Spirit 3: The Spirit is a Warrior, episode 62

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If you love a prodigal, you can discover help and hope for your wilderness journey right here at When You Love a Prodigal,

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and also help and hope for your own life journey.

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Today we continue our look at our most important resource in the battle we fight for our prodigals, the Holy Spirit.

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I especially love that the Spirit is the warrior we need in this war.

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As I mention all the ways that this warrior fights for us and with us, beside us, jot down what you need to hold on to.

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The way that the Holy Spirit is available, don't lose that.

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Write it down so you can make sure you can be living it out as you continue this hard journey.

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The night our prodigal came to Christ, two additional greatly significant events occurred.

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First, I had a wonderful vision in which God poured out his love for Josh into me.

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It was like he opened me up and he had this huge vat and he poured the love into me.

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And then he assured me I was going to need it.

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And yes, I have needed that love of God's that he shared with me for our prodigal.

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Second, that began three sleepless nights engaged in a fierce battle with the powers and principalities of the Prince of the Air,

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the minions of the devil himself.

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My understanding was that the evil one had always assumed that this boy was his.

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His birth heritage and his early life in very unhealthy places put him undeniably in Satan's domain.

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So when prayers were answered and Josh said yes to Jesus, the devil was not happy.

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Perhaps he thought if he could defeat me, he would regain control over our son.

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If I'd been battling on my own, I would surely have lost.

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But no, I had a far more powerful warrior on my side, the Spirit himself.

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He was my defense and also our boy's defense, shielding us from the fiery darts sent our way.

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And he was on the attack, giving me words of truth, courage, fearlessness, wisdom, whatever I needed and any skirmish in the battle.

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I watched in wonder as I lived out the magnificent truth that the Holy Spirit is our warrior.

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That part of the battle lasted for three nights and then I was given rest.

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But the conflict continued more suddenly usually.

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Many fears and tears revealed my weakness, but unceasing prayer and supernatural strength and wisdom from the Spirit enabled me to stand in the gap for my son.

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And he still enables me for our enemy is relentless.

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The Holy Spirit is also relentless. He is always with me and in me and for you as well.

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He was the warrior I needed in this ongoing spiritual war.

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And as he fought for me and through me, he was also the warrior my son needed.

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And he still is, even as Satan continues to pursue our son.

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You too are in a battle, as is the prodigal or prodigals you love and pray for.

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Unfortunately, we too often try to win the war on our own.

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We forget that we are completely outmatched in the struggle for our loved ones and in all the other ways the evil one seeks to defeat us and our wanderers.

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We cannot do it alone.

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Gratefully, our loving Father and beloved Savior have sent the Spirit to be in us and with us, to fight for us, to fight beside us, to fight through us.

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And he, the Spirit, is far greater than our enemy.

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See what he promises us.

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In 2 Chronicles, we read that this is what the Lord says to you.

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Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army that was there.

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He says, for the battle is not yours, but God's.

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And in 1 John, we read, You are from God, little children, and have overcome them.

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Because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.

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And in Zechariah, we read this wonderful verse, a promise for us.

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Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.

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Again, we can't do it, but God in us, the Spirit working through us, wins the battle.

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It's important to remember that we face a defeated enemy, but he is still powerful and we are still in the battle.

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God himself has provided for us the required armor, which I have pointed out in earlier episodes, but we need to remember it.

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We would do well to read this passage in Ephesians 6 often, so we know what we have in the battle.

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We read here in Ephesians, Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.

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For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, the authorities, the powers of the dark world,

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and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

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Therefore, because there's this battle between God and the evil of the devil in the heavenly realms as well as here on earth among us,

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he says, Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, and if you have a prodigal, you're probably seeing it already,

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you may be able to stand your ground and after you have done everything, to still be standing.

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Stand firm then with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,

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with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.

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In addition to all this, take up your shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

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Isn't that a really cool picture?

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You get to extinguish those arrows that the evil one sends because of your shield of faith.

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Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,

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and pray in the Spirit at all occasions with all kinds of prayer and requests.

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That's in Ephesians 6 verses 11 to 18.

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So let's look at each of these pieces of armor that God provides for us through his Spirit.

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These are our weapons, our armor.

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The first is truth.

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The devil is a liar, but Jesus told us he is the truth.

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And the Spirit living in us will guide us to all the truth that we need,

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so that we will know how to respond to the evil one when he tells us his lies,

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and we can speak the truth because the Spirit of truth is in us.

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He says we have righteousness.

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The righteousness of Christ has been gifted to those of us who have believed and received Christ.

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We have his righteousness. It belongs to us.

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Amazing to me.

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But he says it's like a breastplate to protect us from the devil's darts,

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the things he's shooting at us, trying to discourage us, trying to harm us and our loved ones.

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Oh, but then he says another weapon you have is peace.

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Satan comes to kill and destroy. That's his whole objective.

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Our Lord, we find out here, covers our feet with the gospel of peace,

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so we can stand strong and withstand the devil's efforts to destroy us and those we love.

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Peace in the middle of the battle.

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Faith. Our faith, our trust in God, and his promises given to us through the Holy Spirit.

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This faith is a shield to deflect the enemy's arrows,

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because we're trusting God is like a shield that's protecting us.

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Salvation. The helmet of salvation is our assurance that we have received the mercy purchased by Jesus for us and our loved ones.

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That helmet will protect our thoughts. It's covering our thinking area, our brain.

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It's going to protect our thoughts from Satan's attempts to convince us that we have failed

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and are not worthy of the redemption that Jesus has given us.

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And also to believe his lies.

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We've got something a head covering, and it's our salvation.

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We have also the word of God.

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This is our offensive weapon. The sword of the Spirit.

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It's like a sword to allow us to be on the offensive to the evil one.

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And do you know how we do that?

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We speak the word of God, and the devil doesn't like to hear it, and he flees, we are told.

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And God has told us to resist the devil, and we do it with the word of God, and this evil one, he takes off.

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Then we have prayer.

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Even with all the weapons, we must not go to battle in our own strength or wisdom.

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Not anger or retribution or revenge, not our cleverness nor our power.

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Because you see, the work of God is done not when we are powerful, but when we are on our knees.

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So the work of God is done when we pray, and then we go find out what God has done.

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And most important, he gives us his Spirit, a warrior to fight for us in the battle for the souls of our loved ones.

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It's still not easy, you know.

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I've been fighting this battle for a long time.

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Our son is in a good place, but so many things happen to discourage him and to pull him away.

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The most recent is his truck keeps breaking down, and his truck is necessary for his job and for the farm that they have.

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So it's been a hard thing for him to keep having to deal with that.

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And so we see that our enemy doesn't quit just because our prodigal has come back, perhaps, or is doing better and making better choices.

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We need to remember the enemy isn't happy that that's happening, and he is not going to give up.

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He sends his minions, his demons, to keep after those we love.

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And that is, I think, one of the reasons there's so much relapse when people come out of addictions of some kind or other choices that they have made,

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is that the evil one doesn't quit.

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And so we need to be on our knees, and we need to be claiming these armor pieces to keep us strong,

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and for them as well, especially as they know the Lord and seek to grow and change, that they still need that.

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And so don't think the battle is over when your prodigal comes back.

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Just remember, the evil one doesn't quit, but our God is as relentless, more relentless than the devil,

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and he has given us the spirit in us to enable us to be in the battle in his power, not in our power.

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So to wrap up here, ponder or think about the idea of a gracious, gentle, peace-giving spirit as a warrior, your warrior.

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What thoughts come to your mind? Because the spirit is gracious, and he gives us grace, and the spirit is gentle like Jesus,

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and the spirit is peace-giving, and yet he's a warrior, and he goes to fight for us and for our loved ones.

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So how do you put all that together in your mind?

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Then pray through the passage in Ephesians 6 about the armor of God.

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Which weapon or piece of protection do you need the most today, and how can you put that on?

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Next week, we will continue with our fourth session on spirit,

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and we'll be talking about two more wonderful gifts that we get from the Spirit of God.

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If this session today, our episode, has encouraged or blessed you, please take a minute to rate the podcast,

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and if you're listening on Apple, you can actually write a review. I will be very grateful.

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God bless you. Stay strong in the spirit.