I CAN’T…BUT THE HOLY SPIRIT CAN

Then he said to me, “This is what the LORD says to Zerubbabel: It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.” – Zechariah 4:6.

Everybody thinks their child is a natural athlete with natural ability. So with high expectations, you take your boy to the park and pitch him the ball as slowly as possible. The concept of natural ability disappears as he swings at pitch after pitch and never comes close to making contact with the ball. Nor can he throw the ball in the right direction when he is trying to throw the ball back to you. The dad is not discouraged. He stands behind his son, and wraps his arms around the boys to help him get a firm grip on the bat. With his assistance, they start hitting the ball together. And before long the boy has the idea and makes steady contact. Although our problems as adults are bigger than hitting a baseball, that first attempt at hitting a baseball is a teaching moment about the Holy Spirit.   

Look at Zechariah 4: Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah at the time, was tasked with leading the massive effort of rebuilding the temple. A few years into the project, progress had stalled. The Israelites had faced one trial after another. They were physically depleted and spiritually discouraged. Confronted with the overwhelming magnitude of the task, Zerrubabel had exhausted his leadership capabilities. He was thinking of giving up.

Zechariah enters the picture. He tries to encourage Zerubbabel by assuring him that the rebuilding would get done, but he was telling him how it was going to be possible. Not by human ingenuity, nor by sheer willpower, but by the Spirit of God. Just as a dad enables a child to hit a baseball, the Spirit was going to empower Zerrubabel to do something he could not do in his own strength.

A weary Zerubbabel was crying out, “I can’t!” But Zechariah reminded him, “But He can.” Perhaps you need that same reminder today.

For those of us who are followers of Jesus, we have His Spirit residing in us 24/7 (Ephesians 1:13-14). The Christian life is not meant to be one of self-reliance but of Spirit-reliance. We certainly possess skills, talents, intellect, resources, experience, etc. Yet, we are not meant to go it alone. We are to be Spirit-filled and Spirit-led. “Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives”(Galatians 5:25).  As we go about our daily lives, we must choose a perpetual posture of dependence on the Spirit of God.

Today, when you are faced with the limitations of your natural abilities, confess your need for His Spirit to do what you cannot.

Let Him swing the bat. He will enable you to do what you can’t do on your own.

Discussion Questions:

  1. When you think of the Holy Spirit, what comes to your mind? 
  2. What can the Holy Spirit help us do this week that we can’t do on our own? 

AH…THAT MOMENT OF CLARITY

“Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’“ – Luke 12:18-20

Through all the hustle and bustle that life brings, it’s sometimes hard for us to think with a clear head. We have so many things to tackle on the to-do lists we wish to accomplish, and we also have things that God has put in our minds to do. With all that is going on it is wise to bring clarity to our lives. The last part, the things that God wants us to do can be hard to decipher because we have the cloudiness of the world all around us.

In Luke 12, we read the parable of the rich fool. In the parable of the rich man, a man’s land produces an abundance of crops; more than he can store. His solution is to tear down his barns and build bigger ones to hold the surplus so he can sit back and enjoy life.  If you look at how this man speaks, it’s noteworthy how many times he uses the personal pronoun “I.” “What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops.” So he says: “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods”. He has become the center of his own universe, everything revolves around his life and his needs. God was not featured on his radar at all, until the moment he dies. His moment of clarity comes too late. That moment of clarity is when you realize that you are an eternal being and there is more than this.

We all need a moment of clarity to move us from the routine of everyday life. It can be called an “Aha!” moment, or an “epiphany,” or something else. It is that moment when you come to grips with why you were born, the purpose of your existence, and where you’re heading. It builds on the moment of clarity when you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior.

The cross brings clarity to every part of our lives. Jesus made the sacrifice we could not make, to pay the debt we could not pay.  Jesus changed our story.  Jesus frees us to be honest about who we are, failures and all. Since there is no reason to pretend that we aren’t broken, this should free us to be open and honest with ourselves and to bring clarity into our lives.

You are forgiven, restored, and redeemed. The shackles have been broken and you have been set free. God’s love is for every person, in every corner of the world, and God’s love brings a new life, one with perfect clarity.

Whether you find yourself in times of sunshine or rain, abundance, or want joy or grief, remember you are never alone. Jesus sacrificed Himself to make a way so that we could be with Him forever.  And that is a life of clarity.

Discussion Questions:

  1. Do you think it is important to seek clarity in your life? 
  2. What can you do this week to bring clarity into your life?

WHAT STIRS YOU?

 “Then God stirred the hearts of the priests and Levites and the leaders of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin to go to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple of the LORD.” – Ezra 1:5.   

Ezra 1 is symbolic of how the Lord works in our lives. Judges 13:25 says,  “And the Spirit of the Lord began to stir Him…(Samson)”  Haggai 1:14 says, And the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and did work in the house of the LORD of hosts, their God,”

We see that many times when the Lord stirs someone, He is preparing them to be used for His glory. He doesn’t shake them carelessly with little thought to the mess or timing of the process. No, He carefully stirs their hearts to action.

Just about everyone has heard the story of David and Goliath: The Israeli army was outmatched and taunted by a literal giant of a man. That’s when David, a young, inexperienced shepherd boy, showed up. It didn’t take long before he was so outraged and offended by Goliath’s taunting of the Israelite army that he volunteered to fight.

What moved David to act so as to risk his life? David knew the freedom and liberty of his people were at stake. He probably also thought about the impact a loss would have on the people he loved. But there was something more – something greater that moved David from the sidelines to the frontline. The final straw was hearing Goliath taunt and shame the one true living God. The honor and name of God were at stake, and that was what moved David to action.

What stirs you to action? Is it injustice? The Spirit’s prompting? A call for help? Becoming aware of how you could make a difference? Seeing an opportunity? The Lord stirs the hearts of His people to become involved with Him in making a difference in the world.

You see, God has been stirring His people to action since the beginning of time. God stirs, and we respond. No one knows what tomorrow holds no matter how well they plan or predict. But the one thing that always holds true is the faithfulness of God. His Goodness never runs out. His Grace keeps flowing. His Provision for your life is endless. God is madly, deeply, hopelessly, and powerfully in love with you. So strive to live for God. When we respond, He blesses us.

If God stirs you, pay attention to that stirring.  Allow it to produce motion in you.  Act on the stirring and expect God to meet you in that very place of being stirred.  He is faithful.  He will meet you there.

Let God make the changes He desires for your life. He wants to use you.  You just have to get stirred up.

Discussion Questions:

  1. It is not difficult to get stirred – it is difficult to stay stirred. Agree or disagree and why?
  2. One of the hardest things in serving the Lord is keeping your own heart stirred about the work you have been given to do. We all struggle with it. How do we change that? 
  3. In what ways is God stirring you this week?

HOW TO BE A GOOD DAD

 “Is this the little girl I carried?
Is this the little boy at play?
I don’t remember growing older.
When did they?
When did she get to be a beauty?
When did he grow to be so tall?
Wasn’t it yesterday when they were small?
Sunrise, sunset; sunrise, sunset;
Swiftly fly the days.”- Sunrise Sunset, Fiddler on the Roof

There is no script or instruction manual for being a good father. Every father has learned that reality. When we are thrust into the task of fatherhood it automatically changes our view of our earthly father, our Heavenly Father, and even ourselves. It is an adventure that will challenge us, drain us, beat us up, lending us a few uplifting moments and any number of discouraging even painful moments.

That was the experience of many father characters in the Bible. One example is King David. While he was dubbed a man after God’s own heart, he appears in scripture to have many challenges as a father with children who hated and dismissed even tried to overthrow him. David was raised in a good home with a good father, the pressures, and drama of power, politics, combat, lust, and failure seem to limit his ability to invest successfully in the life of his children. Still, he was known as a man after God’s own heart. In Abraham, we see the image of the man who would become the father of incredible faith that would become the model man, leader, and husband (Genesis 18:19). In Noah, we see the adventurous father who in spite of challenges and obstacles plows through hardship and leads his family to safety and victory (Genesis 7:13-14). Each of these men gives us an understanding of what it looks like to be a good father or a father with shortcomings.

Just like there are no perfect fathers there are no perfect children. Fathers cannot expect their children to be perfect. They won’t meet all of our expectations. They won’t fulfill all of the goals we have for them nor will they likely be what we want them to be.  It’s natural for a child to make mistakes,  break things, struggle in some school classes, and get angry and act out.   

As fathers, it’s our job to guide them through their challenges, not add to their challenges. Will we be parents who empathize with our children and eliminate the causes of frustration and anger from our lives? Will we raise our children for the Lord by talking to them from the Bible and teaching them about Jesus?

Jesus welcomed children with open arms (Matthew 19:14; Luke 18:16) and went against the grain of his culture to commend childlikeness (Matthew 18:2–4). As we take our cue as parents from God, our heavenly Father, we learn to parent God’s way by imitating our Father. Nothing is more important for godly parenting than knowing God. As we reflect on the one who is present, who affirms, and who delights, we will learn to fulfill and enjoy the awesome and humbling calling of parenting like our Father.

Discussion Questions:

  1. When you think of the word “father” what words come to mind? How has your earthly father influenced your opinion of fathers?
  2. Read Luke 15:11-32: How would you describe the father in this story?

A TRIBUTE TO DADS

For he issued his laws to Jacob; he gave his instructions to Israel. He commanded our ancestors to teach them to their children, so the next generation might know them—even the children not yet born—and they in turn will teach their own children. So each generation should set its hope anew on God, not forgetting his glorious miracles and obeying his commands.” – Psalm 78:5-7.

On June 18, Americans celebrated Father’s Day, and rightly so. Fathers are a gift to each of us, not because our culture dictates it, but because fatherhood is a biblical role that God esteems.

Many of us are blessed to have had dads who strived to give us encouragement, direction, care, and counsel. They weren’t perfect, of course, but we never doubted their love. Father’s Day is an opportunity to express our gratefulness for the way dads all over the world put their needs aside to give us a better life.   

The idea of being a father is a whole lot easier than actually being a good father. It is not an easy dynamic to master. Even the best of dads fall short. The decision to be a father is not just a delivery room decision. It is a daily if not hourly decision. In the early history of our country, children worked with their parents on farms or some family enterprise.  That is no longer true. Some dads leave home before the children are awake. Others arrive home long after the kids are home from school. A combination of a busy schedule with limited opportunities for time together, fathers can unintentionally disconnect themselves from their children. It is the time to make some hard decisions: “Do I really need to make that additional sales call instead of being home when my son gets off the school bus?“ “Can I rearrange these appointments to get home earlier?” And when they get home dads need to take the businessman hat off and put on the “dad” hat. It’s a decision to prioritize his family.

Fatherhood is about being engaged with your kids, talking with them, engaging in their activities, and holding them when they need to be held. It’s wanting to be there for the first step and all the steps thereafter. Yes, careers are important, but they pale in comparison to your relationship with your kids.

Not only must dads decide to be involved with their kids, available and interested in what interests them, but dads must decide what kind of role models they’ll be. As fathers, we need a heart that loves God, loves His Word, and loves our kids. Our job is not to save our children but to share with them the truth about Jesus, the only One who can save. God loves our kids even more than we do, and He has a special plan for them. The way we share and teach our kids about Jesus will help shape their hearts for all that God has in store for them.

It’s worth figuring out how we can spend intentional time with Jesus to develop our relationship with Him. It’s worth pausing in the moment to pray with your child or turning up the worship music in the car to sing praises as you drive. Teaching our kids about Jesus doesn’t have to be formal or scary, but instead, daily conversations and teachable moments as life happens.   

Discussion Questions:

  1. Would you call yourself a distracted father? Why or why not? What’s the worst distraction for you? 
  2. How are you maintaining a culture of communication and conversation in your home? How can you become a better listener for your child?
  3. We must seek out opportunities to speak God’s Word to them. What is a question you can ask your child this week to stimulate a faith discussion?

SURVIVING A MOMENTARY CRISIS OF UNBELIEF

“But I trust in your unfailing love. I will rejoice because you have rescued me.” – Psalm 13:5

If you’ve walked with the Lord for any length of time, you’ve probably experienced a crisis of belief; a season of life when the Lord doesn’t act according to what we believe to be true about Him. We believe God is close, but this week He seems far away. We believe that God speaks to us, but right now He seems awfully quiet. We believe God will ultimately win but it seems like the enemy is winning right now. We believe but we have some doubts.

Living by faith is difficult. We all struggle every day to remember, believe, and make choices based on God’s Word and His promises to us in Christ. Words on a page can feel powerless when painful circumstances don’t change. To make matters worse, it feels like we’re all alone. No one could possibly understand what we’re going through. So, we keep things hidden, maintaining a brave facade. But below the facade is turmoil. So how do we nurture belief in difficult circumstances?

Scripture gives us testimony after testimony of people who had overwhelming evidence to trust God but still chose unbelief. The Israelites saw God perform over a dozen miracles rescuing them from Egypt, culminating in the parting of the Red Sea. And yet, in a matter of days, they doubted God’s ability or desire to keep them alive in the wilderness.

David is an example of that. In Psalm 13, David finds himself in the middle of a crisis of belief. “How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?” (Psalm 13:1-2) David is tired of waiting for God to show up. He’s begging for an “answer” and fears that his enemies will rejoice when he “falls” (Psalm 13:3-4).

But…just when we think David is about to quit, things change. Even though he has reasons to call it quits, He makes a fundamental choice: He decides to keep resolutely trusting the Lord’s “unfailing love”  (Psalm 13:5). Trust is not centered around our feelings or our particular circumstances, it is based in the character of God. And even during a crisis of belief, we should continue to trust in who God is, and what He tells us in His word.

Although David isn’t experiencing much goodness in his present, He calls to mind the goodness of God in his past. “I will sing the Lord’s praise, for he has been good to me.” (Psalm 13:6)  The question is will we continue to trust in spite of our circumstances or how we feel at the moment? If you continue to trust you will survive your crisis of unbelief.

So, how about you? Will you choose to continue to trust in spite of how you feel? Will you follow David’s example and survive your crisis of belief?

Discussion Questions:

  1. What is belief in God to you?
  2. Do you have a favorite Bible passage about belief and doubt? What is it and how has it impacted you?
  3. What do you see as the relationship between belief and doubt?

THE ARMOR OF GOD AND PRAYER

” And 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 Lord’s people.” – Ephesians 6:18 (NIV).

Knowing how to pray for the armor of God to be alive and active in your life is critical when you are experiencing spiritual warfare. Prayer brings you into communion and fellowship with God so that His armor can protect you. The armor of God is not just simply a metaphor, it is a necessity to fight the war with the enemy.

We have an enemy that wants to destroy our walk with God. But in Ephesians 6:12 we are told that the devil is not alone in attacking us: “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.” That is why we need the armor of God.

The armor of God includes a belt, breastplate, fitted feet, shield, helmet, and sword. Each is important. Take the sword of the spirit. For Roman soldiers, the sword was their main offensive weapon. The sword for a Christian is the Bible – this is referred to as the Sword of the Spirit. It is called the Sword of the Spirit because we need the help of the Holy Spirit to effectively use this weapon against Satan. The Spirit can help you recall verses when Satan starts to attack, so that you can quickly shut him down.  When you read the Bible, the Spirit can speak to you through the Word.  Additionally, the Spirit can make certain verses stand out to you as you read the Bible. Scripture is very powerful and is alive and active. That is why it’s so important to be in the Bible on a regular basis.

When most people read about the armor of God, they think that it ends with the sword of the Spirit. But look at Ephesians 6:18. It starts with the word  and: “And 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 Lord’s people.” While most people may not think of prayer as being part of their spiritual armor, it is necessary for any Christian. Think about it – it’s through prayer that you can ask God, the God who made the heavens and the earth, to come to our rescue, to send reinforcements, and to help us win the battle that you are in.  Just as the Romans didn’t win every battle, your warfare will have victories and losses too. But prayer and an intimate relationship with God will help you through it all.

We know that God is sovereign. God is above all things and before all things. He is the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. He is present everywhere so that everyone can know Him. God created all things and holds all things together, both in heaven and on earth.  God knows all things past, present, and future. God knows everything completely before it even happens. Nothing is impossible with Him. That being the case, God can help us with every circumstance if we ask Him in prayer.

 Pray that God would give you the power to use the armor of God.

Discussion Questions:

  1. How often do you pray about the armor of God? 
  2. Which one of the pieces of armor or weapons do you need to pay more attention to? Explain?

THE SPIRITUAL REALM

“One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting at the oldest brother’s house, a messenger arrived at Job’s home with this news: “Your oxen were plowing, with the donkeys feeding beside them, when the Sabeans raided us. They stole all the animals and killed all the farmhands. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.” – Job 1:13-15.

We live in the intersection of the two realms. There is the physical or natural realm where day-to-day life takes place. Our five senses help us navigate this natural realm. The other realm is the spiritual realm, which is the most important. We need to realize that both realms interact with one another and influence one another daily. The book of Job helps us some insight into that reality.

In Job 1:13-19, Job gets a string of bad news. One bearer of bad news is still speaking when another shows up, followed by another, and still another. It had to seem the worst day ever. All of Job’s material things are gone. Not only did he lose his livestock, his source of living and income, but he also lost his servants and his children. His life seemed to unravel completely.

If we looked at Job’s situation as part of the physical, natural realm, we would try to comfort him with physical remedies like hiring a financial advisor, a grief counselor, some antidepressants, etc. Those things make sense in the physical world, and that would suffice if we only believed in a physical realm. But Job 1:6-12 enhances our understanding of Job’s situation: What happened to Job was not just a coincidence. It is the interrelationship of the two realms. The two realms are not isolated from each other. Something was going on in the invisible, spiritual realm that affected the visible, physical realm. Satan was at work. Job 1 and 2 tell us that Satan could take Job’s possessions. Satan also affected Job’s health.

The essence of our being is spiritual because we were created by a spiritual God with a spiritual purpose. We are not trying to take our human experiences and add God to them—quite the contrary. In the natural realm, there is very little we can do to change our circumstances, much less our hearts. Unfortunately, we have our flesh to deal with and our enemy’s agenda to destroy God’s purposes in our life. That is why natural weapons won’t work.“Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.” (John 3:6). There is nothing we can do to achieve salvation through natural means. Not religious practice. Not religious accomplishment. Not religious titles. Not religious pedigree. Not the recognition of the community. Humans can’t muster the righteousness or perfection, or power to enter the Kingdom. But God can and does do it by the power of His Holy Spirit.

The outcome of our lives rests completely on the choices we make moment to moment to walk with God or rely on our resources. Our actions will either react in our natural state or respond to the Spirit of God living inside us.

Discussion Questions:

  1. Why do you think most Christians rarely discuss the “spirit realm”? Is it ignorance? Is it fear? Why should we be more aware of the spiritual realm?  

THE ARMOR OF GOD

“Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil.”  – Ephesians 6:11-15.

The armor of God is an important truth to understand and apply. It’s the imagery of a soldier in full armor. Ephesians 6:14-17 describes the 6 pieces of the armor of God. To put on the whole armor means to believe all that Jesus has done and to live it out in daily life. It is living in the power of everything that God has done in every area of life even when there are challenges.

The whole armor is the expression of your full trust in God and what He has done for you through Jesus Christ. Putting on the full armor of God is meant to bring strength, stability, and encouragement so you can receive all that God has for you.

The reason for the whole armor of God is that you need it so you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. The full armor of God is what protects you when you have doubts, fears, and guilt. The way you stand against the accusations of the enemy is to believe what God’s Word says about you instead.

Putting on God’s armor isn’t like dressing in clothes from your closet. There’s no mixing and matching, no switching out for whatever the season may require. Spiritual armor is applied by faith, daily — and the entire letter of Ephesians teaches us how to put it on.

At times, we may fail to put on the armor. We get busy with our own pursuits, and when the struggle sneaks up on us, we try to fight in our own strength. When these fiery darts strike us, we are left wounded and wearied. Our spiritual strength is sapped, desire for prayer dissipates, singing is silenced, shame is stoked, fellowship is avoided, and our taste for temptation increases. The devil does not want you to remember that he was soundly defeated at the cross: Jesus broke Satan’s stranglehold on humanity when He died on the cross.

You are not a victim of this life but a spiritual warrior backed by all the promises of God and have access to amazing spiritual weapons that you can tap into to have victory over the things that trouble you in this life. You will never win this spiritual battle in your own strength. You will only be successful when you draw your strength from the power base, God Himself. There you will find the strength and stamina to “stand firm against all strategies of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11).

Discussion Questions:

  1. What is sobering about the fact that we need armor as Christians?
  2. Read Ephesians 6:13-16: What protective defensive pieces of armor are children of God given in their ongoing struggle with the forces of evil? What offensive weapons are we given in which to wage war?

THIS IS WAR

“Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm”- Ephesians 6:13.

In the Old Testament, there is a whole lot of war and violence very different from what we experience today.  For example, Deuteronomy 20 contains God’s instructions about war. If a city does not accept Israel’s offer of peace and open its gates, then “When the Lord your God hands the town over to you, use your swords to kill every man in the town.” (verse 13). With regard to other cities, the command is (verse 16), “…destroy every living thing.

Ancient society was inherently violent, and because we are being given a truthful account of society, that violence is recounted to us. Few of us are very familiar with battles and the armor worn during Biblical times. Today it is seen only in movies and museums. In Ephesians 6 Paul uses the language of combat in his day because the tension between good and evil is real warfare. Some people today call it spiritual warfare. As Christians, we have a dangerous adversary. Our enemy wants to devour us. Yes, we are at war.

In wartime, everybody is talking about what is going on in the war. People share resources. The war effort touches everybody. We all cut back. We correspond on a regular basis with loved ones in harm’s way. Everybody is alert and focused. Everyone is armed and vigilant the newspapers carry headlines about how the troops are doing. It is hard to consider the spiritual war in the same light as World War 2.  Very few people think that we are now in a war greater than World War II, or that Satan is a much worse enemy than any dictator or terrorist. Or that the conflict is related to several areas, not the entire globe.

Just like a soldier that is on patrol behind enemy lines needs to stay alert, watchful, and always looking for any sign that the enemy is close by, so must Christians be watchful for any sign that Satan is close by, hiding and preparing to pounce on them.  Jesus instructed His disciple to “Watch & Pray”.  The truth is that we need more than just physical eyes to recognize the activities of Satan – we also need spiritual eyes.  Your ability to recognize the activities of the devil will be proportionable to the strength of your prayer life.

We cannot live as if we are defenseless. We cannot allow ourselves to be unaware of Satan’s schemes. We cannot allow fear and anxiety to get the best of us, and we must pray to be strong and courageous. God has just given us directions through His Word on how we should fight and defend ourselves. When Satan has a stronghold, it will not be easy. You will see how Satan can undermine your faith and could possibly put thoughts in your mind that do not honor God.

We simply must create in ourselves and in our churches a wartime mentality. The Bible outlines this battle for us and explains what our mindset should be when it states in Ephesians 6:11-12: “Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.”

Discussion Questions:

  1. Who is our enemy and how does he attack us?
  2. How should we respond to his attacks?