Spiritual Armour?

I read Ephesians 6 this morning for my 'Freedom in Christ' daily reading... What does the spiritual armour of God mean to me then? How do I make use of it? It IS available to me I know that, but I know as well that often it seems too heavy to carry. It's easier just to drop it all and do a runner!

'Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled round your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.' (Ephesians 6:14-18)

Belt of Truth - the truth to me is that Jesus Christ loves me so much to die for me, God so loved me that he gave his One and only Son, I am holy and blameless in his sight, a saint, I'm forgiven, there's no condemnation, I've been justified, redeemed, blessed hugely and I'm being sanctified each and every day.

Breastplate of Righteousness - Jesus' righteousness is my righteousness and no Satan scheme or worldly idea or fleshy desire or sin can change that. All power is in the cross with what Christ did for me. All righteousness comes from God. 'You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.' (Romans) Satan does not have ownership over me, my loving God does! He leads me on the right path, I belong to him and he paid an extreme price to set me free.

Gospel of Peace 'boots' - Jesus came to reconcile me back to God. Jesus brought me near through his blood, shed for me. Jesus himself is our peace. He came and preached peace to those who were far away and peace to those who were near. (Ephesians) The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control! (Galatians) This peace brings 'readiness'.

Shield of Faith - Faith is to believe in what can't neccesarily be seen or fully understood. 'If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.' (Matt.21) Our defense at the end of the day is our faith, and Jesus says that we need only faith the size of a mustard seed to move a mountain... I mean, God's gonna ask us what we did with our lives and I'm guessing he doesn't wanna hear about all the stuff we managed to pile up in our houses, our possesions and all the 'important' things we did, the meetings, pop concerts, and all the qualifications we got... Faith is what makes our relationship with God possible and it's what keeps us going, not 'stuff'. God wants us to know him and believe in him so he can work in our lives.

Helmet of Salvation - Helmets protect your head, your mind. Here we have deliverence from sin, we've been saved, delivered, redeemed by Jesus and he doesn't go back on his Word or let go of his precious children very easily I figured. That salvation protects my mind from enemy attacks whether I'm aware of it and taking advantage of it or not. It's the solid proof of what God is like as much as it can be 'proven'.

Sword of the Spirit - I want a real sword you know! Think of the power behind it... but we're talking about the Holy Spirit here - nothing beats his power, we already hold the victory. The Spirit fights for us when we're weak, the Spirit speaks through us when we don't know what to say or pray for. The Spirit is ALWAYS with us and delights in being with us. The Spirit is awesome.

All of these things aren't 'natural' they don't come easy, it takes effort and self-control and a longing to live for God, it takes a fighter.

'Standing firm' I guess hints at the fact that it ain't exactly easy in that there's some standing firm to be done! I've seen that recently in other people's lives and in my own actually. Life ain't easy, and being a Christian actually isn't any easier than not being, but it doesn't half make life more worth while and liberating and purposeful and satisfying. To know that God is with us makes troubled times have a purpose. We know that God does discipline his children and that we aren't ever gonna like that, but we also know that he works everything for good and that he loves us with an everlasting love.

I don't understand what's going on with me in my emotions at the moment, but then I don't understand a whole heap of things and it's not my job to at the end of the day, and God says that's okay! We don't need to understand and know everything to call God our Father and for him to accept us as his dearly loved children. We don't need to be perfect, we just need to know that his perfection is enough for each and every one of us if we believe it.

We're in a battle -a BIG one!