The Helmet of Salvation!

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 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. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” – Ephesians 6:10-18 NIV

I believe we do not wear helmets when we are riding a bicycle for fun. I think I did not wear a helmet when I was young but I have fallen once. Fortunately, I did not hurt my head. In some cases, a dangerous injury may occur when we are riding fast, so it is necessary to wear helmets when we are riding any kind of bikes, especially for competitions and when we are riding motorbikes. Although Riding for Disabled Association trains disabled people to ride horses for fun, people have to wear helmets despite of the fact that some of them tend to ride their horses fast.

Let us consider daily routines as bikes. The reason that Ephesians 6:17 states that the word of God is the helmet of salvation is that there is power in God’s word as the name of Jesus Christ is the salvation of human beings (Acts 4:12). Since my mentor e-mailed me that the acronym for the B.I.B.L.E is Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth, I searched whether there are any acronyms for Bible in Google. One of them is Basic Instructions Before Living Eternally. Since we know that God is eternal (see John 1:1-4), He wants us to put His word into practice of our daily lives (Luke 6:46-49). He desires us to learn how to live for eternity as all of us have been created by God and are created to be the image and children of God (Genesis 1:27; Ephesians 1:4-6). Apostle Paul knew that there is power of God in His word so he proclaims,

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” (Romans 1:16-17)

Tomorrow, I anticipate on writing about why the word of God is often known as the sword of the Spirit. Nevertheless, listen to “This I Believe (The Creed)” by Hillsong Worship. Meditate on Psalm 1:1-3 and ask yourself this question: ‘Am I meditating God’s word throughout my daily life and living according to it?’