Week 6 | “Why the Battle for Good Feels So Hard”

Behind the routine of our everyday lives An invisible war is raging And if you've ever wondered Why choosing obedience feels like swimming upstream? Why discouragement hits so hard? Why distraction and temptation feel so relentless There's a reason it feels that way A war being waged not over land or power, but over your heart Revelation 12 pulls back the curtain on that battle The enemy is real. The battle is real But so is the victory The decisive blow has already been struck Dragon is defeated He still fights but is one who has already lost Which means you don't fight for victory, you fight from it You are not alone, and you are not defenseless Wake up to the fight, put on the armor, and stand firm Because the battle is real and the victory is absolute The same Jesus who holds the throne is holding you All right, good morning, welcome. Good to have our Willow locations as well. I want to welcome those of you joining us online. And as always, a big shout out to our brothers who joined us from the Jefferson City Correctional Center. Great to have everybody with us today. Well, happy July 5th, everybody. I know our July 4th plans maybe got washed out a little bit last night, but still hope you had a great time celebrating the 250th birthday of this country that we get to live in. And I know we live in a country that has some things that we've got to grow in. There's some problems we've got to fix, but at the same time, what a privilege it is that we get to live in this really great nation.

So grateful to celebrate that even with you all here today. But we are diving in, people. We are halfway through our series in the book of Revelation. How you doing? We hanging in? All right. We talked about this from the very get-go, that Revelation is not intended to scare us. It's intended to prepare us. I need you to be reminded of that as we dive in today. Revelation chapter 12. So if you've got a Bible, you can go to Revelation 12. If you'd like to pull it up on a smartphone, feel free to do that. I'll also have the words on the screen in just a moment. Let me start this way. There's a fairly popular Netflix show called Stranger Things. How many have seen Stranger Things? Now, in case you haven't seen Stranger Things, let me tell you a little bit about it without giving anything away. Stranger Things was set in 1980s kind of ordinary town, Indiana. Kind of like a normal town where kids ride their bikes, where there's just simple little cafeteria school, where the sheriff knows everybody in town. And yet, underneath this city that feels very ordinary, there's some pretty strange things. And so there's these dark forces, these creatures, this almost like dark mirror of everything that's happening, of what you can see. And so not everybody can see it. Not everybody's even aware of it,

but there's a few younger people that become aware. And once you see it, you can't unsee it. The show calls it the upside down. Most of our young people, there's a few adults that finally experience this upside down. And again, once you see it, you can't unsee it. Once you experience it, it actually shapes the way you see what you physically see when you go back above ground. I think in many ways, as you think about kind of this idea of stranger things, that's the idea that you come across when you get to Revelation chapter 12. Now certainly stranger things, meaning the Netflix show is all fiction. When you get into Revelation chapter 12, I think it's describing something that's incredibly real. But Revelation 12 will get at this idea of sometimes what you'll hear people talk about in church of this thing called spiritual warfare in a sense that there's this physical world that we see, but behind everything that we see physically, there's a spiritual realm that sits that maybe John would describe as kind of like the upside down. That once you see it, you can't unsee it. And once you really understand it, it actually shapes how you see everything else. Elsewhere in Scripture, it reminds us that you and I, our battle's not against flesh and blood. It's actually not against what we see.

It's against the unseen. seeing forces and powers and all kinds of things that exist in our world. It kind of reminds us that our enemy is not our ex, our enemy is not our political adversary, our enemy is not our neighbor who just won't do the thing he's supposed to do in your neighborhood. That our enemy is a spiritual enemy. And though you can't see him with your physical eyes, you can certainly see the effects and the impact of what he's done. I mean if you ever like pause to think about that the moment you're trying to make progress in whatever that area is, it's almost like it always takes a few steps back. Have you ever noticed that the addiction that we're trying to overcome oftentimes is met with relapses? Have you ever recognized that the relationship that feels so broken that you were taking some steps forward in now feels shattered once again? Have you ever felt like it's just a little harder than it should be? It's what Revelation 12 does. It opens our eyes to potentially see things through a spiritual perspective, through a spiritual lens, that we may see ultimately what John is hoping you see. Now again, remember Revelation was written to a church that was struggling. They were being persecuted. They were suffering in all kinds of different ways. And what's interesting about Revelation 12 is into this struggle that people were experiencing, what John's trying to help them discover is what's behind it. What's the spiritual enemy trying to do underneath it? Because if I can see it from a spiritual perspective, it will change how I physically interact with it right now. So let's dive into the text. Revelation chapter 12, I warn you, we're going to meet some strange things. You with me? All right, let me read the first

six verses to you. Revelation chapter 12, one through six, it says this. It says, a great sign appeared in heaven. You're going to meet some characters. Here's the first. A woman who's clothed with the sun and with the moon under her feet and a crown of 12 stars on her head. She was pregnant. She cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. And then another sign appeared in heaven. Here's another character. An enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its head. Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. She gave birth to, here's a third character, a son. A male child who will rule the nation with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God into his throne. The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God where she might be taking care of for 1260 days. I told you it's kind of some strange things, right? But let's not be weirded out by the strange images. They all mean something. And so what's John trying to communicate to the early church with these strange details? Let's look at the different characters. And so we find a woman. Who is this woman? Now notice the details about her. She has the sun and the moon and there's kind of these 12 stars. What's interesting about the details is it causes us to think back to some dreams that Joseph had in Genesis chapter 37. Most scholars suggest that the woman is precisely likely the nation of Israel or even more broadly is the people of God. Because the nation of Israel was the Israel that God chose to bring the Messiah into the world in order to give birth to the son. So who's the son? Who the child is, well it says that he will rule the world with an

iron scepter. That's a that's a quote from Psalm 2 9. It's this messianic psalm. The one that God was going to send into the world to save the world that would ultimately rule and reign over the whole world. This son is Jesus. And so one of the principles we have from the very beginning of the book of Revelation is amidst all the symbols and all the imagery and all the crazy things don't miss Jesus. It's another focal point on Jesus because Jesus was the child born into the world ultimately to save the world. But then you meet this crazy this crazy image this dragon. Who in the world is the dragon? Now thankfully John doesn't leave us guessing who the dragon is. Actually tells us exactly precisely tells us in verse 9 of chapter 12. Since that great dragon was hurled down the ancient serpent who was the devil or satan just names him for us. Who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to earth and his angels with him. So it's kind of this this image that the John's helping us understand there's more to this world than you see with your eyes. that you and I, we actually have an enemy, and that enemy wants to steal, kill, and destroy every good thing that God wants to provide and give to you in your life. We have to see things through a spiritual lens. And so there's a couple of principles that Revelation 12 gets at that I think are so applicable to our lives today. Here's the first principle I want us to lean into. It's simply this. You have a real enemy, and that real enemy knows your particular weakness.

I think about it like this. Some of you who know me well, you know that my oldest son, he's almost 19, he loves to fish, like loves to fish, and he's ridiculously good at it. Every now and then, Levi and I will go fishing. Levi catches, I mean, dozens of fish. I may get a bite every now and then, but I don't notice it, so I don't ever reel anything in. But Levi, he's masterful, and part of the reason he's masterful is he's learned how to understand the patterns of fish, and he knows what the different types of climate will do and what time of day it is and what kind of bait or lure to use in order to really catch whatever he's going after. He talks to me about different kinds of bait. I had to write this down because I don't even fully understand. He's like, dad, there's crankbait, and he uses a crankbait. It's a lure that actually goes down into the water. It disguises itself. It deceives the fish into thinking it's the kind of fish that they want to eat. There is a whopper popper. I kind of like that one, that it floats on the surface, and so it looks like something that's floating on the surface

that the fish may want to eat. There's also something called a senko. It looks a little bit more like a worm that kind of dives down in, and so he uses different baits at different times in different conditions to catch different fish, but he knows enough about the behavioral patterns that he knows what to use and when to use it at the right time. I think in many ways, you and I have an enemy who's a strategist that he knows your vulnerability. He knows your weakness. He knows what you turn to to numb the pain when life gets a little hard. He knows what your reactions are to a relationship that feels broken. He knows how to wedge himself in between you and somebody that you deeply care about. He doesn't use the same strategy on every single person because all of our vulnerabilities are slightly different, and so he actually knows your unique patterns, your unique vulnerabilities, and he wants to do everything that he can to expose those to steal and kill and destroy every good thing that God wants to bring into your life, but here's the good news. The reason why God gave us Revelation 12 is that we would not be unaware, nor would we be unequipped.

The God has not left us unaware or unequipped because if we can understand the schemes of the enemy, we can better stand against the schemes of the enemy, and so what's interesting about Revelation 12, if you start diving in and seeing that in the context of all of scripture, you understand that the enemy really uses three primary strategies, and if we can understand his strategies, we're less susceptible to fall to the deception that he will bring our way, so let me talk through these different strategies. Strategy one I would call deception and temptation. You actually see it in the text. It says, in the great dragon was thrown down that ancient serpent is called the devil and Satan. He is the what? He's the deceiver of the whole, it's actually one of the names of the enemy in scripture is he is the deceiver. He makes stuff appear to be something that they're actually not. I would say he actually couples two things together, and that is belief and desire, because coupled together, they're actually a more powerful weapon and strategy than either would be alone, and it's his oldest strategy in the book. Not only do you see it in Genesis, I'm sorry, in Revelation 12,

you see it all the way back in the third chapter of the Bible, Genesis chapter three. First time you see the enemy in scripture, Genesis chapter three, and this was the tactic that he was using. Let me take you back. Genesis chapter three, read verse one. It says, now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord has made. So the dragon in Revelation 12 is the serpent in Genesis chapter three, and look what he says. He said to the woman, did God really say you must not eat from the tree of the garden? And then verse six says, when the woman saw the fruit of the tree was good for food. and for pleasing the eye, and also for desirable for gaining wisdom. She took some of it, she ate it, and she also gave some to her husband. And so he couples belief with desire. Here's how this plays out for you and I. Sometimes there's this voice in our heads that calls us to question the things that God has told us to be true. We're like, did God really say that? I mean, did God really mean that? Because we want to tell ourselves, well, doesn't God just want me to be happy?

I mean, did God really say that sex was designed between one man, one woman in the context of marriage? That feels so outdated, doesn't it? I mean, did God really say you had to forgive the person who wronged you so significantly? I mean, did God really say that? And so what the enemy will want to do is to try to cause you to question the things that God has already said to be true. But then couple that with something that we find to be desirable, because there's this deep longing in all of us that we want to belong, we want to live a life of meaning, we want to have significance. And sometimes he'll put a crankbait in front of us that appears as though this thing might deliver the thing that we hope through, but we can't see the hook that's inside, will actually take us where we never intended to go. But when he gets us to question the truth of God, and buy into something that's actually a lie, it's one of the greatest tactics of the enemy. But again, God has not left us unaware, nor has he left us unequipped. We've got to be aware of that strategy. Here's another strategy that the enemy uses. Strategy two is intimidation. Look what it says, I think we already read these verses, verse three and four. This is this other sign appeared in heaven,

this enormous red dragon with seven heads and 10 horns and seven crowns on its heads. I mean, just the description feels intimidating, doesn't it? I mean, this dragon with lots of heads and lots of horns and lots of crowns, I mean, just the sight of that gives you a little bit of fear, doesn't it? And then it says that this tail was so strong it swept out a third of the stars in the sky and flung them to the earth. But then look what he does. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth so that it might devour the child the moment it was born. Now that's a reference, if you remember the Christmas story, when the Christ child came into the world, and you remember Herod tried to take the lives of all the babies under the age of two years old, right? What's behind that? There was a spiritual reality behind that. But these are all tactics of intimidation. Why does the enemy use intimidation? Because if he looks strong, if he looks powerful, if you believe that to be true, then you're less likely to put up any kind of resistance to it, feeling like you're already defeated. It causes us to actually throw in the towel,

to give up, to even work toward persevering through whatever the thing is that we are facing in the moment. And here's the reality. The enemy doesn't have to defeat you if he can just talk you in to giving up. I think often people actually give up right before the breakthrough opportunity. I mean, again, look at the text, that the dragon standing in front of the woman at the moment of birth, it's like this incredibly vulnerable moment, but it was also the moment of the greatest opportunity and breakthrough. I think what the enemy attempts to do is to convince you and I that it's just too hard, it's just too difficult, we can't do it, it's not possible, we're not strong enough, we're not powerful enough, we might as well just give up. And so we give up on our marriage. We give up on a dream that God has put in our heart. We give up on whatever the opportunity might've been. The enemy doesn't have to take you out if you actually take yourself out of the equation. That's why Paul reminds us in the book of Galatians to never stop doing good, because in the right time, he'll bring the harvest if you don't give up. And so Revelation 12 helps us be reminded that we don't have to be unaware nor unprepared

of these strategies of the enemy. And so again, he uses deception, he uses intimidation. I'd say he also uses accusation. Again, this name shows up in Revelation 12. It says, And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, Now salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of Christ has come for thee, for the accuser. It's another name of the enemy, that he's one who accuses us. And so kind of picture it like a courtroom scene. And imagine you're there and imagine the prosecuting attorney has every wrong thing that you've ever done in the history of your entire life. And he's there to stick you for every single thing that you've ever done. You're like, that's a pretty intimidating environment. That's not going to go very well for me. Because what the enemy wants to do is he wants to bring up every past mistake that you've ever done, every wrong thing that's ever been a part of your life, every failure you've ever made and bring it to the light so that he weaponizes it against you. I will say this. There's a difference between the guilt we sometimes feel and the shame we sometimes feel. Guilt is when we feel bad because we've done something wrong. Shame is when we feel bad because we believe that we are wrong. There's a difference between making a mistake and feeling like we are a mistake.

There's a difference between like failing and feeling like we are a failure. What the Holy Spirit wants to do in your life is to bring the wrong out into the light so that God can bring healing. What the enemy wants to do is to bring the wrong out into the light and to weaponize it against you. And so the question becomes, when it comes to the things that we've done, our not so proud moments in life, which voice do we listen to most? Maybe I would say it this way. The enemy says you're a failure, but God says you're redeemed. The enemy says you're nothing more than an addict, but God says that you're delivered. The enemy says that you're unworthy, but God calls you beloved. I would say this. The enemy tries to name you, but God is in the business of renaming you. The enemy wants to use accusation as a weapon. For some of us, there's a soundtrack playing in our minds all the time that you're not good enough. You're not worthy enough. You're not smart enough. You're not capable enough. We let the accusations of the enemy be the driving soundtrack that we listen to most.

It's just not what God says about you. It's just not the truth at all. It's what Revelation 12 helps us understand is there's more to this world, to this life than you can see with your eyes. There's spiritual realities that you and I are a part of. And how do we recognize the tactics of the enemy so that the enemy doesn't actually take us out? Because here's what I would say is the second principle that's so important for us. I'd say this. The battle is real, but it's already been decided. It's real. It happens, but it's already decided. Here's what's fascinating. Revelation chapter 12, it does talk about a dragon, but I want you to know this. It's not about the dragon. He's not the main character of the story. He's not the one that's most powerful. Chapter 12 is not about the dragon. Can I tell you who it is about? Check this out. Next verse, then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and his angels fought back.

But look what it says, but he was not strong enough. Sometimes we think that the enemy has all this power. You'll hear people talk about, well, Satan made me do it. I'm not minimizing the power and the destructive nature that he has in a world. But I'll tell you this, when it comes to the power of our God, it says, but he was not strong enough. And they lost their place in heaven. It says the great dragon was hurled down. That ancient serpent called the devil or Satan who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth and his angels with him. And then check this out. This is where it gets good. You ready for this? It says, then I heard in a loud voice in heaven saying, now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down. Can I get an amen? The whole point of Revelation 12 is not the dragon. It's actually about the defeat of the dragon. He doesn't win. The battles may be ongoing, but the war has been decided. It kind of makes me think about June the 6th, 1944.

Some of you are familiar from your history class. That is, that's D-Day. That's the day that the allied forces stormed the beaches of Jerusalem. of Normandy, France. And though it was a bloody battle that cost a lot of lives of the Allied forces, every military strategist will tell you that was the day that the war was actually won. Now, there were other battles that followed. There were other lives that were lost. But it was only a matter of time before victory was actually certain. The same is true spiritually. That though the battle still is ongoing, though you and I are still a part of what the Bible describes as what we would call spiritual warfare, it's real, but he doesn't win. Because of Jesus, it says salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, the authority of Christ have come. D-Day has happened. It's a matter of time because they've already won the war. And so here's the good news for you and I. We don't fight for victory. Because if you fight for victory, that would give kind of the sense that it's uncertain whether we're gonna win or not.

You don't fight for victory. You fight from victory. Victory's already been decided. And so those who give their lives to follow Jesus, you're not unaware. We have to be aware of the schemes of the enemy, but you're also not left powerless because you get to fight from victory, that you actually can be somebody who overcomes because your life's connected to the ultimate one who has already overcome on our behalf. And so I would say this about this principle. We don't fight empty-handed. Certainly we're a part of a spiritual battle, but you and I, we don't fight empty-handed. I love this verse, Revelation 12. I believe it's verse 11 says this. It says, they, this is you and I, because Revelation 12 also talks about these offspring that come, and you and I are those offspring. It says, they triumphed over him, meaning the dragon. They triumphed over him. By what? By the blood of the lamb, and by the word of their testimony, they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Do you remember I shared with you there were three strategies of the enemy?

There are also three weapons in the hands of the follower of Jesus that actually have a way of dismantling the power of the strategy of the enemy. I would say this. The enemy's powerful, but the only power he really has is the power that you and I give him. Because of the part, the power that you and I give him, he actually is powerless over us. So to remember the strategies I talked about, that he's got the strategy of deception and temptation, one of intimidation, one of accusation, let's go through the three of those through the lens of the weapons of Revelation 12, 11, that each one of the strategies is dismantled by a spiritual weapon if you choose to step into it. I would say this as far as the first weapon. First weapon is they trusted Christ. Because look where the victory comes. It comes from where? We're a little sleepy this morning, aren't we? That's all right. I got a lot of grace. I'll give you another try. They trusted Christ because where's the victory? The victory's in what? The blood of the lamb. In other words, it was actually through the cross

of Jesus Christ that actually sealed the victory forever, that gives us the power to stand against his accusation. Think about it this way. Go back to that courtroom scene where he takes every wrong thing that we've ever done in life, our greatest failures of the moment. He brings the light in order to weaponize them against us. Think about the enemy as that prosecuting attorney that's got a pretty impressive case against you. But because the cross of Jesus Christ, our defense attorney steps in, and not only does he have a case to defend us, the reason he has a case to defend us is because the full penalty for that sin has already been paid by himself. It was actually through his sacrifice. It was actually through his blood that the sin no longer has the power because he's already paid the penalty. There is no accusation that can stick because you've already been set free from it. Don't let the enemy weaponize your past. Don't let the enemy weaponize your greatest mistake. He only has power if you give him the power of accusation because your great God has actually set you free from it. That's weapon number one. Here's weapon number two. They spoke truth. Now notice they spoke truth.

They did so, I'm gonna help you out. I'm gonna give you another prompt. I'm gonna read the underlined words, you ready? They spoke truth by what? By the word of their testimony. Now here's what's really cool. The word, word, the Greek word behind it is the word logos. Somebody say logos. Logos. It actually has three applications in the Bible. Each one, I think, comes into play here. The first application is actually the written word of God. Part of how you overcome the schemes of the enemy is you know the word of God. If I know what it says, then I actually know God's truth. I understand God's truth. I sit in God's truth. God's truth has become a part of my life. If I understand God's truth, I can tell when there's a counterfeit that's come my way. Maybe you've heard this illustration when it comes to a bank teller and how the bank teller identifies counterfeit money. They train bank tellers by putting the real thing in their hand over and over again. You handle the real thing. You handle the real thing. You handle the real thing. And the more I get familiar with the real thing is,

the moment you slip a counterfeit bill into their hands, they can see it. Because they know what's real as they can really quickly detect what's counterfeit. That's why we as a church are always challenging our people, get your life into the word of God. Set aside 15, 20, 30 minutes. The time doesn't matter. Every single day, get to the word of God. We actually challenge you, do it at least four days a week because here's what we know. If you read the word of God four days a week, it has a disproportionate impact that anything else that you'll do in your life spiritually. Why? It's because it's like that bank teller. You get God's truth in your hand every single day. You know it. You're living it. You're breathing it. You're experiencing it. And the moment the enemy tries to sit some sort of counterfeit in it, you can recognize it. The only power of deception that he has over your life is the power that you give him. You equip yourself with the word of God. He has less deceptive power in your life or mine. The other use of the word logos is not just the word of God. It's actually Jesus himself is called the word. Because here's what's so important.

What's so important is this weapon is not just about information. It's also about relationship. That you and I are not left stranded when it comes to the tactics of the enemy that actually in relationship with God, empowered by his Holy Spirit, you and I can walk with God in a way that we can overcome the temptations. We can overcome some of the deception. The only power that he has is what we give him because our life is relationally anchored with the person of Christ. The third meaning of the word logos is the spoken word of God. And that's why scripture is over and over and over again, reminding us that we should never try to do life alone, that we were made for the context of community. Because there are times that even in my best moments, I fall prey to some of the deceptive tactics of the enemy. But if I have really strong spiritual friends who love me enough to tell me the truth, they can speak the word of God over my life. And I can find freedom from the things that I would have fallen for otherwise. Do not try to do it alone. You need the word of God. You need the word of God. And you need the word of God that's spoken through other people around you.

It allows you to stand strong in the face of the enemy. Here's the last weapon, weapon number three. They surrendered everything. Help me out with the underlined words again. They surrendered everything. Look what it says. They did not, what? They did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. In other words, they had surrendered everything, including their lives. Here's what's fascinating about the strategy of intimidation. The Bible describes us surrendering everything. We surrender our plans. We surrender our comfort. We surrender our resources. We surrender everything to God. Why do we surrender everything to God? Because if we surrender everything, we got nothing to lose. The moment you have nothing to lose, nobody can intimidate you about anything. Intimidation only works when I'm trying to protect the thing that I'm not willing to lose. But the moment I lay it down, that I surrender it to God, intimidation is powerless over you. The only power the enemy has is the power that you and I give him.

Because Revelation 12 helps us be people who aren't unaware, and also people who aren't unprepared. Because when it comes to his accusation or his deception, or as intimidation. God has given us everything we need to not fight for victory, but to fight from it, because the war has already been won. I wrote this down, and I want to get it precise, so I'm actually just going to read it to you. Here's what I believe. This dragon is somewhat powerful. He's just not the most powerful. Be reminded that the dragon couldn't stop the birth of Jesus. He couldn't stop the resurrection of Jesus. He couldn't stop the ascension of Jesus. And for 2,000 years, he's not been able to stop the church of Jesus Christ. Empires have fallen, persecution has come, cultures have shifted, generations have tried to bury the church. The dragon has raged with everything he has, my friends, and the church is still here. Not because we're impressive, but because our God is faithful. Stand in the faithfulness of our great God. This world is not just what you see. There's a spiritual battle playing out in every moment, in every conversation, in every relationship, in every situation. Revelation 12 reminds us, see through a spiritual lens. You can't fight a spiritual battle with physical weapons. Equip yourself with God's word, with God's truth, with God's people. So the tactics of deception and temptation and intimidation and accusation have no power over you. Let me talk to two groups real quick. Some of you have not yet made the decision to follow Jesus. And I will say, without a decision to follow Jesus, we don't stand a chance against the tactics of the enemy. And so I would say to you, if life has felt more difficult than it should have, and you feel somewhat powerless against the things that you're facing in this world, it's time to give your life to the only one who's powerful enough to help you become an overcomer. Quit fighting for victory. Come to Jesus and actually fight from victory. He's already won on your behalf. For others of you, you've been followers of Jesus for a long time, but candidly, you've given way too much power to the enemy. And even as followers of Jesus, there's times that we can be deceived, and there's times that we can feel accused and have a soundtrack playing in our minds. There's times that we feel intimidated and we want to back down

and quit. I want to encourage you to take a step. Make a commitment this week. Maybe it's a commitment to dive into God's Word. Maybe it's a commitment to jump into community. Maybe it's a commitment to share something with somebody that's a trustworthy person who could speak God's truth into your life. Don't just continue on with status quo. Allow God to bring His power into your life, even today. Let me pray for us. God, we love you. God, I'm so grateful for your Word that helps us see things that we wouldn't see otherwise, to trust you in ways that we wouldn't have otherwise. And God, we just believe that greater is He who is in us than who is in the world. So God, I'm grateful for Revelation. It's not designed to scare us, but God, thank you so much for giving it to us because it prepares us. It helps us feel equipped for whatever we face in our journey. So Father, I just ask that we would come to you, that we lay it all down, we give it to you, we dive into your Word, so that we can fight from the victory that you've already given us in Jesus. God, we love you. We say thanks in Jesus' name. Amen.