The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Weapons of Warfare (Part 2)

Episode Date: October 21, 2022

Do you ever feel alone in your battles? In this episode, Jeff encourages us and reminds us that we’re not alone when we have the Word, those around us, and the armor God has given us! In this second part of this mini-series we learn about the final pieces of our God-issued battle attire: the shoes of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit. Snippet from the Show The time to learn about the armor is not in the middle of the battle, but before the battle has begun. Email us with comments or questions at [e-mail]. Text “jeffcavins” to 33-777 to subscribe and get Jeff’s shownotes delivered straight to your email! Or visit ascensionpress.com/thejeffcavinsshow for full shownotes!

Welcome to the Jeff Kaven Show, where we talk about the Bible, discipleship, and evangelization, putting it all together in living as activated disciples. This is show 293, Weapons of Warfare, Part 2. Oh, we have been talking a lot about this lately, haven't we? War and rumors of war around the world. again this week. We're hearing so much about, in fact, we're hearing biblical descriptions, you know, of Armageddon and so forth. And a lot of people are saying, I've never heard discussions like this before they're going on in the world, and they're getting a little bit, a little bit scared. But last week we talked about weapons of warfare, and we are focusing on a

different battle that's taking place, and that's a battle. It's a battle with the powers that be, principalities in high places and the things you can't see behind the scenes, the influences on your children, your grandchildren. And so this week, we're going to continue on because we've got part of the way through the weapons of warfare that Paul talks about in Ephesians chapter 6, which we'll get to here in just a moment. I'll review a little bit of last week, and then we'll jump into the shoes of peace and the shield of faith. We're going to take a look at the helmet, the gift of salvation, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit and prayer. So we've got a lot to go over this week.

Hey, if you don't get the show notes and you would like to, please go ahead. Just text my name, one word, Jeff Kavans, and text it to the number 3377. Bingo, you're going to have the notes. And as I said last week, there's a lot of notes in these shows. Last week, quite a few, this week even more. and it's always good to have those, especially if you're joining me in the car, you're jogging, you're at the beach, whatever, and you want to get those notes, but you really are not in a place where you can write them all down. That's what they're for. They're there to help you.

All right. Well, let's start here by, once again, reading Ephesians chapter 6, where we're drawing from. Paul said to the Ephesians, and by the way, he's writing, from prison when he writes to the Ephesians. And so he sees a lot of Roman soldiers. He gets the get-up. He's making analogies based on what he's seeing through his cell as he's imprisoned. So listen to this. Finally, draw your strength from the Lord and from his mighty power. Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil. For our struggle is not with flesh and blood, but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of the present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens.

Therefore, put on the armor of God that you may be able to resist on the evil day and having done everything to hold your ground. Hold your ground. So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate. and your feet shod in readiness for the gospel of peace. In all circumstances, hold fast as a shield to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God. Ephesion 6, 10 through 17. It's in the notes. I mentioned to you last week that there's really three imperatives.

Number one, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Be strong. number two, put on the full armor of God. And number three, stand. So you can stand against the devil's schemes. And really a fourth one, and that is pray. But for our struggle is not against things that you can necessarily see. There's spiritual forces out there.

And we have to take them very seriously. To the person who doesn't believe that, well, one day you will. And it's going to come as a surprise. But we also spoke about the breastplate of righteousness last show. Oh, we spoke about the belt of truth first last show. The truth will prepare you for battle. Don't walk around relaxed and not prepared. Remember, I talked about how the belt of truth is something where you pull up the long robe and it's tucked into the belt so that you gird your loins. You're ready for action. You're ready for the battle. You're not relaxed and you're not

going to be taken off guard. And then we spoke about the breastplate of righteousness on the last show, walk in the righteousness of Christ and throw off everything that will weigh you down. And I love that scripture, and I'll just read it again to you. The writer of Hebrews, chapter 12 and verse 1 said, therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us. Beautiful. Okay, so let's go on to the next one. When we talk about the armor that God has given you, all of it is armor in the sense of protecting yourself, except for one, the sword of the spirit,

and we'll get to that. That's offensive. And now the next one are the shoes, have your feet shot with the gospel of peace. And I love that. Let's see, going back to the actual text, it says that have your feet shot in readiness for the gospel of peace. In other words, The shoes that you put on is the preparation to share the good news with people, to share the good news. And that, by the way, is how you defend yourself. The Book of Revelation says they overcame by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony. And so the word of your testimony is the gospel. It is the corigma, as I have taught for years now, and you know that.

and we've gone over that, the two of us here, on that, about the charygma. And I do hope you're using that because that is important in the battle that we're in right now to have your shoes shod with the gospel of peace. Isaiah 52-7, how beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him, who brings glad tidings, announcing peace, bearing good news, announcing salvation, and saying to Zion, your god is king and so that becomes very very important and just real quickly by way of review go through this with me now and seriously really get to know this all of my students whether

it be at the seminary or at a conference or through the great adventure ascentia press the podcast my daily podcast on hallow i have found that the people who learn the corigma, the proclamation of the faith, are the ones that are succeeding. They're the ones that are making a dent in this war. They're the ones that are protecting themselves with the word of their testimony and the blood of the lamb. And so you know the corigma, that is, number one, God loves you and has an amazing plan for your life. Number two, sin has disrupted or broken this plan, leaving us stranded. Three, Jesus loves us so much, he died for our sins.

that's the truth number four now he wants us to repent which is a radical reorienting of our life to god to jesus and five to be baptized and receive the holy spirit that is to be baptized original sin is dealt with the theological virtues of faith hope and charity are in our soul firmly lodged now you can grow in those but they're there so a lot of people think well i just don't any faith in this battle. Humbug. You do too. You received him at baptism. You received faith. I don't have any hope, Jeff. Humbug. You've got hope. It was given to you at baptism. I just don't feel I have that love. Humbug. You are given that. You were given charity at baptism. You can do this. You can do this. So you are baptized and you receive the Holy Spirit, the power of

confirmation to be the witness that you never thought you would be to speak to people you never imagined to say things you had never rehearsed. God will use you. He'll fill your mouth. And so that is so important. And then after that, of course, comes being a part of his glorious church, which is a hospital for sinners. It's a place of sacraments, encounter with Jesus. And then finally, you're going to come full circle and you're going to make disciples yourself and bring people to Jesus. That, my friend, is having your feet prepared with the gospel of peace. Wherever you go, you're bringing that gospel with you in this spiritual battle. That's important. Okay, we've got more to cover here, but I'm going to take a break. When we come back,

we're going to take a look at the shield of faith and see how that becomes part of our armor in this cosmic battle. You're listening to the Jeff Kaven show. Okay, here's the gut check right here, because if nothing changes, nothing changes. Do you want to be holy? And do you want to be an instrument of renewal in this world? And if so, do you believe it's possible?

Do you know what it looks like? Do you know where to begin? Because if nothing changes, nothing changes. My name's Father Mark Mary. I'm a Franciscan friar of the renewal, and I wrote a book called Habits for Holiness. And it pulls from over 800 years of Franciscan tradition, wisdom, and experience of radical and total discipleship in the midst of the world, but in a way which begins with little steps

and works not only for religion, not only for priests, but for everybody. The change you desire is possible. The conversion you desire is possible. The renewal you desire is possible. The healing you desire is possible. And it begins with little steps. So to guide you on your way and to help you make the next best step of renewal in your life, I'd invite you to pick up a copy of my book, Habits for Holiness.

God bless you. And thank you for coming back. Isn't this good stuff? It really is. It's good stuff. I know that, you know, a lot of people feel like, hmm, I don't know what to do, you know. They feel like their culture is falling apart and that their children are being unduly influenced. in such a negative way and you almost feel like like people are just sitting back saying

I hope we just get through this that that isn't the mentality of a warrior in the kingdom of God that's not the mentality of someone who has been given the armor by the spirit of God to fight to defend and to be a part of changing the climate out there if nothing else you can certainly do something about your own family which you'll be called on it someday you'll have to give an answer to that to God about how you led your family and how you prayed for them and taught them and told them about the armor even. Okay, so the next one, it is the shield of faith. I mentioned that before the break.

When we talk about the shield of faith, the Romans had these shields that were, oh, about anywhere from like three to four feet tall, and they were about two feet wide, and they were made of leather. And the leather was stretched over wood, typically. and then reinforced with metal at the top and the bottom. They were kind of weighty, especially after they soaked them in water. So you had that wood and you had the leather stretched on there and that was soaked in water. And then they were effective at doing what? Well, they put out flaming arrows, which is how the temple, by the way, was destroyed with fire in 587 and then 70 AD by the Romans.

so this shield of faith will quench the fiery darts of the enemy. Now, I know you can imagine yourself holding up a shield of faith, but how do you practically utilize this? How do you practically walk in this truth? Well, here's how. The shield of faith that blocks the fiery arrows that are coming at the head of your children, right to the head of your children,

and to the heart of your children, and you stand in front of them, and it is faith that is going to overcome. Now, faith, this idea of in Hebrew, Emuna, and in Greek, Pistis, these words, Emunah, and Pistis, faith is not simply a believing of something in the head. The enemy comes to your family with fiery darts, and the answer to that is not. Oh, you can't touch us with that because I believe something. Faith goes beyond believing, and it's faith with works, faith with action. And so the way that Pope Benedict defined this in such a beautiful way as he says that faith is really, and this is in the catechism, by the way, faith is really divided up into two things. one mental assent, an agreement that when we are attacked by the enemy and our families are

attacked, our minds are under attack, our hearts, the first thing that we do is we go to the word of God, just like Jesus did in the Matthew chapter 4 when he was in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights. What did he do? He said to the enemy, it is written. And then he followed that by entrusting himself to the Father. And those are the two movements of faith, a mental acknowledgement coupled with a personal adherence or trusting in God. That is how you stop the attacks of the enemy, is that you believe what God said and you walk in it.

You walk in this victory. You take authority over your home and your children and you bind the enemy's works around your home, around the school that they're at, on the bus, on the way to school. You take authority. You walk in faith. That is our responsibility as mature adults to walk in that faith. And then, you know what they do with these shields? Sometimes, the Romans, they would interlock those shields with one another and push back the enemy as a group. So that's another reminder to you and that is we're not alone in this. We can lock shields with our friends and with our children behind us. We can stand and stand therefore and we can

walk in faith. We don't have to just sit like a, you know, cowering like a turtle in the shell or stick our head in the sand and sing hallelujah. We can be a part of this fight, just like David did little David he runs to the front of the line he didn't just believe that he could take on Goliath his faith was yes I know I can do this and it was coupled with I'm gonna do it and he did he had faith Isaiah 54 17 no weapon fashioned against you shall prevail every tongue you shall prove false that launches an accusation against you This is the lot of the servants of the Lord. Their vindication from me, says the Lord.

And I love 1st John 5.4. All this is in the notes, my friend. Whoever is begotten by God conquers the world. And the victory that conquers the world is our faith. 1.9. As you attain the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Isn't that great? The next one is the helmet.

The helmet of salvation. going back and reading that, it says, take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, the helmet of salvation. That is a beautiful one. You probably have seen these helmets that the Roman soldiers would wear. It really is a ceremonial helmet signifying victory, which indicates that the battle, for us, has already been won. And I mentioned that last week. Remember that?

Getting upset about a football game that's already won. That's what a lot of people do. Well, in 1st Thessalonians 5.8, Paul says, But since we are of the day, let us be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and the helmet that is hope for salvation. That is a beautiful thing. And I think Isaiah 33-2 was in mind here when it says, Isaiah said, oh, Lord, have pity on us. For you, we wait. Be our strength every morning, our salvation in times of trouble.

So this helmet of salvation that we wear is very important because it gives us the mind of Christ and the hope of salvation that we were saved, we are being saved, and we hope to be saved all the way to the end. Our salvation is, and our knowing this, is a weapon in our arsenal. And it protects the head. It protects the mind. And when you're in a spiritual battle, my friend, man, you've got to be thinking clearly. And that's why when you wear the helmet of salvation, don't start wearing other helmets, you know.

Don't wear a helmet of pornography. Don't wear a helmet of a love for money or stardom or anything like that. Put on the helmet of salvation. Hope for salvation. Psalm 140, verse 7, I say to the Lord, you are my God. listen Lord to the words of my prayer i love that the next one is the sword of the spirit and that sword is the word of god it's the word of god just like jesus wielded a sword in the wilderness on the three times that he was tempted he said it is written went that sword psalm 149 6 with the praise of god in her mouths and a two-edged sword

in their hands. Isn't that great? With the praise of God in their mouths and the two-edged sword in their hand, you know in the Old Testament the battles were won by the choir because the choir quoted God's word. The choir gave praise to God in the midst of the battle. And you and I have been given the word of God and it is crucial that we start memorizing it and meditating upon it. and burying it in our heart because on the battlefield it will be necessary. The time to learn this is not in the middle of the battle, but before the battle begins and it has begun. And I would say it's not too late still.

You can get in on this. You can fight the battle that's going on. You're going to have to one way or another. Let's admit it. Okay. Hebrews 412, I love this one concerning the sword of the spirit. It says, indeed, the word of God is living and effective. sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints, and marrow,

and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart. Isn't that great? And it's the only offensive weapon here, really. So here's what I'm going to suggest. If you have gone through Bible in a year, you might want to do it again. Just get that word down inside of you. If you have never gone through the Great Adventure Bible study, the 24-week study, that I teach 24 hours from Genesis to Revelation using the great adventure chart, do it.

Get the word of God in your heart. Listen, you're in a war, and God has given you weapons, the sword of the spirit. When you're in war and he's given you a weapon, that is not the time to say to God, yeah, someday I should probably do that. When? At the end of the war? Let's do it now. I'm just cheering you on, my friend.

I'm cheering you on. because I know you might be on your way to work and they're not going to cheer you on, but I will. Sword of the spirit. Yes. Amen. And then finally prayer. The hotline to heaven.

Gift of praise. Prayer. We are to pray. And this is so valuable in warfare. Surround your children with prayer. A hedge of protection. Surround your home with prayer. Do what my friend Barry in Philadelphia does.

I commented on him a few weeks ago. put holy water on the doors and the windows of your home. Pray. Thank the archangels for watching for your guardian angel to watch over your home. Pray. Confess who God is. Confess who you are in relationship to God. And overcome by the blood of the lamb, the sacraments, the blood of the lamb and the word of your testimony. That's how we're going to overcome. That's what prayer is. Paul said to the Corinthians and 2 Corinthians 103 for although we are in the flesh we do not battle according to the flesh for the weapons of our battle are not of the flesh but are enormously powerful capable of destroying fortresses we destroy arguments and he also said to the Romans he said in the same way

the spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness for we do not know how to pray as we ought but the spirit itself intercedes with an expressible groanings. That's praying in the spirit. And the one who searches hearts knows what is the intention of the spirit because it intercedes for the holy ones according to God's will. So pray. Pray in the regular way you can. Be honest with God. Ask for the protection for your children. Ask that the place of your influence would be protected. And pray in the spirit. If you have pray in tongues, pray in the spirit. Allow the Holy Spirit to pray through you in this battle. You'd be surprised at the number of leaders in our country today that are Catholic, leaders, teachers, catechists, bishops, priests, deacons who pray in the spirit. I'm not going to

give you a list right now, but you know who they all are. And they pray in the spirit. and that's something that we need to do as well. I'm so blessed because I teach at the seminary in St. Paul, and there's so many people on the staff at the seminary who pray in the spirit, and when we get together, wow, it's like Pentecost. And that is how you respond in the battle. So my friend, I want you to know I love you, and over these last two shows, the Weapons of Warfare 1 and 2,

I hope it's given you some idea of what God has equipped you. with, to deal with the warfare that we are experiencing politically, socially, in your family, at your parish, financially, for your mental stability, for your children's addictions that may have taken hold. Fight. Fight the good fight of faith. And after you've done everything, stand therefore. Stand. Be strong. Put on the full armor of God and stand. all right let's pray in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit oh jesus we love you so much you have given us so much help us lord to stand in the midst of the battle not in our own strength not in our own wisdom but in your wisdom with your strength jesus thank you for protecting us from the wily one

thank you for protecting our children lord we lift them up right now and i join with my my friend here right now, we lift up our children, our grandchildren to you, and ask you to protect them and put a hedge of protection around them. May their minds not be affected by the spirit of this world. May they remain innocent as young children and protected. Oh God, I know that you can do this, and we agree upon it in your name. Amen. Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Remember, if you want the notes, just text my name, Jeff Kaven's, one word to 33777. That's 3377. God bless you.