Let’s Be Spiritually Armed (Ephesians 6:10-18)
The title of today’s message is Let’s be spiritually armed. The Bible is talking about something spiritual and that is why with the words of other religions, you cannot solve the problem of humankind. Because humans are spiritual creatures we have spiritual problems. And when you talk about spirit, God is with us in spirit. However, Satan is also working spiritually.
Introduction
1. Satan
And there are people who don’t know anything about Satan, and because they don’t know about Satan, they can’t talk about him. Then what’s going to happen? People don’t know what their problem is.
1) Don’t Know – Word X
And there are denominations that emphasize Satan. So Satan does exist, but because people emphasize him so much, the opposite reaction comes out. There are certain denominations where that focus and emphasize Satan. However, both are Satan’s strategy for you not to know him. Because people emphasize him so much, general churches are saying not to talk about him. Why? Because Satan is a very deceptive creature. So all you have to know is that he exists, but because you don’t know this you keep fighting against people.
2) Emphasize- X
Because you think everything is Satan’s fault and you emphasize so much, yet people cannot see him.
2. Exist Revelation 12
But if you look at Revelation, it says Satan will exist until the second coming, he’s an entity that will not disappear. To the extent that we have physical bodies and everything isn’t the kingdom of God, Satan exists and works upon us. Your walk of faith will work out even if you know to what extent Satan knows and deceives us, but if you don’t know this, you have no choice but to concentrate on the physical fight, and that’s Satan’s goal. Realistically, he’s controlling everything from behind the scenes, but he’s making it seem like a physical fight.
But if you know this well, you will come to evangelize well, but if you don’t know this, evangelism will not work for you, why? Because the spirit of Satan is holding onto everybody. Before the Spirit of Christ comes upon a person, Satan holds onto everybody. How can you evangelize when you don’t know this? You cannot. We need to realistically know what the truth is, and why do we armor ourselves? Because there is an enemy.
Main
1. Enemy – Know
We have to know who our enemy is. If you look at the majority of people they keep on thinking the physical things are the problem.
1) Ephesians 6:11 Schemes
In Ephesians 6:11, it says that the devil uses schemes. For him to use schemes means he’s moving so we cannot recognize that he’s there. If you don’t know who this entity is, you have no choice but to move past it.
2) Ephesians 6:12 Flesh, Blood X, Rulers, Authorities
It says our struggle is not against flesh and blood, so you need to know this well. If you think you’re fighting with a person, that’s Satan’s scheme. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood but it is against the rulers and authorities. Satan controls the world using the rulers and authorities, and it says, “against the powers of the dark world.” We’re going to El Salvador this summer, and the gangs there are actually moved by Satan. It’s the same thing in America. Satan is using gangs like MS13 to move the people to control the world.
Dark – Religion
Then it says, “Against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms,” it’s talking about other religions. So, how does Satan work? He works using religion. So within your region and nation you have to know the spiritual truth and you have to draw the spiritual map.
Spiritual Map
You have to draw this spiritual map in order for you to know how to really fight.
Analyze
You have to analyze the field you live in. Religion. You have to know what kind of religions are in your region. The evil spirits, the gangs are all fighting one another with these guns. Not long ago, on James M. Wood and Elden, there were a few kids who died. They were not gang members, but the apartment they lived in was full of gangsters. So, even within South America, between Mexico or El Salvador, all these people are different. There were three kids, two boys and one girl, and they were sitting outside in the morning, talking, but some gang members drove by and shot them, thinking they were gang members. The kid I evangelized died immediately, but the bullet only grazed the kid next to him. The bullet hit the girl’s spine, so even though she lived, she’s now paralyzed. So, Satan is using human organizations to move the world.
There are the rulers and authorities. When a ruler is ruling over and Satan is holding onto that ruler, that ruler will rule according to Satan. You have to be able to analyze this in order for you to pray and to fight the spiritual battle. But if you cannot analyze this within your region, it means you’re not actually acknowledging the entity that is Satan. You actually just think only to the extent of, “He’s deceiving me this way or that way,” but you don’t know how Satan is moving the entire world.
3) Ephesians 6:13 Weakness
It says, why do you put on the full armor of God? “So that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground.” What is the day of evil? It means when I’m not armored, when I am weak, Satan will attack. When is this? It’s after you have done everything, which means Satan will let you be until you succeed. But after you’ve succeeded, the moment you think you’re now okay, that’s D-day, that’s the day Satan attacks you. Why do we put on the spiritual armor of God? It’s so that after success, we may have true spiritual success.
4) Ephesians 6:16 Flaming Arrows
How does Satan work? He shoots flaming arrows at us. A flaming arrow means when it’s shot into you, it doesn’t come out; it just burns. If a thought enters into you, that thought burns you up. It makes you completely spiritually powerless. It’s almost like when a virus enters your body, your body loses all of its strength. That’s why it says we have to have the shield of faith.
5) 2 Corinthians 11:14 Angel of Light
In 2 Corinthians 11:14, it says Satan appears to us as an angel of light. If he appears to you as an angel of light, you’re not going to be able to discern, why? Because he looks like an angel, “This person is so nice, what a good person, he can’t even lie,” so he appears to you as an angel of light. It means Satan is appearing to you through the people you like and the people you trust. Or, he packages an incident to make it appear really good.
That’s why we have to pray, because without prayer, we cannot discern this, because how could we discern it? The angel of light is coming. If you look at China’s strategy, they come dressed as an angel of light and steal all their information from America. That person actually died a few days ago. And the person’s plane crashed a few days ago and I don’t know if it was the work of the CIA, nobody can know. The plane fell where it shouldn’t have fallen. This isn’t just the incident in the world. And that’s how Satan appears to you, you can’t discern. You cannot discern because you cannot even discern physically. But Satan is completely deceiving us, using the physical things, when he’s deceiving us spiritually, then how can we discern it? It means you cannot with physical things. When you hold onto this and pray, the Spirit is Who protects your thoughts and heart.
Some people may approach this and say, “This business is going to succeed,” Satan tries to deceive you through people. How does he make you crumble? He makes you trust people, saying, “it’s going to work out, it’s going to work out,” but how can you discern this? Can you discern this? You cannot know this unless the Holy Spirit comes to you, to teach you and guide you.
This is a very important spiritual fact for your life, because if you don’t know this, then 100%, you will be deceived. It is not just 80% you’ll be deceived, but 100% you’ll be deceived. If you know this, then you’re going to know why you need the armor of God; you need to know the problem in order to know the answer.
5) 1 Peter 5:8
It says Satan is going around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour, so he’s hungry and going around, looking for spiritually weak people, and when he sees one, he attacks. You listen to these words a lot, so you know. You know this but if you spiritually lose strength, then even listening to this will become burdensome to you. Because you’re spiritually burdened, these words seem frustrating, it’s burdensome, but why is it so burdensome?
You fall into this spiritual state because you think, “I’m spiritually good and I’m receiving a lot of grace,” so you stop living your walk of faith. It’s at that moment that, just like a roaring lion, who’s been waiting around, Satan attacks you, he attacks your heart and your mind, and he drags you towards the direction he wants to take you. No matter how much you receive the Word, you’re not going to receive that grace, why? Because you’ve already been bitten and carried off.
If you thrash about as much as you can, you may be able to restore this just a little bit, but then you receive this grace and think it’s enough, but after a few days, you fall again. This is very important. This isn’t a problem for humans or of circumstances; this is a real problem.
7) Revalations 2:9-10- Organizations
When you see Rev. 2:9-10, you see Satan uses the Jewish organizations, and that’s why Jesus told the Jews, “You belong to your father, the devil.” Region by region, Satan works using organizations. In Rome, it was the legions; here, it was the Jews. That’s why when you say, “I’m going to do something by myself,” you cannot spiritually withstand this, so the church is not a place where you just worship, but you have to fight with the organization. So, you have to raise the spiritual soldiers because you’re a soldier, what does that mean? You’re a spiritual soldier. In this region Satan is attacking us with groups and organizations. So for us, we go out into the field as a spiritual group.
Why do we gather? When we gather, receive the Word and pray, that’s when the forces of darkness in the region are bound. But because you don’t know this, you focus on the individual self, but when you do that you go out into the field and will absolutely fall. If you could do it by yourself for 24 hours, then ultimately you’ll save everyone around you, but you can’t, ultimately you’re going to get caught up on this. So, what is it that we do? We gather because that’s how Satan works as well, by gathering. That is why we have the church that gathers and the church that is scattered, so that is why the remnants gather.
Why? Because we have the entire region of LA, so all the remnants of LA gather together. The WRC in Korea is a gathering at a worldwide level, why? Because we have to do this worldwide fight. We went to the business missions conference, why? Because the missionaries are gathering to fight, receiving the Word, receiving the strategy, gathering in prayer, and going out and are scattered to convey this word. In doing this, we gather all the material possessions and prayers to do the spiritual battle, so that is why it says we are soldiers. You have to always have this in mind, why? Because there is an enemy.
Sometimes Satan plows into the church and tries to destroy us, but for those who don’t pray, we have no choice but to be attacked, why? Because he appears as an angel of light and approaches us using the correct words, so no one is able to discern, but he uses the correct words to shake up the group. And if no one is praying then no one will be able to know this, this is how he approaches us as an angel of light, but the one who prays will be able to discern this, “Oh, Satan is the one causing division right now,” it seems like correct words, but he is actually throwing bombs at you.
What is there to talk about? You just quietly break it down with prayer. If you break down the forces of darkness with prayer, then that person is going to come to life. But if you don’t know this spiritually, you’re just going to fight back and forth with words, am I right or are you right? That’s what Satan wants because we don’t know how he works, we have no choice but to be attacked. So, within the church, if the church doesn’t talk about Satan, they will be attacked.
But if you emphasize Satan so much, “This is the demon of the food, this is that demon,” then they really don’t know who Satan is, but for you only one person needs to have this. When you know this, you pray to bind this in the name of Jesus Christ, but you don’t know this, so you keep getting attacked. “Oh this person is spiritually weak.” You quietly pray and you’re able to change them, but if you keep going back and forth, do you know what happens? Ultimately their pride will get hurt, and Satan will hold onto that and work upon that even more, but if you know this, you will bind Satan.
Even if a person really messes up, all they have to do is realize it, but if you keep hounding them about that, Satan is going to work upon that person, why? Because you think you can teach them with education but you cannot. Even if you know spiritual things, you can still get attacked. The forces of darkness have to be bound in order for your thoughts to change to normal thoughts. If someone is making a ruckus in the church, first pray and realize that person is being attacked. It may seem like correct words to that person, but Satan plows into people using correct words, then what is the result? It is division, it makes it so uncomfortable so they cannot see each other, and that’s the work that Satan does.
If you don’t know this, can you really have a family? No, because that family life will be so uncomfortable for you. If you don’t know this, do you think you can work and have a business life? No, it’s going to be very uncomfortable. Evangelism will become secondary to you and you’re always going to be wandering.
2. Special
Satan has a special characteristic, what is this characteristic? It’s that he is invisible.
1) See X
If we are able to see him we would be able to discern him, but we cannot.
2) Deception
Because you cannot see with your eyes, those who hold onto the Word and pray will be able to see. Joseph was able to hold onto the Word and pray, and he was able to see the spiritual state of Egypt. He wasn’t talking about Potiphar or this or that, but he knew exactly why they were spiritually seized. Potiphar may have been the General who protected the Pharaoh, he may have been a high status person, but spiritually, he’s seized by Satan, and because Satan deceives people, people have no choice but to fall into deception and do idol worship.
Standard
If you don’t want to be deceived you have to have the correct standard with which you can discern the truth, and that is Jesus Christ. Even if a child of God forgets that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, then even though the answer has been given to them, they will be deceived, why? Because they don’t have that standard. You have to have the standard of God’s Word to know how the devil is tricking you. But what happens if you do not see Satan’s lies? Then you’re going to looka people’s ethics and morality, and based on that, you’re going to say they are good.
Then, does it mean that the morally righteous or ethical people are the only people who are with God? No, if they don’t have Christ, then their spirits are seized by Stan, and it means that everything they’re talking about is a lie, because what is a lie? It is the words that do not have God’s word. Why? Because Satan controls and deceives us using our ethics and morality.
3) Spirit- Seizes, Failure
And he completely seized our spirits. Because he seizes our spirits and we cannot see this physically, ultimately we are going to fail. Even if you succeed, it’s actually a failure because your spirit is seized. That’s why your walk of faith has to maintain this very well. You have to focus on your spirit but because you are focused on physical things you’re spiritually failing
Genesis 6 Money, Genesis 11 Success
Because this is Genesis 6 and 11, why? Because we are spiritual creations but we don’t have that focus. Then you go to church and we become seized by Satan, and this is how people do their walk of faith.
3. Armor
How do we armor ourselves? Why? Because there’s an enemy that is deceiving us so we may wander and become confused.
1) Helmet- Salvation
But he says, “Put on the helmet,” because you must have the assurance of salvation. What is the first thing Satan attacks? He attacks so you cannot have the assurance of salvation, then what’s going to happen? You’ll revert back to the state before you have salvation. Think about how important your head is. If your head takes a blow just once, it’s game over. If your brain is hit, because it gives the commands, when it is hit, it cannot give commands to the body. First and foremost, you have to have the assurance of salvation. It’s not that you’re saved; everyone knows that, but you have to have the assurance.
2) Breastplate-… Righteousness
Christ’s righteousness
The breastplate of righteousness. It means you’re moved by the gospel and you have Christ’s righteousness. You’re moved by your salvation, you’re protecting your heart with the righteousness of Christ. If you don’t have this kind of sense, ultimately Satan is going to attack your heart, how? He’s going to attack your heart and emotions, then you have to have this sense in order to withstand the past. And Satan moves so that you only focus on your righteousness. It is through Jesus Christ you receive salvation but if you don’t have this Satan’s going to attack your righteousness.
3) Belt – Truth
I am the Way and the Truth, these are the words of Christ, the Truth. What happens if you don’t ave a belt? Then you cannot act. You can’t even run someplace if you don’t have a belt. He’s saying, have this belt of the Word of Jesus Christ.
4) Shoes – Relay, Field
Have the shoes of peace, it means you are going into the field where you are going to spread the gospel. Why would you have shoes? You’re going to go into the field. But when you’re in the field, these shoes have to be comfortable, and when you think to yourself, “This is the field God has sent me to,” this has to be peaceful to you. But what happens if the field becomes too difficult for you? You’re not going to be able to go, and if you don’t go you’re not going to be able to make money. It seems like you’re going into your field to make money and work, but you are putting on these shoes to go out into the field and have peace about the Word and the gospel that you’re going to spread.
5) Shield – Faith
God has finished everything and is with me right now. It’s not enough for you to know this, you have to believe it. He is with us. He is doing all things for His good. With this faith, you’re able to block Satan’s flaming arrows
6) Sword – Spirit – Word
It is the Sword of the Holy Spirit, it is the Word. This is the unique weapon with which we can attack, it is the words of the Holy Spirit. What happens if you don’t have the Word? You’re going to die, because you need to have a weapon to attack Satan, but if you don’t, then you’re going to keep being attacked. This Word has to be accurate because, otherwise, what would happen if you have a dull sword? Even if you attack them, they wouldn’t get cut. I have to have the accurate word as my covenant in order for me to attack Satan in one fell swoop. But if the sword is dull and has lost all its bite, then no matter how much you attack, it’s not going to work.
Inside the church-
7) Prayer – Correspondence
This is how you receive spiritual communication from God. It’s how you receive your reward. Because what happens if you don’t pray, you cannot receive the things of heaven. Because everyone knows who the Romans are, this is what Paul used to dhestricbe this, so you have to arm yourself with these, especially within the church. To me or to you, people are going to say things. But when they talk, they may say things that hurt your pride and they may speak out of their emotions, and they may speak from their perspective. But you cannot pour your heart into those words.
If you put those words into your heart, Satan is going to use that. Do not pour their words into your heart, but just listen with your ears and let it go. The words you need to ehat for word evangelism you have to hear, but the rest, let it flow by you. Even if you don’t say anything to them, God is going to hold onto that person. Because God is the Master, what does it matter? Even my daughter doesn’t listen to me, then how would adults listen to me? That’s why I don’t say anything. Right? If adults listen to everything they say maybe you can say it but even kids don’t listen to you. Because ultimately everyone moves by which is poured into our hearts. That’s why you pray to be filled with God, otherwise you’re going to be filled with those words and Satan will use that against you.
There’s practically nobody who can give this accurate word. Why? Because they’re all people, they’re humans and they will redeliver the word according to their own perspective. And so you have to listen to their words and say, “oh this is thee kind of spiritual state that this person is in” but if you specifically listen to their words and say, “how can he say this to the pastor,” then that’s how Satan attacks you. You have to just end it as, “This person needs my prayer; I need to pray for this person,” you can’t listen further than that. So many people died because of COVID, yes that’s true but if you listen too carefully to these words, Satan uses those words to attack you. “I see, a lot of people die because of COVID” and you move along but if you keep diving into those words then it’s trouble for you.
I have to find God’s plan within this and be able to relay it, otherwise I’m going to be trapped in this fact. Evangelism doesn’t work out if both of you guys are going to fall, why? Because even that is from their perspective, and really, evangelism is not taking place for this person. But evangelism is not working out because there’s another reason why it isn’t working out but because they can’t find the reason they just say “I can’t evangelize” but if you fall into those words of “I can’t evangelize,” In this way, Satan will approach us using the people who are closest to us, suing their words so we fall into Satan’s lies. That’s why forum is so important? People say, “what about the words of the world,” look at everything, everything doesn’t work out. Everything fluctuates and goes back and forth, there’s no truth in that. it’s not the truth so there’s no point for me to talk about it.
Armor yourself with the word of God and save people. Spiritually, armor yourself. The goal is because there is an enemy, and Satan is controlling the field. You have to know this in order for you to shoot the missiles of prayer. That’s why it’s so important for us to actually meet together because Satan is attacking our schools, field, as organizations and groups, then we need to attack Satan with organizations as well. That is why we gather, we receive the Word and shoot flames of fire through prayer.
You have to know this in order for you to consider yourself knowing Satan. You might know him in theory but you don’t realistically know him. That’s why you don’t pray because you don’t know him, you don’t have a reason to pray . But if you know that he gathers groups and moves the world with that, the churches will gather together and attack. Ultimately we cannot survive in the field without binding the strong man first. Because we cannot do this by ourselves, we gather for Early Morning worship and Friday Night service and you gather together to shoot these missiles, then of course Satan will be afraid.
But He’s going to make it so that your’e bo busy you don’t realize what’s happening, so that’s why you go out into the field and you’re not able to stand. Because you cannot do this without binding the strong man first. This is a very important message, and I hope you will recognize it. Yes, you can do all night worship and receive grace but that’s not what we are talking about, we are talking about fighting against Satan. And the person who does this receives answers. They receive the answers first, why? Because they are the leaders. Because no matter how much of a general you are, if you don’t know the enemy, they will take away your stars. And no matter how lowly a soldier is, if they know who the true enemy is, then through him the battle is won. Let’s pray together.
Prayer
So, let us put on the full armor of God and really pray and attack Satan within our regional churches and within our fields. Let us pray together.