Choose this day who you will serve.
You may be a slave to your possessions. If so, then get rid of them all and prove that you are free from such shackles. Maybe you live in fear of losing your job, your house, or your car. Get liberated from these worries and anxieties.
You said that you trusted Christ to keep you every day of your life, yet you walk around in a constant state of concern and doubt for all these temporary comforts and necessities. He promised that he would never leave you or forsake you and he knows what you have need of. All you have to do is, ‘Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.’ (Matthew 6:33)
You may be a ‘slave’ to another person, perhaps a partner, a girlfriend, a child, a church leader, a domineering mother, or a friend. You were never meant to be their servant and you do not need to be so any longer. If you truly want to do something in God’s kingdom, then it is time to set yourself free. You have asked God to break the chains, to release you, to sort out the situation more times than you can remember, but nothing ever seems to happen.
The Scripture
tells us to loose the shackles from round our own necks, to free ourselves from
the heavy burdens, to dismantle the chains of control and manipulation that
others have placed upon us; and to claim our life and freedom back. (Isaiah 52:2)
The men, in
particular, need to hear this word. The future of our children may indeed
depend upon your response to this challenge.
‘The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD has anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.’ (Isaiah 61:1)
Notice the
phrase, ‘to proclaim liberty to the captives’. The preacher simply declares
that you are free; that you no longer need to live in your cell; and you can
break the chains from off your neck. It is sufficient for me to tell you that
God has made you free and granted you your full liberty to come and serve him.
This document
proclaims your freedom by
the word of God. It tells you that you no longer need to be a slave to anybody
or any thing. It is this message of good news that will give you the unction to
change your life. It comes from the awesome anointing of Isaiah 61. There is no
point in keep on asking God to do what we are commanded to do ourselves. He has
won the victory for us at the cross in Jesus Christ. All that we need do is
obey him and enter into his conquering power.
It is not
‘deliverance’ that we need, but obedience to God’s word.
‘For this
commandment which I command you this day, it is not hidden from you [beyond
your power or ability to perform], neither is it far off [somewhere in the
distant future]. It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who shall go up for
us to heaven and bring it unto us, that we may hear it and do it?” Neither is
it beyond the sea [at some super-spiritual ‘revival’ conference across the
world], that you should say, “Who shall go over the sea for us and bring it
unto us, that we may hear it and do it?” But the word is very near to you, in
your mouth and in your heart, [so] that you may do it [you can do it].’ (Deuteronomy 30:11-14)
If you put
yourself in the situation you are now in, or allowed others to take advantage
of you, then you can also take yourself out of the situation and stop others
running your life according to their dictates. Christ made you free (John
8:36); free to choose, free to live the life he planned for you; and free to
hold your head up and be everything that you are inspired of God to be. He
called you to liberty and joy in the Holy Ghost. (2Corinthians 3:7; Romans
14:17)
‘Lift up your
heads, O you gates; and be lifted up, you everlasting doors; and the King of
glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the
LORD mighty in battle.’ (Psalm 24:7-8)
Lift up your
head and lift up your heart to God, and he shall give you the strength to walk
away from the things that are wrong; and enable you to cast off the chains of
control and addictive behaviour.
‘Deliver
[escape] yourself, O Zion, that dwells with the daughter of Babylon [the daughter
of ‘confusion’]… for he that touches [strikes, hurts] you touches the apple of
his eye.’ (Zechariah 2:7-8)
Note also this
particular description of what God’s people are to escape from. It is from the
daughter of ‘confusion’ (which is what ‘Babylon’ means).
Confusion is
the child of ‘envy and strife’: ‘For where envying and strife [contention] is,
there is confusion and every evil work.’ (James 3:16) Here again we see a
‘trinity’ of evil: the spirits of Envy, Strife and Confusion.
I do not
pretend that there will not be a price to pay, or consequences to your actions,
but if you are ‘Looking unto Jesus, the author [beginner and captain] and the
finisher [completer, perfecter] of your faith’ (Hebrews 12:1-2), then he will
undertake for you and give you strength to meet the task.
You can never over-estimate the value of liberty.
We must learn to start saying: ‘No!’ to those who demand of us, who believe their will is more important than God’s will for our lives.
At the end of
the day, we shall either live for them, or live for God. You only have one
life. Don’t throw it away on something less than the outstanding and
all-fulfilling plan of God. He has called us to rise to the challenge in these
desperately evil days, and to come to the battlefield.
Leave
everything behind; then follow him with all of our hearts, souls and minds into
destroying the enemy’s positions, freeing the captives and delivering them from
Satan’s grip. This world is not our home.
This is a
battlefield and the church upon earth is the church ‘Militant’. The church
‘Triumphant’ is with Christ waiting for us to complete our tour of duty and win
the day gloriously.
Forget praying
the prayer of the conference thousands, ‘Bless me and meet my needs, O Lord and
then I will serve you’. That prayer will never be answered. Serve Jesus Christ
now and he will bless you and meet all of your needs.
I met an old
Indian man in London who told me that when God brings him loads of money from a
new house he was building, he would then serve God in the Gospel. He will not
and never shall. If he does get lots of cash from his project he will just
selfishly hoard it up, or find another project to make himself a bit richer. He
already owns three other houses in one of the more affluent parts of the
capital but continually moans about how poor he is, whilst his daughter uses
every trick in the book to claim any government benefits she can get.
(Oh, I just
heard that he recently died!)
The rich are
never satisfied. He would rather have his wealth than his health.
You can run to church and ‘play’ at being a soldier and you can even dress up and look like a soldier, but it does not make you a soldier. Running around declaring that you are God’s hero does not make you a hero, and telling everyone that you are an apostle, a prophet or hold the ‘end-time mandate’ for the world’s salvation is definitely a delusion and just another ‘religious’ game. It is all a farce and nobody is really fooled except the gullible and the ‘cheer-leaders’ in the not-so-heavenly choirs and worship groups. It is time to grow up and become men and throw away all the kindergarten nonsense of contemporary Christianity. The martyrs of old were true heroes who fought valiantly and died magnificently for their King and his kingdom.
Get Strong!
The word that
comes to your door is first, ‘Awake!’, and then, ‘Put on your strength.’ This is
not an instant job. People running to conferences singing, ‘I am a winner’ and
other such choruses, does not make them strong. When they get back home they
find themselves just the same as they were before they spent thousands of
pounds or dollars on the glossy-advertised programmes. The preacher ‘peps’ them all up, in the heat of the
moment makes them ‘feel’ strong, and then takes up an offering. Strength is not
a feeling, neither an atmosphere, neither some momentary ‘experience’.
True strength is ‘God in me’, the muscles and sinews of his consistent
faith working in me It is the hardened steel and toughened cable of my
knowledge of the Word. It is the tightly-twisted fibres and unbreakable nylon
of my habitual prayer-life.
Strength comes
from waiting on God, diligently searching the Scriptures, and discovering the
real joy of the Lord. It is not simply engaging in wall-to-wall chorus singing as is the manner in many of the charismatic churches these days. (One or two
songs are quite sufficient and then give some practical teaching on how to
prepare ourselves to meet with God, followed by the Word being preached and
taught. You can sing as long as you like afterwards.)
Muscles need
training and exercising, especially when they have been dormant or idle for
years. Strength does not come all of a sudden but increases through activity,
discipline, and commitment.
To ‘put on thy
strength’ is to start somewhere to become strong again for God and learn how to
be the overcoming warrior you are called to be. It means getting up in the
morning and setting aside time in the Bible. It means feeding on God’s Word
until it becomes our life and substance. It is an ongoing process. It means
going to God’s ‘gym’ every day and working out, until we are fit for active
service.
What we eat
will contribute highly to how strong we really are. ‘Man shall not live by
bread alone, but by every word of God.’
(Luke 4:4. Underline this verse in your Bible).
‘Put on thy strength’, add some muscle to the feeble spiritual skeleton that you drag around with you.
Strengthen the
muscle of your heart:
‘Wait on the
LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart: wait, I say, on
the LORD. (Psalm 27:14)
‘Be of good
courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all you that hope in the LORD.’ (Psalm 31:24)
‘They that
wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings
as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not
faint.’ (Isaiah 40:31)
‘Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.’ Ephesians 6:10
Exercise the
muscle of your tongue:
What you speak
is what you are.
‘I can do all
things through Christ who strengthens me.’ (Philippians 4:13)
‘Surely, shall one say, in the LORD I have
righteousness and strength.’ (Isaiah 45:24)
‘No weapon
that is formed against me shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise
against me in judgment I shall condemn [that is, I shall put down with my
voice], for my righteousness is of God.’ (Isaiah 54:17)
‘The word is nigh [close to, next to, within] your mouth and in your heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation [deliverance, safety, healing and eternal security].’ Romans 10:8-10
The word is
more powerful than the sword or gun. The spoken word changes the world and
alters the spiritual atmosphere. O
Just think about
this, one word from a politician can send the price of shares tumbling, or make
an entire nation feel good about itself. ‘Where the word of a king [ruler] is,
there is power.’ (Ecclesiastes 8:4)
What you speak
over yourself will ultimately be what you become. It is time to start speaking
the word of God into your life and over your family.
For the last
nineteen years I have spoken a word over my nation nearly every day in the firm
belief that God will bring it to pass.
Singing the well-known and popular chorus, ‘Let the weak say, I am strong’, is not necessarily a good formula for being strong. The words quoted in this modern song are actually entirely out of context with what the singer is trying to imply. They are taken from Joel 3, where God is calling the heathen, his enemies, to the great end-time battle of the Lord! Like Elijah mocked the false prophets (1Kings 18), so God calls the heathen to get themselves strong to come and fight him! ‘Beat the iron of your ploughs into swords and your pruning-hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves and come, all you heathen, and gather yourselves together round about.’ (Joel 3:10-11) Their hatred and defiance of God will be their utter defeat and destruction.
True strength
will be added to you daily as you dig deep into God’s word, seek him earnestly
in prayer, and begin to run after him with all of your heart, soul, and mind.
You do not become an Olympic champion after running for just one hour. In the
practice and perseverance of your dream, muscles get exercised that were never
used before. Day by day your strength will increase and make you into a winner.
It may be painful and difficult to start with, but soon the struggle to get going
will turn into a wonderful daily habit and routine.
It is time to
get started. Do not put it off for another day, for that ‘other’ day may never
come.
Go now, pledge
yourself to the Lord and to his call; and enlist in his army.
The time is
now.
Pilgrim Warrior 2024, from my book, 'For such a time as this'.
