Ephesians 6:17-18 “Embrace the power of salvation’s full deliverance, like a helmet to protect your thoughts from lies. And take the mighty razor-sharp Spirit-Sword of the spoken word of God. Pray passionately in the Spirit as you constantly intercede with every form of prayer at all times. Pray blessings of God upon all his believers." Today, we are finishing up the discussion on the armor of God. In case you missed last week’s episode on Thursday, we were told we would be victorious if we put on all the armor God has given us. However, we can’t put something on if we don’t know what it is. So, on Friday and today, I am going over what the armor of God is and how we can put it on so we can be ready for the enemy when he comes. And make no mistake, he is coming. Today's episode talks about the importance of taking our thoughts captive and making them obedient to Christ. It also talks about the importance of the Word of God and prayer. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
God’s Armor (Part 2)
Ephesians 6:17-18 “Embrace the power of salvation’s full deliverance, like a helmet to protect your thoughts from lies. And take the mighty razor-sharp Spirit-Sword of the spoken word of God. Pray passionately in the Spirit as you constantly intercede with every form of prayer at all times. Pray blessings of God upon all his believers.
Today, we are finishing up the discussion on the armor of God. In case you missed last week’s episode on Thursday, we were told we would be victorious if we put on all the armor God has given us. However, we can’t put something on if we don’t know what it is. So, on Friday and today, I am going over what the armor of God is and how we can put it on so we can be ready for the enemy when he comes. And make no mistake, he is coming.
Today we are discussing three things that I am passionate about. First, we are delving into the profound concept of protecting our thoughts. The reason I am so fervent about this is because I understand its transformative power. It may sound like an exaggeration, but if you can master the art of guarding your thoughts, you can truly change your life. This is not just a claim but a truth I stand by. I wish everyone could grasp the significance of our thoughts. In 2 Corinthians 10:5, Saint Paul says, “ We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” This verse is a powerful reminder of the control we have over our thoughts, and the potential for transformation it holds.
We have the power to take captive our thoughts. You have the power to take captive your thoughts. The enemy doesn’t want us to know this. He wants us to be a slave to our thoughts. He wants our worry and anxiety, or anger and resentfulness, to get the best of us. He wants us to sit and let those thoughts take over our minds. He wants us to act out of that fear instead of acting out of the truth of who God is and what we know He can do in our lives.
God knows how important our thoughts are, so he tells us to take control of every thought and put on a helmet to protect them. In the verse above, God tells us to “Embrace the power of salvation’s full deliverance.” Deliverance is something I have learned a lot about in the last two years of encounter. Did you that God wants to deliver you from any hold the enemy has over you? Did you know that He has given you this power as well? You do not need someone else to deliver you from the hands of the enemy. You don’t need someone else to deliver you from the worry or anxiety that you have. You don’t need someone else to chase away the demons in your life. God has given you all the power you need to deliver yourself from the enemy.
This is something the enemy is for sure trying to hide from us. He wants us to remain helpless and dependent on him and his lies. He wants us to think there is nothing we can do. He wants us to believe we are just anxious people; it is who we are, and we can do nothing about it. This is a lie straight from hell. God did not create us to be anxious or worried. This is why it tells us over 365 times in the Bible not to be worried and not to be anxious. God created us in His likeness and image, and we have a right to stand by that identity.
What the devil doesn’t want us to know is that we have the power to banish him from our thoughts, and not just our thoughts, but from our lives. The enemy is bound by free will. He needs our permission to be in our lives. Sometimes, we don’t realize all the ways we can give the enemy access to our lives, and yet regardless of what open door he walked through, if we tell him to leave, he has to go. There are no “ifs,” “and,” or “buts” about it. If you tell the enemy to leave, he must leave.
So, what might that look like? It can be as simple as, “In the name of Jesus, I command worry to leave now.” “In the name of Jesus, I command anyone or anything not of God to leave now.” “In the name of Jesus, I command sadness to leave now.” “In the name of Jesus, I command fear to leave now.” Whatever thoughts or feelings are taking over your mind, you can command them to leave, and they must go. Then, you can ask the Lord to replace them with peace, love, or hope. Whatever you need, you can replace the unwanted thoughts with the thoughts you would like to have. I invite you to try this and see how it can change your life. Don’t believe the enemy’s lies that you don’t have control over your thoughts. You are more powerful than you know because you have the Holy Spirit inside you. The enemy knows how powerful you are, and it is time we all start realizing it as well.
Next, the verse tells us, "Take the mighty razor-sharp Spirit-Sword of the spoken word of God.” This is something I talk about a lot. It is so important that we read the world of God. We must not only read it but also study it and know what it says. The enemy is full of half-truths, and he will take the very word of God and try to twist it and use it against us. Or, at least, use it to try and convince us of something that isn’t true. He tried this with Jesus in the desert, and Jesus knew the scripture and put him in his place. We can do the same, but we must be armed with God's Word.
There is so much in sacred scripture. If you haven’t read it before, you might think it is just a book full of rules. Something to tell us what we can and can’t do. However, that is not it at all. The Bible is full of so much. It has love stories; it has mystery and adventure. It does have some rules, but it also has tales of heartache and tales of miraculous things happening. The Bible is full of every kind of story you can think of. You can read the actual words of God and Jesus in the Bible.
If you have tried to read the Bible before and you started at the beginning and you didn’t get too far, you are not alone. This is what trips many people up. May I suggest, if you want to read the bible cover to cover, that you read along with someone, like Father Mike, and his bible in a Year podcast? I suggest that because there are many interesting things at the beginning of the Bible, but you might miss them if you are reading through it on your own. I know that when I read through it with Father Mike, he explained everything, making it much more enjoyable. Even the things I had previously found boring now had more meaning because I knew the significance and why it is in the Bible.
If you would like to begin reading the Bible on your own, may I suggest you begin with the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, or any other New Testament books? The Psalms can be a good place to start as well, especially if you like poetry. It honestly doesn’t matter where you start. What matters is that you start. You could even start by just looking up the verse of the day. I have also seen various scripture-writing plans. This is where you would write one scripture verse in a notebook or journal daily. Often, the scripture writing plans have themes. For instance, in one month, all the verses would be about joy, love, peace, and other topics. I did this for a while, and I really enjoyed it. At the beginning of the month, I just searched for scripture writing plans and then picked the one I liked the best. However you decide to do it, I hope you dive deeper into scripture. You will see a change in you and your life.
The last thing mentioned in the verse is prayer. The verse says, “Pray passionately in the Spirit as you constantly intercede with every form of prayer at all times. Pray blessings of God upon all his believers.” I don’t have time this morning to go over how to pray in the spirit. However, I would like to mention that everyone who wants to pray in the Spirit can pray in the Spirit. It just takes a little practice, which can be challenging, as giving up control of our voice while doing it can be scary. Praying in the Spirit means the Holy Spirit is praying straight from our hearts to the Lord’s heart.
Praying in the Spirit is great because it is a direct conversation with the Lord. It is straight from the heart, so none of our human impure motives get in there. It is the most perfect prayer we can pray. However, it also says in this verse that we should constantly be interceding with every form of prayer at all times. This means we can use our voice; we can pray scripted prayers, we can pray unscripted prayers, we can pray the rosary, we can pray novenas, and we can pray however we like. God wants us to be praying all the time.
This may sound like an overwhelming call as we have to eat, sleep, and care for others. We tend to think that praying unceasingly is for those cloistered nuns and monks who dedicate all day to the Lord. This is not true. The Lord is calling us to pray without ceasing as well. This doesn’t mean we must be in an audible prayer with the Lord 24 hours daily. It means we are called to invite the Lord into every aspect of our day. We can offer each activity we do throughout the day up for the intercession of someone. We can think of people who need prayers as we vacuum the floors, do the dishes, or do the laundry. We can talk to the Lord while driving to and from wherever we go. We can turn our everyday tasks into prayer. I did an audio training on this, including some ways to turn the things you are already doing into prayer. If you would like to hear it, sign up for my newsletter below, and it will be sent automatically to your email.
As you can see by the three pieces of armor we covered today, the Lord is not sending us into battle without the tools we need to win. However, God can give us all we need, and it still won’t help us unless we put on the armor and learn how to use it. When David went into battle against Goliath, he didn’t put on the King’s armor because it was too big, and he didn’t know how to use it. He used what the Lord gave him, and he defeated the enemy. Take time to discover the armor the Lord has given you, and then make sure you wear it into battle. We are all in a battle right now between good and evil, and we will be victorious if we put on all the armor God gave us!
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless everyone listening to this episode. Lord, help us put on your armor. Help us to gain a greater understanding of what each piece of armor is and how it can help us protect ourselves against the enemy. Help us take captive our thoughts, Lord. The enemy has been in control of them for far too long. Help us to intercede for others more. Help us to understand what that means. Help us to pray unceasingly. Help us hear that as a call from you and not as a judgment that we aren’t doing enough. We love you so much, Lord. You are King of Kings and Lord of Lords. You are the almighty one, and we will be forever grateful to you. We love you, and we ask all of this in accordance with your word and Jesus’s holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. If you are enjoying this podcast and think you want more, I invite you to join me for mentoring on Tuesday nights on Zoom at 8:00 PM Eastern time. This month’s mentoring series is all about Grief. If you would like more info, you can click on the link below.
I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you just as you are, and so do I. Have a blessed day, and may the grace and favor of our Lord Jesus Christ be upon you!
Today’s Word from the Lord was received in March 2024 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “Come, my children, and prepare for the banquet that I have prepared. I have prepared it especially for each one of you. But before you come, you must make me known to each person that you meet. ”