Fighting with the Full Armor of God: Prayer - The Summoning of Divine Power

{Ephesians 6:16-20}


In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

[Rev. Dan Whang]

I will be covering the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, and prayer.
When we refer to the FULL armor of God, it is the full protection... nothing is left lacking. We will be equipped for battle.

Helmet of Salvation

I would like to refer to this as the "Hope of Salvation"

"But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation." - 1 Thessalonians 5:8

We differ this from our faith in that our faith is based on what has already been done for us. Hope is for what we has not yet come to pass. It is what drives us forward.

Sword of the Spirit

Everything else we've covered is for our defense. The sword of the Spirit is the only offensive weapon.

"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." - Hebrews 4:12

Most of the time, we think of the sword in fighting the enemies and trying to kill them. But I would like to introduce the idea that the sword should first be used on ourselves. We should use the sword to help us reveal our own hearts. Don't get suicidal thoughts now...

Three powers of the Spirit

Power to search and convict - The spirit can reveal hidden sins that we are unaware of. It can convict us of things we should do or things we should not.
Power to comfort - When we are broken and dejected over sin, it can restore us even in the face of our most heinous sins.
Power to convert - The Spirit works to change our hearts and turn us to God.

Prayer in the Spirit

"praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints"
There is this all encompassing language. We should be praying at all times, in every situation.

Prayer as Empowerment - Prayer summons divine power. It is like the heavenly walkie talkie in the middle of the battle. We can and should call for spiritual backup, support, & supplies..
Prayer as Life - Prayer is not our focus. God is our focus. It is like having a conversation and trying to focus on conversation instead of the other person.

I have an encouragement about prayer. It is simply this...
Make prayer your #1 response to everything in life.
Like this oil spill in the gulf of Mexico. All this blame and fishing industry collapsing... What can we as a single human being do? I thought, we should pray.

Application

1. Make Time
2. Make Lists
3. Make Partners

"...The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." James 5:16 (NIV)

Fighting with the Full Armor of God: The Shield of Faith

{Ephesians 6:10-16}

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;

[Rev. Dwight Yoo]

The shield provides overall protection.

How the Shield of Faith protects.

The enemy attacks us in two ways:

Attacks of Enticement

Satan wants us to place our satisfaction in money, hobbies, food, our family, our job... everything but God. All these things are good things and they are not inherently sinful. The problem comes when they become the ultimate thing. Say our job becomes where we get our ultimate satisfaction... we will become insecure. Because our worth, our joy is tied to our performance at work. We become jealous of co-workers that may be doing a better job than us. We get a bad performance review and we are crushed.

Faith gives us a long-term view, exposing short-term quality of sinful gratification and its consequences.

By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. - Hebrews 11:24-26

Faith pursues the greater pleasure, treasure, and satisfaction that we have in Christ

We do not always experience the pleasure, joy, & satisfaction in Christ. So very often we chase more immediate, but fleeting pleasure.

Attacks of Fear

When the devil attacks us in this way, he is trying to provoke us to the following:

Atheism - We start wondering if God even exists...

Blasphemy - We think God is not good. Or he is unjust....

Despair - We lose hope. We consider ourselves failures.

Faith recognizes the limits of reason and clings only to what God says about himself.

Faith takes hold of promises because Faith sees the trustworthiness of the Promiser.

Fighting with the Full Armor of God: the Breastplate of Righteousness

[Ephesians 6:10-14]

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,

{Rev. Dwight Yoo}
The Breastplate of Righteousness

What is it?

There are two types of righteousness.

Imputed Righteousness
The righteousness of Christ given to us by faith.

Imparted Righteousness
We are restored to wholeness & holiness. The spirit of God changes you.

For the breastplate, we must have both types. We cannot separate the two. Christians must have both.

Why does it matter?

The roman armor of the breastplate was used to protect the vital organs. All the vital organs sat behind the breastplate. In the Christian's life, the breastplate of righteousness protects our conscience. The conscience is very delicate. The devil comes and accuses to try and make us hopeless. The devil wishes to bruise the conscience so that we run from God. We think ourselves unworthy, inept, and failures. But there are two types of sorrow: Godly sorrow will make us turn to God, repent, and ends in joy. Worldly sorrow makes us hopeless and discouraged. We end up hiding from God and running from Him. The devil wishes to encourage worldly sorrow.

How to put it on?

Daily Claim the Imputed Righteousness of Christ

We are children of God through Christ. We are accepted because of Christ. We are loved because of Christ. We need to claim all the promises we have through our faith in Christ.

Daily Exercise Imparted Righteousness

We give up our former sins and live the life as God wishes. Areas of our lives where we are not fully submitted to God gives a place for the devil. If you look around the city, there are these things called bird spikes. They are located where there are perches above places where pedestrians walk. They keep birds from perching there are taking a crap on your head. This is the same for the spiritual life. When we are fully submitted to God, there are bird spikes to keep the devil from crapping on our heads. If we have places in our lives where God does not rule, the devil will come and attack us there.

Cherishing the Path of Wisdom

{Proverbs 4:5-7, 26-27}

Get wisdom; get insight;
do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.
Do not forsake her, and she will keep you;
love her, and she will guard you.
The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom,
and whatever you get, get insight.

Ponder the path of your feet;
then all your ways will be sure.
Do not swerve to the right or to the left;
turn your foot away from evil.

[Rev. Paul Kim]

Wisdom is to value wisdom.

Desire wisdom, in contrast to our society

As a society, we don't really desire wisdom. We seek fame, fortune, comfort, gadgets... not really wisdom. There is a Ten Commandments of America Culture which describes what our society. Notice that wisdom is missing. We have movies on romance, bravery, freedom... but wisdom?

Wisdom recognizes our own ignorance and foolishness

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding (3:5)

Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. (3:7)

The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice. (12:15)

Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him (26:12)

Gospel Reminder: A weak and humble posture.

This reminds us of our needfulness. We are not self-sufficient. We are like children... like beggars. We cannot boast in ourselves. Both the Gospel & wisdom share the same posture.

Wisdom chooses wisdom, repeatedly down a path

delivering you from the way of evil,
from men of perverted speech,
who forsake the paths of uprightness
to walk in the ways of darkness,

(2:12-13)

I have taught you the way of wisdom;
I have led you in the paths of uprightness.
When you walk, your step will not be hampered,
and if you run, you will not stumble.
Keep hold of instruction; do not let go;
guard her, for she is your life.

(4:11-13)

We learn how to frame the issue

We have before us the path. We have a choice between wisdom and folly. It is not just a set of perspectives, but the worldview or perspective of Proverbs. It shows us how to view the choices. When we run into temptations and choices, the view of Proverbs helps us to see the issue clearly.

We choose repeatedly

We are constantly being tempted. We must not forsake the teaching. Not depart from the path of wisdom. There is a repetition and constancy to the choices thrown at us.

We can see the trajectory

Ponder the path of your feet;
then all your ways will be sure.

(4:26)

[the adulteress]
she does not ponder the path of life;
her ways wander, and she does not know it.

(5:6)

There is a final destination at the end of the road. Each decision results in a step which results in a path... which will end in a destination. We have lived long enough to see the results of our choices. What happens when someone turns on the TV day after day for 10 years? What if someone read for 15 minutes every day for 10 years? (They would have read about 200 books.)

Gospel Reminder: take Gospel steps to a loving, free, intimate relationship with God

What is the best final destination? A loving, worshipful relationship with God. To be freed by the love, grace, & acceptance of God.

Fighting with the Full Armor of God: The Shoes of the Gospel of Peace (Part 2)

{Ephesians 6:10-15}

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.

[Rev. Dwight Yoo]

How does the Gospel of peace ready us to stand and fight.

Have you ever gotten into a fight? If you have, you know that traction is important. It is important to have good footing. For the Romans, as we mentioned last week, the soldiers wore shoes with spikes on the bottom, like cleats.

The Gospel of Peace gives us the Eagerness to stand and fight.

The gospel gets sweeter as we hear more of it. As we learn more about ourselves, we see how undeserving we are... but we also learn how immensely loved we are.

Ever since Adam & Eve, the human heart has rebelled from God. All of our hearts are bent away from God because of sin. (Romans 8:7-8) To put it simply, the human heart is at war with God.

Jesus died for us while we were still rebelling. while we were still going where we wanted. (Isaiah 53:5-6) Not only do we have peace with God through Jesus. We have also been reconciled with God. It is like we had a strained relationship... and now there is love and restoration of our relationship with God. (Romans 8:31-39) For those in Christ, the God of the universe is always for you. This knowledge will give us a cheerful eagerness to fight.

We stand with an Eagerness of Love.

For a christian, we see our sin & His love. What keeps us from sin and keeps us fighting? We remember God's love for us & try to please God. We will resist sin because we know God's love for us is so great. Our God has been so good to us, we wish to honor Him.

We stand with an Eagerness of Sure Victory & Glory.

We gladly enter warfare. If God is for us, we will gladly & eagerly enter battle. We are promised victory in the war. We may get beat up and scraped, but we will be victorious. Why? Because the God of the universe is for us. We will not ultimately fail. We may lose some battles, but the war is already won by God.