Put on the armour of God
What is my armour and how do I fortify myself against despair?
Ephesians 6:10-20
I have been reflecting this morning on the line from this passage written by Paul whilst imprisoned in Rome, that our fight is not with “flesh and blood” but with principalities and powers of this world, “the devil and his schemes”.
It is easy for us to forget that most of our temptations come from “within” rather than from without. We do things we don’t want to do because we give in to temptation, rather than asking God to help us and protect us - even from ourselves. A lot of the things that are enjoyable, such as a nice glass of wine, when taken too far, become a burden. Overeating, just like drinking too much, can become an addiction that eventually can destroy us. Yet we have to eat and drink to survive. So, life is about balance and allowing God’s power to rule our hearts and minds rather than any other power - even one of the despair.
We can “drown our sorrows” in too much food and drink, or even online entertainment, rather than being creative and looking outside ourselves - or we can turn to Christ who is love and hope and light and take our fill from him. Each day this is a choice, but there is help to choose the right path, we don’t have to go it alone. This is what Paul refers to as God’s armour, dropping our own defences and allowing God’s ‘armour of peace’ to cover us and protect us by his gift of grace.
This is the opposite of hiding behind something. Paul speaks to the Ephesians about putting on the “armour of God” at the very moment he himself is in chains. In one sense he is at his most vulnerable and yet he asks that they pray for him to speak “fearlessly” about the gospel, knowing that this could mean he would die for the faith at any moment and the chains he was wearing would never come off.
In our quiet villages we do not, thankfully, need to die for declaring Christ as Lord, but we do need to die to those temptations around us that can distract us from spreading the message of love and hope that is free gift to those who dare to take it. We do need to die to allowing other unhelpful thoughts and actions take hold of us, rather than the goodness of God to envelope us. We do need to actively stop ourselves despairing so that we too can be envoys of the gospel of peace and bring light and hope to those around us whatever circumstances we find ourselves in personally.
So, perhaps today, sit in the garden or even light a candle this evening and sit in the darkened room, just take a moment to breathe in God’s free gifts, of sunlight and rain, of beauty and peace and of light and hope - the gift of life. Breath in deeply and allow this gift to fill you with joy that can spill out to those around you and so bless them.
Choose God’s armour to protect you and the gospel of peace to speak out the truth of God’s love for you, and fight against the enemy’s plans to ruin your life with distractions and indulgences, or neglect and despair. Allow God’s words of hope to be your armour so that the devil cannot take us away from the truth of love and prevent us from loving those Jesus puts in our path.
Ask God to prompt us today to reveal to each one of us those we can help draw in to the love and peace and joy of God and so…
Be blessed!
Helen
Below is the “face of Christ” taken from the impression of the Turin Shroud
