DOMINION OVER STUBBORN CHALLENGES III

“But he gives us more and more strength to stand against all such evil longings. As the scripture says, God gives strength to the humble, but sets himself against the proud and haughty. So give yourselves humbly to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. And when you draw close to God, God will draw close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners let your hearts be filled with God alone to make them pure and true to him. Let there be tears for the wrong things you have done. Let there be sorrow and sincere grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. Then when you realize your worthlessness before the Lord, he will lift you up, and encourage and help you”.

Text : James 4:6-10 (TLB)

There is a kind of warfare being practiced today that over concentrates on the enemy. One of the short comings of this type of warfare is that little attention is paid to the strength and capabilities of God. This causes intimidation in people who practice it and makes them develop a grasshopper mentality instead of an overcomers mentality.

Another extreme are those who teach that the devil should be completely ignored. Some even claim that the devil does not exist. This is contrary to the scripture which says “resist the devil”. You cannot resist what does not exist. Even in this resisting, a lot of people still miss it because of their habit of rushing to resist without submission. The Bible says you should submit yourself comprehensively to God and then resist the devil. That is when he will flee. Don’t ever rush into warfare without proper submission and proper consecration. There is a close relationship between concentration and consecration. Power is focus. Focus on God alone; humbly hand over yourself to Him alone. Anything you harbor side by side God in your heart has become an idol and this alone is enough to make you ineffective in your warfare. This is one of the reasons why a lot of people pray and nothing happens. Without proper consecration and submission, there cannot be proper resisting.

A lot of what many do now in spiritual warfare is done in the flesh, that is why they don’t get result. Anything done in the flesh cannot please God.  1 Cor. 6:17 says “but he that is joined unto God is one spirit”. When God becomes your only focus, that is when you are one spirit with Him.

Pride is a vertical sin; it is an attitude towards divinity and that is why God resists it. The closer you get to God, the more broken you become and the more reverential fear you will have for Him. The practice of the presence of God is the greatest secret in spiritual warfare. When you are full of God, there will be no space for the enemy to occupy.

Job 22:21-25 (TLB) says

“Quit quarreling with God! Agree with him and you will have peace at last! His favour will surround you if you will only admit that you were wrong… If you give up your lust for money and throw your gold away, then the Almighty himself shall be your treasure; he will be your precious silver”.

The buildup to this scripture is very crucial if you want to understand the strategy there. There is a lot of controversy concerning tithing now. You must understand that the easiest thing you can submit to God is your money, if you cannot submit your money how can you submit your life to Him? If money is your idol, how can you serve God? You cannot serve God and mammon. Why is money always an issue? The answer is idolatry. Wherever a man’s treasure is, that is where his heart is. This is the reason why a lot of people find it difficult to pay tithe. Every instruction in the word of God is given to make you prosper and have comprehensive success. Check your heart; do you really love God or money? If your heart is tied to money, you cannot be a Christian; you cannot serve God and mammon. Many people take this scripture out of context and jump to verse 28 “thou shall also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways” (KJV). Whatever you give to God is a seed with a coded instruction to multiply. A lot of people do not understand the meaning of covenant, if you break a covenant, a serpent will enter. If you are not paying your tithe, you are cheating yourself. whatever you don’t hand over to God is not protected. The ten percent you give to God guarantees His involvement in your business/career.

What is your attitude towards silver and gold? Whatever you cannot release to do the will of God has become an idol and this is one of the reasons why problems linger. God hates and punishes idolatry. Anything you retain has become your harvest and whatever your release has become a seed. The fact that giving/sowing has been abused by many does not make it unscriptural.

Verse 27 – God is a covenant keeper, God will walk with you continuously only on the basis of true covenant relationship with Him. The Bible is a book of decisions that is why you have about 321 ‘ifs’ in it. In the final analysis, everyone ends up paying tithe, the only difference is that many pay the tithe of disobedience to the devil.

Verse 28 – Before you go into decrees, please take time to fulfill the conditions. This scripture is powerless if the ‘ifs’ (the conditions) are not met. Satisfy the conditions for divine intervention and you will have testimonies. When you get it right with God, before you call He will answer. In the build up to prayer, don’t jump and begin to command without proper consecration. If you want your prayer to fly, get your consecration right. Don’t get mechanical. Why fast if you can’t obey God on simple instructions. If your heart is not right with God, there is no point resisting the devil.

When you eat your seed, you cannot have a harvest. The beginning of prosperity is in your heart. What space does money occupy in your heart? Anytime you release a seed, you schedule a harvest.

PRAYER

• Heavenly Father, in any way that I have developed a wrong attitude towards money, please help me. In any way that I have treasured money above my relationship with you in my heart, I am sorry. Please forgive me. In any way that I have held on to what I should release, please forgive me. In any way Lord, that I have eaten my seed, please forgive me. I acknowledge that this is wrong, forgive me and help me Oh God to understand the principles of financial prosperity that will shield me from hardship, slavery and bondage in the name of Jesus.
• I proclaim that through the finished work of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, I have dominion over poverty, scarcity and lack; I have dominion over money in the name of Jesus. Money will never rule over me, henceforth, I will never lose sleep over money in the name of Jesus.
• I proclaim that through the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross, I have abundant life. I proclaim that the Lord will supply all my needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Henceforth, before any need arises, the provision will be there in supernatural abundance in the name of Jesus. The Lord shall increase my finances more and more in the name of Jesus.
• I will never struggle to pay tithe and things will never be tight in my life. I will send money on errand. Money will serve me; I will never serve money in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.