Stand Strong: Christian Encouragement in Spiritual Warfare

Being a Marine, I love to give the other military branches a hard time. I don’t give them a hard time because I don’t respect them or because their branch of service is less important, but rather because Marines are just better. I am just kidding…

Do you know why we are called an army and not the Marines? Because anyone can join.

But that is a good thing. God doesn’t call you to be part of His army because you are strongest of the strong, the smartest of the smart, or the bravest of the brave. God calls every, Chief fan and Cowboys fan, and it believe it or not, Yankee’s fan. Thank God! He makes a way for us all.

Can anyone tell me what part of the season is going on in the NFL? Training Camp. Most of these guys haven’t stopped lifting weights, watching films of their techniques and doing endurance workouts, but why? Because if you want to win, you have to be ready. That’s how it is with us too. God’s Army needs to be ready.

This morning, I want to talk about our battle plan and the first thing we should do is pray. Please join me. Second thing lets read from God’s playbook. The bible. Ephesians 6:10-13

This series, that I have borrowed the idea from Pastor Steve Chiles, has taught us that being the Church means that we are the body and we are a family. Each part of this is intertwined with the other parts.

Just like the military is intertwined with the other branches of the military, so are we with each other and other churches. All of us should be used in this great battle plan of God to defeat Satan and not each other. Too many times, we bicker over things that do not make a difference in eternity.

Let take a look at a few things that we need to take to heart and pay attention to, since we are the Church and we are an army. First let’s answer the question….

1. Why did God call us to be an army?

We are in a battle. Everyday. There is a saying that if your path doesn’t lead you to come face to face with Satan, maybe you are walking the same way.

We will come face to face and battle with the enemy and the best way to defeat the enemy is to know things about him. Why did God call us to be an army?

a. Because we have an enemy who seeks to destroy us.

John 10:10

Sometimes, we fail to realize how truly bad Satan hates our relationship with God. We think that we will be attacked from time to time, and that we will get knocked down. We think that this is Satan’s plan. Can I let you in on a secret? That ain’t his plan. His plan isn’t to just knock you down, but he wants to destroy you in any way that he can.

He wants to destroy your relationships, so that you feel alone. And you try to fight on your own. He wants to destroy you mentally, by continually giving you things that will chip away at your faith and that you finally give up.

He wants to destroy you financially. We like to think that being destroyed financially is too much month at the end of the paycheck, but sometimes it is the other way. He can make you so financially stable that you forget about your relationship with God.

He wants to destroy you physically. Making you sick all the time. Any way he can find to destroy you will be one his tactics.

b. Because we are battling the values and pressures of our society.

John 15:19

We see this more and more. Accept the LGBTQrstuv community. It is okay for men to compete in women’s sports. Men that identify as women can have babies. Gay is okay. Sex outside of marriage is okay. Allowing children to determine their own gender is okay. Allowing students to get abortions without telling their parents is okay.

There are pressures everyday to conform to the world and just fit in. When the world has it wrong and the bible tells us not to conform to the world.

c. Because God has called us to live lives of strength in Him.

Romans 8:37

More than Conquerors! Say this, “I am more than a conqueror.” Do you believe that? This time say it like you mean it. “I am more than a conqueror. But here’s the deal, you ain’t no conqueror because of your strength, but because of the power you have in the blood of Jesus.

Does being more than a conqueror mean that we will win every time? NO!! Life is full of wins and losses. Does being more than a conqueror mean that you can win in the long run? Yes. If you stay true to the end. Jesus said, “Those that endure to the end will be saved.”

d. Because God wants us to know we are supported and protected.

Hebrews 13:5 NIV

Demonstration time. I need some volunteers. Now what I need you to do is stand in a line facing the congregation. Shortest in the middle out to the tallest. Be at least arm’s length apart. You keep looking at everyone out there. No cheating Jaxon.

This is what Satan wants you to think you are. Individuals doing it on your own. But in all actuality, the church is more like this. Because as the Army of God, you are supported and protected.

Thank you. You can go sit down.

2. Since we are soldiers, what should we do?

a. We must prepare for how the Enemy attacks.

I Peter 5:8

Prowls like a lion looking for someone to devour. Which circles back to Satan wants to destroy you. Maybe it is little by little maybe it feels like all at once.

Means of attack:

Fear, doubt, discouragement, division, and temptation.

Have you ever felt God tell you to share your faith with someone and the thought of it made you scared to be rejected? Where do you think that fear comes from? Satan. Satan attacks you with fear of failure, fear of rejection, or how about the fear of being vulnerable and being accountable to anyone. We don’t want nobody knowing our business, so we hold it in.

How about doubt? Let’s think back to when Satan temped Eve and she ate of the forbidden fruit. How did he do it? Doubt right. Did God really say that you can’t eat the fruit? Surely you won’t die. Satan plants the seed of doubt and we stumble over it.

Probably the one of the biggest is discouragement. No one appreciates what I do. No one asked me to be a part of this. No one cares about me. What happens when you get discouraged? You want to give up. You want to be alone. Once we start getting discouraged the floodgates open.

Division. Division in your family, division at your job, division in your relationships at church. We get so caught up in ourselves that we fail to see that we are all in this together. For years and years, we could be friends with people from another church, but man they got it wrong and we will never worship together. Kind of like the disciples that told Jesus we saw people casting out demons in your name and healing in your name, we told them to stop because they were not one of us. Division.

Temptation. It’s okay, no one will ever know. Doing it one time won’t hurt anyone. You want to be part of the group, right? You don’t want to be the only one not doing it. Just one bite, you won’t die. It’s okay to talk about other people’s problems, because you’re just sharing. They did it to you, so you are just getting even. There are other ways that Satan attacks and he will find a way to attack you.

b. Use the weapons God gives us to fight with.

II Corinthians 10:4

God gives us weapons, but we need to know how to use them. And not only that we need to stay battle ready with our weapons. I have told this story before, that when I was in Desert Storm, me and my Corpsman was in our foxhole. I had an M16 and a pistol and Doc had the M249 Saw. We had not used that weapon very often and we were not sure on the right position of the bolt to fire from.

Doc, slowly pulled the bolt back to cock the weapon. Holding the bolt handle, he pulled the trigger and very slowly and quietly allowed the bolt to go forward, thinking that the weapon fired from the closed bolt position. It did not. Within 5 seconds, there was a click and a crack. We just fired a round over the Persian Gulf. All because we were not sure how to use the weapon.

God gives us weapons, like prayer, the Holy Spirit and the bible, but if we don’t know how to use them, they will not do us any good. How did Satan tempt Jesus. With Scripture. So, we have to know how to use the scripture in the correct way to defeat the enemy.

We have to use our weapons and we need to….

c. Stay connected.

Matthew 18:20

One of the worst things a soldier can do in a battle is to get separated from the rest of the platoon. There is strength in numbers.

One of the worst things we can do as a soldier in the Army of God is isolate ourselves from the rest of the Army. If, in my demonstration with the students, Jaxon would have decided that he could do it on his own. He might have lasted for a little while, but eventually the enemy would wear him out and defeat him.

We must stay connected. Are you connected in the Army of God? Do you stand together with other believers as you fight the good fight? We will either stand together or we will fall apart.

We are the Church! We are an Army!