Art of War | Standing Firm: How We Fight Back - Ephesians 6:10-18 | March 1

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We are in the last Sunday of our Spiritual Warfare series, and we've talked

about a lot of things over the past several weeks. We've been talking about

the war that we're already in, how we can't avoid it.

It's something that we are all a part of, whether we realize it or not.

We've talked about the enemy and his tactics, who he is, as Miss Sandy was reminding

us a little bit with the kids, that he's the father of lies.

And so with his tactics, there is deception, temptation, accusation.

These are the tools that he uses against us. It worked back then,

and it still works today.

We talked about knowing who we are. It's important to be aware of our own wounds,

our own tendencies, our own desires, and be able to live in the truth,

as we'll talk about a little bit more today,

rather than giving the enemy a stronghold to take hold of in our lives.

We've talked about yesterday, last week, how we are fighting because we already have victory.

We are fighting from a position of victory. We're not fighting to earn victory.

We're not fighting to earn anything.

We are fighting because Jesus has already won.

And today we're going to continue a little bit of that conversation and what

it particularly means because we're going to talk about how we fight.

This is the part that we all remember from Ephesians chapter 6.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

Probably our subtitles in our Bibles refer to it as the armor of God or something like that.

And so this is the part that we all remember, how we fight, the tools that we

have, the weapons, the armor.

And I think it's important that we just reset a little bit as we move into this

discussion because this spiritual reality that is existent,

I would not suggest we go around blaming everything on the devil.

Sometimes we're just experiencing the consequences of our own choices.

However, if we think of it overall, the history of the world overall,

the limited authority and expiration date that has been given into the prince

of this world, there is a spiritual reality behind everything that we experience.

There is some unseen spirit that is ultimately responsible for everything.

And as long as we're focused primarily on the symptoms themselves,

how that affects our own lives and plays out in our own lives and different,

this is where Paul writes about your war is not against flesh and blood.

As long as we're focused on the symptoms of how it plays out in the flesh and

blood, we remain distracted and unengaged.

And the enemy wants nothing more than for us to be so distracted fighting these

other things that we forget that he's there at all.

And we forget that there is anything spiritual behind our existence.

So he can lurk in the shadows and remain undetected.

So that we forget that some of the most difficult things that we face in life,

in our culture, some of the most difficult and challenging circumstances in

our own homes, that there is a spiritual reality behind all of those.

And there's a generational reality behind all of those.

So that we might fall right into habits, thought patterns, that we might walk

in our slavery to sin rather than the freedom that Christ desires for us to have as his disciples.

This is not always about your salvation. It's not saying that therefore you are not saved.

It can be about salvation, being kind of deceived into a false sense of security, if you will.

But we experience the same thing with Israel, right?

Where Israel said, Jesus tells them, right?

Don't say that you have Abraham as your father. Don't depend on these things.

Don't say, but I'm saved.

Therefore, I'm not going to struggle with this or the enemy's not going to attack me in this place.

Like, we still may be saved.

There's a lot of people who are, quote unquote, saved out there,

but are still not walking in the freedom or at least in the fullness of freedom that God provides.

So we want to be people who walk in freedom. and we wanna be people who are

secure in our salvation and the security that the victory has already been won.

We want to be true disciples who put on this armor and fight,

and not just persist in the world, going through life day after day in the same

way that we've always done.

So today we're going to be talking and ending the discussion with this idea of how we fight.

When Paul writes about the armor of God in Ephesians 6, he does use this image

of the Roman soldier that we just saw.

Perhaps, as we know, Paul spent a lot of time in prison. He also spent a lot

of time in house arrest with a guard over him.

He lived a few years in the guard house.

He could be writing this letter as there was a Roman soldier standing in front of him.

And he could observe all of the details of the armor and use that picture as he wrote this.

So there very much is this reality that this is something that regardless of

Paul's circumstances, people in this time would see every day walking down the streets.

When we lived in Moldova, there's a separatist part of the country that's owned

by Russia, kind of like the Crimea situation before the war broke out.

But it's existed since the fall of the Soviet Union.

When you get to the border of this little tiny thing that nobody else recognizes

as a country, there's a river that divides it and a bridge.

And on one side of the bridge is Moldovans with a tank and weapons.

And on the other side of the bridge are Russians with a tank and weapon.

And when you get into that Transnistria area that's owned by Russia,

you see Russian soldiers walking around fully armed for combat just on a daily

basis. This is the reality that they lived in the Roman world as well.

They saw these Roman soldiers daily walking around in their armor.

We're going to get to the pieces of armor in a second. Okay.

There are people who spend just one week on each piece of armor.

So this is going to be a whirlwind quick thing, but it's going to be important.

However, I wanted to bring our attention to this detail because I think it's

important as we get into the pieces.

Ephesians 6 says that we should, at the beginning, put on the armor of God.

This is how we stand firm against the schemes of the devil. And then later,

right before it starts listing out these armor pieces, it says again,

to put on the full armor of God.

And what Paul is writing here is that this is God's armor, that the king of

the universe has bestowed upon us, not armor that we have fashioned,

not armor that we have created, not armor that we can sustain, but his own armor.

I want to read this passage in Isaiah chapter 59, which talks about the king,

Isaiah 59 · chapter mention

the royal king taking up his armor against sin and injustice.

It starts off by talking about the Lord's hand does not shorten that he cannot

save, that the power that belongs to God himself.

And then it says that he saw that there was no man, and this is talking about two men,

to intercede, to help, to save through.

And so it says, his own arm brought them salvation. His righteousness upheld them, that is God's.

He put on righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation on his head.

He put on these garments and this armor in Isaiah 59, describing Paul being

a good Jew and being probably someone who would have become a well-spoken,

well-respected rabbi, had this picture in Isaiah in his mind as well,

not just the Roman soldier.

So he is saying, put on God's armor.

And if I could reinterpret Philippians 2 and perhaps not be too blasphemous.

It's almost as if it's saying God took off his royal armor and he put on the

skin of a man and he came to be among us.

He came not in power, as you might suspect, but he came in humility.

We could maybe use the word weakness as long as we don't take it to mean that

God is weak, but he came in that lower standing and he put on skin that he could

be wounded, that he could be pierced.

Because when he has his armor on, we know God to be so more great and glorious

than anything else that could stand against him. We could almost speak of him

as being impenetrable, even without the armor, but especially with the armor.

And this is the armor that he took off and that he then put on us.

He clothed us with his righteousness.

He clothes us with his word. He clothes us with his truth.

So it is very important, I think, that we realize that the armor that we wear

has been given to us, but the substance of what it is belongs to God.

Let's also notice right before we get into it that four or five of these pieces of armor are defensive.

I don't think that the Roman sword was a defensive weapon. It was kind of small

and they used it to strike, but from a place of defense.

So at least three or four of these pieces are defensive.

They're all spiritual and we fight by standing firm in them.

So when chaos comes, when trouble comes, when temptations come,

all of these things that are unavoidable give us this opportunity to stand firm

in the armor that God has given us.

So with that, let us go through these six or seven pieces of armor.

Audible groans from all the adults. And let's talk about the picture that Paul's

painting. Let's talk about what it is. let's talk about how we use it.

Just as we put on clothes every day, as we clothe ourselves in Christ,

as it says over and over again in the scriptures, as we put on Christ,

his truth, his righteousness, his peace, his faith, as it says in Galatians chapter 3,

Galatians 3 · chapter mention

I love this picture.

We'll quote some other ones along the way, but before faith came,

we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would

be revealed, so that the law was our guardian until Christ came,

in order that we might be justified by faith.

But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

For in Christ Jesus, you are children of God through faith.

For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself in Christ.

So we don't need this guardian anymore. God has clothed us with his armor.

He's clothed us with Christ that we might stand firm in the day of trouble,

stand firm against the attacks of the enemy.

So the belt to truth where everything begins. Everything hangs on truth.

Paul does not call out the most extravagant piece of armor first.

He starts with what the soldier would put on first.

And I know that a lot of our boys who are into weapons and things like that

would be so fascinated by the sword, but I doubt any of us would be like,

yeah, yeah, the sword. But did you see that belt though, right?

We're not talking about the belt. They looked at the picture and they were like,

there is not even a belt because it's hidden.

The belt was the dangly bits underneath the breastplate.

He begins with what the soldier would put on first.

And so these Roman belts, these soldiers put on these thick leather,

often reinforced with metal.

It was the foundation of their armor. It protected their lower body.

It kept all of the other pieces of armor in place. And without the belt properly

secured, the breastplate wouldn't hang right because it rested on the belt.

And other pieces of armor wouldn't hang and be correct because they rested on the belt.

They couldn't hold the shield as well because it all rested on this foundational idea.

And Paul says that this belt that holds the armor of God together is his truth, is the truth of God.

And we know that ultimate truth is found in God.

And when we start adding our possessives to it, then we move away.

We start saying my truth, your truth, our truth.

But all truth is God's truth, which when we say that, we recall Paul's words

in Acts, we recall his words in Romans, that there is truth,

which belongs to God, and then there is everything else, which are lies that belong to the enemy.

Truth is God, God's truth, and his word is that truth, and everything hangs on that truth.

Jesus himself, in John chapter 8, was speaking to the Jews who had believed in him.

John 8 · chapter mention

He says that you are really my disciples when you know the truth,

and then that truth will set you free.

And of course, they answer him that we are Abraham's descendant and we have

never been slaves, even though when they were saying that, they were in Roman

occupied territory and they were slaves in Egypt and they were exiles to Babylon.

Their entire history is a history of them being a people that was in exile and slavery.

But if you notice the rhythm here of Jesus' words, you will know the truth.

Not something that is vague, not something that's hidden, it is something that

can be known. You will know the truth in my word.

Everything flows out of this revelation of God.

That it must be recognized. It must be seen. it must be believed,

it must be accepted, and then this truth will set you free.

It protects you. It empowers you. It anchors you in reality.

The enemy cannot defeat what is rooted in truth, what is foundationally built on truth.

Paul, I think, also calls the church the buttress of truth, that our job as

God's children in his kingdom are to uphold the truth.

This is a battle of truth more than almost anything else, that our identity

in Christ, our confidence in Christ, in God's promises, his peace,

his joy, all flow from knowing, standing firm in his truth.

And then the outcome is freedom. It frees us from lies. It frees us from shame. It frees us from guilt.

It frees us into believing the truth of our identity. It frees us from the enemy's schemes.

It sets you free to stand firm, to walk in obedience and to live fully clothed in Christ.

Truth is not what feels true. It's not what culture declares to be true.

Truth is what God has revealed.

And because of that, it is the only firm foundation that cannot be shaken.

Jesus is that truth. So we put on the belt of truth. As Christians,

we put on this belt of God's truth.

We immerse ourselves. We soak in the word of God.

We wake in the morning in the truth of his word and who he says we are.

We lay down at night in our beds contemplating and meditating on the truth that

he has presented to his word that day.

This is all straight out of the Psalms and other places. It grounds us.

It reminds us that we are clothed in Christ. The truth holds everything together.

This is why it's so important to cultivate a habit of being in the Word of God.

This is why it's so important to know the truth so that we don't be deceived

by the lies. The breastplate of righteousness.

This is the idea with righteousness of living in agreement, living with alignment

with God's character and his will.

A Roman soldier's breastplate, I guess the armor overall would have been something

like 70 pounds, which sounds like a lot, but armor got a lot heavier as the

years went on, as firearms were invented.

Also, I think a firefighter's outfit is heavier than 70 pounds.

Probably a lot of soldiers ruck with a lot more a lot,

it certainly creates the reality that this armor was not worn to be agile and

to one-up another person in single combat.

It was not worn for that. It would have been, it would have limited your movements, your mobility.

It would have made you a little slower, even if it's not as maybe heavy as we

imagine it to be even at 70 pounds.

But a lot of that weight, most of that weight would have been in the breastplate.

It would have been in the breastplate because, as you imagine,

all of your vital organs, except for your brain, are behind it.

So you need to protect your heart. you need to protect these things that where

a single strike could be fatal.

I was thinking about this the other day that this picture that we have of armor

doesn't really work when we think of it in our modern day body armor.

It's a lot more mobile, but also you don't really want to get hit.

Evil, it can protect you and keep you alive, perhaps depending on what you get hit by.

But all of our tactics in war today are, don't get hit by the thing.

And then if you accidentally do, hopefully this will save your life, right?

The armor that Paul was standing in front of or sitting in front of,

that he saw every day, was designed to be hit over and over again.

Roman soldiers locked in and they experienced the blows.

And it withstood the blows so that at the right time they could strike back

with a definitive strike.

This armor was made to be hit and it was expected to be hit.

So you're going to get hit.

You're going to take some hits with this armor. That's what it is designed for.

When we talk about righteousness, this is where a particularly important place

where the fact that as God's armor comes into play, because righteousness can be heavy.

The burden of righteousness is a heavy burden.

God came to fulfill the law perfectly. When Jesus was on this earth,

some of his words were, be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect.

This is a heavy burden if it is our righteousness that we are standing on.

But praise be to God that what we stand under is the righteousness of God,

which he has given us, the wrath satisfied, that we stand under the completed

work of Christ, that we stand in the victory of the cross.

And so while righteousness is a heavy burden in the armor, it is also upheld by the belt of truth.

As our modern kind of backpacks have the strap that goes around our waist,

it relieves the weight of the breastplate.

It relieves this heavy weight of righteousness.

So that the enemy who loves nothing more than to just replay your worst moments

and all the ways that you don't measure up, all the ways that you fail to be righteous.

When we wrap ourselves in Christ, when we wrap ourselves in Jesus,

when we are clothed in His righteousness.

The shame that you've carried is silenced. The accusations go away.

The things that make you question if God can truly use you, these burdens of

righteousness are no longer ours to uphold.

As it says in 2 Corinthians, he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us so

that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Paul says in other places that not that I have a righteousness of my own, but I press on.

I stand firm in the righteousness that God has given me. This is God's righteousness.

And this is not a someday promise.

It is not someday you will be glorified and be righteous.

This is a right now you stand firm in who God says that you are under his righteousness.

You are clothed in Christ. Every morning you put on Christ. Let his righteousness guard your hearts.

Our hearts are so, if we think of our hearts physically as vital,

as important, as vulnerable,

how much more spiritually, this is spiritual armor, this is not physical armor,

how much more vital are our hearts spiritual to be protected,

to be vulnerable to the attacks in the enemy.

And so we need to be clothed with the righteousness of God that silences all

of the enemy's accusations.

We have no righteousness apart from Christ. Our breastplate is His righteousness.

And we do this. This is another interesting thing about the armor of God.

Like four pieces have to do with the truth of His Word because it is so vitally important.

And it's not so different here that we reflect on the truth of Christ.

We let His Word guide us. We let His Spirit shape our desires,

His presence guard our hearts. We align our lives with the righteousness of God.

Because any time that we walk out, that we step out, what we're doing is taking

off that armor and providing an open shot for the enemy in our hearts.

So we live in his righteousness. We align our hearts.

We align our minds. We align all that we are resting in his righteousness and

letting that protect us and cover us.

The shoes of readiness. This was actually, this was my favorite because shoes,

when we think about shoes back then, they're so, they seem so underrated.

Like perhaps people didn't even have shoes back then at times.

We know a lot of our children choose not to wear shoes.

So this is an important lesson for all of you to listen to, wear shoes.

But Josephus is a Jewish historian, and talks about how the great generals of

the time, people like Julius Caesar, people like, I don't know,

what's another? Alexander the Great.

These people who were so...

Impressive in battle at this time. They talked about the importance of the shoe.

They wanted their soldiers to have these shoes on because if you slip in battle, you're done for.

And so these Roman shoes were not just regular sandals, but they would have

spikes on them oftentimes.

They would be like cleats or something of the sort where they could push back and not lose ground.

They could dig in and move forward.

Alexander the Great, I think, credits a lot of his victories on the fact that

he put so much importance with his soldiers on the shoe, which is just a funny, funny thought to me.

But it is striking for us as believers because this shoes of readiness,

the shoes of the gospel of peace, they give us a stability in battle.

They give us a sure footing. I love Psalm 18, which talks about that God makes

my feet like the feet of a deer and sets me secure on the heights.

And I'll never forget a story I was told by a professor of mine who took trips

to Israel often. He was a Jewish Old Testament scholar, and he always tells this story.

He always told the story about one trip. They were standing on these particular

cliffs that would always take people to.

And this particular time was different than the other times because they observed

one of those sheep or goats or deer or whatever they are in Ibex walk off the edge of the cliff.

And people are always gasped when they tell them that. And he goes,

no, no, no, you misunderstand me.

It walked off the edge of the cliff. And then a few minutes later,

it walked back over the edge of the cliff.

God gives us sure footing and it is secured by the gospel. It stabilizes us.

It reminds us that we are at peace with God.

We don't fight for approval. We don't fight for lack of confidence to earn something.

We fight because we are approved in Christ by His Word.

We get to stand firm in the foundation of the gospel.

Whatever comes, we are ready and prepared.

So we put all in the shoes of readiness. We keep the gospel forefront in our minds.

We preach it to ourselves. We share it with others. We remind people of what

the good news is, that God has already satisfied all of the legal requirements,

all of our debt, all of our shame. He has taken it away.

He has made peace with us through Jesus so that we can stand firm and be ready to move back.

And the shoes are important as well because while the other armor defends us.

Not much of this armor is involved in attacking except for the sword, perhaps a shield.

But the shoes allow us to push back and gain ground.

As we rest in the gospel, we're able to take ground back.

That's an important detail as well.

Just a couple more. the shield of faith, perhaps the primary defensive weapon in battle.

It was large, it was curved, it was made of lots of materials.

It was often made of wood at its core, which then they soaked in water so that

when the fiery darts, as Paul writes, the flaming arrows of accusation come from the enemy,

not only were they stopped, but they were extinguished.

So the shield puts out the fiery darts

the attacks of the enemy isaiah reminds us that

if we that we stand firm in our faith

our shield of faith or else we don't stand firm at

all and when the the enemy fires these darts of doubt of discouragement of fear

of temptation of hopelessness when he whispers he's it's not worth it when he

whispers that god isn't coming through when he whispers that justice will never

come when he whispers that your

hope is naive that you are believing in something that cannot help you.

Faith is what extinguishes these attacks.

Reminds us that God will avenge the oppressed, that obedience is worth it,

that our suffering is not meaningless, and that Christ, not only Christ wins

in the end, but Christ has already won.

We talk about faith as the substance of things hoped for, and that is not just

an uncertain future, but it is a firm foundation that he who has promised is faithful,

that our The promise maker is also the promise keeper, that he is the author

and originator of our faith.

And as we talked about last week with the kids, our faith is strongest when

it is linked together with others.

As the soldiers would link their shields to protect from all of the fiery darts,

it is strongest when we are together.

Remember God's promises, his faithfulness. We keep a list of answered prayers.

We talk about that word Ebenezer, which is a funny word.

I always attribute it for some reason to when the Israelites walked into the

promised land for the first time and they set up that monument,

but that's not where it's even mentioned.

Those are Ebenezer's, but it comes later.

These stones of remembrance, we stand on the faithfulness of God and what he's

already done in the small and in the large.

And then in the future, we think God's already done so much I can trust him with this as well.

Faith is our defense, so stand firm, stand together. Helmet of salvation.

This is another super important one as the helmet, of course,

guards our brains, our thoughts, our minds.

And other than the heart and others, some vital organs that if they get struck,

we're going to be bleeding out quick.

Another one is if you get struck in the head, it's pretty much a guarantee that

you're going to be taken out of the fight.

So the Roman's head was covered entirely. It wasn't just a partial helmet.

It often extended in front of the face.

It shielded the eyes. It shielded the neck even.

And there was no other piece of armor that could save the soldier if the helmet failed.

So it covered another thing that was most important.

And again, if this armor is spiritual and not physical, then how much more important

is for us to guard our hearts and to also guard our minds spiritually.

Shared this passage in 1 Thessalonians a couple weeks ago with some others,

and this is another place that this armor comes up.

1 Thessalonians chapter 5, he calls us to put on not only the breastplate of

1 Thessalonians 5 · chapter mention

faith and love, he calls it, but also the helmet of the hope of salvation.

And what it talks about in that passage is the fact that because we are children

of the day, because we are people who live in the light.

We no longer live in darkness. We don't exist at night.

He sets up this reality of this is who you are. You are children of the day.

You are children of the light.

Therefore, protect your thoughts from deception and encourage one another in

the reality of who you already are.

Stand firm in this salvation, the fact that we've been transferred from the

kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, that it's something that's already happened.

Guard our thoughts from spiraling, from giving in to fears,

from getting stuck in repeated accusations by putting on the secureness of the

salvation that has already been obtained, obtained by Christ Jesus.

The enemy targets our minds often first. He wants to discourage us to despair,

for us to doubt, to weaken our resolve.

But the helmet reminds us to guard our thoughts. remember what Christ has done.

We remember who we belong to. We remember the end of the story that despair is not humility.

It is forgetfulness.

Despair is not us being humble. It is forgetting who God is and what he has already done.

The Talmud of Salvation keeps our mind focused on that, on hope,

on his promises, no matter what circumstances press in.

So we remind ourselves of our salvation that has already been hard fought and hard won.

Stand on that conviction that we are saved, that we are secure in Christ,

that even in darkest seasons, our salvation lights the way and carries us home.

We keep our thoughts on the things above and not the things that are on the earth.

As it says, Peter, we feed our mind with spiritual truths.

We rehearse God's faithfulness daily. We recall the ways that he has saved and

delivered us and sustained us.

We let these memories reinforce the reality of our hope.

Protects our mind. Salvation is our assurance. We cling to it.

Then the sword of the Spirit in prayer. I'm going to group these together.

These are the offensive weapons.

Prayer is not given like an armor or word, but it's definitely a weapon that

we use to fight back with.

Also, the fact that we call this the armor of God, because that's what Paul

says, but not the arms and armor of God, which is interesting.

This is definitely an offensive weapon.

So the Roman gladius we saw is not a large weapon. It's a short weapon.

They would use it to attack swiftly, quickly, at the right spot to end the battle quickly.

They were trained and to use their armor together to provide a defense that

allowed for the right attack.

Our sword is the word of God, the written word, the incarnate word of Jesus.

This is the only weapon that we can wield to strike back against the enemy.

It's the only thing effective. This is what Jesus did when he faced the devil

in the wilderness. He didn't argue. He didn't debate.

He didn't rely on his own strength.

He spoke the word of God back. clearly and definitively.

As the kids read this morning, Hebrews chapter four, the word of God is living

and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul

and of spirit, of joint and of mirror, discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

This is not just a weapon that we use externally. This is a weapon that we pierce

ourselves with and are pierced with that we can get rid of all of the double-mindedness within us.

Is what convicts our own hearts. So we meditate on the word of God.

We internalize the word of God. We fight lies with the truth when a tax comes.

We quote God's word back.

I love that picture of taking the sword out of our mouth. That was great.

My reading plan for this year,

was designed in such a way that I would have to be intentional in reading,

that I would have to prioritize it over other things or else it wouldn't get done.

A lot of times we think about being in the word of God as something that we

casually throw into our schedule when we are available to do it.

Some of us may have quiet times that are rock solid and we're good with that.

I'm not a very disciplined person.

We must prioritize the Word of God in our hearts and our minds.

The sword lets us strike back. And I want to throw prayer into this as well.

Most people tend to, because Paul ends with prayer, even though he doesn't give

it an armor or a word, most people generally pull it into as another piece of the armor of God.

He names all of these pieces of armor. He names the sword, and then he says,

pray in the Spirit at all times.

Because without prayer, we are not prepared.

Prayer is dependence. We cannot fight on our own strength.

This is God's armor. We must be dependent, not on creating something of our

own substance, but aligning our hearts with His, being aware of the enemy's schemes,

being connected and in communion with Him.

This is not a story where we are the heroes. This is a story where we are soldiers

who are so dependent on the one who is the rescuer, who is the hero.

All the armor we wear is rooted in who he is and what he's done.

And without prayer, without cultivating that dependence upon God,

without relying, maybe you could say that maybe prayer isn't armor.

Prayer is how we put on the armor in some ways.

That's not a complete thought, but maybe that's how we could say it.

Prayer is how we put on this armor.

So Paul tells us to pray in the Spirit at all times.

Want to experience the victory that God has already won, we have to become people of prayer.

I heard a statistic recently. I tried to look it up. I couldn't find it.

So this could be a complete lie.

But somebody wrote a book based on this statistic. So hopefully they're building

it off of something that they found to be true or looked it up.

It's that the vast majority of Christians in this country, 98% is the number

that was thrown out, are dissatisfied and discouraged by their prayer lives.

And not in such a way that compels them to become better at it,

but they are discouraged in their prayers.

Not because they want to pray more, but because it's discouraged in their prayers,

which causes them to not pray at all.

Because it becomes performative. It becomes a check off the list rather than

becoming what it is meant to be, which is presence-driven.

It becomes having the right routine, saying the right words,

instead of being about being in God's presence and being dependent upon him.

And in those cases, a lot of the heroes of the faith who have gone before us,

their words about prayer is, you probably should do a lot less talking.

Roy would talk about Mother Teresa's quote, and he shared it all the time.

So if you knew Roy, you heard this quote before from Mother Teresa when she

was getting interviewed by Dan Rather or somebody like that.

He's like, you are known to be a woman of prayer. What do you say to God?

She's like, oh, nothing. I just sit and listen.

And then he's like, all right, well, what does God say to you?

She says, oh, nothing. He just sits and listens.

And he's very confused. He says, well, then, like, what's going on here?

And this little 90-year-old Albanian woman just says, if you don't understand,

I can't explain it to you.

Prayer is the presence of God and not some words that we form together to spew at him.

Talking is important in prayer, but also a lot of that is just listening,

sitting, ending our day on our knees before him.

I love, there's a passage, I think it's in 2 Chronicles, it might be in 1 Chronicles,

but it talks about the priests every morning would stand thanking and praising

the Lord, and then after it says, likewise at evening,

that they would just stand in thanksgiving in prayer every morning,

but also they would end their day in that same posture, depending on the presence and the Spirit.

Prayer is our lifeline that connects all these pieces of armor together.

I'm just going to own it. It's how we put on the armor of God.

So with all of these pieces laid out, now I want us to read like we have done this passage together.

And after we read it, we're going to go right into celebrating through song.

So I just want to give the exhortation to stand firm.

Stand firm every day. Stand firm in truth. Stand firm in righteousness.

Stand firm in faith. Stand firm in the gospel. Stand firm in salvation. Stand firm in prayer.

Stand firm in the reality that the enemy has already been defeated and that

your fight is not for nothing.

Stand firm in the reality that unlike our culture's perception,

hell is not the place that the devil gets to go and rule and have his fun.

It is a punishment for the enemy.

Stand firm in the reality and watch what God does through his people as we stand firm.

So go ahead and stand up and let's read these passages in Ephesians chapter 6 together.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.

Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.

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.

Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand the able day.

And having done all to stand firm, stand therefore.

Having fastened on the belt of truth, 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.

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 prayers, supplication.

Amen, God. We thank you for your armor that you have graciously given to us,

which fits perfectly, which protects completely and with which we can push back

and gain ground in our life over the enemy and gain ground in this culture that

you can be glorified for the victory that you've already won.