romans10seventeen

Why is it that I never even heard of the helmet of salvation found in Ephesians 6:13-17 until I was 48 years old?  Did you know about this passage?  Did you understand it’s significance growing up?  I have a theory but I won’t give it to you yet. Instead, I’d like to see if you can come to your own conclusion…(if you do, please comment below) and we can talk about it. =)

 

The helmet of salvation in verse 17 is protection for the head, keeping viable a critical part of the body. We could say that our way of thinking needs preservation. The head is the seat of the mind, which, when it has laid hold of the sure gospel hope of eternal life, will not receive false doctrine or give way to Satan’s temptations. The unsaved person has no hope of warding off the blows of false doctrine because he is without the helmet of salvation and his mind is incapable of discerning between spiritual truth and spiritual deception.

(excerpt from http://www.gotquestions.com)

(photo from pexels)

 

There used to be a commercial about the mind being a terrible thing to waste. There was a guy who cracked a couple of eggs in a hot frying pan and said something about that being your brain on drugs…then he (or someone) said something about your mind being a terrible thing to waste. It was clever.  I (sort of) remember it.

Your mind IS a terrible thing to waste.  But you don’t just waste it if you’re a drug user. You waste it when you blatantly choose not to study the word of God.  Look at the next 2 verses VERY carefully:

James 1:5 (NKJV) If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV) But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

And what exactly IS faith?

Hebrews 11:1 (NKJV) Now faith is the ^[a]substance of things hoped for, the ^[b]evidence of things not seen.

And how is it that we GET faith?  Come on, you remember this one…

Romans 10:17 (NKJV)

So then, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

In James 1:5 God promises us wisdom if we ask Him for it…but it also says in Hebrews 11:6 that you can’t expect to receive anything from God if you don’t first believe that He exists…and I’ll take it just a step further: You must believe that He is who He says He is and did what He said He’d do.  Your salvation depends on it! And once you get that truth don’t forget to put on your helmet to protect your mind from being deceived because the thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy…(John 10:10)…but Christ came to give you life and more abundantly.  You’ll want to protect that knowledge!

There are people who blindly follow a religious practice (like I did as a Catholic) because that’s what their parents did and their grandparents; maybe their whole family.  But guess what?  When you come to the end of your earthly life you will stand before the just Judge all alone.  Your family won’t be there.  It will be you and Jesus.  At that time, you’ll either hear “Well done, good and faithful servant” as in Matthew 25:23 or “Depart from me, I never knew you!” As in Matthew 7:21-23.

Have you thought about that?  What will He say to you?  Will He ask you why you didn’t act on what you heard when others tried to share the gospel with you?  Why you didn’t try to learn more about what you’re reading?

The moment you die it’s too late…His patience is what’s keeping you right now.

This is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2).  So if you’re hearing His voice right now, don’t harden your heart!  Instead just ask Him to show you the truth!  You don’t have to take my word for it, but I am telling you the truth.  He has given me that inner peace, and knowledge of the truth of my salvation.  I’m not afraid to die.  It’s not because I’m a good person either, because I’m NOT a good person.  I’ve done some really terrible, horrible things.  But I’ve got a good God and He has saved me from my sin.  He has washed me clean by the blood of Jesus.  In God’s eyes, I am righteous because I have trusted in the One who was sent to give me righteousness.  All I did was say, “Yes!” to Jesus.  I trust in His promises and He promised to save me.

Romans 10:9-10 (NKJV) ⁹ that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

I’m begging you right now…

You don’t know if you have tomorrow.  Once you take your last breath it will be too late.  At that time, when you come before Jesus it will be you, all alone…explaining why you either did or didn’t believe.  And if you believed in Jesus, you’ll have to explain why you just blindly continued practicing a religion you didn’t fully understand and why you didn’t at least try to search out the truth.  Why you didn’t just ASK HIM!

God help them who read this to ask!

God please give them eyes to see the truth and ears to hear the truth!

I ask all of this in the mighty name of Jesus the Christ…the only one who can save you.