Week 1: The Lure of Less Wild Lovers

#

Opening Prayer

#

Objective

#

Get a view of the battle field and to understand the enemy

Scripture: Ephesians 6:10-13 NKJV

#

10Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12For 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. 13Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Digging In

#

Verse 10

#

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.

Finally - After all the proceeding instructions on how to live and relate together in Christ as wives and husbands, slaves and masters. Here are the final instructions as the introduction to the armor of God and closing of the letter to the Ephesians.

My Brethren - Intended audience and application is to believers in Jesus. We cannot ask or have an expectation for unbelievers to use this armor. But as believers, brothers and sisters in Jesus, we are expected to apply this to our lives.

Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Our strength and might comes from God and is given for us to flourish in the world we live in. We are not intended as brothers and sisters to just exist, but we have been given new life to live in his strength, power, and might. We live and submit to God’s authority through Jesus Christ and we live our lives out of that authority (see Acts 1). We no longer live as dead men just walking around and merely existing, but we are called to be fully alive in Jesus Christ. The promise of eternal life begins when we proclaim our faith in Jesus as our Lord.

Verse 10 Questions

#

1. What does it look like to be strong in the Lord?
2. Given the phrase “In the power of his might”, where else might you be tempted to draw power from?
3. How have other sources of power and might worked for or against you in the past?

Verse 11

#

Putting on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

We are to put on the whole armor of God. Most of the armor works together and none of it works alone.This is not a mix and match or wear what you want and hope you get the job done. This is an “All In” invite.

Our instruction is to stand. Standing is very important in this clump of 19 verses as it is referenced four times between Ephesians 6:10 and 18. It is the same command as God gives Joshua in Joshua 1:9, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” That is what standing is, trusting God above all else.

We stand against the wiles of the devil. What are wiles? Wiles are: “skillful trickery or deceitful cunning used to persuade or manipulate someone.” Make no mistake, Satan is here to steal and destroy. This is a personal attack against you to blind and oppress us to God’s calling in our lives. In this study, I will refer to the wiles, the subtle tricks that Satan uses, as “less wild lovers” and they include, but are not limited to the following:

• Lies - when we have wounds or trauma, we have two options, truth or lies. Lies do not need to be big lies, but a 1% change in our lives at this moment of fragmentation can make a huge change a decade down the road.
• Vows - are choices not to let that trauma happen again in our lives. Vows can be like, “I can never trust another older person to protect me.” These are self protection barriers that we learn to guard our heart from opening up.
• Agreements - are much like a vow, but usually these are made in a place where courage is required and we choose to play it safe. Agreements are more subtle, but again do not allow us to enter into a tribulation of some sort.
• Inroads - as we repeat or practice lies, vows, and agreements over time they become easier to enter into. They are the the path more and more traveled and as we traverse that path it becomes easier and easier. After a while these inroads lead us to strongholds that are a result of the 1% change over time.

Again, the purpose of these “less wild lovers” is to keep us living a life that falls short of the glory of God, or what we call sin. Sin is anything that keeps us from living into the hope and promise God has for our lives. Satan cannot touch us once we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, but he can keep us from being effective and sharing our testimony or even worse, repulse people from wanting to enter into a relationship with Jesus.

Verse 11 Questions

#

1. Recall a time where God has called you to enter into something difficult and you settled for a “less wild lover”?
2. What has caused you to choose these ”less wild lovers”?
3. After you have chosen a “less wild lover” once, how does that affect your ability to use that lover again?

Note: “less wild lovers” is an affair against God undermining our trust in him as our source of strength. As in the example of a marriage, stepping out, and not stepping in, is the “easier” path (lie, vow, and inroad) we choose verses standing strong for what we said we would do.

Verse 12

#

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

Not against flesh and blood - Many times we attack people who we do not agree with their lifestyle or choices. We want to fix or help them make a small correction. We would love to see them do a full 180 and repent of their ways and we have plans to make them do that. Does that statement make you cringe when you imagine another (broken) person fixing you?

Our struggles are against these evil forces - Let’s get to the questions to find out where these evil forces we battle against reside.

Verse 12 Questions

#

1. When have you chosen to battle flesh and blood, to fix or correct someone?
2. What makes it hard to distinguish between the person and darkness?
3. To battle darkness and powers of evil, the only person we can fix is ourselves. Armor is for us and only us. In light of that, how do we stand?

Verse 13

#

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.

Now that we know the problem is within us, it is our job to take up the armor to withstand evil. How will I be able to remain standing at the end of my battle? In God’s strength, standing in what he has given us: Love, Grace, Mercy, Hope, Faith, Restoration, and Wholeness! This armor applies truth to who we are and heals our heart. To do this we have to tear down the lies, vows, and agreements and we have to excavate the inroads that Satan has built up over the years. We replace that broken model with God’s truth. We have to remove our affairs with “less wild lovers” and build on the wild love of God. We have to become “wild lovers” with God by entering into a relationship with him that will take us on a wild adventure. Building trust and joy that our hearts long for.

Verse 13 Questions

#

1. What “less wild lovers” are you willing to sacrifice on the altar of God today?
2. Where do you want to build trust with God and go deeper with him?

Looking forward

#

This section of chapter 6 of Ephesians is a spiritual warfare section of Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus. Usually we think of spiritual warfare as being done out there, where people have traumatic problems that are crude or gross. We think of them as drug users or alcoholics, but a majority of the Bible deals with the real problem and that is the day to day stuff that keeps us from entering the fullness of God. Here we are going to deal with all issues, but they are OUR issues. Issues like gossip, slander, overeating, self-gratification in any form, self-soothing, or isolating. These are issues that keep us from kingdom living that we are to be a part of.

We have two choices in this adventure, to stay in the shallows, live in our lies and play it safe or venture (risk) going to the deep waters where healing begins and live into the life God intended us to live into..

14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints

You are saints in the brotherhood of Jesus!

John 10:10 NKJV - The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they (YOU) may have life, and that they (YOU) may have it more abundantly. (I have added the YOU, because that is who gets this life in Jesus.)

Week 1 Key Points

#

• We are to stand in the power of God, through Jesus Christ, and his grace. We stand strong by entering into a relationship with God, where we can learn to trust him more as he heals us and gives his truth in our trauma.
• Satan builds paths or inroads for us to avoid trusting God. The purpose of these inroads is to build strongholds.
• Each time we settle for “less wild lovers” it is easier to choose them again.
• Acceptance of Jesus in our lives brings us into the sainthood of the kingdoms.

Week 1: Extra Training

#

There is too much to discuss in one week above, so here is extra reading and study to do the next few days before you start in on week 1. I am going to keep week 1 light, so that there is time to absorb all of this week zero introduction. The purpose of this extra training is so that you can more fully understand how this affects your day to day life and how you relate the the people around you.

Inroads are places where Satan has conditioned us to enforce, make easy, and treat as default the agreements and vows we have chosen in the past. Inroads are also any area of our life where our default is to do a “good” thing when God is calling us to do a better dead or adventure. Inroads are also any place where we search for comfort or value apart from God and what he has to offer for a life that is fully alive.

These inroads start as simple paths, cut into the woods. God knows the best way to protect our lives is to keep a rich garden of living thoughts and feelings in our hearts, but Satan cuts a way through God’s defense that is there to protect what is good in our lives. The more that path gets used, the more worn it gets and is easier to traverse. After a while there is a larger agreement to construct a dirt road, then a paved road, and then a highway into our hearts to make it easier and easier for us to use that escape.

Look at scripture, these inroads are what has been used by Satan over the years. Let’s look first at one of the most surprising traders to God in the history of mankind, Judas. Judas was one of Jesus’ closest band of brothers. He was trusted and in with Jesus. We have two verses, Luke 22:3, “Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve.” and John 12:27, “As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. So Jesus told him, “What you are about to do, do quickly.”” Now under what would be an ideal life with Jesus, this is nothing we have to worry about, but for Judas, he had inroads that allowed Satan in and access to his heart. His heart was longing for “less wild lovers” and he wanted the kingdom now in a form he could understand, but it was not the way God had intended him to be.

Next, let’s look at the model for how trauma can either become strongholds from lies that Satan has planted in that soil or fruit of kingdom living when we accept truth that builds into trust, character, and hope. See the chart below:

Now we cannot just change our strongholds into fruit. We have to work down the V and replace lies with truth from God by revisiting the trauma. Then we allow Jesus to build that truth into trust and love which matures into God Fruit in our lives. Fruit that allows our soil to become richer and ready for God to multiply our lives into something bigger.