“Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” Romans 8:37
Yesterday we talked about the battlefield. We mentioned the enemy who is prowling the earth seeking someone to devour. I never want to give the devil too much print time. I want my life and my words to give much more to Jesus than to him. I don’t want to constantly be looking for the devil behind every rock but the bottom line is there is an adversary who is seeking to tear down us, our families, our children, our lives. If he can’t have you he at least wants to make us ineffective and to destroy our lives here on earth.
What kind of battles are you facing? Are you praying for a wayward child? Or is your marriage broken and in a place that you aren’t sure if it will survive or not? Are there addictions in your life or in the life of someone you love that are taking hold and you don’t know how to stop it? What about your workplace? Sometimes the personalities in a workplace can seem like you are walking into a minefield every day.
The first thing we must do when going into battle is to recognize the enemy. Just as Joshua had to know what he was up against when he went in to battle with the Amalekites we need to recognize what we are up against.
“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.” Ephesians 6:12
If you have a battle going on in your life first thing to do is try to look beyond the people or thing you may feel like you are fighting against and recognize what is behind it. If your marriage is on rocky ground is it because one or the other is listening to the voices that are feeding lies. If you have a wayward child, is your battle with your child or has somehow Satan gained a foothold in their life and they are listening much more to the lies of the enemy about having “fun” and “what they deserve” than they are paying attention to what you say or better yet what God’s word says about who they are and whose they are. We must look beyond what we are battling and see if there are any spiritual forces of evil at work. And if that’s what you see, sister, brother you better start strapping on the armor.
“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 firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 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, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.” Ephesians 6:13-18
If you are in a battle with spiritual forces, you must first recognize truth. See your battle for what it is. If you are battling for a wayward child, sometimes it may feel like you are fighting your child. But what you are really fighting are the evil forces that surround our children and want to take them down. Strap on the belt of truth and recognize who the enemy is. It’s not your child or your spouse, it’s who is pulling them down.
Then put on the breastplate of righteousness. Now this doesn’t mean self-righteousness. This means try to handle the situations rightly. Try not to get sucked into an argument. This is hard, mind you. But you have to really try hard to handle the situations at hand rightly.
Get those shoes of peace. Put them on every day. The peace will come from knowing you are fighting the battle the right way, with Jesus and knowing that even if it doesn’t feel like it at this moment that He is in control. When these kind of battles are going on you will only be able to have peace if you are inviting Him into it every day.
After you have looked at the truth, done your best to handle things rightly and put on those shoes of peace that He is in control, then you have to take up your shield of faith. Faith that He is working things for your good and His glory in the end. Faith that He will care for you even if the answers are not what you would choose. Faith that He can work it for your good. And that shield will help you to extinguish those darts from the enemy.
Place the helmet of your salvation on your head. Know that He has this if He has you!
And most of all take up your sword, the word of God. Are you praying for a wayward one? A spouse, a child or maybe a friend. Know this, if you are praying for someone to come to faith or to return to their faith that is always always always in the will of God. And while we all have free will and freedom to choose Christ or not. It is His desire to have us all in His flock.
“What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven the one of these little ones should perish.” Matthew 18:12-14
You keep praying for your people. You keep asking Him to track down your wayward sheep. You strap on that armor and you keep holding your staff up high above your head and you claim the victory IN the battle and hold your banner high! Jehovah-Nissi is our commander in chief and we are more than conquerors because of Him!
Friend if you need someone to hold your arms up as you pray for your battle I would find it an honor. Send me a private message. I promise to pray!
Restore 