The Armor of God

      I am going to spend some time writing another blog this morning. It has been over a week since I have written one on here and I am already behind on my entries for this month. I portably won't even have 10 entries because this month has been so busy for me and a little stressful. What I am going to write about today is the Bible study that I have been going to this summer. It is called: "The Armor of God" by Priscilla Shirer. I can say that it has changed and challenged my life in ways that not every Bible Study as. I think this is the strongest study that I have taken in awhile. It is my new favorite.
       "The Armor of God" Bible Study is based on the verses in Eph. that tell you about the basic armory of God. Each week is about one part of the armor and how we can actually put in on and live it out in our lives. To be honest, I have heard verses 10-19 over and over in my Christian walk because that is one of the main stories that is peached throughout the churches but Priscilla took it deeper, which knowing me that is what I need on most things. Preachers would usually take one Sunday and just talk about the verses as a summary but Priscilla takes 7 weeks to describe each part of the armor.
         Week one was prayer, which really got to me because that is my stress reliever for life. Week two was loins with truth, which explained a lot more about what Truth really is and that there are 3 or 4 different kinds of truth that we could be living but only one is the best out of all of them. Week 3 was the breastplate of righteousness, which is explained the word and idea of righteousness better for me. Week 4 was shoding your feet with the gospel of peace and boy, do I ever need to understand what real peace is from God, even in the mist of chaos. I really learned a lot about it that week.
         Now we are on week five, which is the shield of faith. I haven't done any of the study yet but I have a feeling that it is really going to challenge me to get out of my comfort zone. It is so strange how, for me, God knows what Bible study I need at the right time and for that chapter of my life. I have never really thought about looking deeper into the Armor of God but there is so much more behind every piece then we really know. I am seeing that Paul knew what he was writing about when he challenged the people of that time to do. It isn't really all Paul's doing because God gave him the idea and words to speak to those people.
            I know I used to think that the armor of God was just something for those people during Paul's days. Yes, I knew we were supposed to have faith, peace, righteousness, and so on but I didn't know how we should really get it. I didn't know that we could actually pray to have those things put on us. I didn't know why Paul picked the Roman soldiers' armor to describe what God wanted from us. When you really look into the Roman soldiers' armor and at the verses it all make sense in an odd way but isn't that how God usually works.
             In this study, Priscilla even describes the words "shoding" and "girded", which we don't hear a lot in today's world but yet again it makes sense. "Girded" means you gather things up in a belt or band of some sort. It also means to "enclose" or  "in hem". The meaning I like to use, since it is used with Truth, is "to prepare oneself for battle". "Shoding" means to me "standing firm in place" or "not moving one bit" or "really good stability". Funny because I couldn't find that word in my online dictionary. These are just some examples of this strong and life changing study.
            As you can see, the verses in the Bible have so much more meaning behind them but today's world is just so fast that we don't take time to think about the deeper meaning of things that are the most important. I will say to that this study comes with videos of Priscilla Shirer teaching the lessons and getting us started with the lessons. It is like she talks about the faith chapter and then we do it for a week and then come back and talk about it in small groups. Then it is watching the video for the next week and so on. I would also like to say that Priscilla Shirer has became my new favorite women's Bible Study speaker, even for me, past Beth Moore and all the others out there for this moment in my life.
              This is the second study that I have done of hers with my church. The another one was just about taking things one step at a time. It was about learning how to "Breathe" (aka take a break for God every once in awhile). I hope this shows you a little of what I am learning in my life right now and kind of where I am at in my life too. God knows what I need right when I need it. I am scared that He is teaching me to actually put on the Armor of God but I know I shouldn't be because God is with me all the time especially if I have the Armor on.
              Hope you will take the time to look deeper into the Armor of God, whether on your own or with this Bible study. It is also a good one to do alone. Digging deeper in God's Word always makes us stronger. This is a Bible study that I can say has grown me and challenged me a lot. I felt like I have grown in just these 4 weeks that I have been going to it. Just with what I am learning with it. Hope you grow in your Walk with Christ with it too.