Armor of God Seminar 2024
Part 6
Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
Operation Resistance
Many testimonies about Christians winning victories in a diversity of situations can be found online and in books. In order to gain these victories, believers have put on their spiritual clothing in one form or another. The “word of their testimony” (Revelation 12:11) confirms the faithfulness of God to his Word.
1 Corinthians 1:8-9 APNT
who will establish you up to the end, so that you may be without blame in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God is faithful, by whom you were called to the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
“Established” means “to be strengthened or made firm.” We need to stand and utilize the armor of victory in every situation.
The Evil One is looking for access into your life. Most of the attacks against us occur in our minds – made up of will, thinking and emotions. Strategic center where battle is lost or won. —- Can He read our minds? No, but he can read our reactions and suggest things depending on the situation.
Ephesians 6:11-13 APNT
11 and put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the tactics of the Accuser,
12 because your struggle is not with flesh and blood, but with rulers and with authorities and with the possessors of this dark world and with the evil spirits that are under heaven.
13 Because of this, put on the whole armor of God, so that you will be able to engage the Evil [one] and, being prepared in everything, you will stand firm.
The Greek word for “engage” or “withstand” (as in the King James Version) is antihistemi. It is a compound word that means literally, “stand against or stand opposite.” We get our English word “antihistamine” from this Greek word. Our bodies produce a substance that “stands against” foreign invaders such as pollen; that substance is called an antihistamine. We stand in this battle opposing the army of the Evil One and resist his methods and tactics. The Evil One can try to oppose us, but when we stand against his attack he has to back down. E.g. The Pull (Hope College)
1 Peter 5:8-9 APNT
Be watchful and remember, because your enemy, Satan, roars as a lion and walks about and seeks whom he may swallow. — [also strike, beat down, wound]
Therefore, stand against him, being steadfast in faith and know that these sufferings also happen to your brothers who are in the world.
James 4:7 KJV
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Resist is plural! We stand together also by submitting to God
RESIST, stand against the Evil One! Stand firm (steadfast) and do not be shaken by his roar! Remember the verses in Romans 8 that affirm the truth of our complete victory in very dire circumstances.
Romans 8:31-37 NET
What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Indeed, he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, freely give us all things?
Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
Who is the one who will condemn? Christ is the one who died (and more than that, he was raised), who is at the right hand of God, and who also is interceding for us.
Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will trouble, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
As it is written, “For your sake we encounter death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we have complete victory through him who loved us!
We need to stand fast in the freedom for which Christ freed us, stand firm in our place in the body of Christ, and stand in victory clothed in the armor of God.
Galatians 5:1 APNT
Stand fast, therefore, in the freedom [for] which Christ freed us and do not be subjected again with the yoke of bondage.
Today we do not fight for victory; we fight from victory. We do not fight in order to win; in Christ we have already won. Those who stand in victory rest in the victory already given to them in Christ. We stand on the ground already won by our Captain of Salvation. Put on the whole armor of God – our spiritual clothing – and our weapons in the Lord Jesus Christ, and stand in victory. Resist all the plans and purposes of the Evil One with determination and courage. We are strengthened in our Lord and the power of his might. We stand with the whole ARMOR OF VICTORY!
Join the Resistance!
French Resistance WWII
- After the defeat of France, June 1920 – futility, consensus was that Germany would win the war
- The people could not get over the shock of seeing the swastika everywhere
- Conditions became brutal, money devalued, “head in the sand” or people lined up with enemy to turn in their neighbors
- Resistance started with small groups of men and women and grew to more than 100,000 – 400,000 after 1944 invasion
- People were from all walks of life and all kinds of jobs and functions
- Planned, coordinated, executed acts of sabotage on the electrical power grid, transport facilities and telecommunication, set up escape networks for prisoners and Allied soldiers
Other examples of underground church movements
Galatians 2:11-16 APNT
But when Peter came to Antioch, I reproved [KJV – withstood] him to his face, because they [the Gentiles] were offended by him. [Dragon]
12 Before some men came from James, he ate with the Gentiles, but after they came, he withdrew and separated himself, because he was afraid of those who were from the circumcision. – [Peter was faced with fear (Satan)]
13 And the rest of the Judeans also submitted to this with him, so that even Barnabas was led to respect persons. [carried away with hypocrisy Beelzebub]
14 And when I saw that they were not walking correctly in the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of all of them, “If you who are a Judean live as a heathen and not as a Judean, how can you compel the Gentiles to live as a Judean?” [taught about breastplate of justification]
15 For we, who by nature are Judeans and are not sinners of the Gentiles,
16 because we know that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, we also believe in Jesus Christ, so that we may be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law, NO FLESH IS JUSTIFIED. [application of sword of the Spirit]
Casting Down Strongholds
There are three steps to dealing with negative strongholds:
- Identify the pattern
- Cast down the false reasoning
- Obey the word of Christ
We have learned about the six principalities and their tactics. I want to use this framework to present examples of how to accomplish these steps. Remember that when the Evil One is exposed, we are on the way to standing in victory!
| Principality | Identify Pattern | Cast Down | Obey | TO DO |
| Beelzebub | Idol or grove of idols | False worship | Repair the temple and change your words to line up with God’s Word | Break the power/authority of poison words and expose the domination |
| Devil | Wounds in the heart | Condemnation, Resentment | Cleanse and bandage the wounds with forgiveness | Stop the partnering of spirits (e.g. accusation, rejection or hurt, anger] |
| Dragon | Source of Pride | Comparison | Become a servant with meekness | Wash one another’s feet, be forgiving |
| Satan | Kind of fear | Panic | Claim what is yours with authority, lock shields with others | Love never fails |
| Belial | Perversity | Rebellion, Rejection | Obey a positive way of living, grasp hope for the future | Find a “mini-hope” and hold onto it |
| Serpent | Deception | Lies | Decree and apply specific verses of truth | Shine the light to dispel the lies |
CITIZENSHIP in HEAVEN
Philippians 3:20–4:1
But our citizenship is in heaven– and we also await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,
21 who will transform these humble bodies of ours into the likeness of his glorious body by means of that power by which he is able to subject all things to himself.
1 So then, my brothers and sisters, dear friends whom I long to see, my joy and crown, stand in the Lord in this way, my dear friends!
We live in this world, but we have diplomatic immunity! That means wherever we go, it is holy ground. Our homes, work, family, finances all our protected by the whole armor of God in our Lord Jesus Christ. Example in Germany
We have the surpassing victory!
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