So far, we have learned about the first 4 parts of our armor that we need to have in place so that we even have a chance to not get killed in this battle with the world, our flesh, and the devil.
We have learned we need to know the truth and tell the truth. Not just the truth of the Word of God because we are going to learn about the Sword of the Spirit today in a minute. But the truth about ourselves, our lives, our family and friends, our culture, our state, our nation, and our world. I mean has there ever been a time with so many lies are being expressed all around us with the Covid-19 impact on the world, the economic impact of it all, and now the explosion of pent up rage over the 400 years of slavery, racism, and the inhumanity of man against one another?
What is the truth and what is fake news? I do not care which station you tune in to or what social media you scour daily…who is lying and who is telling the truth? I see very little open-mindedness for the discussion of ideas so that consensus might be reached, and we might live in peace with one another caring for one another and seeking to help all people as Jesus would call us to do? Now, do you see the need for truth?
We need to be doing the next right thing on a daily basis to be wearing the breastplate of righteousness. We need to daily take a stand in our positions as ambassadors and followers of Christ being light in the darkness. Plus, we need to keep in place the shield of faith by knowing what is true and what are the lies from the demonic realm and counteracting all lies the father of lies would have us believe about ourselves.
Now for the last two parts of our armor. The helmet of our salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. Nobody knows when the first helmet was used in a battle. But somebody somewhere figured out that if there was something protecting their head that might help when someone hits you on the head with a club. So, what is the helmet protecting other than our physical head? Well, our thoughts and ability to think is fairly critical for us to know the truth.
However, Paul calls it the helmet of our salvation. So, the helmet is the metaphor, and what really protects our head is what we know about our salvation. So, you know that what you believe about your salvation is a critical component of your recovery? Probably the most important thing we need to realize is that we are saved by grace through faith just as Paul writes in Ephesians 2:8-9;
“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Any person that teaches that we are saved by our good works has destroyed the true Gospel. Your salvation is a free gift to you from God. He, by His Grace, gave you the faith to believe in Jesus. He drew you to Jesus, showed you that His death was for your sins, and then gave you the faith to believe.
If we allow any idea that unites any work of our own to earn our salvation, we have begun to think about our salvation tainted by our providing something to make it happen. Once you start down that road of believing that you must do certain things to maintain and keep your salvation grace has been replaced by works and our works will never be good enough.
Now that is not saying that good works are not important. Obeying the Lord’s commands and seeking to walk out a holy life is what we all should be doing. Those things are good and will result in God’s blessing in this life and in the one to come. But our eternal salvation and relationship with God does not hang in the balance of our good deeds outweighing our bad deeds.
The quality of our Christian life is somewhat based on our walking in obedience but our eternal relationship with God is not hanging by a thread and in danger of something we might lose if we do not stop sinning. Because in reality there will always be a sin we are struggling with. We will never be completely sanctified until we arrive in heaven.
Lastly, we come to the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. It is no secret that one’s ability to live the Christian Life and win the battles we face against our enemies will demand that we are learning the Scriptures. Learning them does not mean just reading them. It means studying them and fixing the truths therein so that we might be able to use the Bible as our only offensive weapon to defeat the lies we are hearing and the untrue things we are telling ourselves based on our feelings.
What we are feeling is usually a combination of what we are seeing, hearing, and doing. Some people’s feelings are tied to the stock market or what is happening in politics. Tie yourself to those things and your life will be going up and down like a yoyo. Instead of being firmly grounded in what God says is true, you will be running around like the proverbial headless chicken.
Reading, studying, learning, meditating, and even memorizing the Word will help you defeat the lies of the devil and be able to deal with the half-truths bombarding us every day in the news. David writes in Psalm 1;
How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
3 He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.
That my friends is exactly what we need to be doing to stand strong in the strength of His Might and win the battle against our enemies every day. Pray through these pieces of armor in the morning of every day and see if that does not help you in your battle with sexual sin.