June 3

“Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist...” —EPHESIANS 6:14

“The belt of truth” - everything in the Christian life hinges on it. Not only is it how we conduct ourselves in daily living, but it is the most essential armour we can wear in taking a firm stance against Satan and his demonic forces at work in this world.

The devil and his fallen angels are not a myth, nor a hypothetical explanation for evil in this world. They are created beings, originating in the heavenly realms and at enmity with God. Whether we realize it or not, we are engaged in this battle, and the Apostle Paul not only alerts us to that, but tells us how we are equipped for it. “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds” (2 Corinthians 10:4).

The belt of truth is the most essential piece of defensive equipment we have. Without it, all other equipment is going to be ineffective in battle because everything else is positioned from it. The breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit (which is the Word of God), all find their stability in the belt of truth, and the devil’s tactic is to make us question it. He doesn’t blatantly deny the truths of Scripture, but subtly casts doubt and confusion. A prime example, “Did God really say, ‘you must not eat

from any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1). We have a fallen world born out of the doubt Satan provoked in Eve.

If we think we are prepared in ourselves, we are hugely underestimating the devil. Scripture makes clear he possesses a mind, emotion, a will and a purpose. Paul describes him in 2 Corinthians 11:14 as “masquerading as an angel of light”. His primary interest is to drive the will of man to live at enmity with God. We need to counteract him, not from an oppositional position, but a defensive one by standing firm in the Word of God.

To not know what Scripture says about Satan and the unseen forces of evil in this world, we leave ourselves wide open, and probably won’t even see him coming. But with the belt of truth buckled firmly around our waists, we are equipped and prepared in advance.

PRAYER: Dear Father, Thank You for the Bible, which does prepare me in advance for anything that attempts to lure me away from You. Help me to always stand firm in it, and may it bring me increasingly closer to You.

TO REFLECT UPON: When faced with temptation, do I draw upon the Word of God as my source and my strength?