Putting on the Armor

Ephesians 6:12 - "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

     This passage in Ephesians has become my passage for the next 8 weeks. I have come to realize that I don't fight my physical body, it is a spiritual warfare that I face. As I begin to lose weight, I gain more confidence in God and His strength and become more bold. Satan does NOT like when any of God's children become bold, so he will fight tooth and nail to keep God's children "satisfied". I was listening the other evening to a preacher that said we are not to be satisfied, he was speaking of spiritual growth. I began to think about the verse that said godliness with contentment is great gain. Then it struck me, we are to be satisfied, content, with the physical - what we have, where we live, the house we own or rent, the car we have, no matter if it is "top notch" or not, we are are to be content physically; yet at the same time we are never to be satisfied with where we are spiritually. We are not to become "content" with our relationship with God or our growth spiritually. No, we are not to be satisfied there at all. The sad fact is that MANY Christians have it backwards, we are satisfied spiritually, but not physically.

     Satan knows that if he can keep us "satisfied" spiritually - which by the way the Bible refers to as lukewarm - then we will not be effective as Christians. I have been caught in the snare of lukewarmness long enough. It is time that Christians stop looking only at the physical, but look through to the spiritual. My, and your, weight loss can be a great weapon in our arsenal because it shows God's power in our life. I do not fight; nor do you for that matter; against flesh and blood, no it is MUCH deeper than that we fight Satan. Our war on weight is more than looking good, feeling better, or fitting in the clothes we used to fit in, it is about God's strength being shown in and through us.