Is your sword a pickle spear?

How big is your faith? What is your faith made of? Your sword of the spirit may look more like a pickle spear. And your faith shield may be more like a Tupperware lid. You are fighting battles which are not tiny.

There will be tough losses. More losses than need be. In Mark 9:19, there is the man who had a son possessed by demons since childhood. The demons had caused him to convulse horribly for years. The man asked Jesus to heal his son, and at one point the man says, “Help my unbelief.” He knows his faith is small. The word used here is the opposite of faith. He bbasically says, “Help my un-faithfulness. Help me where I don’t believe. Help me to have more belief.” In Greek, the same word is used for “belief” and “faith” depending on whether it is a noun or a verb. Is your faith a verb? Is it active and growing? Christ is the “perfecter of our faith” (Heb. 12:2).

Don’t go into battle with a Tupperware shield and pickle spear!

Genuinely search God’s heart and His Word and find how you can have all parts of the armor necessary, and growing, to fight the battles He has for you. There is joy in the wearing, and in the results of wearing it. He IS the suit of armor. His attributes are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. When you get the armor, you get Him.

Reduced Exposure 

Christ is asking us to reduce the areas that the armor doesn’t cover. We realize our armor is built from the belief in our heart.  As we said, the heart is where it starts. Reducing the exposure for arrow strikes requires making larger armor. A smaller exposure because of larger and stronger armor. Reducing exposure can also happen by being close to someone who has more developed armor. Pretty ingenious. Less visible spiritual flesh, and more armor. 

It’s one thing to feel like you have a real need because you had an arrow almost get through. It’s another to feel like you should make the armor broader and stronger even if that last arrow bounced off and got extinguished. Don’t rely only on the first original piece you got at salvation. Instead of tiny armor, you need bigger, thicker armor. And, as you will see, there are different gauges of steel available. On p.33 in Tiny Armor.