We are going to continue now on spiritual warfare. We looked at what spiritual warfare was not in the earlier lecture. We saw that it was not interaction or gleaning information from demons, 1 Timothy 4, 1 and 2. We saw it wasn't a miracle contest. Revelation 11 3 through 10 We saw that it was not in the list of spiritual gifts Nor is it in any of the list of callings the calling to spiritual warfare Then we looked at what spiritual warfare what is in fact a Spiritual warfare is the battle for the souls of men and women. 2 Timothy 2.24-26, Acts 26.18, Colossians 1.13. Satan would rather us play miracle games and contests and put on spectacles rather than having us engage in true spiritual warfare whereby people are saved and he loses people out of his kingdom. Spiritual warfare is also the battle for the word of God. Satan and Mark four, 13 through 15 and second Corinthians four, one through six, he is always attacking the word of God. Satan would be happy for us to engage in miracles and mysticism as long as we do not take up the sword of the spirit. and spiritual warfare is resisting him, standing firm in the faith. 1 Peter 2.11 Most men would rather engage in miracle contests than live a life of moral excellence. And Satan, rather than witnessing, mastering the Word of God, and maintaining a high standard of moral excellence, Satan would much rather us be preoccupied with miracle contests, with mysticism, and with spiritism. So, we are looking at what spiritual warfare is in terms of opposing Satan and his demons. That is where we are today. Ephesians 6, 10-13, 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 and resist the schemes of the devil. So when it says the schemes, what can we deduce from that? That there are schemes. When you talk about a scheme, that's a plan, isn't it? So I have to realize Satan has a plan for us. We may not be planning, but he is. Whether we are or not. We have to remember that our struggle isn't against flesh and blood. Man is not the enemy. It's against the spiritual forces of wickedness. That's Satan and the fallen angels, the demons. And so we take up the word of God so that we can resist in the evil day. So that means there will be an evil day. What people want is spiritual warfare. But when they think of spiritual warfare, they think of target practice. The difference between target practice and warfare is incoming rounds. You know, the kids go out. practice firing mortars, practice firing cannons, practice shooting guns, practice climbing walls. It's kind of exciting, but that's practice. Warfare is when you're doing those things, but the other side is doing the same thing. And so we have to realize that God expects us to stand firm in the evil day. not just to stand firm, but that there will be an evil day and God expects us in that evil day to stand firm. It's not hard to stand firm when things are going well. You don't have to stand firm. All you have to do is stand. If you're crossing a river and the river is dry, and you go out in the middle of the river all you have to do is stand nothing is going on but if it's the rainy season and the river is swollen and rushing then you have to stand firm otherwise you'll be swept away so we take the helmet of salvation the sword of the spirit and we pray at all times You see what that is? In Ephesians 6.17, we take the helmet of salvation, we take the sword of the Spirit. So, to engage in spiritual warfare, first thing is we have to be saved. Remember the seven sons of Sheva? The demon said, Paul we know, Jesus we know, but who are you? So first we have to be saved. Then we have to have the word of God. And then we add to the word of God, prayer. So we have the helmet of salvation, the sword of the spirit, and prayer. John 15-7, if you abide in me, that's salvation, my words abide in you, that's the Word of God, then ask whatever you will and it will be done for you. So, we see that again. We see salvation, the Word of God, and then we see prayer. So, the three primary aspects, the four primary aspects of spiritual warfare are first, the battle for the souls of men, salvation. Secondly, it is defending the word of God because Satan cannot keep people from being saved, he most certainly will seek to keep them out of the word. Then it is a moral excellence that we stand firm. And then lastly, it's engaging him through prayer. The word of God says, submit therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. So what is spiritual warfare? Well, one, and there's salvation. Preaching the Word, leading men to Christ. After that, next, it's the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. We are defending and using. Third, it is standing firm. Moral excellence. Then finally, prayer. This is how we resist Satan. so that's what we're going to look at today is resisting satan through prayer and uh... i've sent you a uh... prayer sheet by email and so uh... and uh... you you've received five attachments one of them is called uh... spiritual warfare prayer sheet guide and that's what is up on your screen now. Now God has made certain promises to all his children. God has made certain promises to all of his children. Let me get my romans sixteen twenty says and the god of peace will soon crush satan under your feet the grace of our lord jesus be with you all uh... mark lewis who is a missionary uh... to kenya and later to south africa and zimbabwe with the navigators shared this verse and uh... a prayer letter he sent me and really uh... struck a cord in my heart. So I added it to my spiritual warfare sheet. Then in my spiritual warfare sheet, I have these verses that we just walked through. First John 2, 1 and 2, my little children, I'm writing these things to you that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate, the father, with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous, and he himself is the propitiation for our sins. Not for ours only, but for those of the whole world. He is a propitiation. God, because of the sacrifice of Christ, God is totally satisfied. Then we see in Ephesians 6.17 that we take the helmet of salvation. and the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. And then in verse 18, with all prayer and petition, we pray at all times in the Spirit. Now, what does that mean of praying in the Spirit? It doesn't mean praying in tongues. Many people would say it means praying in tongues, but we know it doesn't. Praying in the Spirit is praying by the power of the Word of God. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 12 praying in the spirit is a universal command for all people in the church so Dr. Arnold if you would read 1st Corinthians 12 27 through 30 You are the body of Christ and individual members of him. And God has appointed these in the church. First apostles, second prophets, third teachers, next miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, various kinds of tongues. Yeah, how many tongues? Various kinds. Yeah, not one. So if tongues is an angelic language, we must assume that the angels all need the gift of tongues to understand each other. If tongues is the language of the Holy Spirit, then there wouldn't be various kinds of tongues. So these are human languages. Okay, keep reading. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all do miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in other tongues? Do all interpret? Yeah, those are rhetorical questions, aren't they? And of course the answer is no. Everybody's not an apostle, are they? No. But what else is not everybody? Everybody does not speak in tongues. So, praying the Spirit is a universal command to the Church, so it cannot be speaking in tongues, because speaking in tongues is limited to a specific gift. So if you want to, if you write in your Bibles next to Ephesians 6.18, you can write 1st Corinthians 12.30. So, how do we pray in the Spirit? Well, let's look at John 15.7. Notice up here what it says. If you abide in me, we have to be saved, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it will be done for you. So the Word of God, allowing our prayers to be shaped by the Word of God, is praying in the Spirit. Because all scriptures are inspired by God, aren't they? Look at 1 John 5. 1 John 5.14. 1 John 5 verse 14. This is the confidence we have before Him. If we ask anything according to His will, He answers. So we have confidence if we ask things according to His will. What is God's will? It's the word of God is his will. Now there are some things that you may feel are God's will, but if you really want to have confidence that something is God's will, then we have a Bible verse for it. So praying in the spirit is if you abide in me and my words abide in you, then we ask whatever we will and it will be done for us. if our prayers are guided by the Word of God. So, in my prayer time when I'm thinking about spiritual warfare, I want my prayer life to be guided by the Word of God. so i have each day of the week i have some victory passages and then i have some passages whereby i oppose the evil works of satan now the reason i do this the reason this is important for myself and for those in my ministry well first of all satan is scheming If we don't oppose him in prayer, then he just can run rampant, can't he? But the second reason is, is I am continually reminded week after week what those schemes are, because I'm praying against them. And so that helps me to stay alert, will help your wife to stay alert. So, on Monday, when I get to my prayer section, I claim these passages. Psalm 89, 22. The enemy will not deceive him, nor the son of wickedness afflict him. Romans 16, 20. And the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. 1 John 2, 1 and 2. that I claim my salvation, that I have an advocate, the Father, that Jesus is my propitiation, that God is on my side. So I claim that the power of the word of God's promises and of my salvation, and then I oppose Satan's evil works. The first work I oppose is John 8, 44. Would you like to read that? John 8, 44. You are of your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature because he is a liar and the father of lies. So I oppose Satan as murderer and liar in my life, in my family, in my ministry, in my church, in my country. And then I oppose Satan as the author of fear. Look at Hebrews chapter 2, 14 and 15. Now, since the children have flesh and blood in common, Jesus also shared in these. so that through his death he might destroy the one holding the power of death, that is the devil, and free those who were held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death. Yeah, so we can, we are protected from fear, we are freed from fear by our salvation, the helmet of salvation, and I claim that. I oppose the false fear that he would sow in my life, in my family, in my church. I oppose his destruction. Look at 1 Peter 5.8. He is sober-minded. The adversary of the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. Now remember, Satan's goal is not to keep you from having your daily quiet time. Satan's goal is not to keep you from praying and being in the Word. His goal is not to keep you from witnessing. His goal is not to ruin your marriage. His goal is not to create enmity in the family. Those are incremental steps. Satan's goal is to destroy you. So now you know. Any little compromise, he will just take what he can get. I saw a boy and a dog had grabbed this rope, and the boy was pulling against the rope. And every time he would go slack, the dog would move up the rope a little closer and a little closer. And then finally the boy just let go because the jaws were getting near his hands. Well, that's what Satan is. His goal is just not to grab a hold of that. It's to move closer and closer and closer until he can finally get you. I've seen pictures of snakes or alligators eating animals, and they have them, and the animal wiggles, but they keep moving up the animal. Their goal is just not to eat an ankle, a hoof. The goal is the whole wildebeest. Well, that's Satan, and we know that, so we know that we cannot compromise with sin. Let's look at Revelation 12, 9. So the great dragon was thrown out, the ancient serpent who is called the devil and satan, the one who deceives the whole world. He was thrown to earth and his angels with him. So Satan and a third of the angels came to earth and they deceive, don't they? They deceive people. That's how they get them. I saw a show on TV about a fish and the fish has an antenna that comes out of his forehead and at the end of the antenna is this little scaly ball and it wiggles that little scaly ball right in front of its face and when another fish comes thinking that is a small organism to eat then the fish grabs it and eats it And that's what Satan wants to get us to do. Look at Colossians 2 verse 8, please. Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elements of the world, rather Yeah, so Satan wants to use deceit. He wants to deceive us, doesn't he? Get us away from Jesus, get us away from the Word of God. And so we oppose him in this. We oppose those schemes in our lives, in our wife and children's lives, in our ministry. in our church and our country. So that's what I do on Monday. And it's not prayers of over and over, repetition, repetition, repetition. No, it's very focused prayer. See, that's very focused, isn't it? You abide in me, my word abides in you, and then you ask. Well, you are a Christian, you are abiding in Christ, this is the word of God, you are claiming these passages, and this is the word of God, you are opposing what you know Satan is doing. So that's Monday. So then Tuesday comes along, and I do it again. Matthew 16, 18. Would you take a look at that in your Bible, please? I'll get you to read that, please. Matthew 16, 18. I say also, and I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower me. Yeah, that's Hades or hell. Now, I've had many people say, what does this mean? Gates are defensive. Gates do not attack. So why does it say that? Well, let's take a look at Job chapter 1. Job 1, 14 and 15. Let me see, Job 1, 6 and 7. One day the sons of God came to present themselves before... Now, who are the sons of God? Angels? Well, they could be, but aren't you a child of God? Yeah. Well, how can there be sons of God when Jesus hasn't been crucified yet? How were people saved before Jesus came? By the law. Well, they were saved in believing the law was a picture of what Jesus would do. Because no one was able to keep the law. So we know that when Jesus was born there were people looking for the coming of the Messiah, weren't there? Look at Hebrews 11, 24 through 27. By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter and chose to suffer with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasure of sin. For he considered reproach for the sake of Christ to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt. The reproach that came to what? for the sake of Christ. So Moses knew about Jesus. Keep reading. Since he was looking ahead to the world, by faith, he left Egypt behind, not being afraid of the king's anger, for Moses persevered as one who sees him. who is invisible. Keep going. By faith he instituted the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood so that the destroyer of the firstborn might not touch the Israelites. Yeah, so Moses knew that the blood of the Passover looked to Christ. It was a symbol. Hebrews 9 explains that. Look at Jude chapter 1 verse 14 and 15. It was about this that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied. Look, the Lord comes with tens of thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly concerning the ungodly acts that they have done in an ungodly way. See, I'm sorry, keep reading. And concerning all the harsh things on God, these sinners have said against him. Yeah. So the Bible is not a record of everything that God has done. God has always had his prophets and those who would testify concerning his work. Now, we know that Moses was in heaven, don't we? And we know that Elijah was in heaven, don't we? How do we know that? Yeah, Matthew 17, verse 3. You're right. Through this passage, but also through Matthew 17, verse 3. He was transfigured in front of them, and his face shone like the sun. His clothes became as white as the light. Suddenly Moses and Elijah appeared to them." Ah! So there's Moses and Elijah coming out of heaven. So we know men and women were in heaven. So I think these sons of God were just that. they were the saints who died in faith believing that the Messiah would come and uh... and were saved by faith as Abraham was so now in Job 1.6 we went a little side jaunt there who else was in heaven in Job 1.6? something? yeah look at uh... second corinthians eleven fourteen no wonder satan disguises himself as an angel of light so here's satan he thinks he's kidding people doesn't he? He's been kicked out of heaven. Here are the sons of God appearing before the Lord, just as we hope to do. You know, it'd be nice, wouldn't it? A marriage feast of the Lamb, worshiping before the Lord. And here comes Satan, disguised as an angel of the light, as if he's going to trick anybody. So we know Satan can enter into heaven, can't he? Now, we also know that Satan could enter into the Garden of Eden, couldn't he? And when he deceived Adam, and Adam rebelled, what happened to Adam? Adam was banished? Yeah. That's right and I heard a preacher when I was a I was a brand-new Christian hadn't been a Christian a year and The preacher said well, we know Satan can count go into heaven. That's true We know Satan could go into the Garden of Eden. That's true We know Satan could trick Adam and Adam rebel and get kicked out. That's true So maybe who knows Satan will come into heaven while we're in heaven and trying to deceive us and kick us out. Do we have to worry about that? No, because of Revelation 20 verse 10. Read Revelation 20 verse 10. The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and so forth. where the beasts and the false prophets are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Is Satan in charge of hell? No. He's in hell, isn't he? For how long? Forever and ever. The gates are sealed, aren't they? No man or spirit entering may leave, can they? so we don't have to worry about the gates of hell opening and prevailing against us our salvation is eternally safe from satan and his demons he will not be allowed in the new heaven and the new earth so our salvation prevails against satan doesn't it? John 12, 30 through 33, Jesus answered and said, this voice has not come for my sake, but for your sake. Now judgment is upon the world and the ruler of this world shall be cast out. And if I be lifted up, I will draw all men to myself. So Satan will be banished in hell. He's not in heaven any longer. And we have the power of preaching the resurrected Christ to draw men into eternal salvation. John 16, 8-11, and when he comes he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment, concerning sin because they do not believe in me, concerning righteousness because I go to the Father and you no longer behold me, and concerning judgment because the rule of this world has been judged. And we can claim that. The war is over. Now, we talked last week about if we do not pray over and keep in the forefront of our vision, our spiritual understanding, victory over Satan, it will seem like he's winning. Because generation after generation, Christians die, don't they? We go to heaven. But it appears as if we're all dying out and Satan and the world system continues on, doesn't it? And it may seem as if he's winning. And that's why it's important for us to engage him in spiritual warfare, not only to protect us from our schemes, but also it helps remind us that it may look like he's winning, but he is not. We know his end. So we are going to oppose his evil works. Look, read Psalm 7 verse 2 for me please. Or they will tear me like a lion ripping me apart with no one to rescue me. Yeah, that's what Satan wants to do, isn't it? And we know in 2 Corinthians 11, 13-15 that he can impersonate spiritual events. And you've read in Hebrews 2, 14 and 15 that he can captivate through fear. So we oppose these things. On Tuesday, I pray against the rending of souls, the impersonation and work of the Holy Spirit, angels, and spiritual events, and captivating through prayer. I oppose them in my life, in the life of my family, my ministry, my church, and my nation. So if Satan is going to give me a headache, I'm going to give him a headache too. Every day he hears from me. It's good for me because it does have an impact on Satan. It's good for me because it reminds me of his schemes and helps me to be alert. See, Romans 8.37, Wednesday. In all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. Now also pray over Romans 8.38 and 39. And then I oppose these evil works. The first one is Mark 1, 13. And could you read that, please? Mark 1, 13? Mm-hmm. He was in the wilderness for two days, being tempted by Satan, He was with a wild animal and an angel was serving him. Yeah, so he was being tempted by Satan. Now read Mark 4 verse 3. Listen. Consider the story. No, Mark 4 verse 3. Matthew 4, verse 3. Pardon me. Yeah, you were in the right chapter. Mark 4, the parable of the sower. But this is Matthew 4, 3. I apologize. Then the tempter, of course, he must sin. Okay, so we know the tempter will seek to deceive us. Just like he deceived Eve. Look at 1 Thessalonians 3 verse 5. 1 Thessalonians 3 verse 5. For this reason, when I could no longer stand it, I also sent him to find out about your faith, fearing that the tempter had tempted you under a label might be for nothing. So that doesn't mean they lost their salvation. It just means they were drawn away from Jesus as the center, the Lord of their life. They were drawn away from the Word of God. They were deceived in the area of moral excellence, in the area of witnessing. standing firm against Satan, that they were led away. So we oppose this. Then on Thursday, Romans 16, 20, the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet, and so I oppose his evil works. Now in Job 1, 9-11, and 2, 4-7, there is a list of the things that he can do. Illness, physical loss, depression, discouragement. So I oppose him in my life, in the life of my wife and children, in my ministry, in my church. And I oppose him in the area of Revelation 12, verse 10. Why don't you read that, please? Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say, the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have now come. Because the accuser of our brothers and sisters who accuses them before our God day and night has been thrown down. Yeah, now Satan is still accusing us, isn't he? And he will continue to do that until God comes and judges him. And he and his demons in Revelation 20 verse 10 is thrown into the lake of fire. And we have to remember that. and the early apostles they considered it a privilege to suffer for the sake of the gospel look at Romans 8 verse 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. So Satan is going to accuse us and many times we may go through the trials of Job. We have to remember that the book of Job is not Christian fiction book for the sake of entertainment. But he's given to us, James 5 says, as an example. So Satan will be accusing us and his accusations, it will be a privilege if we are asked to suffer as an example, as Job does. What an honor for God to know that we can be taken through these trials. and not compromise. Well, let's go on. On Friday, I pray over a heap, oh excuse me, yes? What about Psalms 24 verse 7, the closing prayer of victory? Oh yes, I do this, I close out this prayer. Thank you, thank you for bringing, at each time. Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O gates, and lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is the King of glory? The Lord of hosts. He is the King of glory. And I close out this asking Christ, the King of glory, strong and mighty in battle, to reign supreme in my life, in my marriage, in my family, in my ministry. that he and I look to him as my protector as the king of glory who entered Jerusalem to be a sacrifice for my sins and also as the king of glory who will return in the air and rapture his saints and bring us in and to the new heaven the new earth and the new Jerusalem. So excellent question. Now you can choose any verses you want. So I will start you out with these because my heart responds to them. But if you find some that your heart responds to or that you feel are more applicable, substitute them and then email me. I'll probably want to add them to my list too. Excellent question. Now on Friday, we've already looked at Hebrews 2.12-16. Jesus Christ renders powerless him who had power over the death, that is the devil. He delivers those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. He doesn't give help to angels, he gives help to the descendant of Abraham, that's us. Therefore we can resist the devil and he will flee from us. So we oppose these evil works. Luke 4 verse 5 through 8. Take a look at that, Dr. Arnold. So he took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world. In a moment of time, the devil said to him, I will give you the esplendor and all this authority because it has been given over to me. And I can give it to anyone I want. If you then... Go ahead. If you then will worship me Now, who is speaking to Christ? Now, first thing we have to decide, He is a liar, isn't He? Maybe He does not have this to offer. So the first thing we have to do is we have to go to God the Holy Spirit through the Word of God and find out if Satan can make good on his offer. Look at 1st John 5, 19. We know that we are of God. Now that's something we can know, can't we? Remember at the beginning of 1 John 5, these things I have written you that you might know you have eternal life. We can know we're of God. There's no doubt. But we know something else too. What? And we know that the Son of God... No, no, no. First John 5, 19. Go ahead, you can start from the beginning. We know that we are of God and the whole world is under the sway of the evil one. So Satan is in control of this world, isn't he? And you can see that from what he does in Job 1 and 2. In fact, I sent you an attachment on Satan's abilities to impersonate the works of God. But one of the things Satan can do is use worldly cares to distract us. Look at Mark 4 and 19. But the worries of this age, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the world and it becomes unfruitful. Yeah, so that's what Satan wants to do. If he can distract you by worldly success, he will do it. If that will work better than person... and I know people who has impoverished college students were very zealous for the Lord. But as they became more and more prosperous, their hearts cooled more and more. Now that wasn't because prosperity cooled their heart. It was because of the love of prosperity was cooling their heart. In fact, I have in my prayer notebook next to this verse that the Lord would never allow me to love anything He has destined for destruction. Now the word of God is not destined for destruction, and the souls of men are not destined for destruction, but pretty much everything else. My wife is not destined for destruction, my children are not, but all my possessions. So I oppose this. Where it says tempting to worldliness, I have in parentheses, Lord, help me not to love anything you have destined for destruction. Now, it doesn't mean I can't enjoy it. It just means I cannot fix my heart upon it. How about 2 Corinthians 4.4? Yeah, so one of the things I do is I pray against Satan's ability to blind non-believers spiritually when I'm witnessing. Now read Mark 4, 14 and 15. So I saw the word. So I like the word. sown on the path. When the year immediately, Satan comes and takes away the Word sown in them." So what this is, is they are not blind to the Word, these Christians, they are just distracted by other things. The passage goes on to say they are either distracted in verse 17 by difficulties or in verse 19 by material blessings. Not all difficulties are from Satan, not all blessings are from God the Holy Spirit and we need to remember that. How about Ephesians 6.11, can you read that please? put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the schemes of the devil. Now, see that word scheme? Keep your finger there and look at 2 Corinthians 2.11. If you write in your Bible, I circled that word scheme and wrote 2 Corinthians 2.11 next to it. so that we may not be taken advantage of by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes. Now, one of the ways you will not be ignorant of his schemes is by opposing him. You see, what praying over these passages does is two things. One is, James 4-7, oppose the devil and he will flee from you. But the other thing is it keeps his schemes in the forefront. Every week you are going to pray through all his schemes and you will learn to recognize them. See 1 John 3.8, the Son of God appeared for this purpose to destroy the works of the devil. I claim that. And then I oppose these evil works. Well, first is Ephesians 6, 12 and 13, waging war on the people of God. The second is Ephesians 6, 16, hurling flaming missiles. But the other is idolatry. And look at Colossians 3, 5. Now we know in 1 John 5.19 the whole world lies under his power, doesn't it? But what does Colossians 3.5 say he can use that for? Therefore put to death what belongs to your earthly nature, sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire and greed which is adored. Yeah, so Satan knows that if he can't get us to pray to a statue of Mary, if he can't get us to go into a Hindu temple, if he can't get us to keep a piece of wood or rock from the village in our home to pray to, well, he can get us to worship our possessions. And then on Sunday, one of the passages I pray is 2 Corinthians 3.3, but the Lord is faithful and will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one. I pray that for myself, for my wife, for my children. I pray it for my ministry. Well, Daniel 10, 12, and 13, his interference with spiritual messengers. Mark 4, 14, and 15, we've already looked at that, snatching away the sown Word of God. 1 John 5, 19, opposition via his power over the world. And I pray against these things every week. Now, these are all of the ministries, you might call them, of Satan that I could find in scripture. I'm always open to more, so if you come across one that's not in this list, just email me. We'll add it. But remember, we're doing three things. The first thing we are is opposing Satan. We're opposing Satan. The second thing we are is we are protecting our ministry. That would be our wives, our children, our ministry, and even ourselves. Then the third thing we are doing, it is reminding us weekly of his schemes so that we will be aware of them. We'll close with Luke 18 verse 1. Now he told them a parable on the need for them to pray always and not give up. So that's what we need to be doing. Because it seems like we're losing. All the great saints are dead, aren't they? And even today, saints are being martyred, they're getting sick and dying, they're dying by violence, they're dying by disease, they're dying by old age. And we realize our own frailty, don't we? I look at myself, and this Zoom study, I used to look young like you, but my body is wasting away. I'm going to die too. There will come a time when either my mind will not be sharp enough to teach, or my eyes, or my hearing, or my voice, or I will simply die. It will come to an end. So it seems like we are losing, but we're not. Because God who knows the end from the beginning has given us the end. We have to remember Satan is not man. He is a created spirit by God. So he's not going to die, but he is going to end up in hell. And so until then, we fight him. Sometimes he knocks us down. Sometimes we knock him down. Eventually we die. He thinks he's winning. But we go to heaven and he's going to hell. So he's not. So that's why we have to remain firm. God tells us we need to pray. Don't become discouraged. Stay persistent in prayer. And this is one of the ways. Now, you do not have time in your schedule to be a good student, a good husband, a good father, and spend two or three hours every day in spiritual warfare, do you? You just don't have time. And that's why this is broken down into increments. These prayers should just take you a few minutes to pray over them. So you can just add this sheet to your daily quiet time, have your quiet time, oppose Satan, and then get on with your day. But remember, we're looking at big picture. So, you know, you're not going to be able to spend two or three hours in prayer every day, and two or three hours in Bible study, and an hour in scripture memory and review, and then go out witnessing door-to-door for an hour and an hour and a half, and then get together in fellowship after the evangelism time for an hour and an hour and a half, and fulfill your responsibilities. Your responsibility to be a good student, to be a good husband, and to be a good father. So you can do something, but you can't function now in your life. And you never will be able to function as if you're a full-time Christian minister. You'll be able to function as if you are a full-time ministering ophthalmologist. And that's what God's will is for. So don't be discouraged. Pray and press on. I'm very proud of you. You're doing a good job. And don't burn out. One of the slices of your pie needs to be sleep. God gives sleep to his beloved. Sleep is not an option. The Christian resting is the will of God. So when you divide up your day, one of the things you have to include, you have your school, schooling, you have your marriage, you have your family, you have the need for sleep, and then one of the slices of the pie can be the word and prayer and witnessing and fellowship. But it can't be all the slices because of your responsibilities. And the people who would have you make that all your slices so that you fail in your education and your health fails. Won't be there to pick up the pieces. They'll have moved on. So don't be deceived by Satan. You know, Satan's the accuser. When you're going to school, what does he say? Whisper in your ear, you should be witnessing. When you're witnessing, He whispers in the air. You should be spending time with your wife. When you're spending time with your wife, He whispers. You should be praying. When you're praying, He witnesses. You should be spending time with your children. When you spend time with your children, He whispers. You should be in the Word of God. When you're in the Word of God, He whispers. You're ruining your health. You should be asleep. You try to get to sleep and he whispers, why aren't you witnessing? See? So you can't listen to those things. That's his scheme, but you have your scheme. Just fulfill your responsibilities and don't worry about pleasing men or pleasing or responding to the accusations of Satan. Okay? You'll do great. And in March, if by March you haven't received your Bible, then on March 1, I'll go online and we'll purchase those things by e-books. May God add His blessing to His Holy Word. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.