Standing Strong: Embracing Our Spiritual Battle

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The first thing church that we have to understand is that we are in a battle. If you don't know that by now you have to understand this: you are in a battle whether you like it or not. You are in a battle and this is not a natural battle, this is not a physical battle, this is a spiritual battle that we are facing. Not just we collectively, yes we as the body of Christ, but you individually are in a spiritual battle every single day and the word of the Lord is making this very clear to us today. You have to have this perspective. It's not just a perspective to have, it's the reality that you have to live in with this understanding. [00:05:45] (62 seconds)  #SpiritualBattleReality

It's bigger than you. I've said this before, salvation, even in this life, is just the gateway that begins the real life. And now we have to walk it out. And now we have to say, Lord, use me, Lord. I want your influence, Lord, to expand through my life, Lord. I want your kingdom influence to expand through my life, Lord. I want to make heaven crowded. It's bigger than you. [00:08:37] (37 seconds)  #KingdomInfluenceMission

How do I stand? That is the title of this beginning part as we dive into the armor of God. Before we even look at the armor and putting on the armor and what the armor is and all that type of stuff, how do I stand? In this passage that we just read, in the first four or five verses alone, it says stand, stand, stand. Four times in four verses it says take your stand against the devil's schemes, stand your ground, do everything to stand, and finally it says to stand firm. [00:12:43] (45 seconds)  #StandFirmInFaith

He is the very strength that you have because his spirit is in you. His spirit is in you. Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. [00:17:27] (19 seconds)  #AbideOrDie

We have to know how to stand and in order to know how to stand we have to have the perspective to know that we are standing against something. I'm not talking about leaning against something, I'm talking about that we are standing against something. There is an oncoming force that we are standing against, therefore resistance is required on my part because I am standing against a resistance that is opposing me. You have to have this perspective because if you just think you're gonna stand flat footed straight away, you're just gonna get knocked right over. You are standing against something. There is resistance required. We are in a battle, a spiritual battle, and the type of stance that the Lord is teaching us about today is a battle stance. [00:18:23] (66 seconds)  #FightForHisPresence

The more that we press forward, the more opposition we will encounter. That is a fact of the matter. It's a fact of the matter. This is not to scare you because there is some good news that we're gonna look at in a second, but you have to understand this. You're coming up against some things. Why? There's a reason. The enemy sees, the enemy is trying to take you out, the enemy is trying to slow you down. The more opposition you face, it means, man, you must be moving forward. There's some things on the horizon in your life. [00:20:12] (34 seconds)  #TheTimeIsNow

You need to have this perspective in this understanding because this is not a game, this is a battle, this is warfare. Your adversary is incredibly strong. In fact, I'll use a different adjective, your adversary is indescribably strong. You and you are no match for him in your own strength. No match. You're no match in your own strength. In fact, let's go further than this: if we took all of the billions of people on this planet—billions—and we brought them all together and somehow, some way, we got all united together, and we just brought all of our strength and all of the power that we have, all of the ingenuity and everything that we had, if we brought it all together united as one force, we are no match for this adversary. He is like a bulldozer and we are like a feather in our own strength. That's the key. In our own strength. [00:22:27] (85 seconds)

But in this instance, it's just the exact opposite because this wave that is coming is not bad, it's not meant to destroy you, it is exactly the opposite. This is the wave of my presence, this is revival, this is my spirit that I have so desired to pour out over you and what I'm giving you this perspective to see this and to tell the people: don't run the other way, run towards it. [00:38:18] (27 seconds)

You have to fight to stay in his presence. You need to run to the altar, you need to fight to be in church. And I've never really said that, it kind of can sound almost cheesy, a pastor saying this, but this is the word of God, this is what, because the wave of God's presence, we're going to fill it here together collectively, but it's not going to stop there, it's going to go into your homes, it's going to go into your workplaces, you are going to carry this wave with you everywhere that you go. But you have to fight because the enemy sees this and he's hearing this now, so he's going to try to do everything he can to pull you away from the seashore. You have to fight. [00:39:20] (50 seconds)

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