Rusty armour

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the world's rulers, of the darkness of this age, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Therefore, take to yourselves the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Therefore stand, having your loins girded about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

Above all, take the shield of faith, with which you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Ephesians 6:12-17 MKJV

Fighting words indeed… we are introduced to Paul’s imagery of a solider in battle with the words “having done all stand”. The Amplified Bible says it this way… “Therefore put on God's complete armor, that you may be able to resist and stand your ground on the evil day [of danger], and, having done all [the crisis demands], to stand [firmly in your place]. Ephesians 6:12

There was a time when the church actually believed those words! The early Christians defied the might of ancient Rome and prevailed, courageously standing firm; they paid a terrible price for their defiance, but they overthrew one of the most pagan and permissive cultures the world has ever seen… until today!

Down through the ages since then, Christians of all hues and theological persuasions have stood firm and resisted an enemy that seeks only one thing…enslavement of all humanity.

Sadly, much of the modern church has become moribund with fear…rather than being willing spirit-led soldiers of the cross, we have withered into a rabble seeking only our own creature comforts and well-being. We are afraid of offending anyone; our sermons have become crowd pleasers…gone are the messages of salvation, redemption, and eternal hope, replaced with “warm fuzzies” and a “social gospel.”

We are in danger of becoming like the church at Laodicea… “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I would that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Revelation 3:15-16 MKJV

We spend mega dollars building mega churches, attend the purposeful conferences designed to tell us how to reach the “unchurched” (heathens/pagans), or grow our churches, but fail to do what Christ commissioned us to do… “Therefore go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things, whatever I commanded you. And, behold, I am with you all the days until the end of the world. Amen. Matthew 28:19-20 MKJV

The time is well past for the Army of The Lord to be hiding behind rocks and in the bushes, or worse still, choosing to forget that we are called to be an army in the first place, living “head-in-the-sand” ostrich like, ignoring the world around us.

Paul exhorted us to take up the Sword of the Spirit, not the candle of mediocrity…. There can be nothing more disheartening to those believers (and there are many) who are engaged in the battle than seeing a church, weakened by apathy and worldliness hiding in the fort!

Our God is a great and mighty God! He is all powerful, and He has an army… each member chosen and ordained by the Suffering Saviour to be an integral and irreplaceable constituent in an eternal Kingdom.      

The enemy of this world has billions trapped in fear…what is needed now are Christians who actually believe the words of their Commander-in-Chief… not ones who hope-so or live in the land of “may-be”.

Our armour should be battle-scarred… not rusty! 

 

There are only two kinds of sport in this world; the "easy" kind of sport that almost  everyone does and then there's the "contact" sport that "battle-hardened" physically toned competitors compete in. Christianity is a contact sport of the first order! And like professional, trained and honed competitors we must be aware of tactics and resources of those we are battling against. That is why Paul wrote...
Therefore, take up the full armour of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Ephesians. 6:13 NIV