The Loudest Roar | Judy Dunagan

Hi, everyone. My name is Emma, and I serve as a producer here at Moody Radio. I want to take a quick second to tell you about our newest podcast, 52 Weeks in the Word. This podcast hosted by Trillia Newbell will walk you through the Bible cover to cover in 52 weeks. Each week, Trillia sits down with a guest for a 10-minute conversation about the weekly reading, Bible reading habits, and spiritual disciplines.

Some of these guests include our very own Chris Brooks, Jen Wilkin, Nancy Guthrie, and many more. If you've ever wanted to read the Bible in a year, now's your chance. Listen to the trailer, follow and subscribe on the Moody Radio app or anywhere you listen to podcasts.

Episode one drops on January 1st. I'm sure there are those listening who find it hard to pray because they are groaning so much. I just want to encourage you that our Lord Jesus intercedes and the Holy Spirit groans for us in prayer when there are no words, and that really should take our breath away is that the Triune God is praying for us. Welcome to Building Relationships with Dr. Gary Chapman, author of the New York Times bestseller, "The 5 Love Languages" . If you're having a hard time with fear in your life, if you struggle with negative thoughts that intrude or you find yourself in a cycle of sin making the same mistakes over and over, you'll benefit from what our guest has to say.

Judy Donegan wants to help you overcome some of the ways you might be stuck in your life. A featured resource is her book, The Loudest Roar, Living in the Unshakeable Victory of Christ. You can find out more at moodybooks.org.

Click the radio icon there at moodybooks.org. Gary, we haven't talked a lot about spiritual warfare on this program. We touch on it every now and then, but as a pastor, I'm sure that you have seen attacks of the enemy on marriages and families through the years.

Is that true? You know, Chris, I think marriage and family is one of the key areas where Satan attacks because he knows if he can derail the family, you know, the parents, first of all, the marriage, then it's going to negatively impact the children. And so, yeah, I think this is an area where there's a lot of spiritual warfare. We may not always recognize it as that, but the reality is Satan does everything he can to destroy marriages, knowing that he's going to affect generations to come.

Yeah. Well, let me introduce our guest today. Judy Donegan is an acquisitions editor for Women's Bible Studies and Books at Moody Publishers. A wonder seeker of God and His Word, Judy's passionate about discipleship and making God's Word and prayer come alive for you. She's a speaker, Bible teacher.

She serves on the board of Deeper Walk International, which is the ministry her father, Mark Bubek, founded. Judy and her husband, Rick, live in Colorado. If you go to moodybooks.org, you'll find more about her book, The Loudest Roar, Living in the Unshakable Victory of Christ.

Just go to moodybooks.org. Well, Judy, welcome to Building Relationships. Thank you so much for having me, Dr. Chapman and Chris.

It's wonderful being here. Well, let's start by talking about how you came up with the title, The Loudest Roar. Can you share that story with us?

Yes, I'd love to. There was a season in my life where it just seemed like the enemy was coming at us on many fronts. And I remember my head was kind of down in defeat, and I just cried out to the Lord. I said, Your word tells us that the enemy prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Why does he have so much power? Why is his roar so loud?

And I'll never forget it. It was as if the Lord reminded me that our Lord Jesus is the bigger lion with the loudest roar. He is the Lion of Judah.

He's seated on the throne, and the enemy is a defeated foe. Well, Judy, your father, Mark Buebeck, was a best-selling author of books focusing on warfare, spiritual warfare, the armor of God, and prayer. How has his legacy impacted your own life and even the writing of your book?

Well, my father began to write his first book, The Adversary, when I was in middle school. And so since that age, decades ago, I have known about the warfare that we face as believers in Christ. And he taught me how to use God's Word as the sword of the Spirit to fight the enemy, and the emphasis on prayer, and how to walk in the victory that Jesus has already won for us through his death and his resurrection and ascension.

And I'm so grateful for that heritage, and I've had to use that throughout my life when the enemies come at me or my family. What are some of the things you heard your dad say that have stuck in your mind through the years? My dad is really known as a man of prayer. I remember even when I was a little girl hearing him pray early in the mornings. And I'll never forget, towards the end of his life, I was visiting him in his home in Arizona, and we were praying one early morning. And he began his prayer by saying, Sometimes we can touch just the edges of who you are, and it leaves us staggered. And I remember that almost took my breath away, because he was almost 90 years old and he was still being staggered by the holiness of our God. And he was a man of prayer and of the Word. And so what stuck with me is just the emphasis on prayer and also on the Word.

Yeah, wow. You know, there are people that blame the enemy for everything bad that happens in their lives. You know, they say the devil did this and the devil did that. What's your point of view on that?

Well, I think balance is the key. My dad used to say, Be bold, be balanced, and be biblical when it comes to standing firm against the enemy. And there are people who blame him for everything, even their own sin. And then on the other side, you have people who don't even believe he's real.

They think he's a silly fictional character. And then there's those in the middle who just, I had a pastor tell me once that, I'm not going to pay much attention to the enemy. I'm going to leave him alone and not stand firm against him because I'm afraid he'll step up his attacks on me. And that is also very dangerous thinking. So the key is to run to God's Word where you can learn about the battle and how to fight the enemy.

Yeah. Well, the Bible speaks pretty clearly on this issue. You know, it says, we're told that the enemy is like a roaring lion, you know, seeking someone to devour. We often say that or read that.

But what does that mean? Well, the enemy is intent on destroying us. And especially like you said earlier, marriage is in family. And I believe the enemy comes at us mainly through temptation to sin. And then once we sin, he attacks with shame and accusations. And he also comes at us with lies that he throws at us, lies about who we are in Christ, and also lies about our God and who he is. We're told in God's Word that the enemy is the father of lies.

And so that is really his language. And so when you are sensing that you're starting to believe lies about who you are, or who God is, you know the enemy is at work. So as believers, when these thoughts come to us, how can we fight the enemy? Well, Dr. Chapman, I think the main way we see it in Ephesians 6, 10 through 18, where the armor is outlined. And it's such a powerful passage of Scripture where we're told to stand firm and to put on the armor. And part of that armor is God's Word, which is called the sword of the Spirit.

It's our offensive weapon. And also prayer in verse 18. And that is our part. We are the ones who have to pick up the Word through memorization, through dwelling in it, lingering in it. I even encourage people to read God's Word out loud, especially when they're feeling like the enemy is coming at them fiercely. And then also prayer. Prayer is so often neglected by us as believers. And when God's people pray, the enemy has to flee.

And so that is how we can stand firm by just being aware of the battle we face and standing firm in the armor we wear and God's Word and prayer. This is Building Relationships with Dr. Gary Chapman. Our guest today is author Judy Dunnigan. And our featured resource today is her book, The Loudest Roar, Living in the Unshakable Victory of Christ.

You can find out more at the website moodybooks.org. You know, Gary, what Judy was saying just before the break reminds me that I never thought about this before. The love language of the enemy, Satan's love language is lies. And that, you know, when you think about it that way, that's the way that he communicates and he loves to deceive. I'm not suggesting that you add to the love languages, but you know what I'm saying, right? That would be a destructive language, not a love language.

A hate language. Yes. Okay. All right. That's it. A hate language to draw our hearts away from what's true to what's false.

I like that. Well, I think that's very, very true, Chris, because all of us are listening to voices all day long, every day, you know, and they may be coming through the radio, the television, through friends or something we read and all of that. But Satan, just as God uses people, Satan uses people. Sometimes they are not even aware that the thing they're saying to us is a lie, you know? And I think that's why what Judy was talking about is so important.

Let me ask you this, Judy. I mentioned earlier that I thought, because, you know, I've spent the bulk of my life in marriage and family counseling, that one of the key areas that Satan attacks is marriage and family. Are there other areas that you think, especially, Satan is attacking in our generation? Well, I do think in the area of who we are in Christ, as you know, there's so much confusion and turmoil, and I think the enemy is stepping up his attacks on that.

Even we see a lot of our youth who are confused about gender issues, and I believe all of that is related to the enemy's attack on our children and youth. And I have many friends who have come to me struggling and just heartbroken about some choices their children are making, and so much of it comes back to our identity in Christ. Satan wants us to believe the lies he throws at us. And then in the area of sin and temptation, we're seeing many Christian leaders fall because of sexual sin, and Satan is so good at luring and tempting and makings a believer think, oh, this isn't going to be that bad. And once he's got a hold of you through the sin choices you're making, he turns it to shame and accusations along the lines of, well, look what you've done.

You've messed up. Why even bother turning or confessing from that sin? And it's just a vicious cycle. Yeah, I agree with you. I think in our generation, especially the last 30 years or so, and I think it's gotten worse as time has gone on, that the whole area of sexuality in so many different areas, Satan wants to use that and really make it an idol in our culture. And you start serving sex, and your goal in life is simply to make yourself happy and sexually thrilled and pleasurable, and he will pull you into all kind of distorted pictures about sexuality.

So, yeah, I certainly agree with that. You use the word attack, and the Scriptures use the word attack. What do you mean by that word, Satan attacks us? Well, it's really what I've been saying in terms of the lies that he'll throw at us and the temptations. We saw it in the garden in Genesis, how he came at Eve and told her, oh, God didn't really mean that.

Just go ahead and taste the fruit, and we know what happened because of that, and that is just what he does with us. I think in the area of fear too. I share in my book about my battle with anxiety.

I joke that it goes so far back that after I was born, I was worried if I even did that right, and so it's been a long journey for me. Thankfully, with the Lord's help, I've come a long way in just casting my anxiety on him. I remember as a little girl, though, that those fears really escalated to the point of nightmares and night terrors, and some of that came because at slumber parties in middle school, I dabbled with the occult type of things, like playing with a Ouija board and being part of a séance, and so I gave ground to the enemy, which allowed him to come at me more with those debilitating fears, and thankfully, that's right before my dad started writing his book, and he began to really pray over me. He'd come in my room in the middle of the night when I'd be screaming from a nightmare and just pray Scripture over me, and I learned from that how to do that on my own, how to pray Scripture, how to dwell in passages like Psalm 91.

I've prayed that so much through my life. I ended up memorizing it, and that is a way to fight him when he throws lies or temptations or accusations at us, is to read and memorize God's Word and throw it back at him. Yeah. So apparently, your father recognized that there was demonic activity that was behind some of these things you were experiencing. Yes, yes. Part of my story is in his book, The Adversary. He asked if he could do that. I was, again, only in middle school, and he wrote that chapter, and God has really used that to encourage other parents whose children really get under attack from the enemy.

But I want to clarify, it isn't just because I played with a Ouija board or I was part of a séance. We are a target of the enemy if we are followers of Christ. He hates us.

He'd kill us if he could, and thankfully he can't. But we are a target, and that's why it's so important to understand the battle, but more importantly, to know how to stand firm with our Lord Jesus Christ in that battle. Yeah. And to parents who are listening, I hear you saying that one of the main things your father did was to pray with you and for you.

Yes, yes. It's part of my heritage, and I've done that over our children, our girls. We have two daughters who are now moms and have toddlers of their own, and so my heart has always been to be a prayer warrior for them and now for their children. And thankfully, my beloved husband, Rick, we pray almost every morning over our children and grandchildren by name and are so grateful for the prayer heritage that both of us had because he had a praying mom as well. What would you say to parents who are listening right now and they know their son or daughter has been, you know, went to a sleepover and said, hey, Mom, we did this or I saw that, you know, that they watched something on TV. You feel like it kind of opened them up. What would you do as a parent?

Well, I'd follow the pattern that my father taught me and we've done for our girls. I would pray over them, and as I'm praying, they're learning how to pray. But, Chris, I love written prayers. There are doctrinal, scriptural, written prayers that my dad has written that is in all of his books. I've put one of his prayers based on Psalm 91 in my book, and sometimes those written prayers are what we need to run to when the battle is fierce.

They're full of scripture, so you're really reading God's Word. And as you read those prayer patterns, you're learning how to pick up the roar of prayer, I call it, to fight the enemy when you're overcome with fear, a child is overcome with fear. I even prayed the armor on my children back when they were little in my mind.

You know, you go through the armor. I believe the armor is who Jesus is. He is the one who covers us with his righteousness like a breastplate. He covers our mind like a helmet of salvation.

It's his belt of truth that buckles on this armor, and then we can walk in the sandals of peace. So even as a middle schooler, I remember memorizing Philippians 4, 6 and 7, and I would pray that to try to fall asleep, and I'll never forget that. What a sweet time with the Lord. Even though I was fearful, I would say that prayer, it was along the lines of the translation I used way back then, do not worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything. Tell God your needs, and don't forget to thank him for his answers.

If you do this, the God of all peace will cover your heart and your mind as you trust in Christ Jesus. So you can teach your children how to do that. You know, we did that when our family was moving to Beijing, China. Our girls were 3 and 5 years old, and I began to teach them scriptures of how to just not to be afraid and how to cling to the Word and what a gift you can give your children and how to fight the good fight, alongside you, of course, as you're protecting them in prayer. What took you to Beijing, China? My husband's job, actually.

He was working for a Fortune 500 company and worked for them from 1995 to 1998, and it was life-changing for all of us. That's where God really taught me a lot about surrendering my fears for my children to the Lord, because my youngest was sick so often there. And then I also began to have Bible studies in my home with seekers who lived in our community, and that's how he drew me into Women's Ministries, was while we lived in Beijing.

Wow. I was only in Beijing one time, and I was launching one of my books. It's a memory that I won't forget, so I can have a little sense of that. So during that time, not only when you were an adolescent, but during that time as an adult, you were struggling with some fears and anxieties in that. How does that battle with fear relate to our victory in Christ?

Well, for me, I'll tell a story about Beijing. Our youngest daughter, Kelly, was so sick, and she was not turning a corner. She had a high fever, and the international clinic, the doctor there didn't want to give her antibiotics.

He didn't think it was strep throat, even though she was prone to it. And so there was one night she had finally fallen asleep, but I was so gripped with fear that I thought I was going to lose my mind to worry, almost like a breakdown. I never understood what that would be like. And I'll never forget it. It was about 3 a.m. our time, and I just had to cry out to the Lord to rescue my mind. And that's when I went to Psalm 91, and I just began to quote that from memory, almost like a prayer over her and me, where it says, He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.

And just in those four verses, you see the different names of God, and we're promised He's our refuge and our fortress. And it was almost like I had to have her in my arms, even though she was sleeping down the hallway. I lifted her in my heart to God, and I said, Lord Jesus, you love Kelly more than I do, and I cry out for healing.

But if you choose something else for her, I will still follow you, and I surrender to your plan for her life. And I realized that night that up until that point, I had made an idol of my little girls, almost like I thought I made a deal with the Lord that you can do anything but don't take one of my children. And I truly surrendered her to Him. And that just cut the enemy off, where He was coming at me. He knew I was vulnerable in the area of anxiety. I'm not saying He causes anxiety, but He knows where we're most vulnerable, just like a praying lion, you know, He isolates and the weaker one and attacks, and that's what He was trying to do. And God rescued me through the sword of His Spirit through Psalm 91 to be able to calm down and to mother my child and even to fall asleep. But I promise you this mama bear the next morning was at that clinic demanding that we get some antibiotics in her, and she did turn a corner within a few days. But I'll never forget that time with the Lord.

Yeah. I think most parents can identify with concerns and anxiety with regard to our children, whether it be a physical thing that was with your daughter or something else that's happening in their lives. And sometimes we not only get anxious, but we also start blaming God. You know, why are you letting this happen to me? You know, I'm walking with you. I'm a follower of Christ. Why are you letting this happen to me?

How do you respond to that kind of response? Well, I believe those wrestling prayers, I call them wrestling or weeping prayers, actually can be a really precious time with the Lord. He wants us to come to Him with our deepest sorrows and our hard questions. He asks us to come to Him. He's given us full access to Him through prayer.

And I share about that in my book. I call it weeping wrestling prayer, that idea of lamenting. And David, the psalmist, really modeled that for us. There's many lamenting prayers in the Psalms. And it can be almost like an act of worship. I even think that what you have to be careful is that you guard your heart from turning from Him, because you don't think He's faithful or good or true. He's such a compassionate God, and we can run to Him with all of our sorrows.

And He's the one we need to run to rather than turning from Him, where then you just have hopelessness. Yeah. And in the Psalms, David did a lot of that kind of praying, didn't he?

He sure did. Yeah, there's one Psalm where he says, How long, Lord? How long? I don't know.

I think he says it like four or five times. And that's such an example of what we can do. We can ask those questions. How long is this going to happen, Lord?

Where are you? But then to let Him answer through His Holy Spirit and His Word, and He will meet your broken heart. Yeah. Would you say that the Psalms in general are one of the best places to turn when you're struggling with this kind of anxiety?

Yes, definitely. I encourage people to read them even out loud, because sometimes the fear or the depression or whatever you're dealing with can be so overwhelming. And when you read it out loud, it can lift your heart.

It keeps your thoughts captive to the truth. I also think worship, turning to worship, even in the midst of the hard things, and the sorrow is such a key. Psalm 145 is a great worship Psalm to just pray it out loud, read it out loud. And it's amazing how it will calm your heart, plus you're lifting up our God in worship. Judy, in your book you do record several prayers. Why don't you just read one of those for us right now, and let our listeners hear and get the sense of talking to God in the midst of anxiety?

I'd love to do that. I have different prayers at the end of each chapter to go along with the theme of the chapter. And so this one is the chapter that's titled The Raining King, and it's a worship prayer. Lord Jesus, forgive me for my diminished view of the power of your death, resurrection, and ascension. Forgive me when I live as though I'm defeated, and as if the enemy has more power than you do, I worship you as the one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. When the roars of this world, my sin, anxiety, or the enemy seem deafening, may I remember that you, Jesus, have the loudest roar over me.

Thank you for all you endured to purchase my victory. Teach me what it means to stand and rest in that victory today, no matter what I am going through. I worship you as both the lion of Judah and as the lamb who sacrificed your life for me. Today, I join the victory roar of Revelation 5 to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever. Jesus, you are worthy, you are seated, and I worship you in your holy, holy, holy name.

Amen. You know, Judy, there are people who are listening today, maybe who have felt like prayer is just, you know, I just say something and God doesn't hear, my prayers hit the ceiling, He doesn't care, He doesn't listen to me, I've never seen anything. But what you just did for us, you know, as you prayed that prayer and read that prayer, you are doing an act of faith. I believe that God is there and that He really is listening and that He really does care about what I'm going through, right? Oh, yes. And I always love to run to Hebrews 4, verses 15 to 60.

I'm just going to read those over us now. For we do not have a high priest who's unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. So let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. I like to say instead of just draw near to run to the throne of grace where we'll find mercy. And then we're told in Romans 8, we are told that Jesus sits at the right hand of the throne of God interceding for us.

And I recently read in another book that He is doing that all the time. He intercedes for us at the right hand of the throne of God. And in that same passage in Romans 8, it says, for we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And I'm sure there are those listening who find it hard to pray because they are groaning so much, whether it's over a prodigal or over a health issue or over a shattered marriage. I just want to encourage you that our Lord Jesus intercedes and the Holy Spirit groans for us in prayer when there are no words and that really should take our breath away is that the Triune God is praying for us. Thanks for joining us today for Building Relationships with Dr. Gary Chapman, author of the New York Times bestseller, "The 5 Love Languages" .

You can find out more simple ways to strengthen relationships at fivelovelanguages.com. Our guest today is Judy Dunnigan, and we're talking about her book, The Loudest Roar, Living in the Unshakeable Victory of Christ. You can find out more at moodybooks.org.

That's moodybooks.org. Judy, we've been talking about a number of areas in life, and you share in the book about your own marriage and that there was a season when you and your husband really weren't sure you were going to make it. Many of our listeners can identify with that. How did your understanding of warfare get you through that crisis?

Well, I don't think we would have made it if we didn't understand warfare and especially how to fight the good fight. Almost 20 years ago now, we were hit really hard in our marriage where we just didn't know if we'd make it. We of course got excellent counseling, biblical counseling. We talked with our pastor. We dwelt in God's Word.

I remember Rick and I would just read through God's Word, especially the Psalms, and we knew prayer was a key as well, so we had many people praying for us, and then we would pray together. I'm blessed that Rick also wanted to fight that good fight for our marriage. That isn't the case for all couples. I have many dear friends whose husbands made a different choice, and so I'm so grateful. The key was to understand that the enemy is also in the room.

He tries to thwart any movement toward freedom, and so he tried to even step up his attacks where it just felt like I especially was doubting if we could make it. I knew I had to stand firm and dwell in the Word and pray on the armor and stand firm in that. I can testify today we're almost 40 years into our marriage now, that we've never been closer.

We're having so much fun in these empty nest years where the grandparents of five little ones under five years old, we've been together when they're born. We see them at the same time and hold them in the joy of that, and God has truly rescued our marriage. But Dr. Chapp, and I always like to speak to those listening who don't have that story and have shattered marriages, that our God is faithful and true. He promises never to leave or forsake them. And there's a verse in Revelation where Jesus is the rider on the white horse, and on his thigh are written the names faithful and true.

And I know those names mean so much to someone whose spouse has chosen to leave the family, that our God is faithful and true to them. I did want to mention a book that Dana Gresh has written that will release in February, and it's called Happily Even After. And she shares some of her story with her husband and gives incredible practical tools, even suggestions of where to go for intensive counseling, and it's going to be an incredible resource to have. Thanks for sharing that.

I'm familiar with Dana. I'm sure this book will be a real help to those who are there. Let's talk a minute to those couples who are still in the marriage, but really doubt that it can work because of many, many different things that they're facing. What would you say to them? I would tell them that intensive counseling is a key. And a lot of times I think couples, especially if they're on the edge of they're going to get divorced, is there are opportunities where you can get away for intensive counseling.

And there are several places I could refer listeners to, and like I said, Dana's book will have that as well. That once a week counseling, when it's intensive and you're not sure if you're going to make it, can be difficult to really have some breakthroughs. So that can be a key. And then just surrounding yourselves with those who love you both and are going to pray for you. Accountability is important. If one of the spouses has a sexual addiction, to get help for that, to have accountability from a Godly mentor is a key. And also to use the weapons of our warfare, to pick up that sword of the Spirit and wield it through memorization, through reading it aloud. And then also through prayer is such a key as well. So to really dwell in that as you are going to face a battle, as you try to move towards freedom and staying together.

Yeah. I certainly agree that intensive counseling, which can be a weekend or three or four days, you know, rather than one week and stretching it out every week, either of those can be helpful, but in a really severe case, intensive counseling can be very, very helpful. And of course, a focus on the family can help you also locate where you can get this. And I also realize that sometimes one spouse is willing to go for that kind of counseling, the other is not willing to go. And obviously you can't make your spouse go for counseling, but you can certainly get the details and find out what the possibility is and share that with them.

And hopefully, and at the same time praying that God would work in their heart to make them even open to that kind of counseling. One of the really great things about the book too, Judy, is that you encourage community. You can go through your book as a small group or with somebody else so that you're not just doing this alone. Of course, you can do it that way, but there's real power in going through a study like this together, isn't there?

Yes. It's so important. I believe the enemy wants to keep us isolated. That's one of his tactics, especially if you're dealing with a besetting sin, you're having a hard time finding freedom, or you're starting to doubt God.

He wants you to stay alone in that and be isolated. And so going through this book and community can be so helpful. There's questions for each chapter. There's other scriptures to look up. I also have the Roar of Prayer resource in the back where there's some more written prayers. There's a prayer based on Psalm 91 that my father wrote years ago. I wrote a prayer based on Ephesians 6 about praying on the armor. And then I also wrote a prayer for those fearful moms and dads that we've been talking about. There's a prayer based in Psalm 139. And so I model how to pray that prayer if you're full of fear for your child. So those are some extra resources within the book that I think are very helpful to go through with others.

And also you have a free download at your website, JudyDunnigan.com. What is that? It's like a mini book. It's called The Power of Praying Scripture. And that just, again, there's different prayers all based in scripture. There's a lamenting prayer. There's a worship prayer. There's one on when you're dealing with anxiety.

I think one of the best ways to diminish anxiety for a loved one is to turn your fears into prayers on their behalf. And so there's a prayer that teaches you to do that. So it's called The Power of Praying Scripture. And they can get that as a free download if they subscribe to my website. So just go to JudyDunnigan.com, D-U-N-A-G-A-N, JudyDunnigan.com. Thanks for joining us today for Building Relationships with Dr. Gary Chapman, author of the New York Times bestseller, "The 5 Love Languages" . Judy Dunnigan is our guest and our featured resource is her book, The Loudest Roar, Living in the Unshakable Victory of Christ. You can find out more at moodybooks.org.

That's moodybooks.org. You know, Judy, you talked earlier about Ephesians 6 and putting on the armor of God. Could you just read that passage for us and then talk to us about how to put the armor on?

Yes, I'll be reading from Ephesians 6, verses 10 through 18. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand firm. Stand, therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints. Now, Paul wrote this to the church at Ephesus.

That city was steeped in goddess worship and worship of other gods and really occult practices. And you have a sense that he was desperate to let the followers of Christ know how to stand firm. And there's a lot of action there we're told to do. We're told to be strong. We're told to put on and stand firm and take up.

And that can seem daunting or exhausting to us. But what I love is that at the very beginning, it says, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might and the whole armor of God. We are not in this battle alone. We have what Jesus purchased for us through his death and his resurrection and his ascension. When he sat down at the throne of God, that was just almost, I call it almost like the crescendo of it is finished on the cross.

When he sat down, he was establishing that the victory has already been won. And so I believe the way we put on the armor is to stand in it, to abide in those truths. I have people who say, well, I didn't pray my armor on today. That's why the enemy is coming at me. Almost as if it's up to us to be guarded and protected. But our God covers us from the top of our head to the tip of our toes with this protection of his salvation, of his righteousness, of his truth, of his peace. And I believe even the shield, even though it's called the shield of faith in this passage, and yes, we need to pick up that shield. You know, a shield has a handle on it. So we need to pick up the shield of our faith in God that he is protecting us. But in Psalm 91 that I quoted earlier, we're told it's a shield of his faithfulness. Don't you love that?

It's like he's hemming us in from all sides. I even like to pray this over my baby grandchildren. Because I joke like, does the armor come in toddler sizes? And it does. Our God protects our children through our prayers and through his presence. And so it's the idea of really just standing firm and abiding in these truths that our God covers us no matter what's going on in our life. And I'd love to share a Puritan prayer on the armor. I discovered this when I was in a fierce battle a few years ago, and I've been able to include this prayer in my book. And it's a powerful prayer probably written by the Puritans two or 300 years ago.

We don't know exactly who wrote it, but it's a victory cry I'm going to read over us now. Oh Lord, I bless thee that the issue of the battle between thyself and Satan has never been uncertain and will end in victory. Calvary broke the dragon's head and I contend with the vanquished foe who with all his subtlety and strength has already been overcome. When I feel the serpent at my heel, may I remember him whose heel was bruised, but who when bruised broke the devil's head. My soul with inward joy extols the mighty conqueror.

Heal me of any wounds received in the great conflict. If I've gathered defilement, if my faith has suffered damage, if my hope is less than bright, if my love is not fervent, if some creature comfort occupies my heart, if my soul sinks under pressure of the fight, O thou whose every promise is balm, every touch life, draw near to thy weary warrior. Refresh me that I may rise again to wage the strife and never tire until my enemy is trodden down. Give me such fellowship with thee that I may defy Satan unbelief, the flesh, the world with delight that comes not from a creature and which a creature cannot mar. Give me a draw of the eternal fountain that lieth in thy immutable everlasting love and decree. Then shall my hand never weaken, my feet never stumble, my sword never rest, my shield never rust, my helmet never shatter, my breastplate never fall as my strength rests in the power of thy might.

Can I hear an amen? Wow. Wow. So powerful. That is powerful. You know, I have found, Judy, that reading prayers written by other people and in this case several hundred years ago, it's a way of waking up my own heart and my own mind because it's words put in a way that I would not necessarily put them. And I'm glad that you've included these prayers throughout your book because I think people are going to find that as they read those things out loud to God, they're going to sense the presence of God and they're going to sense the truth of what they're praying. So, well, thank you for including the prayers. Well, isn't it the truth that it connects us too with the heart of those who have gone before us? You read prayers in scripture and you're connected whichever testament you're reading from, you're connected with their heart. And then if you read this from a few hundred years ago, it's like they're going through the same thing that we're going through now, Judy.

Exactly. Yeah, it reminds me of Hebrews 12, verse 1, therefore, since we're surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that's set before us. And when you read those prayers, I feel like that's like part of the great cloud of witnesses, you know, my father's prayers and this Puritan prayer. And then also to read prayers in scripture, what a key. You know, Jesus' prayers, the upper room, the high priestly prayer in John 17 is such a powerful prayer to pray out loud and make it apply to your own life and that of your loved ones. To be able to pray the prayers in God's Word is a mighty weapon against the enemy and an act of worship to our God as well.

Yeah. I hope that our listeners who may have not felt real comfortable in prayer will hear what you're saying because there's numerous prayers in the Bible. And look for those prayers and praying those prayers in the scriptures and in books like this one. It really does awaken your heart to God in a new way. Oh, and I'd have to mention a wonderful Bible study called On Bended Knee by Cricket Keith. She looks at different prayers in the Bible and helps you read those prayers, memorize them. There's a lot of great questions to just dwell in those different prayers. There's one of Hannah and Jesus and Paul's prayers and just a lot of different ones. So that's called On Bended Knee. Judy, you also talk about the power of keeping a prayer journal. What is that and how important is that? Well, in that desperate time I shared, even in our marriage and when my daughter was so sick, I started to prayer journal.

And it's just, you can just get a notebook. And I, for me, I would write out different psalms as a prayer. So I'd be in the Word studying and then I would turn a psalm into a prayer or I would just write from my heart, just cry out to the Lord.

It helps me keep my thoughts captive. You know, I think one of the main reasons people are so distracted in prayer is their minds going every different which way. And so just writing out your prayers and those lamenting prayers I shared about earlier. And then also I do a sacrifice of praise. God's Word talks a lot about a sacrifice of thanksgiving in the Psalms.

The Psalmists use that phrase. And the Lord really impressed on my heart in the midst of that deep sorrow. It was as if he asked, Judy, can you even thank me even in this? And I was a little incredulous at first, like, really, God, I'm in such deep sorrow.

But out of obedience, I started to do that. And so I would write at the top of one of the journal pages, a sacrifice of praise, and I would just start listing things that I could be thankful for. And it was amazing how God used that as an act of worship to him, but also to calm my anxious heart and to just be able to thank him even when life is hard.

It's a beautiful way to enter into that and to just throw those anxieties at him through praise even. Well, Judy, I really appreciate your being with us today. And I know that the folks who have listened today are going to find this to be helpful. And I want to encourage our listeners to get this book.

It will be extremely helpful to you in overcoming the enemy who may come into any given day in a different way. So thank you for being with us. Thank you for writing this book. And thank God for your father also who gave a lot of practical help in this area. Thank you so much, Dr. Chapman. And thank you for your ministry, your Love Languages Ministry and all of your books have had a profound impact on our marriage and on our family. And I just want to thank you for that.

Thank you. That's Judy Donegan, our guest today on Building Relationships. And if you go to the website, you can find out more about our featured resource, The Loudest Roar, Living in the Unshakable Victory of Christ. Go to buildingrelationships.us to find out more, buildingrelationships.us. And next week, our Christmas Eve edition, music and conversation about the greatest event in human history.

And it's coming in one week. Our thanks to our production team, Steve Wick and Janice Backing. Building Relationships with Dr. Gary Chapman is a production of Moody Radio in association with Moody Publishers, a ministry of Moody Bible Institute. Thanks for listening. Moody Radio is so thankful for a 2022 filled with biblical programming, impactful messages and relevant discussion. If you'd like to help us start 2023 strong, consider a gift at GiveToMoody.com. That's GiveToMoody.com.