W.I.T.

After praying and fasting all week for our sweet friend, she did indeed get baptized yesterday (and I ate lots of dark chocolate!).  It was so precious (the baptizing part I mean)!  She has a new birthday now; her spiritual birthday.  My beautiful mother (all <5 feet of her) was instrumental in showing Jesus to Ash and had the privilege to lead Ash in the sinner's prayer and confession of faith and be the one to dunk her in the water.  1 Timothy 6:12 says,"Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses."

The Lord had put it on my heart to give Ash a women's devotional bible: actually, my very own copy that I received when I accepted Christ's invitation.  With my scripture cards I sat down and high-lighted key verses of promises, standards of living, and virtues of womanhood in her bible.  Beings that she is moving away I wanted to help equip her for THE journey.  My heart wants to mentor hers but she will not be here for that discipling.  Hubby asked what I was doing and I explained, "This is for warriors in training, aka W.I.T."   Fight the good fight, what are we fighting against?  We fight to keep God first in everything.  That is a tall order my friend.   In the official Army study guide it states, "The Warrior Transition Course will provide our Army with trained, disciplined, motivated, and physically fit Soldiers who respond to leadership, are focused on teamwork, demonstrate the warrior ethos, and espouse the Army’s core values.  Tee Hee I love that, the same thing goes for us in God's army.  We are to instill spiritual discipline into our daily lives.  Are you motivated to know your General?  Are you jazzed to get into drill formation?  Do you know and understand the equipment you are to use?  How about the terrain, are you familiar with the map, do you know how to use your weapon?  Okay fellow warriors, are you ready for boot camp?  Man this really lights me up!  First things first, what do we wear, isn't that always lingering in the back of our minds?  Our fashion designer, Paul, suggests Ephesians 6:10-17.  Now it is not that nasty drab green camofulage, rather it is armor.  Think Susan and Lucy from Chronicles of Narnia, or Maid Marian, and of course Joan of Arc (without the bad haircut). 

"..be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 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. 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, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.  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 helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." 


Are there any tears or chinks in your armor?  We have to know our opponent in order to have victory.  Sometimes that opponent is ourselves.  I can be my own worst enemy.  I can be weak, and whiny, and self-reliant, and short-sighted, and selfish, and prideful, and lazy, and gluttonous.  The list is embarrassingly long.  As a warrior in training I must fall back on what I know to be true.  God is, God can, and because He has given me the Holy Spirit I can too.  Our mantra is, "The struggle is the Lord's, not mine."  I am not without help; I have the Holy Spirit as my helpmate.  I am spiritually rich!  Do I live that way, spiritually rich or am I living depleted and poor.  We are to thrive fellow warriors, not survive!  I have been redeemed to thrive and flourish and grow and conquer!  God wants us to reach out for his glory so he can infuse us together in love.  I love the refrain from Grace Greater than our Sin:


Grace, grace, God's grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God's grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin.


This is how we become more than conquerors is by His infinite grace.  Assess your 6 main pieces of attire.  Is your belt surrounded with God's promises, if not you won't be able to discern a lie when you hear one.  Is your breastplate approved by God or by man?  We often will fear what others will think rather than raising the bar to what God alone thinks about us and our activities.  God will always protect our hearts.  What is on your feet?  Are you sharing the Good News by how you live your life?  Our shields are essential (like lipstick).  What we see are Satan's attacks in the form of insults, setbacks, and temptations.  Our shield protects us from the fiery darts.  Know your General; he has more than 5 stars!  Our hats keep us from doubting in God and in our salvation.  We need to protect our minds, what are you reading/watching, what are you talking about or listening to?  Last is our sword, is it sharp?  Are you spending time in the Word everyday?  Are you memorizing and meditating on scripture?  Sword drills anyone?  There is no compartmentalizing when it comes to being in God's army.  You are either striving and moving in harmony with God or you are flailing and sinking.  If so, you need an accountability partner.  We are NOT meant to journey alone, we are designed for relationship!  Let's keep our WITS about us now.  Warriors in training I am praying for YOU!

P.S.  My friend from T&T reminded me that we did an object lesson with our pre-teen girls on the armor of God.  We gave each of the girls a gift bag with 6 items representing the armor: a belt, scarf, sunglasses, hat or headband,  fuzzy socks, and a mother/daughter journal.  We talked about each item and what they represented and why it was important.  We had a lot of fun teaching our little warriors!