1* Without our prayers all hell breaks loose 2: The Armour of God

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1 1* Without our prayers all hell breaks loose 2: The Armour of God 2*Paul spoke last week on this subject and I am picking up on one particular aspect that is The Armour of God. People will tell you that I often say, especially in the context of Healing Prayer, that there is no neutral ground. By this I mean we can t just think that life is life and ignore the fact that there is a spiritual battle going on over our lives, over the Church, and over this world. C.S. Lewis puts it like this: 3*There is no neutral ground in the universe; every square inch, every split second, is claimed by God and counter-claimed by Satan. 4* Therefore, we cannot afford to be complacent; we must be pro-actively engaged in seeing that God s Kingdom of light, love, truth, peace, goodness justice and joy is advanced, thereby displacing Satan s kingdom of darkness, hatred, lies, violence, selfishness, injustice and despair. If we are to engage with the battle and come out victoriously advancing the Kingdom of God we must be prepared and equipped. This is spoken about in detail in Ephesians 6:10-18: Now my beloved ones, I have saved these most important truths for last: Be supernaturally infused with strength through your life-union with the Lord Jesus. Stand victorious with the force/weapons of His explosive power flowing in and through you. Put on God s complete set of armour provided for us so that you will be protected as you fight against the evil strategies of the accuser (Devil) Your hand-to-hand combat is not with human beings, but with the highest principalities and authorities operating in rebellion under the heavenly realms, for they are a powerful class of demon-gods and evil spirits that hold this dark world in bondage. Because of this, you must wear all the armour that God provides so you re protected as you confront the slanderer (Devil), for you are destined to conquer and after you will rise victorious. Put on truth as a belt to strengthen you to stand in triumph. Put on holiness (the breastplate of righteousness) as the protective armour that covers your heart. Stand on your feet alert; then you ll always be ready to share the blessings of peace. In every battle, take faith as your wrap-around shield, for it is able to extinguish the blazing arrows coming at you from the Evil One! Embrace the power of salvation s

2 full deliverance, like a helmet to protect your thoughts from lies. And take the mighty razor-sharp Spirit-sword of the spoken Word of God. Pray passionately in the Spirit, as you constantly intercede with every form of prayer at all times. Pray the blessings of God upon all his believers. 5* So I want to unpack these verses somewhat. The first thing to note is the Apostle Paul says these are most important truths so we do well to regard them as important! 6* Then he tells us to make sure we are supernaturally infused with strength through our vital relationship (life-union) with Jesus; standing victorious having used the power of His supernatural armoury/weaponry! These are spiritual truths. Much of the Bible concerns truths which can be deemed to be great moral teachings, if not a bit counter-culture eg show compassion to the least and the last; love your enemies etc we can rationalise that we could perhaps win an enemy through not behaving in a similar way to them. We can outwork these things without necessarily thinking of anything outside our visible natural realm. 7* But these most important truths are deeply spiritual; they concern a powerful, supernatural realm that is invisible to most, but which still has a great impact on the natural realm. For many, this supernatural realm is only the stuff of fantasy films eg Lord of the Rings, Star Wars etc and it s very exhilarating and entertaining, but it doesn t sit within most people s scope of understanding and explanation of reality. Yet it is reality, but it can only be spiritually perceived and understood. And since it concerns armed combat with forces of evil that must be overcome if our world is to be spared, it is a reality we, the Church, must engage with. Our natural strategies, abilities, strengths and reactions won t see us achieve victory; spiritual battles must be fought and won by spiritual means and we must be clothed in God s strength, which comes from our living relationship with Jesus. I m sure many of us can relate to feeling weak and weary when we are not spending time resting and being strengthened in God (in whatever ways work for us) this explains why - and it s not like the forces of evil will back off just because we are weary! To be protected from harm we must be clothed in the armour God has provided for us. It is His armour and He wore it when He came to destroy

3 the enemy and rescue the oppressed - 8* Isaiah 59: 15-18: The Lord looked and was displeased to find there was no justice. He was amazed to see that no one intervened to help the oppressed. So He himself stepped in to save them with His strong arm, and His justice sustained Him. He put on righteousness as His body armour and placed the helmet of salvation on His head. He clothed Himself with a robe of vengeance and wrapped Himself in a cloak of divine passion. He will repay His enemies for their evil deeds. 9* The first piece of protective armour mentioned in our Ephesians passage is the Belt of Truth. A Roman soldier s belt was a thick, heavy leather and metal band with protective pieces hanging down from the front of it and it held their sword and other weapons. Likewise, the Belt of Truth in our spiritual armour holds the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Truth is not my opinion or your opinion; Truth is God Himself and His Word is truth. 10* John 14:6: Jesus told him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through Me. John 17:17: Make them holy by Your truth; teach them Your word, which is truth. Therefore, the Belt of Truth is a crucial piece of defensive armour holding the rest of our armour together and helping to guard our vital organs! We can see from the passage that the enemy battle strategy is largely about lies and deception because he is the Father of Lies. 11* John 8:44b [Jesus speaking about Satan]: He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies. He is the one who slanders and accuses us sowing his lies and deceptions and hoping they ll take root in us and grow. If he can get us to believe his truth rather than the Truth then he can cause a growing divide between God and us. This leaves us immensely vulnerable because without our belt holding everything else together we are left virtually

4 naked and unprotected in other areas. Without our Belt of Truth, we are certainly unprepared to stand and fight. If we don t recognise the spiritual battle, we won t see that we have an important choice to make whether we believe God s Truth or, by default, we believe the enemy s. There is no neutral place called my truth no matter what the world tells us about the relativity of truth. (Who do you think put that lie about?) Our prevailing culture says, There is no absolute truth (and with it no absolute rights or wrongs). But that in itself is stated like it s an absolute truth when in fact it s a lie! Over the 50 years I ve been a Christian, there has been rather a pendulum swing in the Church. When I was young everyone used to hold Satan responsible for everything: He attacked me and I was unfaithful to my partner ; he attacked me and I got drunk and ended up in a cell overnight. I m afraid he just isn t that powerful and we gave him far too much credit at the time. He is only ever empowered by our agreement with him, and so we must take our share of responsibility for these things. Nowadays we can mistakenly think he has no influence at all, but we don t realise how many deceptions are entering into the Church and how weak we are becoming outside of our union with The Truth. How much of the prevailing culture of relative truth has entered the Church I fear it could be a growing problem. During the time of 40 days of P&F last summer, Roger had a word from God about the Belt of Truth: 12* God says, Let all my words sink into your own heart first. Listen to them carefully and then go and say this is what the Lord is saying (Ezekiel 3:10). For as the belt clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole household of Israel and the whole household of Judah [My people] cling to Me,' declares the LORD, that they might be for Me a people, for renown, for praise and for glory; but they did not listen (Jeremiah 13:11) The word went on to say: 13*It does not matter how difficult our pathway is, we are to cleave to Him and not let go, for in our cleaving is our strength. If a belt is not tight, our clothes fall down and we stumble and fall. Put on the armour of God, for we need all the useful weapons

5 God has given us to defeat our enemy. In the battle stand firm and be prepared for action. Before and since this word came, there have been battles to face by members of CL and griefs to bear. Knowing this, God urged us to listen to His words and let His truth, the Truth, sink into our hearts. 14* He asks us to cling to Him no matter the difficulty of the journey. He will keep us together; He will carry us through (even if we are crying or screaming and beating our arms against His chest). He will keep us standing or gradually move us forward. The alternative enemy suggestion would be to doubt and decry God s goodness and care. Undiscerning of the spiritual nature of the slander and accusation we can rationalise, we can agree, causing a wedge to form between God and us and from then on it s a swift backward journey into hopelessness and despair. 15* As stated previously, held within the Belt of Truth is the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. The Greek word for Spirit-sword, machaira, was a razor sharp Roman sword used in close combat. It is the only offensive, rather than defensive piece of armour. When the enemy draws close, we must have the Word of God ready to hand. The Word of God is the logos written Bible (also the name for Jesus) brought alive to us for the situations of life, by the rhema Spirit of God. Because this is such a vital piece of kit, and so deadly against the enemy, Satan has made some strategic attempts to cause us to drop it. The passage we have been referring to (see AGM) regarding discipleship and maturing as Christians reveals that we grow from children in the faith to becoming young men and women through being able to wield the word of God in order to overcome Satan. From there we go on to become mothers and fathers! 16* 1 John 2:14: I write to you, young people, because you are strong, and the Word of God is treasured in your hearts, and you have defeated the evil one. I ve been very saddened in recent years to meet people I know to be Christians who no longer believe the Bible is true - some referring to it at best, as a sacred book rather than the Truth Yet:

6 17* 2 Timothy 3:16 TPT: Every Scripture has been written by the Holy Spirit, the breath of God. It will empower you by its instruction and correction, giving you the strength to take the right direction and lead you deeper into the path of godliness. Matthew 4:4 TPT [Jesus]: True life is found in every word, which constantly goes forth from God s mouth. If we take it upon ourselves to decide which bits of the Bible are true and which are not; which we will accept and which we will discard, we find ourselves on a slippery slope or as our Ephesians passage shows, we find ourselves with no weapon to combat the enemy s temptations, deceptions, lies and accusations. And he is ruthless about leading us astray: 18* 1 Timothy 4:1: The Holy Spirit has explicitly revealed: At the end of this age, many will depart from the true faith one after another, devoting themselves to spirits of deception and following demon-inspired revelations and theories. Conversely, I ve met others who have begun to read the Bible more often and have found themselves becoming more alive to God and bolder in their conversations with others who don t yet know Him. This is encouraging and the Bible in a year app is really aiding this, so if we need to be more equipped in the word of God let s get that on our phones! 19* The Belt of Truth also held in place the Breastplate of Righteousness. The Roman soldier wore a tough, sleeveless piece of armour that covered the body from neck to waist, front and back. It was often made of leather, metal, or chains. Its main purpose was to protect the heart, lungs, intestines, and other vital organs. This is the piece of armour that represents the truth of God s love, grace and mercy towards us like no other!

7 A favourite OT passage of mine prophesy s what will happen in this respect: 20* Zechariah 3:1-4: Then the angel showed me Jeshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord. The Accuser, Satan, was there at the angel s right hand, making accusations against Jeshua. And the Lord said to Satan, I, the Lord, reject your accusations, Satan. Yes, the Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebukes you. This man is like a burning stick that has been snatched from the fire. Jeshua s clothing was filthy as he stood there before the angel. So the angel said to the others standing there, Take off his filthy clothes. And turning to Jeshua he said, See, I have taken away your sins, and now I am giving you these fine new clothes. Then Jesus brings the fulfilment in person to all those who accept and follow 21* Him: 2 Corinthians 5:21 TPT: For God made the only one who did not know sin [Jesus] to become sin for us, so that we who did not know righteousness might become the righteousness of God through our union with Him. Galatians 3:26-27 TPT: You have all become true children of God by the faith of Jesus the Anointed One! It was faith that immersed you into Jesus, the Anointed One, and now you are covered and clothed with His anointing. The Breastplate of Righteousness or holiness represents Jesus holiness and righteousness that has been given in exchange for our selfishness and sin that He took on the cross for us; our filthy rags past, present and future, have been removed from us forever and we are now dressed in the purity, holiness and the right-wise-ness of Jesus! This piece of armour and the Truth it represents keeps our heart and emotions safe from Satan s condemning accusations that we are not good enough therefore we can t be God s children. Because our goodness is from Jesus and He has qualified us to be children of God - that s the end of it that s why He cried It is finished! on the cross. And that s why we can stand; that s why we can know God s peace and walk in it, taking the good news of how to be at peace to others - hence the shoes: 22* Isaiah 52:7 [& Romans 10:15] NLT: How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the

8 messenger who brings good news, the good news of peace and salvation, the news that the God of Israel reigns! 23* The final piece of armour a soldier would put on was the helmet. Oftentimes it is our mind that is the main targeted area for Satan s attacks - because if he disarms that, he immobilises the rest. The Helmet of Salvation offers vital protection it affirms the Truth that Jesus has saved us once and for all time; salvation is an ongoing, eternal position we inhabit because of what Jesus has done for us. He has delivered us from our sinful nature and filled us with His eternal life-giving Holy Spirit. 24* Romans 8:1-2 TPT: So now the case is closed. There remains no accusing voice of condemnation against those who are joined in lifeunion with Jesus, the Anointed One. For the law of the Spirit of life flowing through the anointing of Jesus has liberated us from the law of sin and death. 25* So now: 2 Corinthians 10:5 TPT: We can demolish every deceptive fantasy that opposes God and break through every arrogant attitude that is raised up in defiance of the true knowledge of God. We capture, like prisoners of war, every thought and insist that it bow in obedience to the Anointed One. We see from this that not every thought we get has to become ours; we should hold troubling thoughts up against the truth of what Jesus has done and what He says and let His revelation displace any lies that would settle and tell us otherwise. This is what the process of HP powerfully achieves; long-held identity beliefs (often from when we were defenceless in childhood) encounter God s Truth and a supernatural exchange is made, with liberating outcomes. So the Helmet of Salvation is seen to be fully secured in place! 26* The Shield of Faith is wonderfully described in the following verse: Psalm 27* 91:4: His massive arms are wrapped around you, protecting you. You can run under His covering of majesty and hide. His arms of faithfulness are a shield, keeping you from harm. It speaks a further word of acceptance and protection within the Father s embrace and shows we

9 can run behind the shield of His arms whenever harmful things come our way. When we picture armour it can seem like a cold, hard, external thing; but with the spiritual armour God has given us, we see it is an all-mighty, tender, protective envelope around us, which involves the whole Trinity in our defence and victory over the powerful works of evil. It is from this place; in union with the Trinity; clad in His armour, infused with the strength and power of the Truth that we are to 28* Pray passionately in the Spirit with every form of prayer at all times. And pray the blessings of God upon all His believers. 29* Pete Greig: Prayer in which we harness our wills with God s will to resist Satan s will is our greatest weapon of defence as well as attack. Prayer is not pleading from the sidelines; prayer is invading the field of play. In prayer we join the team and actively shape the outcome of the match Let s not underestimate the authority we have as children of God, especially when we pray. The truth is there are terrible evils that will only be restrained, and wonderful blessings that will only be unlocked by our prayers. 30* Prayer: Holy Spirit please open our eyes to see the reality of the spiritual battle today. Deliver us from the evil one. We put on your armour and celebrate Your Truth and victory in our lives. Teach us to rule and reign with the authority you have given us in and through Jesus. Amen CONNECT GROUPS DISCUSSION POINTS & Qs: Q. Are we understanding of the spiritual battle we are engaged in as the Church and confident in God s provision and protection within it? Q. Consider the different elements of armour and the Truth they express. Are we confident we are wearing every piece as we go into our daily lives and praying from this place of truth, acceptance and assurance? Are there parts of the armour and the Truth it represents we need to strengthen and how might we do this? Q. Are we clinging to God through the difficulties of our lives and what is His word to us as He helps us stand or carries us through?

10 Q. Are we convicted of our need to be equipped to use the Spirit-sword against the enemy? discuss how might we support one another and improve in this. (Consider using the Bible in a Year phone app from Holy Trinity Brompton if helpful) Pray for one another and pray that we might uphold every word of God as Truth in our daily lives.