Legacy of a Warrior: Put on the Belt of Truth

Warriors must be properly equipped for battle. Christians must be properly equipped for spiritual battles they will face each day. There are battles against invisible but real forces such as greed, lies, fear, lust, wrath, laziness, unfriendliness, confusion, selfishness and more.

How do we combat these forces? Let’s start by putting on the belt of truth. As a visual, when you put your belt on in the morning, imagine yourself putting on a belt with a big buckle TRUTH right on the front of it. The Bible says, “Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist” (Ephesians 6:14). What does it practically look like to “put on the belt of truth”?

First, make sure that you believe the truth. I mean, really believe it with your head and your heart.

The Bible is truth. Read it and believe it. The entirety of Your word is truth, and all Your righteous judgments endure forever (Psalm119:160). Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth (John 17:17).

Truth is a Person. Jesus is the truth. Trust in him and follow him. Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me (John 14:6).

Believe the truth because the devil will lie to you. Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the tactics of the devil (Ephesians 6:11). For example, the devil will tell you that you are hopeless. The truth is that you have hope for today, hope for tomorrow, and hope for eternity – in Christ and through Christ!

Second, speak the truth in love. But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into Him who is the head — Christ (Ephesians 4:15). Since you put away lying, Speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, because we are members of one another (Ephesians 4:25). These are the things you must do: Speak truth to one another; make true and sound decisions within your gates (Zechariah 8:16).

If you don’t, someone will get hurt. You must not go about spreading slander among your people; you must not jeopardize your neighbor’s life; I am the Lord (Leviticus 19:16).

If you don’t, you will experience God’s discipline. It’s loving discipline, but it’s discipline nonetheless. You live in a world of deception. In their deception they refuse to know Me. This is the Lord’s declaration. Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts says: I am about to refine them and test them, for what else can I do because of My dear people? (Jeremiah 9:6-7)

Show maturity – don’t gossip or slander. Without wood, fire goes out; without a gossip, conflict dies down (Proverbs 26:20). But now you must also put away all the following: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth (Colossians 3:8).

Follow the Holy Spirit’s lead – every word that you speak should glorify Jesus. When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak whatever He hears. He will also declare to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, because He will take from what is Mine and declare it to you (John 16:13-14).

Third, walk in truth & love. By obedience to the truth, having purified yourselves for sincere love of the brothers, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again — not of perishable seed but of imperishable — through the living and enduring word of God (1 Peter 1:22-23). I was very glad to find some of your children walking in the truth, in keeping with a command we have received from the Father. So now I urge you, dear lady — not as if I were writing you a new command, but one we have had from the beginning — that we love one another. And this is love: that we walk according to His commands. This is the command as you have heard it from the beginning: you must walk in love (2 John 1:4-6).

Try it tomorrow: as you’re getting dressed, imagine that you are putting on a big belt with the buckle TRUTH on it. Then, throughout the day, make sure that you believe the truth, speak the truth, and walk in truth. Be a warrior for Jesus Christ against the forces of evil. You are a victorious warrior in Christ. Stand, speak and walk in his victory today. And he will use you to point other people to his salvation and love.