Eph.6:13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14 Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, 15 and having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE; 16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION,
1 These 5:8, But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.
The helmet of salvation, is the helmet of hope that salvation brings. “Hope” is the joyful, and confident expectation in the activity and the goodness of God. Look at what Psalm 27:13 –14, “I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord…” Let’s look at that verses from another version of the Bible which is a popular paraphrase; The Passion Translation, “Yet I totally trust you to rescue me one more time, so I can see once again how good you are while I’m still alive! Here’s what I’ve learned through it all: don’t give up; don’t be impatient; be intertwined as one with the Lord. Be brave and courageous, and never lose hope. Yes, keep on waiting for He will never disappoint you!”
Without a lifestyle attitude of hope in the Lord, a Christian will never walk in consistent faith, because hope is the foundation, or soil, that gives birth to faith. Hebrews 11 says that faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen. 1 Peter 1:3 says, “We are born again to a living hope through the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.” I know that part of the hope salvation brings is the hope of experiencing fully my inheritance that is reserved for me in heaven, but this verse talks about a living hope, not just a dying one. Here is another powerful verse from Romans 15:13, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Our God is a God of hope, and because I am in union with Christ I can yes to His hope being my hope. If there is any place, or area in your life where you have no hope then you can know that in that area you are hearing the voice of the enemy, and not God. You see when I live with an attitude of confident expectation that the goodness of God will prevail, then regardless of what specific circumstance or situation might spring up, that confident expectation easily gives way to the confident declaration of faith. Remember again, that this armor is Christ himself, and he is a God of hope. The helmet of hope is simply putting on the mindset of Jesus that is never negative or pessimistic. It has been said that the person with the most hope carries the most influence in any situation. Because hope is the anchor of our interior walk with the Lord, (the anchor of our soul) the enemy will continually shoot the fiery darts of hopelessness in our direction. It is imperative that you remember that any feelings of hopelessness in any situation carries the signature of the work of Satan. A perpetually hopeful person is not a personality type, but in Christ, it is evidence of the disposition of God about all things.