The Helmet of Salvation
In the metaphor of God’s armor, the helmet secures coverage of the most critical part of our anatomy – our head – where spiritual battles are won or lost. A blow to any other part of our anatomy is painful, wounding and crippling, but a blow to head is often fatal. Death is the absence of salvation. The temptation is to doubt our salvation when we come under spiritual attack. The mental assault is fairly predictable. How can you even think you are a Christian given the way you act and feel? God doesn’t love you. You don’t believe this Christian stuff, do you? We can stand firm knowing that our salvation is not based on our good works but on the good works of Christ. We are children of God by the grace of God, and nothing can separate us from His love (see Romans 8:35).
Christian warriors wear the helmet of salvation in the sense that they are possessors of deliverance who are clothed and armed in the victory of Jesus Christ. Because we are joined to the Lord Jesus Christ, the devil has no legitimate claim on us, and thus there is no reason to fear him. David said, “The LORD is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life – of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1). “For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:9).
Unlike Satan, the Lord does not intrude where He is not invited, which is why it is up to us to receive Him in at salvation (see John 1:12). The Lord will never disown us or leave us. Even if we strayed away from God, we would still be His children. Our salvation is not based on our ability to hang on to God but His ability to hang on to us. “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.” (John 10:28-30).
Satan cannot do anything about our relationship with God, but if he can get us to doubt our salvation, we will struggle in our daily life. Victorious Christians know “that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39).
A grateful mother once wrote, “Add one more person to the list of those set free from bondage. Yesterday, my pastor led me through the Steps to Freedom in Christ, and I am free. My four-year-old daughter was hearing growling in her closet. I led her through a simpler version of the Steps, and now she is free. We have talked at great length about who she is in Christ and all that Satan is not. Sometimes I hear her in her room saying, ‘I belong to Jesus, and you have to leave me alone.’ She’s not having problems any more. Praise the Lord.”
Dr. Neil
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