"Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation........" Ephesians 6:13-16
Today's Bible study is part 6 in a series on "Becoming A Christian Soldier." - Now, I have to be very clear - I am NOT talking about becoming a physical soldier and I am NOT saying that you should go out and physically fight (although I appreciate and respect anybody who has served or is serving in our army, navy or air force) - what I'm talking about in this series is on a spiritual level.
Our God is all powerful, all knowing, He is our Protector and Provider - He would never throw us into a battle without fully equipping us first. Today we continue learning about the "full armor of God" and specifically "the helmet of salvation."
The purpose of this spiritual helmet is to protect our head; our brain or our mind. Our mind is the idea center where we learn; where we memorize and meditate; where we make plans and decisions. A few weeks ago we talked about protecting our heart the emotion center but it is just as important to protect our mind!
"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me - put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you." Philippians 4:8
As you can see by the verse above - our mind and what we think about is so important (click HERE to view the post about "Thinking Good Thoughts"). This knowledge of Salvation - knowing that all of our sins have been forgiven through the saving blood of Jesus Christ changes the way that one thinks and acts. Knowing and accepting this gift of Salvation from God will change your ways forever. This is the "helmet of Salvation" that we are talking about today.
This means that whatever we read, whatever we see on TV or whatever we view on the Internet needs to be filtered through this helmet of Salvation. Some of the mental stimuli that is constantly streaming our way will be repelled by this spiritual helmet whereas other mental urgings will be transformed into ideas and then finally into Godly actions. I'm a visual person and I think of it this way: allowing one little evil thought or mental picture into our mind is like allowing a small brain tumor to grow and spread throughout other parts of our brain. It is the same with thoughts & what we allow into our minds - if you don't remove that tumor (or thought) while it is small then it will spread throughout the body and take control. (I don't mean to be morbid but I have seen many family members deal with serious diseases and that is why I am comparing bad thoughts to disease).
This helmet of salvation is in constant contact with our head and if we keep it in place it will protect us from Satan's evil schemes. Keeping this spiritual helmet in place will also guide us in our decisions. God speaks to us and urges us not only through our heart/emotions but also through our mind/thoughts. Have you ever had a thought just pop into your head out of the blue? - I have & many times that thought was guidance from my Lord & Savior. I also believe that God speaks to us through our dreams - this is another way that God uses our mind to lead us and direct us in the direction that He wants us to go.
So you see, this Helmet is not only preventing evil from penetrating our spiritual being but it is also molding our mind into ideas that become God glorifying actions.
Always protect your mind by keeping your Helmet of Salvation in place.
This is one if my favourite scriptures, thanks for following me I'm following you back :)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for sharing with Adorned From Above's Blog Hop 55. We can't wait to see what you have for us this week. This weeks party is live.
ReplyDeleteHave a great week.
Debi and Charly @ Adorned From Above
http://www.adornedfromabove.com