Accepting the Challenge

Ephesians 6:10-18

The challenge for us today as the church is a willingness to accept the challenge. We have been so use to our “business as usual” comfort zones that when we are pressed on either side, we began to despair. Jesus said “Upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” He never said that Hell would not come against but that it would not prevail against it. The devil is out to hinder and disrupt God’s people, especially as we draw near to the end of time. It is important for you and I to understand that we are entering in upon the battle of the ages and we must do all we can to “fight the good fight of faith!”

There is a Dr Suess book that we used to read to our kids titled Are You My Mother? It is about a baby bird in search of who it’s mother is and goes to various different animals and things to find her. Each one it came upon it ask this question Are you my mother? After a good while of searching and questioning he found her. This illustrates to me an important point. Do we truly know who our real enemy is? We look at all the problems on our world today and we want to make a scapegoat out of any and everyone that comes alone. We fight and seem to conquer this one idea and then another only to find that the problem is still there. It is the cleverness of the enemy that sends out his soldiers in many different mask and disguises. We are like that little bird asking are you my enemy and just go from one endless skirmish to another, maybe having won a personal victory, but never the war.

The great Chinese warrior Sun Tzu said “Know your enemy and know yourself.” This is the first step in preparing to fight in any battle. Paul tells us that our enemy is not “flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” Paul is basically proving my point in this statement because the true enemy is behind the mask, or shall we say the flesh and blood we see on the surface.

To allow Satan to divide us over politics, theology, social justice issues, and vaccinations is only demonstrating to a watching world who we really are, what we really stand for. We destroy our brothers and sisters in friendly fire because we are for ourselves and not for winning people to Jesus. We forget who we are and what our mission is. But when we are determined to be faithful to Jesus then from there we understand the “the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.”

To win any battle we must first know

· Who we are?

· Who our enemy is?

· Why we are fighting in the first place?

· What do we fight with?

Who are we? Maybe the real question is Whose are we? We are God’s people and that right there assures us the victory. “For if God is for us who can be against us?”

Who is our enemy? Very simply…the devil! Paul said that we are to “Be aware of satan’s devices.” Our true enemy is the devil and he is at work behind every mask or disguise.

Why are we fighting in the first place? Because the devil is out to “Kill, steal, and destroy” God’s work and people. Jude said we must “Earnestly contend for the faith.”

What do we fight with? The armor of God and prayer.

As I read in the scriptures about God’s people in trying times, I have concluded that there are one of two things we can do:

Complain

Pray

Complaining is the opposite of praying in the scripture and it is the easiest thing to do. And that’s what the devil wants us to do! Because complaining gets us nowhere!

But God says to pray! Jesus said “that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;” Luke 18:1 When we ask our Lord to avenge us of our adversary, it is then that God comes and fights our battles.

Yes the biggest challenge for the church today is accepting the challenge of praying! A good soldier looks to his leader for instruction and a good Christian looks to God in prayer for strength!

Pastor Robby