ALREADY EQUIPPED

“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. Stand firm then, 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. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 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.” (Eph. 6:10-18)

One thing that recently jumped out at me when reading this familiar passage was simply this: There’s nothing listed here that any Christian doesn’t already have in full measure.

What Christian doesn’t have the truth? Every Christian has the righteousness of Christ. All Christians have heard and received the Gospel of peace. We all have faith, of course, and we all have salvation and the Spirit of God if we are in Christ.

 This might not be such a big revelation for you, but for me it was. Because growing up in Church I was always taught to think of the Armor of God as a list of things I needed to go and acquire and that if I didn’t remember to put them on the Devil would eat me for lunch.

 But, if I already have truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation and the Spirit of God as one who is in Christ Jesus, then I don’t need to go out and get anything else. I’m not lacking what I need to stand firm in Christ because in Christ I have everything necessary to overcome the Enemy and speak the Truth of the Gospel of the Kingdom.

That’s good news to me.

I hope it’s good news for you, too.

Blessings,

Keith

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[IMAGE CREDIT: LITO BUJANDA-MOORE, "KNIGHT HAWK"]