Tag Archives: SPIRITUAL WARFARE

The Forbiddings Pt. 6

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles

Today we continue our discussion on the believer’s authority. Specifically we are discussing what the believer needs to do to walk in and hold on to that authority. Did you know that many believers have let go of their authority in Christ?

If you need to catch up on our previous discussions they can be found below:

Pt. 1

Pt. 2

Pt. 3

Pt. 4

Pt. 5

Sunset Prayer

Yesterday I asked you what spiritual weapons were in your arsenal that could help you walk in authority. Today we are going to identify and discuss those weapons.

THE FIRST WEAPON IS PRAYER!

 It’s time for the church to start praying.I don’t mean wishing for things to be different and I don’t  mean listing off our struggles in a passing prayer request in our morning devotions. I mean it is time to pray regularly, intentionally and in the Spirit until something happens. It is time to begin spending lunch hours doing nothing other than speaking in tongues. Can I encourage you here? If you are not Baptized in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues, God will never force you, but trying to wage spiritual war without the gift of tongues is like taking a knife to a nuclear war and thinking your going to come out on top.

Let me explain something about tongues. Paul said tongues was the least of all the gifts (I Cor, 14) and that is true but as often happens with God, He has chosen to use the weakest of things to bless the strong. I have learned that tongues is the gateway, the door that opens  to us the availability of all the other gifts. It is when I am praying in tongues that the supernatural gift of faith is most frequently activated in my life. It is in that space that the gifts of healing flow; Prophecy comes; Miracles take place. In fact, I would say that probably 85% of all the supernatural events that have taken place in my life have occurred in and around times of praying in tongues. Praying in tongues is a big part of spiritual victory.

IT IS TIME TO PRAY IN THE SPIRIT.

ANOTHER WEAPON IS THE WORD OF GOD!

It is time to start spending  copious amounts of time listening to or reading and studying the Word of God. Nothing should be getting in the way of Bible study. If you are saying I don’t have time to join a Bible study what you are saying is “I don’t have time to work on getting the victory in that tough area.”

FASTING!!!!!

It is time to start adding regular fasting to our prayer. Prayer and fasting in the days ahead is going to become a normal part of the powerful Christian’s life. Christians who won’t fast won’t have power. Listen, this is a huge challenge to me personally but one I am looking at taking up.

The Lord’s desire is to take down the strongholds of the Devil in our personal lives, our family lives and also in our communities but He did not say the gates of Hell will not prevail against God. He said the gates of Hell will not prevail against the church. The gates aren’t coming down because He says so. They are coming down because the church says so. He has given that authority to us to see what we are going to do with it.

Jesus told this parable.,

“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants[a] and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents,[b] to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.[c] You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ Ma. 25:14-30

You see we have been given the authority, the spiritual capital, to deal with the gates of Hell, the forbiddings, which the enemy has raised against us. But we have to begin to use that capital. Folks in the days ahead your protection your power is not going to come because you have physically prepared for the apocalypse. That might be an important directive but your power will come from prayer, from you study of the Word of God,  from fasting and from the Spirit of God who enters through those disciplines and nowhere else. Your level of authority and victory is going to be directly linked to how much time you spend in the Word of God, and in prayer and in church.

WALK IN YOUR AUTHORITY!

The Forbiddings Pt. 5

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles

I had to take a brief break from our spiritual discussion on the believer’s authority in Christ due to my writing and pastoring schedule this week, but tonight before I launch into another marathon book edit session I am going to publish the next portion of our discussion.

Here are the last installments to refresh your memory:

Pt. 1

Pt. 2

Pt. 3

Pt. 4

Sunset Prayer

I meditated on the first part of this  message (part 4) for about a week and then in another time of prayer God began to speak to me again about “forbiddings.”

HE said to me, “ My people were not meant to be on the defensive against the enemy all their lives. My people were meant to walk in authority according to Matthew 28:18-20 and Matthew 16 and Luke 10. “But the enemy has raised up “forbiddings” against them. These are called the gates of Hell. They are those areas in people’s lives and relationships where the enemy has built walls and strongholds that the people cannot seem to break through.”

“Just like the enemy has been shut out of certain victories by the prayers of my people so the people have been shut out of certain victories because of the spiritual power the enemy has exerted in areas of their lives. But I have said that ‘the gates of Hell would not prevail against my church’, and I have said ‘the weapons of my people are spiritual and mighty to the pulling down of strongholds.’ The problem is my people are trying to use carnal weapons to tear down spiritual power and that will never work to do anything other than exhaust them. The forbiddings the enemy has built against my people are going to come down but only when my people begin dealing with them using their spiritual weapons.”

Is there any area of your life that you are struggling with? Does it seem like you cannot get victory in that area no matter what you try? Have you been to the doctor and the psychiatrist?  Have you been to therapy and have you tried meds? Have you sought out human counsellors and found they don’t work?  Have you tried confrontation or have you attempted to run away only to find none of those things work? Then its time to  try the spiritual weapons.

In your estimation what spiritual weapons do you possess?

Pastor Wrinkles: Little Heroes, Big World Pt. 4

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles

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Today we continue with Pt. 4 of “Little Heroes, Big World”.

If you missed any of the previous installments of this study they can be found by clicking on:

Little Heroes Big World Pt. 1

Little Heroes Big World Pt. 2

Or

Little Heroes, Big World Pt. 3

Now here is the next installment for your consideration

 In our previous installments we have seen that Haggai has some great advice for people who are feeling like little Heroes with little power in a big world. If the work God has called you too is bigger than you are. If life is a little overwhelming just now God says to you three things through the prophet Haggai.

The first things he recommends is Be Strong!

“But now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ declares the Lord. ‘Be strong, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,’ declares the Lord,” Hag. 2:4

The word used for “Be Strong” here is  the word “chazaq” and the idea behind it is to strengthen yourself by having or taking hold of, retaining, holding up, sustaining or supporting yourself.

The Bible tells the story of David living among the Philistines. While he was with them he acquired a city for himself and his people called Ziklag. One time while he was away on campaign fighting, enemies broke through the gates burned Ziklag and kidnapped all the wives and children of the city. When David and his armies returned to find their homes burned and their wives and children kidnapped the men turned on David and began speaking against him but David refused to give up. The Bible tells us that “David encouraged Himself in the Lord.” He then organized his angry men and set off on a rescue mission that ended up bringing the restoration of all the wives and children and many of the possessions they had lost. David had chosen to “Be Strong”. He held on. He didn’t give in to despair. He sustained himself IN THE LORD. And as a result he won even when everything stood against him.

We are called to Be Strong  like David was and there are things we must do to accomplish this task

First we must encourage ourselves in the Lord…BY

Praying  over everything and I do mean everything.; And once we have prayed let us worship God that He is about to bring and answer!

Second, start thinking positive. Christian, It’s not over! It is just a new beginning! You aren’t dying! You are entering newness of life. You haven’t lost! You just have another battle to fight, and you are going to win!!!!

Finally, we have to refuse to believe the evil in the report. Don’t ignore the facts but refuse to accept that those facts are God’s final word. The battle you are currently facing is not God’s final word. It is only a sentence in the book, and God hasn’t written “The End” yet. There is a lot more of your story still to be written but you and God have to determine to write it together.

So what do you need to do to be strong? Pray more? Think positive? Stop believing the evil IN  the report? I would love to hear your thoughts on being strong!

1% Requires 100%

Posted on by under Pastor Wrinkles

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1I love you, Lord, my strength.

2The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;

my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,

my shieldb and the hornc of my salvation, my stronghold.

3I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise,

and I have been saved from my enemies.

4The cords of death entangled me;

the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.

5The cords of the grave coiled around me;

the snares of death confronted me.

6In my distress I called to the Lord;

I cried to my God for help.

From his temple he heard my voice;

my cry came before him, into his ears.

7The earth trembled and quaked,

and the foundations of the mountains shook;

they trembled because he was angry.

8Smoke rose from his nostrils;

consuming fire came from his mouth,

burning coals blazed out of it.

9He parted the heavens and came down;

dark clouds were under his feet.

10He mounted the cherubim and flew;

he soared on the wings of the wind.

11He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him—

the dark rain clouds of the sky.

12Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced,

with hailstones and bolts of lightning.

13The Lord thundered from heaven;

the voice of the Most High resounded.d

14He shot his arrows and scattered the enemy,

with great bolts of lightning he routed them.

15The valleys of the sea were exposed

and the foundations of the earth laid bare

at your rebuke, Lord,

at the blast of breath from your nostrils.

16He reached down from on high and took hold of me;

he drew me out of deep waters.

17He rescued me from my powerful enemy,

from my foes, who were too strong for me.

18They confronted me in the day of my disaster,

but the Lord was my support.

19He brought me out into a spacious place;

he rescued me because he delighted in me.

20The Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness;

according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.

21For I have kept the ways of the Lord;

I am not guilty of turning from my God.

22All his laws are before me;

I have not turned away from his decrees.

23I have been blameless before him

and have kept myself from sin.

24The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,

according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.

25To the faithful you show yourself faithful,

to the blameless you show yourself blameless,

26to the pure you show yourself pure,

but to the devious you show yourself shrewd.

27You save the humble

but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.

28You, Lord, keep my lamp burning;

my God turns my darkness into light.

29With your help I can advance against a troope ;

with my God I can scale a wall.

30As for God, his way is perfect:

The Lord’s word is flawless;

he shields all who take refuge in him.

31For who is God besides the Lord?

And who is the Rock except our God?

32It is God who arms me with strength

and keeps my way secure.

33He makes my feet like the feet of a deer;

he causes me to stand on the heights.

34He trains my hands for battle;

my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

35You make your saving help my shield,

and your right hand sustains me;

your help has made me great.

36You provide a broad path for my feet,

so that my ankles do not give way.

37I pursued my enemies and overtook them;

I did not turn back till they were destroyed.

38I crushed them so that they could not rise;

they fell beneath my feet.

39You armed me with strength for battle;

you humbled my adversaries before me.

40You made my enemies turn their backs in flight,

and I destroyed my foes.

41They cried for help, but there was no one to save them—

to the Lord, but he did not answer.

42I beat them as fine as windblown dust;

I trampled themf like mud in the streets.

43You have delivered me from the attacks of the people;

you have made me the head of nations.

People I did not know now serve me,

44foreigners cower before me;

as soon as they hear of me, they obey me.

45They all lose heart;

they come trembling from their strongholds.

46The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock!

Exalted be God my Savior!

47He is the God who avenges me,

who subdues nations under me,

48who saves me from my enemies.

You exalted me above my foes;

from a violent man you rescued me.

49Therefore I will praise you, Lord, among the nations;

I will sing the praises of your name.

50He gives his king great victories;

he shows unfailing love to his anointed,

to David and to his descendants forever. Psalm 18

I suppose this chapter could yield a hundred devotional thoughts but the one thought that came to me as I read it today was that, in this spiritual battle we call life God does most of the work and we do a tiny bit of the work. In fact I would say that God probably does 99% of the work and we do 1%.

Here’s the thing, that 1% isn’t 1% of our capability. Accomplishing 1% of the spiritual battles of life takes 100% of our effort.

Spiritual battle is not God calling us into His throne room and saying, “Hey I just want you to rest a while. Take a load off. I’ve got this. Have a tall glass of lemonade while I do the work.”

This is God requiring all we have and it still only accomplishing 1% of the work.

Folks it is possible for you to give it all you’ve got and still lose the battle, because by yourself you are not enough. It is also possible for God to give His 99% and you still lose the battle. Because God requires 1% from you.

This is where so many people miss the victory. We miss it when we think God does the whole work while we do nothing. We also miss it when we think God does 99% and our 1% of the labor is really only 1% of what we have to give.

So many of us are standing around saying “I did my little part why didn’t that work?”

It didn’t work because your little part isn’t little! 1% may be a little part of the whole work but it’s still going to take 100% of what you have just to do that much. SO…

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.  Gal. 6:9