M.A.D.

Very few things make me mad.  One is when the enemy picks on one of my friends! 

It makes me M.A.D.

Maintain ground, stand, resist, don't give in
Armor up with the whole armor of God
Declare victory in prayer and by the power of the Blood of Jesus!

You don't want to mess with my family or one of my friends.  You are about to have a fight on your hands.

The Spirit of the Lord rises up in me and says "No!"  Satan is defeated.  He has no right to our lives.  We are children of the MOST HIGH GOD.

Therefore, submit yourself to God, Resist the devil and he will flee from you.  James 4:7

We are not door mats just having to take everything the enemy tries to throw our way.  Yes, sometimes we make poor decisions that bring about negative consequences.  Not everything is the enemy's fault, we mess things up by ourselves without his help at times.  But, there are also times when it is just flat out an attack! 

When we are being attacked, we must Maintain our ground, resist!

We need to get our Armor on and fight.

Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hots of wickedness in the heavenly places.  
Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand.  Ephesians 6:11-13

You may be thinking, how?  How do I take up the whole armor of God?  What does that look like?

Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness.
and having shod your feet with the gospel of peace;
above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.
And take the helmet of salvations, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.  Ephesians 6:14-17


Today I am going to break this up and take a closer look at these different aspects of our armor.

Girded your waist with truth means to equip oneself with the knowledge of truth.
Do you know the truth about your situation?  Do you know what Isaiah 53: 4-5 says?  Do you believe it?

Surely He has borne our griefs (means sicknesses in the Hebrew) and carried our sorrows (means emotional or physical pain in the Hebrew);
Yet we esteemed Him strickened, smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.   Is 53:4-5
(Really, this is a whole other post for another time.  This verse is powerful.  The blood of Jesus is powerful.  Jesus paid the whole price for us on the cross.  Like I said, another post for another time.)

Now back to our Armor....

Having put on the breastplate of righteousness.  Jesus made us righteous, we are not righteous in and of ourselves.  We can choose to do right and we should aspire to maintain a clean heart before the Lord.

And having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.  We have to put on our walking boots and everywhere we go be ready, be prepared  to share the good news of the Lord. 

Above all (interesting....this must be important for the Lord to say, "Above all") taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.  Yes!  It is vitally important!  Again, resist the devil and he will flee from you.  Take up that shield of faith and resist!  Faith...that goes back to the belt of truth at the beginning of the passage.  We must first know the truth and believe the truth to have faith in the truth.  Faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God. 

The enemy may try to throw a bunch of fiery darts at us.....sickness, disease, lies, negative thoughts, temptations, strife, etc.  We resist those darts with the truth of God's Word and by rebuking the enemy.  He must leave at the name of Jesus.  Jesus rebuked him and we can also.  Jesus gave us that authority.  (Matt 16:19, Luke 9:1)

Just think about those darts of fire coming and as soon as they hit the shield of faith (God's Word spoken in faith), the Living Water quenches them and they just go out.  They no longer have any power, they are extinguished.

And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.  God's Word is powerful!  Every time the enemy attempted to tempt Jesus in the wilderness, Jesus responded with the Word of God.  The enemy was powerless against the Word of God.  He eventually gave up and left.  The enemy will eventually give up and leave us alone also when we resist him.

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.   This part of the verse often gets left off, but when I was reading it, it seemed pertinent to spiritual warfare!  PRAYER!  Praying always, being watchful with perseverance and praying for each other. Declare victory in prayer!

My bible noted that prayer is not so much a weapon as it is the means by which we engage in the battle.  The armor is to prepare us for battle and then prayer is the battle with God's Word being our major weapon to defeat the enemy. 

I have said before that I don't like to give much attention to the enemy because I think he likes attention, but we do need to know how to defeat him and his evil schemes.

God has a good plan for you, a plan to prosper you and not to harm you, a plan to give you a hope and a future.  (Jeremiah 29:11)  I know some people think that God gives us sicknesses and diseases, or that it is the Lord causing a marriage to fail.  After all, it must be God's will if it is happening.....not around me, you don't!  I actually heard someone say that it must have been God's will that she was raped.  That is completely from the enemy.  Satan is the one who comes to steal, kill and destroy, not our God. 

Think about it for just one minute, why would the Lord put something on us that Jesus died to redeem us from?  Seriously, it doesn't line up with the character of the Lord.  Not my God. 

Today, I am just mad at how the enemy keeps trying to throw fiery darts at my friends.  And I am mad that some people think those darts are being thrown by God.  Totally contrary to God' Word.  They aren't going to resist them if they think it is God's will. 

Well, at least you know how I feel now.  Next time you feel attacked, get M.A.D.  Jesus has already won the battle, victory is His!