Prepare for Battle

You, too, are not your own. Be strong and don’t abandon your calling.

DEVELOP GODLY CHARACTER When David wrote, “Assign me Godliness and Integrity as my bodyguards” (Ps. 25:21, The Living Bible), he must have understood that, ultimately, if your character is ungodly, it doesn’t matter how sweetly you sing or how people respond to your ministry. It is a grave mistake to put all your energies into your “kingdom work” and leave little or no time for intimacy with the Lord. You can begin to live to be seen by others and forget that character is who you are when no one is looking.

Isaiah said: “Be clean! You who bear the vessels of the Lord” (52:11, NKJV). There are times when I can’t do what I want to do. Paul says we must make faithfulness our goal. “Consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Morever it is required in stewards that one be faithful” (1 Cor. 4:1-2).

Leave a good example for those who will come behind you, unlike King Saul, who was anointed but lost his kingdom and his life. King David was anointed, also, yet he fell into a trap due to his unruly passions.

You must be painstakingly conscientious about everything–attitude, lifestyle, personal worship and gifts. The enemy of your destiny has already been defeated, so don’t allow yourself to be sidetracked by his devices.

PRACTICE VIOLENT FAITH I believe that sometimes we come up against things in our lives when simply believing won’t be enough. I can remember a time when I was very sick with bronchitis, which, according to my doctor, had turned into pneumonia. At this point in my walk with the Lord, I was determined to go to the next level of faith, so I rejected my doctor’s recommendation of hospitalization and returned home.

For three weeks I was isolated from my husband, Jamie, and our two girls. I was believing for a miracle and expecting an angel to walk into my upstairs bedroom and lay his hands on me. Instead, as I lay in bed, I heard the Lord saying: “Get up out of this bed, go downstairs and command this junk to get out of your house and out of your body.”

I got up, realizing now that this was an attack from the devil to take me out. I opened the front door and stepped out onto the porch in the dead of winter. I was desperate. I had a word from the Lord, and I needed a miracle!

I lifted my voice and said: “In the name of Jesus, bronchitis, pneumonia and everything associated with it, get out of my body….You cannot stay, and you will not stay. On the authority of God’s Word and through the name of Jesus, you will leave right now!”

Immediately I felt an overwhelming breath flow through my body. That kind of attack has not been back at my house. All you need is one word to see God do the miraculous.

Violent faith combines determination with spiritual aggressiveness and raw, if you will, guts. Violent faith is Abraham standing on top of a mountain, preparing to sacrifice his promise (Isaac) to God (see Gen 22).

It’s Esther going into the king’s chamber for the sake of her people, saying, ” ‘If I perish, I perish!’ ” (v. 4:16). And it’s Peter taking the crippled man by the hand, saying, ” ‘In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk,’ ” then jerking the man to his feet (Acts 3:6, NKJV).

Violent faith will cause you to do things in the supernatural that make no sense in the natural. As you practice it, your prayer life and hunger for God will increase, and there will be a determination forged in you that nothing can shake.

BE PERSISTENT IN PRAYER The apostle Paul gave us a formula for getting our prayers answered and tearing down the enemy’s strongholds. He wrote these powerful words: “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints” (Eph. 6:18, NKJV).

Jesus said: ” ‘Keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking and you will find. Keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you’ ” (Matt. 7:7, NLT).

Don’t give up. Pray again. You may be feeling right now that you have tried, cried, prayed and fasted without results. With as much compassion as I can write this, I would tell you that what moves God more than anything is faith, violent faith!

Taking back what is yours from the forces of darkness takes courage and is not for those who are passive or faint of heart. It is for the person who would say: “This is it, I am drawing the blood line today. It will never be the same again.”

You can exercise this kind of faith, too. You can choose to say, “I know what the outcome of this thing is going to be, so I am going to lift my head up and rejoice, because right now the Father God is working it all out.”