{"id":370,"date":"2012-02-18T15:42:00","date_gmt":"2012-02-18T15:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/?p=370"},"modified":"2020-05-19T14:04:39","modified_gmt":"2020-05-19T20:04:39","slug":"the-cold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/?p=370","title":{"rendered":"The Cold"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;\">I have a cold. It\u2019s one of those times in my life where I want to scream. I have a trip planned in two weeks, a first birthday party to plan, and numerous other important items to check off my list before my trip. I simply don\u2019t have time to be sick! I have managed to stay healthy for over a year. I\u2019ve been around sick people, but have kept my hands washed and their germs off of me. But it didn\u2019t work this time.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;\">Why? Why this time? Well, I was tired, run down, not taking care of myself, and the smallest germ attacked my system. It broke through all the defenses I\u2019ve worked so hard to build up. Defeat. Yes, this cold has defeated me. It\u2019s taken days from me. Days that I need in order to get things done for upcoming deadlines.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;\">This cold reminds me of times when I\u2019ve allowed my spiritual defenses to drop. It\u2019s during those times that Satan knows exactly how to jump all over me and bring me down. When I\u2019m too busy to spend quality time with God. When I\u2019m so tired that I don\u2019t want to spend quality time with God. Even when I\u2019m sick, when my brain isn\u2019t up to par because of medication to spend quality time with God. That\u2019s when Satan attacks. When I am not at my best.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;\">Unfortunately, these times are more frequent than I\u2019d like. So Satan has plenty of opportunity to attack. But surely there is something I can do to prevent it, or to help ward off his attacks. Right? Yes! Ephesians 6:10-18 gives us the perfect weapons to <i style=\"mso-bidi-font-style: normal;\">\u201cextinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one.\u201d<\/i> (Ephesians 6:16)<\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;\">First, we are called to <i style=\"mso-bidi-font-style: normal;\">\u201cbe strong in the Lord and his mighty power\u201d<\/i> and to <i style=\"mso-bidi-font-style: normal;\">\u201cput on the full armor of God.\u201d <\/i>Without God\u2019s strength and armor, we would be defenseless against Satan. <\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;\">Then we are to put on:<\/span><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><i style=\"mso-bidi-font-style: normal;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;\">The Belt of Truth<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<li><i style=\"mso-bidi-font-style: normal;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;\">The Breastplate of Righteousness <\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<li><i style=\"mso-bidi-font-style: normal;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;\">Feet Fitted with Readiness <\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<li><i style=\"mso-bidi-font-style: normal;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;\">The Shield of Faith<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<li><i style=\"mso-bidi-font-style: normal;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;\">The Helmet of Salvation<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<li><i style=\"mso-bidi-font-style: normal;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;\">The Sword of the Spirit<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<div style=\"line-height: normal;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">With these tools and the understanding of how to use them, we can stand firm, be alert, and pray. I am so thankful for the tools that God gives us to prepare for battle! <i style=\"mso-bidi-font-style: normal;\">Don\u2019t underestimate what God can do through you wearing His armor!<\/i>So don\u2019t allow your busyness, tiredness, or illness keep you from seeking God\u2019s truths. Keep on keeping on. Stand firm. The battle belongs to God!<\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;\">Grace and peace be yours in abundance,<\/span><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;\">Donna<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I have a cold. It\u2019s one of those times in my life where I want to scream. I have a trip planned in two weeks, a first birthday party to plan, and numerous other important items to check off my list before my trip. I simply don\u2019t have time to be sick! I have managed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes","_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,22,16,15,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asking-god","category-believing-god","category-following-god","category-knowing-god","category-seeking-god"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=370"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6366,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370\/revisions\/6366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fullmeasureofjoy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}