“For this reason, take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand your ground on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand. Stand firm therefore, by fastening the belt of truth around your waist, by putting on the breastplate of righteousness, by fitting your feet with the preparation that comes from the good news of peace, and in all of this, by taking up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
Ephesians 6:13-17
This morning I read Ephesians 6:10-20. I reflected on how many in the church, perhaps many reading this post, the only piece of "the full armor of God" they put on with any consistency is the "Helmet of salvation" and then go about their life and into battle naked from the neck down. I also reflected on how you can only wear one suit of armor. In order to put on the armor of God, we must remove our personal armor of pride, jealousy, self-reliance, materialism, complacent, and others things we attach to us and clothe ourselves with. In order to put on the full armor of God, we must first by faith surrender ourselves to God, and stand before Him naked, and allow Him to then equips us with his armor. As I read over Ephesians again, the word "breastplate" reminded me of of one of my favorite, ancient prayers, St. Patrick's Breastplate Prayer. Though recent scholars lean towards the author of this prayer being an anonymous source, I still call it by its traditional name.
My family, I pray you read this prayer over yourself this morning, preferably aloud. I pray you pull it up on your phone and say it again as your prayer at lunch. May it be used by the Holy Spirit to "clothe you in righteousness" at the start an noon of your day, in Jesus’ name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you my friends!
St. Patrick’s Breastplate Prayer