June 12, 2013
Ephesians 6:17

(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)

We come to the last piece of defensive armor God has provided for us to fight the spiritual battle to which we are called.  It is identified in Ephesians 6:17: “And take the helmet of salvation….”  A soldier’s helmet protects the head, and the head houses the brain, and the brain contains the mind.  Thus the protection afforded by  “the helmet of salvation” is mainly protection of your mind.

“The helmet of salvation” is the knowledge that you are saved.  And that is extremely important.  John wrote in his first epistle, I John 5:11 through 13,

    And this is the testimony; that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in
    His Son.  He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God
    does not have life.  These things I have written to you who believe in the name
    of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life….

God designed Christianity to be a “know so” belief, not a “hope so” religion!  Look again at the last sentence quoted above that John wrote:

    These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God,
    that you may know that you have eternal life….

So if you have accepted Jesus as your Savior and Lord of your life, you have eternal life as a present possession!  And you must know this if you are going to be free to accomplish what God calls you to do!

You see, if you don’t know you have salvation, but only hope you do, then you can never be sure you will be accepted by the Lord.  “Am I really good enough?  What more do I have to do to be accepted by God?”  Thus your belief degenerates into a religion of works.  And the problem with a religion of works is that you never know if you have accomplished enough to please God.  So you either keep trying more and more or you simply give up!

In John chapter 6, Jesus miraculously fed 5,000 men – plus women and children – with “…five barley loaves and two small fish….” (John 6:9).  Because of the free food, the people wanted to make Him their king!  Instead, the Lord directed them to seek the true food of God – Jesus Himself!  But the people had their own idea about it all.  In John 6:28 they asked, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?”  The answer from the Lord is in the very next verse: “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”  Is Christianity, then, a religion of works?  It involves but a single work by its adherents!  And the work you are called to do is to put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ! 

If you know you are saved, you are protecting your head/brain/mind with “the helmet of salvation.”  And being so protected, you are then free to follow the directions of the Lord through the leading of the Holy Spirit within you.

So “…take the helmet of salvation…”, and wear it as a necessary part of your spiritual armor.  For your enemy would like nothing better than to have you distracted from the purpose to which God has called you – “…that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” (Ephesians 6:11).  As Paul wrote in I Timothy 6:12, “Fight the good fight of faith….”