Armor of God – Breastplate of Righteousness

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 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 saints.” Eph 6:13-18

False accusations.  OUCH!  The words hurt so much, I was shocked that she felt this way about me.  I was accused of something that I did not do and that I would never, in a million years, even think about doing.

As I drove home that day my mind kept replaying the conversation, before long I started to doubt myself and my own integrity.  Was I wrong? Had I done something to provoke her?  I prayed about it and talked it out with my husband and a few close friends, but that heavy feeling of doubt and unworthiness sat on my chest like an elephant! My heart had been wounded.

This is the reason we need the Breastplate of Righteousness, to protect our very hearts and souls from the wounds of abuse from an enemy that will use any means available to take us down.  He does not care about you or your well being, but God does.

The Breastplate is a piece of armor to protect us from the onslaught of attacks that can hit from other angles.  You see, we have a sword to fight with the battle that is right in front of us, but we need protection from the strikes that come from behind or that hit us out of left field.

There is one thing that we need to remove from ourselves before that Breastplate of Righteousness is going to fit comfortably.  That is our own righteousness.  You see, we tend to wear around with us our own set of rules and accolades of what we believe makes us “right(eous)”.

“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” (Isaiah 64:6)

The righteousness that God wants us to wear is that which is possible only because of Him.  It is living a life that, although not even close to perfect, is lived in a way that lines up with God’s expectations.  He knows we will blow it, and often.  But because of Him, we are His children and we have access to complete forgiveness of our sins.  It is when we blatantly ignore God’s truth that we have left our hearts open for attacks from Satan.

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” Proverbs 4:23

So, no matter where you are today in your walk with the Lord, you are in a position of power.  You have full access to the Armor of God and you have a complete artillery of weapons at your disposal.  Do not be discouraged, but have faith and as your reserves of hope get used up, remember in even the simplest act of prayer, the Holy Spirit will fill us up to overflow with hope once again.

Jesus gives us His righteousness, in exchange for our mistakes and sins. So as we place the Breastplate of Righteousness over our hearts lets close in a prayer of gratitude for His everlasting protection.

Heavenly Father your protection of our hearts sits comfortably upon us as we live in a world where the enemy is vigilant in his attacks.  We are so grateful for your protection.  Teach us how to guard our hearts and to live comfortably wearing your protection.  In the name of God, our protector we pray, Amen.