Welcome to Tuesday, the day after the total eclipse. No, not Bonnie Tyler's 1983 single but the actual moon movement in front of the sun that occurred yesterday afternoon. (and no, there hasn't been a Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" yet, but I hope you at least checked the archives, you know the ones over at the left, listed by year, month, and then title), It was quite the folderol around these parts. Me? Nope, I didn't get into all the ruckus, I just quietly went into my backyard and looked up at the sky with vision protection. After all, it isn't recommended that you see ANY eclipse with the naked eye that is if you ever want to be able to see again. It was quite the phenomenon, but I'm glad it's over. Don't get me wrong, I find all of it fascinating, but like so many neat things in this world, humans blow things out of proportion and someone somewhere gets a lot of profit from something that is a naturally occurring event. Perhaps cynicism creeps in as you turn older.
If you wonder, "What in the world have I clicked on?" you're probably in good company. Let me explain. This is a blog. This is a blog about music. This is a blog about music with a different perspective than most blogs about music. It has been going on since the end of May 2012. Except for 1 song, we've never had a featured song get repeated AND except in the past couple of months, we've never missed a week of posting new musical information with an insight that you might find surprising. (My apologies for the recent inconsistencies, I retired in December and haven't quite got the rhythm of not going into a store or office yet. But I'm getting there...we'll see what happens)
In its 12-year history, Tuesday's Musical Notes has accumulated over 180,000 views from all over the world. (Hey Hong Kong, are you guys reading or is this an AI trying to figure out how to write The Notes? All-time views you still have a way to catch up with Singapore, but keep trying!!!) Thanks to you if you have been here before and have propagated some of those views by reading. We love the opportunity to find new things out about our favorite musicians and their songs, but more importantly, you have allowed me to discover a few things about myself that I had never picked up. Maybe you have as well. Hopefully, these are things that better prepare us for the battlefield that can be our lives.
fast forward 41 years...
Every so often a musical act will release a live recording of one of their concerts. This recording usually encapsulates the feel of what it would have been like to have been in attendance at said concert. These concerts include some of the artist's greatest hits and several tracks from the newest album release that the concert is supporting. I confess that "live albums" are not my favorites...unless they include a new studio track that isn't available on any other release. I can only think of a couple that do that. Styx did it with "Music Time" from Caught In The Act ("Music Time" by Styx from the April 1984 album Caught In The Act) (Tuesday's Musical Notes - Styx archives) and today's featured artist Pat Benatar (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" (Pat Benatar)) did it with "Love Is A Battlefield" from Live from Earth. Can you think of any others?
"Love Is A Battlefield" was released on September 12, 1983. It was written by Holly Knight and Mike Chapman and produced by Benatar's guitarist of 45 years and husband of 42 years, Neil Giraldo. It became an instant Benatar classic with its female empowerment message and accompanying video offering. It has sold over a million copies and is listed at #30 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the 80s list. "Love Is A Battlefield" ties with Benatar's other classic "We Belong" as the highest charting of her catalog peaking at #5 on the Hot 100. The song, even though it was more electronic and dance-oriented than Pat Benatar's previous singles, garnered Benatar her fourth consecutive Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance in 1984.
But let's talk about that music video. Let's face it, while female performers flourished during the 80s, few spoke up about female empowerment or came off as hard-rockers like Pat Benatar. "Love Is A Battlefield" became a rallying cry for ladies to take charge of their lives even though things can get pretty tough. The video for "Love Is A Battlefield" encapsulates this messaging in a poignant but edgy manner and makes Benatar's lead character very imaginable and relatable to women of all professions, not just to the Taxi Dancers. The choreography for the video was designed by Michael Peters who is in the video for a cameo.
The video is also unique in that it is the second-only video to feature dialogue in its storytelling. (Philip Bailey's "I Know" was the first: "I Know" by Philip Bailey from the January 1983 album Continuation) The "Love Is A Battlefield" video features the then-30-year-old Benatar as a runaway teen who longs for a different life. We see the battles she goes through as she leaves her home as a rebellious teen and then finds continued challenges as she discovers life on her own, winding up as a Taxi Dancer. This is a bar where a group of women are employed to dance with those who wish to pay for each dance. This profession winds up being the worst of her challenges and once again she takes a stand finding herself in a major skirmish for her and her fellow dancer's freedom. Interspersed is the idea that she might be returning home on the bus we continually see her on. The video was nominated for the MTV Video Award for Best Female Video.
The story the video tells is a familiar one. We may not be a teenager facing the consequences and yes, battles that come with the decisions we make, but all of us do have to face the consequences and battles of our lives, regardless of the age we may be right now. How we attack or retreat in those battles says much about our character. Do we stand and face our challenges head-on, or tuck tail and run? The Apostle Paul is a great example of one who faced many battles in his life. He has some wisdom for the church at Ephesus that all of us can use as we go one skirmish at a time.
For many, this passage will be familiar. We love those kinds of portions of the Bible that are well-known regardless of one's belief in Jesus. This is a Sunday School passage that is easy for children to understand, and memorize, but there are many adult applications that I think we miss out on if we leave our understanding at Sunday School. Let's look at each part of the Whole Armor of God.
Sometimes we jump right into the armaments that we skip over verse 10. "Finally, be strong in the Lord and the strength of His might." This is awesome! We don't have to rely on our own physical or mental prowess to face our enemies. As long as we are His, we are strong because of who the Lord is and we have His strength to face anything the enemy may put in front of us.
The next thing that Paul encourages us to do is have the WHOLE armor of God. If one of these pieces is missing we are vulnerable in a vital area. So how can we make sure that we have all of our armor in place? I have a few suggestions that are a running thread through all of Notesland.
First, make sure you are communicating with God. There are 2 vitally important ways to accomplish this, reading His word and praying. We really should be students of the entirety of the Bible, the WHOLE Bible if you will. Also, we must be constant in prayer. Not just for those things that are concerns in the battle we face, but prayers of confession and repentance about the ways we will blow it, the skirmishes that we may lose, because we've not followed the battle plan.
Secondly, we need to encourage other saints and be encouraged by other saints. Part of the problem with Western Christianity is that we don't like being together. Attending a local church, just like the folks in Ephesus did, is a great way to make sure you have the opportunity to encourage as well as be encouraged. But do we do this with the enthusiasm that we do other aspects of our lives? Sure we make Sunday mornings, but when else do we see our brothers and sisters in Christ? Does your church offer other opportunities such as Sunday evenings, Wednesday evenings, Bible Studies, Eclipse Watch parties, and Fellowship times with small groups? How do you react when seeing someone from your church at Wal*Mart or the ball fields? Part of the reason Paul wrote all of the letters of the New Testament was to encourage others as he had received encouragement from others. Please don't get me wrong, I'm bad about this myself and I served on a church staff for over 20 years. We are all time-deprived, but we must make time with other believers a priority. Time deprivation is one of the weapons of the enemy that will sap our strength from us and keep us from the blessings that other folks can be AND that we can be to other folks.
Finally, we must know who are enemy is. "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." Verse 12 reminds us that our struggles are not only physical but spiritual. There is warfare going on that we are completely unaware of for the souls of mankind. In his fictional book, This Present Darkness, Frank Peretti frames this warfare in a very engaging and thought-provoking manner. C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters also offers insight into spiritual warfare that we may have never considered.
And now we are prepared to access the armory.
Paul begins our equipping with the belt of truth. This serves as a foundation for our armor as each piece we encounter will build upon this belt. The apostle John wrote extensively about the Truth. He recorded Jesus' teaching about the truth freeing us from our shackles and burdens in The Gospel of Jesus as recorded by John, a fisherman, chapter 8, verses 31-32 NASB/AMP/ESV/KJV We cannot adequately face any battle if we don't have the freedom to move about and defend ourselves. Every motion we make in battle involves the muscles of the waist and those must be supported in our spiritual battle by truth, the truth we consume as well as the truthfulness in which we live our lives.
With truth wrapping our midsection, we move to the chest and the breastplate of righteousness. This piece of equipment is to guard our heart and other valuable internal organs. Notice that in Paul's letter to the church in Rome (Romans), chapter 3 verse 10 NASB/AMP/ESV/KJV Paul tells us that nobody is righteous, so how can we put this piece of gear on? After becoming a believer, our goal is to become like Jesus. Jesus is the only righteous man to have ever walked the planet. So if we are to put on this armament, we are to put on Jesus. We are to daily become more transformed into His likeness, His character, His love, and His righteousness. With Jesus, we become righteous and can have protection for our hearts. One thing to notice about most representations of the breastplate of righteousness. It doesn't cover the back. Personally, I think this is because we are to be on the offense in our skirmishes, and because of living in God's strength, we should never be in a position of retreat. Why would we need our backs protected in that case?
We travel with our feet. In these travels, we can go to places to prepare to be ready when God presents opportunities to tell the Gospel of Jesus. We also go to places where the Gospel needs to be told. We are supported by Truth, and protected by Righteousness, now we are to go about doing everything we can to be prepared to tell the world about Jesus. Paul also writes in Romans 10:14-15 NASB/AMP/ESV/KJV “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!”
Truth, check! Righteousness, check! Prepared to tell the Gospel of Jesus, check! Next is the shield of faith. We never know what exactly the enemy may use to attack us. But with faith, we can rely on God's strength to know that "no weapon formed against us will prosper" Isaiah 54:17 NASB/AMP/ESV/KJV We can have confidence that we are protected from anything our enemy may through at us as long as we believe in the One who made the shield in the first place. The writer of Hebrews defines faith this way..."Now faith is the certainty of things hoped for, a proof of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1 NASB/AMP/ESV/KJV
Next is the helmet of salvation. We are building a suit of armor where each element is dependent on all of the rest. Donning the helmet of salvation brings us to the physical and mental reality of what Jesus has done in our lives. We have the breastplate of righteousness protecting our heart knowledge, but the helmet is there to protect our head knowledge of our new condition of following Jesus. We need both! Many times folks tell us that folks have a head knowledge of the Gospel but not a heart knowledge. There is great truth in that. But I think we need knowledge in both areas to inform a total ideology of the amazing thing that Jesus did for us on the cross and the even more amazing thing He did by coming back to life!!! One of these facts we can accept with our minds, the other has to be accepted with our hearts. I confess that I don't completely understand the complexities of the operations between heart and mind, but I am convinced that we need knowledge of Jesus in both places if we are to ever fully be like him.
You may notice that all of our equipment so far has been for defensive purposes. We have yet to take up anything that is normally considered a weapon until now. The Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Wow. That's powerful in how it includes all the members of the Trinity in one declarative. The Holy Spirit enables us to defend ourselves by giving us an understanding of the Word of God. All three work in community to make sure we are prepared to defend ourselves with a weapon, the Bible. We stated at the outset that studying the Bible was necessary for us to communicate with God. Here's the proof that we can use the Bible as a weapon against the principalites of darkness. A sword can pierce and cut. I don't know about you, but it seems to me every time I am diligent in studying the Bible both of those things happen to me. But they can also be used to pierce and cut the enemy's advances just like Scripture did for Jesus when He was tempted. The Gospel of Jesus as recorded by Luke, a physician, chapter 4, verses 1-13 NASB/AMP/ESV/KJV
Paul concludes Ephesians with encouragement to pray for others as well as himself. Utilizing all of the devices he has just given them to communicate with God.
We read in the Old Testament that David tried to put on King Saul's armor before going out to do battle with Goliath. What was the result? The armor did not fit and restricted David's ability to do battle. David then takes what I think is the armor that Paul writes about here which fits perfectly every time and unimaginably slays Goliath. 1 Samuel 17 NASB/AMP/ESV/KJV
You see friend, the whole armor of God fits every time. With it, we are equipped for the challenges we will face every day. Because if we are becoming more and more like Jesus and love folks the way He does, we will soon find that we will need every piece of His armor as we find that love is a battlefield...woah, woah, woah, woah.
Loving HIM by Loving You,
randy
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