🙌It's the Friday Call to Worship!🙌

Human nature is drawn to hiding and disguising. It’s our futile attempt to protect ourselves from the effects of sin. It started in the beginning. Adam and Eve exchanged walking with God for a taste of life outside of Him. After just a bite, “they made coverings for themselves… and hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.” (Genesis 3:7, 8)

Much later, sinful King Ahab of Israel convinced righteous King Jehoshaphat of Judah to go to battle with him. Prophets had predicted Ahab’s death in this battle. The adversary had commanded, “Do not fight with anyone at all except the king of Israel.” (2 Chronicles 18:30) Selfish Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you wear your royal attire.” (2 Chronicles 18:29) The enemy army withdrew when they saw the king in battle was not Ahab. “But a man drew his bow without taking special aim and struck the king of Israel through the joints of his armor.” (2 Chronicles 18:33) Despite his best efforts at self-protection, King Ahab died on the battlefield just as the prophet said he would.

Most of us have never felt the weight of a battle armor or tried to fight for our lives in it. But many have heard of “the armor of God” in Ephesians 6. As Christians, we are called by God to, “Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil.” (Ephesians 6:11)

This week, I heard Bible teacher, Beth Moore, say, “The armor of God doesn’t fit the fake us.” I can’t get that out of my head. It feels relieving. We will face an unknown number of battles in our lifetimes. But we’ve been saved by His blood, and our true selves are fully covered by His armor.

Listen to Francesca Battistelli’s “Defender”.