Stand Firm | Winning Spiritual Battles Before They Win You

And too often, we as Christians and here here the the parallel. We allow our old life to come back to the forefront because when we get tested, we don't handle it God's way. We handle it the world's way, but God is telling us, don't wage war the way the world does. And the testing and the temptation you're going through is to see, will you now fully shed the old and put on the new that Jesus has given and wage war as god gives instruction and direction to. [00:26:38] (47 seconds)  #ShedOldPutOnNew

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man, but God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear, but when you are tempted, he will provide a way of escape so that you can stand up under it. God's not gonna let you be tempted beyond you what you can bear, and when you are tempted, he'll provide a way of escape that you might stand up under it. We talked about last week, we looked at how our new life, our our temptation, and our testing comes to work [00:07:48] (30 seconds)  #FaithfulInTemptation

The battle that we're fighting and the testing that comes our way is a spiritual battle. Somebody write in the chat, the battle is spiritual. The battle is spiritual. Paul lays it out for us in a clear way here in this sixth chapter verse 12 in Ephesians. We're not wrestling against flesh and blood. We're wrestling against rulers, authorities, the powers of the dark world, and spiritual forces of evil in in high places. We are not fighting what we see. [00:13:20] (43 seconds)  #BattleIsSpiritual

Let me read that again. For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. Let me help somebody tonight. Let me liberate somebody tonight. If you are fighting the same way the world does, you're not doing it God's way. And let me push it even a step further. God never honors your righteous crusade when it's not done according to his standards. It does not matter how right you think you might be. If you aren't fighting the way God says and you're doing it the way the world says, God doesn't honor that. [00:25:55] (44 seconds)  #NotByWorldMethods

We wrestle against powers, rulers, and forces in high places. And when we're fighting against those, while we may be looking at someone in front of us, we must be aware that we're coming after the spirit that's in them. Never mistake, brothers and sisters, never mistake fighting the spirit for fighting the person. That doesn't mean sometimes those two may look the same, but it does mean you must always have in your mind, this is not personal. It ain't about you. It's about the spirit that has taken up residence in you that I'm coming after. [00:21:58] (46 seconds)  #TargetTheSpirit

One of the I I I'll give you a practical tool that to help you with this. One of the ways to ensure that you do that is whenever you're up against something that's coming after you and trying to stop you from living the new life, trying to pull you back into the old, you must say to yourself, it ain't personal. I'm not taking personal shots. I'm not trying to destroy someone's personhood. I'm coming after the spirit in you. Now that means saying the truth in love, and that spirit in you is calling out some things that you may not think are fair or right, that's between you and the spirit in you. [00:22:44] (39 seconds)  #SpeakTruthInLove

And one of the worst things we can do as believers is misapply the strategy because when we misapply the strategy for how to defend and how to fight and how to stand up under the temptation, not only do we remain susceptible to the attack, but we also harm and jeopardize sometimes our witness in the process. We must understand what we're up against so that we don't dilute our witness in the fight. We must understand what we're up against so that we don't mistakenly render ourselves unable or incapable of doing the lord's will because we did not handle something correctly. [00:20:13] (41 seconds)  #ProtectYourWitness

Because if we're going and I want you to write this down. If we are going to progress on our Christian journey, there comes a moment where we must learn to withstand the fight. We must learn to withstand the test. We cannot be strong Christians if we can't fight for what the Lord is doing in us. We can't be strong Christians if we can't fight for the Lord. But in order to become strong, we gotta learn how to fight, and you don't survive it by accident. [00:11:06] (42 seconds)  #TrainToWithstand

The testing is coming to do something in you. Stop crying that you have to go through. Put on your work boots and say, Lord, let's do the work so that I can become better on the other side of this test. And today, as in this last piece, before we as we get to the end of the series, wanna look at testing from this standpoint, and I want us to explore through scripture tonight what it takes to withstand the test. [00:08:52] (32 seconds)  #LetTestingRefineYou

So it's a check on your internal when when somebody in your family comes at you sideways and they they say something and you're ready to go off on them. You say, am I waging war the way the world does? Or am I waging it the way God has instructed? If I'm doing it the world's way, that's the old life trying to come back. But if I'm doing it God's way, that's the new life having taken root in my heart. [00:27:25] (25 seconds)  #HeartCheckBeforeReacting

Someone said, well, I thought Christianity was a pacifist religion that we don't fight. Yeah. We're not going out picking fights, but we do wage war on the enemy. And and and let me let me share this here. One of the responsibilities for all believers is that we we must be battlers for the lord and defenders of the kingdom. And so we must wage against things that are rising trying to stop the work of the Lord. But if I could push it even a step further, one of the responsibilities and we share this in ordination is as an ordained clergy, you have a responsibility by vocation and by calling and by assignment from Jesus Christ [00:23:58] (47 seconds)  #DefendTheKingdom

to be a defender of the church in such a way that you will fight against any force that seeks to tear down God's people, to destroy the work of the Lord, and to render the witness diluted. We must wage war against that, and we have to learn how to fight. There's nothing worse than Christians that don't know how to fight. You see it in in churches. You see it in organizations. You see it in families. Christians that when temptation comes or testing comes, they fight like the world does. [00:24:45] (34 seconds)  #TrainKingdomDefenders

But I have to speak the truth and love and come after the spirit that's in you because that's the issue, and that's where the battlefield is. I want you to jump with me now. Jump with me over second Corinthians chapter number 10 verse number four. Because as we identify, first step is identify the battlefield, but then we have to identify how we fight. Because and I I want you to to hear this because it's important. As Christians, we must fight. [00:23:23] (35 seconds)  #IdentifyBattlefield

spirit that has gone from their mama to them and is in their children. And if I don't fight the spirit, all I'll do is wound a relationship and give the spirit more fertile ground to keep on going. I've learned one of the one that I I remember some years ago was working on a situation in ministry, and, as as ministry leader, the issues rose up. And so some of my my leaders came to me and said, hey. We're having a problem with with a person, and this person needs to go. [00:18:54] (37 seconds)  #ProtectRelationshipsByHealingRoot

And I said, okay. You know, I I had a philosophy. I said nobody gets kicked out of a program, you know, unless it's, you know, a real real real reason. And so I said, I'm gonna meet with the person. I met with her, and, within the first five minutes of the meeting, I identified this had nothing to do with what they thought. This was something totally different. And if we did not understand and take the time to understand it, had I not taken the time to understand it, I would have misapplied the strategy for how to solve it and in the process possibly lost someone who was trying to grow on their Christian journey. [00:19:31] (42 seconds)  #DiscernBeforeDeciding

And one of the mistakes we often make is that we deduce the level of the struggle and the level of the fight to a battle on this level. And whenever we do that, we've already lost. Because if you think the battle is just of human origin, you're not even equipped or prepared to fight the battle where it is. That's why and and I I dropped this here. That's why one of the most dangerous things [00:14:19] (32 seconds)  #NeverAssumeHumanOrigin

Whenever pressure rises, we are tempted to fight people. Whenever you are in a high pressure test where it feels as though you're the new life that you have been living is being tempted or something's coming your way. You're tempted to fight people. You're tempted to react emotionally. You're tempted to go into defense mode or self preservation and start assigning blame and start looking at the things around you. But the scripture is saying, we don't wrestle against the people. [00:21:23] (35 seconds)  #StaySpirituallyDisciplined

we can do as believers when we're up against something, when we're going through something, is really think that we are fighting the person through which it's coming. One of the lessons I've had to learn in ministry is that whenever there's an obstacle and whenever and even more importantly, whenever that obstacle is coming through and presenting itself through a person or a group of people, never think that they are what you're fighting. [00:14:51] (34 seconds)  #SeeBeyondThePerson