Derek Smith, Lead Pastor LHBC
2 Corinthians 6:1-10
Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. 2 For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. 3 We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, 4 but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, 5 beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; 6 by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; 7 by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; 8 through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; 9 as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.
When it comes to weapons of mass destruction most people think of the two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II. The devastation from these two munitions was catastrophic leaving an estimated 220,000 people dead between the two cities. But, as disastrous as these two bombs were, the Soviets constructed a weapon years later that experts say could have been the most calamitous ever. The Tsar Bomba was 26ft long, had a diameter of nearly 7ft, and weighed more than 27 tons. On the morning of 30 October 1961, a Soviet Tu-95 bomber took off from Olenya airfield in the Kola Peninsula in the far north of Russia. Tsar Bomba detonated over Novya Zemlya, a sparsely populated archipelago in the Barents Sea, at 11:32. In a flash the bomb created a fireball five miles wide. The flash could be seen from 630 miles away. The mushroom cloud itself soared to 40 miles high with its cap stretching nearly 63 miles from end to end. Tsar Bomba unleashed an unbelievable amount of energy – 57 million tons of TNT. That is more than 1,500 times that of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs combined, and 10 times more powerful than all the munitions expended during World War II.
Child of God, I’ve got some incredible news today. We have weapons that are more powerful than even the Tsar Bomba. Paul refers to them here as the weapons of righteousness, and they are prayer, praise, and the promises of God. These weapons have the ability to cross the great chasm from the physical into the spiritual unseen realm and effectively cancel out the schemes of the devil. The word “weapons” speaks of munitions to ward off an enemy. We can stay the enemy, push back Satan and his demons, with certain weapons. This doesn’t mean if you just pray hard enough you won’t have trouble, because Scripture clearly teaches that God allows and in some cases even causes trials in our lives for our growth (James 1:1-3, Romans 5:3-5, 2 Corinthians 12:7-10). What it does mean is that Satan has no power over our soul, and through the blood of Jesus we will conquer forever. Heaven is for real, and Heaven’s power is ours now in the name of Jesus!
2 Corinthians 10:4 tells us that the weapons of our warfare are not physical, they are spiritual. We don’t win spiritual battles with money, possessions, or fame. We don’t defeat the enemy with strategies, plans, and how-to’s for daily life. The enemy is defeated only when we speak the name of Jesus and stand firm in Him by faith. The Bible gives us these three weapons we can use to project and invoke the name of Jesus in any situation and against any foe. Prayer calls on the power of God in the name of Jesus to defeat the enemy. Praise invokes the eternal name of Christ in temporal situations reminding the devil of his final condemnation and inability to stop the Lord. The promises of God serve as that sword of the spirit spoken of in Ephesians 6 which we wield against the lies of the accuser of our soul. With these weapons we can effectively deliver blows to the enemy that stagger him, and as we endure in them we sufficiently push back the darkness around us.
Child of God, we’re in a war, a battle for our hearts and minds. The good news is the devil can’t take our salvation, but through shame and complacency he can keep us from prayer, praise, and the Word of God. Take up the weapons of righteousness! Pray in Jesus’ name, lift up His name in praise, and stand on the Word. When you do the enemy has to flee, and the world takes notice at the incredible display of the glory of God.
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Father God, I believe Your Word. In it you say we have weapons of righteousness to use to defeat the enemy. Jesus, thank You for shedding Your blood for us and rising from the dead. It’s through Your blood and resurrection power that we have victory. Jesus, in Your name, I ask that you bind up the enemy toward my family and I today and that You be glorified in and through my life. Amen.
MEMORY VERSE OF THE WEEK:
1 John 4:4
Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.