Welcome to Spiritual Warfare 301: How to Do Battle with the Enemy and Win. Remember, 101 we said it’s real; there is an invisible world, and there is an invisible war. Then in 201 we learned that you have protection. Everything you need to be victorious, you have. You’ve got the belt of truth, you’ve got the breastplate of righteousness. I mean, you have everything you need. Your feet shod with the Gospel, preparation of peace.
Now I wanna share a story, and I’m not sharing this story to be dramatic. This happened the first year I was in Santa Cruz. I had a number of different experiences as a pastor earlier, but this was the most radical, ’cause we’re moving from just -- not times where you’re walking faithfully with the Lord. But I’m talking about spiritual attack, the kind that at times you don’t understand and scares you to death.
I’ll let you rewind with me the VCR of my mind -- I guess it’s about 13 years now, 12 and a half. New pastor. Been in this community with all of this occult, and it is -- I’ll learn later -- about 2 a.m. And in my first time this happened, it happened multiple times to me and family members, but this was the first time. And I don’t know whether I’m asleep or I don’t know whether I’m awake. What I know is, is that I can open my eyes and I can see that my wife is in bed next to me, so I’m assuming I’m awake.
But the problem is I can’t move anything in my body, and there’s a sense of evil in the room that is so foreboding that I don’t even know what’s going on. And not only that is that little by little, as I’m crying out to God in my mind because I can sense something’s wrong and I’m praying "Jesus, help me, help me, help me." And there is a pressure, like weight on my chest that feels like about 5,000 pounds, that’s crushing it, and something going around my neck so that my windpipe is completely closed.
And if you’ve ever had someone dunk you when you were a kid, in a pool, and you just can’t get any air, and you’re right at the point where you wanna go -- and, you know, the next breath you’re gonna take, you’re gonna come up and get air or you’re gonna take in water. That’s exactly where I’m at. And I’m crying out to God and I’m praying and I’m praying, but I can’t move anything, and I see Theresa over there. "Oh, God, help, help." And I’m gonna suffocate, and I’m thinking, "How in the world can you suffocate in your own bed when there’s not any water?"
And just at that point, I go (Coughs and gasps for air). And I sit up in bed, and I’m literally soaking wet as though I’ve played full-court basketball for two hours. The hair on the back of my head is straight up. There is such evil in the room as though shadows and a manifestation of evil like I’ve never seen in my life, and I am scared to death. And I don’t know what’s going on, and I don’t know what to do. And I’ll tell you a little bit later about what I did, but I will tell you, it was hostile, offensive, demonic activity, and that scene was repeated scores of times in the next 12 years or so.
What do you do when it’s not like you’re just being deceived, it’s not just a little condemnation, it’s not just that, you know, you’re being convicted and some things are happening that you need to deal with? What do you do when, for some very specific reasons, there is strong frontal satanic attack?
As I was sitting up in bed, I thought to myself, you know, "I need to pray, and I think I need to pray out loud." And I’m a pastor, okay? I went to Dallas Seminary. It’s not like I don’t know a few verses. Okay? I’m an old ex-navigator. I got some weapons in here, but I am scared to death and I’m thinking, "I think I need to pray out loud." And notice this: the enemy again. Pride in the fear. If I pray out loud, my wife might wake up. If my wife wakes up and hears her husband talking out loud in the dark to no one there, and he’s all sweaty, she’s gonna wake up and go, "He’s a nutcase." Now, of course she wouldn’t really think that, but that’s how I felt, and I was immobilized to do spiritual warfare for a period of time.
At the same time, I had a good friend who -- he would call himself a classical-nominal Christian: intellectual, belief in Jesus. He said, "Looking back, I may have been saved, may not. My life didn’t demonstrate it. Went to church now and then. A little bit more then than now, and tried to be a good guy, raising my family. Came to our church, made a real commitment to Christ." And then he began a process.
That first week he came, someone said, "Hey, that guy likes to play basketball." He walks right up to the podium. He said, "Hey, I hear you liked hoop." I said, "I do."
He said, "Well, can I play sometime?" I said, "What are you doing at 2:00 this afternoon? Every Sunday, 2:00, my driveway. You there?" And he came. And the next ten years we spent with one another. And I watched him -- marriage, getting the Bible, priorities -- begin to really grow, minister to other people, do radical things with his finances.
And so, you know, we have little talks after we play ball, and he said, "Chip, I gotta tell you something." I said, "What?" He said, "Man, something, like, weird happened last night." I said, "What?"
He said, "Michelle and I were just sitting on the couch, and the kids had gone to bed and, you know, it’s been a great weekend. I feel real close to her and have my arm around her and we’re just watching some old movie, and she kinda dozed off. You know how your wife does sometimes and, you know, it’s kind of a neat feeling. ’Hey, there’s my pretty wife and I love her, and Humphrey Bogart or some old movie, and who cares?’"
And he said, "Then it’s like a thought from nowhere went (Makes whooshing sound), and it was a --" He said, "All I can tell you -- it was fear."
And he said, "In seconds, I believed with all my heart, she’s gonna die, she’s gonna die, she’s gonna die. She’s gonna be taken away from me." And he said, "My thoughts went --" And he said, "It was like -- as though someone told me she had cancer and I had the report in my hand, and I’m holding her in my arms and I’m thinking, ’She’s gonna die. It might be tonight, might be tomorrow. She’s going to die.’ And then my mind went quickly from there to ’Why, and what kinda God would let her die? And you know what? I’m not sure I could believe in a God like that.’"
He said, "In a matter of seconds, I got to thinking God wasn’t good," and he said, "I didn’t know what to do." So he said, "Chip, what’s that?"
I said, "Dave, that’s spiritual warfare."
He said, "Well, how do you handle it?"
I said, "Well, let’s talk about it." And what I wanna do in the rest of our time tonight is talk about it.
Many people in this room could have either similar or different stories. The manifestations could be different, but what we’re gonna talk about is how do you do battle with the enemy and win. This is not far out. This is not crazy. This is maybe rare, but it does happen.
Now there’s four facts you need to know. There’s four facts that, before we talk about this, you absolutely need to know. Follow along. Fact No. 1: God has objectively defeated Satan in his agenda. He has delivered us from sins, penalty, and power, and ultimately will deliver us from sin’s very presence. That’s a fact. In the interim, we’re involved in guerrilla warfare with demonic forces.
Fact No. 2: As believers, we have been transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light with all the rights and privileges and position that being a child of God entails.
Fact No. 3: The spiritual battle that we fight involves a responsibility on our part to put on the spiritual protection that God has provided for us. We can and we will resist the enemy’s attempts to deceive, accuse, and cast out when we stand firm by what? First, being honest with God about ourselves and others: prerequisite to all spiritual battle. Second, responding to the truth that God shows us about His will for our lives: righteous living. And third, a clear understanding of the Gospel and taking opportunity to readily share it.
Fact No. 4: The vast or great majority of all spiritual warfare never need go beyond the regular practice of living out your position in Christ by faith. What we’re talking about now is not necessarily the norm. Our practice of Paul’s metaphor, the spiritual armor, protects us from Satan’s ongoing attempts to break our fellowship with Jesus and, as a result, greatly minimizes any impact of the enemy.
With that in mind, however, turn the page, if you will, because there are times when we must move beyond standing firm and holding on to this position that we have, and we engage the enemy in actual combat. There’s certain times that it gets frontal. It’s not about holding your ground. Stuff starts to happen.
Let me give you a few times when you may find yourself engaging in frontal assault by the enemy. First is when we’re taking significant steps of faith for spiritual growth. My friend -- when this happened to him, he had started memorizing Scripture. He started to get into the Bible on a regular basis. I remember him telling me -- he said, "I felt like a fool." He said, "You know, I grew up in church, and when I was a kid, you give a dollar. When you’re an adult, you know, you give, like, five bucks. If you have a, like, ooey-gooey feeling, you give ’em 20."
He said, "Man, I started tithing." He said, "I’m writing checks."
I’m going, "Are you kidding me, Dave?"
And he said, "I started -- and it’s not like I just give ’em. It’s like, this is awesome, this is great. I can’t believe I get in on this." And he said, "Now I’m starting to share my faith."
He is spiritually growing. Guess what? That’s when you get attacked. Enemy wanted to come in and scare him.
A second time is when we’re invading enemy territory. When you’re in evangelism. Maybe you’re on a missions trip. Maybe you’re involved at something with your church where you’re reaching out to other people or sharing Christ with a neighbor or friend.
Third time when this may happen is when we’re exposing him for who he really is. I’ve taught this series a couple times, and when I think about teaching it, I’ll tell you this, for the last three and a half weeks since I begin to teach this -- I say this reverently -- all hell has been breaking loose. And that’s not a cuss word; that’s just a reality of demonic opposition in ways that I don’t have time to tell you about. But I knew it was coming, because when you disrobe him and you become a part of letting other people see demonic spirits for what’s going on, you get some shots.
Another time is when you repent and make a clean break with the world and a long-held sin pattern or an unholy relationship. I’ve seen this happen over and over. A couple in our church are living together, and they realize "You know something? We need to get right with God." And so they move out. Wow, spiritual opposition.
We had a ministry called Celebrate Recovery. When someone came off of heroin or cocaine or a sexual addiction, for the next three months, you knew, I mean, things were gonna be terrible where they were. Because what’s happening? The enemy is losing one of his own.
Another time here is when God is preparing us individually or corporately for a great work for His glory. Often, one of the things that lets you know that God is up to something is when there’s great spiritual attack, and you don’t know exactly why. Tell you what, in the unseen world, they often know what things are happening more than we do.
I had one professor who always used to say, "You know something? When we get a lot of spiritual attack, always took that as a really good sign. We must be worthy of something in the kingdom of darkness’s attention." And he said, "You know, I just kinda took that as a little merit badge on my sleeve and said, ’Okay, let’s do spiritual warfare; let’s get after it.’"
So there are times when these things are gonna happen. Here’s the question: Once you’re wearing your spiritual armor, and yet you find yourself bombarded by spiritual opposition, how do you engage the enemy and win the battle?
If you’ll open your Bible, Ephesians 6, I wanna pick it up with the flow. We’ve learned in verses 10 through 12, "Finally, be strong in the Lord and the strength of his might. We’ve learned "Command, put on the full armor of God." Why? There’s this struggle. Not against flesh and blood, but against the rules, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness. And then having done everything to stand, we’re to stand firm.
And then it says how. Verse 13: "Take up this full armor of God and, having girded your loins with truth, put on the breastplate of righteousness, having your feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel." Notice verse 16: "In addition to all," or on top of that, once you’ve done all that -- notice these next three are not defensive. They’re not just holding your position.
The next three talk about what happens when the missiles and the attack is occurring: "In addition to all, take up the shield of faith, with which you’ll be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one, and take the helmet," or, literally, it’s "receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God.
And what I wanna do in our time together is look at these next three pieces of armor, because they have to do when the missiles or the enemy is engaging you. So let’s look at the first one: how to engage the enemy and win. Ephesians 6:16 and 17: "Take up the shield of faith."
At that time, there were two types of shields. Let’s just explain the metaphor. There was a small, round shield. Remember? Like you’ve seen in those movies where the gladiators would fight? But this is not that shield. This shield was about four feet high, about two and a half feet wide, and it was oblong. And it had little hooks on the end so that they could hook on together, and the Roman army would often be in a long row, and they’d hook together and move like this.
The shield was made out of iron. It had wood -- one layer, two layers of wood. Linen went over top of it, and then a leather cover. They left a little opening in the shield where -- just a gap where there’s air. The reason being, as the Roman armies would move forward, the enemies would take their -- what do they call these? Arrows. Good. Put ’em in some pitch, light ’em. The big words kill me. Then they would fire ’em and shoot ’em, and what they would do is they would put up the shields and (Makes shooting noise). And so they would come in, and because of that gap, it would extinguish the flaming missiles.
So that’s the metaphor, that’s the picture that Paul has. So much so in one ancient Greek. In Seneca, one soldier came in with 200 arrows extinguished in his shield. So I mean, this is a picture that, when he said this to this group there, they got it. They understood what he was talking about.
So what is the shield of faith? What’s it mean to us? The definition of faith in this context -- it’s "our absolute confidence in God, His promises, His power, and His program for our lives. Although it is rooted in the objective reality of the Gospel and our new standing with God -- justification through faith, or saving faith -- this faith refers to our present faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for victory over sin and the host of demonic forces." That last quote is by Kenneth Wuest. Its purpose is what? To quench all the fiery missiles of the evil one.
So the shield of faith -- this is not saving faith. This is the faith in God, God’s promises, that when something comes, whether it’s a deception or attack or like that night where you just get scared to death, the shield of faith is -- we’ll talk about -- it’s claiming God’s promises, trusting God’s character, and applying God’s truth, and holding it up to deflect the lies and the darts, whether they be fear, accusation, condemnation, or whatever.
So what are those darts? The fiery darts or missiles are the schemes, the temptations, the lies, the deceptions, and the attacks that are aimed at us, God’s people. Now get this down: The goal of the darts are to get you to shift your focus from God onto something or someone else. See, the ultimate goal -- see, it’s a shield of faith -- is to get you to be afraid, to get you to feel guilty or condemned, and shift your faith and your dependency from God to something or someone else.
I put a few examples here. Blasphemous thoughts can be a dart. Has anyone here -- I say this and people laugh sometimes, but the people -- have you ever been praying and had a really sweet time of prayer and had a cuss word go, like, right through your mind? And the next thought is like, "Where did that come from?" And, like, for me I’m thinking, "Man, I have not cussed in years." I mean, that was the early thing that God did.
And then the next thought is: What kinda Christian are you that, in this intimate time with God, you would be thinking those thoughts? And then the guilt comes and the -- you know what? That’s the enemy. That’s just the enemy coming in.
Another possible one is hateful thoughts. Have you ever just, I mean, had almost unreasonable thoughts of hatred toward another person? And you’re thinking, "I’m a Christian. I mean, I love people in general." Or doubts? I mean, I don’t mean little doubts. I mean, like, just a window of time where "I don’t know if I believe the whole thing." I mean, and you can’t even say that out loud, like, ’cause if you did, they’d think, "What, you?" But it’s just a thought that comes and it kinda scares you.
Or a burning desire to sin? That ever happen to you? Yeah, everyone’s going, "Oh, yeah, me. That happened to me. You know, that’s right." Of course it has. Yeah, a situation where you really -- it’s like, you know, everything in you wants to do something, and you know it’s absolutely wrong. And it’s just like... Like it’s a supercharge opportunity. Those are missiles from the enemy.
Or have you ever had a relationship and then, you know, known someone for years and then just this flash of you question their motives? "You know, I wonder if he’s telling the truth. I wonder if he’s been honest all these years in this business." I mean, out of the blue, just this thought that you think, "Wait a second." These kind of things are darts.
Unexplained, overwhelming times of depression. I don’t mean, you know, you’re down and there’s normal grief and difficult times. I don’t mean that your thyroid’s not working like it’s supposed to. I don’t mean that you haven’t -- had a lack of sleep. I mean certain times where it is like you’re in the sunlight and then someone turns a switch and it’s like (Makes whooshing noise). And I mean, you’re not in the pits; you’re in the bottom, in the muck, and you don’t wanna come out. Those are darts. It’s how the enemy works. I mean, those are a few examples. You could give me many, many more.
So how does it work? How does Satan -- when he attacks, what’s he do? I’m gonna suggest that you study carefully Genesis 3 and Matthew 4. If you really wanna understand how the darts work, Genesis 3, study carefully. I mean, just for yourself. Study carefully the tactics of what occur with Adam and Eve, and then go to Matthew 4 and study when, where, and how Jesus was tempted. And from those passages you’ll see a classic methodology. It often starts with disguise. You don’t know where it comes from. Then doubt is cast on God and His Word or on your and your worthiness.
By the way, when these attacks come, it doesn’t matter. I don’t think Satan cares. If he can get you to think God is cruel and uncaring, that He’s harsh, that He doesn’t love you, that how could a good God do this, he’s got you going. Or if he can get you -- "You’re worthless, you’re terrible. I mean, you call yourself a mother? You call yourself a Christian? You think you’re a real man after the cowardice --" It doesn’t matter. As long as he can get you thinking inaccurately about God or yourself or others, he takes you down the trail.
Disguise, casting doubt, and then he provides -- in the midst of that window of opportunity -- an appealing, immediate alternative rooted in the pride of life, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh. In the midst of that vulnerability, those lies and those darts, then he sets right out for you: lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, pride of life.
I put a passage there. It’s 1 John 2:15 and 16. Worthy of our memorization, because every temptation, I believe, that I can find in Scripture will fall into one of three categories. We’re told in that passage, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. For all that is in the world, for those who love the world, the love of the Father’s in ’em. And then for all that’s in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world and all that is in the world is passing away, but he or she who does the will of God abides forever."
You need to know that missiles are gonna come, and they’ll be an appeal to your flesh or an appeal to your eyes or an appeal to your ego, and those will be the ways that he’ll come. And here’s the application: darts of doubt and deception must be immediately met by the shield of faith. And you say, "Well, what do you mean? Picture that for me, Chip. I don’t get it." That means you do this: your active, present, active application of the truth to your personal situation as soon as you recognize a dart has been received. See, often when this happens, you’re not sure where it came from. But to hold up the shield of faith is -- as soon as that comes, you take a specific truth of Scripture and hold up the shield of faith to deal with that issue.
Let me give you three quick examples. First is my friend. What’s the issue here? It’s trusting in God’s character. He’s a new Christian, he’s growing, he’s taking enemy territory, he’s there with his wife, and he has this overwhelming feeling his wife’s gonna die.
Anybody here had that as a parent with one of your kids? Anybody here awaken in the middle of the night with just this vivid sense that one of your children are gonna die? And then you wake -- or in a dream. And then, for the life of you, the emotions of it are so real that you begin to operate and live outta fear? I’ve been there. Or that something terrible is gonna happen, and then these feelings -- "Well, God -- how could God let that happen?"
You know, when my friend talked to me, he says, "What do I do?"
I said, "Dave, you gotta take the truth of God’s Word and you gotta nail that dart and hold up a shield."
Psalm 84:11: "The Lord God is a son and a shield. The Lord God gives grace and glory. No good thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly."
"Dave, God’s character is good." That thought is never from Him. God would never cruelly allow something to happen in that way. He’s for you. He loves you. You don’t have to doubt His character. The goodness of God is that He is eager to be our friend.
The word "goodness" -- actually, it’s root-worded in generosity. I love Tozer’s word for this. God finds holy pleasure in the happiness of His children. That’s how God feels about you. He wells up inside when good things happen in your life and in your heart, and all that was was a dart, and what you have to hold up is, bang, "Hey, Satan, begone. That’s not true. This is what God’s like." Or in the situation here. You need to trust in God’s promises. It says He will accomplish what concerns me.
I shared with you earlier that there’s times -- you know, actually, last week that, you know, I was sorta, like, in the daylight and a switch went off, and I’m in the dark. And I mean I’m really down, doobey-doo, down, down depressed, not just a little. Every Saturday afternoon, or almost every Saturday afternoon, that would occur to me before I preached in Santa Cruz, and for awhile I had no idea what was going on.
I mean, I’m the pastor. I’ve prepared all week. I was excited. I’d go out early for a couple hours. I review my message. I can’t wait to give it. And then sometime between 11 and about 3:00, I go through this time where it’s like, "Man, I don’t wanna preach. I don’t wanna be a pastor. I’m a terrible person." I mean, just depressed. I mean, I don’t wanna get in my car and drive to the church for the Saturday night service.
And then finally I learned what was going on here, and I had to trust the promise of God. I’ve been called to preach your Word. God promises -- what is it? Numbers 23:19. "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken and will he not fulfill it?" Your promises are true. What’s your promise? You’ll give me all the strength to do whatever you call me to do. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And what do you do? You take the shield of faith as you take a specific promise, and you apply it to that lie or that dart or that deception.
This last year, couple years, with Walk Thru, we had times that I just thought, "Oh, Lord." I mean, I didn’t wanna go into the office -- and I can say this now ’cause there’s some staff members here, but there’s times where I thought, "Oh, Lord, unless you show up, unless you provide, man, I feel like -- you know, the economy and all these transitions, we’re gonna go down the tubes."
"Chip, my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus. It’s a promise." And I trusted it. And you hold it up, ’cause what happens? You start to fear. That’s how you apply the shield of faith.
The final way is trusting God’s program and timing. His ways are not always easiest, but they’re always best. Jeremiah 29:11, the classic passage: "I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for good and not for evil, plans for welfare, plans to give you a hope and a future." You know, when you’re tempted, when the dart comes, get out of this marriage. When the dart comes, don’t pay that person back. When the dart comes, go ahead and sue him; he deserves it. When the dart comes, you know what? One little peek, one little look won’t mean anything.
And you step back and you say, "No, God has a plan for marriage. It’s a tough season. Everything in me wants to opt out, but I’ve been through other tough seasons, and Lord, I will keep my commitment to you, I will trust you." And you know what happens? Anybody who’s been married more than ten, 20, 30, 40 years, you sit down and really talk to ’em, they’ve all had seasons that if they did what it felt like when it got tough, they would’ve all bailed out.
But it’s going through that and the struggle and the commitment. You know, love is not a feeling; love is giving another person what they need the most when they deserve it the least. That’s how God loved me, and I’m to walk and love just as Christ also loved me.
And so I trust God’s timing. I trust His program. He says, "This is married, this is the way it works; stay with it. Here’s my view of relationships in business: stay with it. Don’t go outside those boundaries." You claim the promise and you apply it to the specific missile that comes at you.
Do you get that? Did I give enough examples so you realize the issue, the struggle where the missiles are coming in your life? It’s not just a general "oh, God, help me"; it’s taking the truth of God’s Word and applying it to that situation.
Second, then he goes on and says, "Take up the helmet of salvation," or, literally, it’s "receive the helmet of salvation." This is a command for you to take upon this helmet. It’s the Roman soldier. He would have this getup on, and then he would be usually holding his sword over here, and he would put on things, and they usually have -- I forget what they call ’em, but the little guys that would come and help and hand him the helmet. And it was the last piece of armor that he would put on, and it was made of bronze and leather. And it was the most -- obviously, the most important gear, because if you get hit on the head, you’re out. And so this was the most important gear that he’s going to put on before, and it’s the last thing before he goes to battle.
The definition here -- it’s obvious allusion to the security that we have that we’re saved as justified believers and safe from Satan’s attacks. But the focus in this passage is on the present deliverance from sin. The word "salvation" just doesn’t mean you’re saved from sin forever. The word "salvation" literally means to be delivered.
Now the moment you come to Christ, you’re delivered out of sin, but as you see the word, like in the Psalms, over and over and over you’ll hear people -- David talk and the Psalms talk "oh, God, deliver me." He’s talking about "deliver me from my enemies." And you have to put on the helmet of salvation, and the confidence that we’re delivered -- the helmet of salvation is the certainty of deliverance from sin and the protection -- are you ready? -- of our minds in the battle. The helmet protects your mind.
One commentator says, "It is the ability to think logically, to reason wisely, and to maintain a Biblical worldview in the midst of attacks on your mind and your thinking." It’s not simply something you can do; you receive it, but it’s something you must allow God to do. And so you need to ask, "Well, how do you do that?" You do that by renewing your mind.
Romans 12:2: "Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed" -- literally, it’s in that same passive voice -- "but allow yourself to be transformed." How? "By the renewing of your mind, that your life might demonstrate what the role of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." The helmet of salvation has -- we must get God’s Word in our mind in such a way so it protects us, the truth that protects us.
John 17:17 you might jot in the corner. When Jesus was wanting to prepare the disciples, and it’s his last prayer before the Father. You remember what he prays? "Sanctify them by your truth." And then the next line is: "Your Word is truth."
Romans 8 -- great picture 8:5-8: "The mind set on the flesh is death. The mind set on the spirit is life and peace, for the mind set on the flesh cannot please God." It’s impossible to do so, but the mind set on the spirit brings life and peace. You need to understand, the battleground is for your mind. We need to take on this helmet of salvation, and here’s what we have with the helmet of salvation: you know regardless of what you go through, you have a hope that will never fade. You know that with the helmet of salvation, you may go through all kinda doubts and struggles, but you have been justified, your eternity is secure.
And so now what you say is, "In the midst of these bombarding thoughts and missiles, I don’t need to be afraid, because I am God’s child and my destiny is secure." In fact, so much so, the Apostle Paul will use the same phrase in 1 Thess 5:8. And Paul calls the helmet our hope of God’s certain deliverance. The hope, or the helmet of salvation, is the certainty that all God’s promises are "yes" in Christ Jesus. Every promise of God, any struggle that comes your way, all the promises of God in dependency of those who are in Christ, the answer is there; "yes" for your life. He always comes through.
I can share this now because it’s a year or so old, but the very first year at Walk Thru was probably as difficult a time that I’ve ever had in my personal life, and it’s the most difficult time I’ve ever seen my wife go through. And there were a lot of circumstances in the death of her mother, and multiple circumstances after that. But when we got to Atlanta, I’ve never seen her so discouraged, I’ve never seen her so dejected, I’ve never seen her go through so much.
At the same time, that’s at home. You know, you wake up -- guys, remember? This has happened a few times. You wake up in the middle of the night and there’s someone sobbing and kinda with their head in the pillow. You know that one? Or just before you’re ready to say goodbye, a couple times you go and, you know, they’re in the bathroom drying their hair or whatever, or that’s what you think, and you hear someone sobbing through the door. And you can’t fix it. I mean, you just can’t fix it as a man.
And I would go to work and I realize -- you know, at the church I learned to trust God for hundreds of thousands and, like, a few million dollars, or at least a, you know, big capital campaign, maybe three or four or five, six million dollars. And then you trust the Lord, and God builds the buildings.
Well, I went to Walk Thru and, like, it’s like, "Hey, grow up, Chip. You know, we’re in 82 countries and, you know, it’s millions and millions of dollars, so we need to start dropping 38 percent of your income. It’s like..." And so, you know, candidly, I’m scared to death.
And I remember, you know, I cried out to God, and then I just cried. I remember going down to my desk and putting on a little worship tape and, you know, that guy who’s talking about the dry season. I was in a drought, man. I was just like, "God, I don’t know if my wife’s gonna make it through this. I don’t know if I’m gonna make it through this. You promised me, you told me this is what you wanted me to do. Either I didn’t hear your voice or I’m just, like, the dumbest guy in the whole world."
And I’m thinking maybe this organization’s not gonna make it, maybe my wife’s not gonna make it, and maybe this is the dumbest thing I’ve ever done. I mean, I love that church. Why in the world did I ever do this? And yet I made a decision: I would never go there in my thinking, but the darts kept coming.
And so I remembered the helmet of salvation, and I remember, literally -- I mean, I don’t mean this dramatically, but guys, I don’t know about you but I’m not a big crier. You know, I don’t just, you know... But I mean, I was bawling, and I was bawling ’cause I thought, "God, I can’t fix this." I mean, I don’t know any billionaires that are just saying, "Hey, Chip, how many million you need? Give me a call, baby. I’ll take care of that." You know? And I can’t get inside my wife and -- you know, she went through loss, loss, loss, loss, loss, hurt, hurt, hurt. I knew that this is gonna be a journey. I can’t fix that.
I remember being downstairs and literally crying and just saying, "Oh, God." And the good news is God delivered those things. But, you know, this thought came to me, and it’s the helmet of salvation. It’s a great picture. I wanted to share it. Here’s the thought that came to me: "Okay, Chip, what if your wife doesn’t make it? What if Walk Thru the Bible goes right down the tube? And since now Living on the Edge is hooked, it goes down the tube too? What if everything, quote, you ever work for just goes into ashes? Do you remember that if you die tomorrow, that you’ll be with me forever and ever and ever and ever?"
And what if, in your heart of hearts, at least in the integrity of your heart, you may have been deluded. "But at least, Lord, you know my motives. I did what I thought you wanted me to do. I left security to follow you. I got outta my comfort zone to do what I thought you -- if this thing goes down the tube, the worst thing that could happen is I took a step of faith in the integrity of my heart, and the whole thing fizzles. And someday I’ll be with you, and you’ll know there was one son in California who said, ’I wanted to believe you to the point of stepping out at radical risk, and I know you honor and love faith.’ And you know something? You can use some other organization to reach the world. You can develop some other ministry, and I know someday, somehow, you’ll work something out with my wife." But you know what the ultimate hope was? You know the worst thing that can happen to you is you can die. Now think of that. I don’t care -- I mean, you’re going bankrupt. Yeah, I know. One of your kids has cancer. Yeah, I know. Your business partner and your finances are in the ditch. Yeah, I know.
The worst thing that can happen to you, I mean, worst thing that could ever happen is you or someone you love who’s a believer dies, and the moment they die, they’re with Jesus. That’s not all that bad, is it? I mean, is that, like, just the worst thing that can happen? "Oh, gosh, I’m gonna go be with Jesus in a perfect environment forever and ever and ever and ever, and all my desires and longings --" That’s the helmet of salvation, and, you know, when you get to the point, the Apostle Paul basically said, "I’ve already given myself the sentence of death." You know what he was really saying? "I got the helmet of salvation."
See, when you’re already dead, it’s hard to hurt someone. "Hey, if you do that, I’m gonna do this against you." I’m already dead, man. "If you do that, then we’ll do this, we’ll do that, we’ll do that, and you could die." Well, you know what? Shoot me, babe. You shoot me and guess what’s gonna happen? I’m gonna be with Jesus.
You are secure. You have a hope, and your hope isn’t in finances, your hope isn’t in people, your hope isn’t in circumstances. Your hope isn’t other people coming through for you, your hope is not what’s gonna happen someday, some way, somehow. Your hope is in the person of Christ. Who do you have in heaven but him? And besides him you desire nothing else on earth.
You know, that’s true. And see, when the darts come, put up the shield. Then helmet of salvation. And then next he’s gonna say, "Hey, that’s not all. Then pick up the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God." And this isn’t the big, long, heavy sword; this is the two-foot sword that you see in those movies that the Roman soldiers use, because this is for close, hand-to-hand combat.
The definition of this sword -- most times in Scripture the sword of the spirit is logos -- or the sword of the Word of God is logos. But here, with the sword of the spirit, it’s rhema. It’s the spoken word or words given to us by the spirit to do close, hand-to-hand combat with the lives and deceptions of the enemy. The truth of God’s Word quoted and applied to the specific lie or deception that the enemy will allow you -- that comes to you so that you can take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. It’s the sword of the spirit.
Jesus modeled this. I mean, a lot of commentators -- you can read all kinda stuff about what this means. I’m thinking, "Either I’m not that smart or people try and make things complicated." If you wanna know what the sword of the spirit is, open Matthew 4 and watch Jesus do battle with the enemy. And the enemy comes and says, "If you’re the Son of God, turn these stones to bread." It is written, "Man won’t live by bread alone, but by every word" -- are you ready? -- "rhema, the proceeds from the mouth of God."
"If you’re the Son of God" -- you know, each time, what happens? Temptation, lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, pride of life. Answer: it is written, it is written, it is written, and he speaks out loud the truth of God into the lie of the enemy, and (Makes a whooshing noise). And when he’s done, Satan departs. That’s what it means to resist the devil. You resist the devil by putting on the full armor of God, and it’s taking the sword of the spirit and coming against the lies with the specific truths that apply to the situation.
Psalm 119:105: "God’s Word is a lamp into our feet and a light into our path." Are some of you starting to get the idea? That the idea behind Scripture and renewing your mind and meditating and studying is not about getting a little daily devotional, reading your chapter and a half, putting a little check in the box and saying, "Oh, goody, I don’t feel guilty now."
Moses said to the children of Israel, Deuteronomy 32: "Take to your heart every word with which I am commanding to you today, for this word is your life. This word is your life."
"How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to thy word. Thy word I’ve hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee." Psalm 119:9-11.
One of the things -- if you’re gonna have the full armor of God, you have to be a man or woman of this book. Not legalistically, not like have-to-got-to, but you have to begin to master this book. You need to read it in such a way where you can think your way through certain chapters, where you memorize core passages so that your mind is renewed, so you know who you are, and then you can reach in. Jesus reached into five smooth stones, right? Out of Deuteronomy. And he quotes and defeats the enemy. That’s how you take the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God.
Practical considerations is to note that the sword is both an offensive and a defensive weapon. I love this passage in Hebrews 4:12: "For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing as far as the division of soul and both joint and marrow, able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." The way that you keep the belt of truth on is to be in the Word with an humble, open heart to God so that as you read it, He can reveal where your heart is so that He can restore you.
Now let’s go back to my bedroom, and I’m gonna invite you in for a brief follow-up visit, because a lot of information. "But, Chip -- okay, so what’d you do? What did you do? You sat up -- okay, you’re walking with the Lord. You sat up, you’re scared to death, you don’t wanna say something, but what did you do?"
I got a hold of myself and wiped off a little sweat and realized that this was demonic. Wasn’t very hard to figure that out, to tell you the truth. With my heart going (Makes a rapid pattering noise) like this. And then I realized my position in Christ, and I realized greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world.
And then out loud I spoke into the night and I said, "Greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world." And then I quoted 1 John 5:4 and 5: "And this is the victory that has overcome the world. Even those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God." And then I quoted Revelation 12:11: "And they overcame him, Satan, by the blood of the land and by the word of their testimony, and they love not their life even unto death."
And then I did something that I hadn’t had a lot of experience in, but I said, "Evil and demonic spirits, I come against you now in the name of the Lord Jesus. I am a child of God, I’m covered by His blood, and I command you right now, leave my house and leave me alone, in Jesus’ name." And it was like (Makes whooshing noise). Gone. Now I will tell you, there were times and multiple other experiences where it took two, three, four, five times and some extended prayer before that happened, but normally it was boom. I engaged the enemy.
And I put on the bottom here -- notice carefully -- "How do you engage the enemy? Prerequisite: healthy spiritual life. Understand your position in Christ, first three chapters of Ephesians. Discern when demonic influence may be the cause. Claim God’s promises out loud, and then take your authority and position in Christ and command the demonic forces to cease their activity and depart." Okay? It’s very clear.
Now I wanna say something because here’s how a lot of people take this: "Oh, yeah, that’s in a weird place like Santa Cruz. I’ve heard about that in mission fields, and I’ve had a couple examples like that, but you don’t expect a regular -- I mean, you have to go to seminary to do this, right?" No.
By the way, this is normal Christianity all over the world. And some of you gave me head nods to tell me the experience -- I’ve rarely shared the experience about choking in a group where someone hasn’t come and said, "Really? That’s happened to me. I thought I was the only one. I thought I was going crazy. I thought I was having panic attacks or something at night." It’s a very common -- when I read the literature -- a very common way for demonic forces to seek to scare God’s people.
Now I wanna give you a word picture, so instead of you going "Okay, I now know, if something ever happened like that, or if it does happen now, how Chip would do it, and I feel totally inadequate and there’s no way I’m gonna pull that off, okay?" ’Cause that’s how you’re thinking. Now let me give you one word picture to nail this down so when you walk out that door, if anything happens to you like that, you will have this with the grasp that you can use it any time you need to, okay? Here’s the word picture.
It was a series of a couple of events, but in downtown Santa Cruz there’s a -- this thing’s getting a little wobbly on my ear here. Let me see if I can loosen this up here. Okay, at any rate I wanted to -- that’s a little high. How’s that, Jared? That works? Good.
Anyway, let me give you a word picture then. Okay. Let me back up to where I was at. Let me give you a word picture, then, that will help you the moment you have this situation, that rather than feeling like it’s (Gasps) scary, you’ll walk out and you will clearly be able to do exactly what I’ve said.
In Santa Cruz there’s a strip called Pacific Avenue, and there’s a number of bars. And I remember walking down Pacific Avenue, and it was getting a little rowdy. And there was two or three very burly guys in kinda tight T-shirts that looked like they could kill you, and were very tall, very large. And if they weren’t on steroids, then they were pumping a lot of iron and doing all kinda other stuff. And they looked like -- boy, I would not mess with these guys. And there was a bouncer there who was trying to get things under control, and they were drunk and they were getting pretty, really out of control, and so they called the police.
And so I just happened to be walking by, and these things were happening, and a police car pulls up, and I’m thinking -- you know, I’m human -- "I’d like to watch this and see what happens, you know?"
So I kinda get over here like this and, you know, see how this is gonna play out. And -- so help me -- door opens and, ladies, I don’t mean this is in any, like, sexist way at all. But, you know, this guy’s trying to handle these big, burly guys. The door closes and about a 4’11" police officer who’s a female steps out. And I’m thinking to myself, "If I was the guy trying to get these big, burly drunk guys under control," I was, like, hoping for, like, a 6’5" weightlifting police officer, not a 4’11" woman.
And so I thought, "I’m gonna kinda watch how this whole thing plays out," and I could’ve not been more wrong, ’cause, you know, the issue is not your size or your strength. The issue is your authority and your power. Watch this carefully. I watched this happen.
This very confident 4’11" officer walks out. "Gentlemen, do we have a problem here?"
"No, we’re good here. Get outta here."
"Excuse me" -- and she had this badge on right here -- "I’m authorized by Santa Cruz County to enforce the law. I’d like both of you to know that -- understand right now -- over against the car. Do you understand?" And they both started to balk a little bit, and she put her hand on her revolver. It was a .45.
And you know what? I’ve never seen two big, strong drunk guys get sober so fast, and it was like, "I think she might use it, you know." And pretty soon I get this 4’11" little gal and two guys, you know, like this, and she’s going boom, boom, boom, boom, "Spread ’em out."
You know why? She has a badge that has a position of authority that says "I have all right and authority vested in me to exercise that. You must do what I say. And if there’s any problem with that, I have some power on my leg that can enforce it immediately."
You are a child of the king of kings and the lord of lords. Your badge is your position in Christ. And you have on your side the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God. And demons must believe and obey and respond to the authority of every child of God who takes the Word of God and shoots the bullets of God to the specific issues. And you don’t have to be strong or spiritual or go to seminary or know a whole lot. What you have to do is claim who you are and act on what is true, and they must obey.
