Equipped To Stand - Session 6 - Gabi Loveday

If peace disappears the moment life becomes difficult, you're not alone. But Scripture challenges us to consider whether we've been defining peace the way the world does. In this session, Gabi Loveday explores Ephesians 6 and takes a closer look at one of the most easily overlooked pieces of the Armor of God: "having shod your feet with the readiness of the gospel of peace." Shoes may not seem like the most dramatic part of a soldier's equipment, but they serve a critical purpose. As this study reminds us, if you cannot stand, you cannot fight.

Together, we examine why Paul intentionally connects the language of peace with the reality of spiritual warfare. Rather than describing peace as simply the absence of conflict or a temporary feeling of calm, Scripture presents something far richer. Through the biblical concept of shalom, we discover that God's peace is a picture of wholeness, completeness, and a right relationship with Him. It is an inward stability rooted in God's presence, not in favorable circumstances.

The session then traces this peace back to its source: the gospel itself. Through His death and resurrection, Jesus reconciles us to the Father, restoring what sin had broken and giving believers a new identity in Christ. Because we have peace with God, we are able to stand with confidence even when life feels uncertain. Our circumstances may shift, but the foundation of our relationship with God remains secure, providing a steadiness that no spiritual battle can take away.

From there, we connect this truth to the practical realities of everyday life and spiritual warfare. Philippians 4 reveals that God's peace actively guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, while 1 Peter 5 reminds believers to remain alert because the enemy looks for opportunities to exploit distraction, discouragement, and instability. Rather than allowing anxiety, busyness, fear, or mental clutter to keep us off balance, we learn how the gospel anchors us, enabling us to stand ready with confidence and endurance.

Throughout the session, we explore how the gospel of peace prepares believers not only to withstand spiritual attacks but also to move forward faithfully wherever God leads. Peace is not passive. It is an active confidence that flows from knowing whose we are and what Christ has accomplished on our behalf.

Whether you're navigating uncertainty, wrestling with anxiety, or simply longing for greater stability in your walk with God, this session offers a practical and biblical perspective on finding lasting peace through the gospel. Come discover how the shoes of the gospel of peace equip believers to stand firm, remain ready, and walk confidently in the strength that Christ alone provides.

We are Trinity Community Church in Knoxville, Tennessee.
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Transcript

Opening Prayer And Purpose

Gabi Loveday 0:10

When I was thinking about this, I'm like, man, it's not even like teaching your crowd just like teaching a bunch of my family. So I just thank you guys for the opportunity to do this. And let's start in prayer. It's hard here. Lord, we just we thank you so much for your word, Lord. We know that your word is light to us. We thank you that it never changes, God, and that every time we open your word, it speaks to us again. So we just ask, Lord, that tonight would be about your word, Lord, that you would speak to us, that you would open our hearts. I thank you for the words that you've given me, but Lord, I just pray that my words would be yours, Lord, and that there would be encouragement spoken tonight. Lord, that we would all walk away, just feeling more knowledgeable about who we are in you, Lord, and more knowledgeable about how we can walk forward and really be equipped to stand in this world. We just thank you and we give you praise tonight in your name. Amen. All right, all

Ephesians Context Identity And Purpose

Gabi Loveday 1:00

right. So we are in Ephesians chapter six, and we are going through, like Tyler said, equipped to stand. And something that I love and I want to just kind of go back to is where we were in the fall and in the spring when we did our church-wide study of Ephesians. So we started in the fall with the beginning of Ephesians, and of course, that was identity. So we went through what does Paul say about who we are in Christ? And then we spent the spring season going through what is our purpose. So we once we know who we are in Christ, how are we to be? What kind of people ought we to be based on that? And so this passage in Ephesians comes at the very end. So now Paul is giving us the practical armor that we can put on on a daily basis that reflects our identity and is indicative of our purpose. And so that will kind of tie in tonight our verse. So we will go ahead and go through Ephesians 6, and we will start in verse 10, and we'll read all the way through verse 18 together.

Reading The Armor Of God

Gabi Loveday 1:56

So and I'll be reading on NIV, but then I'll also be mentioning NLT as well. So verse 10 says, Finally be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 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. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, which with with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, 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.

Why Shoes Matter In A Fight

Gabi Loveday 3:03

And so tonight we are focusing on the gospel shoes, the gospel shoes. And I will say, if nothing else, studying this passage has been such a blessing to me. I have found myself so many times in the past month going back over this and encouraging myself with what I feel like the Lord has shown me through this. So it's such a blessing to walk through this season knowing that what we present to you, I think as leaders, you know, he always says that we preach ourselves first. And I really think that this is a case here for me. Um so our verse specifically tonight is going to be verse 15. And so that again says, stand with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. And I really like what NLT says. It's phrased, it says, for shoes, put on the peace that comes from the good news, so that you will be fully prepared. And I want to circle that word peace, because we'll come back to that. That word peace here. Um, but in that section, how many times does Paul say the word stand? Anyone count how many times he says stand? We'll see if your number matches mine, because I might be wrong. So in that whole ten through eighteen. Yeah, any mention of stand. Stand, stand. Okay, I got four too, but depending on your version, you might have something different. Four, anybody have more than two, okay. So we know that this is an important concept, especially again, our series is called Equip to Sand. And so that will come into play tonight. But when I think of this, I have to be really honest. Shoes are not the first piece of armor that I think of. Um so, like if somebody asked me, name the parts of an armor on a soldier. I okay, helmet, makes sense. Protect your head, breastplate, got it. Sword, okay, shield, yes. But shoes. I don't often think of shoes as being a piece of armor. I think of them as being something we need, but not a piece of armor. So I was kind of thinking, what is the purpose of shoes for a soldier? If you're a soldier, why do you need shoes? So, what are some ideas? Why would a soldier need good shoes? Okay, hold the arch, yes. Oh, march, yes, yes, yes, march. Protect them, protect, protect.

Speaker 1 5:31

If you can't stand, you can't fight.

Gabi Loveday 5:33

Oh, I like that. If you can't stand, you can't fight. So, yes, so soldiers need shoes. They protect them from walking through treacherous terrain, right? If you're gonna be walking over something that's rough, rough surface, maybe there's debris on the ground from the battle, you have to protect your feet. Shoes allow soldiers to walk into enemy territory. It's literally the barrier between them and the territory that they stand on, right? It allows them to actually stand. It allows them to fight. Like you said, if you don't have the correct shoes, you can't fight. You're no matter what other pieces of armor you have or how strong you are, if you don't have the right shoes, you're not gonna be ready to use those other pieces of armor. So shoes are really, really important for soldiers. And think about them for us. Other than our clothes, what's the one thing that you guys would never leave your house without? Okay, right? So, how many of us have ever gotten to our car and we turn it on and we're like, oh man, shoes, that's what I forgot to wear today, right? So no one, we're not, we might leave our wallet at home, we might forget our phone, we might even forget our work badge or something we meant to bring. But none of us are ever gonna forget to wear our shoes. Even if we're just going to get the mail, shoes are something that we always have. No matter what our purpose is, anytime we go out to the world, if we're leaving our doorstep, if we're going anywhere or achieving anything during the day, we always put shoes on. That's something that we never forget. And also think about the not just the shoes that we wear, but think about the type of shoes. So if you're a runner, you know the importance of getting shoes with good arch support. You want shoes that are breathable and able to get you where you need to go when you're running. If you work in construction, you're gonna show up to your job site with some seal toe boots, right? Because that's important for the work that you do. If you play soccer, you're gonna choose shoes that are specifically designed to grip the ground. So you're gonna choose cleats. You wouldn't show up to a construction site wearing flip-flops. If you value your toes, you wouldn't show up wearing flip-flops, right? And you're not gonna put on your high heels to go play soccer. So the type of shoe that we put on determines our ability to do whatever task is in front of us here. Okay, and so what we kind of see is the type of shoe we choose matters. And what we choose to put on our feet really impacts our ability to be steady and to be ready. So there's two kinds of ideas, steady and ready here. And if we look back at verse 15, we kind of see these two ideas, the steady and the ready, kind of emerge from verse 15, because we see it says feet fitted with the gospel of peace or put

Peace Means Wholeness Not Ease

Gabi Loveday 7:58

on, right? So that's gonna be steady. And then we also see the words be fully prepared or the readiness. So there's two ideas here. And so what we'll kind of do in our brief time together is we'll go through these two ideas. So first we'll kind of look at what does Paul mean by the gospel of peace here? That's the steady part. And then how does that make us ready or fully prepared for what we have to face? So that's gonna be that readiness part. Sound good? Yeah, all right. So first we'll start with ready. And I told you guys earlier to circle the word peace. And that is also because when I was reading this, I really haven't focused in on that word. Even when I was thinking, you know, as a kid you learned the armor of God, the breastplate of righteousness, okay, the shoes of the gospel. But in every translation, that word peace stands out. And in fact, again, NLT says, put on the peace that comes with from the gospel. So it mentions the word peace before it even mentions shoes. And so that idea of peace, depending on how we read this, it might almost seem ironic or like a contradiction. So, especially if you're thinking from like a Western mindset or maybe as a new believer, when you think of peace, what do you think of? So I would say peace is everything going good. Peace is smooth sailing. No one's fighting, everyone's getting along, there's nothing wrong. Peace means there's nothing wrong. And I think a lot of people in the Western world, especially like with world peace, when someone says we want world peace, what do they mean? Well, there's no fighting, there's no wars, there's no conflict, everyone's friends, we're all getting along. And so if we look at this whole section of chapter six, though, Paul is using a soldier metaphor. He's talking about equipping us for battle. So, how can that make sense if peace means that there's no conflict, but Paul is telling us to put on peace going into a conflict? How does that make sense? And so, really, what I when I was reading through this, what we have to do is we have to discover what does Paul actually mean by peace? What does he mean by peace? And Mark did such a great job on Sunday. If you want to hear this message, just go back and listen to his, because he basically, I love that it connected so beautifully to that. Um, and so here, peace, it doesn't necessarily mean outward peace. It doesn't mean everything is going right on the outside. It's a much deeper term. And so I'm no Bible expert, but when I looked it up, it comes, it's the Greek word, I think it's Irene, it's E-I-R-E-N-E. And that is going to be the Hebrew equivalent of shalom, which is what Mark talked about on Sunday. That's shalom. And so shalom is so much more than a feeling. In fact, it's not a feeling at all. One of the meanings of shalom can mean wholeness, it means completeness. There's that phrase, nothing missing, nothing broken. And so, in contrast to what we might think of as peace in the outward sense, peace isn't a feeling. Peace isn't an experience. In the same way you pick up a vase and say this vase is whole, that's not a feeling. The vase doesn't feel whole, it's a state of being. This vase is whole, nothing is broken on it. And so peace is a state. It's not an external thing. It doesn't come from our circumstances, it's not a feeling or an emotion. It is an actual state of being. And if we think about that in this verse, it says the peace that comes from the gospel, the good news. How does the peace come from the gospel? How does the gospel bring us that peace? Well, if we think the gospel meaning Jesus' work on the cross, his death and resurrection, because of his work on the cross, we can have that peace. We have wholeness or reconciliation with God in the midst of real external conflict. Because again, it's a state. Jesus' work on the cross changed our state of being towards God. At one point, we did not have peace with God. We were enemies of God. And because of his death and resurrection, he reconciled. One of the synonyms to peace that I had looked up was reconciliation. But it's not external, it's not we all get along now as a world, but we are now one with Christ. And so thinking back to Ephesians, if we go back to chapter two, I think Paul lays this out really beautifully in the beginning in chapter two.

Reconciliation In Ephesians 2

Gabi Loveday 12:06

So we go to two, we can honestly read all of chapter two, but we'll just for the sake of time look at verses one through five. Ephesians two, one through five, and then we'll jump to 12 through 20. So does anyone want to read Ephesians 2, 1 through 5?

Speaker 2 12:27

And you were dead in the presentation of sin in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work, and the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved.

Gabi Loveday 13:12

Yeah, and so we can see there again, in order to understand real peace, we have to understand what our standing was before the good news on the work on the cross, and what our standing was because of it or after it. And so that lays it out so nicely. If somebody else wants to read, it's a little bit longer, but 12 through 20. Ephesians 2, 12 through 20.

Speaker 1 13:30

That you were, I say, at that time without Christ. And we're aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and we're strangers from the covenants of promise and have no hope or without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you were who we want and far off and made near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, which hath made both once, hath broken the stop and petition walk. Abrogating stream is flesh, the hatred that is the law of commandments, which stands in ordinances, for make the flight man in himself, so maybe peace.

Gabi Loveday 14:11

So there again we see it mentions peace several times, and it says, verse 17, he came and preached peace to you who are far away and peace to those who are near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners or aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as a chief cornerstone. And so there again is that idea of peace. We can see here that peace is an identity thing. In order to understand peace, it's not dependent on our circumstances, it is truly, it's a place of standing, right? We are reconciled to Christ. We have died and been resurrected with him. And so no matter what happens around us, we can have that peace. We can have the peace from the gospel, even in the midst of battle. So here, Paul is not contradicting himself. It makes sense when we understand what he is coming from with that idea of peace. We also have Philippians 4 7. We know the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. And I love that. I hadn't, you hear that verse so many times, but I hadn't thought about the verb there. What's the verb in that phrase? The peace of God that passes all understanding will guard your hearts and minds. Guard, right? So there he's personifying peace in that phrase, in that verse, peace is a guard. Peace will guard your hearts and minds. I think about it like someone standing outside a tomb, right? They're not going to let anything else in. So peace is a guard. And that is a protection for us. But again, it's not based on anything external. Like the world would say, if there's not peace outside, I can't have peace inside. But we're different because of the gospel here. And that kind of leads us now.

Readiness Means Alert Focused Living

Gabi Loveday 15:56

That was the steady. So we are grounded in our identity because of the work of Christ. But that kind of leads us into the readiness, that kind of second part of the verse. Um, and another verse that I was thinking of that calls us to readiness is in the New Testament, and it's 1 Peter 5, 8 through 11. 1 Peter 5, 8 through 11. And I'll actually start with verse 7, because it's a personal favorite of mine. Verse 7 says, Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Verse 8, be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. So that sounds very similar to what Paul was saying earlier in chapter six. Resist him standing firm. There's those words again, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers and sisters throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast. To him be the power forever and ever. Amen. And so those words are very similar to what Paul is calling us to. Be alert, right? Because the enemy is prowling around. So there is a purpose for our readiness. There is something we have to be ready for. Okay. Specifically, we're thinking about back in Ephesians 6, the stand against the devil's schemes. That's what we're prepared for. And so we can see that we can have internal peace even when there's not external peace, which is honestly something that I've been experiencing personally in my life. So I think this is very impactful for me, no matter where we're walking. Whether we're walking to the mailbox or whether we're walking to work, whether we're walking into enemy territory, we can stand on that peace and be ready to fight the devil's schemes. But being ready implies paying attention, right? If you're a soldier and you're ready for battle, you have to be clear-headed. You can't be worried about anything, you can't be distracted by anything. You have to be an alert of sober mind. But if you don't have a peace in your soul, you're going to be chaotic. You're going to feel like your, I guess, energy is off, right? Like you're not ready. You're going to be distracted. And so you're not going to be fully prepared. And that's how the peace connects to this idea of preparedness, is that if we know where identity is in Christ, we can walk into anything, into any situation, knowing that the outcome has already been determined and that we are strengthened. We are prepared. We can go on the offensive. And I like what you said earlier. If you're not, if you don't have the right shoes on, you can't fight. No matter how big your sword is, if you're distracted, it's not going to matter. You have a point.

Speaker 2 18:40

And no matter how many tabs are open, yep, yep.

Gabi Loveday 18:46

No matter how many tabs, no matter how busy your day is, no matter how overwhelmed you feel, you're going to stand on that readiness. You're going to have that peace as a center. And again, it's an identity thing. It's so much more than what the world thinks of as peace, meaning everything goes right. Another encouraging verse to kind of talk about where we were versus where we are is in Colossians.

Peace Through The Cross And Closing

Gabi Loveday 19:10

Colossians 1, 19 through 23. And so this kind of goes back again to our identity and then also our purpose or that idea of readiness. So Colossians 1, 19 through 23, it says, For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile himself to all things, whether things on earth or things of heaven, by making peace through his blood shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior, but now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free of accusation, if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. So there again, we're kind of seeing the idea of the steady and the ready working together, putting on those shoes in order to be fully prepared here.