Post by Micheal on Jul 9, 2007 16:59:37 GMT -6
10 A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. 12 For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
In the next couple of days I'll be going over the armor of God and why I think each piece is labeled the way it is. And these verses are the starting point for the verses about the armor. So here's where we jump off.
We're supposed to put on God's Armor so that when satan attacks, we will be able to stand strong. Stand strong against what you ask. Well, that's a good question. According to verse twelve, the enemy is not people. It's demons, satan and his lackeys. Sure there will be people that he uses to attack us, but they are not the true enemy. They have just been deceived.
And, until we found Christ, we were no better off. That's the hardest part for me, remembering that I'm no better than anyone else. Until Christ saved me I deserved a seat in hell next to the worst murderer and child abusers.
So then we have to remember when dealing with unbelievers, that no matter what they say or do, we still need to love them. This doesn't mean we condone their sin, but we accept them. "Love the sinner, hate the sin." Just remember that satan is our real enemy. And he isn't even that powerful. I'll go into more detail about that later, but for now just remember that satan is just a fallen angel. And we humans will eventually judge the angels. So rest assured that we have nothing to fear from him. And, if we have nothing to fear from our true enemy, then we should be able to deal with people just fine.
May God bless and keep you always, AMEN.
In the next couple of days I'll be going over the armor of God and why I think each piece is labeled the way it is. And these verses are the starting point for the verses about the armor. So here's where we jump off.
We're supposed to put on God's Armor so that when satan attacks, we will be able to stand strong. Stand strong against what you ask. Well, that's a good question. According to verse twelve, the enemy is not people. It's demons, satan and his lackeys. Sure there will be people that he uses to attack us, but they are not the true enemy. They have just been deceived.
And, until we found Christ, we were no better off. That's the hardest part for me, remembering that I'm no better than anyone else. Until Christ saved me I deserved a seat in hell next to the worst murderer and child abusers.
So then we have to remember when dealing with unbelievers, that no matter what they say or do, we still need to love them. This doesn't mean we condone their sin, but we accept them. "Love the sinner, hate the sin." Just remember that satan is our real enemy. And he isn't even that powerful. I'll go into more detail about that later, but for now just remember that satan is just a fallen angel. And we humans will eventually judge the angels. So rest assured that we have nothing to fear from him. And, if we have nothing to fear from our true enemy, then we should be able to deal with people just fine.
May God bless and keep you always, AMEN.