The Armor of God.

Hey Everyone!
Sorry its been a while since my last post on here. Hope everyone is doing well and are having a great summer so far.  Today, I want to talk about the armor of God and how we can use it to fight Satan when he is wanting to tempt us with the things of this world.  How many times have you struggled with giving into temptation?

One way or another, we strive to do what is right but the cares of this world and life get a hold of us and we tend to not always make the best decisions in our life. Even though there are wars going on here on earth, there's also another war going on. It's a spiritual warfare between God and Satan. 

Let's see what God says in His word on how we can use His armor to overcome temptation.

Our text comes from Ephesians 6:10-18.   Let's examine this together with one verse at a time.

1. "Finally be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power." -Ephesians 6:10. 

•    We have nothing to fear if we remain strong in our relationship with God and walk in His light.

2. "Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes."
-Ephesians 6:11

• So we must put on the full armor of  God when we are tempted, we can overcome temptation when Satan is always lurking around wanting us to give in. 

3. "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of the dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."  -Ephesians 6:12

• Even when we are dealing with wars on earth, our main priority that we're faced with everyday is the battle for our souls. Who do you want to be in your heart?  God or Satan? 

 4. "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." -Ephesians 6:13

• When we are tempted, we need to be ready to say "no" even though it's hard.  In the long run, we will be glad that we were able to stand firm and not give into temptation.  

5."Stand firm 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." -Ephesians 6:14-15

• Here we see the first three pieces of armor that we need to have on everyday.  

1.Belt of Truth: We should always be truthful no matter what situation we are in. Sometimes we don't tell the truth.  When we don't tell the truth there are consequences we face. 


2. Breastplate of Righteousness-  We always should strive to live like Jesus lived.  If we remain in Christ, we need to have the mindset that HE  had.  

3. Feet fitted with readiness that comes from the Gospel of Peace- We should always be ready to share the good news with others.  


6. "In addition to all of  this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one."-Ephesians 6:16

• In order to remain strong in Christ, we need to always keep our faith in Him strong.  When we get caught up with the things of this world, we get distracted and don't grow in our faith. That's when Satan sees us as vulnerable and we tend to give in.

7. "Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of  the Spirit which is the Word of God." -Ephesians 6:17

• Helmet of Salvation- When we put Christ on in baptism, we became saved and we need to always keep our salvation in check. How do we do that?  We study God's word. We don't merely just look at a page of words. The way we should examine God's word is to intensely study it and put it into practice. 

• Sword of the Spirit- Our sword we fight against the devil is the Word of God.  When we use our sword, we are able to fight Satan.  We keep our sword sharp by continuing to intensely study God's word and put it into practice.  When we don't use our sword, it becomes "dull" over time. Do you use the Sword of the Spirit?  If you have let it become "dull" try sharpening it again by using it.  

8.  "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 saints."  Ephesians 6:18.

• We need to constantly pray everyday without ceasing. When we communicate with our Heavenly Father we become stronger in our walk with Him. There are times when we get concerned with our physical needs here on earth. What about our Spiritual needs?  Let's not forget our spiritual needs which are much more important than our physical needs.  God wants to have an  intimate relationship with us. It's not a relationship where we just say "Ok, thanks for saving me. I think I can take things from here."   NO.  We are nothing without God.  Our minds cannot comprehend how much God can do in our lives.  It's a relationship where He wants to spend time with us and wants to be in every aspect of our lives. He knows what we need and when we need it.  We tend to forget that God does everything on HIS time and NOT ours.  If we stay patient and give our lives over to God regardless and let HIS WILL be done, we will see how much God works in our lives.  

I hope you have been encouraged and strengthened by reading this post.  Living the Christian life is NOT easy.  Please pray for me as we pray for each other to become more like Him everyday.

Take care and may God bless you all everyday.

Until I write again,
Lauren

Discovering the Realness of God through His creation.

Hello everyone!  It's been about a month since my last post.  As I was walking my dog with my Mom on Saturday, I began to look around and I see flowers blooming.  The sun is shining, and I see a cute rabbit eating a leaf.  Even though spring has not technically began yet, it's amazing to see the seasons change.  :)


What I would like to talk about today is finding the evidence that God is real in our surroundings. When you wake up every morning, we look outside and the sun is rising.  We see the sun set at late evening, and when we go to bed at night, we see the moon shinning and the stars twinkling in the sky.  


I've been to a few places in my life where all you can do is sit and stand in awe of what God has created.  No matter where you are at, everything is beautiful. 


In Genesis 1:1 we read, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." 
(New International Version)


Here's an excerpt from Halley's Bible Handbook: "If the Bible is GOD's Word as we believe it to be, and if God knew from the beginning that He was going to use the Bible as a main instrument in the Redemption of Man, why should it be difficult to believe that God himself, co-eval with His creation of man, gave to man the germ and nucleus of that Word?"
-   -(Halley, Henry. Halley's Bible Handbook. Classic Edition The "Creation Hymn, "1:1-2:3, pg.59).


I really like the author's thoughts within this book.  What do you think the author is trying to say? 


In Psalms 19:1 we read these words, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands."  

I took this picture two years ago.  I was standing outside and I saw this beautiful sunset!  This is a yellow,orange, purple and pink sunset.  Such an amazing sight!  This is definitely one of my favorite pictures.  This is what I'm talking about.   I think that this picture among many others I have taken is a representation of the verse I mentioned above.   :) 


I hope that you find encouragement today.  This is another one of my shorter posts but I will write another one again.  My challenge for you today is to look at a picture of nature or just go outside and watch the sunset or look up at the stars before you go to sleep.  Think about how awesome God the Creator of the Universe is!   


Hope you all have a great day and week.  May God bless everyone of you.  


Until I write again, 
Lauren  :)

The Great Commission

Hello Everyone, 
Hope you all are having a great Friday.  I don't know if its cold where you are right now but it's pretty cold here in Texas. Today I want to talk about the Great Commission.   I want to talk about it in sections..
First though, here is the whole text:

"Then the eleven disciples went  to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." -Matthew 28:16-20 
(New International Version).

So lets start with the beginning.... 


1. Remember there are only 11 disciples due to Judas killing himself after Jesus was arrested and going to be tried by Pilate.  


2.  The disciples went to the mountain Jesus told them to go.  Some disciples worshiped Him, others had doubt.  What would you do if you had been there?

3. What kind of authority in heaven had been given to Jesus?  All of it.  Can you imagine having all authority on heaven and on earth?

4. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations: To me, this means go and spread the good news to everyone in the world. You can even go spread the gospel to others in your hometown.  Jesus wants everyone to hear the gospel and come to Him.

5. Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  What does this apply to, you ask?  Well in order to be saved, we have to first hear the word, believe that Jesus is the Son of God, Repent of our sins, Confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, then be immersed in the watery grave of baptism for the remission of our sins.  You may ask, Lauren, what does baptism have to do with salvation?

Well friend, I'm here to explain the reason that baptism is a part of salvation.  Remember in the beginning of Matthew Ch.3 when Jesus came to be baptized by John the Baptist?  Well, in verse 15 of Chapter 3, we read this: Jesus replied, "Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this in all righteousness." 

So what did Jesus mean by that?  Well when we read further into the text that after Jesus was baptized the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove.  Do you remember  God's response to Jesus' baptism? 
In verse 17 we read these words: And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."   So this was God's way of showing that in order to be saved and receive the Holy Spirit, we must be baptized.  I know this is a controversial subject among some of my friends  but I'm telling you this is what God says in the Bible, not my words. I do believe that this is the only way we can get to heaven and become Christians.  I believe in NO other way than the perfect plan God created through Jesus. 

(But baptism is for another blog post, but just wanted to put my "two cents in").

6. and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. This means that even after we put Christ on in baptism and receive the Holy Spirit, we need to study the Bible to grow in our relationship with God. Our studying continues after becoming a Christian.  When we study, our faith becomes stronger and we are strengthened to overcome any temptation that Satan throws at us.  Let me explain something to you before I continue: I am NOT saying that the Christian life is EASY. It's very difficult to live, but we live with the hope that if we are faithful to God and live the Christian life He wants us to live, we will be in Heaven with Him one day for all eternity.

7. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age:  What does this mean?  Well this last part means that Jesus will be with us as long as we abide in Him.  Jesus is alive and with us every day.  He is going to always be there for us and even when He comes back to receive those who have remained faithful Christians.

Here's an excerpt from a great book my Grandparents gave to me for my college graduation present. I really enjoy this book!  :)

In the book Halley's Bible Handbook, the author describes what he thought about this last phrase of the text: "We cannot understand how One Person can be with millions of billions of persons at the same time. But it is Deity. And Jesus said it in the plainest possible language, "I AM WITH YOU ALL THE TIME". Jesus said that. And Jesus did not use idle words. He did not talk just to hear himself talk. He meant something when he said that, and we believe that, in some real sense, beyond our comprehension, mystic, but real, HE is with each of us all the time.  No mater how weak, or humble, or unimportant, HE is our friend, our companion. Invisible, but there. Now, right now. Tonight, while we are asleep. Tomorrow, while we are at work. Next Week. Next year. Shadowing us through life. Walking by our side. Watching with kindly interest every detail of life's pitful struggle, trying so patiently to lead us up to a place of immortal happiness in His Father's home/ This all seems like just a beautiful dream. But it is a FACT, the one fundamental fact of our existence."
      -(Halley, Henry. Halley's Bible Handbook. Classic Edition. pgs.444-445).

I couldn't agree more with the author.  What do you think?

I hope this has painted a clearer picture for you.  When I write all of my blog posts, I am also talking to myself.  I'm not perfect. No one is or will ever be except Jesus.  May we all strive to live as Jesus lived. Let's pray for one another so that we all may enter into Heaven for all eternity one day.

Have a great weekend!

Until I write again,
Lauren

Happy New Year of 2012!!

Happy New Year Everyone!   Hope you all had a great Christmas and New Years!  

Since it's only been day 3 of 2012, I'm going to write about looking forward into the future ahead.  

 Do you ever wonder what the future holds for your life?  Everyone does.

 

What does the beginning of a new year mean to you?  For me, it's a never ending adventure.  I look forward to what God has in store.  Sometimes, we go through the years and get caught up in our busy lives and tend to  be concerned or worried about our future.  


Let's take a look at what God says in His word: 
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  -Jeremiah 29:11

We never have to be afraid of what we face in life.  With putting our faith and trust in God, we know that He's going to give us a bright future.  

Just wanted to write a short devotional thought for tonight.  Hope you are strengthened and encouraged by it.  Let's continue to pray for one another and strive to look to God as we go into the new year.  May God bless you and your families.   


Until I write again, 
Lauren