There’s a reason that the “Belt of Truth” is the first component of our spiritual armor in Ephesians 6… We need this critical piece before everything else if we are going to stand, fight, and win!
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Lifegroup Discussion Questions are below!
This week’s discussion questions are from guest blogger, Lynsie McDaniel. If you’re the group leader, have your group open this page on their mobile device. Remember, everyone in your group gets the same amount of prep for this discussion by listening to the message from Sunday.
This week Steve started talking about putting on the armor of God to fight this spiritual battle. He started with the belt, but first he talked about being prepared.
“Where you are going should determine what you pack for your trip.”
Let’s take that a little deeper, talk about if you know where you are headed spiritually, and not at the end of life, but where are you headed spiritually here on earth and what are some things Satan could use while you seek that journey in following Christ? For example if you have a mission trip you think He is directing you toward, a new job, a challenging conversation with a fellow believer, what are some desires of your heart that could distract you from doing His work?In this series we have heard a few times now that the battle is in the spiritual realm, but the effects are in the physical, but just fixing the physical doesn’t get to the root of it. How do we find the root of these issues? Talk about a real strategy you could put in place to help you search for the root of the problem when the physical effects of this battle raging effects you.
Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, (Ephesians 6:14-18 ESV)
Before we head into discussing each part of the armor of God in the coming weeks, spend a little time as a LifeGroup reading through Ephesians 6:14-18 and discuss your knowledge of each piece of the Armor of a God and your experience of victory when you have applied this strategy in your battle.Now let’s focus on the belt this week…the belt of truth.Philippians 4:8 is one of my favorite verses about how to fill our life with truth.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. (Philippians 4:8 ESV)
Instead of truth, what voices do we allow to speak into our hearts? What do we tend to fill our heads and hearts with?
Don’t these other voices in our heads play right into the enemy’s plan for our lives?
Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death. (James 1:14-15 NLT)
Jesus, God in the flesh, fought Satan
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written,
“ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,
“ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’
and
“ ‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ”7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,
“ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God
and him only shall you serve.’ ”11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.
-Matthew 4:1-11ESV
What would we have to do to be able to use these same truths Jesus uses to fight?
We have scripture in our hands, this absolute truth, let’s use it against Satan for a victorious life in the authority line of God! Steve told us that Satan’s hope is that we would “follow our heart” rather than “hide the truth of God’s word in our hearts.” Let’s not let Satan win!Challenge…One of the blanks on our page was “Truth brings clarity and victory. Absence of truth brings confusion and defeat”. Satan uses a few tactics here to falsely build up our belief in our ability. But the truth is we can’t trust ourselves, we are run by our emotions, we don’t know everything, and we don’t know what the future will bring. Think through which of these is a weak spot for you that he could win, and search and learn some verses that speak truth to your weakness. If finding scripture isn’t something you feel strong in, ask for help, search on the free Bible App. If you remember a phrase, but not a reference or a verse sites like biblegateway.com are great for finding verses that you are looking for.