Why The Armor Of God Is Important In Battle: The Belt of Truth

why the armor of god is important
Today I am sharing a post I half wrote 6 months ago. It was when we were reading the book of Joshua. The book of Joshua is filled with different battles the Israelites faced as they approached  the promised land. I will eventually get to why the armor of God is important when we go into battle. But first I want to focus on Joshua’s famous last words. Last words are so important, and I try to give extra attention to them as I am reading them. Why? Because people’s last words are usually some of the most important things they will ever say.
Joshua uses his final moments to remind the Israelites about what God has done for them, His great power, and to encourage them one final time to remain faithful to the Lord, their God.
As a now old man, he confidently tells them that they know with all their hearts that not one of all of God’s promises has ever failed. He began to recount God’s hand on His people, beginning all the way back to Abraham.

None of God’s promises will ever fail.

God’s faithfulness was on full display in their lives. Israel had victory after victory, as God promised. But it had nothing to do with their size, strategic planning, or personal strength. There were times when the kings came together to build a huge, strong army to defeat Joshua and the Israelites. Humanly speaking, it should have worked. They knew God had His hand of protection on the Israelites, but they stubbornly thought they could still win a battle against God by building the biggest and strongest armies.
And in Joshua’s final words, we see clearly that it was only by God’s might that Israel was able to take these victories.

Does this give you as much confidence as it does to me?

We can confidently say and declare just as Joshua did, that none of God’s promises has ever failed to be fulfilled. Look back on your life and consider this. He has always gone before you. He has always been with you, He has never forsaken you. God has given you a firm foundation, on the solid rock, Jesus Christ. He has always worked for the good of those who love Him, and fought your battles as you were still, and known He was God.
As I was reading, I saw how foolish it is to think that the strength of human hands can compare to the power of God. What we have been reading is Romans 8:31 in real life, “if God is for us, who can be against us?”.

How to approach a battle…

But here is the thing. We can’t approach a battle without protective armor and weapons. So over the next few blogs I am going to do an in depth look at the armor of God, which we find described briefly in Ephesians 6:13-17.

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. 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. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

When Paul is telling us about the armor of God, he is helping us prepare for things that we usually can’t see, because our battle is not of the flesh. Paul tells the church of Corinth in 2 Corinthians 10: 4-5 that our weapons are “mighty through God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.”

Let’s look at the belt of truth.

In looking deeper at the armor of God, I think we can greatly underestimate the strength of something so necessary. I say this because there is always something that you are unable to see, affecting what you can see. That something that we can not see is the enemy, and just because we can’t see him, doesn’t mean he doesn’t exist. 

However, we can stand confident in this: The enemy can not take what he is not given. Paul knows this well, and tells us to put on the full armor of God. He knows that if we don’t put the full armor on, we will be more vulnerable to the enemy’s attack. He uses the imagery of armor because the Ephesian church would understand what he was getting at. They would know the type of armor that he was talking about and also the significance of his words as it pertained to their spiritual walks.

The first thing a soldier would put on would be the belt of truth.

The belt that a soldier would wear had a piece that hung down in the front to protect the private areas, and was able to hold other pieces of armor like the sword. 

Truth is not man’s opinions, or “your truth”, it’s God’s absolute truth that is unquestionable and can not change. Without the belt of truth, you protection or a place to place your weapons. And you can’t defeat the enemy. Truth is foundational, and is essential for victory in battles. You have to know the truth to be victorious. And the only place to find the truth is in God’s word.

What can we learn from the Israelites?

We definitely face different battles than the Israelites did. But the lesson is the same. The enemy can’t win a battle against God. If a situation has been delivered into our hands by God, so is the victory. “If God is for us, who can be against us”, should give us great confidence and assurance in what He calls us to do.
We can walk as Joshua did with strength and courage, refusing to be intimidated by the battle ahead, because we know that the battle is already won.
Trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword can’t separate us from the love of Christ. And nothing can separate us from His protection on our lives.

How to approach a battle…

Let us walk in His strength, protections, and assurance that He goes before through every season, circumstance, and battle. And let us find strength in His joy.

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