This morning we come to a pivotal point in the book of Ephesians. It's almost an application of the application section of the book. And I begin by reminding you of the structure of this letter. Paul, as is his custom along with the other New Testament writers, structures his letters by first explaining or teaching the doctrine—the indicative truths about salvation, about Christ, about the believer, or whatever the subject matter may be. 

Then in the second part of the letter, he exhorts us to make application of those truths—to live out the truth of who we are. This is nowhere more clear than in the book of Ephesians, where we've seen the lofty heights of our position in the first three chapters. The amazing salvation plan of God from before the foundation of the world, His provision to accomplish that plan through the person and work of Jesus Christ, and His purpose in saving us: to release us from the power of sin, to equip us to live for Him, and to continually empower us by His grace and life in us to do His will, to bring Him glory and to be a witness in this world. 

In the first three chapters, we see our great position in Christ. Then beginning at chapter 4, verse 1, Paul implores us to live in light of these great truths—who we are and what we have in Christ. He writes, "walk worthy of your calling." That is, let your outward living be in consistency with who you now are inwardly. Let there be literally equal weight between your position and your practice. As we so often emphasize, there is a why—we can now live a new life of holiness in Christ. 

The why is the truth of what God has given to us and done in us in salvation when we believed, summarized in the doctrine of regeneration and the indwelling of the very life and nature of God in us to empower and strengthen us to live for Him. This why is taught clearly throughout the New Testament, and I believe most succinctly and methodically in the writings of Paul. Perhaps the clearest passages are in the book of Romans, with which we're very familiar. 

We spent a good deal of time recently exploring the depths of Romans 5 to 8 and our death with Jesus, our release from the power of indwelling sin, the bondage of the law, the fear of death—the great contrast laid out there between "the man in Adam" and "the man in Christ." We are no longer under law, sin, and death, but now live under grace, righteousness unto life. That we are not in the flesh, but we now live in the Spirit. 

My brothers and sisters, these are the great doctrines of the New Covenant and the life now lived in Christ—Paul's favorite term, "in Christ." These are the doctrines that also comprise the first three chapters of the book of Ephesians. So we see our position in those first three chapters, and all of the supporting scriptures throughout the New Testament go along with it. 

I would also mention the Old Testament passages, such as Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 36, which give clear promises concerning this New Covenant and are further illuminated in the book of Hebrews as applied to the church. These doctrines are the why—why we can live a new life. As we have said, in the next couple of chapters, particularly four and five in Ephesians, we are exhorted and commanded to live out these truths, to apply these things in our daily living. In fact, our moment-by-moment thinking. 

Think about the exhortation of Romans 6:11 to 13. Following those great doctrinal truths in the first ten verses, he says, "Likewise you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God." 

Reckon—count up the facts. Look at the truths of our salvation, who we are, what we have in Christ—count them up, consider them, and then live in light of them. This is what we see in chapters 4 and 5 of Ephesians as well—direct commands to live out who we are and then characterizations of what that looks like, usually in contrast with what life in Adam looked like, and a call to no longer live like who we were, but to live in consistency with who we are. 

Turn over to Ephesians 4, verse 17. This is a passage we've looked at often, but it's such a good illustration of what we're talking about here. Ephesians 4:17, Paul says this: "I say therefore and testify in the Lord that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness." 

This is a picture of the man in Adam—this is how we used to walk, and we should no longer walk. He says in verse 20, "But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus.” What truth is in Jesus? Verse 22: "That you have put off concerning your former conduct, the old man, which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and you are being renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that you have put on the new man, which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness.” 

Therefore, and then he goes on: "Put away lying. Do not be angry, and do not sin. Don't give place to the devil. Don't steal like you used to, to satisfy your own hedonistic desires. But now work with your hands and mind your own business so that you can provide for your own and have something for him who has need." 

In my opinion, the greatest thing about biblical Christianity is that it is not like religion, which gives us a list of commands and laws and absolutely no provision, no power, no means to accomplish them or to live them out. But rather, in true salvation in Christ, by grace through faith, we find that God gives to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. 

In other words, there's a provision of power granted to the believer—the very life of God, the power of the Holy Spirit living in us, Jesus living His life out through us to create and produce the fruit of holiness in our lives. What I love most about God's Word, the study of His Word, the great truths that we learn here, is that there's a logical basis. There's a reason; there's an underlying truth that forms the basis for our living. 

God is not asking me to do something contrary to who I am or the means that I possess by His grace and power and life in me. But He's explaining to me the very life He has imparted to me in salvation, the way that He has dealt with the impediment to holy living— which is indwelling sin and the law and the flesh—and has granted to me all power, all things necessary to holy living, to a new life in Christ. 

I love to study these truths to see the logic, to see the reasoning, to grasp the firm foundation that comes from regeneration, salvation in Jesus, and the very life that He gives to me—to explore and increasingly understand the greatness of the life and power that works in me to accomplish His will. To strive to truly hold on to, in a most practical way, the idea of the branch and the vine—the life of Jesus in me producing fruit for His glory. 

Now what's fascinating about the book of Ephesians is that we have, in chapter 6, beginning at verse 10, a sort of application of the application, and a text that I believe most approximates—not the why, not the truths of who I am in Christ and all those things that are so important and we love to study and take for ourselves—not so much the why here, but this text most approximates, in my mind and understanding, the how we live out the Christian life. 

This, my friends, is the great question of the Christian life—the point of the spear, the place of the battle. The Christian life is not so much a how—as in a prescription or a list of rules or a methodology. It's important that we emphasize that truth—that the Christian life is a why, not so much a how. But the how does bug us a bit, doesn't it? It's a bit more intangible, hard to grasp, difficult to hold on to in our minds and in the sense of understanding the battle—understanding where the war takes place and how to fight it. 

The how is important. What I hope will come to understand over the next couple of weeks is that the how isn't a law or rules or method at all, but the how is a who. Listen now; I want you to be thinking on this as we go and as we study together. The how is a who—a person, a power, a life, a source of living each moment, each day. And, of course, that who—that person—is Jesus Christ. 

Let's look at our text together, Ephesians 6:10: "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.” 

"Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 

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. "Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one; and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God."

I've given you five points on your outline this morning. We're not going to get all the way through this, so we'll have a part two next week, Lord willing. 

First, we see "be strong" or "be strengthened." Second, "the power of His might." Third, "this is war." Fourth, "the whole armor." And fifth, "stand." 

Our text verses 11 and 13 are key because they give us the purpose here, the goal, the objective. I'm always encouraging you to look for purpose words, and we see the word "that" in each of these verses. "Put on the whole armor of God." Well, right now, I'm not sure exactly what that means. What I can understand is the purpose: "Put on the whole armor of God that you might be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." 

Verse 13: "Take up the whole armor of God," same imperative here, "that you may be able to stand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." Three times in these verses, Paul says the purpose of what he's telling us to do—the goal of the Christian life—is to stand. 

Four times, really. Look at verse 14—the next words—a command: "Stand therefore." The purpose of putting on the whole armor of God, whatever that may mean, and we will explore that over the next couple of weeks, is that I might stand. 

The word here, "histamine," means to stand, to remain, to hold fast, to not be moved. Militarily, it has the idea of standing one's ground rather than fleeing or retreating. In Matthew 12:25, it says, "But Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, 'Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.'" 

"Stand" here means to remain, to thrive, to continue. Romans 5:1: "Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." We stand in grace—unmoved—not in and out of grace, but we remain, we stand immovable, living in the realm of grace. 

Romans 14:4: "Who are you to judge another servant? To his own master, he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand." The contrast to standing is falling or fleeing. What encouraging truth we see here: God is able to make you stand. 

So it's an interesting picture here in our text, in the metaphor of the soldier in battle—fully armed, taking the whole of his armor, every weapon fully at his disposal—and the purpose or goal is for him to stand, to stand his ground—not to advance and take ground and conquer, but to stand immovable, steadfast, confident in our position against all onslaughts of the enemy meant to move us. 

And how does God cause us to stand? Verse 10: "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might." The translation here is "be" or "to be strong" in our text, but this could be a little misleading to us—the literal is "be continually being strengthened." 

Okay, it's a present passive imperative, so it's an imperative, it's a command, it's passive—so it's someone else acting on us, it's present meaning there's a continuing action. So "be continually being strengthened." So the instruction is not for us to be strong, to strengthen ourselves or pull up our bootstraps kind of mentality. 

The instruction is to be continually looking to, trusting in, abiding in the Lord and depending on His strengthening power. That is why the words "in the power of His might" follow. Wiest comments on these two words. He says, "Power is relative or manifested power, and might is power as an endowment." The idea is in the active efficacy of the might that is inherent in Him. 

In other words, it's His power, and it's His power that works through us; it's efficacious, okay? He gives us this translation of verse 10: "Finally, be constantly strengthened in the Lord and in the active efficacy of the might that is inherent in Him." 

The Christian life, and the exhortation here, is the outworking of the life and power of God in and through us. We got a glimpse into this explanation of how we live in the Christian life in the prayers of Paul for the believers in Ephesus back in chapters 1 and 3. Paul's expounding the tremendous and wonderful doctrine concerning salvation in Christ, and it's as if he cannot wait to get to what he's teaching us here in chapter 6. So he breaks into prayer, chapter 1 and chapter 3.

Turn over to chapter 1 at verse 15 with me, please. Those first 14 verses are truly profound about God's salvation plan, and Him implementing that through Christ, and all that we have in Him, and how the Holy Spirit's been given to us to seal us as a guarantee, a deposit for the day of our inheritance—all these wonderful truths about what it means to be "in Christ." 

And in verse 15, Paul says, "Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers." Here's his prayer: "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints." 

Look at verse 19: "And what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, and seated Him as it at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come." 

And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Can you believe what he's saying here? The very power that raised Jesus from the dead—that is greater than all the powers and all the world and all creation of anything that is or is to come—is at work in us. 

Working in us, my brothers and sisters in Christ—that mighty power that Jesus possesses and is far above principalities and powers with which we do battle. Notice verse 12 of chapter 6 in our text: "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places." 

My battle is not against the men of this world; my battle is not against my neighbor; my battle is not against the liberals and the Democrats and whatever else. My battle is against flesh, or is against principalities and powers and wicked demons and Satan's minions and his schemes and his world system and all that he's trying to do to move me from my focus on Christ, from my steadfastness and my faithfulness today. 

Jesus' life and power is working in us to win this battle against the demonic forces, the wiles of the devil, and really what we need to understand is that this is a battle of truth versus error, and we need to speak the truth. 

The second prayer of Paul that gives us great insight as to how God intends to produce the very life of Christ in and through us is in chapter 3. If you look at chapter 3 at verse 14, again he's expounding tremendous doctrine, and at verse 14 he says, "For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named." 

Look at verse 20: "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen." 

Be continually being strengthened by the Lord and the power of His might. How? By following the Ten Commandments? By looking to the law and my works and my effort? No. It is the Holy Spirit living in me that imparts strength to my inner man. It's the life of Jesus in and through me as I abide in Him by faith. Look to Him as I run this race. Reckon what He says to be true. Trust Him moment by moment. 

Take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, to the truth, exposing and dispelling the error and lies of Satan and his demons. It is His life, His strength, His power in me—Christ in you, the hope of glory. Be being strengthened continually each moment of each day as you walk by faith—not in yourselves or your ability or your strength, but faith in the Lord. 

Listen to Paul's succinct summary of the Christian life, Galatians 2:20. He says, "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me." 

The key to the Christian life, my brothers and sisters in Christ, is Christ. The key to the Christian life is Christ. It's a life each step of the way by grace through faith, trusting and depending on the power of His might. And we must realize that this life is a battle. This life is war—war for the truth, war for the souls of men, war for the glory of God. 

Finally, my brethren, "be strong in the Lord and the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil; for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 

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." Oftentimes when we preach, as Paul did, a life of grace by faith in Jesus, abiding in Him, counting up the facts, reckoning what He says to be true, living in light of who we are—this reasonable service with a logical basis in truth—oftentimes we are accused of a sort of "let-go-and-let-God" kind of life, where we do nothing, where there is no battle. 

My brothers and sisters, nothing could be further from the truth. In the Christian life, the struggle is real. The battle is certain. And if you begin to understand and believe what God says is true of you in Christ, if you begin to understand these great doctrines of salvation in Him, if you begin to understand and apply the abiding life—the life of grace by faith, being strengthened by His power and might to live for Him—if you're living this life wholly, uncompromising, fervent in witness, then what you find, inevitably, is that the battle will come to you. 

We will experience the onslaught of the enemy and his fiery darts, his schemes and wiles to move us, to cause us to flee, to compromise, to doubt, and to fear. Rather than standing firm on the truth in our faith in the Lord, we will compromise, we will fall, we will flee. 

Satan doesn't mind if you are religious. Satan doesn't mind if you're trying, by your own efforts, by your power to produce fruit, to be good, to accomplish your own righteousness. He doesn't mind if you're living in a way that lacks understanding of the place of the battle—the way God intends we stand. He's happy to have us in these places. 

But if we are really focused on Jesus, if we're really depending on Him, walking by faith and seeing the fruit of His life and power in us, we will know the battle. And I have to confess sometimes, my friends, that's true in my life, and sometimes it's not. And I know the difference. 

And I know the difference in the battle. But if we are living the way that Paul is describing here, we will come to understand that this life is a war. We often talk about spiritual warfare, and this is the truth. 

As we read in our text, we are in a battle against principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this age, spiritual hosts of wickedness. However, this term has been largely hijacked in the Christian world to mean something different than what we see here in our text and in the rest of the epistles. 

To many within Christendom, spiritual warfare constitutes something akin to what we find in Matthew 10. You remember in Matthew 10 that Jesus called His disciples, He endued them with power, He called them by name, He sent them out to who? The lost sheep of the house of Israel. He said, "Do not go to a Gentile. Do not go to a Samaritan." Only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And what did He do? He gave them power—to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. "Freely you have received, freely give." 

He told them to preach the gospel of the kingdom. We notice in the context here that Jesus gave the power to the twelve—and then He names them. I don't find my name there. He tells them to go offering the kingdom to the Jews, not the gospel of His death, burial, and resurrection to all men. Clearly this is a different time with a different purpose, and thus we cannot take these things for ourselves. 

My name is not there, the gospel I've been commanded to preach is not there; something different is going on and we see that in Luke 22, when He institutes the new covenant, and He says, "Remember when I sent you out and you didn't want for anything and you didn't need money and you didn't need food and all that? But now. But now you better prepare, but now you better get a sword because things are going to be different." 

But for many, spiritual warfare is an offensive, aggressive battling against Satan. Rather, what we see in our text is that spiritual warfare for the believer is a standing fast, unmoved under the assaults and schemes of Satan and his minions. The battle for us is primarily one of truth versus error. We have no power to cast out demons or raise the dead; those were the signs of the kingdom for a specific time for a specific purpose when Jesus was offering Himself to Israel as the King. 

We are now to preach the gospel to who? Every creature. We are to speak the truth in love. We wage spiritual warfare by speaking the truth and dispelling the lies, by bringing light into the darkness to expose it. When Satan assaults us with his lies and schemes, we take those thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ and reckon what God says to be true and then live in light of it. We stand on God's truth. 

I remember years and years ago—and I'll tell you how long ago it was—I stopped at a little gas station convenience store over in Grandview, Wisconsin, there on Highway 63. I stopped there to use a payphone. While I was there, I started talking with the owner, and it turned out he was a Christian. I was brand new in my faith—or maybe not even saved to that; I can't remember—but it was brand new, and I was eager to talk with him about Jesus. 

He started saying things I'd never heard about spiritual warfare and demons and binding Satan. I had no idea what he was talking about. Then he told me that morning on the way to work his radiator had failed, and he was stranded along the highway, and he said, "I prayed against the demon in my radiator, but to no avail." 

There's much confusion about spiritual warfare in the church. What we see here is that the battle is not one of offense, taking ground or binding Satan, or casting demons out of your radiator, but rather standing firm on the truth—speaking the truth and living the truth. 

There's clearly a battle—a series of battles day by day that make up the war of the Christian life—a battle in the mind, a battle to take every thought captive, to take those temptations and reckon yourself dead indeed to sin and ask Jesus to help you and empower you and strengthen you to live the way He wants you to live, which is best for you and brings glory to Him and is a witness to men. 

There clearly is a battle, but we must understand what the battle is and how to fight it, otherwise we're going to be off into all kinds of crazy endeavors that have nothing to do with our purpose and God's will for our lives. So how does Satan attack us? What is he seeking to do? 

Well, I think the best way to understand this is that Satan's great desire—he can't take us from Christ, right? John 10:28—we're tattooed on the Father's hand, and He's made a fist, and no one's able to take us out of His hand. But what he does want to do is render us useless, or better yet, damaging to the cause of Christ for the reason that we're here. 

He does this by attacking at all the points where God tells us we are to apply discipline and effort—in where and how to fight the battle. For example, God tells us that the way to a fruitful holy life that brings Him glory and is a faithful, effective witness in this world is by an abiding relationship with Jesus, by knowing and reckoning the truth according to His Word, by taking every thought and temptation and philosophy captive to the truth—discerning error and standing against that error and lies by speaking the truth in love. 

So how does Satan attack us at this point? What are his wiles, his wicked ways that deceive us and lead us to uselessness to the cause of Christ? One way is that he gets our focus off of Jesus—off of the loveliness, the greatness of His person and His work—to wonder at who God is and what He's done for us and what He has planned for us and how sufficient His grace is for us today. 

He points us to activities, to good things, to works, to programs, to self, to law—doing and doing by our own power, religious exercise, ritual. All these things point us to something other than Christ and who He is and what He's done. Or he may point us to the wisdom of the world—to the philosophies of men, to the methods and means of man. 

This is the infiltration of psychology and marketing into the church—of self-help, of this group and that group, and designed to meet the felt needs of carnal desires of men, but not wholly dependent on and daily in need of Christ Himself. We see the marketing of the world has taken over the evangelical church—the ways and means to grow a church, to draw people in. 

I'm always so thankful we have never had a meeting—almost 25 years I've been here, never had a meeting where we talked about how to grow the church, or even wondered or worried about it. Because our job isn't to grow the church; our job is to grow the church—the believers in the church, right—in maturity. Vance Havner said, "What you win them with, you win them to." 

Satan also leads us into sin by all his craftiness and his world system. He seeks to destroy the Christian and his witness by leading him from holiness into sin— to lessen the gravity of sin, to make some sin okay—to assist the believer in every way to live in sinful behavior, which destroys all that is good and God intends. 

I think of the church in Ephesus, just for example, because we're studying this epistle. Paul founded this church, taught for three years, night and day; eventually Timothy took over and shepherded this church. They had tremendous foundations, leaders in this church, and yet when we get to Revelation 2, we see that this church, though doctrinally sound, strong in teaching and discipline, had left its first love. 

What an indictment, and what a danger for us today. I was talking to someone the other day, and this person said to me, "I was raised in a church that was all about the Bible, that was focused on the Bible, that taught the Bible, so I think I've got all that." I was physically shaken by this comment: "I've got all that?" 

Can we come to such a point where we think we have it all figured out—the Bible? The essence of the Christian life? My great desire is to understand who Jesus is by His Word—to love Him more and more, to live for Him, to need Him, to know Him. But I feel like I'm just beginning to understand these things. 

Pastor Krenz used to say, "It's like going to the Pacific Ocean with a tin cup." One of Satan's greatest schemes is making us feel as though mediocrity is okay—that going through the motions is alright, that it's enough—that other things—the things of this world like family and work and recreation— can be more important than fellowship, learning, growing in the Word, growing in our relationship with Christ, and becoming more and more like Him. 

As if church and Bible study and my personal study are somehow optional, or subservient to these other things, as if I don't really need it to live and prosper and bring glory to God, because my goal may not be in line with God's goal for me all the time. My friends, this is to leave our first love. 

And this often results in compromise with the world, looking elsewhere for something else. And then sin, as a result of leaving Christ as our sole resource—our greatest desire, our most prevalent need every day. And then we're losing the battle. Then we're distracted, deceived, and useless to the very purpose for which God leaves us in the world, so that the world may know that Jesus is the Christ. 

We can begin to coast—to be happy and content with mediocrity, think we have this thing mostly figured out, and not sense our desperate need for Jesus every day. What can keep us from being tossed to and fro, confused, distracted, content with ourselves and our circumstances, rather than content with Christ? Paul says, "I've learned, I've learned to be content with Christ." 

We have to learn that. 

The only thing is the truth—the only truth. We must know the truth. We must be continually renewing our minds to the truth. We must choose to believe the truth. We must speak the truth. 

And, my brothers and sisters, by His grace and power, we must live the truth. And not one of us here can do that apart from constant, continual fellowship and preaching and teaching and personal study and immersing ourselves in the Word of God and letting the Word of Christ dwell in us richly. 

I hate to stop here, but this is where we're going to pick it up next time, as we explore the essence of the battle, the means that God intends we use to have victory each day, and a desire to move our position into practice and win this battle of the Christian life. Only Christ can live the Christian life. 

Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we're so thankful for Your Word, Your truth. We're so thankful for Your patience with us, Your long-suffering with us, like children, like sheep. Boy, that lesson's taught to me all the time with our sheep. And I think we're like sheep, Lord. 

Help us to remember who You are and what You've done for us. Help us to need You and to live like we need You, so that we might bring You glory, so that we might live the life You intend for us, that we might be a witness in this world, and experience this battle. 

In Jesus' name we pray, amen.