Gird Up Your Loins with Truth
Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
Table of Contents
Gird up your waist with truthfulness
Faithfulness in four categories
Gird up your waist with truthfulness
“Gird up your loins” (as in the KJV) is the wrapping of a girdle around the waist or hips in the picture of the soldier. The phrase is a Hebrew idiom meaning, “make the source of your strength or make ready for action.” I Peter 1:13 says to “gird up the loins of your minds.” It is available to make your mind strong just as your loins are strong. Loins are the focus of the strength of the body and also the source of reproduction.
Draw your strength from –”how to keep it together”
Battle of the words – what words do you base your decisions on?
E.g. of firewall and antivirus software on a computer: guard the door of your mind. If spyware from Beelzebub tries to get in, it can be blocked. Lord of the words – master of the media, education, politics, culture, medicine — “poison words”
Power of Words
Prov. 4:20-5:1 CJB
My son, pay attention to what I am saying; incline your ear to my words.
21 Don’t let them out of your sight, keep them deep in your heart;
22 for they are life to those who find them and health to their whole being.
23 Above everything else, guard your heart; for it is the source of life’s consequences.
24 Keep crooked speech out of your mouth, banish deceit from your lips.
25 Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze on what lies in front of you.
26 Level the path for your feet, let all your ways be properly prepared;
27 then deviate neither right nor left; and keep your foot far from evil.
Truth is the difficult part to understand in this piece of armor. In Aramaic, the word is qushta which comes from a verb that means to shoot straight as an arrow. This truth is not the common word, but has more to do with uprightness, reliability and integrity. In my Aramaic translation, I consistently use the translation “truthfulness” for qushta. This paints a beautiful picture, but there is more. The Greek word for truth is aletheia and the meaning of truth as part of the armor begins to unfold when we look at a use of aletheia in the Septuagint in Isaiah 11:5. This passage is a prophecy about the Branch (Jesus Christ) that would come out of the house of Jesse, that he would be mighty in spirit and wisdom and righteousness.
Isaiah 11:5:
And righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness [aletheia] the girdle of His reins.
In the KJV, reins here should be loins and loins should be translated reins. Reins are the kidneys and are part of the back area. In Semitic thinking, the reins represent the affections or emotions. The loins represent strength. Jesus Christ fulfilled this prophecy and made God’s faithfulness to His Word and to all His promises the source of his strength. Jesus literally believed that every prophecy that God had made regarding him would come to pass. He relied on God’s faithfulness to what He had said. So this piece of armor that God has given to us has to do with God’s utter reliability and integrity and faithfulness. Gird up your loins with truth means to make the source of your strength the utter faithfulness and reliability of God in his son Jesus Christ.
Faithfulness in four categories
The faithfulness of the Lord is in four categories. He is faithful because of 1) who He is, 2) what He has, 3) what He does and 4) what He says. The Lord is the Savior and that does not change. It can be relied upon. He does not change. Hebrews 13:5 says “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever.” Jesus Christ is the faithful one and does not change. If he is the Savior yesterday, then he is the Savior today and tomorrow. His love is unchanging (John 13:1}
“He is unchangeable, immutable in regard to all that He IS, all he HAS, all He has DONE, all He has SAID….Yesterday He thought of us in His purposes of love; yesterday he communicated to us His grace; yesterday He bore with us in His kindness and patience. Ever THE SAME. ” From Things to Come, Volume 2.
Faithfulness – Emunah
Who He Is
Exodus 34:6 ESV
The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,
Deuteronomy 7:9 ESV
Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,
Deuteronomy 32:4 ESV
The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.
What He Has– All Power
Psalm 89:1-8 ESV
I will sing of the steadfast love of the LORD, forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.
2 For I said, “Steadfast love will be built up forever; in the heavens you will establish your faithfulness.”
3 You have said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant:
4 ‘I will establish your offspring forever, and build your throne for all generations.’” Selah
5 Let the heavens praise your wonders, O LORD, your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones!
6 For who in the skies can be compared to the LORD? Who among the heavenly beings is like the LORD,
7 a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones, and awesome above all who are around him?
8 O LORD God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O LORD, with your faithfulness all around you?
Psalm 117:2 ESV
For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever. Praise the LORD!
What He Does
Psalm 100:5 ESV
For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.
Isaiah 25:1 ESV
O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure.
Lam. 3:21-26 ESV
But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
22 The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
24 “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”
25 The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
26 It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
What He Says
Isaiah 33:6
He is your constant source of stability; he abundantly provides safety and great wisdom; he gives all this to those who fear him.
Isaiah 33:6 NIV
He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure.
Isaiah 40:8 ESV
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.
Isaiah 40:8 NET
The grass dries up, the flowers wither, but the decree of our God is forever reliable.
Now we can see how to practically apply this piece of the armor. One of the areas that we are challenged in the most is to doubt that we really are God’s sons and that He cares for us in every situation. Romans 8 says that we are sons of God and joint heirs with Christ. But the Evil One always wants to steal, kill and destroy. So he tries to steal our confidence and strength and reliance on our position as sons.
The practical application has to do with the spoken words of God and the Lord to us. This can be seen in the words to Mary by the angel when God told her she would have a son and his name would be called Jesus. The last words of the prophecy are: “for with God no word spoken is void of power.” Mary’s response was “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord. Be it unto me according to thy word” (Luke 1:37, 38). That can be our response also when we are ministered to in healing or with prophecy or by revelation given directly to us. Gird up your loins with the arrow of truth and totally rely upon the faithfulness of God’s Word and the faithfulness of our Lord Jesus Christ.
What words do you want to have as the source of your strength?
Related YouTube Videos:
Belt of Truth
Gird Up Your Loins with Truth
See Also:
Speaking the Truth in Love on the Acts Now Fellowship website.
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