God is PASSIONATE about breathing PEACE IN and THROUGH us! And while that sounds good, we all want peace, right! My day-to-day experience often lacks the peace of God. I get anxious about a lot of things. I worry about my kids, my family, and money. As I get older I worry more about my health. As a church planter and pastor I worry about the future of our church. With the chaos in our country and world I worry about the future!

Can you relate?

Thankfully God IS passionate about His people experiencing peace.  HERE is the audio from my message from yesterday on this subject.

God isn’t surprised by our anxiety today, and He has never been surprised by the anxiety we face. In fact here’s a story in Judges 6, way back in the OT, around 1000 B.C. that teaches us how to experience the peace of God!

I don’t know about you, but I desperately NEED peace and wholeness in my life! As a husband and father of four kids (12/10/8/1 yr olds), my life isn’t filled with circumstances characterized by peace (usually more like world war 3)! I live in a very expensive county and struggle to keep up with my bills. And there are plenty of things that cause me fear… the election, financial stress, threats of terror and on and on.

Thankfully God is not silent or absent! Last Sunday I preached, “God is Breathing Shalom IN and THROUGH Me.” I talked about the true source of PEACE and WHOLENESS and how to experience it. HERE is the audio.

When Christians put on the armor of God ALMOST nothing is impossible. With the armor on we are ABLE to live and experience the ABUNDANT LIFE that Jesus died and rose from the grave for us to experience. But the armor alone not enough!

I think most Christians, if they were honest, would confess that they are dissatisfied with their prayer life. They feel it is inadequate and perhaps infrequent. We pray but we don’t see answers. We don’t feel spiritual power. WHY? This was the topic of my last sermon in the book of Ephesians last Sunday. View part one is HERE. Part two is HERE.

Everyone everywhere experiences spiritual warfare; it is not unique to Christians. But only Christians have what’s necessary to combat, to fight back, and win! Through Jesus we are able to combat and overcome. We do this by putting on the armor of God.

Last week I wrote that I believe the armor is Jesus. My post on the first three pieces of this armor is HERE and describes Jesus as our truth, our righteousness, and our peace.

When we feel discouraged, upset, defeated, depressed, anxious, fearful, confused, uncertain — whatever the form of attack may be — we are to remind ourselves of these three truths.

Our experience confirms that life is full of conflict, isn’t it! I usually think it’s conflict between people. Could be with my wife, our kids, our neighbors, our co-workers, or yes, even with people in our church!

According to the Apostle Paul and his letter to the Ephesian church our core conflict is not with people at all. The problem is much more serious. We are struggling against, “rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” (Ephesians 6:12 NIV)

The conflict can only be won with the right armor. Six pieces of spiritual armor make winning spiritual warfare possible. If you’re a Christian there are three pieces you already have on. If you aren’t yet a follower of Jesus consider these resources as strong consideration to follow Him.

Life is full of struggles, isn’t it! It often feels like a wrestling match we just can’t win. But the Apostle Paul wrote to a church full of struggles 2000 years ago with answers. The answers given to the church at Ephesus are just as relevant today as they were then.

The bottom line is that the problems we face, the struggles we experience, are not primarily problems with humanity. They are what the Apostle Paul calls “rulers, authorities, powers of this dark world and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” This was the topic of my sermon yesterday from Ephesians 6:10-13. You can find part one of the video HERE. Part two is HERE.

Many reject a supernatural view of life. They refuse to believe in unseen powers. They reject any kind of spiritual kingdom, saying there is no God or devil. Maybe you know someone like this??!!

Others believe only in a kingdom of good. They believe in God and maybe angels, but refuse to accept the existence of the devil and/or hell.

I urge you to consider taking God at His word. The answers the Apostle Paul puts forth are the only explanations that come to grips with the problems and struggles of life.

This weekend I have the privilege of speaking at a church retreat. Tomorrow I’ll be giving a workshop titled, “Praying Roots DOWN to Bear Fruit UP.” Prayer is such a key to bearing fruit, especially in our witness in the world as Christians. By no means am I an expert, but I’ve been learning some things about prayer and witness that may be helpful for you too.

God wants us to bear lots of fruit (as we’ll see from John 15).

There is a lot of fruit we could talk about bearing, but the fruit I want us to focus on here is the fruit of our witness as Christians in the world!

God wants us to love our neighbor as ourselves, right? for the most part that means people who do not go to church, who are not close to God, and who are different than us.

We might conclude that God wants to bear the fruit of influencing others who are far from Him, right???

We all struggle to have the spiritual strength needed to face life. Maybe it’s temptations, habits, or even addictions. Many of us struggle with feelings of loneliness, frustration, uncertainty, sickness, boredom, and certainly weakness. This was the topic of my sermon yesterday from Ephesians 6:10. You can find part one of the video HERE.

Sometimes Christians act like life is more of a playground than a battle ground! But as Warren Wiersbe has famously said…

In Ephesians 6:10 the Apostle Paul said it like this…

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.”

Ever struggle to live carefully? You want to do right, change a bad habit, or treat someone more loving, but you just can seem to be careful?! That can be a struggle for me. I addressed this in my sermon yesterday on Ephesians 5:15-21. You can find the video HERE.

At times I’m not careful with my words and actions…