Ephesians: Be Strong in the Lord

``We are faced every day of our lives with a war being waged around us. A war with enemies we cannot see. We are attacked in ways we don't even notice. Amen. We stand against this enemy whose goal is to keep us from God, to shade our eyes so we don't see the light, to place us and keep us in darkness. He is cunning. He is smart, and he is already lost. Amen. We are given this battle cry from the apostle Paul, and he tells us and reminds us that we are not alone. God who gives us strength. God who arms and protects us. [00:04:11] (55 seconds)  #SpiritualWarfare

So what a blessing we have from god that verse 10 says, finally, be strong in the lord and in the strength of his might and not find your inner strength because you got this all on your own. Because my friends, if you didn't know or understand this already, you don't got this. Amen. It's true. And you're not supposed to. We are not called to stand in our own strength and but in god's, which is our first point. Stand in god's strength. [00:05:34] (40 seconds)  #StrengthInTheLord

Over and over again throughout the bible, people are called to do whatever it is god has commanded them to do, but god is always with them. Whether it's Moses who's commanded to confront pharaoh, and Moses says in Exodus chapter three verse 11, who am I that I should go to pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? God tells Moses in verse 12, I will be with you. Joshua, when he is charged with finally taking the Israelites into the promised land, god tells Joshua in Joshua one five, just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. [00:06:14] (46 seconds)  #GodWithUs

We find our strength not of or in ourselves, but in the lord. He is our strength, and he is our refuge. We need him because of what we are called to stand against, which is our second point. Our enemy is not of flesh. We stand against forces greater than flesh. For we do not stand [00:10:36] (33 seconds)  #AgainstSpiritualForces

In this war, we don't fight with rifles, rockets, and bombs. We don't wear cavalier in bulletproof vests. Our enemy does not rely on mankind's weapons of war. They can't stop him, and they can't make him flee from the battlefield. We can't resist the spiritual forces with tanks and planes. It's the armor of god himself we must put on to resist the temptations of sin and to resist the devil. And we don't just put on one piece, but the whole set. [00:15:39] (48 seconds)

Amen. Don't just grab the belt of truth and say that's good enough. And don't just put on the helmet of salvation and say that'll do. God gives us the whole set and it works together. Putting on the whole armor of God is how you stand in God's strength to resist and to withstand the enemy. This is not just a one day battle. This is a war that has been raging ever since god cast the angels out who rebelled against him. Don't take half measures. Don't look for shortcuts. Don't take the easy path that leads to destruction. [00:16:26] (45 seconds)

And you may fail at times, and you may come up short at others. We all do. We're imperfect creatures. But don't stop because even when you are in the midst of a spiritual battle and you can't seem to find the forest through the trees and you feel weak, remember that it is his strength that you rely on, not your own. And his power is made perfect in our weakness. God's power is in you. His armor is on you. And if you are in Christ, it is God who will preserve you. And it is God who will carry you through. [00:17:53] (58 seconds)

We are on the front line. We are the ones that the enemy wants to overrun and trample in the dirt. But you can stand strong and withstand the enemy's blows because the strength of the devil does not even compare to the strength of god. Amen. And you, you who wear the armor stand in god's strength. He is not just your protective armor, but he is your weapon as well. [00:18:51] (31 seconds)