Spiritual Warfare (6 page)

The peace of Jesus is strong, abiding and unaffected by outward circumstances.

He responded, “I have nothing in my hand except my ability and passion to repair computers.”

The Lord said, “That is what is in your hands!”

So he started providing a computer-repair service. Today, his business is flourishing and he is blessed financially. He is also blessed with good health. And he is able to spend quality time with his family. His wife says that she has found a new husband and his three children say that they have found a new daddy!

This man learnt to find rest and stay in peace. How? In Isaiah 28:11–12, it says,
“For with stammering lips and another tongue He will speak to this people, to whom He said, ‘This is the
rest
with which you may cause the weary to rest,’ and, ‘This is the
refreshing
’…”
This is one of the few Old Testament verses that refer to speaking in tongues. And Isaiah calls speaking in tongues the “rest” and the “refreshing”. When that brother suffered from panic attacks and didn’t know what to do, he just prayed in tongues. And the Holy Spirit caused a supernatural peace to guard his heart.

Only Jesus Gives Lasting Peace

Now, the world promises peace as well. The world says, “If you listen to soft new-age music, turn down the lights, burn some incense and practise meditation, you too can feel peaceful.”

But guess what? It is all just emotional. Once the music stops, once the incense stops burning and the lights come back on, the peace ends. Why? Because it is all outward peace, not inner peace.

Only Jesus gives true and lasting inner peace. And the peace of Jesus is strong, abiding and unaffected by outward circumstances. If your peace is affected by outward circumstances, then it is not peace.

Peter knew what real peace was. He was arrested, put in prison and bound with two chains. But
“constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church”
. (Acts 12:5) I believe this means that the church prayed in tongues for him. They prayed constantly for his deliverance. That night, while Peter was sleeping,
“an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, ‘Arise quickly!’And his chains fell off his hands”.
(Acts 12:7) You see, Peter must have been in such a deep sleep that the angel had to hit him to wake him up! This angel — this heavenly being — came from the presence of God in answer to prayer and the man was sleeping on the night of his trial and possible execution! That is real peace, friend!

Some of you can’t sleep the night before you are to give a presentation at work. Some of you can’t sleep the night before the doctor’s report is due. Peter was about to be tried and probably executed the very next day, yet he could sleep so well! If he had depended on nice-smelling aromatherapy oils, he wouldn’t have found peace because the prison would have been smelly! If he had depended on soothing new-age music, he wouldn’t have found peace because he would have heard the groans and curses of the prisoners!

No, Peter relied on the peace that Jesus bequeathed to him and he slept peacefully. It reminds me of another Man who slept in a boat in the middle of a great storm. (Mark 4:38) All the others were panicking around him. Yet, like Peter in the prison, Jesus was sleeping!

‘It Is Well’

If your child should die in your arms, would that affect your peace? It happened to a woman in the Old Testament. 2 Kings 4 tells us that the prophet Elisha gave a promise to a Shunammite woman who had no children. The man of God said to her,
“About this time next year you shall embrace a son.”
(2 Kings 4:16) And so the woman conceived and bore a son when the appointed time had come.

One day, when the boy went out to his father in the field, he became sick. The father took the boy and brought him to his mother. The boy sat on his mother’s knees till noon and then died.

My friend, God can give you something and then the devil can attack it. How do you respond? The woman laid the boy on the bed of the man of God, shut the door and went out. What a mother! Most mothers would hold the child, and cry and cry and cry! That would be the natural response.

But she called to her husband and said,
“Please send me one of the young men and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of God and come back.”
(2 Kings 4:22) Her husband said to her,
“Why are you going to him today? It is neither the New Moon nor the Sabbath.”
And she said,
“It is well.”
(2 Kings 4:23) In Hebrew, she only spoke one word: “Shalom”! In the context, it means, “It is going to be all right!”

So she saddled a donkey, departed and went to the man of God at Mount Carmel. When Elisha saw her from a distance, he said to his servant Gehazi,
“Look, the Shunammite woman! Please run now to meet her, and say to her, ‘Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the child?’”
The Shunammite woman answered,
“It is well.”
(2 Kings 4:25–26) Now, was she lying? No, because she was imitating the God who calls those things which are not as though they were. (Romans 4:17) If we read on, we find that Elisha went to the dead boy and raised him up by the power of God.

My friend, this woman knew a peace that the world would call extraordinary. No new-age meditation or aromatherapy could have given that to her! Jesus has bequeathed to us His peace. It is our inheritance. God wants you and I in a perpetual state of shalom, a state of untroubled, undisturbed well-being, a state of health and prosperity. It is well — in Christ!

chapter
6

The Shield Of Faith

chapter 6

The Shield Of Faith

“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

Don’t Accept Thoughts From The Devil

T
he verse begins with the words,
“Above all”.
When you see the words “above all”, it means that what it is referring to is of top priority. In other words, of all the pieces of the armour, the
“shield of faith”
is of paramount importance.

The shield of faith can
“quench all the fiery darts”
that the wicked one throws at us. What are the fiery darts? They are thoughts. When the devil throws them at you, you can quench them or accept them. If you accept them, then the devil can make inroads into your life.

Remember the illustration of Irene and her two friends who threw her a birthday party? From that illustration, we learnt that the devil throws thoughts into our minds to trick us. Poor Irene thought that her friends were conspiring against her when in truth, they were conspiring to bless her! Unfortunately, Irene accepted those fiery darts from the devil.

It is not about having faith in your faith, it is about having faith in His faith.

When we accept the thoughts that he throws at us, he is able to instil in us fear, self-pity, condemnation, feelings of rejection, feelings of betrayal and so on. For example, a symptom may present itself in your body. The devil then throws a thought at you: “It’s cancer! Remember that your grandfather died of that disease?” If you accept the thought and start to entertain it, you will begin to fear.

Don’t accept them, my friend! Ephesians 6:16 says that the shield of faith will help you quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. So how should you respond? Well, your part is to simply keep the shield of faith up to quench the fiery darts coming at you from the north, south, east and west. You don’t have to worry about where the thought darts are coming from. You don’t have to worry about how many darts are being thrown at you. All you have to do is keep your shield of faith up because it will quench
all
the darts, not just some.

The main question you have to deal with is this: Am I living in faith? Am I acting in faith? But it is not about having faith in
your
faith, it is about having faith in
His
faith. How does faith work? It works when we know how much God loves us. (Galatians 5:6) The fiery darts thrown at us from the devil are designed to counter the pieces of our armour. The darts try to stop us from trusting in God’s truth. They try to stop us from believing in our righteousness in Christ. They try to stop us from walking in peace. But as long as you know that you are living in faith, you don’t have to worry where the fiery darts are coming from because they will be quenched.

The apostle Paul often used images of warfare in his writings. Here, he is using imagery of futuristic battles as well. In many science-fiction movies such as
Star Wars,
the large spaceships often have an invisible shield around them. When shot at by their opponents, the laser beams simply bounce off the invisible shield. The only way to shut off the shield is to sabotage the spaceship from within.

We are a little like those spaceships. Our invisible shield is our faith. And the devil tries to bring it down by attacking us from within with thoughts and accusations. And if we start to entertain and believe those thoughts, we are left without a protective shield and the fiery darts can hit us and cause damage. But if you are living in faith, then you are protected from the devil’s fiery darts. If your shield of faith is up, I don’t care how many thousands of fiery darts are being launched at you and from which direction because the shield will quench all the darts.

Now, some Christians do the opposite. They bring out a shield of doubt and quench all the blessings of God! So make sure your shield is a shield of faith, not doubt.

‘Rest In My Faith’

Not too long ago, I had a chronic skin condition. One day, I said to God, “I believe that this pain will leave me now.”

Then, the Lord spoke to me and said, “Son, has it left?”

“No, it hasn’t,” I replied.

He asked, “Do you believe that I have faith for your miracle?”

“Of course,I do!”I said.

He said, “Rest in My faith.”

I rested in His faith and that day, the condition disappeared from my body! I didn’t feel anything out of the ordinary. I didn’t feel the brush of angels’ wings on my face. But it left!

You see, faith is simple, so don’t make it so complicated. Some of us are trying so hard to have faith or build faith that it becomes faith in
our
faith. “Do I have enough faith? Have I confessed enough scriptures? Have I confessed in faith? Maybe I should do this…” No, you should just rest in
His
faith. Just believe that
He
has the faith for your miracle. Just believe that He can and that He is willing to bring your miracle to pass because He loves you. When you see His grace towards you, when you keep your eyes on Him and just believe in Him, that is faith without you being conscious of it!

One Sunday, during one of my sermons on healing, a lady in our church was busy sending SMS messages to her friend who was at home. The messages contained points and scriptures from the sermon. She also told her friend to just believe and confess, “By Jesus’ stripes, I am healed!” You see, her friend had cancer. Well, her friend read the text messages and confessed that by Jesus’ stripes, she was healed. When she went back to her doctor that same week, he could not find any trace of cancer! I believe that she was healed the same day she believed that by Jesus’ stripes, she was healed.

Now, I wish that every sick person could receive the manifestation of his healing within a day! But it doesn’t always happen so quickly. So I can’t tell you how long you should confess, “By Jesus’ stripes, I am healed” before the manifestation of your healing comes. But one thing is sure: It is God’s Word and God’s Word cannot return to Him void. If you have to confess it for a month, then confess it for a month, knowing that Jesus has the faith for your miracle. Just do it until your healing manifests. Hebrews 10:35–36 says,
“Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.”
And as you confess God’s Word, simply rest in
His
faith, not yours. Simply believe that
He
has the faith for your miracle!

chapter
7

The Helmet Of Salvation

chapter 7

The Helmet Of Salvation

“And take the helmet of salvation.”

Ephesians 6:17

Hope Is A Confident Expectation Of Good

N
ow, let’s look at the helmet of salvation. Some of you may be thinking, “I’m saved through Christ, so I already have the helmet part under control.” But in the Bible, salvation is not only about being saved from hell. That is just the beginning. In the Greek, the word “salvation” also refers to preservation, wholeness, health and prosperity.