Posts Tagged ‘shoes of peace’
“and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.”
(Ephesians 6:15Ephesians 6:15
English: World English Bible - WEB
15 and having fitted your feet with the preparation of the Gospel of peace;
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Often when people read this verse, they think it is talking about the preaching of the Gospel. Preaching and witnessing are important, and are most certainly a part of our spiritual warfare. However, these are offensive measures – tactics which we use to take territory from the enemy. The armor, however, is defensive – it is our protection against the enemy’s attacks. Paul is not talking about our taking the Gospel to others, but rather about the effect that the Gospel has on us personally.
As with the whole of this passage about the armor of God, he is using the picture of the armor worn by a Roman soldier. On his feet the soldier wore heavy leather sandals, which were studded underneath with metal, so that no matter what kind of terrain the soldier had to cover, he would never slip or lose his grip. Paul is saying that is what the Gospel does for us.
How does the Gospel achieve this? It is the Gospel of Peace – and that means, firstly, that it is the Gospel that brought us peace with God. Before we heard the Gospel, we were God’s enemies. We may have been consciously and deliberately opposed to God, perhaps denying His existence or at least living as though He did not exist. Or we might have been “good” people, perhaps even churchgoers, but had never truly surrendered our lives to Christ. Either way, we were God’s enemies. There are only two possibilities in life – either we are in the Kingdom of God or the kingdom of darkness. Those in the kingdom of darkness are God’s enemies, and if they remain in that kingdom they will suffer the same judgment as the prince of that kingdom.
Being at war with God creates all kinds of problems in our lives, and leaves us open to the attack of the enemy on every side. However, when we heard and responded to the Gospel we changed sides – we switched our allegiance from the kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of God. Now we are no longer His enemies, but His friends and bound to Him in a covenant that guarantees He will fight on our behalf.
Since we are now God’s friends, we also have another benefit – the peace of God. This means that, because of our relationship with Him, we can walk through any situations that life might throw at us in perfect peace, knowing that He will work them all together for our good and His glory. That does not mean that we will never have problems, but that we can rest in the knowledge that God is bigger than all our problems.
Most important of all, we now know the God who is Peace. Jehovah Shalom, the Lord is my peace, was one of the names of God in the Old Testament. When we know Jehovah Shalom, we not only have the peace of God in our hearts in any situation, but we carry His peace with us wherever we go, and are able to release that peace into the situation. That’s why, in the middle of a storm that had the disciples – all of whom were experienced fishermen – absolutely terrified, Jesus was able to stand up and simply say, “Peace. Be still.” and the storm stopped.
The Gospel of peace does indeed allow us to walk through all of life’s troubled roads and never lose our footing.
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This blog is © copyright Lynn Fowler.
There is one God, and one mediator between God and people, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:51 Timothy 2:5
English: World English Bible - WEB
5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
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English: World English Bible - WEB
9 For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily,
WP-Bible plugin)and Whom God the Father has exalted to the highest place, giving Him the Name which is above every name, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11Philippians 2:9-11
English: World English Bible - WEB
9 Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name;
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,
11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
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