Welcome back to our series on your spiritual weapons— as we explore the armor of God, and what the purpose of each piece of the armor is and does.
In the last segment, we covered the shoes of peace, and as I was recording that episode, I realized that I skipped over the breastplate of righteousness; so my fault on these being a bit out of order that they are listed in the verse; and that order listed in Ephesians 6 is actually really smart, because the breastplate perfectly connects the belt of truth, with the shoes of peace because it speaks of our spiritual identity in Christ, our complete justification, and the spiritual defense that it offers to us. Let’s dive in!
By now, many of us have heard countless messages of the Christmas story; how Jesus was born of the virgin Mary, wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger.
The phenomenon of familiarity has set in for us… where we’ve heard it so many times, we start to adopt the perspective of “yeah, I’ve heard that before” and it starts to lose its freshness— not in actuality, but in our minds. We want something new, something unique.
So this Christmas, allow me to offer you a fresh perspective of what God is placing in my mind at the close of this year.
Welcome back to our series on your spiritual weapons. Previously, we’ve looked at the breastplate of righteous, and the belt of truth, and now today we will be looking at the shoes of peace, in Ephesians 6:15.
I must admit, reading this as a young child I always thought it was funny that shoes were mentioned here. I would always scuff and wear holes in my shoes, but it wasn’t until I was hurt by scorching hot pavement when I was barefoot, that I started to take footwear more seriously. And as we’ll see, this is the point of verse 15.
Just as physical shoes protect our feet when we walk on physical terrain, these spiritual shoes protect our “spiritual walk” in daily life, against rough and hazardous terrain.
Welcome back to the second part of our series on your spiritual weapons. In the introduction, we examined the foundation of why the weapons exist, and how we are not as spiritually unequipped as we sometimes tend to believe. Now, beginning with this episode, we will start a deep dive into each of the pieces of equipment listed in Ephesians 6, to see what each piece does, and how to use it for spiritual victory as God intends.
Interspersed throughout Christianity, is the theme of “spiritual warfare” — ethereal battles in the unseen realm that have real, current, and eternal consequences.
Jesus taught about these things, and the scriptures reveal that we are not left helpless in these celestial conflicts.
While there are some well-known scriptures regarding spiritual weapons, they don’t get mentioned or explored very often. Isn’t it strange that something so important to spiritual victory gets so little attention? Well, no longer.
Today we will be looking at our spiritual weapons in Christ, and see the amazing arsenal that Jesus has given us.
You may have heard the famous quotation from Exodus 14:14, which says the lord will fight for you, you need only to be still.
This verse has become popular as a way to uplift and encourage people in difficult times, and it is certainly true. However, many people find it challenging to accomplish that second part— being still. When we are faced with troubles and the pressures of life, we often feel compelled to act, to do something to try and resolve the situation. To use our knowledge, our skill, our power… but if I have the choice of me fighting for me or God fighting for me, I’m going to choose God all day long.
So today, I invite you to explore with me, how to allow God to fight your foes.
Have you ever felt like God wasn’t listening? I can recall times in my life where I’ve seemingly been at the highest of mountaintops, where God was so close I could almost reach up and touch him. And I can recall other times, when I seemed to be in the lowest ditch possible, where it was like God had abandoned me completely.
I’m not the only one to feel this way. And if you find yourself in such a place, what does it mean, and what can you do about it? I’d like to explore these questions with you today, so that you don’t need to claw your way out of the same pit that I was in.
Let’s get started.
Welcome once again to our series about feasting on Jesus, or as I call it… dining on the banquet of Christ.
In the last part, we looked at the manna which God provided in the wilderness during the Exodus. We saw how this account also carries a wonderful picture of Jesus.
Now in part 5, we will look at some ways to apply what we’ve learned in these previous studies in daily living.
Welcome again to the fourth part of our series about feeding on Jesus — dining on the Banquet of Christ.
Previously, we explored the final portions of Jesus’ parable of the banquet, and his words following that story, which are often presented in a legalistic way, and I shared an example of how this can be applied in daily life today.
Today, we continue my examining another story, this time, the story of the manna in the wilderness during the Israelite’s exodus from Egypt. Let’s get started.
Welcome again to our series on Dining on the Banquet of Christ. In the last episode, we looked more into the parable of the banquet, and how each of the excuses from the invited guests, presented an image of an attitude of rejection against Jesus.
So now let’s examine the final few parts of Jesus’ parable, and savor more of what He is telling His listeners, and us.