The Belt of Truth
“Saints, if you do not know the Word of God, you are not prepared to stand in this spiritual war. An ancient soldier couldn’t even fight without cinching his belt—all his clothing would have hindered him. And neither can we fight without knowing the truth.”
As we begin to acknowledge the spiritual war that we are in, it becomes more evident that the world’s idea of what is true or morally right is rooted in corrupted beliefs planted by the deception of the enemy. If the enemy can distort the truth, then we can be easily deceived, and from there we find ourselves justifying our sin or not even seeing our sin for the offense against God that it truly is. Ephesians 6:14 tells us to “Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around [our] waist …”, encouraging the believer to live a life that finds it’s security in God’s word, held together by the Truth we hold close to our core.
If we look at the armor of various militaries during the time Paul was writing to the church of Ephesus, we find that the leather military belt soldiers wore indicated their military status, held their clothing together, and sometimes carried other tools to fight in battle. In the armor of God, the belt of truth does the same; telling us who we are, and who we belong to, ultimately unifying the other four pieces of armor to work together seamlessly, and is our best weapon. We have all we need through the Spirit that dwells inside of us, the word of God, and the work that Jesus already did on the cross on our behalf. We are co-heirs with Christ of the Kingdom of God, we belong to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, standing firmly in perfect union with our Creator and His Word being our weapon to fight with.
In John 17:17 Jesus prays for His disciples, asking our Heavenly Father to “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth”. The word of God, the adjective of the belt within our armor, is the Bible and truth in its entirety. If you do not know the Word of God, you will not be prepared or well-equipped for the battle that is before you. Traditionally, a belt is placed close to our waist, to our core. We stand straighter and more firm when held up by the brace that is our belt. In the same way, putting on the belt of truth each day, we are to clothe ourselves in scripture, having God’s word written on our hearts and holding us together, tight to the core of our being.
How would your thoughts change if your mind was submerged in scripture? How would the way you view yourself, others, and the world around you differ if you were to pray scripture over them and consult legitimate truth in these areas? How can you buckle truth around your waist today, tomorrow, and always?
