“Our Daily Bread”   

http://odb.org/2012/08/21/sharpening-one-another/

 The Daily Devotions of Greg Laurie                                  

http://www.harvest.org/devotional/daily-devotions/home.ht

2 Timothy 2:3-4…  You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. ⁴ No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.  (NKJV)

The apostle Paul is writing to his young protégé Timothy in the opening scripture, to help strengthen him is his spiritual battle to remain strong, as a soldier of the Lord…  Indeed, all Christians should be living lives that will “please” our Father in heaven… But Christians will only be pleasing to the Lord, when they are living righteously in His sight… As long as Satan and our own flesh continues to cause Christians to sin…life will be a constant up and down battle…  With constant sin in our lives, at best, Christians will be Spirit filled for only a short while, after they confess and repent of their sins… The apostle John reveals in this hallmark scripture that all Christians should know, and be practicing as needed when they sin…

1 John 1:9… If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  (NKJV)

I started a study some days ago, to help all Christians understand the truth God reveals in His inerrant Word; that Christians can protect themselves from Satan’s attacks, and have Satan looking for an easier victim…James 4:7… Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.  (NKJV)

The apostle Paul gives us a list of spiritual armor that God provides for Christians to put on…to be able to stand up against Satan’s attacks…Ephesians 6:11… Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  (NKJV)

I started this study with a writing I titled…“Filled to Overflowing”…to explain why some Christians have “rivers of living water” flowing out of them…and why other Christians don’t… This is a “word picture” Jesus uses for the believer living to please the Lord, as Jesus reveals in… John 7:38… “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”  (NKJV)

I have used my own word pictures, like calling ourselves fragile clay vessels; and the fact that Satan will eventually crack and penetrate our clay vessels, causing us to sin… And I have already written about 4 of the 6 pieces of spiritual armor the apostle Paul writes about in…Ephesians 6:10-20… Here is the link for this entire scripture…  http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=eph6:10-20&version=NKJV

Here is a link for those who want to read my previous days writings, to give them the complete picture to date…   https://godsmanforever.wordpress.com/2012/08/14/gods-group-thoughts-for-8142012-filled-to-overflowing/

A little further on, past the opening scripture…Paul tells Timothy this, in…2 Timothy 2:7… Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things.  (NKJV)   When we are considering something, or when we are trying to understand something…we are using our mind… We think with our brain, which is in our head…

The next to last piece of the 6 piece set of spiritual armor God gives Christians to put on, is…“the helmet of salvation”, listed in…Ephesians 6:17… Before a sinner becomes a Christian, Satan is free to fill our minds with deceptive lies and temptations that we will not always be able to steer clear of… Sure God gives all humans a good conscience at birth, which will help us pass by the easy temptations Satan will try to ensnare us with… But the sins of the world that always seem fun, or enjoyable, or right, in our own eyes…will keep us in bondage, with Satan as our father (John 8:44)…

It’s only after the sinner understands and obeys the gospel of Jesus Christ, and receives salvation by God’s grace through faith alone in Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9)…that they become Christians in God’s eyes… The Christian is given the Holy Spirit as a lifelong Helper at the moment they become Christians (John 14:26)… The Lord is to be first in the life of the Christian, from that point on… God wants the Christian is to turn from sin, and allow the Holy Spirit to remain in total control of the new Christian’s heart, mind, and soul…  But alas…if we take our minds off of the Lord, and make sinful choices… Believing our own feeble minds know better than God, we will be sinning…as we grieve the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30)…and possibly quench the Holy Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19)…

Notice what Paul writes to Timothy in the scripture above…“may the Lord give you understanding in all things.” This is why we as feeble Christians, must put on our “helmet of salvation” every day…  We must keep Christ first in our lives…and we must always listen to the wise instructions the Holy Spirit will give us, to guide us past Satan’s temptations…  If we fail to put on this piece of spiritual armor…Satan will fill our helpless brains with his deceptive thoughts, which will always be wrong…and through the cracks in the wall of our clay vessel, we will be hit by Satan’s “fiery darts”…

God’s Word is true… If we wear “The Whole Armor of God”, Allof the time…it is  possible to stop Satan dead in his tracks (Ephesians 6:11…&…James 4:7)… But we must totally submit our lives to the Lord…remain humble to the leading of the Holy Spirit…and always seek forgiveness, right after we sin…to be made righteous again in God’s eyes…1 John 1:9…

In closing for today, I am reminded of scripture written by the wise Solomon (1 Kings 3:11-15), who wrote ½ of the Book of Proverbs…Proverbs 3:5-6… Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; ⁶ In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.  (NKJV)

Heavenly Father, I pray that Your Word cuts right to the bone of those in need (Hebrews 4:12-13)… I pray Lord, that all readers would investigate the 6 pieces of spiritual armor You want Your children to put on, for protection from the evil one… And Lord, I pray that Your children would systematically put on “The Whole Armor of God”; and then by totally submitting their lives to the leading of the Holy Spirit, they to would be “filled to overflowing” with the “rivers of living water” that You tell us should be flowing from our hearts… I pray that this abundance of Your love, and the shining light that You are, would become obvious in all of Your children…in Jesus’ most precious name and for His sake…Amen…

written by bruce r mills