Tag: #spiritualwarfare

EPISODE 339 -SPIRITUAL WARFARE – USING OUR FAITH TO FIGHT SATAN

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WELCOME TO GOD FOCUS THIS MORNING

The title of today’s episode: SPIRITUAL WARFARE -USING OUR FAITH TO FIGHT SATAN

Today is the conclusion of the spiritual warfare series. In this time of struggle and stress that the church is going through right now, we need to know how to stand against the enemy. The subject of spiritual warfare goes far deeper and is more detailed than I have covered. I encourage you to dig into the word and do research for yourself.

2 Cor 5:7 We walk by faith and not by sight.

This is a reminder that we cannot go by what we see. We fight our battles with our faith. Part of the armor of God is our shield of faith. In other words, our faith is a defense against the enemy. Because we choose to see things through our faith and not how they appear to be at that moment.

A strategy is needed when we make our battle plan against the enemy. Picture a room full of generals with maps and intelligence reports scattered about, trying to create a plan. Sometimes we have to defend ourselves from attacks. Other times, we need to go on the offensive and take back territory.

We must understand the tactics of our enemy, his vulnerability, his territorial strongholds and how to break the lines of defense. We have to be determined to win. Belief in our cause will give us the strength to keep pressing forward.

We are in a battle for a billion soul harvest. I cannot think of a better cause than that, when heaven rejoices over even one soul coming to Christ. How can we not do all we can to tell the world that there is a better way.

When David looked at Goliath, he saw an enemy of his God. He was determined to take him out because he defied God. The Philistine had been mocking God and God’s people. David looked at him through his faith. He didn’t let how he looked in the natural shake him. He didn’t compare himself to Goliath. He compared Goliath to his God. Actually, the giant was minuscule compared to his God.

If David had looked at Goliath with human eyes not through faith, then Goliath would have seemed huge. David may have fallen into fear like all the rest of the army. He would have believed a bad report like the children of Israel when they went into spy out the land. But Joshua and Caleb looked at things through their faith. They stood boldly and proclaimed that we are more than able to take the land. They understood there were giants. But they chose to look at things in comparison to their God.

This is how one would walk by faith and not by sight. We have to look at our enemy through the lens of faith. Yes, to our natural, physical being, the enemy is more powerful. He has had thousands of years to manipulate mankind. He is good at the art of temptation and trapping. But we have to change the way we see our enemy. We need to look at him like David looked at Goliath. Compared to our God, he is minuscule. The enemy is nothing.

This is how we win our battle; we allow God to fight for us. He will guide us and lead us.

James 4:6-10 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. 9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

James used a lot of wisdom when writing to the church. He called out the spiritual issues of the church. But he also encourages the church that they can walk in victory if they do certain things.

He tells us to walk humbly and submit ourselves to God. If we resist the devil, he will flee. But we have to resist. It doesn’t say play with him, allow just a little bit of sin, after all the enemy says a little will not hurt. We are wise enough to know a little opens the door to the enemy to get a stronghold.

James says for the double minded to cleanse their hands and purify their hearts. To stop being double minded. In other words, we must have a made-up mind. We cannot flip flop between two opinions. We have to choose the right side and not give room for the enemy to get a foothold.

James says to cleans our hands. In other words, the things we do, our works or the work of our hands must be spiritually clean. We must have a pure heart. It takes work to fight against the enemy and not be double-minded, have clean hands and a pure heart. We can do these things, with the help of our God.

Never go into battle with an attitude that you will not win. If this is the attitude you may as well not go to battle. We have to believe we will come out victorious. We cannot win alone, but we have to go.

Like Jehosophat’s army, I shared with you yesterday. He didn’t have to fight with natural weapons. But they did fight with worship, they had a part to play. They had to show up at the battlefield to collect the spoils of war. We have to plan to be victorious by walking by faith. This refers to fighting a good fight of faith.

Eph 6:13-17 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

I want you to notice verse thirteen. We put on the whole armor of God so that we can withstand evil. Then the verses go onto list the different parts of the armor of God. It takes this armor to equip us to be able to stand against the enemy. We could not discuss warfare without touching on our protection or armor.

Every episode of this series has been to encourage you and give you a desire to study how to war and defend against the enemy. We have to go into training or boot camp to understand how to fight our battles. There used to be commercials that encouraged kids to read books then they would say, Knowledge is Power. When it comes to our enemy, the more we know how to stand against him.

Be bold and stand strong against our enemy. You can win the battle if you stand with God. Allow him to lead and be willing to face your fears and doubts, putting them under the shield of faith. Be sure to plan for victory, never allow the enemy to cause you to talk defeat. Our words have power. Using the word of God is the fiery darts against the enemy. I hope this series has encouraged you to stand strong and fight the good fight of faith.

Until next time,

BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS

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EPISODE 338 SPIRITUAL WARFARE -WORSHIP IS OUR WEAPON

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WELCOME TO GOD FOCUS THIS MORNING

The title of today’s episode: SPIRITUAL WARFARE – WORSHIP IS OUR WEAPON

I have been doing a series on spiritual warfare. In episode 334, we covered keeping a watch for the enemy. Our adversary, satan, is on the prowl to destroy the body of Christ. We have to be on guard and keep watch for his traps and tactics.

The second thing we covered in episode 335 is our battle for holiness. We have to walk holy before God and resist the temptation to sin. The enemy is constantly trying to get us to fall into sin. We have to keep a guard on our thoughts and hearts so as to not fall into the traps of the enemy.

The third topic we covered in episode 336 was how the body of Christ needs to reconnect to the power of God. We must set aside our fear and man’s doctrines and spend time with God. We need to connect with the power of miracles and other tools the modern-day church has lost. We will be able to connect to that power source if we spend time in earnest prayer and fasting. These things are missing from our modern church. Episode 337 was all about prayer and fasting.

Today I want to talk about the power of praise. We often do not think about praise as being a weapon. Praise connects us to God in a way that nothing else does. We can break free of a lot of things with praise and worship. It helps us to untether from religion and connects us to God when we yield to him and zone out everything else. Getting into a place where it is just you and God, and you forget everything but your praise and love for God.

Worship is our weapon; every praise we lift sends explosions into the enemy camp. Worship breaks the narrative of the enemy, because we can leave the thoughts behind us. Every thought of the enemy that comes to cause us to be negative and to bind us up, we can break with worship.

One of my favorite stories is found in 2 Chr. 20, King Jehosophat had three different armies coming against him. The people were praying and God said,

2 Chr 20:15-18 And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s. 16 To morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel. 17 Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you. 18 And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshipping the Lord.

They spent time praising the Lord because he told them not to be afraid because they had a large number of enemies threatening them, he promised to take care of the battle. He told them the enemy would be destroyed without them even shooting one arrow or drawing their swords.

2 Chr 20:20-21 And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper. 21 And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the Lord; for his mercy endureth for ever.

Their worship was their weapons. To the natural mind, this seems crazy to put singers in the front of the army. From the natural perspective they would be the first ones fired upon. But Jehosophat knew that God had said they would not have to fight, so he sent the praise team before the army.

2 Chr 20:22-24 And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten. 23 For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another. 24 And when Judah came toward the watch tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped.

I love how these three armies destroyed one another. It is like Haman being hung on his own gallows in the story of Esther. What the enemy plans to harm us will only elevate us, as long as we keep our perspective right before God. We need to praise and worship him. Releasing the darts of praise will cause the enemy to run or to be destroyed.

Evil spirits cannot stay where the anointing of God is, they have to flee. Our worship invites the presence of God. The anointing breaks yokes. We will not be tethered to the things of the enemy if we worship and do not dwell on the negative.

Complaining is the opposite of worship. Complaining is music to the ears of the enemy, because he will agree with your negative words. He will have an opening to work through if we allow ourselves to be full of negativity.

This is why we have to focus on the good things, even when life is not reflecting the good. We have to remember this world is not our home, we are just passing through.

Saul had lost his kingdom through disobedience. He still sat on the throne for a time period after Samuel told him that the kingdom was no longer his to rule. Saul even went to a sorcerer the witch of Endor to try to get insight into the future. Further opening up doors to the enemy the devil to take over and control him. He was tormented by evil spirits in the night and could not sleep. He called for someone to play music for him.

David played a harp with the anointing of God and the evil spirit would depart from Saul. This is proof that the anointing through praise will break the torment of the enemy. The evil spirits have to flee when we worship.

Just any musician would not work. People have talent and can play music beautifully, but if it is not anointed it will not drive away evil spirits. David, however, knew how to worship God. He learned when he was a shepherd boy. His pure praise was what elevated him to the position of King.

David didn’t always do the right things. He, too, fell into sin. But his willingness to repent and try again was honored by God. Our heavenly father doesn’t expect us to be perfect. He just asks us to worship him honestly and with a pure heart toward God.

We can win our spiritual battles with our enemy if we send up praise. Remember that worship is another weapon we have to fight off the evil that tries to overtake us. More spiritual warfare on tomorrow’s episode.

Until next time,

BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS

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EPISODE 337 SPIRITUAL WARFARE – PRAYER AND FASTING

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WELCOME TO GOD FOCUS THIS MORNING

The title of today’s episode: SPIRITUAL WARFARE – PRAYER AND FASTING

Prayer is our connection to God. Many do not believe that fasting is for the church of today. Many do not believe that having an active prayer life is necessary. Both are necessary.

Fasting is not just a process of doing without food. There is a movement in our society that fasting is healthy for our bodies. I do not deny going without food will have certain health benefits in the natural. But that is not the only thing fasting is when we think about it in the biblical sense. Jesus did not fast for forth days and nights while doing other things. It wasn’t to prove how long he could go without food. It wasn’t so he could go to the synagogue and brag about how many days he had fasted. He was alone with God in prayer, praying for strength to do what he had to do for mankind. He was praying for all of his followers, even us. When we fast and pray, we are telling God, drawing closer to you Lord is more important than even the food I eat.

Matt 17:15-21 Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water. 16 And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. 17 Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me. 18 And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour. 19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? 20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. 21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

Little prayer equals little power.

Many think that spiritual warfare is having to walk through a rough spot when the enemy is oppressing us. Sometimes circumstances in life can be difficult, simply because it is difficult. Other times it is an attack of the enemy. Only those on fire for God can discern the difference.

I understand why it is not taught from the pulpit as much as it should be, people are afraid. People want the feel-good messages about being overcomers and how we will have a home in heaven.

It is time for the church to wake up. It is not about what color the choir robes should be and if there is carpet or hardwood floors in the sanctuary. It is not about someone else getting to sing the opening hymn instead of you. It is not about someone looking at you disapprovingly when they don’t like something you did or said. We are at war. Our enemy is on his game. He has divided the body of Christ too long over ridiculous things. While we are being distracted, the enemy is plotting to destroy us.

The enemy is plotting with his minions to take us out. The church world is oblivious to the fact that we are at war. A large portion are asleep. It is time we wake up and get serious about our faith walk. God doesn’t want us to be lukewarm. It is time to catch on fire with the power and anointing of the Holy Ghost.

When we get our hearts in a position of desiring God’s will in our lives more than anything else. We will come through it stronger in the spirit. The enemy is a liar and tries to cause fear. We cannot allow his lies to cause us to fear.

Acts 19:13-17 Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. 14 And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. 15 And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? 16 And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

Stories like this are why people are afraid of the spirit realm. Because the spirits know if you have been on the mountain with Jesus, praying. Prayer equals power and anointing in the Holy Ghost.

17 And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.

They tried to cast out devils, which was demons, but the demons said, Jesus we know and Paul we know, but who are you?

Why did this happen, it caused fear among the people? Because the name of the Lord was magnified. This was a healthy fear, a reverence of the Lord. The person oppressed by these spirits has been set free. The enemy has power. The same power that the early church had lives within us, if we are born of the Spirit. Why do we walk around defeated? Because we have not connected to the power source in prayer.

It is time for us to decide how serious we are about our faith walk. Are we going to be on fire for God? Are we going to continue to be lukewarm? I am going to tell you that being lukewarm is not a state we want to find ourselves in right now.

Rev 3:14-17 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; 15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. 17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:

We do not want God to find us in the state of being lukewarm. The lukewarm damage the body of Chirst. They are the bertha better than you’s that hurt those who are starting out and make them feel like giving up. The lukewarm are those that the world looks at and says, “I am as good as they are, if they are a Christian then I will make it to heaven too.” Being lukewarm shows the world weakness. We do not want God to spew us out of his mouth.

2 Tim 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

We cannot be lukewarm and have a form of godliness, but deny the power of God. We cannot be caught unaware of what is going on around us. So get on your knees and pray, not just say word, but pour all you have out to God. Ask for his help to walk out your faith.

Again, I encourage you to be vigilant and watch for the enemy’s attacks. Ask God for his direction, he will direct you how to fast and pray. We have to use common sense, I have heard of people that have never fasted even a day, taking on the task of fasting forty days and nights like Jesus did. God doesn’t require us to take on a task we are not ready for, that is why we have to hear his voice and be lead by his spirit. Maybe start with a meal or a day. Work, up to two or three days.

As we walk with the Lord and pray more, we will have more revelation about what God want’s us to do. Just don’t be caught in a state of being lukewarm. Now is the time to pray

Until next time,

BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS

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EPISODE 336 SPIRITUAL WARFARE – RECONNECTING TO THE POWER OF GOD

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The title of today’s episode: Spiritual Warfare – Reconnecting To The Power Of God

Over the next few days, I will be talking to you about Spiritual Warfare. We recognize that outside of the things we see, hear, smell, taste and touch in our physical world, there is another realm. The realm of the spirit cannot be experienced with our natural senses.

God is in the spirit realm with his angels that he sends to protect us. We often think about the angels protecting us from things like car wrecks and accidents. But they war in the spiritual realm with the powers of darkness. They war for our very existence at times. The enemy would like nothing more than to take us out. But God draws a line and says, You can only go so far.

It takes God’s revelation through His Spirit within us to see into the spirit realm. The enemy through witchcraft and santanic rituals will give people counterfeit revelations. I am told by those whom God has saved from the life of witchcraft and satanic rituals, however, that the things they see are different than the things God’s children see.

Those dealing in darkness can only see children of God surrounded by light or a fire of protection. They know who is real in the kingdom of God and who is not. We do not understand the power we have as children of God. When we receive the Holy Ghost, we are given power to stand against the enemy.

Acts 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

I know that many say that we will have the power to witness. That is how this verse is normally explained. But it goes much deeper than just being able to tell someone about Jesus.

Notice the picture on your screen, it is from my Hebrew/Greek Study bible the number 1411 is the strong’s concordance number beside of the word power, which leads to the original Greek word, dunimus.

Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance

ability, power, strength

From dunamai; force (literally or figuratively); specially, miraculous power (usually by implication, a miracle itself) — ability, abundance, meaning, might(-ily, -y, -y deed), (worker of) miracle(-s), power, strength, violence, mighty (wonderful) work.

Copied from bible hub online.

This says that when we are born again or receive God’s spirit, we will receive miraculous power, ability, abundance, meaning, mighty deed. We will be workers of miracles, power, strength…

Why are we not seeing miracles among believers any longer? Some would tell you that it was just for early church. It is easy to explain away. Maybe it could be that we have lost our ability to connect with the Spirit of God on that level. We have become so sophisticated that we lost the connection.

We cannot battle the enemy without the power of God. The early church went about with signs following them, casting out devils, miracles. This connection showed the world that they knew God.

This is what it is going to take reach the world today the power of God. We have no hope of pulling people out of darkness without the light of God within us. Many may listen to what I am saying and will be skeptical. But I have seen miracles, I have experienced them and when God see fit to release that power within me, I will be a vessel he uses to heal others.

Every believer can have God’s power within them to work miracles and free people from demonic oppression and possession. If we pray and are willing to give up the distractions of this life and commit fully to the cause of Christ. But most are not willing to fully sell out to the cause of Christ. But we have to be led by the Spirit of God that is within us. Unless we are fully sold out to the cause of Christ, nothing else in this life matters. We will never be the effective witnesses we should be in the earth.

Some of us have been running our spiritual lives on battery power, what little bit we have stored up is how our light is shining. But if we plug in the charger and connect to our power source through prayer and fasting. We will be able to allow God to use us in miraculous ways. Suddenly, we have a new spiritual spring in our step, and we feel like we can make a difference in this world.

We can not afford as the body to be lukewarm and lacking power. The enemy has intensified his attacks on our society. It would stand to reason that the Body of Christ is going to have to intensify our prayers and prepare for battle.

The enemy will not win, if we equip ourselves with the armor of God. If we bind together in God’s love, unity and the power of His Spirit. The enemy doesn’t stand a chance. God will win the battle. I want you to ask yourself who’s side do you want to be on? The winning side or the losing side? We can win if we reconnect to the power of God.

Thanks for watching,

Until next time,

BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS

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EPISODE 334 KEEP WATCH FOR THE ENEMY

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WELCOME TO GOD FOCUS THIS MORNING

The title of today’s episode: KEEP WATCH FOR THE ENEMY

If we look at the world with natural eyes only, we miss a large part of what is going on around us. Every day, spiritual battles are being waged. People often do not even know when they have been oppressed by an evil spirit. The enemy will send many our way to distract, deceive, and destroy us.

We have to have godly wisdom and discernment. Camouflage is often worn by armies in order to blend in with their surroundings. Sometimes soldiers even put on face paint to blend into their surroundings.

Our enemy will often come to us disguised as a good person. Many people have been taken down by people that were possessed or oppressed by the spirit of Jezebel. Many people at church have been hurt by those whom they believed were good people. Only to find out they were soldiers in the enemy’s army, who were planted in the church by satan.

Look at when satan tempted Jesus, he first questioned his identity. The enemy will often make us question if we are truly a Christian, he will attack our belief in our salvation. He questioned Jesus’ sonship. He will use others to pick at little things that mean nothing, to plant a seed of doubt in our identity as a Christian.

If he cannot get us to question our identity. He will move on to his next tactic. The second temptation of Jesus. He tried to get Jesus to prove that God’s angels would protect him if he threw himself off the high pinnacle. Again, Jesus quoted Scriptures to him. I am sure everyone has had a random thought go through their head. Something that would cause harm. The enemy will keep those thoughts coming, if he can make you feel unworthy and like you will never measure up.

He offered Jesus power and status on the earth. A short cut to what Jesus would have after his mission on earth was complete. Satan will often offer people money, status, powers of influence, in exchange for their denying God. It is sad to say a lot of preachers have fallen into this category. This is only one reason we need to pray for those in the ministry, they are attacked in ways we cannot even imagine sometimes.

Satan attacked Jesus after he had reached a point of baptism and God declaring how pleased he was with Jesus. It was an act of God giving Jesus authority. According to Jewish tradition, when a son gets to be at a certain level of maturity and age the father will declare that he is pleased with his son and that he has authority to speak for the family. That is what happened when God’s voice came out of the clouds on the day Jesus was baptized.

We cannot be ignorant of the enemy’s tactics. There are too many lives hanging in the balance. We have to be wise enough to see through a person’s actions and recognize that they are actions of someone being lead by our enemy.

Many people avoid the subjects of spiritual warfare because they do not want to believe it exists. They are afraid they will have to confront the enemy. The lessons that we need to know today are not being taught in our churches. The enemy is real, witchcraft is real, demons and satanism is real. These things have power, but God has given us more power. If the power of the Holy Ghost lives within us, we have power over the powers of the enemy. We will be able to pray, and God will respond.

We have to be wise enough to know when the enemy is trying to tempt us. Jesus knew he was dealing with his enemy. Often, we do not recognize until it is too late that we are dealing with an attack from our enemy.

The only way we are ever going to know when the enemy is trying to cause us trouble is to have discernment. This only comes by building up our faith in prayer. We can ask God for discernment to know when things are not of God. He has promised he will be with us and will lead and guide us.

The hard part for us often is that we ignore that still small voice that is telling us that something is not right. The enemy with his camouflage will sneak up on us. Most people do not get bitten by the snakes they see. Most of the time it is the snake that is hidden in tall grass or under a rock that they don’t see, until it is too late.

Being vigilant to watch out for the enemy is very important when it comes to combat. If the enemy can’t sneak up on you the less likely you are to be hurt by his weapons. Stay strong, be spiritually awake and vigilant, we will win the battle if we faint not.

Until next time,

BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS

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GOOD BONES

I enjoy watching home improvement shows. I love to watch them take something that looks like it needs to be lit on fire and in the magic of television, within an hour, it is beautiful again. These old houses that need to be reclaimed and refurbished are often said to have good bones. As long as they have a solid foundation, there is nothing that cannot be fixed.

The church has been in a state of disarray. It looked like it was all over and sin was going to abound until it was destroyed. But a fire is coming, not to burn the church to the ground but to get rid of all that is not of God. It is time for “THE CHURCH” to be on fire for God.

I often think about the valley of dry bones and how Ezekiel was told to prophesy to the dry bones. He prophesied to the bones and they lived again. God is gathering the winds of change and will raise up his bride to be glorious, it is time for her to become without spot and wrinkle. We have to start speaking not about how bad things appear but about how God wants them to be in this time in which we live.

Do not believe everything you see; the enemy is out to deceive us into believing his agenda. But I have read the back of the book and satan loses. Tim Sheets calls him the “forever loser.” I often smile when I think about that phrase. It doesn’t matter what the enemy tries; he loses. How frustrating it must be for him when one that he thinks would never turn to God suddenly breaks down in tears, under the presence of God and they cry out to Jesus. “Jesus save me from myself, save me from my sin, save me from the powers of evil.”

The defeated one, the forever loser, I am sure, gets angry every time he loses another one. It is up to each of us to reach out and pull people out of his hand through intercessory prayer. We are called to reach the lost. The harvest is ready, it is time to go to battle. Is your whole armor on? Are you asking the commander-in-chief about the battle plan? Are you ready to fight for the souls that are hanging in the balance?

II Cor 10:4-5 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

Where do we stand on a personal level? Each of us has to talk to the master builder and make sure we have good bones. When we ask him to refurbish our lives, he will take out everything that needs to be replaced and will make us new again.

Until next time, BE BOLD, BE BRAVE AND KEEP YOUR GOD FOCUS