WILL THE REAL CHRISTIANS PLEASE STAND UP?

 A while back, my husband and I were watching an old movie. It was called The Real Howard Spitz. It was about a washed out detective novelist looking for something else in life—who started writing children’s books. But he wasn’t sure of himself. There is a part in the movie where he hired someone to pretend to be him.  He thought someone else could represent him better. But it didn’t work out well at all. In the end, he only succeeded by being himself.
I think this picture represents many in the body of Christ. We are called to be like Jesus, and do the things Jesus did. But in truth, we haven’t accepted our true identity.
When we look around, if we are truthful we don’t see much of the demonstration of our faith. We sometimes look like the world; we live their lifestyle, we get stressed when they are stressed and we watch their entertainment. It’s sometimes hard to tell who the unbeliever is and who the believer is!
 
WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR ARMOR?  DID IT FALL OFF?
 
I found these references concerning the armor we are to wear. There are three— the armor of light, the armor of righteousness and the whole armor of God.
 
ROMANS 13:12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.
 
ROMANS 6:7  by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left..
 
EPHESIANS 6:11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
 
But what happened to our light? Is it dim?  Fading or going out?
And our righteousness? Did we have a memory lapse  where we forgot who we were?
And what about our armor? Where is it?
 
Well, I think our armor fell off! We dropped our shield of faith, we lost our shoes and our belt is hanging on with a thread! Our helmet has a lot of holes in it, and our sword is rusting out from lack of use! Oh, and did I mention that our breastplate is falling off? Well, frankly, we are not dressed properly!
 
To me the armor of God is like putting on Jesus.  Paul describes this armor that we are to wear:
 
Ephesians 6:14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.
 
PUT ON THE ARMOR OF GOD
 
There are 6 things that we should be wearing as Christians. It is a covering from head to toe!
 
1. WAIST: The belt of truth. Truth holds everything together! His Word is truth.
2. COVER THE HEART: The breastplate of righteousness. We are the righteousness of God in Christ- it is who we are because of Jesus. He made us righteous.
3. FEET: Shoes fitted with peace. We wear gospel shoes—so we carry the peace of God with us, and share the gospel in our daily walk.
4. ARM: The shield of faith. It is to quench the darts of the enemy—when he wants to attack our heart. We cover our heart with our faith.
5. HEAD: The helmet of salvation. We keep our mind on the Word.
6. ARM: The sword of the Spirit; the Word of God. Again, we use the sword; we speak the Word of God.
7. STANDING: The understood stance of this all is in prayer.
 
So this is what how we should be dressed—like a soldier, because we ARE soldiers! Listen, anyone who is a Christian is in a battle, right? The battle is between darkness and light. That’s why we are exhorted by Paul to put on the armor of light. It isn’t darkness but light. We put on the light, which is Jesus.
 
We should be covered from head to toe; if we drop one piece, it affects the whole suit! For example, if you dropped your helmet, you probably won’t go far. If you drop your shield or sword, you can be sure the rest of you will be affected!
 
We don’t act like the world; we put on our armor. We are not afraid. In fact, we put the devil to flight. We submit to God and the enemy flees from us in terror. The truth is he is already under our feet.
 
So in the face of adversity, we respond like Jesus would. We are victorious in every situation. I think taking our shield of faith is vitally important. Without faith, we cannot please God.
I remember when we lived in Africa, and my oldest son was about 2 months old. He was sick. He had spots all over his body. We didn’t have a doctor there, and we were learning how to trust the Lord. We just prayed and believed God. And in three days he was totally healed! We had many testimonies of healing, and provision. Over and over we witnessed the power of God in our daily lives. We had to use our faith—it was not optional.
 
WHY DON’T WE SEE THE POWER OF GOD TODAY?
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Personally, I think there is little reason for some to use their faith. Oh, they have faith, it’s just that our lives are easier here. We don't need to use our faith. We have doctors and we can take medicine. We have essential oils, and we have supplements! Some of us have health insurance! We can even borrow money. We really don’t have a need to be "desperate" in using our faith. When I lived in Africa, I was desperate! I was desperate for the healing power of God, for the provision of God. We had to trust God for everything. But here it is not as necessary.
 
So what do we do? Well, we can stir up our own faith. We can make ourselves desperate for more of God. We can practice using our faith. We can stir up our hunger. The book of Acts records a group of people who were hungry for whatever God had for them. They met and fasted and prayed together—often. They stirred up their faith. I’m sure they had on their armor, their belt was on tight, and they had a sharpened sword, because they used the Word often. Their shoes were probably worn out, for so many folks were coming to the Lord on a daily basis. They kept their helmet on tight too; they constantly reminded each other of the Words of Jesus. And they saw not only salvations but also the miracle working power of God in demonstration!
 
GOD ALWAYS HAS A REMNANT
 
I believe there is a remnant that is busy polishing their swords. They are busy fixing their belt, and putting straps on their sandals. They have picked up their shield of faith. They are securing their helmets and breastplates, and guarding their hearts. They are making themselves ready. They want to look and act just like Jesus in this season; not just walk in the fruit of the Spirit but also demonstrate the power of God to a lost and dying world. No one will mistake them in their identity, for they love and act just like the one they have consecrated their lives to. They will be the "real" Christians. Reader, are you one of them?