Each day is a new struggle and has been for a long time now but each day “His mercies are new every morning”. But it goes beyond that. Every morning I wake up and on one level or another decide if I’m still going to believe He is who He said He is. It’s a conscious decision to believe that He will be faithful to listen because I am going to Him in prayer asking for the strength to get through the day. Not on my strength, but to be filled with His strength.
This is where the whole context of the verse comes into play: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
(Lamentations 3:22-23)
And as I lay here when I first wake up I put on what is known as the “Armor of God”
But I keep this in mind:
““I called on your name, O Lord, from the depths of the pit; you heard my plea, ‘Do not close your ear to my cry for help!’ You came near when I called on you; you said, ‘Do not fear!’ “You have taken up my cause, O Lord; you have redeemed my life.”
(Lamentations 3:55-58)
And here’s the thing, as I was doing the dishes after a long day (but a good day) I had air1 radio on and they had a concert live from Red Rocks. I wasn’t really sure if I wanted to listen but then the one speaker said “If He didn’t die on the cross and be resurrected three days later, leaving an empty tomb behind but a path to heaven and the Father through Him before us, then all this is just for naught. One of my favorite passages in the Chronicles of Narnia is when Lucy asks if the line is tame. And they reply tame? No, of course he’s not a tame lion. But he is good.”” That caught my attention right away and as they began they just said we’re going to play and we want you to just realize the good He has done, how He has been faithful and name that out loud wherever you are because it says He inhabits the praise of His people.
There is something very powerful and profoundly different when you thank God for something out loud. It’s the same way as a child yearns to hear I love you from their parent. When someone you know beyond a shadow of a doubt loves you and they tell you those words out loud it means so very much.
How many children in generations previous but even today say “I know my parents loved me but they never said it”? And it was at that moment I stopped everything and just said “You actually were in Jerusalem. You actually did come down for my sake. You were actually there. It’s not just a tv show, a movie or a historical figure, You actually were there and it all happened.”
It’s not that I didn’t believe this before, but it was a deeper realization. As if my brain and heart combined to lay down a new neuropathy, a new folding of that grey matter that makes up my frontal lobe. “Religious Belief at the Level of the Brain: Neural Correlates and Influence of Culture” notes: The frontal lobe, located behind the forehead, does much of the work of complex thinking, like planning, imagining, making decisions, and reasoning. Specifically “The prefrontal cortex (PFC), specifically the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vMPFC) and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, plays a crucial role in integrating information and forming beliefs, along with other regions like the precuneus, anterior insula, and ventral striatum”
But here is where it really gets deep. I realized how much she had gotten me through today. And the day before that and the day before that and the last four years. I finally said if I need this pain as a reminder then give me more of it. If this is the only way I’m going to pay attention to you and realize how much you love me and how faithful you are- if this is the only way right now that things are able to get through to me then keep it coming. Of course this is not my will. This is not what I want. This is not the avenue I would choose, but if it’s the only one that is going to be effective right now then I completely accept it. I completely surrender to, however you want to use me. But I also completely surrender to whatever means you choose to get through to me because you know me better than I do. Not my will, but yours be done.
And then it leaded me into thinking about the armor of God and about how they’re not even pieces of armor alone; to me they are pieces of Christ that we put on every morning just as much as we do when we take communion and eat the bread and drink.
What is the Full Armor of God? Bible Guide for Each Piece is a very good article detailing everything about the armor of god from Christianity today.
But for a deep dive here is a study guide pdf on the armor of God from scriptures explained with verses and full explanations, that is in my opinion well worth me going over and few times to soak it all in.
The Armor of God
- Belt of Truth
- Breastplate of Righteousness
- Shoes of the Gospel of Peace
- Shield of Faith
- Helmet of Salvation
- Sword of the Spirit: Word of God
The armor of God is an illustration in the Bible that reminds Christians about the reality of spiritual battle and describes the protection available to them. Each piece of armor has a distinct purpose and means of defense against temptation and evil.
Armor of God: Bible Passage
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
“Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
“In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” (Ephesians 6:10-18)
References:
Gaw A. C. (2019). Religious Belief at the Level of the Brain: Neural Correlates and Influence of Culture. The Journal of nervous and mental disease, 207(7), 604–610. https://doi.org/10.1097/NMD.0000000000001016
Motel, April (2024) What is the Full Armor of God? Bible Guide for Each Piece
The armor of God. N. A. Scriptures explained. N. D. https://www.scripturesexplained.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/The-full-armor-of-God-Bible-study-revised.pdf