Blessing for Being Watchful and Full of Perserverance...

Good Morning! I am excited for what I am going to write about today.  I have decided recently to start each day by putting on the whole armor of God, pray for God's protection for the day and let the enemy know I am ready.  I have been caught off guard many times knowing that what has happened in my day was not just by "chance" but was more of an attack I was not ready for.  I want to be ready for the temptations, the chance encounters, the subtle pulls of sin that may come my way in the day and I am realizing in my old age of 34 that I need God every moment of every single day.

I am so thankful for this spiritual armor and would like to share the verses from Ephesians 6, ^"Put on God's whole armor [the armor of a heavy-armed soldier which God supplies], that you may be able successfully to stand up against [all] the strategies and the deceits of the devil.
     For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the despotisms, against the powers, against [the master spirits who are] the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere.
     Therefore put on God's complete armor, that you may be able to resist and stand your ground on the evil day [of danger], and, having done all [the crisis demands], to stand [firmly in your place].
     Stand therefore [hold your ground], having tightened the belt of truth around your loins and having put on the breastplate of integrity and of moral rectitude and right standing with God,
     And having shod your feet in preparation [to face the enemy with the firm-footed stability, the promptness, and the readiness ^[b]produced by the good news] of the Gospel of peace.
     Lift up over all the [covering] shield of ^[c]saving faith, upon which you can quench all the flaming missiles of the wicked [one].
     And take the helmet of salvation and the sword that the Spirit wields, which is the Word of God.
     Pray at all times (on every occasion, in every season) in the Spirit, with all [manner of] prayer and entreaty. To that end keep alert and watch with strong purpose and perseverance, interceding in behalf of all the saints (God's consecrated people)."

I looked up some of the words from Ephesians 6:18 in the Greek this morning and I am completely blown away about how serious we are to be about being alert, watchful and perserverant.

 The word in the Greek for watch is agrupneo and means to stay vigilant, alert, attentive, without any unneccessary "time off", to be awake, to be watchful, to be careful.  The Greek word for perserverance is proskartersis and means a strong perserverance which prevails by interacting with God (used only in Ephesians 6:18).  Brothers and sisters, we are to be so fully awake and full of perserverance because our enemy is roaming around like a roaring lion seeking to devour us. I have to confess, I am not a morning person however if I knew there was a roaming, roaring vicious lion outside of my bedroom door that I could not avoid I would awake with a different alertness than the stupor that I awaken with now.  This is going to make me more awakened foresure!

As soon as my eyes open in the morning, the scriptures promise there is a lion who seeks to devour me and I need to be alert, watchful, perserverant and full of prayer.  We are to intercede for each other.  What a way to wake up! I am going to pray blessing for us to be fully awake!

Dear Father,
Thank you for the power of your written living Word to us.  Thank you that your Word is alive and I thank you for the understanding of how alert, watchful and perserverant you call us to be. Lord, help us to walk this out.  Help my brothers and sisters to be full of perserverance.  I understand more this morning the seriousness of being perserverant because this Greek word for being full of perserverance is only used once in the bible here talking about the spiritual battle we face.  Keep us focused and strong in your mighty power at work within us.  Help us to keep our belt of truth buckled around our waist, the breastplate of righteousness on our chest, our feet fitted with the gospel peace, our helmet of salvation on our head, the sword of the spirit which is the word of God in our hand and over all of this faith. Give us the measure of faith we need to extinguish the flaming arrows of the enemy.  May we hear the "donk" of the arrows hitting our armor and just falling on the ground useless and not hitting their intended target, our very hearts and souls.  Keep our hearts and our very being strong,  help us to stand firm praying for one another and may we be strong to the end! Love you Lord and thank you for helping me this morning to get out of my slumbering stupor I wake up with and helping me instead to be "agrupneo" and "proskarteresis". Amen...

Blessings All...