God is Good All the Time
ICS Daily Devotions

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭6‬:‭16‬-‭17‬ ‭(Amplified)‬‬ Above all, lift up the [protective] shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬

The devil, the accuser of the brethren, will always condemn believers and make us feel unworthy, leading us to believe that God uses trials, tribulations, famine, nakedness, and lack to punish us. He wants us to curse God and have a strained relationship by abandoning our seated position! However, God has washed away our sins and remembers them no more, because our past is under the blood.

Even if we have sinned against God, remember that it is between the Heavenly Father and us, and give no place to the devil! The Bible tells us that nothing shall separate us from God’s love. He is not the source of tribulation, distress, famine, lack, or suffering. Having already raised Christ from the dead and seated us with Christ in the heavenly places, why would God want to make our lives miserable? Therefore, we need to draw the sword of the Spirit and bring to the devil’s remembrance of what Jesus has done for us.

The sword, which is the Word of God, serves as both a defensive and offensive weapon in a believer’s life. We can stand firm on the teachings of the Word based on our conviction. We can also advance and attack, as Jesus did when He said, “It is written” while being tempted by the devil. We shall also stand and advance by saying it is written!

We enforce the victory by boasting in the Lord because it is God who justified us in Christ. We must be convinced by the Scripture that God is for us and not against us!

God has dealt with the sin issue so we can be in covenant with Him. Our breastplate was put in place by the grace of God because of the imputed righteousness. Therefore, it is God who justified us in Christ.

In old times, a shield covered the entire body. It was made of animal skin and soaked with water to quench fiery darts upon impact! Likewise, we need to soak ourselves in the Word so that nothing thrown by the devil will penetrate and hurt us. We must have a firm conviction that God is perfect, there is no evil in Him, and we have peace with Him. He is not our enemy; we share a common enemy.

Finally, the helmet is important because it protects the mind. The final frontier in battle is the battlefield of the mind. Once we are convinced that God is the one who justifies us, He is the Judge, and we have Christ’s imputed righteousness, we can stay confident amid trials, tribulations, nakedness, and famines, knowing that they are not from God, and trust Him for deliverance and provision because Jesus is interceding for us. We stand firm in the conviction that God is good all the time!

Sermon Series: Cell Group Campaign (Stand)