1 Samuel 17:23-26 (AMPC)
Goliath challenged Israel based on his own strength, his own power, his own ability – to dominate through his physical strength. It was displayed through words. Goliath came with words. It was a very real threat, but words were the battle at first to intimidate and threaten the people of God. He spoke the same words and David heard him. David’s response was, “Who dares to defy the armies of the living God?”
Whenever there’s a huge obstacle or force that at any given time wants to overwhelm the covenant people of God, it’s very seldom that the voice will seem insignificant. The devil will come with an overwhelming force, like a roaring lion. If you go strength to strength with that kind of threat and challenge, you can’t defeat it. Like David, you have to understand that strength does not lie in your own physical ability, but in the covenant of God.
Our boldness to come out of the world system is not going to be uncontested by the enemy.
The Lord said it like this, “The church of the Lord Jesus Christ is in a time of war.”
Everything that is going on is about a war that happens in the spirit realm. It is a real spiritual war, with a real, unseen enemy. It is to try and make the church of the Lord Jesus Christ fearful, timid, cowardly, and to drawback.
Some things have come near the people in Heritage of Faith.
Jesus needs a powerful people that will stand and say, “It will not come near us. No weapon formed against our physical bodies will prosper. It may be formed, but it won’t prosper.”
That’s how faith works. Ps John shared the principle behind him declaring that he doesn’t get flat tires when riding a bicycle. Even though it still occasionally happens, it doesn’t change his confession, his declaration or what he believes.
Your faith is working while you’re waiting for the full harvest of your faith to come. A weapon formed does not undermine our faith or what we are as a Church. No event changes what we declare or what we believe. In fact, it makes us more aggressive, stronger and bolder. We walk on water when it comes.
The Lord is saying, “I want you battle fit. I want you fit for this war that you are in. I want your faith to be strong. I want you to have fighting talk.”
We can allow ourselves to be caught up in all the words of the world about the pandemic or we can be caught up in the Words of God. If you get caught up in the Words of God, the pandemic will not touch you; you will grow right through it.
God gives us His Word: promises of protection, healing and health and provision.
The sower sows the Word, but Satan comes at once and [by force] and takes away the message which is sown in them. (Mark 4:14-15 AMPC).
David could have allowed himself to get caught up in all of Goliath’s words of intimidation and threat like everybody else.
The question is, “With some symptoms around, are you battle fit? Are you allowing Satan to come at once to steal Words of God out of your heart, or are you rising up in fighting talk?”
We have to be at once people. If we don’t act on the Word at once, then the devil will come at once. The way to establish the Word of God in your heart and in your life is at once.
Obey, at once. Speak the first words of the Word of God out of your mouth, at once. At once is every moment. When the moment of symptoms comes, you’ve got to declare at once. It doesn’t matter what is happening (even if you have a clinically diagnosed result) keep on declaring and stay strong in the Word, because everything is subject to change by the Word of God.
“How can that happen?” is not the question to ask.
The devil will try and bring destruction wherever he can. At once speak the Word. At once be battle fit. At once be ready for war.
Don’t become discouraged, don’t capitulate and go back to Egypt (Exodus 13:17-18 TLB).
³The Lord is a Man of War; the Lord is His name. (Exodus 15:1-3 AMPC)
God is saying, “I am the One that leads My people into battle, to fight the good fight of faith. I am the One that strengthens you for battle. When you see a battle, are you going to go back, or are you going to go forward and win this war?”
Only get involved in the words of God. Only say what you hear Him say (and not what you hear other people say or in the world’s words around you).
People want to do war in the natural, but we have to establish war with words first – by speaking God’s Words first.
1 Samuel 17:31-33 (AMPC)
David had to make his stand with words. He had to speak and establish words first. When David’s words were heard, they were repeated to Saul, and he sent for him. The king’s words, the highest authority in the land at that time, said he could not do it, but David’s covenant words were already the foundation of his victory. He had spoken it out and established it in the realm of the Spirit. Goliath was still a threat, but David had established the Words of God.
Just because the enemy forms a weapon against you, don’t receive it; don’t take it!
It doesn’t matter if your symptoms are real and they make you feel bad. Stay with the Words that you establish as the course of your future life. Use prophecy as fighting talk. Release missiles and weapons of war into the realm of the Spirit. Talk the prophecies that God has brought to us: abundant overflow, big and bold, shouting “Recover” with Jesus, it’s time to attack. Wage good warfare with these prophetic words (1 Timothy 1:18-19).
12 Fight the good fight of the faith; lay hold of the eternal life to which you were summoned and [for which] you confessed the good confession [of faith] before many witnesses. (1 Timothy 6:12 AMPC)
Continue in your fighting talk, Heritage of Faith people!
Don’t underestimate the huge circumstantial, emotional and physical threat that Goliath posed to Israel. But God had a man who understood covenant strength, not physical strength. Like David, guard your heart against the pressure of words against you (through your mind and through other people), keep speaking the words of God – no matter what happens.
If you find yourself in that situation where things are happening to you and you don’t feel ‘up to it’, make sure you are listening to the Word, to faith, to Sound and Song and begin to thank God as much as you can. Never quit on your faith. If you just don’t have the strength to carry yourself through in the moment, call on brothers and sisters who have the strength and who would speak faith, and who would stand with you in the battle.
As with the war and threat in the time of Nehemiah, the devil comes against every work of God and tries to cause fear, intimidation and confusion to come into people’s lives. He tries to get all to speak the words of the circumstances which are subject to change. This fight that we are in right now is not a fight just for ourselves, we are standing strong together with everybody else in Heritage of Faith. As in the time of Nehemiah, we will keep building, keep obeying and keep following God. (Nehemiah 4:3-5,9,11,13-15 AMPC).
Right in this moment, it’s important for us to stay strong and steady with our assignment in the Word of God and let our words match the Words of God. Don’t let the words of symptoms or sickness and disease come out of your mouth. Be bold in defense and be bold in attack and keep your fighting talk going.
Hebrews 11:32-34 (AMPC) describes the war and examples of people we need to be following. They understood their weakness and frailty in themselves, but out of covenant and faith, they won, they became immovable, they became stalwart, even mighty and resistless in battle, routing alien hosts.
The Lord wants to tell us how He sees us: the warhorse – who does not stand still at the sound of war, who is not afraid, who goes towards the war, who is bold in the attack (Job 39:19-25 AMPC).
God has called us for no small purpose. God has called us to live in faith so that we can subdue kingdoms, administer justice, obtain promised blessings and close the mouths of lions. Our faith overcomes the world. This is a time to stay strong. A time for fighting talk. A time to be shouting “Recover” with Jesus, for and on behalf of every single Heritage of Faith person. A time to be praising the Lord and thanking Him for His goodness. A time to be keeping our joy strong. A time to have praise come out of our mouths, because strength comes from praise and thanksgiving.
If you can’t do it, have someone speak to you so that faith can come and rise up in your heart.
Say, “Thank You, Father, that restoration, healing, and health is our portion. I declare that no disease will come against this church and our people. It will not prosper in the name of Jesus. We are resistless in battle.”
© 2023 – Heritage of Faith Ministries International
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