Text: Philippians 3:3-9
Memory verse:
”Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness,“
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭6‬:‭14‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

The dressing of a war-ready Roman soldier is enough to trigger fear. He puts on a breastplate made up of metal or leather to protect the vital organ of the chest, the heart, and the lungs from the arrows and spears of the enemy. Paul used this imagery to illustrate the spiritual armour. “Stand therefore, … having put on the breastplate of righteousness,“
‭‭(Eph‬ ‭6‬:‭14‬).
The enemy seeks to attack our hearts and our minds with fears, doubts, and negative thoughts. The worst doubt anyone can ever have is about his or her standing with God. Anyone who lives under condemnation is already defeated because such has lost boldness to confront the accuser, that is, the devil (Rom 8:1). Many believers suffer from this spiritual disease. These are people who never leave the cross, the place of defeat to go on to the resurrection, the place of victory. They are always guilt stricken, always confessing the sins that God can’t even remember again. Guilt causes the loss of one’s authority.
There are two types of righteousness. The imputed righteousness, that is, Christ’s righteousness, which God puts on you to make you acceptable (2 Cor 5:21). It is not your own earned righteousness but the righteousness received by faith in Jesus. It is called the gift of righteousness ‭‭(Rom‬ ‭5‬:‭17‬). We can’t go to the battlefield with the breastplate of experience or of self-worth, or else we become casualties.
The greatest weapon we have in warfare is not what we say to the devil but how we live the “Christ life”. Having been clothed in the robes of Christ’s righteousness, we need to practice what this privileged position requires, that is, to live righteously toward God and men in everyday life.
Thus, boasting of Christ imputed righteousness, that is, justification and leaving out imparted righteousness, that is, sanctification will still leave you exposed. We need to walk with the Lord and daily mortify our flesh, through the spirit to become Christlike (Rom 8:13).
Friends, being clothed with the gift of righteousness and then growing in practical righteousness, that is, sanctification, will make you undefeatable. If your conscience is void of offense toward God and man, the devil will have nothing to shoot at. If you bow to God’s will, binding the devil will become cheap.

Prayer points
1. Father, I receive Your grace to live righteously toward God and toward men, in Jesus’ name.
2. I refuse to be found in my own righteousness other than the righteousness, which is by faith, in Jesus’ name.

Today’s declarations
1. Putting on my gift of righteousness and daily living a sanctified life makes me impregnable and unconquerable.
2. Righteousness is a gift that I received and not earned.