“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” Ephesians 6:10-11
OUR NEW BROTHER MAKE JESUS LORD AND GETS “STRONG IN THE LORD!”
When most of us think of being strong, the movies we watch often set our thoughts often well on movies like Braveheart, 300, and Gladiator; men who take a physical stand against other men bowing to no one. Hollywood gives us a vision of spilt blood, swinging a physical sword, physically exhaustion, fighting to the death, and letting nothing control us. As noble and inspiring as these concepts are in regards to the evil we’ve seen in our world’s history, they can actually be the very tools Satan uses to deceive us amidst our own spiritual battles. The Bible gives us two truths in spiritual battle 1) “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.” (2 Corinthians
WE SAW A RECORD NUMBER OF APPOINTMENTS OF SHEPHERDS AND DEACONS: WITH THE EISENSHCMIDTS, SHAWS, AND DOLES AS SHEPHERDS, AND JOHNSONS, GYUNGERES,AND DOLES AS DEACONS!
10:3-5) and 2) “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). For this reason the Bible commands you to “put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground” (Ephesians 6:13). Our Spiritual World War is fought in our hearts, minds, on our knees, and in Spiritual Strength – fueled by Prayer. Being Strong in the Lord is having deep convictions that you are in the most intense invisible war of all time, where you use new weapons, in a new way of fighting…obedience to God and His Word. It is understanding who to fight with and who NOT to fight with. We fight against Satan and his demons. At times, we fight very Angels sent to minister to you and we only “find ourselves fighting against God” (Acts 5:39). In other times, we even fight directly with the Lord when we disobey the scriptures. Everyone who endeavors to follow Jesus must know that fighting each other is the result of being “hardened by sin’s deceitfulness” (Hebrews 3:13).
In Ephesians 1:19 we learn about “his incomparably great power for us who believe”. In Ephesians 3:16, Paul prayed for God to strengthen us with power in our “inner being”. Nothing strengthens our inner being like the faith which comes from obedience to God’s Word. This saving faith, comes from putting on spiritual armor and allows us to lift our eyes above the physical realm to see the Spiritual Battle in the heavenly realms. Giving into sin destroys spirituality and causes a blinding “spiritual weakness” which keeps us stuck in the physical realms – where we only see conflicts between people. We forget who the enemy is and end up wielding this diving power in battle against one another. If we forget Paul’s admonishment, “If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.” (Galatians 5:15), the mighty power meant to demolish Satan’s strongholds becomes a soul- crippling machine gun of “friendly fire”, gunning down our fruits of the spirit, ourconsciences, and inevitably our own brothers and sisters. This also distracts us from the mission of “Seeking and Saving the Lost” – stopping the advancement of the Kingdom.
Scripture speaks clearly of “the powers of this dark world and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6: 12) These spiritual forces are at work in those who are following “the ways of this world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air” (Ephesians 2:2). Sadly, as Disciples of Jesus, we can still fall prisoner to temptations from the kingdom of Satan. These dark powers and forces are presently waging war for our souls, fighting to make us slaves of their desire to turn us against one another. We must win the battle against them or suffer eternal defeat. In the church we must determine to not turn a blind eye or be naive to the devastation which occurs when we choose to fight against one another. This is why Paul admonished us to forgive each other of even the worst sins “in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.” (2 Corinthians 2:11).
Ephesians 6:10 assures us we can stand our ground if we will choose to be “Strong in the Lord” and “put on the FULL armor of God”. If we have faith to put on the armor and keep it on, God protects us with an impenetrable, spiritual force field which CANNOT be broken by ANY physical or spiritual attack. In our Physical lives we must use our Belt of Truth to know who we should be fighting and who we should not. Our Breastplate of Righteousness comes from not giving the devil a foothold (Ephesians 4:27) and believing the promise of James 4:7 that if resist the devil, he will flee. Our spiritual shoes keep our feet fitted with the “readiness” needed to extinguish ALL of Satan’s flaming arrows with the saving Shield of Faith. That readiness keeps us obedient to our Lord. In our prayer lives, the Helmet of Salvation – our understanding, confidence, and gratitude for our salvation, along with our Sword of the Spirit – the Word of God – protect our “inner being.” Let us always “pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” (Ephesians 6:18). Only when we are armed in this fashion can we march into the world and fight the right battles and see an see “Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” (Luke 10:18) Let us be wise to the schemes and powers of Satan. Let us truly be Strong in the Lord by putting on the FULL armor of God every day and taking our stand against Satan by fearlessly making known the mystery of the Gospel here in the DMV and to the ends of the earth! To God be all the Glory!
Ron Harding
Recent Comments