Armor 2
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Ephesians 6:16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
…the fiery darts of the wicked.
Imagine you’re given liberty to see warfare in the spiritual realm. Christian is on the battlefield in the dark of night. In ancient days, there’s no electricity. Modern days, opposing military destroyed the power grid.
Spiritually, at this moment, the enemy has advantage, because Christian is in the dark, hiding in the long grass of a field. He is positioned in the middle of the battle. Hiding while trying to escape.
Why is he hiding instead of advancing?
You pick: he was offended, he believed a lie and opened a door through sin, he believed that it was okay to separate from the body of Christ, he thought something else could calm his pain other than Jesus, he was taught doctrines that led him astray. Vain imaginations, a high thing trying to exalt itself. I really don’t know what his story is or why he’s there. I just know that he’s there, he’s in the dark, because his light is off.
So he watches the night sky is lighten as the fiery darts of the enemy whistle towards the fortress of the kingdom that he’s been translated into, but he’s not where he’s supposed to be and:
They’re hitting his home, his family, his church, his nation, every person that he loves. But the master plan is to destroy His faith.
Christian faces battles everyday. The onslaught will not stop and he will either learn to fight God’s way, or He will be pummeled under the pressure, and quit. There are many POW’s and casualties in the kingdom.
O’ where is his faith. Where is his armor. Did he leave his shield of faith behind? How could he forget his faith?
Suddenly, he sees a remnant marching from the heavenly forces and they’re donning their shields. He doesn’t for fear of giving up his position, but he wants to scream, “No! Stop! Are you crazy? Don’t you see that there are more arrows than your little shields can withstand?”
Wait a second, he thinks. He rubs his eyes and looks again. Every step his brother’s and sisters take, their shields get bigger. The enemy’s arrows will produce no kill shot today.
Let’s talk about faith and arrows:
Matthew 8:24-28 24 And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep. 25 And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish. 26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. 27 But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!
He is a man of faith, and He has come to show us the way. We no longer have to live under fear.
28 And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.
We can trust God in the assignment. We can lift our shield of faith and move forwards in the battle. We can tell the storm to stop whether it be physical or spiritual, and we can believe that God will make it come to pass. Mostly because when we face the storms or battles in life, we can rest assured that there is an assignment just ahead. In this case there were demon possessed men that needed deliverance, there are sick all around us. There are people struggling with depression and addiction and hopelessness of all sorts and God has given Christian a shield of faith and says get up warrior get up and walk towards my plan for your life. Have faith to believe that I will do what I said that I would do.
1 John 5:4-5 4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
He is the Son of God and all power and authority has been placed in Him and He has released it to His saints:
Luke 10:19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.
This is more than just casting demons out of people. This is walking in victory over the power of demonic forces. If the people of God can’t get past the attacks of the enemy in their own lives, they can’t move forward in the battle; instead, they lie hiding in the grass stricken under a spirit of fear, as they watch their brother’s and sister’s forge forward in the battle.
Romans 16:20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
It’s the Lord that crushed the serpent’s head on the cross and it is the Lord that will crush Satan’s head under your feet today!
But we must have faith in what His word says. I don’t believe in the word of faith movement, but I believe in faith in His word!!
Fiery darts
Fiery Used 7 times in the NT 2 x specifically in a negative connotation: to be inflamed (burn with anger, burn with grief, burn with lust emulations [burning jealousy].
He’s trying to fortify his position in our lives by striking us with these fiery darts, but the word of God says that the believer is equipped with a shield of faith and all he has to do is pick it up and put it into action. Faith in God and faith in his word.
Ephesians 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
…the helmet of salvation
The helmet is clearly connected to salvation and salvation results in God’s Spirit living in you. God’s Spirit renews our mind and changes our mindsets/outlooks on life.
ILLUSTRATION: I imagine an enemy combatant with a club repeatedly battering a believer upside the head. Bombarding his mind with lies and oppositional thoughts against the truth of God’s word:
Satan wants to attack our body’s with sickness, but he usually starts with our minds, like he did with Eve in the garden. He wants to make us believe what he is saying vs God’s Word.
Ephesians 4:23-24. 23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
1 Corinthians 2:16 …we have the mind of Christ.
Do we live in the last days?
God called me many years ago with a specific word: preach my word for the way it is written.
A King commands and his servants obey
Just as a Pastor is supposed to lead a congregation, believers are supposed to be part of a congregation.
READ Hebrews 10:23-25
Believers need to know where they are called to go to church. They need to pray and when He answers, go there and serve and pray for the ministry and the Pastor where you are, but, if you are a believer, then it is unacceptable, according to God’s word, for you not to be in the house of God!
Are you saying that it’s possible people here today are not called to be here? I am saying you must pray and here from God where you are supposed to be, because when you walk into the attack of a hornets nest and you aren’t ready to submit to God, and you aren’t sure that you’re supposed to be here, you’re about to take some unnecessary head shots.
Why would you say that one week before you sign papers to buy a building that the bank is requiring you to be responsible for?
It’s war time my friend.
It’s Gideon war time:
Judges 7:2-3 2 And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. 3 Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand.
The Lord said, “Still too many”
See who kneels and see who laps like a dog. He who laps like a dog keep and the rest let them go.
It was whittled down to 300 after he observed, in my opinion, who were the most watchful of the bunch.
Watchful: Be sober, be vigilant your adversary the devil roams like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.
If he tells you that you don’t belong here. He tells me to leave because there is someone else that can do a better job, and under their preaching the church can finally grow. He tells me shut up. Look at them. They don’t want to hear what you have to say you fool. They would be happier without you!
I’m not leaving. I know what God told me, and there won’t be one of you standing next to me when I face my king.
So what I plan to do is gird my loins with truth, put on my breastplate of righteousness, shod my feet w the preparation of the gospel of peace, pick up my shield of faith, and wield my sword.
Let’s close with the sword and prayer
The sword is the word of God. There is a whole Bible worth of scriptures that I could use the re the word of God, and those are the same scriptures that you can use to sharpen your own sword, if you choose to do such a thing, but if you do, it will be done because you opened and divided the word for yourself, so let me use the word divide as my transition for my word scripture
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Prayer
Ephesians 6:18-19. 18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
19 And [prayer] for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,