Training of the Christian Soldier--Equipping the Soldier II

Hello and good afternoon dear friends! What a lovely past couple of days it has been weather wise here in Tennessee. Well we have made headway on the Teen building at Calvary Baptist Church and this weekend the teens are scheduled to paint it, please pray for me! Well yesterday we left off with the sandals of the gospel, which are rooted and grounded and prepared to go if need be wherever God may lead. Today we are going to look at a couple of pieces of defensive armor and the first piece of offensive weaponry. The last piece of bodily armor is the Helmet of Salvation, this piece was important for without protecting the head all the other pieces were in vain. You see if you couldn't hear the preaching then you wouldn't know what Jesus Christ did and why He did it. It also protects you from hearing stuff that you ought not to hear of you are wearing it properly. The helmet also protected the eyes, for without shielding them with the Word of God, then you would be blinded and useless. Lastly it protects the brain, or better yet your mind so you are not confused by false doctrines and wayward teachers. Friends the Bible exhorts us to "touch not, taste not, handle not" so we see that we are to be armored with all of the aforementioned bodily armor so that we may fulfill this command. The last piece of armor to be mentioned looks huge and intimidating, but without it the body would be blasted by attack after attack and would eventually fall apart. With this last piece of armor though it is a real help in the beginning of the battle and if all the other armor starts to fail, then you can always run to this piece and pick it up and let it surround you. The Shield of Faith is the last piece of armor, yet it is the biggest part of the soldier to carry into battle. We could say what the Bible says, "without faith it is impossible to please God" or better yet "the just shall live by faith"! Friends the shield of Faith is the first piece of armor that the enemy sees, and like the shield that the Roman soldiers carried. our faith ought to be as big. The shield that those Roman soldiers carried was almost five feet tall, enough to conceal a man behind it, strong enough to plow through the battle. Roman foot soldiers who were strong carried this shield because they trusted that with it, it would bring them to the point that they could get into the hand to hand combat without being scratched. Faith is trusting God when all else is brought to nought. When we are at the ends of our ropes and we think that we have it all figured out, it is faith that brings us to that closer relationship with our Heavenly Father. The Lord Jesus said if we had faith as a mustard seed, think about that, and do a study on the mustard seed, our Pastor brought us through one a while back and it was eye opening! If our faith was large enough or Strong enough we could figuratively move mountains! Friends our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the anchor for our soul, and the defense to plow through life's obstacles because we are trusting God to provide for us in every aspect of our lives! It is faith that makes long nights short, and it is faith that shines through the darkest of tunnels. Remember the Bible says that the good work which God started, He will finish! Trust God my friends, and put your faith in Jesus Christ that He has the answers for all of life's needs! Now with faith comes the working or trying of our faith, and we are given some offensive weapons in which we can faithfully go to battle. The first listed is the Sword of the Spirit, and friends let me tell you to wield it you MUST train with it. The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God, and with it if you are not careful you can cut deeper than any physical two-edged sword that man can possibly furnish. When you have armored up and taken the shield of faith and plowed through and the battle gets to be close and personal then wield your sword and defeat the Devil by using exactly what Christ used to defeat him, the Word of God! Friends I hope today was another encouraging devotion to spur you into action to get into the battle and have faith that God has provided for the Christian Soldier all that he needs to accomplish the task.