IT'S WAR

Prayers are one of the important things a religious person must do consistently. However, praying can sometimes be hard. Sometimes when I start praying, that’s when the thought of “What will I wear today” pops into my head and if I’m not careful, I’d spend all my time thinking of that rather than praying.

Prayers are powerful and I keep learning that every day. And it’s not even about how long you pray for. Matthew 6:8 says “For your Father knows what you need before you ask him” so for me, praying is going before God and thanking Him and committing everything briefly to Him. That's all God is expecting from us. So I have this facial routine. Like when I wake up, I just know I have to do it. And it’s the same routine every morning and night. And when I stop this routine, I see changes (not good changes). So I’m used to it. I’d feel weird if I don’t do it. This is just like prayers. If you really want to pray, you need a routine, and it has to be one that you keep to. We have work and school and other things to do, without a routine, we could forget to pray. 

A routine could be praying five minutes every morning and night and reading at least one verse and meditating on it the whole day. It’s better to pray five minutes every morning than nothing. Doing that for a while, you’ll feel the need to push further. You’d want to add one to five more minutes to it then with time, you’ll be praying for a while and not even feel like it’s enough. For someone that could go days without praying, I could say I have pretty much turned a new leaf when it comes to that. And if “I” can do it, you can too. Always remember this verse as a motivation “Matthew 26:41- For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak”. The Holy Spirit in you is giving you the power to pray. You might be tired but remember, the Holy Spirit will give you strength if you are willing to pray. 

The bible says in Ephesians 6:12 “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Whenever I read this verse, I just feel like we are at war and we need to prepare for it. I watch a lot of movies and shows so I know that before the warriors go to the battlefield, there is preparations like training, selecting who is capable of going, preparation of weapons and war clothes and everything. I know they just don’t wake up and go. 

If we are at war, don’t we need to prepare too? I know we can’t just wake up and put on our jeans and tops and say “Yup I’m ready to battle”. So today, Ephesians 6: 13-18 will show us what we need for this war. We need to spiritually prepare ourselves for the war ahead of us.

The belt of truth: We need to wear this belt daily because the truth God wants us to know is that He is our only father and no one is greater than him. He is the “I am that I am”. He is the beginning and the end. So we need to take this truth with us every day to avoid anyone trying to talk us out of the presence of God in our lives. 

The body armour of righteousness: We need to put this on every day so we can see that whatever successes we get or any achievements in our lives it’s not by our power and grace but by the grace of God. We need to wear this armour so we could do right by God. By putting this on, you know it’s God that makes you who you are and not your strength. This will lead you into committing it all into his hands. 

The shoes of peace: This comes from the Good News. Put on these shoes every day. Christ died for us. He died for us because he loves us. He died to cleanse our sins. He died for us so we can have peace. Let’s step out wearing the shoes and feeling confident that our saviour provides us with grace and mercies every day and no matter what comes our way, God has it covered.  

The shield of faith: This is to stop the fiery arrows of the devil. The devil comes at you every day with all these things with the aim to break you or make you fed up. But each morning when you wear that shield of faith, it allows you to step out of your house believing in God and trusting that he got you through the whole day, no matter what comes your way.

The helmet of salvation: Salvation is important. When I was little, in Sunday school we used to sing this song “No you can’t go to heaven without, S-A-L-V-A-T-I-O-N”. Salvation is being saved. Wearing this daily will remind you of what you were saved from, and you will be motivated to not go back to that past. It will give you the strength to not slide back to your old ways. 

The sword of spirit: This is the word of God. We should always learn the word of God and take it with us. This means the Bible

should be our best friend. We should read the Bible daily and meditate on it and strap it on tight to our hearts and “use” it in our daily lives. 

God wants us to be standing firm at the end of this battle, at the end of the temptations we go through. At the end of our stressing periods, at the end of our sickness, at the end of times when we feel like giving up. God is cheering on for us, equipping us to win. Preparing us for victory. 

These armours are given to us for a reason. Ephesians 6:18 tells us to “Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.” Pray and acquire all these armours. Praying is essential. Be equipped and be victorious. 

Prayer: Thank you Lord for this day. God, give us the power to pray even when the body is not willing. Equip us and lead us into a victorious end. We thank you, amen. 

Testimony: I am grateful to God for the lives of my friend and family and everyone that reads this blog. May God continue to bless us and speak to us.