This podcast is a continuation from last week’s episode called How to Survive the Winter Season in Your Life. I want to bring up some points regarding the armor of God. When I was not fully dressed in my armor, I put myself in a position whereby I was unnecessarily beaten up by life.
I learned in order to live the abundant Christian life that Christ came to give us, we must stay fully dressed in our armor. This world is a war zone. I have lost many battles being half-dressed in my armor.
Needless to say, I now put on my armor. I pray every day for God to give me the mind of Christ so I can stay fully dressed and know how to properly use my armor (Phil 2:5-10). Let me give you a little more detail in how life knocked me down because I was not wearing the breastplate of righteousness, the gospel of peace, and the helmet of salvation.
The Breastplate of Righteousness
In case you’re not sure what the breastplate of righteousness means, think of it as a bulletproof vest. You would wear this to protect your heart. Spiritually the breastplate of righteousness does the same thing. It protects our heart from being contaminated with negative thoughts, lies, and deceptions that lead us into sin.
Satan and his demons are always lurking around to steal, kill, and destroy our heart. They know if they can do damage to our heart, this will give them an opportunity to control the rest of our being.
To avoid this God want us to guard our heart with a breastplate of righteousness. We need to follow or live by a set of actions that pleasing and acceptable to God. This is how we put on our breastplate of righteousness. When act based on the true, which is acting based on the word of God, then we are wearing our breastplate of righteousness.
I can attest, when I did not wear my vest aka the breastplate of righteousness, I was allowing my circumstances to dictate and rule my world. Focusing on my circumstances caused me to worry, feel impatient and downright angry. I was destroying myself from the inside out.
The Gospel of peace
Having our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace means that we have the word of God embedded within our soul. This world is a war zone. When we have our shoes on, God will show us how to maneuver through the circumstances of our life. We will be able to stand up against the fiery dart of Satan. Satan, sin, and circumstances will not be able to knock us down.
Having on the gospel of peace will give you a peace that surpasses all understanding; meaning, God’s peace of mind. Whenever we make our decision based on truth and righteousness, God will give you a peace that surpasses all understanding.
I learned that in order to have peace in a situation or matter, we must start with what is true and righteous; In other words, we must align our thinking with these 2 attributes (truth and righteousness).
Our shoes called the gospel of peace keeps us from being knocked over by our circumstances, people, finances, etc. Eph 6: 10
When we are wearing our shoes, we can walk into an ambush and come through still standing. The Holy Spirit will direct you in your footsteps. he will keep you mobile so you can dodge Satan’s fiery darts.
I hate to admit I ran away from certain fights because I didn’t have my shoes on. I don’t run away from anything now. When I walk into a room, you don’t have to agree with me, I don’t need people to admire or applaud me but you better not touch me physically, emotionally, or financially.
When you have your feet on with the gospel of peace, you don’t worry about people. You can stand with confidence because you know that you can’t get knocked down. You don’t have to get people to see your circumstances, agree with you, etc. You just have to stand there awaiting the Holy Spirit’s directions.
Helmet of Salvation
God wants us to put on the helmet of Salvation so He can help us protect our thought life. Our helmet of salvation stabilizes our mind. It keeps Satan from controlling our thought life. Our helmet protects our mind from being damaged by Satan schemes, circumstance, lies, deception, etc.
I learned that my life was becoming off center because I was operating without my helmet of salvation. The only way Satan can rule us is when we do not have our helmet of salvation on.
Satan is after us. He is trying to keep us from thinking right. The helmet reflects all the negative thoughts that Satan will use to try to infiltrate into your mind. Without our helmet, we will wander through life with a defeated mindset.
Guys, I’ve always struggled with the feeling that “I’m good enough.” I always felt like a fish out of water. I was always one of the few brown faces in a classroom, then that carried over into the corporate world.
Since I had filled my soul with false information such as not wanting to be viewed as a stereotype. I later realized how much unnecessary stress these negative thoughts were taking a toll on my life. I remembered that I was created in God’s image (I Cor 15). Wearing my helmet kept me mindful of truth such as this.
Wearing my helmet helped me to realize that God had already blessed me with everything He wanted to give me. It was and is my lack of faith which was holding up my ability to access my additional blessings.
None of this can be achieved if I chose to walk outside without my helmet on. Satan doesn’t want us wearing our helmet because he wants to injure us. If he can injure our mind, everything else will fail to work properly.
I wanted to share this with you in case you’re going through a winter season in your life. I want to make sure that you’re not going out the door half dressed.
Thanks so much for listening to today’s episode. I hope you will take a moment to connect with me on my Facebook and Pinterest pages.
If you have enjoyed listening to the content as much as I have enjoyed Hustle in Faith podcast, please consider becoming a supporter by donating any amount you feel compelled to give to help offset the cost of producing this show.
Don’t forget to share this message and to sign up for my mailing list so you can be notified of new episodes. Remember if you’re everything to everyone, then you risk being no one. You never know who may inspire. See you in the next episode!
In order to be notified when new content is available, please be sure to subscribe to my podcast on Anchor, iTunes, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Breaker, Castbox, Google Play Music, Overcast, Pocket Casts, or Radio Public.
Leave a Reply