There is something dynamic of the power of God and the fight that we are called to fight and the faith we are to have to depend on God for the victory. For many Christians fighting have become passive, fighting has become an option, so in that they no longer inquire of God and they no longer train for the events of life nor do they know the weapons that work. Beloved we have weapons that work and our number defense against the wiles of the enemy is God. We are not to be passive nor intimidated by the affairs of life but we are to face the obstacles and the trials along with the conflicts of life breast forward in the faith that we are preached to about, the power of God the weapons given to you and I this evening that work.
Ephesians 6:10-18
10 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—
It is a sad reality that in this age of the church of God and the saints that attend it; for in their lives as Christians many of them have missed the mark and been in vain because they have become passive and have not been apprehensive in prayer toward the God of Heaven. There have been many failures in the Christian life because watchfulness failed; beloved listen to me the devils easiest target is a sleepy Christian. Many Christians have lost their souls because they failed to stay alert of the devils attacks. No less a price should be paid for spiritual safety.
Matthew 25:1-13
1 "Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 "Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3 "Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, 4 "but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5 "But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. 6 "And at midnight a cry was heard: 'Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!' 7 "Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. 8 "And the foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' 9 "But the wise answered, saying, 'No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.' 10 "And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. 11 "Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us!' 12 "But he answered and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.' 13 "Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
Beloved the foolish virgins missed heaven because they failed in this virtue. Watchfulness would have brought them along with the Bridegroom into the high heavens most celebrated hour. But in our opening text in the book of Ephesians we are told or rather described of all the weapons of warfare we are to have when in warfare with the devil and his advocates.
We are always in conflict beloved we are always in the win category or in the lose category there is no middle ground, beloved do not be fooled by the sleepy Christian that tries to enlist you in their sleepiness rather stay alert and watchful of the hour to come while you are still able. We are to not forget that the battlefield on which we are on has eternal ramifications; in this battlefield the issues of eternity are tossed.
1st point “Satan’s Army”
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.
The Christians battle, your battle are with the Devil and his methods, Satan’s struggle is arranged with order, wisdom and skill. He understands that a prayer-less Christian is not an effective Christian but a target to deflate the new Christian whose hope is in the sleepy Christian. All of the principalities and powers of this world are ruled and governed, managed and subjected to orders. He has a chain of command that he has established in order, Satan as well has lieutenants, he has prime ministers, he has captains and generals who carry out his orders and represent him fully. They are world rulers; they master and control the entire world and those that have sold their souls for it.
We are told in graphic description the power of our adversary and the planning that he has to destroy the saint of God the precious souls of man yet even in knowing this they still sleep. They forget that there might is as extensive as the world and their against the good and against the man/woman of God. Their subordinates, the rank and file are innumerable and invincible except to a God-equipped man/woman.
The bible tells us that they are in the heavenly places where Christ’s power is located; these evil powers are over us, and around us. They are too powerful for us and against this demonic entity we wrestle. Why does the bible say wrestle because wrestling is a close conflict there is powers of God upon the saint against the powers of this world in close combat and close conflict. It can be and are an intense and difficult conflict that test all the strength and strains every fiber of our being. This warfare is hand to hand and foot to foot, close contact.
This conflict is not with man even though men give us opposition in our Christian course, our chief trouble and our great war is not with man but with the mighty evil forces of the Devil. This warfare beloved if I could be brutally honest is a life and death arena, struggle for heaven and hell, for time and eternity.
The Devil does not fight fair, he does not fight according to the rules of war, yet he is a cunning and strategic yet brutal and crafty enemy who is aware of your faithfulness or lack thereof when it comes to your walk with God, they have all the logistics and all the plans and we are not to be asleep to the enemies attacks.
2nd Point “The Christian Soldier”
The most essential quality of a soldier is that he/she is not entangled with the affairs of this life.
2 Timothy 2:4
4 No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.
The Christian must be a soldier by birth, trade and fortune. This entails a life of self-denial, courage, and endurance these are some of the vital characteristics of a strong and equipped and ready to fight soldier of God. Strength is the high quality of the Christian soldier but not the strength of their own kind but the strength of God, “strong in the Lord and in the power of His might”.
We are not to be found asleep yet in training in the reading of the word praying always with a watchful heart, in that the soldier will obtain the ability to stand, to fight, to conquer, and to drive the foe who is Satan from the field, that soldier who is are with the power of the armor of God. Why? Because God’s power is imparted through God’s armor, beloved no power short of God can enable us to meet the Devil and defeat him.
In this fight for eternity we take God by taking His armor and making it our daily everyday life full of His glory and His weapons. We must make His armor our own; we put on God by putting on His armor not on the outside but in the inside, not objective but subjective, not physical but spiritual. Christ made the armor and the Holy Spirit puts it on us and makes it ours. We have to fight to the end, “and having done all to stand”. We must first withstand then stand. We gain, then hold, then advance, beloved stand ready in the fight and stand to fight.
Psalms 51:6
6 Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.
We are not imaginary soldiers fighting an imaginary war all is real and true. When a man/woman of God is truthful, they are girded strong, prepared and intense in the fight. Beloved truth is the ornament of a jeweled belt, like a diamond set in gold. We must conquer the Devil by truth as the strength and support of our lives. We know the truth and the truth because we have Christ who is the truth. The reality beloved is that heart righteousness makes head righteousness and life righteousness, we cannot fight without it. The bible gives us clear instruction on having the whole armor of God and part of that armor is the breastplate of righteousness. This protects the heart and makes us feel right.
A soldier of Christ must be ready to fight with the heart of Christ, this is such that we are to rid of the old heart, not trying to restore it but allow God to replace with a new one, a piece of His heart. Beloved the old heart cannot be made right, The old heart is as hard as stone and as crooked as the Jordan. We are in need of a new heart, soft as flesh and washed whiter than snow in the blood of Christ. We need a piece of Christ’s heart perfect, right, pure and good. This is what is needed.
With these in mind beloved we are to be reminded that we are truly fighting for our souls as well as the souls of others. Your spouses, your children, your extended family all that you love or even those you do not know are at stake. Only those who see the souls of men worth fighting for as Christ did for us will fight. Will pray, give, sacrifice will do all that is expected of them by God, this is the heart of a soldier of God anything less is counterfeit.
3rd Point “The power of prayer”
As I have been preaching of over the last couple of weeks of prayer there are dynamics of God’s power that are evident through prayer. There is power in prayer nonetheless God will only hear those that actually pray. Not just taking a couple of moments and not placing your heart into the conversation. Your prayer life is your battle is your war is your fight and if everyone prayed like you would you be at peace. If you thought of your brethren who sits with you every service with the prayer life you have would you feel safe to trust them with your spiritual life? Consider your ways.
Prayer brings God into the situation with commanding force. In scripture we have many promises of that of God’s and Gods promise yet His command of it.
Isaiah 45:11
11 Thus says the LORD, The Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: "Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons; And concerning the work of My hands, you command Me.
But in that we are charged in God’s word to do just that pray:
1Thessalonians 5:17
17 pray without ceasing,
Philippians 4:6
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;
1Timothy 2:8
8 I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting;
Colossians 1:3
3 We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,
We have a mandate beloved as in our bible to pray and fight against those things which are not seen and not yet conquered and I pray that this becomes real to you, because beloved I am very much convinced that though some may have good intentions to serve God many do not want to fight. Some are ignorant of the powers of darkness that are against you and me and our church as of right now. Some of you have the slightest understanding of the powers of darkness and the battles that come with even preaching this sermon this morning. God speaks to us in our word, in our bible of the demonic entity that we are faced with every day. I need soldiers that will fight with me in this war, I need men and women who will consecrate their lives to the Lord. Coming and praying before service, supporting every service every event and every prayer meeting. There are power in numbers, yet many have the slightest idea of what it takes to be a soldier for Christ. It is not till you lose what you thought was going to be there forever, that you will realize you could’ve done more. Do not let that be the extinction of your church for you to realize that you could’ve done a lot more.
Apostle Paul discovered the undiscovered regions by this general plea:
Ephesians 3:20
20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
But in that we have a promise beloved in Jeremiah as I close with this:
Jeremiah 33:3
3 'Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.'
Beloved will you join me in this battle for these people whose souls are at stake and begin to show forth faithfulness and support the kingdom of God by supporting your church and being present at the time of battle, Amen!
The
As Paul said I beg you pray always, beloved I beg you gird yourself and prepare for battle.
