We found a friend who died for us

BREAK OUT!!

God’s Way or Man’s Way??

2 Sam 5:11-6:23; 1 Chr 13-16 are two accounts of the same story, something like the Gospels in which you will find similar stories told differently to emphasize different angles and things that God wants us to learn.

This is the Year of Victory. And this year we want to BREAK OUT!! It’s interesting that in these two passages we see 2 different examples of God “Breaking Out”.

In 2 Samuel 5:20 and 1 Chronicles 14:11, we see the first example of God Breaking Out.

“So David and his men went up to Baal Perazim, and there he defeated them. He said, "As waters break out, God has broken out against my enemies by my hand." So that place was called Baal Perazim”

God broke out against the enemies of Israel.

In 2 Samuel 6:8 and 1 Chronicles 13:11, we see the other example of God Breaking Out.

“Then David was angry because the LORD's wrath had broken out against Uzzah, and to this day that place is called Perez Uzzah.”

This time we see God breaking out against His people.

What’s the difference? What happened that caused God to break out once against His enemies and once against His people. Before we go further, let me clarify some things before hand. In both examples, we see clearly God’s will and plans were the objectives of David’s heart and mind. It is God’s will to defeat the Philistines, the enemies of Israel. It is also God’s will for the Ark of the Covenant to once again dwell in the midst of the Israelites.

1 Chronicles 13:1-4 tells us, “David conferred with each of his officers, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds. He then said to the whole assembly of Israel, "If it seems good to you and if it is the will of the LORD our God, let us send word far and wide to the rest of our brothers throughout the territories of Israel, and also to the priests and Levites who are with them in their towns and pasturelands, to come and join us. Let us bring the ark of our God back to us, for we did not inquire of it during the reign of Saul." The whole assembly agreed to do this, because it seemed right to all the people.”

The intention and purpose was correct, to inquire of God. And they strongly believed it’s God’s will. And it seemed right to all the people to bring the Ark back. And does God intent to once again bless His people wherever His presence is? Yes!! 1 Chronicles 13:14 records, “The ark of God remained with the family of Obed-Edom in his house for three months, and the LORD blessed his household and everything he had.” We see that the blessings of God follow wherever His presence is. And we also see that David did not do it flippantly but had a huge assembly of people and musicians to accompany the Ark which was placed on a brand new cart and David himself followed too.

Why then did the tragedy to Uzzah happen? Quite simply, because they did not do it God’s way! God’s way was to have the Levites carry the Ark on poles. David in all his good intentions and passion and enthusiasm did not inquire of God as to how to bring the Ark back to Israel. But the second time when they did as the Law required, the Ark returned.

Just a side note, in case you are wondering why would a loving God strike a man down for doing an instinctive thing such as to prevent the Ark from falling of a cart, well let’s remember our God is to be feared! He is a Holy God, so holy that only the High Priest only can enter into the Holy of Holies once a year to make atonement for the people before the Ark of the Covenant. And now, someone who’s not a Levite, (the chosen ministers of the Tabernacle) dared to touch the Ark. So let us always remember that our God is to be revered and that we need to keep the holy things and the sacred things of God holy and sacred.

However in the other example, when the Philistines attacked, looked at what David did.

1 Chronicles 14:8-11, “When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over all Israel, they went up in full force to search for him, but David heard about it and went out to meet them. Now the Philistines had come and raided the Valley of Rephaim; so David inquired of God: "Shall I go and attack the Philistines? Will you hand them over to me?" The LORD answered him, "Go, I will hand them over to you." So David and his men went up to Baal Perazim, and there he defeated them. He said, "As waters break out, God has broken out against my enemies by my hand." So that place was called Baal Perazim.”

Imagine you are David, and all your scouts came back with a report that the Philistines (the army that destroyed Saul and his troops) had assembled and are marching out against Israel, what would your instant reaction be? Would you not naturally gather your forces and march out against them? But what did David do? Amazingly he inquired of God and asked God if he should fight!!!! God said yes and David did. And God BROKE OUT against the Philistines. The story didn’t end. The Philistines retreated and then reorganized themselves and marched out again. If I’m David, I’ll quickly launch a counter attack against an army that was recently wounded and defeated and drive them away, but David didn’t!! And what did he do?

1 Chronicles 14:14-16 records, “so David inquired of God again, and God answered him, "Do not go straight up, but circle around them and attack them in front of the balsam trees. As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, move out to battle, because that will mean God has gone out in front of you to strike the Philistine army." So David did as God commanded him, and they struck down the Philistine army, all the way from Gibeon to Gezer.”

David inquired of God AGAIN! And this time God gave him a different strategy, and David won again.

What is the lesson here? In both examples, we know what God’s will is. And we know the heart of David was to please the Lord and do His will. However, it is definitely possible for us still to do God’s will in our own way instead of God’s way. And what’s the warning then. You can have God either Breaking Out for us or against us. Which do you want?

How then do we ensure that we do it God’s way then? I believe the answer is in inquiring of God. We need to pray. I believe in this Year of Victory where there are many battles ahead, to see God Breaking Out against the enemies’ plans against our lives, our families, our ministry, our church, our relationships, our careers etc, we need to do His will His way. And it starts from PRAYER!! We need to engage God strongly again. (Of course when we inquire of God, we must also be accountable and under cover before we carry out what we think is God’s will, so always tell your spiritual leaders what you sensed God is telling you to do and have them pray along with you)

Therefore Livingstones, let’s lay hold of God once more in intercession and prayer. It is the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God spoken in prayer. Let’s remember what we have been learning over the last few weeks, Ephesians 6:10-20:

“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.”

Pray, pray, pray, because the battles ahead in this Year of Victory are not against flesh and blood.

One last thing before I end. The last time I blog was on 1 Chronicles 10 and this was what was said of Saul, “So Saul died for his unfaithfulness which he had committed against the LORD, because he did not keep the word of the LORD, and also because he consulted a medium for guidance. But he did not inquire of the LORD; therefore He killed him, and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse.” The word “but” if you read the NKJV Bible suggests that the reason for Saul’s downfall was that He did not inquire of God. His disobedience and that he sought mediums resulted that the kingdom was turned over to David, but I believed God was merciful towards Saul and gave him a chance to repent, so that though he lost his throne, he shall not lose his life. But Saul did not inquire of God and eventually God killed him.

Let us LOOK FAR now through prayer.

Agape,

Alvin

Dear Sons,

Some administrative matters and announcements for you all to take note in chronological order:

1) No cell following week as it will be our tribe meeting. Tribe meeting will be on Sunday 29^th April after service. It will be held at one of the Omega Rooms in Hall 10 itself. I will update you all on exact location. I would like to see all of you there even if you have to leave early, just come down for a while; you’ll be blessed even for that short time. =)

2) From May onwards cell will be on Saturday. 1^st week (6^th May) will be at my place at 1030am. Will see you guys at Pasir Ris MRT station at 1015am.

3) From May onwards, since cell will be on Saturdays, Sundays will be reserved for meeting up with you guys one on one. As for Andrew, I will continue to correspond with you through e-mail.

4) As such, from today onwards please book my time through the cell blog. Meaning, please start putting down who wants to meet me on 7^th May, 13^th May, 20^th May etc.Another thing, I still haven’t received your goals and they have not been put up on the blog. So before I meet up with any of you, I would want to see your goals on the blog prior to the meeting up. Example, if on 7^th May I’m supposed to meet Aaron, then before that Aaron must put his goal on the blog. Please send your goals to Flavian to put up on the blog. Thanks Flavian. Since it is going to be on the blog, it is not possible to put up every single goal you may have. Thus I only require you put up 3 that you don’t mind sharing with the rest of the cell. One should be a personal goal, one should be for your family and one should be for your school/army camp. Remember to use the SMART goals format and the framework of Go Deep, Look Far and Ask Big.

5) Since from May onwards, we have more time for cell group, I like to incorporate 3 more “MUST HAVEs” in cell in addition to the study of the book.

- Worship (~20mins)

- Bible Update (~10mins) (to recap what Livingstones have been reading for the whole week in the daily Bible reading and to share a devotional thought)

- Prayer (~10mins)

We will try to finish everything within 1hr including the book (pray hard!! Heh) and the rest of the time will be for fellowship, makan etc. As such, I would like to break you all up into teams of 4 to lead the 3 areas I mentioned above. Each team will lead for one month before passing on to the other team.

Team 1) Boon Bing (Team Leader), Marcus, Clarence, Aaron

Team 2) Zhengrong (Team Leader), Flavian, Hubert, Raegan

Reserve Team: Andrew (Team Leader), Justyn, Tony, Andy, Hubert’s friend, (forgot his name, the one who came for Miracle service)

So team 1 will start duties in May (May only got 2 cell meetings…..very lucky…..heh) anything unsure please ask me.

6) Jackie Pullinger Conference on May 12^th Saturday from 2pm -930pm at Expo. This will replace cell for the week. I will be there and I highly encourage all of us to be there. I will pass you all the form for you all to sign up. It’s $5 per person and it includes dinner and tea break. Remember I did say last year that one of the cell goals this year was to do community service together as a form of reaching out and blessing the community. So let us go and really catch God’s heart for the poor. There won’t be YA on that day.

7) Encounter Weekends!! 17 and below: 25^th-27^thMay (Praise Haven); 18 and above: 18^th-20^th May (Praise Haven) $30 per person. Those who want to go must let me know IMMEDIATELY!!! Aaron and Andy, you haven’t gotten back to me.

8) Global Day of Prayer at Singapore Indoor Stadium at 7pm. May 27^th Sunday. This will replace cell. Join with Christians around the world to pray for our respective nations!! Highly encouraged to go!!!

9) Tribe Camp will be from June 7-10. Registration has been opened. The cost is $45 each. I expect all to be there unless you really have a valid reason not to be there. It will be held at Praise Haven near Dairy Farm. I can further subsidize $15 per person if you really need help financially. (Speak to me individually) However when I sign you up and you don’t turn up, you will pay the full cost and it’s $60 not $45. Do go, the committee has really been spending time planning it and I believe you will surely encounter God at this camp. It’s called Camp Gilgal. Read Joshua 5 to understand what Gilgal means. I will pass you all the form to sign up at cell this week too. In conjunction, we will be launching our Livingstones T-Shirt!! $10 per piece. Let me know ur size and number of shirts you want at the next cell meeting. And bring the money too.

Spiritual Dad,

Alvin

Dear sons,

I’m not one of those who likes to send or forward stories on e-mail etc, but the below one is one of those that really caught my attention. Haven’t verified if the silver refining process is really like that, but if it is so, it really is such a beautiful picture of what God is doing in our lives. Hope this blesses you and encourages you that God is keeping His eyes firmly fixed on you until He sees His reflection in you. =)

Agape,

Alvin

Malachi 3:3 says: "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.

One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining Silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver." She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.

The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?"

He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it."

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.

A sermon to share wif you all.....got it from sylvia...

B i b l e - The Bible Prophecy Archive Combat in the Heavenly Realm I want to share with you from a testimony of someone who was saved, someone who had been serving the devil. And when that man gave his testimony, it so challenged me, I did not want to believe it. I had to go ten days before the Lord in fasting, asking Him, «Lord, is this true?» And it was at that time the Lord began to teach me what happens in the spiritual realm when we pray.

This man was born after his parents dedicated themselves to Lucifer. When he was still in the womb, they made so many rituals dedicating him to serve Lucifer. When he was four years old, he began to exercise his spiritual power. And his parents began fearing him. When he was six years, his father surrendered him to the witches to go and be trained. And by ten years, he was doing great things in the kingdom of the devil. He was feared by the normal witches. He was still a young boy, but he was so terrible in the things he did. He grew up to be a young man in his twenties with so much bloodshed on his hands. Killed at will. He had the ability to go out of his body through transcendental meditation. And he could levitate.

Sometimes his body would lift off the ground and stay in the air. And sometimes he could go into a trance, and come out of his body; his body would remain behind, and he would go out into the world, called astral-travelling. And this guy was used by Satan to destroy so many churches, to break down so many churches and to destroy so many pastors.

One day, he was assigned to destroy a church that was so full of prayer.
There were so many divisions in this church, and so many confusions. And he began to work on this church. But at that time, the pastor called a fast for the whole church. And the church began to fast, and during the fasting, there was a lot of repentance and a lot of reconciliation. And the people came together, and they began to pray for the work of the Lord in their midst. And they continued interceding and crying to God to have mercy and intervene in their lives.

And as they days went by, this man was coming again and again with demon spirits against this church. But there was a word of prophecy that came telling the Christians to rise up and to wage warfare against the powers of darkness that were attacking the church. So one day, this man leaves his body in his room and goes astral-travelling. And leads a mighty force of demonic spirits against this church. Now this is his testimony. He was moving in the spirit in the air over the church and they were trying to attack, but there was a covering of light over the church. And suddenly, there was an army of angels that attacked them and there was fighting in the air, and all the demons fled, but he was arrested. Arrested by whom? The angels! And he saw himself being held by about six angels, and they brought him through the roof right before the altar. And there he was. And the people were praying. They were deep in prayer in spiritual warfare, binding and breaking and casting out. And the pastor was on the platform leading the prayers and the warfare. And the Spirit of the Lord spoke to the pastor, and said, «The yoke has been broken, and the victim is there before you. Help him through deliverance.» And he opened his eyes and he saw this young man, who had collapsed there. His body was with him. He was in his body.

The young man says he doesn't know how his body joined him; he had left it in his house. But there he was in his body, and he didn't know how he had entered in except the angel had carried him through the roof. Now these things are difficult to believe, but the pastor silenced the church and told the church what the Lord had told him and asked the young man, «Who are you?» The young man was trembling, and the demons began coming out of him. So they prayed for deliverance, and afterwards, he began to share his life.

That young man has now come to the Lord and is now an evangelist, preaching the Gospel. And he is being used by the Lord mightily in setting other people free in the ministry of deliverance. But one night, I went to a dinner, and the sole reason I went is that someone told me about this young man, and I was so curious to see him. So I sat at that dinner and some time in the evening, this man was given the chance to give his testimony. And he talked about so many things. Sometimes he cried because of the things he did. And then as he finished, he made an appeal. There were so many pastors in that room.

And he said, «I appeal to you, pastors. Please teach the people how to pray.» The people who don't pray can be taken in anything, in anything by the devil, and there are ways that the enemy exploits their lives and their prayers. People who don't know how to pray, they literally pray, and the enemy knows even how to exploit their prayers. We're going to talk about that. And he also said to the pastors, «Teach the people how to use the spiritual armour that God provides.»
Then he began to give a testimony of how he used to lead expositions into the air. He would go with other satanic agents and lots of demon spirits into the air. It was like a shift, you've got to go and work your shift. So regularly he had a time he had to go and wage war in the Heavenlies. And he said that in the Heavenlies, in the spiritual realm, if the land is covered under the blanket of darkness, that blanket is so thick, it is like a rock. And it covers the whole area. And these spirits are able to go on top of this as well as below this blanket. And from that level, they influence the events on earth.

Both evil spirits and human agents that are serving the devil and when they leave their shifts they go down on earth at the points of covenant, even waters or on the land at the points of covenant for refreshing of their spirit. And how do they refresh their spirit? By the sacrifices that people give at these altars. They could be sacrifices in open witchcraft , they could be sacrifices in bloodshed of all types including abortion, including warfare and human sacrifices and animal sacrifices. They could be sacrifices of sexual immorality where people go into sexual perversions and all kinds of promiscuity. And that act services the strength of these powers. And many are the different types of sacrifices.

He talked about lots of things which really troubled my mind. He said when they are up there and the Christians begin to pray on earth, the prayers of the Christians appear to them in three forms. All prayers appear like smoke that is rising up into the heavens, and he says that some prayers appear like smoke and they go meandering and disappear in the air. He says that the people who normally pray like that and their prayers disappear are people who have sin in their lives and they are not willing to deal with it. Their prayers are so weak, they are blown and they disappear in the air.

And he said there are others whose prayers are like smoke that rises up until it reaches this rock, but it does not break through the rock. He says, usually these are who try to purify themselves, but they lack the faith in what they are doing as they pray. And usually they ignore the other keys to use; areas that they need to put together in prayer.

It says that the third type of prayer is like smoke that is filled with fire. And as it rises up, it is so hot that as it reaches the rock, the rock begins to melt like wax and it pierces that rock and goes through, and he said many times, people begin to pray and their prayers are like the first type of prayer, but as they continue praying, their prayers change and become like the second prayer. And as they continue praying, suddenly there is suddenly fire that is filling their prayers. And their prayers become so powerful, they pierce through the rock.

And he said, many times would they notice the prayers of the saints changing and coming very close to the state of fire, they communicate to other spirits on earth and they tell them, «Distract that person from prayer. Stop them praying. Pull them out.» And many times so many Christians yield to these distractions. They are pressing through, they are repenting. They are allowing the Word to check their spirit up. Faith has been building up. Their prayers are becoming more focused. Then the devil sees their prayers are gaining strength and the distractions begin. Telephones ring. Sometimes we, in the middle of very, very intense prayer, the telephone rings and you think you can go to answer the phone and then come back and continue praying. When you come back, you go back to the beginning. And that's what the devil wants. Other kinds of distractions come your way, even if it means touching your body and bringing some pain somewhere. Even if it means making you hungry and you want to go to the kitchen and fix something to eat. As long as they can get you out of that place, they have defeated you.

And he will say to the pastors, «Teach people. Set aside some time. Not for just some casual kind of praying. They can do that the rest of the day. Once in a day, they should have a time when they are focusing wholeheartedly on God, nothing distracting them. And if people persist in this kind of prayer and allow themselves to be inspired in the spirit and keep going and keep going, something happens in the spirit. The fire touches that rock, and it melts.
And this man said, when the melting begins, it is so hot, no demon spirit can stand it. No human spirit can stand it. They all flee. They all run away. There comes an opening in the spiritual realm. And as soon as this comes, all this trouble in prayer stops. The person who is praying on the ground just feels like prayer is suddenly so smooth, so enjoy some and so powerful and intense.
And I've discovered at that moment, we normally lose consciousness of time and other things. Not that we become disorderly. God takes care of our time. But it is like you lay down everything, and you hook up with God.
And this man said that when the prayers go through, from that moment there can be no resistance at all, and the person praying will continue as long as he wants. There is no resistance that can stop him. And then he said, after he finishes praying, the hole remains open, and he said that people, when they rise out of their place of prayer, and they walk out, this open hole moves along with them. They are no longer operating under the blanket. They are operating under open heavens. And he said in that state, the devil cannot do what he wants against them. And the presence of the Lord is like a pillar from heaven resting on their lives. They are protected, and there is so much power inside that pillar that as they move around, that presence touches other people. It discerns what the enemy has done in other people. And as they talk to people and those people are standing with them, they come inside this pillar. And as long as they stay inside that pillar, all the bondages of the enemy weaken. So when these people who have this spiritual break-through share Jesus Christ with the sinners, their resistance is low. It is so easy to bring them through. When! they pray for the sick or pray about things, the presence which is there makes all the difference.

And this man said the devil hates such people. And it said if there are places where prayer is regularly being prayed through like that, the presence comes upon that place and does not leave. So even the people who don't know God, when they come into this place suddenly all the bondages are weakened. And if someone cared to just minister to them patiently and with love, they can easily be pulled through, not by power nor by might but by the Spirit of God, who is present. And he said, if no one bothers about these people, they come into his presence, they feel convicted, they begin to debate whether to yield or not, but if they are not pulled through, when they walk away from this place, bondages get stronger. And the devil tries his best not to allow them to come back into such an environment.
You can imagine we were all seated looking at this man. He was telling us the things he used to do and what he used to see. Then he told us what they would do to people who have broken through in prayer. He said they marked such people; they studied such people. They dug up everything they could find about such people. So they knew their weaknesses, and when someone overcomes them in prayer and breaks through, they communicate with other spirits and say, «Target him with this and with this and with this. These are his weaknesses.» So when this person walks out of the prayer closet, the spirit of prayer is upon him, the presence is upon him, his spirits are high, the joy of the Lord is his strength. As he moves the enemy tries to bring those things that can distract him from focusing on the Lord. If his weakness is in the area of temper, then the enemy is going to cause people to do things which can make him really angry. And if he is not sensitive to the Holy Spirit, and he allows himself to go into the temper, he takes his eyes off the Lord. He gets angry, he feels so furious, and after a few minutes later, he wants to put that behind him and move along in the joy of the Lord, but he doesn't feel it anymore. He tries to feel good again; he doesn't feel any good again. Why? As he yielded to the temptation, they worked hard to close the door upstairs. And once they restore the rock, the presence is cut off. The person does not cease being a child of God. But that extra anointing that goes on his life, that presence that could do things without his manipulating anything, it's just cut off.
They seek out where the weaknesses are. If it is in the temptation to sexuality, the enemy will prepare people, events, something that will suddenly draw out that passion to go towards that temptation. And if that man yields to this temptation and opens up his mind to receive these thoughts, entertains them, when he is through with everything and wants to move again in the anointing, he just discovers! it is no longer there.

Maybe you say, «That's not fair.» Just remember what the Bible says, «Put on the helmet of salvation. Put on the breastplate of righteousness.» We normally do not see the position, the place of these weapons of warfare. But remember what Jesus told us to pray towards the end of the Lord?s prayer, «Take us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.»
Every time you have a breakthrough in prayer, as you come to the end, remember you are still a weak human being. Remember you have not yet been perfected. Ask the Lord, say «Lord, I've enjoyed this time of prayer, but when I walk out into this world, lead me not into temptation. Don't allow me to walk into the devil's trap. I know the enemy is setting a trap out there. I don't know what form it is going to take. And I know I am still weak in certain areas. If I am just put in the right place, I will yield to that. Protect me, Lord. When you see me turning that corner where the trap is, just cause me to turn to the other side. Intervene, O Lord. Don't allow me to move by just my own strength and ability. Deliver me from the evil one.»
God is able to do that. He is able. That is why sometimes things happen, all you need to say is, «Thank you, Jesus.» That's why Apostle Paul wrote in the book of Thessalonians and said, «Thank God in everything for that is the will of God in Christ for you.»
Some things are not good. They are painful, and we wonder why God would allow it. But if only we knew what He is saving us from, we would thank Him. When we learn to trust the Lord, we just thank Him in everything.

Beloved, I don't know whether to go deeper because I do not want to start something I cannot finish. Let me just try to take one step forward. And this man said that when prayer breaks through like that, the answer will always come. He said he does not know a case where prayer broke through and the answer did not come. He said the answer always came, but in most cases, it would never get to the person who asked. Why? Battle in the Heavenlies.
He says as long as they succeed in cutting off the open heavens and the rock is restored, they watch this person, they are waiting because they know the answer is definitely coming. And then this man spoke something that really shook my faith. It is because of the next part he shared that I went into fasting ten days to say, Lord, is this true? Can you prove it to me?

This man said that every Christian has got an angel serving that Christian. Now we know the Bible says angels are ministering spirits to us. He said that when people pray, the answer comes in the hands of the angel. The angel brings the answer like we can read it in the book of Daniel. Then he said something really tough; if the one who prays knows the spiritual armours and is clothed with them, the answer comes by an angel who is also clothed in full armour. If the one who prays doesn't care about spiritual armoury, their angels come without spiritual armour. Christians who don't care about what kind of thoughts come into their minds. They don't fight the battle of their minds. Their angels come without the helmet. Whatever spiritual weapon you ignore on earth, the angel doesn't have it as he serves you. In other words, our spiritual armour is not protecting our physical bodies; it's protecting our spiritual exploits. This man said, when the angel is coming, they (demons) would focus and look at him and notice the areas which are not covered, and those are the areas they would attack. If he has no helmet, they would shoot at his head. If he has no breastplate, they would shoot at his chest. If he has no shoes, they would make a fire that he is walking in the fire.

Now I am just repeating what this man said. Actually, we asked him, «Can angels feel fire?» And you know what he said to us? Remember this is a spiritual realm. These are spirits dealing with spirits.
The battle is intensive, and when they overpower an angel of God, the first thing they target is the answer he is carrying, and they get that from him, that is what they give through the cults, the witchcraft, and people say, «I got this because of witchcraft.»

Remember what the Bible says in the book of James? All good things come from God. So where does the devil get the things he gives to his people? Some people who cannot have children, they go to witch doctor and satanists, and they get pregnant! Who gave them that baby? Is Satan a creator? NO! He steals from those who don't pray to the end. Jesus said, «Pray without ceasing.» And then He said, «But when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith?» Will He find you still there waiting? Or will you have given up and the enemy would steal what you have prayed for?

Then this man said that they are not satisfied with just stealing the answer. They are also interested in detaining the angel. And they start fighting him. And he said sometimes they succeed in holding and binding the angel. And he says, when that happens, the Christian is a victim on earth. They can do anything with that Christian because he is totally left without ministry in the Spirit.

I said to him, «Do you mean an angel can be held in captivity by demonic forces?» This man did not even know the scriptures by the time he was saying all this. He did not know very many scriptures. He was just sharing his experiences. And he said, they wouldn't hold the angel too long because as other Christians prayed elsewhere, reinforcement would come, and the angels would go free. If the Christian responsible did not pray through, he remains a captive. Then the enemy sends his own angel as an angel of light to this person, and that is where the deceptions come in. False visions and false prophecies. False leadership, I mean leading, guidance in the spirit, making wrong decisions of all types. And many times this person is open to all kinds of attack and bondages.

And I asked the Lord. I left that dinner so troubled, so troubled. I said, «Lord, I don't want to even try and believe this.» It removes all my confidence, my security. When I went to seek the Lord, it was ten days, the Lord did two things.

He did not only confirm the things I had heard, he opened my mind to see a lot more that this man could not tell us of what happens in the spiritual realm. And two, he led me to see what we are supposed to do as the things are happening so that we are not overcome but that we can overcome.

And we need to know three things and really come to terms with these three things.
One: how to operate with the weapons of our warfare. The Bible calls them the armour of God. It is not our armour; it is God's armour. When we use the armour, we Allow God to fight on our behalf.

Two: understand the relationship of the ministering spirits, the angels, to our spiritual lives. And to be sensitive to what is happening in our hearts as a leading to what needs to be happening in the spirit concerning us.
That brings us to the third thing.

Three: that is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not supposed to come as our servant, serving us and bringing things to us. He does not run to and fro to the Father to tell Him what we need. That is the work of angels. But He stands by our side. Doing what? Guiding us, teaching us, leading us, and helping us to pray the right way. And when these things are happening in the spiritual realm, He tells us, sometimes He wakes you up in the night and says, «Pray.» You say, «No! My time is not yet come.» And He says, «Pray now!» Why? He sees what is happening in the spirit. Sometimes He says, «Tomorrow? Fasting!» You say, «Oh, no, I'll start on Monday!» But He understands what is happening in the spiritual realm. We should learn to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit. He guides us in the paths of righteousness.

An excerpt from a sermon by John Mulinde. John Mulinde is the founder and leader of World Trumpet Mission, Uganda.

Flavian.