Disciplines of Warfare

INTRODUCTION

It’s my honor to speak to you today. I’ve been so blessed by my time in your country. It’s such a beautiful place and the people have been kind and welcoming.

Today I’d like to talk to you about the topic of spiritual warfare.

In Ecuador, you are no strangers to spiritual conflict. Your nation, with its blend of indigenous beliefs, Catholic traditions, and growing evangelical presence, is a vibrant spiritual landscape.

Many of you have witnessed firsthand the power of the Gospel to transform lives, as well as the fierce opposition that often accompanies such transformation.

As Christians, you stand on the front lines of this spiritual battle every day.

You counsel those struggling with the brokenness in this world because of sin.

You guide families navigating between traditional practices and biblical truth.

You combat the influence of materialism and secularism that seeps in through globalization.

And in all of this, you face an enemy who seeks to undermine your work and discourage your hearts.

Paul's words to the Ephesians are God's words to us here in Ecuador.

They remind us that though our challenges may have unique cultural flavors, the spiritual realities underlying them are universal, and so is the power of Christ that enables us to stand firm.

As we delve into this passage, my prayer is that you will be encouraged in your calling, equipped for the battles ahead, and reminded of the unshakeable victory we have in Christ.

Let us open our hearts and minds to God's Word as we explore what it means to put on the full armor of God in our Ecuadorian context.

LIFE IS WAR

Let’s begin by reading our passage. Ephesians 6:10-20

Ephesians 6:10–17 (ESV)

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,

This is one of my favorite passages of Scripture when it comes to the topic of Spiritual Warfare because it’s a reminder that LIFE IS WAR.

Life is war because this world has been broken because of the effects of sin.

If you’re not treating the Christian life like it’s a daily battle then you’re starting from a losing position.

The evidence is everywhere:

poverty in urban slums and rural areas

Corruption in government and businesses

Breakdown of the family and God’s design for it

These challenges are not not cultural or social. They’re spiritual.

Add to this challenges that EVERY human experiences the unique spiritual challenges that Christians face. Especially Christian PASTORS.

Satan sees each of you as a spiritual combatant. Your work in spreading the Gospel is a threat to his advancing dominion.

Every soul you win for the Lord Jesus Christ is a soul lost to the enemy. He doesn’t like it and won’t tolerate it unexposed

The Local church is God’s “Plan A for advancing the Great Commission to make disciples and usher in the second coming of Jesus

So it’s important you remember that life is war and you have every resource you need to win in this battle.

Your calling is a divine calling and God has chosen you to push back the forces of darkness in this age.

The Enemy Within

What do we learn about our enemy from this passage?

The first thing we learn is that it isn’t “flesh and blood.” (Eph 6:12)

The war isn’t physical it’s spiritual.

It’d be easier if our enemy was flesh and blood wouldn’t it? Many of us know how to fight against that kind of threat.

It’s tempting to focus on the flesh and blood manifestation of our problems because it’s easier to fight what we can see instead of what we can’t.

But that approach undermines what’s really going on. We have to look beyond the surface and the physical to the spiritual realities that animate them.

Which is the second thing we learn.

There isn’t just one enemy, there’s multiple.

There isn’t just one theater of war, but many.

Paul refers to them as “rulers, authorities, cosmic powers of darkness, evil, and spiritual forces in the heavens.” (Eph 6:12)

Just like the US Military has different theaters of war, so also does the spiritual forces of Satan.

Air war, ground war, water war, cyber war, Satan works at different levels on different fronts for different reasons.

The Last thing we learn about this enemy is that he’s very strong.

So strong, in fact, that the Scripture commands us to be strengthened with GOD’S power in order to defeat it/stand against It.

Ephesians 6:10 ESV

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

We need the Lord’s VAST strength in order to stand against the spiritual forces of evil that circle around us in our day and age.

Many people foolishly believe they can confront evil on their on or somehow play on the edges without getting hurt but these are powerful forces that need not be toyed with.

They’re way more powerful than you might imagine.

HOW TO FIGHT

Not only does this passage teach us something about the nature of our battle. It also gives us a little insight on HOW we are to fight.

First, we are to fight with the LORD’S power.

Verse 10 is present tense passive imperative. That means it’s something we cannot do ourselves, it must be done to us by the Lord. And it’s something we must continually do, day after day, hour after hour.

Did you know that there is a supernatural power available to you RIGHT NOW in this moment? It’s the power of God and it’s ready to be infused into your life right now.

Paul has actually been weaving this theme of the supernatural power of God being available to us throughout his letter.

It forms the major emphasis of Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 1:17-21

I pray “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come."

This is mind blowing. The power that God has made available to us is the same supernatural power that RAISED CHRIST JESUS FROM THE DEAD.

The power we have available to us is RESURRECTION POWER.

Do you believe that? Are you experiencing that power? Resurrection power? Let that soak in. Power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to you. The power that enabled him to ascend into heaven? Available to you right now!

The power that raised Jesus and put him over EVERY ENEMY. Ours and his - that power is available to us in Christ if we will be “Be strengthened by the Lord.”

If we need to be strengthened by the Lord and that resurrection power is available to us now, how do we get it?

In order to experience the resurrection power of God to overcome the enemy we face we need to suit up in what Paul describes as “the armor of God.” Battle strategy #2 “Suit up in the armor of God.”

When Paul presents this image of the armor of God he’s not talking about a physical material piece of clothing.

Rather, he’s describing a way of posturing yourself before God - a way of orienting your mind and your life under God so that you’re in a position to be strengthened by his resurrection power.

He actually mentions it twice which I why I think this is Paul’s answer for how to experience the supernatural power God provides. He says it in verse 11 “take up the WHOLE armor of God…” and again in verse 13 “take up the WHOLE armor of God…".

In-between and around each verse he talks about the enemy we face and the nature of God’s armor. So let’s look at this armor.

They’re listed out in Ephesians 6:14-18

Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 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…”

Paul mentions seven different elements that when they are infused together make up the whole armor of God. These WORK TOGETHER synergistically.

Spiritual warfare isn’t like picking and choosing off a restaurant menu. You need ALL of them together.

The belt of TRUTH,

the breastplate of RIGHTEOUSNESS,

shoes shod with the GOSPEL of peace,

the shield of FAITH,

the helmet of SALVATION,

the sword of the SPIRIT (which is the Word of God)

and then ALL PRAYER.

We’re going to fly through these things mentioned by Paul but don’t worry if you feel like we’re moving too fast because we’re going to go through each piece slowly later on in the series. But for now let’s get a birds eye view.

SUITING UP WITH GOD’S ARMOR:

First, he says to put on the belt of TRUTH. Notice the emphasis isn’t on the word BELT (that’s just a rhetorical device) the emphasis is on TRUTH.

To put on the belt of truth means two things: first you come to discover and understand GOD’S TRUTH and secondly you come to affirm GOD’S truth as YOUR TRUTH.

We live in a culture steeped in subjective relativism. Truth is relative. Morality is relative. What’s true for me may not be true for you (or vis versa). You hear people talk about “my truth” this and that.

That’s not a Biblical worldview and you’ll never experience the resurrection power of God to overcome the invisible war with that kind of thinking.

You cannot create your own truth and win. You must DISCOVER God’s truth and live out of that instead of your own.

Putting on the belt of truth means saying God’s truth is my truth. Jesus’ worldview is going to be my worldview.

God’s truth is capital T truth. Truth is that which corresponds with reality. Reality as GOD has made it.

God created this world. He created reality as we know it. He created it to operate according to certain laws. Cause and effect works in the spiritual realm just as effectively as it does in the physical realm. (Laws of gravity belong to God just as much as his laws of relationships and finances).

The book of Ephesians has been laying this out for us over the past year. We’ve seen God’s design for so many areas of our life. We looked as his design for marriage, for singleness, for parenting, for the workplace, for our speech, for our attitudes, for the local church, on and on we could go.

Putting on the belt of truth means saying “God’s design for those things is now MY design for those things. I’m going to switch from doing things MY way and instead start to do them GOD’S way. His truth is my truth.

Listen to me: unless and until you become willing to submit to God’s way of doing things, until you make his truth your truth, this world is going to beat you up and rob you of your joy.

Some of you know this because you’re living it RIGHT NOW. Maybe you’re living for God in EVERY arena of your life except this ONE arena. But if you’re honest, that’s the area in which you’re struggling the most because it’s not surrendered to Christ. That’s where the sin is. That’s where the shame is. The misery. The anger. The brokenness resides there.

God has a design for everything. When we deviate from God’s design it results in brokenness. It’s just how the world works. Why? Because we’re in a battle. You’ve got to live underneath the umbrella of God’s truth instead of your own.

This also means rejecting things outside of God’s design. Not only do you proactively pursue God’s design but you also proactively reject ideas or ways of doing things that violate God’s design. Why? Because nothing is neutral. We’re in a war!

The next thing Paul mentions is the breastplate of righteousness. This means you are becoming more and more conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. Moral conformity in regard to God’s holiness code.

Paul discussed this at some lengthen back in Ephesians 4:22-ff. “put off the old self (corrupt through deceitful desires) and put on the new self “created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness…” (Ephesians 4:24)

So righteousness is putting away falsehood and speaking the truth (verse 25)

It is learning to be angry but not sinning in your anger (verse 26)

Righteousness is doing “honest work with your own hands… not taking from others but being generous with what you’ve earned (verse 28)

Righteousness is putting away filthy speech and replacing it with words that build up, that fit the occasion and give grace to those who hear.(Verse 29)

Righteousness is getting rid of bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander and malice and replacing it with kindness, tenderheartedness, forgiveness and love that mimics the forgiveness of God in Christ. (30-32)

Righteousness, according to Ephesians 5:3 is a life in which accusations of “sexual immorality, impurity and covetousness” cannot even stick when thrown at you. Why? Because you’ve chosen to be conformed to Jesus Christ and his holiness.

Righteousness doesn’t mean you’re sinless. It doesn’t mean you’re perfect. But it does mean you’ve made an intentional choice to get serious about conforming your life to the image of Christ.

Do you see how these elements work together? You’ll never become righteousness unless and until you discover God’s truth and make it your own. These two things work together.

As you grow in your knowledge of God’s truth you also grow in your capacity and ability to conform your life to the pattern of Christ’s life. The more you pattern your life after the pattern of Christ the more you position yourself to be strengthen by HIS power.

The opposite is also true. You can have every desire to be righteous but if you don’t have knowledge of the truth you cannot do it. You may have lots of knowledge but if your not willing to put it into practice you’ll never experience the power of Christ. They work together.

The third thing he mentions is in verse 15. As for shoes we are to put on “the readiness given by the gospel of peace…” What is that talking about?

You might be surprised by this but Paul is talking about a readiness to engage in evangelism. A willing and eager heart to share the truth of the Gospel with others. (At every opportunity).

Feet fit with readiness means you’re willing and able. Like he told Timothy “be ready to preach in season and out of season…” Be living on G just waiting for O and boom you’re out of the gate.

This fits in with what Paul said earlier in Ephesians about walking in wisdom towards those who are outsiders. Why? So you’ll be ready and able to give answer when the opportunity arises. Let your speech be gracious, seasoned with salt so you may know HOW you ought to answer any person who asks you for a reason for the hope that is within you.

Connect other people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This isn’t just a duty given to you by Jesus. This is a posture that invites the power of God into your life.

A readiness and willingness to share the Gospel with unbelievers is one of the primary ways we position ourselves to be filled with the supernatural resurrection power of God.

You feel powerless right now? You feel depressed? You feel down in the dumps? Get up and go to the mall and look for opportunities to share the Gospel with somebody. Something will change in you. Why? Because it’s God’s promise!

Remember in the book of Acts that every time the Spirit of God would fall and the apostle would be filled with this supernatural power and boldness it would immediately be followed by them preaching the Gospel?

Our mission statement is Acts 1:8. “You will receive POWER when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and ….. you will be my WITNESSES …”They’re linked. Holy Spirit Supernatural Resurrection power and evangelism always go together.

When’s the last time you started your day with an intentional choice to be ready to share the Gospel when the opportunity first presented itself?

This was convicting to me this week. I know this is true. When I’ve gone out and done door to door evangelism I can be totally not looking forward to it. But something changes as I start sharing. By the time I’m done sharing the Gospel I’m on cloud 9. Whoo hoo!

Why? It’s just a spiritual truth. It’s the way God designed our spiritual lives to function. When we engage in evangelism we are inviting the power and presence of God into our life. No wonder so many Christian feel powerless to overcome sin. We aren’t sharing the Gospel!

The fourth thing Paul mentions is the shield of faith. “In all circumstances take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the faming darts of the evil one…"

The shield of faith is about trusting God. Its trusting that Jesus Christ really does know and will do what is best therefore I’m going to trust him. No matter what life looks like around me.

This is difficult thing sometimes, isn’t it? When life is hard it’s easy to question God’s wisdom. It’s easy to question his timing. It’s easy to question his goodness. But faith says - even when I cannot see I’m going to trust him!

Hebrews 11:1 says, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen…” So even when I cannot see a way forward… even when I cannot understand how God is going to use this for good - because of what I DO KNOW about the Lord I’m going to trust him.

Paul says that kind of faith is a shield. It’s a shield that will protect you from the flaming darts of the evil one. Satan has purposes in your pain and his purpose is to kill your faith. To cause you to question God to give up. But you’ve been given faith to diffuse those attacks.

The last defensive element mentioned is the helmet of salvation and most commentators believe this refers to salvation itself.

Remember salvation isn’t just something that happened in the past. It’s a present reality in the life of the Christian and a future promise of glorification when Christ comes again.

This means as we battle against the spiritual forces of evil we do so with a confident hope that Jesus Christ, the ultimate warrior, has already won this war through his death on the cross and his resurrection from the grave.

When we have accusations thrown at us and when our own weakness causes us to succumb to sin and fail miserably in the battle for our soul that we don’t lose heart because our salvation is secure. We are being held safe in the arms of Jesus and we cannot lose.

This means even in the throws of resisting temptation and holding fast to the truth that we do so knowing we will one day no longer battle against these forces of darkness because there’s coming a day when salvation will be complete for us and all of the creation.

Paul closes out the armor of God by mentioning two offensive tools available to every Christian.

They are (1) the sword of the Spirit (which is the Word of God) and (2) prayer. All prayers. These are our offensive weapons in the battle against Satan but they’re also two things that position us to experience the power of God.

This is as simple as it sounds. Listen to the Word of God preached. That’s a way to be filled with Gods resurrection power.

Read the word of God in the morning. Listen to it on your way to work. Read books that unpack and explain the word of God. Let the voice of God be the primary voice in your life.

Add to your Bible intake a time of prayer. Talk to God about everything. Meet with him through prayer. Pray at all times without ceasing.

The last element and second offensive weapon is prayer. And notice the difference. Prayer undergirds EVERYTHING else in the armor of God.

Did you notice how all the other elements have a reference point? Helmet, shield, sword, shoes, etc… But not prayer. Why is that?

It’s because Prayer undergirds everything else. Prayer is what keeps you in step with the Spirit.

Prayer is what enables you to discover God’s truth so it CAN be put on.

Prayer is what keeps you tethered to God in the midst of suffering so you don’t shipwreck your faith.

Prayer is the means by which we receive God’s grace and confess our faith in the Lord Jesus for salvation.

Prayer is how we resist temptation and pursue holiness and conform our life to the pattern of Christ.

Prayer is what precedes evangelism so that as we open up our mouths to share the Gospel the Spirit of God is able to do a special work we cannot do ourselves.

Prayer undergirds and empowers all of these other elements. Prayer is the divine means of moving God to act. It’s the primary means of receiving and asking for his power.

We have not because we ask not! When we ask we ask with bad motives. Will you pray for God’s power to fight the battle you’ve got in front of you this morning?

CONCLUSION:

We are in a battle. There are no neutral moments. Your enemy isn’t human. It’s multifaceted and extremely powerful. You need GOD’S POWER to win the war for your soul.

To infuse that supernatural power into your life you need truth, righteousness, evangelism, faith, salvation, the Word of God and prayer.

As you take steps towards these seven things you are moving towards Jesus Christ himself. As you move towards him then his power starts to step towards you. The closer you get the more power you will experience.

Some of you are powerless to overcome the temptation in your life right now because (1) you aren’t treating life like you’re at war and (2) you’ve fallen away from the Lord Jesus Christ. You’re not close to him. You’re far far away.

My prayer for you this morning is that you will hear this from the Lord. He loves you. He is near you. He didn’t go anywhere. Will you return home? Will you repent and believe?

Here’s the hope: the resurrection power of Jesus is available to you right now today if you will receive it. Will you receive it?

We are called to be an invading force against the powers of evil. Stop trying to “live your best life now” and get in the manhole and join Jesus in fighting this war!

If you’re going to walk with Christ it’s going to be hard. You want to walk worthily? You want to be the light that penetrates the darkness: then wake up! Get in the game! Suit up with the armor and fill up with God’s power.

What if we stopped looking at this warfare as if it was only defense and “getting by” and hoping it ends soon. Let’s change our perspective. Let’s play offense!

Let me close by giving you a few words of encouragement: I think the Lord wants to say at least three things to three different groups of people:

Some of you need to hear God say TOUGHEN UP.

Your life is hard but it’s not surprisingly hard. You acting surprised and your over reacting to what’s going on and you just need to toughen up.

Don’t be surprised by the fiery trial you’re enduring, James says, but rather REJOICE. Toughen up. Your hardships are making you strong. Receive it!

Some of you need to hear God say WAKE UP.

Isn’t it amazing that most Americans shun this talk of spiritual warfare, satan and demons and spirits? It’s not like that in other places around the world. We disbelieve to our own peril. We have a real invisible enemy who hates our guts.

The fact that we don’t believe in Satan and demons in the west isn’t proof they don’t exist. It’s proof that we’re losing the war. They’ve got us so blinded that we’re not even aware of the puppet masters that are pulling our strings.

We’re going to talk about this more next week but we need to WAKE UP and pull the curtain to expose the puppet master. We’re not lemmings. We’re not cogs in a wheel. We are ambassadors of Jesus and soldiers in the Lord’s army. Wake up!

Finally, some of you need to hear God say “HOLD FAST.”

You’ve gone through the ringer. You’re tough but nobody is that tough. You’re tired and weak and worn out and feel like “how long O Lord until…”

You need to know that your suffering may not be because of your sin. It’s not because God is angry at you. It’s none of those things. It’s just that you’re in a war. But God has not left you. He will not abandon you. And you need to renew your strength in the Lord.

Hold fast! Hold fast to Jesus. In the words of Hebrews 12:3 “Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary of fainthearted."

This world is not our home. This fight is temporary. One day he will take you to heaven or come again and when it does the battle will be over. The victory is already ours in the Lord Jesus. Hold on! The game isn’t over yet.