Fitted Feet

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

FITTED FEET

Eph 6:10-18

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

NIV

Being strong in the Lord and his mighty power and having put on the full armor of God so we can stand our ground against the schemes of the devil, we have looked to the belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness and next Paul mentions that we should have our feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. What was he making reference to? In examining the footwear of the Roman soldier we find they had two types of sandals. The normal marching sandals were made of leather with smooth soles, however, they had heavy-soled hognailed military sandals designed for battle. The hognails were like rounded spikes which allowed the soldier to be able to stand firm in loose or muddy ground. This gave them a great advantage over their enemy who did not have such footwear. It would be like a big truck with huge deep treaded tires having a tug of war with a small car that had bald tires. This is the idea we have in the advantage over the devil. He does not have the armor of God and thus he cannot make us move backward. He cannot force us to retreat or get us to slip. Our feet are on solid ground. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. This is the meaning of the gospel of peace. Jesus has told us that he gives us his peace, not as the world gives peace, but his peace. When we accept Jesus as our Savior, we have the peace of mind, the peace in our hearts that we are saved and we have nothing to fear from God. We are no longer objects of wrath, but are now his children, and have been given eternal life and sealed with the Holy Spirit as our guarantee of being resurrected and living in the paradise of God for all eternity. This is having those hognailed sandals on our feet, so we can take our stand, so we will not be moved, we will not go backward, no retreat, but continue to stand firm, holding our ground, not giving the devil an inch in our lives, because we have fitted feet.