We Wrestle With Not Flesh and Blood Part 11

When conflict happens what do we do? Rise up against the enemy of your soul, instead of whining and complaining. Those of you who are fighting, we are so proud of you. Don't ever let your guard down or stop fighting for a better version of yourself because the devil will take you all the way to your limit.

With these sermons, I am trying to equip you to push your limit even further. I am trying to get you to create distance from the enemy. I want to equip you and you need to grow in your understanding of the battle for your soul and mature in Christ. You need to mature spiritually so much so that satan sees you as the spiritual giant.

Ephesians 4 : 11 – 15

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.

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.

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.

15  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.

If we are ALIGNED WITH and MATURE IN the ‘HEAD’ of the ‘CHURCH’ – JESUS – WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR YOU AND ME?

“…I will BUILD my CHURCH; AND THE GATES OF HELL SHALL NOT PREVAIL AGAINST IT.”

Satan should cower and shrink when you walk into a room. he should recoil and flinch when you make a move, and tremble when you worship and pray. he should fear you!

Do we consistently proclaim what Jesus already did on the cross when we are struggling, or have we forgotten and have come up with new ways. Do we just wanna be entertained and numbed? Where do you turn for answers today?

This Sunday we sang that 'Jesus is enough for me'. Introducing a worldly point of view into our minds is not only inviting the demonic into your minds, it is trapping the demonic point of view into our belief systems. If you are tired of being trapped, hyou have to stop using things of this realm to 'fix' it. satan is supposed to be YOUR hostage, you're not supposed to be his.

So what do you do?

We find the answer in Ephesians 6…

Verse 11… “PUT ON the full armor of God,”

Verse 13… “Therefore PUT ON the full armor of God,”

The Armor of God is your spiritual attire. God wants you to dress for success. It's all about what you wear and the armor is God's clothes. The armor is spiritual realm clothes.

In other words…
•You can ‘wear’ DECEPTION – or TRUTH
•You can ‘wear’ FEAR – or PEACE
•You can ‘wear’ DEPRESSION – or JOY
•You can ‘wear’ DOUBT – or FAITH
•You can ‘wear’ SIN – or RIGHTEOUSNESS
•You can ‘wear’ a WORDLY VIEW – or a BIBLICAL VIEW

When you get dressed for cuccess you will be able to handle anything that satan throws at you. Your trials will not have the last word.

God gives us six pieces of armor. Six items that God divides into two categories of three things.

The first set all begin with the word - having/with.

14  Stand therefore, HAVING/WITH your loins girt about with truth, and HAVING/WITH on the breastplate of righteousness;
15  And HAVING/WITH your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;


But the next 3 begin with another verb… TAKE/TAKING
 
16  Above all, TAKING the shield of faith,
17  And TAKE the helmet of salvation, and TAKE the sword of the Spirit,


He moves from ‘HAVE’ to ‘TAKE’. What does have mean? The first three you have all the time, don't ever take them off. It means that you always live in the truth. You always walk in righteousness. And you always produce peace.

Take means the last three you pick up as needed. It means when you doubt God, you pick up your salvation. When you hear deception, pick up the word of God. God gives you the armor. He doesn't put them on you. He will give you the attire, hang them in your closet, but you have to get dressed. Through grace, God has supplied everything that you need.

I want to CLOSE OUT this series with this…

I want to close out this series with this illustration:
You know his name… Thomas Anderson… Thomas Anderson is a computer programmer… part time computer hacker… but one day Thomas Anderson was introduced to a New Realm… a Realm called ‘THE MATRIX’

Thomas Anderson was told that behind the Physical Realm that he lived in was another Realm… and he found out that this OTHER Realm controlled HIS Realm with computers… and these computers and machines in this invisible realm were DICTATING what was happening in his realm…

He got transported into this other realm called the Matrix… In this New Realm… HIS APPEARANCE CHANGED… I’ll let YOU DECIDE what look YOU THINK IS BETTER

When he got there, he also discovered some things… He discovered that in this other realm that – he had POWERS that he DIDN’T have in his normal realm… he also discovered that – his MIND could THINK things that it COULDN’T THINK in his normal realm

He also was given a ‘NEW NAME’… NEO … His Old Name couldn’t really DEFINE who he REALLY was in this new realm… he discovered in this new realm a ‘NEW LOVE’… her name was TRINITY… a love that he never experienced in his old realm

He eventually discovered in this new realm that he was… ‘THE ONE’… in this new realm he had a ‘PURPOSE’… he was called to something BIGGER than just punching computer keys from his old realm

He found out that there was a significant CALLING on his life… His calling was to have a HUGE IMPACT on this Invisible Realm that would AFFECT the Physical Realm that he was from

In this new realm he was even given a WHOLE NEW SET OF CLOTHES

WHY?... Because his Old Clothes in the old realm – WOULDN’T WORK for his new assignment in the New Realm… he had to DRESS FOR SUCCESS

Now there were PROBLEMS in this new realm… there was satan… Mr. Smith

Mr. Smith had some duplicate demons to help him in his evil deeds… their job was to DESTROY Neo… and they would all ATTACK him and anyone who supported him…  BUT… in this new realm… Neo had the ability to do this

Neo learned that he had the ABILITY and POWERS to AVOID the enemy's BULLETS through SUPERNATURAL MOVES in this new realm that he DIDN’T HAVE in the old realm

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

When you accepted Jesus Christ into your life, he crossed you over to another realm. You have a new name now. You are a son/daughter of the living God! You have a new love now. His name is Trinity. God The Father. God The Son. God the Holy Spirit

In this new realm… satan will come at you, but God will give you the ability and the power to bounce, dodge, shake, and move around the enemy's bullets. Remember, 'greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. In this new world, you are the one. God has a purpose, a reason, and a design for you. No longer does hell have a hold on you as long as you operate in the new realm under the protection of God's umbrella.


No Comments