The Believer and Spiritual Warfare - Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Ephesians Series)

Ephesians chapter six beginning in verse 10. Before we read this, we are, starting something new on Fridays. We started our bible study in the book of Leviticus. And for those who were there, I'm sure you can testify to the same thing. The Lord met us in a special way.

The Lord met us in a special way, that service, where he became so real. And my prayer is that as we begin a series within the series, in the book of Ephesians concerning spiritual warfare, that the Lord would meet us in a special way as well. And so let's come with faith that God wants to touch our hearts through his word by the power of his holy spirit. Ephesians chapter six beginning in verse 10. Finally, be strong in the Lord.

And in the strength of his might, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Let's pray. Father, in this time, help us realize what is at hand. Help us realize the reality of spiritual warfare.

Give us grace, Lord, to be able to endure the schemes of Satan. We pray even now that as we come to this place, there is warfare happening against our minds, against our hearts, and we just ask for a great protection and that your word would be delivered with clarity and with full obedience as we hear it. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated.

After much instruction relating to the practical Christian life and how the believer ought to be an imitator of God in every sphere of his day to day existence, the Apostle Paul gives his final exhale of exhortation to this church and to all believers of all time with this one simple word, finally. Finally. And up to this point, it seems as though the apostle covered all the basis concerning how we ought to live as a response to the grace of God, how we ought to react and act, how our attitudes should be postured, how our language should be displayed. All these things seem like they're covered, but the apostle Paul here, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wants to grant one final instruction concerning the believer in their calling and character in Christ. And regardless whether it's husband, as we learned about, fathers, as we learned about, mothers, wives, children, bondservants, masters, pastors, or those a part of a congregation.

This is what the Apostle Paul wants to let the church know. That yes, because you are in Christ, you received all these wonderful graces and you received the specific commissioning, but because you are in Christ, whether you realize it or not, you have enrolled yourself in a war. And this war has been happening for the past thousands of years, and it is something that will not end until the second coming. And the Apostle Paul comes to this place, and he says, I want you to realize that there is a war, and this is an inescapable reality of the faith that you claim to walk in. This is something that the believer cannot choose or not choose to be a part of.

Whether you want to believe it or not, the believer has been placed on a battlefield every single day. And this is something that a person can bury their heads in the sand with, but it will not dismiss the reality of this war. It just won't. And so what happens here is that we need to understand that you said yes to Christ, and in doing so, you received the uniform, you received the badge, and you received the the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that makes you an automatic potential threat to Satan and his purposes in this world. And so for a Christian to come to a place to disbelieve this understanding of spiritual warfare or to be negligent of this daily conflict that he is called to be a part of is in fact one of the strategies of the very opposer of your soul.

For you to walk in disbelief or you to walk in ignorance is exactly where the enemy wants you to be. So if you don't choose to believe it, as an automatic result, you will not choose to bear up arms. You will not choose to walk in the fullness of what you're called to be as a soldier. So unbelief and ignorance disarms the Christian to the advantage of your rival. And we cannot determine, you and I cannot determine whether you and I want to be a part of this war.

You are in it. You are. And if you're a Christian, this is a part of your life. You signed your name to say yes to Christ. And again, he has placed you in the first place, in the first ranks, in the trenches, in the battlefield called spiritual warfare.

And again, you can't determine that reality. But what can you determine? A Christian cannot determine whether he can be a part of this warfare, but what he can determine is what kind of a soldier he'll be. What did Paul tell Timothy in second Timothy two, three, and four? Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.

No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. He didn't say, Timothy, do you wanna be a soldier? He didn't say, Timothy, there's an elite group of Christians. There is a Navy SEAL group. There is a US Navy group.

No. No. No. He says, you're a soldier. Everybody that's a Christian is a soldier, but you can determine whether you're going to be a good soldier or not.

You're going to determine whether you're going to be a soldier that's involved in civilian affairs or a soldier that knows how to fight the good fight. This is something that you can determine, Timothy, and this is something that every Christian can determine whether they'll be a good soldier or an ineffective soldier. So this is where we have the choice. The choice is not ours whether we go face to face with the principalities of this world. That that's inevitable.

But we we do choose is how effective you and I will be in the time being. What is the nature of this war? Because we're talking a lot about war, and Paul almost immediately clarifies the nature of it. What does he say here in verse 12? He describes it, that this war is not against flesh and blood.

It's not against humans. It's not against people. It's not fought with weapons that war fight with today. No no no no. He says that this war is fought against spiritual beings, and it involves spiritual matters.

And he goes on to even detail in verse 12 what kind of warfare it is, what kind of combat that you and I are in, what kind of conflict that we are involved with. He says, for we do not out of all things to describe, he says, we don't wrestle. We do not wrestle. Oh, so so now I know what kind of warfare I'm a part of. Wrestling is less of a sport concerning team effort and individuals.

It focuses more on one on one combat. Now he says, we all wrestle. So everybody is wrestling. And this is the thing about wrestling that you can rarely catch your breath while you're in it. That it is a back and forth contest with your opponent, And the one goal that you have in wrestling is that you would bring your other down to the floor and pin him down and keep him down.

That's the nature of this war. It's exhausting. It's tiring, and it's personalized against you. So what do you need to understand that this is a one on one combat more than anything? And perhaps in this room right now, you have to realize that there are people going through different types of warfare.

As much as we are called the sheep, as much as we are called sons and daughters, in this very room right now, this is a platoon. There are troops sitting in these chairs and these couches, and every person in here has different types of scars. And depending how long you've been in the faith, you might have some specific war stories that another person will not have yet. But it's personalized. Yes.

The enemy can attack a group as a whole. Yes. He can he can attack a family. But more than anything, he individualizes his attacks upon each person. What he would love to do is bring everybody into defeat in their own warfare and bring them all together so that they can look defeated, act defeated, and even turn on each other as a soldier, as a group.

It's a one on one combat. See, he doesn't just hate the church, he hates you. Satan doesn't just hate Jesus Christ, he hates Jesus Christ in you. So it's personalized. He studies your behavior.

He studies your weaknesses, and he knows right where to hit you right at the right time. And this wrestling is not just to reveal that it's a one on one contest. It also reveals that the length of this type of warfare. Paul doesn't give a timeline. Paul doesn't give when it starts or when it necessarily ends.

But throughout scripture, we get an idea that the moment you've set your heart towards the gospel, and I've said yes, the moment you have set your face towards heaven is a moment that you've been brought into the ring. And the only way that you and I will escape this kind of warfare is when Jesus Christ, the captain of our souls, will call us home. It's a daily battle. It's a daily wrestling. It's a daily struggle.

It's a daily grapple, and it goes on throughout the rest of your life, throughout the rest of your doings on a day to day basis. You have stepped into the ring, and there's no way out. So what's the purpose of this? What's the purpose of this war? I know I'm in it, and maybe if it was up to me, I I don't wanna be a part of it, but I guess I am because I'm in Christ.

Why does Satan and all this list of hierarchy of devilish demons and all these different characters, why are they against us as believers? I mean, we just read about husbands and fathers and and servants and employees and children. This is the target that he is after. But why? What can he gain out of it?

If If you have any foundational understanding of the scriptures, you know in John ten twenty nine that Jesus himself said that not one will be able to snatch them out of my hand concerning his sheep. Not one. All of hell can blast against you, but his hand will keep you. We know in Romans eight thirty eight, 39, for I consider what? That neither death nor life, nor angels, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else.

And all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. So we can't change your status. So why all his effort? Why all his energy? Why all his focus on believers that are so secure in the love and power of God?

This is the purpose of his warfare. This is the purpose of him trying to get a hold of your neck, young brother. This is the purpose of you, young sister, where he wants to trip up and pin you and keep you down. This is the one reason, To bring you as a representative of Christ into a state of lasting ineffectiveness by challenging your confidence, your character, and your calling in Christ. The only thing that the enemy can do to you is make you the most ineffective Christian possible while you still have breath in your lungs.

That's the nature and purpose of his warfare. And by this, this hope that he has in doing so is an attempt to rob God of his glory like Job. Remember Job? He says take this stuff away from him and watch him curse you to his face. Watch him curse you to your face when you take all these things, these blessings.

Touch his body and watch he'll curse you to your face. His his his desire to bring you to a place of disobedience and rebellion against God as a child of God is motivated to rob God of his glory. Look at your child. Look how look how he walks stumbling around. Look how he walks.

Are you sure he's not gone rogue? Look how he's attacking and and shooting his own troops. He loves to come before God and point at his own children and say, look at them. By this warfare, this wrestling, he has another hope. He has another desire.

It is to decrease the chance of the unbelievers in your circles to get any warmth of light radiating from your life of holiness. By bringing you into a state of ineffectiveness, by bringing you into a place in which you walk in contrary obedience to this word, he would hope that your light would so diminish that those around you would not be able to even get a hint of light from you. By this, he hopes that your life will not have any any interference to his purposes of keeping those who are on their way to hell sealed in that state of eternal damnation. And for those people who do not believe that there is a daily warfare, for those who do not understand or are aware of it, I have to say this with all love, the enemy has already won in your life. For those who are not watchful, for those who are not walking with a constant understanding that I am a threat to Satan, that he wants to render me ineffective, you have come to a place in which you probably pinned down.

You don't you might not feel it. You might not see it, but you've not become the threat that Christ wants you to become. And perhaps you feel the weight of this responsibility. Perhaps you have come to a place in which you feel like that's what my life is about. That is a tremendous weight to carry.

As I hear these things, I realize, okay. I know what my duty is. I know what my mission is. Or perhaps even now you feel guilt or shame because you know that in your past, you have given even the enemy a sliver of opportunity to have that advantage over your life. Or perhaps even now, there is a fear that is crippling you because you are looking down the quarters of your days and you know your own track record and you feel within yourself, surely I'm going to fall again and bring reproach to my master.

But before Paul even describes the details of this warfare or how Satan works or how you ought to walk in defense of his attacks, he wants to lay down a foundational truth concerning this understanding of spiritual warfare. And it's found in verse 10. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. In other words, your defense, your offense, your ability to be effective as a soldier, and to be consistent as a Christian by any means is not dependent upon your own strength. What a way to start a series on spiritual warfare.

You can't do it, but somebody else can through you. He lays it out right here. What does it mean to be strong in the Lord? That as you set yourself up to walk out the Word of God and the commands as a good soldier in Christ, when you walk through this world and realize that there are spiritual landmines and there is a fear of the unknown, that there are surprise attacks from the hills, and as you push through the thickets of temptation, you and I must hold on to two foundational truths found within this one single verse. Number one, realize that God is the supply of your strength.

You and I must realize it. He says here that you can receive strength and you can become strong, and that is not something that you can conjure up on your own. That is not something that you can work up. What does Paul the Apostle mean by strength in this verse? What is the right definition of this strength?

Are we talking about energy for the body? Are we talking about a stimulation to the mental capacity being able to analyze things? What is the strength that Paul has in mind here? Well, pay attention. Strength here in this verse is the divine assistance granted by God into the inner man to help him walk out as a consistent, victorious believer.

Divine assistance, divine enablement sourced by God surged into the inner man of the Christian. This is what we're talking about strength here. What this means is that for every temptation, for every satanic scheme planned against you, for every surprise trial or tribulation, God Almighty has the supply of strength for you to be able to overcome it and not let it overcome you. For everything and anything. He has the supernatural strength to be able to give you what you need to overcome whatever Satan puts before you and not let it overcome you.

It is the supernatural power granted by the Lord, listen to this, to push and to protect you through anything. To push and to protect you through anything, only to come out of it with a testimony, to declare the glory and the goodness and the power of God through your life. So bring on the test. Bring on the trial. Bring on the tribulation.

My God is for me. My God has the supply of strength to take all those teas and to turn it into a testimony to the glory of His name. That's what we're talking about strength here. This is not something to just make you feel good. This is not something to just give you some false confidence or something to quote over yourself.

This is something supernatural that is imparted by God. Paul's not giving a pep talk here. Paul is saying there is an armory for you. There is a number that you can call. There is a general that doesn't just give you commands.

He is in the battlefield with you. The scriptures present plenty of examples, plenty of examples of how God Almighty in the midst of warfare is the lifter of our heads, is the lifter of our heads. Can you think about Ziklag with me in first Samuel 30? When David and his troops come back to their hometown, and you can imagine that as they're coming back, they can smell smoke, and in the horizon, they can see fire, and they can see blackness filling up the air, looking at one another realizing what just happened. Just like the nature of spiritual warfare, how things can come by surprise.

And as they walk into their neighborhoods, they realize that their homes have been destroyed. They realize that their wives and their children have been kidnapped. And let's now zoom in on to David as David is there with his men weeping as they said, almost to the point where they have no more strength to weep. His own boys now are talking to one another and saying, why don't we just stone the guy? Why don't we just get rid of them?

It's because of him that our families are God. It's because of him that our possessions are destroyed. And so now here's David. Put yourself in his shoes for a moment. Your house is gone.

Your kids are gone. Your wife is gone. You have no idea what just happened. You have no idea where it came from. Now you have weeping.

You have confusion. You have frustration, and you have threats over your life. And look what the Bible says about David who is just as weak, just as vulnerable as all these other men that were walking with him. Verse six of first Samuel 30. And David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his own sons and daughters.

But David, this is the turning point, but David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. Talk about chaos. Talk about confusion. Talk about something that takes you by surprise. And this was the reflex of the man of God.

I'm going to strengthen myself in him. I don't have strength within myself. Guess what? I can't even find the strength within those that I've committed my life to to serve God with. Because there comes to a point where warfare can get so intense that you can't even make that phone call, where you can't even go see your pastor, where you can't even send that text, where somebody's busy and now you're left by yourself.

You are face to face with Satan, and you gotta make a decision. How are you gonna strengthen yourself? And David knew what to do. He strengthened himself in God. This was the endurance factor for this man.

God's supply of strength will never fail to meet your need no matter how intense the situation is before you. Now what did Paul say? You don't have to turn there, but let me read it. In Philippians four twelve, I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound in any and every circumstance. I love that.

In any and every circumstance. Fill in the blank, brothers and sisters. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. I can do all things concerning the circumstances that I face, whether poverty or riches, whether hunger or feasting.

I I've learned this secret that there is a source of strength that cannot just pull me through these things, but that can make me content. Because don't forget, Paul wrote this in a stinking prison to Christians outside of one and said on more than one occasion, Rejoice in the Lord, I say to you rejoice. I want that. I don't want that on my coffee cup. I want that branded on my soul.

I don't want that in a nice picture frame. I want that as I walk through hell or high water. And if it's available for David, it's available for Paul. If it's available for all these men that even in about read first and first and second Kings, first and second Chronicles really carefully, and you'll find that some men had enough sense that when there was a million man army like Asa was in front of Ethiopians coming his way, he learned his son in Chronicles 15 to cry to the Lord, and the Lord intervened. In second Chronicles 18, Jehoshaphat, when the Syrians were coming to corner him in and take him out, it says he cried and the Lord helped him and drew away all his enemies.

You and I must know how to, as a reflex in warfare, cry out to God and realize that I can't even take a step forward, and I can't even stand firm apart from his assistance in my inner man. And if you truly understood this, if you truly understood what's available to you and me, where's the room for fear? Where's the room for fear? In fact, confidence and joy should be the posture of our hearts, whether everything is going smooth, whether or not Satan comes with all his power. You don't serve a general that gives you commands and does not come with you in the trenches.

Let me give you a quote by William Gurnell. The strength of an earthly general lies in his troops. He flies upon their wings. If their feathers get clipped or their necks broken, he is helpless. But in the army of the saints, the strength of the whole host lies in the lord of hosts.

An earthly general is dependent upon his troops, but in the army of the saints, the troops are dependent upon their general. Also, warfare is really real. Yes. It can happen to a local church. Yes.

It can happen to a family. But just like God delights to have his saints alone to commune with them, Satan himself loves to attack the saint who is alone. That's what Gurnell said as well. We know this. Have I not commanded you?

Be strong and courageous. Does that sound familiar? Doesn't Paul sound like he's echoing Joshua? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Why would Joshua be afraid? Because he was gonna take this the leadership position that Moses had. And I'm sure that Joshua as an assistant saw what Moses had to go through. All the betrayal, all the enemies that to come in, and he had to think on his feet, and he had to depend on God. All the situations that required for him to be totally dependent upon the grace of his Lord.

And God comes in in Joshua chapter one, he says, don't be afraid. Do you know how many people today are afraid to move forward in ministry because they are terrified with the full knowledge that their family will have a target on their backs as a result of that man's obedience. Many people are afraid to walk in full time ministry because of that. They've seen what's happened to pastor's kids. They've seen what happened to missionary kids, and they naturally think to themselves, oh, man.

If I go into this, perhaps the enemy will scope out my own. I don't know if I can move forward. Do not be frightened. The Lord your God is with you. Do you want any people, Christians, soldiers, lack joy, lack praise, lack a song in their mouth because they continually look back at their track record again and realize their cycle of falling into temptation?

Whatever Satan brings before them on a silver platter, they'll eat it up. And they can't feel like they can grow in God because, again, they know that just a matter of time, two weeks or two months, I know the devil's gonna come in one way or another, and I'm gonna fall again. I'm just gonna live in this continuous loop. And this is the evidence of a person who fails to look upon God and thinks that the strength relies upon themselves. The supply of strength is not from you.

God did not promise you a life free from warfare. He did promise you the power to endure it. Turn your bibles with me to two Corinthians chapter one, eight and nine. Second Corinthians chapter one eight and nine. This is Paul writing to the Corinthian church, and he says, For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experience in Asia.

Now listen to this affliction that he experienced. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Nobody knows the affliction that Paul went through in Asia, but whatever it was, it was so intense that it sucked out every ounce of strength from his being to the point where he was only left with two options in this circumstance. Either I'm going to escape this through death, or I'm going to escape this by God's deliverance. Have you ever come to that place in your Christian walk?

Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death, verse nine, but that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. This man knew the secret. I've come face to face. I've come to the brink. I've come to the edge where I feel like if I was pushed one more inch, I would enter into glory because of this affliction.

But what this affliction taught me is that I have nothing within myself to go through it. And I love really how it doesn't know we don't know what it is because you can fill in whatever affliction you want. And no matter what the intensity is, the same principle lies true for all of them. But I've relied on God, and he's pulled me through. He's pulled me through.

And And look at the result of this. Look at verse 11. You also must help us by what? Prayer. So that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted to us through the prayers of many.

So he calls on other troops and he says, would you pray? Would you intercede? Because I believe that as you call upon God and as we call upon God, what's gonna happen? Our warfare will end up turning into our worship. That as God does deliver us continually, what you and I will experience as a result of it because of the intervening power of God is that our warfare will make us now worship and give thanks to God.

What a wonderful reality when you face adversity and affliction from the enemy himself. That God can pull you through and not just pull you through, but put a song in your mouth as a result of it. That's the first truth, that God, God is the supply of your strength. Stop looking to yourself. Look to Him.

Number two, realize not just that God is the supply of your strength, but realize that the strength given by God is not an automatic thing. You go back to Ephesians six ten, and what does he say? He says, be strong in the Lord and the strength of His might. He didn't say God will be strong in you. He says, be strong.

This is not a promise as much as it is a command. You have to choose to be strong in the Lord. You have to choose to receive the strength of His might. So it's available. So the supernatural enablement to endure anything that Satan brings before me is available, but it is not automatic.

So what is it that I have to do as a believer in order to open myself up to call headquarters and to receive that deposit? It's in the same book. It's in the very same book in Ephesians chapter three verse 14. For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father from whom every family in heaven on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being. The difference between a weak soldier and a strong soldier is the level of faith and practice that they give to this thing called bowing your knees before the father.

Prayer will not necessarily dismiss the pain, but will give you the power to overcome it. Prayer is the posture to receive what God wants to give you. And this story is an example of it, though I would not say that this is necessarily spiritual warfare. The situation that this man encountered on more than one occasion is definitely something that the enemy would love to take advantage of, to play with his mind, and you would agree as I explain it. Joseph Scriven, a young man from Ireland, graduated from his university in the eighteen forties.

This man had a bright future. This man had so much to give to society and to give to God because he was a believer. And as he was anticipating the days to come, especially his childhood love that he was going to marry, he was so excited, so excited that he had to meet with his wife to be the day before the wedding. And as they came to the place to meet, his wife to be was ahead of him, and she was on the other side of a river. And as she was galloping there and Joseph not being on the scene yet, the horse suddenly startled and launched this young lady into a river where she hit her head, became unconscious, and drowned.

And here comes the bridegroom to be to the scene where he was gonna meet with his lifelong love, and instead he's pulling out her dead body from a river. And to overcome his grief, to overcome the pain that he was experiencing, he sought God and he felt led to move to Canada. And so this man found himself in Port Hope and dedicated his years dedicated his years to be the closest reflection of Jesus Christ as possible, and so he gave his service to many without pay. He gave even his own clothes away. He tutored those that needed help.

He visited the sick, and he built himself up a reputation. And there came a time where he met another young lady named Eliza Roche. Weeks before this young lady and this young man decided to get married, tragedy struck again. And this 23 year old wife to be was stricken with pneumonia, and she died again. Again, twice.

Twice this man was supposed to be married, and twice did affliction afflict his own soul. After many years, he was ill himself and he was laying in his bed. A friend came to visit and found a poem on the side of the room. He asked Joseph who wrote this poem as he read it to himself in silence, and the man replied, it was I and the Lord who wrote it together. And in an attempt to comfort his mom back in Ireland, he wrote these things.

What a friend we have in Jesus. All our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry. Everything to God in prayer. Oh what peace we often forfeit.

Oh what needless pain we bear all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. We just sang it this morning. What affliction has hit your soul? This man had a revelation. This man had an understanding that I have a friend who is more than willing to gladly, in fact, bear my pain, bear my sorrow, share in my affliction, share in my questions even.

Paul says, I bow my knees to the Father because I know that the channel in receiving the strength comes from a place of humility and dependency upon him, and I encourage you believers to do the same. That you would know the reflex of warfare on a foundational level is being able to know how to bring everything that would come against your mind, your body, your soul, your strength, your devotion would be, God, I need you. Sustain me through this. Now let me make a couple points here before we close. That as you call upon the Lord to deliver this package of strength, do not expect a similar package every single time.

What do I mean by that? As you seek God for strength, God will allow it to manifest differently every single time, but he will know what to give you. He will know what to prescribe you in order for you to overcome whatever you're facing. And so as I seek God for strength in a specific trial or temptation, as I seek Him in a moment in which I really do not see myself even moving forward another day, it could come in a package of joy. A joy that does not make sense.

A joy that makes the world wonder why is it that you can have a smile on your face when all this is going through your life. Maybe not a joy, maybe a sense of peace, an overwhelming tranquility to your soul in which you can move forward without even a dart of anxiety penetrating your mind. Or maybe it even comes in the package of wisdom in which you know how to navigate through the situation. Satan loves to confuse. He loves to trifle.

He loves to mess up plans, especially if they are targeted for the glory of God. And as you seek God for strength, perhaps it comes in a form of wisdom that as a result of that wisdom brings you that peace and joy. Oh, God is the master of supplying strength. So do not, as you seek the Lord, as you bow your knees before the Father, do not anticipate a certain sensation because God might supply it differently. Oh, this is vital as well.

This is vital as well that the package might be different, but the timing as well might not be according to our clock either. They who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. Waiting. So do not, brothers and sisters, assume that as you take up your arms, you bear that uniform, and you carry that badge, that as Satan comes and threatens you or startles you, that you seek the Lord and cry out to him and immediately there's gonna be the supernatural divine deposit of strength. Why?

Why? I wish I knew why and I wish that it did come every single time. But again, God in his wisdom not only knows how to package his strength, he knows when to deliver it. But you just said that I can receive it, and I can endure it. Oh, he knows when to bring it to your front door.

Believe me. Believe me. Because there's something about that warfare, there's something about that season that you experienced that's gonna make you into something that apart from that battle will not make you into that thing. There's a testimony in your warfare that God wants to bring about for himself. He desires to create a monument, a pillar of testimony for all time concerning what you go through, perhaps even a hymn that we are singing hundreds of years after it was written.

What would the story of the Red Sea be if God had destroyed the chariots of Pharaoh before they came to that place? What would have Lazarus' testimony be if Jesus came a few days earlier and healed them on his sick bed instead of calling him out of the tomb? God knows when precisely. It's calculated. He is not pacing back and forth on the marbles of heaven wondering how he's gonna be able to deliver you out of the situation.

He knows when to bring it, when to call in reinforcement. He knows exactly what he's doing. And let me give you a modern example of this. I realized I had just spoken to somebody who is has a small ministry, small bible study, and they've been dealing with somebody that's coming in is is a is really a heretic. And second Timothy two tells us that those who are opposed to the gospel and preach a different Christ or twist the scriptures, it says that they are held, captured by Satan to do his will.

And that the man of God ought to be gentle and he ought to be respectful, perhaps God would lead that man to repentance. And so we have to understand that even false teachers, they are a form of spiritual warfare. Of course, they are. And this group is dealing with that. They've been dealing with it for a long time.

And as I was talking with the person in charge of it, he he had voiced how this person is not leaving. He's causing frustration. He's always interrupting and bringing in his own ideas, and it's really becoming a strain on them. To contextualize it, imagine somebody comes here every Friday in bible study and every single time they're lifting up their hand, they're saying things that are not even true about the bible and they're trying to argue it to be true. And we're all sitting here just wanting to get with the truth of God.

We wanna realize what God has to do as we want the purity of doctrine, and there's somebody in there always trying to frustrate that. I thought to myself, this is warfare. This is warfare, and we both acknowledge that. But then this individual said something that really amazed me in light of this truth of how God sometimes delays in granting his strength. He says, you know what?

I said, what? As frustrating as it's been, as difficult as it's been, I've realized that God has allowed this person to come because it literally drove me to the word of God in a way that I've never been in a long time. And it forced me to study the truths of God's Word. It forced me to understand doctrine. It forced me to build up a defense system to know that when people come with different ideas of who Christ is and what He has done and what He will do, I know what to say now.

But what if God had gotten rid of him right away? And so even the package of deliverance may come differently, yes, but it may come at a different time as well. And you have to trust that as you, yes, call upon the Lord for that supernatural enablement to endure whatever you're enduring, that he will bring it at the right time. He will bring it at the right time. And so I conclude with Psalms 3four 19.

Many, not few. I think some of us would wish few. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. And you might be sitting there, and rightfully so, thinking to yourself, I understand that. I really do understand that.

Prayer seems to be the answer for everything. Oh yes, prayer is the answer for a lot. But what what is warfare exactly? I mean, how does it manifest? How how can I decipher what warfare looks like and how it's maybe from the enemy or somebody else or from the flesh?

What are the schemes of Satan? Great question. Not for today, though. And I understand that prayer is a is a way of enduring, but I'm reading on and I see that there are these pieces of armor that I'm supposed to wear. So so what are those things mean?

Is prayer the answer for everything? Is that all I need to do? Prayer? Oh, no. No.

No. Prayer is not the only thing. Prayer is the foundational thing. Prayer is the foundational thing. And so my fellow troops, army of saints, people of God, You and I can be encouraged that as we begin our series in spiritual warfare, that we have to lay the basics down, and Paul does it too.

Just like how Joshua was encouraged by God by hearing those words, be strong and courageous, for I am with you wherever you go, Paul wants to let believers know, Listen, before we get too deep into this, know this, that God is with you. God is for you. God will supply everything you need to be able to endure. You can be a victorious soldier. Not only that, you can live a life.

You can live a life, and I pray that this is your prayer in life, that you would do as much damage to the kingdom of darkness as possible while you still have breath in your lungs. Let's pray. And we can sing what a friend we have in Jesus again, and we'll sing it because we know that the captain of our salvation is also a fellow in the war with us. He is a friend with us. He is a brother to us.

He has so many things. How can we be defeated? He has so many things. What is there to fear? Father, this morning, we do not choose to be unaware of the warfare at hand.

But, Lord, together as a separate tribe, we choose to be as a church soldiers, good soldiers. But Lord, we also choose to be completely dependent upon your grace and strength. And so Lord, we do not fear. We do not fear an advancement in ministry because Satan will lay up greater things and weapons and plans against it. We will not fear.

Nor will we fear an idea and the possibility of consistency in our Christian character even though our past has shown us a different picture because our strength is in you. And, Lord, give us the revelation that in the midst of anything, whether there's a milliman army from Ethiopia or there's an affliction that cannot be described in Asia, whether we're in a prison or a palace, it does not matter. All these men had one revelation. As I cry out to him, he will deliver me. Help us really believe the simplicity of that truth.

And, Lord, as we sing to you, may it be an anthem of victory from every heart that believes that they can be victorious in Christ. We pray these things in Jesus' name.