Faith and life meet in a story
And you saw in the wilderness how the LORD your God carried you as a man carries his son all along the way you traveled until you reached this place. Deuteronomy 1:31
2018 was a difficult year for many people.
Worse than the wilderness even.
As you think back,
Consider how the Lord carried you.
In His arms.
On His shoulders.
On His back.
He carried you through the whole year
To bring you to this place, to this time.
It wasn’t luck or chance.
It was to get you here.
For what?
Ask Him.
With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints. Ephesians 6:18
You’re equipped.
You have a strategy.
One final word before you go into battle.
Be on the alert with all perseverance and petition.
Be ready for stealthy attacks.
Avoid traps and snares.
Watch out for weak spots of your own.
Don’t give up.
Don’t lose focus.
Don’t get impatient.
Pray for each other, for strength and courage.
Encourage and hold each other up.
Care for the wounded.
Refresh the weary.
But there is no mention of spectators.
You are in the battle.
Are you are equipped?
Are you alert?
Are you engaged?
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints– Ephesians 6:18
You’re armed and equipped.
Now what?
A strategy.
A battle plan.
An approach.
It’s praying.
Praying always.
Before the battle.
During the battle.
After the battle.
Pray for yourselves.
For your comrades.
For your enemies.
Pray for strength, for compassion
For endurance, for wisdom
For encouragement, for victory.
Pray in the Spirit.
In agreement with the Spirit.
In the power of the Spirit.
If you’re not going to pray…
You’d best not put on the armor.
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Ephesians 6:17
The sword was short, used in close hand-to-hand combat.
It was sharp, double-edged and used to attack as well as defend.
One reading of this verse is ‘take the sword the Spirit gives you, that is, the word of God.’
It was the weapon Jesus Himself used against Satan in the wilderness.
And He said it would be invincible (Luke 21:15).
Stephen proved that (Acts 6:10).
But sometimes…
We want to confront and attack
With ideas, reason, history,
Logic, rhetoric, passion,
Argument, statistics, debate.
Why?
Why would we want something else?
Something different?
Jesus used the word of God.
He recommended it.
The Spirit gives it.
Maybe … we don’t know how to use it.
Maybe … we don’t know what it is exactly.
Maybe … we haven’t asked for it.
Take the sword the Spirit gives you.
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; Ephesians 6:17
The helmet protects a soldier’s head.
More particularly his brain.
His ability to think, to reason,
To assess and to respond.
In the battles we face,
Our thought processes,
Our evaluations of situations,
And especially our responses
Must be protected by the reality of our salvation.
Christ has won.
God is faithful.
We are redeemed.
Satan has no power over us.
In every situation
In every skirmish
In every full-on battle.
Christ has won.
God is faithful.
We are redeemed.
Satan has no power over us.
That’s the helmet of salvation.
Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. Ephesians 6:16
A shield is for defense, for protection.
It is mobile. Big enough to hide behind.
It also bears the marks and scars of previous battles.
It is like everyone else’s,
But yet deeply personal.
No matter how brave,
How strong or
How well-trained,
Only a fool would face the enemy
Without a shield.
So when those fiery darts come…
And they will come
In the coming week, the coming day, the coming moment.
Doubt, despair, desire and more
Don’t be foolish enough to think that
Positive thinking, hard work, good character will be enough.
You must have the shield of faith.
Faith in God who loves you,
Who keeps His promises
Who will never leave you nor forsake you
Faith in a God who sees, who knows,
Who hears and who acts on your behalf.
Faith in a God who empowers, who strengthens
Who refreshes and revives you.
In all circumstances, in every situation, make sure you have your shield.
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