Ready For Anything (Part 1: Spiritual Warfare) Series

Intro

Are you ready? Are you ready for anything? An important theme in Scripture is readiness. Second Timothy 2:21 talks about being “prepared for every good work.”i Sometimes God opens a door for a person, but the person is not prepared to go though that open door. He is therefore not able to make the most of the opportunity (Eph. 5:16 NIV). For an important assignment, there is usually a necessary preparation. We ask God for opportunities; God asks us to prepare for opportunities.ii

After giving the Parable of the Ten Virgins, Jesus said, “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming” (Matt. 25:13).iii We are to stay ready for the coming of the Lord. Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 5:6: “Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.” Most of the world will be taken by surprise by the coming of the Lord. They will be so busy with other things, that that day will catch them unprepared.iv

Peter tells us to be sober and vigilant “because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet. 5:8). Many Christians today are like a soldier that has forgotten that he is on the battlefield. He has been lulled into a very dangerous complacency. His prayer life has withered up. He has gotten caught up in the cares of this life. He only reads his Bible occasionally. And the Devil has convinced him that he does not need to be in church. He only comes occasionally as a religious duty.v

I recently watched a documentary on the Vietnam War. As those soldiers made their way through the jungle, they were very alert. They were aware of the dangers they were walking into. They watched where they stepped because they did not want to step into a booby trap. They listened carefully to the sounds around them because the enemy might be lurking in the thick vegetation. That is what you do when you are in a war.

Did anyone tell you that you are in a war? It is a more dangerous war than Vietnam. There you could lose your physical life. But in this war, you could lose your eternal soul or the person living near you could lose his eternal soul. That reality should cause us to be alert.

We do not have to live in a state of anxiety. In fact, we should not live in anxiety (Phil. 4:6). There is no need for anxiety if we are doing the things we are supposed to be doing. Sometimes the people that should not be anxious are anxious, and the people that should be anxious are not anxious. “Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor 10:12). There is safety in living in humble dependence on the Lord. There is danger in thinking we can neglect this great salvation and do well in the long run (Heb. 2:3).

America made a fatal mistake in the Vietnam War. We underestimated our enemy. We looked at their lack of material resources compared to ours, and we assumed we could defeat them. But we were facing a determined enemy who had strategies different than what we anticipated. They drew us into man-to-man combat that neutralized much of our resource advantage. We thought we were invincible, but we lost.

As you can already see, this is not a pep talk. This is a sobering declaration of reality. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”vi That is only one side of our reality. The other side is far more encouraging. God has given us everything we need to win every battle.vii He has also shown us how to be prepared for anything. And that is what I want to talk about this morning.

Our text is found in Ephesians 6:10-18:

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness 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. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.”