Dealing with the Devil

Family stories I tell now that my sister is in attendance. She will check me on that.

Well, the world is upon the cusp of celebrating another Halloween.

And so I wanted to speak to this whole matter of darkness and how we can deal with these things. I think it's important that we grapple with these things. And so often we speak of the need of belief, how we need to believe that there is a God in heaven and an Almighty God and His power.

But another aspect of belief is to believe that there is absolutely, without question, an adversary, a devil, Satan the devil, and that he is real.

So the title of our study today is Dealing with the Devil. Dealing with the Devil. And I invite you to open your Bibles together to Ephesians chapter 6, the letter of Ephesians chapter 6. And we're going to read in just a moment verses 10 through 13.

Ephesians 6 verses 10 through 13. As you turn there, I'd like to start off our study by asking a question. And the question is this.

What is actually wrong with our world today? What is wrong with our world?

How come it is so unbelievably broken? You know, that's a question that's being asked more and more today. Perhaps these questions are being spurred more as a result of the events of the chaos of the virus pandemic.

And or these questions more and more are coming to fruition as a result of the chaos of the racial unrest in our world. We have been maybe asking these questions more and more ourselves these days. We may have come to church hoping to have a better understanding and clarity to these questions. What is wrong with our world? How do we account for all these atrocities that are happening around the world? Why is it that all of our attempts at unity, unity in the nations, unity in our political system, unity in our homes, our schools, even attempts at unity in our church, why have we failed so much in these unity attempts? Why is there so much chaos and conflict in the world? What is actually wrong with our world? And perhaps the most just as important question, when, if ever, will it end? Well, it'll come as no surprise that God does provide the answer. God reveals in Scripture the answer to these questions. Thankfully, Scripture reveals and enables us to answer and grapple with these questions. As we prepare to read this portion of the Apostle Paul's letter, it's immediately clear in reading this portion and the way Paul finishes his letter to the Ephesian believers of his day, that Paul has been given the answer to these questions because he's been made aware of a great conflict, a great conflict, one in which will give us insight as to why things are the way that they are. So let's read this together. We're going to read these final words to the Church of Ephesus, God's people. Ephesians 6 verses 10 through 13. Paul writes, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Verse 12, For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 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. Let's stop there. So Paul goes on to speak about this specific spiritual armor there. And again, it is obvious that God has given the Apostle Paul understanding. He's given Paul particular insight into this. And what Paul is making clear to the Ephesian Church then, and clear to us today, is that the conflict which is happening here on the ground, the conflict which is happening here on earth, is directly tied to the conflict which is happening in the heavenly realms. Okay? So I'll repeat that. This is the vital truth that we want to acknowledge today. It's the acknowledgement that the conflict which is happening on earth is directly tied to the conflict in the heavenly realms. Okay? Now, as we think about that fact, it actually may ring true to your ears. Because wouldn't you agree that as you view, and as we view these events that are occurring in the world today, that the events have created the impression in us that there's something far more deeper that's occurring here. I wonder if you've thought that. It's the feeling that there's something far more sinister behind all these conflicts and all these horrific events in the world. And we could ask, why is that the case? So let me just answer the question to be crystal clear. What is wrong with our world today? Why all the conflict? The answer, Satan and his demons are the current and temporary rulers of it. They are the current and temporary rulers of our world. And Satan is in fierce opposition to God. And Satan is in fierce opposition to God's people now. And he's in fierce opposition to all of mankind, because all of mankind has the potential to become God's children. It's that clear. Now, this is not something that just springs up with Paul as he writes to the Ephesian church at this time.

Rather, this is a conflict which was announced from the very beginning of the Bible. From the very beginning, all the way back to Genesis. This was announced. This conflict. Let me show you this. If you will, keep your marker here in Ephesians 6, because we're going to come back. But let's turn to Genesis 3, verse 14 and 15. Genesis 3, verse 14 and 15. Let's turn there for a moment. This is a very familiar scripture, but I want you to look at this with fresh eyes. And from the lens as to what's happening today. Genesis 3, we're going to pick up in verse 14. From the very beginning, we're going to see here God announced that of a serpent.

And Satan the devil. God reveals now here in Genesis 3, verse 14 and 15, the origins of this great conflict which we're viewing today. Genesis 3, verse 14. Why are things the way they are? Here's the origin. So the Lord God said to the serpent, that's the devil, Satan the devil, because you have done this, because you have performed this deception in the Garden of Eden, you are cursed more than all cattle and more than every beast of the field. On your belly you shall go and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.

So let's stop there. So God says, I will put enmity. There will be, in other words, there will be immense hostility, immense conflict between you, devil, and the woman. Meaning conflict between the devil and God's people. And even conflict between the devil and mankind, because again, all it's God's wish and will that all have the potential to become God's children.

In the bruising of the heel of the woman's seed, this is a metaphor of Christ and his crucifixion. Satan was allowed to bruise Christ's heel, if you will, through the instigation of the crucifixion. It was a bruise that would soon heal. Death could not hold Christ, of course. He was raised from the grave three days and three nights later. So Satan was destined to harm the Savior through the instigation of the crucifixion, but the devil could not prevent Jesus Christ from being raised back to life and cannot prevent Jesus Christ from ultimately having victory, of course. But until that final victory of Jesus Christ over Satan, there is absolutely enmity. There's immense hostility here on earth, perpetrated, originating from Satan and his demons. You see this fact throughout Scripture. One reference. We won't turn there, but 1 Peter 5.8, a very famous well-known scripture, 1 Peter 5.8, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. So Satan the devil is pictured walking to and fro the earth, and he's seeking whom he may devour. And so, as a result of this adversary in his work, all conflict in the world can be ultimately traced back to that one root. That one root.

Now, you're not going to get this in the evening news. I'll just tell you that. I don't think I've ever heard anyone on the television or even put it in print from the news network. Well, you know, there's no surprise that we have all this conflict, Jim, happening on the streets, because after all, we exist with conflict in the heavenly realms. You're not going to hear that on a newscast. Or, you know, the newscaster saying, in these times of great conflict today, understanding what the Bible declares about the history of man, the newscaster says, we understand that there's a great cosmic battle that's ensuing in a realm that we actually cannot see.

More news at 10. You're not going to hear that. Why? Well, by and large, in more and more today, people live in the now. They live solely in the physical realm. They live in that realm solely that is seeable or observable, tangible. But the Bible challenges us to not only live in that realm. And the Apostle Paul challenges us with the notion that there's nothing beyond this physical realm. Back to Ephesians 6, if you will, we see the truth revealed here about this conflict. Ephesians 6, that our fight, Paul says, is not against a physical enemy. Rather, it's against these organizations, these powers, and they are spiritual. Again, Ephesians 6, verses 11 and 12, put on the whole armor of God to be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. And verse 12, here it is, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood.

Period. Get that. Rather, we wrestle against principalities, powers, rulers of darkness of this age, spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Philip's commentary puts it this way. We are up against the unseen power that controls this dark world, spiritual agents from the headquarters of evil. Spiritual agents from the headquarters of evil. So today, we're going to have to decide whether we believe this or not.

It's to realize that the conflict of the world, which is in opposition to God and which is in opposition to His people, this conflict that we see, it's not merely as a result of mere political bumblings or political ineptitudes. It's not just a conflict on the part of simply misinformed people or careless people. Rather, all of it, all of the conflict and all of the atrocities can be traceable to the fact that within the corridors of power, within the governments of the world, there are dark and sinister unseen forces that are at work. It is that people, the very people who are making these decisions, wittingly or unwittingly, may be the very agents or pawns of these very things.

Now that might sound so bizarre, doesn't it? It just sounds so bizarre, but it's the truth. It's the truth of the Bible. And if we were ever to pull back the curtain, as it were, to have this whole spiritual world, this whole spiritual realm come into our view, it would expose a struggle so intense, so convulsive, so sweeping, everything in its range that the fierce battle ever fought on the earth would seem by comparison a mere game. How do we know that? Well, in fact, there was a moment. There are several moments in which God does pull back the curtain for us in Scripture and allows us to just have a small view of this cosmic warfare. And we know of a particular remarkable moment that he pulled back the curtain for Daniel. And it shook Daniel to his core. Keep your marker here again in Ephesians 6. But let's just turn for a moment. I want to show you this moment to Daniel chapter 10, beginning in verse 10.

Daniel chapter 10 and verse 10. I think here this moment with Daniel is so remarkable and so revealing to us of this unseen cosmic battle which is occurring maybe the most remarkable in all of the Bible just to get a glimpse behind the curtain, if you will. Let me just set the scene here for a moment as you turn there. Daniel 10 verse 10. An angel is dispatched from God to Daniel. And very likely this this angel is Gabriel. Gabriel was a great helper of mankind, has always been.

But remarkably, the angel is held up by a demon and held up before he's able to get to Daniel. Look at this. This is awesome. It's remarkable. Daniel 10 verse 10. Suddenly, Daniel says, A hand touched me, which made me tremble on my knees and on the palms of my hands. So this is the posture Daniel's in. And he said to me, Oh Daniel, man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak to you and stand upright, for I have been sent to you.

While he was speaking this word to me, I stood trembling. Verse 12. Then he, the angel, said to me, Do not fear Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come because of your words. But, verse 13, the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days. And behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I have been left alone there with the kings of Persia.

Now I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision refers to many days yet to come. So the angel was able to deliver this message and Daniel goes on to fall on the ground speechless there. So again, perhaps likely, Gabriel is dispatched to Daniel from God and he's held up. A dispatched angel from God is held up. Verse 13 again, held up by the prince of the kingdom of Persia. You know, these words, they, no physical prince can stand up to these words. This is much greater than a physical prince here, of course. This prince of Persia is evidently a spirit ruler, a dark spirit ruler, perhaps over these empires. Under the chief of all demons, make no doubt, Satan the devil himself.

So the angel of God says, he, this demon, withstood me 21 days until Michael, the archangel of God, came and released me from his grips so that Daniel I could come and deliver this message to you.

Incredible. Incredible.

So where is the real conflict being waged?

Our earthly struggles are a representation of all the unseen spiritual struggles that are around us. It's that clear. Are all of our earthly struggles merely a representation of the unseen spiritual struggles that are, that's occurring all around us? The most powerful forces in the world are unseen forces. But mankind, by and large, live their lives completely unaware to these spiritual battles that are ensuing in the heavenly realms. We can't be unaware of this. We have to understand that these conflicts on the earth are emblematic of the spiritual conflicts that have been happening since the beginning. We had the announcement there in Genesis, of course. We have to believe that there is a devil and he's a great adversary. We will be in conflict with him as we follow Christ until the day that his evil reign is done. One of the questions we asked at the beginning, how long will this conflict last? Well, the return of Jesus Christ, we know on that day, Satan and his minions, his demons, will be put away. In fact, I just want to show you this. We need to have this understanding, so keep your marker here. But let's turn to Revelation 20 verse 1.

When will all of this come to an end? When will the conflict come to an end? Will it come to an end in this next political cycle, depending on who is elected?

Now, ultimately, it will not come to an end until Revelation 20 verse 1 through 3 occurs when the great adversary, the one who originated this conflict, is put away. Revelation 20 verse 1, Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven. Perhaps Michael, he's a very powerful angel of God. Having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand, he laid a hold of that dragon, that serpent of old. We read about the serpent in Genesis, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. Cast him into the bottomless pit, shut him up, set a seal on him, that he should not deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished.

But after these things, he must be released for a little while.

So let's stop there. So immediately following Christ's return, the devil will be bound by God's angel here. So make no doubt, this is the reality. Satan's evil reign will come to an end. The devil and his demons will be bound. The originator of this conflict will be put away, out of the picture. And so the purpose of our study today is to simply bring us to this whole matter of dealing with the devil and to bring us to this whole matter of spiritual warfare.

And so in turning back to Ephesians 6, if you'll turn back with me there, Ephesians 6 verse 10, the apostle Paul, as he's writing this last part of his letter, he says to them, this is his purpose in finishing the letter in this way. And in bringing their minds to this great adversary, these unseen forces, he says to them, Ephesians 6 verse 10, I want you to be strong by your own devices. I want you to be strong by what you can muster. No. He says, I want you to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his God's might. His might. Do we have the power to stand up to these unseen forces? No. But we have access to the power of his might through the power of his Holy Spirit. So he wants to introduce them to this great enemy. He identifies the enemy as the devil. We're introduced into the sphere of where this struggle takes place. It's not against flesh and blood. So if we make the mistake of thinking that our opponents are human beings, when we make that mistake, we can spend a tremendous amount of time engaged in fighting the wrong foe, if you will. So we understand the struggle is against spiritual rulers, authorities, powers of a dark world in the heavenly realms. Now, as a side note, some commentaries take great links to suggest that there are four tiers of dark spiritual opponents. If you notice verse 12, some commentators say these are the four tiers. Verse 12, we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against, they'll say, number one, principalities. That's one tier of spiritual darkness. Against powers, there's two, rulers of darkness. That's a third dark spiritual opponent of this age. And against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places. So four dark spiritual opponents, maybe. I'm more inclined to the view that Paul is just simply doing what he always does. We've experienced this in the in the letter of Ephesians. Paul will just heap one phrase upon another phrase just to make a point. You know, he does that. He's identifying one central factor that we have an enemy and the sphere of struggle is in the spiritual realm, ultimately. It's cosmic. It's unseen. It's all embracing. It's unavoidable.

There is a devil. He's an evil one. We understand the fact of his existence. So Paul, you'll notice, doesn't argue for the existence of this devil, of this dark spiritual force. He doesn't argue for the existence of it. He assumes the existence of it here.

And I think he assumes it and doesn't go into a great apology, apologetic, on the existence of an evil one because I think he knew who he was writing to. There was no doubt that those of God's people in Ephesus, they absolutely knew there was a Satan the devil and his demons. There was no lack of understanding of the Ephesians experience at that time. And I'll show you why that's the case. If you'll keep your marker here, turn over to Acts 19. I just want to share with you a moment that occurred between man and a dark force, a demon. I want to share with you this occurrence. It's found in Acts 19 beginning in verse 11.

This just makes it clear that those in Ephesus knew about this whole cosmic spiritual struggle. And we're going to pick up here, Acts 19 and verse 11. God had been doing an incredible work through Paul to give Paul the ability to have power over these evil spirits. Acts 19 verse 11 and 12.

Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul. So God did this through Paul. Verse 12. So that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them, and the evil spirits went out of them. For those who received these cloths or these aprons, the diseases went out and the evil spirits went out.

So enabled by God, Paul was used in this way in Ephesus to remove evil spirits. So continuing here, I want to show you what happens here. There were some Jews that were intrigued by this that Paul was doing, and they tried to do the same thing. Verse 13. And some of the Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to do as Paul was doing, to call upon the name of the Lord over those who had evil spirits, saying, this is what these Jewish exorcists would say, we exercise you, demon, by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.

Also, there were seven sons of Siva, a Jewish chief priest who did so also. So let's stop there. So there were those who were looking to mimic what Paul was doing, calling upon the name Jesus, the Lord Jesus, and also among this group were seven sons of Siva, the sons of a Jewish chief priest. So they tried to evoke the name of the Lord over these demons. Verse 15. Look at this. Verse 15. And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus, I know, and Paul, I know, but who are you?

So the evil spirit called their bluff. Verse 16. Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of the house, naked, and wounded. Let's stop there. So they're in Ephesus. They're watching this whole scene. You know, they had seen what God did through Paul, and now they're seeing what's occurring here, those who weren't authorized to do this. The Ephesians didn't need Paul then to convince them of the reality of this dark demonic activity, or the reality of spiritual warfare, or the reality of satanic or spiritual wickedness.

The very fact that seven guys from Siva running out of the house without their clothes on all bashed up and beaten and bleeding, everyone would have said, did you know about the seven sons of Siva and what happened to them? So Paul had no difficulty talking and writing to Ephesus about dark unseen forces. They understood it clearly. So much so, look at verse 17 and 18. Look at this impact of this scene.

Verse 17 and 18. This event, this became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus, and fear fell on them all. In the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified, and many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds. So the seven sons of Siva got their beating and it began to bring people to God. And look what happens here. They brought up, it made a dramatic impact on the sorcery world at that time. Verse 19. Also, verse 19, many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all.

And they counted up the value of them, of all that was burned, and it totaled 50,000 pieces of silver. So a silver coin in that day, from the research I could tell, was about a day's wage. So this is 50,000 days wages. That is a lot of satanic activity in Ephesus. All this stuff is going on, and such a vast amount of people who were needing the light of the gospel. And a great impact was made. Verse 20, look at this, verse 20.

So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed. So back in Ephesians 6, if you want to turn back there, when Paul is writing to the Ephesians and he says, now I want you to be strong in the Lord and be strong in His mighty power, you would have heard a collective amen, you know, after seeing these guys come up against one demon that had left out and leapt upon them.

They knew firsthand. They were no match for these unseen forces. And when Paul goes on to say then, let me tell you about the armor you need to put on. And it's not the armor that you're thinking of. It's a spiritual armor. They were listening. They were listening.

And we're not even going to explore these different implements of armor today. Our task today is simply to acknowledge there's a great enemy. And by acknowledging it, truly acknowledging that there's a devil and he's an enemy of ours. It might be the most important step of the process. I can stand up here all day and talk about the benefits of spiritual armor. But if you're not convinced that you need it, that's not a profitable exercise, is it?

We have to know the battle that's at hand. The struggle that the Ephesians were facing, the struggles that we're facing, it's in the demonic realm. So we have to believe this.

Can't be unbelieving in any way. We can't need convincing. We can't sit here and think, well, I'm just not sure, you know. The Ephesian believer had no doubt. They didn't have to be convinced of this reality. And I wonder about my own heart and my own belief, you know, truly believing that there is a great adversary. And we can we can wonder about ourselves as a church. Do we truly believe this?

I say this to myself, but if we truly believed this was the battle, if we truly believed this is what we're up against, then we could relax about November in this whole political struggle. Couldn't we? We could gather ourselves and prepare ourselves for the real battle.

See, so this belief is an important one because it changes how you prepare. It changes your perspective. It changes your outlook. In many ways, it's relieving. It relieves a burden, but in many ways, it's convicting. It convicts us to to be wearing the right armor in all of this.

We as a church need to believe this. Imagine if you would, if the whole world believes this. Let's just take that thought for a moment. What if the whole world believed what Paul is putting forth here? Imagine we could take some of the multi-million dollars that is spent on this whole political process. Just think of the good that we could use with that money. Imagine taking the multi-millions and using it on the poor, on the downtrodden, on the handicapped, those in need.

Imagine spending multi-millions to create a better world than to try to create a different America that we want to live in in the next four years only. It's the view of the world, but the church cannot find itself preoccupied with those other things and to somehow believe that that is the battle. Paul is saying that's not the battle. We're not actually up against human beings. We're up against powerful, cunning, unseen forces in a demonic realm. The struggle is against Satan the devil and his evil. These spiritual agents, these dark spiritual agents, they hate the light. They have no honor code. They have no moral principles. They have no higher feelings. They're utterly ruthless and devoted to the pursuit of malicious designs.

You know, why do we have the dreadful Holocaust of abortion? Why is there even a debate on that?

What about our embracing of pornography and filth and degradation of the culture?

What is all that about? What's wrong with the world?

Well, we have a prince of the power of darkness, Satan the devil.

You know, I'm a very optimistic person. And in my heart of hearts, I think, boy, we could just sit down and reason. Even with those who don't have a belief in a higher power, certainly we could at least come to some reasonable compromise here together. Surely there's a leader that could bring about change in that way. You see, so much of the conflict that we see, it's unreasonable.

There are no moral principles to even come to an agreement on. The end goal is chaos and conflict, you see. And that's what we're seeing today. And so much of society is either widdly or unwittingly subjects of the prince of the power of darkness and his influence. We look around at those who have been raised up to influence and make decisions in our culture. They are those, and there are those who are infiltrated, mobilized, and enabled by these spiritual forces, agents from the very headquarters of evil.

And they're unreasonable. Now, I look at the world and I just think, wow, there's just something else here that just doesn't... And I know that's the Holy Spirit pricking my conscience to be sensitive.

To darkness. I know you've probably felt the same way. But there is no honor code with this influence. It's why it's impossible to talk about right and wrong or any idea of morality. There are no moral principles. They will not listen. They have no higher feelings.

And the church lives in this world. And Jesus says, I don't pray to the Father that you take them out of the world.

But in an interesting phrase, in a sense, Jesus Christ says, I pray that you keep them right in the middle of the conflict. Keep them right there. But then he says, but Father, I pray that you keep them from the evil one. And that's the key. I pray that you keep them from the evil one. We're supposed to be living here. We're supposed to be right in the middle of it all. I'm excited that we have young people that are going to college and they're working to get into influential places in society. We have teachers. We have leaders in all different areas of society.

And we need to be there. We need to be right in the middle of the cosmic warfare so that we can make significant differences for the cause of Jesus Christ.

So at the end of verse 11, here in Ephesians 6, Paul says, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against man. No, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. And there's craftiness happening. He will present himself as an angel of light. But don't get caught. Don't be fooled. He works through cunning and craftiness of man.

There's trickery of man, deceitful plotting. We can't be taken by people who are being influenced in this way. We are to be people who are alert and understand the schemes and the dialogues of our day. That's why you will hear me almost constantly talk about we've got to be countercultural in our thinking. We've got to be different than that world that's around us. That's how we're going to make this impact. As we are shining that light, we're going to make the impact like we saw in Acts there.

That's the impact we're going to be making when this dark world comes against those who are fighting for Jesus Christ. This is the purpose of Paul in this teaching. He wants us to stand and to be strong against the wiles of the devil. As we work to a conclusion here, I just want you to point out that this is Paul's purpose and our purpose in this study today. Ephesians 6 verse 4, you'll see this repeated phrase begin here. Ephesians 6 verse 4, Paul says, Stand therefore. Don't be wobbly Christians. We have to learn to deal with the devil, and it starts with acknowledging the belief in him when knowing what the Bible says about him and having a close relationship with God. Ephesians 6 verse 13, again in the middle, it says that you may be able to withstand the evil day and having done all to stand.

Verse 14 again, Stand therefore, he says. So this is his point in this whole study. I want you to be strong, and we can only be strong when we understand what we're up against. So can I ask you this afternoon, are we standing firm with this understanding?

Do you acknowledge today that our battle is not against flesh and blood?

And the actual battle is a spiritual battle. So what physical struggle are you going through today? What physical challenge? What physical conflict that is seemingly conquering you?

I want you to think of that right now, that struggle, and I want you to acknowledge today that it is not a physical battle. So therefore, victory will not ultimately come through physical strength or physical techniques. Okay? That's the key. Man, when I'm struggling with something and it's just got me all messed up inside and I can't sleep and whatever it is, I realize, you know what? I haven't truly brought this to God. I'm trying to fight this myself. I can't win. I can't win. And when I finally then acknowledge what the battle is truly about, then the whole conflict begins to change in its nature. And all of a sudden, I begin to bring it to God and I ask Him, how can I change in this situation? How can I be alight? How can I... I'm trying to cast out this struggle and I'm not bringing you with me, Father. So it's not working. We can only cast out these things if God's with us. We saw that.

So we got to bring God with us or else we won't have ultimate victory. The battle belongs to the Lord. We live today in a spiritual war zone. It's going to take all that we have individually and together. If God were to pull back the corner of the curtain and show us what's going on in the city of Knoxville today, it would drive us to our knees in a new way.

So let's pray that God show us, mercifully and tenderly, what is actually happening. He let us know in our hearts that we know what we're actually dealing with and we're dealing with the devil. And have it not drive us to fear, but have us drive us to the techniques to ensure victory in the warfare.

Ultimately, it's against powerful, evil, cunning forces. So let's thank God today for his protection.

Thank him for having the ability to overcome. And I'll finish the way Paul finishes here. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.