Your Spiritual PPE

PPE (personnel protective equipment) is the safety equipment that a person uses in their vocation. And every person uses them in their work life.
2 Timothy 2:4, Paul mentions three different vocations: Soldier, Athlete and farmer. We know the soldier’s PPE from Ephesians 6:14, which mostly known as a Christian’s spiritual armor.
“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; above all taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to squench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.”
These are listed as Spiritual weapons for our warfare with the evil one.
I wish to share with you the Spiritual PPE used to keep us safe while doing our Kingdom Work. As mentioned, Paul spoke of the athlete and farmer as an example of our Christian life. They too used PPE. Although the Roman athletes of Paul’s day competed in the nude most of the time, modern athletes use a verity of PPEs for their vocation: proper shoes, gloves, helmets, pads. Farmers also use them in the fields. Namely to guard from heat stroke and skin cancer they use hats and long sleeve shirts, along with proper boots to protect their feet. So you see everyone uses PPE in their work, even the office work uses agronomical chairs and keyboard attachment to guard from muscle stains.
I would now like to share some of the Spiritual PPEs I see being used in our spiritual lives.

Hardhat: to protect us from the unseen
dangers in our spiritual lives. The things that the Lord keeps from happening that we never know. You put it on by being Born Again and coming under His protection.
Apron: This could be a shop or welding apron that keeps our clothes from being soiled or burned. We put them on by separating ourselves from the world. Not becoming hermits but by not doing things the world’s way. Work by the Book.
Face Shield or Safety Glasses: These protect our spiritual eyesight so that we can see things as they are. We put these on by staying in an attitude of prayer and by using discernment in our relationships and work habits.
Work Gloves: We use these to protect our hands for work and service. Keep your hands clean. Resist sin so that our work will not be hindered.
Shoes: Either steel-toe or just slip-resistant, these are for protecting or feet so that we might be able to stand while doing or work and service. We wear these by knowing what we believe and why we believe it.

These are just a few of the PPEs that I can come up with. You may have others in your line of work. I encourage you to use your psychical PPEs and your Spiritual ones. You can’t be safe without them.

Review of "Blue Like Jazz" by Don Miller

I held off on this book. I usually do not read new books when they come out. I wait till they hit the thrift stores or someone trust-worthy recommends it. My son recommended it and I found a copy in our Church thrift store. It turned out not to be what I expected. It was not another seeker-pleaser church-bashing book. This book reads like a journal. The author leads us through his personal spiritual immaturity. At the end we see some growth. It has some good ideas on community and some bad.This book offers to show us a little immaturity in ourselves. I know even though I've followed the Lord for 30 years, I saw some in myself. I believe this is a book for the believer and the non. When you start on it, give it a chance all the way to the end. I read some things I did not agree with but there was a lot I did.

Bookcrossing ID 11138469

No Nudist In The Kingdom: Part Six Colossians 3:8-9

In parts 1-5 we looked at items in 1 Peter 2:1-3 that we are to "put off" or better translated as "take off" as in taking off a coat and laying it aside. And we discussed how the Lord always gives us something better to put on when He has us take something off. Therefore not leaving us Spiritually naked.
In the last part (part 5) I mentioned I would share on the Armor of God, but I've decided to continue the line of items to take off before doing so.
Going to Colossians 3:8-9 we read, "But now you must also put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds." NKJV
Paul is telling believers that since we are Christ's and not belonging to the world anymore we are to do away with the things that mark us as worldly. We have already covered malice so I will touch on the rest of the items in these verses.
Anger in this verse is a noun. It is that thing in you that causes hatred. We may not act on it, but it preoccupies our thoughts. We cannot look at anything else without it tainting the way we believe or feel about it. This will lead to wrath, which is the anger acted out. Anger full-blown. Vengeance that is pent-up and then loosed. It is a horrible thing for a Christian to have on him or her.
Blasphemy is speaking of something or someone with intent to injure. Blasphemy has been understood as relating to the divine. We are to put off any speaking that would injure the Lord or the Kingdom of God. One example is that of calling something holy that is not and calling something unholy that is. That is blasphemy!
Filthy Language is the thoughts that we put into words that are filthy in nature. A Christian has not excuse to use this type of speech. The use of foul words that show, not only a lack of respect for the one being spoken to but also a lack of proper manners and intelligence. Three things Christians should excel in. We are to put it out of our mouths or speech.
And we must not lie to each other. Christians need to be truthful with each other. Now this is a touchy one. Some Christians pride themselves in being up-front and brutally honest. We need to use a little common sense in our truth telling. If we cannot tell the truth and leave a fellow Christian corrected and uplifted, then we need to just keep quite.
Prayer: Lord, help us to take off all actions and attributes that do not bring Glory to Your name and Kingdom. Give us the right attitude to live and the right words to speak. Amen

No Nudist In The Kingdom: Part Two

"Therefore, laying aside all malice, and all guile, hypocrisy, envy, and all
evil speaking (gossip), as newborn babes desire the pure milk of the word, that
you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious." 1
Peter 2:1-3 NKJV

In part one of this series we looked into malice which we are told to lay aside
and as mentioned," taking off and laying aside in order to run or work". Now we
will look at "guile". The Greek word here is "dolos " which literally means
"deceit," deceit with the intent of harm to another. Where as malice was "deceit
in order to get ahead." Guile is deceit to harm another.
In the New Testament we see Phillip bringing Nathanael to Jesus and Jesus
calling him a "man without guile." A man that would not harm a flea, as the
saying goes. Although he belittled Jesus because he was from Nazareth, he did
so without the intent to harm Him. It is hard to believe this is possible, but
Jesus sees the heart of a person. (John 1:43-51)Paul states in 2 Corinthians
12:16 that he had caught the Corinthian Church with guile. Paul tells the
Thessalonians that their preaching to them was not deceitful. (1 Thessalonians
2:3) Peter says in 1 Peter 2:22 that Jesus left us an example that while He was
suffering guile/deceit was not found in Him.
What does this all mean for us? In our Christian lives we are not to be
deceitful so take off our garment of guile. Don't do or say anything deceitful
with the intent of harming or "getting back at someone." This goes for not
"doing unto others as they have done to you." Surely we would not harm anyone
without cause. But we may be tempted to give the hurt back to those who harm us.
We are to take off guile and replace it with forgiveness. In times past on the
job I have been wronged by co-employees and even management, but I am not to
look for a way to get-back at them and it is not my job as a Christian to teach
them a lesson. I have in some jobs been discriminated against because of my
race. I wish I could say," that I was a man without guile."
As I put off all these old-natured attributes, I will put on the new garments
given me. (To be revealed in upcoming post)

Prayer: Lord, forgive us of the sin of guile. Forgive us of our deceitfulness to
harm another person made in your image. Help us to forgive others as you forgave
us. Clothe us with your wisdom to do our jobs and to live in a way that pleases
you. Amen

"The Saving Life of Christ", by Major Ian Thomas

Just finished reading, "The Saving Life of Christ", by Major Ian Thomas for the second time. It is one of those books that you can read over and over and get something new each time. That's how you can tell if a book is inspired from the Lord. He points out that a lot of christians leave Christ on the cross after they except Him and that's why they do not measure up to the goal God has for them. To be like Jesus. And we can not be made like Him by Him if we leave Him on the cross instead of letting Him live and rule in our hearts.
Good stuff.
There is more to be said about the book, but alas, time forbids.