Verse
of the day: Ephesians 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the
sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;
As
we continue today in our series of messages on spiritual warfare, we move onto
the helmet of salvation. Each day, in preparation for whatever may come our
way, we must have the reassurance and hope that comes from God’s promise that
we are His children, adopted into His family, and that NOTHING can change that.
Every time the enemy strikes a blow, and our world is turned upside down, we
need to have some kind of hope to hold on to. The assurance that we have
eternal life and that nothing can reverse our destination is of utmost
importance in being able to stay in the fight. As His children we can know,
with great confidence, that we are saved because we put our faith in the
finished work of Christ and have called upon Him (Rom 10:13; 1 John 5:13). We
are eternally sealed and nothing can separate us from His love (Rom 8:38-39;
Eph 1:13). It is this hope that will sustain us when the enemy comes along and
causes us to question whether or not we are really saved. For many of us this
may be a basic fact that we both know and believe. However, we have all had our
moments of stumbling, and the enemy will take advantage of those opportunities
to discourage us and accuse both us and God. How often have we heard, “You
really think God will forgive you for that” or “How can you even say that you
are a Christian after what you just did or said”? How often have we been caused
to question God’s love because of something we did or something that is
happening in our lives to us or someone we love dearly? These are all tactics
that our enemy deploys to knock us off balance, and possibly cripple us to the
point that we completely give up the fight. In Genesis 3, God, while in the
Garden, addressed Satan in respect to his future defeat at the coming of Jesus,
for what he did to Adam, Eve, and mankind. He told him that although he (Satan)
would bruise His (Jesus) heel (a nonfatal blow) Jesus would bruise his head (a
fatal blow). It is true that one can survive a severe blow to the foot, and
possibly remain crippled for life, but a severe blow to the head can not only
cripple, but most likely be fatal. The enemy loves to attack our mind. This is
why being in prayer continually and meditating on God’s Word is so important in
our daily routine. If he can break us down in our thinking, he can immobilize
us. Quite often what slows us down or stops us from living for, and serving,
God is the result of what is going on in our heads. The helmet is an important
piece of equipment, and to leave it behind is to put ourselves in a place to be
fatally wounded in our walk with the Lord. The enemy will try to shame us into
giving up, but the Scripture reassures us that hope makes us not ashamed
because of the love of God in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is in us (Rom
5:5). This is where we see that our shield of faith and our helmet of salvation
are tied together; for it is by faith that we receive salvation, and it is by
faith that we can firmly put on our helmet of salvation. The bottom line is
that we need to be reminded that no matter what we face in our daily battles, and
how often we may stumble, if we are certain of our salvation, then whatever we
face will be dwarfed by what God has in store for us in Christ Jesus (1 Pt 1:3-9;
Jm 1:2-3; 1 Cor 2:9).
Salvation comes by faith alone; however, not by faith in just anyone or
anything. It only comes by putting our faith in the finished work of Jesus
Christ on Calvary, and only by calling on His Name (Acts 4:12). Anyone who
comes to Him in repentance, confessing their sins, will receive eternal life.
Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His free gift of salvation
today (Rom 6:23; 10:13).
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