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Most of us eat every day,
some of us too much, because yesterday's

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food is not enough to supply energy
for today's needs. Why then, do

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some of us expect yesterday's portion of
heavenly manna the word of God to keep

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us through today's challenges. On this
program, we are going to change all

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that. Let's experience God's words today
and receive the power we need to live

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healthy, vibrant lives. Welcome to
Your Daily Portion with your host, author

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speaker L. David Harris. Good
morning, Good morning, Good morning.

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It is Wednesday, September thirteen,
twenty twenty three. Hello, my name

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is L. David Harris. I
am your host, and this is your

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Daily Portion where we give you God's
word every single day, and today is

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no exception. We are continuing in
our lessons study series through the Book of

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Ephesians, and our caption for today
is standing on the Ancient Battlefield. Standing

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on the Ancient Battlefield. We'll get
into that in just a moment, but

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first I like to say welcome to
you and ask you, if you've not

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already done so, to go over
to your Daily Portion dot com. Click

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to join our online community, and
also click to pick up that your Daily

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Portion book, it'll be sent right
to you, and I will ask you

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to let me know where you are
in the world in the box there,

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because my little guy and I are
still looking and saying, okay, where

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are these people? And it's a
blessing and encouraging to us because we know

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that the Gospel is going forth from
wherever you are. And it's encouraging waiting

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for the coming of the Lord,
knowing that this word of God is being

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spread. Okay, so please just
do that for me at your Daily Portion

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dot com. Let's go ahead and
pray and then we will get underway.

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Father in Heaven, thank you for
giving us this new day and for the

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privilege that you have given us to
open up your word and for the opportunity

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for us to get to know you
better. But more than that, to

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stand to stand in the face of
any trial because you are with us.

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Please help us to stand in Jesus
name. I pray, Amen and Amen

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again. And so I mean no
disrespect to the history buffs when we do

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these lessons, studies that want to
hear all of the ins and outs of

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the history related to whatever we're talking
about. But we only have just a

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couple of minutes. So I try
to shoot straight to how we can apply,

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how we can apply what we are
learning. And so this is going

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to be no different. So much
to learn, so much to learn from

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the ancient battlefield. But what are
some of the takeaways? I said some,

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There are so many, so many. We're gonna go with Ephesians chapter

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six and verse eleven for our first
one. Ephesians chapter six and verse eleven,

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And the Bible reads, put on
the whole armor of God that she

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may be able to stand again and
the wiles of the devil. The first

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first takeaway is standing in spiritual warfare
is not passive. Can I say that

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again? It is not passive.
It is not that we're just here loitering.

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For those of you who come from
cities where loitering is illegal, then

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you know what I'm talking about.
Like, you're not just hanging around on

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the corner. You're not just like
posted up at a supermarket or some store,

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or a gas station or some wall
in the middle of an urban urban

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setting. No, standing is not
passive, not in warfare. It demands

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active engagement, active engagement, and
readiness to confront all challenges. So what

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does that look like? In your
day. Like if you're standing, you're

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standing spiritually, then you know that
you're on the lookout. You are preyed

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up. You know that the enemy
is coming. You may not understand what

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he's about to do, because after
all, we're only human. But you

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are ready to fight. Fight the
fight of faith, fight the good fight

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of faith. You are standing.
How about unity in the battle? In

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Philippians chapter one, in verse twenty
seven, the Bible reads that ye stand

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fast in one spirit, with one
mind, striving together for the faith of

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the Gospel. And so if we
are to continue to win in this battle,

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not only do we need to be
spiritually fortified for ourselves, but the

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people of God need to be unified. The act of standing isn't individual,

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not merely, it involves a united
front, emphasizing the importance of believers working

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together and supporting one another in faith. Woe unto the individual who is standing

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alone in this Christian journey, the
third one engaging in spiritual warfare. We

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have to understand that this battle is
spiritual. How do we know Ephesians chapter

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six in verse twelve. Or we
wrestle not against flesh and blood, but

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against principalities, against powers against the
rulers of the darkness of this world,

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against spiritual wickedness in high places.
So our takeaway is our true battle is

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spiritual. Now we need to recognize
this because when we see people who are

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saying and doing things that are getting
under our skin, and worse than that,

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that seemed to be attempting to push
off push us off of our spiritual

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gain plan, God is saying,
see it for what it really is.

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See it for it where it really
is. If there is someone of the

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opposite sex tempting you to do something
that you shouldn't do sexually, see it

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for what it is. It's a
battle against the enemy. If the mourning

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comes and you are more likely to
read the paper or to engage in discussion

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with someone rather than to pray and
to seek God's faith, than see it

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for what it is, it is
a battle against spiritual beings. Right.

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If you are in a car accident, God forbid, and now you are

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in pain, Yes, it is
something that happened in our material world.

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Right, we don't want to over
spiritualize it. But do you realize that

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the enemy really just simply wants to
destroy you because he hates you and your

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God, so see it for what
it really is. When people gossip about

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you, when at work people are
backstabbing you. Someone seems to be conspiring

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against you so that they can hopefully, in their minds, get your job.

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See it for what it is,
and so you don't throw at spiritual

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challenges, physical or human weaponry.
You see the difference there. Let me

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just continue Number four. Resolute endurance
in faith is key right. Verse four

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of Hebrews chapter twelve reads, ye
have not resisted. Of course, Paul

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was speaking to someone in particular,
but he was saying to them, ye

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have not yet resisted unto blood striving
against sin. We need to make a

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decision, brothers and sisters, as
we wake up. We have to know

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that we are in the battle.
We have to know that this is a

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battle that will determine eternity for us. And of course, if we recognize

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that we have influence over others,
then perhaps for others. The eternal import

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of this is serious. And therefore, when we make the resolution that we

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will endure in faith when the temptations
come, we say, but God,

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we made a commitment to you,
Will you please help us When we recognize

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that we've we've come into a part
of the battle that we cannot win on

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our own. Our commitment to faith
will push us over the edge, because

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faith is the victory that overcame the
world. We lay hold upon the power

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of God with the faith that He
has entrusted to us and the decisions that

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we have made like yielding our will, and we as believers are called to

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endure even when facing our toughest trials, drawing the strength from God. But

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it comes from making a decision,
and the lesson writer says here Paul's call

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to arms reflects combat in which soldiers
were bunched together, giving and receiving hundreds

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of blows at close range. According
to Victor Davis Hansen in the book Western

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Way of War, page one fifty
two, this is confirmed by Paul's depiction

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of a church's battle against its foes
in a wrestling match and in his use

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of an intensive form of the verb
to stand. So this means that if

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we are back to back, standing
against the foe collectively, even then the

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Bible is true. When Jesus said
that the kingdom suffer with violence, and

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the violence take it by force,
he said, upon this rock, I

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shall shall build my church and the
gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.

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It is a united front where God's
people not in our own strength,

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God's people, not in our own
might, but through the power of the

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Holy Spirit. We are marching against
the kingdom of the enemy, and his

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gates, his ramparts shall not stand
because God's people have the captain of our

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souls. Jesus Christ of a wonderful
day. Thanks for joining us listening.

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Friends, Always remember we cannot live
by bread alone, but by every word

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that comes from the mouth of God. This has been your daily portion with

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l David Harris, make it a
great day.