In the month of December, there was a series that the Lord led us through and what we will be considering in this piece is a buildup of that series. In those series, we were made to Rediscover the Christ. Having Rediscover the Christ, we realized that The Child was Born, and the need to Follow the Son of man that we may Become sons of God. And then we also understood the implication of the death of Jesus and the life that the saints have in Him. And we concluded with Walking and Working in the Wonders of His Faith.
So, in this piece, we want to consider: Equipping the sons of God for Effective Spiritual Warfare on the Earth. In the Book of Galatians chapter 2 verse 20, apostle Paul by the help of the Holy Spirit shared a mystery with us: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” I brother Paul has been crucified with Christ, so, there was brother Paul that was crucified, and there was Christ that he was crucified with. Hence, there are two entities or identities here: the identify of Christ, and the identity of our beloved brother Paul. Bro Paul said, “My own life has subsumed in the life of Christ.”
So, don’t be too much in finding my life; don’t be too much concerned in looking for the secret of the strength of my life. In the Book of Judges, somebody came to Samson and wanted to find out the secret behind the power of Samson; as far as she was concerned, Samson was a superman who was doing super things. Concerning this, apostle Paul said, “This is what is going to be my testimony, it is not going to be about my own life — it would only be about the life of Christ, because my own life had been subsumed in Christ.” So, you can’t go about using touch light about my life; what you really need to find is Christ.” Don’t try to see me as a special brother, see Christ. “I have been crucified with Christ”, look at it, “It is no longer I who lives”, don’t credit any strength, any glory, any power, any wisdom, that you see in me to me, credit it to Christ.
“It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God.” Already, this introduces us to something very important. “The life which I now live in the flesh”; this looks similarly to the life in the flesh. But it is actually not a life in the flesh, it is a life of faith: the life that I live in the flesh, even though it looks as if I am living it in the earthen vessel; it is not about earthen thing, it is a spiritual thing — I live it by faith. So, how is my life happening? Christ is living in me: there is Spirit of Christ that lives on in me. Hence, my life is a spiritual life, powered by Christ. No wonder Apostle Paul, in another part of the Scripture said, “I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me.” He strengthens me, because He is the one living in me. He is the One making things to happen for me; that is important for us to note in our heart.
Another thing to note is the statement where Apostle Paul said, “I live by faith in the Son of God.” There is the Son of God, and there is myself living by faith in the Son of God. It is likewise pointed out for us to note that, there is a need for us to emulate the Son of God. There is a need for us to grow into the Son of God if our lives will be enviable also on the earth. It looks as if “God has set in Zion a stone for a foundation” and the Bible says, “Everyone who believes does not make haste.” It also looks as if God has set for us an example on the earth of what is possible and what we must become. Even though our becoming is a journey for each one of us, we also understand that the journey we make towards becoming the man or woman of our destiny, is to know and understand the man that you must become; know the woman you must become.
For us on the earth, God has instituted the Son as our destiny, the Son as our destiny, the Son as out future. The Son as our standard, the Son as the man you must become. According to Ephesians chapter 4 from verse 11-13, the Bible says, “ And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.”
Apostle Paul said, “The life I live in the flesh, I live it by faith in the Son of God.” In verse 13 of Ephesians chapter 4, he reminded us of the agenda of God that all that God is about is bring to the maturity of Christ stature. “Till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” Meaning, when God looks at each one of us for instance, God is looking at everyone growing into a perfect man, the fullness of the stature of Christ. God is asking concerning you and I, how much of Christ can I see in you? How much has every one of us subsumed his or her life into Christ? Can God look at you and all He sees is His Son, Crist Jesus? How much of Christ can be seen in you?
So now, apostle Paul said “I have been crucified with Christ; nevertheless, I live, and the life that I live in the flesh, I live it by faith…” Let’s go to chapter 4 of Galatians, see what the Bible says from verse 1-5: “Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born[a] of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons”.
On two occasions we are seeing “We”; verse 2 says “Even so we”, also in verse 5, it reads, “That we might receive the adoption as sons.” This is helping us to realize the agenda of God for us: it is towards sonship, but not just any kind of sonship, but sonship in Christ. Sonship in the mannerism and in the kind of Christ. He says in verse 6 and 7 of same chapter 4: “And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore, you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ [in the kind, order, of Christ]. Again, God is showing us His agenda for sonship, hence, apostle Paul, is help us to see into the agenda of God for us less you or anyone us go about celebrating the fact that he or she is a child of God. “The heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave.” So, the experience of the heir will be similar, the attitude of the heir will be similar, though he is a master of all.
Now, don’t forget we are examining: Equipping the Sons of God for Effective Spiritual Warfare on The Earth. We are on the earth right now, there are warfare on the earth that we must engage with right now. However, if we are not equipped for the warfare ahead of us, even though we are children of God, born unto God, we will be unfit, unable, to have victory even though victory is our inheritance. You are expected, even known to be the master of all, but your mastery is not in your name or a title. Your mastery is in both your attitude and the result that you are able to command. You are a master of all, but are you mastering all? You are a potentially a leader, a lord, a king, but are you actually one?
The Bible says, “the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all.” So, we know that it is not enough for me to be born, I must live in a manner that translate me from a child that is born, to a man (or son) that is growing. Apostle Paul says, “When I was a child I thought as a child, I spoke like a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish thing.” We began by looking at what God is about to do on the earth; God is not about raising children, but He is determined to raise sons. Not anyhow sons, any kind of sons, but sons in Christ. What God is looking for is the reproduction of Christ among His children. And as many that are able to attain to sonship, they are the ones that are able to handle the responsibility of engaging in spiritual warfare. This is important for us to note.
Let’s try to imagine this for a few second: in what part of the world have we seen children fighting for their country? Sometimes, when rebels are trying to recruit adults into their army, if the number of adults available are not sufficient, they will go into recruiting children, and such set of recruited children will come under the group of child-soldiers. But it usually brings a lot of criticism from world leaders. World leaders always frown at it, it is an aberration. It is not normal to have child-soldier, it is only normal to have adult soldiers; man and woman of their own free will, of good conscience, who know the difference between good and evil, and are able to choose good to be given such a power of warfare. Do we understand?
If we then on the earth, remember what Jesus said, “If you being evil cannot give serpent to your children that are asking you for fish, how much more your heavenly Father?” So, when we cannot send our children to warfare, do you think God will send His own children to the battle front? When battles come to the children, what happens? Some people are children by the reason of “I am just born yesterday.” You can’t say, “I am a child, I was born 30 years ago”. That will become embarrassing. Of course, there is a kind of grace that is for those who are children indeed. But look at yourself, are you indeed a child? Or circumstance has made you a child? That is a food for thought.
Now let’s take a look at Ephesians chapter 6, from verse 10-18, see what the Bible says:
“Finally, my brethren…” The question is: who are the brethren? Apostle Paul at some point in Galatians concluded with something and I want us to remember it. Galatians 4:5-6 says: “To redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba Father.” And once you are adopted, it does not matter, you are a son. Since you are now a son, you are heir of God through Christ. So, we that are joint heirs with Christ, sons of God, in Christ Jesus; he said, “My brethren”, that is, we that are sons of God. We are his brethren; so, this matter is about us.
Finally, my brethren (my family members), sons of God, we have been born unto God in Christ Jesus. It says further: be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which, you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.”
May the Lord bless the reading of His word in our hearts in Jesus’ name. “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord.” Don’t forget, your life is already subsumed in His. You had already laid down your own life, and have taken up His own. The next thing is “Be strong in Him”. Let your strength be drawn from Him. Already, your goal is to be like Him, a son unto God, in His kind: you want God to see Christ in you any time God sees you. The next thing then is Be strong in the Lord because you are in a warfare. And the nature of this warfare is not a fleshly nor bloody nature, it is spiritual. Hence, the weapons too are not physical, they are not bloody; they are mighty in God.
Verse 11 says, “Put on the whole armor”, that means, it is possible not to put the whole armor. The admonition is that you should put the whole armor, so you may be able to stand the wiles of the devil. Your refusal to put the whole armor at any given time, positions you in a disadvantaged place against the devil and its wiles and its deception, its cunningness, its craftiness. If you and I, sons of God, will win, will survive, it is not going to be by chance; we are not going to accidently win the devil. We will win him simply because our strength is not in ourselves; our strength is in Christ. The method of our warfare is going to be Christ method. The life we are going to live, is going to be Christ kind of life. The attitude we are going to have in the warfare is going to be Christ attitude.
Hence, when the Bible begins to show us the whole armory, the Bible is showing us things that make up Christ Jesus. If you look at Christ, you will find each in Christ Jesus. Something was said in Ephesians chapter 4:11, the Bible says, “He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. For the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry.” The question is, what is the ministry to you? Could you do it without being equipped for it? Part of the armory that equips you for the ministry of this warfare is what the Bible is showing us here; and many times, we always read this place, looking at the breastplate of righteousness, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the rest, and complicate the matter for ourselves. But can we leave aside where those things would be in the body, can we pick the things?
The first in the list is truth. I may not have the time to treat each of the armor in details, but I will briefly talk about them. We have truth, righteousness, gospel of peace, faith, salvation, the sword of the Spirit which the Bible calls the Word of God, then we have prayer. These are the things that when you look at Christ you can see. He said, “Be strong in the Lord, and the power of His might.” And when you look at Christ, what is the mannerism of Christ in fighting the battles of life? We are shown here. You see truth, but the one I will like to begin from is righteousness. In the Book of Hebrews, the Bible talks about righteousness; also referring to a place in Psalms. The Bible says, “Because you have loved righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore, the Lord your God has anointed you above your fellow.” In another part of the Bible, the Word of God says, “You scepter is the scepter of righteousness.”
A scepter is a staff of authority. It connotes a man that is in authority; scepters are called by kings. The Bible says, “The Kingdom of Christ, the symbol of the Kingdom is righteousness. Righteousness is like what is held by Christ as staff as He reigns as King in His Kingdom. So, if you are going to be a son unto God in the order of Christ, you must hold onto your own righteousness in Him. When you want to know if you are a son of God in Christ, we must see righteousness in you; it identifies you. A symbol is for identification, righteousness as a symbol identifies you as one who is authorized by Christ.
In addition to righteousness, you must have the truth. When we talk about the truth, we are talking about something to know. The truth is Jesus Himself. And the Bible says, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”. O, towards engaging in spiritual warfare, you must be a woman, or a man, of the truth. There is something that was also mentioned here in Ephesians that must not be overlooked; talking about the people or beings that we fight. The third beings that we fight are the “The rulers of the darkness of this world”. “The rulers”, those who rule the darkness of this age. Those who rule the confusion, the ignorance, of this age. The dark is where you don’t see anything, the more you look, the lesser you see. Those who rule the ignorance of this age. Don’t forget, you could be a son, yet have no truth. What kind of son are you? You are still a son, but the fact is that, you don’t have the truth. Once you don’t have the truth, all that you carry about, is falsehood or lies. And the Bible says, “The wiles of the devil”, if you are going to withstand them, it is because you have put on the whole armor.
Don’t go about carrying two or three of the armor, carry the whole. Another thing on line is faith, don’t just be a person of faith, be a man or woman of the truth. When the devil comes to you brandishing lies up and down, showcasing lies, you must be able to have the truth. There is also something that was mentioned in Ephesians chapter 4, where we read before, it says, “Till we all come to the unity of the faith…that we are no more children”. Even though it is good for us to be children, that is the starting point, many verses of the Scriptures do not want us to remain as children.
“That we are no more children toast about by every wind of doctrines by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. But speaking the truth in love.” It means, the former is not the truth. All that are mentioned in this verse 14 of Ephesians chapter 4, are about the lie of men. When a child is exposed to such, such child will move by the trend of time, according to the biddings of the world; the prevailing things, this is what they are saying, it is the reigning thing. You don’t need to do the other one to become like this or that; men are deceiving you. And the men who are deceiving you, they are also deceived themselves. But, if you, even though a son, will command authority in the spirit, the Scripture says, “Put on [have] the truth”. Choose to have the truth. People often say, “Truth is bitter”. But do take it.
The Bible says, “Take the whole armor”, it does not say, “Wait, you will be given the armor.” Take it. You are a son, right? The armor is there, go and take it. The truth is there, it will not leap on you; you go look for the truth, and take it. Go and search for the truth, “People are saying this, but Lord, what are you saying?” It is a sign that you are measuring, when you no longer take just anything into your system. You come to a point when you will say, “Lord, this look convenient for anyone to go about showcasing, but Lord, what is the real truth?” This is a normal conversation among your children, but Lord, what is the truth? And the more of that you are able to have, the authority you are able to command in the Spirit because we are dealing with spiritual warfare.
When the devil comes to you, he will come with the lies. The lies could be a twisting of the Scriptures. If you are not grinded yourself, you will follow the lies. You will say, “Afterall, the Bible says”. Instead of you to fall for the devil, having being grinded in the truth, you stand. One thing that the truth does for us as sons of God is that, it helps us to overcome lies, the deceptions of the devil. For every lie, there is a truth available in God that is able to make a man stand against the wiles of the devil. The devil will always attempt at intervals to deceive us, in different aspects of our lives; our finances, our marriages, in our health, our faith; the devil will always make attempt to deceive us. Bur will must have the truth. And will must not forget, righteousness must be the symbol of your life. When you appear in the Spirit, let Satan and its agents, see righteousness in you.
What happened to the seven sons of Sceva, they said to the demon possessed, “We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches”. And the demon possessed man said, “Jesus I know [righteousness is the scepter of His Kingdom], Paul, I know [he is emulating Jesus], who are you [I see you; I see no righteousness] In a situation when you don’t see righteousness, what will you see? Unrighteousness. The Bible says, “Righteousness exalt a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people”. What the Lord is showing us here is not as if, if an enemy is attacking you in the night, you will wake up, and you will just say, “Where is my righteousness? Where is my truth? Where is my breast plate, where is my peace? Where is my shoe?” It is not about dressing up. It is about the state that you must be in. it is about the life that you must live.
The armory of God is about the life of the Spirit. It is very important for us to note. It is not an article that you hang on the wall. It is not a ring that you put on, and you just say, “Only I just have this ring on, I will be powerful”. No! it is not. Look at it, the helmet of salvation, the devil comes in the night, and you say, “Let me quickly carry my helmet, and put it on, is that it?”. No! Your salvation is beyond something that you carry on. The Bible says, “Work out your salvation with fear and trembling”. Ensure that even though you are saved, you remain saved. Don’t allow anyone to rob you of your identity, your experience. Another place that the Bible talks about salvation is in Romans chapter 10 verse 9: “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved”. What does this mean? It means, you should remain believing in your heart, remain confessing in your heart; remain saved.
Is it about something you just put on? You can’t be putting it on and off at will; when there is problem, you quickly say, “I confess Jesus as my Lord.” No, it won’t work that way. To believe in Christ is a state you must be. So, as you are maturing in the Spirit, mature in the establishment of your salvation. Let nothing confuse you, let nothing give you the impression that, “Maybe it was not Jesus that really saved me, it could be my education, or because I am mentally smart?” Don’t go to the point where you begin to doubt, how you are saved. Don’t go to the point where you begin to ask question, is Christ able to save me actually? Was His blood enough for my salvation? You must keep believing, and you must keep confessing what you have believed. Others might fall, but you rise, and confess it. Continue to confess it, because it is the basis for your distinction — it separates you from the rest.
The Bible talks about “The gospel of peace.” Imagine a man in trouble, and he is telling the enemies, “Please, wait for me, let me quickly go for evangelism”. That will not help, but what do we think that is talking about also? Let’s look at verse 15 of Ephesians chapter 6 again: “And having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace.” You cannot even begin to go about telling people about the gospel of peace; the good news, telling people about peace, if you are not a man of peace yourself. The Bible says, “Follow peace with all men.” If you are not a man of peace, you cannot give peace to others. When the enemy comes, what state will you be met, what state will you be found?
One thing that we are being reminded in these verses is what has been made available in Christ. It says: be strong in the Lord. This is how the Lord does His things. The Bible calls Him the prince of peace: He reigns over peace. He reigns with peace. He uses peace to reign; He gives you peace. He says, “My peace I give unto you”. Are u also a man/woman of peace? Is going to determine your distinction from the rest. The Bible says, “When the enemy shall come like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will raise standard against them”. You are not the one lifting up the standard, it is the Spirit that does that for you. The Bible says, “We don’t fight against flesh and blood”.
You cannot go about fighting everybody around your life; you don’t go about fighting in the flesh, telling people there will be trouble, and all of that. Be a man of peace, be a woman of peace. It is in the personality, in the armory of God. This is what make God to be different, this is what make Christ to be different from everyone else. Imagine when they wanted to crucify Jesus, He said, it was not as if He could not call down angels, to come and destroy this people and deliver Him. But “Suffer it to be so”, that is what God wants. Peter took out a sword and cut off someone’s ear, but He fixed it back; He was a man of peace. It is important for us to not.
We know the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. Have it. The Bible says in the Book of Joshua chapter 1:8: “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” You speak the Word; you have meditated on the Word to the point that it has become your own word. No matter what you are going through, you don’t speak the circumstance, you speak the Word of God over it. It is an armor of God, an attitude of God. When God saw darkness, God did not go about shouting, how come these things are scattered? He said, “Let there be light, and there was light”.
So, God speaks into space, God speak into situations. What He wants to see, is what He declares. And if you will win in 2022, in your battles, it must be because you speak victory. You speak dominion, authority, you don’t speak defeat, you don’t speak problem. You don’t speak the things that you see, you speak the things that you want to see: the Word of God; it becomes the weapon of warfare for you. You begin to fight your enemies in advance by the Word of God that you speak. God says, “The Word that proceed from my mouth, will not return to Me void, it will fulfil the purpose for which I sent it.” If the Word of God does miracles for God, the same Word can do the same for you.
As sons of God, as men and servants of God, who have come to realize that it is not about me going about shouting up and down, but it is about me speaking the Word; we should keep speaking. It is going to show that you are maturing in the Spirit, because it will show that you are not doing the effort in the flesh, but in the Spirit. The Bible concludes with “Praying always”. The two must go together: speak the Word of God when you are praying, and still speak the Word of God when you are not praying. Speak the Word of God. And in addition to the Word of God that you speak, be in the attitude of prayers. Imagine Jesus was a man of prayer, if you want to be strong in Him, you must be ready to do the things he did. You have to rise up early and pray, you have to confess the Word of God. You have to have unwavering faith in God.
Even if it looks as if things are collapsing, believe in God, it wouldn’t collapse. The Bible says, “At the mountain of needs, it shall be provided.” How would you know if you had not gone to the mountain; a peak where it looks as if, “God if You don’t show up, none will show up”. How would you then know that God can never fail? So, we have to be men of faith, men of the Spirit, men of prayers, men of peace. We are fighting enemies actually, and it does not seem as if the number of the enemies will reduce in 2022. The Bible says, “We are fighting against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age [generation], against spiritual hosts [armies] of wickedness [agents of wickedness] in the heavenly places”.
The agents of wickedness are the largest; they are everywhere. We are also fighting rulers of darkness of this age, I consider them to be territorial enemies, force; and it says against powers. Don’t forget, there is difference between power and authority. The Bible says, “Powers”, not “Authorities”, that means, they don’t have territories. They only have power. I call them evil spirits; they just go about doing evil. Then the Bible talks about “Principalities”. I call these ones, regional forces of darkness. But in spite of all that, the Bible shows us how to have victories: put on the whole armor of God. There is another part of the Scriptures that the Bible says, “Put on the Lord Jesus”. In the spirit of putting on Christ, put on the manner of His warfare. He is identified with righteousness, He is a man of peace, and truth. He knows the truth; He speaks the truth. He is a man of faith. He said, “If you believe, you can tell this mountain to be removed, and it will be so.”
So, let us emulate these things; let us bear the Word of God in our hands. Every time we are confronted with issues, let us respond with the Word of God. Let nobody tell you, “Let’s put the Word of God aside in this matter.” We cannot put the Word of God aside. There is something you must note as we begin to close. Spiritual warfare is not for the children, but for the responsible sons of the Kingdom. If God must use anyone of us to unsettle the camp of Satan, He must mature us, or grow us into the fullness of sonship, Christ Jesus. And what is the modest son? Christ Jesus. In a way, this is what it means to be strong in the Lord.
If we are not strong in the Lord, what are we going to be? We are going to be weak in ourselves. We are going to be weak in this world; we are then going to be captives of the mighty. If we will not become captives of the mighty, it is because we are being strong in the Lord. We are strong in the Lord. I pray that God will help us in Jesus’ name.
