Day 18 - Change Your Life!

Day 18 - Change Your Life!

How did you 15 minutes go? Were you able to pray? Keep trying, it will come to you. 5 minutes in each area: Praise, Thanks, and Intercession. Now add in a fourth: Sing. Sin a song of great praise! Sing a song from memory or pop on the iPod, the CD player or radio and sing to the Lord for five minutes. Finished? That is 20 minutes give to the Lord. Awesome.

STUDY VERSES:
15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;

STUDY QUESTIONS:
1. Why would you shod your feet with peace? Do you have peace? How can you have it?

2. Why does Paul call it the gospel of peace?

3. What is the shield of faith?

4. How does faith extinguish the fiery darts of the devil?

5. What is the devil's purpose for us?

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Commentary from ESV:

Eph. 6:15 Believers must always be ready to proclaim the gospel.

Eph. 6:16–17 flaming darts. Burning arrows were designed to destroy wooden shields and other defenses, but the shield of faith is able to extinguish the devil's attacks. the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. The spiritual nature of the church's resources is nowhere more plain than in its reliance upon God's Word, which is the only offensive weapon mentioned in this list of spiritual armor. The Word of God is to be wielded like a sharp two-edged sword, in the mighty power of his Holy Spirit (see Heb. 4:12).

More from Chuck Missler:

Footwear For the Big Race by Chuck Missler

"And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace"; Ephesians 6:15

This may seem like a strange item as armament. And yet, footwork is essential in any of the martial arts. (At the Naval Academy, one quickly learned the necessity of proper footwork in our hand-to-hand training classes!)

Anyone who has been involved in boxing or wrestling soon discovers that balance and positioning are fundamental in order to avoid disaster. In combat, a misstep is usually fatal.


Combat Footing
There are many types of shoes: dress shoes, casual shoes, boots, steel-toed shoes for construction jobs, garden shoes, sandals, moccasins, slippers, etc. Each has its purpose and specific benefits for the wearer. The Roman army-which many assume was the model for the idioms Paul was using-paid careful attention to the footwear of its legionnaires. These nail-studded sandals (caligae) were designed to anticipate the various countermeasures which an enemy might employ to inhibit their advance or to dislodge their footing when in combat.
The term "shod" (Greek, u`podeomai, hupodeo) means to underbind, to bind under one's self, or to bind on. This is also suggestive of authority and power. The idiom of having our "feet shod" also suggests, in more modern terms, "putting shoe leather to our faith." It is a call to action.


But here we have, "Feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace." Strange idiom. Yet, "How beautiful upon the mountain are the feet of Him who brings good news..."1
Moses, in speaking prophetically of the tribe of Asher: "And of Asher he said, Let Asher be blessed with children; let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil. Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength be."2 Oil speaks of sanctification and anointing for service by the Holy Spirit. "So shall your strength be"-just as the footwear of the Israelites in their wilderness wanderings, the shoes of the gospel of peace do not wear out. 3

"Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, He may give it you." 4 He supplies the oil; we provide the feet. 5
Putting on these shoes does not mean you are going to escape warfare. They are designed for that very purpose: action oriented; for spiritual combat. "And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly." 6

"The Lord God [is] my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places." 7 To anyone familiar with the wild, "Hind's (deer's) feet" suggest agility and endurance. Note "upon high places"-taking the high ground is not a luxury in warfare.

But even in the valleys, He is always there: "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." 8 [And remember, the shadow of a dog cannot bite anyone!] Peace and fear are opposites. Peace is not passive; it is powerful. Our peace is in Christ (Eph 2:14; Jn 16:33; Jn 14:27, et al.).


Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. Ephesians 6:16

The Roman shield was about 4 ft. high and about 2 1/2 feet wide. It was typically made as a curved laminate of three layers of wood strips and covered with leather. The edges were bound with rawhide stitched through the wood (or sometimes bronze binding was used).

The shield was the maneuverable part of the warrior's armor. It was designed to protect him from arrows and javelins, flaming and otherwise.

If the shield had any holes or damage, survival would depend upon fixing it before entering the battle-certainly not during! The diligent warrior would direct his energies to its repair as part of his pre-engagement preparations.

How does one exercise diligence with respect to his "shield of faith?" Are there any "holes" in your shield of faith? When is the proper time to repair it? You are already on enemy turf!

Faith in What?
At the 1993 Presidential Prayer Breakfast in Washington D.C., Vice President Al Gore said, "Faith in God, reliance upon a Higher Power, by whatever name, is, in my view, essential."
This notion that every concept of god is equally valid was also reinforced when Pope John Paul II assembled snake worshipers, fire worshipers, spiritists, animists, witch doctors, along with Hindus, Buddhists, and Muslims at Assisi, Italy, to pray for peace. He made the astonishing statement that they were all praying to the same god!1

While this is a common view among the ungodly, this is completely irrational and refuses to honor the one true God or even to acknowledge His existence.
This is the same fallacy which was explored in Alan Bloom's book, The Closing of the American Mind,2 which exposed the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of relativism and the current "political correctness" of denying even the existence of absolute truth. Modern pagan religions have built their appeal on this vacuum.
The mind reels in the attempt to understand the insanity of paganism. No one knows how much of the substance of life has been poured out upon the stained altars of gods who are not,3 and of demons who are.4
The evolutionist also takes his own irrational "leap of faith" and is committed to a contrary-to-fact catechism.

Robert Jastrow, one of the world's leading astronomers, founder and director of the Goddard Space Institute, and an agnostic, shocked his colleagues by admitting, at a national conference of the Association for the Advancement of Science, that contrary to the articles of faith in the scientific profession, evidence seems to demand an intelligent Creator of the universe.5

The eminent scientist Sir Fred Hoyle also accused the evolutionists of defending their own religious faith:

"The [mathematical impossibility of spontaneous biogenesis] is well known to geneticists and yet nobody seems to blow the whistle decisively on the theory... Most scientists still cling to Darwinism because of its grip on the educational system... You either have to believe its concepts, or you will be branded a heretic."6
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My Sisters and Brothers, so much Truth in these scriptures and commentary. Be rooted, take up your shield and put on those shoes! There is only ONE TRUE AND LIVING GOD and He is Jesus, The Christ!

We did not evolve from monkeys, we did not crawl out of the slime of the sea. God, our Heavenly Father, PURPOSELY formed us and breathed life into us in His Image-that of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Hold fast to this truth and don't be lulled into the concept of creation evolution or another way--diluting the Truth is dangerous to our faith and it diminishes our witness.

It is not easy to walk in peace and that is why we have the gospel of peace on our feet so that we won't walk on our own, nor mis-step on the snares and traps. Be righteous, hold up that Shield of Faith. Shine it in your enemies eyes so that darkness will be revealed and we will walk in love, peace, joy, truth and the hope of eternal life.

Love and joy Beloved, go out into the world equipped with every good thing that God has given us. Peace, Sister Lisa