The haunt is on! (Faith)

Ephesians 6:13-18
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On this night of nights through your travels you will see houses garnished with ghosts and ghouls and especially Jack o lanterns. Every year we see theses orange lights with carved so carefully but why are these so famous today?

"1 old legend says that it comes because of a thief a few hundred years ago. This young boy was on the run from a town, who had caught him applying his local trade, when he ran into the Grim Reaper ready to take him to the life beyond. This thief begged and pleaded for his life, eventually offering the Grim a chance at the souls that were pursuing him. He suggested that the Grim hid amongst his "possessions" disguised as a small coin, then once this thief was caught it would be his chance to strike. Grim readily agreed to this hid himself  in the
collection of stolen artifact only to realise, too late, that there was a silver cross among them which robbed him of his powers. This thief managed to eventually escape with the Grim still in tow, so when he felt he was safe he offered the Grim a second deal, this time he would only let the Grim go free if he would never bring him to hell. Grudgingly the grim accepted and they soon parted ways and life went on as normal. Eventually the time came for him to pass from this life into the next, but his past deeds had forbidden him from living with God again. He had also been promised he would never enter hell so he was stranded on Earth, to find some small patch to call home of the rest of eternity. He carved a lantern out of the first thing he saw (the humble pumpkin) and is said to still haunt to night looking for his little piece of heaven on earth." 

This poor boy did not have faith in what Jesus had taught in the scriptures. He did not trust when the scriptures said "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." (Matthew 7:21) yet this boy believed that by exiling himself from hell he would be accepted into heaven by default. He soon learned otherwise. Faith leads to action. If this Boy had trusted the word of God he would have altered his ways to allow him a chance to enter God's kingdom.


I love how Faith in the scriptures is compared to a shield, Whenever you look at a medieval battle every personal you look at is holding a shield, its just a part of the equipment. The difference between one soldier and the next is what he does with the shield he has. Some people will just put their shield in a shed until the time for a war is near when he will dust it off. Other might show off their sheild as a status symbol seeking the attention of others or they may spend their free time practicing with it so they know how to use it when needed.

Faith working in exactly the same way, If we only bring it out once in a while or wear it superficially for the attention of others then when Satan come around to test you (and he will) then you will not be prepared for the tricks and traps he has set. There is no point knowing that you can pray in a crisis if you don't know how to get answers from prayers.

Are we like the young thief, making 1 or 2 preparations for the future or are we the person that is always in the training ground refining their skill with the shield of faith?