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“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

It is great to make plans and life is full of them. We make all kinds of plans, plans for the weekend, plans for college, plans our career, plans on how to find a spouse, plans for how many children we are going to have. So many plans. Some of our plans we share with others and some we don’t. We decide what ones we are going to share with others usually based on how crazy we believe them to be.

We even make our plans when we don’t have all of the information. Have you ever looked through a key hole to see what is on the other side of the door? We know that when we look through a key hole, we can’t see all that is on the other side, only a very limited amount of what is actually there. Unfortunately, that is how we make plans at times. We have a limited amount of information and we decide what we are going to do next, even when those decisions are life changing decisions.

One of the things that is wonderful about being a child of God, is that we don’t have to rely only on ourselves to get all the information we need to make decisions, we have the One Who knows all, sees all, is in charge of all, willing to help us. We don’t have to know what the next several steps are in the path we are taking if we are willing to trust the One who made the path. Not only can we trust Him, we can also seek Him and His counsel daily to learn if where we are placing our foot to take that next step is in the right direction.

God has plans for us, good plans if we listen to Him. However, listening is only the first step in this process. After we listen to Him, we need to take action, take the steps that He is guiding us to take, maybe that is studying for the test you have in school, answering the phone because the next business opportunity is calling, or maybe it is taking that next step that you are considering a huge leap of faith.

No matter what the action is, there is one thing for sure, you will never know if it was the way to go, if it would have worked out or not, if you don’t move forward. I pray that as you go about your day that you seek God and His counsel on what your path is. Have a blessed day.

“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” Ephesians 6:18

After Paul has given each spiritual concept a weapon to help us understand that concept, he instructs us to keep praying. Communication is important in all relationships and our relationship with God is no different. If we are not talking with each other, misunderstandings happen, opportunities of closeness are lost and true intimacy of knowing each other can not be developed.

Prayer is simply a conversation with God. There should be respect for who God is but there also needs to be genuine interaction on our part. God doesn’t need flowery speech such as “thou, thy and thine ” in our prayers, He just wants us, our genuine self, talking with Him. He doesn’t require a certain amount of time either, just being there and willing to talk with Him is what He wants. He wants to be involved in our lives, He created us for that very reason, to interact with Him.

Some have said that you need to follow acronyms to know how to pray. If this is something you want to do, then that is ok, it is also ok if you don’t. There are plenty of them to choose from, but if you are looking for something to follow after, there is no better way to pray than the way that Jesus Himself taught His disciples. In Matthew 6:9-13, Jesus was talking with His disciples about how to be sincere in their prayers, making sure that the prayer is a true communication with the Father and not a show for those around them.

He talked with them about being alone when they pray and focusing only on God and then He taught them this prayer found in Matthew 6:9-13. Jesus said “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,  your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.'” NIV

In the end, it doesn’t matter if you follow an acronym or not. What matters is that you are talking with God, being sincere and genuine and then listening for what He may have to say back to you. When we pray, we tend to usually ask for something, something we feel we need or want.

My encouragement for each one of us, is that when we pray that we also make sure we are asking God to help those around us with what they are going through as well as ourselves. In our verse for the day, Paul said to pray for all of the Lord’s people. No conversation is always about getting something from someone else, there are also parts of the conversation that are about getting to know each other, gratitude for things that have been done for us and listening to the other one.

I encourage you today, as well as myself, to not pray a memorized prayer each time we pray. Instead to pray from the heart, seek to get to know God, to thank Him for what He has done in our lives and ask Him for guidance in life as we go through each day. To seek what we can do to help further His kingdom here on earth.

I believe there in no better conversation that we can have than the one we can have with our Heavenly Father especially when we are genuine, sincere and real with Him. After all, He already knows what is in our hearts, He simply wants to hear from us. I hope you have a great day and enjoy spending time in communication with our Heavenly Father.

“and take the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.” Ephesians 6:17b

The sword is the one piece of armor that can be used to attack as well as defend. The sword that a soldier carried was large and heavy and the soldier needed to practice with it so he could get used to it’s weight. If he didn’t practice with his sword, a valuable piece of armor would be useless in battle and may even be an advantage for the enemy.

As the sword is paired by Paul with the word of God, we are able to learn from the soldier that we also need to know how to handle this piece of our armor. Knowing God’s word and using it are different. Many people can memorize scripture, but if they do not use it to promote or defend God’s kingdom, then having that knowledge is not very helpful.

By knowing scripture, it becomes easier for us to draw on it when we are feeling unloved and need to remember that God loves us, when we are scared and need to remember that God is in control. We don’t have to only use it in times of need, we can also recite scripture and talk about scripture with others to spread God’s word. Knowledge is power and action based on knowledge is even more powerful.

I pray that if you are not already grounded in God’s word, that you take action and dive into scripture. God is waiting for you.

“Take the helmet of salvation ” Ephesians 6:17a

The helmet that the Roman soldiers would have worn in Paul’s time would have been made of metal and covered their necks along with their heads. The helmet would have come across their cheeks leaving the nose and mouth exposed. As the design was to provide as much protection to the soldier as possible, it would have been made custom to fit each man.

When thinking about how a helmet can protect the brain, mind and head of a soldier, it seems appropriate to link the helmet to salvation. Protecting our brain and ultimately our minds from what the world tries to inundate us with is a large task. In Romans 12:2 it is written “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

The devil knows our weaknesses and for most of us, those weaknesses have to do with our thoughts. If our minds are distracted, injured, or we lose focus, then our minds are on us, not God. That is the state that the devil wants us to be in because when we focus on ourselves we tend to follow our own logic which can lead to us behaving in ways we wouldn’t if our minds were focused on God.

Our salvation is directly connected to God, that is who gave it to us, so not keeping our thoughts in line with what He wants is dangerous for us as Christians. The helmet of salvation reminds us that we are saved by Jesus and that our thoughts are to be on Him and His will, not on what we think we should do. God has a plan for us that is far above and beyond anything we could ever imagine.

How do we keep focused on God and keep our thoughts from take us away from God? By capturing our thoughts as they happen and evaluating them. Do they line up with what God has said in His word? Are they leading us towards God or away from God? As we put on the helmet of salvation, we should ask God to help us with our thoughts so that we can free our minds from the thoughts that distract us from God and instead we can focus on God and His will.

Have a wonderful day.

“In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” Ephesians 6:16 NIV

The shield was a great defensive weapon. It was usually a large rectangular piece of wood with several layers of animal skins attached to it. The shields were usually large enough that the soldier could crouch down behind it to protect their body. The animal skins were kept wet so that the fiery arrows from the enemy would be extinguished when they hit the shield. A dried up shield would be dangerous to the soldier because it could crack and provide a weakness that the enemy’s arrows could penetrate.

A new soldier had to trust or hope that the shield he was carrying was going to protect him. His faith in the shield grew as he used it and took care of it and experienced it protecting him over and over again in battle. The soldier only knew that the shield could protect him, when cared for, because he experienced it happen in battle, but the first time he used it, he was going on faith that he would be able to block the fiery arrows with it.

Our faith, like the shield, can protect us as well. We need to take care of our faith for it to grow and be effective in deflecting the arrows that the enemy sends our way. The devil’s main goal is to shoot enough fiery arrows of doubt and suspicion at us that we become discouraged and neglect caring for our faith. We care for our faith by being in God’s word and trusting God that His plan is far better than anything we could ever dream of or ask for. When we neglect our faith, it can become dried up like the neglected shield. Once our faith is not cared for, the enemy finds the weak spots and begins sending his arrows to those spots. His arrows can be thoughts of doubt that you can be loved by God, that you can be forgiven by God. These are the devil’s primary weapons to weaken our faith.

If you are facing situations where you are doubting that God loves you or that God will forgive you, please don’t let your faith dry up. Pick up the bible and read God’s promises, begin spending time with God in prayer and find scripture that speaks to you so you can proclaim it over and over again. My cousin was telling me about Psalms 56:3 “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.” and how that scripture, the promise of knowing that God is trustworthy, was how she had walked through some very hard times in her life. Her faith was renewed as she repeated that scripture and believed and had faith that God was walking beside her through those times.

Unlike a shield, faith isn’t a tangible object that we can see and touch but it is just as real and just as effective in protecting us as a shield is in protecting a soldier in battle. I pray that as you go about your day that you use your faith the same way a soldier would use his shield, to deflect the arrows and schemes of the enemy. Take care of your faith, don’t let there be any cracks where the devil can to begin to pick away at the faith you have. Have a great day.

“and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.” Ephesians 6:14c

The Roman soldier’s shoes were not shoes like we know shoes, they were spiked on the bottom and laced up over the calf with leather underneath the lacing to protect their legs as much as their feet. The spikes were for defending themselves if they fell on the battlefield, as they could kick the enemy. The spikes also served as traction while they were upright on the battlefield.

So knowing that the shoes were a weapon that could cause harm, it was surprising to me at first that Paul used them as the piece of the armor that talks about peace. I believe that he did so because as much as the shoes were for battle, they could also be wore by those who are bringing good news and peace to those around them. In Isaiah 52:7, Isaiah was talking to the leaders of Jerusalem and Judah when he proclaimed “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace”.

The good news that both Paul and Isaiah were talking about is Jesus. Those who were bringing the news of salvation and the peace that only Jesus could give to the people of Israel was a large task.

It is a large task now as well, but thankfully the church now is much larger than the church in Paul’s time. Salvation is the only way to have peace, the gospel brings the news of salvation to everyone. We need to make sure that we are carrying the good news and peace to those around us, even the ones who we find hard to be peaceful with. Everyone deserves the chance to choose for themselves if they want to follow Jesus or not, but they can’t really make that decision without having the information.

Who can you tell about Jesus today? Can you walk in peace with others today demonstrating God’s love? You can if you lean on Jesus. He will be there for you, He always is. Have a great day.

“with the breastplate of righteousness in place,” Ephesians 6:14b

The breastplate was a part of a soldier’s armor used to protect the soldier’s heart, lungs, kidneys and spine, all vital organs to survival.  Also, in Jesus’s time, the heart was considered to be the center of a person’s character, so if your heart was good, you were good. No matter how it was looked at, the heart was an organ that needed protected. Our hearts need protected as well, both physically and emotionally.

When we love someone, we don’t say “I love you with all my mind”, no we say “I love you with all my heart.” When we talk about believing something to be true, we don’t believe it only with our thoughts or mind, but we know it to be true when we believe it with all of our heart. As a child, we feel loved by our family and a sense of belonging to them in our heart, not just as a fact that we know.

I believe Paul used the breastplate for the concept of righteousness because knowing that we are the righteousness of God through Christ is one thing, but feeling it in our hearts is something that is on a deeper level. The devil also knows that we carry our feelings in our heart and if he wants to attack us then he comes after our heart. When we have negative thoughts about ourselves and how imperfect we are, we can dismiss them easier when they are only thoughts, but when we put emotion to those thoughts, it becomes very hard to stop feeling those emotions. We need to protect our heart from all the arrows of lies that the devil will shoot as us in an attempt to have us doubt how much we are loved by God. He would love for us to believe that we are too far gone to be forgiven.

We should put on the breastplate of righteousness every morning to protect ourselves, our hearts, from the enemy who sneaks around only wanting to steal our peace, kill our hope and destroy our eternal life. Don’t let the devil win, make sure and wear your breastplate of righteousness today.

“Stand firm then with the belt of truth buckled around your waist,” Ephesians 6:14a

The belt was an important part of the soldier’s armor as it held the breastplate in place as well as carried the sheath for the sword. It is no wonder Paul mentions it first. In John 14:6, Jesus is comforting His disciples as He talked about leaving them by telling them that He is the way, the truth, and the life. So what does Jesus mean when He said he was the truth? Jesus is telling His disciples and us that He is The Authority regarding spiritual wisdom and reality. If you want to know how to live a spiritual life that is focused on the truth, then following Jesus is the answer.

Through His word, God teaches us how to think, how to feel, how to react to situations and how to live in accordance to His will. He made us to be in a relationship with Him, to live in such a way that we are walking in His will. We can only do that when we know the Truth about who God is and we find that out by studying the Bible and commentaries. The truth is very important, it is where we all need to begin in our walk of faith and without the truth, the rest of the armor falls apart. It is hard to know who we are in Christ, which we will talk about tomorrow, if we don’t know the truth about who Christ is. Our armor needs the belt of truth to connect the rest of it together.

Do you know who God is? God is the creator of heaven and earth, He is the reason we are alive and able to seek Him. He created us to be in fellowship with Him, He is our Father and we are His children. Following God is the only true way to live and is the only way we are able to live in eternity forever with Him.

I implore you this morning, to dig into God’s word and find out for yourself who God is and what the truth means to you. For me, knowing that the devil is the father of lies and that God is the father of truth helps me to stay focused on making sure my thoughts line up with what I know is in God’s word about who He is and how He wants me to live my life so that I can glorify and honor Him in all that I do. Trusting God, who is the truth, is the best and only path that we should be on in this life. I pray that as you search God’s word, that you find out the wonderful truth about God and build your walk with Him on that truth, which is a sure foundation. Have a wonderful day.

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” Ephesians 6:10-11 NIV

In this chapter of Ephesians, Paul was giving instructions to the people of Ephesus about how to behave but also about how to fight when it comes to the devil and the fight for our souls. He begins in verse 10 to encourage them to be strong, to rely on God and His power because God is all powerful and can do anything. As a child of God, we each are able to ask God for help knowing He is there for us. Paul also warns the Ephesians about being aware of the devil and his schemes. The devil was just as active in Paul’s time as he is in our time, and we have a God who is just as strong today as He was in Paul’s time.

God knows the devil and what the devil wants, which is to take everyone away from God. So in addition to the Holy Spirit, God gave us tools or weapons that we can use to defend ourselves against the devil. In the following verses, Paul explains the tools/weapons that God gave us and he does it by pulling them all together and calling them the armor of God. The armor that Paul is describing is spiritual in nature, which is what we need when we are going up against the devil, a spiritual being. Sometimes spiritual concepts can be too abstract for us to truly grasp so God has Paul use an analogy to help clarify all of the spiritual ways we can defeat the devil’s plans to lure us away from God.

Paul uses something the people of Ephesus would have understood all too well, the armor of a Roman solider. This analogy is still useful today because although we do not have Roman soldiers walking around us all day long, we do know what the armor looked like. Also, we know that our soldiers today wear armor or pieces of gear which protect them in much the same way as the pieces of armor that a Roman soldier wore, protected him. In the verses that follow verses 10 and 11, Paul then links each weapon to a piece of the armor in a way of taking the spiritual tool/weapon and making it tangible so that everyone could visualize how to use that spiritual tool.

How blessed are we that our God is willing to give us the tools we need to fight against our enemy after all the times that we have let Him down. I am amazed at how God keeps forgiving me, a sinner, each time I ask for forgiveness and He hasn’t walked away from me saying He has had enough. We are all imperfect but we are not too much for God to deal with. He created us, loves us and is willing to support us, as a loving parent does, each step of the way. He will walk beside us and guide us, if we let Him, which is the key to all of it. We have to let Him, because God did not create robots, He gave us free will. Free Will enables us to be able to choose to have a relationship with God or not, to choose to want Him in our lives or not and choose to love Him or not.

So, which choice have you made? I have made mine and I have chosen God! You still have time to make a choice, which one will it be? Have a wonderful day.

“Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32 NIV

What truth is John telling us about? Earlier in the 8th chapter of John, he is recounting the interaction between Jesus and some Jewish leaders. They were trying to test Jesus, hoping that He would make a mistake so that they would have cause to have Him arrested. However, as they usually did, they were not able to accomplish what they set out to do and as Jesus usually did, He used this interaction as a moment to teach them about their sins, Himself, and what the Son of Man came to earth to do, save mankind.

When Jesus tells them that when they know the truth, it will set them free, they became upset stating that they were not in need of being freed from anything. They could not see that they needed freed from their sin. Unrepented sin keeps us in bondage to that sin. The truth Jesus is speaking of is the spiritual truth of how sin is separating us from God and how believing in Jesus as the Son of God leads us to forgiveness, which is the way to bring us closer to God. Believing in Jesus, repenting of our sins and accepting the gift of forgiveness enables us to move closer to God.

By asking for forgiveness for our sins, we are acknowledging them and bringing them out of the darkness and into the light. The devil wants to keep our sins in the dark because when we keep our sins in the dark, we stay focused on hiding the sin from others and sometimes ourselves. When we bring our sin into the light and talk with Jesus about them, they lose the level of control that they can have on us. As darkness has to flee when light enters a room, the devil flees when we move closer to our Light, Jesus.

Knowing the truth, which is that Jesus is God and came to save us, all of us, and that we can be released from the bondage of sin, is true freedom. I pray that you have that freedom, that you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior and that you are now a co-heir with Christ.

Have a beautiful day!