Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. – Colossians 2:15
Jesus Christ defeated principalities and powers and triumphed over them. He defeated them and gave them a resounding knockout. He is the one that has the key and power over death and the world of the dead.
To live in this reality is to know success and victory. This is the good news of our salvation and there is power in it. This good news will chase away fear and timidity and bring faith. There is power in the blood of Jesus to save those who have determined to have faith and confidence.
God is not waiting for you to be perfect and mature before He can heal and deliver you. Most of the people that Jesus and the apostles healed and delivered were not perfect. They were like you and me. They were believers running and marching towards the promised land and Christian maturity.
And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. James 5:15
This Scripture above is nor referring to perfect people but sincere people who are striving and determined to please God and get to the mountain top of Christian maturity. If they have committed sins means that it might have been their sins that led to the sickness or it might not be their sins. However, if they have committed sins they will be healed and forgiven at the same time not wait for when they are perfect before they are healed. If the elders wait for when they are perfect for them to be healed, they could be dead and never be healed or get mature. They will not fulfill their destinies on earth.
So many have afflictions that they were born with and afflictions that came from sins from past lives as unbelievers or even afflictions from sins that they committed as Christians but they had renounced and forsaken those sins. That means that the blood of Jesus has cleansed them of those sins because the Bible says that when we confess our sins we are forgiven. All they need to do is stand on the word of God and wait upon the Lord with faith, worship, love, praise, thanksgiving, rejoicing, celebration, petitions and supplications.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9
But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. 2 Peter 1 :9
The truth is that a lot of people are not suffering because of sins that they personally committed. A lot are suffering as a result of ancestral and parental sins and some are suffering as a result of no sin at all by themselves, their ancestors and their parents just like the man that was born blind. They are just victims of evil religions and the evil systems of this world where some people are sacrificed for others by evils priests around the world to sustain the world.
The world is made up of priests, victims and beneficiaries. that is how the god of this world rules through various religions that have one thing in common – darkness and death. They receive life by sacrificing others and by death. Death the god of this world rules through death popularly known as sacrifice.. The unbelievers worship death. The Lord has taken me in visions and trances to show me their kingdoms and many celebrities belong there. Knowingly or unknowingly, they are operating from that kingdom. Their kingdoms appear to look beautiful but are rubbish compared to Heaven.
Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty. Psalm 74:20
Our sins are forgiven and those kingdoms and powers have been defeated and are beneath Christ. We can be delivered because Jesus has already delivered us. If we are led by the Holy Spirit and seek the root cause of our problems, we will be very shocked at the discovery.
We are absolutely nothing without the Holy Spirit who is the source and giver of the word of God. We must depend on Him. We must seek Him to know the root cause of our problems and the solution to our problems and how to pray effectively to be delivered and healed. He does not use formula and he does not generalize. We are all unique individuals with different histories and pasts. Only Him can help us out.
Many years ago, I struggled with certain afflictions and I kept thinking:
- That it was my personal sin that caused my afflictions
- That I had to be perfect in order to be delivered and restored
These were false thoughts originating from self. The Holy spirit destroyed all my false assumptions and false thoughts before I could be healed and delivered. They were all obstacles to my faith and restoration. He told me that it was not my sin that caused my afflictions and He also said to me, ‘all you need is faith.’ He told me this several times and when I obeyed Him and started walking in faith with thanksgiving, praise and rejoicing, my afflictions became past tense.
I have always been someone who did not struggle to love others. I was not perfect, blameless or mature as a christian but I was trying my best to walk in love and had the desire to please God. However, I did not have faith and God rebuked me several times for it and taught me how to walk in faith expressing itself in celebration of Christ’s love, rejoicing in the Lord, gratitude, worship and persistence. Faith without thanksgiving, gratitude, worship, rejoicing in the Lord, praise and waiting upon the Lord is an error. Faith must express itself in actions. You know, understand, thank God and live it.
Walking in love is not an excuse to reject faith – that is imbalance and come from pride. We need faith as an act of humility because works alone did not save us and cannot save us. When I was not walking in faith the Lord told me I was proud.
When we reject the works of Jesus on the cross and His power and grace and refuse to hear from the Holy Spirit, we are proud. Remember that other religions have good works but they reject faith and the good news that God forgave them and healed them by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.
What is the difference between a believer that does not believe and rejects the good news and an unbeliever that does not believe and rejects the good news. We must be very careful. There are many unbelieving believers and we must not be counted among them. They claim to believe with their lips but their hearts reject the good news that we are forgiven and healed. they are the ones with stone hearts as depicted in the parable of the sower. They refuse to rejoice in God’s salvation and celebrate it. They also attack anything that has to do with faith.
Some people have not yet understood the concept of balance in the word of God. They do not understand the mystery of the whole counsel of the word of God. Man has the tendency towards single vision or double vision but God has multiple visions and we must be like Him. We must not cling to only one or two subjects in the Bible and forget the others.
Some people cling to just love and good works and some people cling to just faith. Some people cling to both love and faith in double vision but forget other subjects like prayer, praise, persistence, patience, thanksgiving, intercession, being filled and led by the Holy Spirit and waiting upon the Lord.
If you study the armor of God, you will observe that it is not one or two. The armor is many. Faith is there and righteousness is there but there are other armors that we need in order to be complete and if we do not put on the complete armor of God we will be defeated and not victorious.
Faith as an armor is very vital and must never be neglected because without faith it is impossible to please God. Any time I preach on faith, some work based warriors will get very uncomfortable and angry but they are being short sighted. If you focus only on works and forget faith, prayer, worship and waiting upon the Lord, you are not imitating Christ because Jesus and Paul had giant faith, wisdom and revelation of the word and prayed. They were also led by the Holy spirit.
Can you pray without faith and the direction of the Spirit? Are you led by the Spirit? Do you hear from the spirit? Those who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God. Have you shut out the Holy Spirit and His good news because you focus only on your works and ignore the works of Jesus? Examine yourself, your belief and your works and fall in line with the whole counsel of the word of God.
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. Hebrews 11:6
The Holy Spirit told me that faith is part of being clean and putting on your white garment. The white garment is the word of God and we must put on the whole counsel of the word of God not just good works or ‘righteousness’. Your righteousness and holiness is not complete without faith and the direction of the Holy Spirit. Jesus and Paul had faith and were constantly led by the Holy Spirit.
Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on the cross is the one and only foundation and if you reject that foundation, you will fall in the day of trial because only the blood of Jesus can set you free and heal you even as you show gratitude to God but walking in perfect love.
You can be tested for the word’s sake and for not having faith. If your faith is not pure, you will open the door to the devil and trials. The same word that saiid, ‘love one another as I have loved you,’ is the same word that said, ‘your sins have been forgiven. He took our sins, sicknesses and sorrows, He carried our punishments and by His stripes we are healed.’
And they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away. Mark 4:17
That the trial of your faith (much more precious than gold which is tried by the fire) may be found unto praise and glory and honor at the appearing of Jesus Christ: 1 Peter 1:7
Why do we choose which word to accept and walk in? Faith means confidence in God and His word and it is a way of understanding. We must accept the whole counsel of the word of God including the good news. We should not accept some and reject some – that is lack of wisdom. Love is a fruit and faith is a fruit. However there are many fruits that grow through the word of God and the Holy Spirit and we must have all of them.
Remember that in the parable of the sower, the seeds that fell on good soil produced good fruits to a hundred fold. The fruits of the Holy Spirit are also fruits of the word of God. The son of man plants His word by His Holy Spirit on earth who is the source and giver of the word of God.
If you reject the word, you reject the Holy Spirit who is the giver. We need the seed of the Spirit which is the word of God in our minds in order to bear fruit. Your fruitfulness is determined by how scanty or full His word is in you. You cannot bear fruit without the word of God. The dwelling place of the word of God is the mind and it is the mind that bears fruit.
The Holy Spirit who is in our hearts is the Spirit of faith, wisdom, understanding, revelation, grace and mercy. He is the one who plants His word or thoughts in our minds through our spirits where He lives. We can either reject or accept those seeds, thoughts or words.
“You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That’s what your ancestors did, and so do you! Acts 7:51
Do not reject Christ’s foundation and faith even as you strive to walk in perfect love. Find out what pleases the Lord. Love pleases Him and faith pleases Him among other things like humility, prayer, persistence, being filled and led by the Spirit etc. You started by faith and God’s grace and cannot finish by yourself with your good works alone.
Never forget what Christ has done for us by His sacrifice and always believe the good news that tells you that your sins are forgiven and by His stripes you are healed. That is humility and part of obedience, holiness, cleanliness, righteous, blamelessness and pleasing God.
Develop multiple visions of the word of God and reject the tendency and inclination towards single or double vision. Be balanced and you will see your enemies collapse around you in complete defeat. Have faith in God, His word and His good news of salvation and redemption – the blood of Jesus has set us free and healed us. Thank you Jesus! Amen.
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