Tyler’s Weblog

So let’s get dressed for battle. The first thing we have to dress in is called the arming doublet. Along with pants and shoes this padded garment was ligned with mail gussets to cover the gabs in the plate armor.

Also this doublet has waxed thongs (called points) to which the outer armor is fashioned.

Now today’s “scripture” doesn’t actually come from the bible. Bare with me though, this is an old saint that had the scriptures in mind when he wrote to his comrade in the Church of Antioch.

The Epistle of St. Ignatus to Polycarp reads as fallows;

Please the Captain in whose army ye serve, from whom also ye will receive your pay.

Let none of you be found a deserter.Let your baptism abide with you as your shield; your faith as your helmet; your love as your spear;

your patience as your body armour.

Chapter 6 vs. 5-10

I say that we need to put on patience as our undergarments. As someone tries to pierce your armor and get to your heart, let patience be the last thing they come up against. Show them that God is the master of your life, and the master of your time. Let God’s perfect timing keep you safe and secure in the battle that rages for your soul.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith…

Galatians 5:22

Before one can become a knight there are a few pre-requisites. First you must be of noble birth. Sadly the majority of us are not. Even sadder is the fact that no matter how noble you are, it would not be enough for God.

But again there is good news. Jesus is noble, and worthy of God’s favor. So he did what we could not. He came to the earth becoming what he wasn’t without ever forsaking what he was. He became human (what he wasn’t) without un-becoming God (what he was). He took our sin, and our failures as his and he took the punishment for us. Since then, we now take the status that he had. All who believe and obey God now are of his lineage and so we can now claim noble birth.

Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (that done in the body by the hands of men)— remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

Eph 2:11-13 (NIV)

Now to perfect our knight hood, it will take years of training. In the middle ages, a young boy who was going to be trained to be a knight was sent to be a squire under a knight around the age of 6 or 7, and he himself wasn’t deemed a knight until about the age of 21. So becoming a knight is no easy task. You must deny your original family and live with your master. You must train under him 24-7. You must be physically fit, as well as mentally, and spiritually.

So I give the challenge again, are you ready to become a knight? Are you ready for fierce training, grueling nights, and harsh days? The enemy will do all in his power to make you want to quit, but if you want to receive the crown promised to those he loves, you must keep up your training, and never quit.

There is a battle raging for your soul. This battle does not cease. The enemy does not sleep. This is not some small conflict that you can shrug off. The enemy has declared full out war against everything you believe.

We kid ourselves this day and age. We rely on fact and evidence, so when it comes to things of the spiritual realm we shrug it off. We think, “Because I cannot see it, or touch it, it doesn’t have sway over what happens to me.” Unfortunately the complete opposite is true. What happens in the spiritual world is more real than anything that can happen to you on earth.

But make sure that you don’t get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can’t afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don’t loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about!

Rom 13:11-14 (MSG)

The bad news…

You can’t win a battle directly with this enemy. No matter what you do, if you go against the devil straight on you will loose. The human cannot fight evil by himself. It is written in the laws of spirituality that the human will automatically side with the devil. It is in our nature.

The good news…

You don’t have to fight him. It is our job to go to our knees in prayer. To ask for help from God and from our comrades is the only way to win a battle against evil. God will, and has already sleighed the devil for us. All we have to do is join the winning side.

So why put on armor? If we aren’t going to the battlefield, why would we want to dress in such heavy “cumbersome” clothes? Let’s just sit back at home while the King fights the battle.

Well, the truth is, the King has already fought the battle. He did his part, now he needs to know if you, the troops, the Knights of his kingdom will do your part. Will you stand in the battle? Will you do what it takes to hold your ground against the enemy’s constant attacks? Because if you don’t stand with Him you stand against Him.