Sunday Sentiments

Yesterday was a delightful, perfect kind of Saturday. We had much to do, but little of it required an appointment outside the house, so we were free to accomplish our tasks on our own time, and I loved it. 

In the afternoon, Ryan went outside to clean up scraggly-looking areas in the yard, and I headed into the office to do some writing and Bible study. And it was from that time that my thoughts for today were born. I don't have anything earth-shattering to share, but if I needed the reminder, I'm guessing maybe someone out there needs it too, so I shall share it!

My writing prompt for Scripture was based on Ephesians 6:11-12, which say, "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places."

When we lived at WillowBridge, I did a long study on the armor of God, and I plastered the verses for each piece of armor around our apartment, because the spiritual warfare in that place was THICK.

It made a lot of sense, actually. The young adults we worked with came to us from all sorts of backgrounds. Some had more church exposure than others. But all of them were caught up in things of the world. It was what they knew. For many of them, it was how their families had lived, and it certainly was how their friends and circles of influence lived. They were consumed by curiosity, at the very least, and sometimes even dabbling (or more) in activities that certainly weren't helpful or affirming. And in some cases, those habits were destructive and very evil in nature. 

We worked patiently with them, trying to teach them why some of these things were harmful and how to find other ideas and activities to fill their days, their investments, and their thoughts. But twenty or more years of one way of thinking usually isn't undone overnight, so it was a slow, slow process of change - if they even wanted to change. Some didn't.

But because we lived and worked in the same building, I know that the sinful struggles around us were permitted entrance into the place where we lived. Those rulers and authorities and powers and forces were alive and well in that place, and we could sense it. I can't fully explain it except to say I knew we were always, always, always in a spiritual fight, even in our own home. 

So I studied the armor of God. I prayed for each piece over myself and Ryan - even the pets, actually - to live day by day. It was, without a doubt, the deepest, hardest, most consistent spiritual warfare I have ever known in my life. 

I put on the full armor of God to be able to breathe. To be able to move. To live. 

But yesterday, as I wrote about the armor and thought back to those days, I was struck by the truth that I don't need it any less, simply because I now live in a home where we daily invite the presence of the Holy Spirit and feel Him surrounding us. Yes, the relief of warfare is noticeably different in our present home compared to our last one, but it isn't some sort of magical home base, immune to warfare. 

The wrestling may not feel as intense or frequent, but maybe it's just that I'm not showing up for battle like I should. Maybe I need to be more aware of Satan's subtleties and how he sneaks in when I'm not looking. Maybe the previous suffocation of it all was actually to my benefit because I was aware of the fight before me. 

Maybe I'm just running around out here without my armor on, unaware of how many flaming arrows of the enemy are being thrown my way.

My days need to begin with the full armor. FULL armor. Not the pieces that feel prettiest or most comfortable that day, but the FULL armor of God that can protect me from every attack - the ones I can see and the ones I cannot see. 

May I not become lazy and comfortable. That is the biggest threat of all.