Armor of God: Have your feet fitted with "The Preparation of the Good News of Peace."

When I woke up this morning, I felt the Lord was telling me it was time to get up and seek Him.  It was still dark and everyone else was still asleep.  Just a few seconds later, walking on the wooden floor, I got a splinter in my foot.  Ouch! I was hobbled, and couldn't walk very well.  It was amazing to me how such a small piece of wood could prevent me from walking very well, and I knew my top priority needed to be getting that splinter out of my foot. I also knew I was going to need a bright light and some very precise tweezers to get this debilitating piece of wood out of my foot. So I got my phone with it's bright LED light, and I got my good tweezers, and went to another room where I could operate on my foot and restore my ability to walk normally.  

As soon as this happened, it seemed the Lord was telling me how critical it is that we have fitted our feet with the preparation of the good news (the gospel) of peace, as it says in Ephesians 6.15, as a critical part of the whole armor of God.  As ministers of the good news of peace, we need to be well prepared to proclaim the same.  If we are not prepared to teach, to speak, to proclaim the good news of peace with God through the work of Christ on the cross, which gives us access to God, then we will not be able to accomplish all that God wants us to accomplish for his Kingdom.  We will not be able to go the places God wants us to go.  Can you imagine an member of the infantry, a soldier, wearing no shoes?  It is likely that a soldier wearing no shoes would be in great danger of being eliminated by the enemy.  He would not be able to make much progress as his feet would be vulnerable to even the smallest irregularities on the terrain.  He could be quickly hobbled by his own weight as his feet stepped on a sharp stone, a stick, or some other object on the ground.  A soldier that had the most sophisticated weapons in the world, if barefoot, would quickly become immobilized and in danger of elimination or severe injury.  At best, he would probably have to hide somewhere, outside of the active battle zone, so as not to be killed or severely injured.  He would likely be ineffective at completing his mission, and his very life could be in danger.

Think of it: If we want to be serious about taking the Good News of peace to those who do not know the love of Christ, we must have our feet well fitted with the preparation of the Good News.  We need to have the equipment on our feet, infantry boots, that are strong and resistant to unexpected irregularities and foreign objects on the ground, things that could damage the feet and make forward movement difficult if not impossible.  We need to be able to explain the good news of how Christ makes us righteous as we put our faith in his perfect sacrifice on our behalf and his resurrection from the dead.  We need to be prepared to answer people's questions.  We need to find out what it is that we fear about speaking and proclaiming the Gospel, so that we can be prepared to face those fears and overcome them.  We need to get a bright light, letting the Spirit of God search our hearts, to show us what are the ways that we are ill-prepared to speak and share and the Good News?  Then we need to remove any source of pain in our feet, anything that is hindering us and our ability to keep moving out with the Good News of the peace of God that is available to all through Christ.

There is a command to obey here: "Have your feet fitted with the preparation of the good news of peace." Ephesians 6.15