WINNERS IN A WINABLE WAR

"Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses." (1 Timothy 6:12)

The Apostle Paul was a veteran. He had walked through the deep valleys and climbed to the highest peaks. He knew what it meant to serve the Lord in times of plenty and in times of slackness. He knew the joy of being used of the Lord to see entire cities turned on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he knew the pain of persecution for the sake of the Gospel message. He was the recipient of honor and applause from men and he traded it all for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

No other man in the church age, other than Jesus Christ himself, has been so greatly used of God in laying the foundation that the New Testament church rests upon. Of the twenty seven books of the New Testament, Paul was used, without question, to write thirteen. A great portion of the Book of Acts covers his missionary work and a lot of scholars believe Paul wrote Hebrews as well.

When it comes to integrity, you can put confidence in the Apostle Paul. When it comes to authority, God's confidence in him should be sufficient to warrant our trust. When it comes to anointing, the fruit of his ministry still stands today.

Here we find the veteran Apostle, someone who had been through the ropes and obstacle courses of real Christianity, writing to and giving counsel to a young man who had surrendered his life to proclaiming the Gospel. And he tells Timothy,

"Fight the good fight of the faith."

If we are going to be as effective as believers in the close of the church age as the believers were in the beginning of the church age we are going to have to come to the realization that we are in a very real and winable war against spiritual forces that know more about what we are doing than most of us do.

We are going to have to realize that spiritual ground is won only through conflict with the enemy.

We are going to have to realize that our enemy is an unrelenting one who will never give up and that the weapons of our warfare are not one shot "throw aways" that we will never have to use again.

TAKE A LOOK AT OUR WAR

"For our stuggle 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." (Ephesians 6:12)

What/who are these rulers, authorities, powers and spiritual forces?

Rulers - Principalities

This is the (gk. arche) beginning or orginator (the person or thing that commences) of wickedness.

Authorities - Powers

This is (gk exousia) which means the endued power of authority to rule or govern.

Spiritual Forces - Powers

These are the (gk kosmokrator) which means the lord of this world - the devil and his demon forces.

Forces of Evil - Spiritual Wickedness

This is the (gk. poneia) which means evil purposes and desires.

These are the spiritual realities that occupy the "high places" or "heavenly realms". Not only so, but these are the spiritual forces that we are locked into combat with each and every day of our lives.

Hence, the admonition of the Apostle Peter,

"Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." (1 Peter 5:8)

LOOK AT THE WEAPONS THAT WE USE TO WIN THE WAR

Nothing that we have in the natural is sufficient to wage war against the spiritual realities with which we contend on a daily basis.

"For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." (2 Cor. 10: 3-5)

The single most significant weapon in our arsenal is the stuff that we put into our minds. If we don't keep our thought life clean we give the enemy all the room he needs to move in and ruin every area of our lives. What we entertain ourselves with is either our "first line of offense and defence" or it becomes our own spiritual undoing.

What we allow to enter our minds through our "eye gates" and "ear gates" will have a very definite impact upon our ability to fight the good fight of faith.

When we listen to secular radio and television we are subjecting ourselves to a continual barrage of images that condition us to the standards of the ruler of this world. It's his play ground and he is using these resources to sow his evil purposes and desires into the minds of anyone who will take the time to tune in. In fact, he's been so successful at it that most people today have been so conditioned that they are unable to discern the evil in every day entertainment.

Good has become evil and evil has become good.

The Apostle Paul says,

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things." (Philippians 4:8)

If we can't control our thought life we will never be successful waging spiritual warfare. Regardless.

We also have the armor plating that is part of our arsenal to use is this war.

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 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 then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints." (Ephesians 6: 10-11 and 13-18)

If part of the armor is missing, we are not fully clad. If we are not fully clad, we are susceptible to the attacks of the enemy. He knows what we do and what we don't have on. Just look at what happened to the seven sons of Sceva that we read about in Acts 19:13-16. They knew about spiritual warfare but they were not dressed in the armor of God.

The full armor of God consists of several parts:

The Belt Of Truth

Jesus is the "way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6) and our lives in him must be centered in the truth. There is no room for lies in the life of the believer. We must be careful to know the truth and to do the truth.

"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." (James 1:22)

Breastplate Of Righteousness

We cover our hearts with a breastplate by keeping our hearts pure.

"How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart." (Psalm 119: 9-10)

Feet Fitted With Readiness

The degree to which we really believe the truth of the Gospel will always be reflected by the level of commitment that we have to do the Gospel. Are we truly fitted with readiness or are we running away?

"Therefore go....." (Matthew 28:19)

Shield Of Faith

Faith is simply believing and trusting God to provide and to do all that he has said.

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." (Hebrews 11:1)

Helmet Of Salvation

Our crowns come on the other side of life when we receive our rewards for being faithful. Until then we wear a helmet. Kings wear crowns. Soldiers wear helmets.

"Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus." (2 Timothy 2:3)

Sword Of The Spirit

When Jesus was dealing with the devil (doing spiritual warfare) he used the written Word of God. Can we do any less and experience the joy and thrill of victory over our inward sinful selves and our outward enemy?

"For the word of God is living and active.. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12)

Praying In The Spirit

Prayer is more than repetition. Prayer is more than pouring out our complaints. Prayer is more than making supplication. Prayer is also receiving. Often, because of the stresses of life, our emotions are so inflamed that we can't pray as we ought. Praying in the Spirit is God's solution for our human instability.

"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will." (Romans 8:26-27)

We must be careful to guard our minds and to renew our minds in the knowledge of God. We must also be careful to dress ourselves up in the whole armor of God. These are simple steps that require discipline on our part. These are steps that require us to say "no" to the things of the world that corrupt our minds and lead us into darkness. These are steps that require us to say "yes" to the things of God which build us up and strengthen us to stand against all the schemes and plans of the devil.

WE ARE THE WINNERS

We've been a very fortunate people here. The church in America has enjoyed a tremendous freedom since the founding of this country. But this is not the case in many places where Christianity has not been viewed in such a warm light. In fact, the church was born in persecution and even now believers are being hunted, jailed and even murdered because of their commitment to faith in Jesus Christ.

Our freedom as American believers is fast eroding. Freedoms that we once had have been made illegal and more legislation is on the books and making its way through the courts and legislative channels. We really need to be alert and in much prayer in these closing days of the church age.

Regardless of what comes in the way of legislation, regardless of what comes in the way of persecution as our enemy is allowed to gather his forces in preparation for the coming tribulation and the Day Of The Lord, we believers must rest firmly on the promise of the Word of God. We can do no other and be found faithful.

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: 'For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.' No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8: 35-39)

WE ARE WINNERS!

The Lord is calling us to live as winners.

The Lord is calling us to get into the war against our enemy.

The Lord is calling us to get dressed up in our God-clad armor.

The Lord is calling us to fight the good fight of the faith.

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