Key scripture – “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.” (Ephesians 6:13-15).

Satan is smart, wise, and very, very tricky. If he can get you asking the wrong question, you will never come up with the right answer. If you are a Christian then the wrong question is, “How do I make myself righteous?” But this is the question Satan loves for you to ask, because it has no right answer and it is impossible for you to do. It also distracts you from a fundamental command of God that is in Ephesians 6:14, which is:

“Stand firm then… with the breastplate of righteousness in place…” (Ephesians 6:14).

Please note this passage doesn’t say to go out and find a breastplate of righteousness. It doesn’t say to go out and create a breastplate of righteousness. Anything you try to build yourself is based on your own performance, your own works. If you build your own armor, it’s going to be flawed and weak, and you’ll know it immediately. Under your own strength, you will always have to make sure you’re doing enough to be protected, enough to be righteous, enough to justify yourself. On top of being extremely exhausting, that is way out of sync with the way it’s supposed to be.

God wants you to stand firm in the breastplate of righteousness that He has made for you. Your job is to put your trust in what He has already done through His Son, Jesus Christ, because “Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes” ( Romans 10:4).

The breastplate covers the whole chest area going down to the abdomen. It covers all the vital organs, the things that keep you alive. If you are a Christian, you have this breastplate of Righteousness in Christ that covers and protects you.

You need to Know this and stand firm in this truth, since you are covered in the Righteousness of Christ you have these two things:

(1) You have nothing to be ashamed of when you come before the throne of God, because when He looks at you, He does not see your sin, He sees the Righteousness of Jesus covering you.
“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).

In Romans, when Paul was talking about Abraham, he explained how we, as Christians, have the same righteousness credited to us, “This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification” (Romans 4:22-25).

(2) Satan can no longer use your guilt to manipulate you because you are covered by Jesus’ Righteousness and His victory over sin and death.
In the Upper Room, Jesus said “Satan has no hold on me” (John 14). Satan had no hold on Him because He was completely righteous. As a Christian, you shared in His crucifixion and resurrection. Everything that He won, you won too — which means Satan has no hold on you either. That’s the truth. Therefore, the best Satan can do is to deceive you from the truth by getting you to ask the wrong question. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame” (Romans 10:11).

So how will you answer Satan now when he starts telling you lies? You can do what Paul said to do in 2 Corinthians 10:5, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” Take his lies captive and replace them with what the Word of God says, which is, Satan has already been defeated by Jesus, and he can’t do anything to you because you are loved by God and protected by Jesus’ Righteousness.

Pray this – Our Precious Heavenly Father, I have tried in my own strength to make myself righteous and to overcome my fleshly instincts. That was all in vain because I was trying to do it in on my own. I see Satan’s attempt to distract me with the wrong question. I look to You, and only You, as the answer and the source of my righteousness. By the power of Your spirit in me, give me the wisdom and strength to stand firm with the breastplate of righteousness that You and only You have provided and already made for me. I want to be described like Job, a person who is “blameless and upright; he fears God and shunned evil.” (Job 1:1), therefore, I will get up every morning and dress for the victory that I already have over evil and the evil one because of Jesus, and I will put on His armour; the shoes of the gospel of peace, the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, and the helmet of salvation. In Jesus’ Name, I pray, Amen.

 Laura Ingle