Recently, while praying with some friends, I noticed our pattern of praying—for people’s eyes to be opened—for them to be aware of what was true.  We were often asking that both lies and truth be exposed. As I thought about this practice, I realized that it is not enough to pray for people to be aware of the truth, if they don’t believe the truth!  They need discernment to realize that something is not just a fine sounding idea—but that it really is the truth and something to be believed.  Now my mind was thinking this through. Is it even enough to believe the truth, if it is a belief in your head, but not your heart?  It is easy to say we believe something, but until we put faith behind our belief, it isn’t real.  And does it even matter if I believe and have faith, if I lack the courage to act on that truth in obedience to God.  In the coming weeks I would often ponder this sequence of responses: awareness, discernment, faith, and action.

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I put on the armor of God each day, not as a rote exercise, but as a means of getting my mind and heart ready for service. It is a conscious yielding in obedience to God, gearing up for whatever the day may bring. One day as I put on the armor of God, I realized that these four responses applied to each piece of armor as well.

When I put on the belt of truth, I found myself saying, “Lord, I need to be aware of your truth and discern what is true in every situation. Give me faith to truly embrace your truth in my mind and my heart and give me the courage to act on it. Make me a woman of integrity and truth.

The same was true for the breastplate of righteousness.  God has given us everything we need to live a godly life (2 Peter 1:3) and he has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ (Eph. 1:3). But, in order for me to avoid acting instinctively according to my flesh, I needed God to make me aware that I am in a decision-making moment–that I have to make a choice in how I am going to act or respond. Then I need to remember that righteous responses are available to me and that I can access then by faith in the heavenly realms.  It is only after thinking all that through that I truly can act in a righteous way in my current situation.

As I fit my feet with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace I pray, “Father, make me aware of the people and situations around me so that I have the discernment to see with how and with whom I am to interact this day. Lord, give me the faith to believe you will supply me with words that are meaningful and provide the courage to speak and act as Jesus’ ambassador.

To use the shield of faith, God needs to make me aware of my circumstances to hear and see what is going on.  I need to discern that a spiritual attack of the enemy is happening.  Then I must lift up my faith as an action of obedience in order to extinguish the flaming arrows coming against me.

The helmet of salvation protects our minds. In Ephesians 6:17 it says, “Take the helmet of salvation.”  This is interesting because we have already received our salvation when we believed. So, what are we to put on? A parallel passage in I Thessalonians 5:8 clarifies this. “But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.” God has given us the hope of salvation to guard our minds. Our salvation is both a present experience and one which will be fully realized when Christ returns. We must be alert and discerning as we guard against discouragement and hopelessness. Satan will attack our minds and thoughts with insinuations, accusations and temptations, trying to get us to doubt our salvation or lose hope in the battle.  But we must actively stand firm in faith and remember the object of our hope—the God that will finish what he began in us.

Next, we put on the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. Just as Jesus spoke the Word of God against Satan when he was tempted, we need God to make us aware of the situations in which we need to wield this sword.  We need God’s discernment to understand how to fight. What is the nature of the battle, and what truths need to be used to counteract the lies? Then in faith, believing that God’s Word can slay our enemies, we act on that faith.

Many people end the armor of God there. But verse 17 continues on, offering one more piece for us.  “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”  He calls us to alertness, to discern how we are to pray for each believer and to use our prayers of faith as an act to empower those battling in the heavenly realms.

In reality, awareness, discernment, faith, and action may happen in such quick sequence or occur subconsciously so that we may not even be aware of them. I am, however, coming to realize that I need to go through the entire sequence to the end each time if I want to successfully bear fruit.  For if I try to shortchange this path, for example stopping at the discernment stage without applying faith and action, my faith can easily get crowded out by worry or doubt.  Or I can be alerted to a specific situation, but if I am not discerning, I can be deceived in what I believed was truth, but was not.

We are living in a day where good is being called evil, and truth is being declared a lie. In these very troubling spiritual times, God is calling the church to attention.  We need to be very aware, not only of what is going on around us, but aware of what the Holy Spirit is telling us as we pray, fast and seek his guidance.  He alone can give us the discernment that we need to understand the truth of what is going on in this time. We need to press into God in faith asking Him to grant us the courage to act on the truth that he shows us and to be faithful to what he calls us to.  Now is the time to hear well and put action behind what we believe.

(Lisa Hall is the international prayer coordinator for TWR Women of Hope and has a passion for prayer and God’s Word that permeates her life and work. Nothing encourages and energizes her more than being in a group studying the Word, worshiping and talking to our Father.)

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