Armor Of God Series: The Shoes Of The Gospel Of Peace & The Shield Of Faith

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Readiness; being fully prepared and also having a willingness to do something.

One word with so much information! These definitions of readiness are essentially explaining the Shoes Of The Gospel Of Peace (SOTGOP) to us. This piece of armor is to signify our readiness (or willingness) to step up and fight for what we know is true. We must be ready not only to stand with our feet firmly planted, but also to flee from something, someone or some place we shouldn’t be near. This piece of armor shows we are ready to do anything we are asked to do and that we are prepared. Without proper preparation we will not succeed against our enemy! We must be confident in ourselves and our beliefs and hold our ground when attacks come our way. If soldiers in battle lost their footing and fell, no matter how strong their armor was, they fell victim to the enemy. We must prepare ourselves by knowing how to answer others, especially when it comes to our faith and beliefs. We must stay freshly versed in the Lord’s Word for we are continually under Satan’s attacks!

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The scripture is for every occasion. There is a verse to counter every attack! If we stay in the Word, we are protected by the knowledge of truth! The Devil cannot penetrate our mind without doubt! We literally have the other team’s playbook; we know their plan of attack and we know how to counter them, we only need to study and prepare in order to win!

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The shoes are also for moving! By this I mean, they are for taking the gospel out into the world. We must share our faith with everyone! If we are actively speaking about God, we are not only remaining firmly planted but we are also taking over Satan’s territory! If we stay in the Word, we are digging our heels deeper into the truth enabling us to withstand the attacks that fall upon us.

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Shield of Faith

“…with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.”

This tells us outright that not only does our shield protect us from the arrows of our enemies, it puts them out! Faith saves us!

Roman shields were often very large, as big as doors even! They were meant to completely cover the carrier, but they could also be used to push the enemy away. When grouped together, soldiers could position their shields to form an enclosure around them which was especially helpful against arrows shot from city walls. Many times the shields were wooden and covered in hide and when wet, they could extinguish flaming arrows. The shield was and IS vitally important to the carrier! The shield offers a blanket of protection which is meant for all circumstances. The shield is a versatile piece of armor which is the first barrier against the enemy’s attacks! We as Christians identify as foot soldiers serving Commander of the Lord’s army.

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Hebrews 11:1 defined faith to us, while Hebrews 11:6 speaks of it’s importance. Satan’s power is to cause doubt, but faith is our weapon against doubt because faith prompts belief! When we give into temptation, we are believing that what it has to offer is better than what God has promised. Faith reminds us that although we don’t know the whole story and we cannot see the whole picture, God is true to His Word! When Satan lays out doubt before us or temptations, faith helps us to recognize and extinguish the arrows of attack. Satan is always the accuser; he is constantly accusing us or telling us to accuse one another but faith believes Jesus has redeemed us and therefore there is no more condemnation in Him.

Faith is one of our greatest gifts from God; a true blessing! We receive grace through our faith and in turn we form a personal relationship with God.

Faith is our doorway to hope. Even through our sufferings, faith allows us to endure and persevere. This next point I want you to pay close attention to…

THE VERY SAME THINGS SATAN ATTEMPTS TO USE TO DISCOURAGE US, CAN ACTUALLY BECOME TOOLS IN THE HANDS OF GOD! AMEN!

My entire blog is a shining example of this! All of the bad things that have ever happened in my life, all the things Satan put in my path, have now become tools for me to use against him! I have freed myself of bitterness and in doing so I have allowed God to use me for good! He has given me personal insight to many things which I can now use to relate to others. It’s one thing for someone to be able to listen to your problems and give you advice, it’s another thing when someone can actually know how you’re feeling because they have actually gone through the same situations! There is always light in our darkness, we just have to open our eyes; sometimes WE are the light! As believers, we are ALL promised victory over our enemies through faith!

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Faith is our protective barrier between us and the devil’s scheming ways. We must have faith and believe God and take Him at His Word. Let us remain grounded in truth so that the lies of Satan lose their power and we overcome them all! Faith is our shield and we know faith is not only important but POWERFUL! If you start to feel discouraged about your faith just remember, even in the smallest amounts it can still do great things! So even if you’re struggling in your faith today, know that you’re not defeated…you can still move mountains!

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God, thank you for transforming my dark times into tools for me to use to help others see light! We may not understand our dark times when we are in them, but I pray all of us remain strong in our faith and remember that You promise to work all things together for good! Let our faith grow daily, even through our sufferings, let us come closer to You. Allow our faith to become stronger and more beautiful as time goes on. Let us recognize that faith is our shield, our blanket of protection against the enemy and Your Word is what gives us the peace to stand firm in that faith. I pray for the needs of all those reading this today, may you comfort them and guide them throughout their lives. Watch over us and protect us. In Your name I pray. Amen.

Much Love and God Bless 💓

110%

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Have you ever felt like you’ve given your all and you don’t have any more to give?

But God! How can I possibly keep going when I have put all my strength and energy into this, yet I haven’t seemed to make any progress?

A little over 2 weeks ago I was having trouble sleeping, as pregnant women normally do in their 39th week of pregnancy, and I told my husband I am going to take this as a sign that we need to make our way to the birth house. In our state home birth is still technically illegal, so we travel a couple of hours into a nearby state to give birth (thus the term, birth house).

We made it to the birth house around 3pm on that Saturday. We unpack our stuff and started to get relaxed around the house. Besides myself and my husband, my mom and 2 young sons (6 and 2) were there with us. Around 5pm my mom started to make dinner and I went to help. About 6pm or a little after it was time to eat. I went to use the restroom before and wouldn’t you know it, I lost my plug. This doesn’t necessarily mean labor will come on right away, but in my previous pregnancy that is exactly what happened right before my labor began and this time was just the same. Later on everyone went to bed. My mom and oldest son first and then my husband and I took our youngest son to get him to sleep, however I obviously could not get comfortable, yet again; this would be no sleep just like the previous night! I didn’t start timing my contractions until about 830pm or so. I text messaged my midwife, who lives not quite an hour from the birth house (this time) and she would ask me about contractions etc. So I kept laboring on my own, while everyone was sleeping because I didn’t want to wake them lol. Maybe 1030pm my midwife asked me if I thought she should come now and I said yes that would probably be of more comfort. My midwife and her assistant arrived and she asked if I wanted her to check my dilation and I said sure. I told her I’m not certain, but from my contractions I’d say I’m about 5 to 6cm. My midwife checked me and she said you’re at 7cm! So I was in great shape. I tend to stand or crouch and rock side to side while in labor and that’s what I was doing and when my midwife got there I still continued to do so. We were talking and joking and laughing all the way up to 10cm! That whole part of labor seemed to progress quicker and easier than previous pregnancies, although this being my 3rd time, I was also more used to the process.

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Now it was about that time, my favorite stage of labor…PUSHING! Only this time the pushing would end up not as fun as usual! I pushed for about 2 hrs this time! I also pushed in almost every position imaginable! After an hour of pushing, my daughter still wasn’t able to even be seen a little bit and I knew it. Here I had been pushing for so long, running on 2 days of no sleep and despite all my efforts for the past hour, I knew not much progress was made. That can be a bit discouraging and even more so when you’re exhausted! I remember being at the end of the bed, I had just been pushing on a birthing chair, then did standing lunge position and then just plain standing. I talk to God often in my head through prayer and this time I said, ” God, please give me Your strength because I am running on empty. I have given all I have and then some and still it hasn’t been enough. I need Your strength to help me get my baby out.” Right after praying I ended up moving back onto the bed and then I felt this change in the pushing. I felt my body take over the pushing, it was now pushing FOR me! It was as if someone shook up a soda and now the built up pressure was escaping. Now, instead of me being the main source of the strength and pushing, I was now the helper! I had already given ALL that I had, but somehow I managed to gather even more energy and since my body was now pushing on it’s own, I was able to birth my daughter! I knew from the change that came over after my prayer that THIS WAS IT! I heard this voice say “she’s coming!” Sure enough she made her big debut and come to find out, she was sunny side up or face up and that’s why it was a more difficult and intense pushing! My husband is often annoyed when people say “110%” because he says there’s no such thing! After I gave birth to our daughter, he said, “Now THAT is giving 110%! From now on, you’ll forever be my example of giving 110%!”

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I KNOW, without any doubt in my mind, that God was right there in that room! HE gave me the strength and HE protected us (as always) and HE took over for me when I thought I had no more to give! How many times in life do we say, I can’t! I have given my all and it wasn’t enough! That, my friends, is the position God wants you in! He wants you to be aware that you cannot do everything on your own; WE NEED HIM! We can do ALL things (not just some things) through CHRIST who strengthens us! 🙌 We need only to remember to call on Him, because He is ALWAYS ready to help us! So, no matter your situation in life, no matter how strongly you feel you cannot get through something, no matter how inadequate you may feel, you can still get by with a little help from your friend 😜 He knows when we need Him, but He waits for us to come to Him and to seek his help and guidance. ❤ Don’t ever forget He is there!

I pray today that we all remember the true source of our strength and courage and that we never forget to ask for God’s help!

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Much Love and God Bless! 💚

Doubt: Another Thief of Happiness.

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Doubt: A feeling of uncertainty or lack of conviction.

How many times have you felt so confident in something and then doubt slithered its way into your mind? Doubt can be a product of our own thought process OR it can be placed there both intentionally or non-intentionally by others. No matter how doubt is produced, it has one main objective…steal/kill happiness or contentment. When we are on the right path in our lives and all is going well, that is when doubt likes to feed. I personally believe doubt to be yet another manipulation sent out by Satan himself. Who else gets more enjoyment out of dismantling us? He’s like a vulture who waits to pick us apart slowly, piece by piece.

To me, doubt can come hand in hand with anxiety, fear, low self-esteem, worry and the like. It can be just as hard to rid yourself of as well. I once said, someone telling me “don’t worry” is equivalent to telling me not to breathe; it seems simple, yet it can be hard to reprogram how we think. Doubt is another thing that does not do us any good, yet we can’t help but open the door and let it on in. There are so many quotes about doubt that ring true and I will add a few.

“Over thinking kills your happiness.”

“Don’t dig up in doubt what you planted in faith.”-Elizabeth Elliot

“The doubters are just dreamers with broken hearts.”-Atticus

“Not every thought you think is TRUE, and not every thought you think is YOU.”

We may be prone to doubt because we have been let down or our hearts have been broken too many times. We may be very untrusting and doubt arises from that. We may have doubts about many things we do because family, friends or even acquaintances along the way have planted seeds of doubt in our minds. Some individuals purposely plant doubts in our minds out of jealousy; they see great things happening for you and that’s their way of trying to bring you back to their level of unhappiness. Again, no matter how doubt forms itself in our lives, we have the power to throw it out. It usually strikes at times when you are on the right track and have things figured out and when your faith is strongest; don’t let it steal that joy and peace you have! Kill doubt with more positive thinking!! The more thoughts of doubt that begin to pop up in your mind, counter them with positive thoughts and affirmations. It reminds me of something I tell my son about fear…tell it to go away, and that it’s not real! Our God is bigger than any issues that come into our lives, we just have to do our best to rely upon Him and not be shaken! Let us keep out feet firmly planted in faith! Let us know that we are confident and doubt cannot take it away unless we let it!

I pray for all of us feeling any kind of doubt in our lives…whether it’s doubt about school, career paths, parenting, faith, appearance, capabilities, health etc. I pray all of us find our peace and let that and our inner confidence overcome our doubts. Fear likes to feed us doubt and I pray we continue to recognize that most of our worries and doubts are caused by fear and the majority of the time, they have no merit at all! May we stay strong in our faith and know that God is for us, not against us. He is there to have a personal relationship with us and is willing to help us out in any way.

Much love and God Bless 💚