An Element of Armor

Ephesians 6:10-20 (Written by Paul)
The Whole Armor of God 10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age,[c] against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— 19 and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

I was just sitting down, really sore, so I was just hunched over trying to be comfortable for a few minutes. And I’m staring at my feet. And this scripture pops into my head… “and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace”. So I started to contemplate this meaning… and began to break it down and help it to be processed in my mind, to further understand it.

*To shod your feet – means to put shoes on them, to put on your feet some kind of protection against the elements.
*With the preparation – Prepare yourself! This isn’t a command to use this part of the spiritual armor as the ‘actual gospel’ on your feet… but instead, prepare yourself. Be studied. Be read in the Word. Read it, pray to understand it, study it, hide it in your heart and be ready to use it. Understand the gospel, know the message of peace, have it in you, let it guide you.
*Of the gospel – The gospel is the ‘good news’ about Jesus and His life.
*Of peace – Interesting. Here he’s urging us to know the good news of peace. God offers peace to everyone, and especially us who believe that through Him we know with certainty that He has a plan. If all things will work for His glory, and His eye is on us as it is on the sparrow, then in this, in His love and promises, we can have peace and know we are not alone, we are loved by our Creator. I think this is very important.

Interesting that Paul should talk here about us having planted our feet in the protection of the good news of peace, especially when you are talking about armor, armor used in battle. This is about spiritual battle, no doubt. But why peace? Why not confidence or power or strength? Perhaps because our confidence comes through peace. When we know that God ‘has our back’, then we have confidence in anything He calls us to do – we can go out to battle, any battle, and know that He is watching us, He is with us, He will work through us to fight our battles. Our power comes through our peace in Him. When we are confident that He is there, when we are sure of our relationship with Him, our love from and for Him… then we have all of the power bestowed upon us by Him, which is all. We essentially have the same powers that Jesus had when He was here on earth… the only reason we often don’t act the same way, don’t perform the same miracles, and more… is because our relationship with our father is not nearly as close and intimate as the one Jesus had with Him. (When you consider Jesus came as a limited man, then you realize He could not have done these things without this relationship).
Lastly, our strength is in His peace as well. Through this confidence in Him, confidence in our relationship with Him, our power through Him, we can also find strength – knowing that we can withstand ANY battle as long as we turn to Him, let Him fight through us, etc.

So we need to understand the good news, the gospel, of peace. With this peace we can find confidence, power, and strength. With this Word of peace inside our hearts, we also have it there to share with others at any time He deems necessary. Now that I feel I understand that part, let me move on.

Why do we put this message, this gospel, of peace on our feet? Why not the breastplate? Why not just in our hearts? Why not as protection for our minds against the devil’s strongholds?Because even in the worst battles, in the worst conflicts, in the worst situations… it is our feet that must be solid, reserved, with resolve to movement or stability. Our feet are what lead us into battle. What good would they be unprotected? They could help us flee. They could turn us right around and get us right out of the battle. We need strength, power, confidence, and peace of spirit to give our feet the wherewithal to take that next step, or to stand firm. Notice in verse 14 it says “stand therefore”. It doesn’t say run away, and it doesn’t say sit down. Perhaps in that case it would be our butts covered in the preparation of the gospel of peace. But we’re not meant to be sitting, or lying, down. We’re to be standing, ready for battle, planted with resolve to not back down from the enemy. Right? In his conversation regarding this armor, Paul’s very first instruction is to “stand”, not sit. And look at verse 19: “that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel”. This further drives home the idea that we best have this gospel buried in our hearts. We need to know this message of peace, we need to STAND FIRM IN IT… because what good is knowing the gospel and having the boldness to speak the gospel if our feet are running us away from the battle? And still, it all comes back to our feet, the tool that holds us firm in the battle, that has the power to move forward, to stand firm, or to run away. With the preparedness of the message of peace in Him… why run? Our feet, through this message, KNOW to stand firm, and there is no confusion. With our feet shod with resolve of peace, and with the message of peace – we can then fight with our mouths, boldly making known the mystery of the gospel, boldly sharing with the enemy the words of He who fights our battles through us, boldly sharing with unbelievers the message, and always boldly sharing this message of the gospel with ourselves, to remind ourselves daily of the peace that we must have.

In the end, perhaps some other concept might be okay to shod our feet in… truth, righteousness, faith… and of course they would be powerful in their own way, but God has a purpose for this…and personally I’d rather my mode of transportation TO the battle, IN the battle, or FROM the battle... the part of my body that works to hold the rest of me up, that has the most pressure upon it... know resolve and determination, and be protected firmly through the peace that only He provides.