The Antidote for Anxiety and Depression: Trust in Abba Father’s Care – Pt 30
Attire With The Whole Armour of God!
Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
– Ephesians 6:11
In light of all the experiences I have had in my life I have had to struggle to break free from the hold that the devil had on me. The greatest battle I have had to fight (and still fighting) is in my mind. Even though in the midst of going around the mountain of anxiety and depression I managed to successfully obtain higher education and a career, I still thought that I was worthless. Instead of acknowledging my successes as a result of my hard work, determination, shrewd choices, intelligence or skills, I always assumed they must have been accidents or some type of incongruity. Also, even though others recognized and complemented my successes, gifts, talents, abilities, excellent spirit and work attitude, tenacity, dedication, perseverance, intelligence, etc, I never believed any of it. Instead of acknowledging their kind remarks, I just always thought that they weren’t truthful but just being polite by saying these nice things to me.
I was stuck with another cognitive distortion ‘discounting the positive’, which involved a negative bias in my thinking. Just like ‘mental filters’ which I mentioned in yesterday’s devotional. This perpetuated the vicious cycle of going around the mountain of anxiety and depression. I needed to break free from these strongholds in my mind which resulted from the assaults of the devil because they were the impetus for every maladaptive behaviour that I exhibited.
In my quest for solution to defeat the war that was waging in my mind, the Holy Spirit taught me the significance of being attired with the whole armour of God daily.
The Apostle Paul issued an urgent command to us as believers in Christ to, “put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil”.
The phrase “whole armour” comes from the Greek word panoplia which refers to a Roman soldier who is fully dressed in his armour from head to toe. It is a compound of the words pan, which means all, and the word hoplos, which is the Greek word for armour. Compounded together they form the word panoplia, which was officially recognized as the word to describe the full attire and weaponry of the Roman soldier (Renner, 2003). The Roman soldier’s whole armour included the following attire and weaponry, loinbelt, breastplate, Greaves, shoes, shield, helmet, sword, and lance.
It therefore means that the solider had at his disposal and was equipped with everything necessary for success in warfare against his adversary. Similarly, Jesus ensures that at our disposal is the whole armour of God, which has everything we need to be victorious in spiritual warfare against opposing forces of our unseen enemy. The whole armour of God lacks nothing, it is complete. In our fight against the devil we must know that every piece of the armour is of paramount importance.
You can successfully stand up to the devil with confidence and courage because everything you need to fight in this spiritual warfare God has already provided. The choice is yours to obey the Apostle Paul’s command to put on the whole armour of God daily. This guarantees your victory against the enemy of your soul who relentlessly seeks every occasion to steal, kill and destroy your life. Likewise, if you choose not to put on the whole armour of God daily then you will be defeated by the devil. What’s your choice today?
Shalom!
MY PRAYER FOR TODAY
Heavenly Father I will worship You for You are great and mighty. A faithful Father You are. I thank you for providing me with Your whole armour so that I can successfully stand up to the devil with confidence and courage. I declare today that I will daily choose to put on the whole armour of God and I victoriously combat my adversary who seeks to destroy my life. I pray this by faith in Jesus’ name with thanksgiving. Amen!
