Ephesians 6:13 says therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand I would like to take a moment to deconstruct this verse and what it means to us as children of God the Bible says therefore take up the whole armor of God the first thing to notice is that this is an instruction we are told to take up the whole armor of God it's not a question of whether you can or cannot take this up no it's a clear instruction
this is something you need to do the second thing is that you only need armor if you're in a war you only need armor in battle you only need armor when there is an opposing Force that's coming against you and when the Bible says the whole armor this says to me that there are multiple parts that need to be taken up anything other than the whole armor would leave you vulnerable so it's important that we follow this instruction and not only take up parts of the armor but the whole armor of God now the second
part to this verse says that you may be able to withstand in the evil day this statement has a level of certainty to it you need to take up the whole armor of God so that you can withstand in the evil day now in this part of the verse I get the impression that the Bible is warning us the Bible is warning us that there will be an evil day a day when we will have to fight the forces of evil and the forces of evil they can attack in many forms however if we are
wearing the whole armor of God then we will be able to withstand anything the devil AIMS in our Direction now that we have a better understanding of this verse I want to encourage you and I want to Rally you up yes you are in a war if you are a true disciple of Christ you will be at War you're at War against the rulers against the authorities against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the Heavenly Realms now in these few moments I want to remind you that the
word is Central to your defensive stance as well as your offensive stance as a Christian so when you face the evil day remember 2 Thessalonians 3:3 but the Lord is is faithful who will establish you and guard you from the evil one remember Deuteronomy 31:6 be strong and of good courage do not fear nor be afraid of them for the Lord your God he is the one who goes with you he will not leave you nor forsake you when you face the evil Day psalm 46:1 says God is our refuge and strength a very present
help in trouble the Lord is with you and the promises of God should give you the confidence to be bold in the face of evil the Bible has many references to God as our protector as a shield as a Good Shepherd a fortress a deliverer even our shelter refuge and strength now I'd like to share with you a Psalm of protection that I hold dear to my heart Psalm 25: 20- 21 oh guard my soul and deliver me let me not be put to shame for I take refuge in you may integrity and uprightness preserve
me for I wait for you we all need the presence of God to guard us the enemy is after our souls and David understood this and so his plea to the Lord was that his soul would be guarded and secured by the almighty God and so at this moment I pray in the name of Jesus Christ that your soul may be guarded may your soul be guarded against the devil may your soul be guarded against sin may it be guarded from deceit and every manner of evil now let us pray Lord Jesus you are my
my great defender you are my mighty protector Revelation 12:1 says and they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony and they did not love their lives to the death I am blessed because I'm covered by your blood Lord the Precious Blood of the Lamb of God your word tells me that I can overcome the Devil by the blood of the lamb and the word of my testimony and so I plead the blood of Jesus Christ over my life I plead the blood of Jesus Christ over my family
the word of my testimony is that Jesus Christ is the King of Kings and the Lord of lords the word of my testimony is that Jesus Christ is Victorious Jesus Christ is triumphant and greater is he who is in me than he who is in the world Lord Jesus you have never lost a battle there is no one who can challenge you and so I firmly place my confidence in you you are the reason why I am more than a conqueror you are the reason why my heart is filled with boldness and with courage Psalm
138: 7-8 says though I walk in the midst of trouble you will revive me you will stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies and your right hand will save me the Lord will perfect that which concerns me your mercy oh Lord endures forever do not forsake the work of your hands I am encouraged by Your Word which tells me that you my Lord will perfect that which concerns me you will straighten out everything crooked in my path you will remove all obstacles and you will certainly prepare a table before me in the
presence of my enemies be praised Lord you are an awesome God I pray that you would but stand with me always the Bible says in Isaiah 59: 19 so shall they fear the name of the Lord from the West and his glory from the rising of the sun when the enemy comes in like a flood the spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him I Praise You Lord Jesus because when the enemy comes at me and my family you are faithful to block all of his attacks the enemy cannot overwhelm me because
I am holding on to the promises in God's word promises that tell me I have authority in Jesus name promises that tell me that a thousand may fall at my side 10,000 at my right hand but it will not come near me Lord Jesus I'm at peace I declare that there is no fear within me because you've not given me a spirit of fear you have given me a spirit of power love and a sound mind I can say that all is well with me because you are for me Lord and if God is for
me who can be against me who can stand against you the lion of the tribe of Judah so great is your power and might that the Earth is your foot stol thank you for your Fai faithfulness my great deliverer thank you for hearing my prayer in Jesus name I pray amen one thing that you need to make a practice of is praying make it a habit to pray in the morning make it a habit to pray every evening make it a habit and a routine to pray often and to pray daily we sometimes take life
for granted we take God's protection for granted but let me tell you that you are most vulnerable when you're comfortable the devil loves a comfortable Christian and God calls a comfortable Christian lukewarm and that's because you're neither hot nor cold you're neither here or there there's no urgency about you and there sure enough isn't any fire to your prayers however I want to emphasize the importance of prayer we need the Lord to watch over us and to protect us the Bible says in Mark 14: 38 Watch and Pray so that you will not fall into
temptation the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak you see when you are comfortable and prayerless you are in your weakest State as a Believer and friends let me tell you something when you are prayerless you are vulnerable to spiritual attacks you need to understand that the forces of Darkness operate in darkness both spiritually and in the physical too the devil is cunning and he certainly doesn't play fair he will wait until you've let your guard down and you are dull in your spiritual senses because of a lack of prayer that's when he will
attack but today I want to encourage you and remind you of the protection we have in Jesus Christ the devil may try whatever he wants but we are guarded by Jesus Christ we are shielded by Jesus Christ the blood of Jesus Christ has formed a perimeter around our homes the angel of the Lord encamps at our residence when we call on the name of the father I encourage you not to fear whatever comes your way because Jesus Christ is a mighty protector he is a savior Jesus Christ will cover you and block the enemy so
each and every day I encourage you to pray for the divine Divine protection that comes only from the Son of God it's the kind of protection that rebukes the enemy and exposes his plans it gives no power to spiritual attacks David a man after God's Own Heart said in Psalm 119: 62 at midnight I Rise to praise you because of your righteous rules I encourage you to rise up at any time of day rise up and praise the Lord thank him for all he has done thank him for all he is doing and for all
he will continue to do now let us pray my dear Lord Jesus you deserve all the glory and you deserve to be honored you deserve to be praised for your faith fulness I invite you into my heart and into my home may your presence be found in this place I pray that the presence of the holy spirit will be strong in my home I pray that you would watch over me always I pray Lord that you would wrap me in your loving arms and keep me safe defend me from every attack of the enemy Lord
Jesus protect me from all trouble and and all unrest protect me from the evil in this world and preserve me from the attacks of the devil I will forever sing praises to your holy name I will lift the name of Jesus Christ on high higher than all of my cares and problems higher than every principality and power of Darkness your word in psalm 57:1 States be merciful to me oh God be merciful to me for my soul trusts in you and in the shadow of your wings I will make my refuge until these calamities have
passed by indeed I will be sheltered all the days of my life when I am hidden in your presence so I praise you master today I will cry out to you alone Lord Jesus the one who performs miraculous works for me You Are My Hope and rescue I will be at peace knowing that you have said in your word that I should not be afraid for I have you with me I should not be discouraged because you Jehovah are my God the creator of all the ages who will strengthen me the only one with res
resurrection power that will help me I speak with the authority that's in the name of Jesus and I declare that no weapon formed against me shall prosper no plan or scheme from the enemy will prosper in jesus' name instead Lord I pray that you give me a sound mind I come before you Lord with a heart and a mind that is focused on you keep me in your arms Lord Jesus your love and protection is more real than what my natural eyes can see I place all of my trust and confidence in you Lord in
every situation I face every battle I face I will put my trust in you give me ears to hear you master give me ears that are sensitive to your instruction and your guidance give me eyes that will see your goodness always I pray for a heart that will always remain faithful to you Jesus you are the solid foundation that my life has been built on you are the son of the Living God you died on the cross for my sins and your blood was shed for me so that I may never be defeated I have
total faith and confidence in you because even death was powerless to hold you when you watch over me I know that the enemy will be powerless over my life you are my Risen Savior who has the power to resurrect my spirit in my faith today Lord I receive your resurrection power and declare that there is no dead thing in my life there is no evil that can come near me because the blood of the Lamb of God God protects me I declare that there are no cracks in my Foundation because Christ is the solid rock
I stand on thank you for hearing this prayer in the precious name of Jesus I pray amen one Sunday morning in the summer of 1983 we arrived for our weekly service and just as everyone started to leave the car I quickly got my dad's attention and asked him to give me a Bible verse to recite because the Sunday school teacher had told every child to come prepared with a verse to tell the church my dad quickly opened up his trusted Leather Bible that was decorated with notes and highlighted passages from the years of study he
opened up Exodus 14:14 and read the Lord shall fight for you and you shall hold your peace and that was it that was the verse I memorized it there and then and over 25 years later this verse still has a powerful meaning over my life it's a verse that I've spoken to myself when I was in the middle of hardship it's a verse that I've recited whenever I was scared and facing a situation where the outcome was unknown Exodus 14:14 is a verse that I have recited many times over the years simply to encourage myself
when I felt as though I was overwhelmed by the pressures of life and perhaps you have a verse a verse or a passage of scripture that speaks to you deeply because of one reason or another and so I am sure you can understand why this verse the very first Bible verse that I memorized as a child it has a deeper meaning to me especially as I've gone through the ups and downs of life and think about it the Lord shall fight for you who are we talking about here the god of the Universe the God
of all creation the Bible describes him saying Heaven is his throne and the Earth is his foot stol so it's this God the god of the Bible who will fight for you truth be told not many people will fight for someone else a father will one day teach his son to fight his own battles a brother or a friend will one day tell you that they can't fight for you they have to think of themselves there aren't many situations where you will find someone who says whatever comes your way I will fight for you but
here in Exodus God promises just that to fight for us and that's not even the best part the best part is that the Bible tells us that as God is fighting for us we will keep our peace and so may this word encourage you to give your battle to the Lord whatever your battle looks like God will fight for you he will be your great defender he will be your shield and Strong Tower so as you listen I believe that we all need to have the following prayer points we need to pray for God's protection
against all manner of evil we need to pray for wisdom and truth so that we aren't deceived we need to pray for the spirit of discernment we need to pray and plead the blood of Jesus Christ to out anything that seeks to corrupt disturb or hinder your spirit your home or your family only through prayer through the word of God and through the covering of the Holy Spirit can we be delivered from the evil in this [Music] world in Psalm 103:13 the Bible says the Lord is like a father to his children children tender and
compassionate to those who fear Him and if you read Psalm 68:5 the Bible says a father of the fatherless a defender of widows is God in his holy habitation now as I was growing up my father always used to say to me son it's my job to protect you he would say that time and time again and it's only when I had my own family that I truly understood what he meant as a father I will defend my family and I often think about it like this if I feel this way if I as a
sinful man can feel so strongly about loving and defending my family then what about God imagine how much the lord loves us and in him love in us so much imagine just how strongly he would protect us Matthew 6 verse 26 says look at the birds they don't plant or harvest or store food in barns for your heavenly father feeds them and aren't you far more valuable to him than they are as children of God the Bible tells us that we are valuable in God's eyes we are dearly loved and we are certainly protected allow
me to give you a few biblical examples of how God protected his children throughout time God's protection meant that Gideon and his army of 300 men were greatly outnumbered but they had God's favor they had God's protection God's protection meant that no harm came to Daniel even though he was thrown into a lion's den God's protection meant that the three Hebrew boys weren't burned alive even though they were thrown into a furnace God's protection meant that Goliath a skilled Giant Warrior was no match for a boy with a few Stones what I'm trying to put
across to you is that Jesus Christ is our great protector he is the ultimate he is the lion of the tribe of Judah he is our great defender he's a mighty Shield that blocks every arrow from the devil dear friend let me tell you the ultimate protection you can have is Jesus Christ in him you are hidden from the enemy's line of sight we can do all we can to physically protect our families But ultimately only God can save us only God can defend us we can do all we can to protect our health but
ultimately God is the one in control now I would like to read a few verses from what I considered to be one of the greatest passages of scripture regarding our protection as children of God the Bible reads in Psalm 121 verse 1:3 I will lift up my eyes to the hills from whence comes my help my help comes from the Lord who made Heaven and Earth he will not allow your foot to be moved he who keeps you will not Slumber now let us pray Lord you are a mighty and all powerful God we enter
your presence with sincere gratitude and we reverence your name as your children we are thankful for your protection thank you for being our safe place Lord thank you for being our refuge Lord Jesus we are thankful for your wonderful care and Tender Mercies your word tells us that our struggle is not against flesh and blood but but against the rulers against the authorities against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the Heavenly Realms however in this fight King Jesus we can always rely on you we are grateful that
we can rely on you as both our protector and protection so should we Face any evil opposition we declare no weapon formed against us shall prosper should we Face any principalities or powers of Darkness then we can stand and declare that no weapon formed against us shall prosper we need your heavenly protection father your word says in Psalm 34: 7 to8 the angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him and delivers them oh taste and see that the Lord is good blessed is the man who trusts in him thank you for your
promise of protection a Psalm that offers such a blessed hope I pray that your angels to encamp around us and around our homes strengthen us so that we will be able to withstand the storms of life and any challenge Alles that come to test us strengthen us to be able to withstand any attacks from the enemy give us the power we need to overcome the enemy's attacks give us peace so that we will not allow fear and anxiety to hold us back we put our trust in you as our ultimate source of divine protection as
your children we refuse to let anxiety or fear become our companion help us to trust in you and not to worry help us to trust in your ability to keep us safe and secure we are blessed because I am under the care of Jehovah we are blessed because you watch over us each and every day we are blessed and protected because you go before us Lord Jesus and watch over our coming in and going out and so this means we will rejoice always because of you we will put our faith in you regardless of what
we're facing we will give thanks to you in all of our circumstances and it's all because you have a plan for our lives that is divine in purpose father we trust that all of our steps are ordered by you we have confidence in your word that tells us to approach the throne of grace boldly thank you for being good thank you for being patient father I pray that I will always abide under your Shadow meaning that I am always close to you you are always near and never too far from me I will say to
you Lord you are my safe place and you are my strong tower you are my God and I am trusting in you to be with me always and to be my Defender now and forever more I bless your Holy Name Lord amen