In Eph 6:11-18 we read about the whole armor of God. In the next few weeks, we are going to study each piece of this armor. Tonight we will study the helmet of salvation, Eph 6:17.
The whole armor of God is given to us to stand against the wiles of the devil, Eph 6:11, because we wrestle not against flesh and blood. We wrestle against spiritual beings in a spiritual warfare, Eph 6:12. And in this wrestling match we need to stand and withstand, Eph 6:13.
We take the helmet of salvation to protect our minds. Through salvation, we have a:
Saved mind – Before we were saved, our minds were affected by sin and the devil, Eph 2:2-3. Our minds were defiled, Titus 1:15. We were like the man in the country of the Gadarenes in Mk 5:1-20. Well, maybe we weren’t quite as messed up as he was. However, like him, we weren’t in our right mind until after he saved us, Mk 5:15. After he saved us we were given the mind of Christ, 1 Cor 2:16. We can now have thoughts like Christ and not like the prince of the power of the air.
Spiritual mind – Rom 8:6-7 shows us that we can be either carnally minded or spiritually minded. To be carnally minded is death. The carnal mind is enmity against God. On the other hand, to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Now we can think about and understand spiritual things. Our spiritual mind must be renewed daily, Rom 12:1-2. Just like our carnal mind developed with growth and education, so our spiritual mind “grows” as we study, read and attend to the preaching of the word of God. We can now make spiritual decisions that are protected from the evil influences of the devil.
Sound mind – 2 Tim 1:7 God did not give us the spirit of fear; he gave us a sound mind. Our mind and rational thinking are adversely affected by emotions, of which fear is one of the strongest. Emotional decisions are always suspect and most often they are bad decisions. The man in the country of the Gadarenes was very emotional, Mk 5:5. With a sound mind, we can properly and rationally make decisions that are not influenced by our emotions and emotional proddings from the adversary.
Servant mind – Phil 2:5-8 once we are saved, we find our greatest fulfillment and satisfaction in serving others. When we serve others with a humble, servant mind, we are protected from the devil. Jas 4:6-7 says, “…God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Stay down with a servant mind. It’s very hard to hit a man who stays down as low as he can stay.
Conclusion: the helmet of salvation protects our minds in spiritual warfare through these four principle means.