Lifted Vision Ministry

“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”- Ephesians 6:13 NIV

Today, I want to un-pack this verse in light of our position as sons and daughters of a mighty God! God has brought this verse to my attention multiple times this week with an emphasis on the final part; to stand!

In our Christian walk, we have to know what we stand for. If you have accepted Jesus Christ into your life as your Lord and Savior (Romans 10:9) and through faith believed in His name and in the power of His resurrection (Galatians 3:26-27), then you are SAVED! From this moment on, you begin to live your life for Christ. God gives you a new purpose, a new heart and a new life. You cannot stay the same person that you are after you become saved- there must be a supernatural change that occurs in your life now that the Spirit of God lives inside you. After you accept God’s will for your life you supernaturally transform into the person who God has called you to be. This new person is very different from who you were before. This is because who you were before was the person that the world called you to be. This truth is found in the book of 2 Corinthians:

“Anyone who is joined to Christ is a new being; the old is gone, the new has come ” – 2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV

After we acknowledge that what we stand for is actually a person (Jesus Christ a.k.a. The Living God), we have to begin to understand who that person is. We do this by developing a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Religion and good works are not enough to cover our sins. We must let the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Word of God radically transform us from the inside out. We must die to ourselves and our fleshly desires daily (Luke 9:23) so that we can live unto God and have life more abundant! (John 10:10)

This brings me back to our key word for the day. Standing. What do we stand for? Are we standing on the promises of God daily? Do we stand in His word? Do we stand for what Jesus stands for?

I urge you to examine your life, your behaviors and even your thoughts! Not just once or twice, but on a continual, daily, hourly, minute by minute basis! Examine everything you do and compare it to God’s word and the life of Jesus Christ. Jesus said it best:

“Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.” – 2 Corinthians 13:5

God knows that as humans we have to deal with our flesh and can be easily swayed by different doctrines, teachings and principles. I believe that this is the reason why He urges us so frequently to examine ourselves and warns us of the dangers of being carried away by false doctrine countless times in the Bible. From Genesis to Revelation, God’s plea for us is to turn away from falsehood and to come into His glorious presence. To beware of following anything that’s not from Him.

I don’t say this to worry you or to cause you to fear, but I write this to you so that you can be encouraged in the Lord. There is a spiritual battle going on for your soul. Going back to our study verse, in Ephesians 6:13, it says:

“…so that when the day of evil comes…”

Does this verse say if the day of evil comes? No. It says when the day of evil comes…This lets us know that evil will come to us and try to lead us astray from our God and Savior. It is Satan’s plan for our lives.

I want to encourage you brothers and sisters that we are not fighting blindly! We know our enemy and we know that our God already has the victory because HE is stronger. Greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4).

“The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you” – Romans 16:20 NIV

We fight from a position of victory as sons and daughters of the one true God! Please read these three scriptures and apply them to your life!

“Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses” – 1 Timothy 6:12 NKJV

“But continue in the things which you have learned and have been assured of, knowing of whom you have learned them” -2 Timothy 3:14 KJV

“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” – 2 Corinthians 10:5

Having done all that we can for our Lord Jesus Christ lets stand firmly in God’s truth forever!

AMEN!