Preparation for Spiritual Battle

Scripture

Ephesians

Ephesians 6:10–16 NIV

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Ephesians 6:10–18 NIV

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

Introduction

A couple Sundays ago, I preached a sermon entitled, “Prepare to Win.” And I was encouraging everyone that if you are going to sign up to run this Christian race, at least run a like a winner. In other words, if you are going to call yourself a Christian, don’t be okay with falling into temptation, but strive to live a holy life. The theme that the New Members Ministry has selected is also about preparation. The theme is “Preparation for Your Christian Journey.” And I want to work with that theme, but I want to tweak just a little bit so we can hone in on a very specific piece of our Christian Journey, and that is, the spiritual battle.

Every day God blesses us to wake up, we are faced with a spiritual battle. The Bible says that Satan is like a thief that wants to steal, kill and destroy. He wants to steal our joy, kill our spirit and destroy our soul. The Bible describes Satan as a lion that roams around seeking who he may devour. As such, everyday we are faced with a spiritual battle.

And if we plan on winning this spiritual battle then we must prepare to win.

So if you have a pen and piece of paper, I want to give you four things I see in this text that can help us prepare to win this spiritual battle.

1) Prepare to Depend on God’s Power and Not Yours

Verse 10 says, “Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.” Notice it doesn’t say your power or your might, but it says the Lord’s might. You see when we try to lean on our own power and our own might, then we will find ourselves getting in the way of the victory that God is trying to give us.

In , after wandering in the wilderness for just two years, God tells the Israelites that they could go in a possess the land he had promised them centuries ago. But when the Israelites sent out spies and they came back to give a report, 10 out of the 12 spies discouraged the Israelites from moving forward for they said they giants in the land that made them look as grasshoppers. God had already told them that he would give them victory, but since the Israelites could not see how to win the battle by their own power and by their own might, they had decided not to fight at all. They lost before they even went into battle. But when you trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding, when you rely on his power and not yours, instead of being a loser before you even go into battle, you can claim victory over every spiritual giant in your life because God has already given you the victory.

It’s also important to prepare to depend on God’s power and not yours because God fight differently than we do. You see God is the type of God...

…that will take a 22,000 Israelite army and reduce it down to 300 just so that when you won the battle you would know that it wasn’t by your own power, but it was by his power.

…that would use an unlikely hero, a small shepherd boy with no army experience, put a sling shot and 5 smooth stones in his hands, and use him to bring down a 9 foot giant.

…that will tell you to put a choir on the frontline of the battlefield with no weapons, and use the praise of the songs to confuse their enemies.

…that when someone threatens to throw you into a fiery furnace, he will allow them to do it, meet you in the fiery furnace and have you come out untouched by the flames, just so that people can see his power.

…that would place his only son on the front line to be mocked, beat, spat on, whipped, pierced in the side, nailed to a cross, and placed in a tomb for more than 2 days and then pull off a victory.

God fights differently tah we do. And sometimes its hard leaning on God’s power because when he fight our battles, usually you feel like you’re losing before you feel like you’re winning.

Number 2, if you are going to prepare to win in this spiritual battle, then you must...

2) Prepare for Surprise Attacks

In verse 11, Paul informs us that we are standing against the devils wiles, schemes, tricks, deception. As I said earlier, the Bible describes Satan as a lion and as a thief. But he is also described as angel of light. Satan is like a lion in that a lion will only attack his prey when he is in close proximity. Satan is like a thief in that he wants to steal something from you without being detected. And Satan is like an angel of light in that he would dress up like your friend in order to deceive you.

If you plan on winning this spiritual battle, you have to prepare for Surprise attacks.

In , we will find a man by the name of Samson. Samson had lead Israel as its judge for 20 years. Samson was a Nazarite, which meant he was consecrated for the work of God. Samson had great human strength. He was so strong that he was able to tear the city gates, along with their two post, out of the ground, place it over his shoulders and carry them up a hill. Samson had great strength, and his strength was tied to his hair. So long as he didn’t cut his hair, he had strength. And it’s not that his strength came from his hair, for it came from God, but his hair was a symbol of the vow he had made to God.

Samson had influence as a leader, had a great relationship with God, and had great human strength.

But then their came Delilah. Delilah was a fine woman that Samson fell in love with. But little did he know, that this woman that he fell in love with, would one day betray him to the Philistines and be the cause of his death.

You see, you can be so blinded by love, family, and friendship that you won’t even see how Satan is using them to get to you.

You don’t see how their lack of interests in coming to church, reading the Bible and going to Bible Study is starting to influence your interests in coming to church, reading the Bible and going to Bible study.

You don’t see how that friend that you grew up with that still likes to get high, that still likes to get drunk, that still likes to gossip, that hasn’t given their relationship to God, is making it that much more difficult to walk in holiness.

When Satan attacks wants to attack your spirit, he is not going to send a Philistine, but he’s going to send a Delilah. Someone you love. A wife, a husband, a girlfriend, a boyfriend, a child, a parent, a close family member.

If you want to win this spiritual battle, you must prepare for for surprise attacks.

3)Prepare to Show up to Battle Fully Dressed

In verses 11 and 13, Paul uses the phrase “Put on the full armor of God.” He doesn’t say put on half the armor.” (Somebody say full) He doesn’t say you can pick and choose what piece of armor you like and which piece of armor you don’t like. He doesn’t say you can put on the helmet, but not the breastplate, the shoes but not the belt, the shield but not the sword. But we have to put on the full armor of God. You cannot show up to battle half-dressed. Many people are quick to put on the helmet of salvation, but slow to put on breastplate of righteousness. In other words, many people are quick to sign up to be saved, but slow to sign up to live right. The helmet may protect the head, but the breastplate protects the heart. And God doesn’t just wants your heart.

So if you want to win this spiritual battle, you have to show up to the battle fully dressed.

You have to put on the helmet of salvation on your head so you can think right.

You have to put on the breastplate of righteousness around your chest so you can live right.

You have to put the gospel of peace on your feet so you can walk right.

You have to put the belt of truth around your waist so you can speak right.

You have to pick up the shield of faith so that you can block right.

You have to pick up the sword of the Bible so you can fight right.

You have to pick up the sword of the Bible so you can fight right.

If you are going to prepare to win this Spiritual battle then, you must come fully dressed.

1) Prepare to Depend on God’s Power and Not Yours

2) Prepare for Surprise Attacks

3)Prepare to Show up to Battle Fully Dressed