Suiting Up For Battle

Ephesians 6:10 – "...Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power."

 Bulent Kilic (top left), Hosam Katan (bottom left) and Kit O'Connell (right) We all are familiar with the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. During modern times, the Middle East has experienced over 80 conflicts (e.g. uprising, massacres, coups, revolts, insurgencies, etc.), while taking the lives of millions of people. For some of us, similar to the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, there is constant civil unrest in our lives. In response to this civil unrest, some of us have become masters at pretending, looking away from life’s problems, hoping that they will simple go away. Too many of us fail to acknowledge the real source or sources of the conflicts in our lives. Instead, we opt to take a mellow (laid-back) approach toward life problems, which leads to discontentment, unhappiness, depression - a defeated Christian life. Through our study series, Victories Don’t Come by Accident, part 2, Suiting Up For Battle, our heavenly Father wants to prove to this Life Group that this is not it. This is not the life He has for you. He is determined to prove to you that he has provided you everything you need to be victorious in this mangle world. Review the video link from last night’s lesson. Click here. Juan Pablo Di Pace, who played the role of Jesus in the TV series, AD The Bible Continues, made a simple, but very powerful statement in this clip.   “When the Holy Spirit comes to you. You will receive power.”   God gives us the power, His power, that we need to change our circumstances, to properly equip us to fight the battles that comes up in our lives. He provided us everything we need to FIGHT WELL AND WIN. Last night, we saw, when we CHOOSE to fight any of our battles without God or Holy Spirit, it is futile. Let that soak in for a minute by reading that again. When we CHOOSE to fight any of our battles without God or Holy Spirit, it is futile. It equates to going into a military conflict without the proper equipment. I cannot imagine any of you going off to fight in a military battle and leaving behind your gun, protective gear, radio for communication, etc. That’s exactly what we are electing to do each time we go into battle to deal with life problems without God. As we live out our lives from day to day, we often don’t recognize or realize there is a war going on in each of our individual world. In each of our lives, there is a strategic plan of action taken place to cause havoc in our lives. Everyday that you get up, the moment you step out of your bed, you step onto the battlefield. A battlefield that is invisible to the naked eye, but is real. A battlefield where there is   No cease fire No truce No cessation (break) of hostilities for the sole purpose of causing you to live a defeated and powerless Christian life, completely separated from God and His plan for you.   During last night Bible study, we only covered question #1 because it is vital that each of you understand the importance of preparation on your part before stepping onto your battlefield each day. Before you can properly get into your customized God’s suit of armor, you must get into His presence and prep for your day in His strength. That’s  what Ephesians 6:10 incites us to do, to “…be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.” As we saw last night, being strong in the Lord requires us to have a waiting attitude. To wait in faith To wait patiently for the Lord God wants to show each one us   How to reverse our poor and inadequate planning for our part, against the personalize schemes and attacks on our lives Teach and show us how to prepare and fight well How to be victorious in every aspect of our lives This requires us to be not strong in ourselves – our inadequate attempts to solve our problems independent from God. But to be completely dependent on His provisions and resources, knowing that only God can solve our problems for us – all our problems for us. King David provided a very simple formula, if applied, that guarantees you to see the scene of your battlefield start to change in your favor. Even through the duration, the intensity of your battles may increase, the victory of each battle will become yours each time. Although King David speaks of his frustration of seeing the unrighteousness prosper in these verses, Psalm 37:1-8 can be applied to any problem in life. Below are just a few key words from those verses. V1 Don’t worry…neither be envious V2 Trust in the LORD and do good V4 Delight (commit) in the LORD V5 Commit everything you do in the LORD. Trust Him. V7 Rest (be still) in the presence of the LORD and wait patiently for him to act V8 Stop being angry. Turn from your rage. Don’t lose your temper. In closing, take a few minutes to journal in your notebook, areas in your life you need to learn to be more strong in the Lord. Areas where you need to learn to wait on Him in faith. Areas where you need to learn to rest in His might power. Next Monday, December 14, we will conclude, Suiting Up For Battle, by covering questions 2-5 from last Thursday’s Study Guide. I will resend the Study Guide on Thursday, December 10.