15 Wherefore, lift up your hearts and rejoice, and gird up your loins, and take upon you my whole armor, that ye may be able to withstand the evil day, having done all, that ye may be able to stand.
16 Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, which I have sent mine angels to commit unto you;
I think lissa's post was for this weeks scripture
ReplyDeleteI posted on her reply if you want to go check it out.
DeleteThis is a real test. I typed what I thought was a very good comment and hit "sign out" before hitting "Publish." So here we go again.
ReplyDeleteWhen speaking of armor you are speaking of battles or preparing for battle. There is no doubt we are in an ongoing war. Battles are fought every day....at home, school, work, highway, and even at church. Satan and his army likes nothing better than to catch us without our armor or with just part of the full armor. That is when he inflicts the most pain and suffering. The best thing we can do for ourselves and our children is to put on the armor of God everyday. And don't forget that armor needs to change with age. I would certainly have a hard time fitting into Brianna's armor and she would have a hard time trying to carry mine around. Also armor may need to be replaced or patched up after some hard battles. Sometimes we may not even notice that our armor is damaged. That is when we need each other.
Now one other bit of insight. Notice that all the elements of the armor mentioned are defensive until we get one offensive weapon...."the sword of my spirit." Do you think the Lord might be letting us know just how much we need and how powerful His Spirit is? The Lord certainly provides great armor, but without the Spirit we have nothing to fight with. How long can we continue to take the heavy hits to our armor if we can not fight back?
Melissa quoted President Benson. It is absolutely certain who will win this war. Where will we be when the Savior comes and again and says "It is finished."?
I pray I will be strong enough to be standing with you.
DAD
Can I just say again that I am so loving that we are doing this! I look forward to this all week. I love seeing what everyone else posts.
ReplyDeleteI just wish my own family would participate as well. I send them quotes to ponder and think about each day from the Deseret Book app- they don't respond, I don't even know if they read them- but that's my way of trying to give them a little bit of armor each day. Are any of the other spouses or older grandkids reading the posts- I'm curious.
So my thoughts this week were kind of like Dad's in a way- I was thinking that often people think of the armor as something to wear as you are fighting- but that this spiritual armor is more for defense and protection. The Savior's way wasn't to initiate conflict or be on the offensive (or offend others)- he would defend the gospel with his actions and words. Those are the things that protected him from temporal and spiritual death, and the things that he has blessed us with through his example and the Atonement.
The sword does seem like the only weapon, but when you watch sword fights- it is also used to deflect and stop blows from the opponent. Our words are powerful- especially when we use the word of God.
I also thought of the protection of the temple covenants and the garment. Those are a shield and protection to us in the world as well. If we are worthy of those, we will definitely be found where God "will be" in the end as it states in the last verse.
I have always been fascinated with what dad call the only offensive weapon. The sword of spirt. The armor is for protection of self but the sword is for fight off the adversary, to win but also to protect others. So what is this weapon. In D&C it tells us: "For the word of the Lord is truth, and whatsoever is truth is light, and whatsoever is light is Spirit, even the Spirit of Jesus Christ."
ReplyDeleteSo the spirit is truth, and in another spot in D&C it tells us: "And truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come;"
The phrase knowledge is power is an eternal principle. As we gain knowledge we can be free because we know what to do. As we learn about Gods plan we can free us from satin's grasp and see the need to help others.
As I have thought a lot about this spiritual armor it becomes clearer everyday to me who is wearing the armor of God and who isn't. A few months ago I invited Dad to attend a special training meeting for all seminary and institute teachers in August. Elder Kim B. Clark (Boss of S&I) spoke to us and I noticed again a quote that he emphasized once again as he spoke in General Conference recently.
ReplyDelete"Whatever level of spirituality or faith or obedience we now have, it will not be sufficient for the work that lies ahead. We need greater spiritual light and power. We need eyes to see more clearly the Savior working in our lives and ears to hear His voice more deeply in our hearts."
What I'm doing now won't be enough...I have been doing a lot of pondering and thinking as a wife, mother, and sister as to how I can do "more." I don't want to be one of those 5 virgins who hadn't done enough to prepare for his coming. What "more" we need to do has been a really humbling experience for me as I have taken a closer look at my armor and then acted on the promptings of doing the things that will not only strengthen my armor but our families as well.
I know some of you have struggled a little with getting used to the blog, but I just want to thank you for taking the time to write your comments and thoughts. They have lifted me up. I hope that this won't be an experience that will fizzle out later but unite us more over the years.
I want to share my comments about last weeks scripture and we can all put the helmets of salvation on our heads and I know the spirit can helps us in our own life's and that is my comment !
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