Train your hands for war
Revelations 17:14"These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful."
This is no kinder garden stuff, brace yourself up for power, we have been listening and watching too much of juicy sermons dripping with honey and candy that we have forgotten to train our hands for war; therefore when the enemy approaches, you stumble and fall at the very first instance. Listen up! Life is just not hunky-dory all the times, if somebody told you that, then he is a liar, there are times of intense pressure which is unavoidable and inescapable hence it is wise to expect sudden dangers and be prepared on your knees.
EVIL DEVICES OF THE DEVIL: Don’t scoot nor be intimidated by the evil devices of the enemy, counterattack the evil forces by clever and shrewd strategy. If you are walking one hundred percent for God, then be prepared for all the evil to gang up against you, now you need not flee , STAND AND HAVE A HEAD-ON MEETING with all the evil forces, because “who can be against you if the Lord is for you?” The above scripture says, “These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them…” Ah, you belong to the Holy Lamb! This does not mean the battle is going to be easy, it will be tough but the toughest get to survive. Is anybody listening to me? The first person to enter our Church after we relocated to a new locality was a tiny, puny, simple looking old lady for our Saturday morning fasting prayer (do not be deceived by the size), she came to me after prayers and gave her prayer request - hold your breath - she said a bunch of devils visit her every night and stay with her the whole night and so she requested me to come to her house and drive the demons away. This was weird. I first requested her about the church that she was attached to and then requested her to attend church regularly; however, after church she would start talking to church members about the ‘bunch of devils who visit her’, not everybody would understand this. I became cautious! One fine day I confronted her and said, ‘get right with God and don’t allow the devils to park themselves inside your home’, she never returned.
BE STEADFAST: Nevertheless, there were continuous attack on our church, people left us in bunches and our neighbors were watching too. Pagan people would confront me outside the church and ask me painful questions as to why we were continuing to run the church despite the church waning and shrinking; we didn’t budge but continued to run the church even when there were NONE – I repeat NONE. One Sunday, I preached to the translator and another Sunday, along with my husband I sat near the pulpit and prayed – the CHURCH remained intact in that area which was saturated with temples and idols. You are called to be steadfast and not superfast!
Much during that season, we were conducting a 4 days fire camp for Leaders, which was organized in our church, after the camp when people were sharing their testimony, one lady who had come with her two sons said that she had come to this camp having lost her church, money and everything and had come seeking God for direction and felt she was blessed because I had shared my wilderness experience as I had given above about our church. I have no inhibitions to share my journey because each of our paths are unique! My pain became a soothing balm for her, it gave her hope that she would make it too! Hallelujah! You would make it too! Job was steadfast in his faith even during the worst, brutal assault on him, his property and his children, difficult to comprehend but we got to believe in our spirit. That’s what faith is all about! Just trust His goodness!
Success is not about numbers but success is about you STANDING FIRM despite the tornedoes thrown at you by the devils. The evil forces make people gang against you, stop your promotion, stop your increment, stop your funds, increase frustration and irritation, bring sickness and weakness; however, in ALL these the challenge is to endure, you want to know WHY? Because”… those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful." Called, Chosen and Faithful! Wow! We got to break into a jig for such an awesome statement! God expects you to be faithful! Is anybody listening to me? Missionary William Carey who came to India, had translated the Bible into many languages and he did great work in India; however, his wife lost her mental balance while they were serving in India, but William Carey continued to serve God in the midst of such calamity, this does not give you an excuse to have an affair outside marriage but the challenge is to remain HOLY under all circumstances. Anybody listening?
OVERCOMERS :Why is that people with not even half second prayer survive and beat the odds whereas believers and so called born-again-firebrands flee at the first instance of problem? Tell me. Tennis, cricket or any game for that matter is not for the weak but for the resilient, robust, diehard, unshakable and hard-core people who will not give in easily. If you have watched tennis, the players had already done their hard homework of practice, exercise, counseling, blah and blah then they walk into the court and have to stand several hours of grueling match – back-breaking at times. A few years ago, Novak Djokovic took 10 minutes short of five hours to beat Andy Murray in the semi-final and, after a short break, he sweated another 5 hours and 53 minutes to win the final against Nadal. Phew! We talk about endurance and this is it! Hey Dude, the cup is not for people who dilly-dally or couch-potatoes but for OVERCOMERS! Read:
2 John 1:8”Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward.”
