{"id":4475,"date":"2021-03-02T14:12:12","date_gmt":"2021-03-02T14:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/redeemedman.org\/?p=4475"},"modified":"2021-05-26T17:37:11","modified_gmt":"2021-05-26T16:37:11","slug":"the-armour-of-god-3-of-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redeemedman.org\/?p=4475","title":{"rendered":"The Armour of God (3 of 8)"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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The Breastplate of Righteousness<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFinally, be strong in the Lord and in his\nmighty power. Put on the full armour of God,\nso that you can take your stand against the\ndevil\u2019s schemes. For our struggle is not\nagainst flesh and blood, but against the\nrulers, against the authorities, against the\npowers of this dark world and against the\nspiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.\nTherefore put on the full armour of God, so that\nwhen the day of evil comes, you may be able\nto stand your ground, and after you have done\neverything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the\nbelt of truth buckled around your waist, with\nthe breastplate of righteousness in place<\/span>, and\nwith your feet fitted with the readiness that\ncomes from the gospel of peace. In addition\nto all this, take up the shield of faith, with\nwhich you can extinguish all the flaming arrows\nof the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation\nand the sword of the Spirit, which is the word\nof God.\n\nAnd pray in the Spirit on all occasions with\nall kinds of prayers and requests. With this in\nmind, be alert and always keep on praying for\nall the Lord\u2019s people.

Ephesians 6:10-18<\/span>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRighteousness, what does that mean? One of the definitions from dictionary.com is \u201cthe quality or state of being just or rightful\u201d but \u201crighteousness\u201d (dikaiosyne\u0304) in Paul\u2019s letters more often than not means \u2018justification\u2019, that is, God\u2019s gracious initiative in putting sinners right with himself through Christ<\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span>. \u201cThrough Christ\u201d are two fundamental words that are easy to skip over, but they are two words that change everything. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u201cAll of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags<\/span>2<\/sup><\/a><\/span>; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.<\/span>\u201d<\/span>3<\/sup><\/a><\/span> This is our nature, a nature that we cannot escape. We do not have the strength or capacity to change our nature. By ourselves, we are fallen, and not righteous but are like filthy rags<\/span>4<\/sup><\/a><\/span>. However, we have been given a righteousness, the righteousness of Jesus, \u201cWe are clothed with a righteousness which is not one\u2019s own but Christ\u2019s, to stand before God not condemned but accepted”<\/span>5<\/sup><\/a><\/span>\u201cThis righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe<\/span><\/span>6<\/sup><\/a><\/span> and \u201cGod made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God<\/span>“<\/span>7<\/sup><\/a><\/span>.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBecause of the sacrifice, Jesus made on the cross, our stench has now been covered by his fragrant offering of Himself . Jesus did not ask us for any payment of any kind for doing this. He did it out of His infinite love for us, because there must be payment for any sin, and we could not pay that high a price without being destroyed by the \u201cWrath of God\u201d. This is the grace that Jesus showed to us, this is how we can come into the presence of God and not be destroyed, and this is how we, who believe this good news (Gospel), will have eternal life with Jesus, who is seated at the right hand of God<\/span>8<\/sup><\/a><\/span>.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHow then does our inherited righteousness serve as our breastplate? There is no cost to this grace in which we became clothed in the righteousness of Jesus. And it is ok to just believe in the sacrifice Jesus has made for you. \u2013 \u201cFor God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life<\/span>\u201d<\/span>9<\/sup><\/a><\/span>. You will still be seated with Jesus at the right hand of God through all of eternity, filled with as much joy as you can handle. However, each day I find it becomes increasingly more difficult to sit back and do nothing. I don\u2019t want to continue being evil, the more I experience God\u2019s love for me, the more I understand what Jesus did for me on the cross, and the more I begin to understand that I am God\u2019s Son. I just want Him to be proud of me. I want to have more and more of a relationship with him. Out that comes a desire to serve God and serve others.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tI no longer want to submit to sin, I no longer want to hate others. I have a personal issue with habitual sin, which God is really helping me with, I have not conquered it yet, but in Jesus strength I am well on the way to resisting it. Now the thing is why have I chosen to stop sinning in this way! There are many reasons here are a few of them:\n
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  • It is our human nature to sin, but we have a spiritual nature, and we were created in the image of God, in the image of love. When a young man courts and falls in love with a young woman. He will naturally stop carousing with his friends, to make time to be with his new love and most of all to please her. So, falling in love changes your nature, as it does when you love God. You just want to please Him.<\/li>\n \t
  • The more you get to know Him, the more you realise He really has adopted you as a son. And He is the best dad in the world. And, personally, I just want Him to be proud of me and to say to me well done good and faithful servant.<\/li>\n \t
  • When you live in a relationship with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit you are constantly exposed to the purest and most perfect love, and in that love, you witness how much God loves all of us, believers and non-believers alike, and this rubs off, and it is very difficult not to start loving others as ourselves<\/li>\n<\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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    However, we still live in a fallen world, and the seductions of sin are around us, so sometimes it is hard to choose the path of love. And sometimes we fall and choose sin, we choose not to resist Satan. Paul says:<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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    \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSo I find this law at work: although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God\u2019s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!\n
    Romans 7:21-25<\/span>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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    If we fall Jesus has paid the price, so we pick ourselves up and say sorry to God, and we get back to loving him. This what we call \u201cGrace\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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    To finally answer the question I asked a number of paragraphs ago. How then does our inherited righteousness serve as our breastplate? \u00a0Well, it wraps our love of God round our core and makes us want to resist the Devil and his Schemes. There is nothing supernatural about it. It is simply an offshoot of our love for God.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his
    \nmighty power. Put on the full armour of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil\u2019s schemes……. …….with the breastplate of righteousness in place<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"0","ocean_second_sidebar":"0","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"0","ocean_custom_header_template":"0","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"0","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"off","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,6,14,3,37,4,5,2,24],"tags":[29,19,33,32,28,11,31,27,25,34],"class_list":["post-4475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-righteoussness","category-faith","category-love","category-3-philosophical-questions","category-truth","category-what-is-my-purpose","category-where-am-i-going","category-who-am-i","category-who-is-god","tag-accepted","tag-agape","tag-god","tag-human-nature","tag-jesus","tag-love","tag-redeemed","tag-righteousness","tag-sin","tag-sinner","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redeemedman.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redeemedman.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redeemedman.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redeemedman.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redeemedman.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4475"}],"version-history":[{"count":53,"href":"https:\/\/redeemedman.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4760,"href":"https:\/\/redeemedman.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4475\/revisions\/4760"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redeemedman.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redeemedman.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redeemedman.o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