By Anita Mondragon

 

Do you ever watch these crime movies where the good guy and the bad guy are shooting it out?  The bullets are flying, the good guys are winning…and then it happens.  The good guy’s gun is empty, and the bad guys are advancing from behind!  This scene reminds me of the Christian life.  

 

Sometimes we as Christians ‘go after’ the devil on our own.  We fail to call on the Lord for help.  We go off half cocked, and end up pointing an empty gun in the devil’s face.  He sneers as we stand in defeat and asks, “Where’s the magazine?”  The humiliation continues as he declares, “Your gun is empty!  You have no bullets!”  And his imps begin surrounding us on all sides.

 

Most Christians assume they are armed to the teeth, but be assured, the devil knows if there are bullets in your gun or not!

 

You see, we as Believers have access to the full armor of God, but rarely are we wearing all of it!   Those of us that are wearing it, still have no idea of how to use it.  Most of us have laid our armor down.  When the Christian life got hard, and trials came, we began to shed our armor.  Oh, we kept the helmet of Salvation because we want to go to heaven, but we have taken off the rest of the armor one piece at a time.  

 

With most of us, the Belt of Truth was the first to go.  The Bible says, “Thy Word is Truth…”, but most of our Bibles are collecting dust because they’re never opened.  

 

And the Breast Plate of Righteousness …well, that got tossed aside because we didn’t want to be known as,  ‘the do-gooder’,  ‘the Bible-thumper’, ‘Mr. perfect’…and the list of names go on.  Most of us don’t even go to church anymore.  We are AWOL…absent without leave! 

 

The Gospel of Peace got kicked to the curb because, after all…we have to stand up for ourselves…we have ‘rights’ too!  We can’t be door mats and allow folks to walk all over us!  Surely that’s not what Jesus meant when He said, the meek would inherit the earth!   

 

 We pick up the Shield of Faith sometimes, but only when it regards having faith for someone else.  It’s kind of like us having faith that Jesus will take us to heaven because we’ve asked Him to, but we can’t trust Him with our tithe….

 

We rarely pick up the Sword of the Spirit because we diminish the seriousness of the battle we are in.  We forget that we are soldiers in the army of God-fighting against satan!

 

Any soldier will tell you that you cannot go to war with an empty gun!  If you point a gun at the enemy, you better have it loaded and KNOW how to use it!

 

Be ready!  Be sober!  Be vigilant!  

 

WHY????

 

Because your adversary…your enemy, the devil goes about as a roaring lion and he’s seeking whom he may devour…gobble up…eat alive. (The Bible-I paraphrased)

 

If you don’t want to be the devils supper, pick up your Bible, walk in the Righteousness of God, proclaim the Gospel of Truth, keep your Faith in God, and keep ahold of your Sword-and fight with the power of the Spirit.  Remember, you are in the battle of the ages!  You’re in the fight for the souls of men! 

 

Now put on your armor and run to the fight!  Lock and Load!