This session covers the final pages of the "hidden battle" Christians have with Satan. James 4:7 says "Resist the devil and he will flee." Spiritual warfare is standing the ground, confessing when we fail, and being restored to our post (i.e. vocation in life) by receiving the Word and the Sacraments for forgiveness. This is the Christian life. Spiritual warfare is a battle of wills. We entrust ourselves to Christ's will. We are a Saint in His eyes. We get knocked down and we stand up again. We do this over and over again. Christ gives us the strength that we don't have in ourselves. Resisting the devil is a constant action. We are on guard duty, not in attack mode. We stay on guard duty to resist the devil so that others may be brought to salvation, working in and through us. We are resisting the Evil One in our vocations. When we are distant from a loved one, prayer is the tool we have. The older we get, the more we are called to pray. This section concludes with an excellent listing of six ways to resist Satan.

The Sacrament of the Altar is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, under the bread and wine, for us Christians to eat and to drink, instituted by Christ Himself. It is the Word that makes and sets this Sacrament apart. So it is not mere bread and wine, but is, and is called, Christ's body and blood. This session discusses this doctrine further in the context of differing opinions in the period after Luther died.

Christians are to put on the full armor of God and stand place, guarding and enduring without attacking, except only when there is no other choice. Do not leave your post (i.e. your vocation as worker, student, mother, etc.). Our post is where God places us. Fight only in a defensive mode guarding the holy ground and being faithful using the armor given us. Fight with right armor at the right time in the right way. Our struggle is against Satan and his cronies. Our struggle is not against flesh and blood. We must guard against hating individuals. If we remain faithful, Satan will attack us. Our response is to rebuke Satan and endure and suffer with Christ by attending Divine Service (receiving Word and Sacraments), having daily devotions, and praying for others.

In His Holy Supper, Jesus gives His body and blood under the bread and wine, as He speaks "the Words of Institution" Sufficient discord on this doctrine prompted early Reformers to meet at Marburg in 1529 to hammer out their differences. The Swiss reformer, Ulrich Zwingli, argued that since flesh and spirit are incompatible, the presence of Christ in the Sacrament of Holy Communion can only be spiritual. Martin Luther declared that Christ's body and blood are truly present in the Sacrament. After Luther's death in 1546, two separate views of the Lord's Supper surfaced within the German Lutheran church. The Sacramentarians believed that Christ is not physically present, but is received by the Christian in the Holy Supper only by faith. These Lutherans were called Crypto-Calvinists (crypto means hidden or secret). John Calvin was a Reformer who had taken up the views of Zwingli. Orthodox Lutherans, like Luther, taught and believed in the real presence of Christ's body and blood in the Sacrament and declared there was a "sacramental union" between Christ and the Christian believer in the Lord's Supper. The Sacramentarians denied this sacramental union doctrine. This Formula of Concord Article, #7, describes key aspects of this controversy.

Prayer and the Word of God are the tools Christians have available for use in spiritual warfare. Satan will attack all articles of the faith. In the Baptismal rite "we renounce Satan and all his works and his ways," and by doing so, we stand against Satan every day. Because our enemy is greater than us, we need to depend on a greater force than he. Christ is our advocate and prays that we be kept safe from the evil one. In Matthew 26:41, Jesus warns each of us to "Watch and pray that you might not enter into temptation." Our praying together with Christ is a force that will always defeat Satan.

God has created us to do good works. These good works come about through the work of the Holy Spirit who, through the Word, gives faith and the desire to abide in Christ. The Holy Spirit's work is ongoing because believers are not completely renewed in this world. The old Adam clings to a Christian, and the struggle between the flesh and the spirit remains until death. But thanks be to God, "there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus"- Romans 8:1. So, what is the origin of our good works? It is God's work in us. The Christian life is not about improving behavior, nor is it a system of morality, but it is God alone, working in us, to do His good works.

Guilt and anger are the two chief weapons of Satan. Guilt is often sustained without knowing the exact sin involved. This is Satan's tact. This is in contrast to listing your sins and confessing them and receiving absolution from God. Satan does not want you to enumerate your sins and "hand them over" to God through confession. Without confessing our individual sins, we are locked in, mired in a collection of anger and bitterness. Satan encourages us to project our hated offender onto the whole world by demonizing them. Satan wants our sins and hurts hidden within us, then he digs them up and throws them at us. Confession is key in the exchange between Satan, Christ, and the Christian. Christ "clears the air" of your sin by providing the means of forgiveness; the Ten Commandments and confession. The Cross covers our sins and additionally the Cross covers the healing needed for the sins committed against us. We are to go to the same place, the Cross of Jesus, with sins committed against us. There we get the strength to forgive others. Christ is at the center of our spiritual warfare and we must only rely on Christ alone in this battle, not ourselves.