The Sword of the Spirit

Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  Ephesians 6:17

I love how Paul clearly explains here what he means - the sword of the Spirit is the word of God.  There's not just a word picture or metaphor, there's a strong explanation.  That must mean it's important!

I don't think we can under emphasize how important the word of God is.  This week I'm helping with VBS at church, and every night, when we discuss the point of the lesson, I say, and how do we know this is true?  Because God's word tells us so!

Notice also that the sword is the one offensive weapon we are equipped with.  That tells me that the Bible is all we need!  It tells me how strong and powerful and - can I say - macho God's word is!

When we come up against the enemy, we need to speak God's truth - God's word!  But we cannot speak it if we do not know it. 

Having a "devotional time" each day is one of my pet peeves.  It evokes a picture of 15 minutes a day, a quick read of a scripture, a quick story, a quick prayer. 

Time with God is so much more than an item on our agenda, a part of our daily checklist.  Our time with God is our living, breathing time.  We get to the point where we cannot go on without Him!  And the best way to connect with him is to read, study, and meditate on his word.  That way when we need this weapon in our spiritual battles, we can quickly and easily pull it from within.

A final thought, from freebiblestudyguides.org:  "Swords are used for close combat, not long-range warfare. Could this imply the nature of the battle a Christian fights?"

Wearing the Helmet

Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  Ephesians 6:17

Today we are going to look at the helmet of salvation, and tomorrow we'll think about the sword.  Think of all the sports and activities that require a helmet.  Football, one of my favorite sports - and it doesn't necessarily stop a player from getting a concussion!  Batters in baseball.  We're supposed to wear helmets when we ride bikes, skateboards, etc.  How many of you wear helmets when you ride a bike?  Raise your hands - be patient while I count.  Just kidding!

A lot of us don't wear helmets.  We feel like we don't need to, like we have some superhuman ability to avoid disaster, or our heads are so hard there's no way we can get hurt.  Or maybe it's a vanity thing - a helmet will make us look dumb or mess up our hair.

But every physician and athlete in a sport will tell you how invaluable a helmet is.  It's a simple piece of equipment that, obviously, protects our head, our brain.  Our bodies were designed to protect our heads, as well as our hearts, above all else.

But why does Paul equate salvation with protection of the head?  Perhaps he, as a good Jew, knew the scripture from Isaiah 59: 

Truth is nowhere to be found,
    and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey.

The Lord looked and was displeased
    that there was no justice.

He saw that there was no one,
    he was appalled that there was no one to intervene;
so his own arm achieved salvation for him,
    and his own righteousness sustained him.
He put on righteousness as his breastplate,
    and the helmet of salvation on his head;
he put on the garments of vengeance

and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak..  (verses 15 - 17)

Of course, he would have known this scripture, and many like it.  But even more importantly, Paul knew that our heads - our intellect - is where our salvation begins.  While we often "feel" God, to completely know him, we have to understand him - as much as we can! - with our heads.

So the helmet (protection) of salvation (to be saved from sin) is an essential piece of our armor.  Our salvation, our personal relationship with Christ, our acceptance of his redemption, means that we will think and act differently now.  Our salvation is both our inspiration and our protection.  Isn't that amazing? 

There is a wonderful treatise on the helmet of salvation at http://www.freebiblestudyguides.org/bible-teachings/armor-of-god-helmet-of-salvation.htm.  They have much more insight than I could hope to share! 

The Shield of Faith

In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Ephesians 6:16


On the surface, I first thought that the shield of faith didn't need much thought.  I mean, it seems pretty obvious what Paul wants us to do!  He wants us to protect ourselves from the slings of the enemy by having faith.

Ah, but it can be so easy to talk about faith.  And so difficult to put such action to our faith as to make it a weapon.

So, to me, it's worth a little digging.  

According to wikipedia (and when have you ever known wikipedia to be wrong?), shields were not only used for protection, they would also be painted with a design that would be used for identification - whose "side" this particular soldier was on.

Ah . . .

I see.

My shield of faith doesn't just protect me.  It identifies me with Christ!  In Galatians 2:20, Paul says, "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

My faith protects me.  It protects my heart.  My mind.  My body.  My faith identifies me.  It identifies me as a daughter of the King.  The Ruler of the Universe.  The Alpha and Omega.  The Beginning and the End.  The Faithful and True.

It sounds to me that for our faith to protect us, it must be strong.  For our faith to identify us, it must be real.  For our faith to be real, we must get it from the Source!!

So how is our faith?  How strong is your faith?  Are you like me, really wanting to have a strong faith but afraid God will put me to the test?  (That's me being real with you!)  Or maybe your faith has been put to the test, and you're coming out on the other side, stronger, truer.

There are all kinds of ways our faith is tested; you don't have to be a missionary to be on the front lines of a spiritual battle!  Our faith is developed daily - when we believe God loves us, takes care of us, has a plan for us. 

Praying that your faith is a strong shield for you!

Be Ready

. . . and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. Ephesians 6:15

Someday I will love to sit down and talk to Paul.  I'm amazed at the way he can take the most complex idea and break it down - the way he creates word pictures that allow us, generations later, to completely identify and understand what he is saying.

Isn't the Armor of God just such an amazing picture?  Thinking of putting on the attributes of God like we put on clothes, shoes, battle gear - it's a wonderful analogy.

So far we've talking about worship, standing and being prepared, hold our equipment with the best of truth, and protecting our hearts with the breastplate of righteousness.  Now we come to our feet - shoes!  Now here's something I can really identify with!

I've been reading freebiblestudyguides.org and I love what they say about the shoes: "In short, shoes allow us to step freely and without fear while we turn our full attention to the battle at hand."  While shoes can sometimes play a superfluous role in our daily garments, in truth they also offer us protection from painful and annoying elements.

So shoes help us move forward, walk ahead.  With shoes on our feet, we can be prepared - ready - to go where He calls us to go.  It reminds me of the verse from Isaiah:  "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, 'Your God reigns!'”  (52:7)

Would you say that is a good summary of the gospel of peace?  I think so!  To me, the gospel of peace is simply the "good news" - that God loved the people of the world so much He sent His son, His only son, Jesus Christ.  He sent Him to deliver us from our own sinful and evil nature and desires and give us life - forever, for always, with him!

What news!  What peace!  What joy!  One of our weapons is to know and share the gospel, the living truth of our Lord!  So when we live prepared, with shoes on our feet ready to walk, and the gospel of Christ on our mouths, we can fight the enemy! 

The Breastplate

Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place . . . Ephesians 6:14

I want to begin today by making sure that I am clear and transparent with you - how ever many "yous" there may be.  I am not a scholar or theologian, and while I study and try to present truth, yet I still recognize how limited my brain is.  I pray that if I am presenting something incorrectly, God will stop me!  And I pray that He will correct me and show me what is right.  But just know that I am basically presenting to you only my understandings. my thoughts.  I'm sharing with you the Bible as I comprehend it.


OK, having said that, let's move on to the breastplate of righteousness.  It's interesting to me that in the Jewish world it would not have been just soldiers who wore breastplates.  The priests also wore a breastplate, as established in Exodus 28.   So a breastplate was not just used by a soldier as a protective piece in a battle; it was also a way of making decisions: 

“Fashion a breastpiece for making decisions—the work of skilled hands. Make it like the ephod: of gold, and of blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and of finely twisted linen. It is to be square—a span long and a span wide—and folded double. Then mount four rows of precious stones on it. The first row shall be carnelian, chrysolite and beryl; the second row shall be turquoise, lapis lazuli and emerald; the third row shall be jacinth, agate and amethyst; the fourth row shall be topaz, onyx and jasper. Mount them in gold filigree settings. There are to be twelve stones, one for each of the names of the sons of Israel, each engraved like a seal with the name of one of the twelve tribes." (vv 15 - 21)

I think it is clear why Paul uses the breastplate as his personification of righteousness - a breastplate protects the heart.  In spiritual terms, it keeps our hearts pure, able to make wise and godly decisions.

So let's speak for a moment about what righteousness is.  I guess it's pretty simple - to be righteous is to be right!  Righteousness is the choice to reject sin and its ways and its consequences, and choose love, and truth, and God.

There are so many scriptures about righteousness, but here a just a couple that I think are special:

I put on righteousness as my clothing; justice was my robe and my turban.  Job 29:14

But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children —with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.  Psalm 103:17-18

If you would type in the word righteousness in a scripture search, you'd see that many of the verses are about God's righteousness, not ours.  And that tells us that we cannot have righteousness apart from Him.  We cannot make ourselves righteous, we cannot pretend to be righteous, we cannot fake being righteous.  God, our loving father, gives us the gift of His righteousness, so that we too can be right.

The breastplate of righteousness is our decision to be and do right.  This decision, to reject sin and embrace holiness, protects our hearts and our lives.  What a wonderful weapon for us to have.

The Battle Begins

Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place . . . Ephesians 6:14

Again, the instruction to stand.  It reminds me of a movie I referenced the other day - The Patriot.  There's a battle scene towards the end of the movie where the line of the militia soldiers begins to fall.  The men begin to panic, and start to run.  Mel Gibson grabs the American flag, and runs in front of them, shouting, "hold! Hold the line!"

I envision Paul doing the same thing.  "Stand!  Stand firm"

How wonderful that he doesn't stop there.  He gives us more instruction.  First, to buckle the belt of truth.  What is the belt of truth?

I need to look at this two ways:  First, what is the purpose of a belt?  Ok, ok, we all know a belt keeps our pants from falling down.  But in a military uniform in the time of Paul, a belt was more than that.  The belt was the way the soldier carried his weapon.  Matthew Henry said that the belt secures all the other pieces of armor. 

Second, what is truth?  Well, Jesus said that HE is the Way, the Truth, the Life.  If we read the passage just before this verse, in John 14, we can see why Jesus made such a statement:

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”  (vv 1 - 4)

This was a bold statement!  In order for the disciples to believe the things that Jesus was teaching, He had to teach them that He - His character, His essence, His Self - He himself is truth, in an absolute form.  He could not, would not, lie or mislead them.


Therefore - He is truth.  Our first weapon is truth - not as an abstract concept, but as a Person.  We must know Christ, we must know Him as Truth.  


If He says it's so, it's so.  If He said He'll do it, He'll do it.  If He said it's sin, it's sin.  


It's really that simple.  All truth is found in Him, because He IS truth.  


We wrap truth securely around us, holstering all our other weapons close to our us, living and breathing truth.  We therefore begin with Christ.  We must know Him, know His word and accept that He is truth.


That is where we start, and that is where we end for today.  Tomorrow we'll discuss the breastplate of righteousness. 

Stand Firm

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


Have you ever seen the movie Braveheart?  The one where Mel Gibson leads a rag-tag army of Scottish farmers in a rebellion against the British king?  (As opposed to The Patriot, where Mel Gibson leads a rag-tag army of American farmers in a rebellion against the British king.)


There is a scene in Braveheart where William Wallace (Mel Gibson) tries to stir up his troops with a rallying-cry speech:  

Aye, fight and you may die. Run and you'll live -- at least a while. And dying in your beds many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for one chance, just one chance to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!!!

Wallace was telling his men, as Paul was telling us, that yes, the battle will be difficult and painful.  But we must stand!  We must fight!

There are a few lessons to take to heart in the verse above.  First of all, we must purposefully seek out and put on this armor.  While God freely gives us every weapon we need, we must go get it!  These battle pieces don't just fall onto us.  Second, we put on the armor in order to be prepared for the battle.  We cannot try to grab the helmet at the last minute - we must always be ready!  We must always be prepared!  And third, we must take action - stand our ground.  Standing takes movement, correct?  It takes an effort!  To win, we must fight.  To fight, we must stand!

I also think it bears noticing that there is a particular order here.  First, seek God and his armor.  Second, put on the armor.  Third, stand and be ready! 

God is very detailed, very strategic, very purposeful.  What may at times seem like chaos to us is very much planned and ordained from his point of view. So we must be ready to fight, because at any moment, God may have a battle ready just for us.  And while it may seem that the battle has come on us from out of the blue, if we are prepared - detailed, strategic, purposeful - we will be victorious!

Needing the Armor

 Ahhhh . . . I'm such a flunkie.  I had promised a study on the armor of God, and I let life get away from me!  As I sit contemplating tomorrow, and the new few weeks, it is easy to feel overwhelmed.

Tomorrow my son has eye surgery.  While it's a fairly routine procedure, that he's already had twice, he'll be completely asleep, and there's always a risk with surgery.  Just ask my sister-in-law, Melanie, about routine procedures!  Sometimes things go wrong.

And after this week's recovery, there's writing camp and VBS and church camp and vacation.  All good and wonderful things, but for me, easily overwhelming. 

This morning, in my Sunday School class, we talked about God preparing the people to enter the Promised Land, in Numbers 27 and 28.  Matthew Henry's commentary says - in Jenn's translation! - that this would be the perfect time for God to prepare a war plan for the Hebrews.  Instead He reminds them of their ways of worship - their daily, weekly, and monthly sacrifices.  Their feasts and festivals.  He reminds them to worship, to worship wisely, and to worship purposefully.

And in a very weird way - only God can make these connections! - it made me think of the armor of God.  Worship is the one of the best weapons in our arsenal to win this war we are in.  And make no mistake - we are at war!  We have a definite enemy who wants to take us down.

But the wonderful part of this story, is that we have every weapon at our disposal to win this war.  If you've ever been in one of my classes, you've probably heard me say that we are called to be warriors, not wimps!  And my friends, I hope you know the truth in that statement!

We are not called to sit around and wait for Satan's next attack - we are called to attack him!  We are sons and daughters of the Almighty, the King of the Universe, the Creator!  We have so much power, by Him and through Him, and He wants us to use it!

So putting on the armor of God - suiting up, so to speak, preparing for battle - that requires a oneness with Christ.  It implies a unique desire, to commune with Him, know Him intimately. 

That intimate relationship is worship, don't you think?  We cannot be ready for battle if we cannot worship the God who equips us.  So when Paul begins his instruction on battle gear in Ephesians 6, he starts by reminding us of whose we are!  What a worshipful statement:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.  Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  (vv 10 - 12)

Who is strong?  The Lord.  Whose power?  God's.  Whose armor?  His.

That's a worship statement if I've ever heard it!  (As Melanie would say, Haleluyer!)

Friends, we are called to be warriors.  We are called to put on the armor of God and fight!  And that battle begins with worship of the God who has already defeated the enemy!

This week I'll be sharing more thoughts on the armor of God.  I would love to hear your thoughts.  Some folks have let me know that they haven't been able to leave comments; I think I have that issue fixed now!

Remember, warriors begin with worship.  I hope you've had a spectacular worship experience today, and that it continues every day!