemy’s attack will be relentless. A knight without a breastplate would cower in a battle, much the same as we would cower without righteousness. Don’t get me wrong. It isn’t that our righteousness gives us boldness. It doesn’t. Boldness comes from God. It is our sin that causes doubt and fear that can supersede boldness.

Therefore, we must arm ourselves with righteousness in order to unapologetically stand our ground and march where we are called to march.

Friday, February 22, 2013

Passage of the Day - February 22, 2013

Ephesians 6:10-20

As I stated yesterday, we will discuss what we are to put on one by one.

First, we are to “gird our loins with TRUTH”. This passage describes how a warrior basically gets dressed for battle. First and foremost, God’s TRUTH is what will hold us together and will allow us to be effective. If we protect ourselves with something riddled with lies, Satan can penetrate those fissures and expand them, and eventually demolish our purpose. It is essential, when in the spiritual battle, that God’s TRUTH reigns supreme.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Passage of the Day - February 21, 2013

Ephesians 6:10-20

The issue of tackling the problems of orphanhood and especially human/sex trafficking is that there are very dark and evil forces at work. Christ has called us to be salt and light. Our King is establishing a state of war. There will be those who will be on the front lines of this battle, others channeling orders, and still others funding the campaign financially and prayerfully. We must remember that we are not at war against mere flesh and blood, but the pure evil and wickedness that controls the people advancing this. This isn’t a test of strategy, tactics, and strength; this is about following orders from the King, being protected by the gifts He has granted us, and enduring until Christ calls us home. If we go into this kind of battle with nothing but idealism, we will be crushed.

We will go item by item on the full armor of God in the coming days.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Passage of the Day - February 20, 2013

Psalms 82:3-4

³Vindicate the weak and fatherless;

Do justice to the afflicted and destitute.
⁴Rescue the weak and needy;
Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked.

Yes, I understand that Psalms 82:3 was the verse two days ago. I was inspired by my wife to use this passage today, though.

According to Shared Hope International, over 100,000 children are exploited by pornography or prostitution every year…in the United States alone. http://www.atg.wa.gov/HumanTrafficking/SexTrafficking.aspx

Do you want some more depressing stats?

How about 1 in 3 women worldwide will be raped and/or beaten in their lifetime. http://www.onebillionrising.org/pages/about-one-billion-rising

About 27 million souls are currently enslaved. One million children enter the sex trade every year. The industry is in the tens of billions of dollars. http://worldissuesandcriticalthinking.wordpress.com/2010/08/30/human-trafficking-facts-and-statistics/

At no other time in history have we been in a better position to put a stop to this. Unfortunately, at no other time in history has there been a more coordinated network and high reward. Human/sex trafficking is quickly becoming the number 1 revenue stream of organized crime.

I am also finding my way on how I can make a difference. I hope you can join the cause as well. This is why I so desire unity within the Church, so we can attack this undeniable, outright evil on every possible front together.