Series: Spiritual Warfare
Ephesians 6:17a – And take the helmet of salvation,
In the ancient world, the helmet usually was a leather cap studded with metal for extra strength. Often some kind of plume or decoration was added, perhaps to identify the solider to his regiment. A soldier would be foolish to go into battle without his helmet.
Head, symbolically in the Bible, tends to mean the whole person. We must protect the head at all costs, putting on salvation. Putting on Jesus. Salvation is protection that comes only from the Lord. We cannot ‘put it on’ He puts salvation on us. Salvation is a one-time thing. We don’t have to keep saying the sinner’s prayer over and over again until it sticks. However, we do have to put on a helmet of salvation every day: and that is the helmet of the hope of salvation. 1 Thessalonians 5:8 admonishes us to put on the hope of salvation as a helmet. If we don’t have our hope of salvation firmly in place, we will end up busy nursing head injuries instead of spreading the Gospel.
Every day we enter the battlefield of the mind, where the devil can deal harsh, sometimes fatal blows. When the devil plagues us with doubts about our salvation and eternal standing, we’re going to be susceptible. He also likes to inject our minds with worldly ideas (Romans 12:1-2) trying hard to get us to conform to the patterns of the world. The helmet of salvation protects us from these debilitating thoughts and ensuing actions.
The helmet of salvation protects us against discouragement and the sometimes overwhelming desire to give up. It gives us hope not only in knowing that we are saved, but that we will be saved. It is the assurance that God has and will triumph. Without the helmet, we leave ourselves exposed on the spiritual battlefield. However, when we are properly equipped with the helmet of salvation, it’s hard to stay discouraged.
The devil will do all he can to discourage and cause us to doubt. We can only stand against his blows by putting on the essential protection of the helmet of salvation, refreshing and renewing our minds every day by staying in Scripture, praying in all circumstances. We remind ourselves daily that the Lord has won the victory and that He that is in us, is greater than he that is in the world.
Is your helmet of salvation in place today?
Lord as I put on my helmet of salvation, help me stand firm against the fiery darts of doubt and discouragement, I pray.
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