Weekly Anchor Scripture: “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.” – Matthew 11: 12

Wednesday 23rd September 2020

Topic: COVER YOUR CHEST

Focus Scripture: “Righteousness exalteth a nation: . . . .” – Proverbs 14: 24

Admonition

I bring you greetings from the Throne of Grace in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.

One of the beauties of the Apostle Paul’s Epistles is that the Holy Spirit aided him to write within the context of his immediate environment then. Writing under the direction of the Holy Spirit, his use of allegories, representation of abstract principles by characters and or symbols, was second-to-none. With the help of the Holy Spirit, he wrote the portion of the Bible under scrutiny this week (Ephesians 6: 10 – 19) using a completely kitted Roman army of that time, using each piece of their armour to represent something valuable in the Kingdom of God.

Verse 14 of Ephesians 6 admonishes us to have on the breastplate of righteousness. The breastplate covers the entire chest and the abdominal part of the central part of a soldier. And we, as soldiers of Christ, also need to protect that area of our body that houses vital organs such as heart and lungs to ensure that the arrows of unbelief from the devil don’t enter and hinder our faith which the Bible says is precious to God. For this reason, in Proverbs 4: 23, the Bible admonishes us to guide our hearts with all diligence because from it comes the issues of life. That verse of the Bible drums home why we need to take the breastplate of righteousness very seriously.

Our Focus Scripture this morning reminds us that the only thing that exalts is righteousness and that its opposite is sin which brings about reproach. So, what’s the connection between our hearts which the breastplate is to protect and our righteousness? Well, the Bible says thus in Romans 10: 10: “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness: . . . .” So, the part of our body that engenders our faith in God (believe) is the heart and we know that without faith, no one can please God (Hebrews 11: 6). And according to that Scripture and many others, our faith in God through Jesus Christ is what confers righteousness on us. See Isaiah 53: 10 – 12; Daniel 9: 24; Romans 5: 15 – 19; 2 Corinthians 5: 21.

In Matthew 15: 16 – 20, Jesus Christ lectured us on what defiles a man. Now, I believe you know that a man defiled has become unrighteous. So, according to the Master, the things that make us unrighteous are products of our hearts that reside in our chests. In Matthew 6: 33, Jesus Christ told us what we should seek after is the Kingdom of God and its righteousness. That is why it becomes imperative that we protect our chests with the breastplate of righteousness so that unrighteous things don’t enter and come out of our hearts.

As we close this morning, the Psalmist helped us out on how to employ the breastplate of righteousness as an armour of God against the wiles of the devil. In Psalm 19: 14, he says, “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.” For every one that desires to wear the breastplate of righteousness at all times, this is a compulsory prayer point because until what we think, albeit always, becomes pleasing unto God, we are not wearing the breastplate of righteousness and as such, our hearts are open to the arrows of unbelief and doubt from the devil. This will invariably shipwreck our faith before God and end our pursuit of FINISHING STRONG in Him. I pray this will not be our stories in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Till tomorrow when we shall meet again on this beautiful journey of FINISHING STRONG together, please, keep keeping on in Him!

Jesus loves you!