The Spiritual Battle
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.
Eph 6:12-14
Some years ago Donna and I bought our own version of a money pit. It looked a lot like a house but unfortunately it required a lot of work. The floor in the kitchen moved up and down when you walked across in front of the refrigerator so I built a closet in the room below in the basement so I could support the floor joists. The windows were drafty so we spent $4000 on new windows. The carpeting was orange shag in the living room and green shag in the dining room (You would have had to have seen it to believe it) so we had to get new carpeting throughout the house. The furnace was an oil fired boiler that weighed around 60,000 lbs and blew sooty air all over the basement. There was no air conditioning and the whole house fan was so powerful that it would have made the interior of the house a low pressure area – except the windows were so drafty all it did was make the house into a big convection oven. The laundry room was a closet in the kitchen and the bathroom had a mirror that opened up into the master bathroom. If had a guest in the house who was brushing their teeth you could go into the other bathroom, open the medicine chest and knock on the backside of the mirror. When they nervously opened it to see what was inside – it was you. I had a lot of fun with that one. There was a carport made of pre-stressed concrete that I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to cover, hide, teardown, and try to get it to stop leaking. We lived in that house for 12 years – and it was a 1.2 decade long war.
If you haven’t had a money pit in your life – I congratulate you. Even so, you are in a war today. There is a real battle going on in your world today… the battle is not to make a home out of a house and it’s not about paying down your credit card debt or a battle to get a college education and a good job. This battle is for your soul. It is a spiritual battle for your life.
That is the reason for this series – to help you become a transformed man or woman of God. This is week five…
So??? How are you doing? Have you been working on the Transformations book? Is it harder than it looks? Have you made some decisions and changes in your life? Tyler and I both hope that you’ve seen some good things start to happen in your life. We hope that you are enjoying the new family, that you’re spending more time connecting with God, and that you’ve been breaking down some strongholds.
Today we’re going to change up a little. While the direction is the same the tone is going to be a bit different. Today we’ve got some good news for you that you will find encouraging, challenging, and supportive.
We’re going to look at what the Apostle Paul said to the church in Ephesus about the spiritual battle that every Christian fights. You’ll find it in Ephesians 6:12-14. (Read)
But there is some very important information in these verses. There is counsel here that is encouraging, challenging, and establishes a very simple goal that everyone can reach.
How does that sound to you? Are you ready? We’re going to give it to you in three short and simple commands… Here is the first one:
Sit
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
Ephesians 6:10
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.
Ephesians 6:12
Every aspect of the Christian life -- salvation, sanctification, everything -- is ours because Christ’s work is done.
What this text says is very simple. It’s not about you – it’s about Jesus. It’s about God. It’s his battle not yours!
Do you remember what Jesus said just before he died on the cross? He said, “It is finished.” It’s done.
Do you remember our Hebrews study of the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross? His sacrifice was made, “once, for all.” It’s done.
Every aspect of the Christian life -- salvation, sanctification (being cleansed and made holy), our home in heaven being made ready for us, everything -- is ours because Christ’s work is done. He is seated in the heavenlies at the right hand of God – and he is done!
What you and I need to do is to rest in His finished work, to see ourselves seated with Him, only then have we really begun to be transformed into might men and women of God.
This translates into the critically important principle of trusting God with everything in your life.
Watchman Nee Illustration
Sit – Rest in God
9 “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
Matthew 7:9-10
God is the Giver of Life
God is so wealthy that His chief delight is to give. Our God is loving and caring father.
When we stop giving and working, we discover how much He is willing to do… and everyone knows that it is God at work.
This is a lesson that I have to learn over and over. This building project has been that kind of battle for me. We bought land we couldn’t use and had to sell – at a loss. We searched for a new direction and a new way for months that turned into years. It wasn’t until I stopped trying so hard to do it myself and began to pray for God’s gracious hand to be on us that we saw that we were winning more battles than losing them.
We found 8 acres just down the road owned by another church considered that they were holding this property for another church to build on. They held it for 15 years and then sold it to us.
We found a company that designed our building according to our needs, helped us raise commitments of $530,000 and then introduced us to a man who gave us another $700,000. The gracious hand of God has lifted us up and the battle is ours!
This is God’s fight – not ours! Stop trying to do it all yourself. Stop trying to fix yourself. This is God’s battle.
The command is to Sit – rest in him and stop trying to do it yourself. Pray and connect with the master of the universe – he is your friend.
THE MAGIC OF THREE DAYS It was a beautiful spring day, and a sense of peace stayed with me as I left the cathedral on Easter Monday morning. I paused for a moment on top of the steps leading to the avenue, now crowded with people rushing to their jobs. Sitting in her usual place inside a small archway was the old flower lady. At her feet corsages and boutonnieres were parading on top of a spread-open newspaper. The flower lady was smiling, her wrinkled old face alive with some inner joy. I started down the stairs then, on an impulse, turned and picked out a flower. As I put it in my lapel, I said, You look happy this morning. Why not? Everything is good. She was dressed so shabbily and seemed so very old that her reply startled me. You’ve been sitting here for many years now, haven’t you? And always smiling. You wear your troubles well. You can’t reach my age and not have troubles, she replied. Only it’s like Jesus and Good Friday . . . She paused for a moment. Yes? I prompted. Well, when Jesus was crucified on Good Friday, that was the worst day for the whole world. And when I get troubles I remember that, and then I think of what happened only three days later Easter and our Lord arising. So when I get troubles, I’ve learned to wait three days . . . somehow everything gets all right again. And she smiled good-bye. Her words still follow me whenever I think I have troubles. Give God a chance to help . . . wait three days.
SOURCE: By Patt Barnes, March 1995 issue of Guideposts.
Are you ready for the second command? Here it is…
Walk
11 Put on the full armor of God…
Ephesians 6:11a
Walking involves your conduct and behavior in life. But this is more than just living a good moral life. That simply does not go far enough. That’s the idea of following the law of Moses with it’s ten fundamental commands. The problem is that we cannot meet God’s expectations of correct behavior. No one here is able to say that he is never broken the Ten Commandments. Not one person here has even come close. And if want to argue the point – you’re breaking the one about lying!
This is why we begin with sitting or resting in Jesus. He’s done it all for us and now we simply walk in his path. We are to follow him – it is that simple.
I wish I could say something here that is really profound and will get you to all sit up grab madly for a pen to write down some incredibly insightful truth that rocks the foundations of modern thought – but I can’t – unless you understand that being called to follow Jesus is a profoundly important command.
Walk
12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
John 8:12
There is one last command…
Softball Illustration
Stand
…so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.
Ephesians 6:11b
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.
Ephesians 6:13-15
The victory has already been won, we simply hold that ground.
God has entrusted His Name and His Son’s Name to those who walk in His way. Therefore, we cannot stand in His power until we have first learned to sit, then walk and finally stand.
We stand against the power of the prince of this world. We stand against the pressures of our Godless culture. We stand for our Lord and Savior. Standing strong and firm is our greatest task.
The longer I live the more I have come to the conclusion that the greatest work we can do in God’s name is to stand.
Our God is an Awesome God
The Cross at Ground Zero
What this construction worker discovered buried in the rubble of the Twin Towers helped to restore people’s faith
by Frank Silecchia
Little Ferry, New Jersey
I’m an excavation laborer, and a member of union local 731. Pick-and-shovel work is my trade. I live in New Jersey, but I’m a New York City native, Brooklyn born and bred. After the Towers collapsed, my city was hurting. When I heard they needed guys like me for search-and-rescue work at Ground Zero, I couldn’t get there fast enough.
I’d seen the news coverage, but that didn’t prepare me for the reality. Down there it was like hell on earth. Fires burned out of control. Destroyed vehicles littered the streets. Everything was blanketed with dust; the air was filled with a choking stench. I soaked a bandanna with water before wrapping it around my head to cover my nose and mouth. I went to work wondering if I’d be able to get through this.
Six firefighters and I entered World Trade Center building six, which had been flattened by Tower One. We took a smoke-filled stairway down into the garage levels, searching for survivors. There were no cries for help, no signs of life. We spray-painted orange Xs to indicate where we’d searched and to help us find our way back.
After 12 hours of searching, we’d recovered three bodies. By then I was exhausted, but I couldn’t quit. “Think I’ll take a look over there,” I told the firemen, motioning toward the remains of the lobby atrium.
Picking my way through the massive piles of debris, I peered into what had become a sort of grotto. Illuminated by the pale light of dawn were shapes . . . crosses. What? How did these get here? The largest was about 20 feet high. It must have weighed a couple of tons.
In that little grotto I felt a strange sense of peace and stillness. I could almost hear God saying, The terrible thing done at this site was meant for evil. But I will turn it to good. Have faith. I am here. I fell to my knees in front of the largest cross. Tears came, and I couldn’t stop them. I cried like a baby.
Finally I was able to pull myself together. I grabbed my gear and left the strange grotto to go back to search-and-rescue work. But first I spray-painted “God’s House” on the atrium ruins.
Digging day after day at Ground Zero was the hardest work I’d ever done. Often I was so drained I felt I couldn’t go on. That’s when I’d go to God’s House. Standing there in front of that 20-foot-high steel-beam cross, I always felt my strength and spirit renewed.
Word spread. The cross had the same healing effect on others too. Firemen, police, volunteers, grieving survivors, visiting dignitaries and clergy. They would walk into God’s House, see the cross and fall to their knees crying, like I had. Some people sang, some prayed. Everyone left changed.
There are some who say that the cross I found is nothing more than steel. That it was just plain physics that broke the steel beam into the shape of a cross when it plunged through the roof of building six. But I believe differently.
So does my friend Father Brian Jordan. He was a chaplain at Ground Zero, and is a priest at St. Francis of Assisi in midtown. When the time came for what was left of building six to be removed, God’s House faced demolition. Father Jordan talked to officials and persuaded them to save the cross. After it was removed from the site, ironworkers fixed the cross to a concrete base, then hoisted it up and mounted it atop a 40-foot foundation that had been a pedestrian walkway outside the World Trade Center. It stood high enough that the rescue workers who were down in the pit could see it whenever they lifted their heads.
Ground Zero was not obviously a place of hope. But it was there that I learned we can always have faith. In fact, we must have faith if we are to go on. New life will rise from the ashes. I know that because the cross was a sign, a promise from God that he is with us even in the face of terrible evil and untold suffering. Especially then.
This article originally appeared in the September 2002 issue of Guideposts magazine.
