chapter 28 in the book chapter 28 good chapter praying defensively you'll see on the outline that I have standing strong against satanic attack I'm gonna ask you tonight between a 1 and a 10 how is your faith meter I can tell you, give you a little hint of where your fate meter, if it's 1 and really, really low or if it's 10, it's up really, really high. It's based on how positive you are. So I wanna ask you tonight, how positive are you? Do you anticipate God moving? Do you believe tonight that he is on the throne? Do you believe that he's already won the victory? Do you believe that God's gonna make a way for you where there seems to be no way? I pray that if our faith meter is one or two or three, it's on the low end. I pray that before the end tonight that it's a higher. on the higher end. And so we want to talk about that because the devil wants to discourage you. He wants you, he doesn't want you to have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He wants you to look at the circumstances and he wants to look at things that will discourage you. I want you to know tonight, God is a God of great encouragement. And I think of the one thing the Bible talks about, love conquering all. It's faith, hope, and love. And the grace of these is love, that unconditional love of God. So that gets us through when nothing else will. So I want to give you some things that I hope will encourage you, strengthen you, because God's on the move. And just because the Bible says it's waxing worse and worse, Jesus said we're to be of good cheer. He's overcome the world. Amen? be of good cheer, he's overcome the world. So he's done that, he's looking for us to believe past what we see, past what we feel, past what others say, he's wanting us to look past that and look to his promises and his word. So we're gonna dig into his word tonight. If you look at the story that he starts out on page 172, somebody read that first paragraph about the attack on Pearl Harbor and I thought this was good And this, we'll just use this to jump start us off on page 172 of the book. I thought that was real good to start. So the military might and force was there, but it wasn't being utilized. And of course, it was a surprise attack. There were about three warnings, if I remember in studying that, three warnings that they didn't heed that let them know that there was an attack coming and that there indeed was an attack that day. But if you think about that in correlation to what God has given us, when He saved you, He gave you His power through the person of who? The Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is who? God, amen. So God, in essence, is in you. He gives us gifts. Tell me what, give me some things he gives us in the arsenal to be able to stand against the devil's attacks, satanic attacks. Give me some things. So we have the Holy Spirit. Give me some other things that are the things that we have that he has given us that gives us the ability to fight and to stand against attacks. His word. Okay, confidence, which would go along with faith, you're believing, you're trusting him. What else? Prayer, and we shared Sunday morning, what did we talk about? My fingers. What do y'all see? Brother Derrick's body. So the body of Christ, a great asset. So when you're fighting, remember this, you are not in this alone. the devil wants you to think that you're alone, nobody cares about you, matter of fact, they don't even like you we love you, there's love amongst the body of Christ, amen? We don't just like you, we love you , and we're in this together so the lord has given us the destroyers submarines the missiles that he's given us everything that we need if you will Hey, a person could be praying for you. They could be in another country praying for you. They can be a distance away. Prayers can go past as far as geographically. Prayers can reach that. So we have the power of prayer. We have the word of God that's there. We have the heart. So there's many things that we have. So Ephesians 6, 16. Somebody read Ephesians 6, 16. Y'all have your Bibles ready? We'll read some scriptures right quick. We'll talk about the word. Tell me, get me, you see some blanks, what are some darts? What are some things that the devil throws or has thrown at you? What's some things the devil has thrown at you? What dart has he thrown at you? Big one, doubt. Doubt will keep you discouraged, it will keep you defeated. That's a tremendous, if it can get you to doubt the word of God, get you to doubt your salvation, get you to doubt that God can do. Doubt is a tremendous attack. So, guess what, the shield of faith, and the Romans had the shield that they used, that Paul's referring, would cover your whole body, could get behind that shield. Your whole body could. So give me some other darts. So doubt, what are some other darts? Okay, pride, that you can do it, you don't need God, you can do it, and that's a deceptive dart. What else? Big one, fear. Fear will keep you from moving forward. The nation of Israel was standing before the giant, they were standing before Goliath, and they were, because of fear, they were unable to move forward. Because of fear, they were not able to conquer the land of Cain. It could, but fear stopped and robbed them of the tremendous blessing God had. Fear is a big issue. Any others that you think of? Anger, big dark, be angry. There is a righteous anger that we're to have, but we need to be careful. Anger turns into what? Starts with a B. Bitterness. Bitterness poisons the well of our soul. You have to really watch that. And bitterness spreads like a wildfire. I put condemnation. You know what the devil does? He accuses. Who do you think you are? look at you, look what you've done, look at who, you know, and so what he does, he's an accuser of the brethren that is a dart to penetrate your heart to make you feel unworthy so you think in your mind, God would never use me I'm going to tell you what, God uses people that we don't think he can use. All he's looking for is somebody willing, somebody that'll say, yes, Lord, I believe that you can do. It's not my power, but I believe you can use me. And if he used Paul, who used to be Saul, to write a testament, he can use anybody. And so we want to think that way. And the battle we've showed just before, the battle is in the mind. okay what you think is how you're going to act and how you're going to respond against the attacks and one thing that helps if you look at when satan does attack it's opportunity for you to stand and for god to be testable is his word enough is the holy spirit more bible says greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world is the holy spirit adequate he greater than the devil some things is for them to be tested and so guess what when there's an attack that's an opportunity for God to show himself strong so that all the things that are necessary for us to have are available but faith is a big deal okay number two in the book and he shares this on page 173 talks about the name of Jesus I've got a couple scriptures somebody look at mark 9 who'll get mark 9 38 through 40 Ms. Jan, thank you, Ms. Jan. Who will get Acts 3-6? Acts 3-6? Ms. Paulette? And we need Acts 4-12. I'm gonna let you get 4-12 too, Ms. Paulette, if you can. It's on the page. And somebody get Romans 10-13. Who'll get that one? but it's like a Now, he's talking about saying, this is power in your name. They're casting out demons. So there is power that shows that God is sovereign over the demonic forces. They were able to cast out demons in Jesus' name. Now, the second one we had was healing. Somebody read that Acts 3-6. Now, folks, I'm going to tell you, we're missing the boat here. So what's he do? In Jesus' name, the Holy Spirit is operating in them. So they're not going on their own. They're following the Lord's lead. But in Jesus' name, there is healing. So the power of Jesus' name. And that's one of the things that we have that we can use. I remember one time I hadn't been saved long at all, and I felt it's difficult to write, and I felt like I was confused, and it was just like the Holy Spirit was giving me insight. This is a satanic attack. Sometimes you can be praying, and there'll be thoughts, and let me tell you, the devil will try to disrupt your prayer. in the name of Jesus Christ But I do remember, never forget this, that as soon as I prayed that, I was cleared to pray, as soon as I said that, in Jesus' name. There's examples. Peter, and he uses this, and I don't know if it's in this or not, but Peter is saying, Jesus, you're not going to the cross. He was arguing with him, and Jesus turned around to Peter, and he said, get thee behind me, Satan, because that thought was coming from the devil and Peter was just a poll. But behind what Peter said was Satan's influence. And so Jesus looked right through that, looking to Peter, said, get thee behind me, Satan. And so Peter did that, too. Paulette, go ahead and read Acts 4 in salvation through Jesus' name. Acts 4, 12. and then he's got moments. A so in Jesus name, the power, you know, calling upon Jesus. So Jesus, will you say to me, Jesus, I believe that you died on the cross in the name that you whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. The power of Jesus name. There's no other name. under heaven, whereby men must be saved. So the name of Jesus Christ, it's a name exalted above everything. So these are ways that we can fight. Now the question is, is the battleship sitting in the harbor and everybody's snoozing? Or are we manned? We've got people with goggles, not goggles, with binoculars, let me get the right IP. With binoculars, do we have people sitting with the machine guns, they're ready, and they're attentive, and they're ready to take on the attacks. So we have everything that we need, but think about it. Instead, what do we do many times, instead of running to and saying, instead of believing and trusting one, you know, this is about Jesus. I'm talking to Jesus. You have no, this is nothing, no part that you have in this. How many of us get that bowl? you know, with the power that's given us. How many of us use that? Instead, we get, gosh, the devil's beating me up. I wish the Lord would get the devil off of me. And the Lord's going, I've given you everything you need to get the devil off of you. Would you use what I've given you? And I'm not speaking down to you because I'm as guilty as anybody, so the Lord's speaking to my heart about this, too, big time. Okay, number three, the scriptures. provide a way, and that was on page 174, I believe, the scriptures provide a way, he said here, a way of escape, but provide for us to endure temptations. Everybody turn to Luke 4, Luke 4, we'll just all turn to Luke 4. Let's look at those three, so this is Jesus that has, and people ask why, why should you fast? Jesus did it. Why should you fast? Jesus fasted. Why did he fast? The Holy Spirit led him into the wilderness to fast because he needed to focus on the spiritual and not the physical. And so what he does, he's preparing to fight the devil one-on-one. And so his focus is praying. He's talking to the Father. And when you talk to the Lord, guess what he does? He talks back. And what he does is he gives you what you need. And so guess what he gave Jesus? Let's read in Luke. 4, 4, 8, and 12. Somebody look at that, and everybody just look along. Loop 4, 4, 8, and 12. Not all at once. I can't hear you. You're doing good. You're doing good. You're doing great. And then verse 12. That's OK. So look at what Jesus has prepared. He's got the word, and he draws it like a sword. So Jesus draws that up, the word of God. And he tells him, this is what You know, all that Eve... Think about how simple this is. All that Eve had to say in the garden, and Satan came along. God said this, and I'm going to stand in it. That's all she had to do. If she had done that, the devil would have slithered away, whooped. Amen? So now we have the Word of God, we have all the things God tells us, what we have that we may utilize them so that we may be able to stand and so we were not the ones that run away were not the ones who will put its site in place of site in He left. He departed from him. Now, four seasons, he's going to come back. So you have to use these things again and again. OK. Number four on your sheet. Somebody read Psalm. Somebody turn to Psalm 139. This is a good, good scripture. It's one that we need to be marked. Psalm 139, 23, 24. Who will do that one? Miss Ginger and James 516. Miss Kindred. Thank you, Miss Kindred. Good to have you out here, girl. She's using the bike with the kids. Good to have her. OK, somebody read that first one. And somebody go ahead and read that James 516. Miss Kendry. Now, he talks about unconfessed sin. He talks about that in the book under 174, 175, and hopefully you're reading that during the week. But I put here an open heart. An open heart before God leaves no place for Satan to hold up. So what you do when you open up, and so the snake hides. The snake hides until the right time and he bites, but he stays hidden. Most of you go out. If you go outside, there's snakes probably all around, but you don't see them. Right? If you see one, you're either going to panic or you're going to get aggressive. You're going to kill him. You're going to respond. But most of us, when we go out, we don't see them. We look in the woods and look. You don't see them. But are they there? Yeah, they're there. They're there. Well, that's the way the devil is. He stays hidden. So guess what you do. And he hates this. He hates to be revealed. As you open your heart up, and like David, you say, Lord, is there anything in here? Is there anything going on here that you need to sensitize me to? Is there a weakness that I have? Is there a stronghold that the devil has? Is there an area that I've not surrendered to you? Is there an area that I'm walking in rebellion against you? Have you spoken to my heart and I've said, no, I'm not going that way? And so what you do is you get before God. When you open up those places and recesses of your life that He's hidden in, the lightbulb comes on. And you know what the lightbulb... Y'all know how roaches act when the lightbulb comes on? Well, they just... They scatter. They get gone. And that's kind of the way the devil is, okay? So what you do is you're revealing where he's working. And when you do that, guess what? He flees and God can come in with His grace, mercy, His direction, whatever needs to be done, then He can start to deal with that. He can shore up that weak wall. He can speak to you in an area where you're, you know, before you thought you were strong and you find out, hmm, I'm not. God shows you something you don't see. One message that I preach sometimes, I haven't preached in a long time, is the blind side. So every one of us have an area, a couple areas usually of our lives. It's hard for us to see, but other people see it clearly. If you want to know what's wrong with you, ask your kids. I was getting to that, Josh. Ask your wife. Ask your husband. Ask those closest to you. But more than that, more importantly, and I just kind of say that in jest, but what you want to do is you want to come before God. Because God's not going to condemn you, okay, when you open up to Him. Well, yeah, I mean, you know, He's not going to do that. He's going to say, okay, now I can work. Now, because you've asked me for help, you've called upon me, now I can do what needs to be done. and then the grace of God and the power of God comes into that situation. I put here James 5, 16 because there's times that if we want to get closer to one another and want to be united as the body of Christ, then we've got to get honest. And this is real hard, and you can't do this with people you trust. You just can't do this with anybody. But if you get to know a person, a brother or sister in Christ, and you know their heart, and you're going, they really care about me, They want what's best for me. Then what you do when that trust is built, then you begin to share your heart. You begin to say, listen, I know you're going to pray for me, and I know you love me. I know you're not going to talk about me. I know you're not going to gospel about me. So I'm going to share with you. I'm struggling here. I need prayers over me. I'm doubting. I'm fearful. I'm whatever the issue is. I'm angry at God. I just don't want to do what He's wanting me to do. I've got bitter, you know, whatever it is. So when we build that, and that's what we're after as the body of Christ, to build a relationship, not only with Jesus, but with one another. That we began to be, that one thing that we utilize maybe the least is honesty before our brothers and sisters in Christ, and calling upon them to pray over us. You know what that is? That's humility. That's the opposite of pride. Pride says, I don't need my brother or sister in Christ, but the word says you need the body. And that we're not members, our arms are not cut off laying over there and cut off laying here. We're joined together. by Jesus Christ, and we're one body. And the body that supports itself is so much healthier. Okay? And so, good enough said about that. Okay, let's look at Romans 3, the blood of Jesus. That's on page 175. Somebody read Romans 3, 23 through 25. Somebody read that right quick. And notice what he says, that faith that's in his blood, the blood of Jesus. So we're, you know, we've all sinned and come short, but guess what? There's the blood. We plead the blood of Jesus. You know, when the devil comes along, he points his finger at you, and he tells you you're not worthy, or tells you you're guilty, or whatever. Now, the devil doesn't bring conviction, he brings condemnation. And there's a big difference. The difference between conviction is conviction brings about, the goal of conviction is to bring about change. The goal for the devil with condemnation is that you stay under that and you don't change. Does everybody understand that? I want you to get that. The conviction of the Holy Spirit is the enlightenment of an issue that we have so God may ratify that, so he may change that. So condemnation from the devil, he wants to keep you down. And you see this as he putting his foot on your neck, keeping you down so you can't do for God because you feel unworthy, you feel guilty. Guess what the blood of Jesus does? The blood of Jesus cleanses. Amen. So you know what you do? Say, yeah, I'm not worthy of it. I acknowledge that. I'm not worthy of it. But it's not about me. It's about God's love, His unconditional love, And because of His nature, and because of His love for me, that He died on the cross for me, He shed His blood, and that blood has payment, and God accepted that payment. That's why Jesus Christ came out three days later. He accepted the payment made. You are cleansed, forgiven, and set free. Hallelujah! Why do you think Miss Adeline is so excited? See, she was embonded. She felt like, you know, if something happens to me, the devil's got me or I'm going to hell. You know, now she knows she's forgiven. You know, the faith of a child. Amen? And she's going, I'm right with God. I'm right with God. And she's rejoicing. Boy, she cranked my track. She cranked it anyway. So somebody read Roman Revelation 12, 10, and 11. the only thing that we can say we can say I mean what was the cross that's where the blood of Jesus was she and he died We're not thinking positively that we have anything to offer, we're thinking positively about who God is and what God has done and what God has given to us. And we have victory in that. Whether it be the name of Jesus, whether it be the blood of Jesus, whether it be the power of the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, the faith and trust in Him, whatever it is, we have that. Okay, what time we got, Mr. Pant? Three minutes, okay. More than Conquers, we'll end with this, and y'all know the other two are very important too. So let's look at Romans 8, 37. I think I wrote that down. Who will get that one right quick? Who hadn't read? Some preachers say super conquerors. Latin to King James, it says more than conquerors. In other words, I want you to get this, because you hear a brother or sister say this. Well, I just barely made it. I'm just squeaking by. I'm just, you know, and instead of saying, you know what, man, this is what I did to that. I mean, I took him out, you know. Let me tell you, God didn't just barely get me by. I mean, he did a big work. And so we need to be more, instead of, you know, what kind of testimony do we give? It was hard. I barely made it. That's not what this word says. The word says we're more than conquerors, or super conquerors, through Christ, who loved us. Amen? And then you go through, nothing separates us from his love. 2 Corinthians, and this is a good one. We'll skip one. 2 Corinthians 10, 3 through 5. Anybody got that one? 2 Corinthians 10, 3 through 5? You can read again, Miss Jan. Miss Jan, you go ahead. Now look, our weapons are not those like natural weapons. They're supernatural. They're spiritual weapons. They're the weapons of the Word of God, the name of Jesus. Again, these, to the pulling down of strongholds. You know what? The devil sets up strongholds. That's where he sets up camp, and that's where he launches force. and so a lot of times we have strongholds where the devil has gotten a very useful stay away and not know that we have for Jesus we can come in the areas that may be for 10 or 20 or 30 years he set up a and you're going, I'm going to listen to what God says for once and not heed what the devil's saying I'm going to do like Jesus and I'm going to say this word that God's given me that reveals or conquers the lie that the devil's telling us so the word, the only way you can take on a lie and that's how the devil gets us is through deception The only way he's winning, let me just tell you, the only way he wins in a church, wins in a family, wins in an individual, is somewhere along the line we believe he's lying. Everybody got that? Eve believed the lie. Eve believed, I can eat this fruit, nothing but, Eve believed that this is going to satisfy me, Eve believed, you know, whatever it is, we believe a lie. And that's why we, so what we have to do is if we're going to conquer that and not be deceived and led astray, we've got to boldly proclaim this is what God says. I'm going to trust God knows what he's doing. I'm going to trust God can do what can't be done. I'm going to believe the word of God. I'm going to stand in that. And let me tell you, the devil gets all torn up in knots when you stand in what God says. And you say, I'm going to believe God. And you know what? The devil gets discouraged when we do that. And God gets excited when we do that. The last one that I put, the last one was rejoice and sing praises. If you read that in 2 Chronicles, God said, I've got the battle. All I want you to do is I want you to go and I want to put you singers up front. And I want them singing praises. I don't want them battling. I want them singing praises. And so instead of going to bat, guess what? They're marching and they're singing praises. Colin Silas is another example. They've been thrown in prison. They start praying, and then they sing praises in the middle. And the praises gets the victory. So those are our battleships. Those are our submarines. Those are our nuclear weapons. That's what we have to take the enemy out. Amen? Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your word, Lord. And I thank you, Lord, for just the excitement in these aspects of warfare. Lord, I thank you for helping me, Lord, just showing me more clearly. And Lord, that I can just share, and I can be encouraged and see others encouraged through your word and what you say. Lord, we thank you that we are forgiven people, that we have been set free. Lord, we thank you for what Jesus did on the cross, that he the head of us, that we now have eternal life and death has no hold on us. Lord, we praise you that we have a glorified body, and Lord, I just can't help but think of Shirley. Lord, I know that she's enjoying her rewards, Lord. I believe she is dancing before you. I believe she is praising your name like never before. And Lord, I thank you for that provision of a wonderful place called heaven. Lord, I thank you that all of us will be there together someday. Lord, until then, I pray that you help us to fight the good fight of faith. Help us to believe you, trust you, and walk with you across the finish line. Jesus, you are so awesome. We love you, Lord. We love you. Thank you for who you are, and we thank you for loving us. Despite ourselves, we praise you. In your holy name, we pray. All God's children said, Amen.