Priscilla Shirer and Tony Evans share inspiring messages about being prepared to overcome our darkest days by living out God’s Word everyday! Watch more Tony Evans sermons on the TBN app: https://watch.tbn.org/c/sns/nuAP76vZ
This video was brought to you by TBN Networks®. SUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/c/TBN/feature… For nearly 50 years the mission of the Trinity Broadcasting Network has remained unchanged: To use every available means to reach as many individuals and families as possible with the life-changing Gospel of Jesus Christ. Launched in 1973 by Christian television pioneers Paul and Jan Crouch, TBN began as one low-power television station broadcasting a few hours of Christian programming each day to viewers throughout the Los Angeles area. In the years since, TBN has grown into a family of over thirty twenty-four hour global networks reaching every inhabited continent with entertaining, inspirational, and life-changing programming for every family member and demographic. TBN began as a dream to “build a Christian television network that spans the whole world.” Today that dream is reality…and still expanding! #tbn #priscillashirer #tonyevans 00:00 Intro 00:27 The Enemy is Afraid 01:57 Know Your Potential 03:55 The Hope of Your Calling 06:57 Step Up to the Plate 08:34 Spiritual Warfare 11:18 Know Your Enemy 15:53 Schemes of the Devil 17:16 The Armor of God 19:54 The Evil Day 22:45 A Heavenly Lens 24:34 Stand Firm 27:25 Dressed for Battle 30:47 Pray Without Ceasing 31:58 The Answer to Demons 33:43 Operating in the Spirit
anything
natural cannot take care of the
supernatural when your problem is unseen
and spiritual you need weapons that work
in that realm when you’re under the fire
of suffering you do not run away from
God when you are in the evil day you
have to run to God when you’re in the
midst of the evil
day it’s amazing really how your
countenance changes when you really
overhear and understand what the enemy
thinks about you when he sees you coming
it doesn’t mean that the challenge goes
away it means that in the face of it
you’re different your stance is
different because you recognize that
when the enemy sees a daughter or a son
of God coming his way he’s shaking in
his boots not because of you but because
of the holy spirit of God that lives on
the inside of
you I came to tell tell somebody today
that even if you don’t believe what it
is that the word of God declares to be
true about you you need to know that the
enemy does he knows that every single
thing that God’s word declares to be
true about you every word that has been
declared over you in these last few days
of this conference even if you’re not
convinced about it the enemy is he knows
that you have been forgiven he knows
that there is therefore now no
condemnation for those of us who are in
Christ Jesus he knows that you have been
given the victory he knows that you have
been made competent by the spirit of God
he knows that there is therefore now no
condemnation for you or for me no shame
no guilt he knows that you have not been
given a spirit of fear but a power and
love and of a sound mind and y’all he
knows that in the end we
win and I’m saying what a shamed it
would
be for the enemy to believe more about
your potential than you
do what a shamed it would be for us to
go out of here with all of this
inspiration that we have been given this
investment of God’s word that he has
gathered us together over the course of
these days to Worship in spirit and in
truth and to hear his word declared true
over our lives what a tragedy it would
be for us to walk out of here and still
live like we were before we came through
these
doors so what the enemy will do is
scatter challenge in front of your life
cuz listen you going back home to
challenge y’all do know we going back
home in a little while right and don’t
we wish we could wake up to this every
single day don’t we wish that we could
have God’s word spoken over our lives
with this much Authority and power every
single day and be in the presence of
leaders who can lead us into the
presence of God and work worship every
single day like this but the reality is
we going back home the challenges of
your University campus the challenges of
your home your relationships your
friendships on your job those challenges
will be sprawled out in front of you
when you get home and let me tell you
something what the enemy hopes is that
the sight of them will cause you to
shrink back in so much fear and
insecurity that you’ll never step up to
the plate of being who God has called
you to be listen if you’ve placed faith
in Jesus Christ I hope you know that the
enemy understands he cannot destroy you
he knows his chances are over of
destroying you so he is going to spend
the rest of his time and the rest of his
energy just trying to discourage you
trying to distract you so that you’ll
shrink back in fear and insecurity and
not step up to the plate and be who God
has called you to
be it is at least in part to this end
that the Apostle Paul gives us a a
passage of scripture that has become a
Lifeline for
me in fact I was talking with uh
Christine yesterday Chris and I have
known each other for a very long time
very close friends and she was asking me
what I was going to speak on and I had
several thoughts of directions that I
was uh leaning toward but in the end we
as we were talking the question came up
if there was only one thing you could
say to them if there’s only one message
that you ever have the
opportunity to tell these students these
young people that will be gathered
together on this occasion what would
that message be and there was one thing
that immediately popped into my heart
and my mind for you at the end of this
year’s passion passion
conference it’s the words of the Apostle
Paul he writes them in the book of
Ephesians listen let me just tell you
quickly before I read this passage you
got if you if you’ve not read the book
of Ephesians you’re gonna have to read
the book of
Ephesians y’all listen it’s it’s like
for
real the Apostle Paul y’all know he was
a bad boy he gave us most of what would
become the New Testament letters written
to first century Believers that now
disciple us and help us to mature as
Believers and as the body of Christ and
Scholars say that of all of Paul’s
writing really the cream of the crop the
cherry on top of the cake is Ephesians
because in the book of Ephesians y’all
he just spends the first half of the
book just rehearsing who you are as a
daughter or a son he wants to make sure
you step up to the plate rise to the
occasion of who you’ve been recreated in
Christ to become those of you who place
faith in Jesus Christ last night who
stood to your feet at the end of Pastor
Louis’s message and you plac faith in
Jesus listen the old has gone and the
new has come you’re a daughter you a son
and you have full rights and privil es
that have been granted to you the
Apostle Paul wants you to know what is
the hope of his calling and choosing you
he writes in the first and second and
third chapter about the treasure that
you have he wants you to know about the
mercy that has been lavished upon you
the grace that has been given to you he
wants you to know that if you’ve been
rejected by everybody else you’ve been
handpicked Chosen and adopted by the one
true God he wants you to know that if
you’ve dug a pit of sin for yourself
that is so deep you can’t find your way
out of it that the mercy of God is so
great and so Grand that it can reach
down into any pit and snatch you up out
of it once and for all in fact Paul gets
so worked up that by the time he gets to
the middle of the first chapter he
bursts out in a prayer and he says I’m
praying that the eyes of your heart
would be open so that you would just
know what is the hope of his calling and
choosing
you and after going over and over and on
and on about the lavishness the richness
the grace the mercy the goodness the
adoption that has been poured out over
us the Forgiveness that has been granted
to us he’s trying to figure out how do I
close this letter to make sure they step
up to the plate how do I put an
exclamation point on passion 2018 to
make sure that what God has given them
they don’t hand over to the enemy as
soon as they walk out the
door and the Apostle Paul writes these
words to us in Ephesians chapter 6
beginning in verse
10 he says
finally you be strong in the Lord and in
the strength of his might he says put on
the full armor of God so that you may be
able to stand firm against the schemes
somebody say schemes against the schemes
of the devil he says we wrestle not we
struggle not against flesh and blood but
against the rulers against the powers
against the world forces of this
Darkness against the spiritual forces of
wickedness that are in the Heavenly
places he says so therefore you might as
well just go ahead and put down all the
weapons of this world that aren’t
working for you anyway and take up some
weapons that actually have some power he
says take up the full armor of God so
that you may be able to resist in the
evil day and having done everything to
stand firm he says you ought to just
stand firm therefore in these few verses
of scripture the Apostle Paul begins to
introduce to us a concept that has not
been at least in the context uh thus far
in church uh development at that time
had not been as overtly described as it
is right now in Paul’s letter he brings
up the topic of spiritual
warfare he says you haven’t an enemy he
says I want to make sure that it’s loud
and clear there are other places in the
Old Testament and throughout throughout
the new y’all where we can infer that we
have a spiritual unseen battle going on
but this is the first time that an
author comes right out and says you have
an enemy and he is scheming against you
that when you leave this place in just a
little while when I leave this place in
just a little while you need to know
that there is an enemy he is against you
you he is not for you he plans to do
anything and everything in his power to
stir up challenge in your life enough to
cause you to shrink back and not rise up
and stand firm in the victory that you
have been given in Christ Jesus that’s
why the Apostle Paul says stand
firm because you have an enemy an enemy
that wants you to think that just
because he is invisible he is also
fictional he wants to be chocked up to
nothing nothing more than a caricature a
cartoon picture a myth a a character for
a kid’s nursery rhyme he doesn’t want
you to recognize the influence that he
has over your life possibly to to cause
you to never walk into the full
expression of God’s grace and goodness
in your life he is Sinister he is a
master Illusionist and he is a deceiver
and he hopes to cleverly disguise
himself behind life’s most pressing
problems to where you forget he is even
there he wants you to point fingers at
him or at her at your boss at your
parent at that particular Professor or
your RA in your dorm he wants you to
think it’s that advisor or it’s that
financial problem anything Flesh and
Blood because he knows as long as we’re
looking at the Flesh and Blood we will
direct all the wrong weapons at the
wrong culprit we’ll think our money will
work we’ll think our rationale and logic
will actually work we think that the
diploma we’re about to to achieve and
receive we’ll think the diploma will be
wor worth it we’ll think that the
connections will work anything
natural cannot take care of the
supernatural when your problem is unseen
and spiritual you need weapons that work
in that
realm so the Apostle Paul says you got
to know first of all that your enemy is
not the person you are sitting next to
today that your enemy is not your parent
at home your enemy is not that Professor
that is difficult to work with your real
enemy is not your boss on your part-time
job your real enemy is unseen he is
hoping y’all that we will forget he’s
there he is the master deceiver so
there’s a little church around the
corner from my house in Dallas I’ve been
taking my kids there since they were
little uh to Harvest Festival that’s
basically this Church’s answer to
Halloween so we will go there for
Harvest Festival and this church has a
good oldfashioned trunker treat does
anybody know what I mean when I say
trunker
treat okay all right so Trunk or Treat
for those of you who are not clear on
what that is that’s when members of the
congregation volunteer they volunteer to
bring their cars into the parking lot on
Harvest Festival night so that they can
open up the trunk of their car so you go
into the parking lot all the trunks are
open and each person has basically
crafted a carnival game or some sort of
fair game out of the trunk of the car so
kids line up one trunk after the other
they play whatever the game is and then
most of the time whether they win or
lose the person that owns that car gives
them a whole bunch of candy and sends
them home we’re always so
grateful so we stand in line one car
after the other waiting on bags of candy
and we play one game after the other a
few years
ago the biggest line the longest line at
the carnival wasn’t behind the a car it
was behind the bed of a truck it was
really clever a huge truck had been uh
parked in the parking lot and they’d put
a step ladder right at the bed of the
truck so that a kid could walk into the
bed of the truck they had attached a
tabletop which was about the same size
as the bed of the truck they had
attached it to the side of the truck cut
six holes into it put some fabric some
drapery over it and out from those holes
every few seconds a puppet would pop
through they gave the kid a huge plastic
Mallet and the job of the kid was to run
up and down the inside of the bed of the
truck CU he tried to hit the puppets on
top of the head it was a homemade
whack-a-mole game is what it was and it
was the longest line me and Jude at the
time he was like four Jude is my
youngest me and Jude are standing in
line we’re waiting on our turn behind us
there’s another kid he’s with his his
mom he’s probably four or five as well
and y’all he was hysterical because he
was annoyed at this whole situation and
he was making sure she knew it he was
first of all annoyed cuz Mom I don’t
understand why I got to stand in this
long line didn’t we come to the carnival
to have fun this ain’t fun standing in
line ain’t fun I have an idea mom how
about this how about I go play all these
other games while you stand in line and
hold our place and then when it’s our
turn I’ll come back and join you in
line but he was not only annoyed about
the line the four-year-old was also
annoyed because Mom I don’t even
understand this game why in the world
would I waste all my energy running up
and down the inside of that truck to hit
the puppets on the top of the head if
when I hit them on the head they’re
going to disappear but then they’re just
going to come back as soon as I hit them
on the head what’s the point of this
game so everybody in the line is
laughing hysterically because this
four-year-old this 5-year-old is talking
so much about all of his
frustrations finally he gets so
frustrated that he works himself into a
frenzy to where all I saw out of my
peripheral vision was a four-year-old
flash running past me as he ran forward
and he grabbed the drapery off of the
tabletop and pulled it clean off
underneath there were three adults with
puppets on each
hand
that day we all got a good laugh but we
also got a good
lesson there is always something you
can’t see influencing what you can and
if you spend all of your time your
energy your effort trying to hit at what
you see popping up in your life you’re
going to be so frustrated and by the way
exhausted because as soon as you take
care of one thing another one is coming
back unless you do what the Apostle Paul
says pull back the curtain and let the
enemy me know we got our eyes on
you and we’re going to use some weapons
that actually work back there behind the
curtain y’all I wish I had learned this
when I was 18 19 20 21 years old that
that person that physical problem is
really where you need to invest your
energy pull back the curtain use the
weapons that actually have
power the Apostle Paul wants you to know
that the tactics of the enemy are
serious business and so so he uses a
specific word to describe them he says
schemes listen to me he knows your
weaknesses he knows how to dangle what
carrot at the right time in the right
way to make sure you are snagged in
particular have you ever wondered or
found curious that that particular
carrot is always dangled in front of you
when you are most tired when you are
most vulnerable when you happen to be
most
hungry most alone most weak that
particular carrot the one that wouldn’t
mess with your friend cuz it’s not her
deal it’s not his deal he’s not enticed
by that but the one that entices you
always shows up at the right time y’all
that’s not coincidence that’s a
scheme that’s right the enemy is trying
to derail you he’s trying to make sure
that you don’t walk in a manner worthy
pleasing of the Lord that you come in
here but that you don’t go out of here
the the purpose to live for the glory of
God he’s trying to trip you up not only
for his own benefit but because he does
not want you having access to everything
that you are privy to as a rightful heir
to the King of Kings and the Lord of
lords it’s a
scheme so if he’s got tactics we need
tactics the Apostle Paul outlines them
for us I’m just going to read them to
you because he says in verse 13 you need
the full armor and here’s what they are
verse 14 he says make sure that your
loins are girded with truth then he says
you need a breastplate and the
breastplate is called righteousness and
then he says in verse 15 you got to have
something for your feet if you want any
hope of being able to move forward
successfully so your feet need to be
shaw with the preparation of the gospel
of peace and then not only that but he
says there are some flaming missiles of
the evil one that he fully intends to
send sailing into your path you going to
need a shield and The Shield is your
faith and then you know there are lies
there are strongholds that he’s going to
try to erect in your mind you’re going
to need something to protect your mind
he says you need a helmet and the helmet
is your salvation but not only that he
says that you are going to need a sword
really a dagger of the spirit it was
about 18 Ines long or so the one the
Apostle Paul is referring to you need a
dagger so that when the enemy is all up
in your space you’ve got something close
at hand to make sure that he stays at
Bay you need a dagger of the spirit and
the dagger is called the
what the word of God but y’all he
doesn’t stop at those six can I just say
that there is one more in 18 verse 18
traditionally it’s taught as six I
really believe there are seven pieces of
armor because in verse 18 He says
pray he says
pray
not like you know a prayer a day to keep
the devil
away not like a prayer over your meal
just cuz that’s what your mama did and
your Grandmama did and that’s what
you’re supposed to
do not something quick and
Casual
fervent prioritized
prayer y’all you can’t have Victory if
you don’t
pray do you hear what I’m saying to you
prayer is the key that unlocks the
resources of heaven so that they can be
Unleashed on planet Earth prayer is the
key he’s actually giv you to get all the
good stuff down here cuz I don’t know
about you but I don’t want to wait to
get to heaven to experience all that God
has for me any Bits of Heaven he plans
to give me on Earth I want it right now
prayer accesses the Bits of Heaven he
intends to give you now when you’ve
lived long enough you’ve come to realize
that that life is not always
easy and while we cherish those times of
fun and frivolity and play and
excitement we dread those times of pain
and anguish and
struggle someone has said that life can
be described as being
Bittersweet it has those sweet moments
that we cherish and
embrace and those bitter moments that
bring us to tears hurt and
pain Paul is
writing and he concludes his treaties to
the church at
Ephesus to talk to them about the
battleground of
life we call it spiritual
warfare but he’s not just talking about
any kind of battle he describes this one
specifically by calling it The Evil day
the evil
day the evil day is when all hell breaks
loose on
you the evil day is when you are
overwhelmed yes life has its normal ups
and downs but that’s not what he’s
talking about here he’s talking about
when you are under major
attack when your world is being
shattered your dreams are being
destroyed your hopes are being dimmed
and where you look out and all you see
is the light of an oncoming train he
calls that the evil day the day when
hell is after you and your name has come
up he says when that day comes when that
period of time when you’re under major
assault comes he says I want you to
understand how to how to approach this
because he says on that day you’re going
to need the strength of the Lord verse
10 normal stuff is not going to work and
playing Church show enough won’t work he
says on that day you’re going to need
the Supernatural and so he goes into
these verses leading up to the subject
of prayer to tell us how to approach
this time in your life in my life now I
want to make sure that I’m not wasting
my time on this sermon so is anybody
here know what I’m talking about when I
talk about an evil
day an evil day when you’re under
massive spiritual
assault well let me remind
you that everything visible and physical
is preceded by that which is invisible
and spiritual everything visible and
physical is is preceded by that which is
invisible and
spiritual so Paul wants you to know if
you want to address in the time of your
attack the visible and physical you need
to do it from the perspective of the
invisible and
spiritual he gives you the term that he
uses throughout the book of Ephesians of
heavenly places Heavenly places means
the spiritual realm and what he’s saying
is that when you are under
assault when your life is being
shattered you’re trying to be in the
will of God you’re trying to walk with
God but you’re being attacked your
well-being is being attacked your dreams
are being attacked your health is being
attacked your stability is being
attacked your resources are being
attacked your future is being attacked
you are just under assault he says
during those times you have to view
things from the location of Heavenly
places or the spiritual realm if you’re
going to be strong to walk through work
through the times of those attacks and
he wants to
set the plan in place for how you going
to make it through the evil day for
those of you who’ve not yet been to the
evil day keep living it’s
coming when you’re under assault
and your stability your
world is being shaken he says during
those times three times he says I want
you to stand firm stand
firm stand firm don’t quit don’t quit
don’t quit because the Temptation is
easily to throw in the towel when your
world is collapsing right in front of
your eyes he says the first thing I want
you to understand is that you wrestle
not against flesh and
blood in other words people aren’t the
source of your problem they may be the
conduit for your problem but they’re not
the source of your problem for we
Christians wrestle not against flesh and
blood but principalities and powers and
World forces that are located in
Heavenly places or the spiritual realm
so if you address the resource without
addressing the source all you’ve done is
created a delay for it to come back up
again because you’ve not gotten to the
root of the problem we’re just
addressing the fruit of the problem and
so what he is saying is the source is
spiritual he first of all wants to set
the stage by saying on the evil day when
you’re in this season of Attack I want
you to stand firm which means to hold
your ground in the Lord he says be
strong in the Lord to hold your
spiritual ground it is easy to be swayed
and moved off of Center when you’re
suffering it is easy to be swayed and
move off of the source of your hope when
you’re going going through it and you
see no exit sign it is easy to be moved
but he says during those times when you
are under assault and your world is
being stripped from right underneath you
he calls it the evil day he says during
that time I want you to grab more
tightly your faith don’t loosen it up
stand firm when you’re under the fire of
the evil one when you’re under Fire of
demonic attack when you’re under the
fire of suffering you do not run away
from God when you are in the evil day
you have to run to God when you’re in
the midst of the evil day because you’re
now engaged in spiritual
warfare he says stand firm hold on to
your faith he then tells you how to
dress for Spiritual
success he gives you the Armor of God he
tells you I want you to get dressed for
the battle now when you’re in a war and
when you’re in a
parade a military parade they show the
weapons when you in a war you use the
weapons cuz in the evil day this is not
Showtime at the Apollo this is time when
you’ve got to get dressed he says you’ve
got to put on Truth put on righteousness
put on peace he goes on he says you got
to put on faith he he says you got to
put on the helmet of salvation then he
says you got to use the sword of the
spirit which is the word of God he gives
these six pieces of spiritual Arsenal or
Spiritual armor that the believer is to
utilize when it comes to taking a stand
in the evil day or when you’re under
spiritual attack and spiritual
oppression that’s affecting your
physical Financial circumstantial
emotional family well-being take your
stand harder than you’ve ever taken it
before but put on this armor but now you
may not remember all the pieces of the
armor so let’s make it easy because
Romans chap 13 verse4 says put on Christ
if you can’t remember all the pieces
remember this one put on Christ why
because he says I want you to be put on
Truth Jesus says I am the way the truth
and the light he says I want you to put
on righteousness scripture says Christ
is our righteousness he says put on
peace Jesus said in this world you will
have tribulation but I give you my peace
he says put on the helmet of salvation
scripture is clear Jesus is the author
and finisher of our salvation and then
he says put on the word of God use the
sword of the spirit John 1:1 says in the
beginning was the word the word was with
God the Word was God verse 14 and the
word became flesh and dwelt Among Us
Jesus says he is the word so if you
don’t remember truth remember Jesus if
you don’t remember righteousness
remember Jesus if you don’t remember
peace remember Jesus if you don’t
remember Faith remember Jesus if you
don’t remember the helmet of Sal ation
remember Jesus if you don’t remember the
Bible remember Jesus because Jesus is
the full armor of God this is centered
in God’s son who is the revelation of
God the manifestation of God who is the
power of God to manifest himself
particularly in the evil day now you
want to do it all the time but you
better do it in the evil day when the
doctors don’t have answers
when the bankers don’t have answers when
your friends don’t have answers and show
enough when you don’t have answers you
need to be centered on the person of
Jesus Christ and all the
tools that he offered you but he says
you got to put him
on he says in verse 18 with all prayer
and petition pray at all times in the
spirit and with this is view be on the
alert with all perseverance and petition
for all the saints the way you put on
Christ that is practically utilize him
to equip you to move through the battle
you face is with
prayer now prayer is relational
communication with
God a lot of people want to pray when
they in spiritual war
who have not prayed till they got the
spiritual
warfare in other words they don’t know
how to stand strong in the Lord cuz they
haven’t been standing with the Lord but
now that they’re in an emergency they
need the
Lord he’s talking about staying in touch
with him all day that’s why 1
Thessalonians 5:17 says pray without
ceasing in other words stay in touch
with me now let me explain why this is
so important the evil day is
principalities powers and World forces
this means you are under attack this
means that this attack is coming from
the devil and demons it is unfortunate
that far too many Christians have lost
sight of demons demons are angels that
went rogue demons are the spiritual
Mafia that that attacks us in the
spiritual that brings about our pain in
the physical and the Bible has an answer
to Demons the answer to Demons are
angels so here’s how this works the
Bible declares every Christian has been
assigned an Angel and the job of the
Angel is to look after the well-being of
the believer so every Christian has an
angel that is assigned to you by God one
of the jobs of your angel is to throw
wart the Demonic attack that is coming
against you cuz Angels know how to fight
angels and so when the Demonic Angel
comes to bring pain and anguish and
defeat in your world and in your life
you have an angel the Bible says when we
pray we engage God the Holy Spirit and
I’ll talk about him in a moment who is
who activates the angel assigned to you
to deal with the Demonic oppression that
is coming against you so he says with
all perseverance thank you
Lord but he tells you something else and
it’s the key he says pray in the
spirit Verse 18 all right don’t just
pray meaning don’t just have
conversation
but he says I want you to pray in the
spirit thank you
God uh question is what does that
mean the
Bible talks about the role of the
spirit is to deliver the mind of
God 1 Corinthians chapter
[Music]
2 verse 9
10 but just as it is written things
which I have not seen and ear is not
heard and which has not been entered
into the heart of man all that God has
prepared for those who love him for to
us God revealed them he’s not talking
about heaven he’s talking about Earth to
us God revealed them through the spirit
for the spirit searches all things even
the depth of God see when you’re in the
evil day that means folk can’t help you
when you’re in the evil day they have
limitations that they can do for you and
you need something that eye have not
seen Ear Has Not Heard and the
imagination is not conceived of you need
the supernatural to enter into the
natural now being in the
spirit is opposed in scripture to being
in the
flesh
to be in the spirit let me start with
the the participle in he wants you to be
in the spirit so he does not want you
visiting and
exiting he wants you operating in the
realm of the spirit what is the realm of
the spirit the realm of the spirit is a
spiritual
mindset in Romans chapter 8: 1-13 he
gives this extended discussion about the
spirit and he says when you have the
spirit you have the mind of the spirit
so this has to do with how you’re
thinking the mind is your thought he
wants you to think spiritually not
secularly he wants you to think
biblically not worldly he wants you to
think the mind of Christ not the mind of
man Galatians 5:6 but I say walk by the
spirit and you will not carry out the
desire of the flesh for the flesh sets
its desire against the spirit and the
spirit against the flesh for these are
in opposition to one another so that you
may not do the things that you
please he says there is a
battle and it’s a battle between the
spirit and the flesh let me Define the
flesh the flesh
is the desire to please self
independently of God the flesh is the
desire to please
yourself as opposed to pleasing God we
all battle with the flesh walk in the
spirit and you will not fulfill the
desire please don’t misread that he
didn’t say you won’t have the
desire cuz the flesh Wants What It Wants
so you will have the desire but the
spirit will will override it don’t read
the verse in Reverse don’t read to get
rid of the desire of the flesh walk in
the spirit that’s backwards walk in the
spirit and it will overrule the desire
of the flesh it will overrule it the
capacity to do what you need to do or
what God wants done will be activated in
your experience as you walk in the
spirit now many times people will say
I’m praying but nothing is happening
well let me explain
many Christians pray they doing the
right thing but they’re doing it in the
flesh they’re doing it in the wrong
environment and if you’re doing the
right thing in the wrong environment the
right thing won’t work so just cuz you
say your prayers in the morning say
grace at dinner and say your bedtime
prayer that’s the right thing but the
question is have you been walking in the
right environment because if you’re not
walking in the right environment doing
the right thing won’t work and in fact
it can help kill you quicker so he says
all all all all I want you to be
consumed with being in my presence
Walking In the Flesh he says will put
you in a spiritual graveyard but walking
by the spirit will put you and here’s
how you know because you’re no longer
having to force
things when you’re in the spirit but the
Bible calls the spirit a wind yes yeah a
wind it blows the Bible says the Holy
Spirit guides us he pulls us now you can
walk you should walk but you’re walking
on some power you’re walking on some
undering you’re walking on some strength
because you’re walking with the mind of
the spirit consistent with the
Revelation and word of God so that he
can
override yes yes inde and so you begin
to flow in
it even though you still have to walk
and even though you may have a ways to
go he says pray always in the spirit
spiritually yes
yes and so he’s my only
out and so we cry out to God and trust
God but you have your evil day oh
yes or you
will and if we make prayer a lifestyle
walking in the spirit of lifestyle and
not a
visit don’t treat the spirit like you
treat Church don’t just come for a
visit no he says you roll with me and
you stay in contact with me all day
every day short long fast slow
anything
natural cannot take care of the
supernatural when your problem is unseen
and spiritual you need weapons that work
in that realm when you’re under the fire
of suffering you do not run away from
God when you are in the evil day you
have to run to God when you’re in the
midst of the evil
day it’s amazing really how your
countenance changes when you really
overhear and understand what the enemy
thinks about you when he sees you coming
it doesn’t mean that the challenge goes
away it means that in the face of it
you’re different your stance is
different because you recognize that
when the enemy sees a daughter or a son
of God coming his way he’s shaking in
his boots not because of you but because
of the holy spirit of God that lives on
the inside of
you I came to tell tell somebody today
that even if you don’t believe what it
is that the word of God declares to be
true about you you need to know that the
enemy does he knows that every single
thing that God’s word declares to be
true about you every word that has been
declared over you in these last few days
of this conference even if you’re not
convinced about it the enemy is he knows
that you have been forgiven he knows
that there is therefore now no
condemnation for those of us who are in
Christ Jesus he knows that you have been
given the victory he knows that you have
been made competent by the spirit of God
he knows that there is therefore now no
condemnation for you or for me no shame
no guilt he knows that you have not been
given a spirit of fear but a power and
love and of a sound mind and y’all he
knows that in the end we
win and I’m saying what a shamed it
would
be for the enemy to believe more about
your potential than you
do what a shamed it would be for us to
go out of here with all of this
inspiration that we have been given this
investment of God’s word that he has
gathered us together over the course of
these days to Worship in spirit and in
truth and to hear his word declared true
over our lives what a tragedy it would
be for us to walk out of here and still
live like we were before we came through
these
doors so what the enemy will do is
scatter challenge in front of your life
cuz listen you going back home to
challenge y’all do know we going back
home in a little while right and don’t
we wish we could wake up to this every
single day don’t we wish that we could
have God’s word spoken over our lives
with this much Authority and power every
single day and be in the presence of
leaders who can lead us into the
presence of God and work worship every
single day like this but the reality is
we going back home the challenges of
your University campus the challenges of
your home your relationships your
friendships on your job those challenges
will be sprawled out in front of you
when you get home and let me tell you
something what the enemy hopes is that
the sight of them will cause you to
shrink back in so much fear and
insecurity that you’ll never step up to
the plate of being who God has called
you to be listen if you’ve placed faith
in Jesus Christ I hope you know that the
enemy understands he cannot destroy you
he knows his chances are over of
destroying you so he is going to spend
the rest of his time and the rest of his
energy just trying to discourage you
trying to distract you so that you’ll
shrink back in fear and insecurity and
not step up to the plate and be who God
has called you to
be it is at least in part to this end
that the Apostle Paul gives us a a
passage of scripture that has become a
Lifeline for
me in fact I was talking with uh
Christine yesterday Chris and I have
known each other for a very long time
very close friends and she was asking me
what I was going to speak on and I had
several thoughts of directions that I
was uh leaning toward but in the end we
as we were talking the question came up
if there was only one thing you could
say to them if there’s only one message
that you ever have the
opportunity to tell these students these
young people that will be gathered
together on this occasion what would
that message be and there was one thing
that immediately popped into my heart
and my mind for you at the end of this
year’s passion passion
conference it’s the words of the Apostle
Paul he writes them in the book of
Ephesians listen let me just tell you
quickly before I read this passage you
got if you if you’ve not read the book
of Ephesians you’re gonna have to read
the book of
Ephesians y’all listen it’s it’s like
for
real the Apostle Paul y’all know he was
a bad boy he gave us most of what would
become the New Testament letters written
to first century Believers that now
disciple us and help us to mature as
Believers and as the body of Christ and
Scholars say that of all of Paul’s
writing really the cream of the crop the
cherry on top of the cake is Ephesians
because in the book of Ephesians y’all
he just spends the first half of the
book just rehearsing who you are as a
daughter or a son he wants to make sure
you step up to the plate rise to the
occasion of who you’ve been recreated in
Christ to become those of you who place
faith in Jesus Christ last night who
stood to your feet at the end of Pastor
Louis’s message and you plac faith in
Jesus listen the old has gone and the
new has come you’re a daughter you a son
and you have full rights and privil es
that have been granted to you the
Apostle Paul wants you to know what is
the hope of his calling and choosing you
he writes in the first and second and
third chapter about the treasure that
you have he wants you to know about the
mercy that has been lavished upon you
the grace that has been given to you he
wants you to know that if you’ve been
rejected by everybody else you’ve been
handpicked Chosen and adopted by the one
true God he wants you to know that if
you’ve dug a pit of sin for yourself
that is so deep you can’t find your way
out of it that the mercy of God is so
great and so Grand that it can reach
down into any pit and snatch you up out
of it once and for all in fact Paul gets
so worked up that by the time he gets to
the middle of the first chapter he
bursts out in a prayer and he says I’m
praying that the eyes of your heart
would be open so that you would just
know what is the hope of his calling and
choosing
you and after going over and over and on
and on about the lavishness the richness
the grace the mercy the goodness the
adoption that has been poured out over
us the Forgiveness that has been granted
to us he’s trying to figure out how do I
close this letter to make sure they step
up to the plate how do I put an
exclamation point on passion 2018 to
make sure that what God has given them
they don’t hand over to the enemy as
soon as they walk out the
door and the Apostle Paul writes these
words to us in Ephesians chapter 6
beginning in verse
10 he says
finally you be strong in the Lord and in
the strength of his might he says put on
the full armor of God so that you may be
able to stand firm against the schemes
somebody say schemes against the schemes
of the devil he says we wrestle not we
struggle not against flesh and blood but
against the rulers against the powers
against the world forces of this
Darkness against the spiritual forces of
wickedness that are in the Heavenly
places he says so therefore you might as
well just go ahead and put down all the
weapons of this world that aren’t
working for you anyway and take up some
weapons that actually have some power he
says take up the full armor of God so
that you may be able to resist in the
evil day and having done everything to
stand firm he says you ought to just
stand firm therefore in these few verses
of scripture the Apostle Paul begins to
introduce to us a concept that has not
been at least in the context uh thus far
in church uh development at that time
had not been as overtly described as it
is right now in Paul’s letter he brings
up the topic of spiritual
warfare he says you haven’t an enemy he
says I want to make sure that it’s loud
and clear there are other places in the
Old Testament and throughout throughout
the new y’all where we can infer that we
have a spiritual unseen battle going on
but this is the first time that an
author comes right out and says you have
an enemy and he is scheming against you
that when you leave this place in just a
little while when I leave this place in
just a little while you need to know
that there is an enemy he is against you
you he is not for you he plans to do
anything and everything in his power to
stir up challenge in your life enough to
cause you to shrink back and not rise up
and stand firm in the victory that you
have been given in Christ Jesus that’s
why the Apostle Paul says stand
firm because you have an enemy an enemy
that wants you to think that just
because he is invisible he is also
fictional he wants to be chocked up to
nothing nothing more than a caricature a
cartoon picture a myth a a character for
a kid’s nursery rhyme he doesn’t want
you to recognize the influence that he
has over your life possibly to to cause
you to never walk into the full
expression of God’s grace and goodness
in your life he is Sinister he is a
master Illusionist and he is a deceiver
and he hopes to cleverly disguise
himself behind life’s most pressing
problems to where you forget he is even
there he wants you to point fingers at
him or at her at your boss at your
parent at that particular Professor or
your RA in your dorm he wants you to
think it’s that advisor or it’s that
financial problem anything Flesh and
Blood because he knows as long as we’re
looking at the Flesh and Blood we will
direct all the wrong weapons at the
wrong culprit we’ll think our money will
work we’ll think our rationale and logic
will actually work we think that the
diploma we’re about to to achieve and
receive we’ll think the diploma will be
wor worth it we’ll think that the
connections will work anything
natural cannot take care of the
supernatural when your problem is unseen
and spiritual you need weapons that work
in that
realm so the Apostle Paul says you got
to know first of all that your enemy is
not the person you are sitting next to
today that your enemy is not your parent
at home your enemy is not that Professor
that is difficult to work with your real
enemy is not your boss on your part-time
job your real enemy is unseen he is
hoping y’all that we will forget he’s
there he is the master deceiver so
there’s a little church around the
corner from my house in Dallas I’ve been
taking my kids there since they were
little uh to Harvest Festival that’s
basically this Church’s answer to
Halloween so we will go there for
Harvest Festival and this church has a
good oldfashioned trunker treat does
anybody know what I mean when I say
trunker
treat okay all right so Trunk or Treat
for those of you who are not clear on
what that is that’s when members of the
congregation volunteer they volunteer to
bring their cars into the parking lot on
Harvest Festival night so that they can
open up the trunk of their car so you go
into the parking lot all the trunks are
open and each person has basically
crafted a carnival game or some sort of
fair game out of the trunk of the car so
kids line up one trunk after the other
they play whatever the game is and then
most of the time whether they win or
lose the person that owns that car gives
them a whole bunch of candy and sends
them home we’re always so
grateful so we stand in line one car
after the other waiting on bags of candy
and we play one game after the other a
few years
ago the biggest line the longest line at
the carnival wasn’t behind the a car it
was behind the bed of a truck it was
really clever a huge truck had been uh
parked in the parking lot and they’d put
a step ladder right at the bed of the
truck so that a kid could walk into the
bed of the truck they had attached a
tabletop which was about the same size
as the bed of the truck they had
attached it to the side of the truck cut
six holes into it put some fabric some
drapery over it and out from those holes
every few seconds a puppet would pop
through they gave the kid a huge plastic
Mallet and the job of the kid was to run
up and down the inside of the bed of the
truck CU he tried to hit the puppets on
top of the head it was a homemade
whack-a-mole game is what it was and it
was the longest line me and Jude at the
time he was like four Jude is my
youngest me and Jude are standing in
line we’re waiting on our turn behind us
there’s another kid he’s with his his
mom he’s probably four or five as well
and y’all he was hysterical because he
was annoyed at this whole situation and
he was making sure she knew it he was
first of all annoyed cuz Mom I don’t
understand why I got to stand in this
long line didn’t we come to the carnival
to have fun this ain’t fun standing in
line ain’t fun I have an idea mom how
about this how about I go play all these
other games while you stand in line and
hold our place and then when it’s our
turn I’ll come back and join you in
line but he was not only annoyed about
the line the four-year-old was also
annoyed because Mom I don’t even
understand this game why in the world
would I waste all my energy running up
and down the inside of that truck to hit
the puppets on the top of the head if
when I hit them on the head they’re
going to disappear but then they’re just
going to come back as soon as I hit them
on the head what’s the point of this
game so everybody in the line is
laughing hysterically because this
four-year-old this 5-year-old is talking
so much about all of his
frustrations finally he gets so
frustrated that he works himself into a
frenzy to where all I saw out of my
peripheral vision was a four-year-old
flash running past me as he ran forward
and he grabbed the drapery off of the
tabletop and pulled it clean off
underneath there were three adults with
puppets on each
hand
that day we all got a good laugh but we
also got a good
lesson there is always something you
can’t see influencing what you can and
if you spend all of your time your
energy your effort trying to hit at what
you see popping up in your life you’re
going to be so frustrated and by the way
exhausted because as soon as you take
care of one thing another one is coming
back unless you do what the Apostle Paul
says pull back the curtain and let the
enemy me know we got our eyes on
you and we’re going to use some weapons
that actually work back there behind the
curtain y’all I wish I had learned this
when I was 18 19 20 21 years old that
that person that physical problem is
really where you need to invest your
energy pull back the curtain use the
weapons that actually have
power the Apostle Paul wants you to know
that the tactics of the enemy are
serious business and so so he uses a
specific word to describe them he says
schemes listen to me he knows your
weaknesses he knows how to dangle what
carrot at the right time in the right
way to make sure you are snagged in
particular have you ever wondered or
found curious that that particular
carrot is always dangled in front of you
when you are most tired when you are
most vulnerable when you happen to be
most
hungry most alone most weak that
particular carrot the one that wouldn’t
mess with your friend cuz it’s not her
deal it’s not his deal he’s not enticed
by that but the one that entices you
always shows up at the right time y’all
that’s not coincidence that’s a
scheme that’s right the enemy is trying
to derail you he’s trying to make sure
that you don’t walk in a manner worthy
pleasing of the Lord that you come in
here but that you don’t go out of here
the the purpose to live for the glory of
God he’s trying to trip you up not only
for his own benefit but because he does
not want you having access to everything
that you are privy to as a rightful heir
to the King of Kings and the Lord of
lords it’s a
scheme so if he’s got tactics we need
tactics the Apostle Paul outlines them
for us I’m just going to read them to
you because he says in verse 13 you need
the full armor and here’s what they are
verse 14 he says make sure that your
loins are girded with truth then he says
you need a breastplate and the
breastplate is called righteousness and
then he says in verse 15 you got to have
something for your feet if you want any
hope of being able to move forward
successfully so your feet need to be
shaw with the preparation of the gospel
of peace and then not only that but he
says there are some flaming missiles of
the evil one that he fully intends to
send sailing into your path you going to
need a shield and The Shield is your
faith and then you know there are lies
there are strongholds that he’s going to
try to erect in your mind you’re going
to need something to protect your mind
he says you need a helmet and the helmet
is your salvation but not only that he
says that you are going to need a sword
really a dagger of the spirit it was
about 18 Ines long or so the one the
Apostle Paul is referring to you need a
dagger so that when the enemy is all up
in your space you’ve got something close
at hand to make sure that he stays at
Bay you need a dagger of the spirit and
the dagger is called the
what the word of God but y’all he
doesn’t stop at those six can I just say
that there is one more in 18 verse 18
traditionally it’s taught as six I
really believe there are seven pieces of
armor because in verse 18 He says
pray he says
pray
not like you know a prayer a day to keep
the devil
away not like a prayer over your meal
just cuz that’s what your mama did and
your Grandmama did and that’s what
you’re supposed to
do not something quick and
Casual
fervent prioritized
prayer y’all you can’t have Victory if
you don’t
pray do you hear what I’m saying to you
prayer is the key that unlocks the
resources of heaven so that they can be
Unleashed on planet Earth prayer is the
key he’s actually giv you to get all the
good stuff down here cuz I don’t know
about you but I don’t want to wait to
get to heaven to experience all that God
has for me any Bits of Heaven he plans
to give me on Earth I want it right now
prayer accesses the Bits of Heaven he
intends to give you now when you’ve
lived long enough you’ve come to realize
that that life is not always
easy and while we cherish those times of
fun and frivolity and play and
excitement we dread those times of pain
and anguish and
struggle someone has said that life can
be described as being
Bittersweet it has those sweet moments
that we cherish and
embrace and those bitter moments that
bring us to tears hurt and
pain Paul is
writing and he concludes his treaties to
the church at
Ephesus to talk to them about the
battleground of
life we call it spiritual
warfare but he’s not just talking about
any kind of battle he describes this one
specifically by calling it The Evil day
the evil
day the evil day is when all hell breaks
loose on
you the evil day is when you are
overwhelmed yes life has its normal ups
and downs but that’s not what he’s
talking about here he’s talking about
when you are under major
attack when your world is being
shattered your dreams are being
destroyed your hopes are being dimmed
and where you look out and all you see
is the light of an oncoming train he
calls that the evil day the day when
hell is after you and your name has come
up he says when that day comes when that
period of time when you’re under major
assault comes he says I want you to
understand how to how to approach this
because he says on that day you’re going
to need the strength of the Lord verse
10 normal stuff is not going to work and
playing Church show enough won’t work he
says on that day you’re going to need
the Supernatural and so he goes into
these verses leading up to the subject
of prayer to tell us how to approach
this time in your life in my life now I
want to make sure that I’m not wasting
my time on this sermon so is anybody
here know what I’m talking about when I
talk about an evil
day an evil day when you’re under
massive spiritual
assault well let me remind
you that everything visible and physical
is preceded by that which is invisible
and spiritual everything visible and
physical is is preceded by that which is
invisible and
spiritual so Paul wants you to know if
you want to address in the time of your
attack the visible and physical you need
to do it from the perspective of the
invisible and
spiritual he gives you the term that he
uses throughout the book of Ephesians of
heavenly places Heavenly places means
the spiritual realm and what he’s saying
is that when you are under
assault when your life is being
shattered you’re trying to be in the
will of God you’re trying to walk with
God but you’re being attacked your
well-being is being attacked your dreams
are being attacked your health is being
attacked your stability is being
attacked your resources are being
attacked your future is being attacked
you are just under assault he says
during those times you have to view
things from the location of Heavenly
places or the spiritual realm if you’re
going to be strong to walk through work
through the times of those attacks and
he wants to
set the plan in place for how you going
to make it through the evil day for
those of you who’ve not yet been to the
evil day keep living it’s
coming when you’re under assault
and your stability your
world is being shaken he says during
those times three times he says I want
you to stand firm stand
firm stand firm don’t quit don’t quit
don’t quit because the Temptation is
easily to throw in the towel when your
world is collapsing right in front of
your eyes he says the first thing I want
you to understand is that you wrestle
not against flesh and
blood in other words people aren’t the
source of your problem they may be the
conduit for your problem but they’re not
the source of your problem for we
Christians wrestle not against flesh and
blood but principalities and powers and
World forces that are located in
Heavenly places or the spiritual realm
so if you address the resource without
addressing the source all you’ve done is
created a delay for it to come back up
again because you’ve not gotten to the
root of the problem we’re just
addressing the fruit of the problem and
so what he is saying is the source is
spiritual he first of all wants to set
the stage by saying on the evil day when
you’re in this season of Attack I want
you to stand firm which means to hold
your ground in the Lord he says be
strong in the Lord to hold your
spiritual ground it is easy to be swayed
and moved off of Center when you’re
suffering it is easy to be swayed and
move off of the source of your hope when
you’re going going through it and you
see no exit sign it is easy to be moved
but he says during those times when you
are under assault and your world is
being stripped from right underneath you
he calls it the evil day he says during
that time I want you to grab more
tightly your faith don’t loosen it up
stand firm when you’re under the fire of
the evil one when you’re under Fire of
demonic attack when you’re under the
fire of suffering you do not run away
from God when you are in the evil day
you have to run to God when you’re in
the midst of the evil day because you’re
now engaged in spiritual
warfare he says stand firm hold on to
your faith he then tells you how to
dress for Spiritual
success he gives you the Armor of God he
tells you I want you to get dressed for
the battle now when you’re in a war and
when you’re in a
parade a military parade they show the
weapons when you in a war you use the
weapons cuz in the evil day this is not
Showtime at the Apollo this is time when
you’ve got to get dressed he says you’ve
got to put on Truth put on righteousness
put on peace he goes on he says you got
to put on faith he he says you got to
put on the helmet of salvation then he
says you got to use the sword of the
spirit which is the word of God he gives
these six pieces of spiritual Arsenal or
Spiritual armor that the believer is to
utilize when it comes to taking a stand
in the evil day or when you’re under
spiritual attack and spiritual
oppression that’s affecting your
physical Financial circumstantial
emotional family well-being take your
stand harder than you’ve ever taken it
before but put on this armor but now you
may not remember all the pieces of the
armor so let’s make it easy because
Romans chap 13 verse4 says put on Christ
if you can’t remember all the pieces
remember this one put on Christ why
because he says I want you to be put on
Truth Jesus says I am the way the truth
and the light he says I want you to put
on righteousness scripture says Christ
is our righteousness he says put on
peace Jesus said in this world you will
have tribulation but I give you my peace
he says put on the helmet of salvation
scripture is clear Jesus is the author
and finisher of our salvation and then
he says put on the word of God use the
sword of the spirit John 1:1 says in the
beginning was the word the word was with
God the Word was God verse 14 and the
word became flesh and dwelt Among Us
Jesus says he is the word so if you
don’t remember truth remember Jesus if
you don’t remember righteousness
remember Jesus if you don’t remember
peace remember Jesus if you don’t
remember Faith remember Jesus if you
don’t remember the helmet of Sal ation
remember Jesus if you don’t remember the
Bible remember Jesus because Jesus is
the full armor of God this is centered
in God’s son who is the revelation of
God the manifestation of God who is the
power of God to manifest himself
particularly in the evil day now you
want to do it all the time but you
better do it in the evil day when the
doctors don’t have answers
when the bankers don’t have answers when
your friends don’t have answers and show
enough when you don’t have answers you
need to be centered on the person of
Jesus Christ and all the
tools that he offered you but he says
you got to put him
on he says in verse 18 with all prayer
and petition pray at all times in the
spirit and with this is view be on the
alert with all perseverance and petition
for all the saints the way you put on
Christ that is practically utilize him
to equip you to move through the battle
you face is with
prayer now prayer is relational
communication with
God a lot of people want to pray when
they in spiritual war
who have not prayed till they got the
spiritual
warfare in other words they don’t know
how to stand strong in the Lord cuz they
haven’t been standing with the Lord but
now that they’re in an emergency they
need the
Lord he’s talking about staying in touch
with him all day that’s why 1
Thessalonians 5:17 says pray without
ceasing in other words stay in touch
with me now let me explain why this is
so important the evil day is
principalities powers and World forces
this means you are under attack this
means that this attack is coming from
the devil and demons it is unfortunate
that far too many Christians have lost
sight of demons demons are angels that
went rogue demons are the spiritual
Mafia that that attacks us in the
spiritual that brings about our pain in
the physical and the Bible has an answer
to Demons the answer to Demons are
angels so here’s how this works the
Bible declares every Christian has been
assigned an Angel and the job of the
Angel is to look after the well-being of
the believer so every Christian has an
angel that is assigned to you by God one
of the jobs of your angel is to throw
wart the Demonic attack that is coming
against you cuz Angels know how to fight
angels and so when the Demonic Angel
comes to bring pain and anguish and
defeat in your world and in your life
you have an angel the Bible says when we
pray we engage God the Holy Spirit and
I’ll talk about him in a moment who is
who activates the angel assigned to you
to deal with the Demonic oppression that
is coming against you so he says with
all perseverance thank you
Lord but he tells you something else and
it’s the key he says pray in the
spirit Verse 18 all right don’t just
pray meaning don’t just have
conversation
but he says I want you to pray in the
spirit thank you
God uh question is what does that
mean the
Bible talks about the role of the
spirit is to deliver the mind of
God 1 Corinthians chapter
[Music]
2 verse 9
10 but just as it is written things
which I have not seen and ear is not
heard and which has not been entered
into the heart of man all that God has
prepared for those who love him for to
us God revealed them he’s not talking
about heaven he’s talking about Earth to
us God revealed them through the spirit
for the spirit searches all things even
the depth of God see when you’re in the
evil day that means folk can’t help you
when you’re in the evil day they have
limitations that they can do for you and
you need something that eye have not
seen Ear Has Not Heard and the
imagination is not conceived of you need
the supernatural to enter into the
natural now being in the
spirit is opposed in scripture to being
in the
flesh
to be in the spirit let me start with
the the participle in he wants you to be
in the spirit so he does not want you
visiting and
exiting he wants you operating in the
realm of the spirit what is the realm of
the spirit the realm of the spirit is a
spiritual
mindset in Romans chapter 8: 1-13 he
gives this extended discussion about the
spirit and he says when you have the
spirit you have the mind of the spirit
so this has to do with how you’re
thinking the mind is your thought he
wants you to think spiritually not
secularly he wants you to think
biblically not worldly he wants you to
think the mind of Christ not the mind of
man Galatians 5:6 but I say walk by the
spirit and you will not carry out the
desire of the flesh for the flesh sets
its desire against the spirit and the
spirit against the flesh for these are
in opposition to one another so that you
may not do the things that you
please he says there is a
battle and it’s a battle between the
spirit and the flesh let me Define the
flesh the flesh
is the desire to please self
independently of God the flesh is the
desire to please
yourself as opposed to pleasing God we
all battle with the flesh walk in the
spirit and you will not fulfill the
desire please don’t misread that he
didn’t say you won’t have the
desire cuz the flesh Wants What It Wants
so you will have the desire but the
spirit will will override it don’t read
the verse in Reverse don’t read to get
rid of the desire of the flesh walk in
the spirit that’s backwards walk in the
spirit and it will overrule the desire
of the flesh it will overrule it the
capacity to do what you need to do or
what God wants done will be activated in
your experience as you walk in the
spirit now many times people will say
I’m praying but nothing is happening
well let me explain
many Christians pray they doing the
right thing but they’re doing it in the
flesh they’re doing it in the wrong
environment and if you’re doing the
right thing in the wrong environment the
right thing won’t work so just cuz you
say your prayers in the morning say
grace at dinner and say your bedtime
prayer that’s the right thing but the
question is have you been walking in the
right environment because if you’re not
walking in the right environment doing
the right thing won’t work and in fact
it can help kill you quicker so he says
all all all all I want you to be
consumed with being in my presence
Walking In the Flesh he says will put
you in a spiritual graveyard but walking
by the spirit will put you and here’s
how you know because you’re no longer
having to force
things when you’re in the spirit but the
Bible calls the spirit a wind yes yeah a
wind it blows the Bible says the Holy
Spirit guides us he pulls us now you can
walk you should walk but you’re walking
on some power you’re walking on some
undering you’re walking on some strength
because you’re walking with the mind of
the spirit consistent with the
Revelation and word of God so that he
can
override yes yes inde and so you begin
to flow in
it even though you still have to walk
and even though you may have a ways to
go he says pray always in the spirit
spiritually yes
yes and so he’s my only
out and so we cry out to God and trust
God but you have your evil day oh
yes or you
will and if we make prayer a lifestyle
walking in the spirit of lifestyle and
not a
visit don’t treat the spirit like you
treat Church don’t just come for a
visit no he says you roll with me and
you stay in contact with me all day
every day short long fast slow