“Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil…. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one” (Ephesians 6:11,16, ESV).

Paul is giving this teaching about the battle that we’re in and what we need to be victorious in it, what we need to pick up or put on. Notice, you can’t just acknowledge that there’s armor. Scripture doesn’t say “study the armor of God.” It says, “Put on the armor of God!”

This is one of the problems for many Christians today. We’re into a type of mental positivism and false triumphalism where it’s hard for us to talk about what really goes on in life. We’re all involved in warfare. Paul was involved in this struggle, and he’s one of the greatest Christians we’ve ever heard of. So if one of the greatest Christians talks about our struggle against the demonic forces that are arrayed under Satan, we should pay attention.

Our minds are where the warfare is, temptations to sin, to quit, whispers of despair, taking our eyes off of Christ.

If you hear anyone talking spiritual smack — “I’ve got to a place where I’m not even tempted by the enemy. I just have victory every place where I put my foot down.” — don’t ever believe them. We’re all in a battle. We’re all tempted. We all fight off discouragement. We all have to ask God for grace every single day. We need mercy because we all mess up.

Don’t tell me that’s not real because the battlefield is littered with people who were once preaching the gospel! Forget simply being a Christian. These were preachers and church leaders, and now they’re in rehab somewhere or have created great scandals and a mess in their church and city.

Some people lose out in this battle. They don’t put on the full armor. Somewhere the enemy got entrance. The arrow sticks. We must not lose sight of the battle we’re in right now, each day. We must encourage each other with these passages and help one another fight effectively as war rages on around us.

I am writing to you today about God opening shut doors. Someone reading this message will relate immediately to this, because you face one or more closed doors. There it is, right in your face, a door that seems to be continually locked. It could be a serious financial situation, and you’ve prayed for the door of some opportunity to open. Yet everything you try seems to fail; the doors simply don’t open.

I don’t know what your closed door may be, but for many it seems both the windows and doors of heaven are locked shut. The heavens seem as brass, and you can’t seem to get through. I’m speaking about some issue, some situation, some need you’ve been praying much about. It may be a crisis that requires nothing less than a miracle, and you haven’t yet received an answer to your fervent prayers and petitions to the Lord.

Christ refers to himself as “He who opens and no one shuts” (Revelation 3:7, NKJV). This was in a letter sent to the believers in ancient Philadelphia, a church the Lord complimented for having kept the word of his patience and never denying his name. Simply put, in their most trying times, these people stood faithfully on God’s Word. They did not accuse the Lord of neglecting them or turning a deaf ear to their cries.

Here is what the Lord promised them, and it is our promise as well: “Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth” (Revelation 3:10).

This hour of temptation is even now upon us. It holds incredible tests of faith so great and so fiery that many will fall into deadly unbelief. Indeed, a great falling away from enduring faith is now upon the whole world.

But because you still trust his promises and are willing to die in faith even if you do not see the promises fulfilled, you will be kept from this worldwide temptation to fall into unbelief. God has heard your cry, and he knows the timing, the very hour, to open all doors. So, never give up. Never doubt. Stand on his promises. He will not fail you.

Some Christians don’t want to be connected to other members of the body of Christ. They commune with Jesus, but they deliberately isolate themselves from other believers. They want nothing to do with the body, other than the head.

A body can’t be comprised of just a single member, though. Can you picture a head with only an arm growing out of it? Christ’s body can’t be made up of a head alone, with no limbs or organs. His body consists of many members. We are knit together not only by our need for Jesus but also by our need for each other.

Paul stated, “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’; nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you’” (1 Corinthians 12:21, NKJV). Note the second half of this verse. Paul was telling believers, “Christ will never say to any member of his body, ‘I have no need of you.’” Our head willingly connects himself to each of us. Moreover, he says we’re all important, even necessary, to the functioning of his body.

This is especially true of members who may be bruised and hurting. Paul emphasized, “Much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary” (12:22). The apostle then added, “And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty” (12:23). He was speaking of those in Christ’s body who are unseen and unknown. In God’s eyes, these members have great honor, and they’re absolutely necessary to the work of his body.

This passage holds profound meaning for us all. Paul was telling members of the church, “It doesn’t matter how poor your self-image may be. You may think that you’re not measuring up as a Christian. But the Lord himself says, ‘I have need of you. You’re not just an important member of his body. You’re vital and necessary for it to function.’”

In the gospels, Jesus told his disciples, “…on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity…men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken” (Luke 21:25-26, NKJV). Christ’s warning to them and us is “Without hope in me, multitudes of people are literally going to die of fright!”

For those who trust in God’s promises to preserve his children, however, there is glorious freedom from all fear. In fact, all who come under the lordship of Christ never need to fear again if they’ll just lay hold of the following secret: True freedom from fear consists of totally resigning one’s life into the hands of the Lord.

Resigning ourselves into God’s care is an act of faith. It means putting ourselves completely under his power, wisdom and mercy. It means being led and preserved according to his will alone. If we do this, the God of the universe promises to be totally responsible for us, to feed, clothe and shelter us, and to guard our hearts from all evil.

Jesus provided the ultimate example of this kind of holy resignation when he went to the cross. Just before he gave up his spirit, he cried aloud, “…Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit…” (Luke 23:46).

Christ literally placed the keeping of both his life and his eternal future in the custody of the Father. In doing so, he placed the souls of every one of his sheep into the Father’s hands too.

You may wonder, “But didn’t Jesus say he had the power both to lay down his life and to take it up again?” (See John 10:18.) Since he had the power to “take up his life again,” why did he resign it into God’s hand to be preserved? The answer is obvious. Jesus did it to set an example for all of his sheep to follow!

If we are being asked to trust our lives to someone, then we have to know that this someone has the power to keep us from all danger, threats and violence. We must have the confidence of the apostle Paul as he writes, “…I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day” (2 Timothy 1:12).

Our peace and contentment always depend upon our resignation into God’s hands, no matter what our circumstance. The psalmist writes, “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).

If you’ve fully resigned yourself into God’s hands, then you’re able to endure any and all hardships. Your Father’s desire is for you to be able to go about your daily business without fear or anxiety, totally trusting in his care. And your resignation to him has a very practical effect in your life. The more resigned you are to God’s care and keeping, the more indifferent you’ll be to the conditions around you.

If you are resigned to him, you won’t constantly be trying to figure out the next step. You won’t be scared by the frightful news swirling around you. You won’t be overwhelmed as you think about the days ahead because you’ve entrusted your life, family and future into your Lord’s safe and loving hands.

How worried or concerned do you think sheep are as they follow their shepherd? They are not worried at all, because they’re totally resigned to his leading them. Likewise, we are the sheep of Christ, who is our great Shepherd. So, why should we ever be concerned, disquieted or worried about our lives and futures? He knows perfectly how to protect and preserve his flock because he leads us in love!

In my own life, I’ve had to learn to trust God one problem at a time. Think about it: How can I say I trust God with everything, if I haven’t proven I can trust him with just one thing? Merely saying the words, “I trust the Lord completely,” isn’t sufficient. I have to prove this over and over again in my life, in many areas and in everyday things.

Many people living today have said, “I resign, I commit, I trust,” only after they say there was no other way out of their situation. But true resignation, the kind that pleases God, is done freely and willingly, prior to our coming to wit’s end. We are to act in agreement with the Lord, as Abraham did, giving God his life as a blank check, and letting the Lord fill it all in.

You can’t weep your way into this heavenly place. You can’t study or work or will your way in. No, the only way to the throne-life is by way of a living sacrifice: “present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1).

Paul is speaking from experience. Here is a man who was rejected, tempted, persecuted, beaten, jailed, shipwrecked, stoned. Paul also had all the cares of the church laid on him. Now he’s saying to us, “Do you want to know how I came to be content in whatever condition I was placed, how I came to find true rest in Christ? Here is the path, the secret to appropriating your heavenly position: Present your body as a living sacrifice to the Lord.”

The Greek root for “living” here suggests “lifelong.” Paul is talking about a binding commitment, a sacrifice that’s made once in a lifetime. Yet, don’t misunderstand; this isn’t a sacrifice that has to do with propitiation for sin. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross is the only worthy propitiation: “Now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” (Hebrews 9:26).

The sacrifice Paul describes is one that God takes great pleasure in, precisely because it involves the heart. What is this sacrifice? It is one of death to our will, of laying aside our self-sufficiency and abandoning our ambitions.

When Paul exhorts, “Present your body,” he’s saying, “Draw near to the Lord.” Yet, what does this mean, exactly? It means drawing near to God for the purpose of offering our entire selves to him. It means coming to him not in our own sufficiency, but as a resurrected child, as holy in Jesus’ righteousness, as being accepted by the Father through our position in Christ. The moment you resign your will to him, the sacrifice has been made. It happens when you give up the struggle of trying to please God on your own. This act of faith is the “reasonable service” Paul refers to. It’s all about trusting him with our will, believing he’ll provide all the blessings we need.