This past Sunday, Pastor Walt reminded us that we have an enemy. We are at war. And we live in enemy territory.
Pain and suffering alert us to this war that is happening.
Ultimately, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. And the Lord has given us armor and a weapon to do battle with—prayer being the essence of spiritual warfare.
Pastor Walt’s notes are below. Consider reviewing Ephesians 6:10-20 again and let these notes encourage you to stand in Christ’s saving strength.
Every morning we ought to wake up and say to ourselves, ‘There is a vicious, dark spiritual battle being waged over me today.’ Satan is very busy; wherever there is a believer walking with God in loving fear. . . . Here is one inescapable element of the normal Christian life: warfare. –Christopher Ash
Main point: Stand in Christ’s saving strength.
1. Our Enemy (10-13).
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. -Ephesians 2:1-3
And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. -2 Timothy 2:24-26
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. -1 Peter 5:8-9
Suffering is having what you don’t want or wanting what you don’t have. -Elisabeth Elliot
2. Our Friend (14-17).
He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in zeal as a cloak. -Isaiah 59:17
“One day as I was passing into the field, this sentence fell upon my soul: ‘Thy righteousness is in heaven.’ And with the eyes of my soul I saw Jesus at the Father’s right hand. ‘There,’ I said, ‘is my righteousness!’ So that wherever I was or whatever I was doing, God could not say to me, ‘Where is your righteousness?’ For it is always right before him. . . . I saw that it is not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness worse, for my righteousness is Christ. Now my chains fell off indeed. My temptations fled away, and I lived sweetly at peace with God.” -John Bunyan
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” -Isaiah 52:7
“So when the devil throws your sins in your face and declares that you deserve death and hell, tell him this: ‘I admit that I deserve death and hell, what of it? For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction on my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, Son of God, and where He is there I shall be also!’” -Martin Luther
3. Our Station (18-20).
At the heart of spiritual warfare is prayer. Paul does not present this as an additional weapon, but as a foundational and continuous activity that is crucial to deploying all of the armor and weapons he has just commended to the church. -Clinton Arnold
Prayer humbles us as needy and exalts God as all-sufficient. -John Piper