Don’t forget my belt . . .

In Roman times, the first thing a soldier put on before he went into battle was a belt around his waist. This belt had leather straps hanging from it to protect the lower part of his body. The belt was fastened as tight as possible and the corners of his tunic were pulled up through the belt. This gave the soldier total freedom of movement in hand-to-hand combat.

I’m reminded today, as if I needed reminding, that I am in a spiritual battle. For two weeks, I’ve been struggling against all sorts of things that seem aimed at my progress and freedom of movement as I prepare for a presentation later this week. While I know these are not true, the thoughts that pummel me are things like, You don’t know what you are doing. . . . You are not the right person for this job. . . . God isn’t in the ideas you are writing down. . . . You are out of touch and none of this is relevant. . . . blah, blah, blah.

After days of being up, down, encouraged and terrified, this day is most interesting. A couple days ago my husband was looking through my books for something on prayer. I showed him that section on a book shelf, then pulled one of the books to put on my night stand. It is A Diary of Private Prayer by John Baillie.

Baillie wrote this in 1949 or earlier. The language is much like King James Bible English with many thee’s and thou’s, but the thoughts are profound and deeply comforting. I started reading it Saturday night, but this morning I woke up dreading the day (because the past few have been that bad) and opened it to this morning’s prayer.

Baillie’s words reminded me of a half dozen or so simple truths. I felt as if someone had dipped me in warm oil. Each truth addressed one of the many lies that have plagued my mind. One by one, the lies dissolved and I felt a hundred pounds lighter.

Then I came to the Bible for my personal devotions. Today’s Scripture reading says,

Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth . . . (Ephesians 6:14)

God provides spiritual armor for His soldiers. When I battle the enemy of my soul, I need to make sure that my armor is intact and in place. I thought it had been, but after praying Baillie’s prayer (in my English), I realized that my belt had slipped a few notches. Instead of holding me together so I could freely move, I was stumbling and unfocused, feeling as if my hands were tied and my feet were hobbled.

What a difference to have a strong belt of truth securely fastened. Without realizing it as I pulled that book from my shelf, Baillie’s morning and evening prayers written fifty years ago offered me just what I needed today. The spiritual principles were in his prayer and those principles defeated the tactics of my spiritual enemy as I read them. Again, I am amazed at the wisdom and power of God who knows and meets my needs and who is right here to guide me to spiritual victory.