Gloves Are Not the Weapons of our Warfare

 

Ever felt like you've been forced into a boxing ring with the devil himself? You know, it's like his arms are swinging at you like airplane propellers, his lies are being pounded into your mind with: "You don't matter. You can't make it. You've messed up too many times. They are all talking about you. You are a bad person. It's always going to be like this. It's all your fault. Don't even try, Loser. You can't be trusted. You're not even a good friend, or mother, sister, or daughter. You're nothing. Just give up!"

His strategy is to wear us out with the lies he's using to keep us deceived and separated from God. We become so distracted trying to survive such torment we eventually can't reach for God because we feel we are "down for the count."  That's when the emotional and physical pain of our life struggles are ongoing battles, and we begin swinging sucker punches at someone to blame. Just anyone nearby, making them our enemy by blaming them. But that's not God's way.

Take the gloves off, Sisters, if you really want to take a stand against what is attacking your life. Yes, those pink Everlast gloves are so cute, and fun, but it's not our punches or our power that help us "take our stand against the devil's schemes" (Ephesians 6:11) in our battles. 

 As women who follow Jesus, we should know it's not our power that overcomes evil, but it is the power of God in each one of us. Not the gloves, Sisters, our battles are clearly spiritual and we must fight spiritually. 

It was the Apostle Paul's grateful, faithful heart toward God which led him into strict training of the Holy Spirit power, to be self-controlled for the glory of God. He "overcame evil with good" (Romans 12:21) over and over fighting spiritually!

We must do the same! "Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against ... the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." (Ephesians 6:12). 

We shouldn't give people power over us in our battles because it's the devil working through them! We must always be thinking spiritually, keeping ourselves abiding in Jesus, His Way, His Truth, His Life, through His Word. Put on the full armor of God. It has been custom designed for each one of us by our Holy God. Jesus is our covering. He IS the Armor of God. He is our Salvation, our peace, truth, faith, righteousness, and sword of the Spirit. 

As women who follow Jesus, we will fight, oh yes, we will fight, but with our Holy Spirit Powered, Everlasting, One-Two Punches, which are FAITH & PRAYER.

For the glory of God,

Polly💖

Comfort Food for the Soul

Anybody hungry?  Are we really hungry for a meal or are we craving something else? What is it? What do we really want? Peace? Joy? Contentment? Love? Hope? We have this empty place in us and we want it filled. Right now! Right? And we're tired of being hungry, right? Where do we go to get what we really need? 

Think about a child who says, "Mom, I'm starving to death! There's nothing to eat here!" And the pantry and the refrigerator are full of food. In our culture that's how we seem to roll these days, we want something now, but we don't know exactly what it is. But we want it. Kind of sounds like discontentment and boredom, doesn't it?

The mother says, "I can make you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or a ham sandwich and a glass of milk. Or I'll pop some fresh popcorn for you." 

The child says, "No! I don't want that! I want something else, but I don't know what I want to eat...hmmmm."  Then she gives up and stomps out of the kitchen saying, "You're not giving me what I want! Why don't we ever have anything good to eat in this house?"

 Uh-oh. Is this us? The food is offered to her. Her mother is ready to prepare it.  And yet, even though the young girl has cravings, she angrily rejects the offer. Think about this: when she walks away from the offer to have her needs met, she walks away still hungry and discontented. Now she's really angry, too!

We're like that before Jesus changes our hearts and we gladly surrender our lives to Him. He offers Himself to a lost, hungry world as the Bread of Life saying, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry..." (John 6:35).  Then as we draw near to Him, He begins to feed us with the truth of His Word, His forgiveness, love and provision. He begins to fill up our hearts with love, joy, peace, and contentment as we follow Him.

...

Jesus also promises that those who come to Him in repentance and faith and believe in Him "will never be thirsty." (John 6:35). He says, "Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'" (John 7:38) Jesus will give an abundance of life-giving blessings to us and even people around us will benefit! Imagine! He promises to abundantly provide!

All this feeding of the hungry warmly reminds me of a precious couple, George and Ginger Schmidt, who lived near us in our rural area of East Cherokee County. Our two young daughters and I visited them often years ago when we homeschooled, and I ended up writing a feature story about them in The Cherokee Tribune. George was an Air Force Sergeant and a firefighter for the Air Force crews. While still living in New Jersey he was a fire and police commissioner before they moved south to Roswell, GA. Then they moved into Cherokee County and bought a 20-acre farm.

They kept adopting animals and ended up with 60 dairy goats, four dogs, 15 guinea hens, three geese, 13 turkeys, two peacocks, eight varieties of chickens (I don't know how many ... a lot!), a horse named Trudy and 20 or so sheep. You get the picture.

When it was time to feed their beloved critters -- and George and Ginger lovingly cared for every single one -- George would walk out to the middle of the barnyard, clap his hands and loudly yell, "Anybody hungry?" Immediately, chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys and peacocks came running from every bush, barn, shed and pasture and flocked to his feet. It was loud and it was hilarious. Then George would slowly walk to one of the barns, pick up a bucket and dip it into a bin of corn and walk back out to the barnyard to scatter the food on the ground. I've watched him do this many times! It was always amazing. The flocks knew George. They trusted him. They came to him and they were loved and well fed.

George Schmidt  

George made his "Anybody Hungry" call loud and clear so as not to leave anyone out of the invitation! Sounds like the same sort of invitation Jesus makes to the world. He says, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied." (Matthew 5:6). But the world isn't hungry for the kind of food Jesus is offering. They don't know God. They don't realize they are actually starving for the supernatural, spiritual fruit of His Holy Spirit which He satisfy ravenous souls of His children: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22). So, the world's cravings will continue.

Jesus will faithfully feed His children and satisfy our souls, but people have to have the hearts that want to go to Him when He calls. And He's always calling. 💖

The JOY of the LORD is my strength.

Polly 💖

Get in Your Prayer Closet and Put It On!

 

Worn out? Worried? Frantic? Confused? Emotionally and spiritually exhausted? Well, you're not alone. it happens to all of us who are fighting the good fight of faith for the glory of God.

But God already knows all of this. He knows us. Everything about us. He is sovereign and controls everything he has created...for His glory and for our good. So ya think we should listen to Him? He provides what we need when we need it. God has provided a supernatural, protective shield that is custom tailored for every woman who follows Jesus! It's very powerful because God designed it. We see His Son represented in every piece of powerful armor!

Our Father in heaven lovingly instructs us, "Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take up the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind be alert and keep on praying for all the saints." Ephesians 6:10-18.     

This armor of God enables us to overcome evil and keep standing in the midst of the devil's vicious attacks of his fiery darts aimed at us. And remember this very important truth: the devil does not have a shield, but we do! There is nothing in Scripture that tells us he has a shield.                                                                               

Another important note: The suit of armor is only effective if we put it on! We have to take off self-protection, also known as "survival mode" and put on Christ to protect us. He IS our spiritual armor, Sisters! Get in your "prayer closet" [whatever that looks like] and put it on!

My Challenge to the Sisterhood: Go deeper to see for yourself how much He loves you.

I've been experiencing it in a new way!  The Lord has provided me with a specific early morning devotional time focusing on three Scripture passages, which have become transforming, supernatural gifts to my heart. Obviously, the Holy Spirit led me to this specific arrangement of verses over a period of time.

1. Get up at least 15 minutes earlier than your normal time. (30 minutes is better to give yourself more time to let His word soak into your soul.)  Grab your Bible and find a quiet corner to read three passages of Scripture. Yes, coffee or tea, when required!  Pray for the Holy Spirit to help you focus and concentrate on what you're reading.

2. Oh, and the secret to this transforming power is to read all of it aloud. Yes! Scripture says,
"Life and death is in the power of the tongue. Speak LIFE!"  You will be listening to yourself speaking powerful, healing truths to your soul. But this is the main reason to read all the passages aloud: the concept and promise found in Isaiah 55:11: "So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."

3. Here are the three verses in order. Give yourself time to read slowly and out loud:

Psalm 51. the entire Psalm. (We are confessing our sins & transgressions against God. We see His grace and mercies.)

Psalm 139 the entire Psalm (We see our Creator's deep and abiding love from before we were created in our mother's womb and the preciousness of His love sovereignly carrying us through this life!)

Acts 17:24-28 (This paints a broad stroke of a glorious, powerful Creator, our God who deeply longs to have relationships with His chosen ones. We see His Majesty and His Rule over His creation and His beloved people.

That's it. You'll be in your secret place of prayer armored up with the presence of God, ready for battle! The Holy Spirit of God will use it for His glory and our good. If we commit to reading these Scriptures aloud daily, we get a special bonus of transformation and memorization! "The Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword!"(Hebrews 4:12) But it's your choice, of course. This has been amazing for me personally and I just wanted to share it for anyone who wants to do it, too! Human nature is that we seem to find time to do what we want to do. Just sayin'.

I pray this post blesses and encourages your socks off, for the glory of God.

💖Polly

Psalm 34:3