| Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. | ||
| Ephesians 6:11 | ||
| The first step to being strong is to realize that life is not an encounter group. Life is not a bonding meeting. Life is not a playground. Life is a battleground. And the reason so many in the Church are weak is because they’re not armed for battle. If the men who stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day did so dressed in their jammies, something would have been terribly wrong. Yet I believe we live in a day of ‘jammy Christianity’. ‘Let’s put on our jammies and talk about how we feel,’ we say. ‘Let’s have a slumber party, and we’ll all bond.’ No. Paul tells us to put on our armor, to take advantage of the equipment God has given us to navigate life and negotiate the war which surrounds us. Dear saint, you can stand against the wiles of the devil — the cunning, clever attacks of Satan — only to the degree that you’re protected with the whole armor of God. | ||
