Ya know, there are those passages in the Bible that make me scratch my head a bit. Ephesians 6:10-14 is one of them. Those are the verses leading up the armor of God passage. One of my many quirks in life is that I analyze the verb tense and wording used in Scripture. I figure ALL of it is God breathed, and every aspect was chosen for a reason. So, why does it use the word "stand" four times here? Thankfully, when my oldest son took Tae Kwan Do at a local church, I found the answer.

Nearly all the teachers were military or former military guys. Part of the class was a devotion time and Scripture memorization was part of earning each belt. Collin memorized this entire section of Ephesians 6, and bless their hearts, those guys explained the frequent (and I had considered redundant) use of the word stand. They explained that when you fight against your opponent, you take your ready stance. You stand. As the fight continues and you get knocked down, you get back up and take your ready stance again. You stand. Or, if you successfully knock down your opponent, you take your ready stance to continue. You stand. In other words, as we go through life's trials against our real enemy, we must be in our ready stance. As the fight continues--either in our favor or not, we continue to take our ready stance. WOW. I love that.

So, last Thursday, I blogged about the Amalekites and getting each other's backs. Friday morning, I was working on my homework for No Other Gods by Kelly Minter. She had us reading in Numbers 13 about when the Israelite spies went to check out the Promised Land. Again--yawn. I've read this before. I'm skimming along in Numbers 13:26-29 where the spies (all but Joshua and Caleb) are all doom-and-gloom and we can never take this land as they report back to Moses. I stopped cold on Numbers 13:29 when they were describing the powerful opponents in the Promised Land. It says, "The Amalekites live in the Negev...."

What? The Amalekites? As in those enemies that God gave you the victory over in Exodus 17? The sames ones you conquered because Moses held up his arms with the help of Hur and Aaron? Those same Amalekites? Tsk, tsk. How quickly these Israelites people forget what God has done.

And, how like them I am. See, they stood their ground, and God gave them victory. But, instead of standing firm in Israelites vs. the Amalekites the Sequel, they quivered in fear. Amnesia set in and they forgot that this should have been a deja vu moment. They SHOULD have stood firm and said, "Oh, yeah! We got this! God has done THIS for us before."

INTENTIONAL challenge: We go through life, choosing to walk with Christ, and we face obstacles and challenges. When we seek the Lord and He sees us through, we completely forget this the next time we face an obstacle--or even that SAME obstacle. Here's the thing. Amnesia will set in. Our human nature will get the best of us, and we'll be left shaking in our boots, afraid to stand our ground. Unless we are intentional to do otherwise. I've found it most effective for me if I journal those victories and make note of them. The truth is, we will face the same or very similar challenges over and over. And, if we stop to pause and remember how God moved, then we can go back and read the record of His faithfulness the next time we face a hardship. God moved on our behalf last week, and I want to soak that in. Next time those Amalekites show their face, I want to stand my ground. Then stand. Then stand firm. Only by the grace of God. What victories has God given you? What battles are you fighting? Stop and take note so that you can remember the next time you walk this battlefield. Then, you can be encouraged by God's undefeated record.