Greetings my Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus! I pray all is well. As I am sure you are aware right now, our church is doing a teaching series on the Armor of God. And I am positive with Pastor Tony and Pastor Ryan, you have heard these verses: Ephesians 6:13-17 NLT
[13] Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. [14] Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. [15] For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared. [16] In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. [17] Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
https://bible.com/bible/116/eph.6.13.NLT
But how do we do that? How do we put on the full armor of God? Well, before we explore that answer, I have a story to share with you. A few weeks ago, at a prayer service we were having at Northwoods - by the way, all of you are more than welcome to join us at these - Pastor Tony was limping and I thought that was weird. I'm the only one who should be walking like that! Anyway, I go to pray over Pastor Tony and, being his friend, I am well aware that Pastor Tony is a huge fan of movies. So, with that in mind, I smashed my hands together like so, and began to recreate the scene where Mr. Miyagi relieved Daniel's injury before his final match. Pastor Tony and I both had a good laugh before I prayed over his knee.
The reason why I'm telling you this is because our God is the God of foreshadowing, and as I was preparing this sermon, he brought me back to that moment. Also, in Karate kid, the premise of the movie is: a kid moves to a new town where he gets himself in trouble with the leader of the local karate gang, and the leader of said gang wants to put Danny in his place. When they go to do so, Danny is saved by an old martial arts master who, at first, doesn't want to train Danny. But eventually, takes compassion on the boy and begins to train him in Miyagi Do, by way of painting and sanding. After the boy becomes frustrated, feeling cheated as though his time had been wasted as he had been deceived into doing free labor for the old man, Miyagi responds by saying sternly, “Daniel son, show me wax on.” Then, precedes to throw a punch, which Danny blocks by doing the motion for wax on, which he now has ingrained in him by the chores he had deemed pointless. Now equipped with the revelation of how much he has learned, Danny is able to take his training to the next level and go on to win the battle against his enemies.
Putting on the armor of God is the same; it starts with the practice of reading the Word and praying daily. Unfortunately, so many Christians - myself included - have neglected these two daily disciplines and viewed them as burdensome chores, not realizing that these two practices combined with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, are the foundation of our walk with Christ - or our wax on wax off.
You see, it is through reading and meditation of the Word that you learn Christ: with how He talks, walks, prays, teaches, engages and loves. It is through prayer that we learn to submit ourselves unto Him, and give Him control. You see, the armor is not separate pieces, but rather it is the Spirit enveloping you as a whole that you are no longer seen but Christ.
May you be fully equipped in the full armor of God, not lacking in anything.
Blessings,
PDS