Keeping the Armor On at the Front: Removing the Corrosion that Keeps Us from Resisting the Enemy

By Michael J. Metz

Reality TV in print, reporting on temptations at the scene. The author lets you in on the battle reports in the first person - speaking to you, the reader. Spend time with him as he deals with encounters by different biblical demons in sixteen battle reports; each one closing with a Bible promise. In the course of these encounters, you are given opportunities to identify pieces of the armor of God to stand firm against the specific evil spirits. You will experience the use of various tools and weapons, which are often neglected by today's Christians. The workbook examines the armor of God and actions you can take to put the armor on. Included are dossiers of each enemy, and an introduction to spiritual gifts. Self-examining questions enable the reader to discover strongholds, "cracks," and "stains" the enemy uses to produce corrosion in the Christian's armor. A four-phase training outline is customizable to your needs.

Journaling is encouraged.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 27, 2021
• ISBN: 9781098058616

Book preview

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Keeping the Armor On at the Front

Removing the Corrosion that Keeps Us from Resisting the Enemy

Michael J. Metz

Copyright © 2020 by Michael J. Metz

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Each of the following battle reports are based on actual events. The names have been changed to protect confidentiality.

Unless otherwise noted, scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB), Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from The Authorized (King James) Version. Rights in the Authorized Version in the United Kingdom are vested in the Crown. Reproduced by permission of the Crown’s patentee, Cambridge University Press.

Concordance references are from The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance by James Strong, Copyright © 1990, Nelson Publishing.

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Unlocking the Door of the Armory

Phase One: Enter The Armory

Phase Two: Know Thy Enemy

Phase Three: Prepare for Training

Phase Four: Training Grounds

To all the BIBs,

believers in bondage

May the Truth set you free; and once you’re free,

may you be used for the Lord’s glory

in a way you were born again to be.

—See Romans 7:23; Galatians 4:9

Acknowledgements

Room, Ten-Hut! At ease. My desire is to first give praise, glory, and thanks to the Lord Jesus Christ for assigning this mission to me. Really, I mean it. I have to say it was assigned because it is not something I was thinking about writing, and I call it a mission because the process came with challenges to be overcome. I had to keep an eye open constantly for the movement of the enemy. I did not seek this mission, but the Lord trusted me with it. He did so much to provide content in ways that I could never have asked for.

I would like to thank those who provided material for this mission: Mark Verkler for granting permission to use 4 Keys to Hearing God’s Voice from his book How to Hear God’s Voice (http://www.cwgministries.org/); Jacob Jones, who wrote, produced, and sang Prayer Soldier. What makes this amazing is that Jacob didn’t write the song for this book; it was something he’s had in his head for a couple years. So thanks again to the Lord for arranging these two projects to come together. Prayer Soldier – (go to michaeljmetz.com to download)

As with any project, there are others who gave their input and support. There were those who read the manuscript in its early development: my pastor, Keith Church; my friends David Ridge and Navigator missionary Rich Roberts; and also Kelton Hinton of the Johnston Baptist Association, who challenged me theologically. Thanks also to editor Tracy Ruckman of WEIS editing for her early guidance (writeintegrity.com/). Special thanks to Maleah Bell as the primary editor of this project. Her work helped me take this book to the finish line. Speaking of the finish line it was Seth Oakman and the staff at Christian Faith Publishing that showed great patience in helping me craft this book.

Of course, I would like to thank my family for all their support over the course of this project, especially during the many times I worked through the night and had to recover the next day. This had an impact on my wife, son, and daughter in that I was not as available to them as I could have been during that time.

Jesus said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat.

—Luke 22:31

Operations (OPS) Briefing

Classified—Top Secret

Mission Target

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places

—Ephesians 6:12 (NIV), emphasis mine

Mission Objective

The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.

—1John 3:8

These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

—John15:11

Christians Objective

Reading the Word to become knowledgeable of the enemy

Obedient to the Word of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit

Count on the promises of God—in faith

Keep on the whole armor of God (throughout the day)

* * * * *

Enemy Objective

Discredit the believers’ testimony

Immobilize the believer (spiritually, emotionally, physically)

Seduce the believer to be misled

Any DIS objective fulfills the enemy’s ultimate goal to keep the believer from being of any use to our Lord in advancing the kingdom of God. Notice in 1 John 4:1, it says, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world (emphasis mine). In other words, be a fruit" inspector.

While there are numerous other objectives for the believer to follow, these ROCK objectives should be general enough to include the other objectives found in the Bible. For the purpose of this book, we will focus on what is said in 1 John 3:8: The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil (NASB). By understanding how the enemy works, we can begin to do just that. Matthew 10:1 says, Jesus summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.

A Word of Caution!

No one book is sufficient to deal with our myriad of issues and troubles, not even the Bible (just a minute, put the brick down). Jesus said in John chapter 16, verses 12–15 (I paraphrase), the Spirit of truth will guide you in all things and will tell you things to come. That is why we do not see specifics in the Bible about a career path or how to raise a child. We need to hear from the Holy Spirit. The book of John ends with this: And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written (John 21:25).

God is sovereign with regards to how He will choose to use the material in this book in your life. My hope for each reader is that going through this book will enlighten you to the next step in your journey with the Lord or reveal a course of action that draws you closer to the Father.

Let Matthew 10:1 be our warrant.

Must Read Mission Briefing Before Proceeding

to Any Battle Reports

For we are not ignorant of his [satan’s] schemes.

—2 Corinthians 2:11

Mission Briefing

Keeping the Armor on at the Front is reality TV in print. On August 14, 2009, I was finished for the night working on a novel when the Lord dropped an idea in my brain. The idea that bolted into my head? Describing episodes of temptation as they happen. The title, at the Front, relates to the front lines of a battlefield. That is where believers in Jesus Christ are engaged when temptation comes upon us; that battlefield is the mind. Each episode, or battle report, will be real, written in first person present tense.

Here are some frequently used terms that are listed in the Glossary in the back of the book. I’ll be using the GI Army Field Manual (GI = God Issued; Manual = Bible). Occasionally in a battle report, you will see the word crack or stain. These terms are explained in greater detail in the section Strongholds, Cracks and Stains. For now, understand that a crack refers to a personality trait used by the enemy to put me at a position of disadvantage. A stain refers to our negative emotional responses toward a leading from the Holy Spirit. There are individual dossiers on each enemy that will peel away at their most common weapon-temptation. Each dossier will have the enemy’s MO—meaning, modus operandi—the method commonly used to accomplish their objective. MA will be the abbreviation for My Actions. This will describe a course of action as guided by the GI Field Manual. Also, within each Battle Report are blank spaces (_________________) where you have the opportunity to fill in what piece of the armor is being used.

My purpose is clear: expose the enemy’s methods, lay a plan exercising God’s authority through the use of God’s armor, how to keep it on, and hopefully release some POWs (fellow believers caught in bondage). Hmm, should we coin a new term: BIBs (believers in bondage)? These encounters have been written so the reader can step into the role of main character. Since we are at war, the most logical role for the main character is a soldier of course. Hopefully, you will relate so closely to the struggles that you become the soldier. The juicy details of the temptations are minimized to allow the reader to focus on the tactics and technique of the enemy. I encourage you to think of your own personal struggles within each Battle Report, as they apply, thus allowing you to discover which enemy forces hinder you from experiencing the fullness of joy in Christ Jesus.

Let me take a moment to address those who are new in their relationship with Jesus. The Bible contains many instructions for our defense against the enemy (Satan and his demons). Probably the most common reference is Ephesians 6:10–18, which refers to the armor of God, a full listing of which is found in Phase One: Enter the Armory. Take time to familiarize yourself with each piece. As I said earlier, our enemy works primarily in a clandestine manner and is relentless. Do you understand relentless? Think of the Orcs and Uruk-hai in The Lord of the Rings, and you will get a good picture of a relentless enemy. There is one problem. From my observation, we are anesthetized Christians. Generally, Christians don’t know much about relentlessly fighting the enemy because, for the most part, we are not striving to be obedient to the Word of God and the Holy Spirit.

Let me say a word here about different Bible translations. The original documents are the inerrant Word of God. We would not be able to read the original manuscripts without English translations. However, we need to be discerning. The King James Version (KJV), New King James Version (NKJV), New American Standard Bible (NASB), and New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) are some acceptable translations. Recent releases of Bible versions have been in the name of making the Bible easier to read. There’s a problem with this. At some point, accuracy and intent are lost for the sake of being easy to read. If you benefit from a recent version, I encourage you to also have a KJV or NASB alongside. Let’s not feel inconvenienced because effort is needed to do research on some tough passages. Consider it part of your training.

Another point about spiritual warfare: this is not Braveheart nor Saving Private Ryan. While there are documented cases of Christians doing direct warfare and casting out demons—which I believe are real—we’re talking about the more common clandestine maneuvers, double agents, and booby traps. It is quite mundane, really, better described as a chess match between an unskilled player (you and me) and a skilled, but limited, opponent (the devil). Yes, the battle belongs to the Lord—if we give it to Him. We are His soldiers, sitting in the scope of a sniper’s rifle. The problem? We don’t know how to defend ourselves, let alone make any kind of counter offensive.

Christians know more about what has happened with their favorite celebrity or sports team than about Cassie Bernall (1999), Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1945), Sister Leonella Sgorbati (2006), or Peter (eight-year-old boy from the Philippines, 1992), and many others who gave their lives or suffered (not inconvenienced but suffered) for the Gospel message (Hebrews 13:3). Others are in similar pursuits, going without the full cover of protection given by prayer because we’re too busy seeing who the Bachelor chooses or who gets picked number one in the draft. As such, the enemy need not put forth much effort to cause us to stumble. Onward Christian Soldier—I think not. You say the Bible doesn’t support followers of Jesus being relentless or it sounds too aggressive. How about persistent? There’s biblical support for that; but again, I say the average Christian knows little of being persistent. Which is why, as Christians, we have so little authority over the enemy.

This book is not intended to advocate that the devil fried the toaster, or he caused the car to malfunction, etc. The point of this book is to look at temptation and how it snares us to do that which we know we should not do. This work is also intended to help believers discover how to keep the armor on throughout the day. My hope is through an increased awareness of these issues, the untrained follower of Jesus Christ will become a skilled follower and the enemy will lose their position of advantage—an ignorant follower of Jesus Christ.

A reminder of the blank spaces as you go through each Battle Report. This is your opportunity to fill in the blanks with the piece of the armor being used. The only way to get good at using the armor of God is to recognize how to use it and practice using it; otherwise, you are easy pickings.

This tide must turn. You want to step forward and become the soldier our Lord needs you to be? You must understand the cost, train hard, and it will be our enemy who pays the price.

Heavenly Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I pray You would bless this work for Your glory.