Opening
In 1 Timothy 6:12, the Bible talks about fighting the good fight of faith, and in 1 John 3:8, we are told that one of the reasons for the Son of God appearing was to destroy the devil’s work. These images of conflict are given to us for a good reason: to encourage us to continue to fight the daily Spiritual war that rages in us, our world and others. Let’s take a look at the beginning of the war between Loki and the Avengers.
Watch DVD scene 2 (“Tesseract Lost”)—Start time-8:03—End Time-11:41 (3:38)
Discussion Questions:
1. At the end of this scene, Director Fury says, “As of now, we are at war.” After watching this clip, how can you tell a war is being fought? (Answers will vary.) Do you think Director Fury and his team are prepared to fight the war ahead of them? (Answers will vary.) Why or why not? (Answers will vary.) Do you think Loki and his men are ready for the battle that awaits them? (Answers will vary.) Why or why not? (Answers will vary.)
2. Read Genesis 3:9-19. After reading these verses from Genesis, would you say you are in a spiritual war? (Yes.) When were the first shots fired in this spiritual war? (When Adam and Eve first sinned.) How can you tell a spiritual war is being fought in your life today? (Temptation surrounds us, and at times we give in to that temptation and sin. Both temptation and sin bring us into the Spiritual war we are fighting.) Are you prepared to stand and fight the war ahead of you? (Answers will vary.) How is the spiritual war you fight daily like and unlike the war portrayed in this scene? (Answers will vary but may include the use of different weapons. Don’t get into those weapons just yet. We are going to talk more about them later. The spiritual war is fought by God, not man.)
3. Read 1 Peter 5:8-9; 1 John 2:15-17; and 1 Peter 2:11. According to these verses, who are the enemies you are battling in your spiritual war? (The devil, the world and our sinful nature.) What else do we find out in these verses about our enemies and the war we are fighting? (1 Peter 5: The devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. We should show self-control, stand firm in our faith, and be alert in our battle with the devil; 1 John: The world and its desires pass away, and we shouldn’t love things in this world more than we love our heavenly Father; 1 Pet. 2: Our sinful desires war against our souls, and we should work to resist those desires.)
4. How important is a good commanding officer to a soldier as he or she fights a war? (Very important.) Read Psalm 27:1-3. Does God expect you to fight your spiritual battles on your own? (No.) Who should be your commanding officer in your battles against evil and your enemies? (The Lord should be the stronghold of your life.)
5. How important are good, quality weapons to a soldier during wartime? (Very important.) Read Ephesians 6:10-18. Does God expect you to fight your spiritual battles without weapons? (No.) What weapons are we given by God that will help us as we fight our spirtitual battles with Satan, the evil of this world and our sinful nature? (Ephesians talks about the full armor of God: “the belt of truth,” “the breastplate of righteousness,” “the shield of faith,” “the helmet of salvation,” “the sword of the Spirit,” which is the Word of God; Ephesians also mentions prayer!) What do you notice about each of these weapons and pieces of armor mentioned in Ephesians? (All but one, the sword of the Spirit, are defense weapons. The one offensive weapon, the sword of the Spirit, reminds us that our spiritual war is fought in God’s strength, not ours. His Word and prayer must be a part of the battle plan.) How do we know we are to stand and fight our spiritual battles instead of running from them? (All the armor mentioned here covers the front of the body. There is no armor to cover the back! This fact reminds us that we are to meet this spiritual war head-on.)
6. Does having well-trained soldiers help an army win a war? (Yes.) Read 1 Timothy 1:18-19. Does God expect you to fight your spiritual battles without training? (No.) Explain. (We are encouraged to follow our Godly instruction so that we may fight the good fight.)
7. Read 1 Corinthians 15:55-57. Who will ultimately win the spiritual war between Satan and God? (God.) How will your Spiritual war end for you physically? (In death.) How will your spiritual war end for you spiritually? (In victory that will be found in heaven.)
8. Are you ready to trust in God as your commanding officer and use the weapons he gives you to fight Satan, the evil of this world and your sinful nature? (Answers will vary.) What will you start doing today, that you haven’t been doing, to help you train for the spiritual war that you fight daily? (Answers will vary.
Closing Thought:
Satan, the world and our sinful nature tempt us to do many things that go against God’s will for our lives. Cheating, lying, spreading rumors and being disrepectful to others are just a few of the temptations we battle daily. Jesus Christ, our Commanding Officer, always will be with us and give us the weapons needed to fight and win these battles and others. May you find encouragement and comfort in the words from 1 Samuel 17:41 that tell you that “the battle is the Lord’s” and it will be won by Him.
Closing Prayer
“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7).
“But the Lord God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’ He answered, ‘I heard You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.’ And He said, ‘Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?’ The man said, ‘The woman You put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.’ Then the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ The woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’ So the Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly, and you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will crush your head, and you will strike His heel.’ To the woman He said, ‘I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.’ To Adam he said, ‘Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, “You must not eat of it,” cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return'” (Gen. 3:9-19).
“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings” (1 Pet. 5:8-9).
“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever” (1 John 2:15-17).
“Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul” (1 Pet. 2:11).
“The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid? When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, when my enemies and my foes attack me, they will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then will I be confident” (Ps. 27:1-3).
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For 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. Therefore 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. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And 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 saints” (Eph. 6:10-18).
“Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith” (1 Tim. 1:18-19).
“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:55-57).
