The Real Battlefield

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” EPHESIANS 6:12

 

PONDER THIS

Kingdom authority must be strongly enforced. Satan is not going to roll over and play dead. You’re going to have to come against him in the power of the Holy Spirit. Our battle today is not with Washington, not with the White House. Our battle today is not with Hollywood. We need to learn this. Do you know why we’re not winning? We’re not showing up for the battle. We’re fighting the wrong people and the wrong things.

Simon Peter came to rebuke Jesus, saying, “You’re not going to go to the cross. ‘Be it far from You, Lord.’” Jesus Christ said to Simon Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan.” Now was Jesus calling Peter, Satan? Of course not, because Peter was not Satan. Jesus was looking right through Peter to the real enemy—Satan. Jesus was not fighting flesh and blood. He knew who the real enemy was, and that’s what you and I must understand. We’re in spiritual warfare. Let’s trust the Word of God and face the spiritual battle with all God has equipped us with through the Holy Spirit.

What are some battles you forget are spiritual?

What is the difference between handling a problem spiritually and trying to fix it based on your own control?

PRACTICE THIS

Pray for the spiritual battles in the world around you. Ask God to open your eyes for how to pray for these things.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Stay Spiritually Ready for Temptation

“Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.” LUKE 4:1-2

 

PONDER THIS

Temptation can come from any place. Jesus is the last Adam. Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, and Jesus overcame. Adam was tempted in the garden, and Adam fell.

Satan doesn’t care whether he comes to you in a garden or in the wilderness. Don’t get the idea that somehow you can isolate and insulate yourself from temptation.

Sometimes people go all the way to a monastery to fast and pray and get off in some hole in the rock, but they find out there’s no holiness in the hole. You cannot escape temptation by location. Temptation may come to any person—it came to Jesus. It may come in any period—it came after His baptism, and He was filled with the Holy Spirit. It may come in any place, whether it be in a garden or whether it be in a wilderness. We need to be forewarned; temptation can come at any point. We have to live with spiritual readiness!

What does it look like to be spiritually ready for temptation?

When have you felt unprepared to face temptation? What did you do?

PRACTICE THIS

Ask God to equip you to be prepared to face temptation and trials.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Make War with Unbelief

In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. (Ephesians 6:16–17)

When I am anxious about getting old, I battle unbelief with the promise, “Even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save” (Isaiah 46:4).

When I am anxious about dying, I battle unbelief with the promise that “none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living” (Romans 14:7–9).

When I am anxious that I may make shipwreck of faith and fall away from God, I battle unbelief with the promises, “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6); and, “He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).

Join me in this battle! Let us make war, not with other people, but with our own unbelief. Unbelief in the promises of God is the root of anxiety, which, in turn, is the root of so many other sins. The sword of the Spirit is the word of God, Paul said in Ephesians 6:17. The shield by which we quench Satan’s fiery deceits is faith (verse 16) — faith in that very word of God. So take up the shield in your left hand and the sword in your right hand, and let us fight the good fight of faith.

Take up the Bible, ask the Holy Spirit for help, lay the promises up in your heart, and fight the good fight — to live by faith in future grace.

John Piper 

How to Defy Sinful Desire

By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. (Hebrews 11:24–26)

Or, boil it down to the essentials: “By faith Moses . . . [left] the fleeting pleasures of sin . . . for he was looking to the reward” (Hebrews 11:24–26).

Faith is not content with “fleeting pleasures.” It is ravenous for joy. Joy that lasts. Forever. And the word of God says, “In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11). So, faith will not be sidetracked into the deceitful pleasures of sin. It will not give up so easily in its quest for maximum joy.

The role of God’s word is to feed faith’s appetite for God. And, in doing this, it weans my heart off of the deceptive taste of lust.

At first, lust begins to trick me into feeling that I would really miss out on some great satisfaction if I followed the path of purity. But then I take up the sword of the Spirit and begin to fight.

I read that it is better to gouge out my eye than to lust (Matthew 5:29).

I read that if I think about things that are pure and lovely and excellent, the peace of God will be with me (Philippians 4:8–9).

I read that setting the mind on the flesh brings death, but setting the mind on the Spirit brings life and peace (Romans 8:6).

I read that lust wages war against my soul (1 Peter 2:11), and that the pleasures of this life choke out the life of the Spirit (Luke 8:14).

But best of all, I read that God withholds no good thing from those who walk uprightly (Psalm 84:11), and that the pure in heart will see God (Matthew 5:8).

As I pray for my faith to be satisfied with God’s life and peace, the sword of the Spirit carves the sugarcoating off the poison of lust. I see it for what it is. And by the grace of God, its alluring power is broken.

John Piper 

Are You Carrying a Sword?

BIBLE MEDITATION:

“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword…”... 

(Hebrews 4:12)

 DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT:

The Word of God is all-powerful. Satan fears the Word of God. He knows its overcoming power. Jesus defeated him by that Word. We must learn to use it against the devil and his minions.

It’s an offensive weapon. Like any weapon—especially spiritual ones—you have to be trained to use it. Many of us study the Bible, but it’s not enough just to study it, we must learn to employ it. The Word of God is a sword, and it is meant to be used. But you must be in His Word, studying it, to know how to implement it.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, tempted by Satan in the wilderness, took the Word of God—that sharp two-edged sword—and time after time plunged it through Satan. Jesus said, “It is written…. It is written…. It is written….” For that, Satan had no comeback. We can rely on the Word of God. We must!

ACTION POINT:

When God speaks, everything else is irrelevant. Sharpen your Sword today by reading the Scripture. Spend time in His Word. Meditate on it. Stay in the Word daily. Memorize the Word. Begin today. If you only memorize one verse per week, by this time next year you’ll have committed to memory 52 verses! How many will you have memorized if you don’t? “Your Word I have hidden in my heart…” (Psalm 119:11)

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers