"Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." Ephesians 6:11-13
Ephesians speaks of taking on the whole armor. But having the armor doesn’t mean you are prepared. David couldn’t use the armor of the king when he had to face the giant Goliath. What he had (the sling), he was well practiced in and prepared to use. Later, he was given armor and he practiced with it and put it to use. You have to practice using it and when you start it is typically best to practice with someone else who has more experience and skill. David was not like his older brothers, but he was skillful in using what he had opportunity to use. If you prepare by studying the Word, and by laboring in the Gospel with others more experienced than you, there will be an opportunity for you in the future to use the knowledge and experience you have gained for the Lord. You will have gained confidence in how to labor. We need to learn to use what the Lord has provided us. You learn to be more focused by putting on your armor on and using it. Studying thoughts and reading the scriptures helps you to be prepared, and at some time in the future you will be able to use it, as we learn to work with the Lord. Someone brought up a question up about praying and then waiting on God, but still moving and doing what we need to do. How do we discern what our next move is? Jesus is the best example. He (the Son of God!) did a lot of preparing. When he was growing up he was asking questions of the scribes. The Lord didn’t allow him to know everything and caused him to be subject to the same weaknesses as us. Therefore he had to learn and prepare - just like us! He prayed all night before he chose the twelve apostles. We think that Jesus just knew everything by himself. He was subjected to all the weaknesses, tiredness of the mind, the not knowing why, and the finding out of things. He had to earnestly pray and seek direction from his heavenly Father - just like us. (Consider Hebrews 2:6-9) We don’t see the whole picture, but God is having his will in all things. In some things we don’t have a clue and God chooses for us to not know about it. But He will still come to us through a message or an impression that we need to be more prepared - for what is ahead. He can burden us to be more in the word of God and more in prayer, because what we have today is not good enough for what we must face tomorrow. He will impress us with the burden, but what is ahead will not always be what we think. He will prepare your heart to a deeper devotion and closer and more careful walk - so we will not be spiritually taken by surprise. What happens may surprise us, but we still can be spiritually strong enough to lean on the Lord and handle it. "Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They say unto him, Yea, Lord. Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old." Matt 13:51-52
The context of this scripture is a scribe, or one who takes time to labor and get into the word to fully understand it. Jesus said they could have "treasures" to bring to others. Are we able to do that? Have we been investing in spiritual "treasures"? A slingshot in the hand of a boy like David is very effective, if God directs it. There is a great treasure in serving God with all our heart, in true love and faithful obedience. There’s a real skill and benefit to be gained in serving God this way. Some people can be in a trade for years and never become skilled, but others become very skilled. Additionally, certain ones will have more skills or gifts for doing certain things, but God will use the all the gifts in the body of Christ - the Church, for his purpose. Jesus is our perfect example of how this works. We can’t see the big picture of all that is going on, but we can see and follow Jesus' example. Jesus only traveled within a 200 mile setting while physically in earth, but he affected the whole world. If we humbly follow his example in faithfulness and devotion, we also can affect very many!
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