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Kill Your Man
This is Pastor Linda's teaching on knowing your identity in Christ before facing your enemy.
Study Guide
KILL YOUR MAN A 2-Session Small Group Study Guide
SERIES OVERVIEW
Central Theme and What Participants Will Gain
This series takes its name from the idea that every believer has a spiritual battle assigned to them - a fight that is uniquely theirs to win. Drawing on the Armor of God, the stories of mighty warriors in Scripture, and the deep mystery of what Christ has done through His church, these two sessions call each person to stop waiting on someone else to fight their battles and to step into the courage, discipline, and identity God has already provided. Participants will leave with a clearer sense of their personal responsibility in spiritual warfare, a deeper confidence in the Word of God as their weapon, and a renewed understanding of what the church is meant to be in the earth.
Who This Series Is For
This series is for anyone who has felt stuck, discouraged, or overwhelmed by the battles of life. It is for believers who sense there is more ground to take but are not sure how to move forward. It is also for anyone who wants to understand what it really means to be the church - not just attend one - and to live with boldness, purpose, and perseverance.
SESSION 1: KILL YOUR MAN, PART 1
Opening Reflection Question
Think of a battle you have been facing - something that has felt too big, too persistent, or too personal. Before we dive in, just sit with this question for a moment: Have you been fighting it, avoiding it, or waiting for someone else to handle it?
Key Scriptures
- Ephesians 6:10-17
- 1 Kings 20:20, 27, 29, 32, 34, 42
- 2 Samuel 23:20-23
- Luke 15:8-9
- 1 Corinthians 12:26
- 2 Timothy 4:7-8
Discussion Questions
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Ephesians 6:12 reminds us that our battle is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces. How does keeping that truth in mind change the way you approach conflict, difficulty, or opposition in your daily life?
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Pastor Linda used the phrase "kill your man" to describe the idea that every believer has a specific spiritual battle assigned to them. Does that idea sit well with you, or does it make you uncomfortable? What does it stir up?
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In 1 Kings 20, the army of Israel was vastly outnumbered, described as looking like two little flocks of goats against a vast force. Yet God showed up on their behalf. Can you think of a time when you were clearly outnumbered or outmatched, but God came through? What did that teach you?
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Benhadad ultimately made a deal he should not have made, and it cost Israel dearly. In what ways do we sometimes make compromises with the enemy in our own lives - settling for a truce instead of a full victory?
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The woman in Luke 15 searched diligently for one lost coin and celebrated loudly when she found it. What does this story say about how God views the things we lose to the enemy - and about His willingness to help us recover them?
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Benaiah, one of David's mighty men in 2 Samuel 23, chased a lion into a pit on a snowy day and killed it. That is an almost ridiculous-sounding act of courage. What is the snowy-day pit in your life right now - the place where the conditions feel worst and the risk feels highest? What would it look like to go in anyway?
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Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:7-8 that he has fought the good fight, finished the race, and kept the faith. What do you think it takes to be able to say those words at the end of your life? What habits or choices build that kind of perseverance?
Personal Application Challenge
This week, identify one specific spiritual battle you have been avoiding or half-fighting. Write it down. Then write down one concrete step you will take - one piece of armor you will deliberately put on, one scripture you will declare, one prayer you will commit to - to engage that battle with more intention. Share it with one person in the group so they can check in with you.
Closing Prayer Prompt
Close by asking God to reveal to each person in the room the specific fight He has called them to. Pray for courage to engage rather than retreat, and for faith to believe that the battle belongs to the Lord even when the odds look impossible.
SESSION 2: KILL YOUR MAN, PART 2
Opening Reflection Question
Last session we talked about the personal nature of spiritual warfare. This time we go wider. Have you ever thought of your local church as something the spiritual realm is actually paying attention to? What does that idea do to how you see your church and your place in it?
Key Scriptures
- Ephesians 3:1-12, 20-21
- Colossians 1:24-29
- Matthew 13:16-17
- 1 Peter 1:10-12
- Acts 13:46-47
- Galatians 2:7-8
- Hebrews 10:38
- Luke 21:24
Discussion Questions
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Ephesians 3:10 says that through the church, God's wisdom is made known to rulers and authorities in heavenly places. That means your church - this small group, this community - is a message being broadcast into the spiritual realm. How does that change the way you think about showing up, staying connected, and being faithful?
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Paul in Colossians 1:24-29 talks about suffering for the sake of the church and completing what is still lacking in the afflictions of Christ. That is a striking and difficult idea. What do you think it means to share in Christ's suffering for the sake of His body? Have you ever experienced something like that?
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Matthew 13:16-17 records Jesus telling His disciples that prophets and righteous people longed to see what they were seeing but did not. We live on the other side of the cross, filled with the Spirit, with access to the Father. Do you actually live like someone who has been given something extraordinary? Why or why not?
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Acts 13:46-47 shows Paul and Barnabas boldly turning to the Gentiles after being rejected by the Jewish synagogue. They did not shrink back - they recalibrated and kept moving. When you face rejection or resistance in ministry or in life, what is your instinct? How do you want that to change?
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Ephesians 3:12 says we have boldness and confident access to God through faith in Christ. Boldness is not arrogance - it is access. How freely do you actually use that access in prayer? What gets in the way?
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Hebrews 10:38 warns that God takes no pleasure in those who shrink back. The call of this series is to stop shrinking. Where in your spiritual life have you been shrinking - pulling back from a call, a commitment, a conversation, or a fight - that God may be asking you to re-engage?
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Pastor Linda drew from the mystery of Christ being revealed through the church to the Gentiles as a picture of what God is still doing today - expanding His kingdom through ordinary, willing people. How does knowing that you are part of an ongoing, cosmic story change the way you think about your ordinary week?
Personal Application Challenge
This week, look at your church community with fresh eyes. Find one way to contribute more fully - not out of obligation but out of the understanding that the church is the vehicle through which God displays His wisdom to the universe. It could be serving, encouraging someone, giving, praying specifically for your church's mission, or simply showing up more consistently. Write down what you will do and when.
Closing Prayer Prompt
Close by praying for the church as a whole - locally and globally. Ask God to help each person in the room see their place in the body not as a spectator but as an essential, irreplaceable part. Pray for boldness, access, and perseverance to complete the race.
SERIES WRAP-UP QUESTIONS
These questions are designed to bring both sessions together and help the group reflect on the full arc of what they have studied.
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Over these two sessions, the series has called each person to take personal responsibility for their spiritual battle and to understand their role within the larger body of Christ. What is the most significant thing that has shifted in your thinking?
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Session 1 focused on the individual warrior and Session 2 focused on the church as a corporate witness. How do those two things connect? Can you fight your personal battle well if you are disconnected from the body - and can the church be strong if individuals are not fighting their own battles?
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Several warriors appeared across these sessions - Benaiah chasing a lion, Paul turning boldly to the Gentiles, the woman searching for her coin. Which of these figures resonated most with you, and why?
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If you had to name the one thing that most often keeps you from engaging fully in spiritual warfare - whether fear, distraction, unbelief, or something else - what would it be? What would it take to address that this year?
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Paul closes 2 Timothy 4 by saying he has kept the faith. Ephesians 3 closes with a doxology - glory to God through the church forever. What do you want your spiritual legacy to look like? What steps does this series invite you to take toward that legacy, starting now?
CLOSING PRAYER
Father, we thank You for calling us not to the sidelines but into the fight. We thank You that You have given us everything we need - the armor, the Word, the Spirit, and each other. We confess that we have sometimes shrunk back, made deals we should not have made, or waited for someone else to fight battles You assigned to us. Forgive us, and strengthen us to re-engage.
We thank You for the mystery of Christ - that You would choose ordinary people, ordinary churches, ordinary small groups like this one, to display Your wisdom before all of heaven and earth. That is almost too much to hold. Help us to hold it anyway, and to live like it is true.
For every person in this room who is facing something hard, something scary, something that feels too big - remind them of Benaiah in the pit, of Paul turning boldly to new ground, of the woman who searched until she found what was lost. Remind them that You are with them and that the battle is already won.
Help us to finish well. Help us to keep the faith. And may Your glory be seen through Your church, in this generation and in every generation to come.
In the name of Jesus, Amen.
Devotional Rollup
You Are Already in the Army
Ephesians 6:10 — "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might."
When I gave my life to Jesus, I may not have realized what I was signing up for. Nobody handed me a recruitment brochure. But the moment I said yes to him, I joined his army. And here is the thing I want you to sit with today — the strength required for this fight is not mine to manufacture. It is his. The verse does not say be strong in yourself or in your own willpower. It says be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. That changes everything. I am not out here fighting alone, scraping together whatever courage I can find. I am drawing on a reservoir that never runs dry. Whatever is pressing against you today, whatever opponent has been whispering that you are too weak to face it, remind yourself whose army you belong to and whose strength you are standing in.
Lord, thank you that the strength I need is already yours. I choose today to stop relying on what I can drum up on my own and to stand in the power of your might. Help me remember I am not fighting alone.
The Enemy in Front of You
1 Kings 20:20 — "And each one killed his man; so the Syrians fled and Israel pursued them."
On Wednesday I told the story of 232 young leaders who went into battle and did something remarkably simple — every single one of them killed their man. Not someone else's man. Not the biggest enemy on the field. Just the one standing directly in front of them. And because each one did their part, the entire Syrian army panicked and fled. I think about how often I have spent my energy worrying about opponents that are three battles from now, when God is simply asking me to deal with the one that is right in front of me today. Fear, discouragement, offense, doubt — one of those may be standing in your way right now. You do not have to solve everything. You do not have to win every battle today. But you are called to face the one that is closest to you and not back down. That one is yours to take out.
Father, show me clearly who my opponent is today. I do not want to be distracted by what is far off when there is something right in front of me that needs to be dealt with. Give me the courage to face it and not flinch.
Straight Before You
Joshua 6:20 — "Every man went straight before him and they took the city."
The walls of Jericho came down flat. You would think that would be the end of the hard part. But the instruction that followed was just as critical — every man went straight before him. Do not drift right. Do not drift left. Keep your eyes forward and take the territory that is directly in your path. I find that the moment a breakthrough happens, it is tempting to scatter, to get distracted, to celebrate before the work is finished. But God was asking Israel to stay focused, to stay in rank, and to keep moving forward. That same instruction applies to you today. The enemy loves to use distraction almost as much as he loves to use fear. If he cannot stop you with a frontal attack, he will try to get you looking sideways. Stay in your lane. Stay in your rank. Keep moving straight ahead toward what God has placed before you.
Lord, help me stay focused today. When distractions come at me from either side, remind me to fix my eyes forward on what you have called me to. I want to take the territory you have prepared for me, not wander past it.
A Lion in a Pit on a Snowy Day
2 Samuel 23:20 — "Benaiah was the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man from Kabzeel, who had done many deeds. He had killed two lion-like heroes of Moab. He also had gone down and killed a lion in the midst of a pit on a snowy day."
I love Benaiah. Here is a man who did not just face difficult opponents — he went into a pit, in the snow, with a real lion, by himself, and came out victorious. When I read that, I think of the battles that no one else sees. The ones you face in the middle of the night when it is cold and dark and the enemy's voice is the loudest thing in the room. Nobody comes to rescue Benaiah in that pit. It is just him, the lion, and the God who equipped him. You may be in a pit right now. It may feel cold and isolating and like this particular enemy has cornered you where no one can see. But you are not without a weapon. The word of God goes with you into every pit, every snowy day, every impossible moment. You are more equipped than you feel.
Lord, I know you see every pit I am in, even the ones I have not told anyone about. I bring my sword — your word — into this place with me today, and I trust that you have already equipped me to come out victorious. Help me believe that.
Rejoice With Me
Luke 15:9 — "And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost."
When she found that coin, she did not quietly slip it back into her pocket and move on. She called everyone together and said, rejoice with me. And when the prodigal son came home, there was a party. Victories in the kingdom of God are not meant to be private. When I win a battle, I want to tell somebody. And when you win a battle, I want to hear about it. Because your victory is not just yours — it belongs to the whole body. When one of us finds what was lost, all of us are lifted. When one of us takes out an opponent that has been pressing against us for months, the rest of us are strengthened by it. Your testimony is a weapon in the hands of someone else who is still in the fight. Do not hold it back. And when a brother or sister gets a breakthrough this week, let yourself truly rejoice with them. Their rising tide lifts your boat too.
Father, thank you for every victory — mine and my brothers' and sisters'. Help me be someone who genuinely celebrates when others win, and help me be bold enough to share what you have done for me so that others can be encouraged to keep fighting.
You Were Made for This
Ephesians 3:10 — "To the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places."
I want you to sit with this verse for a moment, because it still takes my breath away. God's plan — hidden through all the ages, longed for by prophets, marveled at by angels — is meant to be displayed through you. Not through some untouchable spiritual giant. Through you, right where you live, right in the middle of whatever battle you are facing this week. The enemy is not more powerful than the wisdom God placed inside you through Christ. You are not a bystander in this story. You are the demonstration. When I preached this on Wednesday, I said we have to know who we are before we can fight. Today, let that truth settle deep. You carry something the enemy fears. The manifold, multifaceted wisdom of God lives in you. Walk like it is true, because it is.
Father, help me to see myself the way you see me today. I do not want to shrink back from who I am in Christ. Let your wisdom shine through me even when I feel small, in Jesus' name.
Blessed Eyes, Grateful Heart
Matthew 13:16-17 — "But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it."
It is easy to treat the gospel like background noise when you have heard it your whole life. I understand that. When something becomes familiar, the wonder can quietly slip out the back door. But I want to remind you of what Jesus said here — great men and women of God, people who walked with the presence of the Lord in ways we read about with awe, longed to see what you and I see every single day. They wanted to hear what we hear. They did not get the chance. We have the completed gospel, the indwelling Spirit, and full access to the Father through Christ. That is not ordinary. Do not let familiarity steal your gratitude this week. What you carry was worth a thousand years of longing.
Lord, forgive me for the times I have taken your gospel for granted. Open my eyes fresh today to the privilege of knowing you, in Jesus' name.
Come Boldly, Not Barely
Hebrews 4:16 — "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."
I love that the word boldly here means all outspokenness, public assurance, bluntness. God is not asking you to tiptoe into his presence, apologizing for showing up. He is inviting you to walk in like you belong there — because you do. You have been given boldness, access, and confidence through faith in Christ. Those are not feelings you have to manufacture. They are gifts you have been given. Whatever battle you are facing right now, whatever enemy is standing in front of you, you have a throne you can walk up to. You can lay it out before God plainly, boldly, and with confidence that he hears you and that his grace is sufficient for exactly what you need. Do not come to God barely. Come boldly. He is your Father and you are his child, and the door is always open.
Father, I come to you boldly today, not because I am strong, but because you invited me. I need your grace and I receive it now, in Jesus' name.
Step Over It and Keep Going
Hebrews 10:38 — "Now the just shall live by faith; but if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him."
Nobody likes to talk about the battles we did not win. I get that. But I want to talk about it today, because the enemy loves to use past losses to keep you from future victories. Drawing back means to cower, to shrink, to hide yourself. And God says plainly that he has no pleasure in that. Not because he is harsh, but because he made you to overcome and drawing back keeps you from everything he has for you ahead. A warrior does not sit down in the middle of a failed battle and never get up. A warrior steps over the loss, takes what was learned, and moves toward the next thing. I told you on Wednesday about a seven-year battle we fought in this church. We could have quit. We did not. Whatever you lost recently, grieve it if you need to, then step over it and go on.
Lord, I refuse to draw back today. Give me the courage to get back up and move forward in faith, trusting that you are with me in what is ahead, in Jesus' name.
More Than You Can Ask or Think
Colossians 1:27 — "To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."
The mystery hidden through all the ages comes down to this — Christ in you. Not Christ near you, not Christ available to you on special occasions. Christ in you. That is the hope of glory. That is what Paul rejoiced over even in his suffering. That is what the prophets could not yet see. And it is living inside you right now. When I think about that man you are trying to kill this week — that obstacle, that sickness, that broken relationship, that fear — I want you to remember that you are not facing it alone and you are not facing it empty-handed. The fullness of Christ, the hope of all glory, lives inside you. That changes everything about how you walk into your weekend. You are not a person trying to survive. You are a person carrying the mystery of God, made to overcome. Go live like it.
Father, thank you that Christ lives in me. Let that truth be more real to me today than any problem I am facing, in Jesus' name.