Daily Lesson for January 5, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Ephesians chapter 6 verses 10 through 17:

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. 11Put on the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13Therefore take up the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness.15As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. 16With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

This is a word from the LORD for such a time as this.

We live in a time of war. It is a time of spiritual war — a war not so much of flesh on flesh, but spirit on flesh. We are all under attack by and victims of the same spiritual forces — forces of enmity, hatred, chaos, and evil. And like all wars, the first of all the victims of this war was Truth.

Now is the time to stand strong, to live with courage, and with conviction, and to fight the good fight. Now is the time to put on the armor of God.

And the armor begins with Truth. Reclaiming Truth is the first step. We must speak truly and without deceit.  We must stop the aiding and the abetting of people and institutions which do speak lies.  We have to stand for Truth.

The breastplate of righteousness belongs to us. It is not our own righteousness we stand in. It is the LORD’s. This means we should be humble towards others — not supposing we are any more pure in our own selves than our enemies. The righteousness is Christ’s. It’s been given to us. We offer it to the world.

This is why we’ve been given shoes on which we bring Gospel of peace. It is peace and not enmity we bring. We seek to convert our enemies to peace, not to destroy them.

We go with the shield of faith — for it protects us from the lies which shall be cast upon us. The shield of faith protects us from all dismay.

Finally, we bring the sword — God’s word of hope, and book of life. We’ve read the book. We’ve read all the way through to the end. We know who wins. We know God wins. We know God’s saints win. We know Love wins.

Now is the time.  Now is the time to put on the whole armor of God. Now is the time to put it on, wear it, and stand firm in the strength of God’s power within us.