ICS Daily Devotions
Carrier to bring the Gospel of Peace
Ephesians 6:15. And having shod your feet in preparation (to face the enemy with the firm-footed stability, the promptness and the readiness produces by the good news) of the gospel of peace.
We have peace with God when we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Saviour. It is a spiritual condition that belongs to all when we accept Christ. There will be the peace of God that rules in our hearts and our minds during our walk with the Lord even as we live in the war zone of spiritual warfare.
Having the peace with God, we ought to be prepared at all times to preach the gospel to everyone that God has brought to our sphere of influence. The love of Christ compels us to share the gospel by telling people to be reconciled with God.
Romans 5:1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
One of the fiery darts that the devil uses is to deceive you that whatever you are experiencing is an attack of God and that God is not happy with you. Therefore, it is vital that we understand in our hearts that we have peace with God!
This peace with God is a birth right of every believer. This is the truth that we need to be equipped with and be always ready to share with unbelievers. We are no longer separated from God due to sin. Jesus has dealt with the sin problem that created a gulf between God and us. We have peace with God through the sacrificial blood of Jesus Christ.
“Having shod” means literally to bind under and thus means to bind under one’s feet and so put on shoes or sandals. Preparation means readiness, fitness for alacrity or preparedness. Preparation in the active sense of making ready. It is a state of preparedness whether external or internal.
The Roman soldier wore sandals called caliga, which were thickly studded sandals with cleats, studs or spikes on the bottom of them. Their sandals were bound by throngs over the instep and around the ankle, and the soles were thickly studded with nails. The studs were to dig in and stand in the face of battle. This would give the soldier a firm footing in case of attack.
Thus, the Christian soldier should see to it that his feet are equipped with the sandals which will give him a firm footing. Namely, the good news that speaks peace to a sinful heart, for the Lord Jesus made peace by the blood of His Cross, making a way for a holy God to reunite Himself with a believing sinner who in Adam had been separated from Him and His life.
Col 1:20 And through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.
2 Cor 5:18-19 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
Sermon series: Inner Man