Pastor Bell's Words To Live By

The next piece of the armour we are encouraged to put on by the apostle is the breastplate of righteousness. Now if the belt of truth hold in all the entrails that try to push and pop out, then the breastplate is there to protect the heart from being damaged. A damaged heart can lead to all sorts of complications and eventually cardiac arrest. As we dress ourselves for the battle, we are encouraged to enter the fray with the right motives and attitude. Therefore the state of our heart is of vital importance. Isaiah reminds us that if we try to work for and do what God has called us to do in our own strength then we will fail since our righteousness is like filthy rages when exposed to the Shekinah glory of the Lord (Isaiah 64:6).

It is from the heart that the issues of life flow.  Jesus reminds us that it is from ‘the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks’ (Luke 6:45), so don’t get hung up over the food that you eat like the Pharisees did, once you are committed to him he is mandated to protect you. Another reason that the heart needs protection is that since Adam disobeyed God and plunged his descendants into sin, all of us have the innate propensity to sin; that is, rebellion and disobedience is our default position. And so another prophet, Jeremiah says this: The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah: 17:9).

Although we now know that when the ancient prophets spoke about the heart they did not actually mean the cardio-vascular organ tat pumps blood around our bodies, we are aware that they were talking about the very centre of our being. That part of us that connects us to the eternal spirit and dictates how we behave. We now call this our conscience and once that is transformed by the washing of the blood of Jesus by faith, our consciences are pure again and we become like new born individuals. Technically we become conscientised, so our actions are in line with what we say and what we believe. So today put on the breastplate of righteousness and protect your ‘heart’ for it is from your heart that everything that you believe in flows! Read Luke 6:43-49.