Welcome back to the Armor of God blog series.  In this session, we are going to “take the helmet of salvation” as Paul states in Ephesians 6:17a KJV.  Why do you think Paul chose to associate salvation with a helmet?  To understand this, let’s take a closer look at the example of the Roman soldier’s helmet.

The Roman soldier’s helmet reminds me of a football helmet.  It’s basically a skull cap but instead of being made from hard plastic, it is made out of iron then typically covered in bronze.  The helmet not only covered the head but was designed to come down in the back to protect the neck as well as have extended cheek guards to protect the face.  When the helmet was in place, very little of the soldier’s face was exposed except for eyes, nose and mouth.  Can you imagine going into battle without a helmet?  It would be like a football player going into a game without a helmet or a motorcyclist on an interstate without a helmet.  The helmet is designed to protect one of the most important organs to a human, the brain.

So, let’s think about the human brain.  The human brain controls everything of the human body.  All the nerve endings and impulses are centered in the brain and controls every movement and every thought.  Here’s another way to look at it…what the brain is to the body, the mind is to the soul.  One of the easiest places for the enemy to attack is in our thinking.  I’m sure I’m not the only one that has had my mind fill up with negative thoughts or insecure feelings of inadequacies.  Those thoughts don’t come from our loving, heavenly Father.  Those are from the enemy and he is strategically seeking those he can destroy.  The Bible tells us that, “The thief cometh not, but to steal, and to kill, and to destroy,” John 10:10a KJV.  Paul also reminds us in 2 Corinthians 10:5b of “bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”

“For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” ~ 2 Corinthians 10:4-5

I think this is why Paul used the analogy of the bronze-clad iron skullcap of the Roman soldier so that with this helmet of salvation on, we can deflect the arrows of the enemy targeting our minds and filling us with those negative thoughts and feelings.  If we go back to the beginning of Ephesians, Paul is writing to the church of Ephesus to remind them of who they are in Christ and the price of their salvation (Eph. 1:4-14 and Eph. 2:1-10).  We, also, in today’s present world, need to be remind ourselves of who we are in Christ and to know the price of our salvation.  Once we start replacing those negative thoughts with the true thoughts of who we are in Christ, we defeat the enemy for our minds.

My friends, we are the battlefield.  And, the battle is for our minds.  The enemy knows that when we don’t have on our helmet of salvation, he will take advantage of that opportunity to fill our minds with lies that are aimed to destroy us.  When our helmet of salvation is securely in place, we can then take those thoughts captive and that means that we control our thoughts instead of letting our thoughts control us.  Replacing those negative thoughts with true thoughts of how the Lord sees us is how we defeat the enemy.  This will not happen overnight, and sometimes, it might even take years.  But, as we do this repeatedly, and even if we have to shout it out loud, the enemy has to flee.  “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you”, states James 4:7b KJV.

“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” ~ Philippians 4:8 KJV