"Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the Gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."
Oh man, oh man! What challenging words!! This passage in Ephesians is one that always gets me pumped up to be a woman of the Lord. We all, men or women, have to be soldiers for Christ in an extremely screwed up world. This past May, I went on a retreat about spiritual warfare. The man leading the retreat said that having a Bible open to this passage of the Bible is a great way to fight Satan and any demons, so most of the summer, one of my Bibles was open to this passage the whole time.
Another way I fight off the evil spirits of this world is by wearing a Benedictine medal. Here's a picture of the back of one.
On the back of the medal, the cross is dominant. On the arms of the cross are the initial letters of a rhythmic Latin prayer: Crux sacra sit mihi lux! Nunquam draco sit mihi dux! (May the holy cross be my light! May the dragon never be my guide!).
In the angles of the cross, the letters C S P B stand for Crux Sancti Patris Benedicti (The cross of our holy father Benedict).
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