The Armor of God

As I was thinking and praying through Ephesians 6: 14- 18 I came to the conclusion that truth is the basis on which we stand and covering ourselves in the truth by 'putting on the armor of God' is essential in our walk with Christ. I will be covering only one piece of armor at a time beginning with the Belt of Truth.

Who is our only absolute source of truth? God is! How did God give us His truth? The Bible, God's Word is truth. In John 17:17, Jesus said, "Sanctify them in Your Word, Your Word is truth."

The first piece of armor that Paul speaks about is the belt of truth. He begins with 'having fastened' the belt of truth which implies a past action. The belt is already on us and is already fastened. How did it get fastened in place? I believe God fastened it in place when He saved us. We are saved according to the knowledge of the truth. We could not be saved without knowing the truth about our sin, our lost condition, our inability to save ourselves. We could not be saved without knowing that Christ died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin, He took our sin upon Himself, took the wrath of God against sin- the wrath we deserved, as the propitiation-the wrath appeasing sacrifice. We must know our need of Him, the need to be forgiven, cleansed, set free from sin's powerful hold on us. As He Himself opens our eyes to these things, He gives us the gift of faith and we turn to Him alone as our Savior and Lord. He applies the belt of truth to us. He wraps it around us and buckles it securely in place. That is our position in Christ.

However, we have a part in knowing the truth as God reveals it to us. We know that God's Word is truth therefore we must read and study the Word of God to know truth. It takes time in the Word, reading it, thinking on it, reinforcing through study of it. It takes work, diligence, consistancy to get a good grasp on it.

How can we daily apply the fastening of the belt of truth? In Roman days they wore tunics or togas, like robes that had to be held close to the body to keep from entangling the legs when in battle or running. The tunic would need to be gathered up and tucked into the belt. If the tunic represented 'life', everything about us, then all of that must be gathered together and tucked into the belt. In other words, all that we are and do must be tucked into, held together, lined up under, surrendered to the truth of God's Word. The only way for this to happen is to read, study, and submit to (obey) what you learn each day. The Holy Spirit is working in us conforming us to the image of Christ. He is the One giving us the desire and the ability to do this. Apart from the Holy Spirit it would be impossible for us live in the truth but praise God we are not apart from Christ. We are in Christ- the living Word of Truth.

He keeps the belt fastened around us but we must keep tucking in the sin that so easily entangles us- those remnants of life that discourage us, trip us and try to deceive us. We must live in continuous surrender, humble obedience.

Lord, By Your grace and for Your glory alone keep us walking in humble, obedient, surrender to You. May Your truth be seen in us as we follow You. We lift Your Name up in praise!

to the praise of the glory of His grace,
Norma