So, as kid and someone either preached on the armor of God or taught a lesson on it, I thought they were referring to actual armor.
You know, the silver armor you’d picture a Knight in Shining Armor wearing if he were to ride up on a white horse and save the day?
Yeah, I still picture that when I think about the armor of God. Doesn’t help much that Mom did a lesson with her Sunday school kids where they learned what each piece of the armor of God means and represents. Anddd they made their own set of armor.
Yep, the breastplate of righteousness was a foil turkey platter. Imagination, y’all, it’s a wonderful thing. 🙂
Put on the armor of God
Early last week, I stumbled upon a Bible plan on YouVersion called, The Armor of God, a 5-Day Reading Plan by Priscilla Shirer. Remembering Mom’s lesson with her kids (I may have been a bit extra excited about that turkey platter breastplate 🙂 ) and realizing the importance of our spiritual armor, I decided to check out Priscilla’s plan.
(Y’all, I can’t find a link directly to her plan on YouVersion, but here’s a link to her book. Not an affiliate link.)
We’ve all heard of the fiery darts the devil aims at our soul. It’s a pretty common scripture. A fiery dart aimed straight at the heart is devastating. I mean, really devastating.
Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Ephesians 6:16
The Devil has many tactics
But, as Priscilla points out, the flaming arrow tactic wasn’t meant to necessarily completely destroy with one perfectly aimed blow. Instead, fiery darts, historically speaking, were used to set a fire around the opponent. The opponent would drop their shield, concern themselves with putting out the fire, and get distracted from the actual fight. And yes, when someone becomes distracted in a fight, mistakes happen, guards are let down, and they lose the battle.
Distraction. Confusion. Disarray.
What’s that sound like to you?
Yep, tricks of the devil, the enemy of our soul.
Be on your guard
How many times has something minor hit our camps and instead of just pouring the living water over it, we let the dart burn some more and then cook up a stew over it?
Or, we get so drawn to the flame- the confusion, the mess, the gossip– that we forget the enemy’s fire is destroying us? Or we ignore that other camps are burning, too?
I’ll admit, I like watching a good fire. There’s nothing like a roasted burnt hot dog and a burnt marshmallow over a fire pit. But, playing with fire, especially spiritual fire, is a good way to get burned and unnecessarily wounded.
Friend, we don’t have to let the fiery darts of the enemy destroy us. Put on the whole armor of God and rely on the living water to put out the fire. Those fiery darts can and will be quenched and rendered ineffective.
Keep your armor on and in tip-top shape and keep fighting, soldier.
Love this! I have never thought about the fiery arrows like that before…causing distraction so the true attack can come in and destroy.
Kristi- me either! Totally opened my eyes! Thanks for stopping by!
Cassie I really enjoyed reading your post. The enemy is a trickster is more ways than one. Thanks for this eye opener. God bless
Thanks for stopping by, Lureta!
I’ve been wanting to do that study, it looks so good. Love this post!
I would love to read her book! The YouVersion plan was really insightful. Lots of food for thought.
Great post, Cassie. Our ladies group at church completed Priscilla’s Armor of God study, the book and videos. Now I’m doing it with two ladies I mentor. It’s seven weeks of powerful reading, studying, and learning about each piece of the armor. It changes your life! Thanks for sharing about the fiery darts. Oh, and on a side note and a bit of humor, my brother-in-law’s dad was preaching once on the fiery darts and he got tongue-tied and said “diery farts.” Haha! Church blunders are the absolute best!
Karen, hahahaha, oh my. Thank you for sharing that church blunder. Had to read that comment out loud to all that were standing in the kitchen at the time. Safe to say I would have never held it together if that happened and I was in the congregation. I’m mature, I promise. 🙂 I’m looking at grabbing a copy of her book from Amazon (helloooo, Amazon Prime!). So much sage wisdom and so many insightful comments in her bible plan, I’m sure her bible study is the same!