Four Steps to Strengthen Your Christian Armour

 William Gurnall and Dennis Edwards[i]

In The Christian in Complete Armour, William Gurnall, an English author and clergyman who lived from 1616 to 1679, has a section in that great tome on how we can rekindle the fire of God in our lives. Both John Newton, the converted slave-trader and the author of ‘Amazing Grace,’ and Charles Spurgeon, the great 19th century English preacher, spoke highly of Gurnall’s writings. However, it’s tedious work as he writes in old English. You’ll need an online dictionary and the help of the Holy Spirit to help you understand what Gurnall is trying to say. I have done a bit of editing to help make it easier to understand him.

What should we to do when we enter moments where we notice our heart is hardening, or we are weak against the temptations of sin and the flesh, or there’s a dryness in our spirit? Gurnall gives a four-point plan to recuperate the fire of the Lord and the Holy Spirit in our bosom. He says, “If you find that your armour has decayed through lack of cleaning, as lack of cleaning is more commonly the cause of decay -- as rust will soon spoil the best of armour, so negligence will give your spiritual life its death. Apply then yourself to the use of those means which God has given for the strengthening of His grace within you. If the fire goes out by taking off the wood, or through neglect, what way is there to preserve it, other than by laying more wood on the fire once again.”

Gurnall then gives four ways to get the fire of the Holy Spirit roaring in your heart once more.

1. ‘I shall send you to the Word of God; be more frequently conversant, or familiar with, or knowledgeable of God’s Word.’ David tells us where he renewed his spiritual life, and got his soul into a heavenly heat, when grace in him began to chill. The Word, he tells us, quickened him. ‘My soul cleaves unto the dust: quicken me according to your word.’ Ps. 119:25. ‘I am afflicted very much: quicken me, O Lord, according unto your word.’ Ps. 119:107. ‘Consider how I love thy precepts: quicken me, O Lord, according to thy lovingkindness.’ Psalm 119 is full of passages of the importance and of the transforming power of God’s word. The Word was the sunny bank that David sat on to commune with his Maker. The Word draws forth the Christian grace, by presenting to everyone something they may act upon. The Word has great power to rouse us up; just as the coming in of an old friend makes us, though sleepy beforehand, shake off all drowsiness to enjoy his company. The Word strengthens our Christian graces as we read of the life of Christ, who laid down His life for us. The Word doesn’t flatter us, but rather exposes our sin, brings us to godly sorrow, renews a hatred of sin within us, and raises in us a commitment to fight the good fight of faith with a renewed fortitude. ‘Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy word.’ Ps. 119:9. ‘Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee.’ Ps. 119:11. Shall we not come forth better men and women from reading what Jesus has done for us?

 2. From the Word go to meditation. A bellows is a bag-like device with handles, that is used to blow air onto a fire to keep the flame burning. Meditation is like bellows to the fire. The grace which lies choked and eaten up for lack of exercise, will be cleared and break forth through godly meditation. While you are meditating on God and His Word, the fire will burn, and your heart will grow hot within you. Resolve, therefore, Christian, to withdraw yourself from all worldly input and conversations, that you may every day, if possible, spend time reviewing the most remarkable occurrences that have passed between you and your God. ‘Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still.’ Ps. 4:4.

 Ask yourself what blessings you have received that day, what mercies heaven has sent unto you to enjoy? When you ask God to help you to see your blessing, don’t be like Pilate who asked Christ a question, but didn’t wait for the answer. Wait until your soul has made report of God’s gracious dealings with you. ‘I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with my own heart: and my spirit made diligent search.’ Ps. 77:6. And, if you are wise to observe, and faithful to relate them, your conscience must tell you, that the faucet of God’s blessings was never shut, the breast of His mercy was never put up, and remembrance of old mercies will come crowding into your mind, and call for a place in your thoughts, and tell you what wonders God has done for you for months and years at end. ‘I will remember the works of the Lord: surely, I will remember thy wonders of old. I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.’ Ps. 77:11-12. ‘I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.’ Ps. 89:1.

There is a great treasure of mercy always in the Christian’s hands. Conscience is often calling the Christian to take account, and remember what God has done for him; but seldom do we find time to acknowledge His mercies towards us. And is it any wonder that our spiritual state grows cold, when we take no notice of what gracious dealings God has given us? How can he be thankful who seldom thinks about what he has received? ‘What has thou that thou did not receive?’ asks Apostle Paul. 1 Corinthians 4:7b. Remember God’s people who came out of Egypt. Though they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were they thankful, therefore, God let their imagination become vain and their foolish hearts were darkened. Romans 1:21. Beware less it happen to any of us. How can we be patient when God afflicts us, and it is one of the most powerful arguments to pacify a mutinous spirit in trouble, when we remember the abundant good we have received at the hands of the Lord, as well as a little evil? How can our soul’s love flame to God, if it is kept at such a distance from remembering the mercies of God, be fuel to the soul’s love of God? It won’t. David sang in prayer, ‘Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.’ David was remembering all of God’s mercies and benefits towards him. He continues, ‘Who forgives all your iniquities; who heals all your diseases; who redeems your soul from destruction; who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Who satisfies your mouth with good things; so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.’ Ps. 103:1-5. Many of the Psalms are songs remembering God’s mercies to the children of Israel: Psalms 105, 106, 107, 135, 136, 145, 147.

Reflect upon yourself, and bestow serious thought upon your own behaviour—how has it been towards God and fellow man throughout the day. Ask yourself, as Elisha asked his servant, “Where have you been? What have you done for God this day and how?” 2 Kings 5:25. Make a thorough search of your heart, and correct your wayward behaviour, less God Himself need correct you. ‘Cause me to hear your lovingkindness in the morning; for in You do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto You. … Teach me to do your will; for You are my God.’ Ps. 143:8 & 10a. ‘Keep your servant also from wilful sins, may they not rule over me.’ Ps. 19:13a NIV.

 3. From meditation go to prayer. Indeed, a soul in thankful meditation is on its way to prayer, as is a soul that is in quiet introspection of its behaviour. When the Christian has done his utmost by quiet meditation to excite his desire for God, and to chase his spirit into a divine heat, he knows that all this is but the laying of wood on the fire. The fire must come from above from God, and it must be fetched through prayer. ‘And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art God, and that thou has turned their heart back again. Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The Lord, he is the God; the Lord, he is the God.’ 1 Kings 18:36-39.

Just as the moon has the greatest influence on the tides when it is in conjunction with the sun, so, God’s influence to strengthen our Christian graces comes most powerfully through prayer; for it is through prayer that the Christian is in nearest conjunction and communion with God. Prayer has great power with God, but also has a mighty influence on our own lives. Prayer will not let God rest, but raises Him up to His people’s succour, to their assistance and support in times of hardship and distress. Is it any wonder that prayer also is the means to rouse and excite the Christian’s own spiritual graces? How often do we see in the Psalms a dark cloud upon David’s spirit at the beginning of his prayer, which by the time he is a little warm, begins to clear up, and before the psalm ends, he breaks forth into words of faith and acclamations of praise? Only, Christian, take heed of formal praying which is as much as death to grace as not praying at all. ‘But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.’ Matthew 6:7. Pray with all your heart, from your heart, and God will hear and answer and transform your heart and mind and behaviour in the process. 'Ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart.' Jeremiah 29:13. 'Call upon Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things that you know not of.' Jeremiah 33:3. 'He shall call upon Me and I will answer, I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him, and show him My salvation.' Psalm 91:15-16.

4. To all the former, add fellowship and communion with the saints who live among you. It is no wonder to hear of a house that is robbed when it stands far from its neighbours. He that walks in communion with the saints, travels in company. He dwells in a city where one house keeps up another, to which Jerusalem is compared to in the Scriptures. It is observable concerning the house in whose ruins Job’s children were entombed, that a wind came from the wilderness and smote the four corners of it. It seems it was a house that stood alone. The devil knows what he is doing in hindering this great ordinance of the communion of the saints in fellowship and service—for in doing this he hinders the progress of grace, and brings the Christian’s spiritual life into a declining, wasting state. The apostle couples those two duties close together, ‘Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for He is faithful that promised); and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as you see the day approaching.’ Hebrews 10:23-25.

Indeed, it is a dangerous step to apostasy to forsake the communion of the saints; hence it is said of Demas, he ‘has forsaken us, and loved this present world.’ 2 Timothy 4:10. O what mischief has Satan done to us in these last few years, in this one particular thing! What has become of the communion of the saints? Where can there be found two or three that can agree to walk together? ‘Can two walk together, except they be agreed.’ Amos 3:3. Those that could formerly suffer together, cannot sit together at their Father’s table. They can hardly pray one with or for another. The breath of one Christian is strange to another that once lay in his bosom, ‘This is a lamentation, and shall be for lamentation.’ Ezekiel 19:14 In Psalm 133:1 & 3b we read, ‘Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for the brethren to dwell together in unity!...for there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.’ Fellowship is blessing from the Lord. Jesus Himself said, ‘Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.’ Matthew 18:20.

‘Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falls; for he has not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? And if one prevails against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.’ Ecclesiastes 4:9-12. ‘As iron sharpens iron, So, a man sharpens the countenance of his friend. Whoever keeps the fig tree will eat its fruit; So, he who waits on his master will be honoured.’ Proverbs 27:17-18. It behoves us not to neglect the assembling of ourselves together. God has a blessing for those who unite around His word in prayer, fellowship, and worship. He will honour us, because we have waited upon Him. ‘But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.’ Isaiah 40:31.

---

[i] Gurnall, William; The Christian in Complete Armour: public domain; reprinted by Kairos Press; from pages 306-310.