Thursday

Related Verses
Heb. 9:14
14 How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

Eph. 6:15
15 And having shod your feet with the firm foundation of the gospel of peace;

Rev. 12:11
11 And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they loved not their soul-life even unto death.

Eph. 2:13-14, 15-17
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have become near in the blood of Christ.
14 For He Himself is our peace, He who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of partition, the enmity,
15 Abolishing in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances, that He might create the two in Himself into one new man, so making peace,
16 And might reconcile both in one Body to God through the cross, having slain the enmity by it.
17 And coming, He announced peace as the gospel to you who were far off, and peace to those who were near,

Related Reading
If we are to engage in spiritual warfare, we must have a conscience void of offense, a conscience without holes…Therefore, we need to deal with our conscience in order to have a good conscience, a conscience void of offense. In addition, we need to put on the breastplate of righteousness to cover our conscience. 

Revelation 12:11 says, “They overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb.” To be covered by the blood of the Lamb is mainly to have upon us the breastplate of righteousness. Righteousness is in the blood, and the covering of the blood is the breastplate…Whenever we intend to fight against the powers of darkness, Satan, through his accusations, causes our conscience to become very sensitive. These feelings actually are not the sensitivity of the conscience but the result of Satan’s accusations. Immediately our response to such accusations should be, “I overcome Satan, the accuser, not by my perfection and not even by a conscience void of offense but by the blood of the Lamb. I am defended against his accusations by the breastplate of righteousness.” (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 3461) 

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The righteousness that covers our conscience and that guards us from Satan’s accusations is Christ Himself…In experience we cannot separate the blood from Christ…Under the cleansing of His blood, He becomes our righteousness. Whenever we are about to take part in the spiritual warfare, we need to pray, “Lord, cover me with Yourself as my righteousness. Lord, I hide under Your blood.” Furthermore, we must tell the accuser, “Satan, I overcome you, not by my merit but by the prevailing blood of the Lamb.”  

Our feet must be shod in order to have a firm footing and the strength to stand in the battle [Eph 6:15]. This is not for walking a way or running a course but for fighting the battle. 

The expression the firm foundation of the gospel of peace means the establishment of the gospel of peace. Christ has made peace for us on the cross, both with God and with man, and this peace has become our gospel (2:13-17). This gospel of peace has been established as a firm foundation, as a readiness with which our feet may be shod…The peace for such a firm foundation also is Christ (v. 14). 

In order to understand Paul’s thought in this verse, we need to see that here the gospel is the gospel of peace. According to verses 15 and 16, on the cross Christ accomplished peace so that the Gentiles could contact the Jewish believers and so that all the believers could contact God. This peace is the glad tidings, the good news; in other words, it is the gospel. For this reason, verse 17 says that Christ preached the gospel of peace. 

The gospel of peace spoken of in 6:15 is the peace accomplished by Christ on the cross for all the believers to be one with God and for the Gentile believers to be one with the Jewish believers. This peace is our gospel. With this peace there is a firm foundation, which is a secure footing for our standing. 

Spiritual warfare is a wrestling match…If we have our feet shod with the firm foundation of the gospel of peace, we can withstand any attack of the enemy…No matter what happens, we can stand and withstand in the evil day. 

Usually peace is the opposite of warfare. When we have peace, we do not fight, and when we fight, we do not have peace. But here we fight with peace and in peace…If we lose the peace between us and God or between us and other believers (Col. 3:15), we lose the standing to fight. Christ is the peace for us to be one with God and to be one with the saints. This peace is the firm foundation that enables us to stand fast against the enemy. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 3462-3463) 

Further Reading: Life-study of Ephesians, msgs. 38, 41—42, 63