Fit To Fight

So we put on a belt of truth and a breastplate of righteousness. And are feet are prepared and ready for action. What else?

Well, God tells us to take up three things. First a shield of faith. Friends sometimes our faith is all we have. Like most atheists like to point out – there is no scientific evidence for the existence of God. And those that are unbelievers like to attack us with this, and they attack other aspects of our faith. But our faith is our shield.

By the way there are two Greek names for shields used by soldiers at that time. One is a small round shield called an “aspis.” The second is called a “thureos” which is a full-length shield of leather-covered wood that protected the whole body. Guess which Greek shield is used to describe our shield of faith .. that’s right the “thureos.” This shield of faith covers our entire person. And we can use this shield to defend our faith and God’s truth by the words and attacks thrown at us by the enemy.

Proverbs 26:18 eludes to how arrows are metaphors for sins of speech – the words that the wicked speak against God. Our shields of faith quench these fiery darts.

We should also take up the helmet of salvation. Again Paul uses this imagery in 1 Theselonians 5 and here he calls the helmet “the hope of salvation.” Again notice what a helmet protects. It protects our heads. Again I would contend that our salvation has to do with our minds, our heads. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. We are to use our minds, and it must have something to do with our salvation. In other words think – use your heads.

And finally God gives us a weapon, a sword, THE Sword. It the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Our weapon against evil: the Holy Bible. We must know it, with our minds, we must live it with our bodies, we must believe it with all our hearts. The Bible is our only weapon against the evil in this world.

The Bible is profitable for doctrine and teaching, for reproof, for rebuking, for correction and training, for instruction in righteousness. And our doctrine should reflect that of the Bible – and when it doesn’t it is no longer useful to us. The Bible is not just for Sundays. Would our soldiers on the front lines leave their weapons back home? No, when they are doing battle they are armed. So we should be armed. So for those who leave their Bibles up on the shelf, get them down, wipe the dust off them and polish them up. And use this as your sword in a battle.

And our weapons are useless if the Spirit of God is not with them. 2 Corinthians 10:4 states “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds.” God is what makes our armor useful.

Also note that there is no protection for a person’s backside. If you turn and run from this challenge you will get bit. If you turn, you will be vulnerable. The only promised way to be protected is to face the challenge straight on. Be brave and don’t turn back.