In 1 Thessalonians 5, we see Paul preparing new believers for spiritual warfare. As believers and followers of Christ, they were going to be attacked in their minds by the Devil. That is where he starts. Your body only goes where your mind directs. Your mind is the key to following God. Only a mind that stays on the Lord can have perfect peace (Isaiah 26:3). A mind devoted to Christ is the road to God’s plan for your life (Proverbs 3:5-6).
When Paul spoke of living in a world that loves darkness, ruled by a prince of darkness, he exhorted those new believers to remember who they were. The way to get through dark days in this world was simple as long as you wore your helmet:
1 Thessalonians 5:5-8
5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.
6 Therefore, let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.
7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night.
8 But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. NKJV
We need to wear our helmets! Paul explained the helmet as part of a complete way of life in Ephesians 6. If you could have seen Paul as God saw him in his battle gear, you would have seen an old, gray-headed man with a badly dented war helmet. Many dents, slices, and marks show how often the enemy had struck at him.
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