PUTTING ON YOUR GOD GEAR

Voice of Evangelism Outreach Ministries

PO. Box 3595

Cleveland, Tennessee, 37320

(423) 478-3456

Fax: (423) 478-1392

www.perrystone.org

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, scanning, recording or otherwise, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the author.

All Scripture is taken from the New King James Version of the Bible, unless otherwise indicated.

Design and Layout by Michael Dutton • www.atomicpress.com

Cover Illustration by Glen Angus • www.gangus.net

Copyright © 2007 by Voice of Evangelism, Inc.

All rights reserved.

ISBN 978-0-9785920-3-5

First Edition

Printed in the United States of America

Contents

Title Page

Copyright & Permissions

Introduction

Chapter 1: The Greatest Weapon You Have

Is Faith the Greatest Weapon?

Is Prayer the Greatest Weapon?

Is Worship the Greatest Weapon?

Why Obedience is the Best Weapon

The Results of Obedience

Examples of Obedience

Other Scriptures to Study:

Chapter 2: The Whole Armor of God

A Vision of Spiritual Warfare

Armor for Spiritual Warfare

The Context of Paul's Message

Four Kinds of Soldiers

Chapter 3: The Helmet of Salvation

Roman Headgear

Protecting our Thoughts

Protecting our Face

Protecting our Confidence

Chapter 4: The Breastplate of Right Standing

The Protection of Righteousness

The Provision of Righteousness

The Procedure of Righteousness

Chapter 5: The Belt of Truth

The Need for Truth

Truth on Trial

Truth Is Its Own Defense

Securing the Armor

Chapter 6: The Two Lances

Targeting the Enemy

Prayer

Praise and Worship

Chapter 7: The Sword with Two Edges

Using the Sword

Four Swords in Rome

Logos and Rhema

Logos and a Rhema Word Distinguished

A Rhema Is a Sword

The Angel with a Sword

The Two Edges

The Dividing Power of the Sword

Chapter 8: The Shield That Extinguishes

Levels of Faith

Faith vs. Emotions

How to Anoint the Shield for Battle

Quench them Quickly

Anoint Your Faith with the Holy Spirit

Chapter 9: How to Stand in the Battle

Standing Anyway

Elisha

David

The Training Process

The Strengthening Power of Warfare and Wrestling

Maintaining Your Balance

The Peace of God

The Peace of a Balanced Life

The Importance of Endurance, Patience and Longsuffering

Standing Firm in the Face of Evil

Endure with Patience

Chapter 10: Battle Strategies for the Last Days

The Resource of Godly Counsel

Reasons for increased Satanic Activity

Levels of Wickedness

Do Not Lose Heart

Christ's Kingdom Will Prevail

The Roman Army and Churches in America

The Standard

Four Reasons Alexander Was Great

Conclusion

Appendix

Being a Soldier

Parallels with Roman Warfare

David's Defeat of Goliath

The Power of Words

How To Be Saved

Backcover

ILLUSTRATION BY FRANCIS VALLEJO

Introduction

As a child, when I heard people talking about a war between God and Satan, I imagined a tug-of-war with God at one end of a big rope and Satan at the other end. Sometimes God was winning, sometimes Satan was winning. I figured that this battle had been going on for a long, long time.

There was no tug-of-war, of course, because God has already won the war. When Jesus went back to heaven, He sat down as a priest at the right hand of the Father. In the Old Testament, a priest could never sit down until the work on the Day of Atonement was finished. Only then could he sit down and say, "It is finished."

Although the war has been won, there are continuous battles between good angels and bad angels, or between angels of God and what we call principalities and demonic spirits.

Daniel 10 contains an excellent example of an evil spirit wrestling with an angel of God. Daniel fasted and prayed for 21 days. During that time God sent an angel to answer Daniel's prayer, but the angel was hindered as he wrestled an evil angel, called the prince of the kingdom of Persia. The archangel Michael was sent to fight the prince. With Michael's help, the angel was able to get to Daniel and answer his prayer.

In the heavens, Satan is the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2). However, Revelation 12 tells us that one day Michael and his angels will cast Satan and his angels out of the second heaven and into the heavens of the earth. Yes, there are battles; but we know who has won the war.

When I first began to study spiritual warfare, I soon realized that the New Testament speaks a lot about warring and warfare. For example, Scripture reveals where our warfare is and refers to our weapons:

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. – 2 CORINTHIANS 10:3, 4

Scripture also reveals that we can have a war within ourselves:

Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? – JAMES 4:1

The Book of Peter speaks of fleshly lusts that war against the soul. Expositors interpret the soul as the intellect or the mind:

Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. – 1 PETER 2:11

And in the Book of 1st Timothy, the Apostle Paul says:

This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare. –1 TIMOTHY 1:18

In the previous four scripture references, the words war, warring and warfare do not specify that you are fighting a demon or a principality These scriptures are speaking to Christians. Before you accepted Christ, the enemy of your soul blinded you from the truth. There is no doubt that spirits attacked you to keep you from hearing and believing the gospel. But now that you are saved, where is the battle?

The war is with the flesh. Your flesh can contain attitudes of the old nature and old ways of thinking, known as mental strongholds. Controlling the flesh is a serious aspect of spiritual warfare.

With this in mind, Ephesians 6:14-17 tells us that we have armor for our warfare:

the loin girdle of truth

the breastplate of righteousness

shoes of the gospel of peace

the shield-of faith

the helmet of salvation

the sword of the Spirit

When I was a young minister, I believed that warfare involved only principalities and powers – a demon here and an evil spirit there. In fact, I preached on demons so much that they started showing up. Then an experienced minister told me, "If you preach more on Jesus than on demons, Jesus will show up and the demons will leave." Sure enough, once I started preaching more on the Holy Spirit and Jesus Christ, those demonic attacks stopped.

There are people who give their flesh full reign. In many cases, it is not the devil that is causing our problems; it's our own flesh. People will come to church, and instead of enjoying the presence of God, they find something to complain about. Their minds are on what somebody is doing wrong or on things they do not like. Whether it be the air conditioner, the color of the carpet, or the pastor's sermon, people do not appreciate the blessings that God has given them.

I have seen pictures of, and read articles about, Christians in other countries who are being tortured. They are beaten, burned, hung upside- down on poles, and suffer other indignities that are unimaginable to most of us.

Some Christians in America, however, quit serving God over foolish issues. If they lose their job, they get mad at God. If their salary is cut, they do not tithe. When they get sick and pray for healing, they get angry if their miracle does not come immediately.

We are not producing soldiers -we are producing wimps in the body of Christ. A soldier, the Bible says, must learn to endure hardness. A soldier must be able to stand when everything is going the wrong way.

Several verses before Paul describes the armor of God, he affirms the soldier's duty:

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. -EPHESIANS 6:10

The Greek word for "strong" is endunamoo, meaning to be endued with strength. The Greek word for "power" is kratos, meaning a force, a strength that is mighty with great power. Our strength and power is the Lord's strength and power.

In the next verse, Paul tells us how to be strong and with whom we are fighting:

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. – EPHESIANS 6:11

The word "wiles" in the Greek is methodeia, which means a method of schemes using deceit and trickery. The wiles of the devil can be planned months or years before the attack actually hits you. He is a master at setting traps.

Often people do not understand the scheming aspect of Satan's nature. Many think that the sudden breakup of their marriage, the unexpected news of an affair, or the discovery that a brother was in a bar all night drinking is something that even caught God off-guard. But He knows what the enemy is plotting against each of us now for some future attack.

Just after communism fell in the early 1990s, I was preaching in Romania, and a woman told me, "The Lord has showed me that you will soon come under a severe attack." She told me how the preaching of the Word had shaken the principalities and powers in America, and that I needed to be on guard.

After preaching in that city, I went to another city where a different woman told me the same thing. I was convinced that the word was from the Lord, and I wondered what the enemy had planned.

Exactly one year later, a close friend in ministry fell morally. Something happened to my mind and spirit unlike anything I have ever experienced, and I went into a deep state of depression. As I sought the Lord about this tragedy, He unfolded the whole plan of the enemy, and how he set the trap for my dear friend.

Paul said in 2 Corinthians 2:11 that Satan cannot take advantage of us if we are not ignorant of his devices. How do we know Satan's devices? Because God revealed them in His Word. He gave us the story of Samson's fall, Peter's denial, and of Lot. We have examples of Satan's devices from Genesis to Revelation. These stories of men and women who fought and won, or simply failed, reveal Satan's scheming methods.

We also have the Holy Spirit who can reveal to us the plans of the enemy through a vision, a dream, a revelation, a prophetic word, a tongue, or an interpretation. The gifts of the Spirit are given to us to edify us and to build us up, but they are also given because the Holy Spirit is the spy in the enemy's camp.

The Holy Spirit sees and hears what the Enemy is planning in secret. This must really frustrate Satan. In 2 Kings 6, Syria was warring against Israel; but every time the Syrian army laid in wait for Israel's army, the Israelites would not pass by that location. So the Syrian king wanted to know who was spying for Israel.

One of the servants said, "Nobody is spying. Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom" (see 2 Kings 6:12). It is God's people who have a spy, and He can reveal the Enemy's plan to us!

The Enemy might be plotting to destroy you or your family, but if you will listen to the Holy Spirit, He will not only show you the devil's schemes, but He will also make a way of escape (I Corinthians 10:13).

The soldier's duty is to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. The soldier can do this by wearing the whole armor of God. We wear the armor of God because we wrestle against principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this age, and spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12).

Paul listed the six pieces of our armor in detail; but, before we discuss each piece of the armor, let's look at the weapon that the enemy fears the most.

CHAPTER 1

The Greatest Weapon You Have

What would you think is the greatest weapon that we have to fight Satan? Some people believe that the greatest weapon is simply our faith because Hebrews 11:6 says that without faith it is impossible to please God. Yes, faith is absolutely necessary for every spiritual blessing you receive, but is it the greatest weapon? Did you know that even demons have faith and believe that God exists?

You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe — and tremble! – JAMES 2:19

Is Faith the Greatest Weapon?

Satan and his demons do not have a saving faith, however, for their sin is that of blasphemy, which cannot be forgiven. There is pride, failure, and blasphemy in Satan and his demons. However, the Bible tells us that demons believe. I've got news for you, evil spirits have more faith than many Christians have!

For example, some preachers tell people there is no such thing as hell. They teach that heaven exists, but hell does not. In Luke 8, Jesus was casting demons out of the man of Gadara when the demons "begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss" (v. 31).

The Greek word for "abyss" is abussos, and is found in the Book of Revelation. It means "fathomless or measureless." It is a place under the earth where Satan and demonic powers will one day be confined. How did demons know this place exists? Isaiah describes the fall of Lucifer:

For you have said in your heart: "will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High." Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.

– ISAIAH 14:33-15

This prophecy indicates that demons will be confined -to the lower compartments of the earth, or hell, one day. Hundreds .of years later, demons possessing the man of Gadara believed in, and recognized, the existence of an underworld. Demons believe that God exists and, unlike some Christians, believe that hell exists also.

Some so-called Christians deny the deity of Jesus Christ. There are priests and pastors of liberal churches who deny that Jesus is the Son of God. They say He was a good man, He was a good teacher, and His precepts are wonderful; but, He was not the Son of God. Yet, even demons believe that Jesus was the Son of God:

And suddenly they cried out, saying, "What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?" – MATTHEW 8:29

Unclean spirits, whenever they saw Him, fell down before Him . . . saying, "You are the Son of God. " – MARK 3:11

And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, "You are the Christ, the Son of God!" And He, rebuking them, did not allow them to speak, for they knew that He was the Christ. – LUKE 4:41

These examples show people who were controlled by evil spirits. When Jesus showed up, the demons inside them said, "I know who you are—the Son of the living God."

Imagine people today who are created in God's image, who have the revelation of Scripture and who read the Bible, but still say that Jesus is not God's Son! Yet demons recognize that He is the Son of God.

What about believing the Word of God? Some people pick and choose, with what I call "salad bar" Christianity. They say, "I'll take this and this, but I do not like that. So I will ignore it." These people claim to be Christians and they read the Bible, but they pick and choose what they want to believe.

Reverend T.L. Osborne saw a man carrying a Bible that was all cut up. Osborne asked him why he had cut up his Bible. "Every time my pastor tells us that a certain verse is not for us today, I cut it out," he said. The man had removed verses on tongues and healing because his pastor told him those things were not for us today.

According to Matthew 4 and Luke 4, when Satan tempted Jesus, he quoted the Word of God. The devil invited Jesus to jump off the Temple, hundreds of feet high, to prove He was the Messiah. Satan quoted Psalm 91:11,12:

For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest at anytime you dash your foot against a stone.

In the original Hebrew, the words lest at anytime are not there; but in the Septuagint, the old Hebrew Bible translated into Greek, it was added-as seen in the King James Version of the New Testament. This is how Satan quoted the passage. He knows every scripture in the Bible; he just refuses to accept the Word.

So, we talk about faith being the greatest weapon. If it is, how do we explain that demons believe in hell, believe that Jesus is the Son of God and can quote the Bible, yet they do not have saving faith? The Book of Hebrews states:

Indeed the gospel was preached to us as well ac to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. – HEBREWS 4:2

Faith is not the weapon Satan fears most.

Is Prayer the Greatest Weapon?

Maybe the greatest weapon is prayer, because in the Book of Matthew, Jesus said:

Where two or three are gathered together in My name, lam there in the midst of them. – MATTHEW18:20

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find knock, and it will be opened to you. – MATTHEW 7:7

Matthew has a lot of promises about God hearing our prayers, and James talks about praying with nothing wavering, so is prayer the greatest weapon? I will tell you without a doubt that prayer is a powerful communication tool and a powerful weapon.

Jesus met a man possessed by demon spirits. When He confronted the demon spirits in the man, they besought Jesus to not send them out of the country, but to send them into the swine instead (Matthew 8:31, Mark 5:10). You have read those verses many times and you have heard teachings on them. But do you realize it was a prayer that the demons prayed to Jesus, and that Jesus answered it? Think about that!

The demons in this man of Gadera besought Jesus; we would say they "requested something of Jesus. What is prayer? It is a request. Here, spirits are asking, "If you would, do not send us out of the territory we are familiar with. Do not send us into the deep; just let us go into the pigs."

The Jews did not raise pork. Mark 5 says there were thousands of pigs being raised on the other side of the Sea of Galilee. I learned during a trip to Israel that there was once a temple of Zeus on that side of the lake, and that the area was saturated with the Roman and Greek culture.

The Greek offerings at their temples were pigs. Just like God asked for a lamb, the Greeks would offer pigs on the altar. So these pigs were being raised to be sacrificed on the altar of the temple of Zeus. This may be why the demons wanted to go into them-they figured that they would be idolized.

Demons want to be worshiped, but what they did not expect was that when they got into the pigs, nearly 2,000 of them would commit suicide by drowning themselves in the lake.

Here's the point. Jesus answered the request of the spirits and allowed them to go into the swine. Is the weapon of prayer powerful? Yes, but demons know how to pray-they understand petitioning as a weapon. So, prayer is not the weapon that Satan fears most. Could it be praise and worship? The Book of Psalm says:

Let the saints be joyful in glory; let them sing aloud on their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance on the nations, and punishments on the peoples; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute on them the written judgment-this honor have all His saints. Praise the Lord –PSALM 149:5-9

We know that praise confuses the enemy. In 2 Chronicles 20, three different nations united and went to war against Judah. King Jehoshaphat sent a group of worshipers out before his army, and the enemy became confused and confounded! They killed each other!

Acts 16 says that Paul and Silas were locked up in prison. At midnight, they began to sing praises to God. Everyone in the prison heard them. God was sitting on His throne and He heard them. I imagine He started tapping His foot. Because the earth is His footstool (Isaiah 66:1), the big toe of His tapping foot hit the jailhouse and knocked it off its foundation!

Paul and Silas were set free! The mistake the devil made was to put two Spirit-filled men in the same jailhouse. Remember that when two or more are gathered together in His name, God is in their midst?

Bible scholars tell us that the following scriptures refer to Satan who, at one time, was the anointed cherub with some sort of musical ability, because pipes and tablets were created within him:

You were in Eden, the garden of God every precious stone was your covering: the sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. Be workmanship of your timbrels and pipes was prepared for you on the day you were created. You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God you walked back and forth in the midst fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you. –EZEKIEL 28:13-15

Is Worship the Greatest Weapon?

Satan understands worship. This also explains why he understands and uses the power of Satanic music. Just as the wrong kind of music can elicit sinful behavior, powerful anointed music can set you free. When David played a harp in front of Saul, the evil spirit departed and he was refreshed and made well (I Samuel 16:23).

Worship is definitely a weapon. Psalm 149 tells us that worship can bind principalities and loose fetters. But worship is not the weapon Satan fears most. So, we have discovered that prayer, quoting scripture, and worship are all weapons. We could discuss many more weapons, but what is the one weapon that, when the enemy sees it, makes him think, "Now I'm in trouble!"?

The key is found in I Samuel chapter 15. Samuel was a prophet that God raised up from the time he was a young boy, during a period when Israel was corrupt and there was no open vision. The people wanted a king to rule over them, just like all the other nations. God yielded to their request and told Samuel to anoint Saul of Kish.

Saul did not seem too interested in being king. He almost had an inferiority complex. When the Holy Spirit anointed Saul, God turned the hearts of a band of men towards him, and they supported him. This time, Saul obeyed God.

Years earlier, when Moses led the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage, a shortcut passed through the area of the Amalekites. Moses asked permission to take the Israelites through their land, but they said no. The Amalekites were descended from Amalek, the grandson of Esau.

A feud between Amalek and Esau started hundreds of years before, and was still going on with a lot of animosity between the two tribes. When Moses turned back to lead the Israelites away, the Amalekites attacked the feeble and weaker ones of Israel that lagged behind. God became angry that Amalek would attack old and weak people, and prey on the innocent.

Then the Lord said to Moses, "Write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven." – EXODUS 17:14

Hundreds of years went by and nothing happened. Finally God said to Saul, through Samuel:

Thus says the Lord of hosts: "I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel . . . he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not pare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey. " –1 SAMUEL 15:2,3

This judgment sounds very harsh, but these tribal nations worshiped false gods, and some of the Hebrews would intermarry with these godless nations. God was harsh and severe because He was trying to keep the lineage of the Savior pure for all mankind.

Archaeologists have discovered evidence that sexually-transmitted diseases raged among those tribal nations back then. God was wiping out the diseases so that the diseases would not wipe out the Hebrews. We do not wipe people out like they did then, but thank God, they did.

Saul took 210,000 soldiers and destroyed the Amalekites, but he kept King Agag alive, as well as the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves, and the lambs. The Bible does not say why Saul kept the king alive, but I think Saul might have been showing off that he had conquered that nation. In those days, they would put a rope around the neck of the conquered king and walk him around among the people as a trophy.

God told Samuel that King Saul did not fulfill the commandment, and that he had kept some of the spoil. Confronted by Samuel, King Saul said:

I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal. – 1 SAMUEL 15:20,21

They spared the best so they could sacrifice it. Sounds good, doesn't it? Today we give money, back then they gave animals. So, why did God become angry with Saul for this incident and take the kingdom from him? Had Israel obeyed God, gone back to their own flock, and taken their own lamb and their own ox and offered it to God, then God would not have been angry.

They were cheapskates, however. They took someone else's animals to offer to God. That would be like a pastor asking for an offering and you poking your neighbor and asking for five bucks. If you did that, guess who would get the blessing? Not you!

God was angry because they did not give what belonged to them. The offering they gave cost them nothing. David said he would not give to God what did not cost him. They took someone else's stuff and said, "Do not kill my lamb; use that other lamb. We can take their animals and put them on the altar." Basically, God is saying, "'This is not how I operate the kingdom." Samuel said to Saul:

Has the Lord us pat delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcra8, and stubbornness is us iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.

–1 SAMUEL 15:22, 23

Why Obedience is the Best Weapon

Obedience to God is better than a blood offering! What God wants and what Satan fears most is your obedience! The Hebrew word for "obey" in this chapter is shama, meaning to hear intelligently and with attention. In Greek, the word obedience means to pay attention and to hearken.

How obedient are you? You would be shocked if you knew how many times you did not listen and obey. Let's say you are tired. You have been working most of the day, and it's time for church. Your spirit says you need to be in church tonight; your body says, "You're going to have to take a shower, shampoo your hair, shave, and you don't really have anything to wear."

You do not believe we're in a battle? Watch how many times you go to church on Sunday nights. How many times did God have a word for you, but you were not there? I have a poster that says, "What you did not hear could have changed things." When you failed to show up, the preached revelation did you no good. Sometimes you just need a word from God to change your situation.

How about witnessing? You are sitting at a table with co-workers. Someone makes an improper statement that goes against the grain of everything you know is right. Instead of speaking up, you remain silent because you do not want to offend anyone. What is said goes into the atmosphere and into the hearts of the people.

I guarantee you can see your level of obedience every time your pastor takes the offering. Some say, "I give, but I have not seen my breakthrough yet." What are you giving? The same measure you give is measured back to you. A Grant wont produce a Washington. Give a Washington and God will bless you with a Washington.

Two bills, printed the same day at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, were having a conversation. The $1bill asked the $50 dollar bill, "Man, where have you been?" The $50 bill said, "I've been all over the world-the finest restaurants in America, five-star hotels, amusements parks, etc. Where haven't I been! Where have you been?"

The one-dollar bill replied, "It's the strangest thing! I don't seem to go anywhere but church!"

We often struggle with obedience because we do not understand that God cannot, by His Word, release something into your life until you have first been obedient. Do you think God is going to work over your will when you did not obey?

Obedience is better than sacrifice. We are the only creation that does not always obey. In Matthew 8:27, storms obey His word. In Mark 1:27 demons obey His word. Hebrews 1:3 says all things in the physical world are held up by the word of His power. Demons know how to obey Him, storms know how to obey Him, sickness knows how to obey Him, creation knows how to obey Him.

Humans are created in His image, yet they are the only beings that get stubborn. We talk about fasting, praying, worshiping and do it all. Satan watches us go through the formulas and rituals, but when we begin to obey God, the devil knows he is in trouble. Obedience is faith in action.

The Results of Obedience

James 2:17 says that faith without works is dead. That does not mean you work to get salvation; it means that faith without action is dead. Many times, Jesus asked people to do something before He answered their prayer. He asked for the person's obedience first.

To the man with the withered hand, Jesus said, "'Stretch out your hand.' And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other" (Matthew 12:13). To the paraplegic man lying in bed, Jesus said, "Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house" (Matthew 9:6). Then the man stood up on his feet.

Jesus is telling us to do something first, to step out in faith, to make the effort to do what He asks. In John 9:6, 7, Jesus put a mud pack on a blind man's eyes, then told him to go wash. Well, that sounds silly. First, why spit on the ground and make a mud pack? Secondly, if the man is blind, how can he go down to the pool to wash? Jesus is saying, "I have done something that will give you a breakthrough; now you do something that shows you believe it is going to work."

In Luke17:11–19, Jesus told some leprous men to go show themselves to the priest. 'Those 10 lepers could have responded by saying, "What? Don't you know the law of Moses? We should stay 100 paces away from people. We should not even be here talking to you. And you are telling us to go to Jerusalem?" Instead, they did as Jesus commanded; and as they went, they were cleansed.

In 2 Kings 5, Elisha told Naaman, a leper, to go and dip in the Jordan River seven times. Naaman became furious and said, "I could have stayed in Syria and bathed in two clean rivers coming off the mountain. Why do I have to come to this muddy Jordan?" His servants replied:

"If the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, 'Wash, and be clean?" So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. – 2 KINGS 5:13,14

We want God to tell us to do something big. We would like to hear Him say to us, "Yea, I call thee to stand before the President of the United States and prophesy. Yea, I have called you to Africa to hold crusades with a million people." We want one big thing; and if God will ask one big thing, we will do it.

He is not looking for us to do the big thing until we first do the little thing. We are not going through a big door until we first go through a little door. He is not going to bless us with a lot until we are faithful with a little.

When the Lord called me to preach, I did not start preaching in big churches-they did not know me from Adam. I was a kid preacher. What can a kid preacher do in a 1,000-member church? Ministers would ask, "Will you come over and preach to our youth group?" Usually, 25, 30, maybe 50 would show up. But when God saw me being faithful with 50, He gave me 500. When God saw I was faithful with 500, he gave me 5,000.

Thinking we have done it all, we want God to bless us now, over one little thing we have done! Obedience is not a one-time drop in the plate, a one-time prayer, or one day of fasting. Obedience is a lifestyle!

Examples of Obedience

There are many examples in the Gospels of people acting on their faith. Here are some people who acted on their faith . . . and got Jesus' attention.

Four Friends

In Mark 2, four men carried a paralytic man to be healed.

When they could not come near [Jesus] because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. SO when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you. I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house. "

– MARK 2:4, 5, I1

The men removed the roof because the house was too crowded to get in any other way. Jesus saw their faith. He did not feel it; He did not hear it. He saw their action, and their action demonstrated that they believed.

Bartimaeus

In Mark 10:46-52, blind Bartimaeus learned that Jesus was in a crowd passing by, so he yelled, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" When Jesus called for him, the first thing Bartimaeus did was to throw his cloak aside. Now, this was a significant action.

Bartimaeus' name gives clues to his background. "Bar" is Greek for son. "Timaeus" means "noble one, rich one, or notable person." So his name meant "son of a notable man." Some of Bartimaeus' family members were probably rulers in Jericho or a town nearby; but he was blind, and his family had, more or less, rejected him. In those days, people believed that if you were blind, you had sinned.

Bartimaeus was given an official beggar's garment so everyone would know he was a legitimate beggar and not a con man just trying to make a few bucks. When Bartimaeus cast aside his garment, he was implying, "I'm leaving behind, in the dust, this cloak that identifies me as a blind man. I'm about to be healed!"

When Jesus saw him put aside his garment, Jesus thought, This man really believes. Jesus healed him!

A Woman with an Issue of Blood

In Mark 5:25–34, the woman with the issue of blood said to herself, "If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well." She was not supposed to be in the crowd, according to the Law of Moses. But she decided to sneak up behind Jesus and touch His clothes.

When she touched the hem of His garment, she pulled out "virtue", meaning power. She pulled out the anointing of the Holy Spirit! She did something first, and then she was healed.

Years ago, an evangelist with a healing ministry had a separate tent for those with severe conditions or who were near death. He sent someone to tell these people,

The evangelist will come in here in a few moments to pray for you. He wanted me to tell you that God wants to see your faith. For God to see your faith, start doing anything you can do. Move apart of your body you can move; show the Lord you believe that when the evangelist prays for you, the Lord is going to heal you.

It is recorded that when people did not obey, they would not be healed. But everytime someone would do something-praise God or whatever- the evangelist knew they were showing their faith to the Lord. He would pray for them, and they would be healed. In effect, they were saying, "Lord, that man told me to do something, and I am showing You what I can do so You can do what I cannot do-and that is to heal me!"

A gentleman working with the evangelist recalled a girl who was paralyzed from the neck down, from a car accident. She was taken to the meeting on a stretcher. When the evangelist said, "Move what you can move," she moved her eyes to the left, the right, up and down.

As the minister came in, he noticed this girl moving her eyes, and he knew she was demonstrating faith. He asked the girl, "Do you believe God can heal you?" She said, "Yes, I'm moving what I can move, I'm moving what I can move."

The minister laid hands on her and the power of God shot into her like electricity. She said, "I feel something moving down my spine like electricity." She shouted out Jesus' name, slid her body off the stretcher, got to her feet, and started running around the tent. She was completely healed by the power of God!

This story teaches that God wants to see action from us. Often, we simply pray and wait for God to do something. The Lord is saying, "You asked of Me, now you do this. If YOU will, I will answer your prayer." Job gives us yet another verse on obedience:

If they obey and serve Him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures. But if they do not obey, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall die without knowledge. – JOB 36:11, 12

Gehazi

One more thing in the story of Naaman (2 Kings 5). When he was healed, he wanted to give Elisha gold and silver, but the prophet refused a gift. Elishds servant, named Gehazi, followed Naaman and asked him secretly:

Indeed, just now two young men of the sons of the prophets have come to me fiom the mountains of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two changes of garments. -2 KINGS 5:22

Naaman gave gifts to Gehazi, and when the servant returned, Elisha asked him where he had been. "Your servant did not go anywhere," he said. Elisha told Gehazi his heart followed him when he chased after Naaman's chariots. Elisha then prophesied that leprosy would cling to the greedy servant and to all his descendants forever.

In 2 Kings 8, a Shunammite woman who had left the country during a seven-year famine, returned and petitioned the king to get her property back. Gehazi was telling the king about the great things Elisha had done when she came in with her request.

Because Gehazi could testify that the woman's story was true, and that Elisha had raised her son from the dead, the king restored her land and all it had produced during those seven years.

Remember, Gehazi had left Elisha as a leper. According to Moses' Law, he was forced to live outside the city, away from the general population. So what is he doing here, three chapters later, after a seven-year famine, telling the king of a miracle he had witnessed? Well, obviously he no longer had leprosy.

Chapter 7 tells of four lepers at the gate of a beseiged city. One morning at daybreak, they were on their way to give themselves up to their attackers when they came upon the enemy camp, obviously abandoned in haste. God had caused them to hear the sound of a great army, and they fled in fear, leaving behind all their possessions, including their gold and silver. After plundering the camp, they reported the incident to the king, rather than keeping the spoils to themselves.

Jewish history says the four lepers were Gehazi and his three sons. Gehazi must have said, "Doing the wrong thing got me in trouble the last time. I'm going to do what's right this time!" Because Gehazi obeyed God, the curse on him and his family was reversed. He shows up in chapter 8 in the company of the king.

Obedience is key. Learn to obey when the altar call is given; when it is time to witness; when it is time to give. When you obey in little things, God will start opening doors that will astonish you, because He knows He can trust you to hear and obey Him.

Other Scriptures to Study:

Romans 6:16

Obedience brings righteousness.

Romans 16:19,20

Obedience causes Satan to be bruised under your feet.

2 Corinthians 10:5,6

Strongholds and imaginations are subject to your obedience.

1 Peter 1:2

Obedience brings sanctification, or separation from the sinful nature.

Hebrews 13:7

Obedience to spiritual authority is for your own good.

CHAPTER 2

The Whole Armor of God

Some time ago, the Holy Spirit impressed me that if the body of Christ did not learn how to put on the whole armor of God, how to operate it, and how to go to battle wearing it, the body of Christ would take a severe beating by the Enemy in the near future.

I want to share with you a portion of a vision a young man received sometime in the 1970s. The vision was about end-time, spiritual warfare.

A Vision of Spiritual Warfare

In the vision, he saw an enormous army marching toward a huge field of beautiful wheat. The soldiers were confident and appeared to be great warriors. Each had a sword and a shield. Suddenly, vultures appeared in the sky. (According to Mark 4, birds can represent evil spirits.) The vultures began to throw missiles and stones at the army.

The stones represented hidden stumbling-blocks. On each stone was written a person's name and what his hindrance was-for example, unbelief, unforgiveness, hatred or strife. The vultures would drop the stones in the middle of the wheat field where no one could see them.

Then the vultures hurled the missiles at the army. The missiles were on fire, and each fiery dart was assigned to burn up a soldier's shield. After a soldier's shield was hit, that soldier would seek protection by hiding behind another soldier's shield.

At first, the whole army fought as one; however, as the soldiers started to lose their protection, the army began to separate into groups.

He saw a child trying to hide behind his grandmother's shield. The two of them were playing, when suddenly a missile hit the grandchild, severely injuring him. The grandmother began praying and trying to protect her grandchild with her shield.

As the army moved into the wheat field, soldiers began tripping over the stones that the vultures had thrown. They would be injured by their fill, and lay down their shields. In this vulnerable position, the vultures would hit them with another missile. Wounded and limping, they had a difficult time staying in their own group.

Soon, there were no more groups, and individuals were attempting to fight alone.

Suddenly, at the end of the battle, a powerful army of God appeared. They dug trenches and the warfare became intense. 'This righteous army locked their shields together as they stood fast against the enemy. In the midst of the fighting, the soldiers could see the new city, the Holy Jerusalem, away in the background.

Armor for Spiritual Warfare

The man who saw this vision was a teenager at the time. As he shared it with me, I knew it was a vision of the end times. I believe, with all of my heart, that the closer we are to the return of the Lord, the more thoroughly we must understand the whole armor of God. Paul wrote about it in Ephesians 6.

A lot of people today are being taken down spiritually because of stumbling blocks and fiery darts from the enemy. They are being tested and tempted with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. They do not know how to fight. They do not know how to use the armor of God.

These people stand in every prayer line. They can get prayed for until the hair on their heads is worn off; but until they learn to wear the helmet of salvation, those prayers do them no good. Too many depend on a person to bring them deliverance, when God has already provided a way to prevent the attacks from successfully injuring them.

Here is what Paul wrote about the armor of God:

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness 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.

Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God – EPHESIANS 6:10-17

The Book of Ephesians was the first major letter Paul wrote from prison. In those days, a political prisoner was placed in a dungeon. There, he was chained between two guards who were wearing Roman armor. While Paul was writing a letter to the church at Ephesus, the Holy Spirit gave him an analogy of the armor of God. He wrote about it in his letter.

The Context of Paul's Message

This revelation was written to the church at Ephesus, most likely because idolatry and occult activity heavily dominated the city. The huge temple of Diana was located in this city. Temples were built in honor of idol gods, and contained shrines made of wood, gold and silver.

Paul knew the city was controlled by principalities and demonic power, so he told the believers they needed to wear the whole armor of God in order to deal with the types of spirits coming against their church.

The Book of Ephesians can be divided into three distinct sections

The work of God in the life of a Christian (chapters 1-3)

The walk of faith in the life of a Christian (chapters 4, 5)

The warfare with the spirit-world in the life of the Christian (chapter 6)

We are to sit in heavenly places with Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6). Paul wrote from a prison and said he was sitting in heavenly places with Christ Jesus. How can someone sit in heavenly places when there are rats all around, when the smell of human sewage permeates the air, when they are mocked by the guards, and when the air at night is bone-chilling cold?

Paul could say he was seated in heavenly places. Although his circumstances might determine his happiness, they could never determine his joy in the Lord. We are told to sit in heavenly places regardless of what situation we are in, and what is going on around us.

We are to walk worthy of our calling, walk in love, walk as children of light and walk circumspectly. In the process of walking, we will have battles; and in these battles, we are to stand.

Four Kinds of Soldiers

Before proceeding further, let me share an observation from my many years in the ministry. I believe that anyone who is a Christian is a soldier, but I have seen basically four different kinds of soldiers.

The first category of spiritual soldiers is made up of those who know nothing about the armor of God. Not only are they always being beaten up by the enemy, they also beat up on other Christians often, with such things as criticism, gossip and complaints.

The second category contains those who know about the armor of God, but they absolutely refuse to wear it. They prefer to fight on their own and with their own weapons instead. This is foolishness; it always leads to defeat.

The third category includes the soldiers who wear some, but not all, of the armor. They may have victory in half of their lives and be victorious half of the time, but they are always half exposed and vulnerable to the enemy's attacks.

The fourth category encompasses those Christians who wear the entire armor of God and actually know how to use it. These Christians  have battles just like everyone else, but they have fewer battles and they come through victoriously.

Spiritual warfare is a chilling reality for the true child of God. Although it is as old as sin itself, the topic is as current as tomorrow's headlines. It is as important as any message of the gospel.

While the gigantic battles with cosmic consequences play out in the arena of nations every day, Spirit-filled Christians want to know how to overcome the demonic forces of evil that attack them and all they do every day. The Bible outlines how we are to be equipped for this important activity.

CHAPTER 3

The Helmet of Salvation

In our safety-conscious society, many state legislatures have passed helmet laws for motorcycle riders, mandating that if you ride a motorcycle without a helmet, you are in violation of the law. In spite of the demonstrated record of this saving lives, some feel it is an unnecessary intrusion of government into our lives.

We all begin life without a helmet. It feels good to breeze through life without any restrictions, living any way you want to live, going where you want to go, doing whatever feels good, with no one to tell you where you are wrong.

God's helmet law is different from man's, however. It doesn't require everyone to wear this vital and important helmet; but when you come to Christ, you are automatically fitted with the helmet of salvation. Paul writes about it in Ephesians 6.

This piece of armor, worn by Roman soldiers called centurians, was striking in appearance.

Roman Headgear

This helmet was made of polished metal and had brass accents. It featured a forehead rim and ear-flap protectors that kept the forehead and cheeks safe. A protective tail in the rear sheltered the base of the neck. The most striking feature was a red, horse-hair crest that was worn only by centurians. Troopers-soldiers of lesser rank-wore the helmet without the crest.

The Roman centurian looked regal as he sat astride his steed, fully dressed in his armor. The helmet's purpose, however, was for more than just looks. A description of the Roman soldier's helmet will help us understand how the helmet of salvation works for us.

The soldier's helmet protected four areas of the head.

First, the bowl protected the top of the head from blows.

Second, the neck guard protected the back of the neck.

Third, the crown guard protruded from the helmet and protected the forehead, the face and the nose from downward strikes coming from above the head.

Fourth, there were the cheek protectors. They were attached to the helmet and rested in front of the cheeks. These protectors could be secured together at the bottom for a snug fit against the sides of the face. This gave improved protection of the cheeks and the jaw.

Protecting our Thoughts

Ephesians 6:17 tells us to put on the helmet of salvation. It is interesting to note that we are to cover our minds with the gospel of salvation. The mind includes the intellect, the emotions and the will. We are to protect all three with the gospel of salvation.

The helmet protects the head, the seed of our thought life. Satan bombards us with fear, hatred, suspicion, depression, mistrust, false doctrines, and a host of other mental distractions.

The helmet of salvation guards our minds and thought processes. Scripture teaches that all of our spiritual battles take place in our minds:

I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

– ROMANS 7:23

Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds. . . . But now He has reconciled you by Christ? physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation. – COLOSSIANS 1:21, NIV

Since we are told to "put on" the helmet of salvation, how can we do this?

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. – ROMANS 12:2

You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

– EPHESIANS 4:22-24, NIV

Keep your helmet on, and lies from the enemy will not affect you. Without your helmet of salvation, all of this junk from the enemy will get into your mind. Find out what God says about your situation and renew your mind with His Words. When we put on the helmet of salvation, we are covering our minds with all that Jesus purchased for us on the Cross and by His resurrection. Here is what fills our minds when we wear the helmet of salvation:

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy- meditate on these things.

– PHILIPPIANS 4:8

Protecting our Face

We often assume that the helmet of salvation protects only the mind. This helmet also protects the jaw, an essential part of the body used for eating. A Roman soldier with a broken jaw could not eat solid foods and would become weak from the lack of proper nourishment. Likewise, the Christian soldier needs to be able to eat solid spiritual food in order to be an effective soldier.

Another function of the jaw is to enable us to speak. The Bible says that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. How does salvation within a person begin?

For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. – ROMANS 10:10

The word "heart" in this verse is not the heart that pumps blood. The heart is the mind and intellect. We cannot be saved unless we believe the gospel with our mind and confess it with our mouth. The Bible says God has given us a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). We are to be transformed by renewing our minds (Romans 12:2). The word renewing means to renovate.

It is like a house that is in disrepair. The walls have collapsed, there are broken windows, and the carpets are dirty and stained. When you renovate a house, you do not fix only the walls and leave everything else as is. You renovate the entire house.

So, when we renovate our mind, we renovate every area of our thinking. We change how we think about other people. We change how we think about our family. We change how we think about God. Helmets could take blows from an ax and not be dented, cracked, or penetrated. The soldier could feel the hit, but the weapon would not touch his skin.

The enemy will hit you with thoughts like, "You wouldn't be going through these hard times if God really loved you." Or "If God loves you, why hasn't He healed you yet?" If you are not wearing your helmet, you will begin to believe those lies.

Protecting our Confidence

A Roman helmet kept the head upright. We do not see this as readily today because helmets are made differently than they were in the old days. In Paul's day, a Roman helmet would cover the head and the bottom would drape down over the shoulders to help keep the head up in all circumstances.

Putting on the helmet of salvation means you can hold your head high with confidence and face Satan without fear. Your salvation is what helps you to hold your head up high when the enemy thinks he has defeated you.

A Roman helmet was instrumental in confusing the enemy. Before a soldier would put his helmet on and carefully go forth into battle, he would anoint the helmet with oil. The purpose of this was to make it shine brightly and blind his enemy. The helmet was polished with oil also, to make the metal slick or slippery. This caused the blows of swords, war clubs or battle-axes to be deflected on impact.

When our salvation is anointed with the Holy Spirit, this spiritual experience serves to confuse the enemy. Satan can sometimes second- guess us and attempt to "cut off' our attempts to defeat him. However, the devil cannot read the mind of the Spirit! As the Spirit blinds him, he becomes confused in his attacks on us!

Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

– ROMANS 8:26,27

Another purpose of anointing a helmet with oil was to keep it from corroding. The anointing of the Holy Spirit keeps our spiritual condition from deteriorating. When we experienced the new birth, we were born (again) to last! We have confidence in eternal salvation as we keep our eyes on the goal and the prize that awaits us (see Philippians 3:14).

When you live under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, Satan cannot get to you easily. It is important for your life to be anointed by the presence of the Holy Spirit, just as your heart is anointed by being washed in the blood of the Lamb. This double cure, this double anointing, keeps you safe from Satan's wrath.

Don't stay in the rear with the gear; put on the full armor of Christ and join the battle!

CHAPTER 4

The Breastplate of Right Standing

The Roman soldier's breastplate was made up of small metal plates tied together in a fashion similar to how roof tiles are placed on a roof. Then, the armor was placed over the shoulders to protect both the front and back of the soldier. ?he bottom of the armor was tied to the belt.

"Breastplate" is the Greek word thorax, and literally translates as "heart protector." The main purpose of the breastplate is to give protection to the heart and the other vital organs. This also describes the spiritual armor. The breastplate of righteousness protects your heart.

In spiritual warfare, the believer needs protection for his heart. Jesus once said, "Out of the abundance [the overflow] of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matthew 12:34).If your heart is not right, the rest of your life will not be right either. In spiritual warfare, we need to be aware of the Enemy and be sure our hearts are directed by God and not given over to the devil.

The Protection of Righteousness

Satan is straightforward in his attack on our righteousness. He knows our minds are vulnerable to doubts and distractions. So his strategy is to cause us to doubt, to cause us to question. He wants us to question our commitment.

In the New Testament, righteousness is a source of personal protection against these onslaughts. The apostle Paul compared our righteousness to a garment that must be worn for protection.

Put off concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

– EPHESIANS 4:22-24

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires. And do not offer any parts of it to sin as weapons for unrighteousness. But as those who are alive from the dead, offer yourselves to God, and all the parts of yourselves to God as weapons for righteousness. – ROMANS 6:12, 13, HCSB

The breastplate covered the chest, the upper abdomen, the shoulders and the back. It is significant to note that the breastplate was designed with several pieces of layered metal. It has been taught that the back was open and therefore vulnerable to attack.

After extensive study on the Roman armor, I have learned that the back area was indeed covered with metal and leather straps that secured the entire armor around the soldier. This design allowed for freedom of movement.

If the breastplate had been made of only one, two or even three pieces of metal, the soldier's mobility would have been restricted. He would have had the agility of the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz. The Roman soldier's breastplate enabled him to move freely, and to use his shield and sword with a great range of movement. Righteousness is not defined as being rigid and obstinate.

When we accept Christ as personal Savior, we are to turn from our wicked ways and live righteously according to the Word and the will of God. We are not created as clones or robots, who are forced to follow man's list of strict behavioral codes.

The Provision of Righteousness

The main section of the breastplate was designed with nine horizontal strips of metal. What is the significance of the number nine? The Gifts of the Spirit and the fruits of the Spirit are nine in number. The gifts and fruits can only operate through someone who is righteous.

The Roman breastplate protected the vital organs, including the heart. The significance for the Christian is that God's righteousness protects our heart, or our inner man. When the enemy throws a dart at us, we may get a thought like, "You're not worthy of God's favor and you're not worthy of what you're asking of Him." When this happens, we can simply say, "I know I'm not worthy on my own, but I'm saved and my sins were washed away by the blood of the Lamb, and that is what makes me worthy!"

The enemy may shoot arrows at us and say, "You know what you did. What a hypocrite you are! If only people knew what you really are." But we can say, "Oh, devil, you don't know who you're talking to! I think the dude you're looking for died and got crucified with Christ a few years ago. Sorry, you've come knocking on the wrong door!"

Another interesting fact is that the fabric portion of the soldier's armor that hung from the breastplate-we'll call it the cape-was red. It wasn't green, blue, or any other color. The color red was significant because, if the enemy hit the soldier and made him bleed, the victim would bleed on a red-colored garment and it would be difficult for the enemy to see. If the enemy saw the soldier was bleeding, it gave him energy and confidence that he was winning the battle.

For the Christian, however, red represents the blood of Jesus. The Christian is covered by His blood. When the enemy strikes the Christian and tries to see if we have been wounded, there is so much of the blood of Jesus that he cant tell whose blood he is seeing!

The Procedure of Righteousness

Some righteous people are happy while some are serious, some are talkative and some are quiet. Some wear wild clothing and others wear conservative clothing. What I'm saying is that God does not destroy our personality when He saves us. His righteousness allows us to be righteous and flexible at the same time.

Righteousness-our right standing with God- gives us mobility in our personality. This allows us to be ourselves. We become new creations in Christ, but the traits in our personality remain. We shouldn't feel that God does not approve of various personalities.

For example, Jesse Duplantis is a humorous man who uses humor when he preaches. The Bible says a merry heart does good, like medicine (see Proverbs 17:22). It would be tragic if he spoke without humor and with the stiffness of a robot. The same could be said of Joyce Meyer.

When I grew up, being right with God seemed to mean that you had to be sad, wear a specific style of clothing and behave a certain way. There were certain things you could not do, and other things you had to do. There was an over-emphasis on preaching against things people thought were sinful, such as women cutting their hair.

We did things we thought would make us look better before God. ?he prevailing attitude then was that righteousness made you rigid. Condemnation was mistaken for righteousness; and this false belief produced a lot of mean, calloused, and unloving Christians.

Condemnation is powerful! It can so overwhelm a person that if he is not careful it will destroy his confidence in God. If our heart condemns us, then we have no confidence when we pray (1 John 3:21).

When the devil reminds us of our past sins, that is condemnation; when the Holy Spirit points out our sins, that is conviction, not condemnation. Guilt and condemnation are meant to destroy us, but conviction is meant to bring us to repentance.

Many believers are under condemnation today, afraid to approach God. They come to church all charged up for worship, but soon quiet down because the devil reminds them of a sin they committed. They ask others to pray for them only because they are afraid to approach God's throne on their own and want someone else to do it for them.

Conviction leads us to repent and motivates us to get right with God. The breastplate of right standing is the righteousness of God that protects us and gives us the mobility to be ourselves before God and man.

ILLUSTRATION BY PATRICK LAWRENCE

CHAPTER 5

The Belt of Truth

Strapped around the waist of the Roman soldier was the loin belt, the first piece of the armor the soldier put on. This belt of truth helped hold the rest of the armor in place. It was the first step in putting on the armor of God because it moved other things out of the way.

This belt, which was a part of the Roman armor, was called bulteus early in the empire, and cingulum militare in later times. The belts were narrow, and decorated with bronze plates all the way around. These decorations were ornate, and featured embossed or engraved designs, sometimes plated with tin or silver foil.

The Need for Truth

The belt in the centurian's armor served four purposes:

1. It protected the soldier's loins.

2. It held the sword and shield when they were not being used.

3. It was used to display awards and medals for heroism in battle.

4. It secured the robes

Protecting the soldier's loins was critical for two reasons: it prevented a well-placed hit to the area that could cause enough pain to immobilize him, and it protected his seed.

Five leather straps hung vertically from the front of the belt to provide more protection in this area. Spiritually, the five leather straps represent the five-fold ministry gifts listed in Ephesians 4:11:

apostles

prophets

evangelists

pastors

teachers

Through these ministries we get a further understanding of God's truth. We protect our seed by the covering of the five-fold ministry. Mark 4 contains the parable of the sower and compares God's Word to the seed. The Christian sows the seed, God's Word, to reproduce more of God's life. The loin belt of truth protects the Christian's seed.

Truth on Trial

For the Christian soldier, one of the most important aspects of the loin belt of truth is that the sword of the Spirit and the shield of faith are attached to it. Truth is foundational. The truth holds up and supports the shield and the sword.

The "national dictionary" of Australia is called the Macquarie Dictionary. In it, the word truth has 10 different definitions. Three examples are:

Truth can be a description of actual facts

Truth can refer to a state of genuineness

Truth also plays a major part in integrity

A postmodern world merely flirts with truth. It gives lip service to this indispensable character quality, but it never allows a relationship with truth or makes a commitment to it.

Truth is not negotiable, however. Everything you do with the sword and shield must be supported by the truth of God's Word. The shield and the sword function only within God's written Word.

We need the truth of the gospel.

We need the truth that saves people.

We need the truth that makes up one's integrity.

Truth Is Its Own Defense

In the spiritual battle, God needs soldiers who are properly equipped to fight. He needs no unarmed or undefended personnel. In the Bible, the word "gird" means someone is getting ready for something-to run a race, to work or to go to battle.

We clothe ourselves with integrity and truth in order to have spiritual freedom. This belt removes the restricting things that come with a lack of integrity. Lack of integrity will hinder you in every situation in life. Before you can put on the full armor of God, you have to bind up those things that hinder truth and integrity.

God places spiritual armor at your feet. You can pick it up and put it on, but if integrity hasn't bound those things that hinder, you can't get the rest of the armor on. You are defenseless against the attacks of Satan as your life is torn apart.

It meant that the centurian took the outer robe soldiers wore and wrapped it up around his waist to get his long clothing out of the way. He needed the freedom to move, so he gathered all that loose clothing and held it in place with the belt. 'This kept it out of the way when he was walking around.

Securing the Armor

Belts were important for everyone. For military officers, the belt served to hold the bottom of breastplate in place. It was also the sheath for the sword. If the belt was not in place you would always be in danger of tripping over your own clothing.

Dr. J.H. Jowett said:

Loose armor was troublesome and disturbing, making the soldier feel soft, and awkward, and unready, giving him a sense of going to pieces. Be belt bound everything together giving the soldier a sense of firmness, making him feel secure, and able to meet the enemy's attack with confidence.

Remember what Paul is doing here. This is not a commentary on military fashion items. Ephesians 6:14 is talking about a belt that has spiritual significance. When it comes to understanding the spiritual significance of this piece of equipment, we see that trustworthiness and dependability are keys.

This part of our spiritual armor is absolutely vital because almost every other part of the armor depended on it for security and usefulness.

A. It gives stability to our temperaments.

B. It gives control to our thoughts.

C. It gives discipline to our speech.

CHAPTER 6

The Two Lances

In warfare, the Roman army used various types of spears. The short spears they used were called pilums or javelins. They were standard equipment when the Roman soldier was fully dressed in his armor.

A javelin was specifically designed to be thrown, and was called a lance. Javelins were the most essential because they penetrated armor. They were designed with spear tips that intentionally broke off or bent when they entered an object. Every Roman soldier carried at least two javelins into battle.

Another kind of spear was the lance, a long, shafted weapon, often used two-handed by cavalry in the ancient world. When going into battle, the Roman soldier carried two lances. Both lances were approximately 80 inches long, but one was heavier than the other. The lighter lance weighed approximately four pounds and the heavier lance weighed about six pounds.

The front part of the shaft was made of iron and had an arrow-like point at the end. The back half was made of ash wood. Lead weights were often added to the back end to balance the lance for longer-distance throwing and for greater impact when the lance hit its target.

Targeting the Enemy

The soldier would throw his lances while still a distance from the enemy, before engaging in close combat. He tried to hit either the enemy or his shield. If the lance hit the enemy, that was one less enemy to fight.

If the lance hit the enemy's shield, it would penetrate it deeply enough to make it very difficult to pull out and therefore render the shield useless. The enemy would then have to leave his shield on the ground, thus making him more vulnerable to any attack.

The iron section of the lance would bend upon impact, making it useless for the enemy to throw back at the Romans.

Paul alluded to these weapons after listing the specific pieces of the armor of God in Ephesians:

Praying always with all prayer und supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. – EPHESIANS 6:18

All prayer means all kinds of prayer. Prayer, like a lance, is released from one location to impact a different location. Prayer can be classified into two basic categories: petition and praise. Both of these categories are spiritual weapons. Sometimes one seems lighter than the other, but what would the Christian soldier be without the weapons of prayer and praise?

As previously mentioned, the lance was balanced with weights. Likewise, the Christian's petitioning and worshiping must be balanced. You cannot have a church or a spiritual life that is all prayer or all praise. You must have both prayer and praise. We need to be balanced.

Prayer

One of the Hebrew words for "glory" is kabod, which means weighty or heavy. After Solomon's Temple was completed and the priests began to worship God, the Temple was filled with a cloud. This cloud was the glory of God. The glory was so heavy on the priests that they were not able to stand, and could not carry out their priestly duties (2 Chronicles 5:14).

The most effective prayers you pray are those when you have a burden to pray about something specific. The reason people will pray for only two minutes is because they have no prayer burden. Intercessors who carry a burden can pray a long time because they are praying with a burden. The weight enables them to pray longer and more effectively than if there was no burden. If we throw our lance of prayer without a weight on it, the lance will not go far. But a prayer with a weight will be balanced, and will go farther.

My father can out-pray any human I have ever met. When he stops by my office, the first thing he says is, "Brother, would you like to have a word of prayer?" He knows that fasting is a component to an effective prayer life, and I think he fasts more often than he eats! But he is a powerful prayer warrior. His prayer life is constantly under a weight, and this is why his prayers are heard and answered by God.

With regard to answered prayer, there are two aspects of time that we need to understand. There are two main Greek words used in the New Testament for time or times: chronos and kairos. Chronos means a season, which can be either long or short. Kairos indicates a fixed, definite, and appointed time.

We live on a chronological time-line that will end at the return of the Lord. There are times on that time-line when God has set kairos, or seasons, for specific purposes. For example, the time for my ministry to be on television has come. The time to expand all that this ministry offers has come. When the set time for God's purpose comes, we must catch it, move with it, and do as God is directing us.

We all pray to God for Him to do certain things for ourselves and for others. Sometimes we see the answer to our prayers and sometimes we don't. We are praying in the chronos (the chronological time-line) and God answers our prayers in the kairos (appointed time).

For example, in Acts chapter 10, Cornelius—a man who "prayed always"-was given a vision and told to summon Peter. The next day, Peter was given a vision and told to share the good news with Gentiles. Two days later, Peter went to Cornelius's house, shared the gospel, and everyone got saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit.

In this example, the kairos is a four-day period of time that culminated in the conversion of Cornelius—the first Gentile Christian. This kairos opened the door for the gospel to be spread to all non-Jewish people.

There are appointed times to pray in our lives. These times are accompanied by a weight, a burden. Please hear me, cancel everything you are doing when this happens to you and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit!

Praise and Worship

The other lance represents praise and worship. An understanding of worship is clearly illustrated in the following vision. Back in the 1980s, a minister from Ohio went on a 40-day fast. He was given a remarkable vision that I will share with you as he relayed it to me:

I went to my church to pray at the end of my fist. I lost strength and fell on the floor. I thought I had a heart attack and died. Something happened in my physical body and I felt my self leave my body. I found myself on my stomach looking through a floor. I was not on the floor of the church; I was on the floor in the throne room of God. I could see through the floor because it was like crystal. I could see the earth below. It was a small ball and I could see it rotating.

I saw what looked like arrows and missiles, and they each varied in size. They were coming from the earth, up into the heavens. Some were so small that they would turn around and go back to the earth. Some would just disintegrate halfway to God's throne. The huge ones would come all the way to Gods throne and disappear into the light that emanated from the throne.

The Lord showed me that those arrows were the praises of people going up to God in heaven. Praise goes up like arrows. What surprised me was that the arrows and missiles that were headed to God? throne but were disappearing and dropping back to earth were coming from North America.

As the world rotated to the continents where communism rules, the missiles were going all the way to the throne of God. I wondered how so many arrows could be coming from Russia. God, knowing my thoughts, answered, "You don't know how many believers I have there!"

God showed me that the arrows that make it all the way to the throne are those that are totally pure and sincere. The Christians in America, who should know how to worship and praise, often do so out of ritual and habit. We do not actually do it from our hearts.

The effectiveness of our lances is directly related to the pureness of our hearts and our genuine love for God in our prayers and praises. In Acts 16, two of the early church leaders were in an inner prison cell when, at midnight, they decided to have a praise service. "At midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them" (v. 25).

As their praise went up to God, He came down in response to their worship. Praise gives us greater power, confidence and assurance in the midst of adverse circumstances.

Praise teaches us to pray with greater conviction.

Praise focuses on God, who helps us overcome our disappointments.

Praise gives us a greater glimpse of God? will, way and plan for our lives.

Praise enables us to honor, worship and give glory to the only One who deserves it.

Praise lifts our hearts in song, with thankfulness.

Praise helps us to please the Lord and do His will.

Praise increases the process of maturity as we grow up in all dimensions into Christ.

Praise creates a deep hunger in us for more of the knowledge of God

Praise reminds us of how rich we are through God's blessings.

Praise reminds us to lean on His strength, not our own.

Praise builds our spiritual self-esteem

Praise grows us in wisdom and knowledge, and helps us to better understand God's character.

Prisons of the mind, prisons of the heart, prisons of family conflict, prisons of relationships, and prisons of self are stronger and more deadly than the jails of justice on earth.

If you are bound in any of these prisons, take the two lances of prayer and praise, and you can be victorious!

CHAPTER 7

The Sword with Two Edges

The Lord gave me a dream back in 1982 that taught me a lot about using the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

I was standing in a large, square room and facing four doors with steps leading up to each door. I knew these doors could open and that whatever was behind each door could be brought into my life. I walked up to the first door and opened it.

Inside I saw men in dark suits who were the leaders in my denomination. I don't mean this in a bad sense, but they were "hobnobbing." The Lord said to me, "This represents the political system in the church." I didn't go that way and never have in 30 years of ministry.

I walked up to the second door and opened it. Inside were a large number of college students. I knew this represented a leading Christian university in my denomination that I could attend. I saw students, supposedly there to seriously study God's Word, goofing off and cutting up. I said, "Lord I don't want that. I'm serious about You." I shut the door.

As for the third door, to this day I do not remember what was behind that door. All that I remember was that there was one door remaining to be opened.

On top of the fourth door was a sign that said, "Persecution." I said, "Lord, this is not my first choice. I'd like to go through a different door." But I walked through the door. I found myself standing in front of a silhouette of a city skyline, and suddenly a spirit that looked like a ninja warrior appeared and was charging at me with a sword. I said, "Oh God, what am I going to do? That thing is going to kill me."

Suddenly a large sword was dropped into my hand, and I started battling against the spirit attacking me. After awhile, I said, "Lord, I'm getting tired; what should I do?" The Lord said, "Quit trying to fight it and cut its hand off."

I swung my sword and cut its hand off. The sword and the hand fell to the ground. I thought, "Well, that wasn't too difficult." But no sooner did I have that thought than another spirit appeared and charged at me. Rather than fight this spirit a long time as I had fought the previous spirit, I cut its hand off as soon as it got near me.

I was learning quickly how to use the sword and how to attack the root of the problem. The hand of that spirit was holding the weapon, so if I cut the hand off, I cut the problem off. The Lord spoke to me, "I am going to lead you through some persecution." I asked the Lord, "Why in the world are you going to do that?" He answered, "I am going to teach you how, in the middle of persecution, to use the sword of the Spirit, which is My Word."

Using the Sword

I was thrilled to hear those words! Through this dream, God taught me four principles:

First, He showed me that the length of our sword depends on the amount of knowledge we have of the Word. If we have little knowledge, our sword will be like a pocket knife. If we have a lot of knowledge, our sword will be very long.

Second, the sword becomes two-edged when we speak God's Word out of our mouth. I'll explain this later.

Third, the strength of the sword depends not only on knowing and speaking the Word, but also on acting on the Word. We can have all knowledge of the Bible, but faith without works is dead. As the NIV translation of James 2:17 reads, "Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." We must act on what we know.

For example, our thought-life is a major battleground. We cannot defeat the enemy in a mental battle by just sitting around and thinking certain thoughts. We have to speak the Word of God out of our mouth to get any stronghold out of our mind. I know this sounds so simple, but it is absolutely true and powerful.

An analogy is the television, satellite and cell phone signals around us. We do not see or feel them, yet, they are there. You cannot tune into these signals and receive what is being broadcast unless you use the right equipment.

Likewise, the Enemy is constantly broadcasting temptations. When we are in tune with the flesh, we receive the broadcasts of the Enemy. When in tune with the Spirit, we receive what is broadcast from God.

Fourth, it is the power of the Word that will keep us from falling. In that dream about the four doors, the Lord showed me that it is the power of His Word that will keep me from falling into sin and ruining my ministry.

In other words, God was telling me that if believers will learn how to use the Word, walk in the Word and establish ourselves in the Word of God, then we should have no fear of what the enemy might do.

We will have no fear of falling. Some people spend a lifetime worrying, "What am I going to do if I fail?" When you use the power of God's Word, failure will not be an option.

The sword of the Spirit is the only offensive weapon that Paul lists in the armor of God. All of the other pieces provide protection from either the enemy or the rough terrain. Understanding the actual swords that the Roman soldier used can help us realize why God choose to compare His Word to a sword.

Four Swords in Rome

There were four different types of swords used by the soldier: the Gladius Hispaniensis, the Pompeii sword, the Culvary sword, and the Muchaira sword.

The Gladius Hispaniensis (Spanish sword) was adopted by the Romans after they engaged in a battle in Spain. The blade was 30 inches long and two inches wide. It was v-tapered at the end to a very sharp point. The Gladius sword was designed for use in close combat and for stabbing rather than slashing.

The Pompeii sword was shorter than the Hispaniensis, having a double- edged blade approximately 16 inches long and two-and-a-half inches wide. Four of these swords were found during excavations in the ruins of Pompeii.

The Calvary sword was a long, single-edged sword, made of iron or steel. The blade was called the spatha, and it averaged 27 inches in length. As the name indicates, this sword was well suited for use by the soldiers who fought while riding on horses.

The Machaira is the sword that the apostle Paul was referring to in the armor of God. When not in use, the Machaira sword was stored in a scabbard attached to the loin belt. Notice that this offensive weapon and the main defensive piece of armor, the shield, were attached to the loin belt.

This is significant, because we must have our offensive and defensive components of the armor attached to the loin belt of truth. Truth is the support that carries our sword and shield.

The Machaira sword was 19 inches long, extremely sharp, two-edged, and had a pointed tip designed for effective stabbing. In the hand of a trained soldier, this sword was an effective and devastating weapon, capable of shearing a bronze helmet or disemboweling the enemy with a stab and twist in the abdomen.

Logos and Rhema

The New Testament was originally written in the common Greek language of that time. The Greek language often had more than one word for something that in English might have only one word. For example, in English, we have the word love, but the ancient Greek language had 11 different words for love, each conveying a distinctly different meaning.

It is correctly assumed that the Greek language is more precise than English. No wonder God chose to use that language in which to record the birth of His Son and the New Testament.

Greek for "word" is logos, which means "a saying, a topic, or a divine expression." Another Greek word is rhema, which means "an individual, collective, or specific utterance." The difference between logos and rhema, according to Vine's Expository Dictionary, is that logos is the written word, whereas rhema is the quickening of God's Word by the Holy Spirit.

Perhaps you have had an experience like this. While sitting in church, a scripture or a sentence from the minister's message seems to jump out to you. 'That word rings inside your spirit like it has a life of its own. This is called the rhema, or the quickening of the Word of God.

God does not always tell us, in His Word, specific details about our lives. The Bible does not tell us what career to take, whom to marry, or which job to choose. We have to discover that through asking in prayer and then getting a rhema word from God.

Here is an example of receiving a rhema from God. Many years ago, I was engaged to be married to a fine Christian girl who was a pastor's daughter. One day, she set the wedding date and laid down the law on how things were going to be in my ministry.

She told me she would sing two songs every night before I preached, she did not want to stay in people's homes, and I was to buy a bus for us to travel in. I could barely afford my car payment back then, much less a bus!

Seeing problems ahead, I started praying and feeling restless. While I was praying in the basement of a house in Danville, Virginia, the Lord gave me a vision. I saw the Alabama State Overseer of the Church of God. He told me not to go to a particular church in Alabama (where I had a scheduled meeting) because I would be invited to another church instead.

Sure enough, I got a letter from Joe Edwards, who was the Evangelism Director in Alabama. He wrote, "Perry, the Northport Church of God pastor would like for you to come to this church."

Before I went to the church in Northport, the Lord gave me a detailed vision of a large church. When I later described that church to Pastor Mark Jacobs in Selma, Alabama, he said to me, "You just described my home church, the Northport Church of God!"

When I went to the Northport church, I found it was the church I had seen in my vision. We had the greatest revival in the history of that church, and it continued for four weeks. In the second week, I broke up with the girl from Virginia I was engaged to. It was not easy breaking up, even though I knew marrying her was not the will of God for me. Sometimes God's will is not easy. I was heartbroken.

One night during the third week of the revival, I was sitting on the platform waiting for the time to preach. As I looked across the left side of the sanctuary where the young people were sitting, I noticed a girl wearing a black dress. 7he Lord said to me, '"That's the girl you're going to marry!"

I immediately responded with, "Get behind me, in the name of Jesus! I bind that thought from coming in my mind!" I honestly thought that Satan was messing with my mind and trying to distract me from the service. Then, I heard it again.

So I did what Jesus told us to do: watch and pray. I was on the platform praying, with one eye closed and the other eye open, looking at this girl. Suddenly, the spirit of God said, "You broke up with that girl because this is the girl you are going to marry!"

This was the second time He had spoken to me about her, and suddenly a peace came over me. I thought, "Well that's pretty cool! If I'm going to marry her, I better get to know her." I did get to know her, and we were married in the Northport Church of God on April 2,1982.

Logos and a Rhema Word Distinguished

I relate this story to illustrate a rhema word. I did not find a verse in the Bible that told me, "You shall marry the girl wearing a black dress." The written word—the logos—does guide us, but the Word does not tell us who, specifically, to marry.

This is where the quickened word comes in and guides us. A rhema word is a word that God gives to help us make the right decisions in our lives.

Word, as used in this verse, means rhema:

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

– Romans 10:17

So, faith comes by rhema. This is important to remember. Faith does not come by hearing and hearing, and continuing to hear the logos of God. The written word is spoken to millions of people in mainline churches; yet, many of them are completely faithless.

To get rhema, we first need to understand that the Bible is the revelation of God and the foundation of all rhema. The loin belt of truth represents the logos, or the written Word of God; and the sword of the Spirit is the rhema of God. I know of Greek and Hebrew scholars who know the Bible really well, but these men are filled with unbelief pertaining to the things of God. It's as though they have put on the loin belt of truth, but never picked up their sword.

Where Paul said that the sword of the Spirit is the Word of God, he used the word rhema. The sword of the Spirit is the Spirit-quickened Word of God.

We must have within us the foundation of the logos, the written Word. God will give us a rhema (quickened word) that is based on the logos (written word), and it will be specific to our situation.

For example, if someone is robbing you at gunpoint, you will not get the word, "Jesus wept." Instead, you may get a rhema specific to your situation at the moment. A rhema here might be something like, "Don't be afraid. I have sent angels to you and they will protect you."

Here is another example of a rhema. One day a woman came up to me and told me she was extremely depressed and could not get over it. She said that several months earlier, God spoke to her as she worked at the factory and said, "I have set you free." Immediately the depression lifted and the chains came off. Everything was wonderful until the other day; the depression came back.

She asked for a word from the Lord. She figured that when she got a word, she was set free, so now she wanted another word. The rhema that came to me was, "You need to tell her that I have already given her the word."

I explained to her, "Well, God already gave you the word that set you free. But you are allowing the enemy to come in and steal the word that God has given you. God said for me to tell you that the same word you got six months ago, the word that set you free, is just as alive today as when God spoke it."

All of a sudden she jumped up and ran the aisles. All she needed was that word re-energized. All she needed was that promise to be re quickened.

To some of you reading this book, God has promised great and mighty things, but you have allowed the enemy to come in and steal the word. He caught you at a time when your helmet was off of your head, when the breastplate was somewhere in the closet, or when you forgot to pick up the sword of the Word of God.

When God speaks, His words do not die. His words are alive and will not return to Him without accomplishing that which He sent them to accomplish. Grab that rhema and let it bring life to your situation. Let it complete the work it was sent to do for you!

A Rhema Is a Sword

When you get a rhema, you get a sword. When God's Holy Spirit quickens to you a passage of scripture or gives you a specific revelation, He just gave you a sword. This is what that rhema-that sword-will do for you: it will protect your destiny!

Noah was given a rhema. He was told to build an ark and that, when the flood waters came, he and his family would be spared. Noah got a sword that protected his family.

Joseph was thrown into a pit, sold to the Ishmaelites, taken to Egypt, became a slave, was falsely accused of rape and went to jail. Yet, he became second in command over Egypt. Do you know why? Because he had a dream that was a living, rhema-quickened word and, no matter what happened, the enemy could not stop the dream from manifesting.

The Lord was with Joseph in the pit, and the Lord was with him in Potiphar's house. Wherever he went, God was with him because God had already given him a word in the past. It took Joseph 13 years to see his promise come to pass; but it came to pass, and he saved an entire generation! Moses was protected because he had a destiny and a rhema. Moses was delivered three times from losing his destiny.

First, in the Nile River, Moses was saved from the slaughter of all males under the age of two by an ark that his mother built.

Second, Moses was able to flee into the wilderness after he killed an Egyptian.

Third, after delivering the Israelites from Egypt, the people became angry at Moses in the wilderness and wanted to stone him. Every time they tried, however, God would bring judgment on those who were trying to harm him.

When you get a rhema from God about your destiny, you will experience opposition from the enemy. Paul told Timothy:

This charge I commit to you, son Timothy according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare. – I TIMOTHY 1:18

Timothy had a word from God given by an anointed man, but he was becoming fearful. Paul was saying, "I prophesied over you about your destiny. You have become fearful and intimidated by people. God gave you the spirit of power, love, and a sound mind. So, wage a good warfare."

God opened a door when I was eighteen years ago for me to preach in Nebraska, and I felt it was God's will that I go. My airline ticket had a layover in Chicago where a plane had just crashed and everyone on board was killed. Many people at my church were warning me not to fly to Nebraska, because they feared I might be killed in a plane crash.

Boarding the plane in Roanoke, Virginia, I lost my ticket on the runway. I began wondering if God was telling me, like everyone else, that I should not be going on this trip. When I got to Chicago, I overheard people talking about how old and unsafe the plane looked. I thought, "Oh! 'That might be another sign that I shouldn't go."

Then the Spirit of God spoke to me, "Who opened the door for you to go to Nebraska?" I said, "You did." Then He said to me, "Quit giving up in the night what I gave you in the light." What He showed me was that He had already established my way and that He would see to it that I arrived safely in Nebraska. We often think short-term when God is thinking long-term.

Again, a rhema word is the sword of the Spirit, and the sword is hooked onto the loin belt of truth. 'This means that you will never get a rhema that contradicts the truth in the Bible. The loin belt of truth carries the sword; it's not the sword that carries the belt. The written Word carries the rhema word.

A certain minister says you should stay married until the assignment of that marriage is done, then you can marry someone else. The reason he preaches this way is because he has had three wives already!

The written Word teaches that adultery, death and the leaving of an unbelieving spouse can break that which God joined together. This pastor got divorced simply because he wanted another woman. We are not hearing from God if the message contradicts His written word. When you hear something outside of the logos of God, don't even touch it. It is accursed and can bring destruction to you and to other people. The rhema is always supported by the logos.

The Angel with a Sword

The Tree of Life was in the Garden of Eden when Adam sinned. When God banished Adam and Eve from the garden, He placed a cherub and a flaming sword to guard and prevent access to the Tree of Life.

From the time of Adam until the time of Jesus was about 4,000 years. There was no written Word until Moses wrote the first five Books that we have in the Old Testament. Then some historical Books and Books from prophets were written.

During all those years, however, there was no revelation of using the Scripture as a weapon. Every man was subject to sin and death, and mankind did not have authority because the cherub and the flaming sword were still guarding the Tree of Life. Battles in the Old Testament were won by an intervention of angels, an intervention by supernatural miracles, or by intercessory prayer.

Jesus was born sinless and lived without sinning. When the devil tempted Jesus with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, Jesus reached back to Eden where the cherub and the sword were guarding the tree of life and He quoted three verses from the Old Testament (Matthew 4:1-11).

Satan had never heard a pure, undefiled, sinless human being using Scripture as a weapon. Jesus grabbed that sword and brought the sword of the Spirit into man's life. Jesus took a verse that was quickened to respond to a particular temptation. Three slaps of the sword is all the devil could take, and the Bible says that he left Jesus for a season.

The Two Edges

The Book of Revelation makes five references to a two-edged sword that comes out of Jesus' mouth. Why does the sword have two edges? The six-step process the Romans used to make swords can give us insight into the significance of the spiritual two-edged sword:

The ore was taken out of the earth. Jesus was made of flesh, originally from the ground (Genesis 2:7).

Impurities were removed and the metal was washed for purity. Jesus was pure, not knowing sin, but was baptized in water before beginning His ministry. (Matthew 3:13)

The ore was crushed. Jesus was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. (Isaiah 53:5)

The metal was placed inside a furnace of fire. Jesus descended into the lower parts of the earth and led captivity captive. (Ephesians 4:9-11)

The molten metal was laid out on a brick. The body of Jesus was laid on a stone in a tomb. (John 20:41-42)

The metal was shaped by a swordsmith. Christ's word is now like a two-edged sword. (Revelation 1:16)

Hebrews contains five characteristics of God's Word. Look at these characteristics:

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. – HEBREWS 4:12

Notice that:

The Word of God is quick. The Greek word here for quick is zoa, meaning "to be alive" or "back to life". The spoken word brings life and quickens the body (Romans 8:11).

The Word of God is powerful. The Greek word is energes. The Word renews the inner man (2 Corinthians 4:16).

The Word of God is sharp(er.) 'The Greek word for sharper is tomoteros. This alludes to cutting with a single stroke, not with a hacking or sawing action.

The Word of God is two-edged. The Greek word for two-edged is distomos. 'The meaning is "having a double mouth, as a river." It refers to two openings. The sword, it can be said, is a two-mouthed sword.

The Word of God divides asunder. The Greek word is merismos, meaning to cut into a separation. The Word of God can divide the soul from the spirit. This is important because spiritual battles begin in the soul.

The Word of God divides asunder. The Greek word is merismos, meaning to cut into a separation. The Word of God can divide the soul from the spirit. This is important because spiritual battles begin in the soul.

When God spoke the Word out of His mouth, He put one blade on it. When we speak what God said, we form the second blade. This is why it is a two-mouthed sword. Reading and memorizing the Bible is extremely important, but it is only half of our responsibility. We also need to open our mouths and speak His Word.

The sword is both a defensive weapon and an offensive weapon. We can use the sword to defend ourselves from such things as lies from the enemy, deception, mental attacks, and temptations. As a defensive weapon, the sword resists, restrains and rebukes.

We can also use the sword offensively to attack such things as sickness, demonic possession, and the enemy's attempts to prevent us from fulfilling God's will. Used as an offensive weapon, the sword can reveal, redeem, reconcile, renew, and repair.

Never underestimate the power of the sword. The power of the sword comes from the anointing that the Holy Spirit places on it-not by any effort on our part other than to speak the rhema words He gives us. The power and the anointing is in the quality, not the quantity, of the words.

Speaking just 10 words, Jesus healed a paralytic (Matthew 9:6).

He spoke six words to raise the dead (Mark 5:41).

Speaking five words, Jesus healed a leper (Matthew 8:3).

Speaking only two words, "Come out!" Jesus cast out a legion of demons (Matthew 8:32).

The Dividing Power of the Sword

The sword of the Spirit divides the soul and the spirit, the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the tares, and the light from the darkness. When the early church leaders spoke, they spoke prophetically, often "burning some hides." Here are a few examples:

John the Baptist, a strange character, dressed in a leather girdle and camel-hair clothing. He ate locusts and yelled, "Repent, brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee the wrath to come?" People came and repented instead of being driven away.

Jesus used the sword to attack hypocrites and the Pharisees. In fact, He spoke seven "woes" to them in Matthew 23.

When Paul heard that a guy in the church at Corinth was having sexual relations with his father's wife, Paul judged him and told the church, "Deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus" (I Corinthians 5:5).

Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit about the money they gave. When Peter confronted them with the truth, they both died! It seemed Peter had a "drop-dead anointing.

John the Baptist, Jesus, Paul, and Peter are examples of men who didn't tolerate sin and hypocrisy, especially among religious people.

What if today's ministers identified those Christians who have sin in their lives and turned them over to Satan so their flesh could be destroyed? What if today's ministers confronted those who lie against the Holy Spirit and they died?

A lot of people say that they want the power and anointing of the early church. If that happened, people would be dropping dead in churches across the country! The Word of God is quick and powerful and has two edges to cut and to divide.

The sword of the Spirit can cut apart the traditions of men. There are denominations that have held their people in bondage by saying things like, "You cannot be saved unless you are part of our group. You cannot go to heaven unless you marry within our group. You will die lost unless you are baptized a certain way."

There are major denominations that keep their people in chains by teaching that they cannot understand the Bible, so they should not bother reading and studying it on their own. Leaders of these denominations proclaim that they alone have the ability to interpret the Bible. Traditions of men must be broken before the church can become a pure and spotless bride.

The Bible tells us to plant the Word inside us by reading it and meditating on it day and night (Joshua 1:8).

We are to hear the rhema of God (Romans 10:17).

We are to allow the Word to be quickened inside us (Psalm 119: 50).

We are to speak the Word (Matthew 8:8).

We are to confess the Word (Revelation 12:11).

The enemy counterfeits everything, including the dividing power of the sword. Many in the church use a dividing power, but not with the Sword of the Spirit. People are splintered and divided over things like in whose name you baptize, how you should dress, the need for black churches and white churches, the kind of music to use in worship, and whether tongues and miracles are for today.

Those who try to support their own belief system always fall short and wake up in unbelief, The sword of the Spirit is not a sword of unbelief. Every Christian has been given the armor of God, but not every Christian uses it. The manner in which some American Christians use the sword of the Spirit can be categorized in four levels: pocket knife; butter knife; meat cleaver; or two-edged sword.

The pocket knife level is used by Christians who use, read and study the Word of God when they are bored or in their spare time. They waste time by just whittling away at those things that are insignificant.

The butter knife represents the sword used by Christians who just want the cream. They want a smooth word, nothing deep and nothing controversial. They speak and want to hear only polished and politically correct words. But their swords are too dull to fight with and they cannot cut meat.

The Christians who want only deep teachings and not any foundational, simple truths are those with meat cleavers. They go from church to church, from one minister to another, looking for "deeper truths".

Christians who walk and abide in the Word of God are those with the true, two-edged sword of the Spirit. They consistently speak the Word according to the situation. They speak what God has spoken. They use the sword to cut the enemy.

We should never be content with using anything other than the sword of the Spirit, as God intended. As a defensive weapon, the sword of the Spirit can protect us against attacks from the enemy such as deception, mental attacks, and temptations.

As an offensive weapon, we can use it to attack sickness, demon possession, and the Enemy himself when he tries to prevent us from fulfilling God's will. The sword will reveal, redeem, reconcile, renew and repair.

Which level of understanding and illumination are you at?

CHAPTER 8

The Shield That Extinguishes

God wants us to know the importance of the shield of faith, so He had Paul to write two specific words before describing the shield-"above all."

Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. – EPHESIANS 6:16

In essence, Paul is saying, "Pick up your shield and raise it over your armor to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one."

There were two types of shields that the Roman soldier used. One was metal, round, and about the size of a large pizza. The other shield was much larger. It was rectangular, approximately four-and-a-half feet high, with a semi-circular cross-section. This is the shield that Paul defined as a part of God's armor. The Romans called this shield the scutum.

The scutum was built with two layers of wood strips, similar to plywood, laid at right angles to each other and heated so that they could be pressed into a semi-circle shape. After the shield was formed, it was covered with six layers of animal hide. Some shields were decorated with designs or markings that indicated a specific army division. There was a handle on the inside, of course, for the soldier to grasp.

When needed, Roman soldiers would form a line, shoulder-to- shoulder, and actually link their shields together. Linking shields was a very effective formation that provided the soldiers a wall of protection.

No matter how many arrows and spears were thrown at the soldiers, no one would get wounded because of the tight and solid wall of shields. If the enemy tried to jump over the shields, he would be met with either a javelin or a sword.

Likewise, Christians can link their shields of faith together. One lone Christian with his shield has less protection from the enemy than if he were to join himself to other Christians and link his shield to theirs.

The enemy can throw all the arrows, spears and fiery darts he wants, but none can hit the Christians behind a wall of linked shields of faith. If the devil tries to jump over the shields, he will be cut deeply by the double- edged sword of the Spirit, which is sharper than any other sword.

I believe the body of Christ is lacking in this area. Paul said we are to work together (Ephesians 1:10, 2:5, 6, 22). Paul uses the word one when speaking of the body (Ephesians 2:15,16,18; 4:4-6).

We are supposed to be united in faith. The Bible says there is "one Lord, one faith, one baptism" (Ephesians 45). Instead, there have been men who have seen one truth and made it "the" truth. They have then split away from other Christians to form their own denominations.

So everyone has his own denominational shield. One person says, "Here is my Pentecostal shield." Another says, "Here's my Catholic shield." Yet another says, "Here is my Baptist shield." The problem is that we end up fighting each other instead of fighting the real enemy.

The Enemy is leading people into bondage with alcoholism, pornography, drugs, child abuse and fornication. While all this is happening, we link our shields around doctrinal issues like how to baptize or whether tongues and healing are for today. It is frustrating to see so many people focusing on doctrine and not on overcoming evil.

There is friction over issues such as what kind of musical instruments should be used in church, or if instruments should be used at all. Some have told me that they are not going to listen to me preach any more because they found out I believe in spiritual gifts!

The Lord has been speaking to my spirit about the need for the body of Christ and the remnant to stop arguing over ridiculous doctrinal issues that have no effect on our eternal salvation. We need to start linking our faith together. God does not want us independent or co-dependent, He wants us to be interdependent. 'Then we can stand shoulder-to-shoulder and battle the Enemy together.

It seems the only prayer Jesus prayed that has not been answered is recorded in John 17. Twice, He prayed that we would be one just as He and the Father are one. Jesus is coming back for a bride that is without spot or wrinkle, and we must be one in order to be that bride. We must learn to link our shields of faith together for the end-time battle.

Levels of Faith

In addition to linking our shields of faith together, we need to have the full-size shield of faith. The Bible says there are five different levels of faith, or different sizes of shields.

One level of faith is no faith (Mark 4:40).

Another level is little faith (Matthew 8:26).

The third level is weak faith (Romans 4:19).

The fourth level is strong faith (Romans 4:20).

The fifth level is great faith (Matthew 8:10).

Strong faith and great faith are mighty shields!

Faith vs. Emotions

It is important to point out that faith and emotions are two different things. Some people often confuse excited emotions for faith. For example, they go to a meeting and the place is packed out. Everyone is really excited, so, they're thinking, "Yeah! God is going to do something here tonight! Just look at all those excited people!"

Then that same person will go to a meeting where there are only 50 people and think, "Doesn't look like much is going to happen here tonight." Don't forget that "where two or three are gathered together in My name, there I am in the midst of them."

Someone once asked me if I thought people are actually getting healed in a particular television minister's meetings. They asked because they see some people who do not seem all that excited. I said, "'They're not all that excited because they expected to be healed."

For example, when I was 18 years old, a Baptist woman came through my prayer line. She was deaf in one ear and partially deaf in the other. I prayed for her and commanded the deaf spirit to come out. She could suddenly hear completely in both ears and she said, "Wow, my ears just popped open and I can hear again. Thank you." Then she walked quietly away.

I figured she should be jumping and screaming after such a healing, so I asked the Lord why she didn't get all that excited. He said, "Because she knew that when you prayed, she would be healed."

Sometimes the reason we get all worked up when God does something is because it shocked us that He did what we asked.

How to Anoint the Shield for Battle

As described previously, the Roman soldier's shield was made of cross- layered strips of wood with six layers of animal hide sewn on.

The soldier had to regularly maintain his shield, which involved caring for the leather because the animal skin would become dry. So the soldier would rub oil into the leather to keep it supple.

The danger of having a dry shield was that it became brittle and vulnerable to fire.

The Roman soldier could attack with three different types of arrows during a battle. First was the standard arrow, like those the Native American Indians used. This arrow was designed to maim or kill.

The second type of arrow was dipped in tar or other thick flammable substance, then ignited before being launched at the enemy. These arrows were designed to start a fire wherever they hit.

The third type of arrow was filled with naphtha, or some other highly volatile liquid; then the tip of the arrow was ignited. When these arrows hit, they would explode, sending fire in all directions.

Let me give you the spiritual equivalence of these arrows:

The standard arrows represent the temptations that are common to all men. Scripture states:

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. – I CORINTHIANS 10:13

There are things that all of us fight. It doesn't matter if you have been saved four days or four decades. Everyone fights things like discouragement, anger and fear.

The arrows dipped in tar represent the unclean and filthy things the enemy shoots at us. Tar is dark and sticky. For example, sometimes we have dreams that are filthy and unclean. When we wake up, we think, "Where did that come from?"

I find, when visiting cities with strong demonic strongholds, that I often get these kinds of dreams. I like to call these thoughts "tar darts" from the enemy. They will stick and burn if your shield is not up so you can stop them.

The arrows filled with the explosive liquid are the most dangerous. The fiery liquid spreads in all directions and can engulf most materials, including the Roman soldiers' shields. These explosive arrows represent the impact of bad situations that we have gotten ourselves into.

For example, two dear friends were having rough times in their marriage. The woman had never done anything like this, but she had an affair and became pregnant after one encounter. Needless to say, their lives were turned upside down. This was an attack that was unexpected, and she did not know how to handle it or to block it.

Paul said we are to quench the fiery darts of the wicked. We know that fiery darts are thoughts from the enemy, but how do we know if the fiery dart has not been quenched? If we are not yet over the attack, the dart has not been quenched.

For example, if you continue to think about an incident and ponder what a jerk somebody is and how you might make that person's life miserable, then you can be sure that is a fiery dart that has not been quenched.

It does not take long for a fiery dart to start burning your shield of faith. Studies have shown that if we dwell on a specific thought for more than seven seconds, then that thought can easily become an imagination. When the imagination is able to become entrenched in our thinking, it becomes an obsession. When we allow the obsession to take root within us, it becomes a stronghold.

Quench them Quickly

Fiery darts from the enemy are easy to quench when they have just hit our shield. But the longer we leave them there to burn, the more difficult they are to quench — after all, it is burning up our faith.

If a fiery dart burns long enough to become a stronghold, it will require a lot of help and a lot of work to quench that dart. Each one of us has weaknesses, and this is where the enemy likes to send most of his fiery darts. For example, your weakness could be laziness in the things of God, alcohol or gossip. Whatever the weakness, sometimes we need to put extra effort into quenching the fiery dart.

I have discovered that I need to speak God's Word aloud regarding the area where I am being attacked Sometimes I even have to shout the scripture. Other times, I need to pray for an hour or so.

Another simple, yet powerful, way to quench fiery darts is to listen to anointed music. God has given power to anointed music that will cause the Enemy to leave. King Saul was occasionally troubled by an evil spirit; but when David played a harp, the evil spirit would leave Saul (1 Samuel 16:23). Anointed music creates an atmosphere that demons hate.

The first thing the Christian must do is to keep his shield anointed. Just as the Roman soldier would rub oil into his shield to keep the leather from drying out and becoming vulnerable to fire, likewise dry churches produce dry shields and leave Christians more vulnerable to successful attacks from the enemy. If no practical applications of the Word are taught, it is a dry church. Our shields must be regularly anointed by solid and practical teaching. Faith without an anointing is mental toil.

Anoint Your Faith with the Holy Spirit

In the Bible, oil represents the anointing of the Holy Spirit. So, how do we anoint our shields? Jude 1:20 says, "But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit." The Apostle Paul also knew this truth and regularly prayed in the Spirit (1 Corinthians 14:15, 18). That is, he prayed in tongues as the Holy Spirit gave him utterance.

When I was a teenager living in Arlington, Virginia, I recall how my father would travail loudly, praying in the Spirit. Not too many people in the neighborhood had air conditioners back then, so during the warm summer months, everyone's windows would be wide open, including the window next to my father.

As he prayed in the Spirit, I would think, "Lord, I hope the neighbors don't hear him because they'll be thinking that we're sacrificing some foreigner in here!" During three of those times of travailing, however, the Holy Spirit revealed to him a danger that was coming that very day. Because my father anointed his shield and fought the enemy, he was forewarned and danger was averted.

Praying in the Spirit is not the gift of tongues that Paul mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12. The gift of divers, or different kinds of, tongues is used in a public setting and should always include an interpretation, which is also a gift.

Tongues from the baptism of the Holy Spirit is a private prayer language. The gift of tongues is used as the Spirit wills (1 Corinthians 12:11), whereas the private prayer language is used whenever we want (1 Corinthians 14:15).

I have written 60 songs, and 40 of them have been recorded. Every song I have written came after I prayed in the Holy Spirit. Every subject God has given me to preach, came after I had been praying in the Spirit.

Sometimes, after I have preached a message, someone will ask, "Where did he get all that? How did he dig that up?" The answer is always, "It's not me!" Jesus said that the Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth (John 16:13). The Holy Spirit wants to give us understanding of His Word, and He wants to reveal the Enemy's plans for us.

Many people have been baptized in the Holy Spirit, yet some seldom pray in the Spirit. Many people have been baptized in the Holy Spirit, yet they regularly sit under dry, lifeless preaching. These people do not receive total victory over obsessions and strongholds because their dry shields are burned up by the enemy's fiery darts.

When we anoint our shields daily, however, the fiery darts are quenched. What does Paul say? All the fiery darts. It is not the shoes that quench the fiery darts. Nor is it the helmet. The shield of faith is the only piece of the armor that can extinguish the enemy's darts.

So, above all, take up the shield of faith.

CHAPTER 9

How to Stand in the Battle

The Roman soldier wore specially designed sandals. At first glance, the sandals appear rather flimsy, especially compared to today's footwear. But with these sandals (called caligae), the soldier could march 25 miles a day and not suffer blisters, because the shoes were very comfortable.

A strip of metal was built into the soles to provide stability. The sandals were supported by leather straps that wrapped the soldier's calf to his knees. Due to their open design, air could easily circulate around the soldier's feet, thus preventing fungi or other skin problems from developing.

The undersides of the sandals were fitted with either of two sizes of studs to provide much greater traction for walking, running and fighting. The smaller studs were worn primarily whenever the longer, one-to-three-inch spikes were not needed. When the soldier wore the spikes, his footing was secure on most any terrain.

The soldier also wore metal shields called greeves that attached at the ankles and the knees. The greeves provided much-needed protection to the shins and knees. If a soldier sustained an impact to either area, his standing and walking ability could be severely hindered or eliminated.

So to enable the soldier to continue standing, marching, or fighting, metal greeves were a valuable piece of the armor.

For the Christian soldier, God's armor provides protection to his feet and shin areas. Ephesians 6:15 says we are to cover our feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. It is the gospel of peace that enables us to stand, and having fought all our battles, to continue standing. Jesus said he who endures until the end will be saved (Matthew 10:22).

Standing Anyway

When I was a teenager, my concept of "having done all to stand, stand therefore" was this: I have been in a battle and I am about to take a beating, I'm bruised, bloody and ready to pass out. If God will help me, I'll be able to stand, but I just don't know if I'm going to make it.

After much study, I discovered that having done all to stand, was a Roman military phrase in Paul's day. It did not mean after you have been beaten up, hope and pray that you do not fall down. It means that after you have fought every enemy you can fight, after you have been cut, bruised, and knocked around, stand up and see if anybody else is coming at you and take them on.

It is not the will of God for people to fall down in the midst of battle. Never give up when things are not going well. Please understand this, and establish it in your heart.

Daniel 7:25 refers to the future Antichrist when it says, "And he shall .. . wear out the saints of the most High." The enemy wants to wear you out. He does not want you standing; you are easier to wound or kill if you are down.

In these last days, we have to fight evil, the likes of which has never been on the earth. Jesus said that good and evil must grow to full maturity and then the harvest will come. So we must be prepared to stand, no matter what happens or what obstacle the Enemy throws at us.

Perilous times are coming. There is an unleashing of demonic power because the devil has great wrath knowing that he has but a short time. But God has provided us with the equipment necessary to keep us standing. He does not want us to slip in the heat of the battle. He does not want us to be injured and unable to walk because the Enemy has hit us, with great impact, in our shins.

With warfare, remember this: preparation is 90 percent of the battle. I have heard that statement all my life, and I'm telling you that in ministry and in every day life, you have to prepare for the battle.

What if the computers are not working today? What if you get hit by a virus that knocks you out for a week? Now, I never plan to have a bad day. But just in case, I always need to have a "Plan B." We make our plans and think that everything is going to be fine; but in life, you must have an alternate plan.

I have been hindered so many times on trips that I have plans B and C. Plus, I have a plan D that the devil doesn't know about!

Consider something as simple as cardboard boxes. We were shipping boxes of my teaching tapes and books to a revival. On the day we left, it was raining long and hard, but I had told the guys to tape up the tops, bottom and all the sides and edges of the boxes. Being prepared for what was coming-being shipped in the rain-kept all the tapes and books safe and dry.

Now, this may sound simple and insignificant, but when you have a warfare mentality, you have to think like your enemy thinks. You will never win a battle thinking your plan only.

You can never win warfare in the spirit without understanding from where the Enemy might hit. Where might he attack me next? What weakness do I have that he can use to his advantage? How might I prepare in advance for the attack? Elisha, David, and Joshua are three excellent examples of the importance of preparation.

Elisha

Elisha was a farmer who gave up his profession to follow Elijah. For years, he poured water on Elijah's hands-he was Elijah's servant. But when Elijah was being called up to heaven, Elisha was fully prepared and received a double-portion of Elijah's anointing.

While there were hundreds of other prophets in the land, it was Elisha who was at Elijah's hand and received the anointing.

David

When David was a teenager caring for the sheep, he killed an attacking bear. Later, he killed a lion. Then one day, he heard about a 13-foot- tall giant who had been taunting the fearful Israeli army for 40 days. David, going to where the action was, must have been thinking, "God helped me kill a bear and a lion, and God will help me kill that old uncircumcised Philistine!"

Here is a Biblical concept we need to understand: new levels, new devils. David went from killing a bear, to a lion, to a giant. He faced three enemies, each being more dangerous than the previous one.

David was also anointed three times.

When he was a teenager, Samuel anointed him to be king (1 Samuel 16:13).

Years later, the tribe of Judah anointed him to be king of Judah (2 Samuel 2:4).

The third anointing came when the people of Israel wanted him to be the king of Israel (2 Samuel 53).

Why were there three different anointing with oil? Because David was a prophet, a priest, and a king- a picture of Jesus who was Prophet, Priest and King. Preparation is needed to win spiritual battles.

Joshua prepared for 40 years by serving Moses and assisting him whenever possible. When Moses went up the mountain of Sinai and everyone else stayed at the bottom, Joshua went as far up as he was allowed, halfway. He was one of the 12 whom Moses sent to spy out Canaan. After his time of preparation, Joshua took over for Moses and led God's people into the Promised Land.

When encountering warfare or conflict, many people want to pray one prayer and then say, "I have the victory! I've won the battle!" But the victory does not always come that quickly. Battles will either be skirmishes or very long, drawn-out battles. For example, although David was anointed to be king, Saul was fighting against him:

There was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David . . . David grew stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul grew weaker. – 2 Samuel 3:1

Although we might be in a long war, we can get stronger while at the same time, the enemy gets weaker.

Standing in the midst of a long war can be difficult, but God makes it possible for us to stand. He just needs our willingness.

We are told to stand fast in the Lord (1 Thessalonians 3:8).

He will not let us enter any battle that we are not able to win (I Corinthians 10:13).

Standing in the battle includes watching, being courageous, and being strong (I Corinthians 16:13).

We can stand because of His grace (Romans 5:2).

We are to stand with other Christians in one spirit (Philippians 1:27).

God wants us to stand, and He will help us to stand.

The Training Process

Paul said in Ephesians 6:11, 12, that we are to put on the whole armor of God, so that we can stand against the wiles of the devil. He said we wrestle against principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this age, and spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Along with understanding the Roman soldier's equipment and techniques, let's take a look at the Roman wrestler, because his method of training is analogous to our own spiritual training.

But reject profane und old wives' fables, and exercise yourself toward godliness. – I TIMOTHY 4:7

To many of us, the word exercise means weight lifting, treadmills and/or aerobics. But the Greek word for exercise in this verse means to "exercise naked." Now that I have your attention, let me explain the three phases of training that a Roman wrestler went through: working out, heating up, and rubbing down.

The Workout

The workout consisted of running many miles, training with heavy weights, and learning wrestling techniques and movements. The trainer put the guy through grueling workouts and regularly took him to the edge of his capability.

In America, the closest thing we have to this phase of training is boot camp. It is not the real war; but through strenuous exercises, the soldier is prepared for most anything he or she might encounter in a real war. It is not lightweight training. It's serious and demanding.

Likewise, after we accepted Christ, we thought, "Whew! I'm saved, going to heaven, and I'm on God's side so life will be peaceful and easy." But almost immediately, we were tossed into a conflict. Old party buddies called on the phone, an old boyfriend or girlfriend stopped by, or we ran into our old drug dealer.

Suddenly, we were struggling over whether to enjoy our old, familiar pleasures or to follow that new voice- the Holy Spirit. What happened? God allowed a challenge to come into our lives to give our spirit man a workout. He knows that we need training now so that we can survive future conflicts.

The Heat-up

The second phase of training for the wrestler was regular hot baths. The wrestler would sit in very hot water, in a steamy room, and perspire for hours. The trainer would sometimes use sand when rubbing the soldier down with oil. Then he would scrape the perfumed oils and sand off their bodies with a strigil, or curved metal spatula.

First Peter 1:7 says the trial of our faith is much more precious than gold that has been tried in the fire. Going through the heat, or the fire, is something God wants all of us to experience.

A woman once said to me, "When I was lost, it seemed like I didn't have any problems. I had all the money I wanted and everything was going great. But after I got saved, I started having financial problems and nothing seems to be going right."

I told her, "When you were unsaved, the devil didn't mess with you because he already had you. Since you were already on your way to hell, he didn't have to waste time attacking you. But, now that you are saved, you are a problem to him." We are all destined to go through the heat-trials and tribulations-but this is the key, "go through" it. We go through and come out the other side, victoriously!

The Rubdown

The third thing the trainer did to the wrestler was to rub oil deeply into his skin. 'This was one of those hard, deep-tissue massages.

The trainer would use five different kinds of oil, meaning the wrestler would get five massages, each with different oil. This made his skin slick so that when he was wrestling, his opponent could not grasp hold of him. He would have great difficulty getting a firm hold on any body part.

In the Bible, oil represents the anointing of God. We should all have the anointing of the five-fold ministry listed in Ephesians 4:11 "rubbed into" us. We need to place ourselves under the anointing of the apostle, prophet, pastor, evangelist and teacher. Their anointing, rubbed into us, will help us to grow into the fullness of Jesus Christ.

For example, God gave me a "teacher and evangelist" anointing. People have told me that when they sit under my ministry, their understanding of the Scripture opens up like never before. Why does this happen? Because they are getting the oil from my anointing rubbed into their spirits.

For the Christian, the five-fold anointing makes it impossible for the enemy to get a firm hold on us. Jesus referred to this when the time was nearing for Him to go to the Cross, and He said, "I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in me" (John 14:30).

Jesus was telling his disciples, "You are going to see me beaten, tortured, and crucified. Although it will look like Satan has defeated me, he has not. He cannot defeat me because he cannot get a hold on me." So, we see that the purpose for all the discomfort-the training, the heat, the hard rubbings-is to prepare us to be victorious at wrestling with the evil powers.

The Strengthening Power of Warfare and Wrestling

Satan looks at our trials differently from how God looks at them. Satan sees them as a way to take us down, whereas God sees them as a way to make us grow.

For example, Jesus told Peter that Satan had asked to have Peter and to sift him as wheat. Jesus knows the enemy's plans and can share them with us! Jesus then told Peter that He prayed for him that his faith would not fail. He said He prayed that, when the test was over, he would strengthen others.

Jesus did not pray—and this is important—that Peter would not have to go through that sifting. He prayed that he would be victorious in the trial and he would strengthen others when the trial was over.

Here is the sequence: Satan asked to sift Peter; permission was granted for Peter to be tested; Jesus prayed that Peter's faith would not fail; and Peter's faith remained intact after the test. All of this prepared Peter to be the great preacher on the Day of Pentecost, and he led 3,ooo souls to the Lord!

Early in my ministry, I was in warfare with depression for about four months. One day while I was in Bulgaria, depression enveloped me so powerfully that my mind became cluttered. I was so overwhelmed that I almost walked out a 15th-story window.

I was not getting even the slightest amount of victory until the Lord showed me that I was so caught up in what the Enemy was doing that I was not engaged in the war. I was doing nothing but watching the Enemy beat me up. I felt hopeless and did not even want to read my Bible. I kept the whole thing to myself and did not ask anyone for help.

One day, while in the middle of preaching a revival service, an anointing came on me and I stopped the service. I told everyone in that meeting that I had been severely depressed for many months and that I wanted to walk away from everything, grow my hair long, and ride a Harley across the country.

It was humiliating to talk about, but I felt a touch of joy and a spark of fire that I had not felt in a long time. When the service ended, many precious saints of God anointed me with oil and prayed over me. What happened that night was the beginning of my victory.

The next day, a close friend said to me, "Perry, you're going to be different, beginning today. You did the right thing. You have been keeping your problem in the dark and, as long as it was in the dark, the Enemy could use it against you. But when you exposed it to the light, he had nowhere to run."

I felt something break in the spirit realm. I put on God's armor, picked up God's weapons, and became engaged in the battle. I went after the devil, and I got the victory. There were no more clouds hanging over me. I knew that I was totally set free. I have been free ever since that day.

It is very important that we understand this: We are to have our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, not the gospel of confusion, or depression, or fear. The word "shod in the Greek is hupodeo which means to bind under. In context, Paul is saying, "Be firm- footed with the gospel of peace."

Maintaining Your Balance

The Roman soldier, as well as the wrestler, knew he would lose in the battle quickly if he lost one specific thing- balance. With balance, all other physical motions have stability and a firm foundation from which to move.

Combat sometimes involved being so physically close to the enemy that the slightest push could send the soldier to the ground. But the enemy had a difficult time conquering the soldier who maintained his balance.

Let's be honest: losing balance and even falling down is something that all Christians have done and will do at some time in their lives. Only Christ has never sinned and fallen short of God's glory. We must learn how to stand and maintain our balance in the midst of all battles. If we fall, we need to get up immediately. The longer we are down, the more easily the enemy can successfully attack us. He is supposed to be under our feet, not the other way around.

We need balance in our individual lives as well as in the entire body of Christ. Sometimes the body gets way off balance in some teachings or aspects of serving God. For example, there was a faith movement that taught that we needed faith in faith, and faith in having more faith. As a result, people lost focus on having faith in God. The faith message became the ultimate message.

Then, there was a movement in worshiping worship. Whole churches and ministries were built not on the Word, but on worship. Worshiping for an hour and then teaching God's Word for ten minutes is not balanced.

One more example of something that gets the body of Christ off- balance is legalism. There are churches that actually promote styling your hair only a certain way. Early in my ministry, there were pastors who would not let me preach in their church if my hair was over my ears.

Clothing is also an important control factor in legalism. Once, I was wearing a red tie, and the pastor would not let me preach because of my tie. I asked, "What's wrong with red?" He said, "It's the color of a harlot!" I said, "Well, it's also the color of the blood of Jesus!"

The unbalance of legalism caused a lot of people to get hurt simply because they failed to look, dress or talk they way they were "supposed to." Sadly, some of these hurt people have never returned to the church. Jesus said to make disciples, not clones.

The Peace of Cod

The Bible talks about the shoes of the preparation of the gospel of peace. This peace keeps us balanced. The New Testament reveals three kinds of peace: peace with God (Romans 5:1), peace from God (1 Corinthians 1:3), and the peace of God (Philippians 4:7).

Peace with God is given by the Lord when you come into a salvation relationship with Him. Sometimes people who are dying pray the sinner's prayer, and we say, "They made their peace with God." When we have peace with God, He is telling us, "You are no longer condemned and going to hell. You are my child, so there is peace because everything is alright between you and Me."

The peace from God comes after we have been born again and we are developing our walk with Him. As we walk with Him, doing those things that are pleasing to Him, He gives us His peace.

The peace of God guards your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. The peace of God is the peace that is necessary in times of conflict.

Remember how peaceful you felt when you accepted Christ? It was because you had made peace with God. You had started walking with Him, praying and reading your Bible. So He filled you with His peace. Then warfare came . . . but you have your feet covered with the peace of God to keep you balanced. No matter what kind of test you are in, it is the peace of God that keeps you from losing your balance.

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. – ISAIAH 26:3

The Hebrew word for stayed means "to support or to uphold," as in a pole that holds up a tent. The weight of the tent rests on that one pole. God is saying, "If you will put your weight—the weights and burdens in your mind—on Me, and rest on the post of the Cross of Christ, I will keep you in perfect peace."

The Peace of a Balanced Life

The peace of God will keep you balanced and in His will, no matter how fierce the battle. Somehow we have the idea that if things are going badly, we must have missed God's will. Don't tell the apostle Paul that! He was in jail half the time during his ministry. Don't tell Job that. He lost everything he had, but in the end, he got a double portion back.

A misconception in charismatic theology holds that if you are in God's will, everything is going to be perfect. The truth is, if you are in God's will you are a double threat to the Enemy and there will be battles and strange things you will have to fight. But when you are in God's will, you will have the peace of God. His peace will be with you, and it will guide you into His will for your life.

When I was 16 years old, I felt the call from God to go into the ministry. Three generations of preachers preceded me and when I told my Dad, he did everything possible to discourage me. For example, he said, "Now Perry, I don't know if you're really called to minister. Are you sure about that?" He was a pastor and I was thinking, "What's wrong with this man?"

But I kept feeling the peace of God, so I pursued my calling. Later, I asked him why he tried to discourage me from entering the ministry. He said, "Son, I knew that if I, your father, could discourage you from the ministry, then you were never called. That was a test to see if you were really called." I thank God that I have a dad who is so full of wisdom.

At 18, I started evangelizing. At the same time, some people in my denomination were telling me I should attend a particular Christian college. After all, it was our denomination's college, and those who expect to get ahead in the ministry and pastor a large church attend this college. Yet, despite the pressure to enroll, I had such a strong peace about not going that I knew I was doing the right thing.

The pressure was at its highest point one day when I was visiting my denomination's state office in Virginia. A well-known minister said, "Brother Perry, I heard that you're called to preach."

I said, "Yes, sir."

He commented, "I'm assuming that you're going to our college to get your degree?"

I replied, "Well, I've prayed and fasted about that and the Lord impressed me to go directly into full-time ministry." His jaw dropped!

"Well, I don't think the Lord is going to tell you that!" he argued.

"Well, He did," I said. The next thing he said put a dagger through my heart.

"I want to tell you something," he said. "If you don't do it the way you're supposed to, you will amount to nothing! You'll just blow over!" Then he walked out the door.

The pain from his words lingered for days, but soon the peace of God returned and I started doing what God called me to do. That pastor was right about one thing: Perry Stone did blow over. I have blown over 40 states and seven foreign countries. I have blown over 500 cities on a weekly basis with a television program, plus 26 stations that reach around the world! To God be the glory!

You see, one day God told me, "Son, in the future, things will happen that I cannot tell you about right now. But I am going to bless your ministry so powerfully that, if you go to this college, they will say that they made you what you are. Do what I want you to do; pray, study, and fast. And when you get where I am going to take you, everyone will say, 'God raised up Perry Stone!' "

The peace that He gave me—His peace—is what has helped keep me from falling prey to man's expectations and pressure. His peace kept me balanced in His will.

The Importance of Endurance, Patience and Longsuffering

The peace of God will guide us and keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. There are three additional things we need in order to remain standing through all the battles, however-endurance, patience and longsuffering.

The word endure comes from a Greek word that means to bear up under pressure. Jesus endured the cross, meaning He bore up under the pressure. He endured the Cross for the joy that was set before Him. In other words, He knew it would not last forever. The reason you can endure hardness as a good soldier is because you can know and have faith that things are not always going to be like they are right now.

The woman with an issue of blood endured it for 12 years. Then, with just one touch of Jesus, she was healed.

The crippled man in John 5 endured for 38 years. One day Jesus came by and spoke to him and he was healed.

The man of Gadara in Mark 5 endured evil spirits for a long time . . . until Jesus stepped off the boat and set the man free.

Nero was an emperor of Rome who wanted to rebuild the city. The people of Rome refused to let him do it so Nero took it upon himself to set the city afire. Some historians say Rome burned for a month and that 11 of the 12 sections of Rome were destroyed by the fire.

The Roman Senate began hearing the rumor that Nero had caused the fire and were about to confront him. In order to spare his own hide, Nero blamed the fire of Rome on the Christians. The apostle Paul was imprisoned in Rome at that time; so, knowing that Paul was a leader, Nero blamed him as the instigator.

The persecution of Christians ignited and spread fiercely and rapidly. Many Christians could not endure the suffering, or even the thought that they might suffer, so they denied their faith as well as their commitment to Paul.

In his latter years, Paul said that all the Christians in Asia had forsaken him (2 Timothy 1:15) Paul had traveled throughout Asia on two major missionary journeys. He started many churches and had many friends and converts there. But near the end of his life, when he was in a prison cell, his spiritual children forsook him.

Even though all forsook him, Paul had still fought a good fight, kept the faith, finished his course and even had a crown of righteousness reserved for him (2 Timothy 4:8). He was an enduring soldier!

Standing Firm in the Face of Evil

The body of Christ has too many wimps today. We get offended over the most ridiculous things. I have even heard of people who left a church because someone sat in the seat they had been sitting in for years.

Recently, 160,000 Christians were martyred by methods such as having their heads and legs chopped off, being thrown into fire, or having their churches burned down while locked inside. In one Islamic country, Muslims killed 56 Christians and their pastor.

In Peru, a terrorist group went to a church and took the children outside. Then they cut off the head of the pastor's son and told the children to play soccer with the head or they would all be killed.

I went to an orphanage in Peru and saw a little Christian boy with the bottom of his ears cut off. It looked like someone had taken a pair of scissors and cut off upside down v-shaped pieces of his ears. I asked him what happened. He said the terrorists kidnapped him and cut off his body parts. They sent them to his father, demanding money for his return.

Yet, we in the United States attend church and complain about everything while throughout the world, our brothers and sisters in Christ are dying for their faith. I'm telling you, it's time to stop being a weakling and a coward. It is time to be an enduring soldier and fight the good fight of faith that Paul talks about!

There is a verse in Revelation 12 that we in North America often quote partially. We talk about how we can overcome the Enemy by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. But the rest of that verse says, "and they did not love their lives to the death" (Revelation 12:11).

We are not true soldiers until we are willing to lay down our lives for the gospel of Jesus Christ. When we are fully willing to face any opposition, including death, then and only then are we soldiers of Christ. After I preached on Islam, someone told me, "You keep preaching like that and they're going to take you out. What do you think about that?" I said, "I'll just go to heaven sooner, won't I?" How can you threaten a believer with going to heaven and being with Jesus? What kind of threat is that?

Endure with Patience

There is no need to have a martyr's complex, but you don't have to be a coward, either.

Patience, combined with faith, are two traits that we must have in order to inherit the promises of God. – HEBREWS 6:12

By patience we can protect and keep our souls. – LUKE 21:19

Patience enables us to wait for the manifestation of God's promises. – Romans 8:25

It is impossible for Satan, your enemy, to possess the fruit of the Spirit. Love is a fruit of the Spirit, but Satan's fruit is hatred. Peace is a fruit of the Spirit, but Satan sows confusion. Everything that Satan is and does is the opposite of God's nature.

Patience is the ability to endure a long stretch of trouble. Battles can stretch for a very long time, and trouble can seem to never end. The trait that carries us to the end, to the victory, is patience.

The enemy cannot outlast your patience. Satan will say, "Leave him alone for a season. He is not going to give in." This is why it is so important to grasp this concept of endurance, and running the race with patience.

Longsuffering means to endure a long test by exercising patience or restraint, and by being slow to anger. Paul warned Timothy about the perilous times ahead. Then he complimented Timothy by saying:

But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance, persecutions, aflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra— what persecutions I endured. And out of them all, the Lord delivered me. Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

– 2 Timothy 3:10-12

Paul knew that longsuffering is a critical component to standing in the midst of battle, and that endurance helped him finish the work God had called him to do. Having your feet shod with the gospel of peace enables you to endure, to be patient, and to be longsuffering.

Luke 18 contains the parable of the persistent widow. She went to the judge, seeking justice from her adversary. She kept asking and asking. The judge finally said, "Do something about this woman. She's going to wear me out if she doesn't get what she's asking for." Jesus said:

Shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. – LUKE 18:7, 8

At times in these last days, it will seem that our prayers are not getting through to God. It will appear that we are praying and nothing is happening. Jesus ends the parable of the unjust judge with, "Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?"

The enemy is going to plant thoughts in our minds, like, "I have been praying for my son for five years now and nothing has happened." We will be tempted to become weary in well-doing, but Jesus said to have patience and keep believing because you will see the answer to your prayers!

Early in my ministry, God gave me a passage that kept me going as I traveled from one small church to another and from a good revival to a not-so-good revival:

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. – GALATIANS 6:7-9

You can stand, even in the midst of the toughest battle. Clothed in the armor of God, holding the sword of the Spirit and the shield of faith in your hands, you will be victorious in every conflict in life.

Fatigue is not an option in the life of the faithful believer. Do not grow weary of doing well!

CHAPTER 10

Battle Strategies for the Last Days

Jesus gave us the winning battle strategy for spiritual warfare when He said:

What king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down fist and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? – LUKE 14:31

Keeping this verse in mind, we look in Ecclesiastes and read that there is no discharge for anyone in the war in which we are engaged. Our true discharge will come at our death:

No one has power over the spirit to retain the spirit, and no one has power in the day of death. There is no release from that war, and wickedness will not deliver those who are given to it.

–  ECCLESIASTES 8:8

Later in Ecclesiastes, we read:

Wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one sinner destroys much good. –ECCLESIASTES 9:18

Every time I read that, I am reminded of the wars the modern Israelis have won by tricking their enemy. In 1948, one of their villages was overtaken by the enemy. Not knowing what to do, they filled empty oil barrels with rocks, then they removed the mufflers from their cars.

At the sound of a signal, they rolled the barrels off the mountains and revved the car engines to create loud, military-like noises. Thinking that the Israelis had a new weapon or a new series of tanks, all of the Arabs fled the village, enabling the Israelis to regain control over their village. Wisdom is better than the weapons of war.

Plans are established by counsel; by wise counsel wage war.

– Proverbs 20:18

The Resource of Godly Counsel

One of the things I have always done in my life and ministry is to consult with people I trust before making a major decision. For example, when buying equipment, going on TV, or building a building, I want to know what people feel in their spirits about the decision I am making.

We should never reject godly counsel. Sometimes people can see things we do not see. We can be blinded by friendship, by relationship, and by people around us, whereas people on the outside looking in can have a different perspective. So, the preceding four verses come to mind when I hear the verse about consulting before you go to war.

There is no question that we are in a spiritual war. Each generation of believers has had to fight a war, usually unique to its own time period. The first century church had to fight false religion. After the first century, the church was engaged in a war of compromise and unbelief, because of  the great persecution that came from Rome.

So what kind of war will we be fighting during the last days? What does the Bible say about this time in which we are living?

1. We will battle seducing spirits and doctrines of devils:

Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils. – I TIMOTHY 4:1, KJV

A seducing spirit is a spirit that tries to draw you away from the truth. We often associate the word "seduce" with sexual temptations. But these spirits work through the doctrines of devils, which can be anything that is evil.

Too many people today consult the wrong counselors. A USA Today-CNN-Gallup Poll found that 70 million Americans believe it is possible to talk to the dead. Former first lady Nancy Reagan consulted with astrologers in the White House. Hillary Clinton said she summoned the spirit of Eleanor Roosevelt before making a decision. God says:

Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God. – LEVITICUS 19:31

2. We will encounter spiritual deception and false prophets.

Speaking of last days, Jesus warned us about the deception that will come from people who are false prophets:

And Jesus answered and said to them: "Eke heed that no one deceives YOU." – MATTHEW 24:4

Many false prophets will rise up and deceive man. – MATTHEW 24:11

Notice that Jesus is warning against people: false prophets and those who would try to deceive us. Demonic spirits on their own cannot do much, except move furniture around and make some noise, but they can do a lot of damage by working through people.

We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but we wrestle against demonic spirits that are working through people. The last days battle will involve the enemy attacking truth:

The truth of the Bible

The foundation of Scripture

Jesus being born of a virgin

Jesus being the Son of God

Jesus being the only way to heaven, and so on.

Now that we are politically correct in America, we are supposed to believe that everybody has a way to heaven, and everybody is right in whatever they want to believe. It is this kind of nonsense that the end time generation will have to deal with.

The battle Christians face is to stand up for truth and defend the gospel of Christ. I believe there are three reasons warfare in America is dramatically increasing.

Reasons for Increased Satanic Activity

First, Satan is running out of time. Satan knows his time is short, so he is not going to attack those things he already owns. He is going after those things and people who do not belong to him.

He will do his best to move into high places in our governments and churches, through those in leadership positions. He will attack the leadership in any high realms of authority, through which he can control people.

Therefore rejoice, 0 heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.

– REVELATION I2:12

The second reason spiritual warfare is increasing is that the spirits tied to false religions are being brought into America. For example, in India, they worship millions of gods. They even worship animals, trees, and broomsticks. Demonic spirits can attach themselves to objects that are worshipped, and some of these objects are being brought into America.

Specifically, this is what is happening: Years ago, people who moved to America from foreign countries were exposed to Christianity nearly everywhere in this country. Before 1963, foreigners knew that America was a Christian nation, and they honored that fact. Even the children of those adults who moved here were exposed to prayer and Bible reading in public schools.

The decision by the Supreme Court in 1963 to remove prayer from schools ignited a movement to remove any and all references to Christianity. Now citizens, as well as those coming here from other countries, are no longer exposed to Christianity.

Many—perhaps most-schools and colleges have become godless. Vanishing from the public square are references to America's Christian heritage. Wherever God is mentioned in the public square, He is blasphemed and criticized, and His name is banned in some places.

Generations are being raised in America who have no concept of who God is. Combined with this problem, some of those immigrating here are bringing contrary religious beliefs, like Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam.

Yes, America is a country of religious freedom. But as people worship false gods, and as they bring into America the idols from their religions, they bring the spirits of those idols with them. America is facing a spiritual battle unlike any previous battle since the formation of the nation.

The third reason that warfare is dramatically increasing is the sin factor. A man from South Carolina once said to me:

Years ago, before I was saved, I was involved with a new age church on the West Coast. We didn't know anything about demons and angels; we just knew that there were positive and negative spirits. I'm ashamed to tell you this, but I became so entrenched in demonism that I didn't realize what I was doing.

There was a woman in this new-age church that I really wanted, but I was married at the time. So, one night I sent a spirit into my wife and she hemorrhaged to death. I caused her death through a spirit.

This was not a dumb man He was a successful computer expert who had been involved in demonic activity before he became a believer. He continued:

Most people are skeptical about this, but believe me, I've been there. I've seen demons. In cities like Los Angeles, they are as big as gorillas and six- or seven-feet-tall. They actually hang onto people.

After I came to South Carolina, I saw, on two different occasions, demonic spirits on people? shoulders. They looked like little chimpanzees, and I watched them get close to the person's ear and whisper evil things to them.

I asked, "Why do you think the spirits in Los Angeles would be so large and the spirits in South Carolina be so small?" He answered:

Demons feed off of sin. If you are in an area where people are heavily involved in the occult, drugs, alcoholism, sexual bondage, pornography, and other fleshly sins, the demons are very large and strong. Be more the people sin, the larger the demons grow and the stronger they become. In the Bible belt there is less fleshly sin and a lot of Christian teaching, preaching, and gospel music, so demons cannot go into those areas and feed off the sin.

This story may sound outrageous to some, but remember what Jesus said. When the unclean spirit is cast out of a man, he looks for another host. If he cannot find one, he returns to the person he left. If he does not see God in the person, he takes seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they all possess the man (Matthew 12:43-45).

Levels of Wickedness

So, there are levels of wickedness and power among evil spirits. The point is that it is becoming easier for people to feed their flesh than ever before in this country.

For example, when I was a kid, pornographic magazines were wrapped and hidden behind the counter. As the years passed, they went from being partially covered with a brown wrapper and moved out from under the counter, to being placed in full view with the other merchandise.

Not too long ago, you had to pay to get adult-oriented cable stations. Now, you can freely download pornography from the internet anytime and almost anywhere.

So, in America, we have a combination of the chief of the kingdom of darkness knowing that he is running out of time; individuals moving into this country with no knowledge of the gospel, bringing their demon-occupied idols; and the increase of sin among more and more people. This montage of spiritual activity is creating spiritual warfare for Christians like they have never experienced before.

This is why many of you who have been saved for 20 or 30 years are saying, Why am I having a hard time praying? Why is it that when I pray I don't feel the anointing1 used to feel? It is because there are spiritual veils over more and more areas.

Why do you think Daniel had to pray for 21 days before he could get a breakthrough? It was because a demonic prince who was controlling the country of Persia went over the city of Babylon where Daniel was and restrained an angel of God from bringing an answer to his prayer.

Do Not Lose Heart

The previous chapter of this book mentioned the parable of the persistent widow, recorded in Luke 18. That parable, in the context of what is discussed here, indicates that in the last days, it may seem that God is not hearing you when you pray. You may seek Him with a request for a long time. Jesus is saying, "Do not get weary. Do do not give up."

The parable is introduced with, "Men always ought to pray and not lose heart," then Jesus tells a parable about a woman, not a man. Women have a tenacity that men do not seem to have, when it comes to hanging on until they get what they want. Here is how most men are: we will pray for something, get excited, and then expect it the next day. If the answer has not arrived within a week, we will forget about it and begin to figure out how to create the answer on our own.

Women will not do that. When they ask God for something, they will lock onto it until the answer comes. Consider Delilah, for example. I realize she was evil, but she drove a man crazy as she pursued what she wanted. She wanted Sampson to tell her the secret of his strength. She whined daily to Sampson, "If you really love me, you will tell me the secret of your great strength." In fact, Judges 16:16 says that she vexed his soul to death.

A woman can do what a man cannot. She nurtures a seed inside her-an idea, a goal, or the word of God. Say it is a physical seed. The seed grows, she puts on weight, buys baby clothes, and goes into labor with all that pain and effort. All the while, she's waiting for the baby.

If a man had to have a baby, he would die before he gave birth. That's just the truth!

Women know how to conceive something and hang onto it until it is birthed. I believe this is why Jesus referred to a woman in that parable. He was trying to say, "Men, you need to be like the woman in this story. You need to have tenacity, and you need to keep pressing."

Jesus knew, in the last days that living would be so stressful we would get tired of trying to hold on to the promise. He knew that we would pray and it would seem like the prayer was never going to be answered. He knew we would want to give up and faint.

One of the great battles we will have as believers in these last days, is the battle of weariness and fainting. This will be the greatest attack of the enemy—trying to cause us to become weary in well-doing and give up before the answer comes.

The Bible warns us that, in these last days, men's hearts will fail them from the fear and expectation of those things which are coming on the earth (Luke 21:26). There will be great wrath because the devil knows that he has a short time (Revelation 12:12). There will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world (Matthew 24:21).

Even in the midst of all this fear, wrath and great tribulation, the prevailing attitude will be that of scoffers, who will walk according to their own lusts, asking, "Where is the promise of His coming" (2 Peter 3:3,4)?

Christ's Kingdom Will Prevail

The good news is that, while there is great fear, great wrath, great tribulation, and many scoffers, there will also be a great outpouring of God's Spirit and the gospel will be preached throughout the entire world. God is going to have a last-day army:

And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy. – ACTS 2:17-18

The army God assembles, in the last days, consists of youth (sons and daughters) as well as older people (menservants and maidservants). His army consists of dreamers and visionaries who have a prophetic anointing. Notice that both male and female are mentioned, not just men, as some denominations teach. God can use a woman the same as He can use a man.

My dad accepted Christ under a woman's ministry. She held a revival that lasted three years. From that revival, 70 young men accepted Christ, and later preached the gospel all over the United States. I believe God uses women as He does, because a lot of men will not do His work.

When Kathryn Kuhlman received her calling from God, she fought it at first. She said to God, "Why me? I'm a woman. Do you know how hard it is for a woman to be in the ministry?" God said to her, "I tried to give this ministry to three men and they didn't want it, so I chose you because I knew you would do it."

So God will be using women. More women will be in positions of apostle, prophet, pastor, evangelist and teacher. The harvest is going to be so great that God will need to have many laborers in the field. In Jesus' parable of the workers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1), the landowner was hiring up until the 11th hour!

Ben [Jesus] said to them, "The harvest truly is great, but the Laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest." -LUKE 10:2

God uses more young people for His work than ever before. We will see one of the greatest outpourings of the Holy Spirit ever, and that outpouring is already evident. In some other countries it is primarily touching the youth.

Large churches in Africa have congregations of people mostly under age 30. Latin America is experiencing rapid church growth with people under the age of 35. This fulfills the promise for sons and daughters.

Older people, who have lived under communism in countries such as China and Vietnam, are very traditional and somewhat suspicious of the new things of God. But the younger generation is excited about serving God. Right now, there is a church in Indonesia with 80,000 members. Half of that congregation is under 30 years of age, and this is a predominately Muslim country.

God's last-days army must have men, women and young people. Men are primarily visionaries, planners and rational thinkers. Women bring endurance in prayer and travail, and the birthing of new Christians. The youth are adventurous and unreserved. God will have everybody in this army working together.

The Roman Army and Churches in America

While doing research for this study on the armor of God, I prayed like this, "Lord, when Paul wrote Ephesians 6, he was in prison being guarded by a Roman soldier. You showed Paul how your armor is similar to the soldier's armor. Now I know you do everything with a pattern. How does all this come into play with the Roman army?"

He led me to research the Roman army, and I found some interesting things. The army was divided into sections. Eight men made a unit. Ten units, or 80 men, made a century of soldiers. Six centuries, or 480 men, made a cohort. Ten cohorts, or 4,800 men, made a legion. And 5,280 soldiers formed an army.

In America, the average church has about 70 to 80 people. That is similar to a century of Roman soldiers. The average American church is a century church!

The next largest average size church in America has approximately 400–500 people. This is similar in size to a cohort in a Roman army.

Then there are the churches with thousands. A mega-church would be considered a Roman army.

The 80-member churches are all over America. The 400-500-member churches are usually found predominantly in larger towns or small cities. Mega-churches are generally located in or on the outskirts of major cities.

Let me point our something I believe is very important. The Roman army had to have groups of 80 people to hold down smaller key areas. Is it possible that we have so many churches that have around 80 people and are not supposed to turn into larger churches? If this is true, then it will take the pressure off a lot of pastors who are perplexed, wondering why they have only 80 people.

In reality, they have a purpose that they can accomplish only by being that size. For example, assume a Roman general wanted to secretly penetrate the enemy's territory and demolish some bridges and food storage facilities. If he sent in a legion, they could be easily detected by the enemy because of their large number.

I believe it is possible that the reason so many churches with 400-500 people are scattered within and around each city is so that they can speak into the prominence of that town and community.

Sometimes it seems that churches spend a lot of time and energy on church growth. Their lack of growth certainly does not indicate that something is wrong with these churches. They have many godly and anointed people serving and attending. Some of these churches have even built larger sanctuaries, but the number of people remained the same. Why can they not get over the "450 hump"? The technique the Roman army used to conquer a city gives us insight into the answer to that question.

When the Roman army conquered Jerusalem, they used the 10th legion. Those 4,800 men stormed the walls of the city and encountered ineffective resistance. So, if we are going to storm the cities of Miami, Tampa, New York or Los Angeles, for example, we need a mega-church-a legion or an army. It takes a larger force to pull down bigger strongholds.

It will take more people wielding the sword of the Spirit. More people must link their shields together and go after the wall. And more people must put their shields over their heads like the Roman soldiers did for protection against the rocks and arrows being thrown at them.

The Standard

Jacob had twelve sons, and the descendants from those sons formed the tribes of Israel (the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Dan, and so on). The Bible says in Numbers 1:52 that Israel pitched tents, every man by his own camp, every man by his own standard.

Each of these tribes camped around the tabernacle of Moses. There were three tribes to the North, three to the West, three to the South, and three to the East. Among each group of three tribes, one was the prominent tribe: Judah was the prominent tribe on the East, Dan on the North, Reuben on the South, and Manasseh on the West.

Each of the 12 tribes displayed a color banner, or standard, specific to their tribe that matched the color of a stone in the priest's breastplate. When the signal sounded that Israel was going to war, everyone assembled at their standard. 'This was a very efficient method for organizing two million people.

The Roman army also used standards. The standard was a rallying point for each division within an entire army, In the church today, we have standards. We have rallying points that we gather around, each according to his division. When the Roman Church became formal and dry, Martin Luther introduced the doctrine that the just shall live by faith. When this happened, the Roman Church split and became two "camps" that rallied around one of two standards: either the Roman Church or "salvation by grace and faith."

Later, another movement came, a deeper revelation, called "holiness, sanctification and separation," introduced by the Wesley brothers. 'This movement, called Wesleyan Methodism, created another standard that many people rallied around.

At this point, there were three standards in the church. While each new standard showed a progression of understanding God, many would not move to the newer revelation, preferring instead to remain at their current level. People under each standard built schools, colleges, and institutions that reflected their own standard.

Near the turn of the 20th century, a minister named William J. Seymour was instrumental in the Azusa Street Revival, which introduced the functioning of the gifts of the Spirit and the baptism in the Holy Spirit (the Pentecostal movement).

Now there were four standards: the Roman Church, salvation by faith, holiness, and Pentecostalism. The refusal of many from each of the earlier standards to move to the most recent move of God continued. In fact, some standards split.

The Pentecostal movement, for example, split into eight denominations. Many people from each standard either fought or criticized the other standards, especially the new movement of God. They were peeking around their little standard, saying, "Don't go down there and worship with them because they are not of God. If they were, we would have had that revelation long ago."

What is sad is that the entire body of Christ was supposed to have moved from one standard to the next standard, to the next, and so on. Instead, we have a lot of churches preaching their standard, saying that everyone else is wrong, and you must be part of their movement to go to heaven.

We weaken the army of God when we have one camp here, one over there, another camp somewhere else, and all the time we are fighting each other instead of fighting the Enemy. If you are a Baptist, your enemy is not the Pentecostal. If you are Pentecostal, your enemy is not the Catholic.

Even Jesus' disciples were involved in this kind of division. One day they saw someone casting out a demon in Jesus' name and they rebuked him, saying, "Hey! You cant do that! You're not with our group! You're not one of us!" When those disciples returned to Jesus and told Him what had happened, Jesus rebuked them, saying, "If he is not working against Me, he is working for Me!"

God does not desire separation among His people. There is only one standard:

When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him. – ISAIAH 59:19

That standard is Jesus, who was lifted up to draw all men to Him. He is the standard of one message: "one body" and "one spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:13);"one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all" (Ephesians 4:5, 6).

The old standards that we have today-the many different denominations that once burned with the fire of God-have become cold and are dying. Hundreds of churches in Europe that once had a genuine move of God are being sold and converted into mosques. When we take a new truth from God, make it the one and only truth of God, and ignore any future revelations and movements of the Holy Spirit, we quickly become overrun by the Enemy.

I believe a last days army is coming. This last days army will not get caught up in the divisions of the church that we see today. This army will understand that the standard is the Bible, from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21. The standard is the 66 Books of the Bible. The standard is the covenant that we have in Jesus. The last day army will believe that it is okay to clap your hands, to shout, to pray for the sick, to cast out demons, and to speak in tongues.

I am reminded of the bumble bee. By all principles of physics, the bumble bee-with its size, shape and wing span-should not be able to fly. No matter how many laws of physics are violated, no matter how many professors tell the bumble bee it cannot fly, that bumble bee will fly anyway. The bumble bee is not going to agree with the rules and not do what it was created to do.

Similarly, we should not let a bunch of man-made rules keep us from being all that God has called us to be and to do. One of the greatest military generals of all time was Alexander the Great. By age 30, he had conquered most of the known world of his day. He became ill and died in Babylon in June, 323 B.C. at the age of 33. His short life and brilliant military skills have been studied for thousands of years.

Four Reasons Alexander Was Great

There are four reasons Alexander was a legendary general. Here are those four reasons and how Christians in the last day battle can apply those characteristics to become stronger soldiers.

First, Alexander the Great's army was highly motivated. Perhaps what motivated his soldiers the most was that Alexander would enter the heat of the battle along with all of his other soldiers. Most often, he would lead the charge, whereas the usual practice of generals was to stay in the back and give orders. His courage and fierceness vanquished any fear or hesitancy within his soldiers.

With a comparatively small army of 40,000 men, he warred against the Persian army of one million men and won. The spiritual parallel is that we do not need large numbers of people to conquer the enemy. Scripture tells us:

Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to Fight; your enemies shall fall by the sword before you.

– LEVITICUS 26:8

One man of you shall chase a thousand, for the Lord your God is He who fights for you, as He promised you. – JOSHUA 23:10

Jesus motivated and empowered 12 men to spread the gospel and destroy the works of the enemy.

Second, Alexander studied the weaknesses of his enemy. He looked for holes in their defense. He searched for unguarded walls and psychological weaknesses, because this was what the enemy feared most. Everyone, including our Enemy, has an area of weakness.

The third reason was that Alexander lightened his soldiers' load before the battle. Alexander's army traveled more than they battled. Therefore, they had to carry items for their daily needs. Before going into conflict, Alexander ordered his men to remove everything except what was needed for battle. They were not to be burdened with unnecessary weight and could walk, run and fight longer.

Paul wrote that we are not to get enmeshed with the things of this life:

No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.

– 2 TIMOTHY 2:4

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside eve y weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

– HEBREWS 12:1

Weight and sin slow us down in the race that God has set before us. Weights are different from sins. Weights are attitudes we carry that hinder our spiritual growth. Mark 4:19 lists these weights: the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust for other things.

The cares of this world refer to being overly concerned and worried about our daily responsibilities.

The deceitfulness of riches seduces us to believe that financial wealth is the most important thing in life. Now, being rich is not a sin. God does not care if we have wealth, just as long as the wealth does not have us.

The lust for other things draws us to want anything and everything, not just money. In America, we are constantly bombarded with ads and commercials that try to persuade us that having homes, cars, or anything else is the key to our happiness, self-worth, and acceptance from others.

The fourth reason Alexander was a legendary general was that he always fed his soldiers well before and during the journey. He understood that it is impossible to fight and win without energy.

King Saul once gave a crazy command to his army. They were going to a battle and he told them, "Don't eat anything. The man that eats anything will be cursed. I'll put a curse on him."

His son, Jonathan, did not hear that command and, as they went through the woods, he saw a honeycomb and ate it. His eyes were enlightened and he received strength from the honeycomb. Months earlier, God had put a swarm of forest bees right in Saul's path. He provided food for the soldiers to eat, so they gained strength and energy from the honeycomb.

You cannot fight the enemy when you are physically weak. Why do you think the Bible says that when you are sick, to call for the elders? Because when you are sick you do not feel like praying or interceding! When you are sick, your faith level is not up. What you need to do is lie on your bed and tell the saints to get over there and lay hands on you.

There was a movement within the church a few years ago of not eating meat. Now, if you are a vegetarian due to a personal conviction, that's okay. I am referring to a so-called doctrine that we are not to eat meat. The Bible says that through seducing spirits and doctrines of devils will come a belief that we are to abstain from meats (I Timothy 4:1,3).

The priests in the Old Testament ate meat every day. God gave them the recipe: cook the meat, do not eat it raw, and burn the fat. God knew that the fat of animals can give us cardiac problems. But the priests had to eat meat in order to carry out their priestly duties. These men worked all day at the temple, slaying animals, lifting animal parts, and waving them before God. That kind of work requires protein to feed the muscles and provide the energy for all that physical labor.

Jesus fasted 40 days and 40 nights before He started His ministry. He fasted before He engaged in the conflict that accompanied His ministry. John the Baptist's disciples asked Jesus' disciples, "Doesn't your master fast? It seems like He never misses a meal."

Jesus understood, "I fasted to get a breakthrough before the battle. Now that I am in the battle, I need my strength to minister to these people." When Jesus got really tired, He got Himself apart from people before he fell apart —He rested.

Sometimes people feel like they are superhuman. During the healing revival era years ago, godly and anointed men would preach every night in a tent for weeks on end. They would pray for hundreds of people every night. They wore their bodies out. Don't burn out or rust out; just go in His timing. Whether by death or by the rapture, let it be in His timing.

Conclusion

All Christians are called to be good soldiers for Christ. Remember: we all have trials and battles. But those who understand the specific purpose of each piece of armor, those who clothe themselves in the full armor of God every day, are those who are victorious in battle.

You must be clothed with salvation, sanctification, righteousness, and the power of the Holy Spirit. Your faith will help you overcome your trials and mature in your spiritual walk.

The truth of God's word will help you discern deception and delusion. Anoint your shield and your mind through the five-fold ministry of anointed apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Learning the truth of God's Word and speaking it aloud will support the shield of your faith and the sword of the Spirit.

Your sword, the Word of God, prayer, praise, and worship—all of these things are weapons against deception, sickness, mental attacks and temptations. Be balanced in your prayer, praise and worship. Remember that your praise and worship is effective only when it comes from a pure heart and a genuine love for God.

Move out of the realm of the flesh. When the enemy throws arrows of doubt, unbelief, fear, depression, defeat, jealously, strife, unforgiveness and hatred, remember that those are hindrances and stumbling blocks designed specifically to attack your areas of weakness. Do not let any of these things become a stronghold.

Keep your shield lifted and in place at all times. Be prepared to defend yourself from arrows that will come from all directions. At times, it will become difficult to carry your shield and defend yourself, so it is important to link shields with other believers.

Be unified in the body of Christ. Gather behind the one standard of Jesus Christ and fight the real enemy instead of each other. Think on those things that are true, pure, just, praiseworthy, and of good report. Be righteous without condemnation, guilt and legalism. Resist any evil words that have been spoken against you. Speak the word of God over your situation.

When God has spoken His word over your situation, when you are fully dressed and protected, and when you know the battle is already won, the peace of God will give you the patience to endure until you see the manifestation of your victory.

Don't be a limping, wounded soldier who is constantly being whipped by the enemy. Join God's mighty and powerful army. Dig your trenches and link your shields. Stand firm against the enemy who is coming against you. Instead of you fearing the enemy, let the enemy fear you. With your full armor in place, there is no need to be timid. Go to battle with boldness.

God's armor will enable us to resist, restrain, and rebuke. And it will reveal, redeem, reconcile, renew, and repair.

We are at war. Two major forces that oppose us as we pursue the prize of the high calling of God in Jesus Christ are evil spirits and our carnal desires. Battles will escalate in the last days because Satan knows he doesn't have much time.

But God provided for us His armor, and when used properly, it will protect us from the enemy, give us victory, and keep us from falling short of our destinies. Clothe yourself and be equipped for battle!

Appendix

Being a Soldier

A lot of teaching in recent years has told us about son-ship. We have learned we are heirs and joint-heirs with Christ. We have learned we are overcomers, and He will supply all our needs. But we need teaching that will move us from being an heir of Christ to being a soldier of Christ.

Some Christians prefer not to talk about fighting and warfare; others actually consider it a negative teaching. Unfortunately, when some of us lose our jobs, have marital problems, or experience any other adversity, we simply rely on our son-ship relationship with God, and things do not change. Why not? Because we are also called to be soldiers, and we are called to fight the enemy.

The history of the children of Israel, during their time in captivity, the deliverance from Egypt, and their possessing the Promised Land, clearly illustrates the progression of the Christian's walk. While in Egypt, the Israelites were slaves, just as we were slaves to sin. In the wilderness, they learned to be sons, just as we progress to walking in son-ship. We learn how to receive the blessings from God.

Then, when the Israelites conquered the inhabitants of the Promised Land, they learned how to be soldiers. We need to learn to take territory and to fight the Enemy, who wants to destroy us. So, the progression is: from slaves, to sons, to soldiers. Paul wrote to Timothy about being a good soldier.

Timothy was a young pastor at the church in Ephesus, when Paul wrote ~Timothy. Paul had laid his hands on Timothy and imparted a spiritual gift. Timothy had a heritage of faith-filled, praying families. He was taught God's Word from the time he was a child. He had been trained under Paul, possibly the greatest apostle in all of history; however, Timothy was fearful.

This charge I commit to you, son Timothy according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare. – 1 TIMOTHY 1:18

In other words, Paul told Timothy to take the rhema word, the prophecy, that was given to him previously and use it in his warfare. The rhema word is anointed to accomplish what it was sent to do. Paul is saying, "Hold up your rhema, your sword, and fight." Jesus was referring to the rhema of His word when He said:

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. –  JOHN 15:7

It is not just a matter of knowing the scriptures. It is also important to know what God said to you through the revelation of the Word. Paul gave Timothy instructions to flee, to follow, and to fight. His advice applies to us today.

1. We are to flee youthful lusts (2 Timothy 2:22). We see an example of this when Potiphar's wife flung herself at Joseph. He ran away so fast that he left his cloak behind. Even though Potiphar's wife falsely accused Joseph and he lost everything and went to jail, he ran away from temptation.

2.We are to follow righteousness (2 Timothy 2:22). Follow after the right standing with God. Follow after those things that please God.

3. We are to fight the good fight of faith (1 Timothy 6:12). Every battle in your life directly attacks your faith. Jesus told Peter, "I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail" (Luke 22:31). We must keep our faith strong, because success in warfare depends on our faith.

Parallels with Roman Warfare

When the Romans won their wars, there were nine specific actions they performed. There are striking parallels between what the Romans did after they won a war and what will happen when Jesus returns:

The Roman leader rode in a horse-driven chariot. Jesus and His army will ride on horses (Revelation 19:13,14).

The Roman leader wore a royal robe. Jesus will be wearing a robe dipped in blood, and his army will be wearing fine white linen (Revelation 19:13, 14).

A crown of victory was placed on the Roman leader's head. Jesus will be wearing many crowns (Revelation 19:12).

Roman soldiers' faces were painted red. Jesus will be revealed from heaven in blazing fire (2 7hessalonians 1:8; Revelation 19:12).

Roman soldiers had scepters in their hands. Jesus will rule with a rod of iron (Revelation 19:15).

The leader was surrounded by all of his soldiers. The armies of heaven will follow Jesus (Revelation 19:14).

Victorious Roman soldiers would parade the captured enemy in public. An angel with a great chain will seize Satan and bind him (Revelation 20:2, 3).

In Roman warfare, to the victor went the spoils. In spiritual warfare, the overcomer will inherit all things (Revelation 21:7).

The Roman victory parade ended at the temple. Jesus will rule from heaven and He will be the Temple (Revelation 21:22).

David's Defeat of Goliath

As soldiers for Christ, we can learn lessons from the details of the encounter between David and Goliath. Goliath was between 13 and 14 feet tall. His spear was at least seven feet long, and he had a regular-size man to carry his shield. He wore full battle armor, similar to the armor the Roman soldier wore.

Regardless of his size, his armor and his strength; Goliath had an area that was vulnerable to injury-his forehead. David's choice of weapon, the slingshot, could fire a rock over Goliath's shield and go directly into his forehead.

David took five smooth stones from the brook, shot one stone at Goliath's head, put the others in a "script," and cut off Goliath's head with the giant's own sword (I Samuel 17:40, 51). Why did David pick up smooth stones? Because a smooth stone is much more aerodynamic than a rough stone, and it provided greater speed and accuracy. The smoothness of the stones was the result of hundreds of years of friction by the water in the brook.

When we first come to Christ, we have many rough edges. God cannot use us with great accuracy, so He provides us with the continual washing by the water of the Word and the working of the Holy Spirit, to knock off those rough edges. Although David used only one stone, he took five from the brook, because there were four more giants in the land. David probably believed that, after he knocked off Goliath, he would have to take on the other giants. He was ready, willing and able to do so.

After David took the stones from the water, he placed them in his shepherd's bag. He brought out one stone and killed the enemy. Similarly, God removes our rough edges, then wraps us in His Scripture. He brings us out and uses us when the time comes to conquer the enemy.

Notice that David took five stones. Five is the number of grace and of the five-fold ministry of Christ to the church. First Samuel 1731indicates that David's stone did not kill Goliath, but knocked him unconscious. What actually killed Goliath was David cutting his head off with the sword. 'This is important because David got to the root of the problem and killed it.

In spiritual warfare, we sometimes deal only with the surface issues. However, these things are actually the effects of the root of the problem. We need to recognize and attack the root of the problem instead.

A man once told me, "I was bound by pornography before I got saved, and after I got saved, I was still having problems with it. I had these movie channels coming into my apartment, and late at night they always had pornographic movies. I found myself wanting to find these kinds of movies and watch them.

I asked him, "What did you do?" He said, "I called the cable company and told them to get them out of my house." 'That is what I am talking about. Cut the head off! Cut out the root of the problem.

Why put yourself through unnecessary temptation? The Bible tells us to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God (2 Corinthians 7:1). There are some things you could do, but it is better not to. For example, if you used to have a problem with drinking and picking up girls in bars, then a bar is the last place you need to go and witness.

How many people do you know who have returned to bondage because they did not deal with the root of the problem? I am reminded of the man who threw his cigarettes down at a church meeting and said, "I'm believing God to deliver me no matter what it takes!"

He had a pack at home, and rationalized, "You never know when I might need one." Within a week, he started smoking again. Sometimes we attack our problem, but only knock it unconscious. We go to church, worship, fellowship, and feel better, but a month later, we are back in that same old battle with the same old revived enemy.

We need to finish him off when he is knocked out. We need to take the sword of the Spirit and cut his head off.

When Jesus cursed the tree, He cursed it at the root. The tree did not die at the top, it died at the root (Mark 11:12-20). We often pray surface prayers. A wife might pray for God to save her husband. Well that is good, but it is a surface prayer. She needs to pray about what is keeping him from getting saved.

Perhaps he had a bad experience with a pastor or a bad experience at church when he was growing up. She needs to pray, "God take this bitterness out; heal him of this bitterness."

I know a girl who was molested by her dad. To make matters worse, her dad was a minister. She grew up, got married and stayed away from church, because she believed that all ministers are hypocrites. We can pray that God will touch her, but that is a surface prayer.

Instead, we have to pray that God will heal her from the pain of the molestation. When we pray in our warfare, sometimes we are not getting our breakthrough, because we are praying too generally. In spiritual warfare, deliberately pick a stone, a weapon. Slay the enemy, not the symptom!

The Power of Words

This could be controversial, but some people do not understand how to pray for healing for the sick. I asked my dad if, in all his years as pastor, he ever saw anyone healed when the church prayed, "Heal this person if it is Your will." He thought about it and said he had not.

I asked several other pastors the same question, and they responded the same way. I asked the Lord why this happens. He said, "Those are not aggressive prayers. The Kingdom of God suffers violence, and the violent take it by force (Matthew 11:12). Forceful people force their way into the kingdom of God." Jesus illustrated this by healing the leper:

Behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean." Ben Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, " I am willing; be cleansed." Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. –MATTHEW 8:2, 3

Jesus turned off the "if" factor. It is the will of God that you live a full life, die at a good old age, and not fall short of the days that He has assigned to you. Therefore, we should not be praying "if," when we already know what God's will is.

We should be more aggressive in our praying. If we know it is not someone's time to die, we should pray aggressively against the power of  the spirit of death that is coming against the person. We really need to be aware of the words we speak in prayer.

Words are powerful. Our Enemy knows they are his greatest single weapon against the believer. Words cause the greatest damage in our lives. Words can split churches, cause divorces, and even bring death (Proverbs 18:21).

There is a familiar childhood saying, "Sticks and stones can break my bones but words will never hurt me." This is absolutely not true. Words can crush and hurt people.

The spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness, but who can bear a broken spirit? – PROVERBS 18:14

A brother offended is harder to win than a strong city, and contentions are like the bars of a castle. – PROVERBS 18:19

I want to encourage you as a soldier. I have many opportunities during my ministry to walk in offense. I have many opportunities to retaliate against those who use words to attack me or my ministry; but it is not the Christian soldier's duty to war against people. The Word of God is stronger and more powerful than any words Satan or someone else uses. Words meant to wound often come in the form of an opinion.

If anyone should have gotten offended, Jesus should have. Some said He cast out demons by using Satan's power, that His miracles were fake, and He did not raise people from the dead; but He kept on ministering, allowing the critical words to fall to the ground. Since His resurrection, billions of people are going to heaven or are already there, because Jesus did not allow wounding words to offend Him.

Paul could also have been offended by words. Near the end of his life, he was in a prison, blamed for the fire in Rome. He did not retaliate when the Asian Christians forsook him. He simply stated that many had left him, and he was ready to be offered as a martyr. Paul told us how to react to words that are meant to inflict wounds:

Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful

– 2 TIMOTHY 2:23, 24, NIV

If you can endure offenses then you will be able to endure to the end. (Matthew 24:13)

How To Be Saved

Step 1: Realize that you are a sinner and for your soul to be saved, you need to come to God.

God created us to have a relationship with Him. He wants us to experience true and lasting peace in this life. Blaise Pascal, the French philosopher and mathematician, said, "There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God, the Creator, made known through Jesus."

The Bible confirms what we already know: "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). This is why the peace of God eludes you in your vain search for reality: "Your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you" (Isaiah 59:2). Reality is knowing Him!

Step 2:Acknowledge the fact that you cannot save yourself.

There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. – PROVERBS 14:12

Nothing works. Regardless of which path you choose, it seems, the peace of God eludes you. Your own attempts to solve your problems have ended in disaster.

You have tried good works and found your efforts to be meaningless, empty, without Christ. Riches cannot buy salvation. Fame or good breeding does not impress God. Personal suffering cannot save. Yet, you realize you desperately need the touch of God in your life!

Step 3: Believe that Jesus Christ can and will save you!

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." – JOHN 14:6

The one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. – JOHN 6:37

Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead to pay the penalty for our sin and restore our lost relationship with God.

Step 4: Confess your sins to God and accept Jesus Christ as your Savior.

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.

– REVELATION 3:20, NIV

If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved "– ROMANS 10:9,10,13

You can receive Jesus Christ into your heart right now. Wherever you are, whoever you are, whatever you have done in the past, He will gladly come to your spirit and give you peace. His free gift of salvation is your only hope to find the answer to your lifelong quest for meaning and true happiness. He awaits your decision. Will you sincerely pray this sinner's prayer with me?

Dear Lord Jesus, I acknowledge that I am a sinner and need your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins. I want to turn from my sins and give You my heart. I repent of my sins and invite you to come into my life. I now trust you as Savior, and make you Lord of my life. In Jesus' name. Amen.

If you prayed this prayer sincerely, and you believe God has heard, you are saved! We believe with our hearts, then we tell others what God has done for us.

It is important to me to hear about your commitment to Christ and to celebrate with you! I want you to share your story with me. Write me a letter or send an e-mail and tell me when you made this decision to follow Christ and share with me the circumstances of this outstanding event. I will be praying for you that God will keep you and protect you in His great love.

PERRY STONE, JR.

PO BOX 3595

CLEVELAND, TN 37320-3595

Email: perrystone@voe.org

You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day (Psalm 91:5).

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