Ephesians: 6 (10) Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. (11) Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. (12) For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (13) Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. (14) Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; (15) and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; (16) above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. (17) And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: (18) praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; (19) and for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, (20) for which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
Last week we talked about spiritual living. How though we live physically, our relationship with God is a very spiritual one. We started here in Ephesians about on this world we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but spiritual things. Our relationship with God is a very spiritual one as is our battle with evil. Our spiritual relationship with God will prepare us for the spiritual battles we face. These battles are very real, and many times affect us in the physical because of our inability to separate the two. But here in the next few weeks we will go step by step on putting on the whole armor of God. Note the Bible does not just say the "armor of God, but the "whole armor of god”. Many battles we feel defeated on are mainly because we are only using certain aspects of the armor and not the whole armor. Let’s get started.
Ephesians 6:14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth….
First let’s figure what our loins are. It is best to describe our loins as the trunk of our body, Kind of like a tree, our legs would be like the roots and the trunk is what would hold everything together. It would be the part that keeps everything in place. The trunk supports the rest of the body giving it stabilization. This makes sense to have our trunk based on truth. Truth is unwavering and a solid foundation. Girt is just to have it surrounded, securely fastened.
Psalm 25:5 Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.
John 1:17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
John 3:21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
John 8:32 "…Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John 14:6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 17:17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.
2 John 1 (1) The elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth; and not I only, but also all they that have known the truth; (2) or the truth's sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever.
Jesus is the truth, and what Jesus taught was the truth, our trunk/loins must be rooted in Jesus. We must ground ourselves in the truth of Christ, born a virgin, bore and died for our sins even though he had no sin, rose from the dead that we also may have life. The gospel of Jesus is our truth. There is no other "truth” that we are to surround ourselves in. Just standing on the truth of Jesus sets us free, that alone is the starter. We are free from condemnation, free to overcome temptations, free to resist the devil, he will have to flee! (James 4:7) Only the truth in Jesus can do those things. The words Jesus spoke is truth, and we need to hold them dear to us. As we continue in this study of the armor of God, we will see how all the pieces fit together. This week, let's work on getting our loins girt about with truth. Let’s focus on the Truth of Christ. We best can do that by reading the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. In addition, praying and talking to Him. Let’s be more purposeful to hold on the truth of Christ.
COMMENTS
[ posted by Cindy, 03/31/2025 04:10 PM ]
Christianity is still the most persecuted religion in the world.However, that is one of the physical threats, depending on where you live. The spiritual threat we live daily is a never ending attack on us...whether you realize it or not. We don't see it. We think just because everything seems fine and nothings wrong that there is no threat. Oh, that serpent of old, satan and his cohorts lurk in the spiritual shadows of our lives. Every single day looking, hoping, waiting to find that little crack to squeeze into our lives to distort and destroy us and our relationship with God and Jesus, our families, and ourselves. The devil uses our despair, our worst times, our losses,etc to try and get into our life. Even tho satan was defeated by Jesus defeating death, thru being crucified and and rising 3 days later, he knows he is doomed in the future, but he lives for today to try and corrupt us. The devil schemes ( 2 Cor 2:11 ) the devil stalks (1 Peter 5:8) the devil deceives ( Rev 12:9 ) the devil ensnares ( 2 Tim 2:26 ) the devil harasses ( 2 Cor 12:7 ) the devil uses fiery darts ( Eph 6:16) Sound like a battle yet? As followers of Christ we are told to take the gospel of Christ to all the nations. (Matt 28: 18-20) So when we follow Christ we are following Him into the spiritual war zone or battlefield. We are fighting for His truth. His word. For all to hear and know. The spiritual war the devil is fighting is to shut us down. To keep us from our relationship with God and Jesus. When we go thru troubled times and personal problems we fall away from God and Jesus. Without them in our life, we won't speak of the Bible, won't live like God wants us to, won't confess our sins, won't pray or commune in our daily life or anything else pertaining to them. The devil does not want people to hear the truth for their salvation. The Bible is God's word, the truth. When we have that word inside us we have the character and integrity in Christ to fight satan. Our spiritual warfare is about joining up with Jesus and His mission to rescue souls from the devil. He can call us back from the captivity of sin and align us again with His kingdom. So that is the spiritual battle we face every day! To prepare for the daily battle we need to "gird our loins" or "girt your loin". The definition of that is to " prepare to do something difficult or dangerous." You have to think back to old times, the Roman days. They wore layers of flowing clothing or robes. Long pieces over another piece. When guards or soldiers were going to do anything that involved running or strenuous physical activity, or even battling they would pull up the longer garments that covered their waste area to the legs, (like Mike said the "trunk of the body")and tuck them into the belted area ( also called the girdle or waistband area) to keep their legs free to move easily and quickly so they didn't get tripped up on the long clothing parts. So we wrap ourself in truth. GOD'S truth first. It enables us to be ready for the attack and to maneuver against the devil with God's word. When we know the truth about Jesus we can fight the devil, and it is in us. It is our responsibility to to use the armor in our life. It's there waiting on us to put it on! Read Mike's last paragraph again. The power we have is in the truth. The devil doesn't want you to arm yourself with the truth.