The Battle is Real
Scripture Reading: Ephesians 6: 10-12: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and his might power. Put on the Full Armor of God, so you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.”
As your Faith in the God grows, the opposition begins to take notice. Before walking with God, the devil had no reason to take notice of what I was doing because without me knowing it, I was already serving him. Without God, my choices where based almost completely on my emotions and my desires. I was walking by the flesh and not by the spirit. The bible calls for us to have restraint in our actions and choices as to not gratify the flesh but to walk by the spirit. “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the Flesh.” (Galatians 5:16) As our understanding of God and what he wants from us grows, we begin to see clearly that every choice we make is put into the category of feeding our flesh or feeding our spirit. We are either serving God or we are serving Satan through our choices, there is no in between.
The Devil is real, God is real and God hears your prayers. As Christians, we need to have a Battle Plan in place daily. The bible says in Luke 10:18 “I saw Satan fall like lighting from Heaven. Lucifer who became Satan (meaning adversary), was cast down from Heaven to the Earth! In the Bible, it describes how Jesus resists the temptation of the devil in the desert for the 40 days BUT did not dispute the assertion of Satan’s authority here on Earth. However, the bible teaches us, “ I have given you authority to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.” (Luke 10:19) The only power that Satan has over us as Christians is the power we give him. Therefore, since we have now established the truths from the Bible regarding Satan and his presence here on Earth, how do you prepare for the inevitable attacks that will come against your progress with Faith?
As children of God, you must prepare yourself each day EVERYDAY. The battle will be brought to you sometimes greater sometimes lesser but it will come. If you have a plan in place with God you will always prevail! Most of us know through sports that we were taught and trained by coaches that “preparation is half the battle.” It’s more than just your life at stake here, it’s your entire household. Every choice you make effects many people and the enemy knows that. As each new day comes, you need to expect trials and temptations to come your way so when they do, you will be able to stand firmly in our Faith. Revelation 14:1 teaches that the redeemed bear a seal on their foreheads, when the time of judgement comes they will be presented as blameless before God. The seal consists of the names of God and the Lamb and shows that the redeemed belong to God. The seal does not mean that Christians are exempt from suffering or temptation on Earth and we need to be prepared for an increased attack from the devil. Basically, as Christians and Men of God, we have a bullseye on our back during are stay here on Earth, from Satan and his followers. Stay close to God and you will prevail every time. God will equip you to handle anything that is thrown your way.
Our Battle Plans consists of three important elements to lead you into Victory with Christ daily!
1) Pray continually(1Thessalonians5:17)
2) Fight, put on the Full Armor of God (Ephesians 6:11)
3) Trust having done all to Stand (Ephesians 6:13)
The 3 pieces of our Battle Plan will allow us to handle virtually any situation that Satan can throw at us. Taking a quick look at each part we can drill down on the importance of each part of the Battle Plan. By praying continually, it is keeping our line of communication open with God and we are making of habit of thanking God in the good times so we are heard clearer because we not just coming to God during bad times and sending up hail mary prayers and wondering if God hears us. When we have an active relationship where we pray regularly we know without doubt, God is hearing us and will answer our prayers. Gods desires a relationship with us and part of any good relationship is active communication.
The next element, fight, is not just during an attack but also the preparation to be ready for a battle. I cannot stress this one enough and by saying the full scripture contained in Ephesians 6:10-18 every single morning in the shower through prayer, my success rate each day with resisting temptation has tripled. I have made a habit of praying to God to equip me daily with his full armor as part of my routine daily routine. Sometimes our day just starts going sideways and we need to remember that the only thing we can fully control is our self. Satan’s doesn’t always just attack our mind through temptation, sometimes they come through the people closest to us, a quick cross word with another person or an odd interchange of conversation that we recognize is pulling us in a direction away from God. When we feel these sometimes strong and sometimes subtle impulse to get mad or react on emotion, these are the moments we are preparing every morning by putting on God’s Full Armor. It’s in these high-risk moments, that I immediately will take my mind to that morning and remember the pieces of God’s Armor I put on and which piece to apply to the situation in front of me.
The last element, trusting God. After we have done our part to open lines of communication with God and we are putting on our armor daily, then finally we put our Trust in God that he won’t allow for any situation to great for us to handle. When we trust God to bring us through, it’s then are eyes are always open for the way that God will give us out of the situation. We trust God that he will take care of us, because he will. God loves us more than we can even fathom and it’s when we put our trust into God fully, our Faith begins to strengthen.
It’s when we begin to fully submit to the fact that we need God to adequately handle and overcome situations that he begins to reveal his true strength in our lives. “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” James 4:7. To resist the devil we make a habit of praying to god daily, we use scripture to equip ourselves each morning and then we trust God will have our back, because he does. Saying the “Pray to Equip with the Armor of God,” takes me about 30 seconds daily and I have seen real and tangible change in my ability to handle temptation and you will too. When you say the prayer it helps to imagine putting on each piece of God’s armor as you are saying the words. I still to this day put on God’s armor everyday, as it’s an absolute necessity in handling the day with Victory
Pray to Equip with the Armor of God
Dear Lord:
I come before you this morning to equip me with your Full Armor so that I may be prepared to stand firm in my faith today against any attacks, lies or deceit from the Devil. With confidence I pray to stand firm in my faith with “ The belt of truth buckled around my waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with my feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the Gospel of Peace. In addition to all this I will take up the shield of Faith, to extinguish the all the flaming arrows of the evil one. I will take up the Helmet of Salvation and the Sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Ephesians 6: 14-17
Amen
Key Points: The Battle with Satan is Real. Have a Battle Plan is place so you can stand firmly in Faith! Pray continually, Fight with the full armor of God and Trust having done all to stand.
Recommended Daily Reading: Ephesians 6 10-19