Message 52(1): The Full Armour Of GOD - Part 1

– Mark Chen 2-8-2014 

Dear brothers and sisters, the Lord wants us to learn the significance and function of each piece in the full armour of God, because the day of evil is approaching quickly on earth. This time of great spiritual darkness in our world is when the devil’s grand delusion is put into full effect and the man of lawlessness is revealed to the world. For those of you who have been reading the Lord’s Rhema Words on my Facebook page, you will understand that this time shall properly begin from the 3 Days of Darkness, and will continue until the end of the 7-year Great Tribulation.

We all need to understand and be familiar with the full armour of God now, before that time arrives. This message covers the first 2 items in the full armour of God: the BELT OF TRUTH, and the BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, though all of the pieces comprising the armour of light are fully integrated and interconnected. The Lord Jesus Christ has devoted much time in explaining the relationship between our faith in Him, and His righteousness given to us. Please read with discernment and seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance regarding this message. With the Lord’s gracious help, I have included a teaching note at the end of the message.

February 8, 2015

“My dear children, the war in My Heavenly Kingdom is raging, and the spiritual battles are growing in intensity. As the time of darkness and the day of evil approach quickly, the holy saints of God Most High must put on the armour of light, for you are the children of light. Let no trace of darkness remain within you, for light and darkness can have no fellowship with each other; they have nothing in common. My loves, pay attention now to what I AM about to tell you, for it concerns the divine nature and attributes of the full armour of God. My children need to understand the nature and usage of each part of My armour, if they are to stand in My victory against the rulers and principalities of darkness. Let us begin, My beloved saints.

The first piece of My armour that is mentioned by My apostle, Paul, in the sixth chapter of his letter to the Ephesian church, is the BELT OF TRUTH. My children, the warrior’s body armour is girded by his belt, and the same is true for your spiritual armour. Without the truth of My Gospel, no one can be set free from their sin and destruction. This is the starting piece of My armour of light, for without the BELT OF TRUTH, the rest of the spiritual armour will not hold together, My loves. Too many of My children in the churches all across the world have put on a belt of half-truths and half-lies, because of widespread and rampant deception introduced by false teachers and wayward ministers. This potent mix of truth and lies by the servants of Satan has given My children a corrupted and incomplete spiritual belt, which undermines the effectiveness of their spiritual armour, rendering the whole of their armour useless. Stand firm then, in the one true Gospel, My loves, for I AM the Truth, the Way, and the Life!

The second piece of My armour is referred to as the BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. This is a vital piece of spiritual armour which comes by faith in Me, and the love of God through My atonement for your sins at Calvary. For the warrior, the breastplate is a crucial piece of body armour that is worn to protect the vital organs within one’s body, especially the heart and the lungs. My loves, I have revealed to My dear son, Mark, how the BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS is closely connected with faith and love. My beloved disciple, John, recorded My Words in John 16:10, where I explained that the Holy Spirit will convict the world in regards to righteousness, because I have gone to be with Our Father in Heaven, where you cannot see Me, My loves. Blessed are those who have not seen Me, and yet have believed in Me.

How is righteousness related to faith, dear children? The two are connected in every way! Is it not written in My Scriptures that My righteous ones shall live by faith? Indeed, it is so, for you see in the life of My son, Abraham, that he believed in the God who called him out of the land of the Chaldeans and into a foreign land. Abraham believed that the Great I AM is able to give him and his wife, Sarah, a son, to be born to them at their advanced age. Again, Abraham demonstrated his faith in Me, when he obeyed My command to offer his son, Isaac, as a sacrifice to Me, for I was testing his heart. It is written in Holy Scriptures that Abraham believed that God could raise his sacrificed son from the dead, which speaks volumes of his faith in Me.

Indeed, his faith looked forward to the time of My death and resurrection approximately two thousand years later, when I gave My life as the Lamb of God in order to take away the sins of the world. In the same manner that Abraham believed that I could raise his beloved son, Isaac, back to life, he believed that God can resurrect the Messiah from the dead. This is the essence of saving faith that leads to righteousness in My eyes, My children, and Scriptures rightly say that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. He believed that I could make him the father of many nations, and by his faith and obedience, he became the father of faith to his spiritual descendants.

Therefore, My saints, the BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS is My righteousness that is imputed in the lives of those who receive the gift of salvation by faith in Me. Those who receive the love of God by faith in the atoning sacrifice of His Son, have been cloaked with My righteousness that is given to them. I, Jesus Christ of Nazareth, have taken away their unrighteousness, and I have given them My righteousness instead. This is the essence and substance of this piece of spiritual armour, My loves, and it is also referred to rightly as the BREASTPLATE OF FAITH AND LOVE.

Without the breastplate of My righteousness protecting My children’s spiritual heart and lungs, the enemy can easily deceive their hearts with lies. The devil will choke the fruitfulness of their walk with Me, as My children suffocate under the stress of persecution, and from the worries of life. Without faith, there can be no righteousness in Me, My loves, for fear and disbelief causes unrighteousness to cover the hearts of those who live apart from faith in Me. Live by faith in Me, obeying My commandments to you, and the BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS will not depart from you. My righteousness will guard your hearts in Me, and I do not delight in those who shrink back from doing My Will, due to fear and disbelief in their hearts!”
~ Jesus Christ, Yeshua HaMashiach

Ephesians 6:14 (Aramaic Bible in Plain English)
Stand therefore and gird your waist with the truth and put on the breastplate of righteousness,

1 Thessalonians 5:5, 8 (ESV)
5 For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. 
8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.

2 Timothy 4:3-4 (ESV)
3 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

Jude 1:3 (ESV)
Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.

John 14:6 (NASB)
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”

John 16:10 (Aramaic Bible in Plain English)
“Concerning righteousness, because I will go to my Father's presence and you will not see me again;”

John 20:29 (NKJV)
29 Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Hebrews 10:38-39 (NASB)
38 “BUT MY RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL LIVE BY FAITH;
AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM.”
39 But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.

Hebrews 11:8-12, 17-19 (NASB)
8 By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; 10 for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised. 12 Therefore there was born even of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants AS THE STARS OF HEAVEN IN NUMBER, AND INNUMERABLE AS THE SAND WHICH IS BY THE SEASHORE.

17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; 18 it was he to whom it was said, “IN ISAAC YOUR DESCENDANTS SHALL BE CALLED.” 19 He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.

John 1:29 (NASB)
The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!"

Genesis 15:6 (NLT)
And Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD counted him as righteous because of his faith.

Romans 5:1 (KJV)
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NASB)
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Proverbs 4:23 (ESV)
Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

Jeremiah 17:9 (KJV)
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Matthew 13:20-22 (NKJV)
20 But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. 22 Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.

Note:
God’s Word tells us that the BELT OF TRUTH girds our waist, which is close to our body’s centre of gravity. According to an online dictionary, the word ‘gird’ can be understood to mean ‘secure (a garment or sword) on the body with a belt or band’. It is common knowledge that one is more likely to fall if one’s centre of gravity isn’t balanced. In the same manner, our spiritual BELT OF TRUTH is worn to gird the waist of our spiritual being, so that we don’t allow the enemy any opportunity to use deception to cause us to stumble and fall, as we travel along our journey of salvation on the narrow path of life (Matthew 7:14). This is true for ALL Christians, including those who have been walking on this narrow path that leads to life for many years. If we think we are strong, we must be careful that we do not fall from our position (1 Cor 10:12), and this is where we must always ensure that we are truly girded with the BELT OF TRUTH.

How do we do this? By testing the spirit behind every Rhema Word (1 John 4:1-3), discerning all prophecies (1 Thess 5:20-22), and examining them in the light of God’s inerrant Scriptures (2 Timothy 3:16, Acts 17:11). By His grace, we need to do our best to present ourselves to God as workmen who need not be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15). By doing this, the Lord will help us to check the condition of our armour’s belt, for it is the central piece that anchors all other pieces in the spiritual armour of God. Let no deception or lie corrupt your BELT OF TRUTH, as a corrupted spiritual belt is tainted, broken and incomplete, becoming of little, to no use, to the warriors of Christ.

In our daily lives now, many of us may feel tempted to go back to worldly habits and indulge the desires of the flesh. Besides examining prophecies, dreams and visions, the BELT OF TRUTH also has a very practical use in our daily lives. It can help us to recognize the subtle lies of the devil, who is desperately trying very hard to entice us off the narrow path that leads to life in Christ. Satan may whisper into our ears that it is alright for us to go back into the ways of the world for just a little while, even as many of us grow weary in waiting for the Lord to rescue us from the coming wrath of God upon this sinful world. We need to be alert and watchful, so that we don’t buy into the enemy’s lies, and think that light and darkness can have anything in common. The Lord stated emphatically in this message that this cannot be so. Therefore, let us remain sober and alert, for our adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8).

Concerning the BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, the Lord explains to us the connection between faith and righteousness in Him. It is by faith in Jesus’ atonement on the Cross for our sins that we are justified from our sins before the eyes of our holy God, and made right with Him (Romans 5:1). This is what it means to be ‘imputed with the righteousness of Christ’, our Saviour. This phrase can be explained as ‘having been credited with the righteousness of Jesus Christ, through faith in Him and His atonement for our unrighteousness’ (2 Cor 5:21). As a result, our unrighteousness has been substituted with Christ’s righteousness, and the key to this amazing exchange is faith. The apostle Paul also refers to this important piece of spiritual armour as the breastplate of faith and love (1 Thess 5:8).

The link between faith, love, and Christ’s righteousness is best summed up in the famous John 3:16 verse, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (NASB) Scriptures tell us that we love because God first loved us (1 John 4:19), and our Father God demonstrated His love towards us by giving us His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, whilst we were yet sinners (Romans 5:8). Hence, we receive the righteousness of Christ through faith in the love of God and His precious gift to us, i.e. eternal life in Christ Jesus.

This is what it means to put on faith and love as a breastplate, and why it is also called the BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. The thing to remember is that we must obediently put our faith in Christ into action because we love Him, and by doing this continually, our hearts are guarded by the righteousness of Christ, our Saviour. This is how we must activate the BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, and it is something we must consciously do by His grace every day.

In our daily lives, we need to put on this piece of spiritual armour, because without it, we will not be able to stand up against the enemy’s attacks. In physical battles, a warrior will be very vulnerable to fatal attacks if he does not have a breastplate to shield his body from arrows, swords and spears. Likewise, the devil is constantly trying to discourage us in our journey of salvation, by planting fear and disbelief in our hearts. As a result, we become disheartened and lose our faith in God. Moreover, Satan will attempt to make our hearts grow cold, such that our love for the Lord is no longer burning bright and hot.

The absence of faith in the Lord, and a lack of love for God, will deactivate the BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. The result is that believers will stop trusting the Lord, and they will try to walk their own path in life instead. This will invariably take them on to the wide road that leads to destruction (Matt 7:13). If these believers do not repent in time, and turn back to the Lord in faith and love, they will eventually be destroyed by God for their deliberate sin and disobedience. They have gone back to embracing their own unrighteousness through fear and doubts, instead of putting on the righteousness of Christ through faith, love and obedience.

Why does this wide road lead to destruction? It is simply because anything that does not come from faith is sin (Romans 14:23b), and believers who do not fulfil the Lord’s commandment of love (John 13:34) are in danger of disobedience to God (1 John 5:2-3). There can be no righteousness where there is wilful disobedience to God, and where there is no righteousness, there is only death and destruction. As God’s Word tells us, the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), and the unrighteous will meet with destruction (Job 31:3).

Not only so, the enemy loves to accuse us and to condemn us for our past and present sins (Revelation 12:10c), and he achieves this most easily when we do not wear the BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. For there is no longer any condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1), and it is only through the imputed righteousness of Christ in us, that we can stand assured and free of all condemnation.

Therefore, let us not give the enemy any opportunity to destroy the faith and love we have for the Lord Jesus Christ, nor should we allow the devil to steal Christ’s imputed righteousness in our lives through his lies. The best defence we have is to put in place, our BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, and by doing so, God will help us to withstand the wiles and accusations of the serpent. Let us remember that if God is for us, nobody can bring any charge or condemnation against us (Romans 8:33-34), because we stand upon the righteousness of Christ! Brethren, let us claim this biblical truth by faith in Jesus Christ, our beloved Saviour!

Your fellow warrior-in-Christ,
Mark Chen