"And take the helmet of salvation…” Ephesians 6:17.
A Personal Word:
I pray that everyone is safe and healthy after our recent Texas freeze and attendant problems. If you would like prayer for anything, please send an e-mail to me, and I and our team will pray for you. Please know that whatever your situation, you are dear to God, He loves you, and He stands ready to help you. ~ Much love, Syandra
WHO CAN WEAR THE HELMET OF SALVATION?
As with all of the other pieces of God’s armor, only those who are saved can wear the helmet of salvation. If we have not been born again and received Christ and His salvation, NONE of the armor will work for us! So the first thing for us to know, unequivocally, is that we are saved and born again. One of satan’s favorite tactics to destroy Christians is to make them doubt their salvation. But Paul tells us that when we have believed the gospel that Jesus died for our sins, washed them away, and made us a new creation in Him, the Holy Spirit came to dwell within us, sealing us.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” 2 Corinthians 5:17.
“He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” Colossians 1:13-14 .
When we are born again we become a new creation; we are delivered from the kingdom of darkness and put into God’s Kingdom and sealed by the Holy Spirit.
“In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance …” Ephesians 1:13-14
When we are born again, we are born again and sealed into God’s Kingdom, which is a spiritual kingdom. We are saved, and we can wear the helmet of salvation with confidence and boldness!
WHY DO WE NEED THE HELMET OF SALVATION?
Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world” John 18:36.
When we are born again, we are given citizenship in the Kingdom of God (see Philippians 3:20). We are still in the world, so we still need our bodies and physical senses to interact with it, but we are not of the world (see John 17:16). As citizens of God’s spiritual Kingdom we are to actively participate in it as we do in the physical realm. We are seated in Christ in Heaven.
“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” Ephesians 2:4-6.
As born again citizens of the Kingdom of God, we are expected to know what is going on in the kingdom and interact with it, as we interact with our physical world. We are already seated in Christ in order to fulfill our mission of bringing God’s will to the earth as it is in heaven. God gave us eyes to see, ears to hear, and the rest of the physical senses to interact with the physical world. And He gave us spiritual senses to interact with His spiritual Kingdom. Over and over, Jesus admonishes us, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” (see Matthew 13:9: Revelation 3:22).
In Matthew 13:10, “the disciples came and said to Him, ‘Why do You speak to them in parables?’
He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given” (Matthew 13:11.
“But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him: nor can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned…1 Corinthians 2:14).
The natural man, not born again, cannot see, hear, or understand the things of the Spirit; he does not have spiritual eyes, spiritual ears, or spiritual understanding.
“Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” John 3:3.
The Greek word for “see” in John 3:3 is eido, meaning to see literally or figuratively.
“When Jesus said see in John 3;3, he literally meant see with your eyes. If you’re born again, you can see the Kingdom of God.” ~ Bruce D. Allen, GAZING INTO GOD’S GLORY
It is easy for us to understand “seeing” in the kingdom figuratively, but the Church has been robbed in large part of the understanding that we also are to “see” God’s Kingdom literally. We have been taught that such things were for those “special” Christians, but Jesus is saying it is true of all truly born again Christians. If we are born again we can see the Kingdom. So why aren’t we? Why are so many born again Christians spiritually blind and spiritually deaf and without spiritual understanding? Because we haven’t guarded our minds and rightly discerned the truth. We have already been given every spiritual gift to live victorious, overcoming lives. God has given us full access to His Kingdom and provided every spiritual blessing to allow us to experience it.
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places" Ephesians 1:3, ESV.
THE HELMET OF SALVATION
We all understand that the purpose of a physical helmet is to protect the physical head which contains our brain which controls our body, including our five senses: eyes, ears, smell, taste, and touch. If the brain is damaged, one or more of our senses may be damaged; we become handicapped. We can’t process information correctly or interact with our physical world as we were created to do.
“The brain controls your ability to think, talk, feel, see, hear, remember things, walk and much more. It even controls your breathing.
“The brain is a soft mass of supportive tissues and nerves connected to the spinal cord. Some of the nerves in the brain go right to the eyes, ears and other parts of the head. Other nerves connect the brain with other parts of the body through the spinal cord to control personality, senses and body functions from breathing to walking.” ~ Johns Hopkins Neurology and Neurosurgery Brain Tumor Center
It is easy to understand the importance of protecting our physical head. Paul is saying that it is even more vitally important to protect your spiritual “head”: your mind, your spirit, your spiritual eyes, ears, smell and taste. Paul is saying guard them by putting on, not just any helmet, but putting on the helmet of salvation. So let’s begin by looking at the Greek word Paul chose to use for salvation.
The meaning in #4991: “Messianic Salvation, which is deliverance from enemies, the present possession of all true Christians, and includes all of sum of benefits and blessings which the Christians will enjoy in the eternal kingdom of God.”
In #4992: “bringing salvation, he who embodies this salvation, or through whom God is about to achieve it; the hope of future salvation.”
This gives us a deeper understanding about the helmet of salvation. It isn’t just about knowing that we are saved and redeemed and delivered, it is also about the One who saves, redeems and delivers us. Jesus is our salvation.
When we put on the helmet of salvation, we are putting on both the truth of our salvation (we have been saved, redeemed, healed, and delivered from the kingdom of darkness by the blood of the Lamb into God’s Kingdom) and we are putting on Christ, the Messiah, “who embodies this salvation.”
“For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness,” Isaiah 61:10)
Just as we have been robed in His righteousness, we are clothed with His salvation.
We haven’t just put on His robe of righteousness and His garment of salvation, we have put on HIM, Christ, the Messiah!
“But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts” Romans 13:14.
“For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” Galatians 3:27.
WHAT DOES THE HELMET OF SALVATION DO?
Having settled the matter that we are now and forever saved and destined to live with God eternally, this helmet of salvation guards and protects our mind and enables us to hear, see, taste, smell, and feel, and understand the things of the Spirit. It enables us to see and experience the Kingdom of God.
“But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him: nor can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned… For who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ”
1 Corinthians 2:14—16.
The helmet of salvation protects our mind, our spiritual eyes, ears, smell, taste, and touch, because we spiritually discern and understand what is pleasing to God and what isn’t.
We know that whatever comes into our mind through the gates of our natural senses, if we dwell on it, will eventually enter into and become part of our heart. With our helmet of salvation on, we resist the temptation to watch an immoral movie or TV show or to listen to profane songs. We discern that God isn’t pleased, and we are convicted to walk out of the movie, turn off the TV, or turn off the radio. So many men become addicted to pornography because they do not have on their helmet of salvation, and are ensnared by the temptation.
In Romans Paul tells us, “be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Remember, we have been given the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16).
“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:” Philippians 2:5.
Having the mind of Christ means we understand that Yahweh is GOD, the Creator of all things. We understand He has a plan for the world and a plan for each individual life, including ours. We understand His character and attributes. We know what He loves and what He hates. We spiritually discern the things of God. As we choose to operate from the mind of Christ, our own mind is renewed and we are transformed.
The mind is a battleground between the flesh and the spirit. We renew our minds by embracing the mind of Christ in us. When we have settled the matter of our salvation, putting on our helmet of salvation, our desires change. We start to desire what God desires more than our own desire to please our flesh. We serve Him because we want to serve Him. We obey Him because that is the desire of our heart. We give up some things we want to do or watch or listen to, because we do not want to grieve Him. These are evidences that we are being transformed by the renewing of our mind. What we focus on in our mind finds its way into our heart. Our own natural flesh is subject to temptation, and satan makes sure he brings temptation into our path. It is not sin to be tempted, but we must resist the temptation. Knowing we are saved, knowing who we are in Christ, reduces not only the power of the temptation so that it is easier to reject it, but also to repent when we sin; and repentance brings forgiveness and restored fellowship with God. The accusations and condemnation of the enemy that we have lost our salvation bounce off of our helmet, rather than penetrate our mind and our heart with feelings of shame, condemnation, and self-loathing.
Solomon, whom God gave abundant wisdom, had serious counsel about what we let into our hearts.
“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” Proverbs 4:23 NIV.
“Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life” Proverbs 4:23 NLT.
We guard our heart by guarding our mind. We are careful about what we let come into it through our physical senses. We discipline our thoughts: “casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” 2 Corinthians 10:5.
When unclean, depressing, discouraging, angry, or other dark thoughts come into our mind, we take those thoughts captive and reject them. When doubting thoughts come, we take them captive and reject them. Our helmet of salvation repels the fiery darts of the enemy.
When we put on the helmet of salvation, we are declaring that “I know that I know that I know that I am saved, a child of God forever, the Holy Spirit lives within me, neither satan nor anything else can ever separate me from the love of God (see Romans 8:37-39). Jesus will never forsake me; therefore, satan has no power over me, but I have power and authority over him!”
For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).
“…we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” Romans 8:37.
Wearing the helmet of salvation is essential for protection, understanding, and for victory!
Love, Hugs, and Blessings,
Syandra
His will, His way, whatever the cost! _____________________
All scripture references are from the New King James Version unless otherwise noted.
Comments