This series, based upon Ephesians 6:10–18 reveals what the Lord really taught about the spiritual armor. In verse 10, Be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might, we learn that we are not self-exhausting in our conflicts. It is not a matter of our energy, our victory, or our position; our strength is in the Lord. We find ourselves impregnable when we build our lives in the Lord, when we take on His armor.
Let us consider the pieces of armor. Be prepared to go back to King James English, because later translations modernize the Scriptures to get away from a literal interpretation. For instance, we read in 1 John 3:17 (King James Version): But whoso seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him … The word “bowels” means to us something other than what it meant in the days the Scriptures were written. Then each part of the body related to certain functions of the soul and of the spirit life of the individual. Many people know this, because signs do appear for us in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. These signs become significant as we go to the Scriptures and find what they originally meant. Every part of the anatomy has a spiritual as well as a soulish significance.
The first piece of armor is given in Ephesians 6:14. Stand firm, therefore, having girded your loins with truth. The loins refer to the upper and lower abdominal regions, a vulnerable area. For a few illustrations to see what the loins represent, let us look to the Scriptures. It takes the Bible to explain the Bible. Perhaps you know the story in the book of Daniel of Belshazzar’s big feast for a thousand of his lords. According to history, he had trained peacocks pulling trays of the most unusual delicacies ever seen. As they feasted on this night his kingdom fell, Belshazzar saw a hand write upon the wall.
Suddenly the fingers of a man’s hand emerged and began writing opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, and the king saw the back of the hand that did the writing. Now this is an interesting observation: Then the king’s face grew pale, and his thoughts alarmed him; and his hip joints went slack (the King James Version says, “the joints of his loins were loosed”), and his knees began knocking together. Daniel 5:5, 6.
Our interest here is not in what happened to Belshazzar, but in the phenomena which shows us what the loins mean. They represent something significant where the emotions of an individual are involved. Remember that we read in 1 John 3:17, “If you see your brother in need and shut up your bowels of compassion against him, how dwells the love of God in you?” In other words, you must not shut up the loins’ free flow of emotions, for they are a center of emotions.
In Exodus 12:11, the instructions for the Passover were that the Hebrews were to have their loins girded, staff in hand. There is spiritual significance to this. No one can ever make the pilgrimage out of bondage until his emotions are under control—“Loins girded about with truth.” God has made provision to counteract everything in the way of wrong emotions that would hit you. The precious Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, is the best agent to counteract the destructive emotions that Satan would produce.
Psalms 69:23, 24: May their eyes grow dim so that they cannot see, and make their loins shake continually. Pour out Thine indignation on them, and may Thy burning anger overtake them. In one of the vindictive prayers of the Psalms, this is the reaction David wanted, that fear would overwhelm his enemies and cause their loins to shake continually.
Jeremiah 30:5–8: For thus says the Lord, “I have heard a sound of terror, of dread, and there is no peace. Ask now, and see, if a male can give birth. Why do I see very man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in childbirth? And why have all faces turned pale? Alas! for that day is great, there is none like it; and it is the time of Jacob’s distress, but he will be saved from it.” This prophecy is talking about the dreadful day of tribulation and asks, “Can a man give birth?” as though it were travail pains. “Why do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in childbirth?” You see, his reaction is uncontrollable terror.
Let us read from the book of Nahum. Chapter 2, verse 1: The one who scatters has come up against you. Man the fortress, watch the road; strengthen your back (or “make strong your loins”), summon all your strength. Verse 10: She is emptied! Yes, she is desolate and waste! Hearts are melting and knees knocking! Also anguish is in the whole body (the literal meaning is, “anguish is in all the loin”), and all their faces are grown pale!”
Years ago I got a picture of this. I saw a film of the Japanese bombing of Shanghai. Still vivid in my mind is the picture of those people running, gripping their loins, terror on their faces. About five minutes of the picture was devoted to showing the agony people were in. One would have thought that they had been shot, or that a grenade had blown them up, but it was their emotional reaction to what was taking place.
In the western civilization we have forgotten a great deal about the emotional and spiritual reactions within various parts of the body. Certain areas are vulnerable; and most important, we are learning that the loins are the seat of all manifestations of intense emotions, whether those emotions are right or wrong.
In the Scriptures, the end-time manifestations of fear are likened unto travail. The terror which will come upon the world is described as travail upon a woman with child (1 Thessalonians 5:3). I don’t think this is entirely figurative language. People all over the world in the days of terror will suddenly find themselves reacting. The stomach and bowel areas certainly are seats of emotional manifestations. The doctors tell us that ulcers do not come from what we eat, but from what is eating on us. Intense emotions generate acids which can actually destroy the lining of the stomach.
The bowels and the stomach represent the seat of internal cleansing and of the creative life, both in natural usage and in the spirit. Hebrews 7, speaking about the priesthood of the order of Melchizedek, said Levi was still in the loins of Abraham when he met Melchizedek. We cannot take that to mean that the seed of Levi was literally in the loins of Abraham. Rather, the loins here are the seat of prophecy, the seat of deep witness.
The loins are the seat of negative as well as positive emotions, and that is why Peter tells us, Gird up the loins of your mind. 1 Peter 1:13. It is as though the part of the mind which is given to emotions must be girded. It is in the loins (the seat of all creative life and all manifestations of intense emotions) that we actually have a consciousness that sometimes exceeds what is in our minds. Have you ever been in an event and conscious of what went on, but the realization of it did not hit you until later? Then you doubled over, sick, but not at the time it hit your mind. Your mind seems to be more protected from the effects. After an automobile accident the victim is often said to be in a state of shock. The truth is that reality reaches the emotions and the feelings later. Sometimes this has to be dealt with by the Lord, because often when something happens, although it doesn’t bother you at first, later it haunts you and becomes a torment.
We must have protection against the satanic assault upon our emotions, for it can be very great. This is the purpose of the spiritual armor mentioned in Ephesians 6:11, 13: Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil …. Therefore take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. The idea is that Satan will come against the very seat of your emotions, the very thing that you recognize the loins represent.
Now we will go to the New Testament references which use the word “bowels” instead of loins, and find they involve the same thing. We shall read Philemon 7, 12, and 20. For I have come to have much joy and comfort in your love, because the hearts of the saints (literally, “the bowels of the saints”) have been refreshed through you, brother. You can understand why the translators changed the King James wording. To say, “Oh, my bowels are refreshed in you, brother!” would be unthinkable.
Verse 12: And I have sent him back to you in person, that is, sending my very heart to you. This doesn’t mean heart; it means bowels.
Verse 20: Yes, brother, let me benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my bowels in Christ. The newer translation is heart. Things had different meanings in the Bible times than in this age.
Philippians 1:8: For God is my witness, how I long for you all with the (bowels) affection of Christ Jesus. Do you see how it would sound sacrilegious to say, “I yearn after you with the bowels of Christ Jesus”? It would mean something else today. Chapter 2, verse 1: If therefore there is any encouragement in Christ, if there be any consolation of love, if there be any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion … Again the King James Version reads, “any bowels and mercies.”
One more Scripture, in Colossians 3:12: And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion (“put on bowels of compassion”), kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. This is what you are to put on. Put on the bowels of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. This is the seat of those particular emotions, and we need protection there.
As soldiers we need adequate defenses. The first area of need that is named is our loins, because it is the most vulnerable area, even more so than our hearts and our heads. Most people do something which they should not because they are wounded in their emotions, rather than in mind or in the intent of heart. It is in this area that people are defeated. Is there some protection we can have in the armor of the Lord? Yes, our loins are to be girded with truth—the truth, not just any general truth. If someone is emotionally upset, it is not enough to sit down and talk to him about the related facts. That might work somewhat on a natural plane, but the answer is His truth. Divine truth is the only thing that controls the emotions.
It is the expression of truth that sets you free, and not just from things that would ensnare you from without, but from emotions that would trap you from within. You shall know the truth (His truth), and the truth shall make you free. John 8:32. When the prophecies and revelations come, when God speaks a word to your heart, they are the greatest liberating force you will ever find from the intense emotions which are capable of destroying you. Satan knows this, so he tries to pierce you through with those fiery darts of the wicked one—those burning lies that come until you do not grasp the truth, you do not see the real picture of how things are.
If you were to quickly make a resume of the past months, probably you would admit the real problems came about through deception, a lie, or some intense experience in the emotional life. Most of the things you do are not generated by the reasoning of your head, but by the intensity of your emotions. There is no reasonableness in what many people do. They act because they are involved emotionally, and this must be recognized where young people are concerned. The loins—the seat of creative life, of all emotions, of internal cleansing-are the most vulnerable part, where the soul life itself can become highly destructive.
We could toy with the idea of where the soul is seated. People immediately associate the word psuche, or soul, with psychology; they relate it to the head, the mind, the processes of the brain. Some psychologists now think there may be another consciousness which they cannot trace. Although this is only theory so far, they feel that there are three different levels of consciousness: the conscious, the superconscious, and the subconscious. The occult taught that a long time ago, and God taught it before they even thought of it: spirit, soul, and body. Each has a consciousness. There is a consciousness based on the physical senses, a consciousness based upon the soul life, and a consciousness based upon the spirit. My spirit can be conscious of things I am not conscious of emotionally, of things that I cannot see or feel.
How are you to find protection? It is in the truth of the Lord. Instead of allowing yourself to become a victim of some disturbing emotion or of a lie of Satan, gird yourself about with the truth. Find from the Lord the revelation of it; go before the Lord and say, “Lord, what is the truth, factually? What is the truth as far as the Word of God is concerned?” Then you will find yourself able to handle things which otherwise would be destructive emotionally.
May I give you an example? A woman is married to a man who is anything but what she really wants. He beats her, neglects her, spends their money gambling and drinking, but she loves him. For the sake of the children, she must decide whether or not she is to stay with him. She could be torn with emotions so destructive that she walks around with no awareness of life or desire to live. But suppose she goes before the Lord and finds exactly what to do and it is comfirmed to her? She then can gird herself with truth in her emotional life. Colossians 3:12 exhorts us to be girded about with His compassion, so she puts on the best girdle she could have, the compassion of the Lord.
What is the woman going to do now that she has a word from the Lord? What her husband is at the moment does not cause any reaction in her emotionally because she has faith in a truth that exceeds her reason, that exceeds the facts of the situation. It is a word from God, and the truth of that word girds her about. Now she can walk exactly the way she is to walk before the Lord.
I can look at certain problems an individual has, but if I look to God and He reveals something about him, I am not regulated by any present manifestation of defeat or victory in his life. That has nothing to do with my conclusion; my conclusions are God’s conclusions. His truth girds me; His truth is the protection for me emotionally. If I know I am in the will of the Lord, I can go through all kinds of pastoral troubles and it doesn’t matter because I know the truth. It is the protection that girds me about. Sometimes it takes quite awhile for us to understand these things.
Other emotions such as jealousy can enter in. Jealousy may be well-founded. If it is, then you must find out from the Lord what you are to do about it, and act accordingly. It may be a lie and an illusion. If Satan has had access to hit you, he will always hit as hard as he can below the belt. He hits you in the area of the loins. In the art of fisticuffs, an important rule is to never hit below the belt. But Satan is a dirty fighter; that is where he hits first. He tries to paralyze you by hitting in the area of the loins, and that is why the first piece of armor is designated for that area. Your emotions will have to be controlled or protected so that they are not vulnerable. The only way you can protect yourself is with the divine truth. It will solve those problems over and over again.
I have found in the past that the ministry was not affected, but my personal life was continually affected by things the enemy would bring against my areas of emotional vulnerability. I seemed to respond too much to the stimulus of what other people would say, and I had to find protection from it. These things can be stirred up by someone in your family, a close associate, someone at work, or someone you don’t even like. Learn how to put your protection up against it. You need to have a girdle on your loins; a good and solid one which protects you against swords and spears and fiery darts, against lies and assaults of Satan.
This is a beautiful piece of armor. It is more than a bulletproof vest; you are covered in the area that is most important. In the days of the Old West, it was said that the gunfighters feared, more than anything else, being “gut shot.” They didn’t dread as much to die quickly from being shot in the lungs, the heart, or the head. But to be gut shot and left by their opponent meant a slow bleeding to death or being rendered completely helpless.
Of all of the ways the enemy could come against us, we should be alerted to these wounds the most. Take measures to protect yourself. Take hold of His truth. In all the things that would come against us to torment, to cause sleepless nights, to cause us to worry and to fret, come and say, “Lord, tell me what to think; tell me how to react. What is the truth? What do You say, Lord?”
A mother must do that when she has a child she doesn’t know how to react to. If she does not know what to do, she can be continually torn up by his every action, or she can seek the face of the Lord and hear Him say, “This is the way you are to feel about that boy, this is the way you are to feel about that daughter.”
Then she can commit the child to the Lord. Her protection is in the truth that God brings to her heart. Her protection is not her truth, but God’s; it’s not her supposition, her love, or her integrity. It is a word from the Lord that enables her to go through.
This is the purpose of revelation, the purpose of the Scriptures. It is the truth that makes you free. It is the truth that is a mighty protection, a bulwark against everything that comes against you. Lord Jesus, we need this truth so much. None of us are exempt from being wounded deeply in this area. We all have tender loins. We ask that You gird us about with Your truth. Wherever we have been vulnerable, we repent of this; we would seek the face of the Lord. Seal this word to our hearts; let us not soon forget it. Let us not be guilty of hearing the word and straightway forgetting what we’ve learned. Oh, to apply this! Apparently there is something we can do: we can put on this armor; we can set ourselves into the holy protection You have provided for us. This we purpose to do, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.