The Armour of God

Part III: The Breastplate of Righteousness

“The breastplate -- this portion of armor is there to protect the soldier’s heart and other vital organs. If we want to protect our heart from evil, we must take on the breastplate of righteousness. This does not mean we live a perfect life -- our righteousness comes from the Lord. But we must strive to live our life according to God’s commands.” -David Humpal

As Children of God we are battling a war with Satan. By now we are well aware of that, but what are we doing about it? Here it tells us to put on the breastplate of righteousness. The soldier in the ancient days wore a breastplate to protect his heart and other vital organs from the enemy. Obviously, if the soldier did not wear this and got hit with a sword or arrow he was dead. Today we need to guard our hearts from the enemy. This enemy will use our hearts to make us cold to the things of God and then when that happens we will not be used of God like we need to be. Protecting our hearts is a very important thing to a Christian because it involves allowing the Lord to work and use us, and it restricts the devil from getting into our daily affairs.

Righteousness means just or right.

“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” Proverbs 4:23

The word diligence in that passage (according to the Strong’s Concordance) is to watch or be on guard. We are to keep our hearts watchfully, watching everything that comes in and out. There are a few things that can help us keep our hearts guarded that are just and right.

Well what are some things that are just or right?

#1. Prayer or fellowship with God.

When we pray in the mornings then we get ourselves ready for the new day. How many of you pray every morning before you go to school? I know that I am guilty of not always praying in the morning when I get up. The day never turns out the way it probably would have if I had just prayed and talk to my Heavenly Father that morning.

When we pray we are guarding our hearts from the devil. How? Through the Holy Spirit of God, His power and might will lead us to do those things that are right and to ask for forgiveness promptly when we do something that is not right. When we don’t pray, the devil has a way to get in there and cause you to stumble. The devil doesn’t want you to pray. He will find everything he can to keep you from talking to your Heavenly Father about your day first. Have you ever started to pray and then the phone rang? OR the doorbell rang? OR you realized that you were going to be late? Take the time, no matter how late you are, to pray. You will not regret it! When we forget to pray over and over and it becomes a habit the devil will use that to harden our hearts. Then we can not have the compassion and love for others and Christ as we aught. “Pray without ceasing.” I Thessalonians 5:17

#2. Daily Bible Study!

Get out a note card and write down a verse to memorize. Keep it in your book bag or purse until you have memorized it and then make up a new one. You are hiding God’s Word in your heart when you do that and leaving the devil no room to get in there! Also take time everyday to really get into the Word of God! Pick a book of the Bible and do an outline of it. One thing that may help is to look up all the verses on the heart (there is a lot) and study one each day! Study it like you would your own homework but better!☺ See what the Lord has for you everyday!

#3. Work for the Lord!

When Christ saved us he saved us by grace through faith in him, but that does not mean that we are not to work for the Lord. Not working for our salvation; but for the LORD. When we lie and do things behind our parents or friends backs we are not working for the Lord. When we talk about people in the wrong way we are not working for the Lord. When we treat others in a stuck up unfriendly way we are not working for the Lord. However, when we talk to other about Christ, pass out a Gospel tract, read our Bibles and pray, tell the truth, and show Christ’s love, then we are working for the Lord. Keeping ourselves from evil also includes obeying some commandments that God has given us in His Word. The Ten Commandments is a good start but there are many more commandments in the Bible that we are to obey. Here are two:

1. “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature” Mark 16:15.
Now we know that women are not called to preach. I’m not telling you that it is ok for you ladies to go out there and stand in a pulpit and preach, that is not right. I’m telling you that when we witness we are giving the Gospel to those who are lost. We need to do our best to tell everyone that we know about Christ. It’s easy to just let everyone else do it. However, if we don’t go who will? We are to be witnesses in our own Jerusalem.

“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Acts 1:8

2. Another commandment is “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” Matthew 22:39.

“A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” Proverbs 18:24.

If we are going to have friends or have people to show us kindness we have to love them and be friendly towards them. According to that commandment we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. Wow that is a BIG statement. How much do you love yourself? If someone were trying to hurt you; you would stand up for yourself right? Of course you would; anyone would. No one would just stand there and let themselves get hurt. If you were sick you would seek medical attention right?

Just like we love ourselves enough to do that for ourselves, we need to love others enough to help them out in time of need. I’m not telling you to go out there and befriend the drunk on the street and hang out with him, but I am telling you to love him and care about his soul enough to witness to him and show him kindness. You have to be careful today with people you do not know. They aren’t always as they seem, but that doesn’t mean you can not witness to them. Sometimes just a smile can lighten up someone’s day. When we love others with a compassionate heart we do not leave room for the devil to harden our hearts towards them and not witness to them. Just the other day our pastor and another preacher led an old drunkerd to the Lord. Not even an hour later, this man was killed walking back home. What would have happened if they had not witnessed to that man just because of what he looked or smelled like?

We need to keep this commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves and not be selfish. The devil wants us to be selfish and not tell anyone about Christ. When we go time after time without telling anyone about Christ our burden gets weaker and weaker for those who are not saved. Our compassion for other’s souls may not be what it used to, because we have allowed the devil to harden our hearts. Keeping our hearts with all diligence means to keep our hearts from hardening too. You don’t want the evil there but you want it to stay compassionate to others.

Those are just two examples but the Lord can help you live these commandments if you do the first two things…PRAY and STUDY YOUR BIBLE! You see how it is starting to all come together?

#4. Be faithful to the house of God.

I’m not just talking about church services either. Yes, you should be faithful to all services unless you are hindered BUT you should be here for the activities and youth services of the church also. When you miss one service or activity it is easy to miss another. Even when parents go to church we tend to make up excuses if we don’t want to go sometimes, and then they don’t make us. Be faithful to the house of God…to what you can. I know sometimes that things happen that hinder us but when you are faithful to God’s house you are getting the fellowship and guidance you need for that week! How many times have you done something that you wished you hadn’t and then you realized if you had just gone to this service or activity you would not have even been there to mess up?

When you are not faithful it makes way for the devil to come in and slip you up! Isn’t that what the devil wants anyway? He wants to get you as far away from the Lord as he can! We can’t let him do that by the grace of God. We need to stay close to God, His Word, and His people!

By just doing these four things we can protect our hearts from the devil. We are to keep those things that are just and right in our hearts always and the devil can’t defeat us.

What are these four things again?
Hide God’s Word in your hearts!
“Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” Psalm 119:11

Pray every morning and throughout the day for the Holy Spirit’s power and guidance!
“Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Matthew 26:41

Work for the Lord and keep your mind on sharing Him with others
“Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Phil. 2:12

Be faithful to the House of God and the fellowship activities held there!
“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”Hebrews 10:25

When we do these things we are putting on our breastplate of righteousness and guarding our hearts against the devil. Think about it……..if these things are hidden in our hearts and we are faithful to do these things what room is the devil going to have to hinder our Christian walk and testimony? He will have no room to tempt us!

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