Category: Spirituality and Truth

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.  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.

Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;  And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:  Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.”  (Ephesians 6:10-18)

Every Christian needs to wear the full armour of God. God’s word tells us clearly that for every one in the body of Christ, this is the only armour that can and will protect from the evil days.

Ephesians 6:11 says, “Put on the whole armour of God”. It means to put on the “full” armour of God and not just a part of it. It we leave any one part off, the devil would hit us right in that place. The enemy is looking for whom he may devour. Therefore, we need to put on the full armour of God.  Apart from the sword of truth, all the armour of God is defensive.

John repeatedly says that every believer should know he is of God and needs to distinguish himself from the fact that he does not belong to the wicked one. Satan exercises dominion over the world as its ruler. The enemy does not take a break. He is continually at work and that is why there is not a single place in Scripture where it tells us we can take the armour off. We have to put on the armour of God all the time to stand against the schemes of the devil in every place.

One thing God has assured that His peace will be with us. “For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, But my kindness shall not depart from you, Nor shall “My covenant” of peace be removed,” Says the Lord who has mercy on you.” (Isaiah 54:10)

The peace of God is a great weapon against the power of the enemy. This peace is something we experience even in the midst of the greatest battle.   We will know the greatest peace even in the midst of the greatest battle, but there is no time we should ever let our guard down or remove our armour. Armour of God is not just protection that we have come up with human ability. It is something that God Himself has given us. This weapon will fully protect us in this life and from any weapon that is formed against us.

Standing firm is very significant. We are supposed to stand and stand firm. This armour does not cover our back which means we are to progress in the forward direction.

We can stand against the schemes of the devil. Note the phrase, “evil day”. Paul is not referring to any day in particular, although some disasters will take place in the last days. Paul talks about something that every Christian will go through. There will be times when his faith will be challenged and he must confront the forces of the evil.  Is there a need to face the evil day? Yes, in fact, it is not an option but a certainty. We will not escape the evil day but we have to go through the evil day.

“You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4)

“We know that we are of God and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one”. (1 John 5:19)

May the Lord help us put on the whole armour of God always in Jesus name. Amen.

There are seven ‘pieces of equipment’ in this armour.

1. The belt of truth, which is your trust in the Lord Jesus who declared Himself to be the Truth.
2. The breastplate of righteousness is your assurance that the blood of Christ enables you to stand righteous before our Father – your heart’s decision throughout the day.
3. Have your feet shod with the gospel of peace.  That way you prepare for the Lord’s service as he is setting you apart to fulfil his purposes and wherever you go, his presence and power will be with you, ready for action.
4. Next is the shield of faith to extinguish the enemy’s darts aimed at any weak areas in your life.  The shield does no good unless you are gripping it tightly, prepared for battle.
5. The helmet of salvation focuses your mind on eternity with God, and guards you against any further enemy intrusion into your soul.
6. You wield the sword of the Spirit as you immerse yourself in God’s word and put it into action.
7. Pray in the spirit, so you can be alert and available at all times for communion and intimacy with our Lord.

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Absolute confidence in God’s own Word and Being.

This will be tested with fiery trials.

While other levels of faith receive some support, and encouragement from God, this level takes what is learned from earlier levels, and endures to the end without apparent support.

Tribulation will come. Suffering will come.

Good works continue, in spite of persecutions.

We no longer care about our own needs. We forget who we are, and only desire to serve His purpose, and have His needs met.

Prayers are spoken, but there is no answer, yet one continues to hold on and believe.

There are wars, and one loses the war.

There is sickness, and there is no healing.

There are problems, and they are never resolved.

One does good, and it is called evil, and is punished for it.

One is faithful, and is betrayed by others.

One is generous, and loses everything.

One is alone, and no one comes to comfort.

One blesses, and is cursed and rejected in return.

One calls out to God, and does not receive an answer. One feels abandoned.

You are afflicted, but there is no deliverance.

Where are the promises, and the answers we have been waiting for?

But will that person respond by abandoning God?

This is the level of “the cross.”

There is no reward in this life at this point. Suffering seems to be around every corner. Will we endure to the end? Will we be faithful, without helps, and rewards, and interventions from God?

This is the point where we could lose our lives for the gospel.

Are we ready? Will we die for Him?

Is our love enough? Is our faith great enough? Have we died to ourselves yet, where HE is the only One that matters any more?

Have we forgotten who we are yet, and can only think of Him?

The faith God is looking for is NOT the faith that comes, because he helped us, or rewarded us, to encourage us.

The faith he is looking for is the faith that continues to trust and love, when God has seemed to turn away, and there is NO reward coming at all.

Hebrews 11

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Every Christian would have prayed these words at least once. Lord, “let me hear from you”. Most of us would have prayed many times and some are praying daily. Without a doubt God wants to answer. Yet believers remain frustrated unable to hear specific instructions from the Lord, they end up wandering around in a spiritual dilemma, incapable of seeing God’s path He has planned for them.

The first step is to obey the general instructions that He has given us before we can go into any of those specific instructions. Every Soldier in the Army has to learn the general orders first.  General orders are the overall military requirements that everyone in uniform must obey.  Once that was in place the cadet learn the direct orders from their superior officer.  Finally there are orders of the day, which is a detailed format that gave a road map for the day.

As soldiers in the kingdom of God, we’ve been given general orders by the Commander in Chief.  Those commands are mandatory and important—so important that everything in life hinges upon our obedience to them.

Matthew 22 is one of the many places in the New Testament we find those general commands.  There we read about a young lawyer asking Jesus a crucial question: “Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the first and great commandment. And the second is, You shall love your neighbour as yourself.  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (verses 36-40).

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It knows no hypocrisy. It does not brag or put on a show. (2 Tim 1:5) Very childlike, trusting and innocent, and is well founded in the Word of God.

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We overcome Satan when we testify personally to what the Word of God says the blood of Jesus does for us. One way we do that is taking part in the Lord’s Table.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11:26, “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes’.

The cup represents the blood of the Lord, so in taking part in the Lord’s Table we are continually testifying, proclaiming the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

There are five important provisions revealed in the Word of God that are made available to us through the blood of Jesus.

1. Redemption:  Ephesians 1:7,”In Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.”
2. Forgiveness:  1 John 1:7 says, “…but if we walk in the light as He himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”
3. Cleansed:  Romans 5:9 says, “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.”
4. Justified:  Justified is just –as-if-I’d never sinned, because I have been made righteous with a righteousness that knows no sin, which is the righteousness of Christ.
5. Sanctified:  Sanctify means to set apart for God or to make holy.  Hebrews 13:12 declares, “Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate”.

We need to continually take the offensive with the weapons God has provided for us. It is not enough to merely stay on the defensive and wait upon the Lord all the time to do the battle. We are an army or conquerors. The Nations are ready to be harvested into the kingdom of God who will win them with the Gospel of the kingdom.

Our prayer is that the Lord will use you as a testimony to win the people into the kingdom of God. Amen.

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Preaching is sharing the Word of God, but testimony is speaking from a personal point of view about incidents that line up to the Word of God and confirm the truth of God’s Word. For example if we are preaching a message on deliverance, we share the promises of deliverance and preach the principles on which God delivers. But if we testify about healing, we speak about an incident when we personally experience God’s delivering power. Therefore, preaching and giving a testimony are both with respect to the Word of God but they approach from different angles.

Three things needed for the testimony to be powerful:

1. We need the “Supernatural Power”:

To be effective witnesses for Jesus, we need supernatural power. Out testimony needs the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus wanted His disciples to go out and begin testifying after there were endued with that power on the Day of Pentecost.

2. Our Life needs to become a testimony:

Jesus insisted that out life speaks to people all the time about Jesus. More than our talk and our work, it is our character and our conduct that touches people. The key for our testimony is ‘our life’. Our way of living talks a lot of things to the people that our words cannot speak. Our life talks louder than our words.

3. We need to start where we are:

We need to start in Jerusalem that means our area of influence. Jesus was talking about telling people from where God has placed us. Let them believe and let them be filled with the Holy Spirit. Then let them in turn go and tell other people. In turn, let them believe, be filled with the Holy Spirit, and go and tell others. He said it would start in Jerusalem, move out to Judea, then to Samaria, and will not cease until it reaches the uttermost parts of the earth.

The goal Jesus has is ‘the uttermost parts of the earth’. His basic strategy for reaching it was for all of God’s people to become witnesses, witnessing to and winning others. Those, in turn, were to witness and win until, like the expanding ripples from stones cast into a pond, they reached the uttermost part of the earth.

‘Weapon of testimony’ ultimately will cast down Satan’s kingdom in the heaven lies:

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Has a great expectation, that just hearing the word is enough for the request to be granted. As in the centurion, who said “you only need to speak the word, and my servant will be healed.” He did not even ask Jesus to come. His words were enough. (Matt 8:10)

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Acts 19:8-10, “And he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God. But when some were hardened and did not believe but spoke evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyranus. And this continued for two years so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks”.

Paul did an intense, continual and extensive teaching of the Word, which is so important for a breakthrough. Preaching of Paul was intense in the sense that he spoke boldly without reservations. His preaching was continuous. He preached everyday for two years. He did not preach the Word on and off. It was extensive in the sense that his teaching reached out to the whole of the province of Asia.

The first result was supernatural attestation. The Scripture says that God will confirm His Word. He does not confirm human theories. He will confirm that He has said in His Word. Acts 19:11-12 says, “God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them”. I love the word “extraordinary miracles.” Do you know what that implies?

The second result was that the evil spirits were driven out into the open. Acts19: 13-16 says, “Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists book it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches. Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus know, and Paul I know, but who are you?” Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, over powered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.” This account is like a backhanded compliment when the representatives of the Devil say about a preacher. In effect Satan’s agents were saying, ‘This preacher is achieving something’.

The third result of Paul’s preaching was the occult domination over the entire city was broken. Acts 19:17-19, “This became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified, And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds. Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totalled fifty thousand pieces of silver”.

Even in the church world today, we see a lot of folks having one foot in the Kingdom of God and the other in the enemy’s kingdom. These folks need to see the demonstration of the reality of Satan’s power. When Paul preached, the believers brought the books and burned them publicly. The value of the books was fifty thousand silver. One silver is a day’s wages. If you estimate a day’s wage at about $50, then, 50 thousand silver is $2,500,000. What a transformation it will be if the same thing happens in every city in the U.S! Acts 19:20, “The Word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed”. The tremendous power behind all this is the preached word of God. Paul’s ministry had no reservations and no compromise. That is the kind of preaching of the Word of God that accomplishes similar effects. Oh! How much we need that kind of preaching today.

May the Lord raise up Pails in the body of Christ in Jesus name. Amen.

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This is a faith that staggers not at God’s promises. One refuses defeat, and will not take no for an answer. The person speaks out loud to the devil, rebuking him, and releases God into action.

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This weapon of attack is specifically related to the preaching of God’s Word. It is no way related to preaching on any other subjects other than what is in the Word of God.

Paul encourages Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:1-2 says, “I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke and exhort with all longsuffering and teaching.”

First of all the word “charge” is a strong term. Notice the word, “I charge you”. This word “I charge” is used in connection with a solemn testimony in a court of law. It is a legal term. Paul tells Timothy that he is to preach the word with equal urgency when circumstances are favourable and when they are not. It is given in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, in the light of the fact that Christ will judge the living and the dead and in view of His appearing in His kingdom. It is one of the most solemn charges ever given to any servant of God.

Secondly, the charge is to preach the Word. It takes into account the responsibility of the preacher for what he preaches. Jesus will judge the living and the dead indicates the preacher will give an account for the messages he preaches. It is a warning not to preach what the listeners want to hear but instead to preach the truth in love. Paul says in Acts 20:20, “I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house”. In spite of opposition and criticism, the charge is to preach the Word of God.

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