If you would rather read this message, the words are provided below…
This is Part 19 of my Superhero series. In the introduction of this series, I provided the argument that heroes are real and then I distinguished between heroes and superheroes. I also provided a list of what defines a superhero. In Part 1, we learned that superheroes recognize the absolute standard of Good and realize that evil is a mere privation of what is good. In Part 2, we learned that superheroes recognize the absolute moral standard and realize that what is wrong can only be known by the standard of what is right. In Part 3, I defined and expounded upon love because all superheroes are full of love and are compelled to act out from love. In Part 4, I explained that superheroes desire to save people from all forms of danger and/or death and this desire comes from love. In Part 5, we learned that superheroes are solution seekers. In Part 6, we saw that solution seekers are willing to sacrifice if necessary. In Part 7, we saw that sacrificial love steps forward and offers service. In Part 8, we saw that superheroes go above and beyond the call of duty. In Part 9, we saw that superheroes never give up! In Part 10, we saw that superheroes don’t need recognition – they are motivated only by love! In Part 11, we saw that relationships matter and teamwork works! In Part 12, we saw that the struggle is real; however, Jesus is the real solution to our real problems. In Part 13, we saw that despite problems, superheroes are more than conquerors! In Part 14, we saw that true superheroes do not have identity crises – they know who they are even if others don’t! In Part 15, we saw that superheroes are always ready to fight evil with the belt of Truth. In Part 16, we saw that superheroes are always ready to resist evil by putting on the breastplate of righteousness. In Part 17, we saw that superheroes are always ready to walk with purpose. In Part 18, we saw that superheroes are always ready to deflect the enemy’s attacks by holding up the shield of faith.
In this message (Part 19), we will see that superheroes always protect themselves from evil penetrating their minds with parasitic seeds of thought that contaminate, corrupt, and control.
Continuing the examination of the whole armor of GOD, we are now instructed to take the helmet of salvation (Ephesians 6:17). The word “helmet” is taken from the Greek word perikephalaia. The word peri means around, and the word kephalaia is the Greek word for the head. When these two words join together, the word perikephalaia denotes a piece of armor that fits tightly around the head. The word “salvation” is taken from the Greek word soterios, which means to be saved, to be delivered from danger, and to be brought into a safe place.
Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, likened the helmet of salvation to the decorative and flamboyant helmet the Roman soldiers wore. Just to make sure the Roman soldier’s helmet didn’t go unnoticed, a plume of feathers or horsehair came out from the top of the helmet, as if to wave at people and demand attention. When a Christian is wearing the whole armor of GOD, he/she is confident in his/her salvation, and that confidence calls attention to those in the darkness. Just as the red plume let the people know that a servant of Caesar (Roman soldier) was approaching, the Christian’s plume of light shines in the darkness and lets the demons know that a servant of the Savior (Christian) is approaching. But the helmet is not merely for attention — it is intended to protect the head!
Consider Marvel’s Magneto. Though he is considered to be an evil villain, his creator, Stan Lee, didn’t originally think of Magneto as being a villain. And in the 2011 movie, X-Men: First Class, Erik Lehnsherr (Magneto) was portrayed as someone who started out trying to do good. In that movie, a special helmet was given to Sebastian Shaw by some Russians, and it eventually ended up in the possession of Erik (Magneto). Both Sebastian Shaw and Magneto specifically wore the helmet in order to prevent their minds from being read by telepaths, such as Charles Xavier. Essentially, they wore that helmet to prevent others from getting inside their heads. The concept of such a helmet that protects a person’s mind can help us understand what Paul means by wearing the helmet of salvation.
Ancient roman soldiers also wore helmets, but it was only designed to protect the head from physical injury. But Paul instructs us to put on a spiritual helmet which guards our minds from careless thoughts and prevents our minds from being corrupted by evil. Satan wants to get inside your head and manipulate your mind with twisted thoughts in order to achieve mind control. The spiritual helmet of salvation prevents the adversary from getting inside our heads.
Don’t Allow The Enemy To Get Inside Your Head:
In warfare or any type of combat, getting inside the opponent’s head will help you to gain the upper hand and might lead you into victory. In your spiritual warfare, the battlefield is often only as large as the distance between your two ears. If you lose the battle within your mind, you have already conceded to defeat and lost the war before even stepping one foot onto the battlefield. If a boxer believes he has lost the fight before ever stepping into the ring, he has already been defeated.
Romans 7:25 tells us that it is with the mind that we serve the Lord! Many people get sleep, but they don’t get rest. Have you ever woken up exhausted because you felt like you had been fighting in a war while sleeping? I know I have. Worry, anxiety, stress, doubt, and fear all amount to a loss because they only take away from joyful and peaceful living. Think about it: how many things have you worried about that never ended up happening? How many thoughts have destroyed your peace?
Understand this: we are going to think. We all generate thoughts. Thoughts are inevitable and unavoidable. But what are we going to think about? What we allow into our minds will control our thoughts. Consider the frightening reality of parasites in nature: some masters of mind control manipulate their hosts from within, causing them to act in self-destructive ways that ultimately benefit the parasite. For example, when the female jewel wasp is ready to procreate, she finds a cockroach to serve as a living nursery for her young. She first injects a toxin into the roach that paralyzes its front legs. Then the wasp strikes again, specifically targeting the roach’s head. Frederic Liberate (and colleagues) of Ben-Gurion University in Israel discovered that the venom targets a specific area of the brain responsible for initiating movement. The reality is this: whoever possesses control of the mind will control direction and destination.
The jewel wasp gets inside the cockroach and ends up controlling it; likewise, Satan gets inside humans and ends up controlling them, causing them to act in self-destructive ways. The jewel wasp lures the cockroach into its lair; likewise, Satan lures humans into Hell. The jewel wasp protects its investment by creating cover for the cockroach; likewise, Satan will protect his investment and provide covering for his walking dead. Have you ever wondered why so many bad people seem to have it so good? Well, Satan is protecting his investments. Have you ever noticed that those who try to do good seem to be under attack? It’s not a coincidence; in fact, this is something even recognized in the Bible. In Jeremiah 12:1, the prophet Jeremiah laments that the wicked always seem to prosper. The prophet Malachi also addressed this same issue:
“You have wearied the Lord with your words. But you say, ‘How have we wearied him?’ By saying, ‘Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.’ Or by asking, ‘Where is the God of justice?’ “
(Malachi 2:17) -ESV
In Malachi 3:1-6, the prophet answered the people by essentially telling them that pain and suffering comes not from GOD, but from Satan, but that GOD will correct the current problem of sin and separation with the Messiah. GOD’s Word tells us that justice will be served and evil will be quarantined. We should not expect an immediate solution, but a perfect and permanent solution who will come suddenly (Matthew 24:36-51; Mark 13:32-37). One day, our training days will be behind us and we will live in the Light in eternal joy (Revelation 21-22).
“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”
(James 1:12-15) -ESV
All that we hear and see will be devoured by our minds and will be processed as food for thoughts. What sounds and sights do you allow to fill your mind? Our thoughts will determine our actions, our actions determine our direction, and our direction determines our destination. When we believe lies, we will inevitably act out those lies. Do not be deceived! The word deception is taken from the Greek word dolios, which means to deceive with purpose. In its most literal sense, it means to bait someone, as in setting bait in front of a fish. Don’t take the bait! What is your bait? What is your temptation? The devil is a fisher of men, and for this reason, Jesus has called all of us to be fishers of men as well (Matthew 4:18-22; 28:18-20; Mark 1:16-20; Luke 5:1-11). As Satan does his best to reel people in and pull them down, we should do our best to reel them in and pull them up and out. It is written in Jude 1:22-23 that we are to have mercy on those who doubt and to save them by snatching them out of the fire.
GOD teaches us that we will reap what we sow (Hosea 10:12; 2Corinthians 9:6; Galatians 6:7-8). Satan uses this truth – he is the father of lies and he sows seeds of destruction by planting those lies within our minds just like the jewel wasp infects the mind of the cockroach (Matthew 13:39; John 8:44).
Renew Your Mind:
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
(Romans 12:2; see also Ephesians 4:23) -ESV
We must not only fill our minds with Truth, but we must also consistently renew our minds. Without consistently renewing our minds, they will deviate from the righteous path and seek to satisfy self (Matthew 26:41; Mark 14:38).
“For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.”
(2Corinthians 10:3-5) -ESV
Our duty in this battle against evil is to “destroy strongholds” and “take every thought captive.” The truth is, if you don’t take your thoughts captive, your thoughts will take you captive! The word “stronghold” comes from the Greek word ochuroma, which describes a fortress. But by New Testament times, this same word depicted a prison. Essentially, a stronghold was a fortified place, a wall, or a barrier. Whether this barrier is designed to keep people from getting out or prevent them from coming in, it is still a barrier nonetheless. A stronghold is a mental block or wall that prevents us from advancing forward in our walk of faith. In the previous message about the shield of faith, I showed that Satan desires to keep us walled in behind our own shields as he launches an attack on us. However, if we refuse to stay behind our wall and continue to advance forward against the enemy, the adversary will create his own wall in order to keep us out. Regardless, GOD can open doors no one can shut and He can shut doors no one can open (Isaiah 22:22; Revelation 3:8)! So, with GOD, we can break strongholds down just like the walls of Jericho came crashing down (Joshua 6; Hebrews 11:30). What are these strongholds that we must break down? Paul is talking about pretentions, arguments set up against the knowledge of GOD. This is a mental battle; the battle is in the mind. And this is exactly why Peter instructed us to honor Christ the Lord as holy in our hearts and always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks us for a reason for the hope that is in us (1Peter 3:15).
Here is a simple yet profound question: What prevents us from thinking the thoughts GOD desires us to think? We must not believe or entertain every thought that comes to mind. We cannot afford to entertain a thought that will lead us to destruction. We cannot afford to accept lies and integrate them into our lives as if they were true. Our acceptance of a lie is what makes it powerful; lies have no power unless they are accepted and integrated into our lives.
“A wise person is hungry for knowledge, while the fool feeds on trash.”
(Proverbs 15:14) -NLT
Input / Output:
What comes out of you is directly correlated with what goes into you. If you put a quarter in a gum ball machine, a gum ball will come out (if the gum ball costs 25¢). That is the working design. If you were to put a nickel in that same machine, a gum ball would not come out. Why not? You put a coin into the machine; that’s the correct design, right? Well, there wasn’t enough put in to receive what is desired to come out. You must put the correct amount in to get the desired outcome.
If you put a bunch of junk inside of your body, you are going to feel like junk. If you put vitamins and nutrients into your body, your body will feel refreshed and energized. If you take in only two hours of sleep, you will feel tired and you will be unable to give out as much energy as you should. That is the working design. You reap what you sow.
The input must be the correct design and it must also be the correct amount. For example, if you plant a quarter in the ground, it will not grow a gum ball. Even though the amount is correct, it’s not the correct working design. If you put a pound of candy in your stomach, it would be enough to fill you, but it’s not the correct working design and would therefore make you sick and not fulfill or benefit you.
“Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen to me, and you will eat what is good. You will enjoy the finest food.”
(Isaiah 55:2) -NLT
GOD’s Word instructs us to fill ourselves with only the finest. This applies for every aspect of life though, not just food. In fact, we do not live by food alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord (Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4). We must also do our best to only fill our ears with words that build us up and not words that destroy us and tear us down. We need to fill our ears with Truth and not lies. We need to do our best to fill our eyes with acceptable sights and to prevent our eyes from seeing anything that we should not see. We need to set our sights on righteousness and not perversions.
“Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen, and you will find life.”
(Isaiah 55:3) -NLT
“But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
(Matthew 5:28) -NLT
“Keep a careful watch over yourselves and over the church. The Holy Spirit has made you its leaders. Feed and care for the church of God. He bought it with His own blood. Yes, I know that when I am gone, hungry wolves will come in among you. They will try to destroy the church. Also men from your own group will begin to teach things that are not true. They will get men to follow them. I say again, keep watching! Remember that for three years I taught everyone of you night and day, even with tears.”
(Acts 20:28-31) -NLV
Listen and be on the lookout. We must be aware of all potential dangers and be careful not to give the wrong people or things access to the core of our being. We must always be vigilant and on guard, aware, watching, listening, alert and intently focused while standing firm in faith (1Corinthians 16:13-14; 1Peter 5:8). Why? We hear many people talk, but we should only listen to GOD and the truth from those who attempt to live a righteous life. There are many things that our eyes can see, but there are also many things that we should avoid seeing. We don’t need to fill our lives with junk. Whoever or whatever gains access to our ears and eyes will be able to plant seeds in our hearts and minds. It’s a simple decision to filter what you hear and see. GOD’s Word is Truth and acts as our Filter. Look at your Bible! All the pages of your Bible represent different layers of filters. Lies simply cannot make it through all those filters – only Truth comes through.
“Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.”
(Colossians 3:2) -NLT
The battleground is only as big as the inches between your ears. Set your mind on GOD’s Word! And GOD’s Word tells us that without the helmet of salvation, we are doomed for death (Romans 8:5-8; Titus 1:15-16). If you put pornography in your hands, allow your eyes to bring it into your mind, what do you think will happen as the outcome? Lust. Sin. The input was pornography; the output was lust and sin. However, if you digest GOD’s Word, the outcome will be Truth and love. Once again, the output is directly correlated with the input. We must fill ourselves with only the finest of things. We must feast upon love, Truth, wisdom, and righteousness.
Are you absorbing Truth or lies? If a white flower soaks up pure water, it stays white and remains healthy; however, if the white flower were to soak up tainted water that had been polluted, the flower would also be polluted and it will die quicker. If a white flower soaked up blue water, it would turn blue; if it soaked up yellow water, it would turn yellow; if it soaked up red water, it would turn red! Try it and see for yourself. Take a glass, fill it with water. Add drops of blue food coloring into the water until the water is blue. Put a white flower into the blue water and watch what happens to the flower. Here is a video tutorial on YouTube on how to do this experiment: Food Coloring Flowers.
“Look! Listen! GOD’s arm is not amputated – he can still save. GOD’s ears are not stopped up – he can still hear. There’s nothing wrong with GOD; the wrong is in you. Your wrongheaded lives caused the split between you and GOD. Your sins got between you so that he doesn’t hear.”
(Isaiah 59:1-2) -MSG
If you are not experiencing the love and reality of GOD’s greatness, perhaps it is time to reassess yourself. Check yourself before you wreck yourself! Perhaps you have allowed evil access into your mind. Who has access to your ears? To whom do you listen? What messages have you allowed to soak into the core of your being? Who or what has access to your eyes? Who are you looking at and why? What do you set your sights on? Who or what has commanded your attention? Who or what has possession of your focus? Who or what do you reflect and how will that reflection determine your direction? GOD’s Word provides the instructions on how to properly wear the helmet of salvation:
“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.”
(Philippians 4:6-9) -NLT
Think about that! Why do we often focus on the negative and harp on what we don’t have or can’t do? Superheroes must be solution seekers! If our thoughts are focused on the nature of GOD, we will know that GOD works everything out for our good (Romans 8:28). Paul says that we need to fix our thoughts. How do we do that? By making a conscious decision as to what will be the focus of our thoughts. We must choose to think of the nature of GOD; thinking of GOD’s nature will inevitably lead us to think of everything that is excellent and praiseworthy.
Resistance Is Futile:
“So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, ‘You must be holy because I am holy.’ ”
(1Peter 1:13-16) -NLT
One of the keys to being more than conquerors in Christ (Romans 8:37) is this: don’t merely resist it; replace it! Whatever you merely resist will persist. In a hilarious Sponge Bob Square Pants episode, Sponge Bob tries his best to merely resist temptation by telling himself he doesn’t need something, but then he ultimately explodes because he can no longer resist and screams, “I need it!”:
If you want to eat healthier, it would be unwise to hold a donut in your hand the entire day and attempt to resist eating it. Like Sponge Bob, you will stare at your desire until you cave in to temptation. As hilarious as that image might be, real temptation in our lives is anything but humorous. Don’t merely resist it; replace it! Put a banana in your hand instead of the donut. Do-nut (do not) look at the donut! Consider other examples. Smokers often resist their bad habit by replacing their oral fixation of the cigarette by chewing gum. Putting pornography on the computer screen and attempting to resist it is foolish. Replace it! Instead, read an article about purity, about how sex matters, or about how pornography is a pervasive plague. Ponder on the turtle. The turtle has a shell and can resist an attack. However, how long can it resist? How long can a turtle’s shell withstand the hammer’s blow before cracking under the pressure? Resisting is like holding on to a rope while dangling high up in the air. It is only a matter of time before your own weight will wear you out and you will no longer have strength to hold on and you will fall to your death. The result of merely resisting is the fall. Ponder on warfare: on many occasions, aggressors would surround their victims and simply wait them out. People would only be able to resist for so long before they would succumb to thirst, hunger, and/or exhaustion. Resistance is futile; it’s ineffective. Don’t merely resist it; replace it! If you have a negative thought, resist it and then replace it with a positive thought. If your eye desires to lustfully look at another person, resist it and then make your eye look at something else that will be beneficial to your walk with GOD. We must redirect our focus! If we are going to resist it, we should also replace it.
Inventory Management:
It is time to take thorough inventory of your mind. Inspect your mind and your heart as if you’re going down each isle at a grocery store as an inventory manager. Is there anything missing from the shelves that should be there? Love? Patience? Kindness? Honesty? Respect? Humility? Generosity? Empathy? Joy? Endurance? Courage? Faith? Hope? Peace? Understanding? Forgiveness? If you’re out of something, it’s time to reorder and stock the shelves again. This is renewing your mind.
Take inventory: is there anything on the shelves that are out of place and shouldn’t be there? Are your priorities out of place? Has the alcohol been placed where the water should be? Has pornography somehow found its way onto the magazine rack? Are there drugs where the breath mints should be? Is there bitterness and resentment where forgiveness should be? Is there doubt and fear where faith should be? Is there pride where humility should be? Filter! Organize! Whatever does not belong needs to be cast out! Whatever isn’t there should be restocked! Whatever is in the wrong place, needs to be put in the right place!
Make sure your ‘store’ (your life) is clean and organized so that your ‘boss’ (GOD) will be pleased with you. Also, a clean and organized store helps others to find their way. If others are confused, angry, and unable to find what they’re searching for due to your mess, you have become a stumbling block for that person. If someone goes to your ‘store’ seeking purpose yet only finds a dirty and disheveled mess, you will lose that opportunity to help that person find the purpose that he/she is seeking.
I challenge you to fill yourself with only the best. If you haven’t read the Bible, I recommend starting there – GOD will guide you as to how to filter, clean, and organize your life. Figure out what you desire your output to be (your ultimate end goal) and you will know what your input will need to be in order to achieve the desired output. If the desired output is a gum ball, the required input will be $0.25 into the gum ball machine. If the desired output is to hear from GOD, the required input is to read GOD’s Word. If the desired output is to experience miracles, the required input is prayer, fasting, and faith. If the desired output is Heaven, the required input is repentance of sins and faith in Christ Jesus to be the Bridge to salvation.
Take inventory of your thoughts, cares and concerns. If you have allowed Satan to get inside your head, I challenge you to schedule a thorough cleaning. Organize your thoughts and align yourself with GOD’s Word so that you may reach out and do GOD’s work. May righteousness be within you so that you may exude righteousness.
“Give no opportunity to the devil.”
(Ephesians 4:27) -ESV
Conclusion: THINK!
It is written in 2Timothy 1:7 that GOD gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. It could also be translated as a sound mind. The word for “sound mind” is taken from the Greek word sophroneo. It is a compound of the word sodzo, which means saved or delivered, and the word phroneo, which refers to intelligent thinking. The two words together means to have a saved or delivered mind. In other words, this describes a mind that has been set free and is thinking correctly. With the helmet of salvation, we are free from the enslavement of Satan!
I created an acrostic from the word, “think” – may this acrostic help you in your thoughts and encourage you to put on the helmet of salvation:
“T” stands for test every thought. Ask GOD to search and test your thoughts. Don’t believe everything you think. Test every thought. Are your thoughts in alignment with GOD’s will? Psalm 139:23–24 says, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!”
“H” stands for hearing the Word of GOD. Fill your mind with GOD’s Word! Romans 10:17 says, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”
“I” stands for inventory management. 2Chronicles 29:3-17 shows us the importance of cleaning house and worshiping GOD properly. If certain thoughts don’t belong in your mind, then resist and replace them! If you don’t have a thought you should have, then restock that item!
“N” stands for nature of GOD. If we keep the focus of our thoughts on the nature of GOD, we will think of all things excellent and praiseworthy and we will understand that GOD works out everything for our good (Romans 8:28).
“K” stands for Kingdom of GOD. This one is the sum of all others. Matthew 6:33 tells us to seek first the Kingdom of GOD and everything else will fall into place. Are you seeking first the Kingdom of GOD?
Quest For Truth 
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