| THE SHOES OF THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL Derek Prince HIS GLORY REIGNS B. Childress Oct 10 2008 08:00AM The shoes Roman legionaries usually wore were strong, heavy sandals with thongs to keep them in place. They usually laced at least halfway up the calf with leather thongs. They were a very important part of the legionnaire's equipment because they enabled him to march long distances at speed. This gave him mobility. It made him available to his commander at the time and the place where he was needed in the battle. Think of shoes as providing; mobility and availability to your commander, the Lord Jesus Christ. This became very real to me in my own personal experience. For two years during World War II, I (Derek Prince) I served with a hospital unit with the British army in the deserts of North Africa. There were times while we were working with an armored division that we were very close to the enemy lines, sometimes at night. In the desert, it is not easy to know exactly where the enemy lines are because the whole war is very mobile. In such situations, our commanding officer always gave orders that we were not to take our boots off at night. We were to sleep with our boots on. Of course, the reason is obvious. You are usually not at your best when you wake out of sound sleep. If you do not have your boots on and there is confusion all around you, you can spend several valuable minutes groping in the dark for your boots, then trying to put them on and lace them up. If, however, you have your boots on, you are instantly available. The key is availability or mobility. This is also true of the spiritual counter part of our equipment about which Paul spoke. The shoes, or the sandals, are called "THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL..." (Ephesians 6:15). In other words, it means being ready with something. As Christians, we are obligated to have an intelligent understanding of the Gospel. Many Christians claim to be saved and born again, but they cannot give an intelligent account of how they were saved or how someone else can be saved. I believe "PREPARATION" includes study of the Scripture, memorization of Scripture, and the ability to communicate intelligently the gospel message. Notice also that Paul called it "THE GOSPEL OF PEACE" (Verse 15). It is a Gospel that produces peace of heart and mind in those who believe it and obey it. There is one thing very certain about peace. We can only transmit peace to others if we have peace ourselves. We cannot transmit something that we do not experience. We can talk about it, we can theorize, but we cannot transmit it. There is a very significant passage in Matthew 10:12-13, in which Jesus gave instructions to the first disciples when He sent them out for the first time to preach the Gospel. This is part of His instruction:
peace return to you." Notice that significant phrase: if a home is deserving, "let your peace rest on it." You are to impart your peace to it. When you go into a home, do you have peace to impart? You cannot impart something that you are not enjoying yourself. Let me (Derek Prince) give you a little example of how this might work. Suppose you are a lady doing your grocery shopping in a supermarket. As you wait in the checkout line, there is a lady who is obviously on the verge of a nervous breakdown. She is nervous and jittery, and God directs you to help her. What are you going to do? Are you going to say, "Come to church on Sunday morning?" That will not meet her need. If that were all you could say, you would not have your shoes on. Having your shoes on means you are ready to do something right then and there when God directs you. First of all, you must have peace. You must let her feel that you have something that she does not have and desperately needs. People feel peace in other people. When she reaches out for that peace, you must be able to tell her in simple, non-religious language just how she can find peace. You must be able to communicate the Gospel to her. That is the shoes of the "PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE" (Ephesians 6:15). Source: Spiritual Warfare, by Derek Prince, Copyright 1987, Whitaker House. |
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