Restoring the Vision Part 2
We have seen how we must birth the vision and pray it to come to pass. It does not end there because there is an enemy that seeks to steal, kill and destroy the visions that we all hold.
He knows that by taking away these visions from our lives, it will take away our hope and our only means of fulfilling God’s will of establishing His Kingdom on earth. That is why when you do not have a vision, your life becomes fruitless and purposeless and mundane! Or better yet, he tempts you and gives a vision that will stray you away from the will of God in your life!
The devil can only do what God allows him to do in our lives and to speak lies to us to blind us from the vision that God wants to impart to us or to dim and dissipate the vision that God has already given to us.
Through trials that God has put in our lives to mold us, the devil tells us that God doesn’t love us and tries to twist and turn what is good for our soul into lies that seeks to draw us away from God. Or he will taunt us when we see ourselves constantly falling into the same sin that we will never be free, when God is calling us to rest in His grace and depend on Him to be victorious in our lives. And when we see our friends’ hearts hardened against the Gospel, he casts doubts in our heart in whether the vision we received for them is true.
That is why sometimes, when you pray and receive a vision about ppl and you get really excited but lack the perseverance to see that vision come to pass. The daily grind of work and school takes its toll on the vision and you forget about it or neglect it, and thus the vision fizzles away. That is why Pastor calls us not to quit! And to persevere!
So, what does it mean to be a Warrior of Light? We need to know what we are fighting for and who we are fighting against!
Firstly, we are fighting to receive and see come to pass the visions that God has for our lives, our family members’ and friends’ lives!
Secondly, we are fighting against the enemy who seeks to steal, kill and destroy these visions that God has given to us!
That's what it means to be a Warrior of Light!
God has a vision that every man and woman would be filled with His glory in their hearts and walk out Godly values in their lives. This is what it means to establish the Kingdom of God on earth. It is not just to make more people say the sinners’ prayer, but that the hearts of men would be eternally transformed to follow Christ!
“The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
2 Corinthians 4:4
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms”
Ephesians 6:12
From the verses above, we see that the devil constantly seeks to blind us and we as believers must fight against him.
There are 2 things that will stop us from fulfilling the vision of God in our lives:
1) Our Flesh
This can come in the form of temptations to sin, greed, laziness, and simply wanting to go our own way. When we sin, the shame and the condemnation blinds us from God’s love and we feel inadequate and unworthy to carry out God’s will in our lives. And when we go our own way, we quench the voice of the Spirit and justify our own actions to the point that we think we are right in every thing that we do.
2) Doubts and Fears
The devil also uses emotions to cast doubts in our hearts. He questions us on whether the visions or what we hear is real and really from the Lord. Should we falter, we will allow unbelief and fear to creep into our hearts, thus crippling the vision! He also uses natural circumstances to challenge our visions, like showing us how inadequate we are or how impossible a situation is. He even uses words from people to discourage or to put fear into our hearts.
This is where spiritual warfare comes in.
There are 2 aspects of Spiritual Warfare:
1) Prayer
We need to constantly declare against the lies of the enemy that seeks to oppose itself against the visions of God in our lives. There is power in our words and what we declare will change the spiritual climate around us and in our spirit man.
When Jesus shared about His vision of dying on the cross and then being raised on the 3rd day, Peter rebuked Him saying it shall not be. But Jesus, recognizing that it was the words of the evil one, turned on Peter and said, “Get behind me, satan!” Jesus used words to rebuke the devil and stayed on the vision. We must do the same for the visions in our lives! When we hear doubtful thoughts or feelings, we need to reject it and pray and claim God’s vision in our hearts again until the peace of God returns to us.
2) Moving in the Opposing spirit
More than just using words, many times, we need to move in the opposing spirit. The culture in the office or workplace where you work in may be filled with grumbling and complaining. The Lord may give you a word to counter the culture by going against the spirit of complaining and grumbling. And as we do that, people around us begin to notice the difference in our spirit and start to ask us why we can remain unaffected by the circumstances around us, and that is when we can share Christ’s love to them.
“Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe…”
Philippians 2:14
Principalities and spirits have an influence over the environments that we stay in. I was oppressed by a spirit of fear before and it caused me sleepless nights. I would enter my room and feel the fear creep into my heart. It was until one day as I was spending time with the Lord that He revealed to me that there was a principality set against me that I began to pray against it, rebuking it in Jesus’ Name. Slowly, I began to feel the atmosphere in my room change and the fear lift from my room. It was then that I began to be able to sleep peacefully. Now, when I feel the presence of the spirit of fear trying to creep into my heart, I rebuke it and move in the opposing spirit by standing strong in my heart against it.
So, boys and girls, remember that this is a Year of Victory! And we are called to be WARRIORS OF LIGHT!!
What are we fighting for??
The Visions of God for our PERSONAL LIFE, our FAMILY, our MARKETPLACE!!
Who are we fighting against??
The enemy, who seeks always to steal, kill and destroy the visions that God has given to us.
How does he come against us??
Through our flesh and casting doubts and fear in our hearts through circumstances and words.
How do we fight against him??
By praying against him using the mighty name of Jesus and continually declaring the visions of God. And by moving in the opposing spirit that is coming against us!
The Vision is EASY.
He knows that by taking away these visions from our lives, it will take away our hope and our only means of fulfilling God’s will of establishing His Kingdom on earth. That is why when you do not have a vision, your life becomes fruitless and purposeless and mundane! Or better yet, he tempts you and gives a vision that will stray you away from the will of God in your life!
The devil can only do what God allows him to do in our lives and to speak lies to us to blind us from the vision that God wants to impart to us or to dim and dissipate the vision that God has already given to us.
Through trials that God has put in our lives to mold us, the devil tells us that God doesn’t love us and tries to twist and turn what is good for our soul into lies that seeks to draw us away from God. Or he will taunt us when we see ourselves constantly falling into the same sin that we will never be free, when God is calling us to rest in His grace and depend on Him to be victorious in our lives. And when we see our friends’ hearts hardened against the Gospel, he casts doubts in our heart in whether the vision we received for them is true.
That is why sometimes, when you pray and receive a vision about ppl and you get really excited but lack the perseverance to see that vision come to pass. The daily grind of work and school takes its toll on the vision and you forget about it or neglect it, and thus the vision fizzles away. That is why Pastor calls us not to quit! And to persevere!
So, what does it mean to be a Warrior of Light? We need to know what we are fighting for and who we are fighting against!
Firstly, we are fighting to receive and see come to pass the visions that God has for our lives, our family members’ and friends’ lives!
Secondly, we are fighting against the enemy who seeks to steal, kill and destroy these visions that God has given to us!
That's what it means to be a Warrior of Light!
God has a vision that every man and woman would be filled with His glory in their hearts and walk out Godly values in their lives. This is what it means to establish the Kingdom of God on earth. It is not just to make more people say the sinners’ prayer, but that the hearts of men would be eternally transformed to follow Christ!
“The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”
2 Corinthians 4:4
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms”
Ephesians 6:12
From the verses above, we see that the devil constantly seeks to blind us and we as believers must fight against him.
There are 2 things that will stop us from fulfilling the vision of God in our lives:
1) Our Flesh
This can come in the form of temptations to sin, greed, laziness, and simply wanting to go our own way. When we sin, the shame and the condemnation blinds us from God’s love and we feel inadequate and unworthy to carry out God’s will in our lives. And when we go our own way, we quench the voice of the Spirit and justify our own actions to the point that we think we are right in every thing that we do.
2) Doubts and Fears
The devil also uses emotions to cast doubts in our hearts. He questions us on whether the visions or what we hear is real and really from the Lord. Should we falter, we will allow unbelief and fear to creep into our hearts, thus crippling the vision! He also uses natural circumstances to challenge our visions, like showing us how inadequate we are or how impossible a situation is. He even uses words from people to discourage or to put fear into our hearts.
This is where spiritual warfare comes in.
There are 2 aspects of Spiritual Warfare:
1) Prayer
We need to constantly declare against the lies of the enemy that seeks to oppose itself against the visions of God in our lives. There is power in our words and what we declare will change the spiritual climate around us and in our spirit man.
When Jesus shared about His vision of dying on the cross and then being raised on the 3rd day, Peter rebuked Him saying it shall not be. But Jesus, recognizing that it was the words of the evil one, turned on Peter and said, “Get behind me, satan!” Jesus used words to rebuke the devil and stayed on the vision. We must do the same for the visions in our lives! When we hear doubtful thoughts or feelings, we need to reject it and pray and claim God’s vision in our hearts again until the peace of God returns to us.
2) Moving in the Opposing spirit
More than just using words, many times, we need to move in the opposing spirit. The culture in the office or workplace where you work in may be filled with grumbling and complaining. The Lord may give you a word to counter the culture by going against the spirit of complaining and grumbling. And as we do that, people around us begin to notice the difference in our spirit and start to ask us why we can remain unaffected by the circumstances around us, and that is when we can share Christ’s love to them.
“Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe…”
Philippians 2:14
Principalities and spirits have an influence over the environments that we stay in. I was oppressed by a spirit of fear before and it caused me sleepless nights. I would enter my room and feel the fear creep into my heart. It was until one day as I was spending time with the Lord that He revealed to me that there was a principality set against me that I began to pray against it, rebuking it in Jesus’ Name. Slowly, I began to feel the atmosphere in my room change and the fear lift from my room. It was then that I began to be able to sleep peacefully. Now, when I feel the presence of the spirit of fear trying to creep into my heart, I rebuke it and move in the opposing spirit by standing strong in my heart against it.
So, boys and girls, remember that this is a Year of Victory! And we are called to be WARRIORS OF LIGHT!!
What are we fighting for??
The Visions of God for our PERSONAL LIFE, our FAMILY, our MARKETPLACE!!
Who are we fighting against??
The enemy, who seeks always to steal, kill and destroy the visions that God has given to us.
How does he come against us??
Through our flesh and casting doubts and fear in our hearts through circumstances and words.
How do we fight against him??
By praying against him using the mighty name of Jesus and continually declaring the visions of God. And by moving in the opposing spirit that is coming against us!
The Vision is EASY.
Labels: Sermon
posted by Aaron @ 5:42:00 PM
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