Truth and Righteousness

                       Hello and welcome to My Little House of Prayer. I am your host Dayla Smith. I am so very glad that you could join me today. So far, we have discussed Ephesians 6:10-13 and 18 in the series on 

Ephesians 6:10-18. Verses 10-11, discussed how vitally important our need is for the full armor of God. That when we join this Christian walk, we are in a battle that belongs to the Lord. Matthew 11:12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. In verse 12, we learned what and where the battle lies. That we need a personal relationship with the Lord  Jesus Christ of Nazareth. We need to know to whom we are and to whom we belong. 2 Chronicles 20:15-17

15 And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's.16 To morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel.17 Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you.Then, in verse 13, we learned about our need to endure to the end. That we are to totally trust in Him who is able to save to the utmost. That after we have done all we know to do, we are to put our trust in Him. Exodus 14:13-14  13 And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.14 The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

Matthew 24:1-15 24 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) This sounds like what is going on in the world today, doesn’t it? Last week, because of a question, we jumped to verse 18 and learned about leading a prayerful life verse 18 of chapter 6 in Ephesians, our desperate need to read the word of God on a daily basis and how to read it Matthew 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God., and our need for living a fasted lifestyle and how, according to Isaiah 58. Now we are discussing Ephesians 6:14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness. But before we get into this, I want to take time to testify of His almighty greatness!!!!!

                   For those of you who have heard me talk about the warfare I have been in that is on a personal level, the fight is to stop the message. And, yes there is a Jezebel Spirit at work. But, not from the direction that some have heard. My dad raised me up with this saying, “Believe none of what you hear and half what you see.” My heavenly Father taught me not to listen to gossip. Especially if the person is not there to defend themselves. When the person is not there to defend themselves, it is gossip, according to Romans 14:17-19  17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.18 For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men.19 Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.

           Last Week, I was working in my yard, talking to Jesus Christ of Nazareth. As I was talking to Him, I was asking Him about the question of the Jezebel spirit that has been one area of warfare. That is when He began to talk about how we are snared by the words of our lips according to Proverbs 6:1-4  My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger,2 Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.3 Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend.4 Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids.

           The incredible part about this revelation is that same night my Pastor said the same exact thing! How powerful is that! And, he was teaching about Ahab, Jezebel, and Elijah. He taught on 1 Kings chapter 18. How powerful is this?! I thank God for confirmation.

                     It was so powerful. Another testimony. This is to help my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. My pastor felt it was personal, but yet led to share it with the church. He went into prayer as he usually did. Praying for the brethren. As he was praying he said, “in the name of Jesus.” That’s when the Lord spoke up and said, “That’s not right.” 

Pastor: Huh. In the name of Jesus Christ. 

The Lord: That’s not my name.

                So, my pastor went on a word study, and realized that in the Lord’s day they did not go by surnames. In the Lord’s day it was Jesus of Nazareth. But, then you finished with His title. Christ. So then the Lord told Him that when you call on His name it goes like this. Jesus of Nazareth the Christ. Since he shared this and I have applied it to my prayer time, miracles have been happening. This is not a formula.

 You just have to use His whole name, because even in His day, there were so many Jesus’ and the enemy is so legalistic that you could be talking to any Jesus.  Remember this also, miracles are for the lost. They are to speak to the lost. 

               Now, on to the message at hand. Ephesians 6:14. Our loins speak of the procreative power the Lord has given us. There is no greater procreative power the Lord has given us than that of birthing lost souls in the spirit realm.  And, He says to have it girt about with truth. Pontius Pilate asked the question the world is asking even today. “What is truth?” According to John 18:38.

                        In the Webster’s dictionary, girt means moored so taught by 2 cables as not to swing to the wind or tide. Gird means to encircle or fasten with a belt, to surround, to prepare oneself for action. So, we are to prepare ourselves for action by surrounding ourselves with the belt of truth, so that we are not able to sway with the wind or tide. These scriptures come to mind. John 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

John 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

James 1:1-8  1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

                  So, temptations will come. Why? To try our faith. But, if we take action by having our loins girt about with Truth (Jesus Christ of Nazareth), we have His truth to keep us stable and focused. The belt is 2 cords. According to Matthew 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. and

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12  9 Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.10 For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.11 Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?12 And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken. So in His wonderful mighty name, we are prepared to fight. In His name we are surrounded in His truth. His Name. And, His truth will keep us stable. When the enemy comes with temptation and lies, you will find in His truth (the word of God) a way of escape. 1 Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

               Next, we are to put on the breastplate of righteousness. We are to protect our hearts. To guard and keep it in the paths of righteousness. Proverbs 4 :23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.24 Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.25 Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.26 Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.27 Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil. Why? Because  of Jeremiah 17:9-10  9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?10 I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

                 You see, our heart controls what comes out of our mouths. This is why I was led to go on a no speaking fast. I didn’t have control over what came out of my mouth. My heart needed to come in line with the word of God. So, for three days my food was the word of God. I prayed. I could not speak. When it was important I could write what I had to say down. When you have to write and not speak, you take more thought in what you are about to speak. Hahahaha.   Matthew 12: 34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.36 But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.

                      Now, I see why I gave that testimony. Remember, the enemy is always trying to get us to fight him on his terms and on his turf. Why? Because we are no match for him in the arm of our flesh. Remember, our flesh is under the curse of this world due to sin. 1 Corinthians 15:50-55  50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

              We have to allow His Word to mold and change us until the day of His glorious coming. We have to gird our loins with His truth. The Name of the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth. We have to protect our hearts with His Righteousness by surrounding with the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth. By applying the Word of God in our daily walk with the Lord. By allowing the Word of God to change our choice making decisions. 

            So, how do we put on the breastplate of righteousness? By putting on Jesus Christ of Nazareth. How do we protect our hearts, Through his blood sacrifice and reading the Word of God. That is our road map Home. Psalm 37:23  23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delighteth in his way. How does the Lord order our steps? Through His precious Word. The Bible. Psalm 119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

I depend on His beautiful Word to continue to mold and change me. And boy, has it ever. I’ve not arrived at where I want to be, eternally united with my Lord and King. But, through the power of His awesome love letter, the bible and my relationship with Him through the power of His precious Holy Spirit, I’m not who I used to be. That old man is definitely dead.

                So after hearing all of this, If you do not know the Lord Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. Let me introduce you to Him. It is real simple. First you must acknowledge that you are a sinner in need of a savior. Ask Him for His forgiveness for all of your sins and call them out to Him. Thank Him for His forgiveness. Then, forgive those who have sinned or transgressed against you. Then, repent. Repent means to change your mind concerning sinful habits. Change your choice making. Let Him influence your choice making decisions as you get in His Holy Word. Ask Him to be Lord over your life. I want to pray this prayer with you. But, this is just another outline. The real work begins after I pray with you. 

                    Lord Jesus, I confess my sins and ask for your forgiveness. Please come into my heart as my Lord and Savior. Take complete control of my life and help me to walk in Your footsteps daily by the power of the Holy Spirit. Thank you Lord for saving me and for answering my prayer. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

               I want to welcome you to the family of God. I am so excited over your decision to take up the cross of Christ and follow Him. Please let me know of your decision so that I can pray for you. Also, let me know of any prayer requests you may have by emailing me at my1littleafmp@aol.com I want to pray with you. Feel free to follow, share and like the blog (hopundertheblood.blogspot.com), the bible study on facebook (My Little House of Prayer), and/or the podcast on podbean (Dayla Smith/ My Little House of Prayer). You can also tune in, follow, like and share the podcast on iheart radio and/or fm player (My Little House of Prayer). 

             I am so glad that you chose to join me at My Little House of Prayer. Please be sure to join me next week as we study Ephesians 6:10-18.