Our conversation today is going to be a long one, but I'm sure it will be worth it. These are three very important things I want to share with you. The first thing you need to know is that the Lord God has entrusted His power to you, so that you are able to overcome all your problems. Second, that the purpose of this is for us, in Christ, to have peace. And the third thing I'm going to teach you is how to put on the armor of God, and how to use the Sword of Spirit to defeat the forces of evil. These Words that I am going to give you will make you a winner in the spirit world. And they will bring, in addition to solving your problems, true peace to your heart.
Today I want to talk a little more about the prayer that Jesus made to the Father on favor of his disciples, not only for those who were with him that day, but for all who would come to believe in him through the Word of God. In this prayer, Jesus spoke something that we often do not pay attention to, but this is what differentiates us from other people. He said: “I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask you to take them out of the world, but to free them from evil. They are not of the world, as I am not of the world.” (John 17:14-16). Three things I want to highlight here, and study with you.
There are people getting dirty with fear of the enemy. A disease arises, the doctor says it is serious and has no solution, the family is already desperate, the patient loses hope... But, where is your faith? Do not you have a God? Why do not you invoke your God? Don't you believe that He can do everything? There are people who only believe at the time that everything is going well — believes lip service — but they do not make use of the power that the Lord has placed at their disposal. The problem arises and the person allows himself to be overwhelmed, and ends up conforming to "whatever God wants"... Whatever God wants not my brother! Not my sister! The Lord God has already made it clear what he wants. He wants you to get up, stand up in the strength of your God and face the problem. As frightening as your enemies may be, do not be intimidated... use the authority and power that the Lord has placed at your disposal. Be brave!
I want to study with you today a fact that happened to the prophet Elijah, because sometimes God speaks to us, and we become silly, do not really believe, and conclusion: We frustrate God's plan. In the last study we saw that that Canaanite woman, who had a demon possessed daughter, narrowly missed her blessing. She was not sure that Jesus wanted to bless her and even she did not believe herself worthy of the blessing. It was necessary for Jesus to mess with her panache for her to react. It happened with the prophet Elijah that, if he were not a man of God himself, he would fail to fulfill God's plan.
We must never despise what God teaches us, whether during the preaching of the Word or during the reading of the Holy Scriptures, because everything that He makes us understand, are gifts that He gives us. And with these gifts, we must earn other gifts, because in these gifts that He gives us, there is the power to solve our problems. This ability that the Lord gives us, is forever, it will never be taken away from us, because "the gifts of God are irrevocable", and they will never, under any circumstances, be canceled. But we have to be aware that the "Screwtape", the "Glubose", the devil of hell will always send his secretary to try to divert our faith, or to try to convince us that we will not succeed, because we are not worthy of such a blessing — all small talk! - When the evil one sees that he will lose control of the situation, that his plan is going down the drain, he soon finds a way to sow doubt in our hearts. But if we pay attention to what the Lord tells us, and do according to the understanding that He has given us within the Word, we will always win.