The Helmet of Salvation..what is that??

The Whole Armor of God

10 A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. 12 For we[a] are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

13 Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm. 14 Stand your ground, putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. 15 For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the Good News so that you will be fully prepared.[b] 16 In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil.[c]17 Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.18 Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. (Ephesians 6:10-18 NLT)

What a great passage written by Paul. How are you with putting on this armor everyday? It is so vital to be conscious of this. I felt the Lord telling me to expound on the helmet of salvation today, so that's what I'm going to focus on. But if you want to go into an in-depth study on the armor of God then you have to do the one by Priscilla Shirer. God gave her so much wisdom about it and she teaches it in such a way that it is easy to understand and very relatable to life today. Check it out here.

As for the helmet of salvation, God has made it so real to me that I had to share it with you. 

You see, when life throws us a curve ball (or maybe several) and we feel that anxiety settling in, we tend to turn inward. We worry more, try to figure it out, and unfortunately become self-focused. This is what the enemy wants. He wants you focused on the problem, and not just the problem, your problem. Yours. Not the homeless man on the street corner's problem, but YOUR problem. 
So #1 he gets you focused on yourself and your problem.
#2 he starts whispering lies into your mind: "look at what God let happen to you," or "look at what your spouse did to you, they don't love you, you deserve better.." 
Do you see that? SELF focused and LIES.  This is how the enemy works, so the Holy Spirit gave us some instructions on how to stand firm against these strategies of the devil. (And how to deflect those curveballs with a helmet.)

The helmet of salvation is an invisible helmet that we put on our head to protect our mind from the voice of the enemy. The reason why it is called the helmet of salvation is because when our mind is covered with salvation, the enemy cannot get through. 

When you think of your salvation, what comes to mind? 
For me, I am so thankful for God's salvation and mercy on me that I cannot think about it without getting overcome. To imagine Jesus on the cross bleeding, suffering and being covered in MY SIN, makes me want to cry and fall on my face.  I can't believe He saw me worthy enough to die for. I can't believe He wanted to take my sins upon himself and pay the death penalty for them. For ME. It just blows my mind. That love and sacrifice is beyond what anyone else would ever do for me. So when I put on the helmet of salvation I am putting on a mindset of humility, thankfulness and victory all at once. I am putting on salvation.  If even the faintest evil whisper tries to enter in saying "God doesn't love you, look what He allowed to happen.." then it gets SLAMMED down so hard that it keeps going right on back to hell where it came from because my mind is at the cross! My mind is on Jesus, the One who died for me, the one who gave Himself up for me so that I might LIVE and give Him the glory for my eternal salvation.  

When that helmet is not on your head it leaves your mind completely vulnerable and susceptible to the devil's deception. I spent 10 years of my marriage without putting on that helmet, and the devil had me believing in such a web of lies and deception that I couldn't see what was truth and what was not. I was lost in sin. It wasn't until I came back to God, like a prodigal daughter, that I was able to view my salvation how I described it above.

If you call yourself a Believer, but the cross does not stir something deep in your soul, then you need to go TO the cross and remember what Jesus did for you. One way I suggest you do that is read the Gospel accounts of the Crucifixion. Another way to reconnect yourself to the gift of your salvation is to put on "At the Cross" by Chris Tomlin and get on your knees and praise God. Remember what He did for you. Give Him the glory and praise He deserves and put on that helmet! Guard your mind from the evil one!

The way you keep that helmet on everyday is to stay Christ-focused. How you do that is by staying in the Word. 
It's simple, if I wanted to think about Twilight all day long I would read the book all the time, watch the movie every weekend and listen to the soundtrack everyday in my car. (I think that's what I was doing most of 2007) So it's not rocket-science, whatever you spend most of your time, thought and energy on is what enslaves you. Why not put it on Christ and His Word so that you are actually living out your calling and protecting yourself from the evil one while doing it? It makes sense friends, you just have to do it.

Pray with me:
"Thank you Lord for your gift of salvation. Thank you Jesus that you were willing to die in my place for MY sins that didn't even commit. You loved me so much that you stepped into my grave and took the punishment. I am not worthy Lord, but I am so grateful. All I can give you in return is my life. Please forgive me of my sins and wash them away, making me pure and clean in Your sight. Help me to put You first everyday by reading my Bible and soaking in Your words. Keep my helmet of salvation strong as I remember what You did for me and cover my mind with it everyday. Thank you Lord for everything you do for me, I love you. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen"

A Letter for Christmas Time

 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” Matthew 1:21 ESV

THAT is what Christmas is.

Or is it?  I don't see any of that here in America. I mean, maybe you'll hear it in churches on Christmas Eve (at least I hope so!) but in general, here in America Christmas has become something different. 

Christmas's definition in the dictionary is this: 

The annual festival of the Christian church commemorating the birth of Jesus: celebrated on December 25 and now generally observed as a legal holiday and an occasion for exchanging gifts.

  
As you can see, it began as the time of year when we celebrate Christ's birth, "and now" it has turned into a legal holiday for exchanging gifts.  Do you smell what I'm stepping in? I smell something that has come and defiled this amazing day in which a Savior was born. A day where the God of the universe became human to get on our level in the ultimate grand gesture of Love. This is the day where Christ was born, to save us from our sins.  And we are focusing on an Elf on a shelf.

Ok now before you stop reading because you think I'm a scrooge here to make you feel bad please don't. That is not me. I love Christmas time, I love the lights and the decorating, the gifts and even Santa. BUT God has taught me something this year. And He did it by taking away our financial security.

You see, my daughter had her first dental appointment and we were told (and shown on X-rays) that she had 8 cavities, 2 of which needed baby root canals and silver crowns. In order to get all this work done, the best option was iv sedation, just knock her out and get it all done in an hour. After much prayer, advice, research and deliberation we decided to go with that option. Problem was, it would cost $550 out of pocket for the anesthesiologist. The cost of the actual dental work could be set up on a payment plan. So we had to save up $550 in an envelope to be paid on Dec 7th. Goodbye Christmas fund!  Oh and by the way, God also called me out in faith to quit my job in childcare. Whhhaaatttt???

So it is safe to say, that we had 2 choices: obey what the Lord was calling us to do and have faith He would provide, or ignore Him, go our own way and suffer the consequences. 
The choice was simple, it was the faith that was difficult! I had moments of emotional breakdown, spiritual weakness, and mental worry, but as I cried out to the Lord, He showed up. 

One quick story of that was after I had quit my job and the last payday came  I told God, "You have to show me how you are going to provide, because all I want to do is find a job and start earning money again. How are we going to have money for groceries after this?? And christmas??" I had just put in my Walmart grocery order for their pick up service and there would be no more money left for the following week's groceries. I was kind of freaking out but I said "I don't know how You're going to do it, but I trust you God." Then I went and picked up my order and drove home. As I unloaded my groceries I noticed that on top of my order there was more and more food that I never ordered! There was a chuck roast, sausages, carrots, grapes, salad, 2 packages of bacon..I can go on. So I called Walmart and let them know that I must've gotten someone else's order with mine, and that I could bring it back for them later on in the day. They apologized, thanked me for the call and agreed that I should bring it back at my earliest convenience. So I put the bags in the fridge and got out my Bible for my daily reading time. Within 30 minutes I got a call back from the manager thanking me for letting them know about the mix up, saying they restocked the order for the other customer, and that as a reward for my honesty they wanted me to keep the extra groceries.  !!

How GOOD is our God??? I literally asked Him how He was going to provide groceries and He showed me in one day. Now I know that won't happen every time, but He wanted to give me a taste of what a good Father and provider He is. I knew in that moment that everything was going to be ok. So even though we had no money for food or Christmas gifts in the coming weeks, I knew GOD would provide.

And He has. He has provided extra photography jobs for me and He has used different family members to bless us with gifts for the kids and food for the table. My husband even won a gift card at work for the movies the day after I told him I miss going to the movies! God even cares about the little things!  
As we continue to TRUST Him He will not let us down. I trust He is going to bless my photography business so that I can be faithful to His calling for me yet also provide for the family. We feel so blessed because we have been shown what Christmas is all about. It's about HIM. It's about Jesus and what He did for us when He came to save the world…but it's also about how He provides for us EVERYDAY. And that if we make Him the FOCUS every single day He honors and blesses that! 

So this is our tree this year.

Normally we get a big tree and any carpet space around it is filled with gifts. But this year we are starting a new tradition. This year we are putting a visual reminder under the tree, a banner with the name "Jesus" on it. So everyday we see it and we know, this day is about Him, this season is about Him, not presents or santa, or elves on shelves, but HIM, the Savior of our sins, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. May we glorify Him in everything we do.

So my letter to you today is not from a scrooge, it's from a sinner saved by grace who has seen the wonders of His love, and wants to remind you to give Him the glory He deserves this season, and everyday of your life. Don't get distracted by what the world says Christmas is. I challenge you to make a Jesus banner with your kids as well! Hang it under, on or around your tree as a constant reminder of what we are really celebrating this time of year. #Jesusisthereason

  And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest,
    and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”[c]

15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. 17 And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.  Luke 2:8-20 ESV