September 23, 2007
Rev. Terry D. Campbell

The Living Prayer: God’s Protection
Matthew 6:13b

“’This, then, is how you should pray: . . . but deliver us from the evil one.’”

Ephesians 6:10-18 -“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. ¹²For 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. ¹³Therefore 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. ¹⁴Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, ¹⁵and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. ¹⁶In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. ¹⁷Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. ¹⁸And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.”

A little girl was once disciplined by her mother for kicking her little brother in the shins and then pulling his hair. “Sally,” said the mother, “why did you let the devil make you kick your brother and pull his hair?”

“The devil made me kick him,” she said, “but pulling his hair was my idea!”

We certainly can cause our own share of mischief and sin—but there is also a spiritual force at work in the world with which we need to contend if we are to live as God wants us to. “Deliver us from the evil one,” calls us to deal with Satan.

I. I need to know my enemy.

1 Peter 5:8-“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

It is important to know what we are up against. Besides our own human and self-oriented nature, we must realize that we have a spiritual enemy. Jesus and the Bible call him, “Satan” or “Adversary”. The text says, “¹²For 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.”

As with lions who attack the sick, young, or straggling animals; so Satan will deceive the unaware or unprepared and lead them away from God. Those who are in need or are hurting; those who are inexperienced in spiritual matters; or those who are alone and isolated from the helpful support of other Believers are especially vulnerable.

There is danger in not realizing who he is. He is not a character in a red suit with a pitchfork, horns and a pointed tail. That would be too obvious. The Bible gives us the impression that he is beautiful—deceptively so. He is enticing, opportunity-offering. His name was Lucifer, which means light bearer. He lived close to God until arrogance and selfish pride led him to oppose God.

Some of you will remember the beautiful but dangerous song Debbie Boone sang several decades ago and included the words—“It can’t be wrong when it feels so right.” Satan doesn’t come across as ugly or strange, but beautiful, wonderful, exciting, inviting, satisfying, “so right.”

Jesus reminds us in John 8:44 that Satan, for all his beauty and supposed “light,” is “a liar” and “the father of lies”. Satan’s desire is not to show us the way to get our needs truly met, but to lead us away from God and as Jesus says in John 10:10-“ to steal our joy, kill our health, and destroy our eternal spirits.’”

Certainly Jesus has won the ultimate victory over Satan, but we must not take him or what he can do lightly. Remember that Jesus said, in Matthew 10:28-“’Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.’” It is extremely important for you to know your enemy and take his plans seriously!

II. I must be fully dressed in Jesus.

If you are going to take our spiritual enemy seriously, it becomes imperative to prepare yourself for the conflict with him. That means being fully dressed in the protection Jesus offers us. Ephesians 6 tells us to put on:

Belt of Truth—Lies, beautiful and desirable though they may be are still lies. God is the standard of truth. It is not what people say, but what God says that should surround our daily living. Remember—Satan fights with beautiful and desirable lies. They are beautiful but deadly! A lie is a lie! Only as Believers know and live by God’s truth can we be delivered from the evil one.

Breastplate of righteousness—Satan often attacks our hearts—the seat of our emotions, self-worth, and trust. God’s righteousness is the breastplate that protects our hearts and ensures his approval. Seek to honor God in all you do and don’t give the evil one any opportunity to cause you to doubt your place in Christ.

Shoes of the Good News of peace—everywhere you go you are an extension of the love, mercy, and grace of Jesus Christ. Satan wants us to think that faith-sharing is a worthless and hopeless task—a task is too big and the responses too negative to handle. But God’s footgear God is to be worn all time—we become people of love mercy and grace and people are drawn to know us—and consequently our Savior in a natural way.

Shield of faith—We respond to situations, not with fear, but faith. Not with panic but with faith. I may be surprised by what has happened, but I know God is not and God has a plan to bring me through this. I will trust God to take care of me in his way and time.

Helmet of salvation—Know who you are and whose you are in Christ. Satan wants to make us doubt God, Jesus, and our salvation. The helmet of the assurance of your salvation protects your mind from doubting God’s saving work for us.

Sword of the Spirit—This is both for offense and defense. There are times when we need to take the offensive against Satan. When we are tempted, we need to trust in the truth of God’s Word. We need to live each day according to God’s word.

Communicate with the Spirit—Regular prayer is keeping in touch with the home base. It is like receiving our orders, having intelligence reports, and being encouraged by Home. To be delivered from the evil one I should stay be fully dressed in Jesus’ armor

III. I should be on the offense as well as the defense.

Matthew 16:18 -“’And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.’”

The Church Jesus founded is to be an army of people doing seeking to do God’s will on earth as it is done in heaven. The Church was NEVER meant to be a building! These gates are not of the Church, but of Hades or Hell. So it is the Church that is to be on the attack. We are to be on the attack against all kinds of sin—spiritual—like doubt, discouragement, diversion, defeat, and delay. As of 2001 some 1.6 billion people have never heard the Gospel.^[i] We are to be on the move against physical sin like injustice, arrogance, abuse, poverty, hunger, hopelessness, generational unforgiveness. Imagine if the Christian army would get up, stop fighting each other and together attack sin full force.

In 1974, 40% of people were malnourished. In 2004 it was down to 20%. When people work together, we can make things happen. In 1974, only 25% of people had access to clean water. In 2004, only 75% have access. In 1974, one in eight children died before reaching the age of one. In 2004, it was one in sixteen. In 1974, global illiteracy was at 53%. In 2004, it is down to 20%.^[ii] We can make a difference when we put in the effort. There are so many negative effects from Satan’s influence happening in the world. We are called to be on the march with Christ against them. Christ will deliver us from the evil one so that we can help deliver others.

Certainly the problem of Satan’s affects in the world is huge and won’t be completely erased until Christ returns. But that doesn’t excuse us from working at the problem—of doing our part to do what we can. Remember, we serve a great God. As it says in 1 John 4:4-“You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.”

What will you do now?

Around A.D. 311, Roman Emperor Constantine was preparing for a battle and had a dream. In this dream he saw a cross and over the cross was a sign that said, “By this sign you shall conquer.” It was Constantine’s call from God—which he took, becoming a Christian and changing the history of Western Civilization.

We need to remember that those words are for us, too: “By this sign, the cross of Christ, we will conqueror. Let us live every day in the deliverance Christ gives us! Amen.