Talk Tuesday…How to put on the armor of God (Week 5)

Every Tuesday we engage in one big question, topic or idea. You are invited to write in with a suggestion you want to share. I surely do not have all the answers but know that together we can generate some great conversation and have fun in the process. (Feel free to post your topics, questions, and your great thoughts in the comments below!) Together, we will stay informed and equipped about topics that matter!

Tuesday Talk topic for this week: The Armor of God week 3 (Click here for week 1 – The Feet of Peace & week 2 – Breastplate of Righteousness) & week 3 – Helmet of Salvation & week 4 – Shield of Faith.

Today’s Blog Contributor: Kandi Delos Santos – Credentialed Minister, Speaker, and NWMN Women’s Leadership Team Member writes about the Belt of Truth ! Enjoy!

In the book of Ephesians the apostle Paul uses the illustration of armor to teach us how to live Jesus lives and bring peace, love, and joy to a broken world.

Every Tuesday for 7 weeks we are examining what it means to put on each piece of the armor of God. Did you know God has given you armor to wear and YOU are a warrior woman! Jump in and join the conversation. You are valuable and loved.

Paul wrote, “Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. 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. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” (Ephesians 6:11-17 NLT).

Ephesians 6: 14 says – Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness.

So what does “gird your loins with the belt of truth” exactly mean?

Soldiers put on belts not only to hold their sword but it also had strips of leather hanging off of it to help protect their lower body.

At first I thought this was all about the “Truth” part of the scripture but after talking to a friend of mine she made me realize it was just as much about the word “girded”.

So I looked up the word girded I found these synonyms – surround, enclose, encircle, encompass border, bound, edge, and secure.

We are to surround ourselves with the Truth….so we have to ask ourselves what is the Truth?

The Truth is the Word of God and it is wholly and completely infallible.

Inspired by the Holy Spirit and written down by man.

It folds over onto itself and proves itself over and over again to be true.

So what it is saying is that the Word of God or the “Truth” should not only be all around us, but attached to us to protect ourselves from the lies or “untruths” of this world.

Let’s take a minute and think about what it must have been like to get ready for battle.

You grab your armor, because only a mad man would go into battle with out his armor on.

You put on your breast plate and you instantly feel more secure knowing that your heart will be protected.

You then sit down and put on your sandals to protect your feet from slipping out from beneath you in the heat of the fight.

You stand up and secure your belt around your waist for a little more protection for the lower part of your body.

You Grab your sword and put it in the holder on your belt and pick up your shield and look at it. You run your finger over the scares on it from previous battles. Yes, you’ve uses this equipment many times before and it shows.

You take one last look in the mirror and make a mental check list before you walk out the door.

You think to yourself, do I have everything?

Did I properly prepare for this day?

You have to stop for a minute and consciously switch your mind to a different mode.

Because today is not going to be an average day.

For today you will be fighting for the King of King and the Lord of Lords.

Are you ready for the call?

Are you ready to represent the One that gave His all for you?

I can’t imagine what it would have been like to get ready to walk into battle not knowing that you may never walk back out.

We see it in movies but I don’t think we could ever comprehend the real thing. It is a life or death situation and you’d better be ready. Because if you’re not ready you’re not going to make it home.

Maybe that’s why God choose to use the armor of a warrior to tell us what we need to do to be successful in this life here on earth. He wanted us to know that it is of the utmost importance for us to be ready for battle or we might not make it home.

I would assume that Christians in developing countries recognize this more than we here in the states ever could. A lot of them live it daily. Can you imagine never knowing if you were going to make it home every time you walked out your front door? Never knowing if the officials from the local government are going to find out that you are a Christian or find out about the underground church you attend. These people take pages of the bible and memorize them so that they can never be without the Word of God because if they are caught with a bible they could be killed. They are willing to risk it all so that they can one day make it home.

This is what girding ourselves with the Truth should look like.

What does the truth look like today? We have blurred the lines of what is the truth and what we want the truth to be. We live in a time where right is wrong and wrong is said to be right. If we do not know what the Word of God says we will be deceived by those around us. Our children are being raised in a world that has the attitude that everything is ok. All ways of life are accepted. We spend time with people that do not believe in the Bible and we slowly start to believe what they believe because we haven’t spent enough time in the Book of Truth.

Do we even still recognize the truth when we see it?

Satan has come to kill, steal, and destroy. He is the father of lies and there is no truth in him. And he will use every angle to try to take you down. But God has given us what we need to succeed and fight the good fight to be victorious. The Armor of God.

It’s right here in these verses.

 

The Power of truth can change people.

 

The Power of truth can build nations up and tear them down.

 

The truths that we find in the bible are everlasting and they will never let you down.

 

I think that when we wrap (gird) ourselves in the Truth we have a super natural shield of protection. And when we speak that Truth out loud demons have to flee.

The Truth will not only protect you but the Truth will set you free!