The Help Needed for the Journey

INTRODUCTION:

Talk about the next couple of week and the breaking out of the Armor of God individually.

Have them stand in reverence of the reading of Gods word.

Scripture: Ephesians 6:10-20

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, 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.

The Help Needed for the Journey

SEGWAY:

We have been in this series about the “Armor of God”

A couple of weeks ago we started this series off by understanding …..

We are all on a journey.

Paul reveals to the church that in this Journey we will find our strength “Be Strong” in the Lord

Spiritual position not a physical condition.

Starting the Journey we need to ….

Paul gives us a “Checklist”

Set the Tone (Setting our mind on Christ)

Adhere to instructions (Bible)

Focus on the true enemy (Satan)

Stay alert and not become complacent (putting on the full armor every day)

By adhering to this checklist ….

We will be able to stay the course (Maintain the Victory)!

So we don’t look like this guy at the end of the Journey

Last week we read how Paul uses these “Visual Aids”

The Devil (Who the enemy is)

The Roman Soldier

The Belt, breastplate, shoes, shield, helmet, and sword.

The Armor of God (Helps to identify how the enemy works)

(Belt of truth)

(Breastplate of Righteousness)

(Shoes of Peace)

(Shield of Faith from the evil darts)

(Helmet of Salvation)

(The Sword – Word of God)

Paul uses this illustration to help the Ephesians (along with us) picture (understand) the battles we ALL will encounter!

Not the war – Christ already won the War

The Battle – Satan’s Schemes (Methods)

Last week the Holy Spirit helped us see what those Schemes (Methods) are ….

Lies (Belt of truth)

Unrighteousness (Breastplate of Righteousness)

Fear (Shoes of Peace)

Distrustful, hate, etc. (Shield from the evil darts)

Doubt (Helmet of Salvation)

Scripture (Jesus Temptation) (The Sword – Word of God)

BODY:

Today we will be concluding the last (AND MAIN) point Paul addresses with the Church.

If you remember last week I said Paul could have gone from the end of verse 11 and skipped to Ephesians 6:18 .

…. Stand against the schemes of the devil. ….. pray at all times in the Spirit …!

Vs 12-17 defined who the Enemy was and his schemes, then continues his thought in VS 18.

How do we know this?

When we look at VS 14 – 17 we see a sentence structure develop.

It goes “VERB then NOUN …. VERB then NOUN”

But when you get to Vs 18 it changes.

Some translations reads “pray at all times in the spirit with all prayers and petitions” (ESV)

But the Greek wording states it like this … “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit” (NASB)

These are interchangeable in the English language. We do this to better understand what is being said and how it is being stated.

But, the grammar changes in the NASB version

It goes from NOUN, NOUN, verb

Some translators try to say that Prayer is the 7th piece of the Spiritual armor of God.

It is not! How do we know this?

It is separate from the Armor due to the sentence structure.

Paul is sharing something that is mind blowing!

What this Spiritual Soldier would look like then is …..

Someone who is “….. strong in the Lord,” maintaining their stance by putting on the whole armor of God so they can stand against the methods of Satan!

ALL OF THIS IS DONE BY A “METAPHORIC POSTURE” ; STANDING!

CLIMAX:

Give the illustration of talking to someone on the phone and it goes dead.

Your standing there talking and then nothing but a dial tone.

You may instantly buy into a lie, “They hung up on me.”

You might even think of doing something unrighteous.

You might think the worse of the situation “They are hurt” (Fear)

Your trust in that person may have started to waver.

You might start to question your relationship with that person.

Your no longer standing …. But sitting, or even laying down because of the connection line you had with this person has been broken.

Paul is telling them that the line of communication is what is vital to carry out and win the battles.

We need to be talking to our heavenly father “ALL THE TIME” EVERY HOUR, MINUTE, and SECOND of the day.

One of the commentaries states, “This great requirement of standing ready for the combat can be made good only when prayer, constant, earnest, spiritual prayer, is added to the …. equipment.”

Some great quotes help explain the importance of prayer:

“The less I pray, the harder it gets; the more I pray, the better it goes.” Martin Luther

“Satan laughs at our toiling, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray.” Unknown

John MacArthur states, “God knows that when the battle gets hard, soldiers easily become tired, weak, and discouraged. In the struggle with Satan, it is either pray or faint.”

What’s Paul telling us? If we are not in this continual aspect of prayer …..

Lies will creep in.

Acts of unrighteousness will come to mind

Fear will try to take over

Your faith will wither

You will start to questions your salvation

Scripture will be used as a weapon against you.

We are to be strong in the Lord, maintaining this stance by putting on the whole armor of God so we can stand against the methods of Satan.

This is carried out by keeping the lines of communication open: PRAYING continually.

CONCLUSION:

In his Pilgrim’s Progress John Bunyan tells of Christian’s weapon called prayer, which, when everything else failed, would enable him to defeat the fiends in the valley of the shadow.

Prayer is the closing theme of Ephesians, and though closely related to God’s armor, it is not mentioned as part of it because it is much more than that.

Prayer is not merely another godly weapon, as important as those weapons are.

All the while that we are fighting in the girdle of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, we are to be in prayer.

Prayer is the very spiritual air that the soldier of Christ breathes.

It is the all-pervasive strategy in which warfare is fought.

In Luke 18:1 “And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.”

Jesus urged His disciples to pray always and not to lose heart”

Church: If standing is what helps us to maintain the victory, prayer helps us to Stand!