Putting on the Breastplate of Righteousness

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.

Words of Life or Death

     Words have great power in our lives. Proverbs says that reckless and unkind words are like the thrusting of a sword (Prov 12:18), while the book of James compares the tongue to a fire in its ability to destroy (Jas 3:6). Kind and upbuilding words, on the other hand, have the power to bring healing and are beautiful “like apples of gold in settings of silver” (Prov 25:11).  Either way, God has given us the ability through our words to be agents of death and destruction or life and healing to others.  

     Recently, I experienced the reality of this truth when someone spoke unkind words to me, attacking my character in a way that was so painful I could not get the words out of my mind. I woke up for days after this happened with pieces of the conversation piercing my heart and accusing me in a way that felt oppressive. I prayed to forgive this person daily and even began praying that the individual would receive special blessings from the Lord. I looked for ways that I could also be a blessing to this person. And while I was committed to embracing forgiveness, there was still something wounded in my heart concerning my identity that was keeping me from experiencing the Lord’s joy and peace – I just could not figure out what it was.

     After about four weeks of living in this hurt, I woke up one day this week with the clear understanding that I was not enjoying my freedom in Christ and was living according to the false identity of what was spoken over me. I asked the Lord to help me understand how a few hurtful words had gained so much power over me that they were impacting my entire view of myself and my understanding of my value as a child of God.

     That same day the Lord answered by sending a friend who prayed with me that I would be enlightened by the Spirit and the Word to understand how the enemy had gotten a foothold in my thought life. As we were praying, I kept hearing a replay of the accusing words and sensed the continued weight of their condemnation. I realized that I had not only listened to what was said but had embraced the lies, allowing them to penetrate my heart and overshadow the truth of what God said about me. I repented for believing the unkind words and for trusting in them over God’s good promises, asking the Lord to release me from all memories of these hurtful words. As I declared by faith that I was now choosing to listen to, trust and follow God’s promises spoken over me, life and healing replaced the sense of death and destruction.

     I began meditating on God’s promises and individually rejecting each one of the lies. The confusion and sense of despair began to lift, and my heart became calm like an ocean after a heavy rain. God's peace returned. I no longer had the sense that I was the defeated one who was under condemnation but could clearly see myself as a child of the light and a daughter of the King, fully accepted in his presence and free from any shame or condemnation.

     I can honestly say that I’m thankful I experienced this pain for a lot of reasons. I’m learning that cruel words, while painful, have no power over me unless I allow them. I have the choice of who I want to listen to and believe – the voice of the Father or of the father of lies. I can choose to embrace words of life or death and my choice will have far-reaching implications -- not only on my mind but on the way I view myself and my life in Christ. If I believe the enemy’s words that say I’m worthless, shamed and disgraced, then I’ll live like that and walk in a sense of condemnation and defeat. If, on the other hand, I trust what God says about me that I’m carefully and wonderfully made in his image and that my face is never covered in shame because I’m in Christ then I will be filled with joy and love.  As much as I cannot control what another person says to me, I can choose to speak words of life to others and meditate on excellent and praiseworthy words from the Father, who is always speaking blessings over my life – it’s just up to me to listen.

"I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness" (Jer 31:3).

Engaging in the Battle

 Spiritual warfare has been discredited by people who’ve taught that there’s a demon behind every bush. The pendulum has unfortunately swung so far in the other direction that many of us go through large portions of our lives unaware of and indifferent to the concept of a spiritual battle. We’re told in scripture that our "enemy prowls about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour" (1 Pet. 5:8). We’re exhorted to put on God's armor so that when -- not if-- the day of evil comes we can take our stand (Eph. 6:10-18).

 

The reality of spiritual warfare can be a frightening concept to embrace, which is one of the main reasons Christians ignore it. Coming to terms with the fact that we’re living in a spiritual realm that we can’t see and we’re not in control of is somewhat threatening. It’s much easier to operate as materialists going through life with the misconception that we're in control. Once we’re deceived, we deceive others into believing the lie. The worst part is that by ignoring the spiritual battle we don’t in any way diminish it. In fact, we become even greater casualties as we wander about on the battlefield with no armor, no weapons, no realization of where we are and what’s going on.

 

We had huge problems with mosquitoes during the rainy season when we were living in South Korea.  My husband and I were repeatedly woken up in the middle of the night with painful bites on our arms and faces. We would get up, turn on all the lights and search for what we thought was the culprit. Most of the time we weren't able to find a single mosquito. Because we couldn't see anything, we went back to sleep. But ignoring it did not change reality. In fact, our mosquito problem got worse over time until we finally determined that unless we took action we were going to be eaten alive. The same is true with the spiritual battle that is raging. It's there, and it's not going away.

 

Spiritual warfare occurs in so many ways that it’s impossible for us to know exactly what is and what isn’t warfare. But, there are certain steps we can take with regard to all difficulties and hardships that keep us engaged in the battle, not fighting with human wisdom, but with spiritual weapons (2 Cor. 10:4).

 

Pray for wisdom. If someone or something becomes difficult to deal with in our life, it’s an opportunity to commit that situation and/or person to prayer. God wants us to pray about everything rather than wringing our hands in anxiety and even worse trying to handle it in our own strength and wisdom (Phil. 4:6). We start by asking for his wisdom to respond to the difficulty in a way that honors him and for insight to discern how we've possibly contributed to the problem (Matt. 7:5). God, in his mercy, has promised that he'll provide abundant wisdom when we ask with a trusting heart (James 1:5).

 

Put on the armor of God. In prayer, before going out into the day, we submit ourselves to God and his Spirit’s leading in our lives. This means spending time in his word so that we know his will and we're prepared to respond to the lies of the world, the flesh and the enemy. We embark on each day with the certainty that our sins are forgiven, we're counted righteous and that we have a purpose for living that transcends merely surviving problems and trials. Standing upon the word, we take up the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit and we're prepared to speak the truth in love as we meet opposition, all the while allowing God's word to determine what's ultimate truth (Eph. 6:10-18).

 

Bless and be a blessing – No matter what our hardship, we're called to be a blessing, not a curse, in the world (Gen. 12:2). If we're having relationship difficulties, our goal is to be salt and light, peace seekers who speak the truth, but who do it in love. Christ has called us to unity in the body, and has already broken down the dividing walls of hostility (Eph. 2:14). His will is for us to live at peace with others as much as it depends upon us (Rom. 12:18). And we're to pray for those we're having difficulties with, asking for God to bless them, to heal our relationship and to give us kind and upbuilding words (Eph. 4:29).

Claim the ground upon which we are standing. If we're in fellowship with Christ and not living in willful sin, then we go forth in his power, with his presence. We have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16), the wisdom of Christ, the presence of Christ, the purity of Christ and the purpose of Christ -- "Christ in us, the hope of glory" (Col. 1:27). He has also promised that he's with us "even to the very ends of the earth" (Matt. 28:20). We remember these promises and stand upon them, thanking Him for his presence and for the victory we have in him. We can rejoice in difficulties, be kind to rude people and face uncertainties. While we're out engaging in the war we remind ourselves continually that the battle is not ours but Christ’s, and he’s promised to fight it for us if we abide in him (2 Cor. 20:12, John 15).

 

Praise him for fulfilling every promise he’s made in Christ, even when we don’t see it. God has filled his word with promises that he's sealed in Christ's blood (2 Cor. 1:20). We’re often prone to take the promises out of context and claim them in selfish ways that he never intended. But if we read and study the word, asking the Holy Spirit to illumine our hearts and minds, he’ll show us a vast array of truths that we can confidently stand upon. For example, we know that he's called us to hope and peace, rather than anxiety (Phil. 4:6); that he desires we walk in wisdom, rather than as fools (Eph. 5:15); that we take hold of opportunities to share the gospel instead of speaking idle, careless words (Eph. 5:15-16); that we speak kind words to those who are rude, showing them grace and mercy (Luke 6:28); that we lead quiet lives and do our work diligently (1 Thes. 4:11). We can thank and praise God for helping us to fulfill these actions in the Spirit. And there are so many more promises that he desires to use in transforming our lives. 

Acknowledge and make peace daily with the fact that he’s told us“in this world you will have trouble" (John 16:33).When we see trouble as an integral part of our life on earth it loses its power to frighten and discourage us. Jesus said that we were certain to face trials, and James exhorts us to rejoice when we encounter them. We’re to go forth into the day, praising and thanking God for his greatness and his great promises to us, submitting our hearts and lives to him and yet remaining aware of the difficulties we’ll encounter, knowing that he is with us through them all.

There is a spiritual battle raging in the life of every Christian. We have the choice each day to either live in the power and presence of God, standing upon his promises, or to go out into the battle denying that there’s any such thing going on. We enter the war zone, regardless. We'll be attacked by the enemy, regardless. But only those choosing to live by faith -- putting their hope in the living God and what he’s said is true -- will emerge victorious, bearing much fruit and giving him glory (John 15:8).