So Much More: Moving Beyond Kingdom Principles to Kingdom Power (22 page)

Don’t be fooled into thinking you don’t have to show up and armor up. Paul said the devil has schemes to try to stop you from effectively advancing the kingdom of God and you need to be aware of them. Satan hates your guts. He knows the war is over and he can’t defeat you; but he will try to do the next best thing, which is to get you to live like you are defeated. “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Pet. 5:8).

There are demons that have been assigned to attack your marriage, your kids, your finances, and your health. Anywhere that the blessing of God can touch your life, the enemy is going after that place to try to rob you of that blessing. When was the last time you considered that the opposition you are facing in your life may have satanic roots?

I’m not a guy who believes there is a demon behind every bush. It’s not like I get a flat tire and think there must be a flat-tire demon out to get me; or if I burn my steak on the grill, I think that stupid barbeque demon got me; or if I get fired it must be a bad boss demon out to get me. Maybe or maybe not. Maybe the reason for getting fired was just being lazy and not doing the job. Just a thought. But make no mistake about it, Satan and his demonic armies are on the prowl like a roaring lion seeking to devour you.

Peter wrote that the devil prowls around like a roaring lion. He doesn’t say he
is
a roaring lion. He tries to imitate and intimidate, but his bark is much worse than his bite. He is
like
a roaring lion. But our King Jesus is not
like
a roaring lion, He
is
a roaring lion. He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah; and when we stand in His strength and His power and say no to the enemy in Jesus’ name, we will be exercising that power and authority that is ours and we will live in the victory that has already been secured.

As warriors in this clash of kingdoms, it is important for us to realize who our enemy is. Our enemy is not our spouse, boss, drug dealers, porn distributors, Islam, Washington DC, or Hollywood, “for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Eph. 6:12). Our enemy is Satan and his demonic forces. We must stand up and recognize with whom our real fight exists. Jesus recognized who His enemy was. He said He came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). He went after things like sickness, disease, poverty, demonic oppression—the works of the enemy. Recognizing who the real enemy is and keeping after him is a full time job, and we won’t have time to fight against others in our lives who aren’t the real enemy to begin with!

We must also armor up. Paul goes on, “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist” (Eph. 6:13–14a). In the Roman culture the belt held the soldier’s entire armor together. Every other piece of the armor was hooked to the belt. Paul said our belt is called truth. Everything else is hooked to this belt of truth. This is the first piece of armor that must be in place in our lives because Satan’s number one tactic is lying. He is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44). When he lies, he speaks his native language. English is my native language, but lying is Satan’s native language. He started by lying to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and he hasn’t stopped ever since.

If we are going to live in the victory that Jesus has already secured for us, we must know and live in the truth. A lie doesn’t have to be true to destroy us. It only has to be believed. If my wife believes I am having an affair, even if I’m not, it could destroy our marriage. Does it have to be true to destroy our marriage? No. It only has to be believed.

Satan will lie to us all the time. He will try to tell us, we are always going to be poor, or we are always going to be sick, or we are never going to amount to much. He will tell us God doesn’t really love us because we are nothing more than a no-good, dirty, rotten, sinner. He will lie to keep us locked up in chains.

If we don’t know the truth, we will be completely susceptible to his lies. So how do you stand in victory against his lies? You remove the lie and insert the truth. You choose to believe what God says about you whether you see it in that moment or not. We must settle in our hearts that God’s Word is always true and we believe Him whether we see it at the moment or not. This is what the Bible refers to as walking by faith and not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7).

Paul instructs us in 2 Corinthians 10:5: “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” A big part of the battle we face is between our ears. We must believe the truth.

Paul mentions another part of our armor: “With the breastplate of righteousness in place” (Eph. 6:14). For the Roman soldier the breastplate was a critical piece of armor because it protected the heart and lungs. I would say that’s pretty important. Our breastplate is righteousness. You may think you are not very righteous so how can you wear the breastplate of righteousness? In fact, the Bible says there is no one righteous (Rom. 3:10); but 2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us, “God made him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” The righteousness we wear is not our own. It is what theologians call imputed righteousness. It is amazing and it works like this: the moment that we trust Jesus as our Savior, all of our unrighteousness is placed upon Him and His death on the cross pays for 100 percent of it. In exchange Jesus then takes His righteousness and places it on us. We become the righteousness of Christ.

Satan will come after you and attack you with his weapons, things like guilt and shame, to keep you locked up and ineffective in the kingdom. Let me challenge you; the next time the enemy tries to do that, tell him, “I never said I was perfect but I am righteous because of Jesus. And, by the way, I memorized Romans 8:1 which tells me, ‘Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.’” If we can just learn the truth that in Christ we are righteous, it will transform our lives. We will start to see ourselves as God sees us. He sees us as righteous as He sees Jesus. We are able to approach the throne of grace with confidence and ask our Daddy to give us whatever we need because we are righteous in His sight. Don’t miss this. We are not as good as our last day, our last decision, or our last sin. We are good as God says we are. In Christ we are righteous.

No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the L
ORD
,
And their righteousness is from Me
,” says the L
ORD
.

—I
SAIAH
54:17,
NKJV
,
EMPHASIS ADDED

We must also have our “feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace” (Eph. 6:15). The Roman soldiers wore sandals that were strapped up to the knee and tightly fastened to their legs. The soles had nails protruding, much like modern day athletic cleats, to offer good footing. As soldiers in the kingdom we are not called to just stand and fight, we are called to advance the kingdom; and that means we must stand on good footing. The gospel, which means good news, is that good footing on which we stand. Most of the time when we think of the gospel, we think of the message of salvation. But that’s an incomplete gospel message. The gospel message Jesus declared by His words and demonstrated by His works was not the gospel of salvation. It was the gospel or the good news of the kingdom, that the rule and reign of God has invaded this earth to put an end to Satan’s rule and reign on the earth. As we advance the kingdom, we do so in the same way Jesus did. We are to declare the message of the kingdom and demonstrate the ministry of the kingdom.

“In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one” (Eph. 6:16). Back in Paul’s day, a common tactic in battle was to take an arrow, dip it in pitch, light it on fire, and shoot it at the enemy. If the arrow reached its intended target, the pain from the arrow penetrating the body and the fire burning the flesh would be intense. It would not only rip flesh on its way in, but because of the intense pain it would also cause the soldier to rip the arrow back out as fast as he could causing even more damage.

A well-placed shield could offset this enemy attack. Paul says our enemy will use not just arrows, but flaming arrows, which are designed to penetrate deep and cause us great pain. His flaming arrows are the lies and the accusations that he makes against us. He whispers in our ears things like, “You are not really loved. You are not really forgiven. You are not doing enough to earn your Father’s approval. You are not giving enough.” These lies are designed to bog us down with guilt.

If you ever feel accused and guilty over sin in your life, it is not from the Holy Spirit. It’s from the enemy. The Holy Spirit will convict us to bring us to a point of repentance and restoration, which always brings freedom. The enemy will accuse us with fiery darts designed to inflict pain and keep us living in shame. To offset this we need the shield of faith. Faith is believing the Word of God and acting on it no matter how you feel.

“Take the helmet of salvation” (Eph. 6:17a). Obviously you can’t live without your head. Goliath is the poster boy for this. Don’t go to battle without your helmet on or a little boy might hit you in the head with a rock and then cut your head off! None of the rest of the armor will help at all if the helmet is not in place. If we don’t have salvation, we are walking around with our head exposed and we are as good as dead.

“And the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph. 6:17b). This Greek word translated “word” in this passage is the word
rhema.
This is not the written Word of God. That would be the word
logos
. Rhema is the spoken word of God. This is not the Word of God on your shelf, it is not carrying the Bible in your hands, or it is not even memorizing the Word of God and simply hiding it in your heart. This is the word of God on your lips, spoken out loud. Why is this so important? Because Satan is not God, he is not omniscient. He doesn’t know what we think or feel or believe in our heart. He knows what he hears; and when we declare the word of God in the name of Jesus, we will watch the enemy flee.

Notice there is no piece of armor for our back. I think that is for two reasons. The first is warriors don’t turn and run. The victory is already ours so we must engage in the fight.

The second reason is that we are called to fight together. We must have each other’s backs. The following is an old poem that I revised as a motto for our men’s group at our church. The original author is unknown.

I A
M A
W
ARRIOR

I am a Warrior. I have Holy Spirit power inside of me—the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I am engaged in the battle.

I am a Warrior. I won’t look back, let up, slow down, run away, or be still. I won’t let the enemy ravage my marriage, my children, my finances, my health, my thoughts, or any other area of my life.

I am a Warrior. My past is redeemed, my present is powerful, and my future is secure. I am done with defeated living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tame visions, mundane talking, chintzy giving, and dwarfed goals. I don’t have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by power, walk by faith, love by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by His might. My pace is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my companions few, my Guide is reliable, and my mission is clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, deterred, lured away, turned back, diluted, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of the attack, meander in the maze of mediocrity, hesitate in the presence of adversity, or negotiate at the table of the enemy. I won’t give up, back up, let up, or shut up because I’m paid up, prayed up, armored up, and linked up with my fellow warrior to advance the cause of Christ.

I am a Warrior. I will fight until He returns, give it all until I drop, preach until all know, and never ever give up because I know I fight
from
victory, not
for
victory.

Chapter 11
KINGDOM AMBASSADORS

E
VERY COUNTRY IN
the world has ambassadors that represent their government in foreign lands. The United States has ambassadors in virtually every nation on earth. These ambassadors live and conduct their business in embassies. Ambassadors play an essential role by representing our nation’s interests in a foreign land.