Getting the breastplate of righteousness looks a lot like a catch 22 situation. We can’t GET the breastplate of righteousness without putting other’s problems and needs alongside our own worries concerning this life. And, we can’t successfully resist our own worries concerning this life without HAVING the breastplate of righteousness. That is where salvation does its usual work. We already HAVE the breastplate of righteousness; we just have to put it on. We got it when we were saved. Jesus wouldn’t tell us to put it on, if we didn’t have it to put on.

Rom 3:22 (NIV) This righteousness from God COMES THROUGH faith in Jesus Christ to ALL who believe. There is no difference. It isn’t an issue of getting it. It is a matter of us putting it on, keeping it on, developing it into a high quality armament, and using it with supernatural skill through faith in Jesus.

Rom 6:16 (NIV) Don’t you know that when you OFFER yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which LEADS to righteousness?

Obedience to Christ is the process whereby we put on the breastplate of righteousness because it LEADS to righteousness. But, isn’t that what many of us have been trying to do all along? Here we are again. We can’t put the breastplate of righteousness on without being obedient to Christ. And, we can’t be obedient of Christ without having it on. As the disciples allowed themselves to be exposed to Jesus’ ministry, they found themselves growing in their ability to obey. Let’s take a look at the disciples as they went through the process of putting their breastplate of righteousness on.

Luke 5:3-6 (NIV) He (Jesus) got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then He sat down and taught the people from the boat.

When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because You say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.

At first there typically has to be a little resistance from us against what Jesus tells us. We can’t just obey; we find ourselves having to explain things to Him that He already knows. We find ourselves saying things to Him like: “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything.” He already knew they had worked hard all night and hadn’t caught anything.

Sometimes we will explain things to Him like: “Jesus, I have to pay my bills.” When He tells us to do something that we have tried already, we find it necessary to explain it to Him. This is characteristic of a beginning “obeyer” of Jesus. We have to learn that Jesus knows our needs and problems. He is trying to show us how to get them solved. If we obey Him and do what He asks us to do, we will start to experience His provisions and get our breastplate of righteousness on.

When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break: This is when we start learning to do what we are told. As we tell Jesus things He already knows, but, go ahead and obey Him, we EXPERIENCE the results from our obedience. As we experience the results of our obedience, it gives us power to GRADUALLY stop explaining things and just do it.