The Whole Armor of God · Part 5 of 7
How To Put Onthe Helmet of Salvation
“Take the helmet of salvation”Ephesians 6:17
The helmet of salvation guards your mind, so you can think like Christ when the enemy and the world pull your thoughts the wrong way.
This is the fifth of seven articles in our Whole Armor of God series. In Ephesians 6:10–18, Paul tells believers how to stand firm in a spiritual battle. Each article looks at one piece of that armor: how a soldier used it, how Satan attacks in that area of your life, and how you can put it on each day. The first four articles covered the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the gospel of peace, and the shield of faith.
Ephesians 6:10–18 (NIV)
10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
What Did a Soldier’s Helmet Do?
A soldier could survive many wounds, but a blow to the head could end the fight in a moment. In Paul’s day, a Roman legionary’s helmet was usually iron.3 A bowl covered his skull, a band across the forehead turned aside downward blows, cheek plates protected his face, and a broad guard at the back covered his neck.2 The Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove notes that the helmet was heavy and hot, so it was often one of the last pieces a soldier put on, once danger was near.1 That delay could be costly. Julius Caesar wrote that when the Nervii surprised his legions in 57 BC, his men had no time for “putting on the helmets and drawing off the covers from the shields.”4
Paul borrowed this picture from Isaiah, where God Himself goes to battle with “the helmet of salvation on his head” (Isaiah 59:17). The helmet is God’s before it is yours, and you can’t forge it yourself. To the Thessalonians, Paul described it as “the hope of salvation as a helmet” (1 Thessalonians 5:8). Your salvation is secure now, and it points ahead to the day Christ returns. As one commentator put it, salvation is “received in earnest now, hoped for in perfection hereafter.”5 That certainty protects your head, the place where your thinking happens. You are called to “be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2), and in Christ, “we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16). The David Jeremiah blog puts it simply: “helmets are not optional.”6
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
Romans 12:2
How Satan Attacks Your Mind
Our battles with Satan often begin in our minds, where our negative thoughts and fears can take hold. Paul feared that, just as the serpent deceived Eve, his readers’ minds might be “led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ” (2 Corinthians 11:3). Satan uses events to scare us. Right after Elijah’s great victory on Mount Carmel, one threat from Jezebel sent him running: “Elijah was afraid and ran for his life” (1 Kings 19:3). He uses doubts to blind us. “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers” (2 Corinthians 4:4), and he still whispers to believers that God’s Word is outdated and the world knows better. The prophet Isaiah warned against those who “call evil good and good evil” (Isaiah 5:20), and our culture often does just that. And he uses sin. After a fall, he tells you to hide from God, as Adam did (Genesis 3:8–10), and to doubt that your salvation is real.
Satan wants a believer whose mind is cloudy, conformed to the world, and too ashamed to come near to God. Calling on God refreshes our perspective and gives us confidence in our standing with Him when the enemy attacks. It helps us focus on Him all day instead of avoiding Him out of shame.
My story
Satan wanted to convince me that God couldn’t look at me because of my sin.
At different times in my life, when I got caught up in habitual sin, Satan wanted to convince me that God couldn’t look at me because of my sin. He told me I couldn’t have a close relationship with God because of it. Over thirty years ago, I started a daily habit of beginning my day in Scripture study and prayer to renew my mind. This helped me learn that God sees me as righteous in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21). Because of this, even when I sin, I know God doesn’t turn away from me. He loves me with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3), and He waits patiently for me to repent and turn to Him (2 Peter 3:9).
Seeking God’s wisdom daily also gives me a mind that thinks like Christ, so I can recognize the world’s wrong ways quickly, before I fall into wrong thinking and actions.
How To Put It On
- Thank God each morning that your salvation is secure in Jesus.
- Take every thought captive. Notice negative thoughts and name them for what they are.
- Replace each fear with a truth from Scripture and set your mind on things above.
- Start your day in God’s Word and prayer, so His thoughts shape yours before the world’s do (Romans 12:2).
- Test what you watch, read, and hear against Scripture. When the world’s thinking sounds right, check it in the table below.
- When you sin, run to God instead of hiding from Him. Your salvation rests on Christ, not on your performance.
Benefits of Putting On This Armor
- A clear mind
- “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Colossians 3:2). A mind fixed on Christ isn’t tossed around by fear or the latest idea.
- Confidence when you fail
- You can come back to God quickly, because your standing with Him rests on Christ’s work, not yours (2 Corinthians 5:21).
- Discernment
- With “the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16), you can recognize the world’s wrong thinking before it takes hold.
- Hope that holds
- “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure” (Hebrews 6:19).
- Your head held high
- Even in hard times, you can “lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:28).
Write Your Own Story
Your experiences are part of how God shapes your walk with Him. “Let the redeemed of the LORD tell their story” (Psalm 107:2). Set aside 15 minutes, ask God to bring the right memory to mind, and work through these steps.
- Name the wrong thought.Write down one wrong thought about yourself, God, or the world that you have believed.
- Remember how it shaped you.How did that thought affect your choices, your relationship with God, or the way you treated others?
- Find the truth.What Scripture corrected your thinking? The table below may help.
- Write your story.Finish these sentences: “The wrong thinking that held me the longest was ____. The truth that renewed my mind was ____. Now, when that thought returns, I ____.”
- Share it.Thank God for what He has done, then tell one trusted person your story this week.
Memorize
We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.2 Corinthians 10:5
Think Like Christ
Some wrong thinking comes from inside us, and some comes from the world around us. When a thought doesn’t line up with God’s Word, find it here and let the mind of Christ correct it.
| Wrong Thinking | Truth From God’s Word |
|---|---|
| God can’t love me because of my sin. | “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) |
| God turns away from me when I sin. | “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) |
| I could lose my salvation if I mess up. | “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.” (John 10:28) |
| I have to earn God’s acceptance. | “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8–9) |
| My past defines who I am. | “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17) |
| My worth depends on my work or success. | “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10) |
| I can’t control my thoughts. | “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5) |
| What I feel must be true. | “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9) |
| God has forgotten me. | “Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.” (Isaiah 49:15–16) |
| I’m too old for God to use me. | “Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, my God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your mighty acts to all who are to come.” (Psalm 71:18) |
| Worrying will help me be ready. | “Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” (Matthew 6:27) |
| This life is all there is. | “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” (Colossians 3:2) |
| Death is the end. | “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:3) |
| Truth is whatever is true for me. | “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) |
| All religions lead to God. | “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) |
| Everything came about by chance. | “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1) |
| The Bible is outdated. | “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16–17) |
| I’m a good person, so I don’t need a Savior. | “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) |
| An unborn baby isn’t a real person yet. | “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” (Psalm 139:13) |
| I’ve had an abortion, so God could never forgive me. | “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:12) |
| My gender is whatever I feel it is. | “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27) |
| Marriage can mean whatever we want it to mean. | “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.” (Genesis 2:24) |
| Sex outside of marriage is no big deal. | “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20) |
| A person’s life only matters if they are useful. | “Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” (Luke 12:7) |
| Some people are too far gone for God to save. | “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) |
| If it feels right, it must be right. | “There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death.” (Proverbs 14:12) |
| I should go along with the crowd to fit in. | “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Romans 12:2) |
| Calling sin what it is would be unloving. | “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.” (Ephesians 4:15) |
| People who disagree with me are my enemies. | “But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:44) |
| Money and success will make me secure. | “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:20–21) |
| What I watch and read doesn’t affect me. | “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8) |
| The world is spinning out of control. | “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalm 46:10) |
| No matches. Try another word. | |
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