For many years I remained relatively
confused about what it meant to “put on” the armor of God and appropriate it by
faith. While I understood how to incorporate certain parts of the armor when praying
and facing struggles, I didn’t understand how these pieces were interconnected
and most importantly how they formed my new identity in Christ. I began to see that each piece represents a
part of God’s strength, his very nature, that he extends to us when we become
his children. This helped me realize that putting on the armor was about standing
by faith on what God has done for me in union with Christ and living out by the
power of the Holy Spirit.
After
coming to know Christ as Savior and Lord in my 20’s, I remember very clearly
understanding that my sins had been forgiven– that the old was gone and the new
had come and that I had become a new creation in Christ. There was no doubt in
my mind that I was born again and that my life was now joined to Christ by the Holy
Spirit. However, I began to struggle as a believer when I would sin and do
something I knew was not pleasing to God. I would try confessing and then would
end up repeating the sin again and again. My solution, which was not God’s
solution, was to practice what some refer to as sin management and Priscilla
Shirer calls perfection righteousness and comparison righteousness. I would
strive to be perfect in my own strength and keep the Law by my own good works.
At other times I would give up and compare myself with others in order to find
encouragement. Neither way of trying to achieve righteousness worked and instead
led to pride when I felt like I was successful in keeping God’s Law or shame
and regret when I felt like I failed. But worse than that, it left what seemed
like a rift between me and God. Because I was trusting in my own ability to be
righteous, I sometimes felt afraid of God and even hesitant to draw close to
him, to confess and repent of sins. This fear led to an underlying sense that I
was not accepted by him even though I knew in my mind what he said in his word
about me.
Looking back, I understand that I was failing
to put on the full armor of God so that I could walk in and live out my new
identity in Christ. Though I read and studied the Truth I was not doing what it
said in some key areas and though I believed in the righteousness of Christ, I
was not appropriating it to my own life. On a practical level, I was allowing
sins to remain, and I was not dealing with them. Because I was not wearing the
Belt of truth and at many times not believing what God said about certain sins
that were sometimes normalized in culture, I was an easy target for
condemnation and accusation. For example, when I experienced a conflict with
someone in my family I felt the freedom to say hurtful things within some
parameters mainly because I wanted to reserve my right to tell them what I
thought. This, of course, would be followed by a time of deep sorrow and
repentance, but would happen again and again and again without much sign of
growth. I knew God’s Word said not to let any unwholesome talk come out of my mouth,
but I was not fully committed to listening to, trusting and following his truth
on this. I also had a faith commitment to saying what I wanted, which made me
double minded, according to James 1. While this pattern of sin did not change
my righteous standing before God it grieved his Spirit and opened the door for
the flesh and the enemy to bring condemnation and accusation. It was a major
chink in my armor.
As I began calling on the Lord for help
in this struggle against what felt like defeating sin and condemnation, he began
to point me to the truth about my righteousness in Christ. I began praying
through the Ephesians 6 passage in the mornings with my husband and meditating on
other passages that addressed my new identity in Christ. My husband was also praying
almost daily and asking the Lord to open my mind and heart to understand this
truth about my identity in Christ.
In this process of learning and
growing in grace, Romans 6 has become a key passage the Lord is using to show
me the vital connection between knowing and standing in my identity in Christ
as the one who is declared righteous, holy, and forgiven and then walking in
the Spirit instead of fulfilling the desires of the flesh. This passage reminds
me that when I came to faith in Christ I died in my inner person with him and
was raised from the dead with him so that my old self was crucified, and I have
been freed from sin so that I am no longer a slave to it (6:5-7). Instead my
obligation as a daughter of the King is to live in the new way of the Spirit to
count myself as dead to sin (vs. 11) and to offer myself to God as an
instrument of righteousness because I am now alive in Christ (vs 13). One of my
favorite verses that speaks about this is “You have been set free from sin and
have become slaves to righteousness (Rm 6:19).
Remembering that Christ’s righteousness
has been imputed or credited to my account and believing it by faith changes
everything. Instead of waking up each day and believing the lie that I’m destined
to be overrun by certain sins, I can believe what God says about me and my new
identity in Christ – that in him I have the very righteousness of Christ because
Christ dwells in me and I in him (Gal 2:20). All of my sins, past, present and
future have been nailed to the cross and I have been accounted as having
perfect obedience to God. I can also trust that while I will still struggle against
sins because I’m still living in a fleshly body, I have the ability in Christ to
resist in the Spirit and walk in the truth of his Word. Knowing about and
resting in his righteousness provides the foundation and motivation to walk in
the light instead of in darkness.
I’m thankful for what the Lord is
teaching me about my identity in Christ, his perfect righteousness and the call
to offer myself as a living sacrifice to him. At the same time, I know that I have so much more to learn
and so many areas to keep growing. The great news is that I don’t have to try
to fight the battle or walk in my own righteousness anymore. I can rest in the perfect righteousness
of Christ that has been credited to my account and rely on the Spirit’s wisdom
and power to walk it out. When I do sin, I can run to the Father knowing that
there is never going to be any condemnation waiting for me there. Jesus Christ
has already paid the satisfaction of God’s wrath, and he lives to intercede for
me as my defense attorney (Jn 2:1-2, Rm 3:24-26).
Ephesians passage prayer:
Dear
Heavenly Father, I present myself to you today as a living sacrifice, one who
is alive from the dead. I offer every part of myself as an instrument of
righteousness and ask that you would be honored and glorified in everything I
do, say and think. By faith, I put on the belt of truth and declare that your Word
is loving and true – it’s been purified by the fire 7 times and is perfect. I
put on the breastplate of your perfect righteousness which was given to me in
Christ. I thank you that you have declared me holy, blameless and righteous in
Christ and that there is now no condemnation for me. I put on shoes fitted with
the good news of the Gospel of peace and go out with the desire to speak your
truth in love. I take up the shield of faith in your faithful love and trust
that you and your promises will never fail or forsake me. You promise that you
are my shield and my exceeding great reward. I hold up this shield against all
the fiery darts of the enemy. I put on the helmet of your sure salvation and thank
you that I have been given an eternal inheritance that can never perish spoil
or fade. I commit by faith to taking thoughts captive throughout the day to the
obedience of Christ and casting down every imagination and idea that tries to
exalt itself against the knowledge of God. I take up the sword of the Spirit,
which is the spoken word of God and I ask that when I open my mouth you’ll empower
me to boldly make known the mystery of the Gospel as I ought. And lastly, I
commit myself by faith to pray in the Spirit on all occasions for others with
all kinds of prayers and requests. I pray this all in Jesus’ name.
