Welcome to the For the Gospel Podcast, where we are all about sound doctrine for everyday people. I'm your host, Costi Hinn, and on today's episode, I want to continue our walk through the topic of spiritual warfare and finish it out. And if you need to go back and listen to the previous episode, that answered the question, what is spiritual warfare? And that'll set up this episode, which is titled How to Win at Spiritual Warfare. We established in the first episode that based on what the Bible teaches, spiritual warfare is a battle for the mind. But there's one problem. We don't do this perfectly. You and I do give in to fear. We give our minds over to the wrong things. People do open up their lives to demonic influence through sin and giving our minds over, as we talked about in the first episode, to things like drugs and drug abuse and alcohol abuse and relishing and embracing habitually sinful acts. Of course, we talked about that's not you're going to sin, and next thing you know, you have a demon possessing you, but the habitual sinful act of relishing in sexual sin and immorality, opening your life, your mind up to the ways of darkness. And so thankfully, just like confessing sin to Jesus is the solution when we are losing the battle or we're in the battle against sin, uh, we can do the same thing when it comes to spiritual warfare. We have God's word. And there is a solution when we feel like we're losing the battle for our minds. We want to remember the powerful words of Paul from 2 Corinthians 10, 4, and 5. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds, Paul says. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. And we take captive every thought and we make it obedient to Christ. That's what Paul says the solution is to spiritual warfare. It's a battle for the mind, but we don't have to lose it when we're a believer. We can tear down the arguments of demonic strongholds, those things that raise themselves up against the knowledge of God. We can take thoughts captive. So I want to give you the ultimate strategy in this episode for winning at spiritual warfare, and it comes from Ephesians 6. I want you to listen, even if you've heard of the concept of the armor of God with fresh ears, uh, you need to understand that the armor of God is more than what those little Christian bookstores have turned into fun outfits for kids, although those are helpful visuals with the sword and the shield and the helmet and more. That's great. But sometimes when you grow up in church and you hear this concept, it sort of seems like it's just basic and you already know, and it's just sort of a kid thing or spiritual warfare. Oh, yeah, the sword of the spirit, what have you. But I want you to see what we're gonna deal with in this episode as a lifeline for winning spiritual warfare every single day. So you can resist the devil and you give no place in your life and in your mind to demonic influences. So let me read to you Ephesians 6, 11 to 18, and then we're gonna unpack some things, and I'm gonna give you a strategy for winning at spiritual warfare. First, Paul says, we'll start in verse 10 of Ephesians 6, finally be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. So spiritual warfare really starts with acknowledging God's power, not yours. You don't need to yell around every corner and kick over every rock and rebuke the devil out of everything and say, I command you, and I'm this and I'm that. No. You be strong in the Lord and the strength of his might. You put on the full armor of God, verse 11, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, Paul says, and the powers against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything to stand firm. He says then in verse 14, Stand firm, therefore, having girded your loins with the truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith, which with you will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles or arrows in some translations of the evil one, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, with all prayer and petition. Pray at all times in the spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for the saints. Such an incredible passage. It begins with the strength of the Lord and it ends with prayer. And I want to walk you through what it looks like to combat darkness the right way. Again, not yelling at everything and rebuking the devil out of, you know, the traffic in the morning because it made you late for work. Just wake up earlier. That's not spiritual warfare. Or what some people do nowadays, they kind of put olive oil on everything, like oil is gonna chase away the demonic spirits. And so they anoint the walls with oil, they anoint the house with oil, they anoint the feet and chairs and whatever else with oil, as though demons are living in the drywall. No, our struggle is not against flesh and blood, it's not against the drywall, it's not against the two by fours, and they're not living in between the insulation. No, it's a battle for the mind, so let's understand this better. In verse 12, he says that our struggle's not against flesh and blood, but rulers, powers, world forces of darkness, and spiritual forces of wickedness. Basically, all of those words mean something. Spiritual combat is not against human forces or physical things, it's against Satan and his legions of demonic forces in what you would call in the spirit quote, or in the unseen realm. And his army is potent and it is evil, and they are ranked, and they're ready to steal, kill, and destroy on his command. The word rulers means cosmic forces. Powers is the Greek word, plural word for demonic forces that have temporarily been given jurisdiction. So God, for reasons that he knows, has allowed for a time, if you will, Satan and his legions to be on a leash. And uh the world forces of this darkness is a phrase that means someone who aspires to world control. So this is a helpful thing to understand because now you might think, oh yeah, the devil is probably not knocking on my door in the middle of Kentucky or Arizona or Washington or California. He's probably busy through other means going after world leaders, going after uh ways to control the spirit of the age, going after big-time people that influence major decisions and worldviews and governments. Remember, the devil is not omnipresent. He's not everywhere. So when people say, Oh, the devil's attacking me this week, no, maybe spiritual forces of darkness are, but they would be his legions of armies. They are trying to essentially take over the mind of the world, if you will. Spiritual forces of wickedness reverse to invisible forces. They drive sinfulness into the world. And while they are spiritual beings, if you will, they manifest themselves through the people in the world that they control. Let me give you seven ways that Satan will try to blind and deceive through spiritual means. One of them is passivism. He would love to convince people through his demonic influence that there's really no battle at all. Isn't that so like the enemy? Christians who go, ah, why are we talking about spiritual warfare? You don't need to worry about all that stuff. Just read your Bible, you'll be fine. Or, oh, there's not really much going on in the spirit realm, quote unquote. And so it creates lazy Christians, Christians who aren't discerning, Christians who aren't on guard. You will hear this and see this in churches that say, oh, I don't want to call out anything that's false, or, you know, I don't want to really get in all, you know, we ought to just get along. There's not so much that separates us, there's so much that unites us, and we don't really need to be worrying about false doctrine and looking for the boogeyman around every corner. And so you get passive, lazy Christians and pastors who don't protect the flock because they're buying into passivism. Oh, there's no battle. We don't want to fight. Well, you're probably getting sucked into the enemy's lies, and you need to bear up arms, spiritually speaking. Number two, slander. The enemy will often discredit God's character, so you doubt him. Think about Adam and Eve when he told Eve, Oh, really? Did God say that? No, eat the fruit. He just doesn't want you to be like him. Number three, persecution. Imagine what a great strategy strategy it is for the enemy to go after world leaders and governments to attack and assault Christians, put them in prison, kill them even. And so it'll either both silence the preachers and the Christians who are sharing their faith, but also scare people into not sharing their faith. Persecution, another way that Satan will try to blind and deceive people and control the nations. Doctrinal confusion is another one. He operates through false teachers, twisting the truth for self-gain. Think about a prosperity gospel preacher. Think about other types of so-called preachers or what have you saying things that don't really make sense to a believer that reads their Bible, but then people come in masses to listen to this person, sort of just do a TED talk, leave people with no substance. What else could cause people to buy into that type of chaos and delusion, except for spiritual blindness? That's what the devil's doing. That's what world forces of darkness are attempting to do. Create doctrinal confusion so people either don't know what to believe or they get sucked into the wrong thing. Another one is busyness. The enemy would love to keep people from serving, keep people from giving, keep people from church and getting involved. Oh, they're too busy. The enemy, again, is not gonna be standing in the doorway in your house in the dark, trying to scare you and show you that he or his demonic influence is there, of course, but in other ways, through the pleasures of this world. Darkness draws people into busyness. Another one would be through divisions and creating petty conflicts that prevent unity in the church. And of course, as I mentioned already, but more specifically, worldly pleasures, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the boastful pride of life, materialism, sexuality, and power. All of these are ways that the enemy tries to blind and deceive people. Verse 13, Paul says, take up the full armor of God, and you'll be able to resist in the evil day. You'll be able to stand firm. The full armor of God. Not one part, not just this, that, no, the full armor of God. He says in verse 14, to stand firm and gurge your loins with the truth. This is what we would call the belt of truth. And what Paul is alluding to is in Roman times, a soldier's belt would be used to gather his tunic in. It would keep everything together. And the sword would later be hung on his belt. And so you got everything tightly in check. A loosened belt would mean you were off duty. And so you were to be girded with truth, the belt of truth, and be ready for battle. Everything held together. The belt of truth would represent knowing your Bible, living with an attitude of truth. The Greek word Alathea, truth, keeping everything where it needs to be, being ready to stand firm. A loose belt results in a loosely hanging sword and a very sloppy setup for spiritual war. Then he says, having put on the breastplate of righteousness. This is very important to understand. We say, Oh, yeah, the breastplate of righteousness. Okay, it sounds like something spiritual, put it on. The breastplate would be placed over the girded tunic, and it protects the vitals. You're protecting the heart, you're protecting the lungs. Essentially, the way they would wear it would be a both front and back, and it would protect the entire torso. Paul equates this vital protective piece to righteousness. Righteousness in this case is uprightness. It's the integrity of character. It represents your obedience to Christ, your morality, your godly character, which keeps you vitally protected on all sides in spiritual war. This Christian who's wearing this piece of armor doesn't just look good on the outside, but they truly have the right heart underneath on the inside. And when we neglect righteousness, we lower the bar in spiritual battle. And we ought to expect to lose if we're not wearing righteousness. And so you got to pursue righteousness. This would be the work out your salvation with fear and trembling, that Paul says in the book of Philippians. And we'll get to the righteousness through salvation when we talk about the helmet. But I want you to see the vital protection that comes with good, moral, upstanding, righteous character, the kind of integrity that God calls believers to. In verse 16, he says, in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one, the flaming missiles. The shield that they would utilize back then when Paul is writing this was derived from a wood door, basically. That's essentially what the what the word even means. And it would be a shield that measured some two and a half feet wide, four and a half feet high. It was wood, it was covered with a hide of sorts, it was bound by bronze of all the pieces of the armor. This is the only one that Paul identifies the function of. So Paul explains that a firm reliance on Christ doesn't just block, but it extinguishes. Look at the extent he goes to explain what is happening to the attacks of Satan when they hit the shield of faith. They're done for, they're gone. The Christian who carries the shield of faith will find, much like Roman military formations of that time, nothing can penetrate their life. Attack after attack may come, arrow after arrow may come, but the shield of faith reminds Satan that you are fully reliant on Christ. In Christ alone, your hope is found. That is where your faith is. Proverbs thirty, verse five and six says he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. That is a great reminder when it comes to spiritual warfare. Take the shield of faith and extinguish the enemy's assault. In verse 17, he says, and take the helmet of salvation. The purpose of the soldier's helmet was obviously to protect their head from injury, which would lead, of course, to most likely in those days, with what they were fighting each other with, death. The helmet's attachment to salvation would certainly indicate that this is an area that Satan will try to attack. This is the believer's assurance, the righteousness of Christ that's been imputed to you, knowing that you are saved, that you are not an enemy of God, you are reconciled to God. It's the assurance of salvation that the enemy is always trying to cast doubt on. Think about this. How many times in your life do you sin or fail or you're going through a hard time, and you begin to think, I wonder if I'm even saved? The helmet of salvation protects your mind. When you look at your life and you know, I am not who I used to be, I am saved. Am I who I'm gonna be? No. He is working in my life. Philippians 1, 6, I say this passage as often as I can in sermons and on podcasts and in conversations with people who are wondering if God's gonna finish what he started. Yes, he will. Paul says, He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ. Guess what, Christian? You're a work in progress. You're gonna blow it, you're gonna sin, you're gonna fail, but you are gonna get back up through the power and grace of Christ, and you can, with the helmet of salvation on your head, block out the lies of the enemy as the whispers of doubt come. Are you even saved? Yes, you are. And you're growing and you're repenting and you're confessing and you're staying accountable, and you are going to be sanctified through that process. Do not give in to one of the enemy's favorite targets. Your mind specifically doubts about the assurance of salvation. But let me go one step further. Don't push away questions about your salvation from faithful friends who love you. Proverbs 27 6 says, Faithful are the wounds of a friend, deceitful are the kisses of an enemy. A lot of people say, Oh, I don't want to, you know, uh press in too far on someone about their sin. I gotta take the log out of my eye before I deal with the speck in theirs. I don't want to judge. Well, think about what Jesus was saying when he said that. Take the log out of your eye before helping your brother there with the speck. He doesn't say abandon them. He doesn't say say don't do it at all. He just says take your own log out, then help them. You still and I still have an obligation to walk with people who are struggling with sin, and we have an obligation ourselves to assess our faith. We should, as Paul says to the church at Corinth, who is a little wild at times, by the way, test ourselves, examine ourselves to see if we are of the faith. So you should be asking at times, how do I know if I'm saved? And you should be able to answer it. There's an episode we did on that. So if you want to scroll Apple or Google or Spotify, wherever you listen to your podcasts, and listen to the episode on how you know if you're saved, or check out the blog at forthegospel.org. We've got material on that to help you do what I would call conversion diagnostics. Next, Paul says the sword of the spirit is what you should put on, which is the word of God. What I love about the sword is it's not only a defensive weapon to deflect attacks, but it is also the only offensive weapon in the six pieces of armor that he lists. He's unequivocally stating that our only method of offense is to use the word of God, which is the sword of the spirit. It was authored by the Holy Spirit through the pens of men. It's sharper than any two-edged sword. It pierces as far as the division of soul and spirit, both joints and marrow, Hebrews 4.12 declares. A Christian who can wield the sword of the Spirit carries the most effective offensive weapon in spiritual warfare. You can shout out, you know, Jesus name this and Jesus name that. If you're one of our regular listeners, I want you not to listen to Costi's word or take Costi's word for it. No, we want you at the for the gospel ministries team and beyond, and all of our contributors, nothing more for you than to you use God's word, for you to be able to use God's word and wield the sword of God's word on your own. We want to walk with you, teach you, and help you. Because the simple reality is Jesus modeled that for us. What did he use to shut down Satan when he was tempting him in Luke 4? Scripture. He's given you his Holy Spirit. He's given you the entire Bible. He's provided the church for you and leaders and ministries to support and guide you. A busy calendar of excuses for the Christian, not being able to wield the sword is basically like a Marine who won't leave his bed. You might be wearing the uniform, but you haven't left the barracks. I want Christians to be challenged. What can you quote when you're being tempted? If you wear the label of Christian, do you look like one? Do you live like one? What prayer do you pray when doubt comes to mind? Can you wield the sword when you're down in the dumps and you feel like complaining or when you're under attack? I think of the story of the seven sons of Skeva who went into spiritual warfare without a clue of what to do. They thought they'd take on some demons, but they were humiliated instead. They had the wrong motive and they had the wrong method. In Acts 19, 13 through 16, uh Luke, who recorded the the Acts account, says, but also some of the Jewish exorcists who went from place to place attempted to name over those who had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus. So they were trying to do it in Jesus' name, saying, I adjure you by Jesus, whom Paul preaches. And seven sons of one Skeva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. And the evil spirit answered them and said, I recognize Jesus. I know about Paul, but who are you? And the man whom the evil spirit was in leaped on them and subdued all of them. He overpowered them and they fled out of the house naked and wounded. You don't fight spiritual foes with spiritual lingo or human strength or some big ego trying to rebuke the devil out of this and that. You wield the word to resist the devil. Then Paul ends it all saying with prayer and petition, pray in the spirit at all times, be on the alert. And with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, prayer is not typically considered a piece of the armor, but he finishes the section with mention of prayer because you don't ever go into spiritual battle and you don't go a day, maybe even an hour, without prayer and expect to defeat the enemy's strategic assaults on your life. A proper prayer life will keep you surrendered to Christ and his will, thankful for his grace and mercy, and filled with petition for the perseverance of others. Jesus modeled the prayer of submission in Matthew 6, 9 through 13, and that is how we ought to pray, praying that he would guard our minds, that his will would be done, that the Holy Spirit would fill us, that our lives would be saturated by God's word, that our minds would be protected with the glorious truths that the Bible declares. That is how you resist the enemy, and that is how you win spiritual warfare. Fill your life with God's word, fill your mind with God's word, protect yourself with the armor he provides. And guess what? There'll be no room for the enemy's lies. I hope the last two episodes have challenged and encouraged you to a greater understanding of spiritual warfare. Thank you for being with us today on the For the Gospel podcast. And don't forget, free videos, teachings, and all that and more on our YouTube channel. And to give, read articles, or learn more about our ministry team, go to furthegospel.org. We'll see you on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Twitter. And we will be back next Monday with another episode. Keep on living for the gospel.