The Armor of God: The Belt of Truth

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Why do we need the Armor of God?

Paul explains it far better than I.

Ephesians 6:10-13 (NIV)

 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹ Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹² For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.¹³ Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

Anyone else feel convicted?

We need to acknowledge that there is so much more to our world and beyond that, we can’t see and don’t fully understand.

I love that we get a glimpse of this with the prophet Elisha in 2 Kings 6:17 (NIV) ¹⁷ And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

Whoa! That would have been terrifying and awe-inspiring and comforting all at the same time.

We are called to prepare for battle as well.

When Paul writes so you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes, I think it is important that we know and understand what the devil desires.

We can read this in John 10:10 (NIV) The thief [Satan] comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I [Jesus] have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Steal. Kill. Destroy.

And he’s good at it if we aren’t prepared.

• Before launching my blog I ran into major technical difficulties. My brand new Chrome book suddenly just went black and wasn’t taking a charge. My husband had to completely rebuild the computer.
• While promoting a giveaway for my readers my internet quit working for two days.
• When I was launching my workbook I had an unexpected hiccup with the payment process that stopped people from being able to purchase it.

And in each of these situations, I heard whispers, “See you aren’t meant for this.” “This isn’t really your calling.” “Who do you think you are to write.” “You don’t matter.”

Even with this series, I felt apprehensive. “Others have written on this subject. What more do you have to bring?”

But each one of these statements is false. Satan wants me to believe these lies because they steal my identity in Christ. They destroy others ability to read another perspective of God’s word. And they kill the opportunity to bring people to God’s kingdom through my writing. 

So prepare we must!

Armor of God

Here is Paul’s full list of the armor of God.

Ephesians 6:14-18 (NIV)

¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

¹⁸ And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

In today’s part one, we will be focusing on Paul’s first item on his list.

The Belt of Truth

When I started to look and study this verse I searched different translations to see the various wording.

The one that stuck out to me the most was NASB: ^14a Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth.  I had no idea what “girded” meant.

First, we can look at the literal definition

According to Merriam Webster, gird means to encircle or bind with a flexible band (such as a belt).

But what did that mean for the men at the time Paul wrote this?

Men wore tunics or long flowing garments between knee to ankle length. Men would at times wear a girdle, or small leather band around their waist to hold the tunic to their body. (Our understanding of a girdle, today, is not quite the same!) In the girdle, they may hang tools, weapons and money pouches.

If a man were going to prepare for heavy work or battle he would “gird his loins”. The process was wrapping the hem of his tunic in between his legs and tie the excess fabric around his legs and into his waistband. This allowed for freer movement, faster running (if necessary), and keeping the garment from getting tore. Check out this fun illustration for a visual!

Look at other situations in the bible where people were called to “gird”:

That leads us to the more figurative definition

To prepare (oneself) for action. (Merriam Webster) This is as much about a physical readiness as well as about a mental attitude.

Other comparable phrases that we are more familiar with include:

• roll up your sleeves
• batten down the hatches
• set the stage
• lay the foundation

1 Samuel 2:4 (NKJV) “The bows of the mighty men are broken, And those who stumbled are girded with strength.

So why does Paul use the connection of gird and truth in this situation?

Lets go back to the verse.  Stand firm, therefore, having girded your loins with truth. 

Here are a few different ways to read the verse given our different understanding of “gird”.

• Stand firm, therefore (for that reason; hence) encircle yourself with truth.
• Stand firm, therefore (for that reason; hence) prepare yourself with truth.

So in order for us to be able to stand firm (against Satan), we must encircle and prepare ourselves with truth.

The belt was the first in the list of items Paul described because that would have been the first thing a warrior or soldier would have done – “gird his loins”.

We then must first know the truth before we can do anything else in defending ourselves from the devil’s schemes. Because he deals in lies.

John 8:44 (NIV) ⁴⁴ You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

Note that this process is an active defense. We have to first know the truth before we can defend against it. And the truth is that Jesus is our Lord and Savior! The One and Only way to salvation.

I pray that you found this post informative to start the journey of arming yourself against Satan’s schemes.

The Armor of God

• Part One: The Belt of Truth
• Part Two: The Breastplate of Righteousness
• Part Three: The Boots of Peace
• Part Four: The Shield of Faith
• Part Five: The Helmet of Salvation
• Part Six: The Sword of the Spirit
• Part Seven: Pray in the Spirit

God bless!

Melissa

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