By Alina
I’ve never really thought of myself as a warrior. I’m more of a girly-girl who likes bows and lace, and cringes at the sight of blood. I even had a hard time getting into paintball skirmish when I was at summer camp! The closest I’ve ever come to fighting was in Year 7 when a girl in my class slapped me in the face, twice, after I spoke to a boy she had a crush on. I immediately burst into tears and hid behind my best friend. I hardly displayed the prowess of a warrior in the playground that afternoon.
But here’s the crazy thing. Every day, I’m actually living, breathing, working, eating, playing, and chatting in a warzone. And, girl, so are you!
Now, I’m obviously not talking about the kind of war that we hear and see on the news. I can’t say I’ve seen any soldiers with guns cruising my neighbourhood lately. In fact, this isn’t even a war between humans. It’s actually a battle against our ultimate enemy, Satan, which began in heaven a long time ago.
You may know the story already, but I’ll give you a quick review just in case you’ve forgotten a detail or two. Lucifer (Satan) was the numero uno (number one) angel in heaven. He was the man! He was extremely attractive –way better looking than any of the guys you can think of. Lucifer had it going on but the worst thing was, he knew it! And this attitude soon got him into trouble.
He fancied the top spot and started making waves in heaven, claiming that God was harsh and unfair. That’s a pretty bold thing to say about the Creator of the universe, but Lucifer didn’t care. Being the top angel wasn’t enough, he wanted to be king. He then tried to convince the other angels to get in on his plan. So, of course, God had to do something. With no other choice He cast Lucifer and his followers, nearly one third of all the angels, out of heaven and down to earth. You can read about this in Ezekiel 28:12-18, Revelation 12:4-9.
And in some shape or form that war has been giving us trouble ever since -messed-up relationships, depression, addiction, violence, sickness… You’re living with some of this stuff everyday. Satan’s making a mess and he’ll do whatever he can to get between us and God. The Bible says that this war...is no afternoon athletic contest that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels. You can read about it in The Message, Ephesians 6:12.
So this essentially means, whether we like it or not, you and I are warriors in the fight of our lives. Kind of scary, huh? But here’s the good news: God is crazy in love with us, He’s given us a heads-up on how to stand up against the devil, and He throws some pretty cool stuff our way to help us do it!
Ephesians 6:13 talks about putting on the ‘whole armour’ of God. Now I can just imagine what you might be thinking !
- What’s a crusty old soldier’s get-up got to do with me?
- That outfit will SO not go with the cute heels and handbag I just bought from Forever New! or
- Where am I supposed to find that kind of thing anyway?
Well, I’ve got news for you!
- That old get-up has everything to do with you
- It’s an absolute must-have in your wardrobe (no matter what the season) and will totally complement your latest accessories, and
- God’s already made this stuff available to you. Just put it on.
So, allow me to introduce you to the wardrobe of the warrior princess .
In a nutshell, this ‘armour’ is a metaphor for all the good stuff that a relationship with Jesus offers. When you say ‘yes’ to Him and accept your identity as God’s daughter, you get to cash in on all the family privileges! It’s a whole new way of looking at yourself and those around you.
THE BELT OF TRUTH
Belts are pretty important, as you know. Diamonds may once have been a girl’s best friend, but the belt is the ultimate fashion accessory. Thin and delicate, wide and bold, high waisted or around the hips, they make any outfit look good. And in this war, the belt offers the ultimate protection. You see, one of Satan’s favourite war tactics is to confuse the enemy. Distort the truth. Mess up the way we look at ourselves and those around us. He used it on Eve, and now he’s using it on us.
We are surrounded by lies about what we should look like and what we should own, about what we should do to achieve success and popularity, about what we do to earn and keep a guy’s love and attention. Well, here’s the truth: it’s all lies, lies and more lies about our identity, our purpose and our self worth. Satan even sows seeds of doubt about our very existence. So the truth that God offers us in the Bible is not only life-changing, it’s life-saving. It saves us from the tangled web of destructive lies spun by the enemy. But it’s one thing to know about the truth as a random, abstract concept, and a whole different story to make it real and personal. Here’s the key: you know how to tell the difference between a genuine Gucci belt and a fake, right? You make yourself familiar with the real deal. Know its intricate design, its contour and its texture. Well, wearing God’s belt of truth means weaving His words into the fabric of our lives at school, at home, at work, in all of our relationships. The result? You, 1: Enemy, 0
THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
It might sound like something your grandmother would own, but this is an item you definitely don’t want to leave the house without. Now, I know the term ‘righteousness’ gets thrown around a lot among Christians, but hear me out before you give a huge sigh and start rolling your eyes!
You know what a resume is, right? It’s a document that proves your worth when applying for a job. It’s a performance record that validates your skills, strengths and work experience. If your resume is good enough, your potential employer will give you a high five and welcome you to the team. If it’s not, well, too bad. That awesome job at Macca’s is someone else’s….
The breastplate of righteousness is like the ultimate performance record that Jesus gives us for free! You see, in this life, it’s all about proving ourselves. Proving that we’re pretty enough, skinny enough, smart enough, rich enough. And Satan uses this same idea when it comes to a relationship with God. He loves telling us that we’re not worthy, that we’ve messed up too much and too often, and that our ‘resume’ will never be good enough to score a place in God’s family.
Well check this out. When we choose to put on the breastplate of righteousness, we instantly get Jesus’ perfect record, which frees us from that constant need to prove ourselves. His love completely covers our mistakes, we are totally accepted and, even better, it enables us to become more like Him. We have more joy, more peace and more patience… Amazing! He does the work and we get the rewards. The enemy’s got nothing on us when we bust out the breastplate.
FOOTWEAR BY GOSPEL OF PEACE
Now what’s an outfit without the perfect pair of shoes? When you take a peek inside Khloe Kardashian’s shoe closet it would seem that a girl could never have too many shoes. She has close to 10 000 pairs of shoes in her collection! But the warrior princess needs only one pair, designed by the gospel of peace.
The meaning behind this one is pretty simple. Life is anything but peaceful. You know it: catfights and gossip among the girls at school, arguments with parents, fights with friends, putdowns, criticism and bullying. It’s a warzone out there. When we step out in these designer shoes, we bring the peace of Jesus into our daily circumstances. And not just any kind of peace, but the peace that ‘passes all understanding’. You can read about this in Philippians 4:7.
THE SHIELD OF FAITH
This next wardrobe must-have is so obvious it’s easy to miss: the shield of faith. I mean, hello? Almost everyone knows that a Christian’s got to have faith, right? But here’s the thing: most people think that faith is something they’ve got to create for themselves. It’s not. Faith, like every other item in the wardrobe, is a gift from God It’s totally free! Read Ephesians 2:8.
Faith is the amazing power of God that enables us to depend on Him in every circumstance; like in the midst of a break-up, during exams, when we come face-to-face with sickness or death, or when our pain is so great that we can’t see a way past it.
The other thing about faith is that you’ve got to put it on to experience the true blessing. Look at it like this… A friend of mine is in love with this girl. Has he been on a date with her? No. Has he spent time with her? No. Has he texted or messaged her on Facebook? No. Has he even spoken to her? No. So what’s up with that? How can he claim to be in love with her? Love is a verb, and so is faith. We become true warrior princesses when we allow the faith of Jesus to take action in our lives.
I know it’s a lot to take in, but this stuff is gold. It will change your life, if you let it.
THE HELMET OF SALVATION
I’ve always hated wearing helmets. It’s one of the main reasons I never really got into riding a bike! They’re uncomfortable, restrictive, and they totally mess up your hair! But there’s one type that I’ll make an exception for, and that’s the helmet of salvation.
The helmet covers the command centre of our entire body, our head. It’s the source of our decisions, thoughts, and emotions. People across the history of the entire human race, ever since Adam and Eve, have made bad choices. Salvation is the story of how God saves people from those choices. It’s HIS-story.
Your story is a real life drama about God’s attempt to save you. When you get that message into your head, it changes everything. This gift gives you a whole new way of looking at your life; not just a random sequence of meaningless and sometimes painful events. When you put on the helmet of salvation, you choose to live according to the purpose for which God created you, and are destined to live for eternity. And my dear warrior princess, nothing can separate you from that incredible plan, check that out in Romans 8:35.
YOUR ARSENAL OF WEAPONS
Ok girls this is our last one, so far, we’ve been talking about God’s gifts of defence, which are super important. But a true warrior princess knows how to fight. So let’s pull out the big guns and talk about weapons of offence! There are just two:
- The Sword (God’s word), and
- Prayer
There’s a cute song I used to sing at church when I was little: “Read your Bible, pray every day and you’ll grow, grow, grow…” It didn’t mean much to me at the time (I think I just loved the actions) but I now hold to that promise as though my life depends on it.
The enemy trembles in the very presence of God’s Word and cannot stand it when we talk to God in prayer. So start reading your Bible, just a few minutes a day. Let God know what’s on your mind. Prayer isn’t fancy, it’s just like chatting to your best friend. You can even journal, sing, paint or pray out loud. But whatever you do, it will help you stand up against the devil.
So there you have it: the ready to wear wardrobe of the warrior princess. It’s free, it never goes out of style, and it will transform your life. It means living out your relationship with God in the flesh. Jesus has won the ultimate battle against Satan, but we live in a warzone every day in our relationships, in the choices we make, in the way we view ourselves and others.
I don’t know about you? But I want to be the kind of girl that, when my feet hit the floor in the morning, the enemy says “Oh no! She’s up!”
