#097 "The Belt of Truth" (Ephesians 6:14a)

"Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth..." (Ephesians 6:14a)

In this episode of The Abidible Podcast, host Kate takes you deep into Ephesians 6:14a to uncover why the “belt of truth” is far more essential than most Christians realize.

If you’ve ever felt spiritually exhausted, easily discouraged, vulnerable to lies, stuck in compromise, or unsure how to actually stand firm in your faith, this episode will help you understand why.

Using the powerful picture of physical core weakness and recovery, Kate reveals how the belt of truth functions as the spiritual core support for every believer. Together, you’ll explore the Old Testament roots of the armor of God, what it really means to “gird up your loins,” and why truth is the very first piece of armor Paul tells us to put on.

More importantly, you’ll walk away with practical, biblical ways to strengthen your spiritual core by saturating your life in God’s Word.

In this episode, you’ll learn: Why the belt of truth is foundational to all the other armor, The difference between the belt of truth and the sword of the Spirit, How Satan primarily attacks through deception and half-truths, Why “wrapping yourself in truth” changes how you live, think, and fight, How abiding in Scripture strengthens your discernment, endurance, and stability, and Practical ways to fasten on the belt of truth every day.

If you want to become harder to deceive, stronger in spiritual battle, more grounded in truth, and more equipped to stand firm in Christ, this episode is for you.

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Additional Resources for Study*:

"Gird Your Loins Reinactment" (Video)
"God's Devil" by Erwin W. Lutzer
"The Christian in Complete Armour" by William Gurnall

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Transcript

Welcome And A Real-Life Core Test

Kate 0:00

Hey guys, this is Kate from Abidable.com, and you're listening to the Abidable Podcast. I'm just a regular wife and mom who's had my life transformed by learning to study the Bible on my own. If I can, you can. On this show, I help you know and love God more by abiding in Him through His Word yourself. My core is so weak. I used to have a six-pack, you know. When I was a serious college athlete training hard, my core was solid. I put in the time and I saw the results. Plus, I was young. It was nice to be young. My sport, volleyball, required a strong core. It was from my core that I was able to serve and hit and block. It's what strengthened me to play long games or entire tournaments without growing weary. The twisting motion and serving and hitting alone would destroy the back of anyone who didn't have a strong countermeasure or a strong set of abdominal muscles. The two obviously balanced each other so that I could play well. Now, over 20 years later, my core is junk, attributed to years of neglect, probably, as well as definitely a C-section, endometriosis, and extensive endosurgery in my hysterectomy this past August. But even before my surgery, my back had started twisting and hunching to protect the pain that I was experiencing in my abdomen. That was only magnified after surgery when the pain was so intense. I became the hunchback of Notre Dame in order to relieve the pain I felt if I straightened myself out. And because of all of that, my core is garbage. So I've been doing physical therapy since December. As my healing was progressing several months in, my therapist decided it was time to begin some core strengthening exercises and stretches. The first night that I tried to do them at home, Jason very kindly got down on all fours on the floor next to me to help by doing them with me. I cried. It hurt so bad. But actually, more than the pain, I think my tears came because of how hard it was. I was so, so weak. I could barely complete the designated number she'd prescribed for me, which was low. And the feelings of defeat and failure were massively discouraging. It was just a big wake-up call about how how weak my core had actually become. You know, I'd always heard, obviously, that your core is critical to your overall health, but until your core fails you, you have no idea how true that is. In her Armor of God study, Priscilla Shire says this your core is the area around your trunk and pelvis comprised of the abdominal muscle groups. It is the central link in the chain that connects the lower and upper parts of your body, enabling all your limbs and movements to work together in harmony. Every motion you make, whether sweeping the floor or swinging a golf club, or in my case, swinging at a volleyball, requires support from this area. A strong core helps with your balance, your stability, your resistance to injury, your stamina over time and under pressure. In fact, as the aging process sets in, a weak core could mean the difference between being able to walk upright or being relegated to a chair. The condition of your core affects everything. Boy, do I resonate with that. Strengthening my core is making me stronger across the board. The core of my body is critical to the overall well-being of my entire body. And if my weak core can be strengthened after so many years of neglect and trauma and disease and multiple surgeries, anyone's core can be strengthened. No one is too far gone. Giving up on the part of us that is critical for overall health, strength, and well-being should never be an option. Every day that you're alive is a day that can be used to strengthen your core.

The Core And The Belt Connection

Kate 5:25

Now, is this an exercise podcast or what's happening? What does that have to do with our verse for today? Actually, our half verse. Yeah, last week I told you that this week we'd be discussing Ephesians 6, 14, and 15. But as I got into it, I decided that there's no way that I'm going to do one episode and jam three pieces of armor into it. I'm grateful that God is reminding me to slow down and to make the space and take the time that's needed to really look at each of the pieces of armor. So instead of looking at the belt and the breastplate and the shoes today, we're just going to look at the belt. This is Ephesians 6, 14A, the first half of the verse. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth. The belt is to the armor, what our core is to our bodies. And we're going to spend this entire episode figuring out what that

Why The Belt Comes First

Kate 6:21

means. But first, real quick, I know that you love God and His Word because you're here. When you click Support the Abidable Podcast in our episode descriptions, you help us cover our monthly expenses so we can focus on helping more and more people know and love God by abiding in his word for themselves. Thank you so much for serving God by supporting our mission. You can donate once or on a monthly basis. Just click Support the Abidable Podcast to learn more. Now, I got an amazing text from my friend Katie this week that I can resonate with, and you probably can too. She's doing this study with me in our local group, and she said, Who knew a belt was such an essential part of armor? I kept thinking, a belt? Really? Not something I think would be important for a battle. And then she said, So cool digging deeper and finding out how necessary it is and how important it is to put it on first. We'll get to that part today, but I'm sure to some degree you resonate with what Katie shared. A belt as a piece of armor, as the first piece of armor? That's strange. That's not an article of clothing or armor that comes to mind when you think of a warrior suited up for battle. Additionally, perhaps you've wondered if you've looked ahead at all to the rest of the armor, what is the difference between the belt of truth and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God? Aren't those both the truth? Does that make these two items redundant? And then there's one other problem that we'll encounter today, which is simply that we are out of touch culturally with the armor that would have been worn at the time Paul was writing this letter to the Ephesians. You and I don't walk city streets with Roman guards in full armor. If, in fact, the Roman armor was inspiration for the metaphor Paul is using here, which we'll get into in a second. Maybe it was the guard that he was chained to on house arrest while he was writing this letter. But for you and I, unless we're from a military family, we are pretty out of touch with the head-to-toe armor that is necessary to safely and successfully wage war. And because most of us listening and studying here are women, perhaps, not to be stereotypical, we are even less invested in first century AD battle attire than our male counterparts. And so the armor can potentially feel even less relevant or relatable. Although I love me some Braveheart and Gladiator, some of the best movies I've seen have been war stories, but that's all on the silver screen. It is really hard to relate to war and armor in real, everyday 21st century first world life. So let's dig in together to get some answers and clarity and context. Just because this was written a different time to a different people group, it doesn't mean it's not fully relevant to us today. 2 Timothy 3, 16 through 17 tells us that all of Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good

Finding The Belt In The Old Testament

Kate 9:36

work. So let's lean in. Now, in some of your commentary, and even as you just saw me mention, some wonder if Paul drew his inspiration for the armor, including this first article, the belt of truth, from the pieces worn by Roman guards. After all, Paul spent all of his life in a region occupied and ruled by the Romans. He daily crossed paths with Roman guards fully dressed in armor. But what if Paul's inspiration wasn't fully Roman? What if instead it was biblical, based on the writings of the law and prophets that he knew so well? Professor and theologian Ian Duged makes a compelling case that each of the pieces of armor has a rich background in the Old Testament, where they describe God's armor, the armor that God himself dons to rescue his people. The Old Testament, not the Roman legionary, provided Paul with his inspiration. And if we miss this background, we may misinterpret and misapply the various pieces of the armor. Well, we certainly don't want to do that. I don't want to misinterpret or misapply the armor. So, where do we see this idea referenced in the Old Testament? Where might Paul have been drawing this concept from? With help from a desiringgod.org article by teacher David Mathis, let's see what we can learn about this dang belt. Word study will play a critical role here. And if you're doing the study alongside me, you may already know what I'm talking about. So, what could Paul be drawing from? I want you to consider that his inspiration for the armor for the belt of truth was the coming promised Messiah. In the Old Testament, particularly in the book of Isaiah, chapter 11, we are reminded of the promise of a coming king from the line of David. This king will be unlike any other king before or after him. He will be a shoot from the stump of Jesse, that's David's father, and will have the Spirit of God resting on him. He will delight in the fear of God. Mathis says he will be no partisan king. He will not be deceived by appearances and personal preferences. But with righteousness, Isaiah 4 tells us, he shall judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth. This is the will of God. Righteousness, justice, equity. But how will this coming king enforce his will? Isaiah 11 4 goes on telling us that it will not be with a physical sword, but with the power of his word. He shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. This coming Messiah will enforce his will of righteousness, justice, and equity, not with a sword, but with the power of his mouth, his word. What does all this have to do with the belt of truth and the armor of God? Stick with me for one more verse. We have to read Isaiah 11 5. It says, Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness, this is truth, the belt of his loins, a bingo. Paul knew this verse. It was a critically important prophecy about the long-awaited Messiah. And what's around this promised Messiah's waist? A belt. What is the belt around this coming king's waist? Righteousness. What's the belt of his loins? Faithfulness. The Messiah will wear these figurative belts around his waist. Why are these traits called belts? Why choose an article, belt, that goes around the waist to describe them? We know he's not going to be wearing a literal belt, so what does this figurative belt of righteousness and faithfulness look like practically? Mathis says, gracious and merciful as will be this Messiah to rescue his people, he will not act unjustly. He will not take bribes or underwrite half truths. He will not treat wrong as right or sweep injustice under the rug. Delighting to reverence his divine father and cosmic justice, he will be a king who delights in right, does right, and is known for it. Even his opponents will have to admit, teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly and show no partiality, but truly teach the way of God. That's Luke 20, 21. This king is Jesus. The coming Messiah is the Christ Paul met on the road to Damascus, the one who Paul, at the time of writing this letter to the Ephesians, had gladly suffered for and dedicated his life to. Looking at the righteous actions of Jesus, Paul picks up a pen and writes down the first step for the Ephesians, and by extension, us, in dressing for the spiritual battles we face in the heavenly realm. He doesn't start with the articles you'd assume he would. He doesn't say to grab the sword and the breastplate. You think he'd say, go for the helmet to protect your head. No, he says, fasten on the belt of truth. If we skip past this, none of the other armor will

Isaiah’s Messiah Wears This Belt

Kate 15:18

matter. We'll be right back after this message. Hey friend, one thing I hope you're seeing through this series is just how rich and exciting God's word really is. We've been having so much fun slowing down and diving into all of these verses and now each specific piece of the armor of God. What it means, how it protects us, and how it actually helps us to stand firm in real life. And I don't want you to just listen to me study it. I want you to experience digging into scripture for yourself. So if you want to study alongside me, you can easily still grab the Armor Study Workbook, digital for 10 bucks or printed for 20, and use this podcast as your companion as we walk through it together. I'll link everything below, including our How to Study the Bible course if you want extra guidance. I would love to have you come study with me. And now back to the show. So Paul says, be like Christ. First, fasten your belt. He doesn't start with any other piece of armor. He starts with the belt and he calls it the belt of truth. Again, realize that this was a man, Paul, who knew Isaiah's prophecy about the coming Messiah being adorned with a belt of righteousness and faithfulness. Remember, this is a man who had encountered that promised king, the risen Christ, and gave up everything to follow him. If you know this, you'll better understand Paul's heart in choosing this as the first piece of armor to dress with in spiritual battle. Now, this is where word study comes in. Because the word belt isn't even in the Greek. Instead, it's a phrase. Did you see it? Gird up your loins. Say what? This phrase, this first step of preparation is literally translated having girded up your loins in truth. What in the world does it mean to gird up your loins? Commentator O'Brien helps us understand this expression in its correct ancient context. Girding up your loins meant wrapping your waist with the excess fabric of a long robe as preparation for vigorous activity. The long robes worn by men in this time period hindered their ability to run, to labor, and to move. I'm going to link a video for you in this episode's description so you can see a physical reenactment of what it would have literally looked like to gird your loins. Using a rope or piece of fabric around your waist, you would lift the bottom of your robe and tuck it into the belt so that you'd have freedom of movement. Mathis says, we might say, wrap your waist in truth. Drawing up the dangling garment and securing it at the waist enabled running, free movement, and unhindered combat. With this foundational fashion in place, warriors then, and only then, could secure their armor and go into battle. Imagine the opposite. Imagine not girding your loins. Imagine leaving your robe around your ankles and throwing the armor on over that robe and then trying to fight. Your stride would be completely hindered. You wouldn't be able to run or move freely at all. In fact, your hands would probably be taken up, trying to lift your robe so that you could move at all, which would leave you open and susceptible to attack. Girding your loins was critical. And it's ironic, isn't it? Priscilla Shire says that restricting releases. So when we gird our loins, it actually leads to freedom. Lifting up the robes and tucking them into the belt provided that person with the ability to move and take steps without tripping or falling. But Paul takes it even further. He tells us how to gird our loins, how to prepare ourselves to freely fight with truth. Gird your loins with truth. Wrap your waist in truth, just like your king. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist and faithfulness, again, think of this as truth. Faithfulness the belt of his loins. Now, this pre-armor, as we should think of it, or under armor, is not yet truth on the offensive. Remember how I asked that question? Truth on the offensive is what we'll see with the sword of the spirit. This is defensive truth or truth that is applied to our own selves, our own lives, our own hearts. Mathis says, the Christian who wraps his soul in the objective truth of scripture shapes his subjective heart for the wiles of war. I feel like I need to say that again. The Christian who wraps his soul in the objective truth of scripture shapes his subjective heart for the wiles of war. He takes the divine word deep into his human center, think core, for transformation and joy. He not only searches the scriptures, but lets the scriptures search him. He ingests God's truth both to feed and to condition his soul, slowly, one day at a time, over months and years. This wrapping makes him a vastly different person, far better equipped to both identify truth and embody it. I think about that first night on the floor trying to do my new set of core exercises. I remember how hard they were and how impossible it seemed that I'd be able to experience strength in that part of my body again. Last night I was on my carpet yet again in the same place, sweating as I did double the number of reps with even more mobility and strength. My core is getting stronger. But that hasn't just happened by accident. I've had to actively participate by repeatedly submitting myself to the discipline of stretching and exercise, even especially when I didn't want to, when I didn't feel like it. I have had to make it part of my weekly routine. Similarly, putting on the belt of truth or girding our loins in truth isn't something that just happens. It's not as elementary as saying, um, God, today I put on the belt of truth. There is much more to it than that. And we shortchange ourselves if we don't take the time to understand how one goes. About fastening on the belt of truth.

When God’s Armor Becomes Our Gift

Kate 22:02

But before we get into the practical piece, let's remind ourselves of the whole reason that this piece of armor is even available to us at all. Priscilla Shire has a page in her study dedicated to the divine warrior. She points out, similarly to Mathis, that Paul was very likely leaning on Old Testament imagery when he penned this passage on the armor of God. She references the passage in Isaiah 59, which I've already briefly mentioned in this series. In this passage, Yahweh, devastated by his people's rebellious idolatry and sin, says, Truth is missing. Verses 15 to 19 in Isaiah 59 describe his heart and his response. It says, The Lord saw that there was no justice, and he was offended. He saw that there was no man, he was amazed that there was no one interceding. So his own arm brought salvation. And then we see Yahweh Himself dressing himself in himself, in his own attributes as armor. He put on righteousness like a breastplate, it says, and a helmet of salvation on his head. He put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and he wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak. And then the unthinkable happens, a battle. And the warfare is between God and his people. So he will repay according to their deeds fury, retribution. He will come like a rushing stream driven by the wind of the Lord. Shire says the nation of Israel, God's people as a whole, was corrupt and its leaders debased. The pure worship of Yahweh had been replaced by unapologetic idolatry and perverted cultic practices like sorcery, prostitution, and child sacrifice. God himself responds by donning his armor, in essence, his own character and virtues, to bring judgment and justice. And sadly, the enemy is not some other pagan nation. In this case, it is the children of God themselves. In Isaiah 59, we see Yahweh wearing the armor of Yahweh to come against his own rebellious children as he warned them that he would. This is heartbreaking warfare as a consequence of a stiff-necked people turning their backs on Yahweh and persisting in vile sin. That's what makes the new covenant established by Christ so astounding. Everything is different now because of his atoning sacrifice. God turned his wrath away from us and upon his own son. And because of Christ's finished work on the cross, the hostility between God and humanity, between God and you, between God and me, has been destroyed for all of us who are in Christ. Regarding God's own armor, Shirer profoundly points out, now that which Yahweh was once compelled to use against his people, he freely gives as a gift to them to exact against the devil and the domain of darkness. The divine warrior, Christ, gives us the full and complete armor of God, the very nature of Yahweh Himself as a gift to ensure our victory. That's insane. That is insane. This belt worn first by the long-awaited Messiah is a belt of righteousness and faithfulness. It's a picture of who our king is, a king who is zealous for justice and equity and mercy and who delights in what is right, who does what is right, and is known for it. And Paul is here telling us to fasten ourselves with that belt. We cannot miss that the fact is if it were not for the blood of Christ, the belt of truth would be donned against us. When we were dead in the trespasses and sins in which we once walked, as Ephesians 2 tells us, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is at work in the sons of disobedience was once at work in us, as we lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and we were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. God was rightly coming against us as we followed Satan, the father of lies. In him there is no truth at all, and when we followed him, we were not following truth. So there was no truth in us, but God. The best two words in Scripture. But God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved. By grace we have been saved, and he has raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 1, one chapter back, tells us that we have been blessed in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. And part of that blessing is the armor of God. It is a gift to us instead of what is used against us, solely because God is rich in mercy and loved us so much that he sent Jesus to die for us in our place for our sins, so that we could be reconciled to him and given new life. This is a life filled with righteousness, truth, justice, mercy, equity, and peace with God. Because of Jesus, because of his blood, there is no hostility from God toward us. We have been covered by the blood and dressed in the armor of God. Instead of being children of wrath and God being our enemy, we are now adopted into the family and given the family armor. This is unbelievable.

Choosing Truth Over Half-Truths

Kate 28:36

So how do we put it on? How do we put on, fasten on the belt of truth? We can understand on a cerebral level that this means to gird our loins or wrap ourselves in truth, but on a daily, practical basis, how can I fasten this thing on me? Well, every day we each have a choice about what we're going to wrap ourselves or our souls in. Will it be truth or falsehood? Or will it be half-truths and compromise? Will it be steadfast righteousness and faithfulness? God's truth. We have a choice. If we abide in God through his word, we will be wrapped in truth. We will be dressed with the first piece of armor, ready to put on and take up all the other pieces. This is why we abide. This is why I love God's word, and this is why abidible exists and why we do what we do. Mathis says, the best prepared for spiritual war are those who not only dip into the word briefly, but saturate their lives with it. How many times have you heard me talk about saturation? He says they wrap their souls in God's truth through various habits and patterns, personally and corporately, through reading and rereading and study and meditation and memorization and discussion. They click on content that strengthens their bearings and their delight in truth rather than error. Now, this chapter in Priscilla Shire's study on the belt of truth is exceptionally helpful in the practical sense. So I want to take these final moments in today's episode to walk you through some of what she shared. The first thing she rightly and necessarily points out is that in today's world, and mind you, she first wrote this 11 years ago, it's very hard for people to take a stand for what's right, to stand for truth. Truth has become so subjective, and even more so in 2026. She notes that even the church can fail to stand for biblical, truth-based, right living and choices that honor the God of the Bible, not the lowercase G God that people create for themselves. Many Christians do not operate from biblically based foundations, which means that they do not frame their decisions and daily living around what God has said in his word. So that means that they are unsteady in their convictions, they buckle under pressure, and they struggle to stand firm and persevere. But that's not going to be us, because we're going to build a strong core. Our core, our loins, will be girded with truth, God's truth. Now, we have to think of this belt as a critical support in our armor, similar to the back brace a delivery worker or moving man might wear. While we noted that the Roman soldier's armor was likely not Paul's primary inspiration for this passage, understanding the role of a belt in a soldier's armor is helpful to us now. For the Roman soldier, this piece was not decorative or optional. It was, Shire says, a strategic primary focal point of his attire. And it was more like a girdle than a belt. The sturdy leather girdle of the Roman soldier was made to reach around the torso and provide essential support while he performed the quick, demanding movements of war. Two weeks ago, we were told that our battle isn't against flesh and blood. It's against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Our battle is against Satan and his strategically positioned and trained demons. The belt of truth is our core support in this fight. When Satan tries to deceive us, which is his primary means of attack, he twists the truth. That's what he's always done all the way back to the garden when he promised Eve that she'd be like God if she focused on the one thing God had forbidden instead of the infinite ways he'd provided. He twisted the truth. He deceived her. Shire says he shades reality, he being Satan, with enticing and alluring colors, seducing us away from black and white principles. He propagates fantasies, causing temporal and insignificant things to somehow appear immensely valuable and favorable. He hides consequences in the fine print while highlighting only the parts that appeal to our short-sighted, self-gratifying flesh. She continues, you've never met a magician as astounding at his craft as the devil is at his.

Posture Injury Fatigue Self-Check

Kate 34:26

So let's take a self-assessment of our core. I'm not going to make you do a sit-up test. This isn't middle school, but I do want to ask you some questions to see if it helps reveal areas of weakness where you might invite the Lord to shore you up with truth. So here are three questions. How's your posture? Are you injury prone? And are you experiencing body fatigue? Those are the three questions Priscilla asks in her study, and I want to briefly develop them with you here so you can take stock of where you are vulnerable around your core, your figurative spiritual core. When it comes to posture, think about how related our core is to being able to stand up straight and even to bear loads. And tie that into what we've seen with Paul's repeated use four times of the word stand. We are being commanded to stand against, against the devil, his legions of demons, and his schemes. Without God's belt of truth, this is a crushing, impossible task. So I'll ask it again. How's your posture? Are you slumped? Do you buckle the moment something hard happens? Do you try and endure in your own strength only to injure more parts of your body and limp away in defeat? And when do you find it most difficult to stand upright? Next question. Are you injury prone? In a spiritual sense, what I mean by this is what I just alluded to. Does your weak core cause other parts of your quote body to get injured? What I've learned is that my weak core has directly contributed not only to my back pain, but to my pulled groin and my sciatic pain. The ripple effect is real. So, in your life, where do you find that your weak core is causing additional injury? One example Priscilla offers is anger. How often do you take offense? How easily are you hurt by others? How impacted are you by their opinions of you? If your core isn't strong, you can see how much offense can spiral out of control, injuring more of yourself and others. Jealousy, outrage, hatred. Where else might you be prone to injury? Comparison, compromise? What else does a weak core lead to in your life? Finally, the third assessment question is this How tired is your body? I'll tell you something. Before I started doing all these core strengthening activities, I was tired all the time. The simplest tasks killed me. Even standing at the sink for 10 minutes to wash dishes or sitting here in my chair to work on episodes was really, really hard. A weak core makes your whole body work harder than it has to, and consequently, everything is exhausted all the time. The core is meant to support all of those other muscle groups and movements. So when it's not doing its job, you'll burn out easily and quickly. Spiritually speaking, if you are not girded by God's truth, then of course your relationship with Him and His Word and His people will become, as Priscilla says, lackluster, exhausting, and unfulfilling. And that nature of your relationship with him will leach into everything else you engage in. So those are the three questions. How's your posture? Are you injury prone? And is your body fatigued? Each one of us has weaknesses in our core area, but praise God that the belt is ours in Christ. We have only to fasten it on. In Christ, with the help of his spirit, he can easily strengthen our core. If he can do it in such a short time with my physical core, just imagine what he can miraculously do for us spiritually. After all, he has already blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Imagine what it would look like to no longer be what 2 Timothy 3.6 calls weak women led on by various impulses, but instead, as Priscilla offers, women who walk uprightly for longer periods of time, who stay strong even when under pressure and strain, who become able to absorb criticism without taking offense, who feel less uncomfortable and awkward with our convictions, and who are spiritually rejuvenated, refreshed, and girded with power and strength. This really appeals to me. And I have to testify to the goodness of God and just how much he's done in my life. I know that I know that I know I am not the same person I was five years ago when he started calling me back to himself through his word. He has dressed me in the armor simply by saturating me with his word. I know myself and who I used to be and how I used to respond and what I used to run to for comfort and escape. He is changing all of that. I'm in the not fully there, but not who I used to be phase of my walk with him. He has girded my loins, wrapped my waist with his truth as a free gift just by getting me to study his word. The more I've learned about him, the more I've grown to love him and love what is right and true. The more I love him, the more I naturally want to live for him by obeying what he commands. The more boldly he's enabled me to live and stand on what I know to be true, and the more quickly I return to him after blowing it. He is helping me to grow in discernment about what is false and what is only partially true. In short, the schemes of Satan are no longer as effective on me as they used to be, and I praise God for that. It sure doesn't mean that he stopped trying, but boy, can I attest to the fact that I am simply more equipped to fight, not at all in my own strength, but from the place of truth and victory that I've been given in Jesus. That is such a blessing. I don't know where you land with all of this. Only you and Jesus know how strong or weak your spiritual core is. But not a single part of this message is meant to condemn you. It's definitely an invitation to take action. Certainly, neither Jesus nor I want you to concede to some lie that your spiritual core will always be weak. I sure wanted to quit that first night on the carpet trying to do those core activities. It was hard and strength felt so far out of reach, but it wasn't, and neither is your strong spiritual core, friend. God can do anything. He can take you weak, postured, injury prone, and completely fatigued in your spirit and restore to you the joy of your salvation so you can stand tall and fight. How do you begin? I love these four ways to wear the belt of truth that Priscilla shared. One, uphold and affirm the standard of God in Scripture. Commit yourself to the standard of God and resolve to teach it to your family. Two, daily, systematically, repeatedly let God help align your decisions and responses, your attitudes and ambitions to his benchmark of truth. Three, continually learn about the character and purposes of God from the Bible and from his spirit, and then unapologetically synchronize your convictions even when it's hard or unpopular to do so. And four, filter every circumstance, personally and culturally, through the prism of his word, instead of merely leaning on your feelings, political correctness, or the opinions of others. Here's

Truth That Holds Everything Together

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the big idea. Fasten on the belt of truth by wrapping yourself up in God's truth every day. In short, abide. If you do, you'll be wearing God's very own belt of truth, his character traits of righteousness and faithfulness purchased with Christ's blood, but given to you as a free gift so you can be victorious on this earth no matter what Satan slings at you. The belt of truth girds you and restricts you so you can walk in freedom. But as we head into the rest of the armor, there is one more beautiful role it plays. It supports other important pieces of the armor. The belt is the piece that secured not only the tunic, but consequently the breastplate. It allowed the feet and shoes to move about freely, it carried the sword and sometimes even the shield. Shire says the belt was the hanger necessary to organize, secure, and stabilize the rest. Now you get why Katie said what she said. Who knew a belt was such an essential piece of armor? I kept thinking, a belt? Really? Not something I think would be important for battle. So cool digging deeper and finding out how necessary it is and how important it is to put it on first. It is necessary, and we need to put it on first. So do it and see what will happen. Happen. Fasten on the belt of truth. I'll close with Mathis. He said, In having wrapped our souls in truth, we become the kind of people who bring truth with us wherever we go. We not only speak truth, but embody it and even more speak the truth of the gospel into places and hearts of unbelief. We are truth tellers in our jobs, on our taxes, when we fill out insurance claims, when we serve as jurors, when we find a financial error in our favor, and when we hear someone speak a half truth about someone else. Like Jesus, we will become agents of truth wherever we go. When we walk into a room or stand up at a school board meeting or sit in a conference room or engage in conversation, wrapped in truth will be the kind of people who say in every crisis, let truth hold sway, let the unvarnished truth be discovered and known. Truth will not undermine the cause of our God and Christ, who is the truth. Rather, the cause of truth, open-handed, not angling, full exposure, light into darkness, is an effect downstream of our knowing and enjoying the word of truth, the gospel about the one who is truth himself. And so we call out spades and evil and call on Jesus as Lord. We refuse to cut moral corners, cater to lies, or presume that some wrongs can make others right. First, we wrap ourselves daily in God's truth. Then we reach for the armor, and over time we grow increasingly bright and shine like the sun in the kingdom of our Father and in this age besides. Gird your loins, bro. Let's go. Then you'll know the truth, and the truth will set you free. And that's it for this episode.

Share, Pray, Memorize, Preview Next Week

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If you know someone who would be blessed by what you just heard, please share the Abidable podcast with them. Keep spreading the word so we can make much of the word. Drop us a review, tell us what you love and what you're learning. Check out the link to learn more about partnering with us by buying us a coffee one time, by joining our Women's Abidable Facebook membership community for $10 a month, or by becoming a monthly supporter. For those of you following along in the workbook, we're doing things a little different here. As I mentioned last week, I thought we were going to be studying all of verses 14 and 15 together and then discussing it in today's episode. But like I said, as I got into it, I realized I really wanted to break up each piece of armor into separate episodes. So if you did all of verses 14 and 15, you have already covered the belt, the breastplate, and the shoes. So you're probably set for the next couple episodes, or you can use this time to dig in deeper or go and get ahead. It's totally up to you. But next week we will still be in verse 14 as we discuss the breastplate of righteousness. That part of the verse next week simply says, end having put on the breastplate of righteousness. What is the breastplate of righteousness? Why must we put it on, and what does it cover? I'll pray a simple prayer for us about the belt of truth and then close us out with our memory work for verses 14 to 15. I'll be repeating these two verses the next few weeks in our memory verse section since we'll be camping out here for a while. So my prayer today comes from author Kevin Halloran. Father, help us fasten on the belt of truth. Remind us of what is true when our emotions say otherwise. Help us reject every lie about who you are, every lie about who we are in Christ, and every lie about what truly matters. Anchor us in your unchanging word so that deception cannot take root. Amen. Let's close by doing our memory work together. I'm going to repeat Ephesians 6, 14 to 15 five times. Say it out loud with me or quietly to yourself. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Ephesians six, fourteen to fifteen. Remember, you are able to abide in the Bible. We'll see you next time. Until then, let's abide.