The Armor of God

 Do you ever skim over verses that you were taught so often as a child because "I KNOW these verses! I don't have to really think about what they are saying!!"  I confess.  I have. And these are some of the ones I've skimmed over.  

And paid a high consequence.

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 
12 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. 
13 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. 
14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 
15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 
16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 
17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 
18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. 

Ephesians 6:10-18 (NIV)

Do you put your armor on everyday?  To be honest. I don't. I should.  But I get up, get going on my day and forget. 

 I was reminded of  Sunday School at Grace Chapel, Havertown, PA.   I have memories of learning these verses and pretending to put on the Armor of God.  But I can't quite remember fully whether there was a flannel graph or a story board or what had the armor pictured on them.  So I googled "Armor of God".  Go ahead.  Google it!  I got 10,500,000 + links!  YES!  Over 10 million!!! I just went back to check my number and it had gone up to 11+million! SCADS of images too! So I started looking at the images and couldn't begin to look at them all to find an example of an illustration for a child's lesson.  

I liked this one because it's simplistic and since I'm a girl, I liked that it's a girl.  Usually it's a picture of a boy or a man! 

Somewhere in my life I forgot to put on my armor everyday and then it was for weeks.  Then months.   I was waging a losing battle.   I feel like I might have waved a white flag while I had RSD and given up fighting.  

The first time I heard Matt Redmon's song You Never Let Go I think I had tears rolling down my face.   I felt the Lord was reminding me that he was there during the darkest of my days.   Those days where I wanted it all to end.  The pain.  The mental torture.  The depression. Those fiery arrows or darts of the evil one!  And oh, was he having a field day with me!  

But, HE (God) NEVER LET GO of me even tho I did not have my armor on and was struggling to survive.  In fact, I begged him to take me Home to heaven!  I can not sing this song without incredible love and thankfulness for my God.  Who LOVES me!  ME!!!  It's mind boggling the Creator God would care enough to hold MY hand through the darkest of times.  Doesn't He have enough to do to hold the world together without needing to keep on holding MY hand?  Especially when I haven't fully outfitted myself for war?    God does care!  He love me!  again...mind boggling!  And guess what?  HE LOVES YOU!  YES!!! YOU!!!!

If You have first put on the helmet of SALVATION  God will not let you go even though you may forget to put on your armor.  

I have fallen prey to those flaming arrows of the evil one more than I care to enumerate.   And somehow when I forget my armor one day and the arrows hit their mark, I believe the lies and from there...its just a slippery slope to a losing battle because I then daily forget to put on my armor.

I am so so thankful that I KNOW who is going to win the WAR!   And I have an "immunity pass" for the battles, I will not lose my life!  I may be injured.  Scarred.  MIA.  But I will not lose the battle and MY God will have the final Victory!   We already know the end of the story and it doesn't look good for the evil one and his minions.  

All of this thinking about the Armor of God came because I realized tonight that I have been set free from my bondage to the lies Satan has been telling me that I was/am a failure of a mother.

Yes.  They would have had a much sweeter childhood had I remembered my armor daily.  And, yes, I would have had much less angst about my shortcomings.  The days I screamed.  The days I said NO cause it was easier.  The times I spanked when I should've talked to them or spanked too hard.  And even, the times when I shoulda spanked and didn't.  I may not have always been the mom I could've been but I am not a failure.  That would be like saying God failed.  And He never fails!  

By not putting on the belt of Truth, Satan's lies about me being a failure clouded my memories of all the good times and the good I did as their mom.   Giving birth to them, loving them, feeding them, playing with them.   The books we read.  The devotions we had together.  The songs we sang and the music we played.  The friends they were allowed to have over because I was the at home mom.   The things I made for them like the cardboard pocket knives I made because MacGyver has to have a pocketknife!  Or was it because Grandpop always carried one? The super hero capes for them to save the day.  The dresses I made.  The pockets I added to pants so that the boys would have "pocket pants" (I'm sure this was because daddy had pockets) and this was when I had a newborn!  The meals we made and delivered together as a family to people in need so our children would learn to serve others.  The boo-boos I patched up.  The injuries (mostly for the second child) I couldn't handle and called dad in to pinch hit.  The times I held them while they were sick, cleaned up after them and kept a chart of who got what medicine at what time because all were on different medicine schedules.  Allowing a band to practice at our house even tho music made the pain worse.  The never ending supply of play dough and utensils for hours of creativity.  The birthday parties held at our house when other moms paid someone else to give the party.  The birthday cakes I created instead of buying.  Oh man.  Now that I have been freed from the lies I've believed for so many years, you can see my mind is flooding with memories that had been clouded. I"ll not bore you anymore, suffice it to say...

 I have 3 wonderful adults I call my children and they give me great joy.  They are who God has designed and created them to be. They are wonderful and marvelous! They are His creation  and they are his work, not mine.  I am honored that he allowed me to be their mom.

And maybe, just maybe I've learned my lesson to keep on putting on the Armor of God!