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Protect Your Mind With The Helmet of Salvation

17 and take the helmet of salvation, ~ Ephesians 6:17a

The Helmet of Salvation not only protects the mind from the lies of the enemy with the assurance of Salvation, but it also gives security by knowing what the promises of God are for us. And there are several actions a believer can take to keep this helmet fastened and functioning:

  1. Renew our minds. Our minds are battlefields. The outcomes of those battles determine the course of our lives. Romans 12:1-2 instructs us to renew our minds by allowing the truth of God’s Word to wipe out anything contrary to it. Old ideas, opinions, and worldviews must be replaced. We must allow God’s truth to continually wash away the world’s filth, lies, and confusion from our minds and adopt God’s perspective.
  2. Reject doubts that arise from circumstances. Human beings are sensory creatures. What we cannot fathom with our five senses, we tend to disregard. If we allow them to circumstances may convince us that God does not really love us or that His Word is not true. It is impossible to have faith and doubt at the same time. God rewards our faith. With the helmet of Salvation firmly in place, we can choose to believe what appears impossible (Hebrews 11:6; 1 Peter 1:8- 9).
  3. Keep an eternal perspective. When life crashes in around us, we must remember to look up. Our Salvation is the most precious gift we have received. Keeping our eyes on that can help us weather life’s storms. We can choose to live our lives by the motto, “If it doesn’t have eternal significance, it’s not important” (see Matthew 6:20; 1 Corinthians 3:11-13).
  4. Remember that victory is already accomplished. When we consider ourselves “dead to sin but alive to God” (Romans 6:11), we eliminate many of the opportunities Satan uses to entrap us. When choosing sin is no longer an option for us because we recognize ourselves to be “new creatures” (2 Corinthians 5:17; 1 John 3:9), we effectively cut off many avenues of failure.
  5. Find all our hope in Him. Psalm 73:25 says, “Whom have I in heaven but You? Besides you, I desire nothing on earth.” Our helmet is most effective when we treasure what it represents. The Salvation Jesus purchased for us cannot share the place of importance in our hearts with earthly things. When pleasing the Lord is our supreme delight, we eliminate many of Satan’s lures and render his evil suggestions powerless.

As we wear the helmet of Salvation every day, our minds become more insulated against the suggestions, desires, and traps the enemy lays for us. We choose to guard our minds from excessive worldly influence and instead think about things that honor Christ (Philippians 4:8). In doing so, we wear our Salvation as a protective helmet that will “guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7; Isaiah 26:3; 1 Peter 1:5).

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The End Never Justifies The Means

3 Then when Judas, His betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, 4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.” Matthew 27:3-4ESV

The Scripture states that when Judas saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind. It sounds to me that that was not his initial intention. It seems like Judas was trying to force Jesus’ hand. He wanted to see the kingdom restored to Israel and wanted it now. He didn’t want, nor did he expect it to be, a spiritual kingdom. Judas was expecting a physical kingdom that he could see and touch now. He was expecting Jesus to be the anointed king that would free Israel from the tyranny of their Roman oppressors.

Remember, they had just had the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. Everyone was singing and rejoicing. This seemed like the perfect time to force his will upon Jesus. Force Him to take the throne. But it was not God’s timing. It may have seemed like the perfect timing, but it wasn’t God’s timing, and that makes all the difference. We have to be extremely cognizant of God’s timing, or we will miss the boat completely, and someone else will take our place.

Judas was so focused on His own idea of what Jesus was supposed to be that he missed out completely on who Jesus was. He was in church every Sunday, best friends with the lead pastor; he even preached some Wednesday nights, and yet he had no spiritual discernment. On the outside, Judas was the epidemy of Christianity, but on the inside, he was spiritually dead. He was just going through the motions. He had no relationship with God. This why Jesus says,

“21 Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”

Matthew 7:21-23

See, it’s not about the amount of good you do. It’s not about how many times you go to church a month. It’s not about how close you are with the pastor. It’s not even about how much time you spend in your Bible; it’s all about your relationship with God and our obedience to Him. It doesn’t matter if we say we love God or not; it’s how we live our lives. Judas was best friends with Jesus, he ‘loved’ Jesus, but he didn’t live his life as if he did. He only honored God with his lips.

13 And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me,”

Isaiah 29:13a

We have to seek the will of God. We have to seek Him to know Him. We can’t allow ourselves to fall asleep spiritually so that we can know the will of the one who created us.

Heavenly Father awaken the sleeping spirit within us today. Open our blind eyes and our deaf ears. Set a fire in our soul for You, oh LORD. Fill us with a desire to seek Your presence and Your will. Open our eyes that we may see You for who You are so that we may see Your plan for our lives. Help us to follow the path that You have paved out for us. Guide us with Your Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

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Follow His Commands

42 So the people of Israel followed all of the Lord’s instructions to Moses. 43 Then Moses inspected all their work. When he found it had been done just as the Lord had commanded him, he blessed them. ~ Exodus 39:42-43NLT

The people of Israel weren’t blessed until they did everything the LORD had commanded them was done as the LORD commanded them. They understood that the LORD had standards that they had to meet. They didn’t make excuses; they didn’t get upset and call it unfair; they didn’t get offended; instead, they did exactly as they were told. They strove for God’s approval.

In our world today, we have no standards to reach. We’re easily offended. We make excuses. Why? Could it be that we’ve become lazy? Is it because we’ve become selfish? Or maybe we’ve become prideful, so everything offends us? I think the root of it all is the lack of love. Instead of seeing God’s commands as a guide to loving Him, we see them as a list of do’s and don’ts that stop us from having fun.

God doesn’t take away good from us; He protects us from evil. God’s commands are for our good, and yet we rebel and expect God to still bless us. We can’t live our lives as if He doesn’t exist and then expect Him to open the windows of Heaven and pour down blessings upon us. We have to abide in His love if we want to benefit from His love.

9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

John 15:9-11

Seek after God and follows His commands, then watch as the windows of Heaven open and pour down blessings on you more than you could imagine.

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.

Psalms 23:5

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Follow His Commands.

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Remember Your Relationship With God

1 At the Lord’s command, the whole community of Israel left the wilderness of Sin and moved from place to place. Eventually they camped at Rephidim, but there was no water there for the people to drink. 2 So once more the people complained against Moses. “Give us water to drink!” they demanded. “Quiet!” Moses replied. “Why are you complaining against me? And why are you testing the Lord?” 3 But tormented by thirst, they continued to argue with Moses. “Why did you bring us out of Egypt? Are you trying to kill us, our children, and our livestock with thirst?” ~ Exodus 17:1-3

Sin is our Egypt. When we first leave sin, we’re all excited and on fire for God. We’re the first ones to be at Church on Sunday morning. We read our Bible. We seek God. Everything is new and exciting. But then we hit a hiccup. Maybe we don’t spend as much time in prayer as we did. Maybe we miss a day or two of reading. Then all of a sudden, sin starts knocking at our door. Temptation after temptation is showing up all around us, and we start feeling those past desires start to build up again, and we start to desire the past that we left behind.

This is where the Israelites are at. They were so focused on the obstacle in their way; they were willing to go back to their slavery. That’s how we are. We get so caught up with the battle in front of us. The drought that we have to go through, that we forget the slavery that we’ve just escaped. We forget the relationship we just gained with God.

When droughts come, we have to remember our relationship with our God.

13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

John 4:13-14

When we are craving our past, we have to remember that nothing is more satisfying than God.

5 You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told.

Psalms 40:5

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Romans 8:18

Temptation and drought will come, but if we stay seeking God, then we will always be satisfied. We will never be thirsty, hungry, or unsatisfied again. Always remember that when we are in God, our cup runs over. He gives us everything we need and showers us with His blessings.

5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.

Psalms 23:5

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Remember Your Relationship With God.

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Be A Part of The Body

14 When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he asked, “What are you really accomplishing here? Why are you trying to do all this alone while everyone stands around you from morning till evening?” 15 Moses replied, “Because the people come to me to get a ruling from God. 16 When a dispute arises, they come to me, and I am the one who settles the case between the quarreling parties. I inform the people of God’s decrees and give them his instructions.” 17 “This is not good!” Moses’ father-in-law exclaimed. 18 “You’re going to wear yourself out—and the people, too. This job is too heavy a burden for you to handle all by yourself. ~ Exodus 18:14-18NLT

God created you for a specific purpose. You don’t have to take everything on by yourself. God didn’t create you to do everything. He has created many people to do many different things. Look at how Paul puts it,

14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.

2 Corinthians 12:14-20

We each have a specific purpose of fulfilling in our lives. If we try to take on too much, then we aren’t just taking away a job from someone else, but we can’t take on more than we can handle. We can’t take on everything; that’s why we are one part that makes a greater body.

Sometimes it’s hard to ask for help, but not even God does everything alone. He never acts on earth without the help of us. He doesn’t need our help, but He makes us a part of His plan. We have to learn to ask for help. We have to grow as one single body together.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Be A Part of The Body.

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Let God Hold Up Your Arms

8 While the people of Israel were still at Rephidim, the warriors of Amalek attacked them. 9 Moses commanded Joshua, “Choose some men to go out and fight the army of Amalek for us. Tomorrow, I will stand at the top of the hill, holding the staff of God in my hand.” 10 So Joshua did what Moses had commanded and fought the army of Amalek. Meanwhile, Moses, Aaron, and Hur climbed to the top of a nearby hill. 11 As long as Moses held up the staff in his hand, the Israelites had the advantage. But whenever he dropped his hand, the Amalekites gained the advantage. 12 Moses’ arms soon became so tired he could no longer hold them up. So Aaron and Hur found a stone for him to sit on. Then they stood on each side of Moses, holding up his hands. So his hands held steady until sunset. 13 As a result, Joshua overwhelmed the army of Amalek in battle. ~ Exodus 17:8-13NLT

Moses couldn’t hold his arms up for the whole battle by himself. He needed help. There’s a spiritual battle going on right now over our lives, and we are Moses. The arms that we are holding up are our actions and decisions. We can’t make good decisions on our own. Our heart is inherently evil, so we need the Holy Spirit to guide us and the blood of Jesus to wash us clean.

2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 12:2

We’re not strong enough to hold up our own arms, so we have to depend on the Holy Spirit, who transforms us, and Jesus, who took our sins away. We have to lean on God so that the battle waged for our soul will be won in our favor.

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Let God Hold Up Your Arms.

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Protect The Generations To Come

16 He said, “They have raised their fist against the Lord’s throne, so now the Lord will be at war with Amalek generation after generation.” ~ Exodus 17:16NLT

We don’t always realize the decisions that we make not only affect the people around us but also our decisions affect the generations to come. Because David was a man after God’s own heart, his generations were blessed. Because Abraham was a man of faith, his generations were blessed. What we do today affects our children, even if we don’t have any yet.

Because of God’s relationship with David, God didn’t remove the throne from King Solomon. God remembers what we do and what we say. He remembers the relationship that we either tried to build with Him or the relationship that we threw away.

Even though God remembers the past, He also looks at our present. We don’t have to suffer in the chains that our ancestors formed for us; we can break those chains through Christ Jesus.

13 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. 14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. 15 In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.

Colossians 2:13-15

When we give our past to Jesus, He takes it from us. Why? Because He already paid our debt. He paid the debt of our ancestors. We don’t have to carry the past. We don’t have to carry the sins of our ancestors; we can start new. Let Jesus’ blood wash you clean.

Every action you make will affect the future. It will your future and the future of the ones you love and will one day love.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Protect The Generations To Come.

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Strive For Holiness

21 Then the Lord told Moses, “Go back down and warn the people not to break through the boundaries to see the Lord, or they will die. 22 Even the priests who regularly come near to the Lord must purify themselves so that the Lord does not break out and destroy them.” ~ Exodus 19:21-22NLT

The people of Israel, including the priests, could not just walk into the presence of God whenever they wanted. They had to first be purified; otherwise, they would be destroyed. Why? Because they were unclean. Humans are born unclean, so we have to be cleansed before we can enter the presence of God.

This is the same for us today. We have to be cleansed, washed clean, redeemed, and reconciled back to God so that we won’t be destroyed when we enter the presence of God Almighty. God is Holy, and His presence is Holy. How can we just enter His presence whenever we want if we aren’t living for Him?

2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 12:2

We have to live our lives with the daily determination to follow God and His commands. We have to strive every day to be Holy like God is Holy. Make time for God every day. Spend time in your Bible. Spend time in prayer. Don’t allow the distractions of the world to replace your relationship with God.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Strive For Holiness.

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God Prepared The Way

5 Then the Lord came down in a cloud and stood there with him; and He called out His own name, Yahweh. 6 The Lord passed in front of Moses, calling out, “Yahweh! The Lord! The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness. 7 I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But I do not excuse the guilty. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children and grandchildren; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations.” ~ Exodus 34:5-7NLT

The LORD went out before Moses calling out His own name. He then went on to call out His own attributes before Moses as well. The LORD wasn’t just describing Himself for Moses. He wasn’t just calling out His name for fun. The LORD was clearing the path before Moses. He knew and understood the power of His name. Solomon describes the name of the LORD like this:

10 The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.

Proverbs 18:10

The LORD was protecting Moses from all that was before him, even what he could not see. When Jesus came, He did more than just say His name before us, He broke every chain that tied us down. He defeated every obstacle that we’ve ever had, or ever will have. Jesus then ascended to Heaven and sent His Holy Spirit to abide with us and in us.

19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.

Luke 10:19

We have nothing to fear because God Himself is with us, in us, and has covered us in His perfect and Holy blood. We are washed clean and empowered by the Holy Spirit. So, boldly walk into your promised land. Boldly fight for your dreams and your call because the LORD is fighting for you. He’s already cleared your path, you just have to try.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Walk The Prepared Way.

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Don’t Blindly Follow

12 As she kept on praying to the Lord, Eli observed her mouth. 13 Hannah was praying in her heart, and her lips were moving but her voice was not heard. Eli thought she was drunk 14 and said to her, “How long are you going to stay drunk? Put away your wine.” 15 “Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. 16 Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.” ~ 1 Samuel 1:12-16

Eli was the High Priest at the time that Hannah was earnestly praying for a child in the Temple. Eli, though the High Priest, had no discernment. He took yearning and seeking after God for drunkenness. He had spiritually fallen asleep. Is this how the Church is today? Are our leaders spiritually awake?

In our society today, we’ve become more about feelings than about Truth. Why? Is it that our spiritual leaders have fallen asleep? Jesus said, that if the blind lead the blind both will fall into the pit. Just like in the days of Eli, the spiritually blind are leading the spiritually blind straight into the pit. When we stop reading the Bible for ourselves to see if what we are being taught is true, we are blindly following. And if we are blindly following, then how can we know whether our leaders are leading us to life or to death?

Spend time with the LORD. Seek out His wisdom and His discernment through His Holy Spirit. Jesus didn’t die on the cross to take away our sin and then raise again only to abandon us here alone. He went up to Heaven so that we could have the Holy Spirit with us and within us forever. He is our guide so that we never fall into a Spiritual blindness or Spiritual sleep as Eli did.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Blindly Follow.

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