PREPARING FOR BATTLE – PART 2

3 – Put On The Armour:

Most likely, as Paul was writing our text in Ephesus, he was chained to a Roman soldier, as he wrote of the spiritual armour YHVH has provided for us, he was looking at the armour of the man chained to him and uses that armour as symbolism for the armour that each of us must put on if we are to win the battle, we are in. During the time of the twelve Caesars, the Roman army would conduct morning inspections. As the inspecting Centurion would come in front of each legionnaire, the soldier would strike with his right fist the armour breastplate that covered his heart. The armour had to be strongest there in order to protect the heart from the sword thrusts and from arrow strikes. As the soldier struck his armour, he would shout [integritas], which in Latin means material wholeness, completeness and entirety. The inspecting Centurion would listen closely for this affirmation and also for the ring that well kept armour would give off. Satisfied that the armour was sound and that the soldier beneath it was protected, he would then move on to the next man. At about the same time, the Praetorians or imperial bodyguard were ascending into power and influence; drawn from the best soldiers of the legions, they received the finest equipment and armour. They no longer had to shout [integritas] to signify that their armour was sound. Instead, as they struck their breastplate, they would shout [Hail Caesar,] to signify that their heart belonged to the imperial personage, not to their unit, not to an institution and not to a code of ideals.

They armoured themselves to serve the cause of a single man. A century passed and the rift between the legion and the imperial bodyguard and its excesses grew larger. To signify the difference between the two organizations, the legionnaire, upon striking his armour would no longer shout [integritas,] but instead would shout [integer]. Integer means undiminished, complete and perfect. It not only indicated that the armour was sound, it also indicated that the soldier wearing the armour was sound of character. He was complete in his integrity… his heart was in the right place… his standards and morals were high. He was not associated with the immoral conduct that was rapidly becoming the signature of the Praetorian Guards. The armour of integrity continued to serve the legion well. For over four centuries they held the line against the marauding Goths and Vandals, but by 383 A.D., the social decline that infected the republic and the Praetorian Guard had its effects upon the legion. As a 4th century Roman general wrote: [When because of negligence and laziness, parade ground drills were abandoned, the customary armour began to feel heavy since the soldiers rarely, if ever, wore it. Therefore, they first asked the emperor to set aside the breastplates and mail and then the helmets. So, our soldiers fought the Goths without any protection for the heart and head and were often beaten by archers. Although there were many disasters, which led to the loss of great cities, no one tried to restore the armour to the infantry. They took their armour off and when the armour came off, so too did their integrity.] It was only a matter of a few years until the legion rotted from within and was unable to hold the frontiers. The barbarians were at the gates. We can learn a lesson from the Roman guard about the importance of armour; if we are to keep our integrity as believers, we will wear the armour YHVH has provided and never take it off.

A -- Truth: Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth… -- Ephesians 6:14. Satan’s very first spiritual attack came in the form of deception. He came to Adam and Eve and persuaded them that YHVH’s Word to them was not accurate and that they needed to make their own decisions outside of YHVH’s Will. The Truth that we wear as armour is that of candour, sincerity and truthfulness rooted in the objective reality of YHVH’s Word, but the reference is to more than intellectual truth. We not only want to know YHVH’s Truth, we must live YHVH’s Truth. In other words, one of my greatest weapons against satanic attack is to live my life as a person of integrity, a person whose word is always true and a person who cannot be rightfully accused of being dishonest in any way, shape or form. The weapon of truth is word when I have opened up my heart to YHVH and allowed Him to form me, shape me by allowing Him to come to me and transform me. Search me, O YHVH, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. -- Psalms 139:23-24. It is this kind of prayer, said in sincerity that leads to the kind of life that can withstand Satan’s attacks. When we live a life of Truth, we cannot be deceived by Satan’s lies, because we have become so in touch with the revelation YHVH has given to us about ourselves, about our world and about our future, that we cannot be dissuaded from it.

B – Righteousness: …and having on the breastplate of righteousness. -- Ephesians 6:14. Those of us who are Moshiach followers have been given the righteousness of YHVH Himself, when YHVH looks upon us; He sees the sinless-ness of His Son. But there is also a righteousness that we are called to live by, it is a righteousness that acknowledges we are pure in Moshiach, but also that we are going to live our lives under Adonai Yeshua. In other words, because we have been made righteous, we will live righteously. The body armour is what protects our heart and it is by living a life of holiness and purity that our heart is guarded from satanic attack. I cannot possibly expect to win the battle if I am going over to the other side now and then and engaging in sin. When we wilfully turn away from what we know is YHVH’s Will, we open ourselves up to demonic attack. For instance, let us say that I knowingly go out and get drunk, even though I know that it is a sin. Two weeks later Satan tempts me to go get drunk again and I wonder why I am having such trouble resisting. If I decide today that I will live my life like Yeshua lived His life I will be armoured against those kinds of attacks.

C -- Peace: and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. -- Ephesians 6:15. It seems kind of strange to tell someone engaging in battle to put on peace, but that is exactly the kind of weaponry we need. You will notice that the peace He refers to is the peace that comes from the Good News of Yeshua Moshiach. On one hand we could say that this is the peace that we share with others, but I think more than that is meant here. He is talking about doing battle from the perspective of one who lives in peace. No matter what Satan throws our way we have the peace that comes from knowing that we are in a secure relationship with Yeshua Moshiach and there is nothing he can attack us with that will change that. Our victory has already been won at the cross and we stand firm, resisting everything the devil can throw at us, because we have that peace that passes all understanding as our present possession.

YHVH has objectively defeated Satan and his agenda. He has delivered us from sin’s penalty and power and ultimately will deliver us from sin’s very presence. In the interim, we are involved in guerrilla warfare with demonic forces. As believers, we have been transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of Light, with all the rights, privileges, and position that being a child of YHVH entails. The spiritual battle we fight involves a responsibility on our part to [put on] the spiritual protection that YHVH has provided for us. It is up to you and up to me to put on that armour, my hope and prayer is that you will be equipping yourself today.

PREPARING FOR BATTLE – PART 1

My greatest fear in approaching this subject is that we will not take it seriously enough, that we will read, speak, hear about this, look at a few Bible verses, say: [Hmmm… that is interesting] and then go on with our lives as if nothing has changed. I know that I cannot make you take this seriously, but my hope and prayer is that everyone will realize that this subject is one of the most important of all when it comes to living out our believer’s faith. 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. -- Ephesians 6:12. The devil has in battle array his minions arranged by ranks as we see here: [evil rulers], [principalities], [mighty powers of darkness,] and [wicked spirits] are all part of a demonic hierarchy that have been set up to attempt to defeat us. These are not human beings but fallen spiritual creatures that seek to do us harm. It says that we are fighting against them; this speaks of a hand-to-hand encounter with the spiritual forces of wickedness. This is our warfare and it is in progress now. We are not talking here about make believe, dreams, visions or some type of believer’s riddle, we are talking about a very real battle, with very real beings, that seek to harm us and lead us away from Moshiach. There is a demonic world around us and it is manifesting itself at the present hour. People are being ensnared and led into all kinds of demonism. There are spiritual forces working in the world, evil forces working against the church. They are working against the believer, against YHVH, against Moshiach. Do not try to make light of these things. It is happening all around us and we alone are no match for it.

Preliminary Facts:

1 -- Satan Was Defeated at the Cross: …and having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. -- Colossians 2:15.

2 -- Sin’s Penalty Was Paid for all People for all Time: For Moshiach also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to YHVH, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit -- 1 Peter 3:18.

3 -- Sin’s Power Was Broken: For the Law of HaRuach of life in Moshiach Yeshua hath made me free from the Law of sin and death. -- Romans 8:2.

4 -- Satan and His Hosts Engage in Guerrilla Warfare: to discourage, deceive, divide, and destroy YHVH’s people and YHVH’s program.

5 -- Moshiach Followers Are Instructed: to stand firm against satanic attacks.

With all those preliminaries in mind we need to answer this question:

How Do We Prepare For Satanic Attacks?

There are going to be times, when you realize that you are under attack, it might come in the area of temptation, doubt or in your marriage, but it may happen; what can you do about it? Wherefore take unto you the whole Armour of YHVH 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. -- Ephesians 6:13-15. One of the great things that we learn here is that YHVH has supplied us with all the equipment we need, it is not something that we have to manufacture or come up with on our own, it has already been provided for us.

1 – Resist The Enemy!

YHVH does not tell us to go on the attack here; we are not going out to look for a fight, we are simply preparing ourselves for the attack. Picture yourself as a soldier standing on the border of the camp where the rest of your army has set up their tents to sleep for the night. Your work is to stand watch and engage the enemy if they happen to try to break through the ranks. You are not going to leave your post to go look for the enemy, you are simply there to resist when they come to do battle with you. Our job as Moshiach followers in spiritual warfare is to stand guard, to be ready and able to fight when the attack comes to us, not to go out and look for it. We are to resist the enemy with the weapons YHVH has provided for us. Look at it this way: we are standing at the border that surrounds our hearts and our minds. One day a temptation comes to us that threatens to attack us by passing by the border we have set and entering into our camp. If we are unprepared for battle, the temptation will walk right past us and we will immediately surrender to it. But if we are prepared to resist that temptation, we will do battle and we will win. Let me give you a practical example; let us say that you are attracted to someone sexually that you are not married to. The opportunity comes for you to have sex with that person, the way you have prepared or not prepared yourself prior to that opportunity will determine whether you will win the spiritual battle or not. It is of vital importance that we are equipped prior to the temptation, because if we are not, we will most likely fail. This is true for every spiritual attack that we go through. I can resist with YHVH’s help, but I must seek that help before the attack begins.

2 – Stand Our Ground:

When the battle is over and the dust has settled, only one army is left standing on the field. The other army lies dead on the ground or has fled in retreat. Submit yourselves therefore to YHVH. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. -- James 4:7. When we resist and stand our ground, Satan has no choice but to retreat. He cannot stand up to a child of YHVH who has equipped themselves with the weapons of warfare that YHVH had provided for us. He attacks, we resist, and he flees. He returns, he attacks, we resist, and he flees again. He will return again, and he will attack, and we will continue to resist, and he will flee again; this pattern will repeat itself over and over and over again. The battle will never end, but as long as we stand our ground in the power that YHVH has granted to us we will win the battle every single time.

I apologize for any bad attitudes I've had any confusion or stumbling I may have caused any wrong tendency...The circumstances actually broke me not long ago Praise Yahh there is true healing in Yahusha though and Abba Yahh does take whas broken and makes it beautiful for now I want to pray in silence and let the pain speak and do it's part in teaching me what I still need to glean~

The Christian Church is NOT the object of the prophecies over Israel in the Old Testament. See Isaiah 62:4, for example. There is no reasonable way to apply that to the Church. The Church is not and never will be Israel.

However, many individuals within the Christian Church ARE Israel, even if they don't know it. Many who claim to be Israel are not, and many who don't even understand what Israel is, are, in fact, Israelites.

On this date in history, 09/22/1993: A barge collides with the Big Bayou Canot Bridge in Mobile, Alabama, deforming train rails on the bridge and causing Amtrak Sunset Limited to derail, killing forty-eight people. #otd #tdih #alabamahistory

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As the people prepare for the repentance and the atonement of a nation on Yom Kippur, we should remember that the individual always had the opportunity to repent. Leviticus 5; 11, “But if he be not able to bring two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, then he that sinned shall bring for his offering the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering; he shall put no oil upon it, neither shall he put any frankincense thereon: for it is a sin offering.”

THEY SAY WE ARE TOO SMART TO TRUST IN A GOD
WE HAVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. Rule of 3
In our day we have people telling us that they are their own god. They speak of great human marvels. Going to the moon, computers, and yes, artificial intelligence. More and More people depend on others with Ph. D.s and a long line of degrees behind their names! They show the rest of us as stupid and simple-minded. How to advance is to give up the thought of a LORD. Get Man's wisdom.
Here is what I say to even the highest educated people of knowledge, both human and artificial. And why I think their knowledge is lacking.
Can they have a conversation with an ant, fogs, a large fish, a dog, or a donkey? Not to train ants in an ant farm or an animal or an insect, but to talk to them in their language? A conversation that is in their speech.Like what happened to Balaam Numbers 22:28 ~ 35
If you are your own god this should be simple. If you are in no need of GOD, why can't you do this simple act? Not talk to your pet but to have your pet speak to you and exchange ideas as friends do freely.