Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything to stand firm, stand firm therefore. Ephesians 6:13-14.

Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:

I am continuing our prior Life Lesson today. A saint must walk by faith and not by sight, which is walking by the spirit and not by the flesh. Answers that bear eternal fruit and make the impossible possible come in the spirit realm and not the flesh realm. I am spirit and so are you. And that is how I communicate with you and give you gifts. I have blessed you with every spiritual blessing in Heaven, you need only draw it out. With Me is the fountain of life and in My light you see light. My Words are Spirit and life. In My Word there is life, eternal life, life for the light of men. John 1:4. And that light is in My Son, the light of the world, and eternal life is in My Son also.

The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Romans 13:12.

And the only way you walk by faith is by knowing My Word and doing it, for faith comes by hearing and hearing My Word concerning Christ. You cannot serve two masters and you cannot straddle the fence. If you are in, you are all in. And commitment means you stand on My Word as your rock foundation no matter what storm strikes, what temptation to fear and doubt comes, or what lust that would take you into sin arises in your flesh. If you are going to walk by the Spirit you must live by the Spirit.

Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. “For yet in a very little while, He who is coming will come, and will not delay. But My righteous one shall live by faith; and if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul. Hebrews 10:35-39.

In our last Life Lesson we began considering My armor that I offer to you so you can stand strong on the evil day.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, Ephesians 6:10-18.

In our prior Lesson, we talked about the girding of your loins with truth and the breastplate of righteousness. With Me you gird yourself with truth, but those who follow the devil gird their loins with lies and that is what they reproduce, lying leads to more lying and cover up.

If you recall after Adam and Eve rejected the truth and submitted their lives to lies they found themselves exposed, they had transferred from the spirit realm where they were clothed in glory to the flesh realm subject to decay and nakedness. So they girt their loins with fig leaves which were perishable and of no substance. Genesis 3:7. Without being attached to the fig tree the leaves could not last long, cut off they would wither and die with no renewal. Truth, however, is forever.

The second part of the armor was the breastplate of righteousness which we discussed yesterday so now we turn to the third part in taking up My full armor and it has to do with paying attention to where you are walking and how you are walking, “and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.”

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. Galatians 5:16-17.

If you walk in the flesh you will not be free to do what is pleasing, that which brings peace and joy, you will be trapped in the works of the flesh.

What are the works of the flesh that you do not want to walk in for they will never give you days of heaven on earth nor bring edification and grace to those who hear you, those you walk among.

Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19-21.

And what is the fruit that the Spirit produces in your spirit that produce a blessed life of love, joy and peace?

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Galatians 5:22-24.

How do you know if you are walking in the Spirit or in the flesh? Simple, look at your thoughts, words, and deeds.

Are you bringing anger and words causing division, strife, fear, anxiety, worry, and dissension in yourself, your home, your workplace, and wherever you go? Are you driving in rage, being obnoxious about long lines at the market or bank, taking offense and nursing a bitter root that eventually poisons all around you, including yourself, gossiping and judging, being rude and disrespectful to others, speaking with malice, lying, complaining, blaming, being unforgiving, being lustful and tempting others to sin? If any one of those describes you, then you are walking in the flesh.

Or are you bringing good news wherever you walk as you tread the serpent under your feet and have peace in yourself and are a peacemaker to others?  Do you have love for Me and others? Are you rejoicing, praying, and thanking? Are you watching and walking in love?

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 2:4-8.

Then you are walking in the Spirit.

It all has to do with where you are putting your attention.

You are a spirit you have a soul, and you live in a body. The spirit and the soul are eternal but the body is perishable until you receive the redemption of your bodies to glorified immortal bodies.

The soul consists of your mind, will and emotions, and as your mind goes so will you. A renewed mind is receiving input from your born again spirit which is life and peace, an unrenewed mind is receiving input from the flesh, the old you before you were born again, which is set on death. The quality of your life, whether full of joy and peace or filled with torment and confusion is all about one thing—what you are feeding your mind, whether it be spirit food, which is the truth, that is, My Word, or flesh food, which is the deceit of the world, the flesh, and the devil.

A renewed mind is a transformed mind. And a transformed mind is a controlled mind. You can control your thoughts and words. But to do this you must lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in My likeness has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Set up your new default mode to My Word and not the devil’s lies, as was your old operating system.

Why would you chase after the rubbish of the world (walking in the flesh) when you could have the solid gold of the Kingdom by walking in the Spirit? Because you have not renewed your mind to feed on Spirit Words instead of flesh words. You have replaced the truth of who you are in Christ with the lies of the devil. But you should be as sure that you are a new creation in Christ and unable to turn back to your old manner of life, as the butterfly, once metamorphosis is complete. The butterfly cannot ever again return to its old manner of life. Primarily because it has a new mouth and can no longer feed on anything but the sweet nectar of flowers as it flies above the world from flower to flower.

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace and brings good news of happiness, who announces salvation. Isaiah 52:7.

Next in putting on My full armor comes the shield of faith, which actually you must combine with every piece of armor, “in addition in all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.”

What is the shield of faith? The answer is in another question, if someone files a claim in court against you that is a lie, how do you shield yourself from the harm that such a claim would cause to your finances, your reputation, and your integrity, and if it were a crime the result could be imprisonment? You shield yourself from that claim succeeding against you by countering with the truth. Once you counter with the truth, the claim against you must be dismissed with prejudice. Once the accusation has been countered with the truth, there is  no further room for argument.

For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you may seek refuge; His truth is a shield and bulwark. Psalm 91:3-4.

You take a law down with the truth. So truth is your shield from a lie. The lie will harm you but the truth will protect you, shield you from the harm the lying one was trying to do to you. My Words are truth. And I set you apart, sanctify you, and make you holy in the truth.

“No weapon that is formed against you will prosper; and every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn.  This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their vindication is from Me,” declares the LORD. Isaiah 54:17.

Remember it is My armor that I give to you and vindication from Me is part of it.

The next part is the helmet of salvation, it has to do with protecting your mind from torment.

Now the LORD saw, and it was displeasing in His sight that there was no justice. And He saw that there was no man, and was astonished that there was no one to intercede. Then His own arm brought salvation to Him, and His righteousness upheld Him.  He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head. Isaiah 59:15-17.

You see why I call it My armor. Jesus wore the breastplate of righteousness and the helmet of salvation when I sent Him to rescue you from darkness into My own marvelous light. And when He was crowned with thorns and shed His blood profusely therefrom so that  your thoughts would be cleansed and purified of all sins and all torment.  As a result you have the blood/brain  barrier. His blood shields you from the wrath to come and keeps you in perfect peace, reconil

and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, with all prayer and petition praying at all times in the Spirit. Philippians 4:4-7.

For your mind to have peace, you must be established in righteousness, that is, that you are righteous with Me by the blood of Jesus and sin no longer has any power of you to torment you.

Treading on the devil consists in answering his lies with the truth. My Word is truth. But I want to tell you that this is not a random Word, it must be the Word that I put in your mouth for the particular lie you are refuting. The particular Word that gives grace to those who here it. When Peter took his sword and cut off the servant of the High Priest’s ear, he meant to kill him but missed his mark in the confusion that was going on in arresting Jesus. In resisting the devil you must be very precise or he will not flee from you, you cannot be confused, but in fact, this is true in every aspect of using My Word with skill as I do.

Let Me give you an example shown by one who mediated on My Word day and night, yes, Joshua. I was giving an amazing victory as I fought with him and the Israelites against five kings of the Amorites and their armies, which would have taken a lot of territory in the promised land by one battle. But the sun was starting to go down and once the night came, the enemy could escape in the cover of the darkness for the enemy knew that terrain better than Joshua and could travel easily in the dark. So Joshua showed you what to do. He knew he could make his way prosperous and successful by speaking nothing but My Word so He consulted Me what to say. I gave him the answer by giving the Word to put in his mouth so that it would  not return to Me void but achieve the goal for which I sent it. And when he put that Word in his mouth and commanded it, My Word went to work and the whole universe obeyed.

Then Joshua spoke to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, “O sun, stand still at Gibeon, and O moon in the valley of Aijalon.” So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies. Is it not written in the book of Jashar? And the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. There was no day like that before it or after it, when the LORD listened to the voice of a man; for the LORD fought for Israel. Joshua 10:12-14.

I love you. That is enough for today’s Lesson, tomorrow we will address the Sword of the Spirit and more about your inheritance. Forget not all My benefits.