Mary is in her early 40’s.
Exactly 10 months ago, she had a terrible scare; her doctor told her she was hypertensive. Her blood pressure on repeated measurements was over 160/100.
She was admitted for a few days and monitored.

It would have been good news for Mary that her doctor was considering placing her on very low dose antihypertensives for a short time considering that she also recently received a course of steroids for another health condition. According to the doctor, steroids can raise blood pressure. 
But Mary was deeply concerned, her parents are hypertensive. Could this be familial?

As things turned out, Mary’s blood pressure normalized within one month. She was relieved and so was the doctor. And thinking it’s possibly the effects of the steroids had cleared, the doctor withdrew the antihypertensives.

Two months ago routine medical checkup revealed Mary’s blood pressure was about 170/110 again! 
Mary was distraught. What was she going to do now? She can’t possibly start taking antihypertensives from her 40s and for the rest of her life.

Tossing and turning over on her bed all night, sleep eluded her. What were her options? Drugs or God’s intervention? Can she give her professed faith a little push? Could God fix this for her? Mary prayed most of the night asking God to normalize her blood pressure. 
She remembered her covenant of healing with God and made a decision to believe God for a miraculous healing.

God honored Mary’s little faith. 
She heard in her spirit to make just one dietary change which she did. Within 3 days Mary’s blood pressure was back to normal as confirmed by another medical check. 
Result of Mary’s last BP check was 103/83. 
Praise God! 
……………………………………………..
As a Child of God, resist the temptation to approach difficult and challenging situations with fear and trembling. God will Always give an answer of peace; sit back calmly and listen for the wisdom or strategy to your victory.

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
(Romans 5:8 NKJV)

Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. (I John 3:1 NKJV). 

For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. (I Thessalonians 4:7 NKJV). 

For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren. (Hebrews 2:11 NKJV). 

He chose us before the foundations of the earth. He loved us, just the way we were. He died to save us from sin and destruction, before we realized His existence. He picked us up from dirt, with dirt, cleaned us up, made us brand new, with new spirit, His spirit. Then He adopted us as sons and relinquished to us the rights and privileges of a son. Same privileges as the Only Begotten of the Father, who calls us brethren.

He doesn’t ever give up on us, because with each new day, like the greatest Goldsmith that He is, He judiciously and intentionally shapes, moulds and translates us to become like Him; in words, acts and thinking. 

What manner of Love is this?

Unconditional, boundless and endless love. 

Why do the heathen rage? Why does a dead man think he can threaten the living, threathen the one with God’s life in him? 

Who is the one who dares to make a pronouncement over God’s Chosen one? Who dares to speak when the Righteous One hasn’t spoken? 

Hold your peace Child, for their roar is empty. 

Hold your peace Child, for I am the One who chose a vineyard and planted you in it. 

Hold your peace Child, for your flourishing is in the place where I have planted you. Nobody dares to uproot where I Jehovah plants. 

Hold your peace, because these Egyptians you see today will be no more. These walls you see today will be no more. 

I am your Father and your God, I will defend you and uphold you with my right hand. 

Haven’t I said to you, that you are light, a reflection of my glory? I ask you, can I save light in a vessel to be hidden? 

Your rising is appearing and like light, it cannot be hidden. Because in you I have great treasure to reach many with my goodness. 

So hold your peace Child. Go to sleep. I am the One who personally fights your battles. Have you ever heard that I went to the battlefield and lost? 

I always win. And you always win in me. 

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Welcome back!

This is the 6th part of this blogpost series.

We have been looking at the composite parts of the Whole Armour of God as seen in Ephesians 6:11, 13-19;

“Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil…Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints-and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.”  NKJV.

In the preceding parts, we have discussed; the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation,gird your waist with the truth and shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

Today, we’ll conclude this session of this series {that is ‘His Armour‘} by looking at the remaining 2 components;  the Shield of Faith and the Sword of the Spirit. In subsequent parts, we’ll look at ‘The Warfare‘ and ‘Our Weapons‘.

Take on the Shield of Faith

What does a Soldier need a shield for?……………

A soldier’s shield protects him by deflecting or intercepting missiles thrown at him. The shield is usually held in the hand or mounted on the wrist or forearm. So most shields are positioned in front of a soldier so as to provide good cover.

The dictionary defines ‘faith‘ as;  ‘a complete trust in someone or something‘. The Bible definition of faith as seen in Hebrews 11:1 is however different, it goes beyond trust and confidence and gives tangibility to faith. It tells us faith is a ‘substance‘ and an ‘evidence‘.

The way I understand it, an evidence substantiates a belief or claim. Therefore, the Bible is saying that faith is the physical reality of the Christian belief.

How so?…..

I gave my life to Jesus Christ several years ago, precisely, in 1993, just after graduation from high school. A few weeks ago I remembered some terrible ‘unchristian’ experiences I had in college, the kind of memories that make you sad.  Thank God for the Holy Spirit, He fixed me up, and reminded me those experiences weren’t in vain.  I am thankful for the strength and loss of innocence they’ve brought.

As I did the throwback on my Christian walk, one thing remained clear to me; it’s been a ‘faith-walk’ through and through. Everything I know about God is by faith. Everything I have accessed in God is by faith. Every miracle I’ve experienced in God has been birthed through faith. I got back up from my fallen state, by faith and I have lived victoriously everyday after, by faith.

That’s what faith is. Faith is the substance of our belief. Faith is living. Faith is Evidence! Faith is Seeing! Faith is Now!

I believe I am born again by confessing Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour,….. by faith, and everyday I see a new me manifesting. I believe in the baptism of the Holy Ghost,…. by faith, and as I ask the Father to pour His Spirit on me, I open my mouth and find I am actually speaking in other tongues. I believe I have been healed by the stripes of Jesus Christ,….. by faith, and as I maintain my confession and walk by the spirit of God, my healing manifests.

So how do we use faith as a shield?

Probably the best approach to answering this question is for us to remind ourselves; how it all started. How did we become born again and filled with the Holy Ghost? The last time we accessed divine healing for a health condition, how did it happen?

Notice anything peculiar to the kind of faith we’re discussing here? ….

There is always a preexisting undesirable situation or circumstance! 

You know, God displayed what I believe is the highest kind of faith in The Beginning {Genesis 1:1-3}.

A previously empty, chaotic, formless and dark earth, received light and became filled with beautiful forms through a magnificent display of faith by God! 

God simply spoke what He wanted into existence and changed the status quo for ever!

That’s how simple faith is.

Yes, I hear your question, ‘Grace, do you really mean that?’ Yes.

By simply saying what God says about a situation rather than what we feel about it. By proclaiming and maintain our Godly desires about a situation rather than what we see. By speaking, confessing and maintaining the truth of our belief irrespective of present or prevailing circumstances.

The truth always prevails. Halleluyah!

So it doesn’t really matter what missiles, darts, arrows the enemy throws at us {and they don’t stop coming}. What matters is how we react – accept it or knock it off (or quench it) by faith?

That’s how to use faith as a shield.

When I feel weak, I confess that I am strong. When there is no money in my pocket, I confess that I am rich. When strange symptoms pop up in my body, I confess that I am healed.  And I maintain my confession until my faith becomes tangible, a substance and an evidence. A reality!

Praise God.

The Sword of the Spirit

To help us fully appreciate this component of the Whole Armour of God, first, we must answer the question of; what a sword is to a soldier?

A sword is a bladed weapon intended for slashing or thrusting. A sword is usually, long, straight or slightly curved with sharp edge (s). A good soldier would have swordsmanship- proper use and handling of the sword, and maneuver it so as to slash or thrust as the need arises.

What is the Sword of the Spirit?

Well, Ephesians 6:17-18  tells us to use the Sword of the Spirit, tells us what the Sword of the Spirit is, and how to use it.

“…and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints…”  (NKJV).

And according to Hebrews 4:12, the Word of God is sharper than any known sword….

“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”       NKJV

As we see, the Word of God is both a part of the Whole Armour of God (as the Sword of the Spirit) as well as a Weapon of Warfare {we’ll be discussing this further}. The word can slash, thrust and reach deeper than any known sword.

But of what use is the Word of God if we don’t use it? And how do we use the Sword of the Spirit?……….

By basing our Prayer and Supplication on the Word. By praying always in the Spirit, in patience and perseverance.

Friends and brethren, as we conclude our study on the Whole Armour of God, it is very obvious that the purpose for the Whole Armour of God is to make us prepared, immovable and victorious in the day of trouble. Therefore to successfully resist and stand our ground in time of danger, we must proactively and consciously be kitted in this armour always.

Let us always remember that our citizenship is of Heaven, we are born of God, we have His genes and our experiences should reflect same as we live in the awareness of our rights and privileges. We are clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, sin has no power over us and where there is no sin, there is no charge or penalty. Let us stay reminded that God’s word is the truth over our affairs. And so let us always proclaim this truth, testify of this truth so as to gain victory at all times.

Thank you so much for staying with me to the end of this session of the series. I appreciate all your feedback and thank God for the opportunity to share His word. It’s been quite refreshing and a tremendous blessing doing this study 🙂

Shalom and my love always.

I like to pick my children’s brains on the Bible sometimes.  I really find this very exciting.  I’d simply throw a scripture they should be familiar with at them requesting their interpretation of it.  For example; ‘Where is the secret place of The Most High’? ‘What do you understand by The Lord is my Shepherd’?  Believe me when I tell you these children come up with brilliant interpretations, sometimes they drop new revelation to run with for many days 🙂

On this beautiful morning, with their boxes packed ready to return to school, I needed to remind them of who they are in Christ Jesus.  Matthew 5:14-16 has been ringing in my head for about 3 weeks now, and who better to study it with than my lovely trio?

“You are the light that shines for the world to see. You are like a city built on a hill that cannot be hidden. People don’t hide a lamp under a bowl. They put it on a lampstand. Then the light shines for everyone in the house. In the same way, you should be a light for other people. Live so that they will see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven.                    -Easy-to- Read Bible Version.

You know how we read this scripture and then suddenly burst into the timeless ‘little light‘ song {this little light of mine, I am gonna light it shine…}. Oh dear! Do I love that song? Yes! I also have a lovely and most cherished personal quote on being Light (deduced from John 1:5) – ” I am light. Darkness has no place where light is“.    🙂

But Matthew 5:14-16 isn’t talking about a ‘little‘ light or darkness. Nope.  And I am glad my kids didn’t sing me the ‘little light‘ song. Instead, as always they provided beautiful and astounding explanations of the scripture they were presented with. Like this one; ‘Mummy it means to live in a way that nobody can prove that you are not a Christian’ WOW!!!  Even I did a step-back, sit-down and some thinking to fully grasp the revelation in that response.  🙂

Light is simply defined on Google as ‘the natural agent that stimulates sight and makes things visible‘. Light illuminates, light accentuates radiance, brilliance, glow and gives a glaring dazzle. Light shows direction in darkness.

Jesus is saying in Matthew 5: 14-16 that we should be a direction for other people. We should show the way to live and act. We should live worthy of our calling as children of God. 

Not too long ago I was member of a team assigned the task of making a purchase for an organization. Having made the first contact and subsequently introduced the merchant to the team, many questions were directed at me for clarification. One of such questions was; ‘ who’d get the discount the merchant was offering, me or the organization’?

We know it is common practice in many business settings for a link person to request variations that accrue to his/her account. Sadly, even members of the body of Christ partake freely in this practice. They see nothing wrong with presenting a receipt for a purchase that they’ve privately secured a personal kickback on.  I still struggle with these things. So my response to this particular question of; ‘sorry I don’t handle such details’, I know, would likely mean my exclusion from such negotiations in the future, but it did guide the team, because following my response, the question was withdrawn. {glad that some decency was displayed}.

Why have I shared this story? Because Matthew 5:14-16 came to me in the midst of it all.

Now, here’s the interesting part for me. A few days after the team meeting, a strange face with a familiar name popped up around my Facebook account. {Now you know I see you if you’ve been sneaking around my Facebook account 🙂 don’t ask me how}.   On a closer look, I was able to relate the face to the lead person at the merchant’s store who I’d met during my initial visit to the store on market survey.  What was she doing around my Facebook  account? Surfing! Who’s this Grace Obomanu? Didn’t this name sound familiar? Is she not the same person that blogs on the Bible?  Or maybe, she was just checking me out and can you imagine her reaction finding out that I actually openly profess to be a Christian?  You know how bad news about Christianity spread like wildfire? ……I am glad I didn’t sell out my birthright in this situation.

Like my little ones said, we should live such that no one can prove that we are not Christians. Let’s stay set like the lamp on a lampstand, like a city set on a hill. Let’s light our world.

Quick Update on Subject:

A brief and quick troubleshooting by our team showed no difficulty posting comments from mobile device or computers.

To help us fix the challenges you experience with posting comments on the blog, graciously communicate the error message you receive on your screen to talkwithgraceobomanu@gmail.com. 

Thanks always & God bless.

Grace Obomanu.

Brethren & Friends,

My sincere apologies to all those who have been experiencing difficulty posting comments on the blog in recent times.

Because I really look forward to reading people’s thoughts on my posts,  I am tempted to consider this occurrence a ‘principality’ requiring quick unsheathing of my ‘Weapon of Warfare’  🙂  as we have discussing past few weeks, …but maybe not just yet. 🙂

Please rest assured that we’ll fix this as soon as possible.Do expect a positive feedback soon.

Stay with us.

Love always,

Grace Obomanu.

Welcome back to the 5th part of this blogpost series. If you are just joining us, do a quick catch up by reading the first 4 parts {on this site}.

We started looking at the composite parts of the Armour of God as seen in Ephesians 6:11, 13-19;

“Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil…Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints-and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.”  NKJV.

So far, we’ve discussed 3 components; the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation and shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.  And today we move on to another component of the Armour of God; gird your waist (loins) with truth. 

Gird your waist (loins) with the truth

This is really an interesting piece in the Armour of God.

The loins refers to the part of the body, by the sides, between the last ribs and the pelvic bone, that is the 2 sides around the belle.

Gird means to encircle (a person or part of the body) with belt or a band. It also means to secure a garment or sword on the body with a belt or band.

Dictionary definition of truth is; ‘ in accordance with fact or reality or a fact or belief that is accepted as true (accurate, exact).’

How does the Bible define ‘truth’?  Let’s look at a few scriptures;

“Jesus said to him, ” I am the way, the truth, and the life.”  John 14.6a

{Jesus is the truth}.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God”  John 1:1

{Jesus is the Word}.

So,

Jesus=the truth

Jesus=the Word

Then, the truth=the Word.

In John 8:31-32, Jesus says to the Jews that the truth is the Word;

“Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed, And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:31-32.            NKJV.

John 17:17 is more explicit;

“Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” NKJV.

Having understood what the ‘the truth‘ is, next is to unravel the phrase, ‘gird your loins‘.

If you ask me, literally (from definitions given above for both gird and loins), to ‘gird your loins’ would mean to secure the area around your ‘belle’ with a band/belt.

I found an interesting passage of scripture where this phrase was used; 1 Peter 1:13;

“Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”   NKJV.

Other Bible translations provide better understanding of the early parts of 1 Peter 1:13;

“So then, have your minds ready for action…..” GNTD

“So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control…” NLT

Now, a Soldier uses his belt to fasten the rest of his armor around his body (waist) for ease of movement and to prevent him from tripping over them.

So friends & brethren, to ‘gird your loins with the truth‘ means to encircle your mind (thoughts and words) with God’s Word. It means to be ready for any form of confrontation from Satan by pushing an ‘it is written‘ at him. It means to accept the Word as the final authority over your life. It means to make the Word the standard and prism through which any other thought/word from within you or from any other source is weighed/screened.

Confrontation from Satan can come to us via our thoughts, from direct temptations, as sicknesses/diseases, as attacks on our loved ones or our marriages/relationships, etc, etc. But no matter what form they come at us, we should be prepared, ready with the Truth to help us crush them.

God’s integrity hinges on His Word (the Truth).

Hebrews 6:13 tells us that;

“For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself,”.  NKJV

God is His Word.

God’s word is CONSTANT.

One of my favorite Bible verses is Isaiah 40:8. Indeed I love this scripture;

“The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.”
NKJV.

And in 1 Peter 1:23 God’s word is seen as indestructible;

“….. but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.”
KJV

As humans, by design, we hang on to something. Every human being believes something.

I choose the Word of God! And declare that is TRUTH.

 Anything that doesn’t line up with the Word, is Not the Truth!

The truth says, ‘by His stripes we were healed‘, it says, ‘the blessing of Abraham has come upon all that believe in Christ Jesus’, it says, ‘I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus’,  it says, ‘I am an heir of God’, it says, ‘I am more than a conqueror’, ‘there is no condemnation for me who is in Christ Jesus’ etc.

I believe the Truth of God’s word and I declare that God’s word is the final authority over my life. Anything not written (in the word) is not the truth and is not for me. 

Halleluyah!