March 3, 2004—How To Believe God… Taught by David M. Humphrey Sr
The War College: The Warrior’s Agenda BTC
Basic Lessons for Lead Warriors, Teaching/ Training Session #1
Basic Lessons for Lead Warriors, Teaching/ Training Session #1
Over the next several weeks we will examine three things:
1) Prayer
2) The Word of Command
3) The Fundamental Power of Your Own Words
Now, as we begin, let’s look at three additional things that it is also very important that we understand…
I. When it comes to our warfare the average Christian believes that we really only have one weapon at our disposal—prayer.
This however, is not true. We have numerous weapons, of which prayer is one. We will examine over the coming weeks…
II. You are engaged, even as you read this, in a very real Spiritual War. Think like that. Study like that. Believe like that. Pray like that. Act like that. NOT from a standpoint of fear, but like a heavily armed soldier sent to occupy enemy territory, from a standpoint of awareness and preparedness. Luke 19:13. The Word says that the Lord left certain nations in the Promised Land on purpose. Do you know why? The Word says because He wanted Israel to learn how to fight. Judges 3:1&2 Why? Because there is a spiritual lesson hidden for us in this example regarding Satan and his minions. The Word says that we are kings and priests. This is a spiritual truth now, but it will be fully realized and manifested when the Lord comes back and during the Millenium. But, if you have never learned how to fight for what you have believed God for now, how can you ever learn how to rule then? Luke 19:15-17, Jer. 12:5, (See Revised Standard Version and Amplified!)
Ever wonder why some of the things that you’ve prayed for seem to take so longgggggggg to occur sometimes?
III. It’s because you are in a War Zone, and the enemy selfishly considers everything you pray for, and believe for, from your
groceries to your healing, his personal property. Therefore he regards your prayers as a personal threat and an Act of War. Why? Because everything that you believe for is something that has been under his control for years, (2 Cor. 4:6) and as long as nobody believes for it, it stays that way! However, once you or any other Christian takes a stand and begins to believe for their inheritance, then what has been stolen from you, is taken by force by Father and His Angels from Satan’s control and put into yours. Matt 11:12, John 10:10 Prov. 6:30, Ex.22: 7. So, he tries to resist in hopes that you will quit and give up, in what you are believing God for. Otherwise if you get it, that’s one less thing he has to ply and bribe and anesthetize his people with. One less thing his demons have as a tool or reward to continue to blind the minds of those who serve him. Understand?
IV. God has given us power and authority. Luke 10:19. That is a truth, not a lie. Since He has given you and me power and authority He is not going to come down and use your authority and power for you. It’s yours, given to you, so, He expects you to use it! He can not come down and over step your boundaries and use your power and authority for you. Do you know why? Because if He did, that would make Him a liar. He can not lie. He does not lie, not even little white ones.
V. Once God has commanded something or given His Word He can not go back on it. So, if God says you have Power, He can not then go back and treat you as if you don’t have any power. Again, if He did, He would be a liar, like Satan, and Satan is the father of all liars. In other words, all liars are submitted to Satan, for Father to lie would mean that He then would be no better than Satan and would have to be submitted to him. And trust me, that ain’t gonna happen.
VI. A lot of things happen in this world because we as Christians don’t use the Power and Authority God has already given us. God gave you Power. But, He is not going to come down here and take your “power gun” (the authority that He has given you Lk 10:19, Eph. 1:19, Eph 3:20,) and shoot Satan with it for you. Why?
VII. Because you having Power and Authority and using it correctly fulfills God’s purpose. He gave man, not Satan, dominion over the Earth, and He intends for us, as representatives of mankind to have it! That’s why the Lord Jesus came in the form of a Man, not an Angel. Heb 2:14-16. Satan, a fallen angel, has been in control of things since Adam fell, and has made a pure mess of things. Father is tired of that. Now, when we say this are we deifying man? By no means, but we are examining the fact scripturally, that our Father thought so much of Man, that He sent Jesus, and that Jesus thought so much of Man, He came. And in order to fulfill all legal requirements, He took the form of Man in order to pull Man and God back together and kick Satan out! Why give us such Power and authority?
VIII. Again, because He’s training us to rule. That was the Lord’s original intent. Gen. 1:26, 28. Our Heavenly Father does not play nine inning games. He plays till He wins. And though you and I might have given up on the original plan, after Adam and Satan messed it up so, He didn’t. He created Man to rule. Adam gave that rulership over to Satan who perverted it. Satan ruled. With Death (his best friend) and with his demons as henchman, he ruled everything unabated till the Lord Jesus came. Satan found it sooo humorous that Man, who was created to rule him and the world, was now under his feet. He perverted man’s God-given sense of rulership, and shifted the focus of it so that man sought to rule not over him, Satan, but over other men—cruelly. Over women, children, over anyone who was not strong enough to defend themselves. God’s intent is still for man to rule properly, over the Earth as a good steward, and over Satan, as God’s representative. But since Satan managed to steal authority and power from Adam, that presented the Father and the Lord Jesus with the reality of the fact that if Man was ever to rule again (even under His Lordship) over the Earth, man would have to learn how to stand up under God’s Power and fight, before he could rule...
IX. The Word says that the Lord left nations in the Promised Land so that Israel would have to learn how to fight. Judges 3:2. Luke 19:16-17, Rev. 2:25-29. They were an example for us. We’ve been taught growing up that the ‘Promised Land’ was Heaven. It’s not. The ‘Promised Land’ had giants in it that the Israelites had to fight and kill first! Are there any ‘giants’ in Heaven? Nope. They’re all here. ‘Salvation’ (you getting born again) is the Promised Land. Because God ‘Promised” to send a redeemer! This is the training stage for us, where we learn how to fight, and claim our promises from the Word AND how to apply the Word, so we can learn how to rule Principalities, and Powers, Rulers of the Darkness of this world, and Spiritual Wickedness in Heavenly Places.
X. For us, it’s all about the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. For the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, it was all about us. The Lord Jesus didn’t die on the cross for Himself. He didn’t die on the cross for the Father. The Father didn’t have any sins that needed to be paid for! So the whole plan of salvation was not formulated for Them, but by Them, for us, to win us back. Father sowed a ‘Son’ into the Earth to reap back a harvest of Sons (and Daughters). So for Them it was all about us, and They knew that in addition, as a result, that a Harvest of grateful sons would shower Them with eons of Love! How do we know that this is true? The Word says that God is Love. Not has love but that our Heavenly Father IS Love. Tell me. When have you ever known true love to be selfish, concentrating only on itself and it’s own best interests? It’s our heart felt desire and our privilege and our job, to be all about Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. What we haven’t realized is, that it is there self-appointed job to be all about us. Our deliverance, our healing, our salvation, our needs, etc. Our job is to be all about Him (But seek ye first the kingdom of God…) His job to be all about us (..and all these things shall be added unto you…Matt 6:33). Two people in love always focus on each other—never themselves!
XI. When a man’s family is kidnapped, he moves to rescue them because the ones he loves are in danger. He’s not doing it because of the ticker-tape parade that people will throw for him afterwards. His family is in danger, and he moves swiftly and with determination and grit to see them free! Well, our God was a “Father” who’s family had been kidnapped by the devil. He got fighting mad and went to rescue them. He’s rescued us and freed us and sent us to go and liberate and free others. He has been training us, by His Spirit and His Word, to be able to defend ourselves and others as we encounter the ‘kidnappers’ who try to stop us from freeing others. Father’s original plan will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven, and we have been given the privilege of being a valuable and vital part of it…
Now, we have one day a week for Bible Study. In a normal month, that’s only four days out of 30 or 31. So I’m sure you can see the value and the importance—nay, the necessity of you spending additional time in the Word studying the lessons on your own at home!
I know.
You’re busy—extremely.
I understand. So am I. But studying the Word is of the utmost importance.
Let me put it to you this way.
Studying the Word of God is like the old Mr. Goodwrench commercial…
Ya pay me now, or ya pay me later.
Implication? One way or another, you’re gonna pay. Either now, at your choosing, or later when you wish you had studied…
Part One…
Seven Steps To Answered Prayer
1. Decide What You Want From God—John 16:23, Mk 11:23
Remember that God is for you, not against you.
2. Find Scriptures That Promise You What You Need—Phil 4:19
This boosts your confidence in the answer, and gives you a sure foundation to stand on in the face of the ‘winds of doubt’.
3. Meditate In Those Scriptures—Seriously—Josh. 1:8
This is like building your house on bedrock. It sinks the scripture deep inside you and insures that you don’t just speak it from your head, but from the bottom of your heart.
4. Ask Father for the Thing You Need—Matt 7:7,John 15:7,16:24
Don’t just hope for it or wish for it—ask.
5. Believe That You Receive Them—Mark 11:24, Matt. 21:22
You will find as you meditate the scriptures for what you’ve asked (no.3), that your level of confidence for receiving the answer rises accordingly. You make the decision to believe that you have received the thing you desired.
6. Refuse To Doubt—James 4:7, James 1:5-7, Psa 37:4
You stand your ground and refuse to entertain images or feelings of failure (II Cor 10:5). You may have doubt assailing your head, but you keep faith in your heart.
7. Thank and Praise God for the Answer—Phil 4:6-8, I John 5:14
Praise God right after you pray as if you had just received the thing, in hand. Why? Because by faith, you have received it, (Mk 11:24)! So you act like it by praising God with all sincerity. This is your act of faith. James 2: 17 & 26.