The Armor of God
“Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.” (Ephesians 6:11)
We found a lump in Lyric’s breast.
Not my breast – Lyric’s breast.
Not my 33 year-old breast – Lyric’s 11 year-old breast.
It was Wednesday night and I told my baby to go take a bath.
I was in here writing, working in my office thinking all was well.
She was going to take a bath and get ready for bed thinking all was well.
And it was - for those last few seconds.
Those last few minutes. Those last few breaths.
Then she came back.
“Mommy,” she said. “I forgot to tell you – my breasts were hurting today in school.”
I thought nothing of it. I just told her to go check her breasts for fluid.
See, we’d had an earlier episode when her breasts had begun to leak this clear, sticky fluid. We went to the doctor, and they declared it hormonal. So, I wasn’t alarmed.
I just said go check your breasts for fluid.
She did, and that’s when she discovered the lump.
“Mommy,” she said. “There’s something hard in my breast.”
And I kept writing.
Just a few more seconds. Just long enough to take in what she’d said.
I kept writing.
Just a few more seconds. Just clinging to those last moments of normalcy.
I kept writing.
Until I couldn’t.
I kept writing until I had to get up, walk my daughter to my room and examine what she called a lump.
Surely, she was wrong: I didn’t even know what a breast lump felt like.
I’d just had my annual breast examine a day before. When the doctor asked if I checked my breast regularly, I said, “Yes – but I don’t know what I’m looking for.”
She explained it would be hard, immovable. Solid, rock-like.
The next night I found myself examining my baby’s breast, and I felt something.
It was hard. Immovable. Sold. Rock-like.
And Lyric cried out every time I touched it.
“Mommy, what is it?” she asked.
“A breast lump,” I said simply. And she fell into my arms crying.
I just prayed and began speaking biblical scripture over life.
Ephesians 6:11 instructs us to, “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.”
Note that it says “your stand.”
That makes it personal.
No one is exempt.
Some day.
Some hour.
Some second – you’ll have to take your stand.
It won’t always be someone else’s mama with cancer.
It won’t always be someone else’s child acting a fool.
You’ll have to take Your Stand.
Because one day, it may be your child who is gay.
It may be your husband that’s having the affair.
Or, it may be your wife that’s pregnant by someone else.
Then, you’ll have to take Your Stand.
But you can’t take a stand unless you read the entire verse.
It tells you how to take a stand and who you’re taking a stand against: key elements in this fight.
See, in order to do battle you have to know who you’re fighting. Swinging wildly at everything close by won’t get it. You might just knock your help out. And, every weapon won’t work for every battle. We must know your enemy and what works to take him out.
So, Ephesians 6:11 says, “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.”
This fight requires full armor.
Whatever the enemy is sending your way requires complete and full coverage in the armor of God. It’s serious.
A lump in an 11 year-old’s breast is dead serious.
And, it requires full armor because Ephesians 6:12 tells us something about or enemy. It says, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
We’re fighting evil folks – and only the armor of God will allow us to stand.
That’s why in verse 13, we’re instructed again to, “put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”
And how do you stand?
In full armor.
What’s our armor consists of?
It’s the, “the belt of truth buckled around your waist, the breastplate of righteousness in place, your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace… the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one… the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
That’s the only way we can stand.
It was the only way I could stand that night.
Lyric cried. And I prayed.
I used God’s truth – his scripture – to help me stand.
I didn’t fall apart. I didn’t cry. I didn’t question God.
I just starting repeating God’s truth over and over.
“God, you promised to never leave me nor forsake me.” (Deut. 31:6)
“God, you said by your stripes Lyric is healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)
“Lord, you said you eye is upon the righteous and your ear is attentive to our cry.” (Psalms 34:15)
“Father God, you said, no weapon formed against Lyric shall ever prosper.” (Isaiah 54:17)
“God, you said all things are working together for Lyric’s good because she loves you and she’s called according to your purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
“God, you said Lyric is more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus who loves her.” (Romans 8:37)
“Dad, you said you gave Lyric power to trade upon snakes and scorpion and over all the power of the enemy. Nothing can by any means harm her.” (Luke 10:19)
“Father, you said goodness and mercy shall follow Lyric all the days of her life.” (Psalms 23:6)
“Father, you said a thousand could fall to Lyric’s side, and ten thousand could fall to Lyric’s right, but it will not come near her. …) (Psalms 91:7)
And so on and so on and so on.
I just kept calling out scripture over Lyric. But I could only call it out because it was in me
– and I can’t really take credit for this. It’s God’s work.
In recent months He’s been calling me to intimacy, in depth study and time with Him. He’s been calling to me to make Him first. Rise early and run to Him. Not my e-mail. Not the reading I want to catch up on. Not my to-do list.
To Him.
Again, I can’t take credit because I fought Him all the way. Still do.
Though I go to God in the mornings to read scripture and pray, I struggle with the stillness he wants me to dwell in. On my knees, being quiet and still and listening is hard – so I often skip it. Other times I lay there and receive His instruction and comfort and peace and leadership and guidance.
This day, all that was with me.
I was able to take My stand – against this scheme.
Now a scheme is an underhanded plot. It’s an elaborate, systematic plan of action – and the devil’s got one designed specifically for each of us.
It’s elaborate. It’s well-planned. It’s sneaky. It’s clever. It’s tricky.
And, it’ll work if you’re not covered up in God’s truth, His complete armor.
So many of us think it’s enough to got to church on Sunday, maybe bible study or Sunday school. It’s not. We need to read and study the word for ourselves – because when it’s time to take a stand, that old fall back, Jesus wept, won’t get it.
We better know how to specifically call out the scripture that speaks to our situation. God is responsible for the impossible. The possible – study, meditating, reading scripture – is on us. God said to meditate on his word day and night, to keep his demands and decrees in our hearts so they will not depart from us.
So we can take our stand.
Our Stand.
Folks, there’s coming a day, a time, a season, when our faith will be tested.
In these last days wrong is declared right. Wars abound. Evil prospers. Good is shunned. Can we stand against that?
When trouble hits your home – it’s your son that’s been arrested.
When calamity calls – it’s your spouse strung out on drugs.
When the enemy stalks – you’re being evicted.
Can you stand?
Can you call out the word of God and go forward in him?
I did – and it was only by grace. I didn’t even know I had it in me until it had to come out. But still it was hard.
Still, it is hard.
Lyric and I got for another doctor’s appointment today – and even right now I don’t want to go in here and pray because I’m afraid what might be revealed.
But I’m going.
I’m going to get this armor of God on – so I can stand.
We’ve had one report and it’s a good one, a positive one. It doesn’t appear to be anything serious. Painful, but not serious. Still, we have to hear this from Lyric’s doctor.
I confess fear is at the door of my heart – but it can’t come in.
Faith lives there.
The Father lives there.
And I can’t let fear in.
I’ve go to put on my armor and take a stand against this scheme. I pray each of you will too.
Know that I love you each, L.
We found a lump in Lyric’s breast.
Not my breast – Lyric’s breast.
Not my 33 year-old breast – Lyric’s 11 year-old breast.
It was Wednesday night and I told my baby to go take a bath.
I was in here writing, working in my office thinking all was well.
She was going to take a bath and get ready for bed thinking all was well.
And it was - for those last few seconds.
Those last few minutes. Those last few breaths.
Then she came back.
“Mommy,” she said. “I forgot to tell you – my breasts were hurting today in school.”
I thought nothing of it. I just told her to go check her breasts for fluid.
See, we’d had an earlier episode when her breasts had begun to leak this clear, sticky fluid. We went to the doctor, and they declared it hormonal. So, I wasn’t alarmed.
I just said go check your breasts for fluid.
She did, and that’s when she discovered the lump.
“Mommy,” she said. “There’s something hard in my breast.”
And I kept writing.
Just a few more seconds. Just long enough to take in what she’d said.
I kept writing.
Just a few more seconds. Just clinging to those last moments of normalcy.
I kept writing.
Until I couldn’t.
I kept writing until I had to get up, walk my daughter to my room and examine what she called a lump.
Surely, she was wrong: I didn’t even know what a breast lump felt like.
I’d just had my annual breast examine a day before. When the doctor asked if I checked my breast regularly, I said, “Yes – but I don’t know what I’m looking for.”
She explained it would be hard, immovable. Solid, rock-like.
The next night I found myself examining my baby’s breast, and I felt something.
It was hard. Immovable. Sold. Rock-like.
And Lyric cried out every time I touched it.
“Mommy, what is it?” she asked.
“A breast lump,” I said simply. And she fell into my arms crying.
I just prayed and began speaking biblical scripture over life.
Ephesians 6:11 instructs us to, “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.”
Note that it says “your stand.”
That makes it personal.
No one is exempt.
Some day.
Some hour.
Some second – you’ll have to take your stand.
It won’t always be someone else’s mama with cancer.
It won’t always be someone else’s child acting a fool.
You’ll have to take Your Stand.
Because one day, it may be your child who is gay.
It may be your husband that’s having the affair.
Or, it may be your wife that’s pregnant by someone else.
Then, you’ll have to take Your Stand.
But you can’t take a stand unless you read the entire verse.
It tells you how to take a stand and who you’re taking a stand against: key elements in this fight.
See, in order to do battle you have to know who you’re fighting. Swinging wildly at everything close by won’t get it. You might just knock your help out. And, every weapon won’t work for every battle. We must know your enemy and what works to take him out.
So, Ephesians 6:11 says, “Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.”
This fight requires full armor.
Whatever the enemy is sending your way requires complete and full coverage in the armor of God. It’s serious.
A lump in an 11 year-old’s breast is dead serious.
And, it requires full armor because Ephesians 6:12 tells us something about or enemy. It says, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
We’re fighting evil folks – and only the armor of God will allow us to stand.
That’s why in verse 13, we’re instructed again to, “put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”
And how do you stand?
In full armor.
What’s our armor consists of?
It’s the, “the belt of truth buckled around your waist, the breastplate of righteousness in place, your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace… the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one… the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
That’s the only way we can stand.
It was the only way I could stand that night.
Lyric cried. And I prayed.
I used God’s truth – his scripture – to help me stand.
I didn’t fall apart. I didn’t cry. I didn’t question God.
I just starting repeating God’s truth over and over.
“God, you promised to never leave me nor forsake me.” (Deut. 31:6)
“God, you said by your stripes Lyric is healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)
“Lord, you said you eye is upon the righteous and your ear is attentive to our cry.” (Psalms 34:15)
“Father God, you said, no weapon formed against Lyric shall ever prosper.” (Isaiah 54:17)
“God, you said all things are working together for Lyric’s good because she loves you and she’s called according to your purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
“God, you said Lyric is more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus who loves her.” (Romans 8:37)
“Dad, you said you gave Lyric power to trade upon snakes and scorpion and over all the power of the enemy. Nothing can by any means harm her.” (Luke 10:19)
“Father, you said goodness and mercy shall follow Lyric all the days of her life.” (Psalms 23:6)
“Father, you said a thousand could fall to Lyric’s side, and ten thousand could fall to Lyric’s right, but it will not come near her. …) (Psalms 91:7)
And so on and so on and so on.
I just kept calling out scripture over Lyric. But I could only call it out because it was in me
– and I can’t really take credit for this. It’s God’s work.
In recent months He’s been calling me to intimacy, in depth study and time with Him. He’s been calling to me to make Him first. Rise early and run to Him. Not my e-mail. Not the reading I want to catch up on. Not my to-do list.
To Him.
Again, I can’t take credit because I fought Him all the way. Still do.
Though I go to God in the mornings to read scripture and pray, I struggle with the stillness he wants me to dwell in. On my knees, being quiet and still and listening is hard – so I often skip it. Other times I lay there and receive His instruction and comfort and peace and leadership and guidance.
This day, all that was with me.
I was able to take My stand – against this scheme.
Now a scheme is an underhanded plot. It’s an elaborate, systematic plan of action – and the devil’s got one designed specifically for each of us.
It’s elaborate. It’s well-planned. It’s sneaky. It’s clever. It’s tricky.
And, it’ll work if you’re not covered up in God’s truth, His complete armor.
So many of us think it’s enough to got to church on Sunday, maybe bible study or Sunday school. It’s not. We need to read and study the word for ourselves – because when it’s time to take a stand, that old fall back, Jesus wept, won’t get it.
We better know how to specifically call out the scripture that speaks to our situation. God is responsible for the impossible. The possible – study, meditating, reading scripture – is on us. God said to meditate on his word day and night, to keep his demands and decrees in our hearts so they will not depart from us.
So we can take our stand.
Our Stand.
Folks, there’s coming a day, a time, a season, when our faith will be tested.
In these last days wrong is declared right. Wars abound. Evil prospers. Good is shunned. Can we stand against that?
When trouble hits your home – it’s your son that’s been arrested.
When calamity calls – it’s your spouse strung out on drugs.
When the enemy stalks – you’re being evicted.
Can you stand?
Can you call out the word of God and go forward in him?
I did – and it was only by grace. I didn’t even know I had it in me until it had to come out. But still it was hard.
Still, it is hard.
Lyric and I got for another doctor’s appointment today – and even right now I don’t want to go in here and pray because I’m afraid what might be revealed.
But I’m going.
I’m going to get this armor of God on – so I can stand.
We’ve had one report and it’s a good one, a positive one. It doesn’t appear to be anything serious. Painful, but not serious. Still, we have to hear this from Lyric’s doctor.
I confess fear is at the door of my heart – but it can’t come in.
Faith lives there.
The Father lives there.
And I can’t let fear in.
I’ve go to put on my armor and take a stand against this scheme. I pray each of you will too.
Know that I love you each, L.
Comments
Love you,
Isunji