Spiritual Warfare Part I

Ephesians 6:10-18
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 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. 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. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And 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.

This may be an overwhelming amount of scripture to read at one time. Perhaps, bookmark it in your Bible. Read it everyday for a while if you have to do so. In fact, a little portion of this you should read everyday and say it as a prayer to God (I'll talk more about that at the end of this post).

I heard this scripture in a little bit of an unusual environment. Last Sunday night I went to a different youth group (Grace Family) with a friend because there wasn't any scheduled youth that night at my church. I headed there with no expectations. To say the least, I was amazed at the whole experience - worship and message. It was a God send as I prepare myself spiritually for Haiti!

There was a very inspirational speaker there, named Matt, and as far as I know he had some relations to the youth pastor there somehow. I am going to do my best at bringing up some key points that he mentioned Sunday night in today and tomorrow's posts.

He said that if we put on the Armor of God each day before going about our business it makes all the difference. It gets you in the right mindset. If we put on that armor we have the power to anything. Therefore, go and use it.

One thing I certainly understood from Matt's talk (whether directly or indirectly, I don't remember) was that one needs to stay active in the Word. We need to listen to God's call and what he lays on our heart. He told us the story of a man in Redding, California who believed in God's power (and nonetheless his power to heal). He deemed the city, cancer free. Incredibly, just like that, cancer cases in the city declined drapidly. It was to a point where you could literally see God working. Why can't we all do that as Christians? Why do we have such a hard time grasping a hold of God's power and walking with it every single day? God doesn't just do wonders for those in Redding. He can do wonders no matter where you're reading this from. Ask him into your heart and walk by faith everyday; that's a start!

Matt said that we can be defensive or offensive when it comes to wearing God's armor. There was a real world illustration of this shown in a skit...A girl was dressed in the "armor" of God. She was reading the Bible when three people came out of the dark (with devilish actions and his lies). They approached her and started slamming her with pillows. She fought with them in the sense of continuing to stay in God's word and truth. She kept reading. Eventually the devil(s) had no choice but to give up. That was the defensive side. Meanwhile, a short time later there was another skit where it started off the same way. The girl was reading the Bible. They approached her and slammed her with pillows. The girl, taking the offensive perspective, barged out of the devil's arms surrounding her and ran to make a score and receive God's almighty power and truth. That's more than a touchdown...I'd say that score is a million and one to zero! The devil lost that battle for sure. You see, this girl not only fought, but she was capable of using God's power to escape the devil's wrath. The idea is to know that God gives us the power and authority to spread and to deliver (God's love and Word) to others. As the song "My Savior My God" says by Aaron Shust, "I take Him at His word and deed.
Christ died to save me; this I read"

It's not going to be easy to fight the Devil. He absolutely does NOT like God one bit. Remember to "stand firm" in your faith as the scripture says. Say a prayer each morning when you wake up that goes something like this: Dear God, help me keep in line with YOUR plan. Please let me keep a listening ear to your spirit as I wear the armor of God, the breastplate of righteousness, and the shield of faith all day long. In your name, Amen.