Read. Spiritual Warfare Stand. Key Verse: Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

Transcription

1 Spiritual Warfare Stand Spiritual Warfare: In this series, we will look at the biblical truths about spiritual warfare. Scripture teaches that spiritual warfare is a fact, and every believer is called to fight. In This Lesson: Read Ephesians 6:10-20 and think about the tools God has given us to stand strong. Equip Think about the importance of each piece of the Armor of God in your spiritual battles. Accountability Discuss your thoughts with your group and encourage each other to apply God s Word to your lives. Pray Pray together with your group because everything begins with, ends with and depends on God. Scorecard How are you doing with the mission that Christ has given you? Key Verse: Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. A man reaps what he sows ~Galatians 6:7-8 (NIV)

2 Read We cannot stand the wiles of the devil by our wits. The devil only comes along the lines that God understands, not along the lines we understand, and the only way we can be prepared for him is to do what God tells us, stand complete in His armor, indwelt by His Spirit, in complete obedience to Him. ~Oswald Chambers Knowing that we are in a war and that there are constant battles raging around us all the time, we need to understand what our role is in the fight, and what is at our disposal as we fight against the enemy. This passage from Ephesians is the most comprehensive look at the believer's role in spiritual warfare. We will look at each piece of the whole Armor of God, as well as the commands given in the text. This is the area we need to concentrate on as Read Ephesians 6:10-20 followers of Jesus. In verse 10 we get the first command: be strong in the Lord. This sets the stage for our role in the war. This is actually in passive voice in the original Greek, meaning we have to be strengthened from something outside of ourselves. We find our strength in Jesus, who is all-powerful and all-sufficient. This must be grasped before we ever start using the armor of God, otherwise, we wield weapons without the strength needed to defeat the enemy. Like any good soldier, we need to be disciplined, obedient to the plan, trained and equipped to set out for battle. The next command is repeated several times. Having found our strength in Christ (who, by the way, already defeated sin and death), we are commanded to stand firm. Verse 14 describes the preparation that needs to be done in order to stand against the enemy of our souls through the taking of each piece of armor. Start with the belt of truth, which would be a vital piece of equipment to warriors from that time. Fastening the belt, or girding the loins, was a step in putting on armor that allowed for mobility and action. This was the base requirement for the

3 Read preparation, just as understanding the truth of God is our baseline for preparation. This is knowing and believing that Jesus is the truth. (John 14:6) We must know the biblical truth to resist the enemy, who is a liar. Without truth, we will be subject to fail from the beginning. Next, we are told to put on the breastplate of righteousness. This is an interesting piece, as it guards our heart, which is the most vital organ and symbolizes our soul. Righteousness guards our heart against condemnation and accusations from the enemy. Righteousness is not just a moral conviction or area of thought. In this case, righteousness would be better defined as right actions. We also know that for followers of Jesus, He alone is our righteousness and we become righteous in Him (1 Cor. 1:30 and 2 Cor. 5:21). For our feet, we have the readiness of the gospel of peace. This signifies a few different things to the Christian preparing for battle. There is an idea of movement; the gospel requires movement as we were commanded to take the gospel to all nations. Preparation, or readiness, is needed to take the gospel wherever God has us go. Doing this exposes the believer to the possibility of suffering for the gospel. The gospel brings peace, and having trusted in the truth of the gospel brings the Christian soldier an inward peace that defies the chaos of the world around us and the anxiety of attacks from the enemy. The shield is to guard against the fiery darts of the enemy which come at us as attacks to cause doubts or disbelief. As we stand behind our shield of faith, we are safe, just as in ancient times, and the attacks are extinguished by our trust in God. God is often depicted as a refuge or a shield in times of attack by the enemy. It is our complete faith in who He is that allows us not to be tempted to doubt. When the Bible talks about the helmet of salvation, there is a change of language. Looking at the other pieces of the armor, the activity is that of the follower to take

4 Read up, put on, and use. The Greek word that is translated take in verse 17 could be more accurately translated as receive. We receive our salvation from our trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior of our lives. This salvation only comes through the finished work of Jesus, so the only thing we can do is receive the gift of salvation. The depiction of salvation as a helmet is to show that our salvation protects our minds as being the thought center of our souls. Our salvation should result in a transformation in us through the renewing of our minds. Our minds, and therefore hearts, are guarded by the salvation we have received. (Something to note in the text is that the shield and helmet are joined.) Up to this point, the Armor of God has been defensive in nature, but now we shift to the offensive weapons of our warfare. We are given the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. God's Word is scripture and is meant to be our weapon of choice. It is what separates truth from lies, spirit from flesh, and what is good from that which is wicked. It is critical to realize that there is a connection between the helmet (our salvation) and the sword (the Word of God); these tie to our salvation and sanctification, and empower us to act as we are commanded in the next line. We are told to pray in the Spirit for others in the church, with vigilance and diligence. We are like centuries on watch, guarding not just ourselves, but other believers through our prayers. The effectiveness of those prayers is correlated to our ability to wield the sword, our internalization of scripture. We stand as we prepare and understand the power of our saving faith, then we go and take the gospel on the offense against a fallen world, to retrieve as many prisoners of sin as we can.

5 Equip As you read through the Scriptures, perhaps there were some things you didn t understand or needed to study further. Take some time to think and respond to the following questions: 1. Describe the importance of the command to be strong in the Lord. 2. Describe what each piece of the armor means to you personally.

6 Accountability Before your next D group meeting, think about the questions below. You will discuss these with your group. These questions will help you to examine your life in light of the truth you explored this week. They also give other group members an opportunity to encourage you to be a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ. 1. In what ways are you relying on self-sufficiency in your battles? 2. Which piece of the Armor of God do you wield well? In which do you feel you need training and equipping?

7 Pray My prayer request regarding the topic this week is: My prayer request regarding a situation in my life is: My prayer request for others is: (fill this out at D Group)

8 Scorecard What is Jesus mission? It is to make His gospel known to all people through word (sharing the gospel) and deed (demonstrating the gospel). This is the mission that every generation of His followers must take up as well. But, don t confuse becoming missional with becoming a foreign missionary. A missionary may devote his or her life to making the gospel known beyond a border or across an ocean. But, Christ calls all of His followers to make the gospel known through word and deeds wherever they live, work or play, as well as in their surrounding communities. Who am I praying for an opportunity to share the truth of Jesus with right now? Who am I intentionally witnessing to about Jesus right now? Who am I discipling right now?