Throughout my study on the armor of God and the spiritual warfare we face daily, the LORD reminded me that we as His children need to take a stand for Him. With the way our world has been going lately, we need as His children need to stand even more firmly in Him.  As we learned in Ephesians 6:10-20, we are in a spiritual war with the enemy of darkness. After writing the devotional for this series I wanted to have one final picture that kind of says it all. Before I even painted on the canvas, I wrote Ephesians 6:10-20 all over the canvas, I love to do this as it reminds me that the painting is bathed in God’s Word. 
     As you look at the painting, my friend whom I painted, is standing there holding a sword with the word TRUTH written on it in one hand and in the other hand, she is  holding God’s Word which is also the Sword of the Spirit. The enemy cannot touch us with God’s ‘armor’ on us. The yellow around her represents the shield of FAITH. The fiery darts cannot penetrate through that shield as we see here in the painting. If you look closely at the ones that are touching the shield, they are cracked! Jesus is our shield of FAITH and when we keep our focus on Him and cling to Him those darts cannot touch us.  I painted her shirt green to represent our growth in the LORD. By being in His Word and learning from it, praying, and going to church faithfully, we grow in our relationship with our LORD. I painted the Bible red to represent Christ’s blood shed for us, our payment for our debt.
    My prayer for this painting is that it will remind us that we are STRONG because He is standing there beside us, as we fight the enemy of darkness. We need to remember to put His armor on and spend time with Him daily! In our daily lives, we don’t physically see God’s armor on each believer, but we do see it in their lives if they have it on! Remember, with His armor on we are dressed in His TRUTH and are “Standing FIRM” on the foundation of the GOSPEL! 

“According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”  Philippians 1:20-21
     As I worked on this devotional on the armor of God, I have learned even more,  the importance of putting on the whole armor of God. We cannot imagine a soldier going into battle without their armor, so why do we go throughout our day without putting on God’s armor. One of the first things we should do when we get up each morning is start our day in prayer, asking the LORD to help us put on His armor. Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:10-11, “ Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” I cannot imagine facing the enemy daily without God’s armor. Unfortunately, there have been many times that I have done that and struggled in the battle throughout the day.
      Each day, we see the spiritual battle heating up more. Evil is around every corner, and those challenges are becoming greater. We need to wear that armor to face those challenges, but we also know who is fighting beside us…our LORD Jesus Christ!!!  He gives us that hope that is steadfast and secure which the enemy cannot touch. Our hope in Christ is eternal, and nothing can separate us from Him as Romans 8:35-39, says “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
    As a child of God, we are running a race of endurance and fighting a battle that is not of flesh and blood. Philippians 3:14 says, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”. The goal here on earth is to strive for Christ-likeness and the prize in Heaven IS Christ-likeness. The time will come when God calls each of His children up to Heaven and into His presence where we will receive the prize that was so unreachable on earth.
     Here on earth, we need to wear God’s armor DAILY. When we get to Heaven, we will not need that armor. As you look at the painting, you will see Jesus Christ welcoming His child with open arms as she runs towards Him on the streets of gold. The River of Life is to the left with the Tree of Life behind Christ. I don’t know what color the fruit on that tree is, so I decided to paint them teal as that color represents culturally TRUTH and FAITH. If you notice to the right there are three butterflies representing NEW LIFE along with the TRINITY (God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit). In the far background, you see the LIGHT representing the very presence of God the Father. I painted Jesus’s sash red to represent His blood that was shed for all our sins, paying the debt that we could never pay. The girl running to Jesus, I wanted her sash to be the color of purple which represents forgiveness. None of us can get to Heaven by our own merit because of sin and that’s why Jesus paid the debt. Finally, you will see that the believer has placed her armor at Heaven’s gate. She no longer needs it, because “The Battle’s Over, Victory’s Won”. She is safe with Christ! What about you? Where will you spend eternity? I hope it’s with Christ.

    I had painted this a while back after seeing a photograph that a friend of mine had taken of her grandfather and son walking hand in hand. I knew there was a story to tell through a painting, and a few years after painting this, the LORD has also shown me how it relates to His armor. 
     The shoes of the Gospel of Peace give us that firm foundation we need in this spiritual battle we are in with the devil. How can a great grandfather walking with his great grandson illustrate that? As I studied the great grandfather walking hand in hand with his great grandson, I thought of the heritage this man was leaving his great grandson along with future great grandchildren and how it tied in with Psalm 1:1-3, “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” This great grandfather loved to delight in the LORD and his great grandson is like a tree planted near the water soaking in the nutrients of his great grandfather's example.
     As parents, grandparents and great grandparents we need to ask ourselves what kind of heritage we are teaching our little ones. It reminds me of Psalm 37:23-24 which says, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand."  Whatever comes our way, our little ones need us wearing the ‘shoes with the preparation of the GOSPEL of PEACE’, walking in God's truth. They need to know that God is Sovereign, that He is in control even when things seem chaotic in this world.
     Finally, I am reminded of the verse in Proverbs 22:6 which says, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."  Yes, it is our children who are training our grandchildren, but we as their grandparents train them in a special, unique way. Are we walking alongside our children guiding and encouraging them, when needed, as they guide and teach our grandchildren? Are we bringing our grandchildren before the LORD in prayer? By being that godly example, we are showing them how to wear these shoes of armor, not only for our own children, but for our grandchildren also.  Our grandchildren need to see us exhibit Christ, not just talking about Him, but living in Him. Do they hear His words or ours? Do they see Him in what we do or what we desire? Do they see us standing firm in what we believe ready to fight the enemy for them? What example are we leaving? They need to see us not wavering in our faith and standing on the firm foundation that is in Jesus Christ! Are we “walking through the ages in TRUTH”?

     How can this picture represent the ‘shoes with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace’, you might ask? As I studied about these shoes, I learned that the shoes were designed to keep the soldiers’ feet healthy when they were in long forced marches. They were different from what most of the people wore back then. These shoes were made from three layers of leather, being pulled up and laced around their ankles. This helped protect their feet from receiving blisters and other foot diseases. On the bottom of the shoes, small spikes were driven into the soles to help give them a firm footing when the ground was uneven.
     During this time, walking was their primary means of transportation. It was necessary that they would be able to move around with comfort and ease. They also needed to go into battle without wondering how to place their feet as again the ground could be uneven.
     Paul mentions in Ephesians 6:15, “And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;”, reminds us that the Gospel itself is the firm footing of the believer. Colossians 1:10 says, “That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;”. When we walk in a manner worthy of our calling, we exhibit a testimony of the Gospel in our lives.
     As I thought about this painting and how the LORD wanted me to tell His story through it, I realized that it begins with each of us. When we repent of our sins, accepting Jesus Christ as our LORD and Savior, we have started that journey of walking in a manner worthy of His calling. In this painting, there are different “symbols” I want to point out to each of you.
     The shape of the canvas, along with the bright colors in the background again represents a stain glass window of a church, reminding us of the importance of going to a good Bible believing church, faithfully. The father in the painting has his head bowed while praying reminding us of the humility we need to have as we come to the LORD in prayer. As a family, it is so important to have Christ the center. These parents exhibited this in the painting with their little girl.
     As I was painting the parents, I decided to have the father holding his little girl’s hand as he was praying and the mother sitting next to them with the little girl looking at her mother, to show the unity a family needs to have in Christ.      As you look at the parents’ laps, each have a Bible, with light coming out representing the power of God and the Holy Spirit filling the room with the white swirls behind them.  The circle above represents the GOSPEL with the cross, and PEACE with the dove and olive branch. The gold trim around the edge of the painting represents our Home in Heaven someday.
      How does this all tie in with a firm footing? Spending time in God’s Word and in prayer with Him daily, also faithfully attending church draws us to the One who gave His life for us.  It brings each person to the point of total surrender, dying to self, asking Jesus to forgive us of our sins and come into our hearts. Once we have done that, nothing or no one can take us out of His hands as John 10:28 says, “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”. He is our “FIRM Foundation”, and He reminds us of that in His Word. When we are in spiritual battles, we can stand firm on the solid ground of what Christ did for us in His death and resurrection. How do you choose to fight?