Church Security and The Armor of God

As a Christian we often hear about putting on the Armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18) and how important this is in our lives.  Being prepared for the protection of our churches is much more that putting on a gun and radio.  It is much more than the training you do (hopefully on a regular basis).  Satan is looking for any opportunity to attack those that are standing on the wall guarding the people doing God's work.I have just finished going through Exodus for my devotions.  There is one thing that has stood out from my time in this book.  How very important it is for us to be seeking God daily.  This is evident in chapter 16 where God is providing the manna for the people to eat and have their physical needs met.  But I have learned that there is a second application for us today.

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Each day we have to make it a priority to "feed on Jesus Christ".  We do this by reading his Word, meditating on it, and obeying what it says.  When you read chapter 16 you learn that the Israelites had to gather it each morning so that they would have enough food to eat for the whole day.  If they failed to gather the manna in the morning they would go hungry for the day.  So, if we don't eat something in the morning it is not long before we are hungry.  It is the same thing spiritually.  We need to be gathering our manna each morning so that we have enough food for the whole day.  If we are not doing this we are starving our spiritual body.  Listening to pastors on the radio, going to a bible study each week, etc. are good resource for learning but it is really just a snack and not the meal that we need to be eating each day.  We would still go hungry and be under nourished if we just ate snacks all the time.

So, lets change gears and look at the Armor of God.  We know we need to be putting on the Armor of God.  So when do you do that?  You are going into battle each day against an enemy that has it in for you, your marriage, your kids, and anything that will bring you down.  Why would you not put on your Armor each morning before you go to battle.  All to often I think there are times in our lives when we head into battle, get attacked and wounded before we consider putting on our Armor.  Or maybe the Armor never gets put on because you can do it on your own (or so you think) and before you know it you are not the spouse, parent, worker, friend etc. that God desires you to be.  Maybe the Armor goes on before you go to bed at night.  Does that really makes sense that you have just ended your day battling temptations, lusts, anger, greed, selfishness, etc. and now you are ready to put your Armor on and lay on your bed to rest?  Does not seem logical or highly effective.

I know that I can not be an effective resource for God to use in my marriage, parenting, ministry, work, etc. unless I have had a good "meal" with God and have put on the Armor each morning.  How can we be an effective protector of God's people in houses of worship or protectors of our family or a stranger that needs our protection from a wolf that is attacking them?  Why would we want to give Satan, the wolf around us, any power over us?
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Since it is important for me to be proficient with the tools on my belt as I stand on the wall so the work of God is getting done at my church.  I think it is even more important to have had a good meal with God each day and to put on my Armor BEFORE the battle begins.