The Need for Spiritual Armor

"I'm nothing, you won't be tempted, I'm nothing, you won't have problems, I'm nothing, you won't have the use, I'm saying they won't have the last word." Dr. Tony Evans reminds us, "We don't have to be victims of spiritual attacks." "They will no longer be the dictator, they will no longer be the controller, they may show up, but they will no longer have final say, so." This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. Dr. Evans has said spiritual temptation and opposition can't be avoided, but they can be overcome. Today, we'll hear about how to do that as he takes us to Ephesians 6. Let's get started. "A lot of us have been duped in the thinking that the devil is women. We've been duped in the thinking, he's running the show, calling the shots, and we are puppets on his string. We've been duped in the thinking that he is the final decision maker about our joy, our happiness, our well-being, our spirituality, and all the other elements that make life work because he seems to be running the show." While I came to you with some good news today, wipe the sweat off your forehead, dry your weeping eyes, and take those jittering fingers out of your clashing teeth because you, not he, gets to make the final move. No matter what's going on in your world, that move, that move, the accomplishment of the cross and the resurrection, what's God's final move, that is your move for victory. Now, I don't know what's going on in your world, your life, your struggles, your mind, no matter what it is, I'm going to share with you today and throughout this series how you use the final move. In the passage that we are introducing this with today. Finally, brethren, chapter 6 verse 10, "Be strong in the Lord, and the strength of His might put on the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil." Here it is, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and world forces of this darkness, against spiritual forces of wickedness and heavenly places." People are not your problem. Now I know you think they're your problem because they're what you see, feel, touch, taste, and hear. But according to verse 12, whatever is going wrong in your world, people are merely the conduit for the root. They have the fruit. He says, "We wrestle not against flesh and blood." The battles we have in life, what air they may be, are not fundamentally physical in nature, flesh and blood. He says, "Our battle is against principalities and powers and world forces of this darkness located in heavenly places." The word heavenly places means the spiritual realm. Whatever is going on in your world, your life has going on, is going on, or will go on, is rooted first in the spiritual realm. Spiritual warfare can simply be defined as the conflict in the invisible realm that affects what you're going through in the visible realm. It is the battle in the unseen that is responsible for the battles in the scene. If you don't know how to navigate that realm, you can't fix this realm. Whatever is happening in the world of your five senses, flesh and blood, it has been created in a world you can't see. But if you can't navigate that world, you can't fix this world. Most of our attempts to fix this world is through using this world. But this world, flesh and blood, is not where the battle emanates from. Our battle is in an unseen realm called heavenly places. He uses this phrase uniquely in Ephesians to describe all of the Christians' activities. In Ephesians 1 verse 3, he says your blessings are located in heavenly places. Everything God is ever going to do for you is located in the unseen realm. Everything God is ever going to promise, fulfill, everything that you will ever need that will ever come your way has already been deposited in your account in the unseen realm, the heavenly places. He goes on later in chapter 1 and he says about Jesus Christ, he says in chapter 1 verse 20, which he brought about in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in heavenly places. He says your blessings are in heavenly places and the one who's in charge, Jesus, is seated having risen from the dead in heavenly places. So if you want to get to Jesus, you got to get the way he is and where he is, is in the spiritual realm. Heavenly places, chapter 2 verse 6, he says and we were raised with him and seated with him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. He says your blessings are in heavenly places. Jesus is seated in heavenly places. We are seated with him in heavenly places. So where you're physically seated, if not the only place you're located, you're equally located in another realm, he says that is heavenly places are the spiritual realm, chapter 3 verse 10. He says so that the manifold wisdom of God might be made known through the church, to the rulers and the authorities in heavenly places. He says that the angels are in heavenly places. Now you need to understand, you need your angel. Every Christian in here has at least one angel that has been assigned to you if you're a believer in Jesus Christ. The Bible says in Hebrews 114 that angels are assigned to believers as ministering spirits. In the spiritual realm, you have somebody who knows that realm better than you whose job it is to operate in that realm on behalf of you. So your blessings are in heavenly places. You are seated with him in heavenly places. Your angelic assistance is located in heavenly places. And then in chapter 6 verse 12, the principalities and the powers of darkness are located in heavenly places. So every Christian in here has a demon assigned to you. The demon is assigned to you and his job is to make hell break loose in your life. His job is to make sure that Satan has his way with you. He says the angel has schemes, the schemes of the devil and their design to draw us away from God. But here's the secret that he doesn't want you to know. But I'm going to tell you, because God wants you to know it. And I'm validated in just a second, but let me give your heads up. The only power that Satan and demons have is the power you give them. You're going to discover in just a second they have already been defeated. They've already lost. So they are losers. They have already been defeated. That's not just a song, nor is it just a saying it is what God declares. But the problem is, well, if they're defeated, how come I'm not winning? Anything they can do, they do, because you told them it was okay. You see, that's why they need a body. They need something to loan themselves to them that they can work to and through to express themselves through them. The only power that they have is power that people grant them. The only reason Satan could take over planet earth is because Adam and Eve gave him permission to do it. They need permission from us to bring hell to us. So if hell is going on in your life, you gave him okay. You told him, through sin and circumstance, through yielding to him, it's okay for you to rule my mind. It's okay for you to rule my world. It's okay for you to rule my emotions. It's okay for you to rule my will. I give you permission to tell me I'm not really a man, although I was born a male. I give you permission to tell me I'm not really a woman, although I was born a female. I give you permission to tell me I need drugs. One drug can't get rid of drugs, can't shake drugs because drugs are what keeps me going. I give you permission to tell me I need that drink, gotta have that drink, can't live without that drink. I give you permission to tell me I should wake up depressed, stay depressed, go to bed depressed, wake up the next day to press Satan demons. I give you permission to tell me for the next 10 years of my life, I gotta live in misery and depression. In fact, until you address the story. Spiritual you really don't know whether it's just physical see we assume it's just physical because it's physical But if it started in the spiritual and you're only addressing the physical You'll never get rid of the problem because you've given demons permission to stay at home and once they're given permission like roaches They are not going anywhere Because we have decided to let them live there Through that world view through the schemes the deceptive programs of the devil the devil operates by consent and by Cooperation he says our we wrestle against an unseen world of evil that Satan and demons and you have been assigned one Some of us got a whole platoon And their job is to keep you from experiencing the will of God for your life That's their job. That's the full-time occupation and they are good at it You're not their first assignment and neither am I Dr. Evans will have more for us about how the spiritual realm of facts are day-to-day lives when he continues our message in just a moment First though, I want to tell you about a popular book that makes a perfect follow-up for the series we're beginning today It's called Victory in Spiritual Warfare and it explains why the toughest problems you face are really spiritual issues that demand spiritual solutions In it Tony shines a revealing light on the devil's tricks and tactics and helps equip you to start winning victories on battlefields like marriage issues Money problems even depression or addiction Request a copy of victory and spiritual warfare right away and we'll send it to you as our gift an appreciation for your contribution toward Tony's ministry As a bonus we'll also include all eight full-length messages in his current series on the armor of God Get the details today before this limited-time double offer runs out Visit Tony Evans dot org or call 1-800-832-22 Where team members are always on hand to help with your resource needs? That's 1-800-800-322-22 Dr. Evans will return with more of today's message right after this over 40 authors Over 1,000 years over 2.5 billion volume sold the Bible It's more than a book. It's the living word of God the truth found inside it possesses great power And now you can unearth them in a fresh new way The Tony Evans Training Center delivers world-class instruction to the palm of your hand through self-paced courses on your computer or phone Explore the kingdom anytime anywhere at Tony Evans training dot org. That's Tony Evans training dot org We wrestle not against flesh and blood if you don't say if you think People are your problem versus the fruit of your problem then all you will address are people If we gave the spirit world as much a piece of our mind that we give people Because you know we'll give people a piece of our mind in a minute But if we gave the spiritual world a piece of our mind as much as we give the physical world a piece of our mind We still have our minds That's why he says in verse 10 Be strong in the Lord And the strength of his might translation not your strength or your might He was chapter 2 verses 14 and 15 says that Jesus Christ by his death rendered Satan powerless So he can that's why he can't beat you with power. He can only beat you with deception that looks like power It says that he is no longer in control You know there was this movie the exorcism of Emily Rose If you haven't seen that next time it comes on you need to watch that the exorcism of Emily Rose Emily Rose have a demon And Emily Rose can't get rid of this demon She calls the priest over to get rid of the demon the priest tries to get rid of the demon But the demon won't go anywhere A child is held against the priest is trying to do the exorcism They call in an expert on demons and exorcism to testify at the trial The lady sits on the stand and says that most certainly is a demon in Emily Rose There is a demon that won't go away And the priest did what he was supposed to do to get rid of the demon that's terrifying Emily Rose But the reason why the demon won't come out of Emily Rose Is that Emily Rose has been medicated with camatrol And camatrol does the thinking and the mind So that she's not thinking right So that the demon doesn't have to react to her thoughts Because her thoughts have been confused by the addition of the medication The medication is really locking the demon in What she has gone to on the human level has kept the demon functioning in her Because it's dulled her ability to react to the spiritual impulses That would remove the demon And since the spirit can't be gotten to Because of this intrusion of the medical It's caused the demon to be trapped inside of her What many of us have done is gone to man's way of thinking Introduced that way of thinking to us And wonder why the divine power is not working Because the human has trapped the demon in so that the divine can't free the person out We have introduced alien elements to the spiritual realm So that we're no longer strong in the Lord We're strong in the Lord mixture We want to mix the human end of the divine And hope that it all works out in the end At communion Jesus said in 1 Corinthians 11 he says Do this in remembrance of me and then he says our interesting phrase He says when you take communion and proclaim my death till I come Now the question is proclaim your death to who To the spiritual realm That's who Because the spiritual realm don't want to hear that Because now you're standing firm See when you bring up Jesus Christ to the spiritual realm When you bring up what he accomplished Satan you've been defeated And what you're doing to me has already been defeated You're telling me I gotta be on drugs That's been defeated you telling me I have to be a more that's been defeated you tell me I have to be a liar That's been defeated you tell me I have to be depressed day in day out year in day year out That's been defeated and so what you're telling me is a lie So let me proclaim to you what happened to you on the cross of Jesus Christ in case you forgot We don't proclaim his death Because we have relegated it to history Something that happened 2000 years ago. So we stopped standing firm on it We come up with new tricks of the trade new gadgets and gimmicks We trying to find something new we want to be entertained out of our problems We want to look at signs in the sky We want to find out what the horoscopes and all the time while we're singing Jesus is enough Introducing that which traps the demonic inside And keeps us from being free if you are tired of being trapped In that realm You got to stop using this realm to fix it The Bible says in Romans Satan is now under your feet He's supposed to be your hostage you not supposed to be his you say okay. Well, what do I do? What do I do? He tells you look at what he says He says verse 11 put on the full armor of God He says in verse 13 take up the full armor of God. This is sweet the armor of God or spiritual resources in other words dress for success What will happen when you get dressed for success? You will be able to handle anything Satan throws at you You'll be able to handle your tempera. You'll be able to handle your addictions and I'm not saying you won't be tempted I'm not saying you want to have problems. I'm not saying you want to have fears. I'm not saying you want to have frustrations I'm saying they won't have the last word They will no longer be the dictator. They will no longer be the ruler. They will no longer be the controller They will no longer be the the emperor of your life. They may show up But they will no longer have final say so but you got to dress for success now We're going to go over six things that six things there Notice the difference between the first set and the last set the first set all begin with the word having Stand firm verse 14 having girded your loins But the next three don't begin with half they begin with another verb notice it says take up the shield of faith Verse 17 take the helmet of salvation take the sword of the spirit he moves from half to take The first group says have what does have means is from the verb to be it means the state of being means the first three You wear all the time you don't take off like your wedding ring on you or ring you wear that you never take off He says those you never take off the last three you pick up as needed you take him you have to go get those three Okay, so whenever you need it need the last three you go get the last three But you don't take off the first three so we're going to understand how all six of those work as we go through this But here's the point I want to make to you now God gives the armor he doesn't put them on you He tells you to put on the full armor Don't say God dress me He will not dress you you. He will give you the attire to be dressed in. Okay? How does this work? In grace, God has supplied everything you need. Grace is all that God has already done. God can do nothing new for you. He can do nothing more for you. Because everything he's ever going to do 10 years from now, he's already done. So to even ask God to bless you, it's kind of a misnoma. Because if he's in one three, you have already been blessed with all spiritual blessings, but where they located in heavenly places. So let's get this straight. Everything God is ever going to give you. He's already provided it. It's called grace. What God has already provided. That's God's responsibility. What's your responsibility and my responsibility is faith. Faith is reaching back to grace and grabbing what grace has provided. Faith is reaching back to the spiritual so that it's made manifest in the physical. God won't do that for you. That's your response to what God has already done. So he says, I will in grace supply the armor. You must in faith put it on. If faith doesn't put on grace, won't be beneficial to you. Not because it's not available. It's because you didn't wear it. I could buy you something, pay for it. But if you don't put it on, it's of no use to you, even though it has been completely supplied. So we're asking God for stuff. He's already given. We're asking God to do stuff. He's already done. We've asking God to accomplish victories. He's already provided. But because faith hasn't grabbed it, we haven't gotten it yet. He says, you are going to have to put on the full armor. And when you get through these six pieces, not only when you understand what the armor is, you're going to understand how to strap it up and boot it up, put it on so that you can now walk out dress full success at least permanently dress them three pieces, but have three other pieces nearby in case you need to pick it up. And you did at a given moment. He says, you must put on the full armor of God. So what I'm trying to tell you, maybe it's something you've not known before or not known deeply before, your problems aren't in this realm. They just show up here. The root of your problems are all in the spiritual realm. So if you want to fix what's visible and physical, you've got to address what's invisible in spiritual. But here's what the good news is, when it gets addressed, you will know it's nothing but God. You remember that woman, she was sick for 18 years, but the reason she was sick was a demon. But when she stood firm on what Jesus says, it says immediately, she was healed immediately. That thing left her. Let me know when you know it's God, when you've been struggling with it for years, and immediately that thing changes. Immediately, those taste buds changes. Immediately, you can turn off that computer immediately. You can deal with that sin or that struggle or whatever it is. When you know that, because you know you're not an immediate kind of person, that's why I've been there for 25 years, because you're not an immediate kind of solver. But when God shows up and you find out that you only needed two or twelve step program, you know that that was a supernatural invasion of God. Dr. Tony Evans talking about how God's armor equips us to attack our problems at their real root. Part of his current message series, The Armor of God, a comprehensive look at how to avoid becoming a casualty of the spiritual war going on behind the scenes of your life. The complete set of full-length messages is available on CD, USB flash drive, or instantly downloadable digital files, and contains material we won't have time to bring you on the air. Remember, it's yours as a bonus when you visit TonyEvans.org, request his powerful book Victory and Spiritual Warfare, and make a contribution toward the Ministry of the Alternative. Again, that's TonyEvans.org or call our Resource Center at 1-800-832-22, our team members are available around the clock to help you. That's 1-800-800-3222. Jesus said the truth would set us free, but only one kind of truth can have that effect. And Dr. Evans will tell us about it next time. I hope you'll join us. [Music]