Randy Green's Blog - Posts Tagged "belt"
Truth or Dare? – Part 1
Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth [Ephesians 6:14].
There is this silly game which folks of all ages have played over the years. It has even been codified into books of questions to be used in the game. It is called Truth or Dare. Have you ever heard of it?
I’ll bet you have, even if you don’t know it by that name. There are numerous variations of it, so no telling what form you might know it by. To tell the truth, to me kiddie Halloween celebration is eerily similar to Truth or Dare. The main difference would be that kiddie Halloween doesn’t challenge with “truth or dare”. It challenges with “trick or treat”.
Anyway a group of people plays the game. Basically, a challenge is issued by one of the contestants, daring another contestant to tell the truth. Hence “truth or dare”. Either the person being challenged tells the truth, or else he loses.
Of course in normal life we want people to tell the truth, not to lie. But that isn’t what this game is about. When some folks play the game, personal questions of a private or embarrassing nature are asked. The end result is that, for those who choose to play, their inhibitions are broken down when their privacy is eliminated.
Of course when kids play the game, they ask kiddie questions, sort of like “trick or treat”. The real danger comes when, say, college students play the game. They are away from home and at an age of heightened sexual awareness. And in today’s social climate sex is worshiped, rather than handled with inhibitions.
Consequently, it is not unusual for college students to ask questions of a sexual nature. If the person challenged doesn’t want to be mocked for being an old prude, he or she will cough up the truth and expose his or her private affairs. A little time wallowing in such shenanigans, and the entire group feels 100% uninhibited. Promiscuity tends to follow closely on the heels of this game in consequence.
Truth can be a good thing, if given in the proper context. As Rule #1 for Bible study teaches, “A text without a context is a pretext.” Questions and information related to sexual matters are private and should be kept private. Only within the context of one man/one woman marriage is the topic suitable between two people.
We are exhorted in the Bible to speak the truth in love. Sexual questions and information in a board game between folks not married might be truth, but they are certainly not love! The only true way to participate in such a game is to refrain from speaking. That would be wisdom for the child of God.
We will pause for now and spend time with the Lord Jesus. Tomorrow we will continue this topic.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
There is this silly game which folks of all ages have played over the years. It has even been codified into books of questions to be used in the game. It is called Truth or Dare. Have you ever heard of it?
I’ll bet you have, even if you don’t know it by that name. There are numerous variations of it, so no telling what form you might know it by. To tell the truth, to me kiddie Halloween celebration is eerily similar to Truth or Dare. The main difference would be that kiddie Halloween doesn’t challenge with “truth or dare”. It challenges with “trick or treat”.
Anyway a group of people plays the game. Basically, a challenge is issued by one of the contestants, daring another contestant to tell the truth. Hence “truth or dare”. Either the person being challenged tells the truth, or else he loses.
Of course in normal life we want people to tell the truth, not to lie. But that isn’t what this game is about. When some folks play the game, personal questions of a private or embarrassing nature are asked. The end result is that, for those who choose to play, their inhibitions are broken down when their privacy is eliminated.
Of course when kids play the game, they ask kiddie questions, sort of like “trick or treat”. The real danger comes when, say, college students play the game. They are away from home and at an age of heightened sexual awareness. And in today’s social climate sex is worshiped, rather than handled with inhibitions.
Consequently, it is not unusual for college students to ask questions of a sexual nature. If the person challenged doesn’t want to be mocked for being an old prude, he or she will cough up the truth and expose his or her private affairs. A little time wallowing in such shenanigans, and the entire group feels 100% uninhibited. Promiscuity tends to follow closely on the heels of this game in consequence.
Truth can be a good thing, if given in the proper context. As Rule #1 for Bible study teaches, “A text without a context is a pretext.” Questions and information related to sexual matters are private and should be kept private. Only within the context of one man/one woman marriage is the topic suitable between two people.
We are exhorted in the Bible to speak the truth in love. Sexual questions and information in a board game between folks not married might be truth, but they are certainly not love! The only true way to participate in such a game is to refrain from speaking. That would be wisdom for the child of God.
We will pause for now and spend time with the Lord Jesus. Tomorrow we will continue this topic.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Truth or Dare? – Part 2
Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth [Ephesians 6:14].
Sex, even conversations about sex, are meant to occur in the context of one man/one woman marriage. As Christians we must be on guard against the world’s seductive traps to lead us into sexual sin.
This point bears weight in understanding one aspect of our Bible verse. The devil is prowling about like a roaring lion, seeking some juicy Christian to devour. He loves to engage the child of God in conversation, knowing that the more we open our mouths and utter verbiage, the more we are likely to step into it.
So the devil slithers up to us appearing as an angel of light and asks with the innocence of a toddler, “Did God really say…?” He couldn’t care less what God said, but he greatly cares to get us flapping our jaws, you see. He’ll soon have us right where he wants us.
It is almost automatic for the Christian to want to defend God’s honor. We want to set the record straight, when the devil’s innuendo about our blessed Lord pricks us like a sharp barb. We are constrained to speak the truth, you see.
This perspective furnishes one context for understanding our Bible verse. We are studying spiritual warfare. As we learned in our last study, it is essential that we “put on the full armor of God”, before we go to war against the wiles of the wicked one.
This armor consists of several items. Our Bible verse identifies one such piece of armor as “the belt of truth”. That is how the New International Version translates it. The NASB reads “having girded your loins with truth”. We “gird” ourselves with a “girdle”, which is a belt of sorts which wraps around the waist area.
The Apostle Paul bases his depictive armor on the wardrobe of the Roman legionnaires. The piece of equipment they wore around the midriff was a belt. It held a sleeve for carrying the sword. In today’s military the belt might have a pocket for carrying a compass and other paraphernalia. It might also have a canteen attached to it.
In Biblical times men wore robes and tunics, not shirts and trousers. A tunic was none too practical for work, and even less so for fighting the enemy! The tunic got in the way and there was a danger of tripping over it.
To alleviate this predicament, a belt or girdle was worn atop the tunic. When it was time to work or go to war, the bottom portion of the tunic was pulled up away from the feet and tucked into the belt, to keep it out of the way.
In our next study we will consider the relevancy of this information to our Bible verse. For now let’s take a breather and go off alone with Jesus. He has some things He wants to share with us.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Sex, even conversations about sex, are meant to occur in the context of one man/one woman marriage. As Christians we must be on guard against the world’s seductive traps to lead us into sexual sin.
This point bears weight in understanding one aspect of our Bible verse. The devil is prowling about like a roaring lion, seeking some juicy Christian to devour. He loves to engage the child of God in conversation, knowing that the more we open our mouths and utter verbiage, the more we are likely to step into it.
So the devil slithers up to us appearing as an angel of light and asks with the innocence of a toddler, “Did God really say…?” He couldn’t care less what God said, but he greatly cares to get us flapping our jaws, you see. He’ll soon have us right where he wants us.
It is almost automatic for the Christian to want to defend God’s honor. We want to set the record straight, when the devil’s innuendo about our blessed Lord pricks us like a sharp barb. We are constrained to speak the truth, you see.
This perspective furnishes one context for understanding our Bible verse. We are studying spiritual warfare. As we learned in our last study, it is essential that we “put on the full armor of God”, before we go to war against the wiles of the wicked one.
This armor consists of several items. Our Bible verse identifies one such piece of armor as “the belt of truth”. That is how the New International Version translates it. The NASB reads “having girded your loins with truth”. We “gird” ourselves with a “girdle”, which is a belt of sorts which wraps around the waist area.
The Apostle Paul bases his depictive armor on the wardrobe of the Roman legionnaires. The piece of equipment they wore around the midriff was a belt. It held a sleeve for carrying the sword. In today’s military the belt might have a pocket for carrying a compass and other paraphernalia. It might also have a canteen attached to it.
In Biblical times men wore robes and tunics, not shirts and trousers. A tunic was none too practical for work, and even less so for fighting the enemy! The tunic got in the way and there was a danger of tripping over it.
To alleviate this predicament, a belt or girdle was worn atop the tunic. When it was time to work or go to war, the bottom portion of the tunic was pulled up away from the feet and tucked into the belt, to keep it out of the way.
In our next study we will consider the relevancy of this information to our Bible verse. For now let’s take a breather and go off alone with Jesus. He has some things He wants to share with us.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Truth or Dare? – Part 3
Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth [Ephesians 6:14].
People in Bible times, including the Romans, wore tunics instead of trousers and shirts. The tunics dragged around the feet when walking and working. So a belt was worn around the waist, allowing the tunic to be pulled up off the feet and tucked in to keep it out of the way.
In Ephesians 6 Paul painted that image for us, except in Paul’s case the belt represented truth. If we don’t want to trip over our flapping jaws by quibbling with the wicked one, we need to employ the belt of truth. The operative word here is “truth”, dear friends. Jesus said that He is the truth. The Psalmist noted that the Word of God is the truth.
The devil is a liar and the father of all lies. He won’t tell you the truth, not even by accident. The antichrist will be a man who the devil possesses. He will present the world with the lie, and all the world will follow him like mice behind the Pied Piper.
But the devil doesn’t speak only the lie during the Tribulation. He is incessantly engaged in this sordid practice of his. We must go to war against it daily, both in our lives and in the world as a whole. Who is sufficient for these things? Not me, and not you either. Only the Lord is, which is why He provides us with “the full armor of God”.
When we wear the belt of truth—or when we gird our loins with truth, which is the same thing—we are fitting ourselves to go to war, you see. And the only defense against the lies of the devil are the truths of God. We have these truths in written form in the Bible. As Rule #2 for Bible study teaches, “The Bible is our sole and final authority in all matters of faith and practice.”
Not convinced? Then consider how Jesus warded off the devil’s attacks, during His forty days of fasting in the wilderness. To each of the devil’s temptations, our Lord answered by quoting the Word of God. Jesus didn’t argue with the devil. He told him the Word of God.
Jesus didn’t correct the devil because the devil wasn’t repentant. Jesus deflected the devil’s temptations by clinging to the Word of God as the truth. He put on the belt of truth, you see. In doing this Jesus role modeled for His people how to combat the wicked one.
In the garden the woman engaged in conversation with the devil. It only took a few exchanges of words between the devil and her before she stepped in it. She didn’t recognize that the devil wasn’t really interested in the truth. She innocently thought she could straighten him out.
Oh, dear. We’re out of time again. Let’s betake ourselves to Jesus for a refreshing time of fellowship. We will continue this topic on the morrow.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
People in Bible times, including the Romans, wore tunics instead of trousers and shirts. The tunics dragged around the feet when walking and working. So a belt was worn around the waist, allowing the tunic to be pulled up off the feet and tucked in to keep it out of the way.
In Ephesians 6 Paul painted that image for us, except in Paul’s case the belt represented truth. If we don’t want to trip over our flapping jaws by quibbling with the wicked one, we need to employ the belt of truth. The operative word here is “truth”, dear friends. Jesus said that He is the truth. The Psalmist noted that the Word of God is the truth.
The devil is a liar and the father of all lies. He won’t tell you the truth, not even by accident. The antichrist will be a man who the devil possesses. He will present the world with the lie, and all the world will follow him like mice behind the Pied Piper.
But the devil doesn’t speak only the lie during the Tribulation. He is incessantly engaged in this sordid practice of his. We must go to war against it daily, both in our lives and in the world as a whole. Who is sufficient for these things? Not me, and not you either. Only the Lord is, which is why He provides us with “the full armor of God”.
When we wear the belt of truth—or when we gird our loins with truth, which is the same thing—we are fitting ourselves to go to war, you see. And the only defense against the lies of the devil are the truths of God. We have these truths in written form in the Bible. As Rule #2 for Bible study teaches, “The Bible is our sole and final authority in all matters of faith and practice.”
Not convinced? Then consider how Jesus warded off the devil’s attacks, during His forty days of fasting in the wilderness. To each of the devil’s temptations, our Lord answered by quoting the Word of God. Jesus didn’t argue with the devil. He told him the Word of God.
Jesus didn’t correct the devil because the devil wasn’t repentant. Jesus deflected the devil’s temptations by clinging to the Word of God as the truth. He put on the belt of truth, you see. In doing this Jesus role modeled for His people how to combat the wicked one.
In the garden the woman engaged in conversation with the devil. It only took a few exchanges of words between the devil and her before she stepped in it. She didn’t recognize that the devil wasn’t really interested in the truth. She innocently thought she could straighten him out.
Oh, dear. We’re out of time again. Let’s betake ourselves to Jesus for a refreshing time of fellowship. We will continue this topic on the morrow.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Truth or Dare? – Part 4
Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth [Ephesians 6:14].
The devil loves to engage the Christian in conversation. He knows our proclivity for flapping our jaws at a speed too fast for our minds to keep up. Soon we are speaking half-truths along with him, and he has won the battle against truth.
In the garden the woman fell for this trick. The devil led her straight to lies and into sin. Jesus too was tempted by the devil. However, Jesus recognized the devil for who he is. He is a liar and the father of all lies. This means the devil is the opposite of the truth. Jesus is the truth (cf., John 14:6). The Word of God is the truth (cf., John 17:17). The devil is a liar.
This dichotomy between the devil and God, between lies and truth, was taught to the man and woman in the garden by means of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life. If the man and woman had faith in God, then they would obey Him. He permitted them to eat fruit from every tree, including the tree of life.
On the other hand, if they hadn’t faith in God, then they would do the one thing He forbade them to do, viz., eat fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This was why, in the garden, the devil immediately queried the woman about the fruit she was permitted to eat. “Did God really say that you can’t eat any of the fruit from any tree?” He got the woman discussing the issue with him, and he tripped her up in her words. She should have said, “It is written…” and left off talking after quoting the Word of God.
If we Christians don’t want to be the devil’s next meal, then we perforce have to fight spiritual warfare daily. And if we are to be successful in conducting spiritual warfare, we must don “the full armor of God”.
This armor includes wearing and properly utilizing “the belt of truth”. To wear the belt of truth, we must feed on our Bibles daily in quiet time alone with Jesus. We must learn Bible truth not only in the head but also in the heart, so that we are spiritually armed to stand firm against the lies of the devil.
The good ol’ USA today is not a Christian society. We are not even a post-Christian society. We are an outright antichrist society! And I’m not speaking hyperbolically either. The Book of the Covenant has been lost in the house of God. That should tell us how much it exists in the rest of society. It doesn’t.
We must daily prepare ourselves to walk in the ways of the Lord and conduct spiritual warfare, if we would not succumb to the wiles of the devil. We cannot do the Lord’s work and fight the Lord’s battles with our tunics dragging on our feet. We must needs wear the belt of truth. Only then will we be successful in standing firm.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
The devil loves to engage the Christian in conversation. He knows our proclivity for flapping our jaws at a speed too fast for our minds to keep up. Soon we are speaking half-truths along with him, and he has won the battle against truth.
In the garden the woman fell for this trick. The devil led her straight to lies and into sin. Jesus too was tempted by the devil. However, Jesus recognized the devil for who he is. He is a liar and the father of all lies. This means the devil is the opposite of the truth. Jesus is the truth (cf., John 14:6). The Word of God is the truth (cf., John 17:17). The devil is a liar.
This dichotomy between the devil and God, between lies and truth, was taught to the man and woman in the garden by means of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life. If the man and woman had faith in God, then they would obey Him. He permitted them to eat fruit from every tree, including the tree of life.
On the other hand, if they hadn’t faith in God, then they would do the one thing He forbade them to do, viz., eat fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This was why, in the garden, the devil immediately queried the woman about the fruit she was permitted to eat. “Did God really say that you can’t eat any of the fruit from any tree?” He got the woman discussing the issue with him, and he tripped her up in her words. She should have said, “It is written…” and left off talking after quoting the Word of God.
If we Christians don’t want to be the devil’s next meal, then we perforce have to fight spiritual warfare daily. And if we are to be successful in conducting spiritual warfare, we must don “the full armor of God”.
This armor includes wearing and properly utilizing “the belt of truth”. To wear the belt of truth, we must feed on our Bibles daily in quiet time alone with Jesus. We must learn Bible truth not only in the head but also in the heart, so that we are spiritually armed to stand firm against the lies of the devil.
The good ol’ USA today is not a Christian society. We are not even a post-Christian society. We are an outright antichrist society! And I’m not speaking hyperbolically either. The Book of the Covenant has been lost in the house of God. That should tell us how much it exists in the rest of society. It doesn’t.
We must daily prepare ourselves to walk in the ways of the Lord and conduct spiritual warfare, if we would not succumb to the wiles of the devil. We cannot do the Lord’s work and fight the Lord’s battles with our tunics dragging on our feet. We must needs wear the belt of truth. Only then will we be successful in standing firm.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Truth or Dare? – Part 1
Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth [Ephesians 6:14].
There is this silly game which folks of all ages have played over the years. It has even been codified into books of questions to be used in the game. It is called Truth or Dare. Have you ever heard of it?
I’ll bet you have, even if you don’t know it by that name. There are numerous variations of it, so no telling what form you might know it by. To tell the truth, to me kiddie Halloween celebration is eerily similar to Truth or Dare. The main difference would be that kiddie Halloween doesn’t challenge with “truth or dare”. It challenges with “trick or treat”.
Anyway a group of people plays the game. Basically, a challenge is issued by one of the contestants, daring another contestant to tell the truth. Hence “truth or dare”. Either the person being challenged tells the truth, or else he loses.
Of course in normal life we want people to tell the truth, not to lie. But that isn’t what this game is about. When some folks play the game, personal questions of a private or embarrassing nature are asked. The end result is that, for those who choose to play, their inhibitions are broken down when their privacy is eliminated.
Of course when kids play the game, they ask kiddie questions, sort of like “trick or treat”. The real danger comes when, say, college students play the game. They are away from home and at an age of heightened sexual awareness. And in today’s social climate sex is worshiped, rather than handled with inhibitions.
Consequently, it is not unusual for college students to ask questions of a sexual nature. If the person challenged doesn’t want to be mocked for being an old prude, he or she will cough up the truth and expose his or her private affairs. A little time wallowing in such shenanigans, and the entire group feels 100% uninhibited. Promiscuity tends to follow closely on the heels of this game in consequence.
Truth can be a good thing, if given in the proper context. As Rule #1 for Bible study teaches, “A text without a context is a pretext.” Questions and information related to sexual matters are private and should be kept private. Only within the context of one man/one woman marriage is the topic suitable between two people.
We are exhorted in the Bible to speak the truth in love. Sexual questions and information in a board game between folks not married might be truth, but they are certainly not love! The only true way to participate in such a game is to refrain from speaking. That would be wisdom for the child of God.
We will pause for now and spend time with the Lord Jesus. Tomorrow we will continue this topic.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
There is this silly game which folks of all ages have played over the years. It has even been codified into books of questions to be used in the game. It is called Truth or Dare. Have you ever heard of it?
I’ll bet you have, even if you don’t know it by that name. There are numerous variations of it, so no telling what form you might know it by. To tell the truth, to me kiddie Halloween celebration is eerily similar to Truth or Dare. The main difference would be that kiddie Halloween doesn’t challenge with “truth or dare”. It challenges with “trick or treat”.
Anyway a group of people plays the game. Basically, a challenge is issued by one of the contestants, daring another contestant to tell the truth. Hence “truth or dare”. Either the person being challenged tells the truth, or else he loses.
Of course in normal life we want people to tell the truth, not to lie. But that isn’t what this game is about. When some folks play the game, personal questions of a private or embarrassing nature are asked. The end result is that, for those who choose to play, their inhibitions are broken down when their privacy is eliminated.
Of course when kids play the game, they ask kiddie questions, sort of like “trick or treat”. The real danger comes when, say, college students play the game. They are away from home and at an age of heightened sexual awareness. And in today’s social climate sex is worshiped, rather than handled with inhibitions.
Consequently, it is not unusual for college students to ask questions of a sexual nature. If the person challenged doesn’t want to be mocked for being an old prude, he or she will cough up the truth and expose his or her private affairs. A little time wallowing in such shenanigans, and the entire group feels 100% uninhibited. Promiscuity tends to follow closely on the heels of this game in consequence.
Truth can be a good thing, if given in the proper context. As Rule #1 for Bible study teaches, “A text without a context is a pretext.” Questions and information related to sexual matters are private and should be kept private. Only within the context of one man/one woman marriage is the topic suitable between two people.
We are exhorted in the Bible to speak the truth in love. Sexual questions and information in a board game between folks not married might be truth, but they are certainly not love! The only true way to participate in such a game is to refrain from speaking. That would be wisdom for the child of God.
We will pause for now and spend time with the Lord Jesus. Tomorrow we will continue this topic.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Truth or Dare? – Part 2
Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth [Ephesians 6:14].
Sex, even conversations about sex, are meant to occur in the context of one man/one woman marriage. As Christians we must be on guard against the world’s seductive traps to lead us into sexual sin.
This point bears weight in understanding one aspect of our Bible verse. The devil is prowling about like a roaring lion, seeking some juicy Christian to devour. He loves to engage the child of God in conversation, knowing that the more we open our mouths and utter verbiage, the more we are likely to step into it.
So the devil slithers up to us appearing as an angel of light and asks with the innocence of a toddler, “Did God really say…?” He couldn’t care less what God said, but he greatly cares to get us flapping our jaws, you see. He’ll soon have us right where he wants us.
It is almost automatic for the Christian to want to defend God’s honor. We want to set the record straight, when the devil’s innuendo about our blessed Lord pricks us like a sharp barb. We are constrained to speak the truth, you see.
This perspective furnishes one context for understanding our Bible verse. We are studying spiritual warfare. As we learned in our last study, it is essential that we “put on the full armor of God”, before we go to war against the wiles of the wicked one.
This armor consists of several items. Our Bible verse identifies one such piece of armor as “the belt of truth”. That is how the New International Version translates it. The NASB reads “having girded your loins with truth”. We “gird” ourselves with a “girdle”, which is a belt of sorts which wraps around the waist area.
The Apostle Paul bases his depictive armor on the wardrobe of the Roman legionnaires. The piece of equipment they wore around the midriff was a belt. It held a sleeve for carrying the sword. In today’s military the belt might have a pocket for carrying a compass and other paraphernalia. It might also have a canteen attached to it.
In Biblical times men wore robes and tunics, not shirts and trousers. A tunic was none too practical for work, and even less so for fighting the enemy! The tunic got in the way and there was a danger of tripping over it.
To alleviate this predicament, a belt or girdle was worn atop the tunic. When it was time to work or go to war, the bottom portion of the tunic was pulled up away from the feet and tucked into the belt, to keep it out of the way.
In our next study we will consider the relevancy of this information to our Bible verse. For now let’s take a breather and go off alone with Jesus. He has some things He wants to share with us.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Sex, even conversations about sex, are meant to occur in the context of one man/one woman marriage. As Christians we must be on guard against the world’s seductive traps to lead us into sexual sin.
This point bears weight in understanding one aspect of our Bible verse. The devil is prowling about like a roaring lion, seeking some juicy Christian to devour. He loves to engage the child of God in conversation, knowing that the more we open our mouths and utter verbiage, the more we are likely to step into it.
So the devil slithers up to us appearing as an angel of light and asks with the innocence of a toddler, “Did God really say…?” He couldn’t care less what God said, but he greatly cares to get us flapping our jaws, you see. He’ll soon have us right where he wants us.
It is almost automatic for the Christian to want to defend God’s honor. We want to set the record straight, when the devil’s innuendo about our blessed Lord pricks us like a sharp barb. We are constrained to speak the truth, you see.
This perspective furnishes one context for understanding our Bible verse. We are studying spiritual warfare. As we learned in our last study, it is essential that we “put on the full armor of God”, before we go to war against the wiles of the wicked one.
This armor consists of several items. Our Bible verse identifies one such piece of armor as “the belt of truth”. That is how the New International Version translates it. The NASB reads “having girded your loins with truth”. We “gird” ourselves with a “girdle”, which is a belt of sorts which wraps around the waist area.
The Apostle Paul bases his depictive armor on the wardrobe of the Roman legionnaires. The piece of equipment they wore around the midriff was a belt. It held a sleeve for carrying the sword. In today’s military the belt might have a pocket for carrying a compass and other paraphernalia. It might also have a canteen attached to it.
In Biblical times men wore robes and tunics, not shirts and trousers. A tunic was none too practical for work, and even less so for fighting the enemy! The tunic got in the way and there was a danger of tripping over it.
To alleviate this predicament, a belt or girdle was worn atop the tunic. When it was time to work or go to war, the bottom portion of the tunic was pulled up away from the feet and tucked into the belt, to keep it out of the way.
In our next study we will consider the relevancy of this information to our Bible verse. For now let’s take a breather and go off alone with Jesus. He has some things He wants to share with us.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Truth or Dare? – Part 3
Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth [Ephesians 6:14].
People in Bible times, including the Romans, wore tunics instead of trousers and shirts. The tunics dragged around the feet when walking and working. So a belt was worn around the waist, allowing the tunic to be pulled up off the feet and tucked in to keep it out of the way.
In Ephesians 6 Paul painted that image for us, except in Paul’s case the belt represented truth. If we don’t want to trip over our flapping jaws by quibbling with the wicked one, we need to employ the belt of truth. The operative word here is “truth”, dear friends. Jesus said that He is the truth. The Psalmist noted that the Word of God is the truth.
The devil is a liar and the father of all lies. He won’t tell you the truth, not even by accident. The antichrist will be a man who the devil possesses. He will present the world with the lie, and all the world will follow him like mice behind the Pied Piper.
But the devil doesn’t speak the lie only during the Tribulation. He is incessantly engaged in this sordid practice of his. We must go to war against it daily, both in our lives and in the world as a whole. Who is sufficient for these things? Not me, and not you either. Only the Lord is, which is why He provides us with “the full armor of God”.
When we wear the belt of truth—or when we gird our loins with truth, which is the same thing—we are fitting ourselves to go to war, you see. And the only defense against the lies of the devil are the truths of God. We have these truths in written form in the Bible. As Rule #2 for Bible study teaches, “The Bible is our sole and final authority in all matters of faith and practice.”
Not convinced? Then consider how Jesus warded off the devil’s attacks, during His forty days of fasting in the wilderness. To each of the devil’s temptations, our Lord answered by quoting the Word of God. Jesus didn’t argue with the devil. He told him the Word of God.
Jesus didn’t correct the devil because the devil wasn’t repentant. Jesus deflected the devil’s temptations by clinging to the Word of God as the truth. He put on the belt of truth, you see. In doing this Jesus role modeled for His people how to combat the wicked one.
In the garden the woman engaged in conversation with the devil. It only took a few exchanges of words between the devil and her before she stepped in it. She didn’t recognize that the devil wasn’t really interested in the truth. She innocently thought she could straighten him out.
Oh, dear. We’re out of time again. Let’s betake ourselves to Jesus for a refreshing time of fellowship. We will continue this topic on the morrow.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
People in Bible times, including the Romans, wore tunics instead of trousers and shirts. The tunics dragged around the feet when walking and working. So a belt was worn around the waist, allowing the tunic to be pulled up off the feet and tucked in to keep it out of the way.
In Ephesians 6 Paul painted that image for us, except in Paul’s case the belt represented truth. If we don’t want to trip over our flapping jaws by quibbling with the wicked one, we need to employ the belt of truth. The operative word here is “truth”, dear friends. Jesus said that He is the truth. The Psalmist noted that the Word of God is the truth.
The devil is a liar and the father of all lies. He won’t tell you the truth, not even by accident. The antichrist will be a man who the devil possesses. He will present the world with the lie, and all the world will follow him like mice behind the Pied Piper.
But the devil doesn’t speak the lie only during the Tribulation. He is incessantly engaged in this sordid practice of his. We must go to war against it daily, both in our lives and in the world as a whole. Who is sufficient for these things? Not me, and not you either. Only the Lord is, which is why He provides us with “the full armor of God”.
When we wear the belt of truth—or when we gird our loins with truth, which is the same thing—we are fitting ourselves to go to war, you see. And the only defense against the lies of the devil are the truths of God. We have these truths in written form in the Bible. As Rule #2 for Bible study teaches, “The Bible is our sole and final authority in all matters of faith and practice.”
Not convinced? Then consider how Jesus warded off the devil’s attacks, during His forty days of fasting in the wilderness. To each of the devil’s temptations, our Lord answered by quoting the Word of God. Jesus didn’t argue with the devil. He told him the Word of God.
Jesus didn’t correct the devil because the devil wasn’t repentant. Jesus deflected the devil’s temptations by clinging to the Word of God as the truth. He put on the belt of truth, you see. In doing this Jesus role modeled for His people how to combat the wicked one.
In the garden the woman engaged in conversation with the devil. It only took a few exchanges of words between the devil and her before she stepped in it. She didn’t recognize that the devil wasn’t really interested in the truth. She innocently thought she could straighten him out.
Oh, dear. We’re out of time again. Let’s betake ourselves to Jesus for a refreshing time of fellowship. We will continue this topic on the morrow.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Truth or Dare? – Part 4
Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth [Ephesians 6:14].
The devil loves to engage Christians in conversation. He knows our proclivity for flapping our jaws at a speed too fast for our minds to keep up. Soon we are speaking half-truths along with him, and he has won the battle against truth.
In the garden the woman fell for this trick. The devil led her straight to lies and into sin. Jesus too was tempted by the devil. However, Jesus recognized the devil for who he is. He is a liar and the father of all lies. This means the devil is the opposite of the truth. Jesus is the truth (cf., John 14:6). The Word of God is the truth (cf., John 17:17). The devil is a liar (John 8:44).
This dichotomy between the devil and God, between lies and truth, was taught to the man and woman in the garden by means of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life. If the man and woman had faith in God, then they would obey Him. He permitted them to eat fruit from every tree, including the tree of life.
On the other hand, if they hadn’t faith in God, then they would do the one thing He forbade them to do, viz., eat fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This was why, in the garden, the devil immediately queried the woman about the fruit she wasn't permitted to eat. “Did God really say that you can’t eat any of the fruit from any tree?” He got the woman discussing the issue with him, and he tripped her up in her words. She should have said, “It is written…” and left off talking after quoting the Word of God.
If we Christians don’t want to be the devil’s next meal, then we perforce have to fight spiritual warfare daily. And if we are to be successful in conducting spiritual warfare, we must don “the full armor of God”.
This armor includes wearing and properly utilizing “the belt of truth”. To wear the belt of truth, we must feed on our Bibles daily in quiet time alone with Jesus. We must learn Bible truth not only in the head but also in the heart, so that we are spiritually armed to stand firm against the lies of the devil.
The good ol’ USA today is not a Christian society. We are not even a post-Christian society. We are an outright antichrist society! And I’m not speaking hyperbolically either. The Book of the Covenant has been lost in the house of God. That should tell us how much it exists in the rest of society. It doesn’t.
We must daily prepare ourselves to walk in the ways of the Lord and conduct spiritual warfare, if we would not succumb to the wiles of the devil. We cannot do the Lord’s work and fight the Lord’s battles with our tunics dragging on our feet. We must needs wear the belt of truth. Only then will we be successful in standing firm.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
The devil loves to engage Christians in conversation. He knows our proclivity for flapping our jaws at a speed too fast for our minds to keep up. Soon we are speaking half-truths along with him, and he has won the battle against truth.
In the garden the woman fell for this trick. The devil led her straight to lies and into sin. Jesus too was tempted by the devil. However, Jesus recognized the devil for who he is. He is a liar and the father of all lies. This means the devil is the opposite of the truth. Jesus is the truth (cf., John 14:6). The Word of God is the truth (cf., John 17:17). The devil is a liar (John 8:44).
This dichotomy between the devil and God, between lies and truth, was taught to the man and woman in the garden by means of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life. If the man and woman had faith in God, then they would obey Him. He permitted them to eat fruit from every tree, including the tree of life.
On the other hand, if they hadn’t faith in God, then they would do the one thing He forbade them to do, viz., eat fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This was why, in the garden, the devil immediately queried the woman about the fruit she wasn't permitted to eat. “Did God really say that you can’t eat any of the fruit from any tree?” He got the woman discussing the issue with him, and he tripped her up in her words. She should have said, “It is written…” and left off talking after quoting the Word of God.
If we Christians don’t want to be the devil’s next meal, then we perforce have to fight spiritual warfare daily. And if we are to be successful in conducting spiritual warfare, we must don “the full armor of God”.
This armor includes wearing and properly utilizing “the belt of truth”. To wear the belt of truth, we must feed on our Bibles daily in quiet time alone with Jesus. We must learn Bible truth not only in the head but also in the heart, so that we are spiritually armed to stand firm against the lies of the devil.
The good ol’ USA today is not a Christian society. We are not even a post-Christian society. We are an outright antichrist society! And I’m not speaking hyperbolically either. The Book of the Covenant has been lost in the house of God. That should tell us how much it exists in the rest of society. It doesn’t.
We must daily prepare ourselves to walk in the ways of the Lord and conduct spiritual warfare, if we would not succumb to the wiles of the devil. We cannot do the Lord’s work and fight the Lord’s battles with our tunics dragging on our feet. We must needs wear the belt of truth. Only then will we be successful in standing firm.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Joshua: Volume 6 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
