"Standing FIRM" ~ in Spiritual Warfare

“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. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;”       Ephesians 6:10-18

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!