So beautiful!

The Armor Of God

Ephesians 6:13-15
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.
Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

As I was reading about putting on the whole armor of God, I noticed this repetitious action word:"having."

"Having done, having put, having shod."

This portion of noscripture speaks of standing. When we look at the "having done," we can see that we can stand against the wiles of the devil - against his attacks - because we are already girded with truth (as we have already put in on). We have already put on the breastplate of righteousness, and we have already put on peace. This is how we stand and do not fall.

So many times we are on the defensive when the attacks of the enemy come. Yet, God wants us to be already covered in the protective armor before the attack. To be ready.

Wearing armor already indicates that one knows they need protection. It indicates that the armor wearer knows that they are in a battle, and they stand ready. Once covered, we are instructed to take the shield of faith, the sword of the Spirit, and also the helmet of salvation. (See Ephesians 6:16-17).

We must not leave our helmet behind. We stand, and we overcome because of everything Jesus paid for in giving us the gift of salvation. We must keep close to our thoughts all that we have been saved from. We must always keep our first love when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. We must keep our minds protected with the truth that we are a new creation in Christ Jesus. (See 2 Corinthians 5:17).

The enemy works hard to deceive, discourage, and to ensnare, so we must keep our helmet of salvation securely fastened over our minds and our thoughts.

"Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might." (Ephesians 6:10b).

We are called to be strong. Our strength is in Him. In the Lord. We receive His might, when we put on His armor.

Joshua 1:9
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

God is not only with us with His presence, but when we wear His armor, we are covered from head to toe in Him. No wonder He commanded Joshua to be strong and courageous. He didn't ask him to do so on his own,  but to do so equipped, protected, and covered in His armor. Praise God!

Lord, thank You so much for the armor of God that You have fitted perfectly for us. You have equipped us for every good work! You have given us what we need to be strong and courageous. Thank You! Help us to be vigilant to keep Your armor securely fastened on us. We will not stumble or fall when we are walking in Your strength and victory. I pray all this in Jesus' name, amen!

- Fitly Spoken

An amazing display of how sheep follow only their master's voice. 🐑

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. ✝️

John 10:27 KJV

✝️ LORD, direct us, correct us, and protect us, AMEN✝️
t.me/sheepnotgoats

Dear friends,

I realized I had forgotten to give you all an update on Jennifer for this channel. Somehow it just slipped my mind.

I wanted to let you all know Jennifer passed away early Friday morning on December 27th.
I had made the announcement on a prayer channel I am on and somehow forgot to let you all know here. I apologize.

I spoke with my son shortly afterwards. He told me that moments before her death, Jennifer opened her eyes wide and smiled, then took her last breath. I believe she saw Jesus!

Thank you all who prayed for my family. I ask for continued prayers for my son and my three grandchildren as they navigate life without her. To quote my son; “Cancer is a thief. It took her away from me and our children, it robbed us of our future, hopes and dreams, joy, happiness, and the better part of who I am and and stole an extraordinary, and irreplaceable person from our world.”

We are planning her memorial for the 19th of this month.
Thank you for your prayers.

-Paula

Testimony Tuesday

I came across this video testimony and it really motivated me to think about implementing this for the new year.

This will be a wonderful reminder especially for kids to learn the true meaning of the blessing of giving rather than receiving.

Now I will look for a special container, or some sort of box or tin I suppose. I do have a round Christmas tin in mind that someone gave me with bread in it…Panettone. I’ll use it for this project.

I plan to put a tag on it and call it the Christmas Can and place it in an obvious place, so whenever someone comes to visit they will ask about it and be eager to explain.

I love the idea of starting this new tradition, and praying for God to show me whom shall receive it by Christmas Eve 2025.

The letter he read is posted after the video.

Blessings
—Paula
@CallToBattle

This is the hand written letter.👇 Although I will change my letter up a bit because I’m late in the game.

Merry Christmas,

On 12/26/ each year my family starts a Christmas with the hopes of giving it away on the following Christmas Eve.

This started as a way to teach our children that giving is the most important gift no matter how much it is we have to give. As our children grew this tradition has become the highlight of each season.

The rules are as follows:

1. Never count the money. It’s not the amount that counts.
2. We cannot know the recipient.
3. Just walk away.

I love how songs remind us of who we are and the hope we have in our Lord and Savior. I hope the words encourage you.

This brings me comfort. Let’s be encouraged…the Lord does His best work in the midst of devastation. Let’s pray that many people will draw unto God in the midst of all of this.

Amazing helicopter skills! 🚁

“A shout out to all the heroes in the sky fighting the LA fires” - @therealmrbench

A prayer for Southern California

Dear Lord,

We cry out to You in fervent prayer regarding the terrible fires in the beautiful state of California.

Many people are displaced from their homes, and have lost everything they have worked hard for. Our hearts grieve as we watch the deliberate destruction of peoples lives, businesses, schools, beloved pets and wild animals.

We know it must grieve your heart too.

We see the many evils that are perpetrated here. It seems out of control. The earth is groaning waiting for us to get our act together and turn to you Father, repenting and looking to You for salvation. Oh Lord forgive us!

But we know you are not an aloof God. You hear our prayers and we believe as Your Word says;

“You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.””
Jeremiah 1:12

We praise You God, and thank you for hearing our prayers as we declare and decree.

Our voices rise to You almighty God. We proclaim these fires will end.

We speak to the elements in faith, so that Your Word will be carried out.

We declare that no more evacuations will be necessary. And we declare that a rainstorm would come and put out the fire. We ask this in the name of Jesus.

Now Holy Spirit, thank You for backing us up as we stand in the authority of Jesus' name and speak to this adversary.

Fire, we speak to you in the name of Jesus Christ. We place a divine restraining order on you and you will not burn anymore vegetation, or buildings. We command the fire and wind to stop in its progress, and you will not pass hills or canyons into the valley where there are many dwellings.

We also call in a rainstorm to dump water on you. You must die!
We speak to you, high winds, We bind and prohibit you!
We command you to be still.
We loose and permit the cool rain to descend over these fires in the name of Jesus — you must cease!

We declare this all in the name of Jesus Christ!

Father, we ask that you give supernatural energy to all the firefighters and other agencies that are combatting these many fires. We ask for protection and rest over them.

Restore California, restore the hearts of the people of this nation. May our hearts turn to you in this tragedy, and let there be a great revival of souls in the land.

“Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.””
1 Kings 18:37


We thank you Father for your mighty work. We thank you for your mercy, and underserving grace.
We praise you almighty God.

In Jesus name, amen.

Hey friends,

I would like to recommend an app for those of us that have family in So. Calif. who are being affected by the current out of control fires.

It’s called Watch Duty. It is an amazing app that gives you regular updates on fires, including other natural disasters. It provides alerts and notifications for levels of evacuation. You can add an address of your family within the app and it will pin the location on a threat map.

All you have to do is enter the state, and county you wish to watch and you will be able to access real time information, of the affected areas.

Definitely a great resource without relying on news media for reliable information.
Enjoy!
https://www.watchduty.org/