God Will Fight for You: 8 Truths for the War Over Your Assignment

Sermon outline

Every believer is on a special assignment from God, and though the assignment brings warfare through people the devil uses, the battle is spiritual, God goes before you, and you can expect to win.

1. You are in a warfare

   Church people can be beautiful, and they can be mean as rattlesnakes, slandering, backstabbing and spreading untrue rumours; he says that when he was a Hindu and his wife a Muslim they were never attacked as they are now. But we wrestle not against flesh and blood: Satan uses people as his mouthpiece, and Jesus disarmed those powers on the cross. Don't look back, retreat or look for an escape route; the attacks come because God is growing you and teaching you to wage a good warfare.

   Illustration: He heard a rumour that Joyce Meyer had died, soon after Myles Munroe had passed away, and his heart sank, only to learn later that day it was a wicked rumour. Not everything you hear is true, and you are wiser than that. The retreat road, he says, is booby-trapped.

   “You're not tiptoeing through the tulips and smelling the roses. This is a warfare.”

   • Ephesians 6:12
   • Luke 9:62
   • Luke 17:32
   • Colossians 2:15
   • Hebrews 12:2
   • 1 Timothy 6:12
   • 1 Timothy 1:18

2. 1. Warfare is always seasonal

   You won't be fighting all the time: there is a time for war and a time for peace. When the enemy leaves you at peace, build up your strength and rest; when it is time for war, fight, because the spirit of the age is pulling on our families, and parents must fight for their children and marriages in prayer.

   “When the enemy leaves you at peace, then that's a time to build up your strength.”

   • Ecclesiastes 3:1
   • Ecclesiastes 3:3
   • Ecclesiastes 3:8

3. 2. War always happens when two people want the same thing

   Nations go to war over the same territory and companies over the same marketplace, and it happens in families and cities too. Satan is behind the misunderstandings, vicious rumours and slander, so where there is contention and strife, peace ceases; whatever is from God brings peace.

   “Anything that brings strife in your life, identify that as coming from the devil.”

4. 3. People are not your enemy

   Ephesians 6:12: we are not fighting flesh-and-blood enemies, but rulers and authorities of the unseen world and evil spirits in the heavenly places.

   • Ephesians 6:12

5. 4. God has provided an armour that will defend you

   Put on all of God's armour so you can stand firm against the strategies of the devil. It is a given that you will have battles, but Scripture promises that after the battle you will still be standing, because God is in the battle with you.

   “God is in the battle with you.”

   • Ephesians 6:11-13

6. 5. Your sword is the Word of God

   Put on salvation as a helmet for your mind and take the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, by your confessions and proclamations.

   “We will wage a good warfare with the word of God.”

   • Ephesians 6:17

7. 6. You have personal mentorship with the Holy Spirit

   The Holy Spirit teaches you the principles of battle and changes strategy because He knows what your enemies are planning, giving you another route around the attack. The same Spirit of wisdom that led Paul and rested on Jesus is in you, so when He tells you something, listen; He will save you and your family.

   “When the Spirit of God tells you something, listen.”

8. 7. Enter every battle to bring glory to God

   Your enemies use carnal weapons, but you enter every battle to bring glory to God, depending on the Word of God and the Spirit of God.

9. 8. Expect to win every battle

   With Jesus in your boat it will not sink: God has to give you the victory because He wants the glory and your testimony. That is why he preaches the way he does, emphasising prosperity to keep poverty at bay and healing to keep sickness away; he is not fighting people but the wicked spirits of fear, doubt and intimidation that grapple with people's minds. The devil comes to steal, kill and destroy, but Jesus came to give abundant life, and your prosperity is tied not to your paycheck or company but to God.

   Illustration: He recalls a story, he thinks from Bill Winston, of a man in a hut too poor to buy another light globe, who prayed that his globe would never burn out; it kept burning for 10 or 20 years.

   “It may look like you're the underdog when it begins. But you will be the top dog when it ends.”

   • John 10:10