The Attitude OF A Winner
Matthew 6:33- But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
When God adds things, He does not add sorrow He adds good things. Every good gift, every perfect thing comes from God. God will never bring negative things upon your life. That is the devil’s job and he will take advantage because of some of our actions or choices.
Nehemiah was called by God to rebuild the broken city of Jerusalem. In the same way God wants to rebuild our lives and repair the things that are broken. We have the Word and the ministry of the Holy Spirit that we rely on to help us put the broken pieces of our lives together. There are two things we need to know. Firstly, we need to be armed and ready for spiritual battle and secondly, we must be equipped. That means having the right tools at our disposal in order to be successful.
The life of Nehemiah is a good example to us because he achieved great success in a very short time when he took on the mammoth task of rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem.
His helpers made sure they had the right tools in the one hand to do the job, and a weapon in the other hand to ward off any attacks from the enemy. If we are to be successful, we need to see this picture in our minds as we grow in the things of God and build our spiritual lives.
Remember, the battle is the Lord’s and it is already won. Jesus defeated the devil, but he still attempts to harass and intimidate us. We need to enforce our victory and must know that when we engage in a spiritual battle that we are also building the Kingdom of God.
The battle is allowed to come your way because the only way that God enforces Satan’s defeat is through men and women on earth. God does not personally engage the devil anymore but pushes back the kingdom of darkness through our activities, our readiness, our prayers, and our willingness to engage in the battle.
In reality, God does not fight the devil and neither do we. We have only to be positioned on the battlefield facing the enemy. We only have to look formidable which will cause the enemy to flee.
If we are not engaged in a spiritual battle or confronting spiritual opposition, something is wrong and it could be that we have already been defeated and the devil no longer sees us as a threat. The Bible teaches us that we will fulfill our purpose with much persecution, temptations, and trials.
We must approach spiritual warfare from a mindset that the battle is the Lord’s and it has already been won. That is the mindset of a winner.
We need to prepare ourselves for spiritual warfare.
Ephesians 6:11-18 - 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; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.
The New Testament clearly teaches us that we are engaged in a continuous spiritual war and that we need to be fully equipped to engage and defeat an invisible enemy.
It is important to develop a lifestyle that is not driven by too much concern with this temporal world. Paul taught his followers to pray without ceasing. He said that because spiritual warfare is continuous. Praying in the spirit confuses the strategies of the enemy and helps us to overcome the temptations of the world.
Life is filled with choices. We can make decisions that will either draw us closer to God or cause us to drift further away from His presence. Satan’s purpose is to render God’s children ineffective for the Kingdom.
Although the battle is invisible, it will always manifest in a human face. It can come in the form of your children, your boss at work, a business partner, etc., but the enemy is always behind the attacks.
When these things come against you it means that God has chosen you to fight that battle because God only engages the devil through Spirit-filled men and women of God on the earth. Generally, spiritual battles manifest in the natural realm and that is why God does not build His Kingdom with angels. He builds His Kingdom with men and women that are obedient and have submitted to His call on their lives.
God has placed us on the earth for a purpose and we should use all the time we have to build God’s Kingdom. If we do not build the Kingdom of God, it is not being built. Each one of us has an important role to play and God has placed us here on earth in this particular time and season for a specific task. We go through difficult situations because the devil does not want us to be successful in our spiritual mandate. This is the time to stand up and declare that we are going to fight this battle.
1. Take your eyes off things
John 14:1 - "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know."
In the battle we have to seek first the Kingdom of God. If you are building things on earth for yourself, you are definitely not in the battle. Soldiers that are on the front line are not at home building comfortable places for themselves.
We are in the front line of the battle and God wants us to take our eyes of material things and focus on His Kingdom and the only way that you can build God’s Kingdom is by actively engaging in spiritual warfare. Everything else must come second because you cannot be materialistic and focus on your own priorities when you are in battle.
When you have this priority right in your spiritual walk, God will make sure He adds the things you need and they will be His blessings. When you take your eyes off material things, God will make sure that you have the best things.
Joshua was mandated by God to cross the Jordan River and to engage in a battle with the enemies of God so that the Lord could bless the nation of Israel. He was mandated to take the Promised Land and to clear it of all inhabitants. That meant He could only focus on building the things God wanted him to build and place his personal desires second.
God instructed Joshua and the people not to touch what He called the “accursed things”, which represents greed and materialistic desires which can so easily become an idol. God did not want them to chase after the wrong god.
When we take our eyes off Jesus, not only does the curse fall upon our families, but it comes upon the whole nation. For example, whether you believe it or not, the tithe belongs to the Lord and when we take the tithe for ourselves, it becomes the “accursed thing” because it does not belong to us and it becomes an idol. Bring your tithe to the storehouse and when you are obedient with that you will see how God will begin to bless you by adding the things you need.
God does not want you to chase after things but wants you to chase after Him.
Many of us live defeated lives but God wants you back in the battle. God says He wants you to put away the “accursed thing” so that He can bless you. I believe that our entire nations can be prosperous if we do the right thing.
2. Never compromise
We have a mandate to destroy all the works of the evil one and we should not live with anything that is not of God. Do not serve God with a half measure and do not allow anything in your life that does not exalt God. Do not allow people to intimidate or influence you to drop your standard of worship to the Lord.
Never compromise. Compromise is what will kill your dream. Joshua was told to destroy all the inhabitants of the land, but there were areas where he compromised and allowed some to stay on and work as slaves. For Israel to be truly called the Promised Land, Joshua had to destroy every foreign inhabitant in order to declare true victory.
But somewhere along the way, he compromised and allowed some of them to stay and because of his compromise thousands of years ago, there is a Middle East conflict around Israel today.
3. Submit
We must submit. We are either going to submit or rebel against God. This generation of believers is called to take territory like Joshua did. But we are going to have to spend time with Him and hear His instructions and follow them. There is a blue-print for the end-time church to submit to and these details can only be accessed through a close relationship with God and a willingness to submit to His Word and His ways.
4. Discern the battle in the Spirit
Ephesians 6:12 - 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.
We must discern the battle. We must pick our battles and understand that not every battle that presents itself is ours to fight. When we involve ourselves in the wrong battles, we do not have the grace to win.
Many Christian today are hurt and broken because they were pulled into something that did not concern them. You may have an opinion about how someone should live their life, but do not interfere because you do not know everything about that person’s life. It is their fight and not yours. All you can do is pray for them. But do not get involved.
Stay out of other people’s marriage problems unless they ask you for counseling. Do not give advice to anyone unless they ask you for it.
Pick your battles. There are some battles that we need to engage in but there are some battles that we need to leave.
Some battles are not your battles. So do not pick fights because they are spiritual battles and the moment you get involved in somebody else’s battle you are involved in a spiritual battle and all the demonic assignments that are related to that battle, will come upon your life. You have to guard your heart. Only engage in the battles that relate to your future destiny with Christ and your family.
You need to discern those battles. I know of Christians who are always fighting someone or something. They are not content unless they have drama unfolding around them and if there is no drama, they create it.
I am too busy with my own battles, trying to fulfill my calling, trying to fulfill my vision, and trying to be obedient to the things God has called me to do, to fight anyone else’s battles.
Some of the battles that we are fighting are actually fights that are happening in heaven. Nothing happens on earth unless it happens in heaven as well. When you have to confront a situation and there is an obstacle, there is an obstacle in heaven as well. What you are going through in your spiritual battle, God and His angels and His whole spiritual realm are probably going through the same battle.
5. We need to have open eyes
Romans 1:16 – For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
Never start a battle that is not spiritual. We need to have open eyes. No one is as blind as the one who cannot see spiritual things. There are people who are physically blind that can see better than others because their spiritual eyesight is better than anybody who can see in the natural. If you cannot see it you cannot fight it. If you cannot see things in the spirit realm you cannot fight it because it is a spiritual battle and that is why you have to discern it in the spirit realm otherwise you are going to be like someone in a fighting ring that has been blindfolded.
For example, we need to see people in hell so that we can have a passion to save them. That is why we need to have spiritual eyes because there is a battle raging for the souls and eternal destiny of men and women.
If we can see people being sentenced to suffer in hell for all eternity, we will be able to reach out and pull them from the flames of fire before it is too late.
The Gospel is a powerful weapon in spiritual warfare because when you preach the Gospel and witness to others, you are engaging in spiritual warfare. It is a weapon that rescues those that are being dragged to hell. Do not ever despise people that witness on the streets. They may not always have success but the Bible tells us that there is joy in heaven when one person gives their life to God. When evangelists go onto the streets to witness to others, they are engaging in spiritual warfare with one of the powerful weapons - the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Use your weapon, the Gospel, in Jesus’ name. It may not be specifically mentioned as a weapon but it has the power to rescue someone from the clutches of Satan.
6. God defeats the enemy through us
God needs us and we need to make ourselves available to Him in the battle. No one is insignificant. God needs each one of us because the only way God can get to the enemy is through us.
7. Take control
Joshua 10:23-24 - And they did so, and brought out those five kings to him from the cave: the King of Jerusalem, The king of Hebron, The king of Jarmuth, The king of Lachish, And the king of Eglon. So it was, when they brought out those kings to Joshua, that Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said to the captains of the men of war who went with him, "Come near, put your feet on the necks of these kings." And they drew near and put their feet on their necks.
The five kings that were captured by Joshua opposed the plans of God and had to be dealt with. He could not declare victory before executing these kings because in doing so, he confirmed Israel’s unopposed possession of God’s promises.
He brought these kings out and allowed his men of war to place their feet on the necks of these kings before he killed them.
