Right now we are in the midst of a supernatural war this is a war between light and darkness
It's a war between good and evil
It's a war between Christ and Antichrist this supernatural war is they fight to the finish
It's not until you get tired or you get weary. We're not doing this in Our Strength
We're doing it in God's strength St. Paul gives this battle cry put on the whole armor of God
That is a command. It is not a request it is for your benefit
You be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might
He says you put on the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil
He says for our struggle that is not against flesh and blood
But it is against the rulers against the powers
Against the world force's of this darkness against the spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places
He says so therefore you better lay down all your earthly weapons that do not work and take up some weapons that will actually have
benefits in your life
He says take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to resist in the evil day and having done
Everything to stand firm. He says you ought to just stand firm therefore
In this passage the Apostle Paul
Introduces almost for the first time at least this overtly he introduces the concept of spiritual warfare
Paul says endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ fight the good fight of faith
We're more than conquerors through Christ. St. Paul says in Colossians, 2:15 that on the cross quote
Jesus was Sparling powers and principalities and making a public show of Satan
The Bible says for this cause came Christ into the world to destroy the works of the devil
The message is that Christ went to the cross to defeat Satan
Now the question the point I'm making here is this you cannot believe in redemption
of the cross and not believe in the purpose of the cross and the purpose of the cross was to destroy a
very real devil whose objective is to destroy you
The Apostle Paul says you have an
enemy and he's very very real and he's banking on the fact that you will forget he is there
There is a satanic force in this universe
That's trying to deceive divided and to destroy and he's being far too
successful and they'll never come a time in your life where Satan decides to leave you alone
But the fact is the same Bible that tells you there is a real God
Tells you there's a very real devil with demonic forces highly organized
totally ruthless
committed to destroying you
and that those demon powers will attack your mind and attack your body and attack your marriage and attack your
finances and attack your children and attack your relationships and attack your church, but it's not your spouse
Who is the problem there's an enemy
It's not your boss who is the problem. There is an enemy. It's not even your own personal
Internal turmoil, that is the main problem. There is an enemy who lives to stir
dissension and division and to see
jealousy and envy to cause you and I not to have any peace of mind and peace of heart and the enemy wants
Paul wants you to know how strategic the enemy is y'all because he says listen the enemy is
Scheming against you somebody say scheme
Satan attacks you because you're God's child and he hates God's property
Satan attacks you because you're the light of the world and he's the Prince of Darkness
Satan attacks you because you're the truth and he's the father of lies
Satan attacks you because you're a soldier of the cross you're anointed. You have the Word of God
You have be covered by the blood of Jesus Christ
You can take the sword of the truth of God and attack the gates of hell. You're a threat to him
You can only have one chance of survival put on the whole armor of God and fight back
Take the word take the blood of the cross and the authority of Jesus name and drive
Demonic goons back into the back alleys of hell because the victory is ours through Christ the Lord
God has given you Authority use it so that you can have victory in peace in this life
Paul says I'm gonna give you some weapons that work and he gives us
Traditionally people say six, but really, I believe there are seven pieces of armor. I
I want to tell you briefly what they are
He says you need to make sure that you stand firm in verse 14 gird your loins with truth
He says then you need a breastplate call righteousness, but he doesn't stop there. He says you need something for your feet
They better be shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Then he says you need a shield and it's called faith
He says in verse 17. You need a helmet you need something to guard your mind
You need a helmet called salvation and you need a sword of the Spirit which
is the word of God and while most people stop there the Apostle Paul does not
He says even though these six things are important. You need one more thing in verse 18
He says and pray and so pray if you want victory in your marriage
Would you make sure you are a man or a woman of prayer if you want victory teenager in your high school or
Student at your university then you got to become a person of prayer
And if you say you want to live victoriously and abundantly and yet you don't pray then I don't believe you
Because prayer is how we live in the abundance of our God
We need to realize that there's a spiritual realm that is actually
Honestly more real and more important than this realm it's just that we ignore it because we can't see it
But it's there we are in a war
We are soldiers in the army of God and Jesus is the captain of the hosts
He's given us his name
He's given us his word. He's given us his blood
And when I finally began to learn when somebody began to teach me that
The devil was behind most of my problems some of them I was creating myself, but the devil was behind most of them
That I had authority over him
God has given us weapons
And he's given us armor
We need to know how to use our weapons and we need to make sure that we are wearing our armor
on a regular basis
Spiritual warfare
For spiritual people how many of you
Have had it with the enemy
And you're ready to learn how to fight him and win the war
All right
Do it in God's strength be strong in the Lord
Say that with me be strong in the Lord be strong in the Lord. This is God's fight. It's not yours. It's God's victory
it's not yours. It's God's glory. It's not yours. It's God's kingdom. It's not yours. It's God's strength
It's not yours put on the whole armor of God and fight and fight to win because the victory is ours through Christ the Lord
You can never exhaust God's resources
You can never exhaust God's resources because he can do exceedingly
Abundantly above all that you can ask or think you can see his mighty power
But when he gets through he's not exhausted
He has much more strength ready to give you from day unto day he can defeat any giant that's before you he can produce
streams in the desert he can produce manna that will fall from the sky
He can send cloven tongues of fire in the upper room
he can walk on the water in the Sea of Galilee and
salvage you the thing that you think is about to destroy you he can use it for a
Sidewalk to save you when you grow weary
He can make you to run like a Elijah forty miles before the chariot when you grow faint
He can give you strength he can send you power that you can't begin to touch
You cannot exhaust God's power. Our God is an awesome God he is full of grace and truth
He is the almighty alshdi the conqueror of death hell and the grave
He's the conqueror of sickness and death. He's the conqueror of powers and principalities
He's the Conqueror from Calvary. He's the Lion of the tribe of Judah
He's the Lord of glory and is coming soon with power and great glory
This is about the eternal souls of men and women. This is about your sons and your daughters
This is about the future of this nation
It's time for those who name the name of God to suit up and show up
This is a fight to the finish and I intend to win it with the help of Almighty
God put on the whole
Of God and stand beside me and take the word of the wholeness of the father fight the good fight of faith
Resist the devil and he will flee from you. And for those of you who name the name of Christ
Stop allowing Satan and his demonic goons to to destroy your marriage
Put on the whole armor of God and fight back
Quite allowing him to attack your health. The Bible says by His stripes. We are healed
Quit allowing him to attack your finances the Bible says God will rebuke the Devourer for your sake
He will make him give it back to you Sevenfold
Stop allowing the devil to rob you of your peace because Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace
Stop allowing Satan to rob you of your joy in
His presence is the fullness of joy do you want it then fight for it. Do you want it then fight for it