19 October 2021 - Belt of truth

Ephesians 6:13-16 (NKJV) “Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.”

To put on the belt of truth means to put your full trust in God’s truth and in what He says.

John 17:17 (NKJV) “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.”

Isaiah 59:14-17 (NLT) “Our courts oppose the righteous, and justice is nowhere to be found. Truth stumbles in the streets, and honesty has been outlawed. 15 Yes, truth is gone, and anyone who renounces evil is attacked. The Lord looked and was displeased to find there was no justice. 16 He was amazed to see that no one intervened to help the oppressed. So he himself stepped in to save them with his strong arm, and his justice sustained him. 17 He put on righteousness as his body armour and placed the helmet of salvation on his head. He clothed himself with a robe of vengeance and wrapped himself in a cloak of divine passion.”

The idea of absolute truth is inseparable from the life of Jesus Christ and from the Bible.

John 14:6 (NLT) “Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”

Pilate asked in John 18:38 “What is truth?”

John 18:38 (NLT) “What is truth?” Pilate asked. Then he went out again to the people and told them, “He is not guilty of any crime.”

The truth will set you free - John 8:31-32 (NLT) “Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. 32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

The truth allows you to be prepared - Matthew Henry’s Complete Bible Commentary states that the belt “girds on all other pieces of our armour, and therefore is first mentioned.” Similarly, without truth girding us, a Christian is unprepared.

1 Peter 1:13 (NLT) “So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world.”

The truth guides you into safe paths - John 17:17 (NLT) “Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth.”

Truth allows us to follow God without deviating from the right path.

Jeremiah 13:11 (AMP) “For as the waistband clings to the body of a man, so I caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to Me,’ says the Lord, ‘that they might be for Me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory; but they did not listen and obey.’

Let the truth of God guide you today.