Dealing with Spiritual Conflict (Part 2)

Text:

Ephesians 6:10–18 KJV

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

Hear the word of the Lord coming from Apostle Paul to the church and understand what he is saying.

Be strong in the Lord. Can’t be strong in yourself, strong in your own logic and abilities, strong in your will power, because all those will fail. But when you are in Jesus and Jesus is in you......you can be victorious. And victory comes only through, by, and in Jesus. There is victory in Jesus.

You need to understand that your strength doesn’t come from you.....I’m talking to the believers here. We have learned, or we are coming to an understanding that I strength lies not in our own abilities, but in the abilities that God has. Everything that I’m able to do, is by the power of God and if God doesn’t strengthen me, if God doesn’t help me, I will fail miserably. Secondly we need to understand that God has power. Do you understand the significance of the power of God? Satan and his gang of demons cannot measure up to the power of God! No principality, no evil thing, no wicked device, no weapon, no ruler, can stand agains the power of God. Therefore the only way to win against the strategies of the devil is to “be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might”. This if the prerequisite.

When I enlisted in the Navy, the first thing they did was drilled us to get our strength up. I mean we PT’d. Push-up to build chest muscles, Situps, jumping-jacks to build endurance, 8 count-body builders, 6 inches, because when you serve in any branch of the military there are strength standards that you must come up to. Otherwise you won’t survive the fleet, you won’t survive out in the field, or wherever you are serving. You won’t survive if you don’t have strength in the Lord, if you don’t discipline yourself or rather.....SUBMIT TO THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD!!!

Paul then says:

Put on the whole armour of God. Why? ANS: That ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

You need to stand against, the word stand in the greek means to oppose, to resist, STAND OUT AGAINST. Because he will try to get you to act out of the will of God and you need to STAND OUT AGAINST. He may use your friends to try to attack you......and you can’t go with the in-crowd (Ramsey Lewis Song), you need to STAND OUT! Same can be said of co-workers, family, we have to stand-out.

We need to oppose, resist, and standout against the trickery of the devil. Because he is a deceiver. He specializes in deception and lies. And the only way really to combat against a lie is the? ANS: TRUTH

Watch this:

John 17:17 KJV

Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

That’s why the devil will fight you when God’s word will go forth. That’s why he will suggest to you not to pickup your Bible.

He’s not scared of you shouting, speaking in tongues, he’s not even afraid of when you rebuking Him. But when you use the WORD!!!! FOR THE WORD IS QUICK, The WORD IS SHARPER THAN ANY TWO-EDGED SWORD, PIERCING EVEN DIVIDING ASUNDER OF SOUL AND SPIRIT AND OF THE JOINTS AND MARROW, AND IS A DISCERNER OF THOUGHTS AND INTENTS OF THE HEART.

The word will expose the devil every-time. The word will convict the hearts and minds of those who will hear it. That’s why street preachers get attacked like they do.....because Satan doesn’t want the word to get out.

We need to understand that we are fighting against unseen things. We see people, we see things materializing, but there is a source behind all of this wickedness, Paul said our enemies are not flesh and blood enemies.

SO WATCH THIS.....YOU MIGHT NOT BE READY FOR THIS ONE......BOUT TO BOP YOU IN THE HEAD WITH WHAT I’M GETTING READY TO SAY:

THE WITCH YOU SAW IN THE GROCERY STORE REALLY ISN’T YOUR ENEMY.

THE GUY YOU SAW WITH THE 666 SHIRT ON, WITH THE SATANIC PENTAGRAM REALLY AIN’T YOUR ENEMY. IT IS THE PRINCIPALITY BEHIND THOSE INDIVIDUALS WHO IS THE ENEMY BECAUSE THEY CAN BE SAVED JUST LIKE US IF JESUS SETS THEM FREE.

AND SOMETIMES, THE ONLY WAY THAT JESUS CAN SET THEM FREE IS BY YOUR INTERACTION WITH THEM!!!!

SAME FOR THE HOMOSEXUAL, SAME FOR THE ADULTRESS AND THE FORNICATOR. THROUGH LOVE AND KINDNESS HAVE I DRAWN THEE.

Ephesians 6:12–13 KJV

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Consider the last portion of this scripture:

“And having done all, to stand.”

Man this is misinterpeted so much. Because people this as to say after you done all that you can to stand.

That’s not biblical, because you can’t do NOTHING!!! Only God and the power He has can keep you and cause you to stand.

Scripture:

2 Corinthians 2:14 KJV

Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.

IT IS GOD THAT CAUSES US TO TRIUMPH......ITS NOT YOU.....IT’S NOT ANYTHING THAT YOU DOING.....OTHER THAN PUTTING YOUR FAITH IN CHRIST!!!

The correct interpretation of this scripture is “after the battle you will still be standing firm.”

Just tell your neighbor “after the dust settles.....I’m going to still be standing!!!”

Paul says put on every piece of God’s armor. I could be wrong on this, don’t have any speech experts or english majors in here. But it seems to me that Paul uses similes here. That is when you use words that are like or as to make a comparison between two different subjects that share some similarities.

Roman Armor Pieces:

Baldric/Balteus/Belt

Used typically to hold ones clothes to self, also used to carry a sword on the hip.

Spiritual truth- to gird oneself was a metaphor derived from who in order to be unimpeded in their movements were accustomed, when about to start on a journey or engage in any work, to bind their long and flowing garments closely around their bodies and fasten them with a leathern girdle;

Paul says gird yourself with truth. Alethia, which is love of truth, or sincerity, without partiality. Do everything according to what God’s word says so that you will not be impeded in anyway, you won’t be hindered in anyway.

Helmet:

was designed to prevent sword blows from penetrating the helmet and causing head injuries.

The word of God is called the Sword of the Spirit. The Helmet of Salvation protects our minds. The hope of salvation is what Paul is referring to. Hope not in the aspect that i’m hoping that maybe I’ll be saved, but I expect to be saved.

Don the helmet of salvation because the enemy will attack your mind.

If we consider this in lieu of what the early church suffered we can clearly understand why Paul tells them to don this helmet on. Because the early church went through intense suffering. And Satan would attack their minds in such a way that if they were not careful, they would think that all of this suffering was not worth going through.

But when you have hope, when you have expectation on your mind, it doesn’t matter what you go through, nothing the devil throws at you can penetrate your mind.

The Hope of Salvation!!!!

Body Armour:

Made of overlapping iron strips. The body armor enabled not only for the most critical parts of the body to be protected, but it was designed to be flexible enough for the soldier to move.

Shield:

There were different types of shields. However, the shields main purpose was to deflect missles/arrows that were shot at them.

Many times when the enemy would fire arrows, it went up in the air, and the soldiers would have to raise their shield over their head, while those who were in the front what raise their shield to protect in front of them.

Caligae/boots/sandals

Were made of several thicknesses of leather, studded with conical hobnails for marching over rough ground and using on the enemy when he had fallen.

It gave the soldiers traction, especially when fighting up hill battles. The spike on the bottom could be used to trample the enemy.

The metal studs also prevented the leather from wearing down quickly.

In this spiritual conflict that we are in, it is the power of the gospel that keeps us stable.

One thing about fighting is that if you can take out the enemies legs or feet, you can bring them down.

We stand on the word of God, and we need to stand on the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Sword

The Gladius Hispaniensis. A short sword, number one choice of weaponry in the Roman Army. It was double-edged, at close quarters it was effective at stabbing, excellent slashing capabilites

The word sword in the biblical sense, specially in the New Testament thought was a short knife or sword which fits the description of a Gladius Hispaniensis. In fighting, the Romans thought that a long sword was too much, too slow, too cumbersome. Long swords are used for slashing.

The problem with that is that the critical areas are not only covered in armor, but they are covered in bone. If you can find a gap in the enemies armor and thrust, it will surpass the armor, it will surpass the bone and hit the critical parts.

The WORD has the POWER to cut through all the tuff stuff and penetrate the heart!!! It will wound the devil, it will cause the demons to back up off ya.

Conclusion:

But I want you to notice something. There are a lot of defensive pieces but only one offensive peace.

Because the Roman Soldiers had a plethora of military weapons at their disposal:

The Pugio- a dagger

The Spatha- a long sword

The Hasta- a thrusting spear

A Javelin- a throwing spear

A Pilum- a heavy Javelin

Bows and Arrows

And many more weapons. Why wasn’t any of those named? ANS:

Because all you need is the word of God to go on the offensive!!!