None of God’s promises will ever fail.
Does this give you as much confidence as it does to me?
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?
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.
