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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!

 

Welcome back, again 🙂

This is the 4th part of this blog-post series. We have been having so much fun discovering (and for some people), reminding ourselves of the Armour of God. Personally, I am already excited thinking about the Weapons of our warfare. But  that will come up in a few more parts to come (of this series).

If you are just joining us, you don’t really have to miss anything if you can spare about 30 minutes and be up to speed with us. Simply search for the previous parts (1-3) on this site.

In the last 2 parts, we’ve looked at 2 components of the Armour of God -the breastplate of righteousness and the helmet of salvation. The next component on our list, from our reference scripture (Ephesians 6:11, 13-19) is  –shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. 

“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.

 

Shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. 

People give different interpretations for this component of the armour and that is understandable especially if it’s read from the NKJV or KJV.

While some are of the opinion that this verse of scripture refers to preparing and preaching the good news of the kingdom, others believe it means Soldiers of Christ should study the word, so as to be battle-ready at all times.

To help bring more illumination to this verse of scripture, let’s consider it from a few other translations;

“and as your shoes, the readiness to announce the Good News of peace”  Good News Translation.

“on your feet wear the Good News of peace to help you stand strong”  ERV.

” and having strapped on your feet the gospel of peace in preparation {to face the enemy with firm-footed stability and the readiness produced by the good news}. AMP.

Question: Why does a soldier wear shoes at war?

1. To protect his feet from harmful elements in the ground of the battle-field
2. To help him traverse easily through difficult terrains
3. To support his feet and ankle (stability)
4. To protect from injury

Now, this is my understanding of what Paul meant;

1. Study and be well equipped with the gospel of Christ at all times. Have a word for every season. Expose yourself continuously to the word such that you become firmly rooted in it, stable and well prepared to make it through challenging times.
2. Seize every opportunity to announce to others the good news of Christ. Assure them that The Lord delivers, that The Lord reigns and that all is well.

Isaiah 52:7 helps explain this part for me;

“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, ” Your God reigns!”   NKJV.

A picture that quickly comes to mind here is that of a woman who is waiting anxiously for her husband to return from war. She seats day after day at her doorsteps, looking out, waiting expectantly for some news to soothe her anxiety and bring some relief/peace.  A one-line note from her husband that reads; ‘honey, it’s been tough here, but am fine’ is the good news she’s been waiting for to keep at bay all her worries and fears. 

But you see, you can’t give good news in trying and challenging times to others, except you already know it for yourself!  …..hence the need to be PREPARED.

3.  Have a peaceful disposition (even in battle). And this is not to say, don’t confront circumstances especially those that contradict your faith or belief, but be ‘peaceably- and Godly-stubborn’

Many years ago, when my fiance (now husband) came to meet my dad (to declare his intentions to marry me), my father tried to prepare him ahead by informing him that I am a very stubborn girl (yup, he did!)  🙂  So months later, during our premarital counselling, when asked by my Pastor what my weaknesses were, my fiance volunteered this information of ‘Grace is stubborn’. Oh Lord!           But good thing was, The Lord and my Pastor were on my side 🙂 because Pastor quickly told my guy that ‘stubbornness is not always a weakness’.

I love the kind of stubbornness that refuses to live a ‘ce sera sera’ life; whatever will be be will be. Naaa. I’d rather be peaceably immovable, unshaken but fully persuaded that ‘the blessings of Abraham‘ are all mine (there’s nothing ‘ce sera sera’ about that)     🙂

Having a peaceful disposition in battle, can only happen when you know, from studying and soaking up God’s word, that you can have a different (positive) experience.

Oh! Oh!! Oh!!! I love the whole armour of God.

Oh! that we may wear it, always. That we may be fully prepared, ready, stable, unshaken, immovable, peaceably stubborn and persuaded in the battles of our lives. Knowing that it doesn’t matter which way the torrents come, victory is assured because Christ already conquered all.

Thank You Faithful Father. I LOVE YOU.

 

Welcome back!

This is the 3rd part of this blog series. In part 1, we introduced the concept of the Armour of God and in part 2, we started looking at the components of this armour, the first being; The Breastplate of Righteousness.  If you are just joining us on this series, I urge you to read the first 2 parts to catch up. I’ve been getting great feedback from this series. So stay with us… 🙂

Today, we continue with another component of the armour of God….. the helmet of salvation.

The Helmet of Salvation

We have been reading at 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.

 

What is a helmet?: A protective gear worn to protect the head from injuries. A helmet usually covers the whole head. From a medical perspective, a helmet is worn to ultimately protect the brain from injury or damage by protecting the skull.

Simple dictionary definition for ‘salvation‘ is deliverance from harm, ruin or loss.

A very quick review of how salvation became a human need will take us back to the Garden of Eden, when Adam introduced sin into an otherwise sinless world through sheer disobedience. From that time, the whole human race became infected with sin, leading to spiritual death (1 Corinthians 15:21-22, Romans 5:21).

From a biblical perspective then,  salvation means deliverance from sin and its consequences (death) by faith in Christ Jesus. Sin and death (spiritual death), necessitated salvation.

When Jesus, in His discourse with Nicodemus (John 3), sadly informed the Pharisee;  ‘you must be born again’,  born of the spirit and the water, that became necessary because God kept His word {sadly, ..rolling my eyes} to Adam of ‘you shall surely die‘ as given in Genesis 2:17.  So as we see in John 3:5 &7 below, man needed a rebirth;

“Jesus answered, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot {ever} enter the kingdom of God……do not be surprised that I have told you, ‘you must be born again {reborn from above-spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified}”  AMP. 

I love the way the Amplified Bible version captures the above scripture… it’s thorough and explicit. And for me, it is this ‘reborn from above’ that is most exciting  when I think about ‘Salvation/Redemption’.

Why so?

Because becoming born-again (saved) changes everything! It changes my root, my citizenship, my identity and my experience (I’ve been thinking on this for weeks now and the more I think about it, the more excited I become).

John 1:13 very aptly captures this for me;

“who were born, not of blood {natural conception}, nor of the will of flesh {physical impulse}, nor of the will of man {that of a natural father}, but of God {that is; a divine and supernatural birth-they are born of God-spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified}.      AMP.

Romans 8: 17 reads;

“And if {we are His} children, {then are we His} heirs also; heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ (sharing His spiritual blessing and inheritance), if indeed we share in His suffering so that we may also share in His glory“.

Halleluyah! Halleluyah!! Halleluyah!!!

Imagine if you were the son/daughter of the President of a country, any country at all, you’ll have very high regard and reverence from other citizens (whether you earn it or not). Your family background gives you some privileges and rights.

So here’s my right and privilege, my salvation is cover over my head, it gives me a different identity.

Why head?

Because the ‘head’ connotes authority, rights and privileges.

Praise God for ever!  I am born of God. I am an heir of God. I am a supernatural being, born through a divine birth! I have the God-kind of gene-SINLESS! I am a member of God’s family because my citizenship is of Heaven. Satan cannot hold me down with sin or death. Halleluyah!

I can hear someone saying; ‘well Grace, you may be a citizen of Heaven but you’re not there (in Heaven) yet,  you may not be experiencing Heaven while on earth’.

Well John 10:10b tells me differently;

“…I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance {to the full, till it overflows}“.   AMP.

As we see, John 10:10 is not referring to a Heavenly experience. The life, enjoyment and life-more-abundantly Jesus came to give me is for here and now (while I live on earth).

A few years back when I experienced a most crippling illness, I put together a faith confession that I repeated regularly. A part of it read; ‘I am a citizen of Heaven. There is no sickness in Heaven and none can stay in my body’

I tell you, that is a revelation that has changed my entire life and attitude. It is a constant reminder that I can have a different experience irrespective of what is going on down here on earth. Halleluyah!

Brethren, every day and every time, let us be reminded of our identity, because it changes everything for us. As we confess that we put on the helmet of salvation, let’s say it in all understanding that we are BORN of God, we have His sinless-gene, we are God’s children and heirs ….and we have authority, we have rights and privileges …… that changes everything.

And if anyone is reading this post and is hungry like Pharisee Nicodemus, if you’d like to become born-again, the good news is – it is not difficult.  Romans 10:9 shows us how;

“because if you acknowledge and confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord {recognizing His power, authority, and majesty as God}, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved”.    AMP. 

That is how to become saved-believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord, that He died and God raised Him from the dead, then confess with your mouth that He is your Lord. THAT’s It! 🙂  Additionally, you must become water baptized by immersion and be baptized by the Holy Spirit.

Today is a good day to come under the cover of God’s fatherhood.  🙂

 

 

Welcome back!

This is the second part of this series. If you are just joining us, I encourage you to do a quick catch up by reading the first part.

We ended the first part  with the very long but powerful, 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 faithwith 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.

Question: How do you ‘put on’ salvation, righteousness, truth, faith, and the word of God?

When I tell my teenage boy on a hot sunny day, ‘go put on some clothes‘, chances are that, by my reckoning, the young man may be overdoing the thing of trying to stay ahead of the weather through baring. So apart from an initial juvenile whining, if at all, I expect that he’d move towards his closet, grab a tee-shirt and cover-up.

Now, wouldn’t you love if the whole armour of God were just a tee-shirt that can just be pulled on? 🙂  You only have to wear it once and stay eternally covered?  🙂  ……. I would personally love that!  Unfortunately, this armour is designed to be worn regularly,…. and for a good reason too. Because every time this armour is pulled on, a strong sense of one’s identity in Christ is reinforced.  Halleluyah!

The ‘Armour of God’ enumerated in Ephesians 6, is not a man-made armour.   You can’t make it, you can’t manufacture it, you can’t produce it.

It is ‘God’s Armour’. 

This is quite instructive , and for me, very fundamental to understanding how this armour works.

The Armour of God is God’s Armour! All I need to do is wear it every time to stay totally clothed with the whole of God.  Because if it is the armour of God, then God wears it too (halleluyah!).  Ain’t no wile from hell touching me when I am fully suited with God (ho-ho-ho).

Therefore, when properly worn, the ‘Armour of God’ should boost one’s confidence and make you walk with shoulders squared (this is absolutely exciting and mind-blowing for me!).

Now, there are different components (parts) of the Armour of God. Interestingly (and like man-made armours), each component strategically covers a given part of the body.

The Breastplate of Righteousness

A breastplate is the front portion of a plate armour covering the torso (chest). A breastplate, when used on horses, helps keep the saddle from sliding back.

What is righteousness? -This is the quality of being morally right or justifiable. It also means worthiness, nobility, honest, blameless, guiltless.

You know, another meaning of righteousness is uprightness. And an upright person is one who’s never lied or committed sin.

There is no such person!

I recently heard about a ‘christian sect’ where ‘righteousness and sainthood’ are attained or conferred. Please watch out for my upcoming blogpost; ‘The journey to Sainthood in Christ Jesus‘ as I debunk such myth by the Spirit of God.

When Paul says; ‘put on the breastplate of righteousness‘, he’s not saying to a select group of ‘qualified’ persons to do so {selah} because as we see in Romans 3:10 (Amplified), there are no righteous persons;

“As it is written and forever remains written, THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS {none that meets God’s standard}, NOT EVEN ONE. 

Before God therefore,  it is impossible for anyone to be morally right, justifiable, honest, blameless, or guiltless through self effort.

The only holy and righteous being is God.

But thank God for Jesus Christ! He made a way…

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV) tells of an exchange that took place following the great selfless sacrifice of Jesus Christ;

“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him“.

Halleluyah! Halleluyah!! Halleluyah!!!

I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. I have right standing with God. I am blameless and guiltless, …all because of Jesus Christ.

So when I put on the Breastplate of righteousness (by continuously professing it), my heart is not troubled or perturbed, that peradventure, sin or any sort of guilt could separate me from the love of God, thereby exposing me to Satan.

It’s a done deal.

I couldn’t gain my own righteousness (worthiness, honesty, etc) no matter how good my works were. Jesus Christ offered Himself as an eternal sacrifice to purchase me Righteousness from the only Righteous One- Jehovah. And now, I have the Righteousness of God. Halleluyah!

Brethren that is how you put on the Breastplate of Righteousness; by confessing and proclaiming that you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Sin, therefore has no hold on you, neither does Satan.

I love the Righteousness of God! …..Thank You Faithful Father.

Somebody asks; ‘well, Grace, why is this a good news? 

You know how many times Jesus said to a sick person after healing; ‘go and sin no more‘?

True that not all sicknesses result from sinful acts, but there’s a relationship between sin and disease. There is a relationship between an unrighteous living and being exposed to the one whose mission is to ‘steal, kill and destroy‘- Satan.

And that is why the location of RIGHTEOUSNESS as the Breastplate is crucial as the HEART Is located over your Chest area. The feeling of guilt, defilement or unworthiness all stream from the heart. The lure and desire to sin, stream from the heart. So with the Breastplate of Righteousness you are protected from being pulled back into sin and from feeling depressed with guilt if you accidentally sin. Halleluyah!

I am so thankful that Jesus Christ ensured that I stay well protected from Satan when He made His righteousness available to me.

I know who I am.  I AM THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS. I overcome this world (and sin) because I am born of God. In this state and with a consciousness of my identity, Satan cannot successfully hurt me.

Halleluyah.

As always,..

I love you.

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Friends/Sisters/Brothers,

Greetings!

I feel a deep need to apologize for delaying this blogpost, a topic The Lord dropped on my mind many weeks ago. As always happens every time there’s this kind of delay in developing and publishing a God-given topic, multiple events relating to the said topic begin to occur all around me.  This usually makes me sad, and I’d usually start apologizing to The Lord in my heart for not responding promptly to His prompting  🙂     He always forgives me (and I am hoping you would too). I am encouraged always because he has never told me the topic has expired and irrelevant. I believe strongly therefore that every ugly, unpleasant situation that this post was meant to fix many weeks ago, can still be fixed today. Jesus Christ is the SAME yesterday, today and forever! Halleluyah

I tinkered with the topic for this post, maybe, for way too long….and as it seems, I landed 3 mega topics in one!! To praise The Lord or to be sorry for myself?  🙂  ………  Well, I love long blogpost series  sometimes because every time a sub-section gets published, my spiritual antennae are set way up (on the particular topic), to catch as many revelations as The Lord would give me.

This is a very long, wide and extended topic. It is expansive and I am really excited to be doing it at this time.

There are 3 subsets to this topic:

1. His armour
2. Our weapons
3. The warfare

In my very short time of knowing and serving the Lord (over 2 decades now), and particularly in the past few years of serving The Lord through graceobomanu’s blog and Talk with Grace Obomanu (running into 4 years now), I have learnt that Satan takes added interest in anyone who loves and faithfully serves The Lord Jesus Christ. It’s a battle of kingdoms and happens ALL the time. Only this time, a WINNER was declared thousands of years ago. And this WINNER transferred all His winning rights and privileges to His followers. And I am one of them {say same for yourself}

Everyone who is in Christ Jesus, WINS! And everyone who is in Christ Jesus should be battle-ready at all times.

Did I hear you ask; ‘how possible is it to be battle-ready at all times’? And ‘why be battle-ready if we are already Winners’?

Stay with me on this blogpost series as we embark on an interesting, revealing and exciting journey into winning every spiritual warfare by being fully suited with the whole armour of God using our spiritual weapons.

His ARMOUR

An armour is a covering, usually made of metal, soldiers wear to cover and protect their bodies in battle. A well-trained knight would wear armour for protection before a fight. Some vehicles have hard metallic coverings -armour, to protect them against attacks.

As a verb, the word ‘armour’ would mean to provide someone with emotional, social and other defenses.

No other Bible verse best describes ‘the armour of God’ to suit the context of this article like Ephesians 6:10-18,  but first,  take a look at 1 Samuel 17:4-7, a vivid description of how a well-armoured soldier looks   🙂

 “The Philistines had a champion fighter named Goliath, who was from Gath. He was over 9 feet tall. Goliath came out of the Philistines camp. He had a bronze helmet on his head. He wore a coat of armour that was made like the scales on a fish. This armour was made of bronze and weighed about 125 pounds. Goliath wore bronze protectors on his legs. He had a bronze javelin tied on his back. The wooden part of his spear was as big as a weavers’s rod. The spear blade weighed 15 pounds. Goliath’s walked in front of him, carrying his shield.”   ERV. 

Let me thank my Pastor (Pastor Mrs Nkechi Ene, Presiding Pastor, The Carpenter’s Church, Port Harcourt, Nigeria, for drawing my attention to the Easy-to-Read Bible Version, which is very explicit with descriptions -excellent for visuals).

I am convinced that there is no need to bore you with the tiny details of Goliath’s armour (which by the way, David thought was ridiculous), well, at least not for this article, but notice that the Bible carefully listed the particular parts of body that Soldier Goliath covered. His head, chest, loins, legs/feet, and with readily accessible weapons -the javelin and the spear (in his hand).

A part of  Apostle Paul’s closing lines in his letter to the Church at Ephesus (Ephesians 6) was for the church to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might by putting on the whole armour of God. Oh! how often we, as Christians, so carelessly walk around unarmoured!  Brother Paul admonishes us to be ready always to withstand the wiles of the devil.

The Wiles of the devil don’t come at us shouting; ‘I am a WILE of the devil, I am a WILE of the devil’. That’s why Paul coined them ‘WILES‘.

Wiles are devious, cunning, manipulative, persuading tricks, schemes and strategies. Wiles are intended to deceive, seduce and manipulate.  Guess who has totally mastered the art of using wiles…. Satan!!.  He throws wiles as darts all the time. Then he awaits your response/reactions. The moment you say ‘yes’ to any of these darts, he aims at you fully.

But thank God Jesus saw through him, big brother Paul saw through him and I am hoping every Christian would see him just as he is- cunning, manipulative and seductive, constantly creating mirages to spread fear, hopelessness and despair.

The devil’s wiles are subtle, often clad as harmless baits which can easily ease into our lives and circumstances. Therefore to be sensitive, discerning and alert at all times, every follower of Jesus Christ must be  fully armoured at all times.

What is the ARMOUR of God?

In spite of the minute details provided of Goliath’s armour, I cannot categorically say it was a complete armour (forgive me). Did Goliath feel some part of his body was still at risk of being hurt despite his regalia? Possibly  🙂

Thankfully we have no such fear with our spiritual armour, ……we find the FULL (whole) armour of God 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.

Question: How do you ‘put on’ salvation, righteousness, truth, faith, and the word of God?   🙂

The answer to this question (and more) will be coming to you in the second part of this blogpost series.

Stay with me.

My love always……