Scripture reading: Acts 13:1-12
For every word that God has given you, there is a word that the devil gives to stop it. Consider why you do not function according to the Word of God as you ought to. The reason is that the devil always gives a counter word, which disturbs the faith that you should have in the Word of God.
The Word that God gives you is spirit and life and that spirit and life must come through you to work power and deliverance out there. Spirit and life! Power and deliverance! Every Word of God is powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword, bringing down the kingdoms of the devil and the imaginations of man. This is the power of the Word of God! If you allow the other word to counteract you, then you have allowed a barrier to stop the Word of God from going through you. Therefore, your first weapon is “…the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ref. Ephesians 6:17).
Let me tell you a little story. Gideon went out to fight the Midianites, because God told him, “You are a mighty man of valor—you can do it” (Judges 6:12). Gideon did not believe he was any man of valor (his knees were knocking), but God said, “…thou mighty man of valor.” So he went and called up all his men. Thirty thousand men came to follow him and yet, he was so afraid. Remember now, God gives you a word (“Go out and fight!”), but the devil brings fear upon you so that you are so afraid that God has to give you another word just to bolster you.
We see this when God sent Gideon down to listen to what the Midianites were saying (Judges 7:9-15). God gave one of the Midianites a dream and Gideon overheard the man telling another man his dream of how this little barley cake rolled down off the hill and smashed their tent. When he heard that, another man said, “You know who that barley cake is? It is Gideon. It is that Gideon!”
In other words, God had to set a trap to make Gideon believe. Brethren, if you do not believe God, who are you going to believe? If you believe God, no power on earth can stop you—because faith creates the spirit of power!
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). When you feel the faith of God, it lifts you off the floor; it energizes your body and your soul; and you know you have won. It is the amount of God’s energy and power that you will allow to flow through you. The Bible says in Ephesians 4:32, “And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”
It is saying, “Forgive one another…for Christ’s sake.” Why does it say, “…for Christ’s sake?” It is because Christ cannot move through you if you have unforgiveness in you. Unforgiveness blocks the flow of the power of Christ.
In Luke 8, the woman came and grabbed the hem of Jesus’ garment. He said, “Hey! Energy came out of Me.” Yes! He said, “I feel virtue (“dunamis” in the Greek; power) drawn out of Me.” Do you understand? We are talking about the raw power of God. It can only work through you if your passages are clean. Without this, you can speak the Word of God from now until next year at this time and not a straw will move! It says in Acts 19 that the sons of Sceva tried to help a man who needed deliverance. They said, “In the Name of Jesus I rebuke you.” It says that the demons jumped on them, tore them, and they fled naked. Paul said, “I rebuke you in the Name of Jesus,” and it says in Acts 13:11 that the sorcerer Elymas went blind “immediately.” The deaf heard! The sick were healed! Immediately! It was because Paul had kept his gun clean.
(Excerpt from The Omega Message, January 1997, pg. 10-13)
Thought for today: Do not listen to the word that the devil brings you. Believe the Word that God has spoken to you so that you can function in God as you ought to.
Sonlight Devotional 