Shoes of the Gospel of Peace

Yes, I am still on this topic of the fight of Faith - not finished yet! I was reading Pastor Joseph Prince's latest book - Destined to Reign - and in Chapter 12 he was explaining how condemnation kills. And I came to this portion where he touched on the armor of God.

For many years now I grew up with the teaching that we have to prepare ourselves to go out into the world and share (preach may be a stronger term for some) the gospel as part and parcel of a Christian's walk (and work, I would say). So for a long time I am trying to arm myself with the Gospel message and getting myself ready should the Lord calls me to go into the mission field and literally live a missionary life. Of course little did I realize that the mission field could be the here and now.

So preparation after preparation and I was still waiting. Until I came to New Creation Church and sat under Pastor Prince's ministry and realized that the shoes here refers to our standing in the sight of God. If you look at the context in which Paul wrote Ephesians you will notice that there were THREE key actions that believers in Christ are to take - SIT (or seated - Chapters 1-3), WALK (Chapetrs 4&5) and STAND (Chapter 6).

It is only when we realized who we are (heirs and joint-heirs with Christ Who is seated at the right hand of God) that we can walk in righteousness in our personal lives and family lives and when trouble comes, we know where we stand. When Paul listed "having your feet shod with the preparations of the gospel of peace" I believe he meant that we need to prepare ourselves and know for a certainty, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that we can STAND (in the context of Ephesians 6) not under condemnation (as Romans 8:1 tells us, "there is therefore NOW NO CONDEMNATION for those who are in Christ Jesus) but as righteous before God the Father and the devil will have to flee from before you.

That, my friends, is how we are to put on the armor of God. Everything that needs to be done for our salvation had already been accomplished at the cross and now we can bask in His righteousness and become a 'blessing magnet' attracting all the blessings that our Abba Father wants us to receive. Go on, keep thanking Him and see the results...