Helmet Of Salvation Series

THE HELMET OF SALVATION

During the Vietnam war many POW’s survived the horrors of captivity because they developed a mental shield of truth to combat the enemies lies. Daily the enemy would pump propaganda into their cells telling the soldiers the U. S. government was corrupt and had abandoned them, their friends and family had forgotten about them or considered them dead, and their wives had divorced them – all ploys to cause these men to crack and give up vital information. Many of these men developed ways to shield themselves from the lies. One was a pianist who wrote who played concerts in his mind. One was an architect who designed hundreds of buildings. One was a golfer who replayed every hole he had ever played. These men blocked the lies of the enemy with their mental Helmet of truth – they ceased fighting a physical battle, but never stopped fighting the battle of the mind and spirit. We must do the same in our spiritual battle with Satan.

Today we are continuing in our series looking at the Armor of God and we come to the fifth piece of armor that is mentioned;

Eph 6:17 Take the helmet of salvation…

A parallel passage to Ephesians 6 is found in Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians;

1 Thessalonians 5:8 But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.

Notice that in Thessalonians Paul adds the word HOPE. What is hope? Websters defines hope as “to cherish a desire with anticipation.” For the Christian, hope is more than just wishful thinking. It is a confident assurance grounded in God’s word.

Helmets are a part of the world we live in. When I was a kid we used to ride our bikes all over town without ever thinking that maybe a helmet would be a good thing to wear. Now they are mandatory.

In the USA there are about 275,000 non-fatal bicycle injuries every year involving kids. That’s about 690 kids a day. In addition there about average 38,000 roller blade injuries and about 61,000 skateboarding injuries per year. Many of these include head injuries. That’s a lot. It has been estimated that bicycle helmets could have prevented 75 percent of fatal head injuries and 85 percent of non-fatal traumatic brain injuries in kids injured while riding their bikes. That’s a pretty big impact. By a parent insisting their child wear a helmet while riding their bike, roller blades or skateboards it is estimated that they could prevent 150 deaths, 40,000 traumatic brain injuries and up to 50,000 scalp and face injuries per year. The point is that accidents happen, but the simple act of wearing a helmet can drastically lessen the likelihood of serious injury.

Because of the amount of head injuries in sports, helmets are also mandatory. If you want to go over and look inside our new building you need to be wearing a hard hat. Why? Because the head is something that needs to be protected. Head injuries are common. In Roman days, some helmets were made of thick leather with metal plates and others were made of molded metal. Whatever the design, the purpose of the helmet is obvious – to protect the head from injury.

Last week we spoke about the fact that the devil’s attacks are often centered around deception and altering the truth. It is an attack against the mind. One of the primary ways the devil attacks is by getting us to doubt the validity of our faith. In the garden of Eden, the serpent came to Eve questioning “did God really say?” He wanted Eve to doubt what God had said to her. The devil does the same thing today. He tries to get us to question the hope of our salvation by getting us to question God’s word.

Have you ever watched an 8 year old put on a football helmet? They become fearless because they feel invincible. They start ramming into things and banging their heads into stuff. Our salvation equips us with a calm assurance that no matter what we go through in life, that God is in control. The certainty of our salvation gives us confidence to face anything in life. We know that no matter what happens we have the victory in Christ.

The devil counters this by throwing hardships and pain into our lives. He knows that if he can inflict enough pain that we may begin to question God’s love and God’s plan for our life. Think about it, when was the last time you had a really bad day? The bible says in Nehemiah 8:10 that “the joy of the LORD is our strength.” The devil knows that if can rob us of our joy that we become easy targets for manipulation.