PHASE 6: BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS - I CAN MAKE MY FEELINGS AND THOUGHTS OBEY GOD
READ ACTS 16
We’ve all been in situations where things just don’t go our way. There are times when, regardless of what we do or how much effort we put in, things don’t seem to go in our favor. To top it off, we get wrongly accused, people judge us, blame us & then try to make us out to be something or someone we’re not. This can be so hurtful & frustrating, but what do we do? Is God really in control in the mist of all the chaos? Of course he is. In fact, God sent Paul & Silas to a place where he knew that they would be mistreated & imprisoned. We know Paul wasn’t happy about this treatment, he was a Roman citizen after all. At the very least it was frustrating & irritating & unarguably a little scary. All of which are feelings, instead of acting mad, sad or scared, they chose to sing praises to the most high God. They sang until the earth shook & the chains fell off! They made their feelings & thoughts obey God & they created a place for God to dwell because God inhabits our praise, Psalm 22:3. What would have happened if they fought, argued & cried out in fear? The other prisoners were listening to them just like others are watching you & how you act when times get hard. Do you think the jailer & his entire family would have given their lives to Christ? Putting on our breastplate of righteousness is not just for the obvious sins like greed, lust, lying etc; in order to secure our breastplate firmly in place, we must make every feeling & thought obey God, lining our actions up with God’s word regardless of how we feel or the circumstances. When we start taking every feeling & thought captive, making them obey God, the earth moves & chains come off & people start believing & accepting Christ & that’s what it’s all about! WEAPONS ASSIGNME