In Part 6 we looked at taking our shield of faith. In today's message we'll be covering the helmet of salvation.
Ephesians 6:14-17
Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.
In the message about the breastplate of righteousness, I mentioned that the condition of our heart is important because we produce after what we believe in our heart, and that we are told to protect our heart by putting on the breastplate of righteousness, which I defined as, "our heart is protected by our understanding/revelation of what righteousness means to us - the revelation of who we are in Christ and what His life, death and resurrection means for us". Similarly, the helmet of salvation has to do with protecting our minds with the assurance or hope of our salvation.
In battle, the helmet was used as protection against any blows to the head. Similar to the example about the heart, this area is vitally important to the human body and any severe blow could lead to death. Therefore for the believer, and in the context of the passage, it implies that guarding/protecting our head (mind) is important.
Please see below examples found in the Bible that address the importance of the mind:
We are encouraged to prepare our minds for action and exercise self-control (1 Peter 1:13-15).
To set our mind on things above and not on earthly things. (Colossians 3:2)
To take every thought captive that comes against the knowledge of God and bring it to submission to the truth that is Christ and His word (2 Corinthians 10:5).
To not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our mind, so that we may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Romans 12:2, see also Ephesians 4:22-24)
To think on things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable and anything worthy of praise (Philippians 4:8).
We are also told in Romans 8:5-6 that those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit and how letting the Spirit control our mind leads to life and peace.
Based on the above we can clearly see how important our mind is and the role it plays when it comes to our spiritual wellbeing and development. Now the reason why it needs protecting is because the devil works through deception, which is an attack on our mind/thoughts which is done by twisting God's word. Please see below scriptures:
John 8:44
You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
1 Corinthians 11:13-15
These people are false apostles. They are deceitful workers who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ. But I am not surprised! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no wonder that his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. In the end they will get the punishment their wicked deeds deserve.
1 Timothy 4:1
Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons
2 Corinthians 4:4
Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God.
Revelation 12:7-9
Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
We see examples of this in Luke 4:1-13 where Satan twisted God's word in trying to tempt Jesus Christ, and in Genesis 3:1-13 where he deceived Eve into eating the fruit from the forbidden tree. Verse 13 says the following, "Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Now as we saw in Part 6, 1 Peter 5:8-9 says that we resist him - firm in the faith. Given that it takes faith to stand against him, and knowing that faith comes by hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17), we can understand why satan comes to steal the word or is after the word of God to prevent it from producing fruit in our lives (Mark 4:1-20) - and based on the above scriptures we can see that satan is a deceiver and works through deception to try and twist God's word, tempting us to question Him, His word (the Truth), His character, His will, etc. So whether he works through people or circumstances, his intention is to work through deception (an attack on our mind) in an attempt to steal the word from our heart and prevent it from producing what God desires.
In Part 6 I also mentioned that it takes faith to gird our waist with the belt of truth (to build one's life on the Truth - His word). It takes faith to put on the breastplate of righteousness (receive salvation and have the assurance that we've been reconciled with God through Christ). It takes faith to have our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace (that peace that only God can provide) ... that all of this is an act of faith - This is why the helmet of salvation is so important, because the quality or strength of our breastplate of righteousness, having our feet shod with the gospel of peace or taking up the shield of faith is directly connected to how well we protect our mind/thoughts from the enemy's seeds of doubt, fear, and condemnation.
An example of this can be someone that's trusting God for something, they believe that through the righteousness that Christ bore for them, that they have access to the promises found in God's word. This assurance brings them supernatural peace to know that God's carrying them through to the other side. Their faith is firm, fully trusting that what God has said He will do ... and then the devil starts bombarding their mind with thoughts, offering alternative suggestions, twisting God's word by trying to paint an alternative truth, raising question marks on the promises and character of God, keeping their minds pre-occupied with the cares of this world, maybe bringing people along their path that speaks contrary to the promise they're trusting God for ... whatever or however he does it - if it goes unchecked (and deception usually does), then over a period of a few weeks or months, those thoughts will eventually be believed (it's now moved from the mind into the heart) - and just like we saw in the message about the breastplate of righteousness, we produce after what we believe in our heart. The outcome is that this person doesn't experience that word/promise in their lives as soon as they could've or maybe even not at all.
It's important to mention again that we produce after what we believe in our heart - the enemy will attack our minds, that's inevitable, but we can control what thoughts we choose to believe (those that we allow to influence the belief we carry in our heart) ... so we can protect what we believe by giving attention to what thoughts we choose to entertain or meditate on or give our attention to - and to come back to the scriptures covered above, the Bible has not left us in the dark on how to do so ... We do this by preparing our minds for action - by setting our minds on things above - by taking every thought captive and bringing it to submission to the truth that is Christ and His word - by renewing of our mind - by thinking on things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable and anything worthy of praise, and thinking about things that please the Spirit.
So Stand therefore, protecting your mind by taking the helmet of salvation!
Amen