 Whether you like it or not you are in a spiritual battle, and though your enemies can not be seen with your physical eyes they are very real. But we don’t need to be afraid, because God has in His word provided us with what we need to withstand the attacks of the enemy. Paul calls it the armor of God, but it may not be as spiritual as you might think. Because some minds are so focused on what they can see with their physical eyes they take no heed to the spiritual battle that is happening around them; needless to say that if you don’t pay attention in a war situation you are going to become a victim.
In Ephesian chapter six we see that Paul is telling us that God has actually provided us with His own armor; an armor that will make us able to withstand all the attacks of the enemy. But what is this armor? Well, Paul explains it very clearly.
Paul was not talking about putting on a physical armor, and often we make the armor of God more complicated than it is, because we “spiritualise” it. The concepts that Paul is referring to when using a roman armor as an illustration are:
When we walk in these things we have clothed us with the armor of God and can withstand all the attacks of the enemy. Seeking to walk in truth, righteousness, peace and so on, is to put on the armor. God has trough His word revealed to us the areas where we need to make sure to bring focus to in our lives. Because these are the areas that will make us well protected, living in a world that is in a constant battle between good and evil. Today during my devotion time I was reading in 2. Corinthians and one of the verses that I felt the Spirit was highlighting to me was 2. Corinthians 11:3 But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. The later years there has been a great awakening for the need of educated leadership within the church; and this is good. Especially within the pentecostal/charismatic circles there has been a lot of problems caused by a lack of leadership skills.
I believe that good leadership within the church should not help bring the people into a simple and pure devotion to Christ; but all to often the focus on educated leaders has created an “professionalism” that makes church life far from simple. This I believe is sad, because I don't believe that there should be a big gap between church life and a persons devotion to Christ; after all the church is the body of Christ here on earth. In building the church I believe the goal of a leader is to provide an simple and easily multipliable fellowship that makes it easy for people to maintain a simple and pure devotion to Christ. I believe in well educated leaders, but I don’t believe in a professionalism that creates a barrier between the church leaders and the lay people; and I do believe there is a difference here. Lets keep our devotion to Christ, pure, sincere and simple. |