Holy Spirit and Spiritual Warfare When I first saw that there were two topics for one chapel, I thought, how s that going to work? But as I got thinking about it, I realized that they only work when they ARE used together the only way to combat Spiritual Warfare is with the Holy Spirit and we are given the Holy Spirit for that purpose Jesus promised that even though in this world there would be trouble, He would never leave us, but would send us a helper one who will go with us and help us in all things for His glory. (John 16:33, John 14:18, John 14:26, John 15:26, John 16:7-15). That promise is for this Discipleship Walk, as well as for all areas of our lives. As great as having help can be sometimes, let s face it, the reality is that being given The Holy Spirit can seem like a daunting gift afterall, who or what is it? Well, as the first devotional of this section reminded us, the Holy Spirit is the driver of our tandem bike. He is God IN us and He is to be the One in control of our life. Giving up control is not always easy, but it is essential if we are to live according to the will of God afterall, how else will we do God s will if we don t ask Him and then obey what He tells us to do. But how do we REALLY KNOW what God s will is for us??? Well, that s another job of the Holy Spirit: to communicate to us and to communicate for us on our behalf to God. A big question many of us have asked, or at least thought about, is How does this happen??? How does someone hear God? How does the Holy Spirit speak to us? And how does He speak to God for us? The answer is varied. Some people, like Moses, have heard God s voice audibly (Exodus 3). Others, like Isaiah and John, have learned of His will in a vision or dream (Isaiah 1, Revelation 1). David was
given a message from God through another person, Nathan (2 Samuel 12). Still others saw God write His message out for them on the wall, right before their eyes (Daniel 5). Balaam was even given a revelation from God by means of his donkey (Numbers 22). And many people have felt God s confirmation, and described His voice as a peace or even their conscience. While I believe that God can speak to us in whatever means He chooses those mentioned here, as well as others, I also believe that the most common way God speaks to us is through His Spirit and our understanding is made more clear when we put on the armor He has given us. You might ask How does ARMOR help us hear God clearer?! Good question Let me explain let s take a look at each piece in order to better understand. First, we must remember that, as this past week s devotional reminded us, Jesus has won the war for our souls, but we are still in the battle we are in a spiritual battle a battle for our minds and hearts. It is no coincidence that in order to hear the Holy Spirit, we must put on our spiritual armor, which helps us block out everything else that is battling to take our focus off of God. The spiritual armor is what allows us to cover everything in prayer, and stay constantly connected to God by praying in the Spirit on all occasions, as week 2 and 3 of our devotionals reminded us this past month. So what is the armor? Well, as Ephesians 6 states, it includes The armor of righteousness, which covers our sin stained flesh, and instead makes our colors clear and true it cloaks us in the garments of the King so we are fully recognizable as His child a bearer of His Spirit one who is willing and able to listen to Him and
His call. The belt of truth is our lifeline it keeps us wired and connected, and it keeps our signal clear by eliminating the interference that might otherwise try to keep God s Spirit from connecting to us or keep us from connecting to Him The belt of truth is what keeps our breastplate of righteousness from falling off remember it is God s truth (applied by His Spirit) that makes us righteousness, not our works done by our own might. Next comes the helmet of salvation which covers our ears so we don t hear Satan s lies of guilt, shame, and faulty accusations the helmet protects our minds by covering them with the truth of God s love for us and His acceptance of us through Jesus Christ it s like call block only the true Caller can get through. The shield of faith allows us to know and belief God s voice when we do hear it. It s like Caller ID if the evil one tries to fake us out with a prank call, we ll have his number and can hang up. The Sword of the Spirit,then, is our actual conversation. This is God s Word, as given to us through the Bible. Without our Sword, we can t fully know God and His message for us or for others. When we have the rest of our armor on, the Spirit is able to help us discern God s Word and apply it to our own life. And our side of the conversation? That comes from the words we offer back to God in our prayers remember the ones that we offer on all occasions because we desire to let the things in life draw us closer to God instead of come between us and God? The final part of our Spirit-filled ensemble are the Shoes of peace. With them on, we can distribute God s message to others who may not know how to connect with God. These shoes allow us to help others learn to develop their own friendship with God so they can hear Him, too.
Living without our armor on living without acknowledging the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives living without having a constant connection with God, without letting Him take the lead in our lives, is a scary place to be. To illustrate this I d like us to look at Psalm 23 but not in the regular way. Psalm 23 is typically a Psalm of comfort why? Because it includes God it explains what it looks like when the Holy Spirit is active in our lives what it is like when we are spiritually protected, and allow God to guide us in all things when we hear God and choose to obey Him. Please take a moment to look under your chair for a copy, and follow along as I read a revised version of Psalm 23 as if it were written by someone not living a life equipped by or yielded to the Spirit. The Lord is NOT my Shepherd, therefore I SHALL undoubtedly want. I refuse to lie down in green pastures, and will NOT follow Him beside quiet waters, so how can He restore or replenish my soul? Alas, He can NOT. He does NOT lead me in the path of righteousness for His name s sake or should I more accurately say that I will not follow Him in the path of righteousness because I am more focused on MY name s sake? Because of this, even though I do NOT walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I WILL fear evil His rod and His staff are NOT able to be a comfort me. He does NOT prepare a table for me in the presence of my enemies, nor does He anoint my head with oil. And why should He? The reward I seek does not lie in His approval, but in the approval of men, so why should He waste such treasures on my ungratefulness? Surely goodness and mercy will NOT follow me all the days of my life, for when my life is over I will NOT dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
When we read Psalm 23 in the negative, it is scary how true this is for many people today maybe even some of us. Maybe things seem to be going well, but without the provision, rest, peace, salvation, guidance, wisdom, protection, love, strength, blessings, or comfort found only God s Word and Spirit, we will remain in fear, living lives open and vulnerable to attack from the dark forces battling for our minds and souls because God is not with us. Although, on the surface, we may seem to be able to serve God and others, we will ultimately fall short of being truly anonymous servants we will find we are unable to yield to the Holy Spirit, because we will not be properly equipped in God s armor we cannot do what God calls us to do on our own strength and that is precisely why He gave us His Spirit to help us why would we not want to accept this gift? So if God does not expect us to serve Him in our own strength or by our own intelligence if it is not about me, but solely about God, then what is God asking of me? Micah 6:6-8 addresses this vary question: With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To do what is just and right to other people, to love being kind and merciful to others, and to live humbly, obeying your God. It is not the stuff and rituals that matter most to God. What God desires above all else is a relationship with us He desires our heart. We must ask ourselves: are we willing to give Him this? Have we considered all He has given for us? As we come to a time
of communion, may we remember that partaking in the elements of bread and grape juice are not what God desires of us here. Although we practice the method of intinction, tearing off a piece of bread and dipping it in the juice, it is not our acts of ritual and tradition that bring delight to God. Christ did not tell us to take and eat, and take and drink, so that we could DO one more thing in an attempt to make ourselves right before God. On the contrary, communion is a time for us to increase in our understanding and awe by remembering how great a love God has for us a love that enabled Christ to tell us that THIS [break the bread] is My body given for you and THIS [pick up the cup] is My blood of the covenant, which was poured out for many for you and for me for the forgiveness of our sins (Matthew 26:17-30, Luke 22:7-20). Communion is a time to repent of the times when we have forsaken our first love, and ask God to restore us to Him, so we can rekindle and again take pleasure in our deep friendship with Him. In a moment we are going to pray. I will begin, but then we will have a moment of silence to allow you time to talk with God on your own. When you hear the music begin to play, we will have the first row come up to partake in communion. If each row will please follow them, and return to your seats. Please hold your elements, and we will take them together once everyone has had a chance to receive communion. Dear God. Play music??? You Have Shown Us and As The Deer Take communion together As we are all one body in Christ, may His Spirit also unite us as a team, so we can bring God ultimate glory as we worship Him through our lives on this Walk, and in all we do.