The Belt of Truth

"Without your belt of truth firmly fastened around you waist, your spiritual pants fall down. 

And that's just embarrassing..." ~Julie Herrmann

^"13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵ and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶ In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷ Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  ¹⁸ And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people." ~Ephesians 6:13-18

Currently in youth group and in my small groups we are talking about the weapons of our warfare. As Christians we believe we are "fighting the good fight" and that our earthly "struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" (Eph. 6). As such, I thought I would share with you my most current thoughts on the first piece of warfare equipment: the belt of truth.

What exactly is the belt of truth? Isn't it the Bible? The ultimate truth? Yes, it absolutely is...but then why also do we need to take up the sword of the Spirit, which is also the word of God? I think the belt of truth goes so much deeper than just the written word. In the two books of Timothy,  Paul is writing to the young dude for whom the books are named. In 1 Timothy 1:18 Paul instructs: Timothy, my son, I am giving you this command in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by recalling them you may fight the battle well. (Emphasis mine)

I believe the Lord wants us to use our tongues as a weapon of warfare and one of the ways we can do that is by using the prophecies that have been spoken over us. Just like Paul instructed Timothy to do, we also need to use this weapon from our arsenal to fight the good fight. The answer to our deliverance is in the belt of truth where we have stuck those prophetic words.

How do we do this? It's called self-talk. It's been talked about in the psychological world for years. We use our tongues to remind ourselves of the promises of God. Basically we need to be talking the talk so we can walk what we're talking about and our obstacles can be removed. Too often we talk our molehills into mountains and then wonder why the valleys are so deep. When we externally process the negative in our lives, we actually dig our molehills deeper and we create our own trials and temptations. For example, if someone says you are stupid, and you repeat it to yourself, and you start believing you are stupid, you in turn will be forced to act stupid. In essence we recreate self-fulfilling prophecies that God never initiated and then believe He is putting us through trials that we actually invent.

Why? The tongue directs the whole body. "The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit."Proverbs 18:21. We will eat our words in life. These words will either nourish our souls or poison our hearts. What comes out of our mouths every day is what our souls eat. (See James 3 for more info).

That's why God gave Joshua so many prophetic words before he took the promised land. Be strong and courageous. Anywhere your foot steps will be your land. No man can stand against you all the days of your life. Do not turn from these words. The Book of the Law shouldn't depart from your mouth. Why? God knew Joshua needed to say these things over himself as he was going into literal battle so the enemy wouldn't defeat him in the spiritual battle that was waging against him.





So how do we do it?
1. The law (the Bible) and TRUTH will be in our mouths.
2. We need to meditate on it day and night.
3. We need to be careful to do what it says.

How do we meditate on it? Sing it. Say it. Muse over it. Ponder it. Process it. Talk to yourself about what God has talked to you about. Sing that over yourself. Use your tongue (out loud) to remind yourself what God has promised over you. Songs are just people's individual meditations. When we sing the Psalms we are singing David's meditations the prophetic words of David.

Has some one given you a word of encouragement? Speak that over your self. What does your name mean? That is a prophetic message about your identity!!! Speak that truth over yourself to fight against the enemy who wants to kill and steal and destroy your identity and who you were created to be.




OK, practical example. I will give you examples from my own life. My name, Julie, means "youthful one". HA! True, right? Ever youthful. Yup. That's me! 

Someone else once told me that my height in the physical is a representation of my height in the spiritual. God made me tall for a reason, to be tall. If I feel awkward because of my height, or when I'm around a lot of people who are significantly shorter than me and they are staring at me (like in San Jose central), I remind myself that God made me tall for a reason, to be an example and ambassador for HIM!!

About a year and a half ago, someone also spoke over me, from the Lord, that I will live an adventurous life. HAHA!! I cling to this word and take absolute delight in it! I love speaking this one over myself :)

Of course I also love speaking scripture over my life:

When I feel depressed or under attack, like everything in the world is going against me, like the world is out to get me and destroy me, I quote Luke 10:19: "I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you."

In those moments of temptation, be it big or small, like wanting to eat 6 pieces of chocolate cake or say a nasty word about some one, I remember 1 Corinthians 10:13: "No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it."

 Some times I think too much about what other people think of me. Am I doing things right in their eyes? What will they think of me if I offer to pray for them in the street? Do they think I'm too tall? Isaiah 2:22 is right there to remind me: "Stop trusting in mere humans, who have but a breath in their nostrils. Why hold them in esteem?" I then remind myself that my value and worth comes from God, and not from man. I don't need to worry about what they think of me because I know how God sees me.

How about when I feel like I'm no good. Like what I've done is too ugly for God and he's mad at me. Here come the lightning bolts!! No. Jeremiah 31:3 declares over ME: "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness."

 Other truths that you, too, can pull out of your belt: We are loved. We are co-heirs with Christ!! Perfect love drives out fear, we have nothing to be afraid of. There is a plan and hope for our future. God will provide all of our needs. We have peace because Jesus literally IS peace and He is our peace!!