Anxiety is a dread or fear and a strong desire to avoid or escape a circumstance, feeling, or emotion. Anxiety can weaken our faith and keep us from being the strong Christian we are called to be. Satan wants to keep us crippled and ineffective in our Christian lives. He has declared war on God’s people and he wants to intimidate us us so we tuck our tail and run or hide. God knows that in this spiritual battle, we need His help to be victorious. He doesn’t want us to cower against the attacks of our enemy. He wants us to stand and be protected in battle. He provides us our Spiritual Armor but we have to actively don it and put it to use. The first item we must take up and wrap around us is the belt of truth. Upon this belt our other armor and weapons are secured. Deception is Satan’s specialty and we must seek and know the truth that God teaches us through His Word in order to expose the lies of Satan meant to confuse and trouble us. 

Anxiety can make us full of doubt and insecurity. It’s true that in our own effort, we can never be wise enough, strong enough or good enough to be righteous no matter how hard we try. But God imputed His righteousness to us through the salvation of Jesus. The breastplate of righteousness is the second piece of armor and it is secured by the belt of truth. It protects the most vital parts of us and keeps us spiritually alive. Our joy is the eternal life imparted to us by the righteousness of God that can never be destroyed. We are not helpless, worthless or defeated. We are children of the most High God and no matter what comes at us, we are called to be battle ready. In Christ….we can stand and face any circumstance. God will enable us. 

Challenge: Each morning, prepare for battle by putting on your spiritual armor. Have the mindset of an empowered Christian, knowing that God wants you to be confident and able to stand against whatever the enemy tries to attack you with. And remember, you have the Holy Spirit to guide you. You are not alone.