Mulling it Over: Part 8 - Ephesians 6:17
Today I will be looking at the 5th piece of armor that Paul mentions in Ephesians 6:10-18. Last time we mulled over the shield of faith. Verse 17 actually covers two pieces of armor, but we will look at them one at a time.
“ And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
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Piece #5 - The Helmet of Salvation
The galea is another name for the Roman helmet. Helmets were worn as protection for the head from as far back as mankind began fighting wars. Today, helmets are worn, not only by soldiers but by motorcycle riders, bike riders, football players and other sports enthusiasts. The head is very important and contains the control center for our whole body.
When a person is determined to be brain dead, whether by illness or injury, the brain is no longer showing any life activity. The body will follow the direction of the brain and without artificial support will die. Obviously, keeping the brain safe and the head uninjured was and still is of prime importance when fighting a battle.
Why is it that salvation is so important to our heads as protection? Since the brain controls and processes all incoming and outgoing information, I would like to look at three areas the helmet of salvation protects.
1. Spiritual
We are spiritual beings. God created us, not only to be physical, but to be spiritual. The spiritual part of us becomes fully formed and understood when we accept the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
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“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.”
Salvation enables us to see with our spiritual eyes.
“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,”
It is through the spirit that we are connected to God the Father, through Jesus Christ. If we toss out the helmet of salvation our thinking will become skewed and we will no longer have spiritual understanding.
Is it any wonder that there is so much confusion and misunderstanding in our world today? Without salvation through Jesus Christ we do not have His wisdom and clarity, because we do not have His spirit.
2. Mental
I am sure you have heard of Joyce Meyers, Battlefield of the Mind. In her typical straight forward way, Joyce explains that it is in our minds the battle rages. The battle of truth versus falsehood, good versus evil, right versus wrong. As I said earlier, the mind controls our bodies, not only in a physical cellular way, but in a thought processing sort of way.
Our relationship with Jesus affects how our minds work and what we think. If we adhere to truth, acknowledging that Christ is Lord and reading His word, our minds will try to combat the lies that the world constantly throws at us. If we saturate ourselves in the gospel message our minds will find rest, peace and freedom from mental chaos.
Photo credit Rebecca Trumbull
Speaking from personal experience, I have had to return over and over to certain scriptures because my mind does not naturally want to accept truth. The word says that God loves me, sometimes I still question that. Belief in the person and work of Jesus has given me worth, but even in my 50's I still struggle with my value. The mind can be easily led astray, thus the importance of the helmet of salvation.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life”
3. Emotional
Once again, we know that the brain is the command center for controlling emotions as well as physical and mental capacities. Wearing the helmet of salvation enables our mind to keep our emotions in check. Don't get me wrong, I am not expecting us to be emotionless creatures. God created us with the capacity to feel. However, only feeling and not thinking can be detrimental to our health and even dangerous.
Think about the range of emotions you can experience in one week, or for that matter in one day. You might wake up feeling peaceful, but within five minutes when the kids are running late or the baby is crying and you can't find your car keys, your emotions tend to go from peaceful to stressed out. Throw in traffic, a bad day at work and a fight with your spouse and your emotions can literally run the gambit from peaceful to stressed, to sad to angry.
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Knowing Jesus as Lord and immersing ourselves in His word can give us the ability to temper our emotions, even the ability to bring every situation to Him and rely on Him for the grace to get through each difficulty. Just think about the scriptures that address emotion.
“Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,”
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ”
“Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’”
“Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him For the help of His presence.”
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!”
The helmet of salvation is a key piece of armor that we should never forget to put on. You might say that once I am saved I don't need to worry about the helmet it is always on my head. However, I do think that we can become so preoccupied by all the other hats we wear, that we forget the helmet is there, always able to protect us.
The helmet of salvation is key to protecting our thinking. Out relationship with Christ protects us spiritually, mentally and emotionally. I hope you own this important piece of armor.
Have a great week!