The Invisible Battle

II. AN IMPENDING BATTLE (14-15) 15When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh, my lord, what shall we do?” the servant asked. There is only one way to be prepared for the battle to come. Stay one step ahead of the enemy. Paul said we are to “Pray without ceasing”… He also tells us to put on the full armor of God. Ephesians 6:9-18 10Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12For 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. 13Therefore 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. 14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Stay prayed up. Stand in truth. Stand in righteousness (God’s, not your own); Stand ready to take the gospel to a lost and dying world. Stand in faith. Stand on the surety of your salvation. And stand with the Word of God on the tip of your tongue so that when you go into battle the first words you would say is, “Thus sayeth the Lord.” AND PRAY IN THE SPIRIT! By praying in tongues you confound the enemy. He doesn’t have a clue what you are praying. All these things will prepare you for battle. Verse 16, 16“Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”

III. THE REAL BATTLEFIELD. The battles that we fight take place in a real battlefield. It is the battlefield of your mind. The enemy knows that if he can convince you or sway you somehow to believe that God’s word isn’t true, he has won a major victory. He’ll tell you that prayer doesn’t do anything. All those weapons mentioned in Ephesians 6 are your preparation for battle. Now it is time to put them to use. Look at what prayer and faith does for you in battle. 17And Elisha prayed, “O LORD, open his eyes so he may see.” Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. Elisha didn’t know that the army of God was encamped around them just because he was a prophet. He knew it because he knew the nature of his God. He knew it because he walked by faith and not by sight. He knew it because he understood what Paul spoke of in 2 Corinthians 10:3-4 seven hundred years before Paul wrote the words. 3For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. The greatest weapon that we have is the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. It is the only offensive weapon we have. With it we can pull down strongholds. With it we can demand that demonic activity cease. With it we command healing into sick bodies. With it we receive all the promises of God that are rightfully ours through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because of the Word of God we understand that, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” 10but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. With the Word of God we know that God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us… This is the same power that declared that Jesus is the Son of God through the resurrection… it is the power of God working in His people through the baptism in the Holy Spirit. It is the power that we have been given to carry on the ministry of Jesus. It is the power to be able to stand and say, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!” Hallelujah! It’s the same power that called the angels to Daniel’s side when he prayed in Babylon. It is the same power that is available to you when you pray and God puts his angels in to motion on your behalf. There is a battle just waiting for you to enter. You have two options – you can either enter in on the front lines or wait for the enemy to blindside you.