“He put on righteousness as a body armor, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and he wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak.” — Isaiah 59:17

Do you ever wish you could just live in a cocoon and be protected from the world for a week or a month or a year but would actually settle for a day? Me too! On the other hand, life also has a tendency to lull us to this state of complacency or comfort which makes us forget that there is a battle raging all around us, an unseen battle. Maybe we are neither cocooned nor complacent but have reached a place of acceptance that the world is a really tough place and our modus operandi has become disengage and survive the day.

Friends, we were made for something more than merely survival and getting from one day to the next. Often for us, it is not the really bigger picture things in the world that drive us to this place of survival. Likely, our survival mode has been created slowly along the way by life taking its toll on us. A broken trust here. A betrayal over there. A loss here. A heartbreak over there. Unexpected disappointments. Unplanned life events. The list could go on and on. These are the situations that slowly stack up the bricks in the walls we build around ourselves. We forget that even in the hard things, we are meant to feel them and to trust that God will use them. Our emotions, good and bad, remind us that we are humans. We feel deeply. We experience life. And death. And happiness. And hurt. Each one of us is faced with a choice in these circumstances–add a brick to the wall or release it to the power and protection of Christ.

In my life, I have inadvertently adopted this mindset: things are going well, but don’t hold your breath because that merely means the next bad thing is about to happen. I didn’t intentionally become this way. My life experiences seem to have followed this track though. And I actually hate it. For me, it means that I never fully appreciate the moments or good things because I am subconsciously expecting what awful thing is sure to follow. When I am expecting the other shoe to drop, I fail to live by faith as a follower of Jesus. The mindset of the world covertly sneaks into how I live my life–as though it is all dependent on me and what I am doing right or doing wrong. As though I am in control of what happens and the outcomes. As if I am responsible for protecting myself and my family from what may come.

Yes, Satan is sly in his methods. And he is methodical, to say the least. His approach and attacks are subtle and delivered in such a way that makes even the most devoted follower of Jesus forget that we are in an unseen battle. Distraction and deflection are the enemy’s arrows to ensure we are not looking when he launches his full-scale attack. Praise God we are not left to our own devices in this war. There is a spiritual battle occurring in the heavenlies and the true enemy we are fighting is against the spiritual forces of darkness in the heavenly places. (See Ephesians 6:12)

How, then, are we to combat an enemy we cannot see? Ephesians 6:13-18 provides the key to our protection and our counter-attack. We are to wear the full armor of God. This armor includes standing firm wearing the belt of truth around our waist. The truth is found in the Word of God, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Himself for He is our truth. Wear righteousness like an armor on our chest. Shod our feet with the gospel of peace. Hold up the shield of faith–believing God extinguishes the fiery arrows the evil one throws at us. Put on the helmet of salvation to protect our thoughts and minds. Our weapon of offense is the Sword of the Spirit–the Word of God. We must know how to use the sword and know the words found therein. We can only know what God’s Word says by spending time in it. Finally, pray. Pray, pray, pray, PRAY. Collectively, these comprise the full armor of God. This is how we battle the enemy. We are to always be on guard–but not guarded in the way of the world. Guarded for battle in the spiritual realm.

Circling back to the armor, there is one piece upon which I want to focus for a minute. The armor of righteousness and the role it plays in our daily lives. The other day, I was reading in the Old Testament book of Isaiah. The more I read that book, the more I cherish its words and the greater meaning they have for me. I came upon the words found in Isaiah 59:17, “He put on righteousness as body armor, and a helmet of salvation on his head.” Immediately, my mind was taken to Ephesians 6 where the apostle Paul instructed the Ephesians (and us) to put on those exact things. The “He” in Isaiah refers to the Lord God clothing Himself in righteousness and salvation. Then Paul tells us to do the same. Mic drop moment, for sure. If God Himself clothes in righteousness as armor, how much more do WE need it?

What is righteousness? It is one of those church-y words whose meaning often gets lost in translation for us. It feels like this impossible standard and hard to grasp its meaning. However, righteousness can be thought of as right living. Let’s put that in the context of body armor. Put on the armor of right living. Doing what we know is right before the Lord. Day in and day out. In the simple things and in the tough things. When we live right before God, then we are within his protective armor. No, this does not mean bad things won’t come or that we will not encounter hard times and suffering. What this means is that our hearts are protected by God regardless of what we are enduring. Right living is armor for the believer. The helmet protects our head. The armor protects our heart. How vital they both are to the protection of the believer! At a minimum, right living before God protects us from the consequences of wrong actions in our lives. Yet it is more than that. Right living keeps us in right relationship with Jesus. When we are walking with Jesus, we exist in the safety of His shield, even when bad things happen.

How should this change the way we live? Righteousness is right living. That simplifies it for us, to some degree. We must never forget that we are in a battle. The enemy knows that he cannot have our souls so his next best tactic is to destroy us and our testimonies. We must live geared for battle wearing the full armor of God. Let us not be complacent but daily choose to wear the helmet of salvation to protect our thoughts and minds and the breastplate of righteousness, right living, to protect our hearts. Stand firm wearing the belt of truth with feet shod with the gospel of peace. Hold up the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit. And pray, friends. Pray! Every day and in every way, choose to wear righteousness, right living, as your armor.