October 1, 2017– Battle Armor

Ephesians 6:10-20

God equips us for the spiritual battles we face.

Put on the full armor of God:

• The belt of truth.

• The breastplate of righteousness.

• Feet fitted with readiness.

• The shield of faith.

• The helmet of salvation.

• The sword of the Spirit.

• And pray in the Spirit on all occasions.

Truths

• Spiritual battle is the great unacknowledged battlefield of our time.  The spiritual battle IS REAL.
• The devil is deceptive and uses strategies and tactics to draw people away from Jesus and his church.
• God desires that his church resist the devil.
• Our only weaponry is the armor that God provides.
• This armor is about allowing Jesus to be our full and total defense agains the devil's strategies and tactics.  Jesus is greater than all his rivals and he will provide protection his own.
• Spiritual victory is not found in external methods, but in a personal friend-to-friend relationship with Jesus. His "weapons"– truth, righteousness, readiness, faith, salvation and a filling by the Holy Spirit with constant prayer–can bring spiritual victory on the spiritual battlefield.
• The good news of the coming of Jesus, the Christ (the Gospel) is powerful and serves as s spiritual sword to cut our ties with darkness and advances the light of Christ.
• The Lord equips and prepares us for spiritual battle.  WE need to regularly practice with the tools of our trade.
• Prayer is an essential part of spiritual warfare.  It is necessary to ASK to keep our human spirits attuned to the Holy Spirit. We must desire to stay attuned to the Holy Spirit and we must focus upon being filled with the the spirit of God.
• Proclaiming the Gospel requires boldness.
• We must stay alert, observe and defend those in our cohorts, and prayer for each other that we may serve to keep our defenses strong and our offense effective.

PRAYER THIS WEEK REMINDERS

• Those in need because of loss. 
• Those traveling and dealing with family dynamics.
• The widening divisions within this country and the spiritual warfare–the battle of ideas and ideology–it evidences.