Warfare

How are you doing? I am extremely honored that Pastor Leon gifted the pulpit for me this morning because God put a word on my heart, and I actually came up to him last week, and I said, hey, you know, we're wrapping up this series, and I just feel like we're in such a battle, and I feel like that Lord just kind of put this message on my heart. And he said, good, you want to preach next Sunday? And I was like, oh, okay, yes, absolutely. So, in Jesus' name.

And thank you for the worship team, just ushering in the presence of God this morning. There is no greater weapon for me than praise and worship to my great God. So, thank you all this morning. That was just some great hymns and battle songs and raising a hallelujah. Amen.

Amen. So, the past several weeks, we have been in this series, Church and Culture, and what culture looks like as opposed to what a Christ-centered life would look like. And so, I'm just going to kind of backdate, you know, for the past several months, we've been kind of in quarantine, we've had COVID, we've had riots, we've had protests, we've had bullying, we've had racism, prejudice, racial bias. And it's just been ugly. It's been so ugly in culture and in our world.

And God just said, you know what? I don't sit on a donkey. I don't sit on an elephant. I sit on the throne. And I'm going to need you to shift your focus because social media and the news culture has it twisted.

But I have holy truth for you. And that's what we're going to talk about today. We're going to talk about spiritual warfare. We're going to talk about the battle that we're in. And for those that don't know me, my greatest passion, other than being a wife and a mother, is discipling women.

I have a passion for women. I have a passion for broken women, to rise them up in the Holy Spirit and the truth of God to become warrior women. And that's what I am. I am a warrior mama. I'm a warrior wife.

I'm a warrior woman. And I may come in a five-foot-three package. I might be small and petite, but I've got a great God. And so, I don't fight battles like the world does. I fight my battles in prayer.

I fight my battles in worship. And I fight my battle with God's holy truth, and that's my Bible. And so, before I move on, I'm just going to pray. Heavenly Father, I thank you. I thank you, God, that I get to be your mouthpiece today, Lord.

I pray, God, that you would just fill me with the Holy Spirit, that every word that comes out of my mouth will be biblical truth, and that it would be set on fertile ground this morning. I thank you, God, that you have chosen me to be a vessel for you this morning, Lord. I praise you. I honor you. And I thank you that you have never, ever lost a battle, and that just calling upon the name of Jesus gives me supernatural strength and gives your children Holy Spirit strength.

So, I just want to remind you this morning, there is no neutral ground in the universe. Every square inch, every split second is claimed by God, and it is counterclaimed by Satan. Ephesians 6.12 says, 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. You guys, there is a battle going over you right now.

Just imagine God is arm wrestling the devil for you as we sit here right now. And I love how the message reads. It says, A fight to the finish. God is strong, and he wants you strong. So, take everything the master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials.

Because God just doesn't give us good. God gives us the best. And put them to use, so you will be able to stand up to everything the devil throws your way. This is no afternoon athletic contest that we'll walk away from and forget in a couple of hours. This is for keeps.

It's a life or death fight to the finish against the devil and all his angels. Second Corinthians in the message tells us, chapter 10, verse 3 through 5, The world is unprincipled. Our culture is unprincipled. It's a dog-eat-dog out there. The world doesn't fight fair.

Can I get an amen? But we don't live or fight our battles that way. We never have, and we never will. The tools of our trade aren't for marketing or manipulation, but they are for demolishing that entire massively corrupt culture. We use our powerful God tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ.

Our tools are ready at hand for clearing the ground of every obstruction and building lives of obedience into maturity. See, Salt Church, you need to understand something. We have an enemy, and he's very patient. He's very manipulative. He's very calculating, and he's very strategic.

And as you're sitting here, he schemes on you. He is scheming on you this very minute. And when I, as a wife and as a mother and as a friend and as a Christ follower, where I think about the enemy sitting back and he schemes on me, like he's looking for ways to take me out. Not only me, but he could try to come against my husband and try to cause division in our holy union of marriage. But better yet, when he couldn't get me and he couldn't get into my marriage, he went after my kid.

He schemed, and he plotted, and he sit back, and he watched. And every time you react in the flesh, you're leaving that joker breadcrumbs. Every time you respond in this, he's like, okay, I've studied. He studies your mannerisms. He studies your reactions.

He's plotting, and he's scheming. And I thank God that because that joker is scheming on me, that God has given me Holy Spirit power and the best made materials to fight. To fight Him, and not just to fight Him, but to defeat Him. So, I'm going to tell you a personal story before I get into the message, and I'm going to tell you why this particular passage is so important and is so dear to me, because as a single mom at this time in my life, I was a single mother with two teenagers, and Lord knows if anybody's ever had teenage kids, y'all need some Jesus. Whoo, we need Jesus.

Any mama needs, every mama needs Jesus, praise the Lord. But there was this particular time that the enemy had crept into my home, and he was very crafty, he was very subtle, and it didn't just happen overnight, it was just he kind of took his time and took his course, and he came after one of the most dearest things to my heart. But he came after my son, and there was a time, Lord knows I wanted to choke that child. I wanted to choke him. But he wasn't the enemy.

Although the devil had me thinking he was, he was not the enemy. And so, there was this moment, I stood in my bedroom, and I just, I mean, it was hell. It was straight up hell in my home. And it was ugly. It was so ugly.

And I was like, God, I'm a Christian woman. He was raised in church. How did this happen? And then I just put on praise music, because at my very weakest is when I worship the hardest. And so, I went into my bedroom, and I began to pray, and I began to just worship God as, and I'm telling y'all, I ugly cried.

Like, it was ugly. I so ugly cried. And I just paced. And it was one of those moments where God reminded me, put on your armor, girlfriend, because you're in a battle. You're in a battle for his soul.

You're in a battle for his sobriety. You're in a battle for his salvation. And as much as you love him, I love him more. So, put on your armor and fight. And that's exactly what I did.

I stood in my bedroom, and I went just like this. Gloves off, Satan. You couldn't take me out? All right, I got your number. You went after my kid?

Mama's claws just came out. And I said, all right, Lord, let's do this. And so, I went into the Word, and God said, finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Because you see, my power is His mighty power. He said, 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. Keisha, your struggle is not against Logan. It's not against people. It's against the enemy. And He is out to destroy everything that I love.

So, not 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. He didn't say, just put on your helmet, sweetheart, or, you know, buckle on that belt today. You know, put on them shods of peace, and put your, you know, put your shoes on. He said, no, you put on the full armor of God, because we're getting ready to battle.

So that when the day of evil comes, and y'all, Salt Church, we are in an evil day. Amen. Like, we are in it. It is evil. 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.

Now, you see, before I continue, I want you just to kind of picture where this particular passage has come from. Paul is in prison. He is writing this letter to the church of Ephesus. He's writing the book of Ephesians, and he is kind of in this, you know, in prison, and he's watching these soldiers, you know, coming and going and putting on their battle gear. And it was, you know, the big old breastplates, and their helmets, and their, you know, boots, and their swords, and all this good stuff.

And so, that's kind of where this image came from, is he's watching these soldiers put on their pieces of armor. And the one piece that kind of held it all together was the belt. That's God's truth. If you don't know the truth of God, the rest of it's not going to work for you. So, he says, you need to put on that belt, and buckle around your waist.

And that's this right here, his truth, his word. With the breastplate of righteousness in place, because, you know, we have to put that breastplate on to protect our heart. And with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace, in addition to all of 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. My weapons of warfare—I joke, my husband will tell you this.

I walk around and tell him, I am a weapon of mass destruction against the enemy. I am a weapon of mass destruction. My military folks will understand that. I'm little, but I'm mighty. But my weapons of warfare is God's holy word.

If I have a question about something, I go to his word. If I am worried about something, I go to his word. If I am tired and stressed, and God, I can't take one more step, I don't know what to do, I go into his word, I pray, and then I worship him. Those are our weapons of warfare. And pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.

All. All of your prayers, all of your requests come to God. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people. All the Lord's people. Doesn't matter if they're black, white, democratic, Republican, mask wearer, rebel like myself.

Don't want to wear a mask, but we do it. Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter if they're younger or older, if they're in the same social economic status we are. It does not matter. Doesn't matter what they look like.

God loves everyone. And he wants all of his people to come to repentance and come into relationship with him. Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, 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. So, I want to talk about how strategic the enemy is, and why you have to put on this armor every day, and why you have to put on every single piece every day.

The minute you wake up, before your feet even touch the ground, you should be praying, Lord, help me put on the helmet of salvation. Help me just put on the gospel of peace. Put on every piece of my armor before I even touch, my feet touch the ground. Because when my feet touch the ground, as a warrior woman, I want the devil to run and flee and say, oh man, she's awake. Dang.

I want him to run from me. Because I don't want to fear him, but he best fear me. So this is how strategic the enemy is. He has strategies to devour and destroy us. Strategy number one, he comes against your passion.

He seeks to dim your whole desire for prayer, dull your interest in spiritual things, and downplay the potency of your most strategic weapons. It's prayer and praise. So put on the armor. Every piece of it. Number two, strategy number two, he comes against your focus.

He disguises himself and manipulates your perspective. So you end up focusing on the wrong culprit, directing your weapons at the wrong enemy. See, we're so quick to point fingers and blame and hate our brothers and sisters. When God says, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ and to love them as yourself. Second Corinthians 11, 14 says, and no wonder for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.

Like, I know some of us like to think the devil has like a pitchfork, pointy ears, long tail, and he's ugly and gruesome, but he's really not. He comes in looking very beautiful, very shiny, very churchy. He is the master of manipulation. He comes against your identity. He magnifies your insecurities, leading you to doubt what God says about you and to disregard what he's given you.

And y'all, this one, this hits me right in the heart because he has. He's come against my identity, Lord, I'm not smart enough, I'm not educated enough, I can't get up on this pulpit and preach your word. I can't do this, I can't lead women's Bible study. I can't do this, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not. And then he reminds me, oh, but you are.

And I have equipped you with everything you need because your identity is not found in a diploma, it is not found in any of this, it's not found in how much you make, it's found in me. In me, your identity is found in Jesus Christ, amen. Ephesians 1, 17 through 19, I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know him better. Your heart enlightened that you may know the hope to which he's called you. And I cannot tell you how many times I have denied his calling, that I have said, no, I can't.

No, I'm not. Because the enemy was strategic in making me think that I could not. When God says, but baby girl, I have destined you for this. Because you have been that broken woman, because you have been under attack, because I have come and done a work in your life that is so beautiful, that is so awesome, that only I get the glory for it. That is your identity.

Strategy number four, against your family. He's strategic at coming against your family. You see, when husbands and wives are married, that is a holy covenant with God. And he loves nothing more than to see marriages ruined, homes divided, children off course and distracted, and in drugs, and in porn, and anything that is ugly and not of God. He wants to disintegrate your family, rendering it chaotic, restless, and unfruitful.

And I just remember getting to a point where I said, not on my watch. Not on my watch do you get my son. Not on my watch do you get my daughter. Not on my watch do you get to take out my girlfriends, my family. No, not on my watch.

He comes against your confidence. He constantly reminds you of your past mistakes and bad choices, hoping to convince you that you're under God's judgment rather than under the blood. Who's got a past? Who's got an ugly past? God does not bring shame.

God does not allow condemnation. The enemy does. God comes to bring healing and conviction, but not to condemn. Revelations 12, 10. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say, now have come the salvation and the power, the kingdom of our God, and the authority of the Messiah for the accuser of our brothers and sisters who accuses them before our God day and night has been hurled down.

He can accuse me all he wants. He can try to throw up my past all he wants. Spoiler alert, I don't live there anymore. I'm walking in my destiny in Salt Church, so are we. He comes against your calling.

He amplifies fear, worry, and anxiety until they're the loudest voices in your head. He has tried, all morning long, he has come against anxiety. I'm like, I cannot. I preach a word without my eye, I'm sick to my stomach, I can't get up here and do this. I'm like, oh my gosh, I've been practicing time and rehearsing, and God says, why are you tripping?

Girl, you got this. And then all my girlfriends showed up and reiterated that, and then my son and my husband and my pastor and my pastor's wife, God says, how many more people do I need to tell you? He wants you to deem the adventures of following God to be too risky to attempt. I don't know about you, but God is worth the risk for me. Joshua 14, 8, but my fellow Israelites who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt in fear.

I, however, followed the Lord, my God, wholeheartedly. I'm chasing him down with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. He comes against your purity. Strategy number seven, he tries to tempt you towards certain sins, convincing you that you can tolerate them without risking consequences. Oh, it's just a little sin, it'll be okay.

Little sin, big sin, it's all sin, and it all matters to God. Knowing that risking those consequences will only wedge distance between you and God. He wants to place this wedge between us and God. He has come to seek, to kill, to destroy, to eat you for lunch, and he just never gets tired. He comes against your rest and contentment.

He hopes to overload your life and schedule, pressuring you to constantly push beyond your limits, never feeling permission to say no. Okay, I've got to get this deadline. I've got to get this appointment. I've got to be a mom. I've got to be a wife.

I've got to be a realtor. I've got to be this. I've got to be that. And then it's like, oh, it's by the end of the day. And I'm like, I haven't prayed.

I haven't opened up my Bible. I haven't done anything. I haven't worshiped. And busy being under Satan's yoke. Never be too busy for God.

Remember, Deuteronomy 515, remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and outstretched arm. Therefore, the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day. And for those that don't know, you might actually pay job, what I do for a living, not what I do as my passion, because actually this is what I'm really passionate about is bringing the Holy Word of God. But I'm a real estate agent, and I work Monday through Saturday. But there was a day where I said, all right, God, I'm going to trust you with my business.

I'm going to trust you that you will provide, but I am not working Sundays. I am not chasing down clients. I am not chasing down money. I'm not chasing anything. And so, when people come and they come to me and say, hey, well, can you do this on Sunday?

Can you show me this house? Can you? No. I have no problem saying no. Sunday is my faith and my family day.

Even God needed a day of rest. So does Keisha. And let me tell you, I have God, David said it, we'll never see the forsaken begging for bread. I have never worried about my business, because that's a ministry in itself, and I dedicated my business to the Lord, and He has blessed me. But Sundays, I'm not showing you a single solitary house, and you're lucky if I, excuse me, if I answer your call.

Because that is the day that is designed to be with my salt family, serving the Lord, and being with my family. He comes against your heart. He's strategic in using every opportunity to keep old wounds fresh in mind, knowing that anger and hurt and bitterness and unforgiveness will continue to roll the damage forward. Well, I don't know if I want to sit in her, you know, sit in church next to Susie, because she really offended me last year. Or, I don't want to sit next to John, because I really just didn't like the way he played the guitar last month.

Get over it. Get over it. If you are offended, you will be okay. I promise. I promise.

Hebrews 12 and 15, see to it that no one, no one falls short of the grace of God. No bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. Last strategy, against your relationships. He comes against your relationships. He creates disruption and disunity within the circle of friends and within the shared community of the body of Christ.

Did you hear that? He is strategic in coming against the body of Christ. The devil will walk right up on into Salt Church and sit in a pew and try to cause discourse and division. And it is our holy responsibility to not let that happen. First Timothy 2 and 8.

Therefore, I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or dispute. So, what is our strategy to fight back? Because you see, the enemy is very strategic, but so is God. Amen? So, all of these strategies that the enemy uses to take us out.

God has said, here's how to resist and defeat the enemy's schemes. Here's where it gets good. Y'all ready? Resist Satan by submitting to God. Submit yourselves to God.

Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Call upon the name of Jesus. The devil's attacking you. Just say, Jesus help. If that's the only thing you can say.

My son called me the other day to pray and he was like, I said, bud, if you don't know what to say and you don't know how to pray, just say Jesus. He says, protect yourself with the sword of the spirit and the armor of God. Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against that joker's strategy. God says to fight the enemy's temptations through the power of prayer.

Matthew 18, 18 and 19, truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by the Father in heaven. Again, praying for your kids, praying for your business, praying for a child, for a spouse, for a whatever that looks like in your life, whatever it is. Find a prayer warrior to link arms and pray with you. Where two or more are gathered, he's in the midst, and you don't think he wants to bless you.

He wants to bless you, and then he's going to get the glory for it, amen? Never underestimate the power of our prayers. Salt Church, I'm here to tell you, there is power in prayer. I have seen the hand of God move in ways that you could never, ever explain other than, but God. But God.

God. Praying God's word back to him is a strong and mighty weapon against the forces of evil. It is truth, and it is light going out, piercing the holes in the darkness. My new phrase right now that I'm really, really kind of just like, hashtag. You cannot be light and light, y'all.

You can't just hang around churchy folks and be light and light. Jesus hung out with sinners. Jesus went to the harder places in the darkness, the tax collectors, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the holy righteous. See, you can only be light and darkness. Let's pierce the darkness with the light of Jesus Christ.

It builds our faith and our trust in him. It guards our hearts and focuses our minds back on him. It reminds us that God is in control and he knows our way and understands what we face today. You see, his thoughts are not our thoughts and his ways are not our ways. They will always be greater.

It wins the battle. You see, prayer, God's word, that's some power. That's powerful stuff right there. That will win any battle that you're facing. Pray in the name of Jesus.

His name holds power over the dark spiritual forces we face. It's a dark war that we are in. It's, I mean, it's life and death. It's life or death. Resist him by being self-controlled and alert.

I promise I'm wrapping up soon, y'all. I promise. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Have y'all ever seen a lion devour another animal?

It's pretty gruesome. It's not pretty. I mean, it's kind of bloody. It's gnarly. It's kind of gross.

But that's what he's doing. He's looking to just, in your weakest moment, to just kind of run up on you, snatch you from behind and devour you. In all things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. It's Romans 8, 37. You see, the Bible is clear.

We must stay close to God's presence so that the fruits of his spirit are evident in our lives. It reminds us to live self-controlled, to be aware and alert. Don't be caught off guard. Though life goes on around us and we may forget about the ruthless schemes of the enemy every single day, every day is a battle. The devil never takes a day off.

He's waiting for you to lose focus. He's planning his attack at your weakest moment. And be ruthless with sin, which is an open door for the enemy to work. If you are ruthless in your sin, he has got grounds to work. But if you resist him, he's got to go.

Fight back with the spirit of God. Zechariah 4, 6. Not by my might nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. Romans 8, 37. In all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

In and of ourselves, we are never going to be able to be a match for the battles we face. It's only by the fresh feeling of God's Holy Spirit. And sometimes it's not just every day. It's every hour. It's every moment.

It's Holy Spirit, come. Holy Spirit, come. Holy Spirit, give me the words. Holy Spirit, give me the wisdom to respond and not react to that person. Holy Spirit, give me words of wisdom.

Holy Spirit, please don't let me rise up in my flesh. Don't make me lose my ish on this person because they are about to work my last nerve. No. Every day. Every day.

And there is sometimes every second of every day praying for God. Less of me, more of you. Less of me, more of you. You see, the same Spirit that healed the sick, set the captives free, split the sea, and raised the dead is alive today. The same Spirit that raised Jesus from being dead three days is the same Holy Spirit power that lives in you.

Now, my girlfriends and my husband will attest to this, and they are going to laugh at me. But one of my biggest pet peeves for Christ followers, I'm not even going to lie, it just irks my little nerve, is, oh, I'm okay. I mean, I'm alive. I'm here by the grace of God. I'm making it day by day.

You better pull your big girl panties up and say, oh, no, no, no, no. If you are a Christ-following, Holy Spirit-filled person, that is not how Jesus Christ and God the Father wants us making it out day by day by the skin of our teeth. No. Dude, I left you a helper. I left you my Holy Spirit that said, come out of my mouth.

The grave. I split seas. I turned them into highways. I turned graves into gardens. You raise a hallelujah, I win every battle, not some.

Believe in His ability to work mightily through you, for His power is never based on us or on our own abilities. He reminds us that because of Him, in our weaknesses, He is so strong, and we are more than conquerors through Christ. You have to know that you were a conqueror through the blood of Jesus, His authority, and the word of our testimony. They have conquered Him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives, even unto death. Revelation 12, 11.

But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, 1 Corinthians 15, 57. Salt Church, you need to know that in Christ we are forgiven. We are set free. We have His mighty power working with us. We are more than conquerors through Christ.

We are overcomers in this life because He has overcome, and our lives are hidden in Christ with God. No enemy, no obstacle can touch our souls when we have been set free by the blood of Christ and the power of His sacrifice by the death on the cross. We have a new identity in Him. We've been bought with a price. We are not our own.

We are covered by the grace and forgiveness of Jesus. We live victorious. No demon or darkness can ever separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ our Lord. Now, I told y'all, the enemy came into my home, and he attacked my boy. And I'm not going to get into the details of that because I truly believe, because He is covered under the blood of Jesus Christ, because He is set free, He is redeemed.

It'll be the word of His testimony that others will be set free. We live victorious, victoriously. There is power in the name of Jesus. I told my boy, there is nothing. There is no thing that you have said, that you have done, that will ever separate you from the love of God.

Nothing. We have, everyone has a past. We all have a story. Praise the Lord for testimony, because that trial becomes a trophy to God. That testimony becomes, or that test becomes a testimony to God, what He has accomplished, what He will get the glory for, to make the enemy flee through the power of praise.

I love nothing more than to praise God, because He is worthy. He is holy. He is sovereign. He is good. Even when it's ugly outside, even when I turn on the news, and I can't stand five minutes of it because it's ugly.

I just have to shut it off. He's still good. He's still on the throne. As they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, who were invading Judah, and they were defeated. It didn't say they had rocket grenades and pulled up their swords and fought.

They began to sing and praise God, because He's holy, and He's good. He's sovereign, and He's worthy of our praise. And they were defeated. That's the same God that when you go into praise right now, He is defeating your enemy. About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.

And suddenly, there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately, all the doors were opened, and everyone's bonds were unfastened. Are you shackled in shame? Are you shackled in addiction? Are you shackled with not forgiving someone that has hurt you or offended you? Are you shackled with insecurities?

These men were shackled in prison. And because they began to praise the Lord, the grounds began to move. Prison doors were open. Their shackles came off. Y'all, give God glory for praise Him.

He's worthy. Praise and worship will make the enemy flee. It pushes back the darkness that surrounds. It blocks the attacks and breaks off the chains. Evil will not stick around if we're praising our God, who will fight our battles for us.

In the powerful story of Jehoshaphat, we saw that God miraculously defeated the enemy because of people's obedience to praise Him. Salt Church, open up your Bible. Get into the Word of God, and see how these people praised Him, how David praised Him, how warriors praised Him, how His servants praised Him. They praised God, and miracles happened. Trust God's power and protection.

Psalm 91, 1-4. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. There's rest. Because sometimes battling, it's hard, and it's tiring. And when you don't see those prayers being answered right away, it gets defeating, and you get discouraged.

But there's rest when you can trust the Lord to fight your battles. All you need to do is raise a hallelujah. For He commanded His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. You see, God doesn't leave us to fend for ourselves. Never.

I promise you that the person to your right or to your left at some point has faced a battle. Perhaps you're in a battle right now. Perhaps you are battling for someone that you love. All you have to do is call upon the name of the Lord. He is mighty to save.

And all you need to do is sit back. Trust in Him. And when He calls you to fight, you get up. Put on the full armor of God and say, I am a warrior. I'm not worrying about this.

Heavenly Father, I thank You. I thank You, God, that You are so mighty. And so powerful, and I thank you, God, that all we had to do was raise our hallelujah to praise you, and you have left your throne and inhabited our atmosphere and our situation. And you have redeemed everything that culture, everything that the enemy has been strategic and trying to destroy. You defeated on the cross.

I praise you, God, because you're worthy. I'm going to ask now, because as a disciple-maker, as a woman of the Lord, if you are here or if you are joining us online, and you have not made the commitment to give your entire heart and soul to Jesus, if you've been in a battle that you are losing and you are ready to be victorious, these altars are open. We have people that will come down, I will come down, and I will pray with you. But if you don't know Jesus, pray this with me in your hearts. God, I believe you.

I believe in you, that you are the creator of the earth, that you came down in flesh. You died a horrible death for our sake. You died on that cross, and you were resurrected. I ask you to come into my heart and set up residence. I believe that I am a treasured child of the Most High God.

Have your way in my heart, my mind, and my life. In Jesus' holy name, amen. If you have received the prayer of salvation, tell someone so that they can celebrate with you. God bless. Thank you, Keisha.

That was amazing. I was convicted by 29.5 things. I was frantically writing down the notes, and then I remembered, I have her notes. Fringe benefits of being on the back end.