In Touch Ministries

Dr. Charles Stanley: You see, if you go to battle and you are already scared to death, then you've got two strikes against you. That doesn't mean you should not ever be afraid, but that fear ought to be a godly kind of fear. That is with the power of the spirit of God I'm going to be victorious. When you and I come and we face one of Satan's attacks, one thing we certainly need is we need to know that we are right with the Father, that we have a peace, the peace of God.

Guest (Male): Satan is going to attack Christians, and the believer who wins the battle is not relying on his or her own strength. Today on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley, we'll see how victory can be won by putting on the armor of God. This discipline from Ephesians chapter 6 is a crucial defense in surviving a satanic attack. Let's listen in to Dr. Stanley's message.

Dr. Charles Stanley: When Satan comes at you with some awesome, strong, penetrating, appealing temptation, what do you do? When he attacks you and would have you to be angry and bitter and resentful and unforgiving towards someone else, when he would have you to retaliate against someone who has wronged you, how do you respond to these things? Or when you feel doubtful or depressed and when you look around you say nothing's happening for me and in my behalf, God must not love me because if he did he would not let this happen or that happen or the other. Well, God does love you.

He does allow things to happen, but often times what's behind so much of what happens is not God, but the devil himself. So here's what I want you to look at. I want you to listen carefully. Paul in this passage gives us two steps. Now listen carefully. Two steps to being victorious over and to be able to withstand the onslaught of Satan's vicious attacks upon us. If you're going to survive a satanic attack, step number one is identify the enemy. Who is the enemy? What's really going on in this situation? And this is why you find sometimes two people who used to be friends and they're at each other, they can't get along.

You think what in the world happened between the two of you? And when one of them or either both of them tell you what happened, you think well that's nothing to lose your friendship over. You've been friendship for years or you've been married for 20, 30, 40 years, and you mean you're going to split because of that? Satan's dirty work, Satan's maneuvering, cunning, crafty, blinding people to the truth, having them accuse each other. Step number one in surviving a satanic attack is identify what they listen identify the enemy lest you fall for his deception, his lies, and his maneuvering of the circumstances in your life.

Otherwise, you'll fall for it. That's step number one. Now step number two. Step number two has three different parts to it, and I want you to think about it because I want you to notice what he says here. He says stand firm, and he says stand firm four times. So step number two is standing firm against the satanic forces. What does he mean with that? That is to stand firm is simply this. You don't give in, you don't give up, you don't walk away, you don't throw in the towel, you don't say I might as well, you don't say I'm weak, you don't compromise, you don't get in any kind of debate with the devil.

You'll never win a debate with Satan. There's a way to respond, and debating with him and arguing with him is not the way to do it. And so step number one is to identify the enemy. Step number two, listen, is to stand firm. Now listen carefully. So let's look at it for a moment because this is the first step. That is having identified the enemy and then standing. How do we stand? There are three things involved in standing, and we'll deal with one of them today. One of them is dressing for the battle. Notice how he begins in verse 14.

Stand therefore, he says, having girded your loins with truth. Now what is that about? Well, remember who the enemy is. He's the Jesus said he was a murderer and a liar, and that the only thing he did was lie. And so we are dealing with someone who would deceive us if at all possible. The girdle of truth speaks, listen, not only of knowing the truth about ourselves, knowing the truth about the Lord and his promises to us, it also deals with the issue of truth to ourselves. For example, you have to ask yourself this question.

When you attempt it with something, do you find yourself saying well, I don't know that I really want to resist this or not. If you find yourself in a position where you are not committed to living a godly life, you're not committed to listen to being obedient to God. Satan already has a toe hold in your life. And you see there are a lot of people who are saved. They've trusted Jesus Christ their Savior, but they've never come to a place in their life where they have said I am committed to living a godly life.

If you come to some attack with Satan and you haven't decided that you're going to live godly before him, I'm here to tell you you are going down in defeat because he's going to put pressure on you. He's going to throw all kinds of rationalization at you, fire those flaming arrows of rationalization and doubt and all the rest. And you know what before long you'll say well, you know what can't be perfect. So after all, God understands. God understands. The belt of truth that you really and truly want to live a godly life, have you committed yourself?

Do you want to be the person God wants you to be? If you haven't settled that issue, then you're already facing your foe and you're partially defeated because you've never decided to say no to what doesn't fit your life. Second piece of equipment, very important. He says having put on the breastplate of righteousness. What does he mean by that? In the life of the believer, when you trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, the Bible says you were given the gift of righteousness. But what Paul is talking about is practical righteousness. That is my daily life.

He says that you and I are to face our foe, listen, dressed in the breastplate of righteousness. What is he referring to? Simply this, that we are to live obediently before God. That is we have to be careful what we allow into our heart. It's the condition of our heart, we say in our relationship to him. If you're going to live an obedient life before God, your heart must be clean. If you and I are going to stand before, listen, Satan and stand firm against his temptations, we can't tolerate sin on a daily basis in our life.

The breastplate of righteousness, that is living godly before him. That it's your lifestyle. Doesn't mean you don't make any mistakes, don't sin, but it means your heart is bent that way. That's what you desire. You want to know the will of God. You want to do the will of God. You want to follow the will of God. That's your heart's desire. The breastplate of righteousness. He says you must have the belt of truth, and you must wear the breastplate of righteousness. It's righteous living. He says stand firm. How am I going to stand firm with sin in my heart?

You can't do it. I think every single one of us knows that we've been through those times in life, heart wasn't right totally before God. Satan hits us with something, and you know what? It's so much easier to disobey him. The breastplate of righteousness, holiness, godly living. Then I want you to notice a third part of this armor that every single soldier had. And that's this. And that is no soldier, of course, would go to battle without shoes. And he talks about your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Now let's think about those shoes for a moment.

Now the kind of shoes that Paul was talking about are shoes of the Roman soldiers. They weren't just your average walking shoes. They were thick soled boots. Now they were not only thick boots, thick soled, but they had metal in them. The metal in them made it possible for them to stand firm. In other words, if they were just soled like we have, they'd be slipping and slotting. Well, if you're fighting someone hand-to-hand combat, maybe touching at the other one and jabbing at the other one and hitting the a shield and so forth, you could slip and fall and be where you were gone.

So they had those shoes made so that they would stand very firm. And where they put their foot down, it was very firm. It wouldn't move. Very important. And so Paul uses that as analogy when he speaks in terms of Arab shoes, and he he talks about the idea of putting on or shodding our feet with the gospel. This passage is about standing firm against satanic attacks. And one of the ways you and I can stand firm, very very firm, is this, that you and I are rooted, listen, grounded, fastened in this truth, that you and I have the peace of God in our heart.

We've been saved by the grace of God. We are a child of God. We are his children. We are the sons and daughters of God. And we have that peace in our heart. Every single believer needs to be prepared to face those attacks, knowing in your heart you belong to him, and the peace of God is ruling and reigning in your heart. And as Apostle Paul said in Philippians, he says a peace that surpasses all human understanding. And he says that's like those solid boots, rooted, grounded. You're not going to be slipping and sliding. And listen, you can do whatever is necessary because you're grounded in the truth, grounded in a relationship with God that is so sound.

You have perfect peace that no matter what comes your way, your father who is in absolute control will protect you no matter what. So I want you to notice something about these three pieces. Look if you will what he says. He says beginning in verse 14 now. Notice the word having, h a v i n g. Having put on the breastplate of righteousness and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace that is prepared for the battle. Now all three of those times he says having that. But notice what he says about the next three doesn't say it that away.

Look at that. Verse 16 says in addition to all, that is in addition to all this, now he says taking up the shield of faith with which you'll be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Now let's talk about that Roman shield for a moment. He says the shield of faith, there are two kinds of shields. For example, they use one when they were in combat, a little round shield that they would attach to their buckle into their left arm, and then with their sword they could fight and they shield off the blows of the enemy.

But that's not what he's talking about. He's talking about a shield here that's 2 and 1/2 ft wide, would you be about like that, and 4 and 1/2 ft high. It was a piece of wood covered with leather, and then often times covered with metal over that. And so this word shield used here is the same Greek word for door. That is it is a big shield. Well, the Apostle Paul had that in mind when he used this, when he said then addition to all this, taking up the shield of faith. Now what does he mean with the shield of faith?

You think about this. The most powerful asset you have as a believer is your faith. The Bible talks about little faith, great faith, perfect faith. Little faith says well, I know he can. Great faith says he will. Perfect faith says it's good as done. The most powerful thing you have as a believer is your faith. And the greater your faith, the stronger your faith, your trust in God, then what? The more apt you are, listen, to respond to Satan by saying no, this is a need, but it's going to be met in God's way, in God's timing.

That is a desire, but I'm going to trust God to give it his way. No matter what they say, no matter what they criticize, I'm going to trust God to deal with those who would accuse me or gossip about me or whatever they may say about you. You're putting your trust in God. The most powerful thing in your life is your faith in God because listen, all that God does through you, all that he wants to do for you, listen, is in response to your faith, you're trusting him, you're believing him. You believe he'll do what he said.

The promises of God, listen, are upheld by all the omnipotence and omniscience of Almighty God. He knows the need, and he has the power to produce it. When he speaks of the helmet of salvation, he's not talking about getting saved. We're talking about people who are already saved, who are already being on under attack by Satan. And so he's speaking here, listen, the helmet of salvation to protect, to deliver me from wrong thinking because remember what we've said. It's the mind that's Satan's battlefield. That 's where he starts. He doesn't start with your feet or your hands.

He starts in your mind, the way we think. He says the helmet of salvation, not to get saved, but to deliver us from wrong thinking, to protect us from thinking the wrong way. Now we can't keep some bad thought from coming into our mind, but what happens is we just send it on out. Just send it on out the other way. Listen, Satan, he will attack you when you're on your knees talking to God. Do you think there's some position or some place you're going to get where he won't attack you? Why do you think sometimes you go to sleep while you're praying?

You're talking to the living God, and every single one of us been to sleep doing that. He says the helmet of salvation to protect our thinking. When I think about our children today, they watch TV, they go to school, they go to college, and what happens? They're just barrage with evil, barrage with wrong philosophies, barrage with wrong ideas. If you don't send your children away to school, listen, full of the word of God, Satan will get a toe hold or stronghold in their life and absolutely defeat them. We're talking about being able to stand firm against evil, listen, evil forces and powers that would destroy us.

The helmet of salvation. Then the last thing he talks about, look at this. He says and then finally he says and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Now no man would go to battle without his sword. Usually a dagger on one side and the sword. That's the way he defeated his enemy. For the believer, he says the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. You and I desperately need the sword. This is God's word, the most powerful weapon you have, and the most powerful defense you have is the living word of God in your mind and your heart and in your conduct, your conversation, and describing your character.

Because you see it isn't only a defense, it is an offensive weapon. But let's take defense for a moment. It's interesting what he says in this passage, and look at this for a moment. Look in the 17th verse, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Now listen carefully. Our greatest defense against the devil is to give him the word of God. He can't argue with that. And listen, give it to him and walk away. Don't get in any kind of debate. Satan says well, but you know about gender how do you know that's truth is not the issue?

I 'm just telling you what God said. You know the area of weakness that he hits you in the most. You say well it's eating too much. Well, there's a passage in there, plenty of passages in there about that about discipline. Or it may be lust, or it may be criticism, or whatever it might be. It doesn't make any difference. You find the passage, you find the passage or verse of scripture that deals with where he hits you the hardest. Listen, that becomes your sword. And when he attacks you, you let him have it. And what do you let him have it with?

You let him have it with the word of God. And what does he say for example? Peter said it, and James said it, and Peter said it this way. He said that we are to resist him firm in our faith. James says likewise, he says in the fourth chapter, he says resist the devil and he'll flee from you. Your greatest asset in resisting and standing firm and causing him to leave us to give him the word of God. You say well I don't know what passage. You know what? Get in your Bible, get the index, and find that word, whatever it might be.

Find a passage of scripture that deals with it. And listen, read it and read it and read it until it becomes a part of your thinking. Then when Satan hits you with that, you just say I just want to thank you, Father, that I don't have to doubt you because here's what you said. And you know what? Just give it the scripture. That is the most powerful protection you have. You say well now how do I make that practical? Tomorrow morning when you get up, before you get out of bed, you lie there quiet and say Lord, by faith here's what I'm doing.

I'm putting on the girdle of truth. I'm going to walk in truth today, Lord. I'm putting on the breastplate of righteousness because I want you to guard my emotions today. I'm putting on the boots of the preparation to be ready to stand firm in my relationship to you because I have peace with you. I'm taking the shield of faith. I'm going to trust you today, God, for everything. I'm putting on the helmet of salvation because I want you to guard my thinking all day long. Don't let me think the wrong thing. And Father, I'm taking the sword of the spirit, your precious word, and I want you to bring it to my mind anytime I get tempted, tried, tested.

And today I want to walk as a well armed soldier of the son of God. And today I want Satan to be defeated every time he fires one of those things at me. I want to thank you that it will be deflected by the shield of faith. And I'll be victorious today. I promise you. I promise you. I promise you. If you will go through that before you get out of bed at beginning tomorrow morning, you watch and see what happens in your life. You going to have victory. You going to have victory over the doubts and fears and frustrations and anxieties and everything Satan can throw at you.

You going to start having more victory, and you going to say hmm, you know what you're going to do? You going to say well, I probably don't need to do that anymore. And you know what that's like? That's like a soldier says we've won four battles. I'm going to the next one with no helmet, no breastplate, no, listen, no belt, no sword, no I'm going just in plain clothes. It wouldn't take but one arrow, one time to lay you out. It's a matter of practically doing what God wants us to. You say well now how do I know that's going to work?

Well, first of all, the Apostle Paul, we'd all agree the Apostle Paul was named by the Holy Spirit put that in the Ephesians. Would he put something in there that that's not true? No. If he put it in there, would it work? Yes, it would work. It's a matter of of working what God has told us to do. And if you want the victory, that's the way.

Guest (Male): You're listening to In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. Believers need to be properly outfitted if we expect to win our spiritual battles with Satan. Adopt the habit of daily dressing for combat in the full armor of God and confidently confess Jesus, who is in me, is greater than Satan who is in the world. To learn more about how to defeat temptation, take time to search through our study resources at intouch.org. And listen to this message again at the link to today on radio. And if you go to the store page, you can order a copy of Dr.

Stanley's complete message How to Survive a Satanic Attack, or order the teaching set titled A Satanic Attack. Again, you'll find these resources at intouch.org. To call or text us, the number is 1-800 intouch. And write to us, address your letter to intouch, Post Office Box 7900, Atlanta, Georgia 30357 or toll free 1-800 intouch. If you're a believer, do you tend to rationalize sinning or do you remember your righteousness in Christ? Today's moment with Charles Stanley is coming up.

Guest (Male): Tired of faith feeling like a performance? Worn down by constant striving? Jesus never meant it to feel that way. His call was always to something more, to a life that's generous, vibrant, joyful, and sustainable, a real life with him. That's the heart of Follow Me, our new book created to help you answer that call. Get your copy at intouch.org/followme.

Dr. Charles Stanley: Let your time and your schedule and everything about you revolve around this, that you and I are to develop and continue to develop this ongoing, intimate, wonderful, exciting, satisfying, indescribable, wonderful, incomparable relationship with a personal God.

Guest (Male): Dr. Stanley devoted his entire life to helping us.

Guest (Male): Get closer to Jesus as we all want to do. You can learn how at charlesstanleyinstitute.org.

Guest (Male): You're listening to In Touch. How does a Christian live a godly life? You can't if you're improperly equipped. With a look at the breastplate of righteousness from the sixth chapter of Ephesians, here's a moment with Charles Stanley.

Dr. Charles Stanley: Somebody says well I can't live godly. In your own strength you can't. And you see here's what we've done. We talk about the spirit filled life, and we talk about the nominal Christian. What in the world is a nominal Christian? That word's not in the Bible. Well, the Bible talks about the flesh walking in the spirit and verse walking in the flesh. A person who's walking in the flesh is a person doesn't have on the breastplate. A person who's walking in the flesh is a person who tolerates this sin, tolerates that sin, excuses this one and rationalizes that one.

And what happens is that they're saved, but they're not walking obediently before God. Now how much trouble do you think it is for Satan to defeat that person? It doesn't take much. First of all, they're already being defeated because they have compromised with sin, compromised with what they know is the truth. When you are attacked by Satan and you're already compromising with sin, he's going to take you down. That's why he says put on the breastplate of righteousness, godly living.

Guest (Male): Read about the believer's defense in Ephesians chapter 6 and study more about it at intouch.org. How are you encouraged by today's message? Please let us know. When In Touch returns, Dr. Stanley's message continues to explain how persevering in prayer is key to surviving a satanic attack. Our series continues next time on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. This program is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia, and remains on the station through the grace of God and your faithful prayers and gifts.