Passage: Ephesians 6:15
The Big Idea
How can you have peace when the world is going crazy and Satan won’t stop attacking? Paul says to have your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace: solid, spiked soldier’s boots that keep you from slipping. This isn’t mainly about going out to preach; it’s about standing firm. Like Gideon, we learn that the LORD is peace. Peace isn’t the absence of trouble; it’s the confidence that the Father is with us and Jesus has overcome the world.
The Picture of Peace
There’s an old story about a man who wanted the perfect picture of peace, so he held an art contest. Paintings arrived from everywhere. On the day of judging, the last two paintings were unveiled.
The first showed a mirror-smooth lake reflecting green birches under a soft evening sky, with sheep grazing undisturbed along the shore. Surely this was the winner.
Then the man uncovered the second, and the crowd gasped. A furious waterfall crashed down a rocky cliff under storm clouds ready to burst with lightning, wind and rain. At the edge of the falls, a spindly tree clung to the rocks, one branch reaching out over the roaring water. And in the elbow of that branch, a little bird sat on her nest, eyes closed, wings ready to cover her eggs, perfectly at peace in the middle of the storm.
That’s the peace God offers.
Soldier’s Boots (Ephesians 6:15)
We’ve studied the belt of truth (how we recognize Satan’s lies) and the breastplate of righteousness (how our hearts and emotions are guarded). Now: how can we have peace and stability in the middle of Satan’s nonstop attacks? How do we keep from being shaken?
Paul says to have our feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.
Many read this as being ready to go share the gospel. But context matters. Paul is talking about standing against Satan’s attacks. This is still defensive armor.
This is the solid, confident, sure footing that comes to a life committed to living with and through Jesus.
Roman soldiers’ sandals were strapped on securely and often had studs or spikes on the soles. They weren’t built for sprinting; they were built for gripping the ground, for stability in battle.
The word preparation suggests a firm, prepared foundation. It’s something you put on before the battle. It’s the opposite of being wishy-washy:
- Not carried about by every wind of doctrine (Ephesians 4:14).
- Not compromising the truth to keep the peace or look acceptable.
- Not tripping and falling in your walk with God every time a trial comes.
- Not slipping down at every step like someone walking on ice, but standing firm.
Are you going to put your foot down? Will you decide now to trust the good news of what Jesus has done for you? Will you decide today to stand faithfully before the trials come?
The LORD Is Peace (Judges 6-7)
The story of Gideon is about this peace.
For years the Midianites had tormented Israel. They swept in every harvest season and destroyed the crops, leaving Israel hungry and impoverished. The Israelites hid in caves and dens in the mountains (Judges 6:1-6).
Then God raised up Gideon to deliver His people, in a fascinating way.
The Angel of the LORD found Gideon threshing wheat in a winepress, hiding his work from the enemy. He wasn’t being very productive, or much of a leader.
When Gideon realized he’d been speaking with the Angel of the LORD face to face, he cried out in fear. But the LORD said, “Peace be with you; don’t be afraid; you won’t die.” So Gideon built an altar there and named it The LORD Is Peace (Judges 6:22-24).
God had all kinds of wild things in store for Gideon. But first He needed Gideon to know something special about His character: God is the God of peace. He provides peace and wants to give it. And Gideon was going to need it in a big way, just like we do.
- Gideon began to stand for what was right: “I’m on the Lord’s side.”
- So the Lord began to use him greatly.
- Gideon wanted to be sure God was speaking, so he put out the fleece, and God answered (Judges 6:36-40).
- Gideon raised an army of about 32,000 men. The enemy’s forces numbered around 135,000 (Judges 8:10).
Then God told Gideon to send home everyone who was afraid, because fear would cause them to fall in the day of battle. Twenty-two thousand left (Judges 7:3).
Peace in the middle of battle: calm, confidence. Not fear, not confusion.
God kept taking away Gideon’s men: 32,000, then 10,000, then 300. And Gideon still had peace.
In our lives, that peace is real and available, if we follow the Lord.
Gideon slipped into the enemy camp at night and overheard a soldier describing a dream that meant God had given Midian into Gideon’s hand (Judges 7:9-15). The Midianites were afraid of Gideon!
Notice: God gave Gideon peace about going to war, and gave the Midianites fearful, trembling hearts. To His people God was a source of peace; to their enemies, a source of dread.
Then God gave the battle plan: hide torches inside clay jars, then break the jars, shout and blow trumpets (Judges 7:16-22). It pictures God’s light in earthen vessels. Paul says we have this treasure in jars of clay, so that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us (2 Corinthians 4:7).
God gives the victory. God gets the glory. God is faithful. When you’re with Him, you always win. So you can have peace.
The Gospel of Peace
The gospel says a wicked person can be made righteous. Through faith, a person can be cleansed, connected to and surrounded by Jesus Christ.
So the gospel of peace teaches us that peace is a byproduct of the gospel being real in your life. We don’t chase peace. We seek the Lord.
Isaiah says, “There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked” (Isaiah 48:22; 57:21).
Does that mean if I have no peace in my battle, it’s my fault? In a way, often, yes. We’ve chosen to believe a lie and live by it. In Christ we’re righteous. Apart from Him, we have no righteousness of our own, and there’s no peace apart from Him, apart from the gospel alive in our hearts. (That doesn’t mean every anxious feeling is sin. Anxiety can have many causes, including physical ones, and it’s wise to get help when it’s heavy. But the lasting answer of the heart is always Jesus.)
These pieces of armor aren’t suggestions. We need them:
- Belt of truth. Stay in the Word. If not, you’ll fall, believing lies. Pants on the floor!
- Breastplate of righteousness. Confess and receive His gift of righteousness. If not, you’ll fall to emotional attacks.
- Boots of the gospel of peace. Be at peace in every battle. If not, you’ll run away in fear, or at least slip and fall.
The gospel is the practical story of how God loves us. John says there’s no fear in love; perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment (1 John 4:18).
Jesus kicks fear out of your heart and replaces it with peace.
There’s always peace with Jesus. The peace Jesus gives isn’t the absence of trouble; it’s the confidence that He is with you always.
Jesus’ Peace on the Way to the Cross
Shortly before His arrest, Jesus told His disciples, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” He told them the ruler of this world was coming, but had no claim on Him. And He said, “Arise, let us go from here” (John 14:27-31).
Things were about to get very real. But He wasn’t running away. He was walking straight toward the battle, and toward His Father.
I think we’d be amazed if we could see His face as He said those words. He was leaving them His peace, so surely He showed that peace as He spoke: calm, confident, unafraid. However much His flesh might have wanted to panic, He stayed in the place of trusting His Father and believing the Father’s love.
He knew the battle was coming. But He put His foot down and stood firm in what He knew: the Father loves Me, He has a plan, He’s with Me. “I have peace.” He didn’t strive to get it. It was the fruit of His relationship with the Father.
Later that night He said, “An hour is coming when you’ll be scattered and leave Me alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. I’ve told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you’ll have tribulation; but take heart, I have overcome the world” (John 16:32-33).
- Trouble is coming, from Satan and from life.
- This world is like a pool full of muck, and we’re all standing on the diving board.
- “You will have tribulation. But take courage.”
- Not “You’re strong enough! You can do it!” No, no, no! “I have overcome the world.”
- “In Me you may have peace.” If you want it, you can have it.
Look at what Jesus pointed to as the reason for His peace: “The Father is with Me.”
Relationship is always the channel through which God’s blessing flows into our lives. Not a relationship based on what we bring to God (“God sees how hard I try, how much I want it, how well I perform”), but a relationship of humility and faith. Jesus showed both:
- Humility: “I accept what the Father has for Me, including My trials.”
- Faith: “I am not alone.” The Father promised to be with Him, and He trusted that word.
The gospel of peace means we have perfect peace with our heavenly Father. We’re not at war with Him anymore. But we are at war with the enemy, and we’re winning! Satan can’t do anything about it.
- Jesus took on flesh and blood so that through death He might destroy the one who had the power of death, the devil, and free those who all their lives were enslaved by the fear of death (Hebrews 2:14-15).
- The Son of God appeared to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8).
- The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet (Romans 16:20).
- In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us (Romans 8:37).
There’s a winning side, a line in the sand. You want to be standing firm on the right side, and standing there means a living relationship with Jesus Christ. Standing with Him is standing on Satan’s head!
Are You Afraid?
Let me make this practical. Are you at peace in every trial? Does Satan manage to push you off your game, make you doubt God’s love or plan? Or do you say, “Bring it on!” because you know the truth of the gospel and the God who promised? Even death doesn’t scare us!
But be honest: Are you afraid? Afraid to die? Afraid of Satan’s attacks? Afraid of the consequences of sin, or of sickness?
Friends, fear isn’t from your Father. Fear is like a warning light on the dashboard of your soul, telling you it’s time to come to Jesus and have a conversation.
His perfect love will cast out your fear. It’s like the nausea of the soul; it needs to come out, and you always feel better afterward. (When I was a toddler, I ate an entire bottle of chewable vitamins. My dad had to help me throw them up. Not fun, but I sure felt better!)
Once fear is gone, you can stand on a solid foundation, not slipping or being pushed over, never running from the fight, but more than a conqueror.
So lace up the big ol’ biker boots of God’s peace: sturdy, with spikes on the bottom. And let’s dance on the heads of some snakes, without fear (Luke 10:19).
Our enemy doesn’t stand a chance. He can’t push you over or knock you down when you’re in Christ Jesus.
Grace Takeaway
Peace isn’t a calm lake; it’s a bird resting on her nest beside the roaring falls. It comes not from the absence of trouble but from knowing that the Father is with you and Jesus has overcome the world. Put your foot down now, before the battle: trust the gospel, stand on its solid ground, and let His perfect love push fear out of your heart. With Him, you can’t be knocked over.
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