Stay Suited & Booted!

Recently, there have been so many strange things happening to me and/or around me. I keep saying, "it was so bizarre!". My aunt asked me, "why do you think these things are happening to you?" I had to think about it first. But my response was, "because about two weeks ago, I identified that the Lord has been doing something in me. I'm not quite sure what yet but I can feel a change, I can feel a switch within me. So why not?" Why wouldn't these things continue to happen? The enemy wants to distract me. He knows that these things that are happening to me, are things that would normally make me upset, lie to those around me (so that I don't portray myself as a bad person), and it would mess up the rest of my day. But I decided to shine His light on it! Yes, I may have woken up extremely late two days in a row, or my Jeep just randomly stopped working, or me getting COVID-19 for the second time - but ya know I decided to take give it over to God and not allow it to make me upset. One day, on the way to work, I prayed that God would give me peace throughout the day and throughout however long these issues persist. Philippians 4:7, speaks about His peace that passes all understanding. I have NO IDEA why these strange things are happening other than to knock me off my game, but I’ve experienced too many days where I wasn’t ready for the day and they will no longer continue to conqueror me!

So, let’s get into it…

As Christians, we know that for us to rule in the manner that God has intended for us to, we need to live by faith. We also know that our attacker is lurking around the saints, determining who he can overcome. But if by faith, we put on the whole armor of God, then we would be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Therefore, we would be able to take dominion and see heaven on earth, as Jesus prayed for.

The apostle Paul instructed us to “put on the whole armor of God” so that we may be able to stand against the devil’s schemes and deceit (Ephesians 6:11). - I just had to tell you again. Make sure you get that. This armor is supernatural, not made by human hands; it is the spiritual armor that God supplies to His people. So read it again in full text...

"Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rules of the darkness of his age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:11-12 NKJV

Here Paul is telling us that the devil is going to come. He is going to try to distract you, knock you off your game, throw things at you that block you from seeing and being available for God. I believe that we serve the same God that Moses served when He parted the Red Sea; Paul said Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. Just as our forefathers walked by faith and were able to conqueror their enemies with the power of God, just as Jesus was able to die for our sins and raise up from the dead, that same power is within us. Therefore, Our Father, who is the Author and the Finisher of our faith, is ready to stand behind us and defeat our enemy! If God be for us, who can stand against us?!

If we go back to Ephesians 6:12, we see the word wrestle or struggle in most versions. The word wrestle, in Greek, means to wrestle. But in verse 12, Paul is not speaking about wrestling with the devil. We cannot wrestle with the devil. Paul also tells us to cast our cares onto Him - in 2 Chronicles 20:15, it says, " And he said, “Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the Lord to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s." King Jehoshaphat prayed to the Lord because his enemy was approaching his kingdom. He prayed that his enemy's army was too strong for them. He was unsure of what to do - so he did the only thing he could do. Pray!! He gave the issue over to God. He called for a fast on the whole kingdom and the people of Judah prayed, worshipped, and fasted with him. And that's where verse 15 came from. The Spirit of the Lord came upon, Jahaziel and God used him to prophesy the victory that would come!

So what does this mean? I'm glad you asked. The Spirit of the Lord spoke through Jahaziel and said that the battle was not theirs to fight. It's never our battle to fight! The Lord wants to get the glory. He deserves the glory, after all He's done for us - He should get the glory! But the Lord wants to fight your battles... He created us to worship - NOT to fight the enemy! He sent Jesus down here to take care of that - AND DID!

But that's not to say that the devil doesn't want to distract us and/or make us think that we are supposed to wrestle with him. He definitely attempts to wrestle with us. In a wrestling match, the objective is to pin down the opponent, right? The devil uses circumstances or people to distract us from what’s important or distract us from warring (in worship) in the spiritual realm. I believe that everything that happens in our physical world, is a direct connection to what is happening in the spiritual realm. So if the devil is fighting me hard throughout the week, it’s obviously because God has something waiting for me. For wherever there is a purpose, war will be ordained. But since we know that the devil is always walking about to see who he can devour, then we ought to be ready to resist and cast down any and everything that comes against us.

In Matthew 6, Jesus told the disciples not to worry. Some bibles address this passage as “The Cure for Anxiety”. In verse 32, it says, “For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.” Then He goes on to tell us to “seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” So whatever it is that you need, seek after the kingdom of God and the purity of Christ. Whatever it is that you are seeking after, it will be manifested in your life - if you just believe.

Once you tap into the power that God has placed in you - when He breathed His breath into our bodies - He can then allow His power to work through us! The bible says in Ephesians 3:20, that He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ever ask or think, according to the power that works in us! In KJV, it says, "that worketh in us". When eth is added to the end of a word in the bible, it means continuously. So as long as we continue to allow the power of God to work in us, He will continue to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we could ever ask or think!!

Lastly... If you look in Romans 8, Paul talks about being of the Spirit. If we want to be of the spirit, then we have to operate in faith. Paul told us that the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith [meaning it’s levels to this walk!]; the just shall live by faith! If you keep reading in Romans 8, it says that “if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” I said all that to say, if we are living by faith, then we have the ability to stand against the devil and allow the power of God to work through us - so that we are not worried about the things of this earth. However, we can’t just ignore the devil and his schemes. We need the armor of God to withstand the wiles of the devil. Yes, God will take care of us but we must know the truth about God and what He says about His children.