Reminder - The armour of God is a lifestyle

Hallelujah, Praise the Name of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Greetings once again to all the saints. Greetings to the entire body of Christ. A special welcome to the Holy Spirit as we journey through this revelation. Jesus' promise still stands, He says in Matthew 28 verse 20 that He will be with us until the very end of the world - and trust me when I say I was once again reminded of His presence this past week as I was preparing for intercession.

I am excited to share this revelation with the body of Christ - I am sure we all know Ephesians 6 verse 10 - 17 and have read and mediated on it so many times. You've probably have declared it so many times upon your situations too. That is not wrong at all, but God in His faithfulness nature, He has given me a new revelation. This revelation is backed up by Lamentations 3 verse 22: "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not." God is indeed faithful and it is evident that His hand is still upon His children. Trust me when I say I was in tears when I received a Word from God saying "The armour of God is not what you quickly put on as a defence mechanism when the enemy attacks but is how you should live your life. Church, the armour of God is a lifestyle, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, we will download and breakdown the revelation thereof.

As a church, we are called to prayer, and not only that but to live a "Christ-like" life (We learn this in Philippians 2 verse 5 where Apostle Paul emphasizes that in our relationships with one another, we must have the same mindset as Christ Jesus) hence this community is called "Christ-Centered". Living a Christ-Like life does not exempt us from the attacks, infact we are attacked even more when we imitate Jesus Christ. When you read Ephesians 6 verse 13 (NIV), it says "....when the day of evil comes" not "if" - it is a guarantee that the day will come and as a Child of God you have to be ready at all times, hence you can not quickly "speak" the armour of God, but start making it your lifestyle. So, let us breakdown verses 14 - 17:

• Belt of Truth - I need to say this, and say it right. Jesus Christ is the ONLY truth, not one of the truths, He is the ONLY truth. (John 14 verse 6: Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me)
• Breastplate of righteousness - We are called to live a life that is pleasing to God (Ephesians 5 verse 1 -7)
• Gospel of peace - As the body of Christ we must always be ready to spread the good news about Christ (Romans 5 verse 1 - 11)
• Shield of Faith - When you walk with Christ, you have to keep your faith in Him (Romans 8 verse 28 - 39)
• Helmet of Salvation and the sword of the Spirit - Ephesians 6 verse 17 teaches us that the sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. You have to feed your soul with the Word of God (Matthew 4 verse 4: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God). Our bonus Scriptures for this is Hebrews 4 verse 12 and 2 Timothy 3 verse 16.

In closing, I want us to imagine a warrior, ready to fight. That's literally what Ephesians 6:10 -18 is teaching us. The rulers, authorities, powers of this dark world and spiritual forces that Paul refers to are going to attack and we ought to defend ourselves like a warrior would - although as the body of Christ we will have the belt of truth around our waist, a breastplate of righteousness in place and our feet fitted with readiness that comes with the gospel of peace. Not only that, we will have the shield of faith which we will use to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one and we will be wearing the helmet of salvation and carrying the sword of the Spirit - which is the Word of God.

This Week's Prayer point

• We are thanking God for the "new thing" that He is doing in our lives (Isaiah 43 verse 19)

More Grace and Peace as we come to the knowledge of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ

Amen