Before I leave the house for any reason, I make sure I’m dressed appropriately (although my wife may question that statement). Whether I’m going to work, or to the grocery store, or to play tennis, or to church, I have a set of minimum standards for what I’m wearing for each situation. Since I never see naked people in the places I go, I assume I’m not alone in this approach.
Many public establishments take the “no shirt, no shoes, no service” approach for acceptable attire. (Some places say “no dice” for the last part.) Pants aren’t mentioned, but I guess that’s taken for granted – a reminder on that front couldn’t hurt, though.
As a Christian, what else should I put on before I head into the world? Paul gave us a list in this well-known passage:
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 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. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
Ephesians 6:10-18 (emphasis added)
There is plenty of writing online on the various pieces of the “full armor of God” and what they mean, so I’m not going to delve into that. My focus is on the action phrase, one that is easy to overlook if we get too drawn into the armor/weaponry metaphor: Simply getting dressed isn’t enough. To be truly ready for the world and its challenges, we need to “pray in the Spirit on all occasions.”
I’ve never served in the military, but I’ve seen plenty of TV shows and movies about the armed forces (so that makes me an expert, right?). Obviously there are varying degrees of reality in Hollywood depictions of the military, but one thing you see is that before a group heads out on a mission, they’re given instructions: where to go, what time to go, what the objective is, who else is going, what the dangers are, etc. It’s not a case of, “OK, here’s your equipment, now go get the bad guys,” with no other information provided. There is additional preparation involved – i.e., they need to get ready.
Similarly, it’s not enough for me to put my Bible in my car or put a Bible app in my phone. It’s a tough world out there, full of the “flaming arrows of the evil one.” Before I go on my mission for the day, I need to pray – that’s how I should get ready. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to praying, but one acronym helps keep me focused: ACTS.
- A: Adoration – praise God for who he is.
- C: Confession – confess my sins to God and ask him for forgiveness.
- T: Thankfulness – thank God for his blessings.
- S: Supplication – humbly make requests to God, either for myself or for other people.
Recently I’ve heard reminders about the importance of prayer throughout the day, even if it’s just 60 seconds to pause and acknowledge God, his greatness, and his love for us. One person even expressed in frustration that it seems like by 10 a.m., he’s an atheist – the point being that even after “getting ready” in the morning, the world has hit him hard in just a couple of hours. Staying in touch with God – our “mission control,” I suppose – throughout the day is the only good way for our armor to be effective. As Paul said in one of his other letters, we should “pray continually” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) – one “check the box” prayer in the morning probably isn’t going to cut it.
Finally, a prayer at the end of the day can serve as an important “debrief” with our commanding officer (just to make sure we’re one the same page – I’m referring to God). We can thank him; we can confess where we fell short; and we can pray about the next day.
And hopefully we can go to sleep feeling that we did a good job in our armor and feeling God’s love for us, even if the world wasn’t too lovely that day.
Keep Me From The Gallows Pole 