God is close to those who draw near to Him. Unfortunately, many believers do not get to this level because of lack of faith and double mindedness. If you want to remain close to God, you must love what He loves and hate what He hates. Two cannot walk together unless they agree. Repentance aligns us up to be in sync with God. If you don’t take repentance seriously, then you can part ways with God and not even realize it.
The fight of faith is a personal commitment to living a life completely dependent on God’s will, despite conflicting evil happening around us in opposition to our belief in the Lord Jesus Christ.
True faith is confidence in God and not in ourselves or anything else. We ought to live by faith in the word of God, not by sight.
God desires to see us grow and mature in Him because that way we won’t be easily swayed by every wind of doctrine. When we run after what is not the truth, we waste our time. The truth will remain the truth and you can’t benefit from what is not the truth. We need to grow spiritually, especially in these last days where the devil is churning out all manner of deceit. Even the elect can be deceived.
As believers, we owe it to ourselves to grow spiritually. A spiritual minor may be the lord of the house and have all the gifts of God but will not be able to execute them until he matures. He is not different from a servant as long as he remains a child. When we choose to remain spiritual babies, it puts us at a disadvantage. Babies can’t fight or win battles. When you depend on people for almost everything, you will not be able to live your best. Practice makes perfect.
The sword of the Spirit is the word of God. This is not carnal or human but a spiritual weapon of warfare. This means that any word that is not God’s word is not His weapon and will not be effective in spiritual warfare. As believers we must never forget that the words we speak should be the testimonies of the Holy Spirit about Jesus Christ the Savior.
We sit in church and listen, but we don’t understand the word because we aren’t teachable. We think we know it all, but our eyes of understanding are closed. If we open our eyes to see the word, the word will direct us to Christ Jesus. We should ask God to open our eyes of understanding and be intentional about the time we spend reading and listening to his word.
The other war that is neglected yet important is the war against the desires of the flesh.
Losing this war is not an option because if you do, you won’t be able to win the war against demonic spirits. The desires of the flesh are terrible and harmful. If the flesh dominates, it automatically provides a platform for the devil to disrupt your fellowship with God and eventually lead to death which means leading one away from God the source of life.
Christians need to rediscover what really matters; Christ Jesus! They need to develop a working intimacy with Him based on true knowledge of Him and knowing His love for us so we too can love Him. That love for Him will make Him our priority in life, not what we get from Him but who He is. If we build a relationship with Him based on our love for Him, even when things do not line up, we will still love Him, because we love Him for who He is!!!
Abraham had an intimate relationship with God such that he could discuss anything with Him as a son would do with his earthly father. In Genesis 18:20 Abraham interceded for Sodom and stood before God pleading for His mercy even when he knew that God was determined to destroy the city because of their sins. Habakkuk acted in the same way in Habakkuk 2:1; taking advantage of the father–son relationship he had with God when it came to intercession. You too can go to God with His word concerning unresolved things in your life and He will show you where you are missing it; where you are not in agreement with His word.
“When you hear God’s instruction, listen, know it, meditate on it, believe it, say it with your mouth and then act on it. This is how to respond in faith; “Faith response”.