Written by: Pastor Collette Michaels (BMin)

WARFARE

Ephesians 6: verse 10

How can you be any good spiritually when you cannot stand on earth? So many times I see how my children go into battle without being in right standing with their neighbour, brother, sister or loved one. They fight their battles and come out of the spiritual realm with their victory. This victory lasts for a short while then it’s lost because of the accused. You say, “but God how is this possible? I thought with this victory I have favour with you. I thought I had the victory.”
God says, “That is why there are so many wounded soldiers out there because they are not able to stand. They are not in right standing with others before me.”
God says, “Before entering into a battle, be at right standing before Me and your brother. Be found blameless before them so that you are able to stand.”

 HUMILITY

2 Chronicles 7: verse 14

“If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land. (verse 15) I will listen to every prayer made in this place, (verse 16) for I have chosen this temple and set it apart to be my home forever. My eyes and my heart will always be here.
But! If you abandon me and disobey my laws and commands I have set apart to honour my name, I will make a spectacle of contempt among the nations.
‘Isn’t it a wonder’, people say, ‘look at him, he’s a spectacle now that he has turned from the Lord’, but we fail to realize that.

This is what God has promised: if we turn from Him, He said that He would make a spectacle of those who abandoned God. God is a jealous God. He is not someone that we should take lightly as we commonly do with others. God is an Awesome, Almighty God, who is true to His word. He has a side of wrath that we cannot begin to perceive. He is so powerful that any power or anyone that wishes to exalt themselves, He brings to null and void. He commands AWE about Him, so that people are left astounded by His ability to perform miracles.

He causes us to reach beyond our limitations because we have humbled ourselves and He takes us to a place where we are within His ability, for He knows no BOUNDS. His power is infinite.

 GIVING

Proverbs 18: verse 16

A gift opens the way for the giver and ushers him into the presence of the Great.

WHO IS THE GREAT IN YOUR LIFE? IS IT GOD?

Or is it the situation that you are in?

If you give unwillingly to God you will be ushered into the presence of UNWILLINGNESS and God will not bless you, because He is unwilling to do so. If you give from a joyful heart God honors that, and you will be ushered into the presence of a joy unspeakable and full of Glory. When you have given from the basis of having nothing to give and still give, suddenly you have that joy that no one can comprehend. That kind of joy that makes you look like you have more than enough. When that happens you are ready for abundance to flow into your life which can not be stopped by anything or anyone. God Honors those who give out of obedience. For God totally dishonors disobedience. No sacrifice can replace obedience in God’s sight, for disobedience (stubbornness) is seen as witchcraft.
So to be obedient when God commands you to give is to be ushered into the presence of God, where God will look at your giving as an act of worship and honor, by getting out of His seat to visit you.

TO GIVE IS TO BE USHERED INTO THE PRESENCE OF GOD!

CASTING OUT CONTENTION

Proverbs 22: verse 10

Cast out the scoffer and contention will leave. Yes, strife and reproach will cease. Where there is content there is disruption and unity cannot exist. We all know that when we are in unity we remain the conqueror and are able to do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

When we walk in the presence of the ungodly and stand in the way of scoffers there is no delight in the law of the Lord. We cannot be in harmony and unison with God’s divine plan and purpose. We become more like door stoppers in the way of the success of our fellow brethren. We stand in the gap to block the blessing rather than standing in the gap to intercede.

It is important for us to identify the scoffer and cast it out so that contention leave, and peace, grace and harmony flows. For God loves the pure in heart. For who can come to the mountain of the Lord but he who has clean hands and a pure heart. The pure in heart will sit in the presence of the great King who will sup and dine with him.

This is a divine experience which all Christians should strive for. The eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge but He overthrows the words of the faithless, for to be without wisdom is to have powerless words. There is life and death in the power of the tongue. He who uses words with wisdom shall prosper. He shall not be ashamed for He wills for us to prosper and not be harmed.

TOUCH NOT MY ANOINTED DO THEM NO HARM “FORTHE BATTLE IS NOT YOURS BUT MINE. I WILL FIGHT AND GIVE YOU THE VICTORY ON YOUR BEHALF” SAYS THE LORD GOD OF ISRAEL.

 A WALK WITH THE DIVINE

Psalm 37: verses 23-25

The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and He delights in his way

We as Christians are not Christians by mistake but by divine appointment. He foreknew and predestined our walk with him. When you became a Christian your footsteps were ordered by God through His will and appointment. For when we are obedient to him, he delights in our walk, when we fall he does not cast us down, instead He upholds us with His righteous right hand and steadies us as we begin to find balance to walk again. He doesn’t just lift us up and leave us to walk alone He sticks closer than a brother. He is a God that is there when you are up and when you are down. He never forsakes. Nor sees us begging? I have never seen a King’s kid begging wherever he goes people are hospitable to him because of who he is. What still about us who are Children of the Most High God who are royalty.
God says he will never see you lack anything. No good thing will he withhold from you, whoever refuses to honor the righteous that in giving God says the arms of the wicked shall be broken but the Lord upholds the righteous.

GOD DOES NOT HONOUR A WICKED MAN INSTEAD HE HONOURS A CHEERFUL GIVER.

HOLY FIRE

Exodus 24:17

The sight of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel.

Deuteronomy 9: verse 3
Therefore understand today that the Lord your God is He who goes over before you as a consuming fire.

Hebrews 12: verse 29
For our God is a consuming fire.

It is important to repent daily before God with absolute humility, not keeping anything back. For we can see in the scripture above that our God is a consuming fire. He commands a holy living and we should reverence God with Godly living. We must not think Christian living is doing as we see fit and create an acceptance for immoral living. When people see that their lives don’t work out, they turn to divorce or some external love affair because it’s not found in the marriage or perhaps turn to alcohol because the debt is too much/high or commit any form of sin. God is a consuming fire we need to feel the heat of that and start getting our act together.

We don’t know what it is like to be burned or to be destroyed by God. That is why we think that he way we live is acceptable to God.

God does not harm or destroy us because we are His children, but what He will do is consume us with His holy fire. He will burn up all of those “little foxes” in our lives. He will set our spirits on fire and light it up like we have never known before. He will cause the fire to be seen through our eyes like fire balls. Everywhere we go healing will come because of the fire burning from within. When we come into contact with adulterers they will repent just because of our presence, when you stand by the wayside people will flock to you because of the fire burning within you. There will be a sense of power and authority within you that never existed before you will command and it will be.

For this is a time of fire. “I will consume your spirit with my Holy fire. I will burn up that which is not of me and that which is of me will stand” says the Lord God. “You will not be afraid, nor will you be shaken. For I the Lord God will go before you wherever you go”. This is the time that I require a holy and Godly living. All I require is for you to be humble and to submit to me and I will do the rest. I will consume you with my Holy and awesome fire.

Hebrews 12:28

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with Reverence and Godly Fear.

HOLINESS AND RIGHTEOUSNESS

Isaiah 58:8-9

“Then your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before you. The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and He will say,” Here I am”.

Be honest with God, don’t try to play brave and say that it’s not painful or that bad. Who are we kidding, but ourselves? God knows who we are. It is we who, at times or rather most times, have an identity problem.

God knows your every need. All you need to do is to open your heart and come to grips with yourself. Acknowledge and identify the truth, no matter how hard or painful it is and face God with it. When you do that He sees your heart and your pain. And as He has promised in the verse above; “Then your light shall break forth like the morning.”

How great is it to know that whenever you cry out to God, He responds instantly and answer you saying; “Here I am…” What an opportunity to make your requests known.

SATISFYING THE AFFLICTED

Isaiah 58:10

“If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted, then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday.” The Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones: you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring whose waters do not fail.

When you edify others and mend their broken hearts and set the captives free you are obeying God.

God honors in such a way that you cannot comprehend nor understand His works, because you are obedient and faithful, because your soul is extended to those that hunger after God’s word to satisfy the afflicted you gain favor with God. You will never be in darkness. God walks closely with you and guides you continually so that His will/purpose can be accomplished.

So press on, continue with work of satisfying the afflicted souls, for a new morning has dawned. Blessings that cannot be contained awaits you.

Let confession be so blessed that you cannot contain it, so blessed you have to give it away.

Portraying God in Giving.

We all know the story of Jonah who didn’t want to obey God when he was asked to go Nineveh to preach to the people. He didn’t want to give God a portion of his life. To go and preach in the city of Nineveh, he thought that he could escape; instead he landed up in a stinky, smelly, situation, a place he never desired to be in.

How often do we do the same thing. We fail to be obedient and faithful in our giving. We spend unnecessary money on unnecessary things and land ourselves into serious debt and before we know it we are swallowed up in our situation. We are like Jonah in a Stinky, Smelly situation, completely unexpected and undesired.

2/3rds of God’s Name is made up of:

G :- to give (Give of your life and of your finances, give of your all).

D :- Dominion (We were created to have dominion over the earth through obedience to God).

Gen 1: 26 “Let us make man in our own image according to our own likeness, God made us like Him”.

Therefore I do not believe that we should even begin to plea or persuade anyone to give, to give to others is our Godly responsibility. If you don’t give, who’s image are you portraying? Where are you right now? Are you in the same Stinky, Smelly situation. If 2/3rds of God’s name is to Give and have Dominion over the earth then you need to change your perspective on giving, so that you are aligned to God’s image.

GIVE IS MY CHALLENGE TO YOU!!!

“A Desert Experience”

We term a “desert experience” as an experience we have where God is far from us and there is no one else around and that we are all on our own. God has a different view about a “desert experience”.

Exodus 40:34-38

When Moses walked through the desert he built a tabernacle to worship God in. God appeared there and Moses asked God to see His face and God said that He could not show Him his face, for if He did Moses would die. No man can see God’s face and live. God put a cloud before Him and turned to show Moses his back.

We go through situations where there seems to be no finance and no health. The cloud appears to shade us from the scorching hot situation and give us comfort so that the heat is not that unbearable, the cloud also appeared as a fire at night to give us the warmth we require to have peace and rest at night.

The cloud gives us the strength we require to go through the situation. The cloud represents God’s presence in our lives amidst the most trying circumstances.

The “desert experience” in God’s view is that His presence is more real to you at that time than at any other time in your life. God provides our every need and supplies it according to His riches and not according to our riches.

When people realize the true meaning of a “desert experience” and the reality of His presence, they would want to have this experience everyday of their lives.

 Zachariah 2:8

For thus says the Lord of Hosts: “He sent me after glory, to the nations which plunder you, for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye: be silent, all flesh, before the Lord, for He is aroused from His Holy habitation.

When someone is aroused, they seek the one that has aroused them to find out why they have affected them. When God is aroused by you, you need to be silent before Him. You don’t need to do anything when you are in battle, all you need to do is be in the presence of God and be silent. He will fight the battle for you on your behalf and give you the victory. For the Lord says that the battle is not yours but His. He fights the battle on your behalf and gives you the victory. All you need to do is to stand and raise your hands and receive your victory and give a glory shout, for the Captain of the army of Hosts is Jesus.

Zachariah 3:1

There he showed me Joshua, the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and satan standing at his right hand to oppose him and the Lord said to satan, ”the Lord rebuke you, satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebukes you”.

The Lord has given us a spirit of victory, not defeat. You may loose a battle, but you will win the war because the Captain of the army of Host is Jesus. He is more than a conqueror and that’s who you are in Him.

So you see that you are in the same place as satan, you are at the right hand of the father. At the throne satan comes to God to ask for permission to attack you and the Lord rebukes him. God is on your side, He is your father.

He gave you a position and that is the Head and not the tail. So stop being overcomed. For God has given you a spirit of power and victory so walk in it. For all you need to do in your situation is to give a Glory shout and all the walls of your situation will come tumbling down.

As in the days of Moses when God instructed him to lead the people out of Egypt (the land of bondage), so Jesus led the people out of the land of bondage by dying on the cross of Calvary, to set us free from bondage. God wants you to be free from bondage it is clear, every time he made provision for His people to be set free and then the final provision who is Jesus.

So for us to return to bondage and accept defeat is to deny the power of Jesus Christ and what He has done for us. It is to reject the freedom and provision that he, God has made. Today again I say to you, “acknowledge my power, accept my provisioning. I’ve made it available to you, all you need to do is to surrender your will and receive”. Be free from the yoke of bondage and from the spirit of defeat.

Arise, Arise I say and be renewed. Be free again, I say be free. Soar like an eagle, receive the blessings, receive the miracles, and receive the healing. It’s yours arise and receive it, again I say “Arise and receive it”. 

Ephesians 1:16 – 22

Do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when he raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.

And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.