The Breastplate of Righteousness

“The Breastplate of Righteousness...”
Righteousness is one of the most powerful defenses we have against our adversary; the enemy is full of unrighteousness and therefore cannot penetrate the armor of one who is truly righteous. There are few things that unravel the victory of a believer quicker than unrighteousness in some area of their lives. We are not by these opening statements saying that if one is upright that our adversary cannot come against us and make our life difficult but rather it is to say he cannot get inside to exploit a weakness; as Jesus said, “…the enemy comes (he will most certainly come) and hath nothing in Me”. Lets use Judas as an example to illustrate what we are saying; he is one who was not protected from the wiles of the devil because of a breach in his armor (unrighteousness through covetousness) and as a result the enemy found a place to get in, he open the door to the enemy through covetousness. Because there was unrighteousness in him there was a weakness in his life that the enemy could exploit and did, Satan entered into him through his weakness and provoked him to betray the Lord for love of money. However, one who has the character of righteousness worked out in their lives effectively stands against the enemy and there is no place for him to get in. We must as believers deal with all sin and unrighteousness; I would commend the prayer of our Lord in Heb 5:7 – “Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;” The Lord cried out resisting sin and temptation that He might walk a straight path and reside in the place where He always did those things which pleased His Father. What a beautiful testimony, what an apt description of righteousness “I do always those things which please my Father”; it is somewhat like the description of the kings as we read: “He did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord”. O’ may we strive to reside in this place, what a power it gives us against the enemy, what a power to break sins (Dan 4:23 – break sin through righteousness).