Armor of God Session 3 - "The Breastplate of Righteousness"

Wednesday night Bible study is so inspiring not only with Priscilla Shirer's teaching but with all the women who come and participate. I am always encouraged by the chatter that happens as soon as women walk through the door.  Patty Karzmarski, who is a retired elementary school teacher, had to flick the lights off (as she has done in her classroom at times) to get everyone's attention to start class. So funny!  I would rather have loud chatter and laughing than an absolutely quiet room.  Give me loud chatter and women who love to be together studying God's word and sharing their life and experiences any day.

Notes from Session 3:

Priscilla talked about "The Breastplate of Righteousness" found in Ephesians 6:14

"Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness."

Why put on the breastplate of righteousness?  Remember the story about the overturned boat and her fishing with her boys?  When the boat is overturned, a lot of creepy things gather underneath the boat.  When you turn it right-side up, all those creepy things will scatter.  I've experienced this myself.  An "overturned boat" (unrighteousness) is the perfect environment to attract demonic influence in our life.  It's the enemy's invitation if we do not have the breastplate of righteousness on.

"Choosing right-side-up living deflects the attacks of the enemy", Priscilla Shirer says.

The first three pieces of armor are our uniform to have on every day, every moment:

• Gird our loins with truth
• Breastplate of righteousness
• Feet shod with peace

Our choices need to align with God's expectations.  Righteousness is upright living.

She mentioned we are strangers, aliens to this world.  We should live distinct from the culture.  We should affirm God's standard (truth) and then align (righteousness) our behavior with His standard.

Priscilla said that "truth is the railroad tracks in our life and righteousness is the train of our obedience and behavior that align with the railroad tracks of God's truth.  The enemy, though, wants to derail us.

When we live an unrighteous life, it leaves us open to a full frontal attack from the enemy.  We can pray until we are blue in the face, she said, but if you are praying against the enemy and living and unrighteous life, our prayers will not be effective.

If we want the guarding, the protecting the breastplate gives, we have to put into practice first girding ourselves with truth.

The breastplate is about living in alignment with truth.  The breastplate was connected to the belt to lift the weight off of the shoulders of the soldier and have the belt carry some of the weight.  Makes perfect sense.  We are not meant to carry our own righteousness.

Righteousness cannot be attained by us performing or striving for perfectionism.  Ephesians 1:13-14 explains to us that the Holy Spirit takes up residence in us allowing us to do what we cannot do in our own power.  Righteousness starts on the inside.

Sanctification (a setting apart) is done by the Holy Spirit as well.  It is a process.  We cannot do this on our own.  The Holy Spirit molds us into the image of Christ.  It is the job description of the Holy Spirit.

Righteousness cannot be manufactured.  When we try to make ourselves better, or strive to be perfect, or try to change on our own, it's a temporary fix.  The Holy Spirit gives a permanent fix - from the inside out.

What is righteousness all about?

It's about our attitudes, our motivations, our deep down stuff.  When we try to change ourselves from the outside first, it's exhausting.  It's the Holy Spirits job to chip away at everything that doesn't look like Jesus.  The breastplate fortifies us from the schemes of the enemy.  It protects our vital organ - the heart.

Priscilla said this, "your spiritual heart is to your spiritual life what your physical heart is to your physical life."  The enemy is after our heart - the centerpiece of our emotions.

Our conscience is the microphone the Holy Spirit uses to allow us to hear the voice of God in our life. The enemy wants to short-circuit our conscience.  He wants to weaken our spiritual immune system.

When we place our faith in Jesus Christ, the righteousness of Christ is credited to our spiritual bank account.  The Father sees the righteousness of Christ when He looks at us.

We need to remember the truth of who we are Christ.  Don't be crippled by perfectionism.  The treasure of righteousness is available for us to use.

Priscilla said to:

• Live righteous
• Have accountability
• Rely on the Spirit

Don't fight the change God is trying to do in us to live righteous.  Don't fight the cutting away process.  Don't fight the pruning.

Scriptures used in this Session:

Ephesians 6:14  
Romans 7    
Romans 7:24      
Ephesians 1:13-14  
2 Corinthians 5:17

2 Thessalonians 2:13  
Philippians 3:9  
Romans 5:19  
I Peter 2:24    
2 Corinthians 5:21

Proverbs 4:23
Galatians 5:16

Coming Up:  Session 4 "The Shoes of Peace"

The Armor of God Session 2 - "The Belt of Truth"

Last Wednesday evening Priscilla Shirer once again brought to us a dynamic teaching on "The Belt of Truth".

These are the session notes from the DVD teaching:

Checking in when traveling, the TSA agent is at his/her post using specific equipment to authenticate the identification of each traveler.  When we give them our ID, they look at it carefully, matching our faces to the picture on our ID.  Even after the TSA agent has had a good look at us, they then take our ID and pass it under a machine - a black light.  This light shines on our ID to authenticate who we are.  There is a translucent seal that is revealed to make sure our ID is not fake.  Only then can we pass through.

No matter how many times these TSA agents have done this, they always run it underneath the light, not trusting in what they can see with their physical eyes.  They will always depend on this "light."

This is where our armor really begins:  with the truth.

Ephesians 6:13-14a was our reference scripture for this session:

"Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.  Stand firm, therefore, having girded your loins with truth.....

The first piece of armor we need to utilize in order to stand firm against the attacks of the enemy is the belt of truth.

Why is this so important?

Because the enemy doesn't take a generalized approach when he attacks us.  His approach is always specific.  Priscilla said we can always know the mark of his every intention, every assignment and tactic.  It is deception.  According to John 8:44, the enemy is the "Father of lies."  He is the master illusionist - making us to think something is real but actually is not.

He shades our reality.

What we need is an unchangeable objective standard that is outside of ourselves.  A standard that will give us a clear perspective on what is happening.  We cannot trust our 5 senses, our past experience or what our eyes can see.

We need a light so we do not lean to our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5-6).  Our feelings do not have intellect.

Each piece of this armor in Ephesians 6 has already been mentioned in the previous chapters.  These are just symbols to show us what to do with what Paul has already explained previously.

Ephesians is divided into two segments:

Chapters 1-3 are filled with indicatives.  Indicatives are things that are declared to us about who we are and what we have.  They indicate to us what is available.

Chapters 4-6 are filled with imperatives.  We've been told what we have but now we're being told and commanded what to do with what we have.

He is now telling us in chapter 6 to put on what we have.

The clearest verse that describes the light and the truth is Ephesians 5:13....."all things become visible when they are exposed to the light".

The first 3 pieces of armor are unique because it is introduced by a participle in our English language: "having shod" or "having put on".  The job of a participle is to modify an imperative - a command.  Anytime we see a command in scripture, a lot of times we will see after that a phrasing like we see here.  There is a connection between how we're suppose to use these and how they impact the command we've been given.

Paul is saying to us that this is how we stand: "gird yourself with truth".

Let's be women who gird our loins up with truth, to bind ourselves to the word of God. His word is the unchanging standard that has to dictate our life.

The "belt" of a Roman soldier was the first piece of armor that he put on.  They needed extra stability at their core to be able to stand (70 pounds of armor).

We also need core strength when the pressures of life are too much to handle, weighing us down.

Look to scripture for the deciding factor.  Gird up our desires and decisions and tuck them into truth.

Read about Joshua and Caleb in Numbers 13.  They had to gird themselves up with truth to believe God above what they saw.

The Bottom Line
Truth is God's opinion on any matter.  Let's pledge our allegiance to the true standard - God's word.

Armor of God Session 1 - "Sizing up the Enemy"

Wednesday night began our first session in the new Priscilla Shirer Bible Study series "The Armor of God."

This study follows the recent success of the movie "War Room" which is out in theaters all across our nation.

Priscilla is a dynamic, motivated teacher of the message of God's armor - using personal illustrations and scriptures to help us thoroughly visualize our true enemy - satan.

"An invisible battle is taking place where you and I get the privilege of swaying the balance toward victory in the name of Jesus Christ." - Priscilla Shirer.

We are using Ephesians 6:10-19 as our baseline scripture for study.

We have learned so far through Priscilla:

1.  The battle is unavoidable.
Be on your guard.  Don't be lulled into spiritual sleep.  People are not our problem.  We can change our landscape.

2.  The enemy is invisible.
Satan is not God's peer or counterpart.  We need to pull back the curtain and expose the true enemy and not just keep dealing with the symptoms.

• Only our God is omnipresent.
• Only our God is omniscient.
• Only our God can work miracles.
• Only our God is eternal.

Because we have a relationship with Jesus Christ, we are seated with Him in heavenly places, which is right here, right now, where we are. In heavenly places is mentioned in: 

• Ephesians 1:3 - spiritual blessings
• Ephesians 1:20 - Christ seated there
• Ephesians 2:5-6 we are seated with Christ
• Ephesians 3:10 - rulers and authorities (enemies) are there

3.  The location is accessible.

We have full rights and privileges.  We have a divinely approved mechanism: Prayer (Matt. 21:13)

Paul is calling the church of Ephesus to be divine warriors - us as well.

"To the extent the church prays, that is the extent that they will be able to access all of the spiritual resources and divine authority given to them to stand against the enemy" - Priscilla Shirer.

4.  Our weapons are not physical.

We have weapons that work to pull back the curtain of the enemy's lies and not just fight the symptoms.  We have been handed God's Armor.

Isaiah 59:17-18 talks about the Divine Warrior.

2 Corinthians 10:3-4 talks about us not warring according to our flesh and describes what our divinely powerful weapons can do:

• Destroy fortresses
• Destroy speculations
• Destroy every lofty thing
• Taking captive every thought

5.  The victory is irrevocable.

The victory has already been given.  As Priscilla said, "look at Revelations......we win".

She stated that there are not only six pieces to our armor but seven.....prayer.  

"If we refuse to pray, our armor isn't activated.  Prayer activates the armor.  It's what allows us to be in the heavenly places to get suited up".

"Prayer is our internet access".

When the Flood Comes

Each morning, I wake up to my First 5 App alarm reminding me to read a chapter in Genesis and also read the devotion.

Today, Wendy Pope was the author of the devotion I'm going to share with you.  Proverbs 31 women always inspire me in their devotions.  Marvelous truths are roped in each day.

Let me share with you Wendy Pope's devotion from Genesis chapter 8:

Genesis 8:1 (NIV) "But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded."

"Christians have many benefits as children of God, but flood-free lives are not one of them.  Perhaps this is one of the most difficult things to accept.

Noah spent his life walking with God, yet he and his family faced a horrific storm.  As the door of the ark was closed, Noah's only hope was to trust God through the unknown.

We all have faced unknown storms.  The untimely death of a family member.  The uncertainty of our health.  Unemployment.  Just to name a few.  But our key verse gives us a certainty for times that are uncertain.

No matter the severity of the storm or how we arrived in its eye, we can trust two simple truths about God and the floods we face: 1) God remembers His plan for us. 2) God remembers His love for us.

A storm doesn't mean God forgot us.  God remembered Noah and gave him instructions to build the ark.  It was Noah's obedient that kept his family safe when the flood rose.  In the same way, God directs us, and our safety often requires obedience.

Whether we are currently in a storm or just on the other side of one, we can be certain our storm will end.  Isn't it comforting to know that God will be with us through it all?"

More Moments About Genesis 8
"The ark was the place of refuge from the flood waters for Noah and his family.  We can take refuge in God when the waters begin to rise (Psalm 46:1-2).

Another source of refuge is His Word.  The psalmist writes in Psalm 119:25, I am laid low in the dust; preserve my life according to your word." 

Joshua 1:5
2 Samuel 22:31

Loving Well Session 4

Our last session of Loving Well was Wednesday night.  What a great night to our ending session.

Our give-away winners were Linda Coen who won the Loving Well tote bag and Heather Wright who won the dark chocolate bar.  

Thanks to all the Girlfriend's who attended the Bible studies for the Spring session.  I'm currently looking into our Fall studies.

Notes From Loving Well Session 4

Beth started out this session with a question:

What if you're married to testy?

Beth stated that baggage attracts baggage. We have to ask ourselves what attracts us to such unhealthy people. Her answer was that there is something unhealthy in us if we are attracted to unhealthy people continually.

But she said, "God really does transform lives", speaking of her own marriage.

Two things if you're married to testy:

• You pray like crazy.  Since God looks at the married couple as one flesh, Beth believes you have the capacity to pray over your spouse unlike anybody else.
• Pray for God to make you loving and to not let you answer testy with testy.

Persevere and believe God because He does want you to have a strong marriage.  His specialty is raising the dead.  He can raise up a dead marriage.

The last difficult person to love is "Far" - the stranger.

We will never be more Christ-like than when we love people who do not love us.  The person who does not love us has given us an opportunity of our life.  It's our opportunity to shine in this selfish world.

She read Matthew 25:34-40 and said this was our Biblical mandate across the globe and not just in our personal world.

The person who would not even appear on our radar unless we allowed God to give us that awareness.

The question asked was "who is out of our world?"

God will challenge us to love people beyond our small world and take on a global perspective.

She challenged us to be people who have a heart for the world, for people in need, for people who will never come to us but we will have to go to them.

It is dangerous to live a spirit-filled life, she said, because we will do things we didn't intend to do when God is filling us and overwhelming us with His Spirit.

Strangers take all sorts of shapes and sizes.  We are called to love afar, a stranger.

There are two reasons for this:

• It is an opportunity to love with no strings attached, with nothing we can get back in return from them.  We were encouraged to pour out our life into another.  Until we are pouring out our life like a drink offering, we will never be happy.  We need to keep dipping into the loving well and pouring out.
• Loving from afar relieves us of the burden of self-absorption. We need to pour out our life completely into other people so we can be healed.  We need to help someone who cannot help us and love someone who cannot love us back.

Beth finished with Revelation 19:6-7 stating that "God is all about ministering to people, still about the people. The beauty of it is this: when it's all said and done, and we're all in heaven together, it's going to be good."

"Then a voice came from the throne saying: 'Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, both great and small!"  Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: "Hallelujah! For the Lord God Almighty reigns.  Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made has made herself ready."

The word "glad" in the NIV is not a passive word.  In the Greek it is "Agalliao" meaning ecstatic joy.  The New Testament word, Beth said, for joy is mostly Chara.  Agalliao is when Chara gets physical.

The dictionary meaning is this: to exalt, rejoice with exuberance, show ones joy by leaping, skipping or dancing.

"Let's do the hard thing and get out there and love.  We have no higher calling than that" - Beth Moore

The four-part series has ended, but as long as we live on planet earth, our challenges to love will not end.

We can't give up on loving our:

• Joy
• Testy
• Foe
• Far

Keep on loving well!

This summer, join a summer Online Bible study (OBS).  Many have been posted on the Girlfriend's of Faith Facebook page.  You can also host a Bible study of your choosing in your home as well.

Loving Well Session 3

Last Wednesday evening 21 amazing Girlfriend's shared in the Loving Well Bible study session 3.

I look forward to these girlfriend's coming into class. The chatter among them is music to my ears.

At the beginning of class, we drew names for a special project we would all participate in at the end of class. What was that project?

Writing an encouraging note to the person on our slip of paper.  It was inspiring to see women sharing their cards with each other with huge smiles, hugs and prayers.

Part of our class project was bringing in food items for the Faith Tab food pantry.  We have collected items over a time period of 8 weeks and will be delivered to the food pantry Wednesday, June 10th.

Notes from Session 3

In session 3, Beth Moore talked about reconciliation versus restoration.  She said that reconciliation may never occur even when we have forgiven or apologized.  Restoration may never happen because some relationships are not meant to be restored or reconciled if they are toxic.  She also added that we should never minimize the power of an apology.

We went through our 4 confessions of love once again.  This is our continued memory work.  Each women received a laminated colorful 4x6 card with the 4 confessions of love printed on them.  A great reminder for us when it's difficult to love.

We looked at John 15:9 where the word "abide, dwell or remain" is used in this passage.  They are all the same word that is now used in the Greek and translated in I John 4 for "live." 

What is God saying when He says "dwell in my love?"

Beth stated that in order for us to do what He's called us to do, to be what He's called us to be and to love who He calls us to love, we are going to need to live in a constant awareness of His love for us.

He wants us to live in that reality.

Why is it so critical that we do?

Because we will never love well until we feel like we have been well-loved.

She related that "Testy" is difficult to love but "Foe" is impossible to love.  It only comes from God.  We don't have it in us to do this on our own.

In this session, we were given 4 points about love:

Let's start loving because we're loved - not so we can be loved.
Human love will still seek to satisfy itself. Without divine love, we will be self-seeking in our love.  Proverbs says: "what a man craves most is unfailing love."  We need to refrain from seeking our cup of love to be filled elsewhere or to get approval.

We were reminded of the story of Leah in Genesis 29:31-35.  Leah was trying to get love and approval from her husband in her bearing of children, except with the last child.  With this child, Judah, Leah said "This time I will praise the Lord."  

Let's learn to love with God's love.
Le'ts not love small or have a self-seeking love. What is difficult to accept is this: these people in our life that we cannot escape, have been assigned to us, positioned in our life, placed in our life to give us gain with our pain.  They bring out the worst in us, but we need this "worst" to be brought up and out until we do not bite the bait any longer.

Let's learn to love with insight - Philippians 1:9-10
It's never been a Biblical mandate to love blindly.  We need a love that knows.  A heart that is smart.  Ask for insight into our "testy" and our "foe."  When we do, we will have a love and compassion for them. Insight brings compassion.  It will also remind us to deal with our stuff.  If we do not deal with our stuff, we will be them someday - testy.

To see hard love as an offering on His altar.
Sweet to His senses is us sacrificing in order to be obedient to Him. How do we respond in Christ likeness in our love?  We say:           
Even though you do not love me, I will love you first because           God loved me first.  I'm willing to make a sacrifice for you.

This is how we initiate Christ in relationships.

With our foes, we need to forgive, bring it to the altar as a gift. Sacrificing our rights, all we would want to say, the grudge we would like to hold - lay it down and forgive.

When we don't forgive, it keeps the power over us.  Our hanging onto it is what keeps it happening over and over again.

Let's love well!  

Loving Well Session 2

Continuing with our Loving Well study, last Wednesday we viewed session 2.

Such a lively discussion we had in our small groups at the end of this session.  As a facilitator, I certainly enjoy the chatter, laughter, tears and prayers that these Girlfriend's of Faith share each Wednesday.

Beth Moore rehearsed with us our Four Confessions of Love once again:

• God is perfect love
• Nothing can separate me from God's perfect love
• God pours His perfect love into my imperfect heart
• Accessed, I can love anyone through anything

As a group we are memorizing these four confessions, so when we encounter our "testy" and our "foe", we can repeat these to ourselves in order to respond in a healthy way.

These are my notes from this powerful session:

We want powerful things done through us, but not to us.  He's never going to do through us what we've not allowed Him to do in us.

We will not love well until we feel well-loved.

We were asked a question:  When God is showing you His love, can you recognize it?

We have so much history that we've been blinded to the recognition of God's love.  We need to not just "know it" but experience it down in our spiritual gut that we are completely loved and cherished by God.

If this does not get through to us, we will be unhealthy believers all our entire lives.

Anything is easier than loving.  The love of God must be ministered to us before it can be ministered through us.

These are two points Beth brought out in this session:

God is perfect love.  Our first statement of confession.

God is not only love, but He's perfect love.  We know a lot of things by memory and intellect that have never made it through to our hearts.  if it was getting in, it would be getting out.

If God is love, then it's not just a feeling to God.  It's who He is. Love is something God is. Love is part of God's God-ness.

Nothing you can do can make God love you less because it's not an emotion to God.  It's an expression of His being God.

We think God is like us.  He's not.  It's impossible for Him to love you less.

What does perfect love mean? "Complete".  Teleios in the Greek: complete, to reach its goal.

Look at John 4:18:  "perfect love casts out fear."  When we are in a state of fear, we are not letting God's love accomplish its goal in us. Perfect love refers to a love which is mature, not hampered by insecurity or anxiety (which is characteristic of immature love).

We are not yet mature in how we allow God to love us, as long as we are fraught with insecurity and anxiety.  It is the outgrowth of unbelief and rooted in pride.

Nothing can separate us from God's perfect love.  This is our second statement of confession. It's pretty much self-explanatory. Read Romans 8:38-39.

We sit in the seat of "joy" because:

• God rejoices over us - literally means dances, skips, leaps, spins around in joy  
• He sings over us  

"For the Lord your God is living among you.  He is a mighty savior.  He will take great delight in you with gladness.  with His love, He will calm all your fears.  He will rejoice over you with joyful songs." - Zephaniah 3:17 NLT

Let us continue to Love Well......