Why Trying Harder Is a Losing Battle

And people don't talk about their spiritual battles that much. So here's what we've been asking, okay? We've said, have you ever noticed that sometimes the moment you decide to do something good or make a change in your life, suddenly everything gets harder? Do you know what I mean? You try to work on your marriage, now you wind up fighting more often, or you decide to forgive someone, and suddenly you remember everything they did to you. You decide to get serious about God, and now all of a sudden you're tired, or you know, you're busy, you're distracted, you find yourself falling into temptations. What do we call that? The Bible says that at least part of what you're experiencing is a force in this world that is resisting the work of God in your life, it's like there are two voices in your head. One voice says, tell the truth. The other voice is like, no one will ever know. Just keep going. One says, I need to stop doing this. And the other says, one more time, just one more time. You deserve this. I mean, we all know that battle. We all know what that's like. And the Bible says this could be a spiritual battle. Now, obviously not every negative thought is Satan, okay? Not every struggle is some kind of demonic showdown. We're all sinners, we all do sinful things. We're messed up, right?

I mean, you remember middle school, right? That was messed up, okay? That was just being human. I mean, that's just kind of who we are. But there's something else. There is a force in this world that works against us in this area. And you know it's that thing you know is destroying you. You vowed you're never going to go back to this. It's a relationship, maybe it's an addiction. Maybe it's a website. You're like, I'm just not going to go back to it. And you still go back to it. You know that, right? The conversation from years ago that you can't get rid of, they've moved on and you find yourself getting more and more better. Or what about that voice in your head from time to time? It just comes out. It's like you're a failure. You're never going to change. God couldn't possibly want you. See, those are the kind of spiritual battles we're talking about. Not some kind of big demonic showdown, some kind of big demonic encounter that we face. In fact, we've been looking at a passage in the Bible that speaks to us about every day, normal day-to-day situations in our everyday world. And it's a letter that's written by an early follower of Jesus named Paul. He's writing to a group of Christians who he wants to give them some advice on how to handle some of these spiritual battles. And this is how he finishes up this letter. He says, "A final word, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God's armor so that you'll be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil.

For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in his dark world and against evil spirits in the heavenly places." So listen, Paul gets it. He puts his finger on the battle that we are all facing. He's saying, "There is a devil in this world, and there are spiritual forces of the devil that want to deceive and disrupt and discourage and distract us from God, and the plans that he has for us to live in Christ." And we've been saying this too. This is not some kind of character. It's not like a little red creature with horns and a pitchfork. The devil or Satan is not some kind of rival of God, like they're equals. You know, it's like they're in this big match up together like in this corner. We have the king of the universe, and in this corner we have the master of disaster. Let's see how they rumble. It's nothing like that. They are not on the same page. The devil is a finite created being, like a speck when you compare him to the infinite, matchless, unrivaled God of the universe. See, evil can't create anything on its own. It only corrupts what's been made. Satan is a parasite of the good, and this parasite of the good prowls around, looking to take everything God creates and destroy it. And that includes you and your relationship with God. So yeah, you are in a spiritual battle. And Paul says, "Wake up, gird yourself for battle." So we spent the last several weeks looking at how we fight this battle, and this is what Paul has told us. He says, "Put on every piece of armor, stand your ground, put on the belt of truth, the body armor of God's righteousness.

For shoes put on the gospel that comes from the good news. Hold up the shield of faith, put on salvation as your homeland. Take the sword of the spirit." So this is cool, because this gets me worked up. I don't know if you can tell, but it's kind of like warrior talk. You know what I mean? Paul is borrowing this actually from the prophet Isaiah about 700 years before Paul. Isaiah pictured God stepping into time and space to fight for his people. In Isaiah 59, he says, "He stepped in to save himself or save them with his strong arm, and his justice sustained him. He put on righteousness as his body armor and placed the helmet of salvation." he won the decisive battle with this armor. Not by killing people, but by laying down his life so that we could be made right with God. Jesus rose again from the dead as the undisputed champion over sin and death. But you and I, we still face battles today. And so now God gives us this armor. That's the armor Paul's talking about Ephesians 6. And see, that kind of gets me pumped. You know, I kind of think, okay, there's something brave hard about all this, right? Like freedom gets me in that rocky mood. You know, it's like you take the hits, you keep moving forward. That's how winning is done. So it's kind of like that kind of bravado type of thing. So I'm gonna finish this passage because Paul has gotten us worked up, hopefully, right? We're sitting there and we've got all this armor.

Now, what is he gonna say? Ephesians 6, verse 18, you can actually go there with me if you want to. Paul's actually detailed all of this stuff. He's talked about all the different armor. And he tells us to fight. And then he comes to this final thought. And so like, we're all suited up, we're all psyched up. We're ready to go. And then in verse 18, it says this. Chapter six of Ephesians, verse 18. Praying the spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers anywhere, everywhere. So I gotta tell you, I love what Paul's saying. I'm not gonna like, you know, critique the Bible here, but maybe it's me. But when I read these verses, I can't help but think, like, man, Paul, couldn't you give him something a little bit more, something a little bit more daring, some a little bit more like, let's go. You know, like band of brothers kind of thing. I mean, we're holding, we got all this like, cool armor on us, right? We're holding the sword. And the first thing you want me to do is pray. And so maybe it's like the crossing kiss, you know, like a picture, a football player, you know, he's getting ready to receive a kickoff. He's got his pads on, he's been hyped up.

He's about to face a dozen men who are going to like, attack him any second now. And he does, you know, the whole like crossing kiss. Lord, bless me while I go into the fray. You know, it's like that sort of like, but that's not what Paul's telling us here. And so this is really interesting 'cause Paul's not describing the spiritual version of the crossing kiss, something to attack on before entering the battle, the hope that God's gonna bless you. Prayer is not pregame ritual, all right? See, this is what we have to realize. Prayer is not another piece of armor. Prayer is the posture of dependence that runs through every piece of armor that's been described. It's how we've remained dependent upon God throughout the battle. It's how we actively use the armor that God's already given us. See, this is the most important element of spiritual warfare, talking to God. Prayer doesn't get you psyched up, it gets you anchored down. You prey on your knees, right? You get down on your knees, that's where you fight. Everything should get you talking to God because when you talk to God, you're able to benefit from the spirit of God.

Without it, you're just going to war with adrenaline and that runs out. Without it, you're fighting with your own willpower and that is easily drained. If you fight spiritual battles in your own strength, your own will and your own energy, you will lose. That thing you can't stop doing, you're going to go back to it. Those feelings that keep attacking you, they will beat you down. Those conflicts that you got to work that you just can't let go of, you got to take all this to God in prayer. Because listen, this is not a battle. This is a spiritual battle. And that's why Paul doesn't just say pray. He specifically says, "Pray in the spirit." Look with me, verse 18, read it again. Pray in the spirit at all times and on every occasion. So let's look at this, pray in the spirit. Let's look at pray, praise the easy part, right? Start with the easy part, prayer. It's pretty basic. You talk to God, which is really interesting 'cause I know there are people listening to me right now who think they don't know how to pray. It's not complicated. It really is simple. Prayer is talking to God. It really is that simple. You can say whatever you're feeling to God.

It's just natural. You don't need to have the right words or say the right things. I remember one time long ago, there was a guy I was talking to and we started praying and this guy, I mean, he was at the end of his rope, okay? And he's like blubbering. He's just, as he's praying, he's just sobbing. And as he's getting everything out, he is bleeping his prayers, okay? Like he's got words in there. I'm going like, "Whoa, okay." So as he's doing this, I don't think it mattered because he was pouring out his heart to God. That's what prayer is. Now, I don't suggest bleeping your way through prayer as an everyday plan, okay? You might get some looks. But prayer is a heart thing. You don't have to have the right words. You don't have to have the right resume. Paul says spiritual battles don't work unless you're talking to God. So this is how prayer works with the spiritual armor. When someone's telling you you don't matter, you talk to God and you're like, "Lord, this hurts." And then you say, "You know, I wanna put on the bill of truth. "I wanna put that sucker on it and I'm gonna pray.

"God, show me what's true about myself and your word." And that's where God's word tells you. You are loved with an everlasting love. When those thoughts of shame come back again and you start to spiral, you talk to God. God, I'm sinking. I need your body armor of righteousness. Father, remind me that you've made me righteous before God. When those fiery darts of the devil are landing around, they're setting fire to the ground around you, trying to distract you with drama at work. Drama at work is horrible, isn't it? The fact that your boyfriend's now acting a little strange, like why is he acting like that? And now your friends are pulling away from you, you talk to God, you raise up the shield of faith and you say, "Lord, I trust you." See, the armor only works with prayer. And prayer is pretty simple, talk to God. Never stop talking. That's why Paul says that all times in every occasion, when you're making dinner, stop doom-scrolling, okay? Listen to a podcast that takes you through prayer. When you're in the car traveling, keep a list in your visor of everything you're praying for, your kids, your work, your parents, before heading into that meeting. You know, you want to sell something. You just want to like, man, I really want to, I want to hit this meeting and go really well,

send up an honest prayer to God. God, I want to be confident, I want to sell this thing, but help me speak the truth. Because this is a spiritual thing. It's not a battle, it's a spiritual battle. Remember, Paul didn't just say, "Pray." He said, "Pray in the Spirit." So now, okay, that's where it gets good. You guys ready? Pull up your chairs, sharpen your pencils, because this is where it gets very interesting. Why does Paul say, "Pray in the Spirit?" Now, I know you're all, this is why you came today. You know, you're like, what does this mean? What does this praise mean? So, I just got to tell you something. I work with young adults, and we have a retreat every fall that we call Fall Escape. We're about 200 young adults. We get together for a weekend. One of the best things we do all weekend is called late night theology. And really, it's as awesome as it sounds. It's about 80 of us that stay up till about 2 a.m. And we ask all kinds of questions like this one that are in the Bible. And we just get into it. I mean, it's the kind of stuff that we get into. It's just so cool when we talk about, you know, these sort of things.

But before we do, we go to wah-wah. We pick up snacks, 'cause the Bible needs junk food. Okay, you just need snacks. And look, I mean, this is what, getting into the Bible is actually fun. You should get in a group. In a couple of weeks, we're gonna be talking about getting into groups with like whole church getting into groups. You need to get into groups. And you need snacks. You need snacks like this. Maybe a banana to make it healthy. You got some Jacks. I don't know who Jack is, but he's got some good links. But you get into it together. I mean, that's kind of the whole thing. And so actually, there's some young adult groups that are actually starting this weekend. Hailie down in Lancaster City. Young adult groups starting tonight. Nick, Lebanon, or Lebanon campus is starting up a group. But listen, for this fall escape, if you are a young adult, and you are not planning on joining us for fall escape, registration ends tonight. So join us. You're gonna have an incredible time getting into stuff like this. So you got cheese pretzels, you got root beer.

All of this is brain food, by the way. You know, this really helps you to kind of, I feel smarter. (audience laughs) It's IBC root beer, okay? Some people like bourbon, I like root beer, okay? Root beer. So, grab some people, grab your snacks, dig into the Bible. And so we gotta dig in here and we gotta get back to this. Like, what does Paul mean? Pray in the spirit. So we dig a little bit. Now this is really interesting. We find out that Paul the Apostle talks about the Holy Spirit a lot. For as little we know about the Holy Spirit, it's not Paul's fault. He's talking about the Holy Spirit like a ton. And they're all found in his other letters, in his letter to the Romans. And this is interesting. Paul says the people who put their trust in Jesus start following him. You know, they have God's spirit inside of him, Romans chapter eight. It says the spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you. Now this isn't poetry, people. This isn't like, oh, that's a nice thought.

No, he's telling us the Holy Spirit lives inside of us if we follow Jesus. Interesting. Another letter, the first Corinthians, not a letter to the Corinthians, first Corinthians chapter three. There's a whole different group of people in Corinth. He says, don't you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the spirit of God lives in you? So we got to pause here because this happens more than twice. There's a lot of times where Paul says, 'Cause I think some of us are still a little bit hazy on like the Holy Spirit. We know God, we get Jesus, but the Holy Spirit seems a little confusing. Okay, so I just wanna summarize it real easily, real simply here. I think it's something like this. There is one God. He eternally exists as three distinct persons, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. All of them are God. All of them are one. And the Holy Spirit, now this is interesting. You just take the Holy Spirit aside. He is fully God. He's not some kind of impersonal force. He's not a ghost, he's not floating around. He's kinda, he's not like, what do you feel like him? What do you feel like?

No, he is God. But he's God's personal presence dwelling within people who trust him and follow him. See, the Holy Spirit is God within us when we start following Jesus. So it's kinda cool. We have this personal presence of God that stays with us in life. In fact, Paul talks about it. Like we've entered a family. He sends a letter to the Galatians. He says, because we are his children, God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts, prompting us to call out Abba, Father. In other words, Abba is just like a very loving way that a son or daughter would address their father. Like dad, and the spirit assures us that we don't approach God as strangers. We come as children. He's saying the Holy Spirit gives us an affection for our Father God and a desire to live for him as sons and daughters. Listen to me, you are never alone. That's what that means. He is always there, always caring. He is your Father. So in fact, Paul takes us a little bit further and he says, the Holy Spirit is a guide, a help when we're in the midst of battles. The Holy Spirit plays a pivotal part in all of us

who are following Jesus to fight our spiritual battles. He says, I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. You remember there's voices that we were talking about? The destructive behaviors that we keep going back to. Paul is saying here that God has given us the Holy Spirit, the personal spirit of God to be inside of us, to help us overcome the temptations that we face, to not give in to sin, to live like Jesus. Did you know that's how we experience peace? If we live like Jesus, we have peace, not just with God, but we have peace in our lives. It may not be a bowl of cherries. Life may still be difficult, but we have peace when the Holy Spirit's able to guide us. It's those nudges we feel when we know we should turn back from something simple. It's the ability to choose the right thing. See, the Holy Spirit is a great help. He even helps us when we don't even know what to pray. Paul says to the Romans again in a whole different letter. He says, the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don't know what God wants us to pray for, but the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings then cannot be expressed in words. So when Paul says pray in the Spirit, it means we open ourselves up to his guidance and care. I want the Holy Spirit to lead and direct me. So we're jumping around a little bit.

I'm just showing you like all the times that Paul's talking about the Holy Spirit, and it's like a dozen or more times that he does this. But let's kind of summarize what Paul's telling us. Let's kind of put this all into one big huge list of things that we've been learning in this whole series. So get your pencils out, get your phones out, whatever. Just great stuff to write down, even some of these verses, just to kind of summarize what we've been looking at. So I would say overall in this whole series, Paul is saying that you and I are in a spiritual battle. Easy enough, right? That's the first thing. And it's not something we can fight on our own, or in our own power, okay? But you have been given spiritual armor for this fight. None of that is of any use unless you are talking to God, 'cause prayer is how we activate the spiritual armor. So it's not an adrenaline thing. You need to talk to God and ask him to give you the tools that are meant for this battle. But then when Paul talks about praying in the Spirit, man, he's bringing us into a wider reality of the Holy Spirit, and we need to step into this. We saw how these truths about God work with us, that praying in the Spirit means that we are now in the Spirit, and we saw that being in the Spirit means we are in the family of God. So look, we are never alone. We have the personal presence of God, the Father,

within us, in the Holy Spirit. When Paul's saying, like, pray in the Spirit, that's what you need to anchor and be like, okay, that means we're not alone. If we have trusted God, we have repented and followed Jesus and decided to follow him, that's true for us. And being in the Spirit means the Holy Spirit guides us. We have the personal presence of God in our lives guiding us. We're children of God. It's like we have this GPS that gives us this nudge, like, okay, we're off course here a little bit. So we're never alone. We know that he guides us. even when we don't know what to pray. Do you know how many times I've just prayed to God? I'd be like, God, I don't even know what to pray for. I just need help. You have that help in the Holy Spirit. So listen, that's what it means to pray in the Holy Spirit. It's a disposition that says, Lord, my hands are wide open. Leave me where I need to go. So we need to say this, okay, you need to understand. Praying in the Spirit is not a spiritual Jedi move, okay? It's not next to your spirituality. It does not mean you have to speak in tongues. You may or may not have that in your life, but it's not a command to do anything out of the ordinary. This is not a religious or an emotional reaction, and it's a shame because there's a lot of preachers out there

who make it over-complicated. Prayer is talking to God, and praying in the Spirit is not next level. Jesus' thing, okay? Praying in the Spirit is realizing you're not alone. It means you can now ask for guidance and help when you pray. You say, Spirit, lead me where I need to go. Show me what I need to do. Help me fight this battle because you and I, we need to pray in the Spirit. We need to be praying in the Spirit. I was at a retreat. I was actually speaking for a retreat up in, like, Upper New York State. I mean, I was out there, I was like in the boonies, and I knew, you know, I put the address in my phone. I set off as like a five-hour drive, and I was thinking, I'm probably gonna run out of service before I get there because it's so far out there. So I took screenshots. I took screenshots, and I'm thinking, you know, I'm just gonna be completely out of service. So the last couple of miles of the place, I took screenshots of where I would be, like, the roads and all that kind of stuff. So I felt prepared. I felt so clever. So, of course, about 15 miles before I run out of service, okay? And so, I pull up these screenshots,

and I felt really good about myself. I'm like, I am so smart. I can't believe this. So, I didn't need the network. I was good to go. I got my screenshots. And then, it rained, okay? And it was about 32 degrees. So it was like that rainy ice. You know that, yeah, I know some of you are just like, ooh, you know, not a good feeling, okay? And I'm on one of those back roads, and the sun's going down. And just like out of a horror movie, everything became densely foggy. I mean, like fog where you can't even see like 10 feet in front of you. And it's like God's just up there going like, this would be interesting. (audience laughs) Turn up the fog, see what he does. So, I pull out my phone, I look at my screenshots, and it hit me. I didn't have the blue dot. I need the blue dot. Without the blue dot, I don't even know where I am. And because it's cold and rainy and foggy and twilight, I couldn't see any of the road signs. I was lost, and because I had some wisdom, some foresight to get myself far,

I was relying on my screenshots when the help I needed was in the network, okay? My screenshots were useless. I saw like a wild man. I saw another car up ahead. I flashed my lights. They pulled over. I asked that they've ever heard of this place that I was going to be speaking at. They're looking at me like, please don't hurt me. You know, like, they had no idea, okay? So, it's about 30 minutes until I'm supposed to speak, and I was lost. I needed the blue dot. Man, have you ever been that desperate, that feeling? You know what it's like to miss the blue dot? I mean, seriously, at that moment, if I could have just seen the blue dot, that would have made me feel less alone. Do you know what I mean? I mean, I know it's just a computer program, but at that moment, if I'd seen the blue dot there, I would have thought to myself, a dozen men are somewhere in a bunker underground, and they're like, John's lost. Put on some coffee. Let's help, you know. It just would have made me feel like someone's in this with me. See, the blue dot would tell me I'm not alone.

I got a guide they can help. See, that is the spirit. When I pray in the spirit, I'm not alone. I got a guide, and he can help. And when Paul says, "Pray in the spirit," he's contrasting this with people who try to fight their battles in the flesh. They're relying on what they already have on their phone, on their own screenshots. Man, we need to pray in the spirit. The spirit means we're never alone. We have a guide, and we got a helper. The spirit guides us in what to do and even helps us in our weakness to do it. It's like, spirit, lead me. Help me through this. Man, that's just driving. Just kidding from like point A to point B. Can you imagine, you know, we're talking about spiritual battles. Can you imagine if I were under attack? And see, that's the thing. That's where many of us are right now, spiritually. We're alone, lost, under attack. We don't know what our next move is Listen to me, you pray in the spirit. You're sitting here today and you didn't get picked for promotion again. And those old feelings come back. Man, you gotta find your blue dot. Check your coverage, talk to the spirit.

You talk to God, hey, what's my battle? I feel inadequate. I feel picked over, ignored. I'm not enough. Again, I feel embarrassed. I feel like everybody walking by me is like, oh, I didn't need. What armor do I need? I need the truth. So what do you do? You pray in the spirit. Ephesians 2 says, you know, it helps me to have the words to say, God, I need the bell to truth. Remind me that I'm created for a purpose and you still have good things for me to do ahead and that I am your masterpiece, that you've created me anew in Christ Jesus so I can do the good things that you planned for me a long time ago. So you're open-handed, yielded to God's spirit. Show me, lead me. That's how we battle. It's the middle of the night, you're tossing and turning, you're racked with guilt for the things that you did in the past. All right, what's my battle? Shame. I feel condemned by myself. I feel like God couldn't possibly want me. What armor do you need?

God's righteousness. Man, you pray in the spirit. Spirit, lead me. Help me not get stabbed in the heart of these feelings of guilt because I'm relying on the righteousness of Jesus. Give me that body armor to protect my heart. Who can condemn me if Jesus has forgiven me and made me right with God? No one, that's who. That body armor protects my heart because nothing can ever separate me from God's love. Man, when you're tempted, we all get tempted, right? You bring out the sword of the word of God. You download the scriptures into your heart and you use the word of God as a weapon. You push back. In that meeting at work where you're tempted to lie or tempted to stretch the truth, Proverbs 12, 22 is perfect for that. The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in those who tell the truth. Jab back at that temptation. Internalize that first voice. When you're tempted to retaliate, someone's done you dirty. You just pull out that dagger. Don't repay evil for evil. Don't retaliate insults when people insult you. Instead, this is what God says,

"Pay them back with a blessing." That's what God calls you to do and he will give you a blessing because of that. Put that in your head. How about this? This is one of my favorites. It's the end of the date. Time to go home. The temptation is to spend a little extra time at his place or her place. Use the sword of the spirit. If that coworker who keeps flirting with you, even though you're married, you pull out the sword of the spirit, nothing is a better mood killer than God's word at just the right time. Trust me on this, okay? Hey, you know, why don't we go inside? We can talk some more? First Corinthians 6, 18 says, "Run from sexual sin." "I will not go." That's a potent dagger, man. That's a mood killed, okay? Keep that dagger hand. You're laughing, but it works. Actually, any scripture works at that point. Some coworker starts flirting with you and you're married in the beginning. God created the heavens and the earth. Neutralized.

You won't ever get flirted within again. You're not just a loser, you're a lehoozer, okay? But look, I'd rather be a loser than lose my marriage, right? Listen to me, find your blue dot, fight back, stop laying down and let the enemy take hits on you. If you're trusting in Jesus, you have the Holy Spirit of God living inside of you. God has sealed you with the spirit. You may ignore his direction, you may resist his conviction or try to navigate by yourself, you know, but you're gonna look at your own little screenshots. He has not abandoned you. You think you're lost, but you're always in range. You always have the blue dot, you always have his guidance and help. Stop trying to navigate with your own screenshots. You can't do it by your own power anymore. So this is what I wanna do. I wanna finish today, taking a few moments in some quiet where you can find that blue dot again. If you've decided to follow Jesus, you have repented, you've started following Jesus, you are in the Holy Spirit, you are never alone. You have a guide, you have help, you are in range, full signal. I want you to take a moment and talk with the Father. And this may be a serious moment, but it doesn't have to be gloomy. Because when you turn to Word God,

you're not approaching an angry father who wants to push you away. You are coming to a father who has already made a way for you to come home. Maybe you haven't talked honestly with God in a while. You've trusted Jesus, but lately you've been living in your own strength. Listen, you didn't lose the blue dot. You haven't lost coverage. Maybe you've just stopped paying attention to it. You've been trying to navigate using old screenshots, using your own instincts, your own strength, your own plans. Take a moment and just come clean with God. Not because he stopped loving you, but because he's calling you back into closeness and trust and obedience. That's how you find peace. So in a moment here, what I'm gonna ask you to do and ask you to do three things first, name your battle. And then secondly, I want you to ask yourself, what part of God's armor do I especially need in this battle? And then the third thing, pray in the spirit. Father, show me what's true. Forgive me for relying on my own strength. Holy Spirit, lead me. Help me put on everything you provided for me to have the strength to stand. So look, this is not a funeral. This is not defeat. This is a soldier remembering they are not alone.

They are not abandoned. They are not unarmed. So let's pray. I'm just gonna lead us through this time of prayer and just throw in little pieces here and there. And however you wanna pray, if you wanna close your eyes, if you wanna bow your head, whatever you wanna do. I just wanna give you a moment to talk to God. Think through where your biggest battle is right now. So go ahead, let's enter into a time of prayer now. (gentle music) Father, we wanna pray in the spirit. We come with open hands and we want you to lead us. Before we really start into this, maybe some of us, it's just been a while. We need some time to come clean. We need to confess our sin. Father, I just wanna take a few moments to give us all that opportunity to come, confess, come clean. Just check in with you. Spend some time with you quietly. (gentle music) And so Lord, the first thing we wanna do is just we wanna name our battle. So God, help us to even think through this. Where am I being attacked? Where am I being tempted? As you're praying, talk to the Father, tell him where your battle is. (gentle music)

Now take a moment to pick your armor. As you're praying, just think through this, that God's given us the truth. We have peace of his good news. We have the body armor that protects us. We have the helmet that protects our mind because of the salvation. We have the sword of the spirit. What's the best form of armor for this battle that you're in right now? Talk to God. (gentle music) And now take a minute to just pray in the spirit. Spirit lead me. Maybe you just wanna open up your hands. Show me what my next step is. Show me my blue dot. Tell me where I need to be. I wanna take up the armor you've given me to fight this battle. I need your presence. I need your guidance. I need your help. As you're praying, talk to God. Holy Spirit, lead me. I'm open to your lead. Show me what my next step is as soon as I leave here. (gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle music)

(gentle music) As you're praying, if you have a next step, write it down, even as you're praying. Grab a pen, grab your phone, do something to remember what you feel prompted to do right now. Because you want to leave here and you want to go act on this. Actually do what the spirit is prompting you to do. So Father, we are grateful that we're never alone, that we have you as a guide. And that you can help us in times of trouble. I pray Lord, that even as we finish up, you still be prompting all of us to do whatever it is we need to do to get that blue dot back on track. Show us what we need to do Lord. Lead us, I pray. And thank you that we can always pray in the spirit. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Thanks for joining us today with LCBC on YouTube. We are so glad that you took the time to join us today. And it's still not too late to be known as a part of our online community by checking in and so to do that text YouTube to 20022. And if you're doing that for the first time, check in with us for the first time. We're going to send you a coffee gift card just as a thank you. We're so glad that you joined us today. Now we can't wait to see all the ways

that God can work in your life through this LCBC community, but until next time, thanks for being here.