Prepared for Battle! 12
Have you noticed that every part of your armour has to do with changing the way you think? In each piece God brings our thoughts into a particular area of truth that is in Jesus or in the way He thinks. Our last piece, the helmet of salvation, is the same.
A helmet is used to protect the brain and in the case of a spiritual helmet it refers to the mind. Your mind is where the entire battle takes place and its protection is vital to your life and walk in the Lord. In the mind you encounter or come up against the lies of the enemy. And this onslaught of Satan can be relentless.
A lie is simply anything that sets itself up as being true. Satan is referred to as the god of this world and it is in the philosophies, opinions and systems of the world in which you find his version of the truth. However, he is the father of lies and there is no truth in him. Hence, we could say that there is NO knowledge of THE TRUTH and everything in this world is a lie. This is why Jesus said that everyone who loves this world is at enmity with God.
It is possible to be a believer in Jesus Christ and still be at enmity with Him. In the realm of your spirit you are at peace with God, without sin and perfectly, perfect. This means that from God’s perspective, which is THE TRUTH, you are without fault, criticism or blame before Him. He declares this concerning you BECAUSE the blood of Jesus has purified you from ALL sin ONCE AND FOR ALL. There is no more sacrifice or punishment necessary for your salvation and freedom from sin.
Let’s stop here for a moment. When it comes to THE TRUTH that is in Jesus you have to be positioned in heaven or be able to see from an eternal perspective. It is in this realm, where Jesus is both Lord and GOD, that the REAL TRUTH abides. The Word of God is true concerning you because you are an eternal child of God NOW. There is no punishment, sickness, disease, etc., in heaven and we all accept this as true – one day when we get to heaven! The battle in our minds is about accepting this as being true concerning us HERE and NOW and not only when we die.
When God sees you He sees His ETERNAL child, perfect and holy, walking through a realm where you are learning to bring heaven to earth. In this realm you encounter an enemy whose only weapon is to get you to identify with him in this world and not with your Father and His world. We all know and pray the “Lord’s Prayer” and pray that His kingdom come, and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Sadly, we tend to see ourselves as “apart” from this instead of “a part” of this. Heaven only has one avenue in which to come to earth and that is through you and me.
Satan knows this and he comes against your mind to stop the thoughts of heaven from arising within you. He is well aware that the gateway through which heaven comes to earth is when you believe the thoughts of Jesus and then begin to speak or declare them into the natural realm. He also knows that the only way he is able to bring death and destruction into the natural realm is through our minds. The “war” is about bringing heaven to earth!
The only way that you can protect your mind, like a helmet, is through covering your thoughts with His thoughts concerning your ETERNAL SALVATION, which is to see yourself in the realm of heaven and not the earth.
So, how do you “put on” your armour? I am again going to use forgiveness as this is the foundation of the entire gospel message.
You have a fight or an argument with someone and walk away feeling hurt and angry. As you leave a conversation has begun in your mind and you begin judging and condemning the other person. The more you engage in this conversation the more you find them guilty and become convinced that they should be punished. The more you think about it the deeper the hurt and resentment goes and the greater your “self-justification” gets.
Then you hear the VOICE of the Lord telling you to forgive them. “NO!” is normally the first thought. But without realizing it you have entered into the realm of darkness which is fighting hard to get control of you and to suppress the TRUTH that IN CHRIST you are BOTH forgiven. The fight is now about who you choose to submit to. Are you going to exalt the Word of God, which is to forgive because you have been forgiven, or to continue in your “right” to be angry? You are making a continuous set of choices and you are the only one responsible for your actions. No matter how much you think the other person is guilty, in their eyes you are guilty too.
AND GOD DOES NOT PICK SIDES!
Submitting to God, which gives you power over the enemy, means surrendering your will and your own rights or justification. In this turmoil of thoughts and emotions you stop to identify what thoughts are from heaven. Once you identify the VOICE of love and forgiveness you choose to surrender your thoughts to that WORD. Now you consciously make a choice to silence every thought that tries to bring you back to your self-righteousness and self-justification – which manifests in evil thoughts about the other person.
This is where the wonderful and powerful sword of the spirit comes in! 😊 Now you begin to do some damage to the kingdom of darkness …
Till tomorrow …
Have a wonderful, happy day! 😂
What if Paul was referring to the priestly garments of the high priest in Leviticus?
Thoroughly enjoyed your teaching.
Hi Lynette, if he were he would have said so. If you look at the Old Testament you will see that the KING was anointed for battle and the priest for intercession. Hebrews deals a lot with our priesthood but it is not that of Aaron but of Melchizedek. This is a big and wonderful topic but to much to go into here. 🙂 Keep seeking the Lord regarding the priesthood you belong to which is the Melchizedek priesthood. I pray the Lord open your eyes and understanding in this regard :). Be blessed