In this New Year’s episode, Kimberly Faith and her dad, John McLarty, invite listeners to see 2026 as a year of intentional spiritual warfare—not in fear, but in confidence that Jesus has already won. Starting from the picture of Jesus “born onto the battlefield,” they remind us that when we are born again, we too are placed in the middle of a very real spiritual conflict. Drawing from Ephesians 6:14–17, they explore the armor of God—belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, shoes of the gospel of peace, shield of faith, helmet of salvation, and sword of the Spirit—and show how every single piece is actually fulfilled in the person of Jesus.
Rather than a checklist of spiritual duties, the armor becomes a relational picture: when Christ is at the center, we are protected, stable, and effective. When self, culture, or lies replace Him at the center, our “gear” loosens and we become anxious, vulnerable, and ineffective on the battlefield. With vivid military illustrations, personal testimony, and practical examples from business, daily life, and past seasons of drifting, Kimberly and John urge listeners to step into the new year fully suited up in Christ—fighting from His victory, not for it.
Key Takeaways
Jacob Paul: Welcome to the truth and love podcast with your hosts Kimberly Faith and John Mack. The truth and love podcast seeks to present God’s timeless truth through the lens of his remarkable love.
Kimberly Faith: Well, dad, we’re in the last few days of 2025.
John McLarty: That is totally amazing. It’s hard to believe.
Kimberly Faith: It’s hard to believe. I you know, when we were thinking about what we were what we should talk about to get ready for the new year, what kept coming to my mind yeah. We just finished the whole gifts of Christmas series, and, one of the thoughts that I kept I kept thinking about is, you know, Jesus was born onto the battlefield. You know, he was born into the enemy camp. And and we are too.
When we’re born again, we’re born again in onto a battlefield, and we’re in a spiritual warfare.
John McLarty: Yeah. The powers that be at the time sought his death.
Kimberly Faith: That’s right. Even at two years old.
John McLarty: Yeah.
Kimberly Faith: You know? And and A
John McLarty: bunch of babies killed.
Kimberly Faith: Exactly. Yeah.
John McLarty: Children killed.
Kimberly Faith: And and you think about I mean, I always think about, like, for example, Frank Paretti’s books or the Lord of the Rings series where where you get to see the spiritual warfare. You you get to see it in, like, living color. Like, it’s brought alive. And I think there’s no there’s nothing greater that we can do than to stay spirit focused instead of flesh focused or, you know, keep our I think about if if you and I were right now, instead of sitting here in the studio, we were sitting we were standing in the middle of, you know, the conflict, for example, some of the conflicts in The Middle East.
John McLarty: Right.
Kimberly Faith: We wouldn’t we would be on guard.
John McLarty: Be on guard.
Kimberly Faith: We would be probably not just being so casual in our conversation, but we would be looking for the enemy.
John McLarty: There would be an awareness that we’re in a warfare.
Kimberly Faith: That’s right. And and I think that’s
John McLarty: what That should be true because we are in a spiritual warfare.
Kimberly Faith: We are a 100% in a spiritual warfare. And I think about the, the verses in Ephesians where, you know and I don’t know. Why don’t you look up the verse right before Ephesians six talks about the armor of God. Wasn’t that doesn’t that say be sober, be vigilant for your enemy is is the your Satan is your enemy. He’s prowling around seeking whom may
John McLarty: roaring lion’s lion seeking Yes. Whom he may
Kimberly Faith: Yes. And and so that’s a that’s not that’s not a suggestion. That’s a
John McLarty: command. Danger.
Kimberly Faith: That’s a command. Right. And it’s a command given in love because it’s true. And we are on a battlefield. And I so think about 2026.
Mean, 2025 was just full of I feel like God has just been downloading into every area of our lives and giving us opportunities to minister in so many ways, and it’s very exciting. And and not even like, we’re not even looking for it, but that’s because that’s how God is. He’s like, you wanna fight the battle? Here, I’m gonna give you victory here, victory there, because I’m gonna do it through you.
John McLarty: And I’ll just mention you’ve, you’ve shared with us recently some of the stats on this very this very ministry, this podcast
Kimberly Faith: Yes. Going
John McLarty: to the to the entire world
Kimberly Faith: Yeah.
John McLarty: To many nations.
Kimberly Faith: To countries where they’re not even allowed to have the freedom of religion. And it’s and I don’t you know, I I say that that is definitely the hand of God. It is nothing we we just wanna be obedient. We just wanna do what God wants us to do. And part of that, I think, is we as the church need to be aware be more aware of the spiritual battlefield.
So, we kinda we kinda precipitated the idea to do the armor of God, little this podcast to begin 2026 was a a little message that was given or a great message, not a little message, a great message by, one of the lay people in our church.
John McLarty: Paul Harden.
Kimberly Faith: Paul Harden. And, you know, his dad died in 2025. Right. And his dad, Tom, was also a he was a great preacher. Mhmm.
And
John McLarty: And his brother died on the battlefield.
Kimberly Faith: That’s right. Ethan. That’s right.
John McLarty: And it’s He was is familiar with warfare.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah. And he, of course, Paul is is now a retired military guy, and so he gives a lot he gave a lot of great military illustrations
John McLarty: He did.
Kimberly Faith: In, the armor of God, message that he gave that this is kind of inspired from. But I I I kinda wanna start let’s, let’s start by just reading Ephesians six. Why don’t you read that verses 14 through 17 for us?
John McLarty: I will. Stand therefore having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, and above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. So Ephesians six fourteen through 17.
Kimberly Faith: I wanna before we kinda dip dip into all these different, pieces of armor, I wanna say, first of all, just one of the things that I had not realized till I heard, what Paul said, I had not thought through. Because I studied the armor of God and even wrote a series of devotionals about it, but I did not think about this, that each part of the armor that we’re gonna talk about is Jesus himself.
John McLarty: That is amazing.
Kimberly Faith: Yes. That that was such a
John McLarty: Jesus is the armor.
Kimberly Faith: He is our armor. Mhmm. And and so we’re gonna kinda talk about in this in this podcast how each piece of this armor is not a self powered virtue that we try to maintain, but each piece is fulfilled in Jesus himself. So going back to really the theme of all of our December devotionals and devotional podcasts, that Jesus, when he’s our center, when he is the center of all we think about, all we do, all we all we, say, then he we are more and more, guarded from the enemy. We are not defenseless.
We become victors, not victims. So this in other words, this armor isn’t a burden. It’s a powerful gift of the relationship we have with Jesus.
John McLarty: That because I just wanna prep our listeners to really pay attention, maybe even take some notes. Because Paul, being a military man, trained in the military, and they’re they’re all about let’s do it by the book. Mhmm. Let’s follow the procedures.
Kimberly Faith: Right. SOP.
John McLarty: He he brought out this point. He said, if if you’re preparing for battle, you’re issued your your gear.
Kimberly Faith: Mhmm.
John McLarty: It might be a certain vest. It might be shoes. It might be your helmet. And they’re they’re all important for the battle.
Kimberly Faith: Mhmm.
John McLarty: He says, why would you leave one of those in the locker room? Right. And if you did, you would be in huge trouble. Like, Sonsor, where’s your helmet?
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: But you wouldn’t do that. You wouldn’t go to warfare without the bulletproof vest
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: Without the proper shoes, without the helmet, without your sword Mhmm. Or, you know, your
Kimberly Faith: Your gun. AK 47.
John McLarty: But every every piece of armor is important
Kimberly Faith: Mhmm.
John McLarty: And valuable to us.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah.
John McLarty: So we really that really made me think, I need to I really need to pay attention here Yeah. To these these armor parts. And it’s interesting that they are all from Jesus. Right. But they have different aspects to them.
Kimberly Faith: Yes. And and what’s it it’s even greater than they’re from Jesus, they are Jesus. Mhmm. You know, that’s what kinda struck me. It’s like, wait a minute.
Well, let’s start. The the armor the first part armor is is the belt of truth. We know that Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. He he he isn’t just giving us truth, which he does. We talked about in our earlier podcast in December about the the gift of the word.
Right? How that is a written word, but it’s also Jesus himself. Well, bringing it right back to the belt of truth, which which, you know, I I think Paul talked about Paul Harden, not not to be confused, Paul the apostle, talked about, how when in the military, the the the belt he talked about, I think, the, more of the first through fifth century military, how this belt was it secured everything. And they he was talking about how in when they do rucks Right. They may have 80 pounds of of armor and body you know, just, equipment on them.
And if it’s not secure, it’s it’s rubbing, it’s jolt, it’s you know, throwing them off balance. It’s not they can’t run-in it, and how truth keeps everything else secure.
John McLarty: Yeah. I’m just thinking of this analogy now because of in my younger years, we did a lot of backpacking. And the old backpacks would just have your shoulder straps. But then one of the the new innovations of backpacks in the seventies was the the belt.
Kimberly Faith: Oh, yeah.
John McLarty: Pouch around your waist.
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: And that changed everything. I’m thinking of that belter, and this is the belt of truth
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: Around your low end. Mhmm. And you’re carrying it from your core
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: Hips instead of your shoulders
Kimberly Faith: Yes.
John McLarty: Just made all the difference in the world.
Kimberly Faith: Huge difference.
John McLarty: Comparing that to what Paul used that analogy. And that, you know, this in warfare, that vital area and even in strength training
Kimberly Faith: Mhmm.
John McLarty: I heard you talk about it. That’s your core.
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: And it needs to be strong.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah. It
John McLarty: needs to be protected.
Kimberly Faith: Absolutely. And and, you know, we we use physical examples, and Jesus did this to teach spiritual principles. And when we operate physically from our core, whether that’s just getting out of a chair, getting out of bed, when we when we engage our core to we don’t hurt our back. We don’t you know, we’re we’re health we’re healthier because it protects our back, really. And, you know, what good are you with a broken back?
And I think I think Jesus using this belt of truth example, it’s the truth is what secures all the other parts that keep everything working well. Mhmm. You know?
John McLarty: Then he said, I am the way
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: Truth. Not just, I’ll show you the way and the truth. I am the way, the truth, and the life. That’s so intriguing.
Kimberly Faith: It is. Throughout this podcast, I’d like to give the opposite. When Christ is not our center, then something less than truth is, quote, holding us together.
John McLarty: Right.
Kimberly Faith: It loosens our belt. It loosens our belt. And the enemy then has more access to our inner parts, you know, and our life becomes less stable. I mean, even let’s let’s just use the military example. If you’re if your belt is loose or if your if your gear is loose and you’re trying to run towards the enemy, your your gear is gonna probably knock you in the head or or disable you.
We have to have
John McLarty: Truth isn’t sure.
Kimberly Faith: That’s right. If the truth isn’t fixed. And and Jesus, you know, throughout the word of God, Jesus talks about truth. We in the first concept study, we talk about the poles of influence, and where is your truth coming from? Coming from.
You know? And if your truth is coming from a from your own opinion, if it’s coming from anywhere but Jesus who is the truth, then you’re on shifting sand, and you’re vulnerable to the enemy.
John McLarty: You know, in The Chase the Little Rabbit, we talk about the poles of influence. The opposite of truth is our lives. Right. And lies come the father lies, Satan. Yeah.
But then humans Mhmm. If Satan was out of the picture, we still lie to ourselves.
Kimberly Faith: Right. Right.
John McLarty: So but the opposite of truth is lies. Yeah. And the you know, even in the the garden, Satan did challenge them to what have God said.
Kimberly Faith: Mhmm.
John McLarty: So he accused God of being a liar.
Kimberly Faith: Right. Right.
John McLarty: Didn’t really mean it.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah. Well and and you you bring up the fact that the Satan is not the only enemy. The enemy is we have the flesh that is with us all the time, and then we have the world culture that that is constantly, you know, justifying itself and and lying to us.
John McLarty: Influenced by the lies of man Right. And Satan.
Kimberly Faith: Right. So that that belt of truth is is critical, and of course, we know the truth. God made it so easy for us. We don’t have to guess what the truth is. It’s all written down.
It’s all written down.
John McLarty: Yes. Jesus is as we’ve said, the the living word and the written word.
Kimberly Faith: That’s right. That’s right.
John McLarty: So the word of God contains the truth. Yeah. It is the truth.
Kimberly Faith: Well, so then we so then we go to the breastplate of righteousness, and and we discover in, in the Bible that, in second Corinthians, the Bible says, he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him. And Paul the apostle said he would that he longed to be found in him not having my own righteousness, but with that which is the through faith in Christ. And that’s in Philippians three nine. The the point is that this breastplate of righteousness that protects our heart is Jesus.
John McLarty: And that’s so key.
Kimberly Faith: So
John McLarty: key. Because this goes back to salvation. Salvation is not our own righteousness. It’s not our own works. We can’t do a good works.
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: Salvation is having we’ve got to be as righteous as God to be accepted by God, and that’s a gift from him.
Kimberly Faith: He Mhmm.
John McLarty: Gives us he makes us the righteousness. And just that’s the born again Christian.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah.
John McLarty: That’s what being born again is. Right. That’s that new creature is made as second Corinthians says
Kimberly Faith: Mhmm.
John McLarty: Says, we are made into his righteousness.
Kimberly Faith: Yes.
John McLarty: I mean, the righteousness of God, but the key phrase, in him.
Kimberly Faith: In him. And it’s it’s so it’s so we we talk about righteousness, and just to be clear, we’re we there’s righteousness, of our soul and our spirit that that that’s irreversible because of Christ’s gift of salvation is eternal. We’re gonna we’re actually gonna in the in the new year, we’re gonna we’re gonna talk about eternal security. We’re gonna go into that. But, God willing.
But then there’s the the process of sanctification, which is, you know, we aren’t talking about our soul and spirit. We’re talking about bringing our body into subjection. And when when we are putting our armor on, that doesn’t mean we take our salvation off and on. That doesn’t that’s not what it’s talking about because we can’t do that. We’re once we are in Christ, we can never be unborn, right, or not receive his genetics.
But what happens is if we become self righteous or we become something less than Christ righteous, and our motivations are incorrect, we are we’re shedding that armor and that protection, allowing the deception and the lies that we are somehow maybe not good enough because we’re not good enough. Right. You know, it’s distorting what keeps us secure and protects our heart, our heart being our desires. You know? I I just I’ll give you an example.
You know, when when I start serving the Lord out of a desire to please men, to be a men pleaser, to be a pleaser of people instead of pleasing God. That’s a form of self righteousness. What that does is that that well, it does so many things, but it takes me out of the place of humility, which makes me at enmity with God. Right? Mhmm.
So suddenly, the armor that’s there, in my mind, it disappears
John McLarty: Right.
Kimberly Faith: And makes me vulnerable. And I wonder if I’m wearing armor or not, I’m my my my I get darkened. My my way of perceiving things, suddenly the enemy’s attacks, it appears like they can make progress against me when they can’t. They can, you know, somehow take something that Christ has given me away. And I’m not even talking about my salvation.
I’m just talking about the presence of God, you know, protecting our heart. Our righteousness as found in Jesus Christ protects our heart. When we become self righteous or rebellious in any way, we leave ourselves vulnerable.
John McLarty: Yeah. And I think that’s a good point because we talk about self righteousness. So we have this this righteous nature
Kimberly Faith: Mhmm. That
John McLarty: can’t be changed.
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: And that’s why we have eternal security.
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: And it’s all because of God. It’s by grace through faith. But that can be obscured by self righteousness or just plain old unrighteousness.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah.
John McLarty: Just falling back into, you might say, obvious sins.
Kimberly Faith: Right. Right.
John McLarty: You know, just picking old habits back up.
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: And that’s our tendency. That’s the tendency of the flesh, is to bring back those things.
Kimberly Faith: And when we remove- That’s
John McLarty: kind of the struggle of the Christian life.
Kimberly Faith: Absolutely. And when we remove Yeah, that’s
John McLarty: a good point. So this breastplate of righteousness, we have it’s Jesus.
Kimberly Faith: Mhmm.
John McLarty: But we can we can, in essence, cover it up.
Kimberly Faith: Yes. Yes. Or we we can cover it up or we can forget we even have it.
John McLarty: Forget we have it.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah. Because we we we spiral off into this into this really independence from God, and then we’re trying to stand on our own, trying to guard our own heart instead of knowing that Christ already does. You know? So again, the breastplate of righteousness, that’s all Jesus. So, dad, the next one is the shoes of the gospel of peace.
John McLarty: I think that’s bringing Jesus to others.
Kimberly Faith: Mhmm.
John McLarty: We, you know, we have we have Jesus in our born again nature.
Kimberly Faith: Mhmm.
John McLarty: But when I think of shoes, I think of action. I think of walking. Mhmm. I think, you know, beautiful are the feet, you know, the
Kimberly Faith: feet. Right. Yeah. How beautiful are the feet of those who bring the gospel carry the gospel. You know?
And and it’s it’s funny that he uses the word peace here, the in Ephesians that that they’re shod with the gospel of peace. Mhmm. Because peace a lot of times we think of peace as being freedom from, you know, the worry about bills or the worry about war, but he’s talking about ultimate peace, which is reconciliation with God. Right. You know?
And and we can apply this, of course, in a lot of different ways, but this is the the gospel of peace is the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, and salvation is reconciliation of humanity to God. Mhmm. Ultimate peace, which is freedom from anxiety, spiritual anxiety. Right. You know?
John McLarty: Think of the path of peace too. Just thinking of walking in the woods without shoes on, and you’re continually having to think about little rocks and branches. Even just in our driveway, it’s gravel, not concrete. And you’re continually thinking about your feet are hurting, but you have shoes on. You’re walking in peace.
Kimberly Faith: I love that. That’s a great example. And and so from a the perspective of because you think about this as a part of our armor. Right? So we put it on.
Well, as born again believers, we have these we are shod with the gospel. Mhmm. And and you think about so in this battle, we’re in the battlefield to win souls for God’s glory.
John McLarty: So bringing that peace to others, that kind of rose coming from.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah. Yeah.
John McLarty: Walking. And there’s we’re not just sitting here. We’re walking. Right. And, you know, bringing the the gospel of peace to others.
Kimberly Faith: So so if you don’t put on if you aren’t putting on your gospel shoes, so to speak, you know, you’re just you’re just kind of existing on a path that’s kind of aimless, and you’re really not doing anything but just trying to get walk the next step without being too
John McLarty: Without
Kimberly Faith: being about
John McLarty: sharp stuff.
Kimberly Faith: Right. Right. Whereas when you’re again, this goes back to Jesus. Jesus said, you know, that that he he says, my peace I give to you, not as the world gives. In John fourteen twenty seven and and and in Ephesians, it talks about he himself is our peace.
We have to we have to put on Jesus, you know, every day. And the gospel, you know, we can I mean, I I believe the gospel has a power all by itself? It’s not dependent on how I deliver it to have an independent power because Jesus is the word. But think about how much more freedom you have to share the gospel when you’re doing that in in the peace of God because you put on Jesus. Right.
You’re not having it’s not painful.
John McLarty: Right. Think about we put on the new man. We’re told to put off the old man and the new and our associate pastor Kenny Francis gave an example one time. He says, when you get up in the morning, you go to your closet and you put on you decide what you’re going to put on.
Kimberly Faith: Interesting.
John McLarty: And that’s the decision we make Yeah. Is to put on the full armor of God.
Kimberly Faith: Right. Right.
John McLarty: Which shoes are we gonna put on?
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: What if we don’t even put on any shoes?
Kimberly Faith: Yes.
John McLarty: And we’re just like, again, walking around trying to not step on a sharp stone.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah. And peace, I used to think that peace is just the absence of problems. It’s really not. Peace is just the ability to let God handle the problems. And when we put on him as, you know, our armor, part of that is our shoes, we are we’re freeing ourselves from the typical, I guess, distractions of worrying about the mundane.
John McLarty: Yeah. Yeah. For Jesus said, take no thought for tomorrow.
Kimberly Faith: Right. Right.
John McLarty: Vision are the troubles today you know, thereof today.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah.
John McLarty: But, know, it’s not that we don’t plan for, you know
Kimberly Faith: Retirement or whatever. But
John McLarty: don’t worry Yeah.
Kimberly Faith: And it’s about tomorrow. It it I think
John McLarty: that’s the key.
Kimberly Faith: I think it’s also perspective. You know, we’ve talked a lot about God’s perspective in earlier podcasts, and I think suddenly when when we’re putting on the, you know, the armor of God, and part of that is the the shoes of the gospel of peace, is that we’re putting so our bills are not the most important thing on our mind. Our bills are kind of like, okay, God, if is this what you want me to do today, if you want me to take the day off and go minister to my neighbor, then you’re gonna have to take care of the bills. And I’m sure he can just eye rolls and says, like, that’s such a big deal for me. You know?
But we have that perspective. So that yeah. This is good. And we you know, we again, when we don’t have Christ as our center, then even really the smallest trouble makes us stumble into chaos and anxiety because we’re trying to stand on our own two feet instead of on the in in Christ.
John McLarty: Just think about just hearing about thinking of the civil war days, the shoes. Shoes were a huge deal, which this which army the North had better and more prevalent shoes.
Kimberly Faith: Oh, that’s interesting.
John McLarty: And the Southerners didn’t even have shoes. What a hindrance in a battle.
Kimberly Faith: Oh my gosh. Right. Yeah. You you’re you’re gotta be at least somewhat hyper focused on where you’re where you’re running instead of where the enemy is, which is a great analogy. It’s a great analogy.
So the next piece of armor is a shield of faith. We know that faith, first of all, is a gift from God. It’s not something we manufacture. The Bible is, you know, the Bible talks about the gift of faith and not just for salvation, but the gift of faith. I think that God gives us all a measure of faith.
It’s what we do with it
John McLarty: Mhmm.
Kimberly Faith: Really, that matters. And then Hebrews calls Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.
John McLarty: It comes from him, and it’s it’s a shield. It’s referred to as a shield. That’s really interesting. The shield of faith.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah. It’s and it’s strong not because of us. That’s why it’s so interesting to me. I remember when I first kind of understood that that faith was a gift. Because, you know, you hear all these songs that say, you gotta have faith.
You know, you just gotta increase your faith. No. Faith is a gift from God. We believe. We use that faith to believe.
Right. You know? I I’ve been given a faith of a gift of faith that, you know, that certain things will happen if I do certain things. That’s faith is the evidence of, things hoped Right. Right.
No. It’s the faith is the
John McLarty: Evidence of things not seen.
Kimberly Faith: Right. And and so when we believe like when I went bungee jumping, you know? Mhmm. I’d never been bungee jumping before, but I I saw people doing it. I’ve seen videos.
I saw people out there in that little platform doing it before I did it, And, and I didn’t know the man who was strapping me into that bungee, apparatus, but I had faith in the equipment. And I did well, my the manifestation of that was I jumped. I just swan dive, you know, a 123 feet meters down into a river gorge. It we we’re given supernatural faith, and it’s not and it’s in such a great, so much of a greater object than a bungee apparatus. Mhmm.
It’s in the character and nature of God.
John McLarty: It’s trusting in him.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah. Yeah.
John McLarty: So he and he’s he’s the author and finisher of our faith. So we trust, which is believing.
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: The faith comes it’s got again, all of these that’s so interesting, these are all Jesus.
Kimberly Faith: Yes.
John McLarty: These body these armor parts
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: Come from Jesus. Right. Now we can exercise them. We can put them on. We can take advantage of them.
Kimberly Faith: Yes.
John McLarty: You know? Or we could let, you know, the shield of righteous or the breastplate of righteousness, you know, not put it on.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah. Utilize it. Right. Well, and like the shield of faith
John McLarty: The shield of faith is king.
Kimberly Faith: It’s well, think about it. We the shield of faith is you know, it’s he if he is the author and finisher of our faith, that means this shield is is really something he made. It is he he’s fashioned it. And remember, he’s already defeated Satan. So when we decide to go into warfare without that shield, then we’re pretty much I mean, we’re laying bare parts of our
John McLarty: Fiery darts of the wicked.
Kimberly Faith: That’s right. That’s right. And why wouldn’t we do that? So when we talk about using the shield of faith, really, again, it all goes back to putting making Christ our center instead of ourself, instead of our own thoughts, our own ideas. Do we trust the Lord?
John McLarty: Lean not unto our own understanding.
Kimberly Faith: Right. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he will direct your path. Right?
John McLarty: He will direct our paths.
Kimberly Faith: So that shield of faith, you know, again, all these are are I’m just trying to imagine what this looks like in real life. And to me, one of the ways I see this being very practical is in the way I run my business. First of all, acknowledging it’s not my business, it’s God’s business. And then being open 100% to letting his his wisdom, his character, his you know, who he is be in charge and not me. Mhmm.
And then knowing that if the Lord leads me to take a certain action that doesn’t make economic sense
John McLarty: Right.
Kimberly Faith: That, well, guess what? He is my shield. He is my defender. He is my strong tower.
John McLarty: Thinking of the verses, the just shall live by faith.
Kimberly Faith: Oh, yeah. That’s good.
John McLarty: Should live by faith.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah. Yeah. For sure. So
John McLarty: The faith comes from God, from Jesus, but we live by faith.
Kimberly Faith: Mhmm. Yeah.
John McLarty: It’s a decision to trust in him.
Kimberly Faith: Right. Right. Yeah. For salvation and for life.
John McLarty: And for life.
Kimberly Faith: Right. Okay. So then we have the helmet of salvation. And what did what did you think about you know, how would you explain this helmet of salvation and, of course, Jesus? Again, we’re talking about Jesus.
John McLarty: Well, could go back to our podcast on the mind. And so a helmet, you you think of protects your head. That’s where our brain is, which is we think of them as where our mind, our thoughts. So salvation, when you when you utilize that helmet
Kimberly Faith: Mhmm.
John McLarty: Which, again, we we’re talking about we can’t take our lose our salvation and get it back.
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: But we can you know, talked about in the scriptures, people that just get back into the carnal world, they they actually can forget they were ever saved.
Kimberly Faith: Oh, yeah. I experienced that.
John McLarty: And so they they’re still saved Mhmm. By the grace of God, but they’ve lost that shield.
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: They’re just so their thoughts
Kimberly Faith: Their mind. Guarded.
John McLarty: Yeah. Oh, and I’m just thinking about remember we used the example of the wall in Nehemiah guarding
Kimberly Faith: our mind?
John McLarty: Uh-huh. The wall crumb can crumble.
Kimberly Faith: Right. It’s a good example.
John McLarty: There’s not salvation is not to use a term that’s popular today, top of mind. Uh-huh. Top of our mind is our salvation, our faith, our belief, why we’re here, and that guards our mind.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah. You mentioned that the even a born again believer can forget they’re saved. You know, when I you know, like fifteen years ago, when I was, you know, just completely gone off God had just I’d just taken God off my radar and fallen into a very carnal Christian life. I I say Christian because I was born again, but I was not living for Christ, and my mind was sold out to being carnal. Mhmm.
There were times I wondered, I wonder if I’m even saved. How could I do this and be saved? Because my mind, I was living with the carnal mind instead of the mind of Christ, and I had abandoned the mind of Christ. And, you know, God in his great mercy and grace brought me back. And I just I’m so grateful, but that wasn’t that didn’t happen overnight.
That wasn’t me going from the mind of Christ to to the carnal mind happened. You know, well, I’ll just take off my helmet over here for a minute, you know, and just dabble in this in this this carnal mind over here. Mhmm. And then I’d put the helmet, you know, back on. Well, let me take it off a little longer, you know, today, and let me let me operate under Kim’s mind instead of God’s mind over here.
Well, pretty soon, I’d forgotten where I laid my helmet. And, you know, and it and I think it took me kinda being crushed for me to remember, you know, and God just picking me up and dragging me back to where I left my helmet and putting it on me almost to to go back to the basics of, hey, you know what? You can’t you can’t live this life as a born again Christian and have any kind of peace and any kind of usefulness in your life Mhmm. Without having your mind protected from this world because they’re the darts are gonna get you. You know?
I think
John McLarty: it’s interesting you said it doesn’t just happen overnight. I think I think it’s in second Peter. It talks about the steps of growth, and it’s adding to our faith, virtue,
Kimberly Faith: and Right.
John McLarty: Then godliness and patience and long suffering.
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: It says if if these things abound in us, we’ll be fruitful. But if they’re not if they’re lacking
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: We can forget we’re even saved.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah.
John McLarty: So it’s a it’s it’s a process.
Kimberly Faith: It’s a slow burn.
John McLarty: It’s a slow not having those things.
Kimberly Faith: Yes.
John McLarty: Yes. You know, not progressing as a Christian, not being discipled.
Kimberly Faith: Right. Right.
John McLarty: And not allowing yourself just to experience Christian growth.
Kimberly Faith: Absolutely. And and there and I think we’ve said this before, there’s nothing more miserable than a born again believer who’s who’s living without their armor. I mean, we can all visualize what it would be like to be on a battlefield. I mean, like, let’s say you’re in, you know, you’re in the middle of a of a battlefield in in somewhere in The Middle East or anywhere there’s Ukraine, you know, and you have no gun, you have no body armor, you have nowhere to hide, you’re just you’re just out there in the open. No shoes.
Right? No protection. No cover.
John McLarty: Sitting there.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah. You have no cover. Mhmm. And you’re just waiting to be shot.
John McLarty: Right.
Kimberly Faith: Well, of course, you’re gonna be anxious. Of course, you’re gonna be full of fear. And Jesus say, no. I’m all these things. I’m all this armor.
All you gotta do is make me the metal. Keep me the center, and all these you get all this armor, and you don’t have to live this way.
John McLarty: Incineration starts with girded with the the
Kimberly Faith: Belt of truth.
John McLarty: The belt of truth. Mhmm. Mhmm. Yeah. Jesus is the truth.
Kimberly Faith: Well, and that kind of brings us to the sword of the spirit, which is the word. And we gosh, in the last podcast or two podcasts ago, we talked about the gift of the word. Exactly. We have the word just I hate to say you use the word mystical, but it’s very mystical to me that Jesus both is the living word Right. And that he’s given us a written word, and they’re intertwined.
John McLarty: I’m just thinking, you know, every podcast we do is about the word.
Kimberly Faith: Exactly. Yeah. If it’s not, then it’s not less worth listening to.
John McLarty: Because it’s the truth in love. Right. Towards the truth come from,
Kimberly Faith: the
John McLarty: word, and the spirit of God. But Jesus is is the word, the living word, and the written word. That is so amazing.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah. I I think the sword of the spirit.
John McLarty: Because the sword is what you use to
Kimberly Faith: Offense.
John McLarty: To offense.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah. It’s an offense, and it’s an offensive weapon. And, again, we we’re reminded in the bible that we’re our warfare is not flesh and blood, but it’s against principalities, against powers, against rulers of darkness and wicked places. And we’re we are when we are engaged in actively reading the word, obeying the word, obeying the spirit, surrendering to Jesus. We don’t have to create opportunities for victory.
We just don’t. He just does that. He’s like, you know what? Okay. Over here.
There’s a skirmish over here. I need you to go over here, and I need you to use the word, and I need you to to maybe even love this person Mhmm. And show them truth and win this battle because this is where I’m guiding you. This is where I’m guiding. You’re like the carrier of the word.
You’re the carrier of the truth, and you’re the vessel. You’re the mouthpiece of God. Go over there, and I’m gonna show you what to say because Jesus told us don’t worry about what you’re gonna say. Hey. I’ll give you that.
Not that that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t study because the the the and the the funny thing is some people use that verse that that say, well, I don’t have to study God’s word. Well, it’s God’s word in us that becomes alive and gives us the words that we need to say when we’re fighting his battles.
John McLarty: Yeah. And in Revelations nineteen thirteen, it says, his name is called the word of God. Yeah. That’s so interesting.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah.
John McLarty: Because, yes, he is the word, but he’s given us the word. Right. So we we best know him through the word. Because our own mind, it can be deceptive.
Kimberly Faith: Mhmm.
John McLarty: That’s where people they’re just like, oh, I’m just going to go get a direct revelation from God.
Kimberly Faith: Right. Well, if
John McLarty: it doesn’t line up with this written word, that’s
Kimberly Faith: It’s not from God.
John McLarty: Lead to trouble.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah. Yeah. It’s again, every part of this armor we’ve talked about is is Christ. It’s all Christ. And it’s goes back to kind of the overarching message that I think has become the central to my life anyway is that Jesus has to be the center.
He has to be what motivates us. He has to be the king. He has to be on the throne. If he’s not, then to use the word of God without the power of God is so ineffective. It’s kind of like somehow Hollywood depicts Christians as screaming wife abusers or hypocrites.
Well, I’m not saying there aren’t people that aren’t like that. I’ve been like that, just ineffective because I did not make Christ my sinner, so my sword was very dull because I was operating under Kim’s power, not God’s power. And, you know, truth and love has to be consistent. Yeah. Your your truth can’t be violated by your lack of love because God’s truth is love.
Mhmm. You know? And so it’s to me, when Jesus is our sinner, all we have to do is surrender. We we’re we’re just surrendering to him, and he keeps our sword sharp. Mhmm.
You know? In every area of our life, it just we had this armor. We are afraid. We are the more that we make Christ our sinner, the less we are afraid of the battle.
John McLarty: I’m just thinking of myself for 2026. I just wanna picture myself and the listeners. Picture yourself in a real warfare situation Mhmm. Where it’s dangerous. People are wanting to kill you.
Mhmm. Why would you be out there without your helmet?
Kimberly Faith: Right. Without your shield?
John McLarty: Right. With no shoes?
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: Without your low ends girded? Mhmm. So just it it really makes me wanna refocus and review this
Kimberly Faith: Right.
John McLarty: Throughout 2026, this full armor of God.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah. And and not to over complicate it. It’s not complicated.
John McLarty: Not complicated.
Kimberly Faith: It’s may you know, Jesus needs to be our our the center of everything we do. He needs to be the lord of our life. Jesus, you know, he really did dumb it down in the scripture for us by saying that all the commandments are love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. I I know that I don’t mean to sound like that. I’m I’m being you know, making things easy.
It’s not easy because we have our enemy. That’s the whole reason we need the armor.
John McLarty: Yeah. And there’s a different aspect to each one of these pieces of armor.
Kimberly Faith: Mhmm. You know?
John McLarty: Like, why would you have, you know, say your feet your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel? So you know how to share the gospel, but then the breastplate of righteousness. You’re just living this ungodly life.
Kimberly Faith: Mhmm. Right. Right.
John McLarty: You’re gonna share Jesus with somebody, and then, you know, the next day you’re you’re in the papers.
Kimberly Faith: Right. Drinking and driving or something.
John McLarty: And driving.
Kimberly Faith: Right. Yeah. I mean, in order to be because what that does is it is it makes us less effective. Again, we’re taking off the armor. We should have some fear because the enemy is real.
John McLarty: Or what if you just go around with this self righteousness that you really don’t have the love and you’re not sharing the gospel? Yeah. You don’t have the concern for souls?
Kimberly Faith: Yeah. That doesn’t work either. That’s right. That’s a that’s a valid point, dad. I mean, it’s each piece of armor is important.
And, you know, I I bring I brought up that the two great commandments simply because I think it I think there are times that we can be overwhelmed by all the things we have to do. And for me, it’s nice to bring it back to the basics. Well, if I am loving the Lord with all my heart, soul, and mind, that means I’m not out violating him by drinking and driving.
John McLarty: We’re following Jesus.
Kimberly Faith: We’re with the armor. That’s right. That’s right. So it’s definitely worth studying each piece to make sure we’re we’ve got it on, you know, just like your your armor check before you go to war Right. Every day, but it’s also it happens naturally when we put Jesus as our center.
That’s what I think that’s going back to the initial point about this this podcast was it it was a it was a a kind of a lights on moment for me to to understand that Jesus is every piece of this armor. And he not only is he the armor, but he gives us the armor.
John McLarty: You know, just to kind of a a a summary point here is the purpose of warfare is you want to win.
Kimberly Faith: Yeah. Exactly.
John McLarty: And Jesus won.
Kimberly Faith: He yes. He already won.
John McLarty: Jesus is the winner.
Kimberly Faith: Yes. He’s the winner, and he says, hey. You’re the winner too, but you need my protection to win, and so put on your armor. Amen. That’s what we’re going do for 2026, aren’t we, dad?
John McLarty: So we’re best to go.
Jacob Paul: You’ve been listening to the truth and love podcast with your hosts, Kimberly Faith and John Mack. To discover more answers to the big questions in life, visit us at gofaithstrong.com.
