Christian Devotional - Stand Firm

Stand firm.



As we finish up our study of the Armor of God, we’re
going to look at our purpose once we’ve put on the full armor of God. In the
first session, I talked about the importance of not going through our day
spiritually naked and open to attack. In each week after that we examined the
pieces of the armor and how we need to put those on. God has provided us with
the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the foot guard that is the
preparation of the gospel, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and
the sword of the spirit. Now that we have all these pieces and find ourselves
fully on guard, what are we supposed to do?



Paul addresses this in the verses that that immediately
precede the listing of the Armor of God. Let’s look at the whole passage:



Ephesians 6:10-17 “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 this 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 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.”



Did you catch it? It’s mentioned over and over again
throughout these verses. What are we to be doing? Standing. Yep, that right, we’ve
been assigned the glorious job of standing.



Do you realize how hard it is to just stand? Think about
it. Most people, if they stand for any length of time shift their weight from
foot to foot or want to walk around or even sit down. What does it mean that we
are to stand firm? If we are following and obeying God, then he has us exactly
where he wants us to be. We are in the right position, our job is to hold that
ground. Remember, in the battle against the evil one, Jesus Christ has already
won. It’s not our job to win the battle. Our job is to stand firm and to
maintain our obedience to Him. We are not to be caught out of position. We’re
not to be left wandering around away from His plan for us. We are to stand firm
in the strength of the Lord and the strength of His might.



This take practice and it takes discipline. There will be
schemes from the devil that will seek to move us out of place and to get us
distracted from our obedience.. There will be times when we will question where
God had is standing and whether we should be in a different place, maybe
somewhere more important or more flashy. But we must trust in our Lord and
Savior that He has won the battle and knows exactly where we need to be to do
the most good and bring the most glory to Him.



As we go throughout today, the questions we must answer
are: Will we take up the Armor of God? Will we use them in God’s strength? Will
we stand firm where He has placed us?



After all, verse 13 sums it up: “so that you will be able
to resist in the evil day and having done everything, to stand firm.” Make that
your commitment to God today.

 
Kristi Burchfiel, Christian devotional author and speaker

Living in the World – Living out the Word

Check out my website and daily devotions either on my blog or on my Facebook page


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