Introduction: Fighting The Spiritual Battle
People think that the Armor of God is for a Sunday School lesson taught to children, or something that you put on with your imagination. The Armor of God is real, and it is for your protection. It is a lifestyle, and it is for fighting a real war, a war against the evil forces in the heavenlies.
This series on the armor is to show believers that along with the Armor of God, the Biblical Appointed Times of God, and the Articles of theTemple are all part of that spiritual fight.
Paul says this in 2 Corinthians 6 :3-10, “Behold, now is “a favorable time,” behold, now is “a day of salvation”— giving no reason for taking offense in anything, so that the ministry will not be discredited, but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in difficulties, in beatings, in imprisonments, in mob attacks, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word of truth, and in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers and yet true; as unknown and yet well known, as dying and yet behold, we are alive; as punished and yet not put to death, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing and yet possessing all things.”
Paul knew all about the attacks of the devil. He knew how the devil used people to discourage him and to try to stop him and even discredit his words, but he also knew that God gave him weapons of righteousness to fight the battle. We are going to be looking at these weapons as we go through the Armor of God and His Appointed Times and the Articles of the Temple.
Ephesians 6:10 begins by telling us to be strong in the Lord. You cannot fight a battle unless you are prepared, and being prepared means being strong. But it also means that you know your enemy.
Ephesians 6: 11-13 does just that, it tells us who the enemy is. “Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full Armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand, stand firm.”
Because people do not see the spiritual battle, they do not think about the spiritual battle. And the fact is, that it never ceases. Our fight is a daily fight. Like the air around us, so is the spiritual battle.
We must put on the Armor of God and we must never take it off.
1 Peter 5: 8 tells us this, “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
The devil hates God’s people and he never stops looking for us.
James 4:7 says “ Submit yourselves, then to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
1 Corinthians 10: 6-12 gives us good advice, “Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they indeed craved them. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.” Nor are we to commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day. Nor are we to put the Lord to the test, as some of them did, and were killed by the snakes. Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were killed by the destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let the one who thinks he stands watch out that he does not fall.”
The evil forces in the heavenlies are throwing their fiery darts at us constantly. Temptation is all around us, like a minefield, and when we think that we are safe, that is when we fall. We can not take our eyes off the enemy of our soul.
So let’s begin to see just how we fight the spiritual battle that is all around us, for now is the time to begin living the lifestyle of a mighty warrior dressed for battle.
There are three elements to fight the battle, and we want to closely look at all three. As I said at the start, we will be looking at God’s Appointed Times, and the Articles of the Temple, along with the Armor of God for all three will give us insight into how we should fight this constant battle.We hope that you will follow along with us in this series on the spiritual battle and gain insight into our “Weapons of Righteousness.”
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