Equipped for Spiritual Warfare: Living as Authentic Christians

October 3, 2026 · 25 min read

Scripture References

Ephesians 6:10-18
Acts 19:13-16
2 Corinthians 4:4
Proverbs 4:23
1 John 5:13
Romans 6:23
1 Peter 5:7-9
Luke 22:31-32
1 John 4:4
Philippians 4:6-8
Romans 12:2
Deuteronomy 31:6
John 3:16

Introduction

Guest speaker Jonathan “JP” Pokluda, lead pastor of Harris Creek Baptist Church in Waco, opened with a story from his years leading The Porch, the Dallas young adult ministry, when his family hosted a new believer who had moved from New York City and said he was a 9/11 FDNY firefighter. He had the vanity plates, the uniform the kids dragged around the house, and a flaming FDNY shield tattooed down his arm. After the ministry published the man’s 9/11 devotional online, the New York fire department called: “This guy was never one of us.” He had gone to great lengths to look like a firefighter, but had a real fire broken out he would have been no more ready than anyone else.
The question for the church: how many of us say we are ready for the fire, have heard about the spiritual war, and are not actually ready?
The pastor’s own story: nine years of church school, church on Friday and Sunday, Baptist youth group on Wednesday, Dawson McAllister events, retreats, and camps. He knew the words to the songs and when to raise his hands, yet alone in the car or waking up in the morning he had no real relationship with Jesus. He was faking it.
Big idea: authentic Christians are equipped for the unseen battle when they live out the seven marks Paul describes through the armor of God in Ephesians 6.

Key Points / Exposition

1. Acts 19: The Seven Sons of Sceva

Roughly ten years before Paul wrote Ephesians, his ministry was spreading and people were healed when his shadow touched them. Seven brothers, sons of a Jewish priest named Sceva, fancied themselves exorcists and confronted a demon-possessed man “in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches.”
Acts 19:15-16: “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” The possessed man beat all seven so badly they ran from the house naked and bleeding.
Seven men went in with clothes on and left with none. They lost, not on a judges’ decision but decisively, because they only knew about Jesus. They had no relationship with Him.
The interpretive challenge the passage forces: did that happen, and does it still happen?

2. The Setting of Ephesians 6

Paul wrote from house arrest in Rome around AD 60-62, most likely chained to a Roman soldier, and used that soldier’s gear as an illustration.
Many of us grew up singing “I’m in the Lord’s Army” and reciting the pieces of armor without asking the real question: is it actually on? Is it on straight? “Is the helmet in the room with us?”
Paul is not giving a ritual. He is describing the marks of an authentic follower of Jesus: seven things you are doing if you actually know Him.
Ephesians 6:12: “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.”
- Your enemy is not your roommate, your ex, your neighbor with the barking dog, or the people who voted differently than your family. It is rulers, principalities, and demons.
- 2 Corinthians 4:4 calls Satan “the god of this world,” lowercase g, with real authority and autonomy here. Ask a room of Christians who the god of this world is and most will say Jesus or Yahweh.
- The pastor spent three years researching spiritual warfare to understand what the enemy can do and how believers win. Ephesians 6 is the answer.
A word to Lake Pointe: a friend recently said all it takes is clarity and courage, and God is using this church to bring both to the country. With 890 people baptized last weekend, “you’ve got a target on your back.” The enemy hates you, your children, and your marriage, even before you meet the person you will marry.
“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.”

3. Walking in Truth (the Belt of Truth)

The belt holds the whole armor together, so this is where readiness starts: an authentic Christian is walking in truth.
There is a fight in our country over what is true, and most of the next generation is not on a truth journey but a happiness journey. “What will make me happy?” is a dangerous question, because when you chase happiness you never find it. Find what is true and you find what sets you free.
Illustration: someone announces that if he flaps his arms fast enough he can fly, and he is climbing the building to jump. The most loving thing you can say is, “Your lowercase-t truth is that you can fly, but my capital-T Truth of gravity will pull you to the ground at 200 miles an hour. You’re not a bird.”
Walking in the truth of the gospel, filled with the Holy Spirit, we want to share that truth with others.

4. Acting in Righteousness (the Breastplate)

The breastplate guards the heart, a vital organ necessary for life. Positioned in truth, you also act in righteousness.
The heart works like a bloodhound: it gets on a scent and hunts. Woody Allen said, “The heart wants what it wants.” No. The heart wants what it is fed.
It works like Netflix. Watch The Office and it offers Office Space, then Suits, Gilmore Girls, The Summer I Turned Pretty. Whatever you feed your heart, you are telling it what to look for.
Story from years of young adult ministry: a woman asks for dating advice because she “only dates losers” and is only attracted to men who are bad for her. He asks her favorite song (Sabrina Carpenter, Drake, “anything by Taylor”) and favorite show (Love Island). “Found your problem.” She had enrolled in Find Losers 101, systematically training her heart to look for exactly that.
Proverbs 4:23: guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. What you feed your heart is not innocent. It is going to take you somewhere.

5. Ready with the Gospel of Peace (the Shoes)

Positioned in truth and aligned in righteousness, you are ready with the saving truth of Jesus, and it is a gospel of peace.
If every small group “didn’t work” and every marriage “didn’t work,” ask who the common denominator is. It may be someone who does not rightly understand the gospel of peace.
We are too afraid to share it. The pastor has shared the gospel every day since he heard it and no one has ever hit him.
- Two days earlier he asked the woman cutting his hair, “Do you have a faith?” She said she did not believe in God. He shared anyway. By the end she was saying she believed God sent His Son to die for sins and rise again, and told him, “You have no idea how much I need that today.”
- The day before, a barista said he was spiritual but did not like pushing his beliefs on people. Asked whether to order pour-over or drip, the barista insisted on pour-over. “Whoa, feels like you’re pushing your beliefs on me. Imagine if there was a lot more at stake than coffee.”
The question he asks strangers, and asks Lake Pointe every time he comes: “Between 1 and 10, 10 being certain, if you died today, how certain are you that you would go to heaven?”
- Eyes closed, hands raised: fours, fives, and sixes all over the room; ones, twos, and threes; and lots of sevens, eights, and nines. “If you just raised your hand, you’re not ready for warfare.”
1 John 5:13: “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” You can know.
Is certainty arrogant? It would be if it had anything to do with you. It is God saving you in spite of you. All you are saying is that God keeps His promises and is not a liar.
Romans 6:23: the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. When God asks why He should let you in, the answer is, “You shouldn’t, but You paid my way in through Your Son.” The pastor’s aim: everyone leaves a 10.

6. Firm in Faith (the Shield)

“Take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” This is a big one.
Roman shields were not Captain America trash-can lids. They were wooden, door-sized, about five feet tall, and kindling to a flaming arrow. So soldiers soaked leather in water overnight and stretched it over the shield, and the fiery arrows went out on contact.
Faith is your protection from the enemy’s attacks. The greater the faith, the more protected you are, which is why leaving as a 10 matters so much.
Three witnesses: Paul here; Peter in 1 Peter 5:8-9, where the devil prowls like a roaring lion and we resist him “standing firm in the faith”; and Jesus in Luke 22, who tells Peter Satan has asked to sift him like wheat and then says, “I have prayed for you that your faith will not fail.”
Story: at a hunting-and-fishing weekend a friend fired up his new Big Green Egg on a wooden deck, then the group ran out for potatoes. They came back to him yelling for help, the whole deck a bonfire. The lighter fluid stored under the grill had burst and was cooking the deck from underneath. He had yanked the hose box so hard it tore off the hose, leaving him arcing a four-foot stream at the flames. Everyone ran inside and put out the fire with red Solo cups of water from every sink in the house.
- The next morning, hunting for K-cups under the Keurig, the pastor opened the cabinet and found a big red fire extinguisher strapped inside. “Blake, come here.” His friend’s reply: “I forgot I had that. I was hoping I’d never have to use it.”
- That is us and faith. I went to the altar call; I forgot I had that; I was hoping I’d never need it in my marriage or with my kids. We ask God for comfort that insulates our lives so we never actually need Him. “I believe You’re real. Let’s just not test that.”
1 John 4:4: “Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.” You have everything you need to fight the enemy.

7. Aware of Your Salvation (the Helmet)

The helmet protects the brain, your mind, your thinking. Wars are fought over real estate, and the spiritual war is fought over the real estate of your mind.
Renew your mind every day. This is why the 1-to-10 question matters: “The reason I’m going to be with God is because He paid my way in through His Son.”
“But I can’t control my thoughts.” Picture a yellow school bus, “SCHOOL BUS” in black letters on the side. You see it. You just controlled your thoughts.
Fill your mind with the things of God. Philippians 4:8: whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy, think about such things. Romans 12:2: do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

8. Responding with the Word (the Sword of the Spirit)

The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God, the truth we are positioned in. If you are ready for warfare, you respond to the enemy with the Word.
Jesus was tempted by Satan and answered every time with memorized verses from Deuteronomy. “If your only hope of overcoming the enemy today is all of your memory verses from Deuteronomy, how are you going to do?”
The congregation named the enemy’s lies, and the pastor answered each with Scripture:
- “You’re not good enough.” You were created in the image of God, the Imago Dei. His plans for you are perfect and He will finish what He started. The value of a thing is what someone is willing to pay for it, and God so loved the world that He gave His only Son (John 3:16).
- “Lust after that.” Job made a covenant with his eyes; Matthew 5 says gouge out the eye and cut off the hand.
- “You should be anxious. You should be worried.” Philippians 4:6: do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, present your requests to God. 1 Peter 5:7: cast your anxiety on Him because He cares for you. Matthew 6: do not worry about tomorrow.
- “You’re alone. You’re so lonely.” Deuteronomy 31:6: “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
Store these truths in your heart so that when the lie comes you answer it with the sword of the Spirit. Your quiet time is not just sweet moments with Jesus. It is a strategy against satanic attack.

9. Engaged in Prayer

“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 Lord’s people.”
Every soldier has to talk to the commander in chief. Walkie-talkie prayers: “I’m going into this Starbucks, who do You want me to share with?” “God, You know this is a temptation in our marriage, help us here.” “I haven’t heard from my kid at college today, God, would You…”
Prayer is a walkie-talkie, not room service. Not “I want chocolate cake at midnight,” but constant communication with the One who is sovereign over everything.
The surest test of readiness is your prayer life. If you look back over the last 8 to 12 hours and have not talked to God, you have real reason for concern. If you have been in constant contact with your commander in chief, you know you are ready.
When God saved you He did not take you home. He left you in the battle, in a world where there is trouble and an enemy who seeks to steal, kill, and destroy. How are you going to win? By walking in truth, acting in righteousness, ready with the gospel, firm in faith, aware of your salvation, responding with the Word, and engaged in prayer.

10. “Church Isn’t Going to Save You”

The pastor was saved in a cessationist, dispensational setting (“Father, Son, and Holy Bible”) and is grateful for the biblical education. But miracles and demons felt like something from back then, a gap in his theology. Mission trips to Zambia, Kenya, the Maasai Mara, six trips to Haiti, three to the Amazon, and parts of Mexico came with stories of demon possession he had never seen himself, and he half suspected exaggeration.
Then, three chapters into a book on spiritual warfare, he was at a ministry fundraiser at one of the nicest country clubs in the world in Aspen, Colorado. Bored, he decided to share the gospel with a man coming off the golf course in khakis and a Titleist hat. The man said he was a Christian but that he literally could not pray: his throat closed up whenever he tried.
- “That sounds demonic.” “Demonic? You sound like my mom.”
- When a friend walked up they prayed together for protection and freedom from any bondage. The man’s arm flew over his head, he bent over, his arms went wild, and he began barking, growling, and shouting. With no theological category for the moment, the pastor kept saying, “In the name of Jesus, I command you to come out. Leave him alone.” Then the man went still. “Well, I didn’t expect that to happen.” “Bro, that makes two of us.”
You do not need to be afraid. You need to be aware. Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.
But do not go out there pretending to know Christ if you are not spending time with Him and talking with Him. Do not play church games. Church is not going to save you. You need a real relationship with the Creator.
To those who raised their hands: do you think Jesus died for 90% of your sins? 70%? Be all in.

Major Lessons & Revelations

Spiritual warfare is real, personal, and already underway, and the enemy is not flesh and blood.
Knowing about Jesus, like the sons of Sceva, is powerless. Only a genuine relationship with Him carries authority.
The armor of God is not a ritual to recite but seven marks of an authentic believer: walking in truth, acting in righteousness, ready with the gospel of peace, firm in faith, aware of salvation, responding with the Word, and engaged in prayer.
The heart wants what it is fed. Your media diet is training your desires.
Assurance of salvation is not arrogance. It is trusting that God keeps His promises, and it is a shield the enemy’s arrows cannot burn through.
Faith you never use is a fire extinguisher forgotten in a cabinet.
The spiritual war is fought over the real estate of your mind, and you can choose what you think about.
Your quiet time is a strategy against satanic attack, and your prayer life is the surest gauge of readiness.

Practical Application

Head: recognize that the war is real and that your enemy is demonic powers, not the people who frustrate you.
Heart: love truth more than comfort or happiness, and want intimacy with Christ rather than outward religion.
Hands:
- Start each morning renewing your mind with Scripture and prayer.
- Memorize verses that answer the specific lies you hear most.
- Ask one person this week, “Do you have a faith?” and share the gospel of peace.
- Audit what you are feeding your heart and replace anything training it toward unrighteousness.
- Keep walkie-talkie prayer going through the day so that no 8-to-12-hour stretch passes without talking to God.
- If your number was anything but a 10, cry out to God for assurance and rest fully in Christ’s finished work.

Reflection Questions

Which of the seven armor marks is most underdeveloped in your life right now?
What “flaming arrows” (lies, temptations, accusations) hit you most often? How will you quench them?
How does your current media diet shape your heart’s desires, toward or away from righteousness?
When was the last time you had a walkie-talkie-style conversation with God during the day’s activities?
If you rated your eternal certainty below a 10, what keeps you from resting fully in Christ’s finished work?

Conclusion & Call to Response

Stop playing church games. Place full trust in Jesus, move to a 10 in assurance, and live each day in these seven practices.
The pastor asked everyone who had been anything but a 10 to say, “God, make me confident. Give me assurance. Help me know and understand what You’ve done for me in Jesus.”
Across the campuses, hands went up from people who moved from a 5, 7, or 9 to a 10. “Praise God for you.”

Prayer

Father, would You just help us to be believers who are walking in truth, acting in righteousness, ready with the gospel, firm in faith, aware of Your salvation, responding with the Word, and engaged in prayer. Thank You for this church, a local expression of the body. Thank You for the people You’re saving. Thank You for the ways You’re leading our country and through it. Lord, we just thank You for brothers and sisters making that commitment. We don’t want to play church games. We want to follow You. We love You, Lord, and we thank You for salvation. It’s in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

References & Resources

Guest speaker: Jonathan “JP” Pokluda (Harris Creek Baptist Church)
The Porch, the Dallas young adult ministry Pokluda previously led
“I’m in the Lord’s Army,” the children’s song referenced
Woody Allen’s line “The heart wants what it wants,” contrasted with “The heart wants what it’s fed”
1 John 5:13 as the memory verse for assurance

Insights

Wearing Christian labels is easy; living surrendered so God fights for you is the real uniform.
If your beliefs never hit real battles, you might be carrying decorations without armor.
Faith isn’t shelf decor; it’s the drenched shield that extinguishes flaming lies.
Your heart craves what you feed it, so train it with truth not trash.
Prayer was never room service; it’s the constant walkie-talkie to our Commander-in-Chief.
Certainty isn’t cocky when Christ bought the ticket; grace lets you stand ten-out-of-ten sure.

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