I'd like to have you turn to Ephesians chapter 6 and beginning with verse 10. Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 10. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness, wicked spirits in high places. wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, of the evil one," it's singular, and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. victory in the warfare with Satan. When a person receives salvation, that salvation involves redemption out of Satan's kingdom. The whole world lies in the evil one. In a way that is beyond our comprehension, It seems that this world lies in Satan's grasp. You will remember when he tempted the Lord Jesus Christ, he offered him for his worship, that is, if Jesus would worship Satan, he offered him the kingdoms of the world. And the Lord never contested it. The Lord Jesus never said, they're not yours, this is not for you to give. clear evidence that the kingdoms of the world somehow are in Satan's grasp. The whole world system is in his hold. We're told in Ephesians the second chapter, before a person is saved he's under the dominion of the prince of the powers of the air that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Salvation involves deliverance out of the hold of Satan and over into the hands of God. But the amazing fact, and this continues to be, I tell you every day I'm just utterly amazed at it, that when we're saved out of Satan's grasp we're still left in his territory. We're still in enemy territory. And we are still subjected to the warfare that enemy is after us. The word of God says it in unmistakable language. The warning is given to us in 1 Peter 5 and 8 that we are to be sober, we are to be vigilant, for there is our adversary who goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. He wants to overwhelm us. He doesn't want a person to get saved in the first place. But after one gets saved, there is a special enmity of Satan after him. And it's an impossible battle. It's more than we can handle. Because Satan is a being who has power and wisdom next only to that of God. He has under him huge forces. We don't have a chance in our own selves. But God has provided for us limitless resources in the Lord Jesus Christ. However, it becomes the responsibility of the child of God to make use of his resources, to appropriate those resources to himself. And that's what we find here in this portion of Scripture. And I believe that we can find here three exercises that are necessary if we're going to have victory in the warfare with Satan. The first exercise that is necessary is to recognize the enemy. Recognize the enemy and recognize his work. Notice what it tells of him. Well notice in the first place, here in verse 11, what it says we are to have, excuse me, in verse 10, my brethren be strong. in the Lord, and in the strength of his might. Have you ever said, I'm just a poor, weak Christian? Shame on you if you have. That is sin. If you are a poor, weak Christian, that is sinful. It's all right if you're willing to acknowledge the weakness that you have in yourself. You aren't supposed to have, and the spirits will strengthen yourself. But this word of God says you're supposed to be strong in the Lord. And I believe that this is the point of attack of Satan. The reason that we have so many poor, weak Christians is that Satan has been able to come in and do a damaging blow in the life of the child of God, so that he has not appropriated his resources in Christ. And we've got a bunch of weaklings around. And as I've been saying, I've mentioned sometimes in the daytime meeting, I believe that that attack of his has been particularly directed against the men. I mean it I believe that Christian men are particularly subject to the attack of Satan that devastates them. How many Christian men do you know who are Bible teachers compared to the women? How many Christian men do you know who are strong witnesses for the Lord Jesus Christ compared to the women? Well maybe it's different in Atlanta, but a lot of places that I have been It's the women who are volunteering for the work. It's women who volunteer for our work of setting the captives free. The men are dragging their feet. We see it in homes many times. This is one of the questions that comes up, you know, people ask me. I had a question handed to me at Peoria two weeks ago. Somebody asked, do demons like women better than men? He said, I noticed that you seem to be talking more about women being afflicted by demons. And of course, the answer is there are more women who come to us for help than there are men. But there are different reasons for that. Women are deceived more easily. Women tend to be more over in the spiritual realm than men do. But I'll tell you, men don't need to be proud about it. For one thing, one of the reasons is that men just aren't willing to own up to what's matter with them a lot of times. But in homes where women are having problems, It very often is the case that it's because the man isn't taking the place of spiritual strength and leadership that he is supposed to be taking. Sure, a woman having problems. I could tell you of different ones where women are... I think of one case. I think of Linda. That dear girl has had problems since she was a child. By the time she was 19, she had been married and divorced and remarried. It was about that time that she received the Lord Jesus. She had had to quit high school because of her problems. After she received the Lord Jesus Christ as her Savior, after a few months or so, she began to go downhill, became very, very worldly. She became so worldly that you couldn't find a more worldly person. You could go to nightclubs or anywhere and you wouldn't be able to find a more worldly looking person than Linda was. And she hated herself for it. She couldn't stay home nights. She always had to be going, visiting nightclubs and the worst kind of movies and everywhere, constantly on the go. It was turned up a while back that she had demons. When the demons began to be gotten out of her, all of the immoral ones and all of the worldly ones, Linda has leveled out. She's one of the sweetest, finest, most dedicated people. She's one of our Sunday school teachers, just a wonderful joy to us. But her husband, through all of it, he proudly has looked down his nose at her because he hasn't had any of the problems that Linda has had. But the dear man is absolutely worthless spiritually. He does not lead his family in devotions. He is one who is an example of Satan having struck a blow and made the man powerless. And one of the reasons, I believe, for Linda's problem that it took quite a long time for Linda to come out into the clear, is that her husband just has not furnished any spiritual strength for her. I want to tell again the story, because I had wanted to tell it and it doesn't fit in here, but I want to say it anyway, being I got started on this. I want to repeat what I told one day about the chiropractor in Wisconsin who telephoned me and made an appointment back in December for him and his wife to come and spend some time with us because of problems that they were having. They were going to close up their office and spend some time to get cleared up what they realized was demonic working in their lives. When we talked on the phone and prayed together and claimed victory, He later called me to cancel the appointment. He said I went from the phone that night and I decided that it was time I was taking the spiritual leadership in my family. I decided that the reason my wife was having trouble was that I wasn't being the man in the Lord that I ought to be. He said I went directly to her and prayed with her. In her asthmatic condition, he said, I took hold, I claimed my place as the head of the household, and I began to pray and I commanded the powers of darkness to release my wife. He said she was released from her problems. She turned over and went to sleep and slept well all night long. And he says, since that time, I have been taking leadership in my family. He says, we're not going to have to come. And he went on to say, he wrote me a letter about it. He said, I am convinced that the great problem in Christian homes, is the fact that the men are not taking the place of leadership. And I believe that we have it right here. The men are not being strong in the Lord, that's what. I ask you men, will you take it? In all kindness and love as I say it, I plead with you, the Lord's work is done by men. I mean, I'm not saying that women shouldn't do the Lord's work because they do a great deal, but you read the New Testament. It was twelve apostles, the men. It's men who are to take the place of leadership. Women have a place to fill. But I believe that the devil has struck the most devastating blow of all against men. And it's time that men rise up and claim their resources in the Lord Jesus Christ and become men in the Lord. Will you notice? You need to recognize your enemy. That's one of the exercises here. Notice what it tells of him in verse 11, the wiles of the devil, it says, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Can you recognize the wiles of the devil? I don't have time to talk about them. The wiles of Satan that trick the believer. Tricks that keep you from reading the word of God. Tricks that keep you from praying. Tricks that will lead you up some blind alley. There are so many different tricks that a person, a child of God needs constantly to be carrying on the warfare and testing what comes to him. Do you know even in the matter of tears, a man came to me one time, it's quite a few years ago. He said, I'm having a problem. Whenever I try to pray, I start crying. He says, it's real embarrassing. I never can pray in public and it hinders my private praying. Every time that I try to pray, he said, the tears come and I just get the blubbering away and I get stopped. And I've talked to people about it and they say, well, that's just wonderful because there is too much dry eyed praying. But he said, it keeps me from praying. He said, I can't pray publicly. But people say, well, it must be of God. Well, I said, test it out. This is what you ought to do with everything. James 4, 7. Submit yourselves to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. I told him, put your tears to the test. Go to God, and when the tears begin to come, you tell God, all right, Lord, if this is of you, you pour it on. Keep them coming. I want it. If it's from you, whatever's coming from the cross, I accept it. But if these tears and if this crying is something that the devil is putting on me to hinder my praying, I resist it, I reject it, I refuse it. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. The man came back to me. A couple of weeks later, he says, praise the Lord, the fears are all gone. I'm having a great time praying. He came and visited one time. He moved away from there and he came and visited us two years ago and we moved away from there. He came to the farewell service and got up and gave a testimony that praised the Lord for the last 10 years. I've had glorious freedom in my praying because I've gotten free from the tears that the devil was giving to me. Wiles of Satan that tricked the believer, send disturbances into your home, even cause children to get disturbed and cause noise when you ought to be praying. A child of God should be carrying on the warfare all the time. Learn to recognize the tricks of Satan. He's on the prowl to keep you from the Word of God and keep you from prayer, keep you from functioning, being what you ought to be as a child of God. Learn to recognize the wild. And then be aware of the fact, what it shows in verse 12. We're up against untold opposition. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood. Our problem isn't with human beings. There are forces around us. Do you believe the Bible? This word of God says that we have lined up against us. Christians have lined up against us. Principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world, wicked spirits in high places. We're surrounded by them. Huge forces of them. And they're leveled in a malevolent attack against all of our God's people. No wonder there's trouble in churches. No wonder Christians are having problems. Because here is all, all of these forces line up against us and people are sitting around twiddling their thumbs and don't know anything about the devil, doing nothing about it at all. And he's pounding away at us. We need to recognize the enemy and recognize the darts of Satan. Verse 16, it tells us about the shield of faith to quench the fiery darts of the evil one. These burning arrows being shot at us, darts, doubts, doubts of God's word, doubts about the goodness of God. Burning arrows being shot at us and people aren't knowing how to use the shield of faith to quench the dark Christians being wounded I've talked I've mentioned different times about Carmen that's in our home and I plead with you again. Will you pray for Carmen? She's a wounded fawn The darks of the enemy have been able to penetrate that life this lovely 24 year old girl with a brilliant mind and straight A average through high school, a cheerleader in high school, a leader, has been utterly incapacitated, addicted to vodka, has tried many times to kill herself, and just completely wounded. She has led many souls to the Lord before the wounding began. People need help. Christians need to recognize the enemy that we're up against. And then, that's the first exercise. The second one, appropriate your resources. Appropriate your resources and notice what they are. It says you're supposed to put on the whole armor of God. Have you done it? Notice the parts of the armor. You are supposed to put them on. Some of my dear people, and I'll tell you I love my... I have the privilege of ministering to the best people in the world. I know the funny thing is they love me too. We just have a wonderful relationship. But some of my people, they put on the armor of God every morning. Every morning when they get up, this is a spiritual exercise that they choose to have their loins girt about with truth and piece by piece they put it on. You know what I tell them? I say, I never take it off. I never take it off. I sleep with my armor on. I don't want ever to be found with one single piece of that armor missing. But do you know what the armor is? Having the loins girt about with truth. That means applying to yourself. all the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything that is here, just take it and apply it to yourself. Launch out a step out on up that you're united with the Lord Jesus Christ. You're dead to sin, you're alive to God. The condemnation is all gone, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son cleanses from all sin. You're free because the Son has made you free. Praise the Lord. Apply to yourself the truth that there in the Lord Jesus, but there's something more about that. With your loin skirt about with truth, it means don't you allow for any lie in your life. Don't you allow for lies. And claim it of the Lord. Truth in the inward parts. Don't have one single thing ever to do with a lie. And always be seeking for the truth. Seek the truth from God. Seek the truth about yourself. Seek the truth about God. Seek the truth about other people. Only the truth. It's the lies about oneself that trip more people up than anything else, I think. Or it lies about God. People think of God as some real harsh... You know, when I was under the cloud, God was... Oh, he had such a gloomy face to me. And it was almost to me like God was up there with a club over me, you know. And then when he brought me out from under the cloud and out into the sunshine, it's been wonderful to see the sunshine of his smile. I love to live under an open sky, day by day, to be under the sunshine of the love of God. Have you learned to know him like that? A loving Heavenly Father, gracious and merciful, he loves you better than any earthly father could ever love you. Know the truth about him, as he is seen in the Lord Jesus, and apply that to your own life, but be sure you know the truth about your own self too. Don't you go discrediting yourself when you shouldn't. Don't blame yourself when you're not wrong. And as far as sins are concerned, sure, confess them to God and then be done with it. Don't go blaming yourself for it. Don't condemn yourself. God doesn't condemn you if you're in the Lord Jesus. But the truth, have the truth about everything. Then have the breastplate of righteousness. This is practical righteousness. This is practical holiness. Every Christian has the righteousness of standing, righteousness of standing before God. This is talking about righteousness of walk, a holy life, right down here on earth. And do you know what it means? It means counting on your union with Christ so that you reckon yourself dead to sin, so that you walk by the Spirit and don't fulfill the lusts of the flesh. It means what Paul says in Acts 24, 16, Herein do I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense toward God and toward men. It means that you never allow for any known sin in your life. Never. Well, you say, how in the world is that possible? Well, the Lord has provided for it. First John 1, 9. It doesn't say you're going to be perfect, but if you sin, if sin is committed, confess it right away to God. Confess your sin to God and then forget about it. Quit puddling in it. Walk in the freedom and the forgiveness that the Lord has given you. Walk in a life of holiness, the breastplate of righteousness. It's a wonderful place to be, but then having your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, this is what you walk in. The gospel of peace prepares for you peace. You should claim that place in the Lord Jesus that you have the peace that passes all understanding. And you walk in it. And whenever there comes something to disturb that peace a little bit, you're being reminded that there's something wrong here and you need to check that. You know, peace is to be the umpire in your heart. Let the peace of Christ rule in your heart. It says in Colossians, the third chapter, that's call the signals. Arbitrate. Let the peace of Christ show you when you're out of line in some way. Walk in peace. I suppose it involves also that that of how beautiful on the mountains are the feet of them that proclaim good tidings. As you go walking in peace that you give out the message of peace to others that know the Lord Jesus that they should through the Lord Jesus Christ know peace with God. But you should have on the sandals of peace and then it speaks of the shield of faith. Take up the shield of faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, of the evil one. Here is the part of the armor that you're supposed to maneuver. You exercise this, the shield of faith here. You're to see the darts of Satan coming and you put the shield of faith out there and you catch him and you put him out. That means that your faith is to be exercised. You shouldn't just sit around. Doubt hits you, you know, and you should, oh boy, I don't know, I can't understand this. No, raise up against it. When a doubt comes to you, I choose to believe the word of God. The devil will come to you, you go through a hard time, time of testing and trial and the devil will come to you and say, see there, God hates you, God's mean to you. You dedicate your life to the Lord and try to serve him and things go wrong and the devil says, look at it, it doesn't work. It doesn't work at all. God is a mean God and you come right back, Romans 8, 28, it is written, all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are called according to his purpose. You choose to believe God. Don't you believe the lies that the devil throws at you. But you've got to exercise your faith. It says you exercise it. Use that shield of faith. You exercise the faith to believe the word of God. And the fire, the burning arrows of the devil will be put out. But further, appropriate your resources, the helmet of salvation. This is basically assurance of salvation. Don't ever let something get in there and make you think, make you wonder whether or not you're saved. rest in the finished work of the Lord Jesus. It includes more than this. It includes what I talked about this afternoon of the healing of the mind. You need the full victory of the cross for the mind. Claim the helmet of salvation for yourself. And then the sword of the spirit, it tells us. Take the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Do you know how effectively to use this Bible? Otherwise, if you don't, you can't stand against the devil. Remember the Lord Jesus used the sword, the devil came to him, even quoting scripture, and he'll come to you quoting scripture, but the Lord Jesus came right back. It is written. And finally could say, get thee hence, Satan. That's what you're supposed to be doing. I believe there is in the Bible the answer to every attack Satan will ever bring against you. Let me share with you one experience that I had one time. I was called upon, it's a number of years ago now, to conduct two series of meetings at the same time, back in Minneapolis and in St. Paul. I was having a series of meetings in a church in Minneapolis and at the same time having a deeper life conference at Bethel College and Seminary in St. Paul. I spoke at the church every night at about, oh, 8.15 or something like that, 8.30. Every day I spoke at the college at 10 o'clock in the morning. and at seven o'clock at night. I'd start out of the church on Sunday, I had my first service at the college Monday morning, and as I drove away from the college, all of a sudden it hit me. You're not sufficient for this. Who do you think you are? You stand up there and preach to those college students? What about the college professors? What about the seminary students? And look at the seminary professors, you! Preaching to them. You're not sufficient for that That was right You know the devil doesn't always tell you a lie. There are a lot of times he tells you the truth I tell you there sometimes you have to agree with your adversary while you're in the way with him And then you have to do that sometimes with the devil. I have to admit I'm just not sufficient for this I drove back to where I was staying came back to the college and spoke at 7 o'clock that night and here I was I was speaking in the victorious life conference and I was completely defeated and I was just utterly defeated. I got up there, you know, and I, boy, I just beat the air and wasn't getting anywhere, and I practically staggered out of the place afterward. And I went and got in my car and drove away, and I was so glad I didn't have a meeting at the church that night. Now, what in the world am I going to do? I'm not sufficient for this. I can't do it. I've got to quit. I'm defeated. Victorious Life Conference. Went back to my room and cried out to the Lord, and the Lord gave me a verse. Remember, the attack against me, you are not sufficient for this. He gave me 2 Corinthians 3 and verse 5. I've been living there ever since. 2 Corinthians 3, 5, not that we are sufficient of ourselves to consider anything of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. Praise the Lord. I laid a fold of that, you know, like a hungry trout after a frog or something. I just grabbed on to it. And I said, thank you, Lord. And I spoke out and I said, I admit it, I'm not sufficient for this preaching. I'm not sufficient for any preaching, but my sufficiency is of God. And the cloud was gone just like that. And boy, I went back out to the college the next day and could I preach. And it came to be, I'll tell you, it was a real victorious life conference. But it wasn't this preacher. It was the Lord. But it wouldn't, why, if I wouldn't have used the word, I don't think I could have gotten through the week. But that's what we need. There's an answer here. When the devil begins to clip you out, go to God and say, God, what's the answer? Go looking for it. That's why you want to keep track of portions that come alive to you. When something blesses you, write it down in the book and keep it. And then maybe two or three days afterward, you're going to need it. Go back there and get it and use it. Use the word. It is written. You get away from your Satan. And then another part in your walk with the Lord, your resource of prayer. That's your lifeline to God. Pray. And notice what it says. I believe that this is something that has been overlooked so terribly much. It says, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching down to with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. And as you well know, that doesn't mean praying for the dead people. Praying, how much do you pray for the saints? How much praying are you doing for God's people? You know what I believe? We have missed the teaching of the Word of God. We are supposed to evangelize the lost. Yes, but we are not to forget about God's people. We are allowing God's people to perish. I don't mean getting lost, but we're allowing them to dwindle down and not have the strength they should. We're not praying for the saints. How many of you are praying for all the Christians that you know? Praying always for all the saints. And you'll be learning to pray and praise, this is one of our weapons against the devil. Well then finally, in your victory in the warfare with Satan, the third exercise is that of your authority, and I talked about that the other night, and I don't need to be going into it, but here it says you're supposed to be strong. You're supposed to withstand, you're to stand, and you're to quench the fiery darts of the wicked one. It means you're supposed to go into action, child of God. You are to take what you have in the Lord Jesus and get into the battle. You're not to sit around and let the devil pound you. He's pounding some Christians to pulp. It's about time we're raising up and saying, Satan, this is it. You go. We're standing in the Lord Jesus Christ. We're more than conquerors through him that loved us. Child of God, this is for you. There are those of you here tonight who have been subjected to Satan's lie. He has told you it works for other people. It doesn't work for you. And by your accepting the lie, you have had the belt of truth removed. You have subjected yourself to the further attacks of the devil. Remove that lie. Take up the word of God. Stand against him. And you will find that God will set you free. And I want to say again, it's glorious. If anybody has known what it is to be wounded by the devil, take a look at this preacher. And wounded in such a devastating way that I had given up. I was sure, I thought it was the Lord, and that's always the devil's lie. I thought it was the Lord that had laid me on the shelf. And I was believing the lie that as far as my ministry was concerned, it's all over, and the devil was telling me, you had joy, you had blessing back there, but it's all gone now. And it was as God began to open my eyes again to these facts, and all I did was what you can do, just begin to take these facts, stand on what is in the Lord Jesus Christ, stand up against the devil, and he's had to flee. And let me say it again. I hope I don't get repetitious about this, but I just have to glorify the Lord Jesus in it. The last five years are the best years that I have ever lived. It gets better every single day. It's true what is in the chorus. I'm not convicted about singing it anymore. Every day with Jesus is sweeter than the day before. It's absolutely true. And the work that it is possible to carry on today Like I was bragging about it yesterday, and don't think I'm bragging about me because it isn't here, but at 59 years of age, I'm able to do work that 30 and 35 years ago, I could not possibly have done. I wouldn't have had the physical strength for it. But Jesus Christ is adequate. He's adequate for you, but you take the resources that are yours in him. Don't you let the devil rob you. We're more than conquerors through him that loved us. Let us pray. While we're still before God, will you just ask God for forgiveness right now, you who have been believing lies of the devil. And listen, you men, I plead with you. Listen, I haven't pounded you. I haven't meant to. I love you. But there are those of you men here tonight that you know that you're just a poor stick when it comes to spiritual things. And the reason is, you're walking after the flesh some way, you've left the door open to the devil. I plead with you, will you come out and be strong in the Lord? Will you confess your sin to God? Will you claim your resources in the Lord Jesus Christ? And whoever has been believing the lie of the devil tonight, will you confess that to God? And claim what you have in Christ and launch out into the freedom that is yours in him. Father in heaven, do your work in your people. Send revival, Lord. We thank you. Raise up people. Raise up your people to be strong in you and in the strength of your might. Forgive us for being weaklings. In an hour when strength is needed. Thank you, our God. We pray for the raising up of men here. We pray for the raising up of the women, for young people to be strong in Jesus Christ. to do battle for him. Praise the Lord. Amen.