Wrong Battle, Wrong Enemy. (Pastor: Les Quinones)

The time with feeling God is good and all the time because He is because He is He's amazing.

Amen.

Guys, before we get started, I would love to thank our visitors for today.

Ilda Luz.

Much and also Stephanie.

Thank you so much, guys.

We welcome you to the house of the Lord.

Give the Lord a round of applause.

Thank you, brother.

And give it up for my man Orlando, who took the place of Vince and came through clutch.

Thank you, brother.

You guys can be seated.

Amen.

Amen.

So I'm not even gonna pray for the word because Pastor Luce already prayed for the word.

Let's just get right into it.

Amen.

Now I want you guys to open your Bibles to the book of Ephesians.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

Chapter 6.

Verse 12.

I'll wait till you get it.

You can put it on.

Ephesians chapter 6, verse 12.

Ephesians 6:12

Amen?

Father, we thank you for your word, Father.

In Jesus' mighty name.

And the word of God says, 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.

Amen.

Okay, let's get into it.

Now, one thing I want that this made me think of, guys.

How many, how many of us have been through seasons?

Yeah, seasons.

Seasons are annoying, seasons hurt.

Seasons can be very frustrating.

Have you ever been in a season where you feel like you're fighting every single day?

And you just can't catch a break.

You wake up, you get into the fight, during the day you're fighting, and then you go to sleep, and just when you think it's over, see that you relate.

Just when you think it's over, the next day it's right back in your face.

Okay.

You woke up with the same pressure as yesterday.

You go to sleep exhausted because you've been spiritually fighting all day.

Your mind is constantly under attack.

Your family is under attack.

I don't know if you face that, but when you're when you're under attack, your family also feels the blow.

And then your faith is being tested at the same time.

But here's the question I want you to think of.

Are you in a spiritual fight or are you in a spiritual war?

Think about this.

Are you in a spiritual fight?

Or are you currently in a spiritual war?

This is one thing that I like to say.

Many believers use those words interchangeably, right?

Which means that they take the same meaning for each word.

But the scripture shows us that there is a difference between a spiritual fight and a spiritual war.

A fight, what is a fight?

A fight is often a specific battle birthed from a confrontation.

So if I go to somebody and I step on their sneaker, I don't know why I'm thinking of that.

It's weird.

Oh, that's what it is.

I got my new ones on.

Wow, that's crazy.

If I do that and I step on somebody's sneakers and they decide to be confrontational with me, that's what starts a fight.

A confrontation starts a fight.

So I have to be upset at you and start a problem in order to create a fight.

I'm going somewhere.

Now, a war, this is what a war is.

A war is a long-lasting fight with many battles.

So a fight is one fight, but a war is something that lasts long.

That's why it's important to know what season you're in.

You have to know where are you?

Are you in the season where you're fighting?

Or are you in a season where you're in a war?

Because they're different, guys.

And if you haven't experienced that yet, then you would.

You gotta understand.

There's a difference between being in a spiritual fight and being in a spiritual war.

But you gotta know which season you're in.

You gotta know what season you're in.

If you don't know what season you're in, you'll use the wrong strategy.

Oh my gosh, so está bueno.

Yo, listen, if you don't know what season you're in, because let me tell you something.

In order to fight, that's a different strategy than going to war.

It ain't the same.

It's not the same.

You cannot use your fighting skills to go into a war.

Both of those areas have different preparations attached to them.

So you can't go in a war as a fighter.

No, you go into a war as a soldier.

A soldier is ready for war, but a fighter is ready to fight.

A fighter is only ready for combat, but a soldier is ready for the long-lasting period of a war.

So that's why it's important to know where you're at right now.

Are you in a spiritual fight or a spiritual war?

Now preparing for a fight, right?

This is what professional fighters do.

Professional fighters have certain things that they do to prepare for a fight.

The first thing I found out is that they go from they go into an 8 to 12 week fighting camp.

I thought that was crazy.

They go into an 8 to 12 week fighting camp.

Next thing they do, right?

They complete daily sessions of strength, conditioning, and martial arts sparring.

I'm talking about a fighter, okay?

They also watch video footage of what?

Of their opponent.

Oh my God, this is gonna get good.

Wait till y'all get this.

Look, footage of their opponent to find what?

What do they do that for?

To find their opponent's weakness.

Right?

To find their opponent's weakness.

And then they endure strict weight cuts in the final days.

That's what a fighter does.

So what that leads me to think is that, man, you do have to be prepared for a fight and prepare for a war, and they're not the same.

So you can't bring a marathon strength to a sprint.

That's not good.

You ain't gonna get nowhere.

If you bring a marathon strength to a sprint, or you can't bring a sprint, the energy of a marathon.

You can't.

The enemy wants you to think that one bad day means you've lost a war.

If he could get you to just think bad one day, then in your mind you're like, oh man, I'm done.

I'm defeated.

What's the point?

I might as well just get have you ever have you has anybody ever felt that way?

I might as well just stop here.

I'm gonna stop here, it's over.

I feel defeated, I'm done.

That's what he wants you to think.

But you know what God says?

God says that one battle does not determine the outcome of the war.

It doesn't.

So the war that you're in now, just because you're in a war doesn't mean you lost.

People that are in war are fighting to stay alive.

Look at the soldiers.

We send soldiers overseas all the time.

And what do they always say they're doing?

They're fighting for the freedom of the United States.

Isn't that what they be saying?

They're fighting for to keep our freedom.

They're fighting against whatever it is they choose to fight for, but they believe and they go and they got these trained soldiers to go into this war.

Today, we're gonna discover the difference between a spiritual fight and a spiritual war.

How to recognize each one and how God has already guaranteed victory through Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Now, let's look at a spiritual fight and a spiritual war.

Number one, a spiritual fight is a specific battle.

It's a specific battle.

Read in the verse again.

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.

Wow.

The word that always sticks out to me when I read this is the word struggle.

Right?

And look at what struggle means.

Struggle means wrestling.

Right?

Hand-to-hand combat and close personal conflict.

That's what struggle means.

Now, why did Paul use this word wrestle to describe the fight?

Because Paul was intentional.

Paul intentionally used the picture of wrestling because spiritual fights are personal.

I can't fight your spiritual battle.

I can't.

As much as I would like to as your pastor, you could tell me, yo, I'm going through something, okay.

Then I'm gonna agree with you on that prayer, but that fight is yours to fight.

That fight is yours to fight.

You gotta fight that one-on-one personal combat that you got going on.

I can lift you up in prayer, and yes, the Lord moves, the Lord moves, and he listens to prayer, he listens to the prayer of the just, the Bible says.

So he will listen, but that fight, fight that you're in, you gotta fight that yourself.

Because they're personal.

Now, of course, he said, um wrestle, right?

So when I think of wrestling, all of you here should know I'm a huge W.

I gotta bring this up, but it goes with the sermon, all right?

I'm a huge WWE fan since I was like the size of this little plant.

And I have not stopped watching, right?

So this made me think of that.

What I love about it though is the concept of the wrestling.

I love the concept of pro wrestling, the concept of WWE specifically, right?

It's built around sports entertainment, so it's an entertainment show.

It's a chosen, it's a show, excuse me, to entertain you, right?

A mix of athletic competition, storytelling, drama.

Yo, there'd be some novelas there, bro.

It does.

It's crazy.

And of live performances.

Look, while the matches are physically demanding, and these pro wrestlers are skilled to do this, the outcome of the stories that they're telling are always predetermined to continue the story.

So if one guy and another guy decide to fight a match, then you're gonna see how that story unfolds and it turns into something that at the end of it, oh, the good guy won.

Oh, the bad guy won.

It's just storytelling for entertainment.

What does the this I gotta ask you this?

What does the end of your war look like?

How does it look?

Have you thought about have you thought that far?

Because maybe you're in a war.

Maybe you skipped the fight.

Now you're in a war.

But what does the end of your war look like?

You're in a spiritual fight at the same time.

You already know how your opponent and who your opponent is.

So when you go into your spiritual personal fight, look, our struggle is not against flesh and blood.

It's not against flesh and blood.

Because if it was, you could get jumped by people.

It could be two people coming against you.

But this says it's not about flesh and blood.

So it takes what?

It takes humans away.

This is not about a human interaction.

We're talking spiritual, but against rulers, against the thought, all of the rest of that verse is showing us that our fight is deeper than who you're looking at.

Our fight is deeper than what you're feeling, our fight is deeper than who you're blaming.

Because we're quick to blame the person that gets us upset.

But our fight is deeper than that.

And you may be thinking, Pastor, yeah, that sounds good.

But if you were to face the person who keeps getting me upset, then you would think otherwise.

Yeah, you're right.

But this is what the word says.

So as believers, we got to go with what the word says.

So you may be looking at that person like, oh my God, here they come again.

But it ain't the person.

It's what's inside the person.

It's what's using that person to get you hot, to get you aggravated.

It's a personal attack.

It's a personal fight.

Now, our war is in the spiritual realm.

That's where our war is.

All of the things mentioned in this verse are part of a realm that we cannot physically see.

Look, rulers against the authorities, right?

We have rulers here.

We have authorities, and against the powers of this dark world, right there, that shows us, wait a minute, the rulers he's talking about and the authority that he's talking about are people in a dark world.

This is a realm that we can't see.

And that's where our fight is.

So, in order to defeat this, in order to battle against this war, this spiritual fight that you got going on, you must tap in into the spiritual.

You have to tap in into the spiritual.

Because it's like this: how much longer are you gonna allow yourself to get smacked around?

How much longer?

Is this gonna become a thing where the enemy knows exactly what to suit to do, excuse me, what to say, to get you aggravated, and he'll just come to you just because he can.

But you're sealed and you got the power of God.

No, but no, you don't use it.

Not only you don't use it, you don't believe you do.

And since you don't believe that you have the power and authority against all of these rulers and authorities in darkness, you stay there.

You just stay there and let all of that happen.

And then we start, and I'm I'm gonna include myself because I've done this.

And then we go to somebody.

Yo, help me, man.

I'm in a fight.

I'm in a fight, I'm in a fight, I'm in a fight.

I'm like, yeah, man, amen.

Yes, okay, amen.

Bro, you're in a fight that's personal.

This is why when you say, hey man, help me pray for this, and you see that nothing happens, why you gotta figure that fight out.

This is your fight.

You can't include other people in the fight unless you want to cheat.

Which is true, unless you want to cheat.

But we're not, we're not about, we're not in the cheating business.

If anything, what you need to understand is we already won this fight.

We already won.

We already have the victory, guys.

Now, because you know why we already have the victory?

Because the reality is this.

We already won, guys.

Why?

Because just like WWE, no, listen.

Just like WWE, just like pro wrestling, excuse me, just like pro wrestling, our outcome is already predetermined.

We already know who's gonna win.

But do you believe you're gonna win?

Do you believe that you already won?

Not that you're gonna win.

Because the going to is something that we have to go through in order to see it.

But do you believe that you already possessed the victory?

And that's where the believer struggles.

Because we need to see it right now.

I need to see that I'm gonna win.

I need to see the steps I'm gonna take, and I'm gonna I need to see it, and then I'll believe it.

But this ain't this this is not how we walk.

That's not how our believer is supposed to walk.

We're supposed to believe without seeing because that's what faith is.

We have also, we have to also be very aware of what is under attack.

What in our lives is under attack, right?

Because sometimes the enemy isn't attacking your money, he's attacking your mind.

So if he attacks your mind, he makes you stress about your money.

Okay?

Sometimes the enemy isn't attacking your health, he's attacking your peace.

Because if he attacks your peace, then your health is out of whack.

You won't focus on your health.

He is strategic, and so many of us in the body of Christ are sleeping on the strategy that the enemy has.

He's strategic.

He's strategic.

Sometimes he's attacking your marriage, and sometimes he's attacking your calling.

If he attacks your marriage, what does he do?

He causes division in the household.

And the Bible says that a house divided in itself cannot stand.

So he'll attack the marriage, and then he'll attack your calling.

Oh, you're called to do this.

You already know what your calling is, but you never see it come to pass.

Why?

And then sometimes I've heard people blame others.

They blame others on the fact that why they're not fulfilling their calling, they'll blame someone else.

In reality, they're the problem.

They just can't accept it.

Why?

Because the enemy already got to your mind.

I'll just attack the calling.

I'll make him feel, I'll make her feel like what they're called to do is not really who they are.

And I'll keep them pinned in the corner as long as I keep them there, they will not grow and they won't see the potential and the power that they actually possess.

I can't let them see that.

So what when he backs you into the corner, when he attacks your marriage, when he attacks your finances, when he attacks your health, he has you in the corner.

Now that's where the fight gets what?

Personal.

Now you got your back against the corner.

What you gonna do?

You're gonna stay there and let him abuse you?

Are you gonna stay there and let him continue to dump everything that he's dumping in your mind that's negative?

Or are you gonna fight back with the authority you've been given through Christ?

It's up to you.

Completely up to you.

You have to understand that a fight is what?

A fight is focused.

A fight is focused.

Like I said earlier, a fighter really trains, and when he trains, he studies his opponent.

That's why a fight is focused.

Because I go into a fight already understanding I know how to defeat this enemy.

I know how to defeat my opponent.

I know what I have to do.

I know that he's weak with the left hand, so I'm gonna hit him with the right.

I know that I gotta be quicker than he is in this battle because I already know my opponent.

Because a fight is focused.

It's one battle.

It's one temptation that could be a fight.

It's one moment where your faith is being tested.

That is a fight.

And we got to understand where we are.

And what we can do about it.

I talked to a lot of people, guys, for a living.

You guys know this already.

And these people find themselves lost every single day.

And this is where this message was birthed because I've been talking to a lot of people and they've been feeling I'm in a fight, Pastor.

Pray for me.

I'm in a fight.

So I started studying what a fight is.

I know what a fight is, but I wanted to dig deep.

And I'm like, oh, wait a minute.

A fight is personal.

I can't help them in a fight.

In a spiritual fight, I can't help in a spiritual fight.

Oh, but a battle, a battle takes an army.

A battle, a war takes an army.

So if you're in a war, you better call, Pastor.

I'm ready.

I'm ready.

In a spiritual war, I'm ready to agree with you for what you want and for you can see.

Hey, you can win.

You already have the victory.

I'm ready.

Next Bible verse.

Book of James, chapter four, verse seven.

Very popular verse.

Amen.

And it says, Submit yourselves then to God.

Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Everybody should know this one by now.

Submit yourselves then to God.

Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Notice this.

It doesn't say chase the devil.

It doesn't say chase the devil.

It doesn't say argue with the devil.

No.

It says resist the devil.

If you chase the devil, you're looking for a fight.

If you argue with the devil, you're entertaining what he did to get you into a fight.

But if you resist him, he has no authority to even step up to you.

He can't.

You're resisting what he's trying to bring to your life to attack you and get you all distraught and distracted.

So when you resist, yo, you're powerful when you resist.

You are so strong in the spirit when you resist.

And we also take this a lot for temptations, right?

Submit your submit your um submit yourselves then to God.

Resist the devil, he will flee for you.

Yes, it can be about temptations, but we're talking about a fight.

We're talking about a war.

We're talking about what we face internally that people do not see.

Can I be honest with you guys?

You think I wanted to be up here today?

If you knew what I fought this week, you would say, Pastor, you should sit down.

Take a break.

Tell somebody else to do it.

But no, this is how I fight.

This is how I resist the devil.

I get up here when he tells me that I'm not worthy.

I still get up here.

This is how I resist.

This is how I swing back at him.

This is how I fight my battle.

This is how I fight my fight.

Amen.

So it says resist.

Look at what the word resist is.

It says to actively, oh my God, this is good.

To actively fight against, oppose or withstand something is what resist means.

It takes activity to fight.

You can't be in a fight if you don't actively move towards fighting someone.

That's why it says resist.

Because when you resist, you're not taking no action.

So the Lord is telling us through James, hey, resist the devil.

Don't give them that space or don't give them that energy.

Because the moment you give them that energy, you're opening the door for a battle.

You're opening the door for a war, for a fight.

Right?

Because he's always looking to fight us.

You know how much he hates you?

Because you're made in the image of God.

He hates you.

And you may think, man, he ain't worried about me.

He probably ain't worried about you, but his demons are.

They're everywhere, just waiting to dump the fear in you.

Dump the doubt in you.

Make you doubt about your call, doubt about your life in general, just waiting to attack you.

Internally, you know who struggles a lot internal?

Men.

We do.

Women, I've noticed, are more vocal about their struggles.

They'll quickly find somebody and be like, girl, my God, girl, you don't know what I'm going through.

It's quick.

And I like that.

I like that.

But you know what it takes for me to say something?

You don't know what it takes for me to say something.

You know why?

Because you're not a guy.

If you're a woman, you're not a guy.

Guys, we threw yo, it's hard for me to talk call somebody.

The closest person I got in here is Babel.

It's hard, it's still hard for me to call Babel, bro.

Angel, I'm sorry.

Said his nickname.

It's hard for me to call Angel.

Even though I know he'll be there for me, but it's hard for me to do it.

Why?

Because I'm a man.

And it don't really got nothing to do with pride, it just has to do with pride.

Let's be real.

But yo, you got to be active to be in a fight.

In order to be in a fight, there's activity that has to happen.

You can't win a fight just standing still.

I don't care who you are.

You ain't Muhammad Ali.

Because even Muhammad Ali had to back up and swing a few times.

But you can't win a fight standing still.

Resisting also involves this pushing back against an outside force.

Oh my God.

And it also means stopping yourself from giving in to a personal urge.

This is where now you can take it as temptation.

Because that's also a fight.

That's also a struggle.

Such as some temptation.

It's been hard.

Have you ever been in a in a in a spiritual battle or fight that you find it hard, you know what to do, but you find it hard to do it.

Like you you just can't.

I know that I gotta pray, but you ain't praying.

Right?

And it's because your mind is just so trapped in what you're going through that you're like, I don't know if I can pray right now.

These are all tactics of the enemy.

Because if he stops you from praying, he stops you from connecting.

And if he stops you from connecting, he stops you from growing.

And if he stops you from growing, he can spiritually kill you.

He's strategic.

Don't forget that.

Resistance, you know what resistance does?

It wins fights.

Resistance wins fights.

One win in this kind of fight is associated with action.

Why is there a comma after yourselves in that verse?

Let's talk about it.

Submit yourselves, comma, then, comma, to God.

The phrase submit yourselves is to what?

Is the complete command.

So he's completing what he said prior, um, what he said in six.

Five, six, and seven go together.

I was gonna read them all, but I was like, no, let me just read seven because I want to drive into seven.

But he's completing it.

That's why there's a comma.

The comma separates it from the inserted word then.

Without the comma, the sentence would read awkwardly.

That's why commas are being used.

And I studied that today.

That was today.

I studied that today.

I'm like, bro, why we got commas?

Now I know why we do commas.

Now, the verse presents a clear order, though.

Look at the verse.

Look at it clearly.

Submit to God.

Put yourself under God's authority and leadership.

That's what submits to God means.

One.

Two, know God's will and do God's will.

Again, you know what to do, but you find it hard to do it.

Yo, know it and do it.

Find the strength inside of you to just do it.

Just do what you know you have to do.

And I'm talking to myself right now.

Just do what you know you gotta do.

Then it says, resist the devil.

What does that look like?

Standing firm against temptation and the lies that the enemy tosses at you.

That's what resisting looks like in this verse.

Just order.

Submit to God to do his will.

Resist the devil, right?

Stand firm in temptation.

Fight against, right?

Wrestle against the devil.

He will flee.

So if you resist him, he will flee.

Satan doesn't flee because of your strength.

Oh God.

Satan doesn't flee because of your strength.

He flees because you're standing under the authority of God.

So he won't flee because you look strong.

You ever heard of a fight?

Oh man, who do you go for?

The underdog?

You ever heard of that?

The underdog.

We're the underdog.

We're the underdog.

But we're only the underdog because we don't believe in the power that we possess.

And then when you look about, when you look at a fight that way, the underdog defeats the big guy.

You're like, wow, how did he do it?

Because he knew what to do against his opponent.

And that's how the believer should live.

We should know the power we possess when we allow ourselves to walk under God's authority with his power.

That's how we become winners.

Next Bible verse.

And I'm almost done, guys.

1 Peter 5, 8, and 9.

Listen to this one.

This is good.

Be alert and of sober mind.

Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

Verse 9.

Resist him, standing firm in the faith.

Because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of suffering.

This goes with you ever heard somebody say, Man, you ain't the only one fighting that?

That's what verse 9 is.

You ain't the only one going through that.

That's it's true.

Verse 9 shows it to you.

Around the world, you know how many other people were struggling with the same thing I struggled this week around the world?

But you know what?

Sometimes, since it's us, we make it all about us.

Since we're the ones going with the problem, we make it about us.

And we make the people around us, hey, hey, me, me, me, me, me, me, me.

Pray for me, pray for me, help me, help me, help me.

And it's like, whoa.

You have power.

You possess the power that I possess.

Because you serve the same God that I serve, and you're sealed with the same Holy Spirit that I'm sealed with.

You can do it too.

But look, look at what it says.

Verse 8.

It says, be alert.

In other words, be vigilant, be watchful, pay attention, be prepared.

And in another one, be ready.

That's what be alert means.

Be ready.

Because the one causing you your war is on watch.

He's on watch.

That's all he wants to do.

All he wants to do is fight you.

You know why?

Because he sees that you don't believe in the power you have.

So he continues to weaken you by fighting you when you're down.

He'll fight you when you're down.

But when you're resisting, right?

When you're resisting and you're under God's authority, he can't touch you.

Because he sees that you believe in what you have.

Peter says, stand.

Right?

He says, stand.

In other words, don't panic.

Don't panic.

Yeah, I know what you're going through is crazy, but don't panic.

Don't show panic.

Yeah, I know you don't understand what's going on and you want to see the outcome already.

You hate what you're going through, but don't panic.

Don't run either.

How many wish that they could run away from their problems when they come?

Too bad we can't.

I wish we could.

It would make sense.

I'll run so far.

What?

I would run so far away from my problem if I could, but you know what?

We can't.

Especially a believer.

We're not called to run.

We're not called to run.

Don't surrender.

But he said, stand.

And the word stand means as a verb.

As a verb.

The word stand, look at what it means.

To successfully bear something unpleasant.

Oh my God.

Oh my God.

That's a girl.

This verse is teaching us that in the midst of the battle and the war, we have to what?

Bear the unpleasant.

Withstand the unpleasant.

Take the pressure of the unpleasant.

That's what we're called to do.

Because it don't feel good and you don't want to feel it, but you got no other choice but to go through it.

Got no other choice.

A fight requires what?

Steadfast faith.

A faith that's solid, a faith that cannot be moved, cannot be shaken.

So you find yourself struggling with your faith, ask the Lord.

Hey, please help my unbelief.

Your word says that I got power.

Your word says that I could rebuke.

Your word says that I can heal the sick.

I want to, but I find trouble believing that.

Work on my unbelief.

Because when you ask God that you're allowing what?

Space for him to move in your life.

Space for him to teach you.

Okay, you want, then I'm going to give this to you.

This is how you do it.

It's in my word.

And that's where you get the ball rolling in this fight.

And with this outcloth, guys.

The greatest victory that you'll ever win is not over the devil.

It's not over the devil.

It's over yourself.

The greatest victory that you will ever win, it's not over the devil.

It's easy to blame him because he's the devil.

He's mean.

He's bad.

He's out to kill you.

But that's not the guy that you will be completely victorious over.

You are still fighting yourself.

We are still fighting ourselves from day to day.

Some of us have spent years fighting what?

The wrong battle.

Oh my God, that was me, bro.

Some of us have spent years fighting the wrong battle.

We've been arguing with people when the real enemy was trying to divide you from them.

We've been blaming our spouses, our friends, our children.

We've been blaming our pastors for years, our co-workers.

And we've been even blaming God.

While the enemy quietly celebrates because we never recognize who we're really fighting.

So he's like, oh, look at him blaming his pastor.

If he knew it was me.

But you know what?

Let him keep thinking it's his pastor.

Because the moment he does that, you know what he's doing?

He's causing division.

That's because we're blind to know that the one causing it is the enemy.

The devil doesn't always need to destroy you.

I said this a few weeks ago.

He doesn't always need to destroy you.

Sometimes he just needs to distract you.

He just needs to distract you.

And if he can keep you swinging at people, instead of standing against him, he's already winning.

He won.

He won.

He just distracts you and shifts your focus from him to them.

And when you look at them and fight them, he's no longer in the picture.

And since he's no longer in the picture, nobody's fighting and swinging at him.

You're not resisting, you're going with.

You're going with the battle, going with the fight, going with the war.

You're just going with it.

That's why Paul said in that verse that we wrote um read first.

He said, Our struggle is not against flesh and blood.

God is trying to change our perspective, guys.

Because the person isn't your enemy.

He's not.

And the battle isn't what you thought it was.

The real question today is this.

Who have you been fighting that God has called you to forgive?

Have you been fighting somebody and you know you got to forgive them?

Who is that?

Think about that, guys.

Think about that.

What battle have you been exhausting yourself that you're going through that God never called you to fight?

We're fighting battles that we shouldn't even be fighting.

We're going through storms and all of this stuff that we're going through.

Some of this stuff that we're going through, guys, it don't even belong to us.

We've adopted pain.

We've adopted struggles.

We've adopted, you know what else we've adopted?

We've adopted sicknesses.

We've adopted so much and made it so much a part of our lives that now we're fighting a battle that doesn't even belong for us to fight.

Some of you have been carrying anger.

Others have been carrying offense.

Some have been carrying bitterness, pride, revenge, disappointment, and hurt.

Those things don't just weigh you down, guys.

They keep you from fighting the battle that God actually called you to fight.

It's a distraction.

A distraction.

Today, God is saying, put down the wrong weapons.

You're using the wrong weapons.

You're using pride, hate, and all of this.

Those are the wrong weapons in that fight.

You know who's giving you those weapons?

The enemy is giving you those weapons.

So you're actually fighting for the enemy, with the enemy.

Against who?

Against yourself.

Against yourself.

Stop fighting with your mouth and start fighting on your knees.

That's where our fight is.

You want to win your fight?

Fight on your knees.

Stop fighting with your mouth.

And what I mean by that is, I'm not saying don't declare that you're free from the fight.

Yeah, you got to pray.

Pray on your knees.

But believe in what you're saying.

Believe that you have the authority to go in prayer and say, no, this is my battlefield.

My knees, our knees should be our battlefield.

Because you know what is already?

Our mind.

So how do you fight against your mind?

Your mind tells you all these negative things all day.

Is it just me?

Y'all mind be lying to you too?

My mind be lying to me all day long.

All day.

He brings up something that's nonsense.

And I'm quick to blame the enemy.

But is it really always the enemy?

No.

Like I said earlier, yo, we're fighting ourselves.

And the best victory we're gonna have is when we defeat ourselves.

How?

By standing under the authority that God gave us through Christ.

That's how you fight this.

If that's you today, and you've realized that you've been fighting the wrong battle, if you've allowed offense, anger, fear, or unforgiveness to take over your heart, don't stay where you are, guys.

Don't stay there.

The altar is a place of shame.

This altar isn't a place of shame, I'm sorry.

It's a place of exchange.

So you come and you say, God, here, I can't.

Oh my God, life hurts.

Oh my goodness, this is hard.

I can't, I'm in this battle.

Here, Lord.

Or maybe you're just gonna be.

I I I want you.

I want you more.

I need you more, God.

That's what an altar is for, guys.

Bring your anger and leave with peace.

Bring your anger and leave with peace.

Bring your hurt and leave with healing.

Bring your confusion and leave with clarity.

Oh my god, clarity is so important.

Bring your battle and let God teach you how to fight.

So I want to say, guys, this the altar's open.

Altar's open today.

If you guys want prayer, come up for prayer.

Just for strength.

Whatever it is, endurance, come up for prayer.

I'll be willing to pray for you guys if you want.

You the altar's open.

Stop fighting, people.

And let's start fighting in prayer.

Because if we're in a spiritual fight or a spiritual war, remember, the spiritual fight is yours to fight.

So, like I said earlier, you hand that over to God.

But if you're in a spiritual war, you have a body of Christ here equipped to be with you in the war.

We are all soldiers of God.

So in your war, let me tell you, you're not alone.

There's war in your mind.

There's war going on in our minds.

But we can't fight in that war, guys.

We can't.

The war is with a united group.

And the body of Christ is all one.

Let's start tearing down the kingdom of darkness.

How much longer are we gonna allow him to continue to reign over our lives?

Confuse us.

And the main one, keep us away from God.

How much longer are we gonna let him do that?

Because we're quick to find every excuse to stay away.

Every excuse.

Oh nah, you know, I'll do it next week.

I'll read my Bible next time.

Every excuse to keep God away, but every excuse also to keep the enemy close.

And we don't even realize it.

We don't realize it.

So, guys, altars open.

Come.

Let God reset your heart.

A reset of the heart.

Let God reset your heart.

Refocus your eyes and remind you who the real enemy is.

Today we're choosing the right battle and the right enemy.