A Safe Place Series: "Battle"

People are attacked when they are alone, because that is when they are vulnerable

Ephesians 6:12 tells us where these attacks come from

Vrs 13 Suited up for battle for when the attacks come. I believe there is an order to which Paul put forth the armor

Vrs 14Truth: Satan wants to deceive us into believing the lie Rom 1:25 and Angel of light 2 Cor 11:14
The lie that… there is more then one way to heaven, that you can be good enough to get to heaven, all religions lead to heaven, that the bible is not the authority, that calling sin sin is closed minded, that Jesus was just a good man. But when we have the truth down and truth is GOSPEL.

Satan knows that he lost on that front so he will attack the next.

Vrs 14 Righteousness: Satan wants us to sin because it will mess things up and kill our testimony, kill our relationships, kill our self worth, kill our sense of freedom.

The second way Satan attacks our righteousness is that he can use our righteousness to make us become self righteous. When we start to think we are good and think too much of ourselves we start to become judgmental towards others we think we are the ones who accomplished that. Remember Jesus is our righteousness and can be the righteousness of others and they need to hear about that.

If Satan does not succeed in defiling our righteousness he will attack our ability to share the Gospel

Vrs 15 Gospel: Satan wants to keep us from sharing the Gospel with others so they will not know the peace that only Jesus can give.

True peace only comes from knowing Jesus and we spent 4 weeks a few months ago talking about how it is a fight (UFC Series), but the fight is for the people around us to know the truth and peace of the gospel.

In Spiritual community (church) if our focus becomes inward, what I like, what I think is right to do in church, what I want to hear, instead of having a heart for the people outside these walls. Its demonic!!

If he fails on that front he attacks our personal faith

Vrs 16 Faith: Satan tries to take our eyes off Jesus and question and doubt Him EX why are you allowing suffering, why are there some things that we don’t know, why am I having a hard time with relationships, why am I struggling with sin, is my faith worth it,
“Heb 12:2 fix eyes author and perfecter of our faith” (Crazy Faith Series)

And if he has you doubting him his next line of attack is to attack your salvation

Vrs 17 Salvation: Satan wants us to question our salvation and our position in Christ. If you are a Christian and think salvation is something you can loose you are right where Satan wants you.
The Bible says you are purchased by the blood Acts 20, sealed with the Spirit and guaranteed the inheritance Eph 1, secure in Jesus hands John 10, will not be cast out John 6, Nothing can separate us for the love of Jesus Rom 8, If you live your life saying am I saved or am I not you will become ineffective for Jesus.

Now that we have our protection, what are the weapons

The weapons of choice
Vrs 17 The Word- Satan will try to keeps us from reading, Studying, memorizing and understanding the Word The Bible is where we find our hope. Challenge bring your Bible, mark it up

Vrs 18-20 Prayer: Satan tries to Detach Us
Pray for the saints, this passage is about going to battle with Satan and demons but it is also about have others to fight along side
Challenge- I am working on some material to teach you how to pray for and with one another.

In closing I want to suggest two areas in which we do battle
Air and ground

Air- is biblical teaching, what we believe,

Ground-is our practice, being out in community groups, impacting our friends and family members, caring for one another and caring for community that we live in.

We don’t have a choice, like many wars fought over the course of human history we have to fight to ensure that we have a “A Safe Place” our Spiritual community.