Armor of God: Feet

Ephesians 6:14-15

“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.”

 Our feet. Take a look at the verse again. “your feet fitted”. We know that having shoes protect our feet, and it’s not a reach to understand that having shoes on in battle helps us to move and to attack. But the verse talks about having our feet “fitted”. Custom made.

http://www.pastryshoescollection.com/2009/01/06/top-10-most-expensive-shoes-in-the-world/

I have never had custom made shoes. I know you can relate when I talk about having to “break in a new pair of shoes.” It’s uncomfortable. And there is nothing worse then having a pair of shoes that just don’t fit right. We get blisters and calluses and no matter how cute the shoes might be, if they don’t fit, then we could wind up hurting our feet. I have several great pairs of shoes that I bought in the thrill of the moment. That after I got them home and got over the shopping thrill (I know, it’s a curse) I realized that the shoes were a bit tight, (well maybe I could stretch it out), or it rubbed a bit on the heel (oh, I’ll just bend it and help it), or the toes were a bit to narrow (again, they will stretch) and we all know what happened to the shoes. I’ve worn them a couple of times, only to wind up taking them off mid-way through whatever function I was attending, so consumed with the ache and pain in my feet that I couldn’t enjoy wherever I was and could only anticipate leaving and taking the bane of my existence off my feet.

But friends, we are at war and the armor we need has to fit properly.

Soldiers in battle would have their shoes fitted by cobblers. They would take a sketch of the soldiers’ feet and would mold the shoes. The shoes became like an extension of their body because they were formed around each foot. The shoes did not have to be “broken in”. There was no “getting used to” a new pair of shoes. The shoes fit because they were created for the one who was wearing them. When the soldier walked into battle he could do it with confidence, the safety of his feet were not in question because they were protected and he could advance on the enemy and move forward.

This is what God instructs us to do in Ephesians 6:14-15. By fitting our feet with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace we are equipped to go into battle with our feet standing on the gospel of peace.

OK, what is the “gospel of peace” and how do we stand on it. The gospel of peace is the understanding of the Good News. But what if you don’t know what the Good News is?

This is the good news, the great commission, and what everything in our beliefs as Christians is about.

And that of we believe in our hearts (which is protected by the breastplate of righteousness) and say with our mouths (which speaks the truth that we learned from the belt of truth) that Christ is the risen Lord, we will be saved. (This is the gospel of peace).

Having this knowledge, this understanding, and firmly standing on that belief, will give you the protection and the confidence to step boldly and proclaim to others what you have been given.

The gospel promises that peace and God’s word proclaims, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Romans 10:15).

Sweetheart it’s time to take off those ill-fitting, leg cramping, blister causing shoes that look really cute on the outside but are cutting off the circulation to your soul on the inside and step into the peace that never goes out of style, always fits, and looks good with everything. Stand firm.

Green-eyed monster

I don't know where this picture originated, if it's yours, please let me know!

I am an almost 40-year-old woman. I own my own home, have a job, a car, and can buy everything I need and most of the things I want, but I fall prey to the “I gotta’s” Have you ever experienced those? I see someone with something and “I gotta have it…” or I think I do. It can be an advertisement on TV or a post on someone blogs, or mercy, someones shoes I see at church and that green-eyed monster rears it’s ugly head and I buy into the fact that if I just have that I will be happy. Lies. All lies from Satan. Satan in advertisement? Yep. I’m taking a hard line on this one. God will provide for all our needs, but how much do we truly need and how much do we just “think” we need and why am I writing so much in quotation marks?

I can remember being a child growing up and there was a certain brand of tennis shoes that everyone else had (yeah, right,) but hey, in my world everyone else had them and my parents refused to buy them for me. I was growing so fast and money at the time was not plentiful. I had a perfectly good pair of tennis shoes, I didn’t NEED another pair and I certainly didn’t need a pair that cost such a high amount just for the label but in my mind, it kept me from fitting in. But I was the one who kept myself out of the “in crowd”. I was intimidated and overwhelmed and I believed the lies that I wasn’t cute enough, thin enough, funny enough, and most of all, not rich enough to belong to that crowd. Talk about being a self-fulfilling prophecy. I became obese, I became depressed, I became poor, not only in finances but also in spirit.
In the past 20 years I have discovered something very interesting. One of the girls I admired, who I am now close with, had the same insecurities that I did. I wanted so much to be her friend but just didn’t know how to do it. She has shared with me some of her own foibles and fears that wonder of wonders; they were so much like mine. It was just all in how we responded to those. She has always had a confidence and a sense of style that I have looked up to and I admire the woman she has become and consider myself fortunate to count her as a friend and I cherish the times we get to spend in our back porch conversations.
The friends that I did make in school, they are still around, but very distant, and that makes me sad. But God has brought women into my life that I don’t share a past with but I do get to share a future with. Women who are smart, beautiful, funny, inspiring, amd every single woman, no matter who she is, comes with battle scars, comes with insecurities, comes with her own set of fears.

It makes me wonder sometimes if when Eve ate the forbidden fruit, and we became separated from our Heavenly Father, did we trade our compassion for conceit, did we trade our joy for jealousy, and did we trade our concern for contempt? Harsh words, but we did lose paradise. For me paradise would be where everyone would feel love; not only from God, but also from each other and where women wouldn’t have to work to overcome the walls we put up, but would instead build bridges to connect hearts to hearts.

A six-letter cuss word in the Bible.

“God wants me to do what?”

22Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ,so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. (Ephesians 5: 22-24)

Submit? God wants me to submit to my husband, in EVERYTHING? Well, that was for olden times. That doesn’t apply to today. God doesn’t understand. I mean I work hard, and sometimes I’m smarter then my husband about things and we are equals in this marriage. I don’t submit to him and he doesn’t submit to me, and we are doing fine so nope, this passage doesn’t mean me.

And besides, I am not going to become a doormat for my husband to walk all over. If I start submitting to him, he will just take advantage, I can see it now, I will fix his dinner, wash his clothes, clean up the kitchen, clean the house, take out the trash…doing all the chores, and he will just be sitting there like he’s king of the castle. I work full time too. That’s not fair that God wants me to submit to him. Does God know my husband??? Nope, that whole submission thing, if that is what it means to have a Christian marriage, you count me out.

This is such a hard verse to comprehend to new Christians and even some “old” Christians as well. It’s a passage that I have heard twisted and maligned to show that God believes that women are subservient to men, that women were property, or slaves, and that is all wrong. That’s what happens when you take one part of a verse without researching, exploring and reading the entire passage. If you don’t know Jesus and his relationship with the church, then a lot of this message looses its power. If you don’t read on through Ephesians 5 you miss out on God’s instructions to men as to how they should treat their wives.
For a long time I only took the first part of this verse to heart, that I should submit to my husband. I never did that and the argument above was mine for a long time, with all three of my husbands. Yep, all three. I’ll let you think about that for a minute. 1st husband, divorced, 2nd husband, divorced, 3rd husband, holding on tight.

My marriage today to WH (wonderful husband) is my third marriage. Statistically, according to the world, this marriage won’t make it either. That’s a scary thought. But WH and I aren’t living the world’s way anymore, we are learning and striving to live God’s way but I had to make a change. I had to learn to submit. Submission was not something the world wanted me to do in my marriage. I have a very strong personality, which is the polite way of saying that I am bossy, (ask my brother). I have no problem delegating things and I have very strong opinions about things (hardheaded). With husband #1 and #2 I took the lead. I wasn’t going to fetch and tote, I wasn’t going to allow them to walk all over me and I wasn’t going to be their maid or servant. Submit, not me.

Have you ever plowed a field with two oxen? Nope, me either, but I did some research, and I also read “Little House on the Prairie” as a kid. Laura talks about Pa having to train the oxen to plow. He would do that by allowing one ox lead over the other, because if they were tied equally they wouldn’t move, both would be trying to lead. Huge paraphrase there with my apologies to Mrs. Wilder.

But that is a perfect picture of both of my earlier marriages, we didn’t have God as the center of our marriage and I wasn’t willing to allow my husband(s) to lead, and they didn’t understand what leading was. Instead of being able to fall under their authority, I just took one rein and they had the other (sometimes) and instead of our marriage moving forward, it didn’t go at all. There were other reasons those marriages did not make it, but I think a lot came down to I wasn’t willing to submit to my husband, and he didn’t know how to treat me as Christ treated the church.

Are you taking the reins? Who is leading your marriage? Do you know how to submit to your husband? The way we learn to do this is to look at the rest of the passage, we must submit to our husbands in everything as the church submitted to Christ. The church submits to Christ’s authority over it, to His leadership and His direction because the church knows and recognizes that no one loves it more then Jesus. He is the bridegroom. We need to follow our husband’s leadership, need to accept and respect his protection and guidance, and trust that he will do what is best for his wife and family.

But that’s hard!!!!!!!! Yes, it is. This passage is hard because:
1. Perhaps your spouse isn’t a believer; you still give him respect and submit, as long as his leading does not lead you to sin and you pray for him. Your husband will be impacted by your willingness to allow him to lead, do not judge, do not nag, do not be critical of your husband, but speak with respect and love, as you would speak to Jesus if he were standing in front of you. Give your husband that honor and allow the love of God to live through you.

2. Perhaps your spouse doesn’t know how to lead. I remember thinking, “If I don’t lead this family we will never go anywhere.” The world has taken away so many of the wonderful characteristics that belong to men and women have felt compelled to take them up. Like the little girl wearing her daddy’s boots, it’s cute for a while but if she’s not careful she will fall and get hurt. Take the boots off ladies and give them back to your husband. I think our shoes are prettier anyway. Talk with your husband about this passage and get his feedback. Ask God to guide the two of you, as you, the bride, learn to submit, and he learns to lead. Stay out of his boots!

Submit is not a six letter cuss word. It can be a balm to a struggling marriage, the first stitch in sewing a marriage torn apart back together. Giving your husband both the reins enables him to lead. Listening to him and following his guidance in all things, to  and  don't foget to give him his boots back.

This builds our marriage Gods way, not the world’s way, and that is a connection unlike anything I can describe when a man and woman are living their lives God’s way, NOT the worlds way. You get to move forward as one instead of standing still and you get some great shoes!