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I'm going to start in verse 10 of Ephesians chapter 6. This is a heavy topic. It has to do with spiritual warfare. Those of you who are not familiar with the subject, I'll explain those of you who are already familiar with the subject, because you have. You're kind of battle weary. Hang in there because we're going to pray together at the end. But that's what this topic is about today. This is Ephesians chapter six. We're going to close out the book of Ephesians today and look at this last chapter, starting at verse 10. Paul writes, finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand. Underline that to stand against the wiles of the devil. Some translations say schemes. He's always strategizing everybody. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day. And having done all to stand, stand. Therefore, having girded your waist with truth, I, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end, with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. Now, let me just pause here to say that those are the verses we're going to be unpacking today. But I did want to read the last few verses just so we can see how Paul signs off this whole letter. So keep reading with me. Verse 19. And for me. He means, and pray for me that utterance may be given to me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the Gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Remember, when he writes Ephesians, he's writing from a prison in Rome. That's why he says that. That in it I may speak boldly as I ought to speak, but that you also may know my affairs and how I am doing. Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will make all things known to you whom I have sent to you for this very Purpose that you may know our affairs and that he may comfort your hearts. Peace to the brethren and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen. I've entitled today's teaching. Stand your ground against the enemy. Stand your ground against the enemy. Let's pause and pray. Father God, we just come before you today and thankful for your word and for this encouragement and exhortation that Paul writes to us to help us to understand that not only are we in a spiritual battle, but how to fight that spiritual battle. So we pray God that you would use this passage to strengthen our own hearts. And I especially think of those who are battle weary. They're here today, they've been through a lot. Lord, the enemy has thrown their way. And we just pray for your encouragement, for your strength and for you to use your word to speak to our hearts today. And we ask these things in Jesus name. And everybody said, amen. Well, if you've been with us here through our study of Ephesians, you might notice that in the book of Ephesians, Paul actually uses the analogy of various physical postures in order to explain to us the Christian life. What do I mean? Well, in the first three chapters, Paul talks about how we are seated in Christ. In Ephesians 1:20, he tells us that God raised Jesus from the dead and then seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places. Then in the next chapter in Ephesians 2:6, Paul says, and God raised us up together and and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And what he means by that is simply that our citizenship is not here on earth. We're only passing through. If you're a believer in Jesus, our ultimate home is heaven. And that God has given us a new identity in Christ when we trust him as our Lord and Savior. So Paul writes there in the first three chapters about our position in Christ and that God has seated us in Christ. He's given us a new identity and a new position in Christ. That's the first three chapters. We are seated in Christ. Then in chapters four and five, Paul talks about our walk, how we are to walk. He says in chapter four, verse one, I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called. And he uses that word walk many times in chapters four and five. We talked about this a few weeks ago, how he tells us to walk worthy of the calling. He tells us to walk differently than the world. He tells us to walk in love, to walk in the light, and to walk in wisdom. So first three chapters, we are seated. The chapters four and five, we are to walk. And then we come here to this last chapter, chapter six. And he tells us how to stand. He tells us how to stand. Look again in your Bibles here at chapter 6, verse 10 and 11. He says, finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. That's why I asked you to underline the word stand. He not only writes it there, he repeats it two more times in verses 13 and 14, verse 13, he says, therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day. And having done, all do to stand. And then chapter 14, rather verse 14, he says, stand, therefore. And so there's this emphasis here on different postures, figuratively speaking, in order for us to understand how to live out the Christian life. So basically, to summarize the book of Ephesians, it's like this. We are seated in Christ. We are to walk worthy of Christ, and we are to stand in the power of Christ. And why this last one? That's the topic of our study today. Why do we have to stand in the power of Christ? And the answer that he gives us here is, because whether you like it or not, whether you know it or not, whether you believe it or not, we are all in a battle. And we must all stand our ground and fight against the spiritual forces, forces of evil that are opposed to us. Now, look, this battle is unseen, but this battle is real. It is unseen because it is a spiritual battle. And if you are not aware of it, you will fall victim to this battle. You just will. Now, I read a study that was done about five years ago, so it's not. It's not too old. But in 2020, a study was done by the Cultural Research center and Dr. George Barna, and he asked a cross section of Americans whether they believed in Satan. Because we're to understand a spiritual battle, we have to know our enemy, right? And so he asked a cross section of Americans. I was actually surprised. It was a slim majority, but a majority of Americans, 56%, agreed that Satan is not merely a symbol of evil, but is a real spiritual being and influences human lives. And so that is true. A slim majority of Americans believe that. But my question is, how many of that 56% who do believe that actually understand how to fight the battle, probably far fewer. And then I began to think about the ones, the 44% who does not believe that Satan is a real being who influences human affairs. I thought about that 44% and thought they're most vulnerable because they don't even think that Satan is real. Now, when we talk about a spiritual battle and when we talk about spiritual warfare, let's work on a few definitions first so we're all on the same page. If you're taking notes. The first thing to understand is this spiritual warfare has to do with the unseen spiritual forces of evil, led by Satan, the devil, that are at work in the world today. To. And then I just made a short list to give examples to tempt us, to lie to us, to deceive us, to discourage us, to confuse us, and even to harm us. When you look in the Bible, you can see how Satan is referred to in different ways. Peter, for example, in his letter 1 Peter 5. 8, he calls Satan a roaring lion. And he tells us in that verse 1 Peter 5:8 to be sober, to be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. So Peter calls him a roaring lion. Paul, in First Thessalonians 3, 5, he calls Satan the tempter. John, when he writes revelation in Revelation 12, 9, he calls Satan a dragon, a serpent hearkening back to the garden of Eden and one who deceives the whole world. And Jesus in John 8. 44, he calls Satan a murderer, a liar, and the father of lies. So you put all that together, and that's not all that the Bible describes Satan as. But if you put all that together, he's like a lion. He's. He's a liar, he's a tempter, he's a murderer, he's a dragon, he's a serpent, and he's one who deceives the whole world. You had better believe that he does not have your best interest at heart. He's after you. Satan and his demonic forces are after you. Now look, if you, if you were content to live in the ways of the world, and you're just, you know, having a good old time, doing what you want to do, and you're not really living for the Lord. Guess what? Satan's probably going to leave you alone. You're on the same team. The ones who are really in the crosshairs are believers who love the Lord and live for the Lord. And why is it that he comes after us the most? Well, because Christians are going to make the biggest dent in the kingdom of darkness. Whenever we advance Jesus and we talk about Jesus, we want as many people as possible to experience what we have experienced by being delivered from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the Son whom he loves, to come out of the darkness into the light. When you start leading people to Jesus, sharing Jesus with people, and then they get saved, Satan hates that. So of course Christians are the biggest threat to the kingdom of darkness. And on top of that, why else will he come after us? Simply put, because he hates your father, he hates your father in heaven. And so he's going to do all he can to discourage, to tempt, to confuse, to bring chaos into your life, into your marriage, into your family, into everything about us as Christians, because he's targeting us and he is relentless. That's why it's important we understand how real this battle is. Satan wants to destroy your marriage. He wants to destroy your family. He wants to destroy your faith. Yes, he even wants to destroy every church that is teaching the Bible. And I cringe to think how many lives Satan has ruined because he was working behind the scenes, the scenes to bring strife and division and mistrust and lies and sin into a situation that's his M.O. also, if you're taking notes, number two, spiritual forces of evil originated when Satan led a rebellion in heaven against God. And a third of the angels joined Satan in his attempted coup. And God cast them out of heaven to the earth. This is what the Bible teaches. I'll read from Revelation 12, 7, 9, it says, and war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old called the devil. And Satan, who deceives the whole world, he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. So this is what the Bible tells us, that at one point in the time past that Satan, who was originally created as one of the elite angels of heaven, probably when you look at the description in Ezekiel and Isaiah, he's probably the archangel of heaven. Pride fills his heart. He wants to be elevated to where God is. He considers himself equal with God, and so pride fills his heart. It's the first recorded sin in the whole Bible. Satan becomes proud, leads a rebellion, convinces a third of the other angels in heaven, however many that represents. We don't know because we don't know the number of all the Angels. But he manages to persuade a third of them to join his rebellion against the Lord. He leads this attempted coup, and God expels him from heaven to the earth. So this is his playground, and we are all in the same sandbox. So he's coming after us because if he was unsuccessful in heaven, then he wants to wreck God's prized possession on earth. What is God's prized possession? It's humanity. When you look at the days of creation, after each day God said, and it was good, and it was good, and it was good. But on the sixth day, when God created man, he said it was very good. And mankind is elevated above the plant kingdom, the animal kingdom, and humanity has a special place in the heart of God. So of course Satan is gonna go after what God prizes the most, and that's you and me. Isaiah tells us also how he was kicked out of heaven. Isaiah 14:12 says, how you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning, how you were cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations. And remember Jesus said in Luke 10:18, he said, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Because of course, Jesus was there. And he saw when Satan was expelled from heaven. So when Satan and his army of angels rebelled and were cast to the earth, they now roam the earth, but they are unseen to us because it's in the spirit realm. And don't let this sound all mystical. This is just the reality we live in, the reality of our material world. We can see, we can feel, we can touch. It's easy for some people to dismiss the unseen realm because they can't see it, they can't feel it, they can't touch it. But. But it is present. It is all around us. And when those angels rebelled with Satan and were kicked out of heaven to the earth, those fallen angels are now known as demons. And Ephesians 6, right here in our chapter. Look at verse 12, when it refers to the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. That's talking about demons. It's talking about Satan and his demons. And there are no doubt demons right here, right now. Now, don't look down the row, okay? Look right here, right here. They're in the unseen realm, everybody. But they're here. No doubt they are here. But here's also the good news. No doubt angels are here too. They're also in the unseen realm, but they're here also. Hebrews 1, verse 14 says, Angels are ministering spirits sent forth to. To minister to those who will inherit salvation. So God dispatches his angels on our behalf, too. Praise God for that. Now, we don't worship angels, but we're thankful that they are actively at work on our behalf and they're here also. And I'm convinced that there's probably some battle even now we cannot see in the heavenly realms between angels and demons in this place right now. Because the demons want to confuse you, lie to you, and convince you. Don't listen to this guy. This stuff isn't even real. I'm just telling you that's the way it's happening right now. We can't even see it. But this is what the Bible teaches. Number three. Spiritual forces of evil work from the outside on believers, but can work from the inside on unbelievers. A Christian cannot be demon possessed by, but can be demon oppressed. Now, look, I think this is an important distinction. It is very tragic, but it is true that some people today can still be possessed by demons. Like you read in the Bible. This is not just some Hollywood fictitious stuff. Demons can still come into an unbeliever who does not have the Lord within them and take over their bodies. You know, fortunately, I only have a couple of stories I've had to deal with in ministry. You know, I don't even like talking about it because I don't want to really give any kind of extra press to the demonic forces. But it can still happen, and it does. But for believers, when you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior and the Holy Spirit comes into your life, fills your spirit within. The Holy Spirit does not just take up residency and share the space with demons. Like. Like a Holy Spirit is just gonna be like, well, I'll just be a roommate. You know, whatever else you got going on in there, I'll just cozy up next to the demons. That's not the way it works. You confess Christ as your Lord and Savior. You can't do that, except that the Spirit enables you, and then the Spirit of God comes within you. And remember, first John 4:4, then the Bible says, greater is he that is in you, the Lord, than he that is in the world, the devil. So it makes a distinction between where he is, where demonic principalities are, and for the believer, the Holy Spirit is within. So there are different people who will debate all this kind of stuff and say, no, no, Christians can still be possessed. And I just don't see that in the Bible. And so I don't teach that. It seems clear to me that once you have the Holy Spirit, it's not. The Holy Spirit is not coexisting with demonic principalities, the demons flee at the presence of the Lord. That said, Satan and demons can oppress believers from without. So in the spirit realm. And. And what are they doing? Well, they. They will whisper lies. Not that we hear an audible voice, but we can entertain thoughts that otherwise were not there because they are whispering lies to us all the time. They can tempt us to sin. They can cause ridiculous conflicts between people. They can divide families and marriages. They can affect us mentally, emotionally, and sometimes even physically. You look in Luke 13, and it talks about a woman who had a spirit of infirmity, A spirit of infirmity. There was some demonic thing that was attacking her body that Jesus had to deliver her from. She wasn't possessed. It was something from without that was attacking her physically. So it's interesting how these demonic principalities can work, but I will say to you that it is extremely difficult to fight an unseen enemy. And it is even more difficult to discern between, is this the enemy? Is this demonic things working against me, or is it just my flash? Is it just the influence of the world? Is it sometimes a chemical imbalance that we can sometimes confuse with demonic kinds of attacks? I mean, there are other legitimate things that can be happening in a person's life, and it doesn't mean that they're under spiritual attack. It doesn't mean spiritual warfare. And to be honest, I think it's a danger for us to default there first and go, it must be a demon. Like, I think we need to be cautious and careful and aware of how demonic principalities work. But I don't think we should be blaming everything on the devil because a lot of people excuse their own personal sins by saying, oh, it's just demonic. You know, just like, the Devil made me do it. You heard people say this kind of thing, right? Devil made me do it. You know, it wasn't really me. No, it was you. It was. You made you do it. Okay, don't be blaming it on the devil. You made that decision. You made that choice, and it's sin, and you just repent and ask God to forgive you. So a lot of times we. We just tend to blame everything on the devil. That's one extreme. Say everything's a spiritual oppression. You know, like I had. Seriously, I had this lady years ago. Okay, doesn't go here. I don't call people out who are here. All right, just after you leave. No, I don't know. Now, this is actually a lady I grew up in the same church with when I was a kid. I Remember her talking about how she didn't have any more money in her checkbook, and she said it was the spirit of poverty. Spirit of poverty in her checkbook. I'm like, no, lady, it's probably because you need to get a job. It's not a spirit of poverty. Like, oh, there's. I have no money in my account. In my bank account. It's demonic principalities. No, just need to get a job or manage your money better. Like, why do we sometimes blame everything on demonic principalities? At the same time, we can't dismiss how demonic principalities work. And there are too many people in that camp, too, who are like, I don't really believe in that whole demonic stuff. And that's Hollywoodish, and, you know, and I just dismiss it. Guess what? You're most vulnerable. Cause if you just dismiss that the enemy is at work, and possibly what you're dealing with is actually a spiritual battle, you're gonna be frustrated trying to resolve a spiritual battle in natural ways. Like you. You can't just simply work your way out of a spiritual battle in, like, natural kind of just, you know, physical ways when it's a spiritual battle. This is what Paul is writing about here. So please be aware. The enemy never sleeps. He is relentless. He is always strategizing and scheming against you. Word of caution, when I say Satan is always doing this, Satan is always doing that. That's a broad term to describe Satan and demonic principalities. Satan is not omnipresent. He can't be in all places at all times. Like God is omnipresent. So is Satan himself actually picking on you? I mean, he's, you know, he probably has some, you know, bigger targets in the game than you and me. But certainly if it's not Satan himself, it's demonic principalities. One, some of those third fallen angels, third of the fallen angels. Those are the ones who are attacking us, and those are the ones who are working on us. Satan himself is limited. So who does he go after? I don't know. Obviously, he went after Judas. We know the Bible says he will personally possess the Antichrist. We know that. So he does target individuals. But for you and me, one demon is one too many. Amen. So look here in the chapter six of Ephesians. Let me give just a brief overview of the chapter, and then we're going to talk about the armor a little bit that he tells us to put on. But here's four things that Paul is saying to us from Ephesians, chapter six. Number one, we have to know who the real enemy is. And it's Satan and his demons. You can't really fight a battle unless you know who the real enemy is. So the enemy when we're under spiritual attack is Satan or his demonic principalities. Listen to me. It's not your husband, it's not your wife, it's not your parents. They're the enemy. No, they're not. It's not your boss. Okay? Now, can the enemy use any people? Of course. He can move them like pawns from time to time. But we have to stop looking at each other as the enemy because this is what Paul means in verse 12. Look at verse 12 in your Bibles. Verse 12. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. Now just pause there for a minute. What is he saying? He's saying that the battle he's about to describe is not human conflict. We will always have human conflict because people are different and people are sinful. So we will have our differences, our disagreements, and sometimes it becomes heated. Okay, so that's one thing that's flesh and blood. What Paul's talking about here is there's another battle that is not flesh and blood. And that's the rest of verse 12. He says, but what do we fight against? Principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places, in the unseen realm. He refers to these demonic principalities using these different words. Principalities, powers, rulers, spiritual hosts of wickedness. Now, you read some Bible commentaries, and some scholars believe that Paul is actually describing ranks within the demonic forces and where Satan is the ultimate commander in chief. And then he's got his generals, he's got his colonels, his majors, his captains, you know, his lieutenants. And that might be true, I don't know. The fact of the matter is if. If there's a demon oppressing me, attacking me, I don't care if he's a lieutenant or a general. I just want out. Right? So who knows what that means? Exactly. But it could just be that Paul is trying to describe. He's like, look, look, I'm just going to use a multitude of words to help you understand. There's just a lot of evil stuff in the spirit realm after you. And it's sad to think about how many church splits, how many marriages have been destroyed, how many families have been fractured as a result of Satan sowing discord or whispering lies so that people have conflict with one another or fall into sin instead of realizing that the enemy is behind this. Nonsense. So he says, you got to know who the real enemy is and what he's up to. Number two, Paul says, and then you have to stand. And that's the word we've been highlighting here. He says, I want you to stand. What he means is, I want you to take a posture of no retreat. That's verses 11, 13, and 14. We're told to stand those three times, verse 11, 13, and 14. So he says, don't, don't you dare retreat. Don't you dare retreat. You got to stand for your marriage. You got to fight for it. You got to fight for your kids. Stand there. Don't retreat. You got to fight for your values. You got to fight for what's important. You got to fight for your country. You got to fight supremely for the Lord. I mean, he's called us into battle and we must not retreat. Your marriage, your family, your kids, they are worth fighting for. And I know, I know they are. And I know sometimes we get so battle weary, we just want the battle to stop because we're tired. And I love verse 13 where he says, and having done all to stand, like, okay, you might feel like you've prayed all the prayers you can pray, and you've said all the words you can say. And God says, then having done all, I just want you to stand there. I'll fight for you. Just stand there. Remember when the Israelites had their backs against the Red Sea and the Egyptians were coming after them again because Pharaoh had a change of mind and wanted them back as slaves? What was the word of the Lord through Moses to the people? You just stand there and you watch the deliverance of the Lord today. You don't have to move. You don't have to fight anymore. You stand there and you watch what God will do. And sometimes that's what he calls us to do when we feel like we can't do anything else. Just stand there. But the main point is don't retreat, don't bail, don't back away. Stand there and watch the Lord do what he will do. James 4. 7 says, Submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee the devil. And demonic principalities will eventually get the message if you stand there long enough. But you have to submit to God. Look at the order. James 4. 7. Submit to God. That's the first thing. Then resist the devil. Then the devil will flee. We got to submit to God first. Then we resist the devil and he will flee. Number three, Paul also tells us this. We must find our strength in the Lord. And in his power. I got to emphasize this. We got to see this verse 10. Finally, my brothers, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Not your might. In the power of his might. You think you're going to engage in spiritual warfare in your own might? Satan will eat your lunch. He will. We are no match for him. Aside from the fact that the Lord will fight for us and we fight that battle in his power and in his strength. There's an interesting, somewhat odd verse in Jude, verse nine. Jude only has one chapter, so it's just verse nine. And it says that the archangel Michael dared not to dispute with Satan over the body of Moses. What is that about? Apparently from that verse, what we learn is when Moses died, Satan wanted at his body to mutilate it in some way to disgrace Moses's body as a way of showing Satan thought that he had, you know, this power. And he wanted. And he was angry at Moses because Moses is a prophet of God. He had led the people out of slavery into the. Toward the promised land. And Satan wanted to mutilate and destroy his body. So Jude 9 says that the archangel Michael dared not to dispute with Satan over the body of Moses. Here's the rest of the verse. But said the Lord rebuke you, the archangel Michael, instead of fighting in his angelic power, not when it comes to Satan. Michael said, the Lord rebuke you. Because Michael even knew that he didn't have the power, even as the archangel, to engage Satan in battle. But he said, the Lord rebuke you, and we have to learn this. I see too many Christians who get all puffed up. Like, I'm going to do spiritual warfare. I'm going to go rebuking this, rebuking that, binding this and binding that. And I'm like, you know what? You better take it easy. Like, chill out, sister. Chill out, brother. Like, you got to know, this is in the power of his might. And if we don't defer to the power of the Lord, for the Lord to fight our battles, we're going to be mincemeat. And Satan will have a field day with us. This is in the power of his might, meaning the Lord. And then here, number four, last one. And then we'll talk about the armor. He tells us we must guard our hearts, minds and lives with the full armor of God. And then in verses 14 to 18, and I'm going to rush through this pretty quickly, but in verses 14 to 18, he tells us, here's the armor, here are the weapons. Of your warfare. And what Paul does, because he writes in the first century ad, he talks about our warfare, and he uses the analogy of a Roman soldier. And so he. He talks about the different weapons of our warfare. And he uses the Roman uniform and armor to teach us, here are the weapons that we have as believers to fight this battle. So I'm going to use this same analogy and just go through this pretty quickly. Here's. He teaches us five defensive weapons and two offensive weapons. And here they are. Number one, he talks about the belt of truth. Verse 14 talks about the belt of Truth. And he tells us we have to gird ourselves with the Belt of Truth. And so what he's emphasizing here is this fact that the only way we're going to recognize the lies of Satan is if we know the truth of God. The only way is to get into God's word, know his truth, and then we will be able to test and discern what are lies from the enemy. I heard this story years ago about this inspector who worked for Scotland Yard in the counterfeit department because he was assigned the task of noticing and removing counterfeit money. And as the story goes, he was asked if he spent a lot of time studying the counterfeit money so he could tell which was counterfeit from what was real. And he said no, that he said his training was always studying the genuine material, because if he studied that, then he could easily tell what was counterfeit. And that's what is true for us. We have to study the truth of God's word so then we can discern, oh, that's a lie from the enemy. Oh, he's trying to deceive us. Oh, this is. This is the enemy just trying to bring chaos into this situation. The only way we're going to know the lies of the enemy is if we know the truth of God. So we got to get into his word, we got to know the Bible, and unfortunately, we're living in a time where people go around talking about my truth, my truth, your truth, whatever you want it to be. That's such nonsense. And you know what people are doing when they say that? They're putting themselves at the center of the definition of truth, when in fact God is the center of truth. So when people say, well, it's my truth versus your truth, they are relying on a relative system. But truth is absolute. It's not relative. It doesn't change, it doesn't shift. And people can say two plus two is five all day long, but we know it's four, and that's because when we study God's word, we know what is true from what is a lie. And so we have to be discerning and wise about what is this chaos, what's this confusion, what are these lies? And the only way we'll know is when we have the belt of truth. Number two. He talks about the breastplate of righteousness. The breastplate of righteousness covers the heart. It's a defensive weapon against the enemy. We need to keep our hearts right with God. The Bible tells us in Proverbs 4, 23, above all else, guard the heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Have to guard our hearts in the Lord. Then he also talks about feet fitted with the preparation of the gospel of peace. This literally means, it's the idea of traveling the gospel. What it literally means is we have to put feet to our faith. We have to always be sharing the truth of the gospel. We why? Because you're advancing truth against the kingdom of darkness. And any push against the darkness helps to defeat the enemy. So we have to be faithful. And this is not just about pastors. This is about all of us. Like we have this wonderful truth, the gospel of God, of His word, the truth of the Lord Jesus. And we want to share with as many people as possible because as we do that that advances the kingdom of light into the kingdom of darkness and and pushes against the enemy. Then he also talks here about the shield of faith. The shield of faith protects us against the weapon of fear. Faith over fear. Everybody, the enemy loves to shoot arrows of fear our way. And we have to take the shield of faith to be able to resist those and deflect those, those arrows of fear. It's so easy for fear to take over our hearts, our minds, our thoughts. Fear about our kids, fear about our health, fear about the future, fear about our jobs. It's very easy for fear to take over. But remember what Paul wrote to Timothy in second Timothy 1:7, that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. We have to fight fear with faith. Take up the shield of faith. Number five. The last offensive, rather defensive weapon is the helmet of salvation. Well, the helmet protects the head where the thoughts reside. This is a reminder to us that we have to take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:5. Because in our minds are where thoughts reside, like anxiety, worry, doubt, believing lies. The battleground is often the mind. It's a fertile field where Satan loves to sow lies, chaos, strife. So we have to work hard at having the mind of Christ and taking captive every thought, making it obedient to Christ. We have to at times just even pray out loud. Lord, I know this thought is not of you. Would you please remove it even from my mind? This is not true. This is not noble. This is not right. This is not pure. And so, Lord, I trust you with my helmet of salvation to deal with these thoughts that flood my mind. And then the last two are offensive weapons. He says in verse 17, I want you to take up the sword of the spirit. And he tells us which is the word of God. He tells us that sword of the spirit. We wield the sword. Every time we're quoting scripture. Remember what Jesus did in Luke chapter four, when Satan himself tempted Jesus. Every time Jesus was tempted, he hit Satan with the word over and over again. What did Jesus do? He quoted scripture. He quoted scripture. He and he quoted scripture. And then finally Satan left. But the, the example for us is we have to know God's word in order to quote God's Word. You don't have to be a scholar and, and have like, you know, 100 verses memorized. God bless you if you do. But how about you just focus on like your favorite verse? Memorize that one and quote it every time you know Satan is assaulting you. Just quote God's, Take up the sword of the spirit, wield it. It is powerful and effective. And then the other thing that he mentions here in verse 18, he says this, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end, with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. So he talks about prayer and supplication. In other words, just intercede, get on your knees. So I'm going to add the last one. Underneath the sword of the Spirit is prayer. Most of our battles are going to be won on our knees, praying, asking the Lord, you see this battle I'm going through, Lord? I just pray you would fight it for me and you would defeat the enemy who is advancing strong against me or my marriage or my family or my health, whatever it might be, put on the full armor of God that you may be able to take your stand against the evil days. And having done all to stand, now this is the way I want to close the service like I did with the previous two. Some of you are undergoing serious attacks right now. The enemy is working hard on you and you're battle weary and you feel like perhaps even giving up. And I just want to be able to pray for you today. I just want to be able to pray for those who would be willing in a minute to just stand and say, I'm in a battle. Nobody's going to ask you what the battle is, but we just want to be able to pray for you. So if you're undergoing something and you know, it's just, it's. It's fierce, it's the enemy, he's attacking you in some way, would you just please stand? Because I want to close praying for you right now. Just go ahead and stand. Just stand up. You're going through a battle. Just stand where you are. The rest of you who are not standing, I just want you to join with me in prayer for those who are standing. Let's just ask the Lord to strengthen these folks, to fight for them, to encourage them. Come on, everybody, just join me. Father in heaven, I thank you for those who are standing because they're acknowledging that you, Lord, are the answer. That you, Lord, are powerful. That you, Lord, are greater than any of their conflicts, any of their battles. That, Lord, you are high and lifted up and seated on the throne. There's no battle that is too difficult for you. There is no enemy who is your equal. You are greater and superior than Satan. You are greater and superior than every demon. You are greater and superior than any battle or conflict we face. And so we appeal to you as the God of heaven. And we ask you, Lord, right now, would you please minister to those who are standing. They are battle weary. They have been going through it, Lord, and you know what the battle is. And we just pray together in Jesus name for you to strengthen their hearts when they begin to be discouraged, when they become afraid, when they become weary, when. When they become fearful, Lord, I pray over them. Isaiah, chapter 59 and verse 19. When the enemy comes in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him. That in Jesus name you would raise up a standard against the enemy of our souls, that you would protect these who are standing, that you would encourage them, that you would deliver them from this attack, Lord, and that you would glorify yourself by relieving them of their suffering. The enemy works hard on us, Lord, but you are greater still because greater are you in us than he that is in the world. So, Lord, I pray that you would fight for my brothers and my sisters and that you would do a great work to glorify yourself and to relieve them of their suffering. They are weary, Lord, but you will encourage the weary that they might mount up with wings like eagles to be able to walk and not faint. That here we are standing in your house physically. But, Lord, I pray that they would leave here able to stand spiritually, to not retreat, to not give up. Because you are fighting our battles for us. And we thank you that we can call you our Father and trust you to fight on our behalf. And it's in the powerful, matchless name of Jesus Christ that we pray these things. And everybody said amen and amen.