Me: Trying on your armor?
Prodigal: Yep, you can’t start your day without it.
This comes from the book Overcoming Spiritual Blindness by James P. Gills, M.D.
Another important article of armor described for the believer is the breastplate of righteousness. A sword through the heart would be fatal, so our Captain has given us the crucial breastplate. While we cannot boast of any righteousness within ourselves, God Himself provides us with His righteousness.
Through our receiving Christ as Savior, He has given us His righteousness. We stand before God, cleansed from our sin, based on our acceptance of what our Savior did on the cross. When He said, “It is finished,” all that was necessary to forgive and cleanse us was accomplished. Now we are called to rest in His finished work. In that way we put on the breastplate of Christ’s righteousness. In Christ, God is infinitely pleased with you. You are welcomed into His presence at all times. “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. To be justified is to have the perfect righteousness of Christ credited to your account. No matter how completely you may fail and sin, the perfect obedience of Christ grants you God’s pardon and acceptance.
“Jehovah Tsikenu!”–The Lord Our Righteousness”–is our battle cry. He is our strength. Our salvation is based on what He did on the cross, to Him be all the glory! Accepting this truth alone will protect our hearts from the sword of unbelief that has the thrust to destroy any man’s soul. We cannot say it any better than the psalmist did: “Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! They walk, O LORD, in the light of Your countenance. In Your name they rejoice all day long, And in Your righteousness they are exalted. For You are the glory of their strength, And in Your favor our horn is exalted” (Ps. 89:15-17). This is the voice of the believer rejoicing in the privilege of wearing the breastplate of righteousness.
Psalm 33:1
Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous! Praise befits the upright.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
