The Christian Messenger July 2017 English by Christian Messenger

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Vol. 14, No. 3

Page 20

JULY, 2017

The purpose of the news magazine is to report newsworthy religious events and activities within the local community, nationwide and around the world, to increase the awareness and activism of believers regarding the moral issues of today, to provide thought-provoking commentary, and to provide an effective advertising vehicle for Christian ministries and organizations, events and businesses that want to reach the Christian community. - Editor

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The Selfie Culture: Who Are We Worshiping?

GOSPEL MELA 15 Prayer Points For A 30-Minute Intercession

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LIFE

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J D Greear on 7 Ways To Overcome Satan

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THE MESSAGE

Slaying the Goliaths in Your Life 3 Key Steps of Spiritual Battle destroyed several millions of promising young lives. They have led to debts, shame, debilitating sicknesses, loss of self-esteem, anxiety, depression, angry outbursts, violent behaviour and suicidal tendencies. They affect one’s social life and professional life. Alcoholism, for instance, affects not only the individual but also others around him such as family members, friends and colleagues. Some alcoholics won’t even realize they have a problem. They continue to destroy their lives and the lives of those around them while still figuring out the means of getting their next drink. Proverbs 23 describes the condition of the alcoholic in a telling manner: ‘Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who tarry long over wine; those who go to try mixed wine. Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder. Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart utter perverse things. You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, like one who lies on the top of a mast. “They struck me,” you will say, “but I was not hurt; they beat me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake? I must have another drink” (verses 29-35).

BY ROBIN SAM Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world (1 Peter 5:8, 9). A Christian’s spiritual battle involves three important steps.

Know who your enemy is One of the simplest but foremost strategies of warfare is to know your enemy. You really need to know who you are fighting. If you know who your adversary is, you will not be shooting in the dark. Most people think Satan is an imaginary being. They think he does not exist; that he is the figment of the Bible-believing Christians’ imagination. Presuming your enemy does not exist can be a fatal mistake. Satan is as real as you and I are. The Bible gives us a detailed account of who Goliath was. His name, his place, his stature, his war clothes and his weapons are clearly detailed in 1 Samuel 17. He was a champion Philistine from Gath, he was over 9 feet tall, he wore a bronze helmet on his head and a coat of mail that weighed around five thousand shekels in bronze (around 57 kilos). His iron spearhead weighed around 600 shekels (around 7 kilos). To call Goliath a giant would be an understatement; he must have been a monster. Do you know your enemy? The New Testament believer does not war against flesh and blood. Often, we don’t have Goliaths in human form tormenting us. ‘We war against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places’ says Ephesians 6:12. Your enemy is not a human being. It’s a spiritual being. His name is Lucifer. He manifests himself through people that have yielded themselves to his power. Do you know who your enemy is? Have you identified him and singled him out? If not, you are in trouble. The tragedy of life is not that we fail but we do not know why we fail. Hundreds of thousands of people around us continue to live in bondages of different kinds. That’s tragic enough, but the bigger tragedy is that they do not know why they live their lives in chain. They do not know how to liberate themselves. Alcoholism, drug addiction, pornography, fornication and adultery have Website: www.christianmessenger.in Email: contact@christianmessenger.in

Know what your enemy’s strength is Goliath was a champion. He was a man of war from his youth. At 9 feet, he towered over almost all warrior men of his days – both in Philistia and Judah. He was a victor of many battles. He did not know defeat. But…he had a problem. He could not face Saul’s army in its full strength. When he found the entire army of Saul lined up against him in the valley of Elah, he thundered against them: “Why have you come out to line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me.” Goliath, the victor of many battles, was not used to fighting an army en masse. He was accustomed to solo sessions. He knew he would win the battle if it were duels. He was a champion of one-on-one matches. Perhaps, due to his massive height and bulk he could not move as fast as other champions. He was an extraordinary champion, but his extraordinariness was his Achilles’ heel too. His bulk was his bulwark as long as he fought duels. He knew he stood no chance against a whole army. He 5

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THE MESSAGE could not fight more than one man at a time. In verse 10 of 1 Samuel 17, he told the soldiers of Saul’s army again: “I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.” Satan is against God and His children. But he knows he stands no chance against God, so he targets his children. Even then, he does not engage in a mass, corporate style warfare against the Body of Christ. Even when he disrupts a family, he does not usually fight all in the family. He picks up the weakling in the family, disrobes him off his power and fights him much to the chagrin of the family. That’s always been how the devil worked in the past. That’s how he works now and will work in the future, too. In Deuteronomy 25:17-18 Moses reminded Israel: “Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you were coming out of Egypt, how he met you on the way and attacked your rear ranks, all the stragglers at your rear, when you were tired and weary…” In David's time, Amalek did pretty much the same thing. When David and his mighty warriors were away, Amalekites came to Ziklag, attacked the town, burned it with fire and took captive all women and the children (1 Samuel 30:1-3). The devil cannot prevail against the church, so he targets one person at a time. He is always ready for one-on-one duels. If you and I stand together and move in co-ordinated steps against him as a battle unit, as a church, as a family, he will flee because he knows he cannot face the Lord’s army. Since he is desperate for a win, he targets individuals in a family, fellowship or a church and plays mind games on them. He then waits for us to take a wrong step. He hopes we will flounder in our faith and fall to our own doom.

(Ephesians 6:11). Saul tried setting up David for the battle against Goliath by making him wear his own battle gear. ‘So Saul clothed David with his armour, and he put a bronze helmet on his head; he also clothed him with a coat of mail. David fastened his sword to his armour and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. And David said to Saul, “I cannot walk with these, for I have not tested them.” So David took them off’ (1 Samuel 17:38,39). David in Saul’s coat of mail would have been the equivalent of a sitting duck before Goliath. When Saul’s armour did not work for himself, how could it work for a young David? The next time you try to fight the enemy according to someone else’s advice or strength or experience, remember this. Shake off Saul’s coat of mail, David. The Lord your God has a surprise battle gear ready for you! You cannot overcome the addictions of your life by yourself, either. You need the power of the Holy Spirit in you to scale walls and run into troops. To break the bondages of sin, idolatry and addictions you and I need to clothe ourselves with the armour of God. ‘For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled’ (2 Corinthians 10:3-6). ‘Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication’ (Ephesians 6:14-18). Before you can wear the armour of God, you would need the blood of Jesus Christ to wash you in and out. There’s power in the blood of Jesus. Surrender to Him and be washed in the blood of the Lamb. There is protection in the blood of Jesus. Accept Him as your Lord and Saviour. He has already paid the price for your sins, curses, diseases and addictions. On the Calvary, Jesus has paid the highest price possible on all of the earth and all of the heavens. He has purchased you and me with His precious blood. Invite Him into your life. He will walk in and restore things. ‘And He who sat upon the throne said: ‘Behold, I make all things new’ (Rev. 21:5).

Know what your weapons are Realizing who your enemy is and what his strengths help you only to a certain extent. To live a victorious Christian life, you and I need to be equipped adequately for the battle. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places, says Apostle Paul in Ephesians 6:12. Believers face spiritual battles all through their lives. And spiritual battles require spiritual weapons. We don't stand a chance against the devil in our own strength. The best of Saul’s soldiers with all their swords, lances and shields – in all their battle gear – did not stand a chance against the vile Philistine. That’s why Apostle Paul implores us to ‘Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil’ THE CHRISTIAN MESSENGER w JULY 2017

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VIEWPOINT

The Selfie Culture: Who are we worshipping? Teen Vogue magazine reports that the average millennial devotes about one hour of every week to selfies—shooting them, editing them, retouching them. Writer Matt LaBash reports:

BY PHIL COOKE MY WIFE, KATHLEN, and I are filming in Germany for a Museum of the Bible exhibit that honors the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. We arrived a few days early to do some sightseeing around Berlin and noticed that “selfie culture” is as big in Europe as it is in the United States. I've been thinking a lot about selfies lately, because I was on a plane recently, sitting next to a 20something woman who took selfies the entire threehour flight. She sat next to the window and experimented with lighting by raising and lowering the shade, then fixed her hair different ways and tried multiple angles. I kid you not—by the end of the flight she must have taken 400 shots of herself on her phone. Back to Berlin, I saw a man almost get hit by a car, a woman nearly fall into a canal, and a couple trip over a sidewalk guardrail—all while taking selfies. While seeing people taking selfies in front of museum artworks, I also read that museum curators are reporting that people are more interested in capturing themselves in front of great works of art than viewing the art itself.

“In 2015, the social scientists at Luster Premium White, a teeth-whitening brand, calculated that at their current selfie rate, your average millennial will take up to 25,700 selfies in a lifetime. Considering that the average lifespan is only around 27,375 days, that amounts to taking nearly one selfie per day, no

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VIEWPOINT small feat when subtracting all the years that people are too young or too old to operate a camera phone.â&#x20AC;? But there's so much more. According to the advertising magazine Adweek: Seventy-four percent of all photos on Snapchat are selfies. One-thousand selfies are posted to Instagram every 10 seconds. More people died taking selfies in 2015 than they did from shark attacks. I'm not sure what to make of all this, except that there's a pretty powerful relationship between technology and narcissism. Or maybe narcissism has always been around and now we have new tools for expressing it. So what do you think about the selfie phenomenon? It appears people have lost the ability to appreciate the world around them without inserting themselves in it. Have the idols we worship become ourselves? Phil Cooke is an internationally known writer and speaker. Through his company Cooke Pictures in Burbank, California, he's helped some of the largest nonprofit organizations and leaders in the world use media to tell their story. This article was originally published on Cooke's blog at PhilCooke.com

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GOSPEL MELA 2017 24-Hour Chain Prayer

15 Specific Prayer Points For a 30-Minute Intercession And, I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none (Ezekiel 22:30).

Praying with one accord for 2,234 people groups spread across 1.2 billion people in 29 states and 7 UTs in one nation. Every nation, every tribe, every people and every tongue shall say: “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Revelation 7:10). “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Redemption of our souls is possible only through Jesus, there’s no other way. Gospel is nothing but proclaiming that Jesus is the only way to be saved from our sins, to be delivered out of the bondage of our curses and to come out of darkness into His magnificent light. We are doing this in a concerted manner by targeting one State in the country every month for the next 12 months. We are reaching out to 1,00,000 people in each state with the Gospel message through tracts, other booklets and personal evangelism wherever possible. We are not working on this in isolation but have involved several local churches and missions

organizations in each state. We have christened this effort as ‘Gospel Mela 2016’. We need your prayerful support to make this a success. We lean on to the One who said: ‘…for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). God expects us to intensify our prayers and give freely to the Lord’s work so hundreds of thousands of Indians will come to know that Jesus is the only way to salvation in the next one year. Besides using these prayer points to pray for 30 minutes during the 24-hour chain prayer time, will you also set apart five minutes a day or an hour on any day of the week to join us in prayer? If you do, God will do wonders in this nation. Amen. Glory to God.

1. LAYOFF IN IT SECTOR: Close to 6.4 lakh employees may lose their jobs within 2021 in India due to the automation drive, says a research agency. Within this year, IT majors such as Cognizant, Infosys, Wipro and a few others have decided to lay off 56,000 employees in the largest retrenchment exercise within the industry. The future of the employees is at stake. Most of them have availed of long-term loans for their housing and automobile needs. Pray that the governments and private sector companies come forward and take steps to bring job security to the IT employees. 2. BAD DEBTS: As many as 17 corporate firms in India have not repaid bank loans to the tune of 30 thousand crore rupees. There are also allegations that the Central Government has refused to release the names of the defaulting corporate firms. In 201516, bad debts accumulated by the corporate firms in India was 5 lakh crore rupees. In December 2016, it grew to 6.06 lakh crore. If the Government takes punitive measures against these defaulting

corporates, it can implement several welfare measures through the amount thus recovered. Pray that the Government takes steps to recover these bad debts. 3. FARMERS: According to a Tamil weekly magazine, every half hour a farmer commits suicide somewhere in India. In particular, after the BJP came to power at the Centre, farmers' suicides in Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh have gone up, it pointed out. In Karnataka, as many as 200 farmers ended their lives in 2016. Pray that the state governments and the Centre takes steps on a war footing to save the lives of the farmers and improve their lifestyle. 4. PRICE RISE: Even as pulses and dal is sold at 150 to 230 rupees a kilo in the market, the farmers who cultivate them only get 30 to 40 rupees out of it. The difference is shared by the middlemen and traders. Prices of all essential commodities such as rice, lentils, cooking oil, vegetables and fruits are skyrocketing every month. As a result of this, poor

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A scene from a street in Kashmir. and middle-class people are severely affected. The plight of the poor in the villages is even more tragic. Pray this situation changes and everyone gets the essential commodities at affordable prices. 5. KASHMIR: This state continues to be a troubled region because policymakers have not found a lasting political solution to it yet. It continues to be a state in turmoil thanks to the political parties that live off the people, the proPakistan Islamist parties that instigate people to engage in violence against the government's personnel and machinery and the school- and college-going children who take to the streets to pelt stones at soldiers and policemen. Pray that normalcy returns to Kashmir and peace is ushered in. Pray also that the Kashmiris are able to reject the designs of the divisive groups that engage in violence and sponsor terrorism. 6. ANTI-COW SLAUGHTER LAW: India made Rs.26,685 crore through beef exports in the financial year 2015-16. Accounting for 43 percent of the total beef exports' revenue is Uttar Pradesh with Rs.11,351 crore. Despite this, the BJP government at the centre has brought in the anti-cow slaughter law through the backdoor just to target the Muslim, Dalit and Christian communities in India, who are considered to be major consumers of beef in the country. Pray that the anti-cow slaughter law of the Modi government is repulsed through democratic means. Pray also that law and order is not disturbed in the country over the issue. 7. WATER SCARCITY: Pray for monsoonal Website: www.christianmessenger.in Email: contact@christianmessenger.in

rains to come to many parts of the nation on time. Even as we pray for water scarcity to be tackled this year, we also need to pray that Chennai is not submerged under water again this year. Lakes and water bodies have not been desilted. Illegal occupation in lakebeds and riverbeds have not been fully removed yet. Construction of storm water drains in the City has not been completed yet and the state government does not seem to be ready to harvest rain water either. Tamil Nadu is one state that drains off the rain water it gets into the ocean and fights with Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh for its share of water. Pray this situation changes. Pray that the State government takes effective steps to ensure that the rainfall we get this year is enough for our needs. 8. VBS MINISTRIES: Please join us in praising God for helping us conduct Vacation Bible School (VBS) ministries in May and June in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, and in all our mission fields in Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha. God helped us meet with over 550 children with the Word of God through our mission fields. Pray that those children who were reached for Jesus Christ accept Him as their Lord and Saviour and continue to abide in Him. May God hedge them so that the enemy does not take out the Word of God from their hearts where it is sowed like a seed! Let us pray. 9. OUR CHILDREN'S FUTURE: Praise God for helping the children in our prayer groups and mission fields achieve good marks in their 10th and 12th board examinations. God proved in action that

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victory indeed belongs to the Lord. Let us continue to pray that the children get admitted into the courses of their choice. Pray earnestly that the future of the children in our homes, prayer groups and mission fields are bright and secure in the hands of the Lord. Let us pray that these children are a blessing to many and the streets and neighbourhoods that they live in are blessed through them. 10. PUNJAB MINISTRY: Last month, we made a prayer request for our mission field in Punjab which faces opposition from some people. The Lord heard our prayers. The enemy tried to stop the coming together of the children of God in a particular village; the Lord opened a place for Sunday worship in a private school in the very same village. This is indeed of the Lord. We need to praise Him and lift up His Name. God has done a mighty thing. May praise and glory and power be to Him always! Our ministries are progressing well by the grace of God in Simbli, Gulpur, Rajpura, Narot, Sarna, Samrala and a few other villages under Pathankot. Pray that God orders a great harvest in these areas in the state. 11. HIMACHAL PRADESH MINISTRY: Our Punjab missionary has additional responsibility for the state of Himachal Pradesh. Our ministry happens in the areas under Indora tehsil. God-willing, Sunday worship will soon begin in a place called Mohtli here. Pray our ministry in Himachal goes on unhindered. This state is a tough place for missions work. Steeped in idol worship, the state is also known as Dev Bhoomi (land of gods). Pray that the eyes of the people of the state are opened by the light of the Gospel. Messenger Missions needs a full-time worker here to streamline our Gospel work in Himachal Pradesh. Pray that God raises a committed servant of God for the work. 12. CHHATTISGARH MINISTRY: Pray for our ministries in the state of Chhattisgarh. Our work in the state goes on amidst Maoist attacks, opposition from Hindutva supporters, police atrocities, ignorance of people, idolatry, witchcraft and other nefarious designs of the evil one. By God's grace, we have been working in the state from 2012. Our missions work centered in Bastar district has completed five years. However, there has not been much progress in terms of souls harvested or church growth. Pray for a mighty spiritual revival in this state, particularly in our mission field areas. Pray for the protection of our workers as well. 13. ODISHA MINISTRIES: For the first time, we were able to hold VBS ministries in two places in Odisha. In Sindipader, through the VBS ministries we were able to reach 100 children with the Gospel. We praise God for the new openings. Our outreach THE CHRISTIAN MESSENGER w JULY 2017

We prayed, we will prevail! Praise be to the Lord! I am Jaspine. We live in Gummidipoondi near Chennai. For the past six months, I have been praying over the Gospel Mela prayer points along with my son Jeruphin as a prayer partner of Messenger Missions. God graciously took care of my needs when I prayed over His heartâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s burden for India. God gave me a temporary teacherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s post in a Government school recently. Please pray that I am made permanent in the job. I would like to continue to pray as a Gospel Mela prayer partner. ministries are going on in Jamguda, Rampur, Higraguda, Daguta, Sarugunja, Dengeshkal, Maligan and Kebidi. Pray for the safety and welfare of our Gospel workers in the state. Pray for their children's future. Pray that God opens more doors of ministries in the State. 14. MADHYA PRADESH MINISTRY: By the grace of God our ministry in Madhya Pradesh based in Balaghat district began in 2015. In the initial days, only one Gospel worker was ministering in three villages in the district. At the moment, Gospel work goes on through three fulltime workers working in over 15 villages. Pray for more doors of favour to be opened for the Gospel in this state. Anti-conversion law which is in force here is often misused. Pray this situation changes and Gospel workers are able to preach the Word of God freely without fear of being attacked.

15. BIBLE TRANSLATION: Messenger Missions supports Bible translation in three languages (Ranglong, Rathwi and Inner Seraji) spoken among the people of the north east. We need Rs.1,20,000 a year for this project. Aside from this, we need a considerable amount of money to print or buy Gospel tracts and purchase Scriptures in various languages. Only if this need is met can our missions work go on unhindered. There are other needs such as the salaries of missionaries and office staff, their children's education aid, medical camps, outreach ministries and so on. Pray that God raises His children who are generous minded to support our missions work. Amen. Website: www.christianmessenger.in Email: contact@christianmessenger.in

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Pray God raises more generous givers! LOVING GREETINGS TO you in the Name of our God who, the Bible says, is the Lord of all and Father of all. By the grace of God, our ministries in the mission fields are progressing well. Even amid opposition and threats our Gospel workers work tirelessly proclaiming the good news for the glory of our God in Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu. Pray for our mission field workers' needs to be met when price rise is on a new high. Pray that God raises more of His children who come forward to uphold our ministry through their prayers and contributions. On an average, we need not less than 85,000/- rupees every month to keep our missions going. There are other pressing needs such as the

The need this month Mission Fields: 10 Villages where Gospel is preached: 50 Full-time missionaries: 12 Monthly need: Rs.85,000/Monthly support for a missionary: 7,000/education of the missionaries' children, medical expenses, Gospel outreaches and so on. Will you pray along with us that God will raise families and prayer fellowships that come forward and contribute a minimum of 7,000 rupees every month for a mission field worker? At the moment, we have only a few prayer fellowships that support us on a regular basis. Pray this situation changes and God in His wisdom raises more prayer partners, families and prayer fellowships that give generously for the Lord's work that happens through Messenger Missions. May God bless you! Amen.

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LIFE

7 Ways to Overcome Satan BY J D GREEAR

When we boldly ask much of God for THE BIBLE MAKES it clear: We're in a battle. his kingdom, we put the gospel to action It's a battle we can't escape with an Enemy we can't and overcome Satan with our faith.

see. As long as we confess Jesus as Lord and have the Spirit of God within us, Satan will do everything he can to destroy our faith. That's why we're told to “stand firm” against his schemes (Ephesians 6:13). So how do we fight? How do we overcome Satan's attacks? At the end of his letter to the Ephesians, Paul lists out seven pieces of spiritual armor for us to take up in the battle against Satan. As a kid, I thought the spiritual armor were these mysterious weapons used to ward off demons, like magic amulets or Harry Potter spells. But I've come to learn that when Paul talks about the spiritual armor, he's simply giving us ways to apply the gospel to our lives. Putting on the armor of God is another way of saying we should clothe ourselves in the gospel. Just as a soldier's entire body is covered with armor, so should the gospel cover our entire lives. The gospel is your greatest defense against Satan, because where the gospel has fortified you, Satan cannot attack you. Cover your life in the gospel—and overcome Satan himself—with these seven pieces of armor: 1. Stand firm in your identity in Christ. Paul first tells us to “Take up…the belt of truth” (Ephesians 6:13-14). We tend to think of truth primarily as a what, but in Scripture, it is first a who (John 14:6). Paul is saying to us, “Gird yourself up with Jesus. Stand firm in your identity in Christ.” I've always heard it said that your identity is based on what the most important person in your life thinks about you. Is Jesus the most important person in your life? If so, have you made what he thinks about you the core of your identity? Whatever controls your heart also controls your identity. Once Christ is the center of who you are, then you have an identity that Satan can't shake. 2. Put on Christ's righteousness. Next, Paul says, “Take up…the breastplate of righteousness” (Ephesians 6:14). Similar to the first piece, this means embracing our identity in Christ. Putting on Christ's righteousness means believing that when God looks at us, he sees Jesus' perfect record in our place. But this is also referring to obedience. Because we are covered in Christ's righteousness, we conform our lives to Christ's righteousness. Satan's focal point of attack will be whatever part of you isn't THE CHRISTIAN MESSENGER w JULY 2017

surrendered to God and conformed to his truth. This may be a sinful habit, a bad relationship you won't let go, or just an area of your life that you haven't put under God's control. Wherever you close yourself off to obedience, you leave an open door for Satan. But once you put off the sin you're holding to, then you can put on the righteousness of Christ and be guarded against Satan's attack. 3. Preach the gospel to others. Paul continues, “As shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6:15). I've often heard that the sword of the Spirit is the only offensive weapon in the Christian arsenal. That's simply not true. Your feet are offensive weapons, too, because they carry you into battle. Paul says we overcome Satan by going on the offensive with the gospel. As long as Satan can keep us from sharing the gospel, our neighbors will be under his power (Ephesians 2:1). But once they hear the good news, then they can become children of God under his grace. What better way to fight against the darkness of Satan than to preach the gospel of light? 4. Preach the gospel to yourself. It's not just our neighbors who need to hear the gospel. We need to hear the gospel—every single day. The fourth piece of armor is “the shield of faith, by which we extinguish the fiery darts of the wicked one” (Ephesians 6:16). Satan's main weapons are the lies he shoots into our hearts like fiery darts. We're not supposed to use logic to duck away from Satan's lies. In the face of Satan's lies, God calls you to hold up the shield of faith, hiding behind what God has told you is true in the gospel. So Satan shoots his fiery darts at you, saying, “You're no good. After what you did, do you think God still loves you? You can never make a difference.” That's when you hold up the shield, block off the Enemy's lies and preach the gospel to yourself: “I am saved by grace through faith. I have not received the spirit of fear, but the Spirit of adoption as sons. If God is for me, who can be against me? Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life!”

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5. Remember your salvation and God's faithfulness. Paul tells us, “Take up…the helmet of salvation” (Ephesians 6:17). The helmet is used to guard our heads, the center of our thinking. Paul is telling us to let the truth about our salvation and God's faithfulness in our lives permeate our minds. There's a simple way you can put on the helmet of salvation each day. One of the things I tell myself every morning is: In Christ, there is nothing I could do to make You love me more; nothing I have done that makes You love me less. I encourage you to do the same. 6. Be saturated in the Bible. Paul ends his list with two offensive weapons. The first is our sword, which is the Word of God. Your ability to overcome Satan is directly proportionate to your knowledge of the Word of God. Trying to fight off Satan without knowing the Word is like running into battle without a sword. If you want to overcome Satan, you must read the Bible, learn the Bible, meditate on the Bible and memorize the Bible. You should be so saturated with

it that when life cuts you, you bleed God's Word. 7. Devote yourself to bold prayer. The final piece of armor is prayer. Paul wants to make sure that through our battle with Satan, we are “praying at all times in the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:18). People often don't include prayer in the list of weapons. But it is. In fact, it's our main weapon. Prayer is not something we do in preparation for the battle; prayer is the battle. Samuel Chadwick wrote, “The one concern of the devil is to keep saints from prayer. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray.” When we boldly ask much of God for his kingdom, we put the gospel to action and overcome Satan with our faith. God has not left us alone in our battle with Satan. In Christ, we have a resurrected Savior who defeated the worst of Satan's attacks. In him, we have a newfound identity that cannot be shaken. In him, we have every piece of spiritual armor we need to overcome Satan's activity in our lives.

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