Love Worth Finding

Byron Tyler: From the Love Worth Finding studios in Memphis, Tennessee, I'm Byron Tyler here with Carrie Vaughn, the CEO of Love Worth Finding. Carrie, we continue our series this month, "How to Weather the Storms of Life." And if you follow us online at lwf.org, you'll notice that all of our devotionals, articles are helping you deal with the storms in your life.

Carrie Vaughn: Ephesians 6:18: "praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints." So, as you're going through these storms of life, realize that it is truly a spiritual battle as we talked about. Remember your adversary, remember your armor, remember your attack, but most importantly, remember your allies.

Byron Tyler: Well, Carrie, this month of June, we have an offer for our Love Worth Finding listeners that really will help, I think, in the storms of life dealing with wisdom that we all need.

Adrian Rogers: Wisdom is, in itself, a treasure. You could have gold and not have wisdom and die a rich fool. But if you have wisdom, you are wealthy because you're able to see life from God's point of view.

Guest (Male): See life from God's point of view with "God's Hidden Treasures," a book of inspirational and devotional thoughts from Adrian Rogers. With brevity and lighthearted warmth, Adrian Rogers guides readers toward faith, wisdom, peace, and joy. God's abundance awaits to be discovered. Find "God's Hidden Treasures."

Byron Tyler: For your gift of any amount, we would love to send you "God's Hidden Treasures." Call us at 1-877-LOVEGOD, or you can give online at lwf.org. Now, we have Nicole from Ministry Services. Nicole, how are you doing?

Nicole: I am doing wonderful, Byron. I actually brought a wonderful testimony that came in to us from one of our radio listeners. He is a prisoner in Texas, and I'd love to share with you what he wrote.

He said, "I have been wanting to write this letter for so long. My name is Ray, and I am in federal prison. I have been listening to Brother Adrian Rogers for 15 years. I have to say that I have grown so much by listening to his teaching. I pull out my Bible, and I follow very carefully, and he helps me have better understanding. Being in here, there is so much hostility and so much negative influence. There is so much hate for our Lord Jesus Christ. But I take a negative, and I turn it into a positive. I see this place as a battleground for the Lord. That's why I feel that I'm in the right place at the right time."

What a testimony, Byron, to be on the battlefield in a federal prison where there is so much Christian warfare, even spiritual warfare. It just reminds me of the verse that talks about how the enemy is prowling around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. We must armor up, and we must be ready for the battle.

Byron Tyler: Nicole, it also reminds me to thank our supporters for the radio ministry, Carrie, because those prisoners listen to us via radio, not the internet. And so your faithfulness to this ministry supporting the radio ministry aspect of Love Worth Finding gets God's Word into prisons like this.

Carrie Vaughn: Well, it's Isaiah 55:11: "It will never return void, never." And so when you give, people are saved, lives are changed, and kingdom is impacted.

Byron Tyler: Well, today's message, "Christian Warfare, Part Two." Here's Adrian Rogers.

Adrian Rogers: This is a wonderful passage of scripture that talks about the Christian warrior. There are several things I want you to notice. First of all, the Christian warrior and his adversary. We must, we must know our enemy. Look, if you will again, in verse 11. He says, "Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." That's your adversary. You must know your enemy. He is called the devil. He is very real. The Bible does not speak of him as some figment of the imagination.

But it has always been his purpose to pull the veil of darkness over his kingdom and either have his very existence denied for a while. But he really doesn't want that. He wants worship. And he will only use this disguise so long before he removes the veil himself and says, "Bow down and worship me." Now, it's important that we understand who the devil is in our warfare because if there is no enemy, there's going to be no preparation for war. In your flesh, you are no match for your adversary. You are puny and weak if you come against Satan in your own strength. He is powerful. "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, authorities."

Now, that's the very first thing you need to understand. That is the Christian warrior and his adversary, the devil. Now, here's the second thing, how important it is that you understand this, and that is the Christian warrior and his armor. We need not only to recognize our enemy; we need to prepare for the battle. Now, if you don't prepare for the battle, you're going to lose it. You are to put on the whole armor of God, and it is to be holy armor. Notice verse 13: "Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God." That is so very important that you take the whole armor, that you don't leave off a piece.

Now, let's look at that armor, and God describes that armor for us. First of all, look at it. He says here, "Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth." First of all, you put on the girdle of truth, which is the believer's integrity. Truth stands for integrity. You see, a soldier in that day wore a tunic, and he had a leather belt. Sometimes you see motorcycle riders with a leather belt around. Sometimes you see weightlifters with a big, strong leather belt around them because that is to hold the center of strength together.

And a warrior in that day had a leather belt, a girdle, that was cinched up tight to prepare him for the battle, to protect his loins. And on that belt, he would hang his weapons of warfare. His dagger would be there; his sword might be there. This belt was very important, and it held his tunic together because he didn't want his long, flowing tunic to be out in the wind or to be snagged or to be caught. And so he is to wear a girdle, a belt of truth.

Now, that belt, my friend, is integrity. It is integrity that holds everything else together. Truth and integrity are synonymous. You are to believe the truth, you're to know the truth, you're to love the truth, you're to tell the truth, you're to live the truth, you're to preach the truth. And if you don't, your life is going to come apart. If you do not have the girdle of truth, if you do not have integrity in your life, in the big things and in the small things, you are going to lose the battle. It is truth that holds everything together, and without truth, everything falls apart.

Here's the second piece of armor. That is the breastplate of righteousness. Now, righteousness is the believer's purity. That is, there is to be no unconfessed, unrepented of sin in your life. A warrior at this time had a breastplate. It would be made of woven chain sometimes. It would cover his heart; it would cover his lungs; it would cover his intestines, his vital organs. And without that breastplate, of course, he was very vulnerable to any sword thrust, to any arrow. And so he has to have a breastplate, and that breastplate is righteousness.

And what is righteousness? It is purity. Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Now, I'm asking you a question. Don't answer it out loud, but answer it. Is your heart pure? I mean, is your heart pure before God? If not, you cannot win in the warfare. There's a piece of your armor that is missing. Satan fears a holy Christian.

Thirdly, you put on the shoes of peace. Look, if you will also, in verse 15: "And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace." A Roman soldier needed good shoes to fight with. A Roman soldier would have hobnails on the bottom of his shoes, very much like football cleats because when you're fighting, you need a place to stand. You need to have good footing.

In this passage, Paul is going to tell us to stand, to stand, to stand. And therefore, your feet need to be shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. That is tranquility. He's talking about peace now. He's talking about peace with God, and he's talking about peace with one another. And he's talking about the peace of God in our heart. You see, Jesus gives peace. And unless you have peace, you can never make war. Sounds like a contradiction, doesn't it?

But you've got to have that peace of God in your heart. You see, how does Satan attack? Well, he comes against your integrity with lies. He comes against your purity with lust. But how does he come against your tranquility? Well, he puts stones and briars and doubts and discouragement, whatever he can do to destroy your peace. Do you have peace right now, or are you just churning on the inside?

Well, if you don't have peace right now, I'll tell you why you don't have peace right now. It's not because of circumstances. Peace in the Bible is not the subtraction of problems from life. Peace is the addition of power to meet those problems. The Bible says, "Great peace have they that love thy law, and nothing shall offend them." Now, the only way you can live that way is to put on these shoes of peace. That is the preparation of the good news of peace.

Jesus made peace through the blood of his cross. And if you don't have this, if you don't have this, you're going to slip and fall in the battle. So many people, I've seen them fall, not because of a lack of integrity and not because of a lack of purity, but because of a lack of tranquility. Something will happen: some sickness, some disappointment, some financial reverse, some wayward child, and they lose their peace. You put on those shoes of peace so you can have a firm place to stand.

Because if you don't, you may slip and you may fall. Then, the next piece of armor here is the shield of faith. The Roman soldier also had a shield. It was about two by four feet. It was made of wood, covered with leather because in that day, they would take flaming arrows, dip them in burning oil, and shoot them, perhaps to inflict a horrible pain when a flaming arrow would hit, or perhaps to set somebody's house or whatever on fire. And these flaming arrows were flying back and forth.

And so Paul says, "Take the shield of faith, so you can quench all the fiery darts of the wicked." Well, why do I need the shield of faith? What's Satan's attack? Satan's attack is going to be doubt. Now against the Christian, he uses lies, so I put on integrity. Against the Christian, he uses lust, so I put on purity. Against the Christian, he uses discouragement, so I put on tranquility. And now I take the shield of faith, and what is the shield of faith? It is certainty. It is certainty.

I need integrity. I need purity. I need tranquility. And friend, I need certainty. I take the shield of faith because Satan is always shooting at me and shooting at you those fiery arrows of doubt, of doubt, trying to place in your heart and in your mind those subtle doubts, darts of doubt. But you know that a small fire can start a big fire. "Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth."

And so Satan wants to get into your heart, into your mind with some doubt. And if you're a college student, you're going to find out that Satan, sometimes in the form of a professor, is going to be sitting up there, and he's just going to be shooting at you those fiery darts, just shooting at you those fiery darts, just shooting at you those fiery darts. Put on the shield of faith. Take that shield of faith and quench every fiery dart of the devil. Feed your faith; starve your doubts.

And when you get off to college, wherever you go, don't forget what you've learned. Don't forget those who taught you. And remember the Word of God. And carry your doubts to Jesus and say, "Dear Lord Jesus, give me the shield of faith." And he'll do it. I promise you that he will. That's the believer's certainty.

And then next of all, he says, "Put on the helmet of salvation." Do you see that here? Look at it. He says here in verse 17, "And take the helmet of salvation." A warrior would use a helmet to protect his head. Why would he do that? Obviously, if the head is wounded, nothing else works. And what is this helmet of salvation? It literally means a helmet of deliverance. It's talking about salvation, going to heaven, but more than that.

It is talking about a mind under the control of Almighty God, so where you have the mind of Christ. Because a believer needs to keep his head so he can fight. And this speaks of the believer's sanity, the believer's sanity. When a person gets saved for the first time, he has his right mind. I remember reading there in Matthew 5 about that demoniac who had been filled with the devil, and Jesus saved him. And the people came back and found him seated and clothed and in his right mind.

A person really without the Lord Jesus Christ has a form of insanity. They are not with the mind that God made them to have. So you put on the helmet of salvation. That is your sanity. That is the covering for your mind. Now, see how you're to be dressed up for the battle. We've talked about your adversary. We said that he is strategic. We said that he's strong. We said that he's sinister. He's all of these things.

Wherefore, he says, "Take the whole armor of God." Put on the belt of truth. What is that? Integrity. Put on the breastplate of righteousness. What is that? Purity. Put on the shoes of peace. What is that? Tranquility. Take the shield of faith. What is that? That is certainty. Put on the helmet of salvation. What is that? That is sanity, thinking with the mind of Christ.

Now, you're ready for the battle. Now let me tell you something. If you'll look at each one of these pieces of armor and think about it, they really represent Jesus. You just put on Jesus. Sometimes when I go out for a walk or whatever just by myself and I want a good thing to meditate on, I just keep dressing myself up in this armor. I just check myself out. Adrian, do you have integrity?

Adrian, do you have purity? Adrian, do you have tranquility? Adrian, do you have certainty? Adrian, do you have sanity? Each piece put on with prayer because what you're really doing is simply putting on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, here's the third thing I want you to notice. We have talked about the warrior and his adversary, the devil. We've talked about the warrior and his armor.

Now let's talk about the Christian warrior and his attack, his attack. We must join the battle. It's not enough simply to put on the armor. We've got to get into the fight. And so many of us want to dress up in the armor and sit at home. Some little boys were sitting around just talking and laughing, and the mother came and said, "What are you doing?" And they said, "Well, we're playing war." And she said, "Well, you don't look like you're at war."

And they said, "Well, we're all generals." I think a lot of us want to be generals rather than foot soldiers, and we want to play war. Now, what will guarantee our victory? What is it that will guarantee our victory in the battle? Three things. Number one is the place of our stance. Now, look if you will, in verse 13: "Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand," underscore that. "And having done all, to stand."

And notice in verse 14: "Stand therefore." Withstand, stand, stand. Now, what does this mean? Friend, we have a place to fight from. We stand in the victory that Jesus has won. Notice what he said in verse 10: "Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might." When you get into this battle, you stand at the victory that Jesus has already won.

This is the reason that I say to people, "We do not fight for victory; we fight from victory." This is the place of our stance. Do you understand that? If you don't understand that, you're not going to stand. You have to stand in the victory that has been won at Calvary. They overcame him, the Bible says in Revelation 12, by the blood of the Lamb. They overcame Satan that way.

Second thing, not only the place of our stance, but the power of our sword, the power of our sword. Look again if you will, in verse 17: "And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." Now, we talked to you about all of the protective armor. Fine, it's good to have on a helmet. It's good to have on a breastplate. It's good to have a shield. But folks, you need a sword.

You need to get into the battle. And God has given you a place to stand, and then he's given you a sword to fight with. "Take the sword of the Spirit." Now, I'm talking about the power of our sword because ours is a very powerful sword. It's not like any other sword. It's not the sword of Adrian; it is the sword of the Spirit. I love it. I love it. You see, the Bible says in Hebrews 4, verse 12, "For the word of God," that's the Bible, "the word of God is quick and powerful."

Quick means it's alive. Powerful means it's full of energy and is sharper than a two-edged sword. I love the Bible because I know there's incredible power in the Bible. Jesus had been fasting for 40 days and 40 nights, and the devil came to him. And the devil said, "Well, if you're the Son of God, why don't you turn these stones into bread?" And Jesus pulled out his sword. He said, "It is written. It is written: man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

Again Satan comes to him to tempt him; again Jesus said, "It is written." "It is written." Three times, Jesus ran Satan through with that blessed blade. Now, there's the place of your stance, and there is the power of your sword. And then there is the provision of the Spirit. Once you take your place to stand, you're dressed up in the armor, you're standing in the finished work of Calvary, you take the Word of God, which is the sword of the Spirit.

And then you look to heaven for your supply. So he says, "Praying now." Look at it. Look at it. He says here in verse 18: "Praying with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints." Now, the prayer in the Spirit is where your supply comes from. Every warrior needs a supply, and every warrior needs a commander-in-chief to guide him and direct him.

And when you go to the battlefield, you stand in the finished work of Calvary. You take the Word of God, which is the sword of the Spirit, and you offer your prayer to your heavenly commander, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, not just mumbling some mumbo jumbo. It is the Spirit that directs your prayer. It is the Spirit that understands what Satan is up to. You don't understand what Satan is up to, but he does.

The sword is the sword of the Spirit. He's the one who knows how to wield that sword and to use that sword. Now here's the final thing I want you to see, and that's the Christian warrior and his allies. We must unite forces. So Paul says, "Pray." Notice what he says in verse 18: "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly."

Paul was a warrior, but he knew that he did not fight alone. He knew that we need to pray for one another because we fight with one another. We are not a one-man army. You're not a one-man army. Oh, if you're by yourself, then you've got to fight by yourself. But you know what the Bible says? The Bible says one shall chase a thousand, two would chase ten thousand. There's a synergy that brings a divine energy when we fight together.

We are in this battle together. I need you and you need me, and therefore we must lock arms, join forces, and fight together. And do you know what this church is? Do you know what this church is? This church is just a big battle station. That's all it is. It's just a place where we come to reinforce ourselves. It's a place where we come to get spiritual intuition and spiritual power and spiritual encouragement to go out into the fight because we fight not against one another, but with one another against a common enemy.

And I'm going to tell you, I'm heartbroken that many of our soldiers are AWOL. They're just AWOL. They're people who think that sometimes when they come on Sunday, they've done God a wild favor. I mean, really, they just come sit, soak, and sour. They never fight. They think that somehow they can be neutral. This is a battle. And I want to say several things to you.

One, you choose sides carefully because if you don't follow Jesus, you're on the losing side. You choose sides carefully. Two, you examine your heart and make sure that you've got all the armor of God on. Three, don't try to be neutral. This is a fight to the finish, and Jesus said, "He that is not with me is against me." Four, rejoice in the victory and live victoriously every day, day after day after day after day. Thank God you're to be walking in victory.

Byron Tyler: Are you walking in victory step-by-step in a relationship with God? If you have questions about who Jesus is or what he means to you, or how to begin a relationship with God through Christ, go to our "Find God's Love" page at lwf.org/radio. You'll find resources and materials there that will answer questions you may have about your faith.

Well, thank you for studying with us in God's Word today. Spend some more time in scripture preparing for the spiritual warfare that you may face. Remember your adversary, your armor, your attack, and your ally. And we hope you'll join us next time for more from Adrian Rogers right here on Love Worth Finding.