“Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything – to stand” (Ephesians 6:13). Hmm. Note that word, “when.” Bad weather is coming – those evil days. Well, really, those days are here, so we need to be dressed for this weather.
Since wearing God’s armor gives us courage,TCS chose Ephesians 6:13 as our key verse to describe and support this character quality. For confidence (which is a synonym for boldness), we chose the following two verses: “Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6:14-15).
It is striking that courage and confidence
are rooted in a spiritual mindset
that requires internalizing God’s Word
to the point that it is externalized –
described metaphorically as getting dressed,
decked out in God’s protective gear.
We tend to think of our clothing as a covering for what is truly beneath rather than a revealing of what is underneath. Our dress is separate from us, not a part of us. Someone may dress like Spiderman, but that doesn’t make him Spiderman. On the other hand, one can dress to reveal what is underneath, such as when someone wears dark clothing to express mourning. This person may truly be grief-stricken. Or, one can wear a running suit and Nikes in preparation to exercise. This person may truly be athletic or may just have good intentions. A female may dress in tight clothes in an effort to both conceal and reveal, sending questionable signals. Dress expresses a range of messages from accurate cues of the inner state to utter fantasy and deception, and from godliness to worldiness. In our culture, clothing may communicate a statement or may just be a façade.
In Ephesians 6:10-18, Paul creates a comparison between physical and spiritual clothing. Spiritual dress is a result of the preparation of the inner spirit. It is an outer exposure of what is really true in the heart (mind, emotions, attitudes, desires, and will).
Sigh. I know how difficult it is for us to give attention to our spiritual attire. It’s easy to assume we can get by with last week’s or yesterday’s spiritual bath and dressing. Since courage and confidence are the clothing of the spiritually dressed person, I want suggest some resources to help you in your hurried life to get spiritually dressed. I’ll talk about them in my next post, but to close, I’d like to suggest that you check out rbc.org and run around on the website. This site offers lots of spiritual food from God’s Word (to mix metaphors), and some is auditory, so you can dress spiritually while you dress physically.
What do you do to dress for the weather?
Journey North Character 
With me, it begins in the store dressing room. I have to ask my Father if the clothing glorifies Him or pads my self-confidence by adapting to fashion.
At home, I dress in a hurry and do not look at myself so I ask my husband, or children if the husband is at work if my outfit will bring attention to my body or to my face.