Empowered Together: A New Fight

David Platt

If you have a Bible, and I hope you or somebody around you does that you can look on with let me invite you to open with me to Ephesians, chapter six. Ephesians six, I am so thankful to God for the ministry of the gospel coalition in my life, including the encouragement and example of so many brothers and sisters associated with it. I really want to serve you, my brothers and sisters Well, at the close of this conference, or at any point somebody might listen to this in the future, and I have a lot of ground to cover and a little bit of time, so let me dive in from the start by asking you a question, how is Satan currently attacking you and others close to you? Now this question presupposes that Satan, Satan is real and that He is currently attacking you and others who are close to you, all of which I’m going to show you in Ephesians, Chapter Six is true, but I want to give you a moment from the start to consider this question, knowing there are countless possible answers to it in light of Satan’s varied schemes, if I could put those schemes in general categories, how is Satan most tempting you to sin in your life right now, and your thoughts, your desires, your words, your actions, how is Satan most enticing your flesh? What sins are besetting you? Statistics would say that lust and pornography would be on that list for a large percentage of people in this room, or maybe it’s pride, greed, gossip, envy, anger, or any number of sins of omission. Or how is Satan attacking you with doubt or discouragement or despair. I was reading first Kings 19 recently in my just time with the Lord and seeing Elijah ready not just to quit ministry, but to quit life. And I’m confident that amidst the number of people listening right now, some of you are there, or are on the verge of being there, wondering how, or if you can go on, wondering why this is happening, or when this will end. First Kings 19 is a reminder that not one of us is beyond being overwhelmed with disappointment, anxiety, worry or fear that can cause us to despair of life itself. How is Satan attacking your emotional or mental or physical well being? We don’t know what Paul’s thorn was, but we do know it was a messenger of Satan. How is Satan harassing your flesh, or how is Satan attacking you through personal conflict around you or public slander of you? How is Satan attacking maybe even some of your closest relationships. Which leads to the second part of the question, How is Satan attacking others who are close to you? Because he is not content just to come after you, particularly, if he cannot get to you, he will go after those who are closest to you. So how is Satan currently attacking you or those closest to you? That’s that’s the question, and in all the potential flaming darts of the evil one that you may be facing right now, I invite you to hear this spirit breathed word straight from God to you right now, finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might, Put on The whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore. Lord, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand firm Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace in all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one, And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication to that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints and also for me, that words may be given to me and opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel for which I am An ambassador in chains that I may declare it boldly as I ought to speak. There is so much here, and there is no way I can do this text justice in a few minutes. So William gernault was a Puritan pastor. He published a treaty on this text that in 1965, or 1655, he entitled The Christian in complete armor. Check out his subtitle. His subtitle was the saints war against the devil, wherein a discovery is made of that grand enemy of God and His people and His policies, power, seat of his empire, wickedness and Chief Design he hath against the saints, a magazine opened from whence the Christian is furnished with spiritual arms for the battle, helped on with his armor and taught the use of his weapon, together with the happy issue of the whole war. That was a subtitle.

Colonel’s work was three volumes long, with 261 chapters and 14 172 pages. So all this to say, if you really want to know this text, gurnal is your guy. Today, I want to show you six truths in this text, six truths that are going to lead us, Lord willing, in a few minutes, to engage in spiritual war, together with the spiritual Weapon of Prayer. So Truth Number one, we live in a spiritual world. So grammatically This truth is the ground of this entire text. Yes, we’ll get to the commands and imperatives that are here from the start, but they all exist because of what we read in verse 12, look at the language. For, he says, We obey all these commands. For because we live in a world that’s not just flesh and blood. Yes, it’s a physical world, and it’s a spiritual world filled with rulers, authorities, cosmic powers over darkness and spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places. Therefore, in light of the spiritual world, obey these commands. But here’s the problem, though most of us would say we believe intellectually, theologically, that we live in a spiritual world, most of us don’t see this world or our daily lives in it through this lens, we have a blind spot. There’s a sense in which what was obvious in Ephesus and in many parts of the world today is overlooked in contemporary Western culture. We are more like Elisha servant in Second Kings chapter six, when the army of Syria was surrounding these two men and the servant was panicked, saying, What are we going to do? Remember what Elisha said to him, Second Kings 16, he said, Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them. Now think about that. There’s two guys in the house, Elisha and his servant. There’s an entire army of horses and chariots around them. If you’re Elisha servant, you’re thinking the old guy has lost his mind. He may be a prophet, but he’s no mathematician. There’s two of us and a ton of them. But what happens? Elisha prayed and said, Oh Lord, please open his eyes that he may see. So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. So in this moment, Elisha servant gets a glimpse of this spiritual world, and realizes the Syrian army is indeed outnumbered, not physically, but spiritually. And in that moment when the invisible becomes visible, everything changes. Remember what happens next when the Syrians came down against him, Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, Please strike this people with blindness. So he struck them with blindness in accordance with the prayer of Elisha. And Elisha said to them, this is not the way. This is not the city. Follow me. I’ll bring you to the man whom you seek. And he led them to Samaria. He led them straight to Samaria to be captured by the king of Israel. How’d that happen? They saw the spiritual world, and they fought with a spiritual. Happen, all he did was pray, and God did what he said. Do we believe this? Do we believe that our prayers have power to affect the movement of armies in the world? That’s what God’s Word is telling us. God give us eyes to see that there is, right now, at this moment, a spiritual, invisible world around us that is just as real as the physical, visible world, yet it is far more powerful. The Bible teaches that there are vast numbers of angels, both good and bad, spirits, all around us right now, there are glorious beings that would take our breath away if we could see them, just ask Daniel. He saw one of them, and he fell on his hands and knees, shaking, barely able to breathe. And he’s he saw one of the good guys right now. There are evil beings all around us that would send the toughest of us, terrified and trembling to the floor, if we could see them right now, and to most of us, in our minds, this sounds crazy. We live with a worldview that explains most everything about what we can see, touch, taste, smell or hear, and to say that you believe in the existence of angels and demons is like saying you believe in dragons and elves. But God teaches us from beginning to end in His Word, and God’s shouting to us in this text, you live in a spiritual world, which leads to Truth Number two, we are involved in a spiritual war. So just look at the language. Paul says we are wrestling against. He uses the word against five different times, against rulers, against authorities, against cosmic powers, against spiritual forces of evil. And this is really important, because this is not a command in this passage. This is a statement of fact you are right now, where you are sitting right now. You are in a wrestling match. The word here describes a fight you are fighting in your life right now with cosmic powers over darkness and spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. This is happening all the time, whether you realize it or not, you wake up in a wrestling match. You go to sleep in a wrestling match. You spend all day long in a wrestling match. This is happening in your home. It’s happening in your work. It’s happening in your church. Everywhere you go, when you’re alone, when you’re with others, every second you’re scrolling through your phone, there is a spiritual war waging for your heart and mind. You can’t escape this war, and not just you. This spiritual war involves everyone. There is a battle raging, not just for your soul, but for the souls of every single person in your family and your church and your city and in the world, all the world and all of history is a story of spiritual war. And I want to be cautious in using this imagery of war because of how God’s word has been misused and abused, from crusades in the past to culture wars in the present. And obviously this doesn’t mean there aren’t physical implications of this spiritual war. Think about Paul who’s writing this when it comes to flesh and blood. He had been beaten, often near death, with rods, lashes, stones, shipwrecked in danger from robbers, Jews, Gentiles, false brothers with hunger and thirst, without food and cold exposure. That’s a lot of flesh and blood stuff. But what Paul is saying here is what he already said back in Ephesians chapter two, that, yes, the flesh and the body are involved. But behind it all is the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is at work in people’s disobedience as children of wrath, which means the stakes are infinitely higher in this spiritual war than any physical war. Pipers let the nations be glad. Says very few people think that we are in a war that is greater than World War Two, or any imaginable nuclear war. Who considers that the casualties of this war do not merely lose an arm or an eye or an earthly life, but lose everything, even their own soul, and enter a hell of everlasting torment? I don’t want to over drama, over dramatize this, but I don’t think that’s actually possible. This is the glaring truth of this passage and all the Bible. There is an adversary who wants and is actively working to destroy your life right now, to wreck your marriage and your family, your closest friendships, to tarnish your purity, to attack your integrity and at all costs, to stop you from spreading the Good News of liberation for lost people all around you and all around the world who are caught in captivity to his control. I distinctly remember talking with a pastoral hero of mine who was in his 30th year of pastoring the same church. I asked him one day and. Things are going. How are things going? He looked at me with tears in his eyes, and he said, this has been the hardest year yet. And I was so discouraged, because I was thinking, I feel like year two has been harder. Five has been hard. Like, I really don’t want your 30 to be the hardest. And God kindly used that conversation to clearly say to me, David, where did you get the idea, in my word, that it was ever going to be easy, as long as you are living to push back darkness in this world, it’s going to be war every step of the way.

And without going into details in recent years that have been harder on multiple fronts than I’ve ever personally experienced. God has opened my eyes in a fresh way, to the fact that no one in this book who followed Him in His Word did not experience doubt, discouragement, slander, attacks from without, from within, nobody, and here’s why, because we’re involved in a spiritual war with an adversary who wants to destroy us and everyone around us. Which leads to the third truth, our adversary in this spiritual war is indescribably strong. Our adversary in this spiritual war is indescribably strong. So who is our spiritual war against it’s against the devil. Diabolos in the Greek from which we get diabolical. His name here means the slanderer. Elsewhere, he’s called the accuser, the liar and the destroyer. God, in His Word, does not describe the devil as a wimp trying to hurt you, but as a lion looking to devour you and others. So let’s believe God on this one, let’s realize that if our adversary was a man, and if he possessed nothing but human strength, ingenuity or craft, then we would be okay fighting with human means, but he is not human, and in our flesh, we are no match for him. The reality is, if you or I were to face the devil on our own, we would be overpowered and outsmarted in a split second. Just look at the description of his minions. Here. They are rulers. They’re potentates with authority to attack with cosmic, worldwide, power over darkness, their spiritual, supernatural forces. Are we hearing this? Are we hearing Jesus? John 1231, he tells us, The devil is the ruler of this world. Second, Corinthians, 44 God calls him the god of this world. He tells us first John 519, the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. The Bible doesn’t say that about you or me. God says this about the one who’s coming after you and me. See his stranglehold on this world and sin in wicked, evil schemes like I saw in Southeast Asia recently, where women and children are being trafficked for incomprehensible sexual exploitation to meet the demand for pornography and millions of Americans, including multitudes of professing Christians, who gorge our flesh at their expense on top of millions of other evils, our adversary in this spiritual war is indescribably strong. But Truth Number four, our ally in this spiritual war is infinitely stronger. Our ally with a capital A in this spiritual war is infinitely stronger. So now to the command starting in verse 10, finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. He just said the same thing twice, which should make us pay attention. You cannot fight this war alone. You can only fight it in the strength and the might of the Lord. So the language here is so good for a couple reasons, one, because the verb here is actually passive, so it’s literally be strengthened by someone else. So this is not strength that you muster up because you’re weak. The key to strength is realizing you need to be strengthened by someone else, by the Lord. And this is the second thing that’s so good. So Paul uses three different words in the Greek here, so strong, be strong. That word is from the word dunamis in the Greek, dunamis, and then be strong in the Lord, in the strength. That’s Kratos of his might. That’s iscus. So dunamis crossos is strength, strength might, strong, strength might. And the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to use those same three words together one other time in this book. Turn back with me to Ephesians chapter one, where we’ll start in verse start in verse 17, this prayer. Her that the God of our Lord, Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation and the knowledge of him having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you? What are the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints? What is the immeasurable greatness of His power? The circle that’s dunamis toward us who believe, according to working of his great that word that’s translated great is Kratos might iscus. So follow this the supernatural power, strength, great might that he worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated him in his right hand in the heavenly, heavenly places. Watch this far above all, what all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him his head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him fulfills all in all. Yes, our adversary in this war may be indescribably strong, but our ally in this war is infinitely stronger than him, than all of them. They’re all under Jesus’s feet. This is not some dualistic Star Wars, battle between two equal but opposing forces of good and evil. This is not dualism. This is domination, and don’t miss it. The Dominator dwells inside you. God. Look at the language has given Jesus to us. We are his body and he fills us. Let’s soak in where you’re sitting right now and wherever you find yourself in this spiritual war at this moment or any moment in your battles with temptation and sin and doubt and discouragement and every attempt of the adversary to bring you down. Christian, you are never, ever, ever alone the Christ, who has been raised from the dead, who Colossians two says, Has disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over all of them, you have His fullness inside you. So I’ve shared in other settings how when I was in ninth grade, I was invited to a high school basketball camp, and I soon discovered that the seniors of this camp traditionally initiated the freshmen in not so pleasant ways. I remember sitting with another freshman in our dorm room when a senior burst to the door, picked up my friend off his bed, carried him to the bathroom, stuck his head in the toilet and flushed. My friend came back with a shocked look on his face and wet, swirled hair on his head. I was next. The same senior grabbed me by the arms, took me out of the room, or turned to take me out of the room, but as soon as he turned, another senior stepped into the room and said, Stop. We can’t take him. Now, I had no idea who this guy was that had just come to the room, but I immediately loved this man. And this guy holding me, asked this other guy, why can’t we take him? And this other guy said, we can’t take him because that’s Platt’s brother. You see, I had a secret weapon growing up in the form of an older brother named Steve. I was a runt. Steve was a giant. Just to put it in perspective, Steve was the heavyweight state wrestling champion in the state of Georgia, and during the championship match, he picked up, picked up off the ground and body slammed his 300 pound opponent. Oh yeah, so I’ll never forget what happened next. The guy holding me turned this guy says, That’s Platz brother. He turned, he looked me up and down, and he said these words. He said, This is not Platz brother. He said, This is Platt’s left leg. And I don’t think he meant it as a compliment, but I was pretty proud to be Platt left leg that day as he put me down and left the room. Another time, I had this jacket that I love my granddad had given me. I wore it all the time, even when it’s hot outside, I wear it. I wore it to school one day. Set it down at the beginning of the day. It was gone. At the end of the day, somebody had stolen it. My dad came to pick us up from school. When I told him what had happened, he went in to talk to the principal. I’m sitting on a bench outside the principal’s office. Steve notices how upset I am. He comes over asks me, What has happened. I tell him, and he immediately says, Let me see what I can do. And I watched my older brother walk over to a guy who was the leader of a group known for this kind of thing, and Steve pulled him aside and said, My little brother’s coat is gone, and I’m guessing you might know who might have it. I like that coat back first thing in the morning. Otherwise, you and I are gonna have a talk, and the next morning, I’m sitting by the door in my class, looking out into the hall, and I see Steve walking down the hallway, and you’ll never guess what’s in his hand. He came to me my desk, handed me my jacket. He said, David, no matter what happens to you, know this. Your brother always has your back. Oh. Brothers and sisters,

remember, realize this, you are being attacked by the devil and his demons and all kinds of schemes. But realize this. It would be great to know that Jesus Christ has your back. But I have even better news than that. Colossians, chapter one, Christ is inside you in such a way that Colossians, 129 you struggle in this spiritual war with all his energy that he powerfully. You know what that word is. Dunamis, his power is working in you, the power that raised Jesus from the dead is working inside you every single day. Yes, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might inside you. And how do you do that? I’m glad you asked next command, Put on the whole armor of God, which we totally don’t have time to dive into every element of this armor. But don’t miss the significance of this phrase. It’s the armor of God. It’s his armor. It’s not the first time the Holy Spirit tells us about this armor. It’s all over the book of Isaiah. Listen to this. We won’t have time to turn to all these places, but all these places in Isaiah that refer either to God himself or to the servant of God, the Messiah who would come. Check this out. Isaiah, 5917 God put on righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation on his head. It’s amazing God putting on this armor. Isaiah 11 five, talking about the Messiah, Jesus, the Christ, says, righteousness shall be the belt of his waist and faithfulness the belt of his loins. Isaiah 49 two says, of the Messiah, the Servant of the Lord. He made my mouth like a sharp sword in the shadow of his hand. He hid me. Isaiah 52 seven, talking about the return of the Lord, says how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, your God reigns. Don’t miss the point the thrust of this command to put on the armor of God is to put on Christ. Doesn’t that language sound familiar? Ephesians four, put off the old self your flesh. Put on the new self and power of His Spirit. This is how you fight spiritual battle in the Lord, in your ally, clothed in Christ, putting on, taking up his armor, his truth, filling your mind, combating the lies and deceptions of the devil, His righteousness, guarding you from all the devil’s accusations against you, his Gospel of peace, guiding your every step as you live by faith in Him, a faith that shields and snuffs out every flaming Dart of the devil that he hurls your way with a helmet holding your head high as the chosen, predestined, adopted, redeemed, forgiven, sealed and saved child of God that you are, and a hand holding on to his word as a sword you meditate on day and night as you wield it in this spiritual war. Want to tell you a quick story that I’m hesitant to share for a number of reasons, not shared publicly, but it ties directly with this text, and as I prayed about it, I as best as I can tell, I’m fallible, so I may be wrong, but I believe, and I hope it will encourage you without going into all the details, there was one point in some of the challenges we walked through in our church a few years ago that was particularly traumatizing, involving somebody coming at me physically, with police coming after them, And thankfully, was able to get out of that situation. But the next morning, my wife and I were in a small gathering of brothers and sisters in Christ, many of whom I didn’t personally know, and at one point, somebody I did know asked the group to pray over my wife, Heather and me. So we got our knees and they started praying over us. And as that time began to conclude, I hear the voice of a sister in Christ on the other side of the room, and she began to speak. She said, I don’t know you guys. I don’t know anything about what you’re walking through, why we’re even praying for you. Like nothing. She had no context, and she definitely didn’t know what had happened the night before and how unsettling it was. But she said, when you walked into the room today, I heard the word direct attack, and I had a picture in my mind of something coming at you physically. And these were her words. She said, Jesus Himself, dressed in complete armor, stood in the way to protect you, but it was traumatizing, and I just feel led to read to you from Isaiah, 59 and she starts reading from where I just quoted from how God, with his righteousness as a breastplate and salvation on his head, is a defender of his people. I’m sitting there like bawling before God, as his Spirit is speaking to my heart through His Word in a supernatural way that no one, no one could explain. And then, if that wasn’t clear enough, a few weeks later, another sister in Christ visits our church, not knowing anything about me, anything that was going on in our church family, and she sent me a message later that said, I don’t know what this means, but as I was visiting your church and was praying, I sensed that I just needed to encourage you, because something had happened a few weeks before that you couldn’t explain, And the Lord just wants you to know he really loves you and He is drawing you to deeper faith in Him. Now here’s the deal I mentioned. I’m hesitant to share that story for a variety of reasons, including the fact that I know in this gathering we have different theological grids for how to process that story or interpret that story, or maybe even respectfully question that story. I just share it to put an exclamation point on what all of us in this gathering can absolutely know is true, because God’s saying it clearly here in Ephesians, chapter six, to every single one of his children in the middle of spiritual attack, God says in His word, I am your armor, and you can always trust in me. I really love you. In the words of Romans eight, you can trust that I am with you, and I’m for you, and I’m working all these things together, even the hardest things, I’m working them together for your good, and ultimately for my good purposes, which you may not see in the moment, but you can trust our good in the end, for those God foreknew He predestined to be conformed in the likeness of His Son, in the likeness of His Son, in order that he might be the first one among many brothers. And those He predestined he also called. Those he called he also justified, and those he justified he also glorified. What then shall we say in response to this? If God is for us who can be against us, He who did not spare His own Son, but gave him up for us all, will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things. Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen. It’s God who justifies. Who is he that condemns Christ? Jesus, who died more than that, who was raised to life, is at the right hand of God interceding for you, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ. Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword or any other attacks that are coming to your mind. No in all these things, all of them, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us, because we are convinced either death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will ever separate us from the love of God that’s in Christ, Jesus, our Lord that’s straight from his word, our ally in this spiritual war is infinitely stronger than our adversary. And anything in this world, you’re unstoppable when he’s your armor. And as a result, verse number five, our aims in the spiritual war are clear. Our aims in this spiritual war are clear, and they’re two fold. First and foremost, stand firm in Jesus. Stand firm in Jesus. Four times. Be strong. Put on armor, so that that’s the purpose clause there, so that you may be able to stand against the schemes the devil take up the honorary of God so that you may be able to withstand in the evil day. And having done all to stand firm, Stand therefore we get the point Paul. Stand, stand, stand, stand, stand firm in Jesus. Hold fast to Jesus. From the moment you wake up in the morning to the moment you lay your head on your pillow at night, trust in Him. Walk with Him, abide in Him, pray at all times in the spirit at every step with all prayer and supplication, alert at every moment, persevering day after day after day, by His power in you. And don’t, don’t say, put on the armor every morning. No, why would you take it off when you go to bed, sleep in it. Wake up wearing it stand firm in Jesus all the time. And I add those to it, to stand firm in Jesus, obviously, because of language back in verse 10, in the Lord here to get near the end of the passage in the spirit. I emphasize them because I’ve shared before, about a season in my life in ministry, when the church I pastor was growing and I’d written a book that people were reading, and I was getting invited to preach in different places, and everything looked like it was great on the outside, but my time with the Lord, just abiding in him, was inconsistent at best. The reality is non existent. Most days I would study God’s Word to preach a sermon, but never just to know God. And I could turn on a public prayer in a heartbeat, but I rarely got alone just to be with him and he gaze on his beauty. It frightens me how successful in the eyes of the church world and my own eyes, I could be in ministry. Me and do it totally apart from intimacy with Jesus

and I praise God for how he held on to me in those days. So many different directions those days could have gone that I would not be standing here today if they did. He’s so gracious. But I can’t help but to think when I’m studying this passage about Jesus’ words to the same church at Ephesus a few years later, when he said, you’ve lost your first love. And I’m wondering if that might be a word from God for some today, don’t lose your first love, restored to your first love, the key to spiritual victory over Satan is spiritual intimacy with your Savior. Stand firm in Jesus and press forward with Jesus. So clearly, Paul’s goal in this passage is not to encourage believers to stand still. We’re pressing forward in a battle for souls with feet that are spreading the gospel of peace with prayer that God will help us to boldly proclaim the mystery of the gospel as we ought to speak. We have the greatest news in the world and a world at war. We announce peace with God for all people and all peoples. That’s the whole context of Isaiah 11 and Isaiah 52 both those chapters talk about the word of the Messiah going to all the nations. So we’ve thought about how the adversary is attacking us and those close to us. But let’s not stop there. Let’s lift our eyes to those far from us, to literally billions of people who, at this moment, have never encountered the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. For generations, cosmic powers have kept unreached people in darkness, and anyone who tries to bring light to them will face the force of hell, but mark it down. They are no match for followers of Jesus, filled with the spirit of the one who has all authority in heaven and on earth, as they go and make disciples of all the nations, with the promise that He will be with us every step of the way to the end of the age. I was reading this yesterday in my time of the Lord in Isaiah, chapter 19, verse one, when we go, all the idols of the nations will tremble at his presence and shatter before his power. And for anybody listening to this in a season of life and ministry that feels barren, hear this word. I was praying this morning specifically for any brothers and sisters serving in unreached places around the world who may listen to this, where the where the ground feels so hard and the trials feel so great, and there’s temptation to shrink back. I exhort you, brothers and sisters, based on the Word of God, don’t forget he is with you. He is for you, and faithfulness to this gospel will lead to fruitfulness for His glory every time in his time. So keep standing firm in Jesus. Keep pressing forward with Jesus against powers of darkness until spiritual light is shining in every nation, tribe, language and people knowing it will be costly. Paul writes this letter in chains. Brothers and sisters, write it down. The more you press forward with Jesus in the world, the harder it will be for you in the world. Making disciples in this nation and in all nations, leads to more attacks, not less. But know this truth number six, the outcome of this spiritual war is inevitable. The outcome of this spiritual war is inevitable. We know the end. So can we just go to the last word of this whole book we’ve been studying the last couple of days? Grace be with all who love our Lord, Jesus Christ, with love incorruptible. Oh, is that good? Or what the book ends with, a picture of people who love Jesus more than life itself, and a love relationship with him that is incorruptible. The word means immortal, never failing everlasting. Which leads us to Revelation. Chapter 12, verse nine through 11. Listen to this, where all of history is headed. And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent who is called the Devil, and Satan the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him, and I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down who accuses them day and night before our God, and they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the way. Heard of their testimony, for they loved not their lives, even unto death. Yes, one day, Jesus is coming back, and he’s going to hurl the adversary and all of his minions and deceptions and accusations against us into an abyss, and we are going to live in perfect, pure, eternal, incorruptible love relationship with God himself. So brothers and sisters, stand firm, press forward in the strength of His might in you today and tomorrow, over the next year and every day God gives you here in this spiritual world, knowing the outcome of this spiritual war is guaranteed. Surely, it’s no coincidence that when Martin Luther was threatened with his life, what three words did he say? Here, I stand. Here. I stand so amidst all the attacks of the adversary in our day and our lives and our families, our churches, let us stand and say with the words that Luther wrote, A Mighty Fortress. Is our God a bulwark and never failing our helper. He amid the flood of mortal ills, prevailing For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe. His craft and power are great and armed with cruel hate. On Earth is not his equal. Did we, in our own strength confide our striving would be losing? Were not the right man on our side, the man of God’s own choosing dust. Ask who that may be, Christ, Jesus. It is He, the Lord of hosts, his name from age to age the same. And he must win the battle. And though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us, we will not fear for God has willed his truth to triumph through us, the Prince of Darkness, grim. We tremble not for him, his rage, we can endure for lo his doom is sure. One little word shall fell him, that word above all earthly power, no thanks to them, abideth the Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him who with us sideth Let goods and kindred go this mortal life, also the body they may kill. God’s truth abideth still. His kingdom is forever, and we are his so. So let’s engage in spiritual battle right now. I want to lead us into spiritual battle, into prayer and worship, to fight with spiritual weapons. Before we close this conference, what we’re going to do is we’re going to stand in a moment, we’re going to sing the truths of Ephesians, six to each other. We’ve sung this song already, and then we’re going to pray together all across this room. We’re going to lift our voices and fight spiritual war with the spiritual Weapon of Prayer before we scatter from this place. So let me invite you to put your things to the side for a moment. Stand with me. We’re going to do Ephesians 519, we’re going to sing this spiritual song to each other. So this song of the Gettys wrote based on Ephesians six, is intended to be sung to each other. It’s Oh church. So it’s not close your eyes and sing to God, it’s open your eyes and sing it to each other. So I know it’s totally awkward, but it’s totally worth it. At some point in this song, look at somebody else, look at your brother or sister in Christ and encourage them sing a spiritual song to them, saying, let’s, let’s, let’s fight this battle together. Let’s do it. And then after we’ve sung the song, then we’re going to lift our voices in prayer together. But let’s start by seeing the truths of Ephesians, six God’s word to each other as the body of Christ.

Oh, shut your eyes and put your arm around hear the call of Christ, our captain for now the week, can say that they are strong in the strength that God has given with shed of faith and belt of truth will stand against the devil’s lies and whose Battle Cry is loud, reaching out to those in darkness.

Who are called to roar, to love the captive soul, but to rage against the captive and with the sword that makes the Wonder whole we will fight with Christ on every side we know, the secure and Christ will have The prize for which she died, an inheritance of nations. This, come see the cross when love and mercy meet as the Son of God is stricken, then see his foes like crushed beneath his feet, for the Conqueror has risen and death as strong as rose over rolled away and crossed it by just from the rain, this victory bus continues till the day every iron heart shall see. Put strength in every stride, give praise for every day with faith to win the prize of a servant. Good. The price of a servant, when with Christ, we stand in day when the curse.

David Platt

all right, we ready to do battle. Is saying, God, do this. We’re asking God to hear our prayers, to answer God does according to what his people pray according to His Word. So here’s what I want to do for the next few minutes. These guys are just going to play in the background, but action is going to be happening all over this room, and I want to invite you, ideally, to get together with a couple people around you. So this is not necessarily like quiet time, just you and God, although if, if, if you really sense you just need to be before the Lord alone during this time. That’s totally fine. But maybe to get with a 2345, others and whatever posture would be most appropriate or possible, there is room in this place to get on our knees and aisles and but just whatever posture was most appropriate. And I want to lead us to pray in three different directions. So we’ll do one, and then I’ll transition us to a second, and I’ll transition us to a third but the first one is to pray in light of all the ways the devil is attacking you, and so just follow the leadership of the spirit. Pray in the Spirit, just like Paul just told us to do. God just told us to do through Paul. So just pray in the Spirit. What I want to encourage you not to do is to do is to share prayer requests and for like, a few minutes, and then pray for 30 seconds. Just start praying, just whatever. And if you’re with a group, just don’t, maybe don’t monopolize that time, unless the Spirit leads you to monopolize that time just, maybe just a sentence or two at a time, and let somebody else pray and just conversation with God, with you, for him, in light of just praying for help, strength, peace, whatever you need in the battle in your life, so specifically in your life. And if there are things that you might not feel comfortable praying in light of things you’re struggling with, then feel free to pray more generally, just but as the Spirit leads. So let’s do this. Let’s get in groups, or again, if. Want to do this alone, and if again, whatever posture is most appropriate. So you can put your hands around the arms around each other. You can get on your knees together. You just sit down, whatever it might be. But right now, let me just pray over us that’s going to lead us into this time. God we we want to engage in spiritual battle right now. We want to. We want to pray not rote and a monotonous, just prayers like we want. We want to press in and pray in Your Spirit according to leadership of your spirit right now, in light of battles that we are facing, so direct us now to pray and engage in spiritual battle all around this room. Lead Us Now we pray you go for it, praying in the Spirit together,

to begin shifting your prayer at some point now to praying for those who Satan is attacking beyond this room, in others lives, people you know, in your family and your church, and just specifically praying, let’s pray during this time for brothers and sisters in Christ or family members, even physical family members or close friends. Just begin to intercede. When when I asked, How is Satan currently attacking those who are around you? Let’s pray in light of however the Spirit leads that picture. So press in for about five minutes. We’re gonna pray just fight spiritual battle right now on behalf of others. Let’s wrestle struggle, just like Colossians four talks about in prayer before God, on others behalf. Press in. Go for it. Okay, third way, we’re gonna pray for people who are farther from us. So for the next few minutes, let’s intercede as the Spirit leads us to pray for the church more broadly, maybe, maybe in your context, or other churches around you, or the church globally, in different places in the world, for brothers and sisters around the world, persecuted brothers and sisters, for the lost. More broadly, in our cities, intercede for our cities, for our country, and let’s intercede for the nations. Let’s, let’s fight spiritual battle for the next few minutes, for the souls of Yemeni Arabs and the bloats and the way and the Berbers and people groups all around the world who have yet to be reached, Bengali speaking Muslims, largest unreached people group in the world. Let’s enter let’s intercede for victory to be won, for idols of the nations to fall and shatter with the proclamation of the gospel. Pray for those who are working to get the gospel. Just pray as the Spirit leads for the church, the lost and our nation and the nations, go for it. Next five minutes, go for it. I want to begin to draw us back together. And the picture I have in my mind is the people of God and Second Chronicles, Jehoshaphat, we don’t know what to do, but our eyes are on you and and what happens is they prepare to go into battle, and God has reminded them, I’m with you and for you, and they go into battle with what they go into battle with song. They go into battle with shouts of praise to God. So let’s do this. Let’s let’s let praise to God in His Word and Psalms lead us to shout to Christ, our Victor. As we fight spiritual battle with song and praise, so would you stand to your feet with me and let us praise the Lord. Praise the Lord from the heavens. Praise Him in the heights above. Praise him all his angels, praise him, all his heavenly hosts, praise him, Sun and Moon. Praise Him. All you shining stars. Praise Him. You highest heavens, you waters above the skies. Let them all praise the name of the Lord, for He commanded and they were created. He set them in place forever and ever. He gave a decree that will never pass away. So Praise the Lord from the earth. You great sea creatures and all ocean depths, lightning and hail, snow and clouds, stormy winds that do his bidding. You mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars, wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds, kings of the earth and all the nations, princes and all rulers on the earth, young men and maidens, old men and children, let them all praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted. His splendor is about the earth and the heavens. He’s raised up for a people a horn, the praise of all his saints of Israel, the people close to his heart, praise the Lord. Sing the Lord on News. Song His praise in the assembly of the saints. Let Israel rejoice in their maker. Let the people of Zion be glad in their king. Let them praise his name with dancing. Make music to him with a tambourine and harp for listen. The Lord takes delight in his people. He crowns the humble with salvation. Let the saints rejoice in this honor, sing for joy on their beds. May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double edged sword in their hands to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples to bind their kings of feathers and nobles of chapels of iron to carry out the sinister and against them. This is the glory of all the saints. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary. Praise Him in His mighty heavens. Praise Him for His acts of power, praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet. Praise him with a harp and liar. Praise him with tampering and dancing. Praise him with the strings and flute. Praise him with the clash of symbols and praise him with resounding symbols. Let everything that has breath praise The Lord. Let’s praise the Lord.