Are You Dressed Properly For Battle?

Pin It Originally: How To Add a Pinterest (Pin it) Button to your Blog/Website http://cs-doon.blogspot.com/#ixzz1ryXJUBEC

"God has given us an armor that we are to wear when we are dispossessing sin from our hearts.  It is made up of individual pieces that are intended to be used by us to gain victory over our sin and our enemy.  Paul eloquently describes it for us:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.  Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of the darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.  Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.  Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.  With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with perseverance and petition for all the saints.   (Ephesian 6: 1-10)

We are specifically told to put on the full armor, not just a piece of it.  We are not to try to use only part of it at a time when it comes to doing battle with sin in our lives .  It is designed to be used as one whole unit.  It was meant to be taken into battle in full! Isn't it interesting that God has told us to take full vengeance on those things that keep us from becoming Christlike?  He has told us also to fully follow His commands.  And now He is telling us to put on and use the full armor that He has prepared for us.  God doesn't want anything done partially!"

Are you trying to fight your spiritual battles with just a part of the armor you have been given to wear to stand firm?  No soldier enters into battle with his full armor and tries to destroy his enemy with his helmet!  Five pieces of the armor are to protect you, and only one is a weapon.  Are you protected?  And do you know how to wield the Word of God to annihilate your enemy?  If not, you must adjust your armor!

(Quoted from Spiritual Healing:  The Surrender That Brings Victory, Chapter 8)

Take Full Vengeance!

Pin It Originally: How To Add a Pinterest (Pin it) Button to your Blog/Website http://cs-doon.blogspot.com/#ixzz1ryXJUBEC Just before Israel was to enter the Promised Land, God sent them to utterly destroy the Midianites, who had introduced into the camp, through their woman, immorality and idolatry, with severe consequences. Then Israel took matters into their own hands and spared the lives of the Midianite women!  It is so easy to see their error, yet what sins have we allowed to "come into our midst?"  Destroy them!

Looking at the story in its full context we are faced with the diabolical plan of Satan to destroy the nation of Israel.  If it couldn't be done by military force, then the next plan would surely succeed:  destroy them from the inside out!  As Israel was making their way to the Promised Land they encountered the Moabite-Midianite people.  This group was God-less but full of false gods and idols, and they were immoral as well.  As they intermingled with the Israelites, God's chosen people began to "sleep with the enemy" and participate in the worship of their gods.  As a result, God sent a plague on His own people to eradicate the sin from them.  In one day 24,000 perished for their sin.  It appeared that Satan's plan was working.

Now, cleansed from their personal immorality and idolatry, Israel is about to cross over into the Promised Land.  But not before they obeyed the command of the Lord to go back and annihilate the people who had led them astray.  God's exact words were, "Take full vengeance for the sons of Israel on the Midianites."  There could have been no misunderstanding of what 'full vengeance' meant.  God wanted the enemy utterly destroyed!  But as so often happens, these military men decided to take matters into their own hands.  It seems as if the voice of Satan must surely have whispered to them, "Did God really want you to destroy all of these beautiful women.  Kill the men.  They can kill you.  But you don't want to kill these women.  Bring them back; make them your wives."

And that is exactly what Israel did.  They disobeyed the voice of both God and Moses.  They followed their own hearts instead of leading them!  They thought they had done a good thing.  As a matter of fact, what they did was the cultural norm of the day.  Imagine their great surprise when Moses openly confronts their sin and demands that they obey what God said!  Any woman of consensual age must be killed for they were the greater enemy!

Looking at the broader application for us, we can't miss the obvious. Those things that seem the least "deadly" are sometimes bought, quite intentionally, into our midst  with absolutely no fear.   It is time to open our eyes to the reality that the "smallest sin" has the potential to be the very thing that destroys our witness and testimony before others.  Any idol (the things we elevate above God on a daily basis) will destroy us quicker than the "global issues" of the world.  God is looking for personal holiness.  He desires our heart to be filled only with Himself.  He calls to us today to take FULL vengeance on everything that draws our hearts away from Him.  What have you allowed into your midst, thinking that it is perfectly safe?  Today should be the beginning of your spiritual battle to destroy the "enemy in the camp."  That is spiritual healing!  That is overcoming victory!