By Darla Butterfield August 3rd, 2024
I opened my fridge recently to find an unpleasant surprise…a worm wriggling around right in front of me. Upon a quick scan, I realized a few more of these uninvited creatures scaling the inside of the door of my fridge. My initial thought was how in the world do we have worms in our fridge? Was my five-year-old son, a huge worm enthusiast, deciding to bring in his favorites and store them here?
Then I remembered my husband had gone fishing the night before with the kids and likely brought back the fish bait to keep in the fridge. Sure enough, in the door of the fridge was the container of worms with the lid slightly askew. Those worms saw their opportunity to escape and took it! My twelve-year-old son took care of the situation for me, returning the worms to their container and tightly closing the lid.
That was not the way I envisioned how I would start my day! As I thought about the great worm escape, it reminded me of a study I had done on the armor of God. We don’t want to allow the enemy an opportunity to wriggle his way into influencing our thoughts or actions. We can guard against his schemes by putting on the full armor of God and standing firm.
Paul writes at the end of his letter to the church in Ephesus in Ephesians 6:10-18 “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”
In scripture we are given a battle plan of how to stand firm against the enemy. After walking us through each piece of the armor, Paul reminds us of the importance of being alert and always keep on praying.
If you’ve felt like your armor has slipped (or the lid on the container of worms isn’t tightly closed), you have the opportunity to change things today. Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power! Choose to be intentional in putting on each piece of the armor, standing firm, and praying for all the Lord’s people. Pray for your spouse, your coworker, you kids, your friends, your family, and that person that drives you crazy, but you know God is prompting you to pray for them.
God has given us the tools through the Holy Spirit and His Word to stand against the devil. You don’t need to fear him (or any of his “worms” wriggling into your life.) Shut the container, close the door on him, and remember that the battle is already won! (And if someone in your family goes fishing, make sure any fish bait stored in your fridge is tightly sealed so you don’t encounter any worms escaping in your fridge!)
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