Tag: spiritual warfare

Categories
Ephesians Devotionals

Put all of your armor on

armor of God
David Padfield/FreeBibleimages.org

Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil…

For this reason take up the full armor of God, so that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having prepared everything, to take your stand. (Ephesians 6:11, 13)

“The full armor.”

Those are the words God impressed on me this morning.

Put on the full armor. Take up the full armor. Not just part of it. All of it.

Satan schemes against us and uses different strategies to get at us, not just one. And if we don’t put on the full armor every day, we’re vulnerable.

Rephrasing Paul’s words, if you don’t put on the full armor, you can’t stand against the devil’s schemes.

If you don’t take up the full armor, you won’t be able to resist, you won’t be able to take your stand.

So put on truth. The truth of God’s word. Make it foundation of your thinking. Let truthfulness also mark your speech. And put away the masks. Don’t be two-faced, one person at church, another person outside the church.

Put righteousness over your heart. Deal rightly with the people around with you. And when Satan accuses you for your failings, put on Christ’s righteousness which is ours by faith in him.

Put on the gospel of grace on your feet, so that you don’t slip into constant self-condemnation, nor legalism, nor willful sin.

Take up the shield of faith. But don’t just stand alone. Stand together with other Christians.

Make fellowship with them a priority so that your shield becomes part of a mighty turtle shell that protects not only you, but the Christians around you from Satan’s attack.

Receive the helmet of salvation. Welcome it with thanksgiving, knowing that you received it freely by God’s grace.

And swing the sword of God’s word whenever the enemy comes against you with his lies.

How about you? Are you putting it all on every day? Or are you leaving some of it on the floor?

Categories
Acts Devotionals

Our authority as children of God

The evil spirit answered them, “I know Jesus, and I recognize Paul—but who are you?” (Acts 19:15)

I found the evil spirit’s words interesting.

They certainly recognized Jesus and his authority over them. But they also were aware of Paul and the fact that through his relationship with Jesus, through his status as a child of God, Paul had authority over them too.

The question is, do we realize the authority that we have as children of God?

If we stand our ground, the Enemy has to back down. He has no power over us except what we let him have.

That’s why Paul tells us to stand our ground in Ephesians. (Ephesians 6:13-14)

That’s why James tells us to resist the devil in his letter. (James 4:7)

So remember the authority you have, child of God.

As John tells us,

You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. (1 John 4:4)

Categories
Luke Devotionals

Just one finger

If I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.　(Luke 11:20)

As we think about spiritual warfare, and specifically the Enemy we battle, we sometimes lose sight of an important truth.

God is much more powerful than Satan. Satan is not God’s equal.

God is the Creator. Satan is merely a creature.

And God needs but his little finger to overcome Satan.

So as we face spiritual battles in our lives, let us go with confidence in the one who dwells in us. For as John wrote,

You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. (1 John 4:4)

Categories
Luke Devotionals

But the truth is…

John the Baptist

…blessed is the one who isn’t offended by me. (Luke 7:23)

One thing I’ve been thinking about lately is spiritual warfare. It’s what we’re going to be talking about the next few Sundays in my church, for that matter.

And in thinking about our Enemy, it strikes me that one of his biggest weapons is deceit, lies. Jesus in fact calls him the “father of lies.” (John 8:44)

Satan was certainly wielding that weapon against John the Baptist.

“Your life was a waste. Here you are in prison, and what did you really accomplish? You proclaimed this Jesus as Messiah, but is he really? He certainly isn’t doing anything to free Israel from the Romans. And he’s doing nothing to free you from Herod. You’re still here, aren’t you?”

Lies mixed with truth can be a very effective weapon.

And so John sent messengers to Jesus saying, “Are you really the one we’re looking for? Or shall we wait for another?”

Jesus’ answer? He starts healing people left and right. Casting out demons. Preaching the gospel.

Then he essentially says to John, “You’re disappointed in me. I’m not what you expected because I’m not doing anything about the Romans.

“But the truth is, I am the Messiah, and I’m doing everything Scripture said I would.

“So don’t lose heart thinking your work was in vain. Hold on to the truth. I am the truth. Blessed is the person who doesn’t stumble because of me.”

When Satan attacks us with his lies, when we’re struggling in our Christian walk and we’re feeling disappointed by Jesus, doubting his goodness toward us, let us break out of our cycle of pain and doubt and declare, “I may feel this way, but the truth is Jesus is good. He is who he says he is. And he loves me.”

But above all, remember that Jesus himself is the truth.

And the truth is, if we put our trust in him, we will never be put to shame. (Romans 10:11, 1 Peter 2:6)

Categories
Ephesians

Standing together in prayer

Ephesians

As we close Ephesians, we close with the same drum we’ve been beating for the last 4 chapters: unity.

Paul has been talking about the spiritual war we are in, and after talking about the armor of God we are to put on, he told the Ephesians,

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 saints.

Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains.

Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. (Ephesians 6:18-20)

Here he reminds the Ephesians that on top of all the spiritual armor we are to wear, we are to remember where our strength comes from. It comes not from ourselves, but from God.

And so he tells us that we are to pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.

What does it mean to pray in the Spirit: To me, it means to let the Spirit lead you as you pray. To ask him, “How should I pray today?”

Too often, we just talk about what we want to talk about. And because of that, we miss out on what God wants to talk about.

So be led by the Spirit in your prayers. Let his prayers be your prayers.

And do it on all occasions, whether good or bad.

Pray using all kinds of prayers: Prayers of thanksgiving; Prayers of worship; Prayers of confession; And prayers for our needs.

But whatever we pray, we are to stand together in prayer. Again, we are not called to fight this battle alone. We are to be one with the other believers in this spiritual war. And so we are to pray for each other and with each other.

We are to especially stand in prayer with those in the front lines preaching the gospel, praying that God would give them the words to speak, and that he would empower them with his Spirit so that people may be changed.

And for those on the front line, remember you are not alone.

As Paul did, seek the prayers of the other believers, and share what’s going on with you. Don’t try to make it on your own. We all need each other.

So wherever you are, let us stand together. And we will find victory.

Categories
2 Corinthians

Tearing down Satan’s strongholds

2 Corinthians

I suppose the more that we look at the world around us, the more it seems like Satan has set up his strongholds in our culture.

Certainly we see it in the moral shifts that have occurred in America over the last 10-20 years.

And in Japan, the spiritual strongholds are just as strong, keeping people in spiritual darkness with less than a percent of the population being church-going, born again Christians.

It’s enough to discourage us and make us want to give up.

For other Christians, it stirs up anger at what Satan has done to our culture. And it makes them want to fight the way that the world fights: with viciousness and a stomp-you-down mentality.

But that’s not the way we are to fight. That’s not the way to tear down the strongholds Satan has set up.

Paul had to deal with some strongholds in the Corinthian church. Strongholds set up by false teachers. Strongholds of division. Strongholds of rebellion against God and against Paul.

How did Paul respond?

By the meekness and gentleness of Christ.

He didn’t come with an attitude of tearing apart those who opposed him. Rather he came with a gentle spirit.

This is not to say that Paul could never be “bold.”

He could, and he told the Corinthians that if they didn’t repent, he would have to come in boldness and strength. But that was not what he desired to do.

But even in coming in boldness, it was not to tear people apart, but to build them up. (2 Corinthians 10:8)

He then talked about the kind of warfare we are to wage when attacking Satan’s strongholds. He said first,

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. (2 Corinthians 10:3)

Sometimes Christians come with the attitude of, “We need to fight fire with fire.”

Or they get sucked into the idea that they have to use worldly means to fight the deterioration in our society, using things like politics.

Don’t get me wrong: we need to be involved in politics as Christians. We cannot just take our hands off of it.

But if we think we are going to change our society through politics, if we think we are going to change the human heart through politics, we are sadly mistaken.

We can have all the Christian values incorporated into our society, but while it may improve our society, politics doesn’t have the power to actually change the human heart.

If we want to effect long-lasting change, it needs to start with each individual Christian touching the individual lives around them. And we need to be using the spiritual weapons God has given us.

Paul said,

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. (2 Corinthians 10:4)

What are those weapons? Primarily they are the word of God and prayer. It’s speaking the words of God into the lives of the people around us, and then praying for them.

That’s what has the power to change lives as the Holy Spirit works in us and through us.

For it’s through the Spirit, that

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:5)

Ultimately, it is only God that can change the human heart, not politics, not our rhetoric, not our debating skills.

So I suppose the question we need to ask is twofold:

1. Are we joining in the battle to tear down Satan’s strongholds?

2. With what weapons are we waging this warfare?

Categories
Luke Luke 6 Mark Mark 3 Matthew Matthew 10

Called to be with him, called to go out

The gospels

In these passages, we see the increasing popularity of Jesus, and perhaps it was because of these increasingly great crowds and their needs that Jesus decided to choose 12 people as his trained disciples.

As a man, Jesus was limited to one place at one time. As a result, to minister more effectively, he needed people around him to share in his work.

It truly was a motley crew he chose.

You had fishermen, a former tax collector and collaborator of the Roman government, and a former zealot who was highly nationalistic.

You also had a variety of personalities. You had the brash and bold (Peter), the skeptical (Thomas and Nathanael), and the short-tempered (James and John).

They were all quite different people. But there were three things that Jesus wanted of them. It says in Mark 3:14-15,

He appointed twelve–designating them apostles–that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons.

First and foremost, Jesus wanted people that would be with him. People who would spend time with him, and to learn from him.

Jesus still desires that today. He desires that we share in his life. That we might know him. And that we might grow to be more like him.

Second, Jesus wanted people that would go out and share the message he had given them.

So often, people read their Bibles, and they grow in their relationship with God. But it’s not enough to just know the Word. God wants us to share that message with others so that they can share in what you have.

Third, Jesus wanted people who would fight spiritual warfare. You may or may not drive out demons from people as the disciples did, but you will have to fight the spiritual forces that are out there.

As Paul wrote,

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. (Ephesians 6:12)

Jesus calls us to fight. Not against people, but against Satan and his spiritual forces that would blind people and doom them to eternal hell. He calls us to fight for the souls of men and women everywhere.

Every day, people are dying and going to hell. But God doesn’t want that. He wants us to go and fight that they may be saved.

That’s what it means to be a disciple of Christ. To be with Jesus. To go out and share the good news with others. And to engage in spiritual warfare.

How about you? As Christ’s disciple, are you doing these things?