FOLLOW : The Blog of TSF

Even though we have been made spiritually complete in Christ, we are still “broken.” Part of our “brokenness” is the sin that indwells our flesh—in the members/limbs of our physical bodies (“this body of sin” Romans 6:6, “this body of death” Romans 7:24). Our bodies are the last part of us to be renovated. Now, they have not been redeemed so that they may fully reflect the glory of God as He desires. This problem will not be fully dealt with until the Resurrection when our physical bodies are freed from its corruption. 

Romans 7:6
But now we have been released from the law, because we have died to what controlled us, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit and not under the old written code.

Father God has set us free in Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit. He had to do this so that we could become the people that He desires for us to be. In order for us to grow to maturity we need the freedom to do two things: 1) to fail and 2) to choose to follow the good desires of the Spirit. In Christ, the Father gives us freedom to do both. 

As we think about the reality of the “old self” and “the sin that dwells in our flesh” we must realize that this is the enemy that we deal with more than any other. Satan and his dark forces are working in our world, but we must not be tricked into thinking that they are the only or even the main problem. We must constantly deal with the reality of the evil that is present within us. Twenty four hours a day, seven days a week this Sin that lives in us seeks to keep us from following our pattern of hearing > [ turning > trusting ] > following Jesus. 

Romans 13:14
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

In Christ, we are new creations. We do not have to give in to our sinful, rebellious desires. Instead, we can “put on” our new self—the new person—that has been created for truth, righteousness and holiness in Christ.  

We cannot fight our battles on our own. We are called to share our burdens and struggles with our other brothers and sisters in Christ. Jesus has already given us the victory and everything we need to persevere together until we see Him.

Today we continue our discussion of the Armor that God has given to us to stand firm against the attack of our external enemy,—Satan who is at work in the World. As we heard yesterday, the last three items—the shield of faith, the helmet of Salvation and the Sword of the Spirit and are all things that we are to take up in all circumstances. These last three are critical pieces of our armor.

Today, we begin looking at the six pieces of our Spiritual Armor and their significance in our life. As we discuss these pieces, we are going to talk about two aspects of their blessing. There is an objective reality in this armor—Father God has done something to us, given something to us. There is also a subjective reality­—We should do something with these pieces of armor. Simply stated, Father God has blessed us with these things and now we must put them to good use.