The helmet of salvation is also known as the helmet of the hope of salvation.

But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.

1 Thessalonians 5:8-10 NKJV

I never really understood what hope was, until God opened my eyes and gave me the correct understanding. I used to think of hope as wishful thinking. God has since taught me that hope is a confident expectation of good things to come, based upon biblical truths. Hope is also for the future. I have also learned that hope is in the mind and not in the heart, and that is why we have to wear hope as a helmet. Hope protects our minds from things like discouragement, despair, doubt and negative thinking patterns. When we continually walk in hope that is how we effectively wear the helmet of the hope of salvation. Hope is absolutely vital for our spiritual walk with God and essential for overcoming the enemy.

Wearing the helmet of the hope of salvation means that we live with a confident expectation for salvation specifically. Salvation in this context consists of many things including: rescue, deliverance, health, save and saving. I believe that this hope of salvation includes both salvation for eternity, as well as hope of salvation for things we go through now. The reason I say that is because there may be times in our walk with God where we will need to hope for His salvation when it comes to things like our health, to rescue us from dangerous or difficult situations and to deliver us from our enemies.

I’d like to share with you an example from my own life of how God gave me hope for salvation:

Scripture tells us that we have to endure to the end to be saved (Matthew 24:13), which is absolutely true. But for me, I used to read this Scripture without the proper understanding of what hope is, and therefore I used to live with a mindset where I continually doubted my salvation. This was a terrible place to be, because I just didn’t know if I was going to heaven or hell at the end of my life. If I sinned, I got completely stressed out because I thought that there may be a limit to God’s grace. As a result, it felt like I was continually taking my helmet off and putting it back on again. The problem was that I just didn’t have hope (or a confident expectation) for salvation, and I didn’t know how to get it. When our minds are not protected by hope, it gives the enemy a gap to bring attacks of doubt, hopelessness, despair and discouragement, and this was exactly my experience.

I know that God could see my struggle with this, and in His mercy He gave me the understanding that hope for salvation develops in us, based upon His promises. He made me a promise for salvation that I knew with certainty was from Him, and this promise gave me the hope (or confident expectation) for salvation I needed to continually wear the helmet of salvation. Even though His promise gives me hope, it is conditional – meaning that He will fulfill this promise to me on condition that I live in obedience to His will and commandments. The Scripture from Matthew 24:13 hasn’t changed (But he who endures to the end will be saved), but the difference is that now I read it from a place of having hope.

God also helped me understand that He wants His children to live with the hope that we will spend eternity with Him. He doesn’t want us living with continual doubt of our salvation, because doubt leads to hopelessness which is open ground for the enemy. Hope is part of the armor of God, and we are instructed to put on the whole armor of God so that we can stand against the devices of the enemy.

I’d like to share the following research study with you.

During a study at Harvard in 1957, Dr. Curt Richter placed rats in water to test how long they could tread water. In one of the studies, it was observed that the rats were ready to give up, sink and drown after about 15 minutes. But just before the rats gave up due to exhaustion, the researchers would take them out of the water, dry them off and let them rest for only a few minutes before putting them back in the water for a second round.

In this second round, how long would you think the rats would endure before giving up? Remember that the first time, they lasted about 15 minutes. I would have guessed maybe 5 minutes or so. The answer is 60 hours! That is incredible.

The conclusion of the research is that because the rats were saved the first time, they endured much longer during the second round because they had hope of being saved again.

I’d like to offer a word of encouragement to anyone who may be struggling with hopelessness, doubt, despair or discouragement. Hope is the answer. Call upon Jesus and ask Him to give you hope. Know that in His great faithfulness, He will come through for you. He will give you hope. Also be very sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit, because He may direct you to a Scripture, or He may reveal a promise to you that will give you hope. The promise should always be confirmed by Scripture.  

Blessings in Jesus name.