"The greatest friend of truth is Time, her greatest enemy is Prejudice, and her constant companion is Humility." -Charles Caleb Colton
part 8 of the call of duty: spiritual warfare series.
“belt of truth” by Jayson Reynon
Ephesians 6:14 Stand firm with the belt of truth buckled around your waist….
What’s the first thing you think of when you think about the pieces of armor on a knight? Most likely a sword and shield. All knights must have full body armor: a helmet, a metal breastplate, and shoes. In Ephesians 6:10-18, the bible also talks about armor that God wants us to put on. Ironically enough, the bible lists the exact same pieces of armor, with the exception of one difference: God’s armor has a belt. Not just any belt, but a belt of truth.
Now you have to be thinking to yourself, “Why the heck would a belt be so important for a warrior?” A belt obviously can’t hurt the enemy, nor can it defend against the enemy’s attacks. The belt seems like such an insignificant and small piece of the armor. So why would God’s armor require a belt?
Let’s imagine what you would look like if you walked around with a belt. Almost every pair of pants that you buy requires you to wear a belt. If you forget to wear your belt, what’s going to happen? Well clearly, your pants are going to fall down and everyone is going to see your undergarments and you’re going to be waddling around as you walk with your pants at your ankles, looking just absolutely ridiculous.
But now imagine marching off to a battle and forgetting to wear your belt. Your pants fall down, you have no place to hold your weapons, and you’ll be so useless in battle because you’re going to be too busy trying to hold up your pants with one hand that you’ll only be able to hold your sword OR your shield with the other hand, not both. Now try to imagine yourself trying to fight off Satan with one hand while using your other hand to hold your pants up. That’s one battle you’re doomed to lose.
More importantly is that we’re told to put on “the belt of TRUTH.” It’s not just any regular old belt, but a belt of TRUTH. One of Satan’s favorite and most common tactics to steer you away from your purpose and destiny is to feed you lies. He likes to tell you things like “you’re not good enough,” “you suck,” or “you’re a waste of space.”
A common scene in a lot of sword-fighting movies is when the hero cuts off the belt of the bad guy and his pants fall down, revealing his underwear. And most times, the hero never explicitly kills the enemy. He just leaves him helpless and embarrassed, tied-up, self-defeated, and ineffective. That’s exactly what Satan does when he feeds us these lies. Of course he’s not the “hero” but one of the first things he aims for is to cut off our belt of truth. He makes us begin to doubt ourselves, who we are, and sometimes even if the truth of Jesus Christ really is the truth. The enemy will never kill us directly, but if he can successfully cut our belt of truth off and get us to begin doubting what is really true, then he leaves us like the enemy in those movies: helpless, self-defeated, and ineffective.
It is during these times of struggle and battle that we must really hold onto what we know is the truth. So what is truth? Is there such a thing as absolute truth? YES THERE IS!!! And that truth is found in the hope and life of Jesus Christ.
John 14:6
“I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life.”
Psalm 40:11
“Do not withhold your mercy from me, O Lord; may your love and your TRUTH always protect me.”
3 John 1:4
“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the TRUTH.”
When we accept Jesus and everything that He says as truth, and walk in that truth, then we are assured to have the blessings and everlasting, eternal life that He promises. When we can distinguish God’s truth from Satan’s lies, we have a decided advantage in battle over the enemy. We’ll be able to recognize his lies and quickly dismiss them, helping us to be victorious in battle, allowing us to push forward and pursue the plans and purposes that God has intended for us since we were formed in our mother’s womb.
That’s why we need our belt of truth on at all times. The belt of truth holds all of the armor together. Not only does it hold your pants up, but it also holds your breastplate of righteousness on. It also has the sheath to hold your sword. So buckle your belt of the truth of God on, and use that truth to extinguish Satan’s lies. Remember, without a belt on, you’re basically just a naked penguin waddling around. But with your belt firmly wrapped around your waist, you are firmly wrapped in the power, the truth, and the everlasting life of Jesus Christ.
hi gabe :$
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