Momentum For Monday, September 5th 2022

"Put on the full armor of God…" (Ephesians 6:11)

Truth be told, I wore a lot of things like armor before I discovered Christ. Shoot, even after I was saved, I still wore certain items around thinking they protected me or benefited me for living in this world. I had to learn to trust the truth mentioned in Scripture before I understood how things really worked spiritually.

There are things you may have to take off before you can comfortably wear the armor mentioned. Some of those things aren't easy to take off either. Their like tight leather pants on humid summer day- you're going to be struggling for a minute to peel those things off you.

Fighting fire with fire or going tit-for-tat was something I've had to un-learn and take off of me. When others go high, I have to go low. That person isn't the real enemy so battling them is a wasted effort. That also means I have to keep my emotions in check and that's not always easy when I'm provoked 

Unforgiveness is another thing I've had to shed. My old mentality was very defensive. If someone hurt or offended me, I cut them off and blocked them out. I figured I didn't need them and there were billions of other people in the world to get to know. Eventually I'd stop hating or disliking them and move on. I had to learn that real forgiveness is actually to let go of the issue and let God mend my heart as if it never happened.

One ongoing thing I've had to shed and will probably keep having to shed for the rest of my life is selfishness (see James 3:16 on why it's problematic). It's sneaky. Selfishness is like sand, it gets everywhere and it takes a firehose to wash off completely. Our offenses, fears, hang-ups…so many of them are embedded in selfishness.

We make so many things about ourselves and we don't realize it. Yielding to others, putting others first, letting go of my wants has been a long season of learning and repetition. I will say though, I have so much more peace as I'm learning this practice (key word is learning, I definitely botch this often).

These are just a few that I've mentioned from over the years. The armor of God is worth it though. I've seen over and over the protection of God throughout my life. His armor is to protect you from the fiery darts of the enemy which are constant. If God is leading you to shed some flimsy armor of self, trust him.

 "But the Lord is faithful; he will make you strong and guard you from satanic attacks of every kind."

(2 Thess 3:3)