Don't Stoop At Standing Time Series

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the cross!

Lift high His royal banner, it must not suffer loss.

From victory unto victory His army shall He lead

Till every foe is vanquished And Christ is Lord indeed.

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, the trumpet call obey.

Forth to the mighty conflict in this His glorious day.

Ye that are men now serve Him against unnumbered foes;

Let courage rise with danger and strength to strength oppose.

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, stand in His strength alone;

The arm of flesh will fail you, ye dare not trust your own.

Put on the gospel armor, each piece put on with prayer;

Where duty calls or danger, be never wanting there.

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, the strife will not belong;

This day the noise of battle, the next, the victor’s song.

To Him that overcometh a crown of life shall be:

He with the King of glory shall reign eternally.

It is this great hymn of the church that I’ve chosen to use for my introduction because it expresses the life of every true believer. In modern day Christianity, we need all believers to stand up for Jesus and against the enemy in these days of perilous times. The enemy is attacking us and causing many of us to give up and stop fighting. The enemy is tearing our families apart. The enemy is causing enormous terrorist attacks and it’s not just against our nation as a whole but more importantly against every believer. And while the battle is intensifying a many of our fellow Christian soldiers have gone awol from the army of Jesus.

Well, I want say that the battle will not stop. As we see in the text of the Ephesians letter that the battle is inevitable to be faced and will continue throughout our Christian journey.

• There’s a war going on for our attention of spiritual things and fleshly things.

• There’s a battle going within us to do good or evil.

• There is a battle going on against us that is invisible.

• There is a battle going on that we cannot contain or defeat with our own strength.

• There is a battle going that causes us to walk by faith, trusting that God will lead and guide and protect us to victory.

• There’s a war going on to move us from standing to sitting.

• There’s a war going on to take us out permanently.

• There’s a war going on for power and glory

Well, what do you do when in battle? Do I run to the battle? Do I run from the battle? You have the same questions I had when studying this text and other material on spiritual warfare. Paul says this is what in the midst of spiritual warfare, STAND.

- In verse 10 of Ephesians chapter 6 he says to us, “put on the armor of God, that we may be able to stand against the tricks, schemes, and methods of devil”.

- In verse 13 of Ephesians chapter 6 he says to us, “take up the whole armor of God, that you may able to withstand in the evil day”.

- And in the “c” clause of verse 13 he says, “and having done all, to stand. And in the “a” clause of verse 14 he says “stand”.

In 3 verses of chapter 6 emphasizes our ability to gain victory over the enemy by standing. Yes, we need to put on the whole armor of God. Yes, we need to understand spiritual warfare. Yes, we need to gird ourselves with the truth, we need the breastplate of righteousness, we need the gospel of peace, we need the shield of faith, and we need the helmet of salvation. But, you what we need more than anything else? Here it is, we need to stand. We can put on and clothe ourselves all day long with armor God provides but what good is it if we’re running from the battle instead of standing in the midst of the battle.

Now when studying this text, I noticed something very interesting about the believer and his or her role in the battle. Notice, we don’t see nowhere in the text where we’re encouraged, exhorted, or commanded to fight. Even in reading and studying the armor, you will notice to gird yourself with the truth, to put on the breastplate of righteousness, to shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, to take the shield of faith, and to take the helmet of salvation are all defensive pieces of armor. So then I asked myself and then this question, Is spiritual war for the Christian defensive more than offensive? The resounding answer to this question was an big fat one word answer, here it is, DEFENSIVE!