The Armor of God: Helmet of Salvation

By:  Dale Weckbacher

Eph 6:17

And take the helmet of salvation,

NKJV

Rom 12:2

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

NKJV

When I was younger, I used to love to play baseball.  Unfortunately, as I have grown older, my body is not as physically capable as it used to be so I usually am reserved to watching the younger people play.  There was one time when I was playing that the pitcher threw what he thought would be a breaking ball.  The only problem was that when he threw the ball it did not break and hit me in the head.  I know some of you may be saying that that explains a lot but fortunately, I had on a batting helmet and survived my encounter with the baseball. 

Just as the breastplate protected the Roman soldier’s vital organs in battle, the helmet protected the soldiers other vital organ, his brain.  Without a helmet to protect him, a blow to the head of a soldier could render a soldier unconscious making him vulnerable to attack.  A hard enough blow to the head could even be fatal.  With the protection of his helmet, however, the soldier has a chance of surviving a blow to the head and then continuing to fight in battle. 

When an individual accepts Christ, they begin a transformation of their mind.  This transformational process is a continual process and is what Paul is referring to in Romans 12:2 when he urges us to be transformed by the renewing or continual renewing of our minds.  Isaiah 26:3 promises peace to the individual that chooses to have his mind fixed on God.  We fix our minds on the Lord by spending time with the Lord in prayer and in His Word.

Fixing our minds on the Lord also protects us from wicked thoughts that try to destroy us (Psalm 119:95).  Fixing our minds on the Lord makes us wise and from this wisdom we are able to speak wise and persuasive words (Proverbs 16:23).  This transformed mind is the result of our changed hearts and not only benefits us, but also our descendants (Jeremiah 23:39).  In fact, Jesus said that the greatest commandment was to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.”  (Matthew 22:37, NLT)  Once again the Word stresses the importance of having out mind fixed on the Lord.

The importance of the Helmet of Salvation is to protect our transforming minds from the attacks of the enemy.  1 John 2:16 warns us about how the enemy will attempt to attack our minds, “For all that is in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not of the Father but is of the world.”  (NKJV)  Let us look at how the enemy attacks us in these areas

1)      Lust of the flesh – Prior to receiving Christ, we lived with one desire, satisfying our fleshly desires.  Whether we lived in promiscuity, had an addiction to alcohol or drugs, or even lived a good life free of these things, prior to having Christ in our hearts our desire was making our flesh, or physical body, feel good.  The truth is that most of us came to Christ after having spent our lives attempting to satisfy the flesh, only to realize our efforts were worthless because we always had this God sized emptiness in our hearts.  However, even after we have received Christ, we still have the flesh and spend our lives at war with its desires.  The Helmet of Salvation provides protection for us and enables us to survive the barrage of fleshly desires we encounter. 

2)      Lust of the eyes – Our mass media culture exposes our eyes to lustful things on a continual basis.  As I was growing up, television and magazines were the primary sources of lustful stimuli for the eyes.  However, today we have television, magazines, and also the internet.  In addition, the internet is no longer only available on our computers but is also accessible through our smartphones or tablets.  We must depend upon the Helmet of Salvation to protect our fragile minds from these easily accessible stimuli for our eyes. 

3)      The pride of life – Proverbs 16:18 warns us that pride precedes destruction.  This does not mean that as believers we are not to have pride or confidence but our confidence is to be in the fact that the Lord is with us (Proverbs 3:25-26).  Too much selfish pride in our lives causes us to trust more in our own abilities and push God to the side.  This would be like a soldier taking off his helmet in battle believing he is impervious to harm.  Any soldier doing doomed to destruction in battle. 

I therefore urge everyone entering into spiritual battle for the souls of people and our nation to spend time with the Lord in prayer and in the Word, allowing the Lord to transform our minds.  Then, as we daily live our lives in the battlefield of this world, we must not forget our Helmet of Salvation.  The future of our nation and the lost souls living in it depend upon us transforming our minds and protecting them with the Helmet of Salvation.  We can then boldly go into spiritual battle vigilant with clear and sober minds (1 Peter 5:8) and begin the process of transforming our society.  This is what the early church did and they turned the world upside down (Acts 17:6).