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Stand!
Why? I have bound the enemy, cast out devils, and prayed fervently, yet my circumstance is still the same. What is going on? I have read the Word of God, and I have done what it has said to do, in order to have victory over the enemy, yet I am still overwhelmed. Is there something wrong? Beloved child of God, most have heard the Word of God many times regarding overcoming their circumstances, but many overlook the need to stand. There is a posture that the Christian must assume in order to overcome the wiles (tricks and devices) of the devil. If we do not, we will find that loss, and frustration will be constant in our lives. To truly understand this posture of standing, that we, the Christian must assume for victory, I think it necessary to look at Ephesians 6:10-18, which says;
“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;”
In verse 14 the word “stand” is talking about a battle position. It’s not just someone else’s battle position; rather its yours. I will define the word “stand” from the Greek, so that we may have clarity regarding this word. The Greek word for “stand” is “histemi” (pronounced he-sta-me), meaning to cause or make stand, put, set, to make firm, fix establish, to cause a person, or thing to keep his, or its place, to be kept intact, to establish a thing, cause it to stand, to uphold, or sustain the authority, or force of anything, to be of a stead fast mind. In the above text of scripture, we are instructed in how to stand (be established), and what to stand in. We are to stand in truth, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, the Word of God, and prayer. We are not to be moved, regarding any of these essential things. Often Christians are not able to hold their positions of power, because they have not understood the significance of standing.
It is important for you to realize, that there is resistance to you standing. The enemy battles this more than anything else. They want to move you from being steadfast, and fixed in the things of God. They try to push you into sitting in areas of sin, thus remove from you the authority, and power that accompanies the Christian, when they truly decide that they will stand, and not be moved.
Your Unrealized Victory.
I have learned some very serious truths about the Word of God, and the manifestation of His promises to us. God tells you of the victories that He has afforded you, when Jesus died for you and I, yet He lays out certain requirements on your part, to realize that victory. Let’s call the requirements that we need to meet, “the if factor.” God tells us, that if we do this, then He will do that. This “if factor” has caused me to realize that whatever I do not have, or am lacking in God, is totally based on how I have responded to God’s ifs. When I read II Chronicles 7:14, I know that my personal revival is based upon me meeting these requirements, it says;
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
Too many people want to stand in the results of the Word of God, without first standing on the requirements of the Word, or the “ifs.”
In your past, every battle that you had faced, whether it was finances, sickness, deliverance, etc…., God had given you the required “ifs” needed for you to stand on, to realize the victory. These “ifs” usually require us to crucify our flesh, and surrender to the direction of the spirit of God, so that we can stand on the Word of God, without giving a place to the enemy, to siphon the Anointing from us, which is needed to manifest the victory. When we stand, we give no place to the enemy to counteract the Anointing on our lives, with the accusations of sin, which always steals our power. Ephesians 4:22-29 tells us about not giving a place of opportunity to the devil, as well as some of the things that opens the door to the enemy, it reads;
“That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.
Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
Neither give place to the devil.
Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.
Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.”
The results of your request is based upon your standing. You must put some things away, in order to become a vessel that is able to stand against the enemy victoriously. I had heard a Pastor of a very large church, many years ago say, that he had not said a bad thing about anyone in over 20 years. The Lord allowed this to stay with me, because He (God) was showing me a key point in being able to gather a constituency of people, which was not giving the enemy a place in my mouth. I also remember the story of William Seymour, of the Azusa Street Revival. He too, would not say anything negative about anyone, which I believe was a key to the great move of the Holy Spirit that He received.
Standing In The Flesh.
The Church of the Living God has been trying to stand in their flesh. Because of this the enemy has the right to sit them right back down. You cannot stand, unless you have done all that you could to stand. You cannot just do a little, and expect to stand in victory. It won’t happen. So many want to have both their flesh reigning, and their spirit person reigning, but this cannot be. You must either stand in your flesh, or stand in the spirit.
The Body of Christ has been satisfied with a break in the clouds; rather than standing fully, to get a sunny day. We have been satisfied with a little breakthrough that could barely be seen; rather than thirsting for, and settling for nothing less than a full blown personal revival.
The spiritual armor is not accessible to those who are sitting spiritually (living in compromise). The scripture tells us “…..having done all to stand. Stand therefore,……” It is only after we have decided to stand, that we can function properly with the spiritual armor. There are some flesh things that you must decide to get rid of, to stand in the spirit. If you decide to stand in the flesh, accepting certain behavior, and sin as okay, then you will not be able to move in the power of the Spirit. You cannot stand against the enemy with old doors still being open.
Each of us may have certain sins that easily trip us up. Whenever the enemy tries to get us, he will present to us these sins, in which we had constantly fallen into, or yielded to in the past. These are the sins that so easily beset (prevent) us, according to Hebrews 12:1-4, which says;
“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.
Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.”
We must strive to resist those things that cause us to not be able to stand for the Lord, and against the enemy.
It Has Siphoned The Anointing In Your Life.
Every Christian has the promise of being able to access the Anointing for certain things, yet accessing the Anointing has “ifs.” Many Christians get filled up with the Word of God, and the Spirit of God, yet the power that is supposed to be manifested in their lives through the Word and Spirit does not manifest, because it is siphoned, or leaks out. You are a vessel that can either house, or carry the Anointing, and dispense it when, where, and to whom God directs, or one that has it pouring right through you, before you can be used to dispense it to others, by the direction of the Holy Spirit. It is the Anointing that you need to destroy the yokes of the enemy. So that we may gain clarity as to why this is so important, I will define the word “Anointing.” In the Bible there are two ways that the word “Anointing” is used. The first is the Hebrew word “mishchah” (pronounced mesh-kha), meaning consecrated portion, anointing oil, portion, ointment, anointing portion. This usually has to do with someone or something being consecrated (set apart), or dedicated to the Lord, by smearing on of oil, or ointment. Now the second way that this word is used, is the Hebrew word “shemen” (pronounced sheh-men), meaning fat, oil, fatness, olive oil, as staple, medicament (a substance used to treat illness), or unguent (healing or soothing ointment). This one has to do with yokes being broken because of fatness, or growth. This is similar to when a bull would get so fat that the yoke (that was around its neck) could no longer hold him, and it would break, or be cast off because of the fatness. We, the Christian, are to do both, for we get consecrated (set ourselves apart for the Lord, this includes our tongues, eyes, thoughts, actions, etc…) to get fat (big and powerful) in the Lord, causing the shackles and yokes of the enemy to be destroyed off of our lives. When the Christian gets consecrated, then the Holy Spirit begins to fill us, causing us to be endowed with gifts, that can be administered to others, as the Spirit of God directs. It causes a greater Anointing, which yokes and chains can no longer hold.
Multitudes of Christians cannot stand because they lack the Anointing (power from enlarging within themselves the capacity to facilitate the Holy Spirit, and the Word) to drive back, and out the enemy, whose purpose and goal is to remove your ability to stand against them. The yoke of the enemy is destroyed because of the Anointing. Isaiah 10:27 says;
“And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.”
I believe that God wants to Anoint you. Many Christians have not prepared their inner person to truly facilitate the Holy Spirit, because they keep going back to doing the same things that are an offence to God, and causes spiritual leakage. If you have a big plastic bag, and you pour water into it, it will keep, that is to say, the water will stand in the bag. Yet, if you poke little pin holes into the bag, and some bigger holes as well, then even though you might be continually pouring water into the bag, you will still be losing that water. The more holes, the more loss. The bigger, or greater the holes, the bigger, or greater the loss. For the Christian, the bag represents your capacity as a spiritual vessel to house the Anointing. The water represents the Word, and Spirit of God that we are being filled with (thus the Anointing). The holes represent areas of sin in our lives, that constantly steal what we need to be a carrier of the Anointing. Some people hear so much Word, and are constantly getting full of the Spirit of God, yet lack the necessary power to heal the sick when it is needed, because the little sins they do, cause the Anointing to leak out. Yokes are not being destroyed the way that they should because the Anointing is leaking out.
It Stops Today!
Some Christians have never seen or experienced the victory that we ought to have seen, due to the fact that we have never truly decided to stand. Because you are reading this lesson today, the tools are now here to gain the victory through standing. Now this is not something that is just going to happen; rather you must choose to stand. There comes a point wherein you must get tired of knowing what God can do, yet rarely seeing the manifestation of those things in your life. If you are tired of not experiencing what God has promised, then right now, you can set yourself on a course to change it. Yet you must get prepared to fight. The enemy will try to wear you down, by constantly trying to get you to fall into the same area of sin from before, with the purpose of moving you out of your stand position, which would give them access to tear you down. You must be determined to no longer be moved into anger, unforgiveness, complaining (no matter how valid the reason to), strife, mental fornication or adultery, etc…. You will walk in the power of God. Things will begin to happen positively in your life. Breakthrough and revival will be a constant for you, from this day forward.
Here is an exercise that you should employ with the purpose of accomplishing your stand position. Write down the things that the enemy has used, or that you have not overcome, that has hindered you from standing and experiencing the breakthrough that God has promised you. It could be complaining, lusting, using the Lords name in vain, lying, adultery or fornication (both physical and mental), gossiping, hatred, unforgiveness, etc….. Make a list of these things, repent of them, and then ask God to give you the grace to stop. Now, it’s going to require you to be watchful and diligent, to stop certain sin habits, as circumstances come your way, and the tendency to fall into that area of sin arises. To be qualified to stand against the wiles (tricks) of the enemy, you must remove those doors that they use to come in and stop you. You must also be patient, as you begin to overcome these challenges and build the reservoirs to facilitate the Anointing within yourself.
It is waiting for you. The victory, the healing anointing, the miracle anointing, the provisions, the salvation of your family and friends. When you are in a position to stand, the Anointing can now break the yoke of the enemy, that has caused you to be on a spiritual merry go round, never having the ability to truly move forward. Whatever it is that has been besetting you, stop it now! There are some victories that God has destined for you to display to the world for His Glory and Honor, yet to do it, you must put away those sins that beset you, and stand. No one else can stand for you, only you can make a decision to stand for yourself. People have been wondering why the church does not have revival, it is because the revival is a product of the people of God deciding to stand. Will you stand? Having done all to stand, STAND!!!!
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