Ephesians 6:17 (TPT)
“Embrace the power of salvation’s full deliverance, like a helmet to protect your thoughts from lies…”
God has given us three pieces of the Armor that are offensive, three that are defensive, and one that is neutral. The Breastplate, Shield and Helmet are all defensive weapons, they protect us and give us the confidence to continue to mature in our spiritual growth. Now the three offensive weapons are the Shoes, Sword, and Lance, and these enable us to enforce and demonstrate Satan’s already secured defeat in Jesus Christ! The neutral weapon is the Belt of Truth, the Holy Scripture, the Bible, the written Word of God! This is the first piece listed and is the one that holds ALL the other pieces together!
Now remember Paul got his inspiration for armor from the Roman soldier's, and their helmet was a fascinating and beautiful piece. It was a bold piece of weaponry, very ornate and intricate. It looked more like a piece of artwork than a helmet! Rather than being a simple piece of metal formed to fit his head, the Roman soldier's helmet was highly decorated with all kinds of engravings and etchings. It would be very hard to walk past one of these soldiers without noticing him. You would definitely take note of a man who had a piece of sculpture on his head! And certainly your eyes would follow a man who had a brightly colored plume standing straight up on the top of his helmet. These helmets undoubtedly made the Roman soldier noticeable.
So why would the Holy Spirit have inspired Paul to compare this to salvation? Because our salvation is the most beautiful, most intricate, highly elaborate gift Jesus will ever give us! Paul is speaking of something with great importance. When a person is confident of their salvation, truly knows who they are in Christ, and living by the Power of the Holy Spirit that person is quite noticeable!
If our salvation (like a helmet) is not worn tightly around our mind, the enemy will come to attack the multiple benefits and blessings of our salvation right out of our belief system. He will hammer away at our spiritual foundation, trying to tell us that healing, deliverance, preservation of mind, and soundness are not really a part of Jesus' redemptive work on the Cross. By the time the enemy is finished with our mind, the only thing he will leave us with is Heaven! Which is sadly where many believers are and this is far short of what Jesus paid for us to walk and live in!
By exposing our unprotected mind to the devil's lie, we are placing ourselves in a position to be deceived. To face the adversary without our helmet of salvation is the equivalent of spiritual suicide! Many believers try to do the work of God without making it a personal goal to walk in the full knowledge of their salvation, and as a result, they are spiritually slaughtered. As believers we must have the helmet on if we are going to be useful to the Kingdom of God. How is the enemy going to attack us? How is he going to try to wage warfare against us? The devil comes to attack the mind!
To protect us from such attacks, God has given us the helmet of salvation. The fact that Paul likens salvation to a helmet means that we must learn about our salvation and find out all that it includes, inside and out.
We must spend time studying about the promises that God gives us in His Word.
- Who we are In Christ, which is His inheritance in us, and our inheritance in Jesus
- Healing (spirit, soul, and body) and deliverance
- The authority we have been given
Like a helmet, we must put on the knowledge and understanding of salvation around our head, and let it protect our mind. As we do this, we will begin to be transformed into the image of Christ (Romans 8:29, 2 Corinthians 3:18, Colossians 3:10)!
- We will no longer think and talk like an individual who is full of fear and doubt
- We will no longer think and talk like an individual who is negative
- We will no longer walk through life, with our heads down, who are continually defeated
As we faithfully read and meditate on the Word of God and allow it to work in our soul, then our thought life and our mind will be renewed (Romans 12:1-2)!