Spiritual Warfare part 5

Helmet of Salvation & Sword of the Spirit/Ephesians review

Believe it or not, I’m planning to actually end our series on Ephesians today. And I’m praying that it has grown your understanding of identity in Christ. And so I thought it would be good to take a little bit of time to refresh our mind and hearts about what we (hopefully) learned as we journeyed through the letter of Ephesians.

EPHESIANS 1: OurIdentity revealed/Prayer for understanding.

EPHESIANS 2: Death to life/Salvation through grace and faith alone. One in Christ, both Jew and Gentile are the new temple.

EPHESIANS 3: Heartbeat of the Mystery revealed-The Gentiles are included in the Story of Israel. Prayer for understanding again!

EPHESIANS 4: Our identity lived out corporately/individually.

EPHESIANS 5: Continued identity lived out, including specifically in Marriage.

EPHESIANS 6: Identity lived out in specific relationships/Armor of God.

Which this leads us to today where we will be finishing not only the armor of God but also the book of Ephesians. So let’s read the last part of the section of the armor of God today.

17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,

Before we talk about the helmet of salvation, I want to remind you about this being God’s armor that he has used before giving it to us. You don’t have to turn there but in Isaiah 59:16-17

Isaiah 59:16–17 (ESV)

He saw that there was no man,

and wondered that there was no one to intercede;

then his own arm brought him salvation,

and his righteousness upheld him.

He put on righteousness as a breastplate,

and a helmet of salvation on his head;

he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,

and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak.

So God himself used this helmet of salvation to crush the enemy. And we know that Jesus himself, his name means “The Lord Saves.” Yet he says that we should wear this helmet of salvation for the battle that we are. Which is interesting because most of us think of Salvation is because of grace through faith, right? We covered that in Ephesians 2. But we don’t just receive salvation and then do nothing with it. Every day we are standing in the forgiveness and righteousness of Jesus. And we need to call it to mind, so to speak, because many times our mind forgets that it is Christ alone that saves. Martin Luther, the leader of the reformation said our “religion is the default of our human heart.” Meaning, even when we are saved, born again, spirit filled people, we forget. We forget that it is nothing that we do to earn salvation. It is all because of Jesus.

Oh Precious is the flow!

So here we have the helmet of salvation and it is something that seems to be like a simple thing, yet it has some incredible implications for us as believers. You see that the crest shows the rank of the officer and sometimes it would show which army you would belong to. And sometimes just the sight of that color would cause enemies to retreat because they knew who they would be going up against. The picture I get with this to connect it to scripture and our understanding is the passover. As you can see here in the picture, the color is red and it reminds me of the passover where the Israelites put blood over their doorposts to set them apart from the Egyptians. And we know now, in the New Covenant, this was a prophetic way to show Jesus’ blood covering us from the wrath of God. And so for us, in our fight that is not against flesh and blood, how can we “put on” the helmet of Salvation.

Putting on the Helmet of salvation

1. Declarations

I know this might sound a little new age or even mystical but speaking to ourselves is something that is very Biblical. David did it, Jesus did it, and so did Paul. Where they would speak to their soul to remind themselves of what was truth. And so to have a list of truth, like what we talked about with the belt of truth, to have before you wherever you go. You know how the Devil tempts you and lies to you the most.

So if you wrestle with believing that you are saved, try having a simple list of verses in your Bible to turn to first thing in the morning or to look over as you are eating your breakfast. Simple phrases, such as, I am bought with the blood of Jesus. Jesus blood has saved me, cleansed me, and made me whole. If you wrestle with self hatred or body image. Put verses on your mirror in you bathroom or room to remind yourself about being fearfully and wonderfully made. We are called to put on this armor, it is not a passive thing. We have been given this now we need to take action.

2. Worship through song

This is similar to declarations, but to sing out the truth of who God is, how he has saved you, will save you and continues to save you. This is once again commanding your should to remember what Christ has done for you. How he is the one that shed his very blood for you, how he has loved you, how his work is eternal and there is now nothing that can separate you from the Love of Christ.

3. Community of Believers

Sometimes it is hard to believe. Can we just be honest at times? And when we are being attacked by the enemy and he is crushing us with lies, fear, and calling to our mind the sins that God has forgiven, we need to call in reinforcements. We need to be in a community of believers where we can reach out and say, listen, I have tried declaring, I’ve tried worshipping, but I just can’t seem to shake this. And then they are able to declare and worship with you to build you up and remind you of the truth that seems so far away from you at that time. And while your helmet of salvation is absolutely dependent on the Work of Jesus, Jesus has also given us His church, His body, to be apart of to encourage and care for one another.

Sword of the Spirit

Now I want to turn our attention to the Sword of the Spirit, the only combative weapon in our armor. All the other ones are defensive. So just as a reminder of what Paul says about the Sword of the Spirit, let’s read this section again.

and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,

There are two scripture that I want to share with you, you don’t have to go to them, regarding Jesus having the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Because, remember, Jesus used this armor first.

The first is the scripture in Matthew 4, but instead of saying it, I want to show you it.

This is the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness. Maybe this is not what you pictured when Jesus was fasting 40 days and nights in the wilderness with the devil tempting him. But every time the Devil came to him with a temptation, Jesus just used Scripture. Specifically from Deuteronomy. And so Jesus also shows one way to use the word of God in our fight that is not against flesh and blood, but against power and principalities. The second text that shows us how Jesus uses the word

The second scripture is a description of Jesus in the book of revelation and it says this.

English Standard Version (Chapter 1)

12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

So this is the difficult thing to think about, but Jesus is the Word of God, yet the Word of God was used by Jesus. But the same Word that Jesus used, and even more, we can use! It is our sword that we can combat against the lies, temptation and fear of the enemy. But how do we use the Word of God as a sword in our battle? I believe Paul actually tells us in the very next verse when he says,

18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, 19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak

So let’s break this down and see how we can wield the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God in our own lives, shall we?

Using the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God

1.Prayer

So as we go to the Word of God, it should be there not only to read and study, while that is good, it should lead to communion, intercession, and a partnering with God to want what he wants. Hate what he hates. And as it says here, to pray at all times in the Spirit. Does that mean praying in tongues? Not specifically here, while I am not against that. Paul is talking about the word of God and the Spirit of God awakening in us a desire to see what God wants in His word and then praying it. Now, you may remember I gave you an example of this back in January with praying the Word. Out of curiosity how many of you took that book and were blessed by it? So many times we have this fear of prayer, I have heard people say to me, don’t make me pray! And they have been in the church and a believer for years! I’m not here to condemn, but who is called to put on the armor of God? Just pastors, elders, and the spiritually elite? Or all believers? Can I be so kind to say that the fear you have behind praying is most likely the enemy? So please, believer, Christian, pick up your Sword, the Word of God, and pray to the Living God who wants to work through us!

2.Perseverance

The Word of God should give the believer, the soldier, a desire for perseverance. Now, here is the thing about perseverance, it comes when things get difficult. As you get into God’s word and you are praying, there will be times where it is incredible and amazing! But there will be other times where it will be difficult, hard, frustrating, and we need to stay in the fight. We need to continue to go to the Lord in prayer and His word to keep our hearts soft, for our backbones strong. The sword of the Spirit, the Word of God gives us perseverance to keep fighting because, like I said before, it is an offensive weapon. It reminds us that we can attack and be successful.

3.Boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel

This is really fitting to have as not only the last point for our section on the sword of the Spirit, but also on the whole book of Ephesians.

If you remember, this word “Mystery” is the very reason why Paul wrote this letter. He wanted the Church in Ephesus to know the mystery, revelation, unveiling, realization of the their identity in Christ. And now Paul shows one of the ways that when we can pray in the Spirit, by asking God to help us to not just live in this identity that he has given us, but to boldly share it with others.