Tag: saviour

The Helmet of Salvation

The Armour of God: Part 4

By Faisal Dean

 A life ever so changing with uncertainty, regret, anxiety and unanswered questions. While seemingly negative, this brings about the basic moral ingredients taught from birth, manifested through maturity and ultimately, in preparation for tribulation.

Just as no soldier would go into battle without a helmet, we must always enter into tribulation with salvation protecting our minds. Those that wear the helmet of salvation remain steadfast in their ways and dwell within the fountain of salvation.

These compelling words of, “Take the helmet of salvation,” leave us with a great challenge. Where do we attain this helmet? If it is so essential to life, how could I have walked into tribulations without it?

 Let us start by reflecting upon the author. A life of complete surrender towards Christ saw St. Paul’s faithfulness toward Christ as he spoke to the Ephesians, “Put on the whole Armour of God.” Be bold! For in the final days, I would love that God could look upon me and say, “you have fought the good fight, you have finished the race, you have kept the faith.”

During this time of uncertainty, anxiety and imbalance, we can only hope that we walk with the helmet of salvation. If I wear the helmet of salvation then I reject the vanities of this world and “thirst” for Christ. Is the Lord, the source of purity, balance and chastity, the source of my vision?

Pope Shenouda teaches us about persistence by begging the Lord for His blessings. For us to receive the blessings of Christ we must obtain the virtues of purity and humility: “I shall not get up from here unless I have received Your special blessing and feel that You have taken me back and counted me among your children. I do not just want You to forgive my sin, I want You to remove from my heart any love of sin, once and for all.”

When I wear the helmet of salvation, the lusts of the flesh are repelled from my thoughts. In Christ, I have power. King David writes “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow”. (Ps. 51:7).

We cannot leave Christ’s presence unless we leave armed with the helmet of salvation that protects our minds and our thoughts through faith in our Lord Christ.

When you spend time with Christ, make sure you are enterring into the greatest love story ever told. Make sure you do not leave until it seems that Christ could not possibly love anyone more than He loves you. Do not deprive yourself of this love that is freely given to the one that accepts it.

Just as any relationship, we endure times of dryness and uncertainty, but this should not cause us to walk without the helmet of salvation. Even in these times, we must remember that salvation is more than mere feelings, but is as important as oxygen is to breathe.

The remembrance of Christ helps us remains steadfast in the faith. At each remembrance, we slowly build our relationship with Christ. If I recall that Christ is the pathway to salvation and stop doubting, nothing can stand against me and I will rest in the “Shadow of the Almighty.” We are called to walk with Christ, we are called to walk by faith, we are called to be like Christ, we are called to wear the “Helmet of Salvation.”

A Death Leading to Life

A Death Leading to Life

by Angelo Hanna

Christ led a life pointing toward His climactic death, so we may have a death that leads to His promised eternal life. In this we live a life of true internal comfort; we mould into unbreakable fortresses that are hidden under the wings of Christ. No author, no matter how masterful, can fully express the comfort we gain once we learn to understand and feel the seismic shift Jesus’ life brought upon us. We lose our comfort externally by enduring in hunger, prayer and resisting temptation only to receive it tenfold internally. We wish not to live a life of glory, to the extent we see the glory of men as theft, theft from the beneficent glory of God. This is what the life of death looks like. 

We don’t belong here, we are not of this place, we belong somewhere else and we long for somewhere greater. If God was to lead the Israelites to a place on earth He described as “a land flowing with milk and honey,” only if they would obey Him; how much more shall we strive for the transcendent Kingdom that Christ promised if we obey Him? Jesus tells us the Kingdom is in us, then why, Lord, do I not feel this?

‘My Child, I AM this Kingdom. Open the door I always knock, allow Me into you. Only if you knew the wonders that are to come if you would just let Me in. I want you, just trust me, I yearn that you would only just neglect the exterior comfort. Comfort is not riches, it is not the love of men, It does not come from outside. No. No. No. Comfort is Me. I implore you to not worry about this life. Become an inner man so that you may dwell in the kingdom within you; the secret place within you where I shall preserve you under My wings.’

We have the chance now to be with Him, and we MUST yearn for the kingdom to come, not for His sake, but for ours. We MUST live with our eyes up. Christ came and “cried out,” the teachings of everlasting life. It is to our benefit to have no benefit in the world. It is to our detriment to have no detriment in the world. Even St Paul says, “we also glorify in tribulations,” (Romans 5:3); why then seek a life of exterior comfort if not even Christ lived this? Christ willingly becoming the innocent lamb died for us so we may “seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.”

Old testament Scripture points towards this internal struggle, and we see this through the narrative of the Israelites; 

During the Babylonian exile, there were two very popular ‘ways of exile’ which the Israelites would take; to ardently reject the Babylonians or to give in to their customs, ultimately forgetting the God of Israel. To many, these were the only two ways possible to take, however we see a third way of exile, the way of Daniel. Daniel and his friends adhere to the harmless aspects of Babylonian life, without compromising his foremost priority, his Godly life. Daniel prays for the wellbeing of Babylon, and even finds favour in the eyes of the King. He lives a righteous life, within the exile. 

We who live now are in exile and have been since the time of Adam and Eve. We too, have these paths to choose from. But one thing is inevitable within the Christian path – continual death to the world and its desires. Daniel fasted despite being told he couldn’t and Daniel didn’t bow down to idols but instead decided to seek a God that he may not see with his eyes- depriving himself of the gratification of seeing this physical ‘god’ of theirs. We too must live a similar life, a life of deprivation, hardship and prayer. 

But how? 

Well, it is important to make a clear distinction between the soul and the body. We hear Christ say to His disciples, “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak”, Mat 26:41. Our flesh desires earthly and temporal life, and too often do we follow it, neglecting the will of the soul, a will guided by the Holy spirit. In reality, our soul truly wants death, it wants to be free of this exile from God.

Our soul is like the Israelites,

Being entrapped within Babylon,

The ways and desires of our body meander the individual.

The soul wishes to be free of our bodies through death, to enter true life. But just like Daniel and his friends in Babylon, we must live a Godly life- a life which nourishes the soul so that it may be able to enter into eternal life. And then we will come to realise that truly, 

Death is what grants us life.