Priscilla Shirer teaches at the 2018 Passion Conference for TBN’s Praise. Listen in as Priscilla Shirer teaches on the most important piece of the armor of God—the breastplate of righteousness—as she unpacks how to live a life worthy of your calling.
holiness keeps the enemy at bay to where
when he comes looking around for some
people that he can infiltrate some
upsell inside down environments that he
can fester in he can’t find that with me
or with you because we’ve chosen right
side up living aligning ourselves with
the truth of god breastplates in place
securing us against the schemes of the
enemy holiness is your breastplate
[Music]
there’s one other piece of armor i
couldn’t get by without talking to you
about it for a few moments y’all still
awake everybody game
[Applause]
it’s in verse 14.
he says put on a breastplate
called what
righteousness
righteousness
jerry and i live in a fairly rural part
of dallas fort worth
we like it that way close enough to the
city we can get there quick
but it’s quiet and lazy we live on a
little two-lane sleepy road somebody’s
got some horses over there there’s some
cows over there
and one of my closest friends lives
across the street that’s why we like it
because she’s got a pond in the front of
her property
so i’ll get the boys and the two fishing
poles i bought on sale at the local
walmart i have a tackle box too that i
got on sale there because and you know
we need things we need extra hooks
because the boys always lose the hooks
extra bobber thingies you know because
we need extras of those i also have
gloves in the tackle box because you all
know i don’t mind going fishing but i
ain’t going to actually touch no fish
so we walk across the street with
whatever hot dog meat we’ve got left
from the week because you know we’re
professional fishermen so our hot dog
meat is our bait
we walk across the street we stand in
this little cove underneath some trees
and we fish just right there most of the
time just a little sun perch stuff like
that we can catch quick in an hour we
can catch like 10 or 12 fish just a
little quick easy little fishing trip
every now and then though i’m feeling
adventurous
what that means is is that we will get
into my friend’s little row boat they
bought on craigslist it’s metal it’s not
a big deal it’s just a little it’s
seaworthy it can hold us up that’s all
we need
i’ll swim we’ll uh row out into the
middle and we’ll fish from there every
now and then
but i always think twice before i do it
and here’s the reason
because in order to get in it we first
have to turn it over
they leave it upside down as they should
to drain water while nobody’s using it
so i gotta turn it over to get in it and
what i do know for sure
is that when i turn this thing over
something is either going to hop out
from underneath it
someone’s going to waddle out from
underneath it or worst of all oh
something’s going to slither
out from underneath that boat because
the environment under there is moist and
damp and perfect for critters
do you know what i’ve noticed every
single time we turn it over something
comes out and never once have i had to
write a golden sealed invitation and
send it into the brush nearby
to invite the critters to come and join
us at one o’clock today you’re welcome
never once have i had to invite them
because the environment created by the
upside down boat is invitation enough
righteousness
is right side up living that invites the
sunlight of god’s favor and blessing
upon your life
unrighteousness
is upside down behavior that is out of
alignment with the truth of god that
you’ve been sitting underneath for the
last few days it’s behavior that is out
of alignment with the truth of god to
where you don’t have to invite the enemy
and come and make himself at home in
your life you just keep living upside
down
and the environment created by upside
down behavior is invitation enough
listen to me you can pray against the
enemy till you’re blue in the face but
if you and i leave passion and we do not
walk in holiness we do not live in a
lifestyle that is in alignment with the
truth of god we will have wasted our
breath in prayer
paul says somebody’s got to live right
it’s flat out
straight up
holiness
it’s holiness
it’s a word that our our grandmothers
and our grandfathers back in the good
old days when you went to church and you
sat on a wooden pew
it’s before some churches became so
pre-seeker sensitive
i remember y’all i went listen i’m off
track listen i went to a church and they
said we are a pre-secret sensitive
church and so we actually want to sort
of
uh in a way they said dull down the
actual literal name of jesus just so we
can get people in first then we will we
will be more direct later on i said oh
you have invited the wrong person
because there used to be a day in time
where it was just black and white
where there were fewer gray areas and
tolerance yes come as you are but don’t
stay as you are
holiness
brothers and sisters i implore you by
the mercies of god to walk in a manner
worthy of this calling by which you have
been called
that every bit of truth that you have
received this weekend to align your
lifestyle to it
to not determine that you will still dig
your heels into the ground and live
immorally or speak immorally or do the
things habits and lifestyles and choices
and relationships that you know are
outside of alignment with the truth of
god turn the boat right side up
so that you can invite the favor of god
on your life the apostle paul says
righteousness is your breastplate the
roman army in the first century they had
many pieces of armor as you know
but the breastplate would have been one
of the most critical the reason why was
because
it obviously protected the most vital
organ they had their heart
the heart is the lifeline for your
physical well-being all of the blood
flow the vitality the energy that you
need to function in every level of your
life comes from the vitality of your
physical heart what the physical heart
is to the physical life your spiritual
heart is to your spiritual life all of
the vitality the energy that you need to
be who god has created you to be to have
fervency in your prayer life to follow
him with passion and with fire to read
the bible and not just be ink on a page
but you hear his voice speaking to you
to have clear reception between you and
the holy spirit you need a vital
spiritual heart that’s why if i were
your enemy more than all else i’d be
after your heart
because one shot to the spiritual heart
will wipe you out
your spiritual heart is comprised of
four things your mind the way you think
your emotions the way you feel your
ambitions what you purpose to do and
your conscience
your conscience is not the voice of god
but your conscience is like this wiring
that helps this microphone amplify my
voice the the conscience is the
microphone that the holy spirit uses to
help you hear the voice of god
so if i were your enemy i’d be after
your heart because if i could get to
your heart that would mean i would have
automatic access to your mind now i
could tinker with your thinking i’d have
automatic access to your emotions i can
mess with the way you feel and make sure
they’re out of alignment with the truth
of god i can mess with your ambitions to
where what you want to do is totally out
of alignment with what god wants you to
do and more than all else i’d want to
make it sure i have a shot to your heart
so that i can short circuit the wires
between you and the holy spirit
now you can’t even hear god speak to you
because you didn’t have a breastplate on
the apostle paul says holiness is your
breastplate
holiness blocks you from a full frontal
attack of the enemy
holiness keeps the enemy at bay to where
when he comes looking around for some
people that he can infiltrate some
upsell upside down environments that he
can fester in he can’t find that with me
or with you because we’ve chosen right
side up living
aligning ourselves with the truth of god
breath place in place securing us
against the schemes of the enemy
holiness is your breastplate
i came to tell you to live right
i came to tell you not to just have
heard all of this
to go home and live in accordance with
it
be
ye
holy
not by your power not by your might but
by the spirit of god
there is no relationship you’re in that
if it is out of alignment with the truth
of god that the holy spirit himself
won’t help you to sever so that you can
walk in holiness
there is no lifestyle you are living
that is too uh that you’re too wound up
in that you can’t break free from no
matter how you feel
in this moment you can walk in holiness
there is no way you have been speaking
no addiction that you have
no habit that you have been festering in
your life that you have been harboring
in your life that the holy spirit won’t
empower you to break free from so that
you can walk underneath the banner the
favor of holiness in your life be ye
holy y’all listen
listen
back in our grandmama and our
grandparents days
great-grandparents
they wanted to honor god more than they
wanted to impress people
see the problem with instagram and
twitter and social media if there’s a
problem y’all the problem is
we want this
we want to be impressive
and if i’m worried for our generation
it is that
we are impressive
but we don’t have breastplates on
it is that we have the applause of
people and our selfies are perfectly lit
and we have a whole bunch of friends and
a whole bunch of instagram likes and
people are following us and the enemy is
thrilled because we have sacrificed
holiness
on the altar of impressing people
you gotta live for the applause of
heaven
you gotta decide i will not be
politically correct before i will choose
to be holy
i will not be impressive before i will
choose to be holy
i may not be the the person that
everybody wants to be around i may not
be the most impressive but what i will
be is holy because a time is coming
y’all where we are gonna see our savior
face to face
and when we see him he will not ask us
how many instagram followers we had
he will not ask us how many friends
liked our post
he will not want to see the selfies that
we took when we see him face to face
he’s gonna ask us did we do business
with his son jesus christ
and then
and then we’re gonna give an account
and i don’t know about y’all
but i’m looking for
well done
i want a well done
want jesus to look at me and say you did
the thing girl
not because they bought the books they
bought the bible study they saw the
movie no you did the thing because you
honored me
whether with an audience of one or an
audience of 30 000 you honored me
i came to tell you brothers and sisters
walk
with integrity
be
in the dark
who you are in the light
everything that your god has entrusted
to you over these last few days the
enemy does not mind he doesn’t like but
he doesn’t mind that you heard him he
didn’t mind you came here what he minds
is if you leave here and live by what
you heard