Category: Spirituality and Truth

The heart is the vital organ of the human body. The breastplate of the soldier protects the heart. The Bible declares in Proverbs 4:23, “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life”.

Paul speaks about the breastplate of righteousness as a protection of the heart. Ultimately what we have in our heart determines the course of our life, for good or for evil. Therefore it is so important to safeguard your heart. When a soldier in the army of God we need the breastplate of righteousness.

Paul describes the breastplate of righteousness need to be put on. Unless you decide to put on this breastplate, God cannot put this on you.

“But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love.”  (1 Thessalonians 5:8)

Again Paul describes the breastplate but this time on a different dimension, ie., of faith and love.

If we put these two scriptures together, the breastplate of righteousness is a breastplate of faith and love. In Philippians 3:9, Paul speaks about this kind of righteousness again. “…that I may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.”

In the above scripture, Paul talks about two kinds of righteousness. One is, his own righteousness that is derived from the Law and says this is not sufficient. But he talks about a righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith in the written word of God. Paul is talking about the second kind of righteousness when he was writing about the breastplate of righteousness.

When we operate in our own righteousness, Satan can find many weak points in that type of righteousness and can often penetrate it with his attacks and could damage our heart. Therefore we must put on a breastplate that is not our own righteousness but the righteousness of Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “God made Jesus who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ.

We need to believe the Scripture and accept by faith that we have become the righteousness of God. That is the only kind of breastplate that can adequately protect our heart and our life.  This type of righteousness can only be wrought by faith. It is a breastplate of faith and love.

Jesus prayed for Peter that “his faith may not fail” the night before His passion. There may be times when our faith seems to fail. But that is when we need to pray like how Jesus prayed. . It is so easy to praise God and keep going when everything goes all right. But when everything seems to be failing, that is when the real test to our faith comes. Jesus warned Peter that he was going to betray Him the same night. In the context of that warning, Jesus said, “Peter, I have prayed for you.” Jesus did not pray that Peter would not betray Him. In those situations, under the pressures that would develop and with the known weaknesses in Peter’s Character, it was inevitable that Peter would betray Jesus. But Jesus prayed a different kind of prayer,

Notice that your faith may not fail. If Peter’s faith would not fail, then even though he was going to deny the Lord and show himself very weak and cowardly, all those things could be retrieved. Jesus was giving importance to Peter’s faith instead of the other outward things. Jesus was praying for Peter’s breastplate of faith and love. Faith is the essential element for this breastplate.

The kind of faith we are talking about works only through love. Galatians 5:6 says, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision not uncircumcision mean anything, but faith working through love”. One thing that Paul says is without faith that comes from love, you cannot succeed in Christian life. It is an active faith that works through love.

In Song of Solomon 8:6-7, it says, “place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal over your arm: for love is as strong as death, many water cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away”.

See the phrase “love is as strong as death”. Death is the one irresistible thing that we all must encounter. There is no way to avoid death. Love always conquers us from all negative forces like resentment, unforgiveness, bitterness, discouragement, and despair which can corrupt our hearts and spoil our lives. Remember, all that there is in life comes out of the heart.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

This is the breastplate we need, one that never fails. A breastplate in which there is not a single weak point that the enemy can get in. This breastplate will protect you from any evil thing that the enemy can bring to you to penetrate that vital area of your life. Amen.

Let our faith not fail, no matter what we go through in Jesus’ name.

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This is the first equipment in the whole armour of God. When a Roman soldier was required to do something active, such as use his weapons, he would need to take care of that loose garment. If he failed to do it, its flaps and folds would hinder his movements and prevent him from using the rest of his equipments effectively.

Truth literally means honesty, sincerity and openness. We live in a culture and society where people say things without really meaning them from the bottom of their hearts. Why do they say something and do something else? …simply because, they want to sound good. In other words, instead of God pleasers we often become men pleasers.

Often times, we say we will pray for you, brother and then totally forget about that brother. That is a bunch of insincere words and they are like the loose, hanging garment. It gets in our way and prevents us from doing the kind of thing that God ask us to do. Not only that, it becomes a stumbling block for the other items of equipment.

We must put away sham, hypocrisy, saying and doing things we do not mean. Often truth is painful. But it is time to confront the need for real truth, openness and frankness. You need to put on the girdle and tie it around so that the religious insincerities and shams no longer hang around you and become a stumbling block in the way of things God would want to have you do.

“Loins” is often used in the context of reproduction. When we gird our loins, we clothe ourselves in a way that our loins are covered in the spiritual sense. Every Christian married or unmarried must have spiritual children. It happens by “Words”. Words are the seeds to produce spiritual children.

“The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life.”  (Proverbs 13:14)

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit”.  (Proverbs 18:21)  We need to give life with our words.

Jesus spoke about girding your loins with truth:

The Lord said:

“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. “You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. “The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil. “But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. “For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”  (Matthew 12:33-37)

What was Jesus talking about? He said in effect, if our words are truth and life, then we must wrap ourselves in the truth. We must love truth as we love our life. Truth should become our treasure.

We are living in the last days. The deceiver is let loose. People are talked into things that are not truth anymore. If we, as God’s elect want to stand by the truth, we need to love the truth. That is why 2 Thessalonians 2:10 says, “…the love of the truth”. Only the people who love the truth will not be deceived in the last days. This is the way we wrap ourselves with truth to prove that we love the truth. Or in other words, we love the truth so much that we wrap ourselves in it continually.

A practical way to girdle the truth is to meditate the word of God, the first thing in the morning. It is so important to girdle our loins with the truth.

Just like the people in uniforms get up each day early morning and get ready for that day’s battle, we as a soldier in God’s army need to put on the full armour of God. The first thing we need to do is wrap ourselves in the word of God.

In the Old testament days, the priest needed to wash themselves in the laver first thing each morning. That means the cleansing of the Word.

The children of Israel need to gather manna the first thing in the morning that represents the word of God.

In the biblical times, barrenness was such a reproach. In the spiritual sense barrenness is even worse. We literally loose out ability to reproduce if we do not have enough seed (the word of God) in us. We must protect our ability to reproduce and we can do it only with the “Word of God”. Amen.

May the Lord help us to girdle our loins in Jesus’ name.

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First, in the wilderness, Jesus defeated Satan on His own behalf. He met Satan, resisted his temptation, and defeated him.

Second, on the cross, Jesus defeated Satan on our behalf, not for Himself. He did not need the victory for Himself because He already had it, but He won the victory for us and defeated our enemy. He disarmed our enemy, stripped him, and made a show of him openly on our behalf. Praise God!

Third, it is now our responsibility to keep the devil where he belongs.

Remember: “Jesus Christ has made victory possible for us “always” and “in every place”. Amen.

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“And having disarmed the powers and authorities he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”.  (Colossians 2:15)

“But thanks be to God who always leads us in His triumph in Christ and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.”  (2 Corinthians 2:14)

Notice the words “always” and “in every place”. That means, there is no time and no place when we cannot visibly share the triumph of Christ over Satan’s kingdom.

Jesus declares: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, Therefore make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28: 18-20)

Here Jesus says that through His death on the cross, He has wrested the authority from Satan, obtained it for Himself and God has vested in Jesus, all authority in heaven and earth. What is the implication of “therefore?” Jesus says, “I have won the authority, you go and exercise it”. You go and demonstrate My victory to the whole world by fulfilling My commission.”

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These are the laws of Moses. To obtain righteousness with God, we need to keep all the laws as given to Moses. As long as the laws of Moses was the requirement, every time we broke even one of the most minor requirements, we were guilty before God. But Jesus took the law out of the way and made provision for us to live free from guilt. Isn’t that awesome?

“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes”. Jew or Gentile, it makes no difference. Christ is not the end of the law as part of God’s Word. Christ is the end of the law as a means to achieve “righteousness with God”. We are not required to keep the law in order to be righteous.”  (Romans 10:4)

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”  (2 Corinthians 5:21)

This is the divine exchange. Once we grasp the fact that we have been made righteous with the righteousness of Christ, the devil cannot make us feel guilty any longer. Satan’s main weapon will thus be taken from him. Jesus disarmed the principalities and powers by His death on the cross. He took from them their main weapon against us.

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The God who does not need us to be happy himself promises to make his people happy forever. At the end of our weak service, the Master says, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master” (Matthew 25:23). Enter into the paradise of triune bliss, the Promised Land of milk and mirth, of honey and happiness.

Does your God invite you into his own joy? I find the unfaithful servant of the story instructive. The Master gave him one talent, and he went and buried it. Why did he bury it away?

Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours. (Matthew 25:24–25)

He did not know the Master who invites into his own joy. The Master who smiles and says, “Well done.” He harbored hard thoughts, buried his talents under hard ground, and received a hard wage: “You wicked and slothful servant! . . . Take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. . . . And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 25:26, 28, 30).

How vital it is to know God’s heart. How many talents hide beneath mounds of dirt in our backyards? Do you believe you serve a hard and extorting God? Believer, come to the open window and gaze through Jesus’s words: “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). Stir at your God’s vow: “I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul” (Jeremiah 32:41). Quiet under his singing:

The Lord your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing. (Zephaniah 3:17)

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The God who didn’t need you to be happy, the heaven within himself that needed not angels or humans, sacrificed to include us in that happiness. He came for us.

The God who did not need us chose us — and at total cost to himself. The blessedness of God increases the gospel’s voltage. If God had thrown all into the lake of fire, downed Adam and Eve in a flood, and moved on, God would have lost nothing. But the great I Am — rising from his own good pleasure as Giver, for his own great name of Love, growing from the everlasting heart of a Father — authored a story, perilous and splendid, full of darkness and light, to communicate himself more fully, and exalt his Son, and so fill our cup to overflowing.

Ours is not just the gospel of God, but “the gospel of the glory of the blessed God” (1 Timothy 1:11). Rightly do angels longingly gaze after it. When time ripened, the eternal Son came. Begrudgingly? Reluctantly? Indifferently? “In him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross” (Colossians 1:19–20).

Glimpses of eternal rays pierce through at Jesus’s baptism and transfiguration. The Father’s supreme delight shone down upon his Son: “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased” (Matthew 12:18; 3:17; 17:5). “Father,” Jesus prayed on the eve of his death, “I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24).

The Son’s whole drama — sung to us as good news — plays out in a theater of eternal love: The Father to the Son, the Son to the Father, and the Spirit lifting the elect to dwell in those clouds.

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Why does Satan accuse us? The primary motive behind the accusations of the devil is to make us feel guilty. Satan wants to rob us off the confidence we have to go before God.

Guilt is the key to our defeat and righteousness is our key to victory. God, through the cross, has dealt with this problem of guilt, both in the past and in the future. He has made complete provision for both. How did God deal with the past? Colossians 2:13 says, “ He forgave us all our sins”. God made provision for our future, as seen in Colossians 2:14, “…having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us: he took it away, nailing it to the cross”.

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If eternity were an apartment, God did not need a pet to keep him company. The triune God needed nothing upon which to dote or depend. His golden existence never borrows from other suns.

Yet we read, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1) — why? If he is so happy and blessed, why create anything at all? Because God delights to share his fullness, his happiness, his life, his love, his glory — not to complete that fullness, but to extend it to others.

“There is an expansive quality to his joy,” writes Piper. “It wants to share itself. The impulse to create the world was not from weakness, as though God were lacking in some perfection that creation could supply.” To quote Jonathan Edwards, “It is no argument of the emptiness or deficiency of a fountain, that it is inclined to overflow.” Again, Piper writes, “All his works are simply the spillover of his infinite exuberance for his own excellence” (Works, 49).

In the beginning, then, God created the heavens and the earth freely, bountifully, happily. He looked down as an artist painting — stars, fish, mountains, man — “Oh, that is good!” He creates and admires and gives and fills and blesses from a full cupboard.

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Mercifully, the Arkenstone jewel of God’s happiness is not the creature — his perfect, holy, complete joy precedes us. God’s happiness is infinite and eternal and untainted precisely because it is independent — he draws from wells we knew not of, that which always was and always will be.

Survey the pantheon of gods, and here alone we find the only Being that can satisfy the soul forever. A fulsome ocean surges within himself — Father, Son, and Holy Ghost — waters of bliss that he invites the redeemed to swim within. God has never been needy or lonely or bored. The salvation of man is a subplot, a minor theme, within an eternal drama of Trinitarian love. Baffling man-centric theologies, John Piper writes,

Within the triune Godhead (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), God has been uppermost in his own affections for all eternity. This belongs to his very nature, for he has begotten and loved the Son from all eternity. Therefore, God has been supremely and eternally happy in the fellowship of the Trinity. (Collected Works, vol. 2, 48–49)

Here we find our glad tidings: His happiness does not depend upon us — thus he can satisfy us. None can pickpocket his pleasure. Not Satan, not the world, not our sin. “It should delight us beyond all expression,” writes Henry Scougal, “to consider that the one who is beloved in our own souls is infinitely happy in himself and that all his enemies cannot shake or unsettle him from his throne” (Life of God in the Soul of Man, 83). The triune God’s delight cannot sag or wobble; his cheerful crown cannot topple from his brow. He does not sink into despair.

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