Post by Admin on Mar 8, 2018 7:25:14 GMT
We opened tonight with a quick look back at the exercises for the Helmet of Salvation session, specifically relating to the lies we sometimes believe about ourselves. We ran down a list of situations that can be chinks in our thinking (Belittled by peers? Ignored by a parent? Betrayed by a friend? Bullied? Laughed at by the cool or the un-cool people? Abused at the hand of someone you trusted? Crippled by grief over the loss of a loved one?). The enemy hooks lies about our worth onto the coattails of these experiences and sends them to the center of our mind. Our inheritance from our Father is the counteracting force.
After the video, we talked about the short, sharp, two-edged sword that Paul describes. Comments included the observation that the sword can cut both ways - hurt us or hurt the enemy, and that in turn led us to realize that we need to practice and train with the "sword." In other words, we need to spend time in scripture getting to know God. We also talked in general about the Bible study sessions, and which part of the armor we learned the most about. Learning about how the pieces integrate to protect us was a favorite. The shoes of peace and the helmet of salvation have had particular impacts on people. A final question was to consider why Paul suit's us up in the armor, hands us a sword, and then tells us to stand still and pray. Prayer is a focus, a way to activate the armor, and the needed strength to get out into battle. Maybe we need to put on armor so that we are protected from
Satan's distractions while we pray.
We wrapped up with the few comments about the video study. Priscilla's presentations were spiritually rich and always engaging. We do benefit from having time to read and discuss scripture at length in our discussions, however.
After the video, we talked about the short, sharp, two-edged sword that Paul describes. Comments included the observation that the sword can cut both ways - hurt us or hurt the enemy, and that in turn led us to realize that we need to practice and train with the "sword." In other words, we need to spend time in scripture getting to know God. We also talked in general about the Bible study sessions, and which part of the armor we learned the most about. Learning about how the pieces integrate to protect us was a favorite. The shoes of peace and the helmet of salvation have had particular impacts on people. A final question was to consider why Paul suit's us up in the armor, hands us a sword, and then tells us to stand still and pray. Prayer is a focus, a way to activate the armor, and the needed strength to get out into battle. Maybe we need to put on armor so that we are protected from
Satan's distractions while we pray.
We wrapped up with the few comments about the video study. Priscilla's presentations were spiritually rich and always engaging. We do benefit from having time to read and discuss scripture at length in our discussions, however.