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				How Secure Is Your House? By Ed Dowd We often worry about our physical houses, but how secure are our spiritual houses? ave you ever seen the television program It Takes a Thief on the Discovery Channel? Its premise is to show how easy it is to break into a home. The hosts are former burglars, and they interview average families and review their "treasures." A typical show scenario: After viewing all that the owners have in their homes, the hosts install cameras throughout the house. The family then waits outside in a van equipped with television cameras linked to their home. The partner thieves proceed to burglarize the house. They give the family dog some meat, steal the goodies, toss mattresses, break windows, etc. Meanwhile, the family members are crying inside the van and actually get angry, even though they allowed the events to unfold. Then the partners drive away in the family's BMW from the garage. So how safe is your house? Is it burglar proof? Matthew 24:43 says, "But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into." Our bodies are the spiritual temple of God (1 Corinthians 6:19). We should be praying daily for God to stir up His Spirit within us. How secure is your spiritual house? Does your guard dog like sausages, and are your doors and windows locked? We need to eat, sleep, think and live God's way of life. We need to be on constant guard, making sure that all of our windows are locked to protect our spiritual houses -- God's temple -- from the master spiritual burglar. Who is the spiritual burglar anyway? Who is the spiritual burglar that we are trying to keep out of our house? And who is it that has set up surveillance to protect us? Ephesians 6:12 states clearly that it is Satan that we need to protect ourselves from. He wants to break into our spiritual houses, ransack and steal our "crown," our promise of eternal life (2 Timothy 4:8). We are in a constant battle with Satan to protect our goods -- the salvation offered to us from God. His goal is to keep us from eternal life. Satan has many methods to achieve his goal. He plans and schemes against us to deceive, entrap, enslave and ruin the plan God has for us. Protect your house We are instructed on how to protect our houses. Let's look at the following scriptures that guide us: How secure is your spiritual house? Does your guard dog like sausages, and are your doors and windows locked? In Ephesians 6:13 we are told, "Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." All of Satan's efforts to burglarize our houses can be thwarted. God prepared or provided a way for us to keep him out and safeguard our houses. We must hold our rank, never give in and -- most of all -- we must stand our ground. Be prepared! There are three commands to "stand" in the Scriptures. One involves putting on the whole armor of God. In Paul's time there were a lot of Roman soldiers, so we can see where these analogies came into play. Armor of God Ephesians 6:14: "Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness." Be girded with truth (some translations use "belt of truth"). A belt holds your sword, putting it in quick, easy reach, and it protects your lower area or loins. God's Word is truth; it is our strength in warfare. Unless we know and conscientiously believe it, we cannot go into battle with any hope of success. We must discover who our enemies are, how they come to attack us. We need to know where our strength lies. The truth will prevail, and we must gird ourselves against all false religion and other various winds of doctrine, as cunning men and evil spirits try to deceive us. We are in a constant battle with Satan to protect our goods -- the salvation offered to us from God. Put on the breastplate of righteousness. The breastplate covers the stomach and chest. It protects the heart and signifies the practice of righteousness or living a holy life. We must live a holy life 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We need to practice righteousness. When something comes at us, we need to instinctively and habitually react with godly righteousness, not with vanity. Ephesians 6:15: "And having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace." Keep your feet shod. We need to have habitual readiness as prescribed by God's Word, being solid and firmly planted. God wants us to react in a consistent manner, not being easily blown away, following every whim. Contentions, strife, quarrels and wars should be alien to us. All are opposed to the nature of God. Ephesians 6:16: "Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one." Fiery darts come from the wicked and the devil. They are evil thoughts and wrong ideas. They inflame the passions and excite us into acts of transgression. Take up the shield of faith. A Roman shield was heavy and weighed about 15 to 20 pounds. The arm that carried it was large and strong. We must carry our shields up and ready to protect us from the darts coming at us. While the sword may be sheathed, the shield must always be up and prepared. Abraham is a good example of this way of thinking; he put his full trust in God and used it as his shield. Quench the fiery darts. Fiery darts come from the wicked and the devil. They are evil thoughts and wrong ideas. They inflame the passions and excite us into acts of transgression. Inappropriate ways of thinking lead us away from God. We want these to be blocked at all cost. Our faith must be strong in Christ; that faith acts as a shield to quench the darts. If we walk in God's way of life and abhor all evil thoughts and never fix on our own passions, we will be protected. The darts will be caught on the shield, blunted, extinguished and ineffective. Ephesians 6:17: "And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." Take the helmet of salvation. The helmet allows the wearer to be safe while he wears it. It protects the head, and allows the soldier to escape safely from battle. We have hope of conquering every adversary and every difficulty, but this is only possible through Christ's sacrifice. The helmet that protects the head cannot be penetrated. Use the sword of the Spirit. It is the effective operation of the Holy Spirit actively working in us. It is the Word of God, and it can cut the snares that our adversary puts before us. We must act in accordance with the Holy Spirit. In times of peace it is tempting to set the sword aside, but this is not wise; we should always keep it by our sides. We must use it to our advantage. None of the pieces of armor is light. They are heavy pieces, and it takes a lot of strength and endurance to effectively use them. Our strength comes from our constant communication with God. The power of prayer Is this all we need? No. We must be in constant communication with God and ask for continual forgiveness of our sins so that we may be close to Him and grow in His love. Prayer is our strength; it helps with the endurance that we need to carry this armor. Ephesians 6:18: "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints." We need to pray daily to be able to overcome and have God's strength. Paul does not put prayer in the list of armor mentioned above. It is separate from the wearing of the armor, but nevertheless important. Pray that you can successfully resist those principalities, powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world and the spiritual wickedness in heavenly places. Ask for the endurance and strength needed for the effective use of these tools. We must always be in the spirit of prayer. The end of the show The program mentioned at the beginning, It Takes a Thief, does have a happy ending. After the burglary, the items are returned and the family is shown where they went wrong. They are trained on how to be burglarproof. But there is a test. The burglars return at an unknown time to see if they can get in again. Satan will likewise continually attempt to rob us of salvation. We are admonished to pray and study daily, to fast and meditate constantly on God's way of life. Remember what we are told in Luke 12:37: "Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them." Let us put on the whole armor of God and make God's temple, His house in us, protected, secured and guarded continually. Further reading For more information on putting on the armor of God, listen to the two-part Good News radio program on the topic, found at http://www.gnmagazine.org/radio/the-armor-of-god-part1.htm and http://www.gnmagazine.org/radio/the-armor-of-god-part2.htm. Copyright 2009 by United Church of God, an International Association All rights reserved.

Related Information:

Other Articles by Ed Dowd
Origin of article "How Secure Is Your House?"
Keywords: spiritual safety spiritual attack vigilance Satan's attacks spiritual house 

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