Suit Up!
Earlier this year, I attended the Priscilla Shirer simulcast. She taught on the Armor of God. I wasn’t so sure when my small group decided to do Priscilla’s latest study – Armor of God. After all, I sat through the teaching the first time around. Would it hold anything different? After just one week into the study, I realized the simulcast was just the tip of the iceberg. There is so much meat in this study that it’s going to blow up any notions that I have ever studied about the armor of God before!
With Priscilla’s involvement with the War Room movie project, it’s become evident that God has been working this study in her for quite a while. The movie script probably sent a spark into her soul that has been fanned into a roaring flame through the message she carried forth in her simulcast and now in this study. The War Room movie is about prayer. (Disclaimer: I haven’t seen the movie yet, but have heard much about it.) The first day of the study was about the seventh piece of armor which doesn’t get much attention: prayer. Prayer activates the armor to work more efficiently.
Both the movie and this study have a similar message – it’s time to for the Body of Christ to wake up and suit up! We are in a battle and one that remains unseen to the naked eye. However, when we pray for eyes to see, I believe God clears our vision to see the devil’s schemes and the battle that is being waged over us in the spiritual realm. We have a very real enemy that wants us to stay asleep and stay comfortable in our complacency.
We can see the darkness closing in around us. Prayer reinforces the light, and the darkness has to recede. Darkness is the absence of light. If we have no light, the darkness will grow darker still. We as the Body of Christ have to shine the light. There is no other way that darkness will recede. I want to reinforce my words with love – I do not want to write hate speech about the things we encounter in this world. There are lost souls who need to understand the love Jesus has for them. We are to do our work and shine the light in love. I heard long ago: the opposite of love is not hate, its apathy. Apathy knows there is hopelessness in the world, but it’s an attitude of not caring enough to do anything about it.
I picked up a free book on the children of India. It’s overwhelming to know the numbers of children who beg and live with a constant state of hunger; who have nothing; who expect not to live past their teen years, if they make it that long. They are abandoned and lonely. They are exploited; and fearful. Think of your eight year old self; surviving on your own, doing anything you can to stay alive. Or your children abandoned on a train, to be kicked out on the street when the train comes to the end of the line. How can we help such an overwhelming plight of humanity? I have no answers yet. But we need to wake up and see there is a world out there counting on someone to step out and do something.
God gives us the armor; we have to pick it up and use it. Armor is defensive and offensive. Prayer brings the power to effectively wield the weapons. The weapons formed against us are nothing compared to what we have at our disposal. Priscilla wrote on day three during the first week of study (pg27 Wake-up Call paragraph): “The call to victorious Christian living is a wake-up call out of laziness, urging you to rise up and take serious action. Satan and the demons of darkness are hoping you’ll be disengaged and disinterested instead of alert, aware and active.” She goes on to say “Lazy, lethargic Christianity can no longer be an option.” The darkness will not recede on its own. We have to be lights in our communities and in our world. Let’s suit up! The battle is already in process; we just have to pitch in and fight for what we believe in!
“Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven. Matthew 5:14-16 (The Message)
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