The Purity Project of OKC

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Ephesians 6:10-18 (NIV)

All of us who are caught up in sexual sins and compulsions, whether we want to admit it or not, made a choice to participate in them. Later on, our ability to choose was greatly diminished as the bondage of addiction and the power of sin overcame us. For those who are not caught in sexual acting out, it seem preposterous that anyone to claim to be a sexual addict or sexaholic. But for those of us who are, or have been, caught within this sin’s grip, we know what it is like to be enslaved to something that we know we need to quit but don’t know how.

We face a supernatural enemy.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Sexual sin is served to us by the powers of darkness. We may think the pictures, videos, prostitutes, strip clubs, affairs, and so on, are ordinary parts of life–but they are not! We were never meant to live like this. All forms of sexual impurity are controlled by supernatural evil forces. This is a very important fact that we must accept if we wish to be free of sexual impurity.

I know that when I was caught up in pornography, it never occurred to me that I was being caught in a scheme of the devil. I just assumed that I had weak a willpower and that I was a bad Christian. Honestly, I did have weak willpower, and that was why I fell to this scheme in the first place; but, it is also true that I did not understand that pornography, and other forms of sexual impurity, are part of the devil’s schemes to lead us all away from God. I was just a small part of a larger cosmic battle between the forces of good and evil.

Until we accept the fact that sexual impurity is part of the devil’s schemes to take us away from God, we’ll not be able to understand the depth of the power that has been leveled against us. All of us are caught in a supernatural warfare and we need a supernatural weapon.

We must put on His armor.

Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes….Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground.

None of us would play serious competitive professional football unless we were wearing the proper protection. When we face the devil’s schemes without suiting up, we are doing just that! God never intended for us to face Satan without protection.

If you are like me, you might have allowed the teaching about the full armor of God to blow right by you. Satan wants us to do that. When I first saw those Bible class drawings of Roman battle armor, I remember thinking that armor like that could never work in today’s world. Something about it looked weak and defenseless. Boy, was I ever wrong! What I know now is that Paul used the only metaphor available to him at the time he wrote his letters. The truth is that God’s armor is far more powerful than anything we can possibly conceive. It was created for spiritual warfare against the devil. God’s armor is more powerful than anything that man or demon has created.

God’s Armor

Here are the elements of God’s armor that help us stand firm against Satan’s attacks and allow us, when we are stronger, to combat the devil and tear down his strongholds:

• the belt of TRUTH,
• the breastplate of RIGHTEOUSNESS,
• feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the GOSPEL OF PEACE,
• the shield of FAITH, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one,
• the helmet of SALVATION,
• the sword of the Spirit, which is the WORD OF GOD,
• PRAYER in the Spirit.

Each of these elements of armor and weaponry are deserving of their own article. When you have time, google each of these elements and learn more about them. I think you’ll be surprised at the power of each of these weapons.

God’s power is stronger than sin.

Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. We do not have to rely upon our strength–instead we can rely upon God’s mighty power. To be strong in the Lord means that we accept Him as the LORD of our life and show our love for Him by obeying His commands. When we do this, he will begin to work in us things we could not do for ourselves. If all of this sounds too good to be true, I assure you that it is not. The battle against sexual sin can never be fought successfully with our puny human skill and ability–it takes the power of God! Are you ready to suit up?