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. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Ephesians 6:11-17
With the corona virus, there are so many unknowns, so many things outside of our control, so many things that we could be afraid of. Fear, worry, anxiety is Satan’s favorite tools. He loves to use those tools to attack Christians, because they paralyze; they break our trust in our Abba Father; and they disable our faith. It’s times like this that we really need to make sure we use everything in our arsenal. We need to have on the full armor of God, or we won’t be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
The world is under attack right now, when fear, worry, and anxiety are so strong, you can feel them like a presence when you go grocery shopping, when you talk to someone on the phone, when you watch the news. Paul wrote the letter to the church at Ephesus while he was bound, in prison, and after writing his advice on putting on the full armor of God, he then wrote in versus 18-20 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
Paul was bound, facing almost certain death for preaching the Gospel, the Good News of Christ. In that most dire situation, did Paul sit there and worry, and allow anxiety and fear to paralyze him? No, though that would have been so easy to do. No, Paul asked for his fellow Christians to pray for him that God give him the words and that he would open his mouth boldly to share they Gospel, that he may in bonds, as an acting ambassador of Jesus Christ open his mouth and boldly speak. Paul emphasized speaking with boldness twice!
The Spreading Love & Hope Challenge this week is We are definitely not facing certain death as Paul was, but we are faced with fear of death. Let us, as Paul requested in his hour of bondage, pray for boldness for one another. But don’t stop there, let us then speak boldly to those we are in bondage with: our family, our friends, our coworkers, everyone who is within our sphere of influence, let us proclaim the AWESOME power of God!
