"Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit—which is the word of God." ~Ephesians 6:17
Next in our series on spiritual warfare and the armor of God we come to the pieces fo the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, two pieces I love to talk about.
To begin with, we are told to arm ourselves with the helmet of salvation. This is such a powerful word picture. After all, what does a helmet protect? Our heads, our brains. And where does the enemy always attempt to plant lies of spiritual warfare? In our minds.
He will lie to us and try to make us think that we are still under guilt, shame, and condemnation, lies which will debilitate us spiritually in no time. And this is precisely why the helmet is referred to as the helmet of *salvation*. Consider Romans 8:1, for example, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus". The truths and implications of our salvation are what are able to guard our minds against the lies and attacks of the enemy, keeping us on a firm foundation of peace and confidence.
These two pieces of the armor go so well together because we are only able to be armed with the helmet of salvation by having the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, in our hearts and minds. Salvation comes through hearing the word of God. And this hearing has a powerful impact on our minds.
Paul, in Romans 12:2, tells us to "be transformed by the renewing of [our] mind". He likewise tells us in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, "For although we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh, since the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but are powerful through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments and every proud thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ."
The only way to take every thought captive to obey Christ is to be able to discern what thoughts honor Christ and what thoughts do not. The only way to know this standard is to be in and know the Word of God.
Power to fight back against the enemy, the father of lies, comes from knowing the truth of our salvation and its implications as found in the Word of God.
Jesus fought back against the enemy in John 4 with the truths of God's Word, and so must we.
Reflection Questions:
1) How would you put into your own words how these two pieces of the armor go together?
2) Why would you say salvation is likened to a helmet?
3) Why is the Word of God likened to a sword?
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