The Holy Spirit and Spiritual Battles - Ephesians 6:10-17

We're going to talk about yet another aspect of the work, the person in the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and that's what we've been dealing with here on Sunday morning for the last several weeks. The person in the work of the Holy Spirit. We're going to be dealing with something that the Lord gave me here. You know, it's funny, it's funny how God works. I don't know if I'm going to do a series of the Holy Spirit anymore because it seems like as I do, he makes me rely on him more. It's like he's like, like, Paul, if you're going to talk about the Holy Spirit, if you're going to talk about my spirit, then I'm going to make you rely on my Holy Spirit. Now, so I haven't really planned out these messages a whole lot in advance. I've just been kind of waiting on the Lord. And there's some things I kind of wanted to say and so forth. But yesterday, I mean, all last week, I really thought I had a direction. And so, I mean, I had the basic concept and that's really all I need. And then I just sit down and just kind of put my notes and God's so gracious and faithful. He just he gives them to me, you know, and when I sit down and have my laptop open and he just it just kind of pours out and and I start typing. But yesterday, which is usually my study day Saturday, I usually set the day aside to kind of just study. I started off my notes and I got a couple of pages into it. And it was like the Holy Spirit was just I mean, I just had this feeling like that's not it. And so but I tried to resist a little bit. It's like I'm just going to push through, you know, so kind of grunting the thing out. And it's like, no, that's not it. That's so I thought finally. And we had we had things to do yesterday to my son. They had their championship football game with with Champ, which they got second place, by the way, which was I was right. You know, congratulations. Yeah, yeah. That's one of the moms anyway. And and then there was a birthday party for my youngest grandson. He turned one. And so we were you know, they were living over in Meridian and we were going to do that, too. And so I had a lot of things going on. But I I was well and I didn't I wasn't actually able to make it to the birthday party because I still hadn't heard exactly what the Lord wanted. So I went home and I just sat before the Lord and I read my Bible and I just sat there and I and I texted Sue a couple of times, some things like. I'm in trouble, you know, that was one of them, you know, and and stuff like that and and finally last night I went to bed about 1030. I normally stay up till about midnight on Saturday night because that's about when I finish up. But 1030, I got nothing. So I thought, you know what, I'm going to bed, but I had a piece about going to bed. So last night, 1030, I went to bed, fell asleep this morning. I just without any alarm and I never have to set an alarm because God always wakes me up. But I woke up, I woke up and my just my eyes popped open at 430. And the Lord spoke to my heart and said, this is what I want you to talk on. And so I hauled out of bed and it was just as clear as, you know, crystal. And so I hopped out of bed and I went out and sat on the couch and opened up my laptop. And so between 430 and six, I got what you're going to get here this morning. So we'll see how it goes. Right. You can either do this or that when we're done. And and anyway, it's all about the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives to enable us to fight the spiritual battles that happen. In our lives, and nobody likes to think about fighting, nobody likes to think about battles, nobody likes to think about conflict. Conflict is never a fun thing. You know, I mean, I'm all for the like bumper sticker, you know, make love, not war sort of a mentality. But I know it's not always practical. Sometimes you got to fight. Sometimes there are battles that have to be fought. And I would love it if we lived in this world of just ultimate utopian peace. But we don't, you know. And and we know that from a from a biblical standpoint, we live in a fallen world, we have enemies, we have challenges, we have conflicts. And so what we're going to do is we're going to look today at how God wants to work in through you so that you might stand in the battle. And as Paul says, having done everything to continue to stand, so many Christians are just getting the daylights beat out of them. In everyday circumstances and situations where they're just getting pummeled by the enemy, by circumstances, by situations. And they they literally have very little resemblance of the victory of Christ in their lives. They they are believers in the truest sense of the word, born again. You know, but just not walking in victory. And part of the reason, Christians, why I think we don't walk in victory like we should, because we serve and worship he who is the victor. Right. Amen. Is because we're just not paying attention sometimes to what God has given us in his word as it relates to the how to's. Just like if a if a if a you know, speaking of my son's football team, if they don't pay attention to their coach about what he tells them to do, and if they don't listen to the training and if they don't figure out the plays and know how this thing is going to work and so forth, they're they're they're going to lose every time. And the same is true for you and I. We've been given wonderful coaching principles in the word of God to to enable us to walk in the victory. But people listen to me. This is very important. The victory is not automatic. OK, I wish it were. I really do. But you're going to see here today the fact in this word that it is not automatic. If you're in Ephesians chapter six, skip down to verse 10, which is where we're going to begin this morning. And it says in verse 10,

Now, I want you to stop right there. We're going to we're going to read through the whole passage, I promise you. So you don't need to read ahead. We will cover what is being said in this passage. But I don't want to skip over anything here as we go along. The very first thing, people, when you are dealing with spiritual warfare and spiritual warfare is a reality. We need to have discernment as to what's really a war, what's really a battle. That's where we lack sometimes, too, by the way. But but the thing that you and I need to remember at the outset is that God does not call us to be strong in and of ourselves. Do you just do you come up against issues and problems and just feel so weak sometimes? I sure hope so, because I do. I mean, maybe this is all about Paul's personal confession, but I'm just telling you right now, I am a weak man and and and I struggle going through difficulties and challenges. And I love what this verse begins with, because it says to me, it says, Paul, I want you to be strong, but I'm not looking for you to be strong in you. I'm looking for you to be strong in me. I'm looking for you to be strong in my mighty power. The NIV says mighty power. If you have a different translation this morning, your Bible may say in the might of his power, there's actually two words that are used there, might and power. And might is buff, you know, the thing that I would love to be able to do and impress can't. But but might is just it's not anything expressed. It's just there and you see it might be sort of a thing. Now, power is the execution of that might. OK, so when God talks about his mighty power, that's not a redundancy. It's not like saying his powerful power. It means literally he is strong and he will use it and he will work it on your behalf. Right. So be strong in the Lord. You know, when you when you come to someone who's going through a hard time and you're and maybe they ask for prayer, this is a great way to start off your exhortation to that person, say, you know, you know, it does nothing to say to somebody, just be strong. They used to say that to me when I was a kid, they used to tell me to buck up. Oh, you guys heard me talk about that. Some of you before I hated when they said, buck up, just buck up, Paul. I wanted to hit him. You know, so you say that one more time. I'm going to slug you, you know, but because that doesn't help when you're feeling weak, when you're feeling defeated, when you're feeling discouraged, when you're when you're depressed and somebody comes along and goes, buck up, buster. You know, you just it's like, yeah, just get away from me. But when you walk up to somebody with an encouragement, you say, hey, be strong in the Lord. See, that takes the pressure off what you're telling them to do in and of themselves. Be strong in God. That's straight. What that infers, you guys, is that that strength is yours to be strong in. OK, it's a it's a declaration that there is strength in the Lord and you can have it. You can walk in it. So he says, be strong. In the Lord and in his mighty power or the might of his power and so forth even if you're facing Overwhelming odds Don't ever forget Gideon Don't ever forget Gideon Here's a man who faced absolutely astronomically overwhelming odds Is that enough adjectives for you It was just It was way more and Yet God brought about a victory but not by the strength of Gideon and Do you ever noticed how God sometimes will pare you down? When you're facing a battle just like he did to Gideon I mean Gideon put out the call to all the Israelites and they all came out for battle But when God was finished paring them down there were 300 guys left from thousands and God brought the battle about with 300 instead of thousands and you know, sometimes God will do that just remember people that's that sometimes is God's mo as He works in our lives to bring about his victory, but he'll pare you down He'll it's kind of like peeling back the layers and and you know, you're feeling at the end like, you know You're exposed and what am I gonna do now? I am so weak I am so nothing and God says yeah, it's exactly where I wanted to get you because now you see the battle truly is mine and I can show myself strong on your behalf and I can receive the glory in the honor for the victory that is about to be won because there's no way on God's green earth that my power or Yours is going to be able to bring about that victory. It's going to be God's Be strong in the Lord and and and remember what Paul said to the Philippians I can do everything through him Christ who gives me strength and then he goes on in verse 11 And he says put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes There's two things about this verse that I want to call to your attention first of all, there's an armor, you know, you guys have heard teachings on the full armor before I know you haven't and and and But you know, it's it's interesting how many time? If you had really good recollection and you could absolutely remember how many times you've heard a teaching on the Full armor of God, it'd be interesting to know wouldn't it? And how many you know in the number of years you've walked with the Lord? How many times you heard the teaching on the full armor of God? Oh, man, I forgotten I've forgotten how many times I've heard a teaching on this It doesn't matter whether you've heard it once or a hundred times. The issue is whether you remember to do it when the day of battle comes because you know what as As often as you're trained about the armor and how to put it on if you don't put it on On the day of battle you're sunk, you know, God has made a way God has made a way and he's given it to you and I and this is the might of his power and he wants you And I to use it But we listen we hear these teachings on the full armor of God and then we kind of we just go into battles on our own or we just forget about it or we wring our hands or or Whatever our usual way of dealing with things is and we don't get around actually doing these things So he says put on the full armor, but notice he says what you're to put on the full armor for It's so that you could first of all take us to take your stand and and and a stand obviously is a defense Okay, but you're gonna take your stand against what? Notice here. He says the devil schemes make no mistake about it people. We're talking about spiritual warfare Okay People and you need to understand something about spiritual warfare. You cannot fight spiritual warfare physically Then work it's like punch in the air You can't battle in the physical realm. What is in the spiritual realm? You have to use spiritual implements of warfare Some of you guys might remember me telling you about a number a long time ago When I had really first kind of given my heart to the Lord I mean seriously given my heart to the Lord Satan really played a number on me for quite a while and and I just I wasn't strong enough and and Instructed enough in the Word of God and the enemy really took advantage of that ignorance and just kind of did his his light show if I had known what I know now, I wouldn't have been all that concerned because I Just have much more confidence and faith in God today to keep me than I did back then you know when you're a new believer you kind of you kind of see spiritual your spiritual life as a tug-of-war between God and Satan and you're not really sure who's gonna win, you know the more you get to know God the more you have a confidence in God the more you realize Satan doesn't stand a chance, but but anyway at that time in my life Satan was kind of exploiting the fact that I didn't understand and have a lot of faith and and I He was really harassing me I mean just we were living up in Montana and I mean the enemy just harassed me harassed me harassed me about things in my mind It was kind of mind games and I remember one time. I was just I was so mad I mean I got mad and I was afraid at the same time and I was a younger man back then I was in my Early 20s, and I remember I just started running. I just thought I'm gonna outrun this You know, I mean does that sound dumb but I Bolted out of the house and I ran down the street and if any of you could have seen me, you know 20-something young man just I mean and I was sprinting for all I was worth And I got about three blocks down the road and I was going all finished. I was like, what am I doing? I'm trying to outrun something in the spiritual realm and and I realized I couldn't do it but you know, I Don't even though that sounds really strange. I don't think it is all that different. I think a lot of people approach spiritual battles with physical brawn or Defense or whatever thinking that that's how we're gonna you know, actually get past this thing We're just gonna belly up to this thing and look at this problem right in the eye and we're just gonna say no You can't you know, and we're just trying to tough it out Then work Because these are spiritual attacks Spiritual things so he says take your you're gonna be taking your stand against the devil's schemes here Can I remind you on the screen here about something that Peter? Wrote to us in first Peter chapter 5 verses 8 and 9 Here's what he said, he said be self-controlled and alert because your enemy the devil Prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour Resist him standing firm in the faith because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing The same kinds of suffering all Christians are undergoing these kinds of difficulties and challenges But the issue is is that there is an enemy Who wants to take you out? he doesn't just want to give you a hard time he wants to take you out and He's gonna he's gonna throw everything he can your way. And so we are told to be self-controlled and alert self-controlled in our actions and responses alert to his coming knowing that spiritual battles and challenges are part and parcel of the Christian existence And so we know that we have an enemy. Let's look at another key verse in verse 12 Look with me there and this is so important He's already alluded to it But he says now for our struggle your Bible may say battle 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 realm stop there People let me just say something. Not only does does Satan want to Encourage you to try to battle against these things in the physical realm. He wants you to get fixated on people whose personalities particularly bug you and and and because if he can do that if he can get you fixated on people as the cause of your problems then He can waylay you from really dealing with the real issue and the real issue is Spiritual in nature and you and I are to deal with it And sometimes we have to just ask God to open our spiritual eyes to see the real battle That's in front of us and stop looking right here, which is the physical realm, you know Have you ever had somebody who hurt your feelings or who made you mad or who? neglected you or did something to just really just get under your skin and you just Think about that person and you're sitting there just focusing and then and pretty soon you know your hurt turns into resentment and resentment turns into anger and anger turns into bitterness and pretty soon you're a mess and there's and There's very little you can do about it at that point because you're a mess You need to be unmasked before you can even deal with the actual root of the problem And you got to come before God and you got to start repenting of what you've gathered up now Against this individual and Laura you got to come to God and you know God I just forgive me I've just gotten my eyes off the real battle and I put it on this person and I thought that he or she was the Problem. Oh God forgive me forgive me Because I've allowed my hurt to well up into bitterness and and it's it's poisoned me and you know That's what the Bible says that a bitter root Grows up to defile. It actually has a defiling element in our lives. It defiles everything. It's like it makes everything go bad, you know? It's like you left the milk and the cheese and the cottage cheese all out on the counter for days. They all went bad. And that's what bitterness does to you and to your life, to your relationships. Because Satan is so effective at getting you and I to look at people and to zero in on people, say, yeah, that's my problem. Right there, you're my problem. And so my battle is against you. No, God says, your battle is not against flesh and blood. Your battle is against, and notice what he says here. He says, rulers and authorities and powers, literally, he's talking about principalities. Do you guys remember? Do you guys remember Daniel? In the book of Daniel? I was going to show you some verses, but I'm not going to. I'm just going to tell you. Do you guys remember in Daniel? Daniel received incredible visions from the Lord about things having to do with the last days, but they were so mysterious to him that he would sit and pray endlessly. God, just show me what this is about. Well, there was one particular last day's vision that God gave Daniel, and Daniel was particularly troubled by it, and so he prayed. He started praying right away. God, what is this all about? What are you doing? I don't get this stuff, and that's kind of the way the Old Testament prophets were related to last day's prophecies. They couldn't figure it out. So he's praying and asking, God, show me, and three weeks go by as he's praying about this. Three weeks. Finally, he has another vision where this angel, who I believe is actually perhaps not even the pre-incarnate Christ, comes to him and says to him, Daniel, you who are highly favored, listen to me now. He says, from the day you set your mind to pray and gain understanding, the answer began to come to you. Right away from the day that you started, he says, I was resisted by the prince of the Persian kingdom for 21 days, and finally, he says, Michael, your prince, came and fought for me, and we were able to get through. What's going on there, you guys? Spiritual warfare on a national level is what is happening in the book of Daniel. It's really a fascinating chapter, which gives us great insights. Now, what's going on here is that, remember, Daniel is living in Persia at the time. He's serving the king of Persia, and yet God is giving him visions and so forth about things that are going to be coming in the distant future, but the principalities, literally the demonic principalities that oversee the pagan-run kingdom of Persia don't want to let those angels in to come and respond to Daniel, so they resist them. And this one angel tells Daniel, I was, you know, the prince of Persia kept me from coming for 21 days. We fought against the prince of Persia. Isn't that crazy? I mean, that's stuff that movies are made out of. It sounds like, in fact, there was a movie called Prince of Persia recently, in the last year or so. But not that that's biblical, but this is. You know, so read through it in the book of Daniel. It really is an amazing insight. Now, you may not have principalities of national importance. I don't know, maybe you do, that are warring against you, are involved in some of the issues that you're going through in your family, your home, your business, your life, whatever it may be, but understand that there are principalities and powers that are at work that you can't see. And we are told here in chapter 12 that that is fact. Paul is telling us, by a very specific way of fact, he says your battle is not against flesh and blood, but rather against spiritual powers. So understand that, walk in that level of discernment so that you can fight the battle where it's really going on. Don't get distracted by people and all that stuff. Verse 13, and then he says, therefore, and you remember what the word therefore is all about. It always points to a point we've just made previously, and so now it's going to come to a conclusion. Therefore, or in other words, because you're dealing with spiritual battles and not physical ones, he says, put on the full armor of God. Now, people, stop there for just a moment. You know this armor isn't physical, don't you? Because he's just made the point. First of all, these are the devil schemes, and he said our battle is against spiritual principalities, powers, and so forth. So you know this isn't, you're not physically putting a hat on. These are elements that make up our lives in Christ. He says, put on, in verse 13, the full armor of God so that when the day, look what he calls it, of evil comes. And people, they come, don't they? Some of you have been alive long enough, you've seen several days of evil. Some of you that might be new in the Lord, maybe you're just kind of getting started. And I don't mean to give you any kind of a horrible feeling about the future, but it happens. You know, the enemy attacks, there's issues, there's days of evil that come upon us. And here's the point. God wants you to have these things so that you can stand, and that's what he says here in the end of the verse, so that you will be able to stand your ground. And then after you've done everything, in other words, after you've fought the battle, you are still standing. See, that's the point of this whole thing, that you might stand in the Lord. And that's, by the way, that's what standing is all about. It's standing in the Lord, unmoved from the things of the Lord and your faith in him. And so he begins to talk about some of the things that we need to do. He says in verse 14, stand firm then with a belt of truth buckled around your waist. This is all about putting on God's truth, but let me tell you something. Do you know why he starts off with the truth? It's because it directly opposes the way Satan attacks. Do you know Satan's number one attack is deception? Lies. Do you remember what Jesus said about the devil in the last part of verse 44 of John chapter 8? Let's put that up on the screen so that people can see it. John 8, the last part of verse 44 goes like this.

And that means he is the originator of all lies. Isn't that amazing? So when Satan, you've got to know this. If you're going to go up against spiritual principalities and powers, you better be dealing in truth, because you know for certain, Satan is going to be dealing in lies. And he's got an abundance of them. And he doesn't just deal in outlandish lies. He deals in little half-truth type lies that get under your skin, because there's maybe a little iota of truth in it, and that kind of hooks you. And then the rest of it, see, is easy just to begin to spread into your veins. Satan just doesn't come along and say something stupid, that you're just going to look at him and go, oh, you're right. He's not going to do that. He's way too cunning for that. He's got a little bit of truth so that he can get in there and just get you. But it's going to be ultimately a lie. And the purpose of it is to get you to believe a lie. And once you have fallen to a lie, what are you going to do? Then you start running after that. You start literally thinking that that's the battle. And you know what? You're fighting a lie. Or it just gets your eyes completely off the goal. So the first thing that we need to do when it comes to dealing with spiritual battles is we need to be girded. And that's what this belt is. In the old translation, it was literally girdle. I mean, this was the first thing that the soldier would put on. He would gird himself with this, and then all of his other implements would hang on it. And so, you know, he needs to be girded in truth. Just, oh, and that is so important. And, you know, we can always come to God. When you're going through a hard time, you know, they talk about the chaos of battle, you know. I've never actually been a soldier. I've never been in a battle-type situation. But I've heard them talk about, you know, in a battle, in a heated battle situation, it's very difficult to figure what's what, who's what, and what's up and what's down. And it is no less true in spiritual battles. And you and I have to be connected to the source of truth, who is Jesus Christ, when we are in a battle. And if you're going through a hard time right now, if you're going through a battle scenario right now, you've got to be coming before the Lord, saying, God, show me what's true and what's not. Because what's not true, I want to just, I want to jettison that, because that's just going to waste my time and my strength. And I don't want to be going around battling things that aren't part of the real battle, you know what I mean? So, you've got to keep saying, Lord, open my eyes to truth, open my eyes to truth, all right? So, you stand firm with that. And notice the next thing in verse 14. is the breastplate of righteousness. Make sure he says that that is in place. People, this is not earned righteousness. This is righteousness that is imputed by God through Jesus Christ, and I talk in Christianese. Let me put it this way. If you are a Christian, if you are in Christ today, and what I mean by that is you've made him your Lord and Savior. You are righteous before God. Okay. You stand righteous before God, not because of your own good deeds or anything you've done, just because of him, you are righteous. Now, put that on and let it guard your heart. Here's why. Satan's going to challenge it at every turn. And here's why. He is the accuser. He is the accuser of the brethren, and he is going to accuse you to yourself. Let alone accusing you before God. He will accuse you to other people and other people to you and so forth. And if you don't have an understanding and a confidence that you are righteous in the eyes of God by the power of the Holy Spirit through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, then you have no protection for your vital organs, your vital spiritual organs. And it is of the utmost importance that you remember, I am not accepted by God on the basis of good works, good deeds, good attitudes or anything. God sees me as I am. I confess it. And he accepts me through the blood of the lamb. And I stand righteous through the blood of the eternal lamb, people, that is the breastplate of righteousness. And if that isn't on when the day of evil comes, Satan, he's got you. He's got you like that. I can't tell you how many people have come to me after a time of great difficulty in battle who are just absolutely wasted by the work of the enemy because they have not maintained the breastplate of righteousness. And they are absolutely ripped to shreds in Satan's mechanism of accusations. And it really is a sad thing because they have not maintained the breastplate and so forth. He goes on in verse 15, and he says, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. People, this isn't readiness to preach the gospel. It really doesn't have anything to do with it. Instead, it refers to a believer's stability or sure-footedness. And, you know, that was always a key element in battle. If you're going to be victorious over your enemy, you've got to be sure-footed. No matter what kind of a ground he engages you on, whether it's rocky or flat or mountainous or whatever it may be, you've got to be sure-footed and you've got to know where you're going. And there's a confidence and a stability in our lives that comes from the gospel of peace. You'll notice what he calls it. And it gives us peace in the midst of the battle so that we can stand against the work of the enemy and continue to fight that battle, knowing that God's love for us is certain. I am confident. Are you confident that God's love for you is certain, or can the enemy shake you on that easily? Does the enemy come along and just rattle you at the cellular level sometimes about your confidence that he loves you? Or do you stand strong, sure-footed? Verse 16, he says, in addition to all this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Now, this is easy because he told us what it is and he told us what it does. I mean, there's not a whole lot of comment that needs to go along with this, but it is a shield and it is made up of your faith, your faith in God, your trust in him. And it becomes that ability to literally deflect those fiery poison darts of the enemy that he longs to get in. And once again, these are these flaming darts are the things that the enemy wants it to and get you. Because if he can find flesh and if he can pierce flesh with those darts, there's a venom in them that begins to course through us that just causes disappointment, discouragement, upset, fear, panic, whatever he's trying to do in you. Whatever the enemy is trying to elicit out of you in terms of an emotional response, that's going to happen when you allow yourself to be exposed at some point. And that's why God has given you a shield. But understand it is a shield of faith. By the way, you know, did you notice at the very beginning of all this, it said put on it says put on the full armor, put on this, put on the belt, put on. Did you know in the Greek and I just learned this was I was studying this. It means there is an emphatic element of, of emphasis that goes along with those two simple words. That means that there is a responsibility on your part to do it, to put it on. Now the battle armament is his, right? He's the one that created it. He's given it to you. There it sits on the floor. God says, now put it on. Take that shield. Take it up. Get the sword out, raise it, you know, so, so many people have the, the armor and it's just sitting there. It's on the floor. It's all neat. They shine it even once in a while, but they don't put it on. And so there's a, there's an emphatic element to, to the Greek in that it says, do this. Um, verse 17 says, uh, take the helmet of salvation. And this is so important because protecting your mind from the onslaught of the enemy protects against what he wants to accomplish most in your mind. You know, Satan loves playing mind games and he loves it and make, make no mistake about it. His purpose is to discourage you. If you're feeling discouraged about a situation or some, the very chances are very good that you have not put on the helmet, that you have been subject to an attack of the enemy that has left you exposed to his discouragement and his mind games and so forth. That, and, and so this is something that you've got to do. It is guys, the helmet of salvation is the assurance, the absolute quiet assurance in our hearts that God is going to triumph. And you know, people, do you know that one of Satan's most powerful weapons is discouragement? If he can get you discouraged, once you feel discouraged, you just, you just go limp. You stop being in any kind of a defensive posture or resisting posture. You just basically lay down and say, oh yeah, okay, whatever. It's going to be what it's going to be. You stop fighting. And more importantly, you stop standing. You stop standing. So don't let discouragement happen. Take up the helmet of salvation. Take up that assurance. You are a child of God and he's not going to, he's not going to abandon you. Okay. You're his child. He can't people listen. He cannot abandon you. Even if he tried, he can't. You're his child. Can't do it. And then finally he says here, uh, and well, not necessarily finally, but he says in verse 17, also the sword of the spirit. Take up also the sword of the spirit. And it tells us what that is. It's, it's, it's the word of God. It is a sword. Notice he refers to it as the sword of the spirit. Remember, we're talking about what the Holy spirit wants to do in our lives, how he works in our lives and so forth, but he says, take it up, take it up. You know, my, my son, Aaron, who led worship this morning has in his, in their office, in their, in their house, these huge swords, life size, real weight. Swords he, and they're all replicas of the swords that are in the Lord of the rings. I mean, he's got, he's got everybody's sword. He's got Frodo sword. He's got, you know, the King sword he's got, he's, he's still waiting to get a Gimli's ax, but, uh, he's got all the, and they're all mounted on the wall and you know, you can pull them off. And, and, and we were doing it the other night we were working on his computer. And so he pulled this one sword off the wall and he handed it to me and I was looking at this thing and it was like, you know, if I, if I got into a battle with this thing, I mean, they'd cut me to shreds so quickly, you know, that I probably wouldn't even see it coming. I mean, here's the reason why I'm not used to using it and I've never practiced. Same thing with the word of God. Are you used to using the word of God and have you practiced? There's no substitute for practicing practice. Get to know the word of God. Get to know your Bible. Read it. One of the things that I'm haranguing our kids, you know, in our senior high and college group, bring your Bible to refuge. And I have some extra Bibles there that they can read along, but you know what? It's never as good. And we make Bibles available and I don't wanna make anybody feel bad. I know some of you might've just needed a Bible this morning cause you forgot yours. That's fine. And that's what they're there for. But you know what? There's something about getting used to the way this thing feels. There's something about knowing where to find that verse There's something about underlining it and and putting the date next to it and why that was important to you and being able to find It again, there's something about just this being your Bible that you have hold of and you know how to wield it You know, this is my sword Do you think a battle you think a warrior back in those days went into battle with a brand new sword? He'd never touched before the battle began. No, he's gonna get that sword. He's gonna get used to it He's gonna know the weight of it how to use it how to wield it how to how to do it is because his life Depends on it And so does yours your life Depends on it. Don't treat this sword like this is something you can just kind of pick up off the shelf after Years of disuse and just kind of pick it up and go. Okay, here we go Now battle of the Lord you better have these things tucked in your heart. You better know how this is used You better know how to swing it and when and where to strike Vitally important and Then finally he says in verse 18 and pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests Spirit directed spirit moved Spirit inspired prayer Lord, you know when you're in a battle situation, you got to pray and hit the mark and so you're gonna come before the Lord at that time and Stop thinking, you know how to pray Stop thinking, you know exactly what to hone in on in a battle situation Because the chaos of battle might just have distracted you away from the real purpose of the battle So you come and you say father God by the power of your Holy Spirit Enabled to me to pray about what really is going on here and if you are so beaten down and you are so bloodied and so Discouraged from the battle. Do you know what there's still hope? You know, the Bible has this beautiful reminder for us in Romans 8. Let me put this up on the screen for you It's from Romans 8 verses 26 and 27. It says

and

. Isn't that good to know that even if you're just you're just beat up and and you don't even know how To pray. It's like I don't know what to say anymore It's like I stopped to pray and I just go. I Don't know Just know this God loves you so much that the Holy Spirit even prays for you Not amazing and he knows exactly how to pray. Have you ever invited him to do that? Have you ever been so just beaten down? It's happened to me dozens of times. I've just had to come before the Lord and say God, I don't even know where to start Would you just would you just pray Lord? Would you pray? Would you just pray? I'm just gonna sit here. I'm just gonna let you pray And just to know that that he knows exactly how to pray What a wonderful glorious God we serve so Keep on praying make prayer a vital important important part of that whole Battle process. Let's stand together You