STANDING FIRM — GROWING STRONG, PART VI
Back in the 1960s, very few people wore helmets when riding a motorcycle — including me! I was a teenager and helmets looked stupid! There were no helmet laws, so helmets were somewhat rare.
Appreciation for helmets came, however, when I went into a motorcycle shop to pick up some parts.
While at the parts counter I noticed a helmet on display with big, black knobby tire marks running right up the side and over the top of the helmet. It seems that one of the guys at the shop had been out riding his dirt bike, dumped it, and his friend, who had been following close behind, couldn’t stop in time — and ran right over his head, leaving these tread marks! No injury was sustained. Talk about great advertising: Our whole family became outfitted with Bell Helmets!
The Bible says a spiritual battle is in progress; war is being waged for the minds and hearts of men. This conflict is taking place in both the visible and invisible dimensions of reality. The “mastermind” behind our struggle is Satan. When challenged or opposed by him, believers are to respond and not retreat.
In Ephesians 6:10-18, the Apostle Paul uses the analogy of a Roman soldier’s armor to describe our offensive and defensive “weapons of warfare” to be used against the devil and his minions.
Studying these pieces, we’ve determined that the…
• Belt of Truth (v.14) is growing knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures and how they apply to life
• Breastplate of Righteousness (v.14) is knowing who we are in Christ and resisting Satan with that truth when he attacks our identity in Christ.
• Gospel of Peace (v.15) is overcoming worry with the promises of God (Isaiah 26:3).
• Shield of Faith (v.16) is believing that God is faithful in every circumstance.
In verse 17 of Ephesians 6, Paul presents the next piece of equipment: the Helmet of Salvation: “Take the helmet of salvation…”
The Roman soldier’s head was protected by a helmet made of tough leather or brass. Spiritually, Satan’s desire is to attack and seize the minds of men. Win a man’s mind and you’ve won the man! In his great little book Dealing With The Devil, C.S. Lovett notes, “The only way to capture a man is to get him to think as you do. Ideas capture men, not weapons. Win a man’s mind and you have him. Capture his thoughts and you control him. If you can find a way to get your ideas inside another, so that he thinks as you do, you gain that man. Man is the product of his thinking.”
We see this born out in recent history: A mere handful of men have radically conditioned the minds of Western man to oppose the truths of God:
• Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) proposed that knowledge and values are not absolute. These depend on what you feel is right.
• Georg Hegel (1730-1831) taught that there are no unchangeable truths; everything is relative to time and culture.
• Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) said “Truth is subjectivity”; what you feel is right is more important than what you think is right.
• Charles Darwin (1809-1882) introduced the theory of evolution, concluding that man has no special beginning and therefore no special purpose or destiny.
• Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), the “father of psychoanalysis,” maintained there is no God, therefore man has no real purpose.
Concerning the mind and God’s Word, we’re told that Satan can effectively attack and seize the minds of non-believers (II Corinthians 4:3-4) as well as believers (II Corinthians 11:3-4)! It’s clear then that Satan’s modus operandi is mind control! Think about this: If the devil can chart the entire course of human history through mind control, he can certainly manipulate an individual like a feather in the wind!
Therefore, I believe the Helmet of Salvation is “the mind under God’s control and protection”. Why do I believe this is what Paul is referring to? The word “salvation” means to preserve, deliver, rescue.
When Paul instructs us to don the helmet of salvation, I think he’s saying: “Put on the helmet of deliverance, protection, and preservation.”
Since the context is spiritual warfare, he’s referring to deliverance, preservation, rescue from the forces of darkness. Think about it:
• every temptation of the enemy comes to us via the mind
• emotion comes directly from what we think
It’s therefore easy to see why it is essential that our minds be subject to the will of God as found in the Word of God — it’s critical that we monitor our self-talk! Important Scriptures on the mind include:
• II Corinthians 10:3-5
• Romans 8:6; 12:2
• I Peter 1:138-
• Hebrews 3:1
• Philippians 4:8-9
When Harry S. Truman became President, he worried about losing touch with common, everyday Americans, so he would often go out and be among them. Those were simpler, safer days when the President could take a walk like everyone else.
One evening, Truman decided to take a walk down to the Arlington Memorial Bridge on the Potomac River. When there, he became curious about the mechanism that raised and lowered the middle span of the bridge. He made his way across catwalks and through the inner workings of the bridge — and suddenly he came upon the bridge attendant, eating his dinner out of a tin bucket.
The attendant was completely unsurprised and composed, even though he was looking at the best known and most powerful man in the world! He just sat there, continuing his dinner, then paused, swallowed, wiped his mouth, smiled, then said, “You know Mr. President, I was just thinking of you.”
It was a greeting that really moved President Truman, one he never forgot.
Wouldn’t it be awesome if Jesus were to suddenly appear before us, and we could say, “Ya know, Lord, I was just thinking of You!”
shield of faith
STANDING FIRM — GROWING STRONG, PART V
One of the most famous German army officers during WWII was Erwin Rommel, the “Desert Fox.” During the war an Allied military commander wrote the following order to his subordinates:
“There exists a real danger that our friend Rommel is becoming a king or magician or boogeyman to our troops, who are talking far too much about him. He is by no means a superman, although he is undoubtedly very energetic and able. Even if he were a superman, it would still be highly undesirable that our men should credit him with supernatural powers.
“I wish to dispel by all possible means the idea that Rommel represents something more than the ordinary. The more important thing now is to see that we do not always talk of Rommel when we mean the enemy in Libya. We must refer to ‘the Germans’ or ‘the Axis powers’ or ‘the enemy’ and not always be harping.
“Please ensure that this order is put into immediate effect, and impress upon all commanders that, from a psychological point of view, it is a matter of the highest importance.”
Applying this to our struggle with the “prince of darkness,” we’ve got to put and keep things in perspective: “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.”
Our focus, our preoccupation, must be the greatness of Christ and the joy of serving Him. Before James ever says “Resist the devil” he says “Submit to God!” (James 4:7) When we are challenged or opposed by the evil one, we need to respond and not retreat. We’re learning how to do this from Paul’s instructions in Ephesians 6.
Using the analogy of a Roman soldier’s armor, Paul talks about the armor of God — defensive and offensive equipment designed for effective use against the devil.
We have said the belt of truth (v.14) is growing knowledge and understanding of the Scriptures and how they apply to life. The breastplate of righteousness (v.14) is knowing who we are in Christ and resisting Satan with that truth when he attacks our identity in Christ. The gospel of peace (v.15) is overcoming worry with the promises of God (Isaiah 26:3).
Today’s study concerns the shield of faith: “In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” (v. 16)
A Roman soldier’s shield was about four feet long and two feet wide, made of wood, and covered with tough leather. Holding it before him, the soldier was protected from spears, arrows, and “flaming arrows.”
These “flaming arrows” were arrows dipped in a flammable substance, ignited, and then shot directly at the enemy.
Notice that Paul says “take up” (lit. lift up; get into position) the shield of faith.” What is faith? It’s an attitude; a mindset; a resolution that “God is not going to let me down; I don’t care how big, how relentless the enemy/problem is, God will get me through it! I’m going to make it!” With that attitude, we’re acting on the promises and believing in the power of God — “Shields up!”
The gospel of peace is anchoring our spiritual feet in God’s promises; the shield of faith is deflecting specific assaults of the devil, what Paul calls “flaming arrows.” With shields up, we’re staying in the fight!
You can see that the “gospel of peace” and the “shield of faith” are therefore interrelated. In fact, every piece of armor is a different aspect of the Word of God! What’s the promise to those who have the shield of faith in position? Every flaming arrow of the evil one will be extinguished. I’m convinced the “shield of faith” is simply
Believing that God is faithful in every circumstance
What about these flaming arrows? What are they? They are spiritual arrows, shot at us by the devil, with names on them:
• Fear
• Doomed to fail
• Doubt
• Worry
• Shame
• Panic
• Lust
• Guilt
• Superstition
• Temptation
It is Satan’s hope these arrows will hit their target (the heart/mind), light a fire within, and consume us. With the shield of faith in place, we can quench these arrows, one by one.
Again, the shield of faith is an attitude, a resolution. It says “I don’t have to think these thoughts. They’re not of God. He has said…”
It’s identifying the lie we’re hearing then deflecting it before it hits its mark. With our shield up we’re saying “Sure this problem is big, but God is bigger! I’m going to make it!”
An unusual evergreen is the lodgepole pine that grows prolifically in some of our National Parks — such as Yellowstone National Park. The cones of this pine often hang for years and years on the trees yet never open. Even when they fall to the ground they remain closed. These cones can only be opened when they come in contact with intense heat.
This, of course, is God’s deliberate design: When a forest fire rages through our parks and forests all the trees are destroyed. At the same time, however, the heat of the fire opens the cones of the lodgepole pine; and these pines are often the first tree to grow in an area that has been burned out by the fire.
What’s your “fiery trial”? What flaming arrows has Satan been launching at you? God has His reasons for allowing such intense heat. One of them is to help you see the condition of your faith and provide an opportunity for it to grow as you hold up your shield, stand your ground, and eventually see God’s redemption.
The “shield of faith” is believing that God is faithful in every circumstance. This will prove to be true in your situation — but you’ll need to lift up and keep in position the shield of faith, persevering until the fire passes.