Shining a Light in Spiritual Warfare

A lighthouse is bright and beautiful and it shines out on the edges of dangerous waters to warn ships of the shoreline. Did you know there are over 100 lighthouses along lake Michigan?

There is even one in Gary, called the Gary harbor breakwater lighthouse.

We live in a time of increasing darkness in the world, which is why we need God’s word more than ever, which is a light house to us, pointing us toward truth, and away from evil.

Deception is one of the enemy’s greatest weapons in spiritual warfare. If we are deceived, we won’t know true from false. Once we know truth, we will be able to see the light, become light, and resist darkness, and even help others escape from deception.

There is great confusion in the world at this moment in history. God knew this would be the case. Confusion is common among the lost peoples of the Earth. We hear about this in Ephesians. 

From Ephesians 4 verse 17, "With the Lord’s authority I say this: Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused."

So many people in our world are hopelessly confused. They’ve been taught modernism in public school. They’ve learned nihilism, doing what feels good. They entertain themselves, listen to odd theories and ideas on YouTube and Tik-Tok. They believe false religions. They are devoted to their political ideology. They make excuses for bad behavior. Why?

Verse 18 gives us the answer: "Their minds are full of darkness.”

So fundamentally what we’re going to be talking about is the struggle between light and darkness.

Bear this in mind: It is possible to be a Christian and still be caught in some level of darkness.

It’s possible to be in a church and still be unsaved and completely in darkness.

It’s possible to be a believer and still not actively listen to God. This is a form of darkness.

Jesus talked about this dichotomy between darkness and light. Jesus even said, “I am the light of the world, anyone who believes in me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light that leads to life” (John 8:12).

If you want to see an entire gospel that deals with light vs. darkness, John’s gospel does just that. It says this:

“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.” -John 3:19-21

So those living in darkness don’t want to come to the light because their deeds are evil, they don’t want the light to expose those evil deeds. Yet something draws us to the light, even in our sins. So when God touches our hearts, we draw near to the light, even though the darkness is in us, and Jesus forgives us our sins, we become light, so that the light will show that we’ve done things in obedience to God.

So that is the battle going on in the world right now, most people attempt to stay away from God, they fear their misdeeds being shown. Others come to the light, having been redeemed, and want others to have the light too.

The second part of verse 18 says, “...they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him.”

What causes someone to reject God, even when they perceive the light? Two things: a closed mind and a hardened heart.

The mind becomes annoyed when presented with information about God, and snaps shut.

The heart feels the tug of God’s love but refuses it and hardens itself and becomes numb.

This is how humans block God from their lives. They know deep down he exists, that he wants their lives to change, and that he will help them live purely, but people resist.

Why would someone shut their mind and harden their heart?

Verse 19 explains this: "They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity."

They have lost the ability to blush. They can’t feel shame for the bad things they do. They’ve convinced themselves those bad things are right. They live for pleasure. And they know they’d have to give up those pleasures if they came into the light. So they stay in darkness. And darkness controls them. They are deceived in their minds.

And they eagerly practice every kind of impurity. Because in the moment it feels good.

Verse 20 says, “But that isn’t what you learned about Christ.”

Deceptions can be seductive, particularly if there are false ideologies we’re believing that’ll make us popular with the world. So slowly you’ll see Christians allow those ideologies into their churches, into their minds, and slowly, the deception takes over.

You’ll see many believers “deconstruct” their faith, try to pull it apart and see how its actually false or only half true. Again, they’ve allowed deception in the door, and once we do, it begins to take over.

Verses 21-22 help us here: "Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception."

A Christian is brought slowly from darkness into light, slowly delivered from dark spots in our thinking and emotions. Slowly but surely they are removed, they go from darkness, to gray, to light.

We make all sorts of excuses to remain in darkness: I’m not one of those Christians who are wacky”

“Nobodies perfect man!”

“I fall short everyday but his grace is enough”

“Jesus doesn’t care about what I do he just wants my heart”

“I sin everyday but Jesus has got me.”

We make these excuses to stay in darkness. I don’t have time to read my Bible. I’m too busy to pray. Jesus won’t mind if I watch this demonic movie just once.

Stop. Making. Excuses. You know what the Holy Spirit is saying to you. Let the Lord lead you into light and out of darkness. You’re going to be much happier as a result. You’re going to feel much more pure and lighter, not so heavy anymore. You’re going to have so much more joy. There are real benefits.

Set aside the religious one liners and go deeper with Jesus. Dare to believe, focus in, make the dive into deeper waters. Don’t worry, your lifeguard Jesus walks on water.

We’re given a command; “Throw off” your old sinful nature. Throw it off. Let’s pray and throw it off right now.

Prayer: Lord I take all those things, the excuses I’ve made, the sins I’ve hidden, the old ways of thinking, and I throw them off, I throw off my old sinful nature, and I choose Jesus and his purity to reign in my life. I declare Jesus is on the throne of my heart right now, in Jesus name, amen.

Throw off a second thing here: Throw off your old way of life.

I had a pattern of doing things. Watch TV, play video games all day, doom scroll on social media, go to a recovery group, watch porn, go to bed. I had politics I liked, philosophies I liked, horror movies I liked, screamo and post-punk music I liked, deranged books I liked, vulgar comedy I liked, and that whole way of life had to change completely.

But once you stop resisting it and say, "You know what, I’m going to change this stuff. I want to change this stuff!" Then it happens very smoothly. And you find Christian stuff to replace it with. There's a great Christian movie called The Forge that deals with this process quite well.

I would rather watch 10 cheesy Christian movies than 1 secular movie. Why? Because when I listen to secular music, or watch secular movies, it drains me. Try it sometime, watch something secular, then something Christian, and see how you feel at the end of each. I always feel drained after a secular movie, always energized after a Christian movie.

Why? Because a Christian movie will radiate a certain level of God’s power. If it’s not very well done, not prayerfully done, it will be a low level. Not a lot power, but still better than a drain.

Now if it’s done well, prayerfully, Spirit led, like a show like the Chosen, or the Forge, it will radiate a high level of anointing and power.

Same thing with Christian music. It will radiate an anointing dependent on the anointing of the group in question. Some musicians like CeCe Winans and Kristyn and Keith Getty, their music radiates a high level anointing. Other Christian musicians radiate a low level anointing, or sometimes, no anointing at all.

As you pray, and seek the Spirit discernment, you’ll sense the anointing on different things. You could say that anointing is reflective of the level of light in their content.

In all that you are doing what verses 23-24 talk about: "Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. 24 Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy."

As you choose to get rid of your old ways of doing things, and embrace new ways, you are letting the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.

Prayer: Lord, we confess there are things in our lives that don’t belong. But we lack wisdom and discernment to know what they are. Please convict us, show us what needs to go, and give us the joy and courage to follow through with it, in Jesus name, amen.

So we end up putting on our new nature, our thoughts (mind) and attitudes (heart) are both changed.

The new nature is a gift from God through Jesus. It’s not something we’re creating. Notice again that we are not doing this alone. Jesus gave us a new nature, we are putting it on, like a shirt, a hoody, we put on and wear. It’s a gift.

Notice also, we are not forcing our heart and mind to become new. The Holy Spirit is leading a process in us, he is the leader in it, not us. Allow the Spirit to lead you in practices that renew your heart and mind.

The mind is renewed by seeing how the scripture applies to the world around you. As you see basic truths like, many around you walk in darkness, your mind is renewed. As you see that each person is made in God’s image, it renews your mind. You are thinking correctly, instead of wrongly.

The heart is renewed in a similar way, as we take these truths to heart, we no longer just think it, we feel it. We long for lost people to know Jesus in our heart, because we love them and want that for them.

Next, we get some examples of real ways we can walk in the light:

Verse 25: "So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body.”

I remember when I was new on campus at training college one of my session mates would ask me a question and I’d start answering and she’d laugh and say “stop lying!”

Many of you might think, well I don’t lie anymore I’m a Christian. But double check this one.

For years, I mean like eight or nine years, and still sometimes I’ll do it, I’d just lie for no reason. Someone would ask me something and I wouldn’t know what to say so I’d just lie.

That still counts as a lie. And lying is a sin. Some of us are in such a pattern of lying, even anxiously lying, that we don’t even realize we do it. But that to can be dealt with by the Spirit.

Here’s one we all need to learn: Verses 26-27: "And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.”[d] Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 for anger gives a foothold to the devil.”

Are you an angry person? Some people I love have shared with me that there is an anger inside them. They don’t know why it’s there or where it came from, but it’s powerful. I can relate. Anger can take over in my heart, and I end up saying things I regret later.

It is not wise to let anger control you. People can use it to manipulate you, even to make a fool out of you.

If you feel controlled by your anger, there is hope. It doesn’t have to.

How can someone be free from anger controlling you? First of all know that all anger isn’t bad. The scriptures say, be angry, but do not sin. We should allow anger when it’s warranted.

But what about when anger controls us? We must find the root of the anger. Why am I angry? Where did it come from? Did something happen in my past? Then, we can confess the anger to God, and ask Him to take it away. We may also need to express the anger, let it out in a healthy way. Process the root of the anger, and find healing.

Prayer: Lord, I confess that I have unresolved anger in my heart from past traumas and injustices in my life. I confess that I've allowed the anger to fester and take control of me, and I ask your forgiveness for this. Please Lord, deliver me from this anger that controls me, so I may better do your will. I put it in your hands Jesus, in Jesus name, amen. 

Next, verses 28-29: "If you are a thief, quit stealing. Instead, use your hands for good hard work, and then give generously to others in need. 29 Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.”

Quit stealing. Don’t lie. These are all commands from God. They are not optional, to violate them brings real consequences. We all know that.

Now, your first step might be to say well I’ll try to quit doing that. No. Don’t do that. First thing you should do is pray, tell God about it honestly, ask His forgiveness, and then do something powerful called “repent.” This is where you turn away from the thing, and turn toward God. You turn your back on the old practice. This is powerful. Then, let the Spirit help you stay free from that bad thing. Much more powerful.

Don’t use foul language. I think we can all relate to cussing and foul language. It slips out, and we realize, oh no, I shouldn’t have done that.

Why does it matter so much? Because any sin starts out small but grows larger and larger ,like a small fire grows out of control. A single cuss can grow, into a pattern of bad language, and that leads to rude behavior, that leads to speaking poorly of others, and it even leads to gossip. Sin always starts small, but grows. The tongue is a small thing, but, it can lead us astray like a small rudder on a ship can move the entire ship. For more on that see the book of James.

Next, verse 30: "And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own,[e] guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption.”

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit, is a better translation. The Holy Spirit is who lives within us after we became Christians. The Holy Spirit will convict us when we do something sinful. If we do something terribly sinful, I mean something very bad, we can grieve the Holy Spirit, which is a greater offense.

We’re told to remember that the Spirit has marked us, as a seal guaranteeing we will be saved on the day of redemption. But also remember, a seal can be broken, so don’t grieve the Spirit persistently. 

Next, verse 31: "Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior."

Paul ties it all together, the battle between darkness and light. Get rid of all these remaining vestiges of darkness in your heart and mind. They are things that exist in the world, in all the endless billions of people without Jesus, who are darkened in their thinking.

Verse 32: "Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you."

Instead wear that bright light Jesus has given you, allow that light of Jesus to lighten the remaining dark places in your mind and heart. And they will turn bright and beautiful. You will grow increasingly tender hearted, loving, kind, and forgiving. The ultimate act of love is forgiving others, because God has forgiven us.

In conclusion, we see darkness that affects people throughout this world. They are darkened in mind and heart. It keeps them far from God. But we carry the light, and the light shines brightly into their confused darkness. Sometimes they resist it, often they resist it, but sometimes they are at the right moment to hunger for the light in you. And the light you carry, you can help bring it to them. And then they become a light when they let Jesus, the true light transform them and live within them and they are changed.

Yet even within the church the battle continues, every believer is at some stage of the process of going from darkness to light. And sometimes we get stuck and say well I’m bright enough! No, you’re still gray, go all the way, walk through the next door, don’t resist, keep pushing toward that ultimate brightness, which is Jesus. Grow brighter and brighter. And others will come to your light and find the true light.

How does coming out of darkness work? This is true for a non-believer, it’s also true for a Christian who is coming to the light in some specific area.

1. We see the light from a distance, like an open door way. It bothers us, annoys us, we want to flee, yet it seems to call to us.

2. We wrestle back and forth inside and eventually we start to move toward the light. We grope in the darkness toward the light (Acts 17:27). 

3. We stand at the threshold, we’re afraid, we want to run away because it’s new, it’s different, but at last we decide to take the leap of faith, we want something new.

4. We come into the light, we go from darkness to light and we’re amazed, the whole world lights up, our minds light up, and we’re free because we dared to believe.

5. We are now armed with the knowledge of what it took to get us from darkness to light and we use that wisdom to show others how to escape the deception and find the truth, and come into the light.

The Body of Christ Battle Plan for Spiritual Warfare

I remember a time when a friend of mine was struggling. I didn’t know about it at the time, but my wife found out about it. And she was determined to connect with her. I remember we prayed for her and I assumed that was enough. But my wife took it to the next level. And while I was in the bedroom she invited her over and they talked for about two hours.

Then my wife came in the bedroom and said come out and pray for her. And I said surely you can do that, right? But she convinced me that spiritual warfare prayers were needed, and those kind of prayers are at a different level.

I was so grateful for the moments that came next. We anointed our friend with oil. And we prayed over her. She renounced the enemy, and the demon fled. The core of the issue was hit by the Lord, and victory came as a result.

If you’re feeling trapped in something, some hidden sin, there is a remedy that is very powerful, go to a Christian friend you trust, and confess it all. Let it all out. Or go to your pastor and let it out. It loses it’s power, when it’s brought into the light. And the fellow believer can pray for you, and you will find deliverance.

What if my wife hadn’t been so intentional? What if I hadn’t done my part? What if we just felt lazy and didn’t really reach out? God uses people. We in the body of Christ have to be much more intentional about talking to each other, praying together, making a phone call, visiting someone’s house, and anointing each other, fasting for each other, and overall, just being a community who supports each other one on one. And that’s what we’re going to talk about today.

Over the last few weeks we’ve examined spiritual warfare, and how to fight and win the battles against demonic forces. The last four messages have all been internal, meaning we’ve looked at how to fight the battle inside ourselves, the battle of the mind.

We discussed declaring the truths of scripture over our lives, we’ve discussed our authority in Christ as a believer, we’ve discussed following God’s leading, and last week we discussed being empowered by the love of God.

Today, we begin to take the spiritual battle to the external realm, that which goes on around us.

The first challenge today comes in verse 1 which says, “Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God.”

You have been called to this battle by God. Paul understands the battle, he’s in prison writing this letter, he knows how spiritual battle goes. And he tells us today, lead a life worthy of your calling.

So my challenge to you today is this: Live up to your calling. The battle is going on all around you every day. Either your aware of it and fighting it or you’re an ignorant dope who is swept along by life and ruined.

Many of you here have decided to arm yourselves with truth and engage in the battle. That’s wisdom. Some of you are still ignoring it. That’s a road to disaster.

But what we’re going to see today is that we need each other. I can’t survive this life as a solo Christian. I’ll get picked off easy. But if I have believers surrounding me, then I’ll be protected.

So we’re a family of believers, together, on the road to heaven. How do we help each other?

Verse 2: “Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.”

If you present yourself in a way that is humble and gentle, other believers will realize that they can trust you. That you are a safe person. And they will confide in you. They be able to honestly share what’s going on. Be patient.

Make room for each other’s faults. We all have issues here, and we have to simply let that be the case, and be ok with it, and still be a family together.

If you allow yourself to be humble, open, and vulnerable, you become a safe person. Someone others can come to and confess their sins, and be prayed for.

Next, verses 3-6: 3 Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. 4 For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future.

5 There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6 one God and Father of all,
who is over all, in all, and living through all.”

One word: Unity. The body of Christ must stand united, if we’re divided, we’re doomed. That doesn’t mean we don’t disagree, we all disagree on many things, but in the faith we stand united.

Next, verses 7-8: “7 However, he has given each one of us a special gift[a] through the generosity of Christ. 8 That is why the Scriptures say,

“When he ascended to the heights,
he led a crowd of captives
and gave gifts to his people.”[b]

Despite the fact that we are called to be united as believers, yet at the same time, we all have very unique gifts. These gifts are intended to help each other and serve each other.

My guess is you already know your gift. If you don’t, ask God. If you do, use it. And keep using it. Make it your thing. The thing you’re good at it in the body of Christ, whether it’s being encouraging, or praying with people, or challenging people to grow.

Next verses 9-10: “9 Notice that it says “he ascended.” This clearly means that Christ also descended to our lowly world.[c] 10 And the same one who descended is the one who ascended higher than all the heavens, so that he might fill the entire universe with himself.”

It’s important to remember that Jesus is no longer on the cross. He’s no longer dead in the grave. He’s no longer simply risen from the grave, he is ascended to heaven. He is seated on a throne in heaven. Yet he is also at the same time with every single person on planet Earth who is born again. In fact he holds the universe together by his mighty power.

That’s why Jesus has all power and at His name demons must flee, because Jesus fills all the universe. He is with us. And he holds reality itself together.

Yet Jesus also gave us each other. And God works through people. So in the battle of spiritual warfare, God has given us a team approach.

Today is the super bowl, and like any team, we can’t win by ourselves. If it was just Patrick Mahomes vs the Eagles, Mahomes would lose. But with the whole team, plus the refs, they’ve got a pretty good chance.

Similarly, in God’s kingdom, we have leaders who speak truth into our lives.

Next, verses 11-12: “11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.”

This is what theologians call the five-fold ministry. The church is led by these five categories of leaders. Look for ministers and Christian leaders who can speak into your life from these areas of leadership.

I’m always looking on YouTube for leaders who may have the calling as an apostle, or a prophet, or an evangelist, or a pastor or a teacher. An apostle plants churches and shakes things up in the body of Christ. A prophet tells us about the future and calls us to repentance from sins. An evangelist spreads the gospel to unbelievers. A pastor leads a congregation. And teachers are gifted in explaining the word of God to others.

In spiritual warfare we need the five fold ministry. I have friends who are gifted teachers, I have friends who have a prophetic gifting, I have friends who are gifted pastors. They all speak into my life in unique ways. Seek that in your walk with Jesus. Find people and ministries that will speak into your life.

This Sunday morning service should not be the only connection you have to Christianity. You should be listening to Christian radio. You should have a group you attend where you study the Bible. You should have ministers and prophets you listen to online. You must be actively seeking sources of truth and life and Spirit.

I’ve known many Christians over my time in ministry, and the ones who are growing the most, they’ve found prayer calls they tune in to. They’ve found discipleship programs that they attend, conferences they go to, events they attend, outreaches they participate in, they have places they volunteer during the week, they literally fill their lives with Christian practice.

If you’re trying to build that but don’t know where to look, talk to me and we’ll figure out some options for you.

I’m a part of the five fold ministry. The five fold’s job is to equip God’s saints, that’s you, to do His work. Sometimes we wrongly assume that the congregation’s job is to cheer the pastor on as he serves God, wrong, the pastor’s job is to equip you to do the work of ministry yourself. You are the minister. My job is to give you what you need to do it.

All this builds up the body of Christ, makes it grow. And the gospel message goes out everywhere then. But if we don’t, the church declines, and the gospel doesn’t go out. And people die without Jesus.

The goal is that we would be a network of believers, united across the globe, helping each other, encouraging each other, praying for each other, protecting each other, and blessing each other with our gifts, and as we do that, the enemy is on the run, in retreat, because if the church is united, the enemy can’t stand against that.

Next, verse 13: “ 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.”

As we live what we’re learning, our identity in Christ is firm, rock solid, and we are exercising our authority in Christ to crush the enemy, and we’re learning to hear the Spirit and do what God says, and we have the love of God rushing through our veins like living water, and we’re also seeing ourselves as part of a family fighting force, serving God together, then, we will grow in such unity in our faith and knowledge of Jesus, that we will be mature in the Lord.

We will look like Jesus, in how Jesus lived. Our lives will finally match our savior, in our love and service to others.

That’s the goal in all this growth we’re seeing in our lives. The goal is that we would continue to grow and grow until we really do measure up to the full stature of Christ.

Does that sound crazy or way too big and scary to do? It’s not. It’s something God is doing in us. So as long as we’re cooperating with God and seeking to grow, it will happen, as God builds us. And the five fold will help. And fellow believers will help us.

Remember the example from the beginning. We need each other. And when we allow ourselves to be vulnerable, and really ask for help, and have other believers pray over us, and confess whats really going on, we can and will protect and serve each other. And the enemy will have to flee.

Next, verse 14: “Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.”

Christians early in their walk with Jesus are easily blown around here and there by different teachings. I’m a Calvinist, no I’m an Arminian, I believe in spiritual gifts, no I’m a cessationist, Pentecostal, charismatic, Baptist, Anglican, back and forth, always blown back and forth with different teachings.

Christians who are new, or who lack discernment, are also very easy targets for worldly arguments, and ending up on the wrong side in political stuff, and watching things on TV and movies and music they shouldn’t be listening to, but they don’t see how evil it is, so they end up caught in it. Then the Holy Spirit convicts them and they realize, oh wait that was wrong.

Christians who are new are an easy target to be manipulated by the news media, and always dragged between different opinions on complex issues.

The goal is that by slow and steady growth we would grow in our journey with Jesus in such a way that we would no longer be easily manipulated by the world system, or by theological debates in the church.

A lot of that is all based in pride. And as we humble ourselves, truly humble ourselves, study the word carefully, and ask God for discernment, and ask the Spirit for guidance, we will naturally know, from an inward instinct, what is right and what is false.

Lastly, verses 15-16: “Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.

16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.”

These last two verses help us pull this all together.

I don’t know a better way under heaven to say our Christian faith better than this: “Speaking the truth in love.” If we speak the truth without love, it comes off as obnoxious and empty. If we speak lovingly without truth, it comes off as empty and vacuous and pointless.

Jesus is the king and leader of our army.

The five fold of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers are the equippers of the movement.

And the saints, the Christians, are the foot soldiers, being led by Jesus through the Holy Spirit, and being equipped by the five fold, they study the word, disciple each other, lift each other up, pray for each other, and bring the gospel to the lost world.

If we isolate ourselves, thinking we’re Lonewolf Christians, we won’t succeed. We’ll be destroyed, and fall away. But, if we stay in formation, in unity with other believers, guided by Jesus, and equipped by the five fold, then we’ll prosper, and be there for each other in critical moments, when we’re feeling weak, and need support. Praise God for the wisdom of God’s plan. We need each other. And if we stand united, nothing can stop us. And the enemy will flee in defeat.

Review of Main Points:
1. Live up to your Calling – the spiritual battle is real, it’s time to fight

2. Be Real– being vulnerable & humble shows others its safe to confide in you

3. Unity is Vital – seek at all costs to stand united with other believers

4. Use your gift in the Church – the other believers need it desperately

5. Jesus ascended – he upholds the universe, he is with every believer, in power and authority

6. The Five-Fold Ministry exists to equip the saints to serve God

7. Maturity is the goal – as you grow keep your eye on the goal of maturity

8. Maturity means stability – If we are mature we will not be easily deceived by the world system

9. Speaking the truth in love – we learn to balance truth and love

10. The Battle Plan – Jesus is King, the five fold equips, and the saints are the soldiers discipling, encouraging, and spreading the gospel everywhere

Adrenaline Fatigue and The Love of God

“Ortberg notes this about the inability to love:

1. The most serious sign of hurry sickness is a diminished capacity to love. Love and hurry are fundamentally incompatible. Love always takes time, and time is one thing hurried people don’t have (87).

2. The truth is look around at our society hurried people cannot love because they are always in a hurry!

3. Ortberg adds this thought about the hurry sickness (lack of patience syndrome): It is because it kills love that hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life. Hurry lies behind much of the anger and frustration of modern life. Hurry prevents us from receiving love from the Father or giving it to His children. That’s why Jesus never hurried. If we are to follow Jesus, we must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from our lives-because, by definition, we can’t move faster than the one we are following (88).”
- John Ortberg, The Life You’ve Always Wanted

One of the horrors of modern life is that we are constantly busy, constantly thinking, or constantly scrolling on our devices. This three fold attack by the enemy, to keep us busy, to keep our thoughts constantly racing, and keep us glued to our electronic devices is deadly.

We end up in a state of fight or flight, a state of heightened intensity in your body.

“In response to acute stress, the body's sympathetic nervous system is activated by the sudden release of hormones. Fight-or-flight response hormones include adrenocorticotropic hormone and corticotropin-releasing hormone.

These hormones cause the sympathetic nervous system to stimulate the pituitary gland and adrenal glands. This triggers the release of catecholamines, including adrenaline, noradrenaline, and cortisol.” -Kendra Cherry, writer for Very Well Mind dot com.

I can tell you from experience that someone caught in fight or flight, from work stress, or past trauma, or childhood abuse, will have a very hard time perceiving and experiencing the love of God in Jesus Christ.

Now there are ways to break yourself from fight or flight mode. Long periods of prayer, breathing exercises that focus on shutting down thought in the mind, to relieve racing thoughts, and other activities as well.

This is part of spiritual warfare. The enemy keeps us constantly engaged in brain intense activities. I used to be terrible. I’d have the TV on with my Xbox game, my laptop open scrolling social media, and my cell phone in my hand, with music playing in the background.

Many times I’d hear people brag about being a great multitasker. No, you’re just dragging yourself in 5 directions at the same time and overloading your nervous system.

Then we have rampant chronic stress, chronic fatigue, and ADD, and we wonder why? I imagine many of these conditions would disappear completely if we learned to quiet ourselves, focus on God, and rest in His love. Our bodies were never designed to be constantly stimulated the way they are today.

In spiritual warfare, the battle is within ourselves. And we can and will win with God’s help. 

We’ve discussed declaring the truths of scripture to ourselves, we’ve discussed your authority in Christ in spiritual warfare, and last week we addressed how God speaks to us and gives us a vision for the future. Now today we’re focusing in on receiving and walking in the love of God in spiritual warfare.

So today in the context of studying the love of God, I want you to think about how you can slow down in life.

Turn off the television. Put away the smart phone. Close the computer down. And simply be in silence with God. And as you learn to slowly do that, you will begin to hear the voice of God.

The Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 3, verses 14-15, “When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father,[e] the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.”

What is Paul referring to here? He’s talking about being amazed at what God does. And this amazement, this awesome reverence causes him to fall to his knees in prayer.

We should also look for opportunities to be amazed at what God does. We’re going to know His love more and more deeply if we’re allowing ourselves to be amazed at what he does.

When I see a beautiful sunset I stop and remind myself: God made that. When I visit the zoo, and I see a giraffe or a lion, I remind myself God made that. And in the moment I’m filled with awe. Maybe a better word is wonder. We need wonder in our lives. We need things that take our breath away.

When you see beauty I want you to remind yourself that the beauty you perceive has an author, and that author is God almighty.

He is the Creator of everything on Earth. He made it all. He made the human race. He made the animal kingdom. He made all the trees and plants and flowers and vegetables and fruits. Give God glory.

In spiritual warfare we can get very focused on the enemy, the demonic forces and evil entities. But, we have to keep our eyes on God, and see the good in life. Yes there’s a spiritual battle going on around us, but there is so much beauty in life, so many wonderful moments and memories. His creation is still good, even though it is fallen.

So we’re walking in wonder and awe. We’re assigning things to God. That's a biblical concept, the psalmist wrote "ascribe to God!' (Psalm 29 & 96).  It means we notice something glorious from God and we ascribe it to His doing.  

I remember when I was a new believer I was looking at pictures from the Hubble space telescope.  And suddenly I realized as I looked at the pictures, “God made these stars and galaxies.” And suddenly I looked at those pictures in an entirely new way. You can do that too.

It’s something C.S. Lewis was very good at. When he became a believer he began to look at the world with new eyes. And he began to see the world and people as made by God.

Which is why he said, “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.”
― C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

You can do the same thing, begin to see reality through Christian lenses, and you will see the truth. But it may take resetting how you used to view things. But after that moment, when you begin to see things through Christ, it will take you on an adventure where your perception is transformed. Everything you see in your life you will eventually view differently. The Bible calls that renewing your mind (Romans 12:1-2).

Next, verse 16, “I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit.”

In God there is no lack. For me, when I play a few games of basketball I’m done. I’m out of energy. God has no such problem. His resources are infinite.

And God empowers his people in spiritual warfare. The concept is clear here, if we are in awe of God, then we will pray, and if we pray, then we’ll have access to empowerment from God.

And as we pray, and worship, God gives us something called inner strength. This strength comes from Christ, through the Holy Spirit, to you.

Awesome respect for God leads to prayer. Prayer leads to access to God’s unlimited resources, and through those resources we receive inner strength.

Next, verse 17: “Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.”

Then we find Christ in our heart. Is there a requirement for that? Yes, it’s trust. If we trust Jesus, believe in Jesus, and are deeply committed to Jesus, he will dwell in our hearts.

Then we get this picture of a tree with roots growing down into the soil. Christ is in our heart. We’re like a mighty growing tree, then, our roots will have access to God’s love. We’ll soak it up like tree roots soak up water and we’ll be abundantly nourished by it.

Next, verse 18: "And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is."

All of this is Paul praying for the believers by the way. He prays that they may have the power to understand how huge God’s love is for them.

Do you understand how much God loves you? I study near death experiences and visions of Jesus, and one thing that is always common is that the person standing before Jesus feels loved like they never did before. They feel completely accepted, completely loved, as if they were the only person in the universe. The sense is so complete it changes them.

In fact many who come back from such experiences find themselves almost haunted by what they saw, the rest of their lives, longing for the place they briefly visited, longing for the eternity they touched briefly.

Similarly, even though we don’t see Jesus face to face, we can have an understanding of how deep and wide and high his love is for us.

Ask God to explain His love to you. Make that your prayer. He will answer.

It’s four dimensional, it’s like a cube shape, full of an ocean of His love. Endlessly huge, infinite love, and also traveling along with us through life, it’s timeless. As you can see that, visualize his love, how large the container is that must hold it, you will begin to experience His love as well.

Next, verse 19: "May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully."

As a result of having a mental understanding of the love of God, we eventually begin to experience His love in our hearts. We feel loved. We feel known. We feel protected. We feel cared for.

Do you feel His love? If you don’t, be patient, and continue to spend time with Him. To be honest, sometimes I feel loved, sometimes I don’t feel it. But that’s OK, our faith isn’t based on feeling, but on truth.

Remember to slow down though, spend real time with Him, as long as you are rushing around, working constantly, on your phone scrolling, tv blaring, movies non stop, videogames, you will never really experience the love of God in a deep way. Get quiet and alone with Him. I know that's scary for some of us. But if we can push past our fear, we’ll breakthrough to Him.

Second part of verse 19, “Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”

In my own life, I had so many things in my walk with God, faith, trust, reason, sanctification, holiness, growth, ministry, evangelism, and so much more. But for years I was lacking a central love element.

I knew it was true, but I felt the love of God was so mistreated in the body of Christ, used as a catch all for permission to do whatever we want instead of His will, that I avoided the love of God. That was a mistake, the love of God is the centerpiece of everything else. It’s the power behind the Christian life.

When we have this relationship with God and it’s completed with real deep love, we enter the fullness of life and power. We are made complete. We're full of His love and there is joy. Without that, we’re just empty.

Next, verse 20: “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

Through this mystery of Christ’s love, God accomplishes much more than we could imagine. It’s very effective.

When we know we’re loved, and we strike out from a place of knowing we’re loved, well, we can accomplish anything in Christ. Anything is possible!

Lastly, verse 21: "Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.”

The result is we give glory to God and glory to God’s son Jesus, amen. Knowing we’re loved, being filled with inner strength, walking in the awe of God, we reflect Christ like the moon reflects the sun.

And we live lives in alignment with God’s beautiful purposes. We become like a sunset or sunrise or star filled sky, others look at us and say wow, look what God did. And so we bring glory to God through how we are loved and love others.

If we don’t walk in the love of God, we will become increasingly empty and exhausted with the Christian life. We’ll think it’s just too hard, too many rules, and too much anxiety. We’ll feel burdened by the commands of God, and we’ll slowly grow so focused on the rules that we can’t sense His love at all. And that’s how you get someone who slowly begins to make it all about them, and not about God. They claim to follow God, but they really follow themselves. Self righteousness, is what that is. They slowly transfer their salvation away from God and onto themselves. And then they are dead legalists. There is no Spirit anymore.

But, if we allow the love of God to flow through us, empower us, and strengthen us, we will grow and grow like a mighty tree planted by streams of living water. Christ fills our heart and we are truly humbly dedicated to Him. His love amazes us, and we want to do anything for Him, because we experience meaningful relationship with Him. It’s not dead legalism, it’s living, deep, rapturous love that makes us hunger for more and more of Him. Then we are plugged into the vine, fed by the source, that is Jesus, He lives within our hearts and constantly feeds us His life and power, and it surges through our vines. We are deeply empowered, loved, held, and the power of God surges within us like sweet warmth, like surging electricity, or like a burning fire within us, mighty and strong. His love is powerful beyond words! More than we could ever think or imagine!

Don’t ever lose touch with that simple love relationship, slow down and spend time with Him, receive His love, and you’ll be amazed how he fills you and empowers you for service.

Main Points:
1. When we See the beauty/wonder in life it leads us to prayer

2. Prayer leads us to empowerment – we receive inner strength from God

3. Christ makes his home in our hearts - through deep trust

4. Power to understand is needed - How vast God’s love is for you

5. Then it’s experienced, known, and this experience changes us

6. Jesus makes us complete as a believer through His love

7. If we know his love, we have fullness of life and power (from God)

8. As we live in the love of God we are a testimony of God’s glory