The Word On Monday: Armour Of God 🔰

Good soldier, the evil day is any time believers are being tempted to sin by Satan or being tried in a hard affliction.

By God’s grace we are to resist Satan and he will flee from us but we can only “stand” in our battles if we are properly armed. There is a big invisible battle being waged and that is for our souls. Satan wants to catch us off guard, unarmed and vulnerable so He can cause us to stumble in sin or cause God’s children to bring dishonor unto God. Being the clever serpent he is, he can use the most strategic tactics possible piercing or disorienting us by swift fiery darts that deeply wound our souls.

Maybe your dart is like mine, a fiery dart of disability or chronic illness…..a “thorn” in the flesh. I am sure Satan attacks us when we are already down so as to easily get us. Whatever your fiery dart is, stand strong in the word of God fighting the fight of faith. We can shield our souls from those darts by faith in our Savior Jesus. Memorize scripture. Store up verses in your mind to protect your soul from fiery darts. Our minds are fickled, apt to think wrong thoughts not from God. We must train our minds like a soldier training for battle. Scripture, bible study, prayer, and meditation can equip our souls for battles seen and unseen. Subtle or sudden.

Corrie ten Boom says, “The enemy shoots his fiery arrows out of invisible, unexpected positions.”

Faith is our shield and the Lord is our shield too. Psalm 28:7, “The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped….” Also, Genesis 15:1, “After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.”

We don’t know when the enemy will strike but if our shields are up, armour is on, and swords are ready we can stand strong fighting the biggest battle we ever will face; The battle of running the race and fighting the good fight of faith set before us and standing strong to the end.

Philippians 4:13, ” I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

Much love,

Viv 💚

The Word On Monday: Together For Good 🌼

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28 KJV

When I need help making homemade mashed potatoes, my kids pitch in and we all work together as a team. My youngest son does the peeling, my littlest girl handles the washing, my oldest son works on the chopping and after I cook them, my oldest daughter does the mashing.

We work together. If we left the potatoes unchopped or unpeeled, sitting out in its own entity, untended to, there would not be a bringing together of each separate task to complete the finished project: our supper!

It’s a process. Our lives are a process too.

And that’s God’s promise to those who LOVE Him.

He will work together all the trials, problems and challenges in life for our good.

It may be immediate but a lot of the time it may not right away or ever in this lifetime. The hardest part of being transformed into Christlike person is that the peeling, washing, chopping, cooking, and mashing may not feel so great at the time. But God promises to work it out for our good. To put those separate endevours into a beautiful specialty. Namely, our souls. He promises to bring spiritual good out of all things. Our souls are everything to God, in fact, that’s why He sent Jesus to die for them.

Here’s what Joni Eareckson Tada says about how good can come from suffering:

* Suffering can cultivate a proper reverence and respect for God in our hearts.

* It helps us appreciate the sacrifice Christ made to rescue us from hell.

* It fills our hearts with gratitude to Jesus who bore our sins and who will ultimately put an end one day to sin, suffering, and sorrow.

* Suffering is the textbook that teaches us about our true selves and what is hidden in our hearts.

* Hardships increase our empathy towards others who face similar problems.

My friend, this is how God uses all things for good. It may be hard to see it as good right now but trusting that God will work good in us and bring good out of hardships can be done if we believe His word and what He promises to us.

It may look like rain clouds now but there is sunshine and growth to those who LOVE God.

Much love,

Viv 🌼🌹