How well are you protected? Are you aware of defense mechanisms available to you? Have you donned the armor provided to you? Or are you still trying to make it on your own? Do you not know that Jesus provides you with the defenses you need in this life?
All of us are put on the defensive at some point or another. For some of us, it may seem that we are always on the defensive. A good defense includes protection against the attacks we are being bombarded with. We have protection at our disposal, if we will simply use it.
Our military knows a lot about defense. They are outfitted with body armor and helmets. They put armor on vehicles. When sitting up a defensive position, they dig fighting holes, fill sandbags and stack them as barricades, they use razor wire, and they set up listening posts a few hundred yards away from the camp to keep an eye out for approaching enemy soldiers.
We, too, have defensive mechanisms to live our lives safely. God has provided them to us through the person of Jesus Christ. We are told in Hebrews 12:2 that Jesus is the author of our faith, meaning He is the One who provides us with and strengthens our faith.
We have been told more times than we can count that God is love. We have also been told that we are to love as God does. This is no googly eyed infatuation, but a love that is strong and just. It is a love that both comforts and disciplines. It is a love that stands strong in the storms of life.
Our hope is in Jesus and eternal life. We see throughout the New Testament many descriptions of hope, including it is living, it is provided by grace, it provides us endurance and encouragement, it is a firstfruit of the spirit, and we are told to hold on to our hope of an eternal inheritance.
When we put our faith into action, love like God, and continue in our hope, we have a strong defense. Our faith and love protect our hearts and motivates us to prepare ourselves and others for attacks. Our hope keeps our minds focused on the end result, knowing the war has already been won and the prize is waiting for us.
I pray we all put our faith and love into action. I pray we maintain our focus on our inheritance through hope. I pray each one of us use the defense provide to us by Jesus in our daily battles. Keep your faith. Put your faith into action. Love like God. Hold onto your hope. Keep your focus on your inheritance.
1 Thessalonians 5:8-9 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Marty Pressey 