You, who've been following me. . .
You've been learning about the spirit world. . .
And you're certainly curious to learn about spiritual weapons. I've talked about fighting, and fighting requires weapons. Spiritual weapons are not of the flesh.
Just as we don't wrestle against flesh and blood. . .
Our weapons are not of the flesh. Our weapons are spiritual. The Bible states that they have divine power to destroy strongholds.
Our weapons are our position in Christ Jesus. The same letter to the Ephesians, that states we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, it says what those weapons are. And those weapons are: The helmet of salvation.
The breastplate of righteousness. The belt of truth. The shield of faith.
The sword of the Spirit. And the shoes of the readiness of the gospel of peace. Some people use these weapons mystically.
They pray. . .
Then they put their hands on their head, and say. . .
"I'm putting on the helmet of salvation". They put their hand on their chest, and say. .
. "I'm encircled by the breastplate of righteousness. " They pretend they're wearing a belt as if it were the belt of truth; Anyway.
. . They stage someone wearing an armor.
But it doesn't work. The spiritual weapons are not mystical. They are a position in Christ Jesus.
When the bible mentions "helmet of salvation". . .
It's teaching us that there is no way for you to get in this war. . .
. to fight against the dominion of darkness. .
. or even to open and close spiritual doors if you haven't been saved. Because you only are in the kingdom of light when you are saved.
What is salvation? It's the ransom from the dominion of darkness to the kingdom of light. Our life was ruled by the dominion of darkness.
Then we surrender our life to Jesus. And we say "Your kingdom come". When we do it, Jesus is the ruler of our lives.
Sometimes, people think that salvation is. . .
when you only raise your hand and go to the front in church. No. Salvation is when you accept Jesus as Lord.
For He says, "everyone who calls on he name of the Lord will be saved". If you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth. .
. that Jesus is Lord, you will be saved. What is "Lord"?
"Lord" has a meaning of covering, of command, of order. No word in Portuguese defines "Lord" the way the Bible intends to. Because it was originally written in Greek, "kyrios".
Kyrios. K-Y-R-I-O-S. And "kyrios" doesn't mean only "he who commands".
It means "the supreme commander". . .
"Highest authority. " "Ultimate lord. " So, when Jesus is all of that in your lives.
. . The last word is His.
He is the Commander. That's when He is Lord. The Lord of our lives.
You can't go into spiritual warfare without being saved. Without Jesus taking the lead. Because He is the One who helps us closing those doors.
You call Him through the door of light. . .
and He helps you closing the door to darkness. Do you know why? "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
" We can't go into warfare by ourselves. What about the breastplate of righteousness? What is it?
The foundation of God's throne is righteousness. God is righteous all the time. He works within laws and principles.
And He is righteous all the time. Equity is a legal principle. It's a principle that the judges use.
But the Bible states that God judges the people with equity. Equity means to make fair decisions. It means making similar decisions for similar cases.
In fancier words. . .
Making equanimous decisions for analogous cases. God is never partial. He judges everything with the same rectitude.
That's righteousness. We can't be unrighteous with a child or with an employee. .
. Unrighteous with anyone. .
. And still think we'll have the favor of God. .
. to go into this spiritual warfare. Align your life and your righteousness to Heaven.
Your righteousness must be in God's standard. You'll never be as righteous as God. But you'll have a righteousness that will not be suspicious of everyone.
That forgives people's mistakes. . .
because they're bigger than their mistakes. You'll never be anyone's Righteous Judge. But you'll show them the sensibility of love.
Don't be unrighteous. You gotta be righteous to wear this weapon. .
. called the breastplate of righteousness. What about the belt of truth?
The lie is the opposite of the truth. Of walking in the light. And half-truths.
. . they're actually half lies.
Who walks in the light never lies. The truth, as bad as it might be, is better than a little lie. We can't lie and think we still have God's covering.
Just as the Bible states that. . .
the murderers will not enter the kingdom of heaven, neither will the liars. Why? Because, Jesus is the Truth.
. . He said He's the Way, the Truth and the Life.
And He also said that the devil is the father of lies. Therefore, lying is being connected to darkness. That's why one of the spiritual weapons is the truth.
The belt of truth, right? And when it talks about the shield of faith. .
. You can't access the spirit world without having faith. Because you'll fight against what you can't see.
We're talking about things we can't see, we don't have the eyes to see them. You can't move forward spiritually without having faith. And what is faith?
The Bible tells us. The assurance of things hoped for. And the conviction of things or facts not seen.
I have my personal definition of faith. I use to say that faith is believing God is what He says He is. .
. And that He will do what He says He will. Therefore, faith is believing in what hasn't yet happened.
It's believing in a supernatural power. It's believing in the victory in a supernatural warfare. Without faith, you can't go into anything in the spirit world.
The spiritual isn't visible or audible. You have to believe it exists. Then, there's the sword, which is the Word, isn't it?
And there're the shoes of the gospel of peace. They complete the armor. Oh, you need to know the Word of God, because that's Jesus.
His Word is His Son. The Word that became flesh and dwelt among us. He said, "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free".
He said He is the Truth. So He is the Word and the Word is Him. Without the Word, you can't go into the spirit world.
Because you'd be easily deceived. When Jesus met the devil in the wilderness to be tempted. .
. The devil wanted to deceive Him with the Word. But Jesus answered with the Word.
"It's written. . .
" is the weapon against evil in the spirit world. When it's written, it's written. When God speaks, the whole earth is silent before Him.
What about the shoes of the readiness of the gospel of peace? Oh, our Jesus is the Prince of Peace. He came to reconcile all things.
He said, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you". If you don't live in peace with those around you. .
. If you are always arguing and fighting. .
. You aren't fit to go into this warfare because your shoes would be uncovered. And the enemy would shoot at your foot.
And doing this, he'd knock you down. Peace is God's command to us. We must live in peace with everyone.
It's written in the Bible, "peace with everyone". This is important. Jesus came to reconcile the world.
Our spirit must be a spirit of reconciliation. So we'll live well with everyone. With our brothers and sisters.
Forgiving them, going the second mile. Anyway. These are the weapons.
When all these weapons fit you well, you are ready to fight. Jesus will take the lead, and you will be victorious. I see you in our next chapter.
