In Psalm 112, David outlined the characteristics of the righteous person. He starts the Psalm with a praise unto God and said that the person who fears the Lord is blessed. The righteous person takes pleasure in keeping the commandments of the Lord and his children are mighty in the land and all his descendants are blessed. David then said that wealth and riches are in the house of the righteous and his righteousness endures forever. He said that light shines upon the darkness for the righteous because he is gracious and merciful.

It is well for the righteous person who is generous and is in a position to lend to others and he is fair in the way that he conducts his business. “For the righteous will never be moved; he will be remembered forever” (Psalm 112:6). The righteous are not afraid when they hear bad news because their heart is firm in trusting in God. The righteous person is stable, is not afraid and always triumph over their enemies. The righteous is generous and gives to those in need and they are exalted in honour.

The wicked person is angry at the righteous, but the wicked melts away and perish. The wicked may try to attack the righteous but their evil ways will never prevail because the Lord’s hand of protection is over the righteous. Who then are the righteous among us? All who call upon the name of the Lord, who have accepted the message of salvation and have invited Jesus Christ to live in their hearts. As we are connected to God, we lay claim to the promises in the word and we pray with authority as children of God.

The promises in the word belongs to us and as we pray, angels go to work on our behalf to bring to pass what we declare. As the righteousness of God we declare light, favour, blessings, wealth and riches, stability and divine protection from our enemies. Because of our covenant promises from God, we don’t have to focus too much energy on fighting our adversaries. This is because the word of God is sure and we are firm in our conviction that the wicked cannot and will not prevail against us. We keep our eyes on Jesus and continue to do his will in taking care of those in need. As we do the will of God, he takes care of our affairs.

“He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers” (Psalm 1:3).

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Isaiah spoke to Israel about God’s restoration after their exile in Babylon. He outlined God’s plan to make his people great and to restore their children. Isaiah prophesied that even kings and queens would serve his people and lick the dust from their feet. Isaiah then spoke about those taken away in captivity. “Can the prey be taken from the mighty, or the captives of a tyrant be rescued” (Isaiah 49:24)? The response is that even those taken in captivity shall be taken and those taken as prey rescued. God promised to fight against those who fight against his children and save their offspring.

Many times in the Old Testament, we saw wars between God’s people and their enemies. Many times God’s people were taken into captivity to serve other nations until their time of restoration. There was a time when David went to war with the Philistines and they rejected him so he returned to his camp. The Amalekites raided David’s camp and took all of his wives and the wives of his men and burned the camp with fire. David enquired of the Lord and God instructed David to pursue the army and take back everything that they had stolen from him.

“And David struck them down from twilight until the evening of the next day, and not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men, who mounted camels and fled” (1 Samuel 30:17). David also took the spoil from the Amalekites and divided them among his men. These references are examples of physical battles that David fought in the Old Testament. Now in the New Testament, we fight battles but not in the physical. “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds” (2 Corinthians 10:4).

We are not fighting a physical battle but a spiritual one so our strategy is waging war in the spirit. We pull down strongholds and every spiritual weapon sent against the children of God. We beat down the enemy by praying the word of God and using the fire of the Holy Spirit to dismantle and devour every plan of the evil one. We stay in the spirit to discern the strategies of satan and then we come against him and his host of darkness. We will take the captives that he has taken into his territory to be used for his kingdom and we take them into the kingdom of light.

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In Exodus 19, God conveyed to his people through Moses a renewal of his covenant of blessing toward them. God reminded them of how he delivered them out of Egypt and reminded them that if they kept his commandments, that they would be his treasured possession. God instructed Moses to tell the people to consecrate themselves as he wanted to meet with them and allow them to hear him speak. All the while, God spoke only to Moses, but on this occasion, God desired to meet with his people. God manifested himself through a thick cloud with lightning, thunder and the blast of a trumpet.

The people were so afraid and terrified that they stood far away, “and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die”” (Exodus 20:19). Moses was hearing the same thing that the people were hearing, yet he was not afraid to walk into the cloud and continue to hear God speak. Moses went between God and the people to convey what God had to say and to renew his covenant with them. Moses later went back into the cloud and continued to communicate with God. He remained in the mountain for forty days while God gave him the laws and covenants for the people to obey.

The people became impatient as they waited for Moses and demanded that Aaron make them a God to go before them. Aaron heeded their request and made for them a golden calf out of their gold jewellery. “And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves” (Exodus 32:7). I struggle to wrap my head around how a people, who had just witnessed the God of heaven speak through a cloud with lightning and thunder, could turn around and build a golden calf for themselves to worship. I believe that because they only experienced God through Moses, his absence meant that they felt disconnected from God.

They had the opportunity to hear God speak but begged Moses to ask God to never speak to them again. Are we a people who would rather have someone hear from God for us, rather than to hear from him for ourselves? The renting of the veil after Jesus’s crucifixion signalled our ability to go to God for ourselves. Do people still rely on Pastors, Teachers and Prophets to be their mediators before God? What are the excuses that we have made up that keep us from having intimacy with God? Like the Israelites, we have made idols for ourselves out of the material things that we can see. Many people use excuses that their Pastor isn’t doing enough to help them stay close to God.

Saints we have to use prayer, the word and faith to create a path to God for ourselves. Stop relying on others to communicate with God on your behalf. God is waiting for you to make your requests known to him and he longs for us to spend the time in his presence where he can communicate with him. “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).

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We are well acquainted with this story in the Old Testament when Nehemiah worked to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Nehemiah served as a cup bearer to the King in exile in Persia. Nehemiah cried when his brother told him about the state of Israel. “And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire”” (Nehemiah 1:3). Fast forward a few chapters and Nehemiah gained permission from the King and worked with the people in Israel to rebuild the walls.

We remember that Nehemiah experienced great opposition during his time of rebuilding. I took notice of the response from the surrounding cities once the work was completed. “And when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us were afraid and fell greatly in their own esteem, for they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God” (Nehemiah 6:16). Their response was both surprise and trepidation because they never anticipated that Nehemiah and the other Israelites would prevail. Trepidation came from their understanding that Isreal’s ability to re-establish their borders would allow them to increase in strength.

The other result which flowed from rebuilding the walls was that the people who had been dispersed returned from exile. As the people returned, they rebuilt houses and established a system of government and worship unto the Lord. The surrounding cities could benefit from Israel having no boundaries as anyone could enter and leave the city without restraint. This also meant that people could enter to take any remaining valuables left in the city as the people had no system to defend and protect themselves from outside interference.

I have taken a while to get to the point of stating that like cities, we also need borders and boundaries in our personal lives. Marriages and families need boundaries to govern how they are established and maintained, to prevent breakdown and external interference. Having too many opinions and interference in a marriage can cause erosion and gradual breakdown. Having too many opinions about how to raise your children can lead to confusion and bad parenting. While we need advice and some support, there has to be boundaries and areas of your life that you do not allow access to outsiders.

Some people with ‘not so good intentions,’ may benefit when you don’t have boundaries. Some people view relationships as a means to an end and see other people as existing to meet their own needs. You have to be discerning to determine why people want to be close to you. Set boundaries in order to protect your time and energy and set boundaries within your family and relationships. “Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me” (Isaiah 49:16).

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We have to remember who we are and whose we are as children of God. We are spiritual beings having a natural experience here on earth and we are Ambassadors for Christ. We have to remember the authority that we have in Christ Jesus and our position as we are seated in heavenly places. This puts us in a position which is above all principalities and powers and the devil is under our feet. We are born into the family of Adam and born in sin and shaped in iniquity and in sin did our mothers conceive us (Psalm 51:5). This is why we are born again when we accept Jesus Christ as Lord and saviour and we become adopted into the family of God.

“Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God”” (John 3:3). This born again experience is renouncing all sin and making a commitment to serve Jesus as Lord and saviour. When we are born again, we become brand new and our old selves are passed away and gives way to a new person. This newness represents the seed of Abraham and the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). You may not always feel like righteousness but you are righteous and holy.

The transformation experience is a gradual one for some people, but how we feel does not determine our righteousness. A newborn Christian may still stumble and struggle with some besetting sins. God continues the work to renew and transform us into his perfect image. Our old selves have died to the deeds of the flesh and we are alive in Christ Jesus. We now walk in the newness of life and are being transformed from glory to glory. The Christian journey is a growth experience as we continue to read the word, pray and remain connected to God to draw sustenance from him.

“For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). We now live in the spirit and the Holy Spirit guides, teaches and comforts us. The Holy Spirit corrects and consoles us and as we abide in God he gives us revelation knowledge to be able to see and understand hidden mysteries. We are in this world but not of it and we are not governed by this world system. We no longer live in the flesh or continue to gratify the desires of the flesh which leads to corruption. Rather we put our flesh under subjection and we live in the spirit.

“Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever”” (Revelation 11:15).

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We know that there are spiritual laws that govern what happens in the universe. Let us discuss the law of confession and the power in the spoken word. Job said that when we decree or speak a word, then it will manifest. This explains the concept of self-fulfilling prophecy as words spoken over time will become true. Solomon also said, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits” (Proverbs 18:21). It is easy to speak as we find or say things as they are. What if we speak what we want to see manifest and be intentional with our words? This takes discipline and a change in our attitude and mindset.

It takes constant practice and reinforcement to create good habits. More so, we need to have our minds renewed and submit our bodies to Jesus Christ. Only then can we allow the Holy Spirit to work through us in order to manifest the things of God. There are also things and situations that we have to avoid in order see what we want to materialise. “But avoid all empty (vain, useless, idle) talk, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness” (2 Timothy 2:16). This also goes for constant complaining and negativity. I know that we sometimes need a space to talk about things that have caused us hurt. This can become a habit and constant complaining can be depressing.

We are created in the image of God and have authority like God to speak life into dead things and to call into existence things that do not exist (Romans 4:17). I know that when we become frustrated, we want to say it as it is. What if we start practicing the habit of speaking life into dead things? Do you believe that you have the power to call into existence things that do not exist? There is also the matter of spiritual authority concerning our relationships. Parents have the spiritual authority to speak into the lives of their children and can cast down any negative pronouncements spoken over them.

For example, a teacher can pronounce that a child cannot learn. As a parent, you have the legal right to denounce what the teacher said and declare that your child can and will learn. Whose words do you think carries more weight over your children? You have to decide whether or not to come in agreement with the teacher and repeat what they said, which reinforces the negative pronouncement. The alternative is to denounce it, cancel it and make a new declaration. You shall have whatever you say.

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We know that the characteristics of God are love, joy, peace, grace, mercy, faithfulness, righteousness among many other traits. Among these traits include our God of justice and vengeance. There are many names of God which denotes some of his many characteristics. Jehovah Jireh refers to God being our provider. Jehovah Rapha speaks of our God who heals. Jehovah Elohim is the all powerful one who is the creator. Jehovah Nissi speaks of God being our banner. Throughout scripture the prophets would ascribe a name to God to represent what he had been to them.

In Exodus, the Israelites went into battle against the Amalekites. After they prevailed and defeated the army, God instructed Moses to write down the story as a memorial. In addition to writing about the victory, Moses built an altar and called it, The Lord is my banner. This was to demonstrate that forever, God would fight with the enemies of his people and prevail against them. We bear the mark of the Lord and every promise written in his word are covenant promises to us. As his children we call on him and acknowledge him as our banner, our Jehovah Nissi who never loses a battle.

We continue to contend in prayer like the woman in the parable of the persistent widow. Jesus told his disciples about a widow who continued to go to a judge to ask him to give her justice against her adversaries. The judge neither feared God nor man and initially refused to listen to the widow. “yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming”(Luke 18:5). Jesus told his disciples that in the same way an unjust judge could acknowledge the pleas of a widow, will not God hear the cries of his elect who cry to him day and night. God will not delay, but arise speedily to come to our defence.

There are many answers that God provides to prayers. To some prayers, God will ask us to wait and for prayers that will not benefit us, God will say no. I believe that on the matter of justice, God always avenges and his justice is swift. “Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly.’ For the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their power is gone and there is none remaining, bond or free” (Deuteronomy 32:35-36).

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Peter’s exhortation included the call to be humble before God, so that we will be exalted at the proper time. Remember that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble and pride originates from the devil. Furthermore, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). The devil is ‘like’ a lion but Jesus Christ is the conquering lion of the tribe of Judah and his spirit lives in us. The Holy Spirit in you is of the conquering lion so you are more than a conqueror through Christ Jesus. Fear is a strategy of the kingdom of darkness, but if we truly know who we are and the power invested in us, then we know that we have nothing to fear.

Paul exhorts in Ephesians, “and give no opportunity to the devil” (Ephesians 4:27). Paul was saying that we should avoid attitudes and habits that lead us into sin. Recovering alcoholics are advised to avoid anywhere with alcohol because of the temptation to be lured back into alcoholism. Don’t allow the devil to deceive you into allowing yourself to enter into or remain in situations that are tempting. Run away if you need to, in order to resist and don’t consider yourself to be so strong that you feel that you cannot fall into sin. Don’t put yourself in a situation where you can be tempted but put safeguards around yourself and keep people in your circle who can hold you accountable.

“Therefore let the one who thinks he stands firm [immune to temptation, being overconfident and self-righteous], take care that he does not fall [into sin and condemnation]” (1 Corinthians 10:12). We have to be conscious about what we watch on TV, what we listen to on the radio and the people that we surround ourselves with. Remember that our physical senses are the entry way to the soul and can entice us into unwanted habits and behaviours. “Abstain from every form of evil [withdraw and keep away from it]” (1 Thessalonians 5:22).

People have mistakenly assumed that God causes them to be tempted. This is erroneous thinking as James explained. “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire” (James 1:14). Once the desire gives birth in the mind, then it can lead to sin. Most of our biggest challenges start with our thinking. Don’t think that because you are only thinking about it, that it is not sinful. We have to take every thought captive, demolish it and cast it down out of our minds. Thoughts that lead to sin do not originate from God and entertaining them means that you are entertaining the devil. This can only lead to sin.

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James is very clear in his epistle about how we should respond to the devil. We don’t entertain the devil, we don’t debate or argue with him, we don’t cower in fear of him, but we resist him! To resist means to stand firm against him and the only way to stand firm is through our knowledge of the word and the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit who lives in us is greater that the devil who is in the world. We pray and stand in authority through the Holy Spirit with our knowledge of what the word says. Remember that the word is “quick and powerful, sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

Remember when Jesus was being tempted by the devil in the wilderness; he used the word to remind satan of what was written. The devil is the master of deception and too many Christians are being outsmarted by the devil who comes to steal, kill and destroy. “so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs” (2 Corinthians 2:11). You are wasting your time if you are not dedicated to studying and understanding what the bible says. The word of God is a weapon against the enemy and our knowledge and understanding of the word helps us to grow. Stop using the excuse of not having enough time, when there are many activities that you devote time to daily that can be used for studying the word.

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children” (Hosea 4:6). A lack of knowledge and understanding of the word has caused many Christians to fall for the devil’s traps because they fail to recognise a lie dressed as truth. If the devil could use scripture to try to tempt Jesus, what makes you think that it will be hard for him to tempt you. The bible warns against false prophets, so you also cannot use the excuse of being led astray by religious leaders.

We need to wake up to the reality of what is happening around us. We are children of God and the devil does not like any of us that are created by God. The devil’s strategy is, to draw us as far away from the will and purpose of God as possible. We have to pray daily, stay in the word, continue to be fully armoured and do not allow the devil to gain an advantage over us. You have been given power and authority over the enemy, so act like someone with authority and stop allowing the devil to take advantage of you. “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15-16).

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We have been discussing this week the importance of bearing fruits of the spirit. Today we will look at those fruits or plants that don’t originate from God and discuss how we uproot them. Let us look again at what happened to the fig tree that Jesus cursed. “As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots” (Mark 11:20). I don’t believe that Jesus had any personal issues with the tree. Jesus wanted to demonstrate to his disciples the authority which they had to dispossess anything in their lives which did not serve a purpose.

Here was a tree that was drawing nutrients from the soil but was not producing anything in return for the nutrients it received. Similarly, there are many things that take up space in our lives and draw energy from us but does not necessarily edify us. ““All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up” (1 Corinthians 10:23). We have to constantly examine how we use our time and resources and assess the long term benefits. Many things feel good in the moment but do not yield fruits of righteousness.

There are other conditions and circumstances that may have been handed down from past generations. There are things that we have inherited and were told are family traits that we need to command to be uprooted. Whether these are bad habits, sickness or disease and infirmities, we curse them at the root and command them to dry up and die. There are dead circumstances in our lives that are pretending to flourish but they do not bear fruit. There are dead relationships that do not yield any substance. These dead situations simply drain us of our energy and need to be uprooted.

We cannot allow sentimentality to keep us bound to things that do not serve a purpose. We have to be ready to move when God says and sever ties that no longer come in alignment with God’s plan for us. We daily submit ourselves to the Holy Spirit so that he can show us those things that do not bring glory to God and be willing to get rid of them. “Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom” (Song of Solomon 2:15).

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