Saint Mark Daily Advent Devotional – January 5, 2015

by Kim Sorrells

Scripture: “Put on the full armor of God.”  Ephesians 6:10-20

When I was growing up, we spoke about “spiritual warfare” as a sort of battle between good and evil, between angels and demons, so to speak.  Well, that’s not really how I think about the world now.  And, as such, the idea of this battle and armor imagery is a bit foreign to me.  Still, I do recognize that there are very real things that we all struggle against every day.  It may not be literal demons which we need “spiritual armor” to protect us from, but struggles nonetheless.

Addiction, anxiety, depression, our own egos, greed, doubt, exhaustion, fatigue, stress, heartache – and the list goes on.   While I no longer see the world as a spiritual battlefield, I do think there are some things we can do spiritually to protect ourselves a bit and to weather the storm a bit easier.  Perhaps those things are the armor of God.

For me, I find a variety of spiritual practices to be essential to my own well-being.  When I am doing my meditations, centering prayer and self-care, I tend to weather life’s storms a bit better.  I even tend to do better just in normal day-to-day life.  For me, these are my “spiritual armor” – centering prayer, yoga, and meditation, and there are others.   As we draw this season to a close and return to “ordinary time”, it may be more and more necessary to really focus on these practices when we don’t have the “high” of the season to carry our spirits.

Prayer: God of peace, help us to armor ourselves in your love, your presence, and your peace.  Amen

Saint Mark United Methodist Church