Put Your Armor On

January 16, 2017

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” (Proverbs 3:5). What a powerful God-given, fool-proof admonition for 2017. “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.” (Psalm 20:7). 

Some are trusting in President-elect Donald Trump to turn our country around. Some are trusting in Trump’s opposition to hold him in check. Some are trusting in their investments in a real hot stock market. Some are trusting in their own wisdom to navigate the rapids of time and circumstance. But all of us, some day, are going to crash upon the rocks of death. “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27).

If we are trusting in the wrong thing, ultimately we lose. “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36). To be consumed with the temporal is to forfeit eternal communion with God.  And, for the distracted Christian, loss will also be apparent at the judgment seat of Christ. “If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.” (1 Corinthians 3:15).                                                                                                                    

To trust in the Lord is to have full confidence He has our best interests at heart. Like Adam and Eve, mankind has this built-in hesitancy to think if we totally abandoned ourselves to the will of our Creator, we would somehow be missing out on something. Trusting God goes beyond this natural Adamic weakness by being undergirded with God’s means of supernatural support. We can read the Wall Street Journal to try and plot a course or we could read the Bible. Faith, confidence, and trust  comes by communion with God in His word. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17).                                                                                                                                  

What map are you going to follow for your path in 2017? Who are you going to trust as a guide to help you navigate through the jungle of life? The lions, tigers and bears of circumstances lie in wait for the witless and unprepared.                                                                                                                        

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8). Therefore, dear Christian, get dressed for the day and for every day in 2017 with the garments Christ has provided for your success:                                                  

Ephesians 6:10–18 “¹⁰ Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. ¹¹ Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. ¹² For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. ¹³ Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; ¹⁵ And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; ¹⁶ Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. ¹⁷ And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: ¹⁸ Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;”

Put Your Armor On in 2017,

Pastor John Schofield