How to use Righteousness

 

    What good is having the armor of God if you do not understand how to use it.  The belt of truth protects your mind from lies.  The breastplate of righteousness is your salvation stamp where you were made right with God.  That is straight forward, but how do you use it in spiritual warfare?  You use it as your moral compass that is influenced by the Holy Spirit.

    You use your righteousness when you prioritize God and your eternal future of the things that are unpredictable or undependable in this world.  You are motivated by doing what is right and being generous.  When you pray you use scripture to make sure you pray in a way that honors God and keeps you humble as you seek guidance.  Use prayer as a strategy to work with God and not independently: to keep going, sanctification, renewal, courage, and strength.  

    Your armor is strong because of who God is, but you use it better when you stand firm in your faith.  You endure suffering to become stronger and more agile in you faith.  You study God's Word so you are able to grow in faith and understand the purpose of your life.

    Faith is standard, but your battle is personalized by Satan's strategy.   You need to trust the Holy Spirit to have a better strategy that will protect you.  The armor of God is standard for everyone, but how you use it and enforce it is up to you.  Following Jesus does not mean that you will not ever get hurt, but you are armed in calvary.  You are victorious through him.  Be practical and consistent in pursuing your relationship with your Commander.  

Psalm 23, Isaiah 59:9-21, Ezekiel 18:5-9, Matthew 6:31-33, Ephesians 5:1-2, 6:13-14, & 1 Peter 3:13-17

Righteous Living

 

    There is self-righteous and there is righteous.  To be righteous you have to be made right with God.  Self-righteous is a form of pride.  It will lead you to destruction and shame.  True righteousness only comes through salvation provided by Jesus.  Righteousness is protection against evil.  

    Righteousness that is protection comes from God and you choosing to follow His way.  It becomes a part of your lifestyle as it influences your attitude, actions, interest, desires, ambitions, and perspective.  It affects every part of who you are as you mature in your faith.  

    You know your are growing when you see change.  Change may not be easy, but it is required to be healthy.  Staying dormant or falling back brings atrophy into your soul.  As you are growing closer to God you are being sanctified by the Holy Spirit.  

    You can't rush the process or you will get in your own way.  It takes time to form real relationships that can withstand all kinds of life events.  The same goes with your relationship with God.  You can only handle so much transformation at one time.  Trust the guidance of the Holy Spirit and value the process.  It is serious work that will prepare you to be a prayer warrior.  

    To understand God's Word you have to hear it, read it, think about, and then apply it to your life.  You need other people to help strengthen your faith.  That is why you are commanded to be a part of the church.  You will never be fully spiritually healthy if you are not with other believers.  You have each other really understand God's Word and how to live it out.  You need God's Word to grow and develop your conviction and self-control.  You need God's Word to empower a righteous life.

Ezekiel 36:22-32, Romans 1:16-17, Ephesians 4:13-14, Philippians 2:12-13, 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14, & James 1:19-25

Practice Righteousness

 

    When you become a Christian you are adopted into God's family making you righteous.  It is your journey working out your faith that you learn how to practice righteousness.  You are learning on how to live out what God has given you to honor His name.  You have to be intentional to learn God's expectations and how obedience protects you.  It is not always fun.  It is time consuming, but it is how you learn how to practice your righteousness.

    You practice righteousness until the breastplate of righteousness feels comfortable.  At that point it is a part of your lifestyle.  You discard your old lifestyle to replace it with a righteous one.  Righteousness is what will protect you from Satan having a stronghold in your life.  You choose to step out of the darkness into the light everyday.

    The point of practicing righteousness is that it makes your old sinful nature feel uncomfortable.  It exposes who you were to the point that you can't stand to look at it any more.  You are not going through the motions wanting to look righteous or be righteous.  You genuinely want unrighteous habits removed from your life to never return again.  It is what leads to repentance that causes real change in your life.

    When you have repentance that causes lifestyle change it drives you to dig deep to the roots of your sin to remove them.  Only when you remove the roots of sin will they be gone to never infect your life again.  It is not behavior changes.  It is your heart changing.  As your heart changes to look more like Jesus the more Satan may attack you, but the Holy Spirit is protecting your heart.  

    You become righteous at salvation, but you have to maintain your righteousness every day to keep it clean and powerful.  Battling your personal sin is not easy.  Just because you want to be a good Christian does not mean that it will come natural.  You have to be intentional and work at it.  

    You have to forgive yourself when you mess up, but be find a way to do better.  The Holy Spirit will direct you on how best get rid of your sinful nature.  This is why it is called a journey, so don't give up when it is hard.  Your righteousness is essential, so the practicing of it needs to be logical.  Make conscience life choices that will bring you closer to God instead of further away.  

Deuteronomy 28:1-6, Psalms 1:1-3, 23:1-6, Proverbs 2:1-8, Isaiah 58:13-14, Matthew 5:3-10, 23:25-28, Romans 7:14-20, 13:11-14, Galatians 6:7-10, & Ephesians 4:1-5:9, 6:1-4

Righteous Protection

 

    The breastplate of righteousness protects your spiritual heart and soul.  It is what shields you from being destroyed by Satan's attacks.  It protects you because righteousness makes you right with God.  When you are one of God's children you can trust that He will protect you.  If you believe in God's truth, then righteousness is protecting you.

    If you are a Christian, then you are righteous.  Jesus is the reason you are able to have righteousness.  He is what opened the eye to those who wanted to truth to see the need for God.  You cannot achieve righteousness without Jesus.  It is his righteousness that you receive upon salvation that protects you from becoming legalistic about your faith. 

    God does not lower His standards.  He meets you where you are, but you are expected to change and become more like Jesus as you mature in your faith.  The more you understand the truth the easier it becomes to live out your righteousness.  This protects your heart from becoming hard or allowing evil to touch it.  You may have the ability to take down your enemies, but when you choose to act in love you are justified.  

    Righteousness protects you from discouragement and deception.  It defines who you are in Jesus.  This protects you because it makes you innocent.  Satan hate innocence and tries to take advantage.  That is why you need the protection of righteousness.  Jesus has freed you through faith, don't keep living like you are chained to your sin.  Live out your Christian life in integrity to honor God for His protection and forgiveness.  

Genesis 15:6, 1 Samuel 24:3-21, 1 Kings12:25-33, Isaiah 64:1-7, Romans 3:9-26, 4:20-25, 10:1-4, 2 Corinthians 5:16-17, & Ephesians 6:13-14

Breastplate of Righteousness

 

    The breastplate of righteousness is the spiritual armor that protects your heart.  The belt holds all the clothing and items together for a sturdy foundation to faith.  The breastplate is your salvation that makes you righteous by faith.  It covers the belt, so the truth you believe is covered by faith.  Your righteousness protects your spiritual life and enables you to love like Jesus because it is supported by God's truth.

    The breastplate of righteousness fortifies the truth you believe.  It is protecting what gives you life.  It allows you to live free without fear.  Believing in Jesus, repenting your sins, and declaring your faith provides you with God's justice.  You are justified to enter Heaven when you die and to live like Jesus now.  The truth teaches you God's expectation, but you obey because you love Him.  

    The breastplate protects you according to how you apply God's truth.  If you try to change it to meet your lifestyle or desires, then you will not have much protection.  If you submit to God's will and obey according to His direction, then nothing can harm your heart and soul.  Your righteous lifestyle will produce a reputation that will protect you from all kinds of evil attacks.

    Righteousness protects your thoughts, ambitions, feelings, morals, and direction you take in life every day.  You take the time to learn the truth and how to apply it to your life.  It is part of the maturing process.  As you mature you move closer to God you make Satan nervous.  It means you start carrying power in the spiritual world to draw people to Jesus.

    Living righteously makes you a threat to Satan, so know that it is a matter of time before he comes to attack the areas that righteousness protects.  He will attack your mind first to influence your will. Then he will come after your emotions and conscience.  If he can make sin look innocent, then he has entry.  Learn to recognize the warning signs: you start thinking negatively, focus turns away from God, feelings become a storm, your confidence becomes confused, your consciousness starts to become silent, or your mind feels cluttered.  As soon as you discover this, repent and seek alone time with God to work it out.  

Psalm 81:11-16, Proverbs 4:23, Ephesians 4:1-4, 6:13-14, & James 4:13-17

How to use Truth

 

    You are in a spiritual battle.  You need the belt of truth to be able to fight properly, but do you know how to use the truth to fight your battles?  It is knowing God's truth that makes it where you can utilize it to defend yourself.  It is knowing God's Word that tells the world what you believe is true.

    The truth protects you from embarrassment.  It keeps you from falling for Satan's lies.  You need to be in God's Word, praying over what you read and how to use it, pray for discernment, and pray for understanding.  When you have that in your belt, then you will know in the situation on how to use the truth as a weapon.  

    You need to know God's Word to be able to strategize how to protect yourself from evil.  God will give you insight everyday as you spend time with Him in His Word and prayer.  The truth will help shield your heart from temptation.  However, you have to choose to invest yourself into God's Word, meditate on it, and pray over it.  You choose the direction your mind and heart go by what you allow your mind to linger on.  Meditate on the truth instead of fantasy or delusions.  

    Satan has a strategy to work against you.  It attacks when you are vulnerable.  He hits your insecurities, desires, and complacency.  He will distract you, so that you do not seek or focus on the truth.  His goal is to make you fall apart, pull away from God, and destroy you.  Do not allow him to deceive you.  Use the truth to build your character, virtue, judgement, and values.  Lean on your church family to help you be strong when you feel weak.  The truth allows you to live free.

Genesis 2:15-17, Psalm 119:105-112, Isaiah 59:15-19, John 8:31-32, Romans 8:1-4, & Ephesians 6:13-14

Walk in Truth

 

    Walking in truth sounds easy, but sometimes it is not.  Satan's deceptions can be very convincing.  His goal is to have your believe the lie, fraud, illusion, manipulation without ever detecting it.  He tweaks the truth just enough to have you self-sabotage.  He is a wolf dressed as a sheep.  It takes intentional maturing in your Christian walk to be able to know where to go in the Bible to discover the truths that reveal his lies.

    Truth is not on a spectrum.  It is simple.  It is direct.  It is narrow.  It requires discernment at times.  Pray for wisdom and discernment to be able to see the truth from all the lies the world is telling you.  This is how you use the belt of truth.  God's truth will always reveal the lie.

    If you fall for the lie there are some indicators.  You will feel a loss in joy, life becomes boring, you feel empty, and you become vulnerable to distractions like addictions.  When the lie becomes your truth then sin becomes your lifestyle.  What may have seemed wrong once is okay because your situation is different.  That is buying into the lie and it will destroy what you love.  

    It is hard to step into the light when you have been living in the darkness.  It can feel overwhelming to have all your sins exposed.  However, it is better if you step into the light willingly and wanting to repent than to have the light brought upon you while you try to hide your sins.  Either way sin will be exposed eventually.  Come to God on His terms to find what you are really missing in your life.  

    The Holy Spirit will not lead you astray.  Trust the gut filling that He gives you.  It is an indicator that Satan is trying to pull one on you.  As you mature your conscience will become a stronger indicator that something is not right.  It will help you from willfully walking into a sinful lifestyle.  However, if you are in the sinful lifestyle, then you have tuned it out so much that it is no longer working properly.  Do not shut down the Holy Spirit.  He is your best friend and protector in this world.

    God's standard does not change.  That means you can find it at any time in your Bible.  Pray for understanding that will lead to discernment.  You are not perfect.  You mess up, but the point is to repent and turn back to God as soon as you can.  Trust the Holy Spirit to guide you even if it feels scary.  The more you walk in truth and faith the less scary it will feel.  It also reveals Satan's lies.  

Exodus 17:5-6, Numbers 20:6-13, Isaiah 30:19-22, John 8:12-32, Romans 1:21-23, 2 Corinthians 11:12-15, & Ephesians 5:6-14