“…that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, ‘TO STAND’. Stand therefore,…” (Eph. 6: 13b-14a) (My emphasis added.)
“Therefore the ungodly ‘shall not stand’ in the day of judgement,…” (Psalms 1:5a) (My emphasis added.)
Your spiritual armor has everything to do with your ability to survive the great spiritual storm and be found still STANDING. Your Bible very specifically identifies an evil day in which there will be a great falling away before the antichrist is revealed. (2nd Thess. 2:3)
Your Bible declares as fact, not just God’s “opinion”, the ungodly, (the spiritually naked), shall not stand on judgement day. They are the “fallen”. The righteous in Christ, in his armor, may fall many times, but always gets back up and is found STANDING! You don’t want to be the “fallen” on judgement day. You want to be the “Gap Standers” as revealed in Ezekiel. (Last Sunday’s article.)
“Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night.” (Psalms 1:1-2)
It’s hard to pick a “most important piece” of the armor. THEY ARE ALL MOST IMPORTANT! But the other day I was surprised by something that occurred to me. The item I pictured as the least impressive, (the belt?), may be the most important! I mean, how can you compare a belt to a shield? Or sword? Or tough boots? A fancy breastplate, or helmet? In my mind, the visual picture of a “belt”, although still very important, but definitely not the first thing I picture when thinking about being “impressed”!
AND YET…I was struck by the question…what is my deadly enemy’s strongest weapon? Without it, he becomes irrelevant! But with it, we have watched everything from the fall of Adam and Eve, to the crucifixion of Christ! God himself nailed to a cross by man!
Satan is the master Deceiver.
All of a sudden I had to take a stronger look at “The Belt of Truth”, also the first item listed in the scriptures! When Jesus said, “The truth will set you free,” he was speaking of that Belt! Anything less than the truth is the beginning of our fall!
Just think about it for a moment. False information leads us to make our decisions based on assumptions that will not STAND! Have you ever made an investment based on the advice of someone, or some information, convincing you this is a great investment, only to lose your shirt? Have you ever done anything you later regretted because something, or someone, convinced you at the time, it was a smart thing to do? Most of the time we choose our forks in the road based on what we believe to be TRUE! So what happens when we discover “our truth” was really a false reality, a lie?
We usually suffer loss. The trap has sprung and we are in it! We experience defeat, pain, sorrow, consequences, REALITY, depression, poverty, and TRUTH! But now it is too late. The damage is already done. The truth could have spared us all the pain and loss. Maybe if we had known the truth, maybe we would have chosen the other fork in the road? At least we could have made a decision fully knowing the risk we were taking.
Sometimes we make choices based on a love for money, lust, pride, the “7 Deadly Sins”, even though we know the truth. We know we will suffer for the decision later. That’s another kind of stupidity not really the focus of this lesson. When we’re in our right mind and using wisdom, we try to make good decisions based on what we believe to be true.
When it comes to our spiritual armor, and our enemy’s strongest tactics, the truth is everything! If you don’t fully know what those “Boots of the Gospel of Peace” do for you, the fact you now have “Peace with God”, then the devil can come along and begin his lies! Such as, “Boy you really blew it this time! You’ve sinned one too many times, buddy! God is now your enemy!”
If you can be convinced you no longer have a “Peace Treaty” with God through the blood of Christ, then you will be too broken to repent again, ask for forgiveness again, fight the enemy again, rise to your feet again, and you will begin to just give up, embrace the sin, and the enemy now has you in his territory, the land in which he is strong, the land of his lies!
Anything less than the truth is the beginning of our fall! (Such as “What would Jesus do? And what did Jesus do? Why the disconnect? Last article.)
He has managed to move us away from “what is true”. And now all the rest of the armor begins falling apart. Your shield of faith is wilting, you won’t even pick up your sword because you’re lost in guilt, your brain is doubting salvation, your heart is falling into darkness, every piece of that armor is crumbling because of the lies of the enemy! The whole time your armor is shouting to you the truth! But you’re no longer even bothering to charge your armor. Your light’s going out!
How precious is the truth in a world of lies? What dollar value could be put to it? And you; us? We are called to be God’s Warriors of Truth! What a worthy battle to fight! What an honor!
When I was driving back from the Black Hills of South Dakota, with a phrase echoing in my mind, “Path of the White Feather”, at that time I had no idea what it all meant. Since coming back, that phrase has led to this blog site and “Fellowship of the White Path”. The White Path is all about knowing as much TRUTH as possible. What does greater light have to fear from lesser light? Not a thing. We keep an open mind and consider all things.
Jesus walked the Red Path of his blood, so we could walk the White Path of his TRUTH. The truth is, our current spiritual job assignment is to be a Kingdom of Priest to this lost world. I hope that doesn’t get in the way of your false reality of living like a king right now. That “lesser light” will cost you big in the long run. The day will come when you regret living as a king, rather than God’s servant. Beware of the forked tongue. Please check everything Grandpa White Feather teaches against God’s holy Word of truth, our Sword of the Spirit!
In those days, that Belt was also used to “gird up” the long robe so it did not still hang around their ankles. That Belt was a sign of coming “challenge”, and you being ready to fight! To gird up your loins was something they tried to do before the enemy actually attacked. We would be wise to do the same!
Wearing the Belt of Truth, do not be afraid to pick up that sacred Sword, and expose Satan in the light of your Armor! Praise God forever! Stay charged, people of God! Godwalkers every one! An Enoch people walking with their Lord in white! Ready to be suddenly taken by God!
Path Without End 