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July, 2024 (Vol.58-No.7) |
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Preached by Dr. Gene Scott on November 18, 1979 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Ephesians 6:10-11 TODAY WE ARE STUDYING THE EPISTLE to the Ephesians. Paul had two preaching missions in Ephesus. When he came a third time to that region, he stopped at the isle of Miletus and the Ephesian elders came to encourage him. In Acts 20, Paul speaks to them concerning his chains and his bondage, and then in verse 24 he says, “But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy.” How I wish that people would let those words sink in. As a pastor, I am often grieved by the apparent inability of God’s people to understand the principle of going on in God. It is the lament expressed by the author of the Hebrews letter, addressing those saints who had been redeemed to a better way, who ought to be teachers but have need of being taught again, the eternal babes. Another epistle writer speaks of growth. John says, “I write to you, children; I write to you, young men; I write to you, fathers.” There are many things that a father would like to do that he can no longer do, because of his daily load of providing and caring for his family, leading them and staying up for the task, no matter what. There are many liberties that a babe takes, and even a young man takes, that are no longer available to a father. John is speaking of spiritual progress. I was once asked to explain the verse, “Many are called, but few are chosen.” My answer was, “The chosen ones finish!” Heaven is not populated with gurgling, giggling starters; it is populated with those who finish. It is the last mile of the trip that counts. The Ephesian letter is a prototype of the Christian journey. It starts out soaring to the highest heights: “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to he faithful in Christ Jesus.” Paul is writing to the saints, the “set apart ones,” and he says, “Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” I want you to see this as an outpouring of the heart of a pastor, namely Paul, who wrote a letter. He had never heard of chapter or verse. He is earnestly praying for those saints and teaching them about our blessed state in faith, redeemed from sin and made to sit in heavenly places with Christ Jesus. He then discusses the greatness of Christ’s power, and he prays, “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.” He must have had to agonize with self-serving Christianity in his day, and that constant tendency of Christians to fixate and stop growing in their knowledge of God. Paul prayed that “the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.” Simply stated, the hope of our calling, really the hope of His calling, and the glory of His inheritance, boil down to what God set out to do at the outset when He said, “Let us make man in our image.” God is not concerned about making us rich down here. God is not even concerned about making us happy down here, because this world is not our home. He is not interested in making Himself the servant of the kindergartners. He wants to bring us forth in His image, that His purposes for us might just begin to be fulfilled as we enter into heaven’s gate. Paul wants us to understand that whereas man in his own strength could not attain to God’s image, the exceeding greatness of God’s own power that brought Jesus forth from the tomb and put Him above everything, now comes into us to do the same work. “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye are saved); and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” In 1st Corinthians 15:19, Paul says something that ever Christian knows but pays little attention to: if we had hope only in this life, we would be “of all men most miserable.” What concerns me about most modern Christians is they are just not miserable enough to apply God’s frame to the things of this world. There is joy in following Christ. There are the outworkings of God’s power. There is a sense of destiny and accomplishment, there is the hope by which we purify ourselves, there is the certainty of that which is to come and there is the joy of His presence with us. But this life, and the things therein, ought not to have the hold they have on some people. God’s purpose is “that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” There is no comparison between “the ages to come” and this feeble life down here. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship.” The word in the Greek translated “workmanship” is the same word from which we get our word poem. God is writing a poem in human flesh. The poet controls the phraseology, the placement of the words and the punctuation. A poem is totally under the control of its author. We are God’s poem. “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.” Today’s church world presents a God who gets excited about discovering what we like so He can do it for us. God did not save us for ourselves; He saved us for Himself. The fundamental root of all sin is, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way.” That has about as much impact on the average self-seeking Christian as water on a duck’s back. We become so calloused in thinking that God will approve whatever we want that we can no longer hear what the root of sin is. That is the dichotomy: do I get what I want, or does God get what He wants? John says, “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.” From day one to the last mile, Jesus treated this life as though it had only one reason for existence: “Nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” It is unfortunate but true: 90 percent of those who call themselves God’s people, worshipping in churches all over this land, are forever “church-shopping.” They are seeking to find a church that homogenizes what they want for themselves with what they think God might want. They are looking for the place where they can have what they want with God’s approval. That is sin. We are called with a holy calling to become “an habitation of God through the Spirit.” The word “holy” translates the Greek word hagios, which means “set apart for His purpose.” God intends that these fleshly vessels will come forth looking like Him. Those are the ones He wants, and the only way it will happen is for God’s Spirit to do that work in us. But the warfare between my will and His will may grieve His Spirit away. No matter how much you try to gloss it over, God still looks at the root of our nature. He is still looking for the same thing He has always looked for, and He is not getting much of it. Paul’s prayer continues in Ephesians 3:14, and he prays for those who will give themselves up to God: “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man.” What God’s word clearly tells us must be done to please Him is so staggering that I faint at the thought of trying to do it myself. But when we grab hold of Him, get the scales off of our eyes and understand what moving toward eternity really means, God starts doing the work in us. We can be “strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.” God is not asking for the impossible. He is asking for the sacrificing, once-and-for-all, bridge-burning choice. Then He finishes the job in us. That is the beauty of it. It is not the first mile that counts, it is the last mile. But we need to come once and for all to the mindset of Jesus, when He said, “if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.” Gethsemane is really the problem for most Christians, not Calvary. There must come that realization in every Christian’s life that he exists for God, and not the other way around. We start out as a little child in God who has been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places, and while we were yet sinners, God’s love was commended to us, in that, while we were rebels and outcasts and ignoramuses, and outlaws, Christ died for us. He died to remove the barrier to let Him in, to help us be what God wanted us to be, to lift the burden and the consequence of sin. When will people who grow up in the church understand that hell is a reality? You don’t get the choice of changing your mind when the hot air of hell is breathing on you at death’s door. No man comes to Christ except the Father draw him. You don’t choose when the light is turned on, but every saint of God today and every person who hears God’s word is at that threshold. There are only so many times you can hear the truth and say “no” to it and get another chance. This is one outstanding quality of the cross. There comes a point in every Christian’s journey where God’s claim comes into a sharp focus. Notice how many verses in the four Gospels are devoted to what is called the “Passion Week,” which was the very last week of Jesus’ three-and-a-half-year ministry. Early in Jesus’ ministry, He could spend time with the multitudes on the hills around Galilee. But when His time drew near, Jesus went to see one woman at Samaria. The Scripture says, “He must needs go through Samaria” – to see one woman. Jesus took His disciples to the Mount of Transfiguration. Nobody really knows why He took His choice disciples to the top of that hill. Jesus was clothed with a fleshly tabernacle and felt the same drag that you and I feel about pain and self-sacrifice. I believe He took them there to try to find a little encouragement as He talked about the cross that was suddenly looming before Him. The purpose for which He came was now going to be sharply focused. When the disciples went to sleep, Elijah and Moses appeared, and they spoke to Jesus concerning His decease. Jesus could not get any encouragement out of those sleeping saints. The only encouragement He could get was from God who brought forth Moses and Elijah, two people who had faced similar loneliness in their dedication. If you read the Gospels closely, it was from that glorious experience on that hill that He came down to talk to the disciples for the first time of His decease that lay ahead. In Luke 9, right after that event, when the time was come that Jesus should be received up, “he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem.” We do not know which conversion stabilized and fixed the apostle Peter as foundation stone in the city of the Lamb. It may have been simply a naïve response to the magnet of Jesus’ presence that made him leave his fishnets to follow Jesus the first time. Or perhaps it was later, after the Resurrection, when Jesus told him he would no longer be able to go his own way but another would bind him and lead him to death. Peter certainly could have walked away at that point if he had wanted to, but he did not. That was the time that counted, and every saint comes to that point. That is when you mature from babyhood in Christ and come to the realization: I am not my own, I am bought with a price. I am not saved for my own wants, my desires, my happiness or anything in this life! I belong to Him, and He has bought me so that He might inhabit me and bring forth His image in me. There is no other meaning to New Testament Christianity. Paul, by example, then says in Ephesians 4:1, “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.” Then he speaks of the one body and of those whom God has given as ministers: “he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry.” We need to make two corrections to this verse. First, there is no punctuation in the Greek: the comma after the word “saints” should not be there. Second, the phrase “for the work” should be translated “to the work.” The passage should read “for the perfecting of the saints to the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ: till we all come in unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.” There are many cunning, rapacious charlatans who want what they can get from you, and by any means possible they will find your soft spot to get it. You only have to turn on the television to see how much preaching is what A.W. Tozer called “the same business on the other side of the street,” using the same techniques and the same motivation that the world uses. It is straight out of Madison Avenue advertising or the used car lot. It is all about who has the best pitch and can convince you they have the best product to meet your needs. That is not how God presents His message. He sent preachers into cities to see if anyone could be found in the city worthy of the message they were bringing. We have been lifted from the cesspool of sin. We have been taken from the garbage dump of our own creation. We are worthless lepers, blind, lost, sick sheep who by the grace of God have been given an inheritance that is incorruptible, reserved for us in heaven. We have been made sons of God with all of His privileges, and we can only retain that if we grab hold and follow after His calling. We ought to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. I am no longer convinced that preachers should work so hard to make you feel secure in God. Preachers ought to make people feel a little insecure in their complacency, so that they may then find the true basis for security in God. Paul wrote to the saints at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus, and he said, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” You are His workmanship. That means He is going to carve away on you. And He gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, to perfect the saints to the work of the ministry. Some people think that only the pastor is supposed to do “the work of the ministry.” No, God gave pastors to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ: “till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love…” I like that verse. Today the church is full of “superlovers,” distorting the truth in love. Paul said, “speaking the truth in love,” that we “may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind…” In my opinion that trait is not entirely absent among those who name Jesus as Savior. Too many are willing to substitute their own opinions for the word of God and say, “Well, this is just the way I see it.” Some people are afraid of being “brainwashed” with Scripture. Lord help the person who doesn’t understand that our brain had better be washed of its dirtiness with Scripture! Someone says, “I just want to think it through.” That is what is the matter with you: your piddling thinking! The Gentiles set themselves up as the judge, but Paul says, “walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.” Even the most ignorant person can understand that, unless he is set on following his own heart instead of following God. You might say, “Oh yeah, but I feel better going my own way.” So do I. I told God today I would feel a lot better going fishing than preaching. But Paul warns who are willfully ignorant because of the “blindness of their heart: who being past feeling” for God, “have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But ye have not so learned Christ; if so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: that ye put off concerning the former conversation,” literally behavior, “the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,” literally the deceiving desires, “and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is crated in righteousness and true holiness.” Now I want you to notice where it starts. We need to register how important truth is to God, how important it is to be faithful to your commitments. “Speak the truth in love.” The modern church world has deified love so they could attract more people who came out of the hippie culture. One of the most popular statements of the hippie age was, “God is love.” That is Scripture, but it is only half the story. God is love, but love is not God. He is love and He is truth. John 1:14 says Jesus came full of grace and truth. This does not diminish His grace, which is the most abundant expression of love, the giving forth of unmerited favor to those who do not deserve it. When Paul starts contrasting the old corrupt man with the new man, and says we are to put on the new man, what does he start with? “Wherefore putting away lying.” I have never seen a person backslide who didn’t couple it with lying and deceit. One of the first outward symptoms of a man getting out of step with God is that they start lying and covering their tracks. The devil is the father of lies and his most natural expression is to lie. “Put on the new man…putting away lying.” There is nothing any Christian needs more than that. “Speak every man truth with his neighbor: for we are members one of another.” Paul first tells them to quit lying, and then his next admonition is, “Be ye angry, and sin not.” He puts his finger on two very important expressions of the old man: lying and getting angry. There is a case for legitimate anger. Paul says be angry, but don’t sin: “let not the sun go down upon your wrath: neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more.” Now why didn’t Paul start out with teaching against adultery and fornication? Why did he start out with teaching against lying and stealing? He is talking to saints, and he knows that they always go bad on these points first. In Ephesians 5, Paul says, “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children,” and he contrasts the deeds of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit. So we make it through that chapter and breathe a sigh of relief, and say, “I am glad we’re past that hard part. Now we’re going to get to the blessing, right? We have been seated in the heavenlies, and we have walked worthily, now it’s going to get easy!” No. Ephesians 6:10 does not say, “Finally, my brethren, be blessed and sweet in the Lord, and in the happiness of His presence.” My Bible says, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God.” After all that tough gospel Paul has given us, you would think he would end with something better than “Put on the whole armour of God.” Why can’t we just put on an ordinary coat? Yet Paul says we must “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” The message is not directed to us as a group; it is to each of one of us as individuals. “Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; and,” Paul speaking, “for me.” All of that was the introduction to my message. You and I are not going to make it in our own strength. It is just that simple. It is a tough trip. All that has come before was preparatory. When we finally understand that our destiny is in Christ, when we refuse to be in bondage to the old man of sin, and we put it off and commit ourselves to putting on the new man, we just begin to step into the arena of warfare. Let that settle in. Some Christians think they ought to get a feather bed in a first class suite on a boat to heaven, along with a sauna bath and a bathrobe. They think God ought to build a fence around them so the devil cannot ever touch them. No. You are now finally ready to do battle. Boot camp is over! Most Christians don’t even know they are supposed to go to a spiritual boot camp. They think it is an amusement park where they can just pray till the Lord comes. Those who are in boot camp think it is the worst possible thing that can ever happen to them. Well, most soldiers feel that way too, but how thankful they are for the training when they get into a real battle. Boot camp was just preparation. At least 90 percent of Christians don’t even know there is a boot camp. And about 80 percent of those few who get into it find an excuse to get out of it and go find themselves a ringmaster in the name of God who lets them play in a circus. That leaves about two percent who get through boot camp. When Gideon’s 32,000 men were reduced down to 300 to do the job, it was an even smaller percentage. Those are the warriors of God. Ephesians 6 speaks of the warfare of the Spirit-filled believers. I have outlined this section of my Bible, and the headings include “the Warriors’ Armor,” “the Warrior’s Foes,” and “the Warriors’ Resource.” It is a warfare, and it will be a warfare until either the battle is won or we go home to be with the Lord. What is our true strength? “Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.” If there is any problem facing you that you think you can handle on your own, you are probably not ready for battle yet. You may just be going into boot camp. Thank God you are still a babe, but try not to be one all of your spiritual life. But if you are facing something that overwhelms you, something you cannot handle, that is where God sometimes must bring us so that we learn to rely on His strength. Some of us feel like there is no problem so big that we cannot handle it if God would leave us alone. Then we find we sure need Him when our own schemes fall apart. F.B. Meyer said that you never really tap into God’s inexhaustible resources until you are pushed beyond your own limited resources. It is not a sin to offer our strength, talent or skills to God, but the bottom line of Christian warfare is we cannot do it ourselves. We have to be pushed to that extremity to understand where the real strength has to come from. I oft quote Hudson Taylor who said that pressure never hurt anybody; what matters is where it is applied. If it is tough enough to drive you to God, then you can learn to “be strong in Lord, and in the power of his might.” I want God’s Spirit to find a foothold in this church. We made it through this past year with God’s help. I have a hunch we are going to need His help more in the coming year than we did in the past year. Paradoxically, that means the victories of the coming year will be greater than the victories of the past year. “Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might…For we wrestle not against flesh and blood.” Write this in the margin of your Bible: “The true strength has to come from the Lord.” Some people who talk about God’s power would make you believe that they are always tapping into it. I don’t believe it. I think the same old man dwells in all of us. The record of God’s book shows that His greatest victories come when His men and women are driven to the point of their extremity where, like Jehoshaphat, they are driven to God to say, “We have no might.” Then God moves on the scene. The true strength has to be His. Recognize who the true enemy is. We have to understand that lip service won’t do a thing to gain the victory. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” We need to look beyond the flesh. The Scripture says, “Know no man after the flesh.” This may be tough, but the next time a friend or family member gets on your nerves, you need to back off for a minute and say to yourself, “He is not the one I am really fighting. My real adversary is the devil.” Recognize that in every occasion, like a roaring lion waiting to pounce, the devil is waiting to turn every circumstance of human frailty, human selfishness and sin into an occasion for him to strike his blow against God’s purposes. Even the children of this world know this concept. A court will grant immunity to some petty criminal who ought to be put in jail, in order to get past him and get to the real criminal boss. We need to approach spiritual warfare that way. The real enemy is the devil. When we understand that, we will know we cannot defeat him in our own strength. “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God.” The Bible is very specific. This is one of the most practical admonitions. Do you want to know how to carry on the warfare? Put on the whole armor of God. Do what Ephesians 6 says, and you will win. What is the first thing we are to do? Having recognized what the true strength is and who the true enemy is, then dig in your heels and stand. If you are confused, you are not going to have the victory by running. The devil will stay on you until you are almost completely beaten. Stand! In times of uncertainty, don’t ever change the place where you are in God. Don’t let uncertainty move you. I have heard people say, “Well I’m just not sure that I’m in the will of the Lord.” You can be sure of this: you are where you are, and that is more certain than going where you are not. And if you know where you are, chances are God does too, so it is better not to move. Notice the repetition in verses 13 and 14: withstand, stand, and stand therefore. When God says something more than once, pay attention. What are we supposed to do while we stand there? We shove our feelings aside and we shove our opinions, wants and desires aside. Shove sympathizers aside, shove advisors aside, shove everything aside, save this: “Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth.” The armor is held together with a belt. Take the belt off and the armor becomes a pile of junk. It is the belt of truth that holds the armor together. We are right back to where Paul started earlier. Do you want to put off the old man? Put away lying. Do you want to win against the devil? Stop moving, stop running, stop acting confused. Dig in your heels and stand! And then put everything together with truth. Can you take the truth? A Christian will never win a battle against the devil by dealing in deceit. You have to settle it at the outset: “Can I take the truth?” The truth may not be what you or I want, but it doesn’t matter what you or I want at this point. What is the starting point of truth? The Scripture says, “Thus saith the word of the Lord.” It is too easy to make excuses. You make a commitment to God’s army and say, “I’m drafted for the duration!” When you start thinking that this walk may be too tough for you, remember that commitment matters to God. The Gibeonites were a bunch of lying scoundrels, but when Joshua made his commitment to them, God still honored that word. He is the God of truth, faithfulness and integrity. We represent God in a corrupt world. How can you represent God if you cannot keep your word? You start with truth. This is a guaranteed formula for strength and victory. Be honest with yourself and with God in your mess. Now I will tell you what you are going to find out. Every time the devil tricks you into looking out for yourself, he starts to win. You get a little weary with well-doing and you say, “I’m going to look out for me now.” Then, just like the prodigal son, you will stay insane until it runs its course to the pigpen. If you would face the truth, you would know that you have started looking out for yourself instead of God. What is the next dimension of the armor? It is something that God provides. You belt the armor together with truth, but you put on “the breastplate of righteousness.” The breastplate covers the seat of desire. It is not enough to just stick to truth on the surface, you have to want what is right, even if the truth reveals something that goes against you. It is God’s armor, not yours or mine, that Paul is laying out. You are not going to win against the devil unless you want what is right. Jesus has already defined the right: “Whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.” What is the next part of the armor? “And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.” Peace means “cessation of againstness.” You dig in your heels and stand against the devil, but you must always be ready to make peace if it is offered to you. There is no bullying allowed. Every Christian had better be ready to fight the devil, but when peace is available, be ready to forgive the instrument that the devil used. When the tide turns and we start winning, the difference between God’s warrior and a bully is that we don’t want to just keep stomping them after they are down. Let’s just get on with God’s work. These instructions are simple and practical. “Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.” The true strength is the Lord. The true enemy is the devil. The true posture is to stand. And the true armor includes the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, and the shield of faith to quench the fiery darts. I want a band of saints to surround this work with firmly planted shields of faith to quench, that is, to stop, the fiery darts of the wicked one. But it seems that there are always a few who think that their ministry is to relay the darts. Here comes the dart, and instead of quenching it, they say, “I just thought you’d like to know this…” or “I overheard this…” Look at the emphasis: “Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts.” “And take the helmet of salvation.” A different Greek word is used here for “take.” All of the other acts are aggressive acts. You actively take the belt, the breastplate, the shield of faith and the shoes of peace. Having done that, the command to take the helmet of salvation is really a receiving act. If we do everything else, He gives us the helmet of salvation, “and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” How I long for a church where the next time a gossiper comes by and tells you something, you just look at them like you didn’t hear them and quote a verse of Scripture. You may lose some friends, but the next time someone comes along who insists on telling you some choice bit of gossip, just say, “Know no man after the flesh.” The Bible means what it says. Take “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Now we come to Paul’s instructions concerning prayer. He says, “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.” Why? Paul says in Romans 8:26 that we don’t know how to pray as we ought, therefore the Spirit “helpeth our infirmities.” We are always to pray, “watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; and,” Paul says, “for me.” There are other passages in God’s book that give you the right to pray for yourself. There is nothing wrong with that, but that is not what is taught here in Ephesians. In the warfare against the evil spirits, in the fight that we are to continually engage in, a paradoxical law of the Spirit is unleashed. We win our battles by praying all kinds of prayers all the time, in the Spirit, for all the saints. And these Ephesians were also told to pray for Paul, who was teaching them. You don’t pray for yourself, you pray for all the saints and for the teacher. I don’t pray for myself, I pray for all the saints. God wants us to learn this reverse law of the Spirit: He who goes up goes down, but he who goes down goes up. He who lives dies, but he who dies lives. We need to stop being so selfish. He who wins the battle is the one who prays for others. 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