Become A Donor

Become A Donor
Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry.

Contact Info

684 West College St. Sun City, United States America, 064781.

(+55) 654 - 545 - 1235

info@zegen.com

Latest Posts

The Pillars Of Our Victory: Examining Six Critical Things We Need To Arm Ourselves With

Today we will be continuing on our victory and we will be examining: The Pillars of Our Victory. The reason why we are looking at the pillars of our victory is for us to understand that since we have been established as God’s own, what are the pillars? Last week, we looked at the instrument that establishes us as God’s own which is the foundation of our victory, and today we are looking at the critical pillars that sustain our victory, that earns us our victory and sustains our victory because this is the reason, when you are now God’s own, the devil will come and test and consider your foundation, and because of this, you have to be completely ready.

 

 

Listen to Podcast: THE PILLARS OF OUR VICTORY

 

When Jesus already has been established as God’s own, the Bible says in Matthew chapter 4, that He was led into the wilderness by the Spirit of God. And what happened there, His foundations were tested. Imagine what the devil said first, he said, "if you are the Son of God." What does that mean? If you are God’s own, if truly you have been established, turn this stone into bread. That was the first temptation that came to Jesus and it’s the same temptation that will come to you haven been established as God’s own. And we are going to look at the critical things we need to arm ourselves with which are the pillars of our victory. And we will be looking at Ephesians chapter 6 and we will read from verse 10 to verse 18, that is our text.

 

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of [c]the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints

Ephesians 6:10-18

 

Finally my brethren be strong in the Lord, having been established as God’s own, be strong in the Lord  and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, put on the complete armor of God, don’t put on a part, and leave the rest, don’t put on half, and forget the rest, put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able, this talks about ability, that you might be able, because this is what enables you, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand, that you may be able to gain victory over the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, you understand that for there to be victory, that means there is a battle, because we constantly fight a battle, we constantly are in need of victory, and that’s why it says here in verse 12, understand that our warfare, understand that our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

 

Therefore, for this reason, because we do not fight against flesh and blood,  because our battle is spiritual, then we must be spiritually prepared, because our battle is spiritual then we must be spiritually kitted up for that battle.  Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth. Please, I want you to note all these things we are reading, because we are going back to them and we will be looking at them, one after the other, how important they are to us and our victory in Christ Jesus.

 

Verse 14, stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Verse 16, above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; verse 18, the last verse, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. May the Lord bless the reading of his word in Jesus name.

Now, we are looking at the pillars of our victory, having being established as God’s own, there is a need for us to constantly work in victory, that’s the life we have been called to, no wonder Jesus said be of good cheer, I have overcome the world, don’t be perplexed, don’t be troubled, I have overcome the world. And Last week, we read a Scripture in 1st John, It said this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. And today we are looking at this critical pillars, and we will be looking at how important they are to us, because the devil whether you like it or not, whether you speak in tongues or not, the devil will come and test you foundation, only if you have not been established as God’s own, he doesn’t have a problem with you, he will not branch and consider you if he knows you not established but at the point where you have been established as God’s own, where you have been washed by the blood of Jesus, you come in by the blood and you are washed by the word and the seal of the Spirit of God is upon your life, you will be tested. Your foundations will be considered.

 

The devil will come around to be sure, to ascertain because this is the thing whenever God points his spotlight, God puts his seal on a people or a region or a place, the devil also gets interested because he wants to know why God is interested, he wants to know what God wants to get out of it. Remember all the devil is doing is to steal, to kill and to destroy what God has established.  So, you are not an exclusive person in the sense that it will not happen to you. The devil will want to come around your life, to steal, to kill and to destroy your establishment in God, but there is a way to stand and remain in perpetual victory in spite of the devices and the wiles of the devil. He said, therefore put on, why do you need to put on? And why are these things listed? These six things, why are they listed like that?

 

Number one, he says tighten the belt of truth, what does it mean to tight on your loins, to tight on your waist the belt of truth? Truth is Jesus Christ. Yesterday in the evening Bible school, we were made to realize that Jesus is the truth, when you hear anyone outside Jesus, you could be hearing fables but when you want to listen to the truth on any matter, listen to Jesus. And the Bible says, the number one thing you must do, your number one armor, is that you put on, you tighten. I love the word that was used to describe how you put on truth, it said gird your waist,  that means tighten it, you must not lose it, you must not lose Jesus in your journey, you must not lose Jesus and you win any battle. That why you must understand that for you to win and be victorious in any battle, you must tighten Jesus around you waist.

Some people will say to you, Ah, are you not becoming a fanatic? Some people will say to you ‘abeg’, calm down, are you the one that killed Jesus?’ Tell them, I am tightening the belt of truth around my lions, because I cannot win, I cannot be victorious without him, I can’t be victorious without Jesus, He is my belt of truth and He is around my waist. Now, when you look at the waist, the waist is like the midsection of the entire body and if you want to hold something tight, usually you hold it around the midsection. When you hold something around the midsection, it is difficult to let go but if you hold it at the tip, somebody can still drag it out.

 

If you hold it by the other extreme side, somebody can drag it out but when you hold and grab something by the midsection, then, it is difficult to let go. That’s the way the Bible says, you should put on Jesus, put on Jesus in the mid section, don’t let him go, hold on to the truth, tighten the truth around your waist, you can’t afford to allow Jesus go. You can’t allow your life on the earth to be without Jesus because you are not wrestling against flesh and blood. You are wrestling against principalities, against powers, against rulers of darkness, you can’t afford not to have Christ girded around your waist.

 

No wonder the seven sons of Sceva, they were humiliated by the devil, they were not kitted for the battle they were going to confront. They went into battle unprepared. They went into battle empty. They went into battle naked and the devil could make an open show of them. But as a child of God, having been established as God’s own, you need Jesus to be in the midsection of your life, you need to gird Jesus as your belt of truth around your waist, He must be the centre point of your life. Everything around you must revolve around Jesus. That’s how to win. That’s how to perpetually win. If Jesus leaves your life, you are going to lose that battle, the battle of your mind, name the battle, you will lose it but if Jesus is in the centre piece of your life, if Jesus holds you, you can’t fall.

 

'Yorubas' will call Him, the one that backs you and tightens you. You know there is something in the Yoruba speaking side of the country, when you want to back a child, after backing the child with a cloth, you now use another cloth to tighten, to hold that child to your back.  And you know when we are worshipping God and giving eulogy to God in Yoruba, we say, He is the one that backs us, and straps us. Yes, that’s the word, there is a strap, He straps you. When you want to strap a child, you don’t strap the child from up here, it’s in the midsection, you hold on to that child, that’s the same way you must allow the truth to hold you, tighten, tighten the belt of truth around your loins, you must not lose Jesus. In your journey, at any point, you must not lose Jesus, he must be the centre focus of your life. That’s why He is number one. On the list of the armor, he is number one. You must not lose Jesus, he is the belt of truth, hold him, tighten him around your loins, your life must not be without Jesus.

 

Number two, He says put on the breastplate of righteousness, now what is a breastplate and why is it important in battle? The breast plate is an instrument that shields you. If you go through the Scriptures, you will see how righteousness is so important. Righteousness shields. It prolongs your life. When you come out and you are faced with the different arrows of the devil, the breast plate of righteousness shields you, so you must put it on, you must be righteous, you must be a man and a woman in the centre of God’s will, that’s how to be righteous.

 

You are in the centre of God’s will at all times. Anytime you are outside the centre of God’s will, you are exposed. You become exposed to the attack of the powers of this world, the attack of the princes of this world. They are called principalities, powers, rulers of darkness of this age, spiritual host of wickedness in heavenly places. You become exposed. I believe the Holy Spirit want us to centre on that. Righteousness is being in the centre of God’s will for your life. What does that mean? You have a breast place of righteousness, a breastplate of purpose. Purpose shields you. When it looks as if you are in the middle of a mess, and you are looking, what should I do?

 

Purpose helps you to think straight, because you are in the centre of God’s will, it automatically create an edge around you. That’s the breast place of righteousness and you must carry it on all the days of your life. That’s how to remain in perpetual victory. You must not be outside God’s will at any point and say, you know what, at this point, let me just flex now. You know sometimes, that’s why I said, this message could make you almost look to people like a fanatic but see calm down. The truth is this, this is the life we are called to except you want the devil to rubbish you, except you want the devil to have you as lunch.

 

Paul said concerning Demas, he said, Demas has forsaken me, he has followed the things of the world, what did we hear about Bro. Demas again? When Gehazi the servant of Elisha left the centre of God’s will and started chasing goods, because see what Elisha said to him, he said is it time that we should be collecting clothes, is it time, in the purpose of God, it is not time, to be chasing these things? He said, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, that’s how to put on the breastplate of righteousness. You must be seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and every other thing shall be added.

 

Every other thing you are looking for, every other thing shall be added in due time but you must allow your focus, you must allow your gaze to be on the will of God, you must pursue God, you must seek first the kingdom of God, because this morning we are looking at practical terms how to put on the amour of God so that we don’t look at it as one physical thing that we need to put on, it’s about choices we need to make, decisions we need to make, that makes us battle ready at all times. It makes us battle ready.

 

You are standing right with God, you are in the centre of his will, you are not moving, you are not shaking, the activities of the world do not sweep your love away from God, you are loving God morning afternoon, night. You are not perplexed because those are the people that God makes an edge around. The breastplate of righteousness, put it on. That is how to be battle ready at all times. It’s not that you now say, hey now I want to go and sleep, you know, putting your Bible under your pillow, it’s not it. It doesn’t save you from attacks, it doesn’t save you from the wiles of the devil. It’s about a life style. This is about a life style. This pillars is about a life style. There must be a life style change for you to be in perpetual victory. You must change your life style. You must have Jesus at the centre of your life, tightening the belt of truth. And you must always remain in the centre will of God for your life, putting on the breast place of righteousness.

 

Number three, shod your feet in preparation of the gospel of peace, shod your feet. Your feet is not walking where God has not sent you. People get into trouble most times because they are going to places God has not sent them. The letter kills but the Spirit gives life. We are looking at the life that the spirit of God is giving us via this Scripture. We are not looking at the conventional things, we are looking at a life style change that earns us victory. Fit your feet. Fit it. When you want to wear a shoe that is your size, you fit it on and it’s your size, you are balanced. And the Bible says, the way you will remain balanced is if your feet is shod, is kitted with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

 

Everywhere you go, people know you as a child of God, Everywhere you step into, there are places that God has assigned for you to step into. Everywhere you go is as directed by the Spirit of God, this are ways you obtain perpetual victory. The Bible says you will hear a voice behind you saying, this is the way, walk in it.  That’s how to make sure that your feet is shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. You are going to the places as assigned.  You are going and making sure that you are going as an ambassador of God, not that you go, and you just stay in one corner. Paul showed us this example, Paul was just passing by and he saw some people, they had so many idols, so much so that they had another plaque and said to ‘AN UNKNOWN GOD’ but Paul did not just pass and say hey, see this people, what a pity, TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.

 

They don’t even know what they worship, ah! They don’t even know, Ah! See ignorant people. A man that has his feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, he went to them and made them know that they are in error, they are in ignorance. You will see there is a link, because Jesus is the midsection of his life. ‘Jesus got him’. If you can use it like that and he has put on the breast place of righteousness. He is in the centre of God’s will for his life, when he could fit his feet in the preparation for the gospel of peace. He looked at the inscription and he said, this is an opportunity, this is an opportunity for light, this is an opportunity for the gospel to be preached to this people, and he started speaking. That opportunity he seized became a message, world over that is enlightening the body of Christ, about who God is, about who Christ is.

 

 See, when you allow Jesus to be the centre piece of your life and you allow the purposes of God to be your focus, you will have your feet shod, you will also realize that your feet is shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Everywhere you go to, you will realize that the gospel, the good news of God is coming out of your mouth without any stress because it has become your life. The Bible says, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So if you are not speaking the gospel of peace then we should check what is the abundance in your heart, because whether you like it or not, it is the abundance of your heart that your mouth will speak.

 

And when the devil see one that is speaking about God everywhere because God will make an hedge around you, you are God’s investment. The Bible says, you are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, and when you are doing the good works of the Father, he makes an edge around you. The devil cannot come near you. When he comes to consider your life, he will see that he has nothing of his in you. That’s how to make our feet prepared. Our feet is always ready. You know preparation talks about readiness, our feet is ready, always ready, to proclaim the gospel, to share the good news, always ready.

 

Number four, take up the shield of faith, this is so important. Take up the shield of faith. You know we talked about the breastplate of righteousness, now he said take up. Another translation says, lift up over all, take as a covering the shield of faith. Why is this so important? When we talk about shield in battle or in a war, a shield is both a defense and attack instrument. When the enemy is coming to attack, your shield serves as a protection. Your faith protects you. Also, it serves as an attack material, instrument, you are able to confront the devil and push him away by your faith and when we talk about faith, what are we talking about? We are talking about your belief system, we are talking about in whom do you put your trust, the Bible says, some trust in chariots, others in horses but we trust in the name of our God forever.

 

Our belief system is our faith. How strong is our belief system? It talks about the strength of our shield. Now so much is going on in the world, so much information, so much misinformation, so much fables, so much lies, so much deception, so much manipulation is going on in the world, sometimes, you look at it and say who do we even believe? But the Bible says, we know whom we believe, we know whom we trust in, our belief system is not whapped, we hold on to the truth, we hold on to Christ. So, when you lift up your shield of faith, you are lifting up your belief system, what this does?

 

Let us go back to that Scripture, above all, verse 16, above all taking the shield of faith with which this is what you do with your field of faith, you will be able, your belief system gives you the ability because remember we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, we wrestle against principalities, against powers. See, they will not come with two horns, with black face and mask and do “wo, wo, wo’, no! They will come through your mind, they come through the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life. They want to consume you with information that will displace you from God, that will remove you from being established as God’s own, And see what the Bible says, you will be able to do with your belief system, it said, you will be able to quench so it comes like a fire, coming at you, it said but you will be able to quench all the fiery darts, do we know darts? It’s like small arrows that you know, they throw at a target. So, when the devil has you as his target and he is throwing darts at you and it wants to hit the bull’s eye. The Bible says you will be able to quench, control and eliminate all, not some, all the fiery darts of the wicked one, by your shield of faith.

 

So what do you believe? In whom do you believe? What is your belief system like? Do you believe that you are victorious in Christ Jesus? Do you believe that by his stripes you are healed? Do you believe your sins are forgiven in Christ Jesus and you have been made a new creature in him, do you believe that by him you have victory? Do you believe that He have given you a life? Eternal life! Do you believe? What is you belief system? You will be amazed to hear some believers talk and share with you, which exposes you to their belief system and you look at it, wow! Sister, is this what you believe? No! It’s not true, you should believe the truth. Don’t believe the lies of the devil. Don’t believe the manipulations of hell because false prophets have truly arisen, they are all over the place. False prophet that will go to your room and tell you the color that you painted your room, and the calendar on your wall and the wall clock you placed there. That’s not how to build a correct belief system, your belief system must be in the word.

 

You must believe the word of God is true. You must allow the light of God’s word to illuminate your life. That’s how to build a correct belief system because guess what? The system that you build in the time of peace is what you use in the time of war. What you have believed and you have sat down and allowed the Holy Spirit to teach you when there was peace and serenity is what you will use as an instrument, as an armor, as a weapon in the time of war. How big it is, how small it is, how weak it is, how powerful it is, that’s how you will use it. You can’t come an d borrow my own and that’s why this period has taught us as believers that you need to know God for yourself, now that there is lockdown, you can’t run to any pastor. The best you can do is to talk on the phone and when your credit has exhausted, that’s it.

What you have built as  a belief system, what you have allowed the Holy Spirit to teach you is what you are using now, you can’t borrow your Pastor’s shield of faith, you can’t come and borrow my own, it is what you have is what you will use. That’s why it is so important, this is a critical pillar in our victory. You need to know the word of God. You need to allow the word of God to be a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path. You must have the word for yourself. You must take in the word, you must take in the word and build a solid belief system because when you build a solid belief system, you have built a solid shield of faith, and the Bible says, that’s what will enable you to quench all the fiery darts, no matter the size, no matter the color, no matter the direction it is coming from, your shield of faith is what enables you to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.

 

The second to the last one we are looking at, the helmet of salvation. He said, and take the helmet of salvation. The helmet! The helmet is for the head. You can’t put the helmet on your feet. You can’t put it on your hands. It’s for the head. It’s your identity. The helmet! When you want to look at somebody, you want to recognize somebody, you will find it difficult except you are very close to that person to identify the person by the fingers or by the toes but when you see the head of an individual, you recognize the person. So, why is it the helmet of salvation, why is it about the head, because it’s your identity.

 

My brothers and my sisters, what is your spiritual identity? What is your spiritual identity? It is one of your weapon in the spirit, for you to be able to quench, for you to be able to nullify the wiles of the devil, you need a spiritual identity, the helmet of your salvation. What is your spiritual identity? The devil said to the seven sons of Sceva, Jesus we know, we know his identity, Paul we know, who are you? We are not seeing the helmet of salvation. You are not identified as God’s own. You are not identified. Your spiritual identity is clear. It’s in physical realms like this that we get confused, there is no confusion in the realm of the spirit. You are either for God or you are for the devil. There is no middle ground. It’s in the world here that we look at people and are not sure, ah! This person looks like a German, oh no! He looks like a French person. No! In the spiritual realm, things are not confused, when John saw Jesus, he knew he saw Jesus. When he saw an angel, he knew he saw an angel. There is no confusion in the realm of the spirit.

 

When the devil went to tempt Job, to consider Job, he saw that God had made an edge around him, he was not confused. So, in the realm of the spirit things are clear, what is your spiritual identity? Are you identified as pawn of the devil or you are identified as a child of god. When the rich man got to hell, he recognized Abraham, he recognized Lazarus, He saw that where he was, was different from where they were. So much so he told Lazarus, if you can just put your smallest finger, into water, just one, one drip I am okay. Spiritual identity is clear. Your spiritual identity must not become ambiguous, you must not be uncertain, am I a child of God?  Hey! Hope the devil is not my father, hope God is my father? You can’t be confused. Spiritual DNA, you don’t need to go to the hospital to have it. It is clear. That’s why last week when we were looking at the establishment of God’s own, the seal of the Holy Spirit upon your life certifies you and put a guarantee on you that you belong to God. Your spiritual identity must be clear. You must put it on. You must be identified easily by your salvation.

 

Number six, which is the last one, the sword of the Spirit. He said, take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. You can’t fight spiritual battles by your words. When there was a contention for the body of Moses, even the angel of God, they used the word of God in warfare. To have victory over the devil, you need the word of God, you can’t use your words. You can’t. And do you know this armor was systematically arranged in such a way that you can’t say that you number six when number one is not there, you can’t say you have the sword of the Spirit, if the belt of truth is not tied around your waist. You can’t wield the sword of the Spirit, if you don’t have the breastplate of righteousness. You can’t. All of them are arranged systematically. For you to be able to wield the Sword of the Spirit, you need the belt of truth, you need the breastplate of righteousness, you need that your feet is shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, you need to take up the shield of faith. You need the helmet of salvation.

 

How can you use a weapon that is not for you? When Saul told David, you agree to go and  fight Goliath, wonderful! I am going to give you my own armor. When David wore the armor, it was unfit for him, lest the glory goes to Saul in the battle. He left his armor and took the armor of David that he was used to because it’s your armor that God will use. God didn’t use the sword of Saul to kill Goliath for David. No! God used the sling and the stone of David to defeat Goliath. What you have is what God will use so what do you have? What have you put on, you have been complaining that, I am a child of God, I am born again, I have been filled with the Holy Spirit, I am tongue talking and I know that I am born again but the question is this, this six things that we have listed, are they your daily experience, is it your life style? Because they are not physical, they are spiritual.

 

The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but they are mighty through God. The sword of the Sprit is mighty through God, you can’t wield it, you can’t use the word of God if you are not His. If you are not established as God’s own, you cannot use the sword of the Spirit, you can’t use the word of God. The word that works for you is the word that you have been identified with. Why do you think when herbalists make incantations, it works for them is because they have been identified with the devil.

 

As a child of God, when the word of God works for you, it’s because you have been identified with God. If you have not been identified with God, your result will be like the sons of Sceva. So haven known this, do you want to pray to God, Lord I receive the grace, understand this, it’s a life style, Lord I receive the grace to live daily this life style, to put on daily the whole armor, that my life can be in perpetual victory, that my experience can be perpetual victory.

 

Amen!

Author

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked*