Armor of God: The Belt, Shield, and Sword

“Therefore 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. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist…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…sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Ephesians 6:13-14(partial), 16-17(partial) NIV

At the beginning of this week, I started my graduate classes to work toward a degree in School Counseling. As I was reading about the different theories of approach for counseling, I found myself struggling not to make God just another theory. I don’t want to use His wisdom only when I think someone will respond well to it, or for His standards to be placed aside as something I can just choose from.
      It was really bothering me. I decided to journal about it so that I could keep my relationship with Him fresh (my entries are notes to Him). But as I was writing, I began to imagine I heard someone analyzing me. The voice said, “She’s made up this big ‘God’ that can help her cope with the injustice and pain that she sees. It gives her hope to keep going. She’s gotten so far into the delusion that she even thinks it is ‘Him’ who starts rationalizing thing for her and showing her what she should do.”
      This hurt me. I started defending my faith. Working to prove He is real. I went through my testimony of how God brought me through a hard time by speaking to me, and I heard the voice respond, “You did that.” I started bringing up another testimony and I could hear the voice shout, “Coincidence.”
      I was heart broken. I didn’t know what to say anymore. I began crying as I fought to refuse believing the lies. Then, God brought something that had happened when I was younger to mind.
      Years ago, my mom stopped at her parents house to run something in really quick. Me and my sister stayed in the car. When my mom came back in she panicked because she realized that instead of putting the car on park, she had put it on neutral. She said, “The car could’ve kept going and crashed. You guys could’ve gotten hurt.” But the car hadn’t moved. She tested it out. She put the car on park and then switched gears to neutral and the car started to move. She told us that God kept the car from moving and protected us.
      It wasn’t me and it wasn’t coincidence. That was God’s power at work and no one could ever convince me otherwise. I felt immediately comforted and at peace.
      He is real. People may attack you for it, but don’t give up.
      I know that attacks will come (this was just me, people haven’t even said anything yet), so I’ve started increasing my time with God. I’ve also started beginning to read Christian books more again in order to have more stories of His power and faithfulness to draw from. He is alive and moving. I need more of Him in order to stand firm when people try to convince me that He is not real. I am going to remember the truth when people try to attack my faith and knock me down.
      That’s why the belt of truth is a part of the armor of God. When we equip ourselves with the truth, it holds everything else together. It keeps us centered and grounded in Him. We’ll be immovable if we keep it because we will know the truth about who our God is. By knowing this, we will be able to guard against the enemy’s attacks with the shield of faith. He can throw whatever he wants at us but when we have faith, even when it doesn’t seem like God will come through, we know He is there. This knowledge will keep us fighting with the sword of the Spirit. In order to fight against the attacks, we need to know God’s promises. This comes from knowing His word.
      The devil likes to instill doubt, but if you stay rooted in the Bible, you will be able to call him out on his lies. God will continue to speak to and strengthen you through it. He fights along side us and He never leaves us behind. Ask Him to show you He’s there and a lot of times, He will.
      Even when I was rooted, He moved some more for me yesterday. As I was journaling, I thought about getting myself a new purity ring (I had given mine to a student in England). I decided against it because I’m trying not to waste money unnecessarily, and I don’t need a ring to remind me to be devoted to and love Him. I’m keeping that in my heart. A ring has no power in itself.
      At the end of the day, however, one of the other leaders at the church asked if I had gotten the box she left with my friend for me. My friend put it in his car, so I had to wait. I got it about half an hour later. As I held the box, my friend asked if the leader had told me the story behind it. I said no. He told me, “She was thinking about how you gave your ring away in England and so she got it for you.”
      I started to cry and opened the box. It was a new purity ring. As I put it on I was just in awe. You can’t tell me that He isn’t real. I’ll never believe you. He has been involved in my life and played a huge role in it. I have seen Him move. If you want to doubt yourself into blindness, that’s on you. But I choose to keep seeing Him.

“The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” 2 Corinthians 4:4 NIV
“See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.” Hebrews 3:12 NIV