Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth.....Ephesians 6:14a (NKJV).
Information inundates our culture. Schools offer knowledge. Some people search for guidance while others offer counsel. Where are the answers to our questions? Who has the right answers? Information, knowledge and wisdom, guidance and instruction can all be found in the truth, God’s truth.
What is truth? A dictionary tells us that truth is that which is true or in accordance with fact or reality. God’s truth is His Word, our Bible. In it can be found reality, help, promises. All the answers we need are in that Book. The Holy Scriptures tell us in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV): All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
The God of the universe has given us a manual that contains all of His truth and we need to use it as we go about our work of prayer. Everything we do must stand on God’s Word because it is truth and has stood the test of time. Psalm 119:151-152 (NKJV) verifies the truth: You are near, O LORD, And all Your commandments are truth. Concerning Your testimonies, I have known of old that You have founded them forever.
And the truth is grounded in God’s Son, Jesus Christ, who is the Word, God’s truth. John 1:1-5 (NKJV) testifies that Jesus is the Word which is truth: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. If we know Jesus, we will know truth. His truth must surround us as we fight in prayer for our children.
Paul used the imagery of a soldier dressed for war as he described the armor of God that we must put on for spiritual warfare. The only way to stand firm against the power of Satan is to pray in the Spirit, wearing God’s armor. So we must first gird our waist with the “belt of truth” (reread Psalm 119:151). For a soldier the belt was foundational because it kept every other piece of armor in place.
Truth performs the same function for prayer warriors. Truth must encompass our lives so that we are strongly established in mind, character, will, and purpose. It needs to be a part of us, residing in our inner being as we are told in Psalm 51:6 (NKJV): Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.
If truth encircles our lives, then we are prepared for action. The soldier’s belt tied up their garments and kept them out of the way during a fight. In the same way, if we are enclosed by truth, nothing will get in our way or catch us unaware as we pray. So as MPs, we strive to know Jesus so that we can always stand firm on His truth. 2 Corinthians 4:1-2 states:
Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
Gird yourselves with TRUTH, MPs, as you prepare to stand firm and pray, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven!” (Matthew 6:10 NKJV)
Remember the promise God has given us for our children from Isaiah 43:5-7 - Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your descendants from the east, And gather you from the west; I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!‘And to the south, ‘Do not keep them back!‘ Bring My sons from afar, And My daughters from the ends of the earth— Everyone who is called by My name, Whom I have created for My glory; I have formed him, yes, I have made him.”
Read what follows this promise in verses 8-13:
Bring out the blind people who have eyes,
And the deaf who have ears.
Let all the nations be gathered together,
And let the people be assembled.
Who among them can declare this,
And show us former things?
Let them bring out their witnesses, that they may be justified;
Or let them hear and say, “It is truth.”
“ You are My witnesses,” says the LORD, “ And My servant whom I have chosen,
That you may know and believe Me,
And understand that I am He.
Before Me there was no God formed,
Nor shall there be after Me.
I, even I, am the LORD,
And besides Me there is no savior.
I have declared and saved,
I have proclaimed,
And there was no foreign god among you;
Therefore you are My witnesses,”
Says the LORD, “that I am God. Indeed before the day was, I am He;
And there is no one who can deliver out of My hand;
I work, and who will reverse it?”
We, your MPs, stand ready and we gird ourselves with your Truth, Lord, as we fight for our children through prayer.
Information inundates our culture. Schools offer knowledge. Some people search for guidance while others offer counsel. Where are the answers to our questions? Who has the right answers? Information, knowledge and wisdom, guidance and instruction can all be found in the truth, God’s truth.
What is truth? A dictionary tells us that truth is that which is true or in accordance with fact or reality. God’s truth is His Word, our Bible. In it can be found reality, help, promises. All the answers we need are in that Book. The Holy Scriptures tell us in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV): All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
The God of the universe has given us a manual that contains all of His truth and we need to use it as we go about our work of prayer. Everything we do must stand on God’s Word because it is truth and has stood the test of time. Psalm 119:151-152 (NKJV) verifies the truth: You are near, O LORD, And all Your commandments are truth. Concerning Your testimonies, I have known of old that You have founded them forever.
And the truth is grounded in God’s Son, Jesus Christ, who is the Word, God’s truth. John 1:1-5 (NKJV) testifies that Jesus is the Word which is truth: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. If we know Jesus, we will know truth. His truth must surround us as we fight in prayer for our children.
Paul used the imagery of a soldier dressed for war as he described the armor of God that we must put on for spiritual warfare. The only way to stand firm against the power of Satan is to pray in the Spirit, wearing God’s armor. So we must first gird our waist with the “belt of truth” (reread Psalm 119:151). For a soldier the belt was foundational because it kept every other piece of armor in place.
Truth performs the same function for prayer warriors. Truth must encompass our lives so that we are strongly established in mind, character, will, and purpose. It needs to be a part of us, residing in our inner being as we are told in Psalm 51:6 (NKJV): Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.
If truth encircles our lives, then we are prepared for action. The soldier’s belt tied up their garments and kept them out of the way during a fight. In the same way, if we are enclosed by truth, nothing will get in our way or catch us unaware as we pray. So as MPs, we strive to know Jesus so that we can always stand firm on His truth. 2 Corinthians 4:1-2 states:
Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
Gird yourselves with TRUTH, MPs, as you prepare to stand firm and pray, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven!” (Matthew 6:10 NKJV)
Remember the promise God has given us for our children from Isaiah 43:5-7 - Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your descendants from the east, And gather you from the west; I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!‘And to the south, ‘Do not keep them back!‘ Bring My sons from afar, And My daughters from the ends of the earth— Everyone who is called by My name, Whom I have created for My glory; I have formed him, yes, I have made him.”
Read what follows this promise in verses 8-13:
Bring out the blind people who have eyes,
And the deaf who have ears.
Let all the nations be gathered together,
And let the people be assembled.
Who among them can declare this,
And show us former things?
Let them bring out their witnesses, that they may be justified;
Or let them hear and say, “It is truth.”
“ You are My witnesses,” says the LORD, “ And My servant whom I have chosen,
That you may know and believe Me,
And understand that I am He.
Before Me there was no God formed,
Nor shall there be after Me.
I, even I, am the LORD,
And besides Me there is no savior.
I have declared and saved,
I have proclaimed,
And there was no foreign god among you;
Therefore you are My witnesses,”
Says the LORD, “that I am God. Indeed before the day was, I am He;
And there is no one who can deliver out of My hand;
I work, and who will reverse it?”
We, your MPs, stand ready and we gird ourselves with your Truth, Lord, as we fight for our children through prayer.