Gird Your Loins With Truth

Eph 6:14 says, “Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth”.  If you think about the armor of God, each piece has a very obvious function in our protection.  But the loins girt about with truth is not so easy to grasp.  What is this piece for?

Let’s consider each piece of armor.  We must be saved and put on the helmet of salvation to protect our minds, 2 Cor 4:4.  The devil blinds the minds of them which believe not.  And then, after we’re saved, we must have a sound mind, 2 Tim 1:7.

We must put on the breast plate of righteousness to keep sin from reigning in our bodies, Rom 6:12-14.

We must take the shield of faith to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, 1 Pet 5:8-9.  Peter says of the devil, “whom resist stedfast in the faith”.

We must take the sword of the Spirit to counterattack all the lies of the devil, Lk 4:1-13.  Jesus quoted the scripture to counter the attack of the devil.

We stand by kneeling in prayer, Eph 6:18, 1 Pet 5:6-8.  Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God.

And we rescue souls in bondage to the devil by preaching the gospel of Christ to the lost, Eph 6:15.  This is one of the main reasons why we are here and one of the main things that the devil opposes.

All these pieces of the armor of God make perfect sense.  But “having your loins girt about with truth” doesn’t make sense at first glance.   

I mean, how is girding your loins going to do anything to protect you?  It’s not going to do you any good to hang your sword on it.  We need to fight with our sword.  And it’s certainly not going to quench a fiery dart or a piercing sword.

You can only understand how important this piece of armor is if you find out why men gird their loins in the Bible.  Once we give you a few of the Bible references where men gird their loins, then you will begin to see why you must gird your loins with truth.

In the Bible, a person is often told to gird up his loins before going on a tough mission or speaking in a tense situation.

• The Jews ate the Passover with their loins girded before leaving Egypt that night, Ex 12:11.  Urgency and courage.
• Elijah girded up his loins to run before Ahab, 1 Ki 18:46. Courage.
• God told Job to gird up his loins like a man, Job 38:3, 40:7, before answering the Lord.  Courage.
• God told Jeremiah to gird up his loins before prophesying to Judah, Jer 1:17.  Courage.

These men needed a lot of courage to do what they did.  That’s why they girded up their loins.  And we need courage to do what God has called us to do.  We have been called to stand against principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual wickedness in high places.  So, we must gird up our loins with truth.  These adversaries are more powerful than we are.  And they are scary.

Fear of your enemy will discourage you.  Fear will drain the fight out of you.  You’ve heard of the fight or flight syndrome.  Fear causes flight not fight.  Fear makes you want to run.

This is why the first piece of armor mentioned in Eph 6 is truth to gird your loins.  You might as well not put on the rest of the armor if you are too afraid to stand and fight.  You’ll be like the soldiers in Israel who stayed in the trenches because they were afraid to fight Goliath.

Truth is the one thing that will dispel the fear that causes you to want to run instead of stand.  David didn’t even need armor to protect himself against a mere man like Goliath.  David girded himself with the truth that the Lord of hosts was more powerful than that giant.  You must gird your loins with truth, as well.

We face a giant.  There are spiritual enemies against us, Eph 6:12.  In 1 Pet 5:8, “your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour”.  In 2 Tim 4:17, Paul “was delivered out of the mouth of the lion” by the Lord.

Paul knew he was being attacked.  But you don’t.  The devil is knocking people out with prosperity, worldliness, and ease.  He’s as much our enemy today and he was Paul’s enemy back then.

He’s attacking us with deception.  We’re not fighting.  He’s destroying churches with discord.  Fighting ourselves.  He’s destroying homes with rebellion.  Children fighting their parents and parents fighting authority.

Christians are afraid; stuck in fear.  Many of us are not fighting the fight of faith.

You must gird your loins with the truth that Jesus Christ is more powerful than our enemies.  Col 2:15, Jesus “spoiled principalities and power, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them” on the cross, when he was at his weakest.  His is the name above every name.  He is the King of kings and Lord of Lords.   David knew, when he faced Goliath that he came in the name of the Lord of hosts.

You must gird your loins with the truth that you are to stand in the strength and power of the Lord.  He’s not asking you to stand in your own strength and power.  You are to “be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might”, Eph 6:10.  Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me”, Phil 4:13.  So stand in the power of the Lord.  We are more than conquerors through him that loved us, Rom 8:37.

You must gird your loins with the truth that the armor of God will withstand any attack, Eph 6:13.  Therefore, put it on and stand in it.  Just stand.  If you are standing in the armor of God, you are safe from all harm.  Look what David wrote in Ps 3:3-8.  In v. 6 he said, “I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about”.  Stand in the armor of God and don’t back down.

You must gird your loins with the truth that if you run there is no armor to protect your backside.  The Lord’s armor won’t protect you if you run.  You can put on all the rest of this armor.  And if you don’t gird your loins with truth, you won’t have the courage to stand.  You’ll be just like Saul’s army, stuck in a stalemate with the giant.  They were armed yet they weren’t fighting.  It took a young man with some courage, and God on his side, to take that giant out.

You must gird your loins with the truth that if you don’t stand, neither will some of these other saints, Eph 6:18.  There may be 10 other Christians who are ready to give up the fight.  But they don’t want to be the first ones to quit.  They are just waiting for you to quit and then they’ll be out the door right behind you.  Fear is contagious, Deut 20:8.  And so is courage.  Consider Jonathan and his armor bearer.  The whole army was encouraged to fight after they attacked that garrison of Philistines, 1 Sam 14.  Courage is contagious.

Conclusion: Before you leave here today, you need to gird your loins with the truth: that the devil is still on the attack; that Jesus is still more powerful than the devil; that we can stand in Jesus’s power and withstand in his armor.  If you will gird your loins with this truth, then put on the other pieces of this armor and stand.  Make a commitment to God that you are going to be a good soldier of Jesus Christ, 2 Tim 2:3.  You are going to stand; you’re not going to run.

Like the song: “Run if you want to, run if you will, but I came here to stay.  When I fall down, I’m gonna get up, ‘cause I didn’t come here to play.  It’s a battlefield brother, not a recreation room.  It’s a fight and not a game.  Run if you want to, run if you will, but I came here to stay”.  Gird your loins with the truth and fight!!