The third piece of the armor
which protects a Christian are the spiritual shoes. The shoes are fitted to our feet
and designed to be worn as long as we battle against sin and Satan. Ephesians
6:15 reads, "...and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of
peace." While shoes are used for everyday wear, these shoes are no
ordinary shoes. Just as the other pieces of the armor are for the purpose of defending us so, too, are these shoes.
These shoes are to help us
deliver the greatest message the world has ever heard, one of good news and
great joy. Luke 2: 10, 11 reads, "
But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid. I bring
you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town
of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.'" This revelation of Christ, and the gift of
salvation to whomever will accept it, is
the best news anyone will ever hear!
This message
of salvation is a message of peace, and with it comes hope and comfort. Those
who live in Satan's world of darkness have no sense of peace as their
conscience constantly accuses them of living for themselves and against God. Their
lives of rebellion and selfishness may give them a temporary sense of peace,
but God will not allow it to continue.
They cannot truly hide their feelings of
guilt as He wants them to come to Him to find real peace, not peace as the world knows it. The peace the world
offers is superficial. Even the most
charitable, kind, self-sacrificing person in the world, that is not in right standing
with God, can never hope to achieve true peace, and certainly any hope and
comfort they feel will be fleeting.
This
life-giving message, this joyful news that God offers salvation to all, is what
Satan absolutely despises and he will stop at nothing to try to alter, distort,
twist, misrepresent and nullify the news that Jesus Christ came to earth to
bring salvation to mankind. Those whose intention it is to spread the message
of the Gospel anger Satan, and he will try to stop the messenger if he cannot
affect the message itself.
His desire is to keep entire nations in darkness,
under the bondage of sin, and those of us who seek to bring light into this
darkness do so because we have tasted the sweetness of this gospel message of
salvation and have compassion for the pitiful condition of those that are still
under Satan's control. It is this desire that motivates us, and it is those of
us who carry this news that Satan seeks to stop. It is essential, then, that our
feet are properly fitted in their armor so we can go into Satan's territory
with this critically important message for those who are still under his rule
so that they, too, can hear it.
Gurnall tells us, "The
man whose feet are well shod is not afraid to go through thick or thin, foul or
fair, stones or straws; all are alike to him. But the barefooted man, or the
one with fragile shoes, shrinks when his feet touch the mud...when the will and
heart of a person are ready for any work, he is shod and armed against any
trouble he must go through to complete it." We are to be a people who are
standing ready to do whatever God asks of us.
We are to be prepared to share the message of the Gospel, and as such
our feet are shod in such a way that we can trudge through any stormy weather,
cross any barrier and advance the message through all rough territory.
It is at this point where
Gurnall begins to prepare us for the challenges that we will encounter when
sharing the Gospel, "...the gospel calls men to stand ready for God's
service, whatever the cost...It is our duty as believers to be prepared to
endure any hardship and trial which God lays out for us in our Christian walk.
And saints will never be without these trials."
Trials and hardships often
come in the form of some type of suffering. Our willingness to
suffer, if God asks it of us, is an indicator that we are also prepared to
serve Him. While the idea of suffering goes against our flesh, we must be
willing to suffer for Christ if we say we are willing to serve Him. As Gurnall wrote, "If Paul's preaching
the gospel - even with his rare art of sweetening it - could not please the
ungrateful world, it would be almost impossible for those of us who fall short
of his gifts to win the world without some form of reproach, contempt or
downright persecution."
Any soldier that goes into
battle understands that there is often a heavy price to be paid, and for the
Christian that price is our willingness to suffer for the sake of the Gospel.
As a believer, we must have a yielded attitude to whatever God asks of us. Luke
9:23 says, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take
up his cross daily, and follow me."
Luke tells us that we must be prepared to not only serve God, but to
also suffer for His name's sake.
Gurnall tells us that "A saint cannot
serve if he is not prepared to suffer. This is true because all servants have a
cross which comes with their calling. If we become offended by the cross how
can we serve Christ?...This spiritual shoe, then, must be standard
equipment....it is the duty of every saint to make a free profession of Christ
- and often this cannot be done without the threat of danger. If the person's
heart is not resolved in this point, the first storm that stirs will make him
tie up in any creek rather than venture out in turbulent weather...It is
impossible for a person to savor (this) life unless he is prepared to lose it."
How does a believer walk with
a readiness in their heart to suffer for Christ? We must come to a place where we are
no longer afraid. Gurnall tells us,
"Once the Christian wears this piece of armor called 'the gospel of peace' his soul is prepared for both danger and
death...No doubt this 'preparation of the gospel of peace' brought Peter such
divine rest when bound between two soldiers... because he was ready to die, he
was able to sleep."
In so doing, we have the
assurance of God's care. "We see that by surrendering ourselves up to
God's will we engage Him to take care of us no matter what happens. How much
more comfortable can life be than to have our heaviest fears taken off our
shoulders and rolled upon the Father?...When a person is finally brought to the
foot of God and can earnestly surrender: 'Lord, here I am, ready to give You
all I am and all I have; my will shall be done when Your will is done in me,'
then the Lord will oblige Himself to care for that soul.", Gurnall
encouragingly reminds us.
Gurnall goes on to solemnly challenge
us, "Let all who wear the name of Christ get this shoe of preparation on
and keep it on so as to be ready to follow the call of God's providence even if
it leads into suffering." He goes
on to give us two reasons why we must be prepared. First, suffering may come suddenly, without
any warning whatsoever. If we have not prepared ourselves beforehand, then when
suffering suddenly appears out of nowhere, we are caught unaware. Second,
if we aren't prepared to suffer for Christ here on earth, we cannot expect to
receive our crown in heaven. Romans 8:17 tells us this, " Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs
with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also
share in His glory."
The question
we need to ask ourselves is not how can we escape trouble, but how do we keep
our shoes on so we can wade through troubles in true peace of heart? The first
thing Gurnall has us do is examine ourselves to see how obedient we really are, are we willing
to suffer if it's required of us, if God asks it of us?
Second, he
tells us that we need to pray that God will develop within us a spirit that is
willing to suffer. Paul, while he was in chains, wrote and encouraged the Philippians
to stand strong in their beliefs, even in the midst of suffering, "For it
has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but
also to suffer for him..." (Philippians 1:29). Gurnall tells us to
"Pray, then, for a suffering spirit for Christ's sake. Saints need to
plead earnestly with God for this gift because suffering work does not come
into our minds naturally. The flesh loves to be pampered, not crucified."
Third, that
we need to be determined in our hearts that we will endure whatever suffering
is required, be it poverty, prison, isolation, fire or even death. He tells us
to consider these things often "so the self-pity which flesh and blood
indulge will not be satisfied, nor the encouragements from Scripture be treated
with doubt. You must make sure a promise is true before you stake your life
upon it...God's promises are our fortress in times of danger; but it is not
easy for us to run to them in a crisis unless we know them in times of comfort
as well....He shows us our abiding place in His promises long before sufferings
come so we can readily find our way to them in the dark."
Fourth, we
need to come to the place where we accept God's will on a daily basis. He tells
us that "all resistance to suffering stems from the root of
distrust...each morning, then, entrust your whole heart and all your ways to
God's hand."
Fifth, it is
crucial that we make self-denial a part of our lives. If God asks us to give up
everything, we need to be ready, and willing, to do so. And lastly, we must
leave worldly lusts behind. Paul points us toward Christians who were "...
tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better
resurrection." (Hebrews 11:35). Their journey to heaven was much more
valuable in their eyes than anything they had in this world or that this world
had to offer.
Gurnall makes it a point to tell us, "Be careful not to
leave any unmortified (unsubdued) lust in your soul; it will never consent for you to
endure the smallest suffering for your Savior...Any unmortified heart, however,
is so tightly wedged in by familiar spirits of worldliness that it is
impossible to escape their embraces and enter into a willingness to suffer...The
truth is, only the person who has learned to die to the world knows how to live
in it."
We are to be
encouraged, that the peace that our hearts received when we accepted the Gospel, is the same peace that will give us the strength and determination we need to
go on, despite the certainties of trials and suffering. Gurnall says, "And the man who lives in
this peace is the only one who stands shod, prepared for every trial. Only
Christ can make a shoe fit the Christian's foot so he can easily walk a hard
path, because He lines it with the peace of the gospel. Then even when the way
is covered with sharp stones, this shoe goes between the boulders and the foot
- and obstacles are never much felt."
We are promised that "...the
peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and
your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:7). If we are shod with the shoes, and are living lives
totally surrendered to God's will, we will be able to get through any
difficulty with an inner peace that can only come from our Heavenly Father.
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