Ask a ranch wife about the importance of good footwear and she won’t likely tell you about a closet full of fancy high-heeled shoes or trendy boots. Instead, she’ll probably tell you about times she’s had her feet tromped on by a calf or a horse and how her cowboy boots saved her toes, or about the time she stepped in a cactus patch with worn thin tennis shoes and pulled cactus barbs out of her feet for days. She’ll have stories of days when she thought her feet would freeze after all day working cattle, or how she has two sets of muck boots – her corral muck boots, and her “go-to-town” muck boots. Ranch women know how important the role of good footwear is to successfully do the work we’re called to do.

The same is true for a soldier. In order to effectively defend themselves in battle, their feet have to be protected and they need the confidence of a firm foothold to stand their ground. In terms of the Roman soldiers of Paul’s time, their protective shoes, called “caligae”, were made to cover the foot and were often fitted with nails or spikes and textured soles to give them a firm footing on any kind of rough terrain. The shoes of a soldier were considered an important part of their armor.

Just as appropriate footwear is important to a ranch woman and a soldier, it is also vital for us as Christians fighting spiritual battles. In order to stand and fight we have to make sure our shoes are on our feet! We simply cannot effectively defend ourselves without our feet being adequately shod. Much like trying to cowboy or soldier on dangerous terrain with bare feet, defending ourselves against Satan and his attacks without our feet properly shod is unwise and will certainly lead to defeat.

Ephesians 6:15 tells us we are to shod our feet with shoes that will armor us with the readiness of the gospel of peace. The enemy wants us to think we aren’t prepared for the battle at hand, he wants us to feel out of control, unsteady, and vulnerable. As if we’re fighting him in our bare feet. If our feet can’t find firm footing to stand on we will slip and fall, finding ourselves ineffective and unable to engage in the battle at hand. Without the proper protection giving us a firm foothold and a solid foundation where we can stand, our defenses will be down and we become vulnerable to attack. 

I wonder if Paul had the words from Isaiah 52:7 in mind when he spoke about armoring up? “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’” 

Isaiah was prophesying about those who would talk about the good news of the gospel. He was talking about you and me whenever we tell the story of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection with others, as we share the hope of eternal life with those God puts in our path. 

No wonder Isaiah considered the feet of those who share the good news to be beautiful! This makes me smile because the actual feet of this middle-aged ranch wife are anything but beautiful! Rough and calloused, unmanicured, and honestly a little tired and sore, my feet serve me well, but they are not anything special to look at!

However, when seen through this verse in Isaiah I see that my feet are lovely when they do the beautiful work of carrying the gospel to others. 

The amazing thing is that the feet of the Christian soldier are protected, strengthened, and steadied by the very thing we are protecting and fighting for! Because defending the gospel is what this spiritual war is really all about, and in order to safeguard the good news it must be carried to the lost and hopeless, not kept to ourselves. What a wonderful privilege to be able to share the gospel, that news of redemption and salvation that brings ultimate peace. 

This gospel of peace is the firm footing where we stand when we are defending ourselves from the attacks of the Devil. 1 Peter 5:9 says, “Resist him (the Devil), standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” 

On our own, without the arm of God and the power of the Gospel, it’s like we are fighting in bare feet in a pasture full of cactus. We won’t be able to stand and resist very long in those circumstances because we’ll be weak and wounded. But when prepared with the shoes of the gospel we are able to stand and oppose the enemy. . . we won’t yield, we won’t compromise, and we won’t stagger and fall under his attacks. 

This is how we stand strong: putting shoes on our feet with the readiness given to us by the gospel of peace.

The Devil knows that if he robs us of the peace God gives he will gain an advantage. My mom would always tell my brothers and me, “Don’t give the devil a foothold!” Because, given the chance, the enemy will take whatever advantage he can grab.

What schemes will the enemy use to steal our sense of peace and gain that foothold? He hurls trouble like rocks at us that can include:

• Family conflicts
• Offense
• Job or financial insecurities
• Betrayals in friendships
• Sickness 
• Loss 
• Discontent
• Upheaval and discord in society

The enemy will use these things to sabotage our peace and zap our strength, leaving us feeling helpless and hopeless. He will convince us that peace is unattainable, or that we can find peace but we need to seek it in places other than through God and the Gospel. He will make us believe that it’s a pointless endeavor to share the Gospel with other people. . .that it’s a worthless and hopeless task that is too overwhelming and too hard with too much of a risk of negative responses that will leave us feeling like a fool.

I have to remind myself that he doesn’t get to rob my peace when it’s peace that comes from the gospel, a peace that arms me with confidence and a firm foothold to fight him. I put on those shoes that God has armed me with and I stand firm on the battlefield where I can fight confident and courageous. 

These shoes prepare and give us the motivation to share the good news that brings true and lasting peace in a spiritual battle where peace is so desperately needed. True peace, only available through God, the peace that gives us strength, confidence, and a firm place to stand. Peace like a sturdy pair of soldier’s shoes!

John 14:27 tells us, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” God’s peace is different from the world’s peace; His peace is deep and lasting while the peace the world promotes is based on the absence of conflict or freedom from disturbance. God’s peace is a confident assurance in any circumstance based on the truth of the gospel. 

Christ’s peace dwells in our hearts and lives to defend against the hostile forces of Satan. It offers us comfort and calm in place of feelings of unrest and conflict. The gospel tells us that Jesus has already defeated death and evil and we no longer need to live in fear or trembling, but can experience the peace He freely gives. 

This is the gospel of peace, not of contention or the condemnation that is common in warfare. In our lives as Christian soldiers, in the midst of this ultimate battle between the goodness of God and the evil of Satan, we can still experience peace because we stand on that battleground with our feet shod with preparation and readiness. We walk forth on treacherous ground with a steadfastness that comes from the peace God gives us through the gospel of Jesus. . . and we defeat the devil by sharing that good news wherever we go. 

Make sure your feet are armored up Christian Soldier!