Latest / The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast / 297 | Conversations - The Armor of God

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297 | Conversations - The Armor of God · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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  Music.
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  Hello, friends, and welcome back to another podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries,
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  where we believe that all of us have to come to Jesus like the woman at the
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  well in John chapter four.
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  Our highest priority is making God real in your life.
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  Whether you are listening in our app, in your favorite podcasting app,
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  or on our website at watwm.org,
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  we invite you to sit down with us as we look to the scriptures to learn more
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  about God and to strengthen your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
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  Living her life for Christ, she's a happy girl.
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  Music.
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  She's a happy girl.
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  In this episode of the Woman of the Well Ministries podcast,
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  join Kim Miller and Erica Close in a conversation as we walk with Jesus.
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  In today's conversation, we begin a series on wearing the armor of God as we journey through life.
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  In today's podcast, we begin our study of Ephesians 6, 10-17,
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  and chat about wearing the helmet of salvation.
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  Well, hello, everyone. My name is Erica Close, and I am here with Kimberly Miller.
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  Hello, and thank you so much for joining us in this podcast of Women at the
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  Well Ministries as we really dive in to the whole armor of God and really realize
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  that God truly has set us up for victory in this world because greater is he
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  that is in us than he that is in the world.
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  And we are surrounded by the armor of God and the devil just simply can't penetrate
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  unless we take a piece off.
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  I love that. I am so excited to talk about the armor of God because it's something
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  that I think I've always read about and I've studied it, but I have honestly
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  never spent this much time I'm talking about each of the pieces of armor.
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  So I'm really excited to do so. So to start us off, I'm going to read the passage
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  Ephesians 6, 10 through 17, that includes the armor of God.
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  And then we will start talking about the first aspect of the armor of God.
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  So Ephesians 6, 10 through 17.
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  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.
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  Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
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  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
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  against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world,
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  against spiritual wickedness in high places.
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  Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand
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  in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
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  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, And having on the
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  breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
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  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench
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  all the fiery darts of the wicked, and take the helmet of salvation and the
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  sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
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  Amen. So as we start our conversation, we're actually going to start at the
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  very tip top of our heads.
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  And we're going to start our discussion talking about the helmet of salvation.
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  I think it's worth noting before we actually start into the helmet of salvation,
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  why it is that we need to put on the armor of God.
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  And 1 Peter 5, 8 tells us that the devil walketh about as a roaring lion,
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  seeking whom he may devour.
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  And his goal, we're told in John 10, is to kill, to steal, and to destroy.
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  So we're also told that the wages of sin is death.
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  So there's nothing about the devil and his works that is going to do us any good. And,
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  David tells us, or shows us with his life, and in 1 Samuel, speaks to the fact
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  that the battle's not ours, it belongs to the Lord.
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  But when we look at Ephesians 6 that you just read, what we see is that we're.
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  Not fighting earthly foe. Amen.
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  But we're in a battle with the devil himself. But as he says in verse 12 that you read,
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  Therefore, we're not equipped as mere mortals to fight that battle.
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  But like I said, greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world.
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  And the Lord is more than equipped to fight that battle. but he puts an armor
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  around us so that we are able to be protected. That's what armor does.
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  True armor protects us so that whatever's coming at us can't penetrate us or even get to us.
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  And so besides the Holy Spirit that wraps us and kind of makes everything like
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  Teflon that the devil throws at us that it can't stick,
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  we've been given this whole armor of God, which is the the helmet of salvation,
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  the breastplate of righteousness,
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  the shield of faith, the belt of truth, the sword of the Spirit,
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  and basically shoes that are filled with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
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  I love that the armor was created by God himself.
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  Amen. So you said that it's him that is covering us, right?
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  He has created this armor, and we just have to put it on.
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  We just You just have to claim the armor and pick it up.
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  You know, and I think people who live very closely to the Lord just simply live in it.
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  They're just living in the armor because they place their entire being,
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  their heart, their soul, their mind, their strength in him. And they love him the same.
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  I think that's something to think about because we talk about putting on the armor of God.
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  But the reality is, as saved individuals who know Jesus, we have it.
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  Amen. It's not something else we accept and believe in and confess,
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  right? Right. It comes with salvation.
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  But we have to be comfortable in the armor of God.
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  You know, like the clothing that you wear just don't fit quite right.
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  You don't like it. It just rubs you in the wrong way and you just tug at it
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  or itches you. That's always my issue.
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  Something about or the tag jams into your neck or side or wherever it is.
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  That's not at all how the armor of God should feel. It should never feel awkward.
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  It should never feel heavy.
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  It shouldn't be burdensome. In fact, I'm not sure you should notice it.
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  I think you should be so comfortable in the armor of God, so comfortable wrapped
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  in his presence, sitting in his protection.
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  Relying solely upon him, that it's like your second skin.
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  And I think when we start thinking about all of the pieces of the helmet of
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  salvation, what we're really talking about are all of these aspects of the Christian
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  life, right? Aspects of life with Christ.
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  And so knowing him is understanding the armor of God, right?
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  Knowing him is understanding these pieces of him,
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  these images of a soldier's armor that help us understand these aspects of who we are in Christ,
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  who we are as that soldier that we are created to be. That is so correct, and it's...
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  Interesting that we're starting at the head, just going from the top to the bottom.
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  But the scripture passage brings up the helmet of salvation in verse 17.
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  And he says, And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
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  So we're starting today with the helmet of salvation.
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  And why do you think that he puts part of the armor as the helmet?
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  Well, I think that the helmet is going to represent a covering for our brain, right?
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  It helps to represent a covering for our brain.
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  It represents a covering for that place where we have fundamental understanding,
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  you know, and knowledge.
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  And I think that when we talk about putting salvation over our brains,
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  it's showing us, I think, number one, that salvation is primary to everything
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  we would understand with our earthly mind, but that also salvation comes to
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  us through a decision, right?
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  We talk about making a decision in our hearts, but when we make a decision,
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  we are weighing a choice, and salvation is a choice.
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  To accept Christ as our Savior. So I think that one of the reasons he talks
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  about the helmet of salvation is a helmet is a total covering, right?
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  It covers our entire head. It covers a soldier's entire head.
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  Salvation covers our entire life. It's a protection over our entire life.
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  And it's the brain that is the control center for our entire being.
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  So the helmet of salvation protects the mind from the control and the dominion of the devil.
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  It sets us on a path that we're supposed to be.
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  And when we put on the helmet of salvation, we are literally putting on Jesus.
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  Because Jesus is our salvation. Because in John chapter 14, verse 6,
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  he says, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh unto the Father but by me.
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  And he tells us in Acts 4.12 that neither is there salvation in any other,
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  for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.
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  So as we protect our mind from the control, we're putting on Jesus,
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  which gets to that whole 2 Corinthians 5, 17 thing,
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  old things are passed away and all things have become new because our control
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  center has been changed from darkness unto light.
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  I think one of the things that's so important too is if a soldier would never
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  go into battle without a helmet,
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  because if the soldier is injured in the head, he's probably done for.
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  And, you know, that you won't be able to make decisions to make right or wrong.
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  And I think that the helmet of salvation also absolutely represents security, right?
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  It shows that, you know, the soldier is ready, the soldier is prepared.
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  And so the soldier has all that they need to move forward. word.
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  But I think it's worth noting about putting on the helmet salvation is different
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  than putting on religion.
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  I think a lot of people have tried to make salvation many different things.
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  They've done good works. They've joined a church. They've read the Bible.
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  They give to the poor. they tithe, they maybe even have been baptized,
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  but they have not given their life to Jesus Christ.
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  Because the Bible says that it's not by works of righteousness,
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  which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of
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  regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost in Titus 3 verse 5.
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  Salvation is found in no one else.
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  We talked about that in Acts 4.12. but to get it we got to believe which we
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  do with our brains we believe in the name of the lord jesus christ whosoever
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  should call upon the name which that control center is what controls our communication our brain.
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  We live our life for him.
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  When we put on the helmet of salvation, things have to change in our mind.
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  Right. And if we're changing things in our mind and we've made that decision
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  for Christ, we're going to change how we think.
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  We're going to change where we put our faith and we're going to change where
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  we serve, right? Who we serve. We serve Christ.
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  We're not serving the devil. And the change in our mind is therefore going to
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  lead to a change in our direction and a change in our behavior.
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  We read in 2 Corinthians 5, 17, right? Therefore, any man be in Christ, he's a new creature.
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  Old things are passed away and behold, all things are come new.
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  So that helmet of salvation represents the changes, I think,
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  in our minds and the salvation that we have in our soul.
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  And I love it because it's our mind that is renewed in Romans 12, 2.
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  He says, and be not conformed to this world.
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  And he tells us how we're not conformed is because we're transformed by the
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  renewing of our mind that we could prove that which is good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
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  The mind is crucial to our decision making.
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  Thinking our mind is crucial to how we view the world in our life and so we must as christians.
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  Understand who god is and then we must act upon that understanding by placing
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  our faith in him and thus we are saved and it's the helmet of salvation that
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  protects the mind from us going and haywire and doing something completely off-kelter.
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  Because a mind that is sold out to Jesus will produce a life that lives for him.
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  It's a mind that is transformed, right? Amen. The element of salvation represents
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  the absolute transformation.
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  It may not be first in the list in the armor of God, but it's definitely the
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  top of the person, right?
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  It's the top of the soldier. It's the control center where we need to start.
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  It is definitely the control center. And it's the settlement of salvation where
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  our mind is transformed in such a way that we are committed to be in that peculiar
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  person, not conformed to the world.
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  And as you said, we're a new creature in Christ and we have a renewed mind.
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  We have submitted our hearts and our minds to Jesus. So we're no longer seeking
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  the things of the world, but we're committed to seek the Lord.
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  And we put him first, like we're told to in Matthew 6, 33, where it says,
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  Seek ye first the kingdom of
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  God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
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  It all begins by turning our heart and our mind over to Jesus.
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  And our mind is the control center that even makes our heart beat.
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  And, you know, when we commit our way to the Lord and allow him to cover our
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  mind, that's when we are maturing spiritually. spiritually, and we are progressively
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  being changed so that we can exhibit the will of God in our life.
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  It is a lifelong process to be sanctified and conformed to the image of God,
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  and we are following His plan for our life, and we do that which is good and acceptable to Him.
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  And it all comes from purposing in our heart to follow the truth that's been
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  revealed in our mind through the Holy Spirit transforming it and changing it.
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  The helmet of salvation is fundamental to our Christian walk and our godly living.
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  And we don't have to worry about the devil coming in and misleading us when
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  we have put on the armor of God.
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  We don't have to worry about the devil tripping us up through our thought and
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  our mind because we allow the Lord to take captive our thoughts and are covered
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  with the helmet of salvation.
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  Our entire being, as you said, rests in the peace of knowing that he has covered us and that we are his.
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  When we close up our conversation about the helmet of salvation,
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  I think something that we have to talk about is that the helmet of salvation
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  comes to us with that moment of salvation.
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  Amen. As a child of God, you have the authority to put on that helmet.
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  You have the authority to claim the protection of Christ.
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  You have the authority to claim the security of having Christ as your Savior
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  and the head of your life.
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  And you have the authority to claim that Christ is transforming who you are.
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  And I think that it's incredibly important to think, to realize that we do not
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  pick up this helmet of salvation on our own.
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  The helmet of salvation is created for us by God, and when we receive him as
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  Savior, we have every aspect of that armor to put on.
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  Thank you so much for joining us in this podcast of Women at the Well Ministries.
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  We are praying that you too have put on the helmet of salvation,
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  that you've made your calling and election sure, and that you are serving the
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  Lord with your whole heart, your whole soul, your whole mind,
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  and all of your strength.
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  Remember, you are loved. Jesus loves you.
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  Music.
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  In today's podcast. You can visit the show notes for quotes from today's podcast
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  and scripture references.
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  Thank you to the gospel group Fudge Creek for letting us use their hit song, Happy Girl.
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  Music.