armed

“Use every piece of God's armor to resist the enemy in the time of evil, so that after the battle you will still be standing firm.”
~ Eph 6:13 (TLB)


A few years back, I came downstairs one morning before school and saw my then second-grader standing with her nose scrunched up and her head cocked to one side, a tip-off to me that she was thinking hard.

“This is Thursday, right?” Tera asked.

“No, it’s only Wednesday.”

She sighed and her face relaxed. “Good thing. That means it’s not my day yet.”

“Not your day for what?”

“To be chased at school. If today’s Wednesday, it’s Josh’s turn to be chased.”

“What?”

“We all take turns at recess,” she explained. “Today’s Josh’s turn, then mine is tomorrow. Carleton gets chased on Friday.”

“So what happens when it's your day?”

“I run from the boys. If they catch me, I have to go to jail. If I can escape when they’re not looking--great. Or Jasmine can let me out.”

“How does she do that?” I asked.

“She has a pretend key.”

What a great little system, I thought. And then I thought how nice it would be if real life worked like that. Wouldn’t it be helpful to know ahead of time which days you most need to be on guard?

Unfortunately, life doesn’t work that way. Your next battle could come today, it could come tomorrow, it could appear next week--but you don’t get to know ahead of time. There’s not one pre-arranged day for all your attacks to occur. No discussion. No warning. So you have to be on your guard every single day.

Two key things make the difference between being prepared and being caught:

1) Armor

God describes your pre-assigned armor in Ephesians 6. If it's been awhile since you've been in Ephesians, today's a great day to brush up on that passage. Then--put it on.

2) Caution

Resist saying, "I'd never ..." We often find ourselves smack dab in the middle of a fiercely tempting situation simply because we thought that was one area where we'd "never." The moment you finish that sentence, you tip off the enemy as to where you're unguarded.

I pray you have a peaceful, easy week. But just in case this is your "Thursday" and trouble or temptation makes an unexpected appearance and lines itself up against you, I pray you hold fast and stand firm.