November 13, 2009

WAR IN THE HEAVENLIES

There is a great war going on in the earth between the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness. The church is being used by the Lord as agents of war against the kingdom of Satan, and one of the chief spiritual weapons that God is using to confront the enemy (whose power is based on lies and deception) is the release of prophetic truth into the earth to break the power of the enemy’s lies.

Rev. 12:17 tells us that the dragon is at war against those who hold to the testimony of Jesus (the Spirit of Prophecy).

“Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring-those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.” NIV

This war is against three levels of this testimony:

Christ Specific Words

Throughout the scriptures the word of God declares prophetically both the first and second coming of Christ as well as His role in the life of the church during the period between His two advents. Satan despises Christ and every word that declares Christ’s dominion and authority is a word that also implies Satan’s defeat and final judgment. For Christ to be King of Kings and Lord of Lords Satan must be removed and Satan is at war against this. Because this is true every prophetic declaration is a weapon against him that he is actively resisting. It is his agenda to draw the attention of all mankind away from these truths and to rob the church and the earth of the testimony of Jesus. He is at work in both the world and the church to accomplish this mission.

The Governmental Words of the Lord

Isaiah prophesied of the coming of the Lord and of His kingdom. He declared in Isa 9:7 “Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom…” NIV Every sphere of life is subject to the king of kings. He told His disciples in Matt 28:18 "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” NIV Because this is true every sphere into which Christ speaks is an expression of Him exercising the authority of His government in opposition to Satan. He speaks into spheres of society and He speaks within the structure of the body of Christ to bring forth His purposes and further the manifestation of His kingdom reign. This area is also greatly resisted by Satan. Every time that the word is spoken the strength of Satan’s kingdom is threatened and/or diminished. God is calling His people to speak forth the truth of Christ’s dominion and by this to expose the lies of the enemy that hold our cities and churches in captivity.

The Personal Destiny Words

The Christ specific words are found mostly within the pages of scripture. The governmental words of the Lord are spoken mostly by seasoned prophetic ministries though they can be at times revealed through less experienced members of the Body of Christ but personal prophecy is widely experienced and can flow freely out of both a seasoned prophet and a novice Christian. Personal Destiny Words are those prophetic words that speak into the life of the individual instead of the wider sphere. Every person is in a personal battle between the person that Satan would like to influence them to be and the person that God says they were created to be. Prophecy is powerful on a personal level because of its ability to awaken faith in a person to accept what God says about them instead of the other voices of influence that commonly tear down rather than build a person up. When our hearts align in faith with what God says about us power and confidence is added to our life.

Rev. 12:11 says “Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. 11 They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” NIV One of our great weapons against the enemy is the testimony of Jesus as it manifests itself in through Spirit of Prophecy. When we speak by the testimony of Jesus, this Spirit of Prophecy, we are actually speaking creatively in partnership with God. We are actively releasing the power of God’s creative life into those things that Satan has sought to destroy. When an individual places their heart in agreement with the spoken word of God now our faith is working with God’s living seed that he has planted within us and we begin a process of supernatural transformation. Through this principle the words spoken into us are actually creating God life within us in the same manner that the worlds were created.

This principle is clearly demonstrated in Ez. 37 when God has Ezekiel prophecy over the dry bones. This prophetic ministry comes forth in stages to release the work of God progressively. He is told to prophecy to that which is not as if it were, because the words actually release the life of God!!! This demonstration is then directly related to the power of the prophetic to influence the children of God.

Paul gives Timothy a N.T. application of this principle in 1 Tim 1:18 when he writes “Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, holding on to faith and a good conscience.” NIV