Standing Firm Through Warfare | Elder Peng Ang Hoe

You're listening to a message to go from acts Church.

We hope this message will light up your day.

I'm still and this is the last part of the

message that I prepared this year on ephesion. So I've

come to the end Emphesians chapter six. I think the

last time I was here I sheard from chapter five

and some parts on chapter six. So we've come to

chapter six, and I'm going to be reading Versus ten

to twenty four today. I've simply just entitled the message

standing firm true of Sorry if I speak a little

bit fast sometimes if if if you can't catch me,

just stand me blankly and I'll know to slow down.

I'll try to slow down. Okay, I'm going to be

reading from the NLT Versus ten to twenty four of

chapter six, So if you will bear with me, allow

me to read God's word, and then I'll break it

down and prayerfully that there's something that we can catch

today as well. It says this, and this is Paul

coming to the finale of the the latter a final word.

Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

Put on all of God's armor, so that you will

be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil.

For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies,

but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world,

against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil

spirits in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on every piece

of God's armor so you will be able to resist

the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle,

you will still be standing firm. Stand your ground, putting

on the belt of truth and the body armor of

God's righteousness for shoes. Put on the peace that comes

from the Good News, so that you will be fully prepared.

In addition to all of this, hold up the shield

of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil.

Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword

of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Pray

in the Spirit at all times and on every okay,

stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all

believers everywhere, and pray for me to ask God to

give me the right words so I can boldly explain

God's mysterious plan that the good News is for Jews

and gentiles alike. I'm in chains now, still preaching this

message as God's ambassador. So pray that I will keep

on speaking boldly for him as I should to bring

you up to date. Okay, I can pronounce his name.

I guess it's Tychikus Tickikers. Okay, Taychikus will give you

a full report about what I'm doing and how I'm

getting along. He is a beloved brother and faithful helper

in the Lord's work. I've sent him to you for

this very purpose, to let you know how we are

doing and to encourage you. Peace be with you, dear

brothers and sisters. And may God the Father and the

Lord Jesus Christ give you love with faithfulness. May God's

grace be eternally upon all who love our Lord Jesus Christ,

the Lord bless the reading of his word. Okay, this

is how we're gonna start. We're all at war. You

realize that we're all at war. And if you had

a peaceful life before you became a Christian, to become

a Christian in a way, sometimes controversially, I have to

say this, it's almost like to lose the peace, whether

you believe it or not. Let me let me, let

me paint this picture. Okay, because all of us are

right in front of the front line of battle. The

meaning we say yes, we choose to believe in Christ Jesus.

We are moving from one kingdom into another kingdom. And

we know of course what this realm and this physical

realm in which we live in who it belongs to.

So moving to another kingdom is basically moving boundaries. And

we are in the front line right now. And so

we are all in this battle. And you know what's

the most dangerous thing for earth to be when we

are in battle is actually to be weak. That is

the reminder here that Scripture is actually telling us is

so dangerous for us to be weak Christians. Uh As

in every battle, usually the ones that survive are the

strong ones. That's that's the truth, the one who those

who are fitters, uh, those who are strong. If you're weak,

usually it's hard to keep up. And that is why

it's so important for us to be reminded to the

one of the one hope that we need to be

holding onto, and that is to be holding onto the

Lord because he is our strength. And you will never

fight and win any battles in life. I assure you,

as Christians and as believers with your own strength. And

that's why Paul starts it off by saying, finally, my brethren,

be strong in the Lord, in the strength of his mind.

That's how he starts all. Well, technically that's how he

ends the letter, and he's saying, be strong in the Lord,

in the strength of his mind. Basically, he's saying, you

need to know how to discover yourself to be strong

in the Lord. We need to find ourselves in God's strength.

It's a great reminder for those who are reading this

letter because we will never never be able to do

this by ourselves. You see, God never promised to take

us out of the battle. Sometimes we want that. Oh

I became a believer, How do you praise Lord God.

I pray life will be smooth selling and easygoing and

hassle free moving forward. It's not going to happen. In fact,

I don't think God made any promises like that taking

us out of the battle. Well, not until the day

we die. I believe that. I think until the day

we die, we will be constantly battling it out. But

what He has promised is that he has promised to

give us strength, and he has promised to equip and

resource us for all that we need to win. That's

what God has promised in his scriptures. And you see

he wants soldiers. He doesn't want just servants. He wants

those who will fight for him. And the aim of

a soldier is technically don't retreat. You see when the

Roman army Julius Caesars troops landed on the shaws of England,

and you have to realize England anyone from the UK here, well,

the UK is this. I want to say, God for

saken place, but now no it's not. It's not well.

The weather seems God forsaken sometimes and people, many people

will attest to that. Man UK, it's always reigning, so gloomy.

It's an island, okay, it's detached from mainland continental Europe.

And so back then Julius Esars army when they arrive

and the Shaws of the England, they're like, okay, you're

gonna conquer this place. And you know what, what was

the first thing they did? They turn around and they

burn their boats. Actually that was the first thing that

they did, and that's where you get that term burning

your boats. Basically they had in mind one ambition only

and that is to not retreat no matter what, we

are here and we ain't going back. So either we

take this place or we die doing it. And really

what an amazing ambition, and that really ought to be

the heart of every Christian soldier. I will never go

back God helping me. I will never give the enemy

an inch or whatever ground that is to gain. Let

it be gain for Christ, not for the devil, by

me retreating, but only see. God's movement has always been forward,

moving forward, moving ahead, and we can do that only

with God. And so this whole letter of the Efficients

is actually Paul highlighting a believers, almost like a spiritual portfolio. Okay,

however you want to look at it, know who we

are and all we have in Christ, because if you

read chapters one, two, three, four, five, six, you'll see

you'll see a bit of a team that I really

said before. The first part is a lot of telling

us about what our beliefs are, what the doctrines are,

and then the second part is how you apply, how

you leave, how you behave. That's why I say it's

also so important for us to know that it's not

just all about information, because information and knowledge with no purpose,

no application, counts for nothing. And so this part we

are seeing is the practical part. The starting part is

the more well theoretical part. But it's all important. And

so efficients if you see in chapter two or verse

six of chapter two, Paul is actually telling us, no,

you've got to see yourselves first and foremost are seated

in Christ. That's the posture that we have to take

in relation to God. We've got to be seated in

Christ's says, sit together in the heavenly places in Christ.

And that's what God wants us to realize in relation

to Christ. Sit here, receive, and then after we have

learned to sit and wait on the Lord. Then in

verse one of chapter four you see Paul now encouraging

the believers to walk worthy of the calling with which

you were called. And so once you learn how to

sit and receive and hear, now learn how to walk

worthy of their calling. And then eventually, once we have

reached chapter six, you have learned how to sit, you

have learned how to walk. Now you have to learn

how to stand and fight against the enemy. And so

the word that is most frequently used at this portion

of the scripture is actually stand. That's why you see

a lot of stand, stand firm. So in relation to

the enemy, we are called to stand. In relation to Christ,

we are called to sit in relation to our relationships

with one another. That's why Chapter four five is about

how we live with one another, how we cooperate in

our daily lives with one another. It talks about the

congregation in church, it talks about leaders, what the fiveful

ministry is. It's all about how do we exist and

how do we co exist in the body of believers.

Then it goes on to talk about how to coexist

overall in society, and then it goes deeper and exists

how we should coexist as husband and wife, parents and children,

employer and employee. We need to learn how to walk

with one another. That is the verb that you see

most often used in that portion, So a spiritual portfolio.

We need to learn how to sit in Christ waiting

on the Lord. We need to learn how to walk

with one another, how to live our lives that brings

glory to God. And then now ultimately we are talking

in relation to the enemy. You need to learn how

to stand, very very important. And so the first need

really when it comes to enemy is you need to

be able to identify the enemy and the real enemy.

Can I just tell all of you this is really

not human. The real enemy is actually unseen. That is

the problem. Now, don't get me wrong. And I know

some people it's almost like you think they exist to

make life jolly difficult for you. I know, I know

we have all those sometimes in our lives now, some friends,

some relatives, maybe sometimes your husband on certain mornings, your wife,

the oh man, you know, can happen. But it could

be a colleague. You know, there's always one one that's

there a little bit of a pain, making life difficult.

But but really, don't wrestle with them. Don't wrestle with

humans because they are not the real enemy. And if

you fight with them, you are basically using up your

energy and wasting it towards the wrong group of people.

And then to make things worse, fighting them will make

you not even realize that you're actually essentially fighting something

that's unseen, someone who is unseen. And so the first

need for us to realize is human beings are not

our enemies. They really aren't. Don't look at humans as

you know, the very people that I want to go against.

Why it's wasting time really and that's why Paul tells

us that your enemy is Satany. It's in the scriptures.

I'm not making this up. Read it and read it

slowly when you have time. When you go back, see,

the devil doesn't just leave you alone. And the Bible

teaches the existence of a devil as clearly as it

teaches the existence of God. I keep you not, I'm

not making this up. You read Genesis right a start.

It talks about the devil already. You go through all

four Gospels. In the middle it talks about the devil.

You well, once you arrive at the end in Revelations,

it talks about the devil. And so the Bible makes

it clear. You know, really, if you believe in God,

you've got to believe in the devil, because he's not

just a figment of our imagination. He's not. That's the

reality of it. And Paul is going to teach you

that you need to pray for all the saints and

pray for each other all you will be caught in

the devil's snare. That's that's what's happening. You see. The

Bible goes on to say that he is a person

of superior intelligence and strength, to you. You know, scriptures

actually tell us that you could never win a battle

with the devil by your celphone. Sometimes we think, oh, man,

I can't. I'll take you on. Well, you think about

the distractions, the temptations in your life sometimes puts us

to shame. Really, and you and we think that all

we can just battle it out with the devil. Well,

we've got to be very very careful because the scriptures

actually describe the devil as the ruler, the prince of

this world, the god of this world. You think those

are like weak descriptions of the devil. No, it's not.

And that is why you actually didn't have to bother

with the devil prior to becoming a believer, that's the truth.

But once you became a believer, the devil actually views

you as a traitor because no longer are you now

on his side of this world, which belongs to him

to a certain extent, we are on God's side, and

that makes us a traitor. And you watch any espionage

movies or shows, the traitors usually treated the worst, the worst.

And that's why temptation is so strong. That's why distractions

are so strong. That's why attacks on Christians and believers

are strong, and that's why we have to be very,

very vigilant and very very careful. You see, when Christ

saved us, he saved us from the power of the devil. Basically,

he translated you from the kingdom of darkness into the

kingdom of life. He's the one that got you free.

He had to break some chains to set you free.

That's the truth. Those chains were put in your life

by Satan, and those chains fell off when Jesus rose

again Hallelujah, praised the Lord. And when you choose to

follow God, that is how you are being liberated and

set free. So we know Satan is no match for God.

He knows that as well, and that's why he doesn't

try to stop God. He knows he's a match for

God's people, no, and that's why all his attacks are

directed not against God, is directed against God's people. And

not only are we up against satanic enemy, it says,

actually we are up against supernatural hosts. It's actually in

the plural, it's our means. So it's not just one devil,

but many demons. And Paul writes about supernatural beings evil

spirits as being in charge of the world and that's

why in every facet of society, from politics to commerce,

science to arts to education, you see the whole of

the devil in it, entertainment, every one of it. You

will see it. And the Bible really keeps telling us

that this world is in the grip of principalities and powers,

and therefore these enemies are not only supernatural and satany,

they are spiritual. And you can't fight them with your

bazookahs and your tanks and your guns and your ak

for these sevens, that's the truth. You can you can't

take things and throw at them, but you need to

fight them with spiritual weapons. You can't fight them with

military mind. And this explains why it's so difficult to

fight because you can't get hold of them. Is it's

just one of those things, how do you get hold

of something that's unseen. But you see the difference is

they can easily get hold of you. And that's why

it always starts. It always starts with a whole. If

the devil has a hole on you and we don't

do something about it, before we know it, that whole

becomes a stronghold. And then before you know it, that

stronghold becomes a stranglehold, and then we are done for

if we are not vigilant. And that is why it's

so difficult to fight them. Where are they? Where are

these evil spirits well pulses. They're in the heavenly places,

and that is the problem. They are spiritual hosts of wickedness,

not down below with earth, but and not not in

hell far far away, but they're in the heavens. And

all the conflict that is ongoing is ongoing in the heavenings,

and what we are experiencing here on earth is the

spillover of the conflict that is taking place in the heavenniess.

And that is why you can't see these enemies. You

can't hear them. They're unseen, they're spiritual, they're in the

heavenly places. You can either think that man this picture

is talking some mumbo jumbo nonsense, or really you take

the scripture as the truth. Because the devil wants you

to go on fighting on a physical level. He wants

you to go on fighting on a mental level. He

wants you to think that just continue on. You know,

min over matter, maybe you can try that. You know science,

we try, we try mine over matter. I'm going to

overcome this. I'm going to overcome this. When I say

I'm going to overcome it, I'm going to overcome it,

you think you really can overcome it. Sometimes we fight

it with I don't know physically, I'm going to overcome

this dam I'm gonna be healthy, I'm gonna increase my stamina,

I'm gonna do all sorts of things. And we find

ourselves slowly sipping back down. The devil wants us to

continue battling it out in the scene world. But that's

not where we should be fighting, because Paul says, right now,

he says, put on the whole armor of God. And

I know sometimes when we read these scriptures, we think, Okay,

this belongs to ex kids. It's so fun. No, I'm

sure teacher Selena has thought this over and over and

over again, sang songs, probably has sang songs to our children.

Let me teach you the armor of God. No, it's

actually for us. It really is for all of us.

Because Paul is looking at earth, and you got to

remember this. No, the devil wants you to go on

fighting at the level Paul is saying, Now you put

on the whole armor of God. And as he's writing

that he is actually chained to a Roman soldier, and

he's probably looking at this soldier trained not to give

an inch stuck to him, and he's observing every part

of his garb and his garment and whatever that he has.

And that's that's where he starts writing to the church

in Ephesus and telling us how we need to be

equip And so he says, you need to put on

the armor of God, not so much to protect our

physical and our mental state, but really the spiritual side

of things is so important, because he says, you haven't

got any of your own. We don't have our own armor,

We don't have our own weapon of warfare. You couldn't

defend yourself against Satan. We can't. If we think we can,

if we think we can use our mind and our

physical mind and our physical strength to defend ourselves and

attack Satan and his demons, we are wrong. Because Jesus himself,

Remember this, Jesus himself was tempted at all points. He

Brews chapter four, verse fifteen says that and what makes

us thing that we won't be tempted? We will be,

and we all probably have been, and some even still

being temptation is there is so strong, and so now

he goes into what is it that is needed? Well,

he says, the first thing that you will need is

a belt. Okay, someone will thinking, okay, the belt is

to make sure our pans don't fall out. No, no, no,

it's more than that. Most soldiers have a belt. In

those days, they used to actually hang a sword in

the belt. And the first thing a soldier does going

on duty is actually to they call it, to brace

himself with the belt. And Paul is saying that the

first thing you need is to be gripped by truth,

held by truth of reality. That's why it says bell

of truth. Then whatever happens, you can still say, I

am held by the truth that braces me for the battle.

If you see weightlifters or powerlifters, do you realize that

they actually put on a belt before they start doing

heavy lifting is to make sure that their back don't break.

Really is to keep their posture right, to make sure

that they are going to be able to stand firm

any form of heavy lifting. You tighten your belt, and

you tighten it really tight. And you know that is

so important for us to be able to declare truth truth.

You know the acts of prayer that we always tell people. Okay,

and this is how you will remember the acronym for prayer.

These other things that you can do for prayer. The

first thing is actually adoration. What is adoration is declaration

of truth. God, you are good God, You are almighty God.

You are the creator of the heavens and the earth. God.

You are subject to no one. God, you have overcome death,

and you have given us hope and the future. Declare

adoration is part of prayer. It's so important for us

to be able to do that because what are we doing.

We are essentially gripping ourselves to truth, raiding ourselves, raiding

ourselves for the betterlens, so praising and proclaiming God as

the truth and reality of our lives. The first step

the belt of truth. The second piece of equipment that

you will need is something to cover your heart. That's

why it's called the breastplate that covers the heart. And

what do you need to protect your heart? But I'll

tell you what you need to protect your heart. It's

actually righteousness, righteousness, uprightness, doing the right thing. And you see,

the devil loves to be able to point and say

you know shame, your shameful person, your meaningless person. Everything

you do is meaningless. Know there's no meaning in your life,

there's no purpose. You're a failure. And before you know it,

the heart is drained and vulnerable to commit wrong things,

to make choices which are not right, even before the

fight begins. You see, the breastplate of righteousness is to

protect your heart. Otherwise, if you allow your morals to

go down before you know it, you're moral is low.

And that is the case for all of us, how

many of us, when we find ourselves doing something wrong

and before you know it, I'm like, oh, man, if

this is going to carry, I don't think God will

ever be able to forgive me anymore. I think I'm

going to give up because we let the God down

and we start making wrong choices. And so it's called

the breastplate of righteousness is to protect our heart so

that morality is kept at the right place where we

are constantly making right choices for God. And here is

why confession in prayer is actually so important. The sea

of the acts of prayer is actually confession. Sometimes we

think no point, no noly confess God, I confess to

you multiple times a day. I think you as fed up.

I also fed up or confessing to you us be

fed up with me. That's how we sometimes come to conclusions,

which is not true because the scripture says that as

long as you confess your sins to God, he is

faithful to forgive you. Amen. Don't ever take away confession

in your prayer, your daily prayer. It's so so important.

What's the third item. It's the equipment for your feet

sandals and Roman soldiers had special sandals. They had spikes

in the souls, as if the sandal was made to

stay put. So you try to imagine in any hand

to hand battle or combats wrestling, what you're supported to

do is you you need to make sure you stand firm. Okay,

remember watching this Corean show about something, this Qoran wrestling

thing that they like to lift people up off the ring.

And I don't know whether you're watched it before, no, okay,

but they do it badful Okay, anyway, sorry, I digress. Yeah,

that there is a spotlight. It's a traditional spot but wrestling, really,

if you is the whole idea is you keep your

feet on the ground and you don't get yourself lifted up,

thrown up, or pin down. You got to dig both

feet into the ground and so your feet are literally

anchored to the ground. You remain rooted by standing on

the Gospel of peace. You see, that's quite amazing to

use peace to fight a war. But Paul means that,

remember above all, not to go to your enemy's level

while being attacked, because sometimes that's what we can do. Right,

enemy is coming at Earth, going to war with Earth,

and then we are like, okay, man, I'm going to

battle it out with him. I'm going to see I'm

going to find all sorts of different ways to win

this battle underhand or overhand or overhead or whatever it is.

Do you know even in normal world warfare, under international

humanitarian laws, there's actually proper rules of engagement on I

don't know whether you realize that now. That means that

you cannot simply go and bomb people when they are

weak or when they are vulnerable. You cannot go and

bomb a school or hospitals and things like that. You know,

where where do you think all these laws comes from?

It comes from Scripture. I always believe every law that

we have, the good ones, can derive itself from canonical

laws actually, and so there is a proper way of

doing things. Paul was a prisoner chained to a Roman soldier.

Do you think he was resentful? Do you think all

day long he was plotting? Man, I'm gonna wait until

he's sleepy. I'm gonna take that knife. I'm gonna step him.

Means you think Paul is doing that? What did Paul do?

Paul preach to the floor all day long? I think

probably it'd be more annoying. Way. Pray for him? No, brother,

brother soldier, Why can I pray for today? He? That

was what he did. He used peace. Peace. He would

talk to this Roman soldier, pray for him, and he

wants soldiers over to Christ. Really he did you read

the scriptures? Is there Paul and Silas singing hymes?

No?

And then the soldier comes to him, Know what must

I do to be saved? Repent and believe, and your

whole household will be safe. And that is the best

form of defense. To attack with the Gospel of peace.

Just they put I'm not going to hit below the belt,

even if that's what the enemy is doing, because my

feet are on the Gospel of Peace. The fourth thing

you need is a shield important to have a shield

because if you have anything thrown at you, you want

to be able to cower behind a shield, something that

you can hold. And in the biblical days, what was

usually thrown at them is something known as a fiery don.

It's a fiery arrow. Basically, it's an arrow that is

deep in tar. They light it up and then they

should okay. And so what they have to do is, well,

they have to defend from the fiery arrows, those arrows

that are flying all the way. And Roman soldiers had

this big soft wooden shield that they carry. It's actually

soft because it is able to absorb the dads, and

it's I don't know, probably filled with something that sort

of quenches the fire, something soft that quenches the fire.

And so whenever that that lands on it, the fire

goes off and then they are safe. And so really

that is what the shield of faith is about. Whatever

the devil throws at you, are you able to say,

I believe, I trust whatever fiery thats are throned at you.

Are you able to say, my faith is not affected.

I will strengthen myself in the Lord, my faith is

not shaken. What is it that we are hanging on

to today's world. Sometimes we always equate our faith with

anything and everything is defined by how I feel today,

how I feel and I wake up, how I feel

and I look at the person lying down next to me. No,

it's really based on facts. And the fact is our

faith is built on who Christ Jesus is, because who

do you think is the piling and the perfector of

our faith is Jesus. And so if you don't hang

on to Jesus, then really our faith is going to

be easily shaken, and then we lose the whole defense

and we lose the whole shield. And so our faith

is what absorbs the attack of the devil and the

evil one. And then the next thing we need is

something to protect our hate. And your heat is the

part that usually thinks, okay, pop quiz. Your hate is

to think, is it okay? I talk? That's no, no, no.

Sometimes in today's world, I don't need think really a

lot of things. You know. One of the things that

they were talking about, my wife was telling me on

uh yesterday in class, I learned that we need to

teach logic to children again and common sense. I'm like, wow, okay,

uh it because apparently logic and common sense is not

very logical and common anymore, and it has to be taught.

And the hate is yeah, of course I told her,

how do you teach something that is for me? You

see what the problem of the world is. Everything is

redefined today. You define it whatever you want. How do

you how do you impart anything which is not absolute?

That's why the moment you allow morality to degrade, it's

the beginning of a slippery slope that you will never end.

Can you ever teach logic? Because what is logical to

you may not be logical to your child, and then

they will claim that, no, that's not logical, that's not common.

It's common in my days. Yeah, but that's the that's

the truth. And that's why when you see a degradation

of morality, when they are no longer absolute morals in life.

This is Romans chapter one and chapter two, you will

see it. It will just go down and down. And

so we need to protect our hit. What are our

belie leaves, What is your doctrine? What is your understanding

of God? Protection of your heat is true the helmet

of salvation. You see, we can all get lost in theology.

We can all get lost in philosophy, and the devil

can twist your thinking round and round and round until

it's so commuluted you can't even differentiate right and left.

But the one thing that will keep your heat protected

is to gear your thinking to salvation, to your savior,

and let that be the center of your thinking. And

the devil can't attack your hate. You know. Whenever I

think of the day I was safe, I don't know.

I mean maybe this is another thing that I realize

is when I first came to Christianity and someone was

sharing to me, it was something so foreign, so strange,

and I had to go home and tell my parents,

oh no, I went to church today, or Christian friend

telling me about God because my dad is like what God?

Money is got? Oh am? Going? Is my God? Way?

Other things not important in life? And I'm like, okay,

that I realize, Oh man, I think it's going to

I'm going to be in for a long journey. But

there was so much resistance just to embrace the truth

in my life. And that's why when I think of salvation,

it means something, you know. Now I want to teach

my children what's what being saved is what is it?

A bunch of privileged kids. I'm serious, right, I'm looking

at you. Learn how I want to teacher about baptism. No,

die to your things. They're like, what scenes they're just

thinking about my next holiday. Ah No, really it's not

being easy. But I want so much for them to

discover their faith. But how do you discover faith in

the midst of luxury and life being so nice and

you're so sheltered and so protected. Send them to kbanks, No,

send them to boot No, that's why. That's the thing.

We are all soldiers. Yeah, that's the that's the part

that I'm trying to tell them. We're all soldiers. We

are all in the boot camp of Lifely, that's why

I say, schol your kids, seriously, teach them, teach and instruct. Yeah,

all of them in love somen't. But you need to.

You need to, Okay, in a way that won't get

you in behind bars. But yeah, you need to teach

an instruct your children, really, because if not, they will

never be able to understand the true meaning of salvation,

the true meaning of salvations. I am a sinner deserving

of death, My God, the creator of the heavens and

the earth will look at me a shameful and shameless

sinner sometimes and still say that you have a chance

to be rec sound with me, and I want to

love you. It's crazy because I tell you what, the

only thing that can ever come from salvation, the only

respond that can ever come from salvation is thanksgiving. That's

the t in your acts of prayer. That is why

it's so important for us to be able to give thanks.

We've got to protect our minds, our thinking with salvation

to your Savior. Let that be the center of your thinking.

And the devil can't attack you anymore because no one

can attack your testimony and your salvation testimony nobody, because

I choose to believe, and if you choose to believe,

then the only response is God, thank you, thank you

so much. That is the response to salvation. Amen. And finally,

there's only one item left, and it's not an equipment

for defense. It's actually an equipment to attack. See the bell,

the breastplate, shields, and the helmet all to defend yourself,

but this one is to attack. And it's basically a

little Roman sword is shot, is brought and is actually

shut on two ages that's why it's known as a

double sword. And the sword of the Spirit, I believe

is our tongue. I will explain why I say. It

means let the Spirit guide your tongue. You see, sometimes

when we are under attack, use scriptures, quote the Bible,

use the scriptures. Whatever words that the Lord puts, the

Spirit of God puts in your mouth, release it. The

sword of the Spirit is what the Spirit gives you

to say the moment you are under attack. When the

devil attacked Jesus in the wilderness, what did he do?

He actually say? Have you not read? You should not

term the Lord your God. He was quoting scriptures and

he used his tongue, and the devil did not like that,

did not like that one bit. Because the truth stands,

and it stands forever. And the truth is the devil

is of no match compared to God and God's word. Amen.

And so that's why it's so important for us when

we are praying, we need to ask ask the as

of the acts of prayer is supplication. I know, big one.

The other word is also a big one is petition.

But if you want to ask me how to dumb

it down all the way to our level. My level

is basically ask Ah sick, No, we need to do that.

We need to use this tongue that the Lord has

given us and allow the spirit to take over and

release that. Ask God, God is so important that I

know what to say? No, I there are days when

I find myself praying for what to pray? Have you

ever found yourself doing that? Because sometimes you think you

are praying what is the right thing for that person,

but that may not be what is you're supposed to

be praying. And so there are a lot of days

when God, give me the right words, show me what

is it that you will want for this person, and

let me pray specifically in the accordance to your will.

So important. So what is Paul saying Ultimately? He's saying ultimately,

put on Jesus because Jesus is the truth, because Jesus

is our righteousness, because Jesus is the pioneer and the

perfector of our faith, because Jesus is our salvation. Put

on Jesus, and you are more than a match for Satan.

That's what the scripture is telling us. Amen. Now we

come to verse eighteen and he talks about alertness, a

weak soldier is of no use. We know that. That's

why the scripture says, you got to solidly defy yourself,

strengthen yourself, make sure there's armors around you. A soldier

without his armory is of no use. And likewise, I

tell you what's another soldier which is on the use.

It's a soldier which is sleeping. You got to watch.

You got to keep watching. No. I left green camping.

When I was young, I used to go camping. Uh

and I had this uh uh. When I was fifteen,

I ran into this class where there's a teacher who

always brings her students all out for camping trips. And

this is the whole class, not like thirty five forty

of us back in a Kabangsan school once we finished PM.

She brings the whole class every year without film. Of course,

some love it, some hated day. All those super north

fit flirs go camping. That was the first time to

carry a thirty kilo harvest sag hike for five hours,

pitch a ten dig a hole to take a dumb Okay,

it wasn't the best thing, but one of the things

that sorry a big graphic, but that's but one of

the things that we were also asked to do was

a sentry duty. You know what sentry duty is because

you're deep in the jungle that a lot of wild

boars around, and wild are usually attracted to food and

human feces, whether you like, you know, that's the reality,

and so we will. Actually we had to arrange ourselves

the night to take to be on watch to chase

the wild boars away. You know, if they do come, uh,

sentry d you tear. If the first one fails, everyone fails

because the first one the next person and so on.

So usually the first one fails on and then yeah,

the next morning you wake up and the war and

terrorize our ten. But keeping watch, what I'm trying to

get is keeping with the Christian watches. Got to keep watching.

But we keep watch by closing our eyes. That's how

you watch for the devil, because there's no point watching

for him with your eyes. You can't see him. He's supernatural,

spiritual being. You'll never be able to see the devil

with your eyes, not in this life anyway. Of course,

some people say I can see Okay, yeah, I believe.

I believe in some of those who have the gift

to see okay, But really, when you close your eyes

and you begin to see, especially when you close them

in prayer, that is the greatest weapon you have against

Satan is prayer. You pray deliver us from the evil one.

You see Satan trembles when even the weakest of the

saying is on his knees. Sometimes you think, I'm I'm

not much of a Christian. I'm pseudo Christian, half a

Christian closet Christian can really call myself full proper Christians.

But you get on your knees and pray. I assure you,

Satan is afrayd pray. It's so important for us. Don't

stop praying, because Satan is going to keep on trying

to get you to stop praying. It's one of the

things that he will put top of his priority in

his mission get Christians to stop praying, because he knows

that's how you become weak. And therefore, this is why

every Christian's strategy is to pray at all times. In

the script there's a slight difference between the phrase at

all the time and at all times, and sciences were

like the Scripture as us to pray all the time. No,

it says pray at all times. Pray all the time

maybe humanly not possible. And then it's ask you don't sleep,

No pray all the time, cannot sleep. No, no pray

at all times. You can't pray consciously all the time.

On you will be neglecting something. You'll probably end up

crashing somewhere. Don't do that while you're driving. Okay, we

can pray in tongues while you're driving, non issue, because

you can bypast the mind. But pray at all times. No,

I'll teach that on another day. But that's the truth.

Means whenever you have a need, whenever you face a situation,

you can pray about your daily work, your daily life.

It means at any time, at any place, pray. Because

the devil doesn't just come and visit you on Sunday mornings,

doesn't every day of the week. And crist has opened

a door into the throne room of the universe that

Satan cannot shut when you pray, and prayer is really

the quickest way to deal with things. I kid you know.

We are to pray in the spirit. The opposite of

that is actually praying in the flesh. And here are

two little tools. Know when you're praying the flesh. Usually

you're praying after you've gotten into trouble. That's a lot

of us be included like oh man, come to forward,

then pray, pray, pray. Sorry I translated, now I mean

deep I mean deep problems. Okay, then I'll start praying. Uh.

Praying in the spirit is actually praying before you get

into troubles. To pray in the spirit is to prepare.

Another difference is that praying in the spirit is praying

the words He gives you. Praying in the flesh can

be praying your own words. Sometimes you find yourself doing that.

That's why I say it's so important science. I ask God, God,

what is it that you want me to pray for people?

Because I'll be praying, you know, pray for everyonemies, pray

for prosperity. You'll get lots of money. You'll like it, Sola,

But is that really the right Everyone's like email Hallelujah,

prays a Lord. No, that's exactly what I need. I

don't know. Maybe it's not exactly what you need. And

so I need to know from the Lord. We need

to know from the Lord. What is it to pray

for each other? And so pray in the spirit at

all times, with all prayers, all prayer, that word, all

all time, all prayer, all the sains. Do you realize

that your prayer could keep somebody out of Satan's hands today?

And that is why we don't say lead me not

into temptation. We don't say deliver me from the evil one.

We say lead earth not into temptation, and deliver earth

from the evil one. The Lord's prayer is a corporate prayer.

It's not just for yourself, because if we pray for

other Christians, we are helping them to win the battle.

And it has to It can only be worn true perseverance.

Battles are not worn in the moment. It's worn true perseverance.

It will be hard work and you have God to

get on with it. The Christian life is not always

glamorous and spectacular. Sometimes it's just the long, hard grind

of doing something that is right, consistently making supplications for

all believers, making petitions for all believers. That's why we

still pray every week without feel for our plans near

and far. You know I've experienced I remember no somehow

then will say no right at that very moment of Uh.

This time I experience a breakthrough, and then when I

try to trace it back, it's actually times in which

we are praying for them. Really, don't ever give up

prayer and verses nineteen to twenty two. Paul is now

humble enough to say, I need your prayers. This is

the ambassador of Christ. Paul, I can't remember, I don't

know what say's the name of Thasus. The give a

nice introduction, but the Paul himself says, I, NEI your prayer.

I'm an ambassador for Christ. But I mean changed, please

pray for me. What is he asking for? His asking

them to pray for courage, not even for safety, not

even for come for not for health, not for release.

Nobody's saying, pray that I will have the courage to

speak for the Lord wherever I am. That is the

first prayer to pray for every Christian soldier, honestly, And

can I just tell us all, we are all Christian soldiers.

I know how you'll be like, I didn't sign up

for this. I didn't know I was conscripted to the

Christian army. No, that's a we are all part of

the Salvation army. Seriously, really, really, you think Salvation Army

is just the place you going to donate all your

olk clothes. No, Salvation Army used to be a real

force back then. Today we have the Salvation Army because

that was what they realized that we are. We are

the army. We are conscripted to fight for the Lord

and for his cause. And so really pray for is

what Paul asks of them. And then he says in writturn,

I'm also going to send someone to encourage you. That's

how he was ending. And then he said, he said,

that person whose name I can't pronounce, okay, And then

Paul finishes the letter as he begins in the bank

can come up. I'm almost done. He begins by saying

grace and peace. If you read the start of the

scripture Ephician chapter one, grace and peace. And then he

finishes by saying peace and grace. And these are the

two great themes of Jew and gentle. They both wish

for it and long for it. The Jew always says

to each other, no peace be with you, Shalom shalom.

That's how they greet each other, the Jews. And that's

why Jerusalem Salem in Jerusalem is actually from the root

word shalom. That's why we pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

That's the Jews. For the Gentiles, they're always declaring God's

grace be upon you. Grace. The Gentiles didn't deserve nothing.

They are not God chosen people, but yet He chose

them as well. Hallelujah, Praise the Lord. And grace is

the only thing that can ever come out of their mouth.

So peace and grace, and you can have this both

with Christ Jesus. So no I start out by saying,

when you become a Christian, you lose. You lose peace, well,

you lose the kind of peace that you sometimes won,

but you gain the peace that surpasses all understanding. That's

Christ Jesus. A soldier is called upon to fight, you

know how it ends. It ends with a lovely phrase,

he says, with all who love the Lord Jesus with

a love and dying. It's an eternal love. The Nalty

describes it as love with faith fullness. A soldier is

called upon to fight for the love of his country,

but a Christian soldier is called to fight for the

love of Jesus, love undying. See Jesus loved his own,

and he loved them till they end. What Jesus showed

us was undying love. And you might die in the

service of Christ. Many people have been mattered, but your

love should never die, regardless of how challenging the situation is.

Love undying is prepared to die in other ways, to die,

to sell, to die even to the life that is

Sometimes we desire so much of to die to the

things that we like. But the love that will never

die must be kept life. Jesus loves me, and I

love Jesus. What more do I want? That is why

Paul is able to say to live is Christ and

to die is gain Amen. So what do Christians need

to do to stand from true warfare? We need to pray.

I need to pray.

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this week is going to be a good week. I

hit for you. God bless