Because God sets himself against the proud and shows favor to the humble, Peter admonished the believers to humble themselves. This would be an act of the will; humility does not come naturally. But when the believers humbled themselves under the mighty power of God, they were actually submitting to his care and protection. They must humble themselves even in the face of persecution because God would honor them.Verse seven explains what it means for believers to humble themselves. It is not negative and reactive; believers are not abandoned to the arbitrary will of God. Rather, it is positive and active: Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about what happens to you. Peter explained that the believers who continued to carry their worries, anxieties, stresses, and daily struggles by themselves showed that they had not trusted God fully.
It takes humility, however, to turn everything (literally, “throw your anxieties”) over to God and trust that he cares. God is not indifferent; he knows what he’s doing in our lives. Sometimes we think that struggles caused by our own sin and foolishness are not God’s concern. But when we turn to God in repentance, he will bear the weight even of those struggles. Letting God have your anxieties calls for action, not passivity. Don’t submit to circumstances, but to the Lord who controls circumstances.
At the same time that believers can cast all their cares on God, they must still be careful and watch out. As soldiers wait and watch, so believers must be constantly alert for the enemy. All of the persecution facing believers ultimately comes down to one source: the Devil, your great enemy. The Devil has other names—Satan, Accuser, Beelzebub—but he is the source of all evil in the world. He hates God and is God’s archenemy; thus he also hates God’s people and is their enemy as well. While Satan has no power against God, he does what he can to harm God’s people.
Peter described him as prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for some victim to devour. Lions attack sick, young, or straggling animals; they choose victims who are alone or not alert. Lions prowl quietly, watching and waiting, suddenly pouncing when their victims least suspect it.
Peter warned believers to be alert for Satan, especially in times of suffering and persecution, for he walks up and down the earth (Job 1:7) seeking whom he or his demons can attack and defeat. When believers feel alone, weak, helpless, and cut off from other believers, they can become so focused on their troubles that they forget to watch for danger. In those times, believers are especially vulnerable to Satan’s attacks, which come in various forms, often at a person’s weakest spot—temptation, fear, loneliness, worry, depression, persecution. Therefore, Peter and Paul urged the believers to always be alert for Satan’s tricks.
James wrote that if the believers resisted the Devil, he would flee from them (James 4:7). Once we have identified the Devil as our enemy, we need to understand who he is and how he operates in order to effectively take a firm stand against him. Satan is the leader of angelic beings who revolted against God and were banished from heaven. His primary purpose now is to separate people from God. Destined for destruction, Satan wants to take as much of creation with him as he possibly can. We desperately need God’s grace because we are locked in mortal combat with a superior enemy; we need God’s help to resist this enemy, Satan. The best way for believers to take a firm stand is to be strong in their faith.
SO WHAT? (what will I do with what i have read today?)
Spiritual Warfare is real. As followers of Jesus Christ, we have a real enemy. He seeks to steal our joy, kill our relationship with God and utterly destroy anything that is good, godly, wholesome, pure and innocent.
"The thief (Satan) comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I (Jesus) have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10 (NIV)
If you were to come to the church office, to my office, look through my data base I have on Bible studies, ideas, sermons, messages, research, things I’ve done, things like that. But probably one of the most important files I’ve got is a file I call “Warnings – Lessons to be Learned”. I’m not going to read all the contents. It would be too discouraging. I’ve kept over the years a file of fallen leaders in Christianity. Some of them I knew personally, some of them I didn’t know. I’ve kept a file of fallen leaders. I review this file every year at the end of the year, just to warn myself.
1 Corinthians 10:12 says “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!”
We are in a spiritual battle. That’s why that kind of stuff happens. People let down their guard. If you don’t take the Christian life seriously, if you don’t take ministry seriously, the devil’s going to. You may not mean business but he does.
The Bible teaches that the Christian life is warfare. In fact, the most used analogy in the Bible for the Christian is that of a soldier. The words that are used to describe the Christian life are war terms – fight, conquer, strive, battle, overcome, victory. They’re war terms. We are living in enemy territory when you live in the world. Scripture makes it very clear. Ephesians 6:12 (Phillips) says “For our fight is not against any physical enemy. It is against organizations and powers that are spiritual. We are up against the unseen power that controls this dark world and spiritual agents from the very headquarters of evil.”
I saw this article a long while ago: “Winning the Holy War” Underneath, it says, “Satan also has a missionary vision. We have the Great Commission. He has a great commission too. That is to defeat Christians wherever possible.
In 1 Timothy 6:12, Paul told Timothy, “Fight the good fight of faith.” If you are in ministry, you are going to face opposition from the devil. If you get up in the morning and you don’t face the devil head on, right at the start of the day, it means you’re going in the same direction. He is opposed to everything you stand for. He hates everybody who loves God. He hates anybody who’s sold out to Jesus Christ. He will do anything he can to defeat you.
How do you Fight the Good Fight? Great question. Four steps of spiritual battle.
#1. ACKNOWLEDGE THE ADVERSARY - Realize that he’s real
1 Peter 5:8-9 tols us today - “Be alert, be on watch. Your enemy the devil roams around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Be firm in your faith and resist him because you know that your fellow believers in all the world are going through the same kind of suffering.”
When you’re being attacked, welcome to the club. It’s proof that you’re a believer. It’s proof that you’re making an impact. The fact is the more you make an impact for God, the more the devil is going to fight you. You never outgrow it. It just gets more intense. If there were no devil, why would God send His Son to fight that which does not exist? The Bible says God sent Jesus Christ to defeat the works of Satan. The Bible says that Satan is the prince of this world. Jesus said so. He never disputed Satan’s right to work all across the world. The Bible says in 1 John 3:8 “Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil.”
Ephesians 6:16 says, “In every battle you will need faith as a shield to stop the fiery darts aimed at you by Satan.” This verse says that Satan is going to have some fiery darts to aim at you particularly as you’re involved in ministry.
What are some of the fiery darts that Satan throws up against Christians in ministry? Discouragement – that’s probably the biggest one. Failure – nobody shows up for your ministry. Opposition – all kinds of resistance. Rumors. Lies about you and your family. Inuendo. Half-truths. Put-downs. Misunderstandings. Distractions. Temptation. Low self-esteem – attacking your self worth. Compromise. Deceptions. Sin. Competition. Fatigue. Illness. Fear. (Does Satan ever throw a dart of fear at you? “What do you think you’re doing in ministry? Who do you think you are?”) Doubt. Division – Does he ever get Christians working against Christians? Ridicule. Materialism. He’s got quite an arsenal. He’s going to throw these things at you!
#2. PUT ON THE ARMOR
The famous passage on armor is Ephesians 6:11-17 says“Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. Have the belt of truth buckled around your waste and the breastplate of righteousness and have your feet fitted with the gospel of peace. Take up the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.”
There are six pieces of armor here. “Truth”, “Righteousness, “Gospel of peace”, “Faith”, “Salvation”, “The Word of God”. That’s the spiritual armor that you’re to put on. When Paul wrote this, he was in prison. He was chained 24-hours a day to a Roman guard. As he wrote this, he sat there, chained to this man, looked at him and used the Roman centurion as a model for spiritual armor. He had on a breastplate – a piece of metal to protect his chest from spear attack. He had on a strong, leather girdle around his mid waste to protect him. He had on boots, a shield, a helmet, a sword. Paul says just as the Roman soldier goes out and do battle, when you’re in ministry you need to be dressed for battle.
Two statements about this: If we had time, I’d show you that every piece is mental warfare: truth, righteousness, peace, faith, helmet of salvation (which covers the head), and the word of God is the truth that goes into your mind. It’s mental preparation for battle. These are things you need to put on mentally before you do your ministry because you expect attack.
The other thing I want to say is that these six things is a perfect picture of Jesus. Jesus is truth, He is righteousness, He is peace, He is faith, He is salvation, He is the Word (the Word became flesh). And to put on the spiritual armor simply means to put on Jesus. When you put on Jesus in your life, when you let the Spirit of Christ live through you, you’ve put on the armor. That’s what Jesus Christ is. He is righteousness and all these things. You put it on, before you teach that Bible study, before you teach that Sunday School class, before you play that note in worship, you need to put on your armor of God.
I do this every time I speak. I mentally run through this thing. I mentally run through it and put it on. I say, for instance, “Lord, as I put on the helmet of salvation that will protect me from the thoughts the devil will try to give me. I want to think not the devil’s thoughts. I don’t want to think my thoughts. I want to think Your thoughts, that I may be a voice for You. I put on the belt of truth. Lord, I want to share the truth, not falsehood. I want to lead people into righteousness.” All of these things. I mentally put them on as I prepare for spiritual battle in order to minister.
#3. AIM THE ARTILERY
Not only do we have some armor but we have some weapons to use when we’re involved in ministry. Remember we’re not fighting against physical people. We’re fighting against spiritual forces.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5 says, “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of this world. On the contrary, they have divine power to tear down strongholds. 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.” The battlefield for spiritual warfare is primarily in the thought life, in your mind. Notice it says the weapons we use, what do they do. Demolish arguments – that’s the way people think. We pull down pretension – that’s the way people think. We take captive every thought.
When somebody is opposing you in your ministry, they’re not the real problem. The problem is the thoughts the devil’s giving them to oppose you. The problem is not that person. The problem is what they’re acting on. You always act on what you think. They’re getting thoughts from the wrong source. There are only two sources for thoughts. When we get thoughts from God, we call it inspiration. When we get thoughts from the devil, we call it temptation. Which are we going to accept? God’s thoughts – inspiration? Or temptation – from the devil?
So the primary battlefield is in your mind. If you ever want to do a study, study the word “mind” in scripture. That’s where the battle for sin is largely felt. Satan, the Bible teaches, holds people captive through the mind.
2 Corinthians 4:4 says “He blinds peoples minds.”
2 Corinthians 11:3 says “He corrupts people’s minds.”
Hebrews 2:14-15 says “He holds them in bondage through fear.”
Other passages that talk about a defiled mind, a reprobate mind, a darkened mind, a puffed up mind, a vain mind. All of these things are descriptions God uses when we are allowing our thoughts to be influenced by the devil.
In this battle for thoughts, what are our weapons? Three weapons. These things work. I use them every Sunday, every day. But especially as I’m preparing… Go out and mentally go through these weapons. I say, Lord, I’m about to go in here and what I’m talking about on Sunday morning, eternity is in the balance. There may be somebody who's at in the worship service this morning who will never come again to church. If you’ve got one shot, what are you going to do? Eternity is in the balance. This may look like we’re all having fun here but behind the scenes there’s a spiritual battle going on. We need to prepare for it and use the weapons. Three weapons you use in ministry:
The Truth. John 8:32 says “You’ll know the truth and the truth will set you free.” The Bible says that the sword of the spirit is the word of God. The word of God is the truth. The truth is our sword. It cuts through all the mustard. It gets right to the point. When you are in a conflict, the question you want to ask yourself is this: What does God say about this? Because the truth is the first weapon. You ask yourself, How does the Lord see this situation?
Humility. James 4:6-7 “God gives strength to the humble but sets Himself against the proud and haughty. So give yourselves humbly to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” The more you humble yourself before God, the more power you will have in your life. That’s just the way it works. As we walk before the Lord humbly and say, “Lord, I humble myself before You. I can’t do this ministry on my own. But You are the vine and I am the branch. Apart from You I can bear nothing but with You I can do what I need to do.”
It doesn’t matter what you do. If you will say, “Lord, I’m depending on You to help me as I deal with people.” People are strange. Humility. God gives strength to the humble. Humble yourself.
Faith. The Bible talks about the shield of faith. 1 John 5:4 says, “This is how we win the victory over the world, with our faith.” Without even talking to you in detail, I can tell you exactly what God’s doing in your ministry. He’s doing what you expect Him to do. You study the Scripture, you find out that every time God does a miracle – He moves out of heaven and moves on to earth because somebody believes. Faith is a powerful, powerful tool. I don’t know why, but in my case, when I’m speaking, in the struggle for souls on Sunday morning, I don’t know what it is but I know when I expect people to respond, they do. The devil’s pulling one way and the Holy Spirit’s pulling the other way and somehow my faith has a part in that warfare.
Whatever you want to see happen in your ministry or in your life believe it will happen. If you need more workers, pray and believe more workers will show up. If you need God to do a miracle in your marriage or in your kids lives, believe that God will do it. Pray and believe and ask and expect in advance.
#4. AVOID ALL DISTRACTIONS. This is one thing I think the Lord has taught me and is teaching me over the years. If you’re going to be effective in ministry, in battle, you’ve got to focus yourself. 2 Timothy 2:3-4 (LB) says, "Take your share of suffering as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Do not let yourself become tied up in worldly affairs for then you cannot satisfy the One who has enlisted you into His army.” Don’t get distracted.
You know what’s important in life. There are so many things that want a piece of your time. The reason why there aren’t more people here tonight is because of this very thing. They’ve chosen distractions over ministry. They’ve got so many other “good” things. The good can be the enemy of the best.
“No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs. He wants to please His commanding officer.” We come to Jesus Christ and say “Reporting for duty, Lord!” There are a lot of good things I could be involved in, a lot of ways I could spend my time. But I have one person to please and only one – the Lord Jesus Christ. And if I’m pleasing Him, that’s what is going to count at the end of my life. Avoid the distractions. If you get distracted the enemy is going to catch up with you, catch you off guard and devastate you.
GO POINT LOMA
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