God is strong, and He wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no afternoon athletic contest that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.
“Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You’ll need them throughout your life. God’s Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out.”
Ephesians 6:10-18 MSG
“The world is unprincipled. It’s dog-eat-dog out there! The world doesn’t fight fair. But we don’t live or fight our battles that way—never have and never will. The tools of our trade aren’t for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture. We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ. Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity.”
2 Corinthians 10:3-6 MSG
Have you heard or used the term: We pray from victory? I believe that’s the most powerful statement ever made. As believers in Jesus Christ, we do pray and do warfare from a place of victory. Prayer is the greatest weapon for us who believe. Take for example Jehoshaphat’s prayer when faced with an impossible situation. We’ve covered it in an earlier message but it’s worth the read again. 2 Chronicles 20. Remember faith comes by hearing not having heard, so go re-read it.
Every battle begins in the spirit before it materializes in the natural. Most everything began as a thought. This is why the Word encourages us to renew our minds. Romans 12:2. One of the fiercest battles ever fought is on the battleground of the mind. This is why we understand by the scriptures above that the weapons of our warfare are not natural but spiritual. Satan is a spirit being. You can see his handiwork through people, but it’s all being waged on a spiritual front. We win or lose in and by the spirit. Depending on what weapons we’re fighting with.
In Ephesians 6 we are encouraged to put on the whole armor of God. In order to come out victorious, we need all of our spiritual armor. An ill equipped soldier is a dead soldier. Every piece of gear is essential for winning. If in the natural this holds true, how much more prepared does the body of Christ needs to be? Because we’re wrestling against spiritual wickedness, we cannot fight with natural weapons. We’re told to PUT ON all our gear. They won’t jump on us, no one can put them on for us, WE have to take the initiative to daily dress for warfare.
The armor is comprised of these gears. The Belt of Truth, The Breastplate of Righteousness, Shoes of Peace, The Shield of Faith, The Helmet of Salvation and The Sword of the Spirit. Use prayer as your inspector. Prayer keeps everything in place. Pray from victory the Word of God. There’s no way we will loose following the instructions. Fully dressed, fully equipped and prayed up, brings Jehovah on the scene. Every spiritual battle ever won, has been won through prayer in lives that are clothed with the armor of God.
In 2 Corinthians 10 we’re reminded that our battle or wrestling is not against flesh and blood, which basically means, each other. We’re not supposed to be at war with each other! Satan wins every time we make our brothers and sisters our enemy. If we’d recognize that he’s behind the hate, rage, jealousy, and strife, we would put our energies in defeating him and not each other. Spiritual wickedness in high places is what we’re witnessing today. Biting and devouring each other, class warfare and the likes is devilish and has no place in the Kingdom of God. The weapons we use are supposed to destroy and demolish all that. The scriptures are very clear. We are not at war, shouldn’t be at war with each other. I’ll repeat myself. If our hearts are not changed through faith in Jesus Christ, we’ll continue to use natural weapons to fight a spiritual battle, and we will all lose the war. That’s Satan’s plan!
So how do we fight? And with what do we fight? We fight spiritual battles with spiritual weapons. We need first of all to know our enemy and he’s not your neighbor or coworker. He’s Satan, the rebellious fallen angel. We disarm him the same way Jesus did, with the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. We make sure that we’re not engaging him in the flesh but are dressed daily in the armor of God. Know the Truth, it keeps our spiritual pants up. Protect your heart and emotions with the Breastplate of right living and right standing with God, be sure your shoes are the right fit. They can’t be loose or tight this will cause agitation and you won’t be at peace when you bring the gospel. Avoid arguments about the truth you know by lifting up the shield of faith, Satan wants you to let your shield down by being distracted. Protect your mind from agitation by putting on the helmet of salvation, meditating daily on the Word of God. Check, check and check again. Make sure all your gear is in place. We win when we’re prepared. I said in one of our Bible studies that the time to prepare is not when you’re in the fire or lions den. The time to prepare is now, before the test.
Study the real so you’ll identify the counterfeit. Know the Word through use. Know Your God through experience. Panic prayers are a sign that you have not been praying. Read David’s prayers, Nehemiah’s prayer, Jehoshaphat’s prayer, the Apostles prayers, Daniel’s prayers and yes Jesus’ prayers. These all were prayed from a place of victory. Facing difficulties but understanding the reality that with Jehovah on their side victory is the outcome. When we stop focusing on flesh and blood, we’ll see who the real enemy is. Don’t become entangled with the old yoke of our lives before Christ. Wars will cease, racism will cease, hate will cease, division and strife will cease, when we realize that our only hope for lasting peace is found in one Name and one person. JESUS CHRIST, the Son of the living God! Church of God, we cannot return to our old mindsets when dealing with world affairs. We must always respond from our new life. God’s perspective. We don’t mix the profane with the Holy. New wine, old wineskin, we all lose. Let’s show the world how it’s done! Show them how we fight our battles.
We fight from victory because in Christ Jesus alone we win. Father how blessed we are to know that in the finished work of Jesus we are more than conquerors. We endeavor to live at peace with each other as we embrace Your Truth that we wrestle not against flesh and blood. Our enemy is already defeated. As we put on Your armor each day we overcome the flesh. Thank you for showing us how to be winners not through competition with each other but by bringing the gospel of peace. In Jesus Name we pray. Amen
“Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you.”
Galatians 5:1 MSG
Written by permission of the Holy Spirit
W. Tennant