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Helmet of Salvation
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Reflections Of Last Week
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  1. What do you need from Jesus to overcome the lies you have accepted?

  2. What do you feel as you give Jesus more authority over your life?

  3. Where were you able to deepen your trust with Jesus?

Verse & Intro
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Ephesians 6:17 ESV

and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,

Helmet
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Not much to say, the helmet has the same function as today, protect the head. Usually made of bronze or iron, the helmet offers protection to the head and upper neck areas of the soldier.

Salvation
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Salvation is commonly broken up into three parts:

  1. Justification - God declaring a person righteous because of faith in Jesus Christ. We covered this with the breastplate of righteousness, but we bring ourselves into alignment with God’s will. This would be an act repenting and turning to God, through Jesus Christ.

  2. Sanctification - Ongoing process of becoming more like Jesus Christ. This is our transformation in Jesus through the renewing of our minds.

  3. Glorification - Being made perfect and living in our new resurrected bodies.

Even though salvation is a heart issue, attacks come through the head and protecting our thoughts keeps us effective for God.

Scripture Questions
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  1. When have you been tempted to renounce your salvation?

  2. What have you accepted about who you are?

  3. What do you understand about your salvation?

Application
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The head and contents of it, mostly the brain, are vital to any believer. The brain functions as a filter and protector of the heart. Most of what you believe in your heart is because of your thoughts and processes. When we are young, formational young, our hearts take on many more wounds. Our brains process those wounds and the message that was delivered through that wound. When I say our brains protect our heart, they act as a filter to know what to let out and what to allow in. We learn what is safe to share and what is safe to feel. We condition our brain and thoughts to only trust specific people, situations, and our own selves.

Our brains are responsible for our deception and fig leaves. This is where less wild lovers are safe and offer attachment to something that is not secure, but we have learned that it feels good at the time. Many verses are dedicated to this.

Romans 12:2 ESV

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV

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.

We have to learn to trust Jesus to control our filter. We need to be willing to go deeper with Jesus into accepting his perfect Truth to our hearts, by training our brain to trust Jesus of who he created us to be.

Application Questions
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  1. How are you renewing your mind?

  2. What are steps you can take to enter into this transformation process?

  3. Where do you need to work with Jesus to take thought captive?

Healing
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Philippians 2:12b-13 ESV

work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Working out our salvation is the process of continued sanctification and will never be complete until glorification. We are invited to proceed into this process of refinement.

For our healing this week, let’s focus on an area where we are resisting this refining process. True refining should be painful, but it is a pain we can endure, because Jesus is with us and will not give us more than we can handle. Reflect on what is next in your journey. What feelings come up when faced with the refiners fire? Take time to feel that and enter into the process of letting Jesus speak into that resistance.

Healing Questions
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  1. What do you need from Jesus to enter into this process of being renewed?

  2. Where would you like to be transformed into the likeness of Christ?

  3. What was revealed to you in this healing?

Going Deeper
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My working definition of discipleship, is the process of restoring secure attachment [in God]. This is learning to let go and let God hold me. I feel this definition is valid of other people also. What I hold on to has to do with trust in Jesus, and not just with my mouth, but with my heart. To be transformed is a process of learning to find rest in Jesus, through sacrifice and offering made to him. True secure attachment only happens in God via grace. This is a state of total loss of control of this world around us.

We tend to think that we can control our world by holding on to things that give us a false feeling of power. A huge one is unforgiveness towards others or ourselves. For our journey in healing and spiritual growth, we are commanded by Jesus to forgive:

Matthew 6:15 ESV

but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

This is not saying our justification with God is void, what it is saying is that we have to learn to let go and enter into a process with God to restore secure attachment in him alone.

Deeper Questions
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  1. Where does it feel good to have attachment to an insecure, less wild lover?

  2. What do you want?

  3. Are you willing to enter into deeper waters to allow transformation?