The House of the Righteous: Part 2

Established in Righteousness

In the last letter, we talked about the house of the righteous and how we ARE the righteousness of God in Jesus; and we discussed how having this truth established within us elevates our marriages and homes to a greater level. After being saved for almost 35 years, righteousness (being right with God) is still a most exciting topic that stirs thankfulness, love, and honor for God in my heart! Jesus, the final once and for all sacrifice for all our sin so we can be free from sin, has given us all we need to live a victorious life in God! Thank You, Lord!

We touched on the righteousness we have in Jesus in Part One and what our lives look like with righteousness as our foundation for our living in God. Having a revelation of His righteousness in you is life-changing! I encourage you to go back and read Part One if you haven’t already. When we have a revelation that we are right before God—clean, made holy, innocent and free—we have power over sin and power to live for Him freely.

But do you know, so many Christian marriages and families are not established in this righteousness of God in Christ? So many of these homes live and function by rules, by law, by rote, by guilt trips, by tradition, by manipulation, by condemnation; or others live and function out of church, without honor for God, and without a love for His Word, which is THE foundation for our righteousness. Both of these sides that are caused by a lack of being established in righteousness are resulting in homes functioning below God’s ordained way of blessing for each of our families. Unless our homes are established in righteousness, we are missing out on the wonderful effects of righteousness.

Being established in righteousness has an effect. What is that effect?

The work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever. My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation and in secure dwellings and in quiet resting places… (Isaiah 32:17-18, MEV)

The effect of righteousness is peaceful rest, peace and quiet—in our homes, in our hearts and minds, in our marriages.

This righteousness is a free gift, but it must be established and built within us so we can experience it to the full extent. What does it mean to “establish” righteousness within us? Don’t we already have it as a born-again believer? Yes, we do. But if we don’t believe it and walk in it, it isn’t established in us. TO establish something means you form it within you, you build it inside of you, you plant it, you lay the foundations of it deep on the inside.

As we build the righteousness of God within our hearts and minds, we cast down every thought of the enemy that comes against that righteousness and we teach our children to do the same. The result is to experience the peace and quiet, the confident assurance of faith, and the security and rest that Jesus paid so great a price for His people to experience in their homes.

Knowing you are righteous because Jesus “made” you righteous makes you secure and solid in your relationships. Being established in the position as “the righteousness of God in Christ” is something that not only affects how you are towards God, but it also affects how you are towards others. If you are living sin-minded and in condemnation, it keeps you from freely and confidently coming to God boldly. In that state, you will also approach and respond to others around you in the same way—in insecurity and in fear. However, if you are living from the position as “the righteousness of God in Christ,” you are living in love and confidence towards God and others, too. In a household like this, children can come to their parents freely and confidently, no matter how badly they messed up, and receive help and grace. In a household that knows they are the righteousness of God in Christ, husband and wife can come to each other easily and ask for forgiveness and mercy. They will remain close and pure between each other! This is a wonderful way to live.  

I’ve seen this in my own family. As we’ve grown more and more in who we are in Christ, the way we are with each other is greatly elevated. We’ve grown closer and stayed close! It’s the enemy who wants to divide and break apart. He does it by keeping you in mind of all the ways you aren’t quite getting it right and highlighting to you the ways others aren’t getting it right, either.

God is the One Who wants us brought near. It’s the righteousness of God that draws us close and keeps us close. It’s the righteousness of God that unites and brings us together—to God and to each other.

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation… (Ephesians 2:13-14, NKJV)

Let’s look again today at the Scripture passage that reveals what our marriages and families look like when we have a strong foundation of righteousness established within our households:

All your children will be taught by the Lord, and your children will have unlimited peace. You will be established in righteousness. You will be far from oppression, so you will not be afraid. You will be far from destruction, so it won't come near you. If anyone attacks you, it will not be My doing. Whoever attacks you will be defeated by you. (Isaiah 54:13-15, GW)

This passage gives us a great picture of the effects of having a settled foundation of righteousness that comes because of our families being taught in righteousness. Today, let’s delve a little deeper into each of these points.

1. Unlimited Peace – When the righteousness of God in Jesus is taught and established in our homes, verse 13 says our children (including our marriages) have UNLIMITED peace. One version says, "great peace." When your children know who they are in Jesus, they can rest. They aren't plagued with discouragement, shame, condemnation, or the never-ending cycle of the need to perform. They can live in unlimited peace because they know and believe who they are in Jesus and what they can do IN HIM. When we are built/established in righteousness, we'll treat our spouses peacefully, too! When we live from the position that we “are” righteous, rather than trying to “get” righteous, we have rest for our souls.

2. No Fear – With righteousness as the strong foundation in our homes, verse 14 says we can live unafraid and free from torment. Being aware of what you aren't, of your failures and weaknesses, of what you can't do, of where you are coming up short—this kind of awareness is discounting what Jesus has done for you. This way of thinking is tormenting, and it is the way of the enemy! It's not what we want for our children. The passage says that when we are established in righteousness, we will be far from oppression and will not be afraid. We will live at ease and free from anxiety! The enemy will still come to lie, but his lies amount to nothing in our lives and our children's lives when we have been established in the truth! One version of verse 14 says when we are built in righteousness, we will be FAR from trouble. Depression, fear, a troubled mind—these things can't touch us when we are IN righteousness.

We've repeatedly seen how mental difficulties Christians deal with will come back to unbelief in God's love for them, a lack of receiving His love for them, and a failure to respond in faith based on His love for them. If righteousness is a free gift given by the Father through Jesus' sacrifice, then this gift must be received on the basis of our faith. Otherwise, righteousness will never be enjoyed. Believing that Jesus has made us righteous in Him and living like it's true reveals the breadth the Word of righteousness has taken hold of our lives today in Christ. If we think righteously, we will act righteously. If we believe we are loved, we will act and respond like we're loved!

For as he thinketh in his soul, so is he. (Proverbs 23:7, DBY)

Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him, and he in God. And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, God's love is perfected in us so that we may have boldness on the Day of Judgment because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear because fear has to do with punishment. Whoever fears is not perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us. (1 John 4:15-19, MEV)

The next point…

3. No Destruction – When we are IN righteousness, verse 14 reveals that the enemy can't touch us. Oh, he'll try, but every time he comes with his lies, thoughts, temptations, symptoms, and problems – I say out loud, "NO DEVIL, I AM the righteousness of God, spirit, soul, and body. Every part of my life! You can't touch me, you can't touch my family, your junk can't stay here, in Jesus' Name!" And I give him the boot!

All of these things the enemy comes to us with are against the righteousness of God; they are against who we are IN HIM; they are against the Blood of Jesus; they are against our FAITH and believing in HIM.

But listen to this next verse that reveals to us what it looks like when we stay in Jesus:

We know that those who have been born from God don't go on sinning. Rather, the Son of God protects them, and the evil one can't harm them. (1 John 5:18, GW)

The more we operate within the position as righteousness of God in Christ, the further away we keep the enemy.

This is powerful, Folks! This is really powerful…

Okay, next…

4. Confidence – When the enemy comes with his attacks, verse 15 says that we can know FOR SURE it is not an attack from the Lord because we are righteous. Again, the verse says when we are established/built on righteousness, and when the attack from the enemy comes, we are told that it is NOT from the Lord. It is NOT an attack from God. 

When a problem comes against you, the enemy immediately comes to remind you of all the things you didn’t do correctly. That’s the enemy who does that. NOT God. So, the enemy comes to point out everything you did wrong so he can undermine your confidence. He wants to get you into condemnation to keep you from operating in faith from your position in God. That is one of his main schemes is to get you feeling condemned so that you won’t have confidence (faith) towards God.

You see, many times, Christians have thought, "Well, I deserve this because I messed up," or "I don't deserve goodness in my life because what good things have I done?" or "This is God teaching me something; this is God correcting me,” and so they give into the junk the enemy is bringing to them when they should be resisting him and sending him packing. All those wrong thoughts, and thoughts like them, are not based on righteousness—therefore, they are CLEARLY from the enemy. We must get this! The Bible says our righteousness (who we are in and of ourselves and what we can do in and of ourselves) is like filthy rags. We need to remember: Walking as God’s righteousness is not about what we do right anyway, and it never will be! Thank God, it's based on what Jesus did for us! Thank God our confidence is in what HE did, in HIS BLOOD, in HIS righteousness.

When you are seated in the righteousness of Jesus, in the hand of your Father, you can sit there confidently and wave your hands at that ugly ole devil when he comes to tell you what you aren't: "Yea, devil, I know I messed up. But guess what? I confessed it to my Jesus, and I'm clean. I'm righteous; I'm in Him." And as long as you stay right there, in that mindset, in that place of faith and believing in the righteousness of God, no enemy can take you out of your Father's hands. In righteousness, the struggle is gone in life. Glory to God.

My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. (John 10:29, NKJV)

And for the final point….

5. Victory every time! The righteous defeat every attack from the enemy! Verse 15 says that as we establish within ourselves and within our children that we are the righteousness of God, we will defeat every attack! Every single one! We overcome all struggles, failures, and weaknesses.

A righteous person will always be remembered. He is not afraid of bad news. His heart remains secure, full of confidence in the Lord. His heart is steady, and he is not afraid. In the end, he will look triumphantly at his enemies. (Psalm 112:6-8, GW)

We are told the house of the righteous is full of joy! Yes! The sound of rejoicing and victory is heard in the tents of the righteous! I like how the CSB version describes it:

There are shouts of joy and victory in the tents of the righteous: "The Lord's right hand performs valiantly! (Psalm 118:15)

Let's look at it in a couple more translations:

Listen to the happy shouts of God's people in their tents! They have won against their enemies, because the Lord has power to do great things. (Easy English Bible)

You can hear the victory celebration in the homes of those who live right. The Lord has shown his great power again! (ERV)

Households who belong to Jesus with a strong foundation of righteousness are full of life and victory because they live for the One Who has all the mighty power, and He shows His mighty, glorious power in their lives every day! Why are they shouting glad songs? Because, yet again, the Lord has given them the victory!

And further, we are told the house of the righteous has no lack! Abundance belongs to the house of the righteous. They have plenty for themselves and plenty for others around them! Somebody needs to hear that! Ha!

Great wealth is in the house of the righteous… (Proverbs 15:6, NASB95)

Their houses will be full of wealth and riches, and their goodness [righteousness] will continue [endure; stand] forever. They give freely [distribute/scatter, they give] to the poor [needy]. (Psalm 112:3 &9, EXB)

And finally, the Bible says that the BLESSING—God’s blessing—rests on the house of the righteous. WOOOO!!

The curse of the Lord is on the house of the wicked, But He blesses the dwelling of the righteous. (Proverbs 3:33, NASB95)

Friends, have I convinced you enough to become established in righteousness? To let it be formed and planted within you, and to teach it to your children?

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching…and for training in righteousness… (2 Timothy 3:16, ESV)

Praise God! Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly!

We love you all!



Matt and Jess