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Scripture: 

Isaiah 43:14-19
Isaiah 42:8-13

Devotional: 

Today is a day of thanksgiving and praise. Thanksgiving for were God has brought us and a praise for where He is taking us. In our reading we see the Prophet Isaiah proclaiming over Israel what God was preparing to do. They were in captivity for so long, they saw no sign of deliverance. But Isaiah, being the prophet of Hope, declared over them that God had not forgotten, but yet remembered what He spoke over them and when God speaks a thing, it shall come to past. So it is with us, some of us have been hard pressed for so long, it becomes harder and harder to see anything resembling what God spoke, but when you can’t see His promise, trust His word. 

God spoke to them saying, “Forget the former things; don’t dwell on the past. See, i am doing a new thing! Do you not see it?”

God has spoken over us, individually and corporately. Do we not see what God is doing? We must forget the past, the disappointments, the heart breaks, the times when He didn’t come through like we thought and see, that He was doing a new thing along. After overcoming the third day, we have shifted into a new mindset, new attitude; we won’t even dwell on the fleshy desires, but we now have a second wind to pursue the things of God. Throughout your daily worship routine, you may find it easier to tap into the things of God. don’t be surprise when the Holy Spirit begins to speak clearer, that is exactly what is suppose to happen. 

I am proud of each and you and lets finish strong! Don’t wait til the battle is over, give Him a praise now!

Engaging Spiritual Warfare pt. 5: Separation 
 

Scriptures: 2 Timothy 2:14-26; 1 Timothy 5:21, 6:4; Titus 3:9 

Set yourself apart 
 

In this last focal point, the writer suggest that we keep ourselves separated. Now, this is not the type of separation from people but to get or keep apart from unprofitable things. It is to keep us holy and set apart from foolish conversations. Our focus should remain on our task, rather it be is to gain new territory in the spirit or to help set the someone free.  

In this text, Paul was writing his second letter to Timothy, trying to encourage him in the Pastoring of a church. This was a much-needed encouragement because Paul knew Timothy would face some difficult challenges with being so young in ministry. Paul’s intent with this chapter was to help Timothy understand how to discern between a profitable conversation and one that will be a waste of time.  

Once we are on our assignment, the enemy will send distractions our way to get us off course. We must be able to maintain a focus on our task. When engaging in Spiritual Warfare, the enemy is quite deceitful. Rather it be from the demon speaking back at you or from thoughts coming to your mind while praying. We must be aware of these things and quickly cast down every vain imagination and gain control again. It is very difficult to frame from engaging in unprofitable conversations, especially when you are the one being accused. There are a few ways to help maintain focus, as found in verse 15 of chapter 2: 

A) Study to show yourself approved: Be diligent, steadfast and unmovable, always doing the work of the Lord. That should be our sole intent when it comes to spiritual warfare. It cannot be for selfish gain but merely to glorify God because He is the one, we are trying to get approval from.  

B) Workman that needed not being ashamed: When we put Christ first in everything, there is no shame that comes after our work is inspected. It is similar to a worker who knows there job very well and does what the supervisor asks of them. They leave feeling they done what was asked, so it is with us when we carry out God’s task, we leave feeling empty in the Spirit because we allow ourselves to be used. It is only when we do works according to the flesh that we are ashamed. But everything done through the Holy Spirit is profitable.  

C) Rightly dividing the word of truth: It is not enough to know which side of the argument to be on, but we should know what the Bible is accurately stating and when to apply that word. When Jesus was being tempted by Satan in the wilderness, what was His response? He always responded with the word of God.  

In the last several verses of this chapter we see the reward of keeping ourselves separated, verse 21 states that if we can do this, we become vessels for God to use. That is the ultimate goal in this, we make ourselves available for God. So, this devotional we have prepared ourselves for the fight, now that we are equipped, Let’s Begin the Fight! 

Scriptures: Psalm 18:37; Romans 12:12; Hebrews 6:11 

“Persistence to Never give up” 

Persistence is described as the ability to go on resolutely, in spite of oppression. When engaging in spiritual warfare, we have discussed having the ability to endure, having a hatred & knowledge pertaining to things of the devil. But, like in any other form of warfare, the constant pursuit of obtaining victory will cause one to become weary. So, in order to triumph over our enemies, we must have a persistent mentality!  

In the beginning text, David is acknowledging God giving him the victory over his enemies. While looking over the history of David’s victories, one thing is for certain, he had to be persistent in battle. This is evident later on in the text when David says that he did not turn back until they were all destroyed. In Spiritual Warfare, there must be a desire to see every wicked principality and enemy destroyed. In the sport Boxing and UFC; the two competitors face off with only one person eligible to gain the win. The winner is often times the one who continues to remain persistent in the fight, even after getting hit themselves, they keep fighting, even as they become tired, they keep fighting, they may even get knocked down, they get back up again and continue to fight! That very tenacity must reside within us; to rise back up in the fight and continue to pursue our enemy until victory is gained.  
 

Persistency in Prayer 

2 Corinthians 10:4 let us know that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God for the pulling down of strongholds. Our warfare is not fought with the likes of guns or fist, but our warfare is spiritual and must be fought in prayer. In this season of spiritual warfare, let’s be devoted to prayer, pursuing our enemies with the that same persistence that David had in pursuing his!  

Engaging Spiritual Warfare pt. 2

Hatred:

Psalm 139:19-22
Psalm 34:11-14
Romans 12:9

We must have a extreme dislike or antipathy, loathing towards evil sprits. Paul says that we should “abhor” what is evil and cling to what is good. This gives us the inclination that there is such a thing as a good and evil spirit. That is why Paul suggests that people of God would cling only to that which is good. But, in order to accomplish this, we must love one and hate the other. Now, we have to make the distinction between hating the person and hating the spirit. We as believers have to be sure that we are not focusing our hate towards the vessels but more so towards the spirit attaching itself to the vessel. There has to be something within us that wants to see everything associated with the devil eradicated from the earth. This type of attitude will ensure that we will not compromise and allow the enemy any ground. The devil isn’t playing fair in this season, he recognizes we are close, so every attack is more fierce and his playing for keeps. But we won’t back down, we can’t back down. Gear up, because we are preparing to go to war.