Not Today Satan Part 2

Happy Mother’s Day!

YouVersion app

More Page

Flow:

A few weeks ago we kicked off a brand new series titled “Not today Satan”

And we talked about what scripture says about spiritual warfare

If this subject might be new to you and you missed two weeks I would encourage you to go back and listen

Last week we had the opportunity to hear from Hands and Feet project so we took a break in the series to do that and that was incredible!

But this week I struggled because I knew that it was Mother’s Day and my initial thought was… spiritual warfare on Mother’s Day seem like an odd combo

Maybe I should talk about something a little liter and not so intense

But here’s where I landed, my mom is actually here today. I don’t know of a clearer picture of spiritual warfare than a mom going to battle over her kids.

My mom has prayed over me and for me probably more than anyone in my entire life

She has not only prayed for me but she began to pray for Dorie when I was still in diapers

She was praying for my spouse before I could even walk

She now prays for my children, her grandchildren

And so, as mothers and Father’s as well, but on this Mother’s Day it is important that we realize how to defend the attacks of the enemy

So that is what we are going to talk about

So part one was more about making ourselves aware

Like we need to be aware that there is a spiritual war

That we are in it

That we have an enemy

We don’t need to fear

And that we fight from victory not for it

This week is more about how to prepare

How do we prepare and defend against the attacks of our enemy?

So we are going to pick up where we left off in our textual guide this week

Ephesians 6:13–15 NIV

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. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.

Ephesians 6:11–15 NIV

Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 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. 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. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.

pray

So we are in a battle. A spiritual war. It rages on around us

And just like in every army there is a commander in this army of the Lord’s there is a commander and here in Eph 6 He is beginning to command that we do something

The command is this: Put on the full armor of God!

So we’ve been made aware. There is a war, we are in it, we have an enemy, but we don’t need to fear because we have what we need.

And what we need is the armor of God

Put on the armor. This is the command given to us.

The armor

This armor is a metaphor

Some may say that this is a reference back to a scripture in Isaiah, some may say that this is a specific outline of what to do how and how to do it based on what and how the Roman soldier did it and what he had.

I don’t believe either of those things to be true.

This is a picture, a metaphor, and example of what this may look like to armor ourselves spiritually.

Paul is after a lifestyle, not a checklist

He’s not saying, every morning you have to get up and find a belt that has scripture on it, you need to go on facebook market place and find a christian breastplate to put on.

No, he’s saying this is what the believer uses to guard himself against the enemy

We don’t just recite them we live them out

Mr. Gary was telling me some stories of when they had the wounded warriors come in.

He was asking some of the guys how they do what they do

How do you survive? How do you make life and death decisions when the stress is that high.

You know what they said? Our training.

We have spent countless hours training for moments like that. So when our fight or flight kicks in we have been trained in a way to handle those situations

Our training has become second nature

This is what Paul is after for us.

We must be training ourselves in a way that these steps just become second nature to us.

The tense of the verb “take up the full armor of God” indicates something that must be done right now. This is top priority. No time to waste. Why?

For when the evil day comes

Paul doesn’t say “hey when the evil day comes this is what I want you to do.”

No he says “this is what I want you to do every day so that you are training yourself in a way that you can defend yourself when that day comes.”

This phrase here for “Evil day” means “a particular day at a particular time.”

here’s what this means. As believers, there will be dark days. There will be spiritual warfare.

If there is not than that’s probably an indication that you aren’t making much of an impact in the kingdom of God

So as much as it may be difficult, there’s a sort of rejoicing that should come when spiritual warfare comes to you. Because it means that your enemy is afraid of what you might do and he is willing to stop you and destroy you at all costs to prevent you from living out the purposes of your life

This also indicates to us that the battles aren’t all the same.

Paul can’t give us a cookie cutter answer here

He can’t just walk us through it holding our hand because our battles are different and the ones we face are not the same.

So Paul says, for this reason, put on the full armor of God.

Not just today, not just tomorrow, not just when you feel the battle comes

Every day! Put on the armor so that you will always be ready!

The urgency behind this cannot be understated

There is never a moment in your life, as a believer, that you can sit back and relax when it comes to spiritual warfare.

It’s what the enemy wants you to do but Scripture urges us to always be ready!

And what is the verb used over and over here?

Look at verse 13 again. What does vs 14 start with?

Stand! Paul wants us to be able to stand our ground, to stand firm.

After the command to put on the armor of God we are then commanded to stand firm! firmly and fearlessly

And notice that this is not an offensive maneuver here.

We are not told that there’s some stuff over here I want you to get so go fight for it and then when you get it stand your ground

No! We are being told to stand on ground that we already possess.

And if you are wondering what ground I am talking about or more precisely what ground Paul is talking about, go back and read eph 1-3.

You have been made alive, you’ve been reconciled to Christ, you have been made Sons and daughters of God

This is ground that has already been given to us. We must stand firm on it.

Do not allow the enemy take something from you that God has declared over you

In the same sense that we fight from a position of victory, this is standing our ground on something already given to us.

So what does this look like? What does it look like to stand your ground? What are some of the pieces we need to achieve this?

Put on the belt of truth.

During this time they would have said “gird up your loins.”

Now I don’t think this is something too familiar with us today

I don’t think any of us are getting up in the morning and saying “well I need to gird up my loins so I can conquer the day.”

But this would have been a very familiar phrase for the original readers.

So essentially what this meant was that you prepared yourself

So Roman soldiers all had a belt of some sort and really everything was somehow hooked or attached to the belt

They also wore long robes. So if a soldier was on duty he would “gird up his loins.” He would take his robe and tuck it into his belt so that he was then given the freedom to move and take his proper stance.

If a soldier on duty did not do this he was either beaten by his superior or he had a great disadvantage in battle.

When it was time for battle every soldier did this. It was a clear indication to everyone else whether or not he was prepared or not

When the battle cry went off they took their robe and tucked it into their belt where their sword and shield hooked to. It was central and vital to everything else

Here Paul says we have a belt of truth. It is going to determine whether we are truly prepared or not and everything else hinges from this item.

This is the Word of God. The Word of God is where we get our truth from and it was what all of other defenses hinge and come from

If we do not know the Word of God we will not stand a chance against our enemy

But if we do, we have the truths to be able to defend every lie he will try to throw at us.

Breastplate of righteousness

The breastplate of righteousness was also known as the “heart protector.” which i think is a pretty fitting name for us as well.

It was the piece of armor that protected the soldiers most vital organs

This is the same for us.

The word righteousness here means to be “upright, right living, integrity.”

This idea is rooted in the righteousness that we already possess in Jesus.

2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV

21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

We are imparted the righteousness of God through the cross of Jesus and this is what the breastplate of righteousness is rooted in

But it’s also comes after the belt of truth for a reason

It’s applied truth. It’s knowing the truth of God’s Word and then applying it to our lives

When we live the way that God has called us to live we are defending ourselves against the attacks of the enemy.

We are standing our ground!

Feet fitted with the gospel of peace

Roman soldiers wore a shoes that would go up the leg to the knee and wrap around. When they put shoes on, they weren’t going anywhere.

They had knobs on them and Alexander the Great was credited to have put nails through there shoes to help with their footing

The equivalent to modern day cleats.

I remember going to a football practice one time and I had forgotten my cleats. I looked like a goofball out there running around slipping and sliding while everyone else moved how they wanted because I didn’t have anything to keep me planted to the ground

In the same way this is what the roman soldiers would use to make sure that when they were pushed against, when the enemies came and tried to move them they were able to have their feet firmly planted in the ground

Together they became an immovable object

Paul says that we must have feet fitted with the gospel

This is what our foundation is built on

It is what our feet our planted on so that we cannot be moved and cannot be shaken

Our feet are to be planted in the certainty of the gospel of Jesus

The enemy will always attack the grace of Jesus. If he can convince you that His grace isn’t enough then he will be able to destroy you

If we remember back to our Galatians studies this is how the enemy had attacked and somewhat defeated the churches of Galatia

Paul says this in Gal 1:6-7

Galatians 1:6–7 NIV

6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.

This is a strategy of our enemy. If he can get you to disbelieve grace he can get you mistrust Jesus

We have to be rooted in the gospel of Christ.

We have to know it backwards and forwards so that when the day of evil comes and the enemy wants to creep in lies like:

You aren’t good enough

You’ll never measure up

Jesus will never forgive you

You can stand on the truth of the gospel that Jesus has died for my sins and has defeated the grip that they have over me

I am chosen, I am forgiven, and I am made with a purpose

Yes I may be a sinner but I am a sinner that has been bought with a price

I am purchased and I am free by the grace of Jesus and no lie of the enemy will ever be able to take that away from me

Amen!

I will leave you with this question this morning.

Are you prepared for Spiritual warfare?

If we have been commanded by the Word of God to be people who are actively, continuously, putting on the armor of God. Are we doing that?

Are we reading, studying, and learning the truths of God’s Word?

How much time are you spending in that area to prepare yourself for battle?

All of our defenses hinge on it

Are we living it out?

Are we pursuing righteousness and holiness?

Because if we are not we are leaving ourselves open to attacks from the enemy.

But when we do fail, are we leaning into the righteousness of God for us?

And are we rooted in the gospel?

Are we doing all that we do for the gospel of Jesus or are we doing it for ourselves?

I have to ask myself the question is this Jeret’s gospel or Jesus’ gospel?

Have I taken the gospel of Jesus and thwarted it in a way that will best suit me or do truly believe and follow the gospel of Jesus?

These are the ways that we make sure that we are prepared when it comes to spiritual warfare.

Part 1 we wanted to be made aware

Part 2 we wanted to be prepared. Do we have the ability to stand firm on the ground given to us by Jesus

Next week we will learn how to actively defend ourselves against the enemy. Like when the battle is raging, the arrows are flying, you can feel the enemy on the attack. What do we do?

so join us next week for that.

Pray