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

And after you have done everything, to stand.  And after having done everything, to stand.

When you watch the news and hear of enemies of war being captured, do they talk about those enemies being released after ground is taken?  No.  Those enemies are put behind bars and fences and surrounded by guards.  And my friends, you and I can’t treat our enemies any differently.

Maybe the enemy you’ve faced is poverty.  Or maybe it’s low self-worth.  Or sickness.  Or addictions.  Or self-harm.  Or maybe like me, your struggle was fear.  Whatever it is, do you ever wonder to yourself why the same enemy keeps coming back again and again?  Maybe you fought fiercely against it, beat it — but now you’re backed into a corner, wondering how the same thing entered your life again.

For most of my life, I have wondered that.  For most of my life, I would fight fiercely against fear.  I’d win.  I’d float on that victory.  Then, though I was still walking with God, I’d take down my guard.  I didn’t feel a need to fight when there was nothing visibly to fight.  After all, I had been feeling free for days or weeks or months.  And then slowly, little by little, that old fear would creep in again… until it was so rampant that I didn’t even feel like fighting.

Where did I go wrong?  I fought hard in the face of battle.  But then I let my enemy go.  I didn’t guard my territory.  I didn’t stand my ground.   No more.

There’s a woman I know of who was diagnosed with a deadly form of cancer and given only two weeks to live.  She had no hope in the natural.  But she dug into God’s Word.  She stood on it.  She fought and decided to believe it more than what her doctor or symptoms said.  And she was healed.  Totally healed.  That was almost thirty years ago.  She’s still alive.  That cancer NEVER came back.  But you know what she’s done every single morning throughout these almost thirty years?  Read God’s promise of healing over herself.  Every single morning.  Before she even leaves her house, she reads them.  She’s standing her ground.  Not because she feels like it.  She was healed, right?  Even the doctors said she was healed.  What’s the use in continuing to read the same scriptures when you’ve already seen them come to pass?  Because God Word says to.

Do what your own understanding tells you to do and suffer defeat.  Do what your emotions say and suffer defeat.  Or do what GOD says and experience total victory.

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.

Tags: and having done all to stand, defeat, Ephesians 6:13, stand, stand your ground, Victory

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