There is a real spiritual battle going on in the world. We must be ready to face it. In Acts 20, Paul talks about who needs to get ready and how to get ready.

Who Should Get Ready

Paul mentions paying careful attention to ourselves (v. 28). If you’re not in a healthy place spiritually, you can’t minister to others. So, spend time with the Lord in prayer and repentance, preparing yourself for godliness!

How To Get Ready

Paul then talks about how to get ready. First, he commends his readers to God (v. 32). He wants the believers to lean into God, know Him, trust Him with all their hearts, and become more like Him. This is how we stand against the ways of the devil.

Paul also commends them to God’s Word, the Bible. We are embarking on a challenge to live in a world that is antithetical to what the Word says. We must be rooted in the Gospel.

Notice that Paul calls the Bible “the word of His grace.” Take a moment to think about grace. This is the unmerited favor of God being poured out on us! It’s God giving us a very good thing that we don’t deserve! God knows everything about us, including our deep sinfulness. What we deserve is hell. And yet He loves us so much that He made a way for us to be rescued from hell and even calls us His children!

Focus On Jesus

To focus on Jesus means to take our eyes off ourselves and focus on this Gospel of grace. He’s not just an addition to a very crowded life; He should change everything. We naturally want to focus on ourselves. This is why Jesus said we must deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him. We need to give up all our own desires and choose His way no matter the cost.

This can be an incredibly difficult thing to do. We may be tempted to think that living the Christian life is not worth it. Hebrews 12 says that we need to run the long race with endurance as we look to Jesus. This passage mentions Jesus’s reward: the joy that was set before Him. We, too, have a great reward waiting for us someday!

Yield To Jesus

As we try to run this race, we’ll mess up and fail. The solution is not to try harder. God asks us to yield to Him instead. Ask Him to take your life and let it be consecrated and holy. He will help you and give you victory!

The solution is also not to focus only on what we shouldn’t be doing. Rather than simply trying to stop, we need to try to replace. Replace your fleshly passions with a different affection: a love for God. Are you ready to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind? It’s not about what you can do; it’s about what He has done on your behalf.