Part three of Ten: The Loinbelt of Truth

“Am I a dog, that thou comest to me with staves [Staff/stick]?” yelled Goliath of Gath, cursing at David by the names of his gods. At 9ft 9in tall, Goliath was an impressive figure of a man. He was a seasoned veteran since childhood and yet David, just a mere boy “ran” toward Goliath. You can find the account of David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17.

v48 And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came and drew nigh to meet David, that David hasted, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. [1 Samuel 17:48 KJV]

The Roman soldier was not near as big as Goliath but he was impressive nonetheless. His armor protected every part of his body and it is why Paul used it as a metaphor for our own spiritual armor.

God always gives us enough strength to take the next step and as we learned in part two, Paul says to stand strong, or to stand firm with a great inner strength so we can defeat the schemes and wiles of the enemy. David did not move either until he had the Lord’s OK and that inner explosive strength [1] as in Ephesians 6:10-13. The first piece of Armor was the loinbelt. It was the most important piece of armor in the soldier’s whole ensemble.

v14a, b Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth. . .[Ephesians 6:14a, b KJV]

The soldier’s loinbelt held his whole suit of armor on. If a man loses his belt, his pants fall down and his shirt comes untucked. If the Roman soldier had no loinbelt, he had no place to latch his shield, hang his sword, no place to rest his lance, and his breastplate would flap in the breeze. The leg greaves even attached to the loinbelt.

We also know our spiritual loinbelt as the belt of truth, which is the Word of God. God’s point here to Paul was, if the Roman soldier did not have his loinbelt on, his armor would fall apart. Likewise, if we do not apply the Word of God daily to our lives, the man will fall apart, and we have chosen to let our spiritual life come apart at the seams.

Do you remember in 1 Samuel when David tried on Saul’s armor with which to fight Goliath [2]? He took it off and told Saul that he couldn’t wear it because he hadn’t proved the armor. What did David do then? As I stated above, David put on the Holy Spirit of God before he went into battle. This was his explosive strength.

David wasn’t used to Saul’s armor, but God had proven to him the explosive strength of the Holy Spirit in David’s fight with the lion and the bear. Likewise, if we do not practice putting on our spiritual armor daily, we won’t get used to it and we’ll face the enemy naked and with no protection. Make this a daily practice in your morning quiet time brothers and sisters so you can stand firm in explosive power against the schemes and wiles of the enemy.
___________________________
Next time: The Breastplate of righteousness.

[1] 1 Samuel 17:37, 45-47
[2] 1 Samuel 17:38, 39