Ephesians: 6 (10) Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. (11) Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. (12) For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (13) Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. (14) Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; (15) and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; (16) above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. (17) And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: (18) praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; (19) and for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, (20) for which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
Last week we started off with having our loins surrounded with the truth. Before we continue, we need to make sure we are clear as we move forward. As we are studying the "Putting On Armor of God”, this is something we do not do as soon as we are attacked. We need to prepare ourselves at all times, for we do not know when the battle will come. It will come, and very much daily will come. It will be hitting us from all sides, from family, friends, workplace, out in public, etc. It most likely be in the notion of someone’s action or inaction, words, it could be anything. We know from examples in the Bibles where the disciples were experiencing this and Jesus tells them that you cannot do what you are wanting to do because you have not prepared yourself.
Mark 9:9 (28) And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out? (29) And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.
I do not want to take these verses out of context, the disciples were trying to cast out a dumb spirit but could not. Then Jesus goes on to heal the person and tells His disciples that more time fasting and praying was needed. Why? To build their faith. See, they did not have the whole Armor of God on, only pieces. Last year or the year before, we studied all the miracles Jesus did, and one of the consensuses was there is no set formula to the great things God has for us and that we can accomplish. There is no one way that fixes all if that makes sense. When we look at putting on the Armor of God, this is giving us the access, the power, the ability, to not only fend off the spiritual battles we will face, but to also have the access to God’s grace to do mighty works. We often wonder why we do not see the things we read about in the Bible when it comes to miracles, healings, raising the dead, and so on, and it is because we are trying to experience the fullness of God with only preparing and wearing pieces of armor instead of the whole armor. As we continue our study let us keep in mind the Armor of God works in full, not in pieces.
Ephesians 6:14 … and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
2 Corinthians 6:7 By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left
Righteousness means simply to be right and or just, doing the right thing. Does it mean our righteousness or God’s? Well both, we cannot be righteous with out God’s righteousness. The best way to put is to make sure we are being just. Holding on to the righteousness that God is. God has made us Righteous through Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:21)We cannot do this without God (John 5:30). We must proclaim who He is. The Bible tells us God is right and does the right thing in all His ways and the just walk in them. (Hosea 14:9) We need to be walking in the way God walks, doing the things God does. Being righteous is probably the most difficult thing for followers of Christ to be. I am going to say it here, it is hard. I say that because I do not think any of us are "dedicated” to truly understanding the ways of God. It requires sacrifice, unselfishness, and the will to separate ourselves completely from this earthly world and focus on the kingdom of Heaven. I find it very fitting that the Bibles tells us to wear this righteousness as a breast plate. The breastplate of armor protects some of the most vital organs needed to survive. The heart, lungs, Stomach, etc. Most combat injuries to these organs usually end up in death, most, not all, but and injury to this area pretty much weakens you and takes you out of the battle. Today we see police and military personnel heavily rely upon upper body armor for protection. We see it in many full contact sports, even rodeo bucking riders wear chest protection now. Gong back to what I stated earlier, the military, police and sports personnel prep themselves before they even partake in the activity. They do not wait until the activity starts and then put on the equipment. Often time we wait until we enter these spiritual battles, then we are trying to put the armor on while fighting the battle.
John 5: (30) I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me. (31) If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.
I referenced this verse earlier, I believe this would be a great example us going to battle without prepping ourselves. Tring to do our own thing and not doing what God wanted us to do. That is a great way to describe righteousness. Do God’s will not our own. That is righteous, just, the right thing to do. As we continue studying, especially on our own, we will start learning the will of God. We all have a path to walk, But not the same path, I cannot tell you what God has for you other than the generality the scriptures tell us. (Psalm 16:11) (Psalm 23:3) (Psalm 119:35) But God has a personal path for each and every one of us, and we need to be prepared spiritually for that path. There will be bumps and potholes we must endure. But we shall prevail if properly prepared. (Psalm 23:4)
Job 29:14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem
That breastplate of righteousness will help keep us on God’s path. Keeping us faithful to Him and protecting us from going astray from God’s will. He will teach and show us to do the right thing in all situations. We must stay in tuned to God’s righteousness for us to be protected. If you do a Bible search on the word righteousness and/or just, you will be astounded how many times it shows up. I think it would be a very vital piece of armor and protecting some of the most vitals for survival as stated before.
Deuteronomy 6:25 And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us.
Job 6:29 Return, I pray you, let it not be iniquity; yea, return again, my righteousness is in it.
Matthew 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled
Matthew 13:49 So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just,
Romans 1:17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
1 John 3:7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.
COMMENTS
[ posted by Cindy, 04/07/2025 11:16 AM ]
Mike, you are right about saying you have to be ready DAILY for the attacks. They come from everywhere and sometimes are even closest around us. We need to have the mindset every day to arm ourself with God to be ahead of the attack that is just waiting to 'shoot it's arrows at us' to start the battle.We also need to understand that we are worthless in battle without God and Jesus. We need their righteousness in us to battle the spiritual world that is ready to attack us at any given opportunity. I mentioned last week that at our lowest and most troubling or grieving times, satan and his cohorts hit us the hardest. When we are vulnerable and weak,the attack is able to get in us more easily and set hold in our lives. Isa 64:6 " But we are all an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags, and we all do fade as a leaf: and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." (The devil knows we are like filthy rags and full of sin without God and Jesus in our life.) *righteous is defined as: an adjective, meaning to act in accordance with divine or moral laws, to be free of guilt or sin. To put on the breastplate of righteousness, we need to seek being righteous and how it helps us. What gives us righteousness? God and Jesus. Rom 3:10, Matt 5:6, Matt 6:33, Psalm 92:12, 2 Cor 6:7, Philipians 1:11 First off, wearing a breastplate is like a bulletproof vest. Now, back in those days the armored plate covered a soldier from neck area to the thighs. It covered the chest area and the vital organs. In the spiritual sense we are guarding our hearts. Our heart and the things we do are our character as a person. You can have a big and giving heart and do good things, but they may not always align with God. Remember it's a spiritual battle, we don't fight in the flesh, the devil can use our hearts and minds to make our flesh sin, the physical sense of sinning. We use God's word and prayer defensively to keep our heart focused on God. When we guard our heart from the temptation of sin, Jesus gives us righteousness to use as protection for those spiritual attacks that lure us into sin. We need to cover ourselves (the breastplate) with the goodness and righteousness of God. When we cover ourself with the breastplate of God, we draw close to him thru those prayers and reading and knowing His Word. Don't ever be afraid to ask God for help in resisting sin. We have to stay alert to see any attempt from the devil to even try to let little sinful things in that may lead to bigger sins. Eph 6:10 says "...be strong in the Lord..." and several times afterwards it says to stand, to withstand, etc....meaning to take the attacks of the devil. That's pretty important, God is telling us to armor up with HIM first. James 4:7 says " Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." The devil cannot fight the Word of God or God's righteousness in you. Arming up daily with the breastplate of righteousness should be the growing of our relationship with God and Jesus and growing in His holiness, knowing you have the power to battle the devil and his temptations to destroy you and your life, making the habit of having on the breastplate daily to protect your heart, our seed of emotion inside us. Consistent righteousness in our life is the key to defeating the devil and his attacks.