Welcome to my randomized study & miscellaneous thoughts about the Awesome God of the universe, who He is and what He wants us to be.

---

---

---

---

Verse of the Day

---

Today's Quote

---

 
Arming For Spiritual Battles
The Full Armor of God
Part 2 - The Breastplate of Righteousness

Last time we looked our need to be prepared at all times with the Belt of Truth. To watch for Christ's return as well as to stand firmly on and seek the truth in our daily lives. As we saw, the truth is the foundation upon which we build all of our Christian faith and defenses upon to defeat the enemy's lies and accusations. Now we will turn our attention to Paul's admonition to "put on the breastplate of righteousness," (Eph 6:14)
Eph 6:10-17 10 Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual {forces} of wickedness in the heavenly {places.} 13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14 Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil {one.} 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (NAS)

The breastplate was designed to cover the Roman soldier's chest and belly, protecting the vital internal organs such as the heart, lungs and stomach. An arrow or sword piercing the chest or stomach area would probably be a fatal blow. If the breastplate wasn't on properly, one blow could bring the soldier down.

Likewise, Satan can bring us down with one well placed attack. How many times have we heard of a highly acclaimed man or woman of God falling victim to some immoral (usually sexual) sin which brings down the entire ministry they had worked for? Satan will attempt to use the sins within our own lives to convince us that we are not worthy to call upon the Lord. He will accuse us and make us want to hide in the bushes like Adam. Satan will tell us, "You are a sinner. You've failed" And he is correct in saying that. Satan will say, "You are not worthy to come into the presence of God," and he's telling the truth in a sense. On our own record we are not worthy. But Satan neglects to tell the whole truth.

The truth is that God Himself has provided us the way to come into His presence.
I John 2:1-2 1 My little children, I am writing these things to you that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; 2 and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for {those of} the whole world. (NAS)

Propitiation is defined as the atoning sacrifice. We recognize the sinless nature of Christ and the righteousness that He embodies,
2 Cor 5:21 He made Him who knew no sin {to be} sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Rom 5:17 For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
The righteousness of Jesus Christ covers our own sins when we ask Him to become our Lord and forgive us.

So, what is this breastplate of righteousness and how do we as believer's put it on and use it to repel the enemy's attacks? Well, as Christians we know that we will come under attacks. Jesus Himself said that this would happen,
John 15:19-20 19 "If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 "Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. (NAS)

The enemy will fire flaming arrows at us by saying, "You don't deserve to go to God. God won't hear you you miserable sinner." We have two courses of action at this point:
1) We can respond by saying, "Hey, I read my Bible and pray every day. I go to church and tithe regularly. I'm doing just fine!" If we try that, we are only fooling ourselves and following the examples that the Pharisees gave to us.
2) On the other hand, we can say, "Satan, you are correct. I am a worthless sinner and m My own righteousness will never allow me to sit before God's throne, but the righteousness of my Lord, Jesus Christ will. I call upon Him for the grace and forgiveness which He offers. I, as a sinner, lean upon Him and call upon His power and righteousness for protection from Satan's wicked attacks to our very heart and soul!"

God has given us His Word to instruct us in His ways,
2 Tim 3:16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;

God gives all believer's the gift of the Holy Spirit to guide us away from the sinful nature of the flesh and towards the things of God, He asks us to follow His ways and give ourselves to Him.
Rom 6:13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin {as} instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members {as} instruments of righteousness to God.
Rom 8:10 And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
1 Tim 6:11 But flee from these things, you man of God; and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance {and} gentleness.

Lastly, we must approach God on the basis of the sacrificial blood of Jesus, not on the basis of our own righteousness. We don't deserve His forgiveness. Remember the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15), we also must say, "I am no longer worthy to be called Your son." But God's response is to embrace us, forgive us and call us His own.
Phil 3:9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from {the} Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which {comes} from God on the basis of faith,

Growing in Him,
Dr. Larry
Visit our son's swimming teacher: Kids Aquatic Center

scribbled with crayon by dr. larry at 5:20 PM