E74 - Hope’s Harbor Gritty Bible Devotions - Armor of GOD - Walking in the Gospel - 4 of 7

Hope’s Harbor

Gritty Bible Devotions

Episode #74

Title: Armor of GOD – Gospel Walk – 4 of 7

Date: October 3, 2022

Contact: info@hopesharbor.net

Key verse(s): Ephesians 6:15 – ‘…and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;’

Intro: When we have belted truth around our life and wear the breastplate of right living then we are ready to walk in the light of the Gospel. To walk in this context is the way we live. This can mean going out into our day ready to share the hope we have through believing and applying the Gospel.

It is much more than reciting a ‘plan of salvation.’

In this episode, we’ll examine different ways to walk, or live, our lives so that not only others notice, but they ask the reason for aspects of our lives they find different from the everyday normal in this dog-eat-dog world.

We are told in 1 Peter 3:15 – ‘But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;’

So our lives should have an air of hope about it.

And then GOD comes in with the foundation for our hope, the resurrection of His Son from the grave.

Devotion focus: Prepared to share the Gospel –

Jesus declared in Luke 4:18, at the beginning of His ministry, He came to preach the Gospel to the poor. Against this effort of Jesus and now us comes Satan. Listen to this passage in 2 Thessalonians: 

2 Thessalonians 2:9 – ‘The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders,

2 Thessalonians 2:10 – ‘and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

2 Thessalonians 2:11 – ‘And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie,

2 Thessalonians 2:12 – ‘that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

The exhortation in the key verse of Ephesians 6:15 versus this passage in 2 Thessalonians tells us we, as Christians – Christ followers, are given a duty; we’re on a rescue mission. This is probably the primary meaning of Ephesians 6:15, to live ready at a moment’s notice to share the Gospel.

So, what is the Gospel, besides meaning Good News? Well, the good news is that GOD made a way to reconcile the whole of the human race to Himself. He gave us a way to avoid His coming wrath against sin and the evil it brings about.

And then, we have a choice in the matter. Will we receive GOD’s offer… or not?

And not only GOD’s offer to forgive us based on our trust in Jesus’s death in our place, but GOD’s offer to let others who are condemned by their sin, to eternal death, to let them know of the good news.

But it is one thing to recite a plan of salvation and quite another to reveal the effects of our own salvation. How can we do this?

Well, how did Jesus do it? This is a great time to point out the value of reading the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And to read them numerous times throughout the year.

If you will do this faithfully, the life of Jesus will become your way of living. His way of thinking will become your way of thinking. His way of loving others will become your way of loving others.

That last statement of Jesus’s way of loving others is the answer to the question of how to reveal the effects of our salvation, for it is much more than avoiding Hell and going to Heaven.

We have each and every day, right now, the chance to make a difference in the life of someone we know, and even better, in the life of someone we encounter during each day…

Come on… put on your thinking cap for a moment. How can you bless someone you meet in a brief moment? First, use wisdom and logic. It doesn’t mean trusting everyone you meet with your safety.

There was a movement if you could it that, a few years ago called ‘Pay it forward.’ Remember it? I think there was even a movie along those lines. Regardless, the point was to give others the blessings or favors you’ve been given.

This is where Walking prepared to let others know the Gospel becomes an adventure. To find out how many ways you can reveal to others the joy you have, that joy in remembering your own understanding of and trust in the Gospel message.

Do you have that joy?

Summary: To wear armor by being shod to carry the Gospel message everywhere you go means you are ready to give that message, not as a recitation of some verse in Romans only, but to give the Gospel in how well you do for others.

Action to consider: Read through these verses, then go to them, the least of Jesus’s loved ones and do for them; give them loving care.

Matthew 25:34 – “Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

Matthew 25:35 – “for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in;

Matthew 25:36 – “I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.'

Matthew 25:37 - "Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?

Matthew 25:38 – “When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You?

Matthew 25:39 – “Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?'

Matthew 25:40 – “And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'”

Next week’s devotion: GOD’s Armor – The Shield of Faith: Ephesians 6:16