How's your footwear?

This month I’ve been reading different Bible passages about spiritual warfare and yesterday I came to the well known passage in Ephesians 6 - the one about putting on the armour of God. We’re probably all familiar with the different pieces of the armour, and could list them if asked to: the shield of faith, the belt of truth, etc.

What stood out to me yesterday were the shoes, and the fact that they are described as the shoes of the gospel of peace. How interesting that peace is one of the weapons when we’re speaking about waging warfare.

Because of my arthritis, I’ve become very aware of how critical it is to have the right kind of shoes: footwear that fits well, is comfortable and gives us enough support to enable us to go far. A year ago, I couldn’t walk for more than fifteen minutes without having to give up in pain.  This year, I’ve been really encouraged to see a slight improvement and since the summer months I’ve been able to take the dog for a walk on the mountain for up to an hour every day. That’s a real answer to prayer.

Just the past couple of weeks, however, my bones have been sore again, and even lying in bed at night, the weight of the duvet feels painful on the sides of my feet. Is this because the colder winter weather is beginning... or is it because I’ve had to start wearing winter shoes again, instead of the sandals that I wore all summer? It’s probably due to the shoes, as my bones have suddenly felt some pressure on them again. And so perhaps I’m more aware than most people of how critical it is to have the right kind of shoes.

I wonder if these warfare shoes are shoes of peace because there is such a risk of our attacking the wrong enemy: of fighting against “flesh and blood”  instead of discerning who our real enemy is. Sometimes the devil’s attacks against us come through people close to us: the colleague who criticises us, the family member who betrays us, the friend who misjudges us, the journalist who slanders us in the press.... It would be so easy to leap into action, either to defend ourselves or to attack back with the weapons of insult and accusation.

Instead, the shoes of peace will enable us to move forward with gentleness and to come in the opposite spirit: responding to the people with humility, forgiveness and integrity, but targetting the real enemy with the weapons of truth, righteousness and praying in the Spirit. 

Read on in the post below for more thoughts about perseverance and prayer.