Welcome back again to our series on your spiritual weapons. Today we are exploring the fifth piece of God’s armor listed in Ephesians 6:17, the helmet of salvation.
Join me today as we learn about this essential protective item.
The Purpose of the Helmet
At first glance there may not seem to be much going on with the helmet. Most people would likely assume its purpose is obvious— a helmet protects your skull, head, and parts of your neck— and indeed the Helmet of salvation does exactly the same thing on a spiritual level.
The human skull houses some of our most crucial components: eyes, tongue, and of course, brain; and these are also the very same spiritual aspects that the Helmet of salvation protects as well. So let’s examine this more closely together
Protecting Our Perceptions
Just as our physical eyes allow us to perceive the world around us, our spiritual eyes have to do with our spiritual perceptions. What we see spiritually is even more important than what we see physically.
Many times the world, situations, and other people will try to hook our attention and pull us in various directions, such as fear, uncertainty, anger, depression, whatever it may be. The battleground, here, is in fact our perceptions. Our perceptions is very closely related with our believing, and ultimately shapes our words (which
also have great power).
And we see a striking example of this in Numbers 13:25-33:
“And they returned from searching of the land after forty days.
And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, to the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word to them, and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.
And they told him, and said, We came to the land where you sent us, and surely it flows with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.
Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.
The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.
And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.
But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.
And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched to the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eats up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.
And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.”
Now we know from the scriptures that God had already promised the Israelites that this land was theirs – that’s why it’s called the Promise Land to begin with; because it was “promised” to the Israelites.
God promised it to them, not once, not twice, but three times… in Genesis chapters 15, 26, and 28. Yet in verse 32, they still brought back what God calls an evil report that they could NOT take the land, even in direct opposition to the promises which God had given them. All this we know, because we have studied it previously.
Today however, we are going to look at one overlooked detail in this account, which sheds an important light on why they brought back the evil report that ultimately led to their destruction, and it contains an important lesson for us today as well.
Take a close look at the very last verse, 33:
“And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.”
We can see a very startling admission here: notice precisely what the ten spies said: we were in our own sight as grasshoppers.
This right here my friend tells us how they saw themselves, and it shows us which lenses they were wearing.
They saw themselves as grasshoppers compared to the inhabitants of the land. And this perspective kept them in the clutches of fear and prevented them from taking the land that God had already promised them!
Notice that their faulty perspective also had an effect on how they were perceived by others as well. They said: we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
This is an area that a lot of people struggle with. And for myself growing up as a sickly, weak and disabled child, I struggled with it as well. I always had a negative opinion of myself, and would project negatively into my future, because of the way that I saw myself. I would always think that other people were judging me, and secretly laughing at me. I saw myself as a grasshopper. And because that was the perspective that I had of myself, the result was the same as that of the ten spies… others also saw me the same way as I saw myself.
Much like the Israelites, I had the promises of God; I knew about them; but when it came time to live them, I really didn’t trust or believe in them. I was too busy looking at the giants in the land, the high walls, and my own perceptions of myself.
Taming Our Thoughts
Now we can already see how our perceptions are a function of our thoughts, and how those thoughts are one of the primary features of our brain. The helmet of salvation protects our thoughts in the same way as it does our perceptions; with the promises of God given to us in Christ, including who were are in Him (righteous, holy, blameless in His sight)
So when a thought comes our way telling us that we are dirty, unloved, abandoned by God, or otherwise unworthy, we have a defense: the helmet of salvation.
And notice the name: it is the helmet of salvation. Not the helmet of your performance; not the helmet of the law of Moses, or the Ten Commandments. It’s the salvation given to us by Jesus Christ that’s the focus here. Take some time to truly meditate on this fact because it’s a vital concept that God wants us to be fully aware of.
Watching Our Words
Ultimately, our perceptions and thoughts take hold through our words, or more precisely, we accept thoughts and perceptions through what we speak. Whether a thought is right or wrong, we have the power to accept or reject it with the words that we speak. Did you know that?
The scripture says in Proverbs 18:20 that a man’s belly shall be satisfied by the fruit of his mouth — that’s not referring to eating food, that’s referring to what comes out of your mouth, the words that you speak. And the very next verse of Proverbs 18:21 goes even further by saying that death and life are in the power of the tongue.
Jesus expounds on this principle even more in Matthew 6:3, where He says: Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
And notice the phrasing that Jesus uses here: Take no thought, saying… that tells us that the way that we take (or refuse!) a thought is by speaking; our words carry power and authority.
Wearing the Helmet
So how do we put on the Helmet of Salvation to protect our perceptions, thoughts, and words? Thankfully, the answer is simpler than you might expect. In Ephesians 6:17, we are told to take the helmet of salvation, and the word for “take used here is δέχομαι dechomai, whose meaning is “take hold of; receive; and to not refuse”
And there we have it. The way that we take and wear the helmet of salvation, to to receive, and not refuse the salvation of Christ. To accept all that His salvation has purchased on our behalf.
Salvation is not just going to heaven. It is a very rich and broad word meaning completeness, wholeness, healing and more. So the helmet of salvation reminds is and encourages us to be steadfast in all that Jesus has paid for us to have.
And so my friend, I invite you to wear the helmet of salvation today, and every day. And I look forward to thriving with you again.
Be blessed.
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