Hi, Swords!

(Just a reminder the word used below is not a mistake, the word is NOT “establish”….but stablish.  The King James is the only bible to make the proper distinction between the two words (e.g, Rom 1:11 vs 16:25).

Rom 1:11  For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established;

Rom 16:25  Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,

Establish has the connotation of a PROCESS, or the work being done to become stable.

Stablish means the work is DONE – what was being ESTABLISHED is now completely STABILIZED.

This is definitely what I want, don’t you?! To be permanently established and stabilized according to the gospel of Paul and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery! There’s no better thing to be stablished in than Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery.)

SWORDS Bible Study: Ephesians 6:14a

By Mari

Okay, we have been talking about standing in the armor of God. Now it’s time to start examining the pieces of this armor!

6:14a Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth…

We are to stand having our loins girt about with truth. What truth? The truth of the whole word of God.

How do we do this?

Once again we read the word of God (I Tim 4:13) and meditate on it. (1 Tim 4:15)

We want our loins girt about with truth or we surely cannot even stand very well, much less be ready to move if your pants are falling down!  And the purpose of the girdle with which a soldier was girt was to prevent that from happening.

This is the physical example that Paul is using with this analogy, to illustrate how we don’t want to have our pants falling down spiritually either! They fall down when we don’t know the truth with which we are supposed to be girded! So when Satan’s fiery darts of deception are sent our way, we get hit, because we are too busy trying to keep up or pull our spiritual pants up!

As a soldier tied up his robe with his belt to be ready to fight, we use truth to ready ourselves to fight spiritually!  Having our loins girt about with truth helps us to fight and stand firm. It means we are ready for action, prepared and able to stand our ground.

Having our loins girt about with truth is not a carnal thing, it is a spiritual thing!

Each piece of God’s armor has a specific purpose.   Three of the pieces are fixed to the body: the girdle of truth (v.14), the breastplate of righteousness (v.14), and the shoes of the preparation of the gospel of peace (v.15). When we are girded with the belt of truth we can have confidence and know we are ready for battle, ready to shine the light of God’s Word.

Our Apostle Paul tells us WHY we need to have our loins girt up with truth:

Eph 5:6 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.

Eph 5:7 Be not ye therefore partakers with them.

Eph 5:8 For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:

We are to be girded for spiritual battle with the full truth of God’s word. When we know the word of God we cannot be tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine (Eph 4:14).  We will not be deceived with vain words from the children of disobedience.

What kind of soldier is swayed by the wind? Or, in other words what kind of soldier pays attention to another set of instructions than what his Commander is giving him? Our Commander, Jesus Christ has told us to walk as children of light.

As we rightly divide the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15), we learn that the foundation of our truth from God for today was laid by Paul (1 Cor 3:10), and it must be this truth, NOT our feelings, that govern us!  After all, the truth is what is to govern us from the moment we first heard the word of God and trusted in it:

Eph 1:12-13 That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

Notice the verse speaks of Christ, “in whom” we trusted to get to heaven.  We trusted Christ for our salvation NOT ourselves!  We believed in Christ after we heard the word of God, for faith cometh by hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17).  It was not our feelings, or anyone else’s feelings or words that saved us, it was the word of truth from God.

After we believe and the foundation of our faith has been laid, we are to build on this foundation of truth, the foundation the Apostle Paul laid for us, the foundation of salvation by grace through faith alone. Sin forgiveness and complete reconciliation in Christ. That is what establishes us and what we are to build on, not our feelings, or anyone else’s feelings or words, but only the truth of God’s word, rightly divided. (2 Timothy 2:15)

It is not our physical waist that holds up our robes so we can fight freely, it is the truth of God that girds up our minds, because this is a spiritual war.

The truth that sets US free, the truth that was revealed after the Law, a truth about salvation through faith alone, a truth Paul sometimes just called the truth of “faith,” or “the faith”, or “the faith of Christ” (NOT as an example of faith as some teach falsely, but as the OBJECT of our faith, in which we learn the power of His death and resurrection in us).

Gal_3:23 Before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.

What is the truth of God’s word for us? Our truth, that we follow, is the truth of salvation by faith alone, without works, a truth that came from the risen Christ Who is the object of our faith, and was given to the Apostle Paul for us today. We are under grace, not law!

Rom_6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

Rom_3:22  Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

The truth today that saves and stablish us IS the power of Christ according to the gospel of the grace of God given to the Apostle Paul, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, ACCORDING TO THE REVELATION OF THE MYSTER….

Rom_16:25   Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,

This truth is girt about our loins!

We have the complete and finished word of God in our KJ Bible. When we open this Bible, we have the MIND OF GOD before us! No wonder we are told:

1Co_2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

Through study of the word of God, the truth of God, we have the mind of God! Why not stand in it? This is what we are to do! In the Word we have all truth, and no one can move us from what we know, if we stand fast with our loins girt about with truth.

So gird your mind with the truth for today sisters and be not tossed to and fro. Truth will give you a firm standing, NOT just a feeling that can change with every wind of doctrine!

God has given us the belt of truth that our Christian lives may KNOW the power of being stabish according to the gospel, which enables us to be ready to go into battle against error, or the lies of Satan at a moment’s notice.

THE GOSPEL THAT SAVES
“I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved … that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:”

– 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 (KJB)