Isn’t it nice to know there is armor we can put on for the spiritual warfare? But what does that mean? This devotion looks at the helmet of salvation and sword of the Spirit.
Nuggets
- Paul saw the importance of not only our accepting God’s gift of salvation but also witnessing to others so they may also accept.
- God doesn’t force salvation on us; He allows us the free will to accept or reject it.
- God’s Word provides us with the means to withstand — destroy — temptation.
- We can’t leave the sword – His Word – in its scabbard. We have to draw it.
To read devotions in the Armor of God series, click the appropriate button below.
We are looking into the armor of God. Specifically, we are looking at it through the lens of the following question: How are we exposed when we take off this part of the armor?
We’ve looked at truth, righteousness, peace and faith. We are going to finish up by looking at salvation and Spirit.
Salvation
“And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph. 6: 17 RSV)
Salvation
We’ve talked a lot about salvation lately. Paul saw the importance of not only our accepting God’s gift of salvation but also witnessing to others so they may also accept.
To read devotions in the Foundations of Salvation series, click the appropriate button below.
I was thrown that Paul would put salvation so far down the list. Truth, righteousness, faith, and peace all came first.
But when I think about it, I see it. Everything else is based on the truth — Jesus is our Savior and Redeemer. The truth and the righteousness go hand in hand.
The next level is about us. We have to have faith to believe that truth. We said the faith and the peace go hand in hand.
We can’t have the salvation without the faith — which brings with it peace. The faith we have is the belief in the truth and righteousness.
Helmet
Take the helmet. Take salvation. Accept the gift.
God doesn’t force salvation on us. He allows us the free will to accept or reject it.
To read a related devotion, click the appropriate button below.
Salvation is all because of the grace and love of God.
If we take off the helmet, we reject God. We think we can save ourselves. We think being a good enough person will get us into heaven.
We can’t.
Salvation is through Jesus alone. “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (Jn. 6: 40 ESV). This is the way God designed the plan.
Spirit
“And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph. 6: 17 RSV)
Spirit
Take the Spirit. The Spirit comes to dwell within us when we accept the gift of Salvation.
It is appropriate that the Word is the Spirit. It is through the Spirit’s prompting that Moses, Matthew, Luke, John, Paul, and all the others wrote the words down (II Tim. 3: 16).
I loved what Harris said. “The Bible was not made by one man, and one man cannot make a sword. Moses, we may say, made the handle; Joshua, Samuel, David, the prophets, etc., made the blade; and the evangelists and apostles made the sharp edge and point, without which, the rest would not be of much use.”
It is the Spirit’s job to interpret those scriptures for us. “God’s Spirit has shown you everything. His Spirit finds out everything, even what is deep in the mind of God” (I Cor 2: 10 CEV).
God’s Spirit comforts us. God’s Word provides us with the means to withstand — destroy — temptation.
Sword
It is appropriate the Spirit — the Word of God — is the sword. It is cutting and powerful.
The Spirit is our weapon of attack. This is to be used as part of God’s army.
Notice it is the only weapon of attack. Only God’s Word will be victorious. We can’t rewrite scripture and expect salvation. God’s way is the only way available.
Didn’t Jesus say that. “Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’” (Jn. 14: 6 CSB).
And how many times do we put down our one weapon of offense? We don’t dive into God’s Word daily. Sometimes, we rarely read it.
Yet, we still expect God to save us from all the bad stuff Satan throws at us even if we aren’t keeping in communion with Him. Kind of arrogant, aren’t we? “God, You’ve got to do this for us, but I am not going to do my part.”
We can’t leave the sword – His Word – in its scabbard. We have to draw it.
Making the Connections
Salvation gives us hope. We move from being spiritually dead to spiritually alive when we accept the gift of salvation.
Think about it. Powers to be do not just put out an ad for soldiers and immediately send them out to battle. First, there is boot camp. Then there is advanced training. They’ve got to be prepared.
Let’s take a look at the armor as a whole. I see the armor as one piece. It might be easy to see them as different elements, but they are so integrally tied together.
Drop one, and we are in grave danger.
I just took a break from writing and got on Facebook. My sister had posted something that I think fits perfectly.
A couple of years ago, a pastor wrote an article on Linus dropping his blanket when the Peanuts gang acted out the Christmas story in A Charlie Brown Christmas. It is about how we drop — and pick back up — our faith.
Paul started all of this out in Ephesians 6: 13. “Therefore take the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” (Eph. 6: 13 RSV).
We know we can’t do it with our own weapons. Remember, “… we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6: 12 RSV).
The fight isn’t ours, but we have a part in it. We are called to stand.
We talked about whether “evil day” meant until the battle is won or until the war is won. We thought it is probably both.
I think we would be safe in saying that it is everyday. We have to make sure that our armor is on every day. We take a day off, and we have just given Satan a toe hole to slither into.
If we don’t have the armor on, we aren’t prepared. We can’t defend ourselves. We need God’s protection.
How Do We Apply This?
Don’t go rogue. We have to use the sword of the Spirit in battle. We have to keep it polished and sharpened in between battles. It is all we need.
So, the Word is not just a protection. We need to use it to destroy the things that tempt us. We all have those temptations that just won’t seem to go away. Oh, it may for a season, but then it comes roaring back.
Use the Word to conquer Satan tempting us. “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb. 4: 12 NKJV).
“We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments” (II Cor. 10: 4 NLT).
Moore said, “Every Christian knows on entering the service of his Master that great trials are appointed for him; that the rightful and only entrance into the kingdom of heaven is through the gate of tribulation; and that, though his Master has given him armour enough to protect him against sin, He has given him no armour to ensure him against suffering.”
We are called to stand. Yes, we’ve got to have the armor on because the darts are coming. So, keep preparing today.
Father. You have given us the gift of salvation. We pray that all will accept it. Use us to spread Your Word to all with whom we come into contact. We know that our asking Jesus to be our Savior and Redeemer will put a target on us for Satan’s darts. Thank You for providing us with the armor we need to protect us. Thank You for rescuing us. Amen.
What do you think?
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