Encouragement

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Faith is our Shield!!

Faith is our Shield!!

Go for it, adorn yourself! Faith is one of our body armour and protective shield from God¡¦s arsenal for His soldiers (in Ephesians 6). As we adorned ourselves it makes us exclusively ¡¥armed and dangerous¡¦ (Joyce Meyer¡¦s phrase) without it we are left unprotected, to intercept as combatants against all flying objects and missiles.

This power shield is an enabling tool we wield against any and all harassments invading overcoming victory. For this is the victory that made us over comers ¡V our faith; for every ¡¥newbirther¡¦ that means everyone who is born of God, actively make udder of their tool to overcome the world system. Did Jesus overcome? Yes He did. So because He overcame we are over comers.

Oh yes! It gets better as Paul gave his definition of faith ¡V it is a substance; and what is a substance? It is a basic matter in which a thing consists. Faith is a composition made up of matter; he said without it we could never please God. So if we can¡¦t please God, what do you think? We are pleasing someone else (see Hebrews 11:6). It is a possibility that it¡¦s those who are taking over our lives; could it be the world system, our own selfish desires or the devil, who is the covert schemer.

You know what, it is absolutely vital to keep a check on our armour, make sure it is in tact; how do we do that you may ask! We maintain it by the way in which we walk, it¡¦s just not a strutting either. We make a conscientious effort to reject all other pulls and throw ourselves in the loving arms of Jesus; and make our delight in Him and His delights in us, this action pleases God. Did you know that we were programmed to be over-comers with the ingredient of love, to stabilise faith?

Well then, it goes to show that love must be the driving energy behind the protective garment of faith we wear. Let¡¦s spell it out, emm, ¡¥love God first, ourselves last and others in between.¡¦ This is not easy is it? But we can do it.

The other factor besides love is the destructive element which could be likened parallel to faith, who is the wicked one. We need to muster up and apply other pieces of body armour and attack the destroyer with our sword. We are bound to conquer him because He who lives in us is greater than the wicked one (1John 4:4).

John the apostle gave us close-up view as an insider he said they saw Jesus being triumphant over the wicked one, and this empowered them and us (the early disciples) to be victorious over the destroyer too. They heard Jesus spoke and gave them empowerment techniques, two greatest commandments (see example in John13:34-35) which once applied would take them through the dangerous playing field of testing; we are given them to empower us as well.

Why do you believe these disciples behave so poorly, prior and during the crucifixion of Jesus? Because these two fundamental commandments were/are difficult to keep; men and women are basically selfish, and self does not want to give up its throne. To obey these two commandments spell sacrifice; but if we want our armour to stay in tact we need to deny ourselves take up His cross and follow Him.

The cross of Jesus Christ is our benchmark, so we should yield to the dictates of His Spirit because the battle is already won; when our sins were nailed to His cross and He made an open show of Satan. To accomplish this assignment and wear our armour, we must continually look at our example- who humbled Himself and was obedient even onto death.

Let¡¦s get wise and recognise, that every battle is won on our knees; our steadfastness in Christ will dislodge and disrupt every device of the enemy who wants to discourage us. But be encouraged! As we fight the good fight of faith and lay hold on eternal life we conquer; because we are more than conqueror through Him who loves us and gave His life for us.

As we draw near to Him and hold fast the confession of our faith without being double minded, we will possess a true heart which will always activate our faith and make us outrageous in our living. That¡¦s embracing a lifestyle expressed in our everyday walk.

It is rather funny how faith comes around in full circle that we observed in every area of life; the Bible demonstrates amazing men and women of faith who receives from the mighty hand of their Creator.

There are (In Hebrews 11) beautiful gems of gold, silver and precious stones shone brightly as thropy of faith, and is combined with belief, hope, trust, and action. These elements are drawn from:
„X verse one ¡V faith is a substance,
„X verse three ¡Vby faith we understand and
„X verse six, without faith it is impossible to please God.

Therefore, faith and works are seen together to accomplish everything. James (Jesus half brother) said faith by itself, if it does not accompanyed by works ¡V is dead (James 2:17 paraphrased)

A note to ponder from the pen of John Wesley (taken from James 2:15-17 NKJV P1869)
¡§Encouraging words are good but if we stop short of loving deeds we fall short of Christlikeness¡¨ (drawn from Jesus¡¦ teaching on hypocrisy - Mark 7:6)
Other Scriptures not mentioned within the text areƒ¼1John5:4; 1Tim 6:12; & Heb10:22, 23)

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