Suit Up!
The Holy Spirit is the ultimate spiritual director and He gives us very useful direction in Ephesians when Paul tells us to put on the armor of God. It is direction that can regularly be used and is beneficial when we are trying to discern the will of God.
We are told to put on the belt of truth. This is of great value in trying to make a decision. It should always be taken out of our discernment toolbox to use. We are living in a time of information. We all have to be careful who we listen to. Because there is so much out there, we have the opportunity to really exercise this much-needed skill. Truth is not an option. The truth is not a conclusion we come up with based on emotions. Truth is hard-core facts and facts only. Emotions that help to form opinions cannot make something factual, but we can easily get caught up in the emotions and react as if they were facts. If we are going to exercise discernment for making decisions in our life, we must know the facts. People can say a lot of things, but where is the evidence that what is being said is factual? I think that social media is a great way to practice this skill. If we read enough and look to see if facts over emotions and opinions are written, it can become second nature in time. Suddenly we may find we are in the situation of having to say yes or no to an offer. Because of all we have practiced it will be second nature to ask what the facts are in the offer. In doing that, we would be looking for the truth, who is God. We would avoid hiding or ignoring the truth, which are actions that comes from the father of lies, because we are looking for factual truths and not feelings. That is just one tool we need to use in discernment. There are five more.
Paul says the next thing we need to do is put on the breastplate of righteousness. This breast plate covers our heart. It goes hand-in-hand with the belt of truth. Once we know what the truth is we can act righteously, which is always the loving thing to do. This piece of armor goes hand-in-hand with the belt of truth because you can easily think the right thing to do is the action that is surrounded by feelings. We could easily feel bad and fear not being fair to someone or ourselves and then find ourselves acting upon our feelings and not the truth. This is not a path we want to be on. Real love acts righteously even if it’s hard. Temptation to do otherwise is the wide and easy road. Often times in this world acting righteously will get us into uncomfortable situations, but we know we are never alone when we find ourselves being persecuted. In discerning, once we we have all the facts about any given situation, we must ask where the righteous path is.
Next we are to place our shoes on and run toward the Gospel of peace. In other words, is our choice going to bring about peace or chaos? God is the author of peace. The Gospel, among other things, is a message of peace. The enemies path always brings chaos. Try and look ahead to see what your decision will bring…peace or chaos. When our decision is final, we must also discern if we have peace. Being peaceful about a decision is a sign we have made the right one.
Next we have the helmet of salvation. Jesus died for our salvation. He is the head of the Body of Christ. Being mindful of that helmet is imperative. Jesus never made it about Himself. In our decisions, we need to look to see how they may affect God and neighbor. If we are single or married with a family, how does the potential new job offer glorify God? If we have a family, how does it affect them? Are we taking it out of greed? Does it use the gifts given to us to glorify God? Does it offer health insurance that is much needed for our family? You can know the truth, know that saying yes is righteous, but find that saying no is also righteous and more in line with the helmet of salvation when you weigh everything out. With the helmet of salvation, we may find that like Jesus, we must die to self and not try and save our lives.
Next we pick up the shield of faith. While this shield is always necessary, sometimes it is more prevalent when we know that what we are saying no to is more of a temptation than anything else. It seems exciting, but it has all the bells and whistle‘s of temptation on it. We know, for example, that we would love the new job. It would have prestige and more money that really isn’t needed, but we feel that this is what we’ve been working for. The excitement is great, but the timing is off and uprooting our family would cause major sorrow at this time. We know by taking it our happiness would be short-lived because it would be hard to have happiness while watching our family suffer. We need the shield of faith to know our decision is right. We need to know that all will be well. We need to know that when we lose our life, we will gain it. We need to know something better will come along… something that will not have the bells and whistle‘s of temptation on it.
Next we pick up our sword, which is the Word of God. Whatever the path is, courage is needed. God’s word gives us that. Even on the days when we make choices without even thinking, our discernment muscles are getting stronger day by day. We know this step is imperative. Having daily picked up the Word helps us when we find ourselves at an important cross road. The word of God comes to us before we even pick up the Bible. It is in our soul. It has formed us into the child of the Father and the spouse of the Son. We are one and it is His word that helps us to better recognize Him when the choices come.
Truth, righteousness, peace, being other oriented with the helmet of salvation, faith and God‘s word are the cornerstones of our lives that are held together with prayer. Find these six things surround them with prayer and you will find God and there is no better choice to be made than that. Of course, with all major decisions having help in discerning God’s will is always recommended. Things aren’t always so basic and cut and dry as with the examples given above. It can be difficult and take much time in certain cases. Seeking out help from a director is always advisable. However, if we practice putting on God’s armor on a regular basis, when the major decisions come along, we are already half way there to knowing God’s loving and peace-filled will.
Prayerfully reflect on:
Each piece of armor in Ephesians 6:10-18. How might you be able to practice using each piece of armor in your daily life? Is there a decision or conflict you are facing that putting on God’s armor may help you with?
God loves us so much that He gives us His armor to wear. How might knowing this help you in your relationship with God?
Paul reminds us to wrap all our lives in prayer. (Eph 6:18). Reflect on how wrapping our lives in prayer is wrapping our lives up in God and essential for our relationship and discernment.