SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/14/2019 9:59 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “The
Girdle of Truth”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
6:14a
Message of the
verses: “14
Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled round your waist,”
We spoke about how the Roman
Soldiers would tuck their outer garment into the belt or girdle when they
wanted to run and so this belt that girded it all securely together and this
demonstrates the believer’s readiness for war is truth. John MacArthur writes “Aletheia (truth) basically refers to the content of that which is
true. The content of God’s truth is
absolutely essential for the believer in his battle against the schemes of
Satan. Without knowledge of biblical
teaching, he is, as the apostle has already pointed out, subject to being
‘carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness
in deceitful scheming’ (4:14). In his
first letter to Timothy, Paul warns that ‘the Spirit explicitly says that in
the later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to
deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons’ (1 Tim. 4:1). The ‘doctrines of demons’ taught by cults and
false religions have their origins in the ‘deceitful spirits’ that in Ephesians
Paul calls ‘rulers,….powers,…would forces of this darkness,…[and] spiritual
forces of wickedness in the heavenly places’ (6:12). These false schemes of Satan can be
successfully encountered only with the ‘truth’ of the Word of God.” I have been taught that the belt of truth may
be the most important piece of armor, for if you don’t know the truth of God’s
Word, then you really won’t understand what God desires of you, or how to live
out the Christian life.
There is more
to this word “Aletheia” as MacArthur describes that “(truth) can also refer to the attitude of
truthfulness. It represents not
only the accuracy of specific truths but the quality of truthfulness. That seems to be the primary meaning Paul has
in mind here. The Christian is to gird
himself in an attitude of total truthfulness.
To be ‘girded…with truth’ therefore shows an attitude of readiness and
of genuine commitment. It is the mark of
the sincere believer who forsakes hypocrisy and sham. Every encumbrance that might hinder his work for the Lord is gathered
and tucked into his belt of truthfulness so that it will be out the way. Just as the serious runner takes off every
unnecessary piece of clothing before the race (Heb. 12:1), the serious soldier
tucks in every loose piece of clothing before the battle.”
It is so very important that the
Christian is prepared as he faces the forces of Satan as Paul writes in 2
Timothy 2:4 “No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of
everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.” As believers we are not to let the “tunics” of our daily cares and
concerns flap in the breeze around them as they will continue interfering with
their faithfulness to the Lord and then will give the devil every opportunity
to entangle and then defeat the believer with their own immature habits and
interests. I have always believed
that the Bible is a book of balance and so in this case with the belt of truth
and not allowing other interests to slow us down from serving the Lord there
are things that as believer’s living in our day and age that we can be
interested in, however they cannot take the place of what the Lord desires us
to do for the cause of Christ. It was
shortly after I became a believer, well actually some six plus years that I was
having trouble making sure that I read the Bible each day and perhaps others
don’t have this kind of issue, but I did.
After attending a conference in the fall of 1980 and after hearing the
speaker say that it is important to read your Bible each day that I made a vow
to do this, to read my Bible at least five minutes each day, and then later on
I added to pray at least five minutes each day.
There are days when I wish that I had not made those vows, but I have
tried very hard to keep each of them and only missed on several occasions since
the fall of 1980. My point is that each
believer needs to have a desire to stay in God’s Word and to have their own
system of doing that and that this should not be an issue if there are other
interests you have. I like to play golf,
but my love for golf has not always been the same, but this year I have played
a lot of golf, trying to get better, but the people that I play golf with know
that I spend time in the morning doing my studying and writing my Spiritual
Diaries and so they respect my doing this and so mostly we go out a little
later than we could if I were not doing this each day. It is very important to me to do this, and it
is and always will be that the Lord will receive glory for what I do every morning.
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I do not
want to have other things come between my studies of the Word of God so that I
will learn things for it that the Lord will use to protect me from the schemes
of the devil.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I continue to desire to learn about humility,
for all that I have or ever will have comes from the Lord, therefore no need to
be proud of anything that I have.
Today’s quotation from
“Love in Action” is from 2 Corinthians 10:1.
“I am meek when I am face to face with
you, but
bold towards you when I am absent.
II Corinthians 10:1”
10/14/2019 10:37 AM
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