ON THE VANGUARD

PIECES OF ARMOR
Stand firm, then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place
Eph 6:14

In the Strong’s, this word truth, Aletheia, is defined as reality, sincerity, accuracy, integrity, and truthfulness. Just like a belt one would wear to keep his pants up, so without this belt one’s armor will not stay up. Our belt is our best defense against the deception the enemy will throw at us. Do not forget, the devil is the father of lies (Jn 8:44), therefore his nature is to twist and manipulate the truth just enough that we would believe him. But let us not also forget that Jesus Christ is the truth (Jn 14:6), and walking in Him deflects the lies the enemy attempts to hurl at us constantly.
I remember back when I was in high school that I wanted desperately to tell someone of my already growing addiction to pornography. After service one Wednesday night, I approached my youth minister and began to share with him the struggle I was dealing with. He counseled me, prayed with me, encouraged me that God heard my prayer and had forgiven me, and then told me that when he asked in the future, “How are you?”, it meant how am I doing with overcoming this lust I was drawn to. That following Sunday he kept his word in asking, and I honesty told him I was great. But as the weeks passed and he continued to ask, I did not continue to answer honestly. Instead, out of the fear of being labeled a failure, I would lie. I have learned since then that it was the devil who lied to me about being a failure that kept me from being honest and continuing to receive my freedom. As a result, I battled this same addiction for years to follow.
The belt of truth is given as the first piece of our armor because unless we are standing on truth, we will only believe the lies. Notice, when God used Gideon, He first had to rid the thoughts of being the least in his family and show Gideon the truth before he was able to be used so mightily (Jud 6:15-16). There is no point to the helmet or breastplate if the devil is already working on us and bending what we know is accurate. When thoughts come to us that are not in line with God’s word, let us throw them down and stand solid on truth.
The breastplate is vital in that it protects our heart and our vitals. This righteousness is not of our own, but a righteousness that comes from being in Christ (I Cor 1:30). The Greek word here is Dikaiosune, meaning the quality of being right. Who among us is right? We are nothing more than sinners under God’s grace. By wearing the breastplate of righteousness, we are protected by the accuser. Jack Hayford writes, “God declares the believer righteous, in the sense of acquitting him, and imparts righteousness to him.”
When Christ died in our place on the cross, we became the righteousness of Christ (II Cor 5:21). We are urged to live right. However, our human nature and free will pave access to sin. The Bible tells that when we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (I Jn 1:9). This act of forgiveness, of making a turn in the right direction, allows us to come again into right standing with God under the umbrella of His righteousness. Let us stand strong with this breastplate in place.

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Hayford, Jack, Kingdom Warfare: Strategies for Victory in the Invisible War, (Nelson Impact, 2004), p 51