(Excerpted from Spiritual Healing: The Surrender That Brings Victory--Chapter 8)
"The next piece of armor spoken of is the breastplate of righteousness. This piece of the armor is critical if we are going to protect our 'hearts.' The breastplate was a shield that covered the major organs of the body, from the neck to the hips. Spiritually speaking, it covers our heart. If we are going to fully follow God's commands by taking full vengeance on our sins so that we can have a heart that is united and healed by God, then we must use this breastplate in the battle. Christ's righteousness was credited to us at the point of our salvation. We were justified in the eyes of our Lord. In other words, in God's eyes, it was 'just as if' we had never sinned. But there is another righteousness that we must focus on now that we are saved. It is the righteousness of holy living. In order to live out a holy lifestyle, and thus live righteously, we must use the breastplate that protects us from this kind of warfare, making right choices in the midst of the battle of temptation.
Too often we think about making the right choices after we have been tempted and fall prey to the enemy's scheme by making a wrong and sinful choice. That is why the breastplate of righteousness should be practiced and exercised every day so that at the moment of great temptation, it will be second nature to us to make the right choice. You must practice seeing yourself as Christ sees you--as His righteous child--and do what a righteous one would do."
No comments:
Post a Comment