By TYRON S. JAMES
This post is a continuation of an article that I wrote on January 15th, this year.
The Breastplate of Righteousness
In the physical realm, a breastplate is a sheet of metal, worn like a vest which protects the chest area from the enemy’s weaponry in battle. In the spiritual realm members of the body of Messiah wear a breastplate also. It is called the ‘breastplate of righteousness’.
How does this piece of armor work?
Well, as believers, our heavenly Father YHWH has bestowed on us the righteousness of His Son, Yahshua. It is imputed righteousness. Because we have a new nature, which is Messiah’s nature, we are pleased to do righteous acts and no longer feel comfortable doing sinful acts.
This righteousness acts as a shield when thoughts and other attacks come against us and try to get us to sin and defile ourselves (2 Cor. 5:21).
This righteousness which is imputed to us is complete. We cannot add anything to it of our own accord. The feeling of remorse we feel if and when we sin is because of Yahshua’s righteousness in us. His righteousness also gives us the power to choose to do right in the face of temptation and persecution. That is the breastplate defending our hearts with its righteousness. That is why the scripture says put on Yahshua ha’Mashiah. His Spirit dwelling in us gives us the strength of character. We are dead in trespasses and sins. We have no real strength of our own.
As the scripture says in Ephesians 6 we ought to be praying at all times, with all prayer and supplication in the Ruach watching in all perseverance and supplication to all the qodeshim.
Feet fitted with the Good News of Peace
Ephesians 6:15.
Yahshua came preaching the Good News. His message gave us the means whereby we can be saved and find peace with Elohim. This peace is what protects us when we are faced with Warfare that seeks to slow down our movement or progress in our spiritual walk. Yahshua’s peace helps us to deal with difficult terrain or in the spiritual sense the troubles of life (death in family, loss of job etc.). His peace helps us to stay calm under pressure and make right decisions under difficult circumstances.
We were promised Yahweh’s peace when we were justified by faith (Rom. 5:1). We have peace with Elohim because He has forgiven us of our sin. Once you have accepted Yahshua’s sacrifice and confessed your sin to the Father He promises to save you and give you His peace. I have felt His peace many times when placed in difficult situations. Over the last 2 ½ years there were situations where I would have been excused for losing my cool. But I could feel the presence of the Ruach ha’Qodesh cover me and His peace overshadow me. These were priceless moments for me and even though I don’t want to go through that again I am grateful that I experienced YHWH’s peace.
There are times when I am tempted to worry about things, then I look back to those experiences and they give me encouragement and hope and peace.
I have noticed that people who care about others have times when they will be concerned about their well-being and they become prone to worry and doubting. Because they want to be able to help them. The first thing that should be done as believers is to let the request be made known to Elohim (Phil. 4:6). It’s true that He already knows the situation but he wants us to ask Him. Why? Because it opens a door for communication and fellowship with Him and us. In this way we draw closer to Him and He draws nearer to us (Jam. 4:8).
The Shield of Faith
Eph. 6:16.
For this, the fifth piece of armor that the apostle Shaul mentions. I will like to quote from groupbiblestudy.com. “…When the enemy fires a dart of accusation, temptation, guilt or any of those sins in his quiver, the believer replies with faith in Elohim (God). What is faith? It is ‘being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see’ (Heb. 11:1).
We cannot see the heavenly resources at our disposal, but we are confident, by faith, God (Elohim), is with us and He has promised that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Heb. 13:5). When we know the truth of that promise, we can endure all things that the enemy throws at us. Our faith protects us from the lies and discouragements that can so easily wound us. It changes our perspective and colors everything we view, filtering it all through the shield of faith, removing the poisonous darts before they can settle in our hearts and infect us”.
(TO BE CONTINUED)

It really makes a difference when you become aware of the spiritual resources that we have at our disposal and how using it places us in a position of strength and assurance.