The Belt Of Truth

Last week I started talking about the armor of God from Ephesians 6:10-20 but my ADD kicked in and I got distracted. Seriously…it did…oh look…shiny…

Other things had come up, like the porcine plague and I put the armor of God on the back burner. It’s my blog and I can do that.

So today I wanted to talk more about the armor God has equipped His followers with and how we can use it today. Not many of us have need for real chain mail or plate mail armor. It looks really neat but it’s hard to keep polished and really uncomfortable on the commute to work, not to mention all the weird looks you would get from the carpool at your kids’ school. No, the armor that the Bible talks about is figurative. I had never heard about the armor of God before until last year when I was trying to find something to speak about at the She Speaks conference. I am a very visual speaker, I move a lot and I like to have things for people to relate to. That way if they don’t remember what I said, maybe one of my visuals will lock in a thought or an idea that will simmer in their subconscious and God will use that as a trigger for how they can apply it.

In my talk about the armor of God I was equipped with what I pictured as my “belt of truth”. It was a tool belt that I blinged out with rhinestones and crosses (hey, I told you I saw something shiny). In my tool belt I carried my journal, my bible, my coffee cup and my pens and markers. But we are talking about the belt today. The belt of truth. Ephesians 6:14 states,

“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist..”

Yes, there is more to it, stop rushing me. Truth. Truth is the key to everything. If you know the truth then nothing can come against you. Satan uses lies and misunderstandings, criticism and blame, to cause a rift amongst believers. If Satan can cause two Christians to come against each other, then he has won half the battle already. Think about this for a moment, how many times have you jumped to a conclusion, went with the wrong information, ran off at the mouth, spread gossip, or whispered a secret that caused pain or hurt to someone else? All action, all detrimental and all something you probably shouldn’t have done, but look back up at the scripture, “stand firm…” Don’t move, be still (and know that I am ...sorry, ADD moment again.).

Truth.

Jesus starts so many of his lessons with, “I tell you the truth...” John 14:6 states,

                          “ 6Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life.
                            No one comes to the Father except through me.”

So your belt, what holds it all together, what binds you, what ties all the rest of your armor together is truth. God’s truth, which can be found in His son, Jesus.

I believe that it’s listed as the first piece of armor because in order to have the rest of it, you have to have that piece first. None of the other works without the truth. I cannot have righteousness, or readiness, or peace, or faith and I cannot fight the Evil one without Jesus, without truth. If Satan is the king of lies, then who do you think is the King of Truth? The truth that God equips us with through His word is how we fight Satan but we can only fight when we know how to use the weapon. We have to learn God’s truth. Satan’s lies permeates everything, the television we watch, the music we listen to, the books we read, conversations we have, conversations our kids have, Satan is everywhere, but the cool thing about that is, so is God and His truth works against every single one of Satan’s lies. Get out your tool belt, bling it up if you want to, and put it on. Equip yourself with the truth, God’s truth, so that you can fight Satan’s lies, the ones that come against you in your day to day battle, not only with the outside world, but with the lies that Satan whispers in your head.

Here are a few weapons for your arsenal.

Psalm 139: 13-16

Philippians 1:9-10

Romans 8:38-39

These are only a few of the wonderful truths that can be found in scripture. Read them, study them, and understand that they were written for us and for the battle that we are fighting every single day.