The Breastplate of Righteousness and the Firm Foundation of the Gospel of Peace

In spiritual warfare, we need to put on Christ as the constituents of God’s armour; in particular, we need to put on the breastplate of righteousness to cover our conscience and have the firm foundation of the gospel of peace as our shoes, covering our feet for standing in peace. Amen!

On the one hand, we believers in Christ are members of the Body of Christ to be His corporate expression on the earth.

On the other hand, we are part of the church as the corporate warrior standing one with the Lord for His interests on the earth, dealing with the enemy, and bringing in the kingdom of God.

The corporate warrior can be seen in Ephesians chapter 6, where we are told to put on Christ as the reality of the whole armour of God.

The whole armour of God is not for any individual Christian alone to put on; it is for the whole Body of Christ.

As the Body and in the Body, we need to put on Christ as the whole armour of God. This means that we need to remain in the Body, be one with the Body, and function in the Body, being properly related to the Body so that we may have Christ as the whole armour of God applied to us in the spiritual warfare.

The spiritual warfare today is a necessity because Satan, the enemy of God, fights against God and His interests.

Satan attacks not only humanity in general in order to usurp, ruin, and destroy man, but even more, he attacks the believers in Christ and the church, for he knows that, when the church is built up, the enemy is defeated and uprooted.

May we stand against the stratagems of the devil by putting on Christ as the constituents of God’s armour in the Body.

The first item of the armour of God seen in Ephesians 6 is truth, which girds our loins. In order for us to stand in spiritual warfare, we need to be girded with truth.

This means not only that we need to know the truth and be constituted with the healthy truth in the word of God, but even more, that we need to live Christ. Truth refers to God in Christ as the reality in our daily living.

In other words, being girded with truth is living Christ, for the Christ we live out and express is the truth we live today for God to be expressed through us.

When we exercise our spirit to live in our spirit and express Christ, this becomes the strength for us to face opposition and adverse situations.

In this article, we want to see what it means for us to put on the breastplate of righteousness and have shod our feet with the firm foundation of the gospel of peace.

Put on Christ as the Breastplate of Righteousness to Cover our Conscience

The second part of Ephesians 6:14 says, Having put on the breastplate of righteousness.

We need to put on Christ as the breastplate of righteousness in order to cover our conscience in spiritual warfare (Eph. 6:14b; 1 Cor. 1:39; Jer. 23:6).

The breast signifies our conscience; Satan is our accuser, always accusing us and trying to cause us to feel accused and down.

As we fight against Satan, we need to have a conscience void of offense (Acts 24:16).

As we deal with our conscience before God by confessing anything that the Lord shines on and the conscience senses, we have a good conscience, a conscience without offense.

However, no matter how good we may feel our conscience is, we need to have it covered with the breastplate of righteousness. This means that we are right with God and man.

If we have just a little problem with God or with man, Satan will accuse us, and there will be holes in our conscience through which our faith and boldness can leak out.

Therefore, we need to have the covering of righteousness; we need to take Christ as the breastplate of righteousness to protect us from the enemy’s accusations.

May we learn to deal daily with our conscience by agreeing with the Lord’s light when it exposes any sin, trespass, mistake, and failure; as we confess our sins, the Lord is faithful and righteous to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).

In addition, we need to put on the breastplate of righteousness to cover our conscience in spiritual warfare.

Rev. 12:11 tells us that we overcome the enemy because of the blood of the Lamb. Hallelujah for the blood of the Lamb!

When the blood of the Lamb covers us and we stand on the blood of the Lamb, we overcome the enemy.

Righteousness is in the blood; when God looks at the blood of Christ, He sees us justified and righteous in Christ.

Therefore, as long as we confess our sins, we believe that God has forgiven us and Christ has washed us. If there’s any further condemnation or accusation, we need to stand on the blood of Christ, for this is our righteousness.

We need to put on Christ as the breastplate of righteousness and tell the enemy,

Satan, I overcome you because of the blood of the Lamb! Stand back and go away, accuser, for I have the blood of Christ cleansing me and washing me, and my sins are washed away!

We are defended by the precious blood of Christ, and we have Christ as our breastplate of righteousness!

We need to stand on the truth and declare the truth; we need to stand on the fact that the blood of the Lamb cleanses us and washes us, and we even need to declare this fact to the enemy!

Christ Himself is the righteousness that covers our conscience and that guards us from Satan’s accusations.

We take Him as our righteousness, and we stand in Him, one with Him.

We are under the cleansing of the blood of Christ, and He becomes our righteousness.

May we realise that, whenever we are about to take part in spiritual warfare, we need to take Christ as the breastplate of righteousness to cover us; we hide under His blood.

His blood has overcome the enemy, and His blood has redeemed us and stands in the heavens before God, covering us from any accusations of the enemy.

And if the enemy still accuses us, we need to show him the blood and ask him to look at the blood of the Lamb, which covers us!

On the one hand, we need to have a blood-purified conscience, a conscience void of offense (Heb. 9:14; 10:22; Acts 24:16).

On the other hand, we need to take Christ as the breastplate of righteousness, believing in His blood and not in our mistakes or failures.

We need to respond to Satan’s accusations by telling him that we overcome him not by our perfection and not even by a conscience without offense, but by the blood of the Lamb.

We are defended against Satan’s accusations by the breastplate of righteousness.

Lord Jesus, we take You as the breastplate of righteousness today. We come to You and we allow You to shine on us; we agree with Your light and we confess our sins. Amen, Lord, we confess anything and everything that Your light exposes in us. We confess our sins and we believe that the blood of Christ cleanses us and washes us of every sin. Amen, Lord, we exercise to have a blood-purified conscience today, a conscience void of offense. We stand on Your righteousness today. You are our righteousness. Hallelujah, we overcome the enemy because of the blood of the Lamb! Praise the Lord, even though Satan accuses us, we stand not on our perfection and not even on the conscience void of offense but on the blood of the Lamb! Praise the Lord, the blood of the Lamb covers us, we hide under the blood, and we are covered by Christ as the breastplate of righteousness! Lord, we thank You and we praise You for Your precious blood! Satan, we overcome you because of the blood of the Lamb! Praise the Lord!

Having Shod our Feet with Christ as the Firm Foundation of the Gospel of Peace

Ephesians 6:15 says, Having shod your feet with the firm foundation of the gospel of peace. In spiritual warfare, we need to have a firm footing, a firm foundation. Our feet must be shod with the firm foundation of the gospel of peace.

In order for us to stand in the spiritual battle, we need to have proper shoes. Our firm foundation is the gospel of peace; this is not for walking a way or running a race but for fighting the battle.

For us to fight the battle, we need to put on our feet Christ as the firm foundation of the gospel of peace.

Christ has made peace for us on the cross; He made peace between God and man and between all men, and this peace has become our gospel (Eph. 2:13-17).

The gospel of peace has been established as a firm foundation; this gospel is the readiness with which our feet may be shod. The peace for such a firm foundation is Christ, for Christ is our peace.

Thank the Lord that He came to make peace; He slew the ordinances, tore down the middle wall of partition, and paid the highest price to make peace between us and God and make peace between the Jews and the Gentiles in Him.

Ephesians 2:15-16 tells us that on the cross, Christ accomplished peace so that the Gentile believers can contact the Jewish believers in peace and oneness, and all believers can contact God.

This truly is glad tidings, for peace is our gospel and the gospel is of peace!

Christ has made peace for us on the cross, both with God and with man, and this peace has become our gospel; the gospel of peace has been established as a firm foundation, as a readiness with which our feet may be shod. Praise the Lord!

As we fight the spiritual warfare today, we stand in peace; if we lose the peace between us and God or between us and other believers, we lose the standing to fight.

May we allow the peace of Christ to arbitrate in our hearts, enthroning this peace and allowing it to be the umpire deciding all the disputes within us and among us (Col. 3:15).

May we take Christ as our peace and allow the peace of Christ to solve all disputes and problems in our being and between us in the church life. Peace is our firm foundation; it is a secure footing for our standing.

Our spiritual warfare is a wrestling match; if we have our feet shod with the firm foundation of the gospel of peace, we can withstand any attack of the enemy.

Thank the Lord that He has made peace and He has become our peace. He preached to us the gospel of peace, brought us into peace with God and peace with man, and now Christ as peace arbitrates in our hearts.

May we let the peace of Christ arbitrate in our heart, to which we were called in one Body, and may we be thankful.

When we speak of warfare, we realise that peace is the opposite of war; when we have peace, we don’t have warfare, and when we fight, we don’t have peace.

However, in spiritual warfare, we believers in Christ need to remain in the Body and have our feet shod with the firm foundation of the gospel of peace. We fight the battle in peace and with peace.

If we lose this peace, if we lose our peace with God or our peace with the saints in the Body of Christ, we lose our standing to fight.

May we allow Christ as peace to arbitrate in our hearts and have our feet shod so that we may be able to stand fast against the enemy in spiritual warfare.

When we speak to others, we are in peace with God and with man. When we fight, we remain in peace, for our firm standing is the gospel of peace.

Lord Jesus, we want to shod our feet with the firm foundation of the gospel of peace. Amen, Lord, You are our peace. Thank You for making peace for us on the cross. Hallelujah, Christ made peace between us and God and between us and others! Praise the Lord, Christ became our peace, and this peace is our gospel! Amen, Lord, we want to have our feet shod with Christ as the firm foundation of the gospel of peace today. May the gospel of peace be established in us as a firm foundation, as a readiness with which our feet may be shod. We open to You, Lord, and we allow the peace of Christ to arbitrate in our hearts. May this peace settle all the disputes within us and any quarrels with other saints in the Body. Oh Lord, we fight the spiritual warfare by standing in peace! May we not lose the peace between us and God or between us and other believers! Amen, the peace of Christ is the firm foundation that enables us to stand fast against the enemy! Hallelujah, Christ is our peace!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ed Marks in the message for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 3462-3463, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (2) (2024 December Training), week 24 (msg. 12), The Giver of Gifts and the Constituents of God’s Armor.
• Similar articles on this topic:
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  – Quenching the Flaming Darts of the Enemy, via, Shepherding words.
  – Prayer as the application of the items of God’s armour, a portion from, Life-Study of Ephesians, Chapter 66.
  – Choosing Christ // Choosing Peace Over Anxiety // Fall 2024 // CSOC TX.
  – How Christ Becomes Wisdom to Us from God as Righteousness, Sanctification and Redemption, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
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• Hymns on this topic:
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  – By the blood of Christ the Victor / Counter him who doth accuse; / By the blood for you defending / All the sland’rer’s blame refuse. / By the blood of Christ the Victor / God’s sure faithfulness believe; / Thru the blood of your Redeemer / God’s forgiveness now receive. (Hymns #889 stanzas 2-3)
  – Christ is our peace! Christ is our peace! / We praise Thee, blessed Lord! / Our peace with God, our peace with man / Have fully been restored. (Hymns #1104 chorus)