Breast Plate of Rigtheousness

 We read about the “armor of God” in Ephesians 6:10-18 with the breastplate of righteousness mentioned in verse 13: 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 and 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, 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 Lord’s people.

This piece of armor protects our heart....The vital organ that keeps us living.

As Proverbs 4:23 tells us: "Above all else guard your heart; for out of it are the issues of life

"The Word of God calls us to guard our hearts more than anything else and when it says heart

the actual reference is to the inner part of our minds. Indeed, what is in the inner part of our

minds, what is in our hearts, determines "the issues of life". No wonder, therefore, that it is

exactly this part at which Satan aims his darts. If his darts manage to pierce the heart i.e. the

inner part of our being, then this is exactly what he wants. Jesus’s perfect righteousness is

what covers our hearts, and that is what God sees when he looks at us. This means we must

choose to live God’s way...We will not be protected if we deliberately walk outside the ways

and will of God. We must make the decision every day to live a righteous life- not in our own

strength, but by the When we use the breastplate of righteousness, we must first come to

accept that righteousness doesn’t come from good works (Isaiah 64:6). It doesn’t matter how

often we attend church, how much community service we do, or how often we read the Bible.

If we don’t walk the path God has set before us to walk, our “good works” have no value. That being

said, once saved, God does give us the Holy Spirit to steer us in the way of righteousness, away

from sin.

Like all other pieces of the armor of God, they can only come from our Savior. We cannot somehow create the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, or the helmet of salvation, from our own volition. The breastplate of righteousness is the righteousness of Jesus in us. It protects our heart from any mortal wounds and assures us that the enemy can never destroy us because of sin. Righteousness, which is the perfect holiness of Christ, comes from God alone. Righteousness is to be right in God’s eyes. In essence, perfect living. To flee from the snares of temptation and sin Satan has set up and to follow God’s plan for our lives. Whenever we enter the battlefield, Satan will attempt to pierce our most vulnerable areas. Therefore, God arms us with the breastplate of righteousness to prevent Satan from delivering a fatal blow. For example, Ephesians 4:26-27 “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil.” This verse says if we harbor anger it is sin. The Breastplate focuses on the process of sanctification. Righteousness entails making a choice to regularly engage with scripture and spend time with God. Therefore, when we encounter temptations and doubts on the battlefield, we come fully equipped to combat them, with the armor of God. When we continually put on the breastplate of righteousness, we secure it with the belt of truth, to keep the breastplate in place. The belt of truth comes from God. We learn about Truth himself and ignore the half-truths of this world that come from Satan. Once we have the breastplate of righteousness in place, we can combat the snares Satan has set up for us that attempt to veers us away from the path of right living in God’s eyes. We can get right with God any time when we confess and repent of our sins. Do NOT let the enemy have any ground upon which he can accuse you. Choose to say, Lord, show me anything in me that is NOT right in your eyes so I can confess it because I want to live your way!

So we put on the breastplate of righteousness by doing three things daily:

1. Humbling ourselves

2. Discarding our fleshy achievements as dung

3. Looking at ourselves as nothing but extensions of God

With a proper perspective of our sinful state, while remaining connected to the Spirit of Christ, we can walk in his righteousness, and be protected from the jabs of the enemy. People can falsely accuse us, bring up our murky past, reject us, but it will never penetrate our souls because they’re hitting Christ—he’s taking the hits for us. Let’s put on the breastplate of righteousness. Once we have put on the breastplate of righteousness, we must be sure not to remove it. Ezekiel 33:13 shows that wearing righteousness is not a one-time event; rather, it requires a lifetime of action. So, we must walk in the armor so we can stand firm against the enemy, and become “ride or die” saints.

My Prayer for us is, Lord help me to put on the breastplate of righteousness that protects me from the enemy’s attacks. I know it is YOUR righteousness in me that protects me, but I also know I must not neglect to put on YOUR righteousness like a bulletproof vest by doing what is right in YOUR eyes. Reveal to me thought, attitudes and habit of my heart that are not pleasing to you. Show me what I have done, or am about to do, that does not glorify you. I want to see anything in me that violates your high standards for my life so I can confess it, turn away from it and be cleansed from all unrighteousness. In Jesus's name, I pray, Amen.

Belt of Truth

 

So here is the start of the study on the armor of God. I hope it blesses you.

Ephesians 6:14 “Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist.

    When we think of essential battle equipment, belts don’t necessarily come first to mind. Vital to every soldier was this belt from which all tools of battle hung. This belt also held the soldier's robe together. To the Christian soldier, a belt of truth means that we are surrounded by "honesty," "truthfulness," "integrity," and "sincerity" that every part of our life is governed by truth. Dishonesty brings defeat! If we are not belted, if our life is not held in by truth, any type of dishonesty will bring defeat to our lives. But then again, we may think of belts in terms of a modern-day belt, a device used to hold up pants. So let’s think of a weight lifter...and the belt they wear to help give them strength and support so they don’t hurt the core part of their body. The support that the belt of truth gives us is to help give us strength in our spiritual core. This means we must surround ourselves with truth and not allow anything other than the truth to enter our thinking on situations. We must ask God to keep us undeceived that we never allow deception to take root within us. Knowing truth liberates us from all possibility of deception and illuminates any darkness in our lives.

    There is a difference between knowing the truth and living in truth. The only truth that sets us free is God’s truth. John 8:31-32 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” When we choose to wear or wrap God’s truth around us, it protects us by strengthening our spiritual core being. To secure the belt around our waist, we must come to the source of truth: Jesus. After all, God describes himself as the way, the truth, and the life John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.. We must ask God to equip us and regularly spend time with him in Scripture and in prayer.

    Every day we must combat the lies of the enemy and we do this with God’s truth...binding it to our hearts and wrapping it around us like a belt. This piece of armor protects us against the lies and deceptions of the enemy. Scripture does call Satan the father of lies (John 8:44). The enemy uses lies to confuse people. When confusion begins to work it brings anxiety and fear with it. The enemy's lies completely mess up our thinking and weaken us if we believe them. 1 John 5:19-20 “We know that we are children of God and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. 20 We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.” The belt of truth prevents us from falling prey to the devil’s lies. If we don’t have an understanding of the truth, the rest of the armor is useless. If we have the belt on crooked, we’ll have difficulty gripping the Sword of the Spirit (God’s word) in time, and risk having our more vital organs exposed.

What does truth have to do with a belt?

1 Thessalonians 5:21 “Test all things; hold fast to what is good.” As Christians, we are to test all things and then hold on only to that which is good—the truth—discarding all else. We are to be like the Bereans who "searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so" (Acts 17:11). If we are not convinced that our principles and beliefs are without exception 100 percent true, how can we expect to accomplish anything?

Proverbs 3:3-4 “Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, and so find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man.” A belt encompasses the waist. Does our conviction to the truth encompass us? As the above scripture notes, the truth must be bound around us and written on our hearts—our conviction must reach beyond an outward show.

What other lessons can we learn from the biblical analogy of having our waist "girded" by a belt?

Luke 12:35-37

Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the master when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them.

Christ told us to always be watching and ready for His return.

1 Peter 1:13 “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ...” Peter used an interesting analogy: "Gird up the loins of your mind." This implies tucking in long garments to be ready to move quickly. The New International Version translates it as "prepare your minds for action."

What are the dangers of not wearing the belt?

Romans 12:2 “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

    The world we live in teaches that truth is what we make it—that good and bad are relative and that there are no absolutes, only equally valid opinions. But the Bible teaches that truth is God's Word—that good and bad are defined by Him and that there are eternal and unchangeable absolutes, uninfluenced by opinions. Paul wrote to the Romans telling them to "not be conformed to this world." Part of that means not buying into a system of belief that says absolute truth is a myth. As Christians, we know both that there is truth and that it is absolute. 2 Timothy 2:15 “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

    Imagine a belt with a segment missing. No matter how tiny the sliver that isn't there, the belt is still useless. To do its job, it must be one continuous, unbroken piece. Now imagine living a way of life you don't completely agree with. Maybe it doesn't seem like a big deal—after all, what are a couple minor points that you're not sure about? They are everything. To try to live God's way without total belief in its validity is like trying to hold your sword up with a belt that isn't continuous. Neither will work. Our trust in God and His Word must be solid, without break, or else we will quickly find ourselves without a weapon. No matter how effective the rest of our armor is, we are useless without our sword. We need to be rightly dividing the word of truth—knowing what we believe, and why.

Truth - the Word of God.

Loins - the center and seat of life and the outflow of life.

The reason a lot of Christians are defeated, their minds are wandering, their hearts are divided, their concentration is broken, they have not girded up their spiritual loins to battle. They haven't yielded and focused and calculating the cost and said I'm going to discipline and bring myself under...I'm going to pursue righteousness with all that I am. As the truth of God penetrates your mind it attacks and demolishes the sin it confronts. John 17:17 was what Jesus told us, Mt. 4 He demonstrated it! Jesus said the way we become holy is through the Word

There are seven benefits of wearing His truth:

GOD CLOTHES US WITH PROSPERITY JOSHUA 1:8 [Think of taking the reins from perhaps the greatest leader who ever lived. A man, who could talk to God face to face, led 3 million people for 40 years, a judge, prophet, and priest. What is the prescription to follow such a monumental man? Meditate on the Word!

GOD CLOTHES US WITH FRUITFULNESS PSALM 1:2 [At the front door of the longest book of the Bible is a secret recipe for spiritual success. God wants us to prosper and bear fruit. How? Meditation!

GOD CLOTHES US WITH PEACEFULNESS IN TRIALS PSALM 35:28 No one in scripture has more of their life laid bare than David. His affair, family problems, job stress, people problems, enemies, Satanic attack, and more. Meditate on the Word!

GOD CLOTHES US WITH STABILITY IN ROUGH SEAS PSALM 37:30 Is your boat rocking? Starting to list, sink? What is the sure-fire way to stabilize things? Meditate on the Word!

GOD CLOTHES US WITH REFRESHING WORSHIP IN DRY TIMES PSALM 63:6 Are you running fast and thin? Do your nights and days run together? How many times have you wished for a quiet day at a mountain, seaside, or forest retreat with just your Bible and a cup of coffee? God says, the coffees are on and I’m waiting at every turn of your life. Turn your car, bus, sink, computer workstation, desk, or whatever into an altar. How? By meditating on the Word!

GOD CLOTHES US WITH A LIFELONG TESTIMONY TO GOD’S FAITHFULNESS AS OLD AGE COMES PSALM 71:24 Ever want to end up as sweet as some of the precious saints you know. They die serenely, enduring those last long and pain-filled days Page 13 with strength and peace that only comes from God. Where did they get that in life and into the shadow of death? By meditating on the Word!

GOD CLOTHES US WITH COMFORT IN ADVERSITY PSALM 77:12 Do you feel it is too hard to even go on? Does the enemy seem to be winning? Are the problems multiplying like weeds? God has a solution and it is simple and powerful. What/ Meditating on his Word!

Truth is the way God's saints serve: Josh. 24:14; 1 Sam. 12:24; Truth is written on the hearts of God's saints: Prov. 3:3. Truth is the way God's saints worship: John 4:24, Truth sanctifies God's saints: John 17:17,19. Truth is obeyed by God's saints: Rom. 2:8; Gal. 3:1. Truth rejoices God's saints: 1 Cor. 13:6; Truth is manifested by God's saints: 2 Cor. 4:2. Truth approves God's saints: 2 Cor. 6:7,8. Truth is the language of God's saints: Eph. 4:25; Truth grows as a fruit in God's saints: Eph. 5:9 Truth guards God's saints: Eph. 6:14. Truth is what God's saints meditate upon Phil. 4:8; Truth is loved by God's saints: 2 Thess. 2:10. Truth accompanies God's saints: Tit. 1:1. Truth purifies God's saints: 1 Pet. 1:22. Truth Abides continually with saints, 2 John 2.

    So in closing, Truth is to hold us up, hold us in, and protect us from falling. This belt of truth is much like the restraints we strap around us when we get into one of those dangerous, high-speed twistings, turning roller coaster ride at some amusement park. The belt and bars that hold us are designed to keep us safe no matter how fast the car spins, twists or drops. We are held in. Truth holds us in. God wants us to know the content of truth and live the integrity of truthfulness. Truth means we have the readiness to obey; we have the integrity of commitment to truth; and we are opposed to all deception, dishonesty. We have no loose ends of our life that dangle and trip us up. We are girded, belted, strapped in by truth. Wearing his truth! Well, that's the first piece of armor. And I'll tell you what, each one of them gets better.

Heavenly Father, I know that the truth will set me free. Show me how to gird up the core of my being with YOUR TRUTH so that I don’t fall into deception of any kind. Teach me to not only know the truth but live in it. I pray that you remind me of your truth, when the devil prowls every day, seeking to devour believers and unbelievers with half-truths and deceptions. I pray that you remind me of who you are and the truth of you and of your plan for our lives and world when the world tries to convince me otherwise. Help me to redirect other believers back to the truth, in love, and to accept their direction when they try to help me when I stumble away from the truth. Please help keep the belt of truth fastened around my waist today, so I may be prepared for whatever attacks the devil has for me on the battlefield. Amen.

Armor of God Introduction

 So I decided to start a series of teaching on the armor of God with you ladies. I was blessed as I took the time to learn about it during my quiet time devotions, so I wanted to share it with you. The Armor of God is something we hear about a lot...but let’s keep an open mind and dig deeper together on what the Bible says about it.

Over the next few days, we will be really diving into Ephesians 6:10-18 and looking into each piece in depth. But as we do, I want to share a few things to wet your appetite!
As prayer warriors and believers in Christ, God doesn’t want us to carry anything that is unnecessary because it will weigh us down and hinder what He has called us to do. We must not go into battle without the things we need in order to win. Our battle is spiritual and what we accomplish in the spirit realm is as important as what the highly trained, prepared, and equipped soldier does in the physical. We must know our weapons and be highly skilled in using them. We must put on the armor of God in order to stand against the enemy.

Ephesians 6:11 “Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” vs. 13 “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.” THIS IS NOT A SUGGESTION IT IS A COMMAND! To “stand against” literally means to stand in front of and in opposition to the forces and plans of evil. It means to be the one standing after the battle. It also means standing in preparation for the next battle.

The reason we must put on the whole armor of God is to withstand evil. We don’t war against people, but against a spiritual hierarchy of invisible power. We are not only to use our armor to protect and defend ourselves from them-as important as that is-but also to go on the offensive against them as well. When we do that, we close doors to the enemy and open doors to the will of God to be done on earth. We advance God’s kingdom.
Prayer warriors need to put on the armor of God every day because the war is always going on. New battles continually need to be fought so that the evil will be driven back, the kingdom of God advanced, and the will of God be done. Our spiritual armor not only protects us from the enemy it gives us what we need in order to push against him.

Ephesians 6:14-18 (break down)

• 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.
• take up the shield of faith, 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.
• be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

Matthew 6:13 and 1 Thessalonians 5:17----yes the victory over the evil was accomplished on the cross but the enemy is still here.

When we get up every day, put on our protective armor. Don’t leave your day to chance. Take possession of it and surrender it to the Lord. Don’t let it get out of control and give the enemy an invitation to have input. You need this armor as mentioned in Eph 6:14-18 to stop any onslaught of the enemy’s destructive arrows into your life and the lives of those you care about-both now and in the future.
In closing, my prayer for us as we embark on this journey is Lord, help us to put on the full spiritual armor You have provided for us so that we can “stand against the wiles of the devil” every day. May we take this time to really break down your word and be open to hearing you and learning how to stand as the warrior you call us to be. In Jesus Name. Amen


Looking forward to tomorrow when we break down Eph 6:14.. and what the bible says about the “belt” of truth and how important it is to gird our waist with the truth.