Throughout the start of 2024, prayer became a very big focus of mine. I created prayer strategies and really intentionally sought the Lord through prayer. Through this process, the Lord has opened my eyes to a familiar truth in a much more meaningful way.
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 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. - Ephesians 6:10-13
We are in the middle of a great big war, but not one of this earth. There is a spiritual war going on, all around us, and we have to fight. Ephesians describes our "armor of God", and I was reading it the other day, I realized: how often do I actually use these pieces of armor? How often do I use them correctly? My heart was instantly convicted and I decided that I could not stay this way. Spiritual warfare is so real, and even if I'm working on covering my life with prayer, missing even one piece of armor can be fatal.
So, in this SEVEN part series, we're going deep. We're diving into each piece of the armor of God and breaking it down, but most importantly, we're going to learn how to use them in our everyday lives, during the very real war that's waging around us.
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 and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. - Ephesians 6:14-18
In this series, we're going to discuss each part of the armor: belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, shoes of readiness and peace, shield of faith, helmet of salvation, sword of the Spirit, and prayer. I am genuinely so excited, because I have such a desire for this war to become more real to us, for us to take our places on the battlefield and use what the Lord has already equipped us with.
And we're going to be starting off strong with the belt of truth.
In Roman times, a soldier's belt was vital. It was wrapped around their waist, protecting their lower back and crotch area. But it had to be securely tightened because it played an integral part in holding all of the other pieces of armor together, and the belt was where a soldier would stash his sword.
In the same way, our belt of truth is essential. If we do not have a solid foundation and understanding of what the truth is, the rest of our armor cannot be used properly or even be put on correctly, because without real truth, everything falls apart. And without the truth, we cannot use our only defensive weapon: the sword of the Spirit.
You see, our enemy is the father of lies (John 8:44). He would love to get us to sway from the truth in Scripture or even believe that truth is subjective. He must love the "follow your heart" mantra because that would mean getting us to step off of the secure foundation of the Bible and creating our own reality, our own idea of truth, one that suits our needs. The devil knows that if we, even for a second or a single decision, roam away from the truth that Jesus brings that it is fatal in this war, and he wants to jump at every opportunity of weakness.
Satan wants to attack any and every moment where we waver on the truth, and so if we are not intentional about fastening the belt of truth, we immediately have an open weak spot. And trust me, Satan isn't going to let that opportunity pass up.
I don't mean that doubts and questions are bad. In fact, I wrote a post about why they might actually be helpful to your faith! Since we're human, there will be moments where we question what God is doing or what we believe. That's okay! If we never re-evaluate or bring those tough questions to the Lord, we'll never grow. BUT. We must approach them correctly, not guided or led by our emotions or popular opinion, but by the truth.
And Jesus is THE truth (John 14:6).
This means that when we are faced with decisions on what the truth really is, we turn to prayer and Scripture. This means that when we face doubts, we turn to what the Lord has done in our life already and what He promises us. This means that when we face the enemy's attacks, we first re-situate ourselves on the foundation of what we believe: Jesus and His word.
Because, if our belt of truth isn't completely secure, the rest of our armor will not be able to protect us to its full potential, if at all.
As I've been reflecting on this personally, the first action step that I feel is necessary to take is to evaluate what you believe. A few thoughts that came to my mind are:
What do I believe?
Who do I believe Jesus is?
How much do I believe in the Bible? Do I take it as complete truth, or only bits and pieces?
What is my purpose here?
I know, these are deep, deep questions. But if we want to be all-in soldiers for the Lord, committed Christ followers and a threat to the enemy, then we have to have these questions answered.
Bring it to the Lord. Talk to Him about your answers, or lack thereof, and ask Him to reveal what's really on your heart. Work through any doubts and questions that you have, or hesitations to be all in. (If you need, check out this post for some guidance on that.) Surrender to Him, and allow Him to speak to you directly.
Hopefully, after this interaction with the Lord, you will continue to grow in faith and confidence that He truly is the truth, but continue to pursue and chase after Him. This is often a process and a journey, but trust that He will make Himself clear to you.
For me, the next step is to apply it. To utilize this belt of truth by standing firm on Scripture and God's Word.
Because I've grown up in the church and have spent years evolving my Bible study, I have a pretty strong foundation of the Bible, but that doesn't mean that I fight well with it. As I've described in one of my previous posts, I'm creating prayer strategies infused with Scripture to strengthen my prayer life and my battle tactics. I'm working on making "battle cards", simple note cards with Scripture written on them about my identity in Christ and who He is. During every Bible study, I try to come to the Lord with an open heart for Him to speak, teach, and train me for what's going on and what's to come. I'm working on filling my mind with godly, truthful things, like worship music and podcasts that challenge me to re-evaluate what I'm believing.
Maybe for you, you want to begin incorporating some of the things that I've been practicing. But maybe for you, your first step is getting into the Word. Start reading the Bible and studying it to understand, not just to check a task off of your to-do list. Ask the Lord to reveal to you what He wants to teach you, and let your Bible study become an intimate interaction with the Lord. Let your Bible study become an uncovering of the truth and the eternal life that comes with that truth.
Each of these things are steps to securing and utilizing the belt of truth well.
So, I created a visual for each of us to use as a tool of how we can put on this belt daily. Feel free to screenshot this or download it, but I want you to take a moment to pray over each of these points and ask the Lord what specifically calling you to do. Maybe in this season you don't need to incorporate all of these strategies and habits, but just one or two, but seek the Lord's wisdom on that. No matter what this looks like for you, my vision for this is that we, as children of God and co-workers of Christ, we would begin taking steps to practically put on each of these pieces of armor, every day, beginning with the belt of truth.
If you decide to apply one of these points, let me know down in the comments below, and we can hold each other accountable!
(Also, let me know if you like these visuals! If not, I'll adjust and adapt for the rest of this series. :))
As I close out, I just want to say a prayer over this series and over our journey as we learn to understand and apply these specific pieces of the armor of God.
Father, I thank You for giving me the tools to do a deep dive on the armor You have equipped me with and this platform to share that with. Please bless this series and this journey, and help us to truly understand and apply the armor of God in the very real battlefield going on in our life. I pray that You would cover each person reading this post in Your strength and wisdom, and convict their heart about how You are calling each of them to follow You more and fight with Your weapons correctly. Speak clearly to each of our hearts individually, and help us to walk in what You are instructing us to walk in. We love You Lord, and we thank You so much. Amen.
I am genuinely so excited for this series, and I pray that you learn as much as I already have. Let's make this a daily practice to put on the armor of God and defend our hearts and our souls (and those we love) from the devil's attacks.
What did you learn from this post? How do you put on the belt of truth every day? Let me know down in the comments below!
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