I have been reading a Christian classic called, The Pilgrim's Progress. It is about a guy named Christian who is on a journey from the city of destruction, to the City of Zion. The story is about the various things and people he meets along his way. I just finished a chapter called "Apollyon". In this chapter Christian meets a character named Apollyon, who represents Satan.
In the previous chapter , Christian had just been given the armour of God. The armour of God consists of:
Belt of TRUTH - God
Breastplate of RIGHTEOUSNESS - The Righteousness of Jesus in you
Sandals of PEACE - Inner peace and readiness
Shield of FAITH - Living by faith
Helmet of SALVATION - Salvation through Christ today and forever
Sword of the spirit - GOD'S WORD - God's Word countering spiritual deception and accusations
John Bunyan, the books author, goes on to write:
Christian began to be afraid, and wondered whether to go back or to stand his ground. But he remembered that he had no armour on his back and thought that by turning his back he might give the fiend the advantage since then Apollyon could easily pierce him with his darts so Christian resolved to go out and stand his ground. "For", he thought "if all I wanted to do was to save my own life, that would still be the best way to stand."
The key point here is that there is no protection for the back in the armour that God has given us as Christians. Our fight has to be one that is always moving forward. If we look back, that is when Satan has the power to defeat us. However, if we press on, even during tough times, and continue forward, we can be sure that we have a tool from God to win the battle.
I thought this was a profound thought from the pen of Bunyan. For anyone interested in reading a deep, but easy to read book, full of Christian truth, I recommend the Pilgrim's Progress. It is a classic.
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