September 25, 2008
LEARN
TO FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT OF THE FAITH
The
battle for our souls and physical body rages all around those who have
completely surrendered their lives to Christ and who are daily working with the
Holy Spirit to follow His directions and to “do the work of ministry”. There
is nothing but pure hatred for the soldiers of the cross of Jesus Christ in the
heart of Satan and his forces. Their only purpose is to “steal, kill, and
destroy” God’s people.
Day
and night the “accuser of the brethren” (Satan) comes before the throne of
God where he demands that he be given PERMISSION to assault, attack, afflict and
even kill the saints of God. The first two chapters in the Book of Job show us
that Satan DOES get PERMISSION from God to try our faith with all sorts of
“afflictions”. The Word says, “Many are the
AFFLICTION of the RIGHTEOUS, but the Lord delivers them out of then all”.
(Psalm 34:19) We are not given in the above text the LENGTH OF TIME that
each of these trials and affliction will last or to their severity.
Those who are truly sold out to the Lord Jesus Christ and their only heart’s
desire is to minister to the Lord by ministering to His people and for the
seeking to lead the lost to a saving knowledge of Christ Jesus, makes them a
PRIME TARGET of the Devil for continual torment, harassment, afflictions and
possible DEATH. You can judge the threat that YOU are to the kingdom of darkness
by HOW MUCH FORCE the Devil uses to try and INTIMIDATE and tries to COMPLETELY
STOP YOU DEAD IN YOUR TRACKS as you strive to lead people to Christ.
With
some people, they are stopped by the least little attack of the enemy in their
lives. With others it takes more to slow them down or hinder their witness. Then
there are those who are truly sold out to God and are going forth on a daily
basis in the power of the Holy Ghost and with the Word of God coming out of
their mouths “like a hammer and like a fire”,(Jeremiah-23:29) doing
major damage to the “work of the devil”. The greater the spiritual threat
that we have upon the kingdom of darkness, the greater the resistance and
warfare that will come back upon us.
The Word says, “Submit yourself to God, RESIST THE
DEVIL and he will flee from you”.
James
4:7
We American Christian are so used to “instant fixes”, that we do not want to
think or believe that any battle with the Devil that we fight will last longer
than a few hours, days or months. But that is not true. Our battles are daily,
weekly, monthly and throughout the remainder of our lives here until Christ
returns. God has made total and complete provision of spiritual weapons to help
us engage the enemy and prevail!
The Word says: “The WEAPONS of our warfare are not
EARTHLY (or weak) but POWERFUL in God…” 2Corinthians 10:4
Knowing that these are heavenly and not earthly weapons, they have the power to
“seek out and destroy” the works of the Devil everywhere we go.
The Word says: “NO WEAPON formed (or used) against us
will (ultimately) prosper…” Isiah 54:17
Without knowing how to use our heavenly WEAPONS properly, Satan’s attacks and
weapon can and will overcome us at times. That is WHY it is so important for us
to read our Bibles with the direct help of the Holy Spirit so that He can help
us “put on the FULL armor of God” for our protection. He will then teach us
how to use the “Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God” to “fight the good
fight of the faith”. He will show us the extreme importance of using the name
and the BLOOD of Jesus as part of our weaponry.
The Word says: “They (the saints) OVERCAME HIM
(Satan) by the BLOOD OF THE LAMB (Jesus) and the words of their testimony…” Revelation
12:11
There is a POWERFUL two-fold purpose of the shed BLOOD OF JESUS in the
ATONEMENT. One was for the complete and total REMISSION (or removal) of all our
sins. Secondly, the BLOOD OF JESUS was for the complete and total REMISSION (or
removal) of all our sicknesses, diseases and illnesses!
We
preach and teach with power and authority the forgiveness of our sins and the
free gift of salvation brought about by the Atonement, but we fail miserably in
preaching and teaching with equal fervency that healing has been provided for us
to RECEIVE in the same simple manner that we receive salvation and that is “by
grace through faith”. We don’t have to come to God on a daily basis, BEGGING
and PLEADING for Him to heal us when He has made all the healing provision that
we will ever need available for us to “RECEIVE” simply “by grace through
faith” in the finished work of Christ on the cross.
The Word says: “The kingdom of God (and God’s
people) SUFFER VIOLENCE, and the VIOLENT TAKE IT BY FORCE…” Matthew
11:12
We have got to work closely with the Holy Spirit on a daily basis to outfit us
with the “full armor of God” and to arm ourselves with “powerful heavenly
weapons” and then show us how to use them where we will become MOST EFFECTIVE
in continuing to do major damage to the kingdom of darkness. The same weapons
that we use to preach the Gospel and to “set the captives free” (in Jesus
name) will be the same weapons that we will use for own lives when we have been
afflicted. God wants to teach us of how to FIGHT FOR OURSELVES and WIN! God
wants us to come together in groups and FIGHT THE DEVIL in the lives of another.
The Word says: “One (saint) can put A THOUSAND
(devils) to flight. Two (saints) can put TEN THOUSANDS (devils) to fleeing from
us…
“When the enemy (Satan) comes in like a FLOOD, the
Spirit of the Lord will raise up a STANDARD against him…”
The STANDARD was a sign pole planted in the ground stating that that place had
now been CLAIMED as being OWNED and MADE A FORTIFIED AND PROTECTED PART OF THE
KINGDOM OF GOD!
We have got to learn how to FIGHT! The Word of God is our “field manual”.
The spiritual weapons of God are His power and authority given to us to FIGHT
FOR OURSLEVES and WIN, and to continue to give us Holy Spirit boldness to
“walk into the enemy’s camp and TAKE BACK what he stole from us…” This
takes men and women sold out completely to God. Men and women who are truly born
again from above and baptized in/with the Holy Spirit and fire. Men and women
who know the Word of God and the God of the Word. Men and women who wear the
full armor of God and know how to FIGHT TO WIN!
There
are people dying!
There
are people waiting!
There
are people needing, the Jesus in you!
Today,
I say to you, “You are that person, You are that conqueror, You are born again
and baptized with fire to do the work God has purposed for you and you alone!
I
say to you now, “Let us put on the armor, lock arms, unite in prayer, unite in
oneness and Spirit and let us follow our leader and King to storm the gates of
hell!
Darrel
Mason