 Yes, you know, yeah, if you can all just pray that nothing more will happen to this recording, we will be able to proceed with our class smoothly without any issues. So we'll get started. So last class in fact we were touching upon the rather important topic of overcoming the devil. And we started off by looking at how important it is for us to understand that he is just a defeated enemy that the victory against him has already been one on the cross. And so when we take our stand knowing this truth to a great extent, you know, we are able to live in in victory on a daily basis, cancelling his works, overcoming him through the victory of on the cross. You know, we use the term overcoming by the blood of the lamb. Now that just basically means overcoming through the finished work of the cross. So we are able to do this. When we are aware of our legal status now that we are participants in Jesus victory on the cross. So whatever he has done for us on our behalf, we can claim it and we can live in that. So we looked at some points because of the, you know, because of our of our new status of victory of being victors in Christ Jesus. We looked at certain points that we can use in overcoming the devil. So we looked at how he tries to play mind games. He tries to accuse. He tries to deceive. He also tries to, you know, violate through various different kinds of intrusions. And so we looked at how we can guard ourselves, protect ourselves in different ways. Most of this will be, you know, in our video last time's video. So you can always go back and refer to that. So we looked at all of these things. And the last point in your notes, you know, regarding this is the use of spiritual weapons. We could not touch upon this particular point. So we will look at that now. And then we will get into the last chapter. All right, so just coming to the spiritual weapons that are available. We are, of course, very familiar with the Ephesians, you know, chapter six passage. So that, of course, we will be covering in greater detail in the third year when Ephesians is being covered. So we will not look at each piece of armor and look at the significance of that right now. But, you know, just to look at that particular verse which talks about the importance of the armor of God. Maybe we could have one person actually read out that particular verse for us. Ephesians chapter six verse 13. Yeah, someone could read out please. Ephesians six verse 13. Ephesians chapter six verse 13. Therefore put on every piece of God's armor. So you will be able to resist the time of evil. Then after the battle, you will still be standing firm. Yes, so it talks about how we should put on the full armor of God because when the day of evil comes, we will be able to stand our ground. So we can never anticipate exactly when this day of evil will come. Trials and difficulties and attacks from the evil one can come at any time. We will not know beforehand. So it is good for us to always stay with that entire armor, cloth always in that entire armor of God. It says over here, full armor of God. So that when that day comes, when that unanticipated day comes, when the day of evil comes, we will be able to stand our ground. And it also goes on to say after you have done everything to stand, to remain standing throughout the entire attack and then come out victorious. So we cannot anticipate beforehand when temptation will strike, when Satan will try to deceive us and lead us away. So if we are always clothed in the armor of God, we will be able to stand our ground rather than being swayed by the devil, rather than beginning to doubt the truth in God's word because of the lies that he is, the half-truths that he is speaking, rather than being swayed by all of that because we are already clothed in the armor. We will be able to withstand and the evil one will not give up immediately. The attack may go on for hours, maybe we will feel that, I know it's alright, I can compromise this once and it's alright and you may think all those thoughts. But you choose to continue resisting because you are clothed in the armor of God and having done everything and finally the attack stops, you will still be there standing victorious, not having given in, just like Jesus in the wilderness. The attack we do not know for how many days it went on, for how many hours it went on, we do not know the details, but at the end of it all, after Satan left, he was still there standing in victory. Jesus did not fall and now because he is our representative and all that he achieved, we can now have through him, if we continue to walk in the spirit and are not led by the flesh, then we also can have that same victory in and through him. And so even as we talk about the importance of always putting on the full armor of God, maybe we can just think of it mainly as three primary points. One of course will obviously be standing on the truth of God's word. Whatever God says about us, whatever God says about our future, whatever God says about our calling, we just hold on to that very, very stubbornly, no matter what circumstances are coming away, no matter what attacks the evil one is launching against us, we just choose to hold on to the truth of what is given in God's word. That becomes one very, very important part of the armor. The other thing is complete trust in Jesus. I mean, even when it looks like as if it looks, it's not the truth, but it looks like as if Jesus has just stepped back and is not intervening and is choosing not to help. Or in fact, it may look like as if Jesus has turned against us and is allowing all kinds of negative things to be done to us. Even when it looks like that, we just place our faith in him and say, I refuse to stop trusting him. So when we can trust him to that level, when we are that confident about his faithfulness, about his character, that he's the same yesterday, today and forever, and so the same way he was faithful to us yesterday, even though today things are negative, we have to continue believing that even today, yes, even in the midst of all of this, he is still faithful. So the second really important part of the armor is just refusing to stop trusting him, refusing to stop believing in his goodness, in his power and authority over everything that's going on in our lives. Just refusing to stop believing that he will bring us through it all. So that becomes a very important part of the armor. The third thing, of course, is maintaining righteousness in our lives. That also really helps because if you remember in Ephesians 6, it's basically the breastplate of righteousness. Like you will see during the study that we would do next year when you're having your Ephesians, that the breastplate is not just something that covers the chest portion. In those days when they said breastplate, they literally just meant two really thick leather and metal pieces which would hang in the front and in the back. It's like just basically two large pieces of leather framed with metal. So the front portion would be hanging down all the way up to below your knees. So it's not just breastplate. It's like hanging right up to below your knees. And then the back portion also would be hanging. So you would basically have these two pieces held together by some leather thongs. So the front piece and the back piece are tied together over here on your shoulders. And so this thing just hangs off your body and covers you all the way right down to below your knee. So which means it is shielding all of you. So maintaining righteousness in our lives really goes a long way in protecting us and shielding us against the works of the evil one. So these three things I think probably would be very helpful for us as believers to stand our ground. So even though Satan is trying to make us doubt the God's word, we say no, we choose to believe that God's word is the truth. And then when he tries to attack us in the area of trusting the love of Jesus, he makes us doubt the authority and power of Jesus where we think, oh my, this situation is so impossible, not even God can overcome it is what is the wrong thought that comes into our minds. So believing in the truth of God's word, complete faith in Jesus and righteousness, maintaining righteousness in our lives. These three things go a long way in helping us to stand our ground. So that would be one main spiritual weapon, the armor that God has given us, the spiritual armor that he has given us. Looking to the next thing, the anointing of the Holy Spirit. That makes such a difference when the devil works against us, when he attacks us in different ways. If we have the anointing, the enabling, the equipping of the Holy Spirit, that makes it easier for us to overcome whatever it is that the devil is trying to unleash against us. And that's what we see even regarding the life of Jesus. Acts 1038. I mean, I know it's a familiar scripture, but then if we could have any one person read out. Acts 1038, please. Acts 1038, please. It's made very, very clear that when Jesus was on this earth, he chose not to use his divine powers so that he can be fully human and be able to represent us. So if he had used his divine powers, then he would no longer be human the way we are, you know, utterly helpless, utterly human, you know, it's what we are. And so he chose to be like us. He chose not to make use of his divinity in any way while he was operating on the earth. And so it says over here that it was God who anointed Jesus of Nazareth. He anointed him with the Holy Spirit and power so that he would be able to go around doing good. And it says healing everyone who was under the power of the devil. So when the devil uses whatever temporary authority that has been given to him, when he tries to use that against us and against our ministry, against our families, when he tries to do those things, we are able to stand in the strength of the Holy Spirit, the guidance which he gives, the power which he releases into our situations. We stand upon those things and we are able to overcome the works of the evil one. And we are able to do this because the Holy Spirit is there who has been given to us. We have been anointed with his anointing. And it says over here because God was with him. So all of God, the entire, the triune Godhead is with us through the Holy Spirit in the form of the Holy Spirit. So the anointing that is there upon us that is adequate to take care of every kind of situation. So the anointing of the Holy Spirit does not just simply help us to maybe share the salvation message or preach from the pulpit or maybe heal and deliver someone. The anointing of the Holy Spirit enables us to do these things. But the anointing of the Holy Spirit also helps us to do much more than that. Every work of the devil which comes against us can be overcome through this anointing. So it's not just a limited anointing which can only help us in some areas of life. This is an anointing that can help us to overcome in all areas of our lives. And we see that in Luke 10, 19. If someone can read out for us, Luke 10, 19. Luke chapter 10 verse 19. Luke, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy. And you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you. It says that we have been given authority to overcome all of the power of the enemy. So in Acts 10, 38, we saw the anointing of the Holy Spirit being released to heal people. So that's the only aspect of the anointing that is mentioned over there. But here in Luke 10, 19, we see that the anointing of the Holy Spirit doesn't just apply to healing alone. It says that we have been given this anointing and we have been given this authority to overcome all of the power of the enemy. So it can be a personal attack against us and our family and we will be able to overcome it. It may be an attack against our church, the church where we are ministering. Then even in that, we can come against the works of the evil one. And like we saw in last time's class, we declare, we stand on the Word of God. We stand on what Jesus Christ has done on the cross, what He has accomplished. We stand upon that in confident faith and we say, in Jesus' name, we cancel your works, evil one. Because what Jesus did on the cross, that work will obviously always prevail over the temporary works which Satan is trying to do, the temporary works of harm which Satan is trying to do in our situations. So we can boldly stand on the finished work and declare that the evil one, your works are cancelled because His work, God's work, Jesus Christ's work will prevail over your temporary works. So we can cancel whatever He is trying to do in our lives if we have understood what Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross. Another weapon that is mentioned in your notes is the weapon of praise and worship. And I know we are very familiar with this, the main example that is always used with regard to praise and worship. We will look at those few verses but then let's also look at the larger implications of those two verses. Acts 16, 25 and 26, if we can have someone read out please. Acts 16, 25 and 26. Yeah, I mean this is a rather interesting passage because we see that Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God which basically means that they have not lost hope just because they have been thrown into prison and now it looks like as if the ministry is going to kind of be restricted. They are not concerned about these things. They are praying and praying with confidence knowing that God will hear their prayers and answer them. So with that kind of confidence they are praying and so their praying is leading into singing hymns to God. So it's like confident prayer, prayer which is so confident that it ends up with in praise because you are very, very sure that God will answer what you are asking for. So they are seated over here praying and singing and it says the other prisoners were listening to them. What a contrast between the outlook on life which all the other prisoners must have been having and the outlook on life which these two men have. The others are sitting over there and thinking this is my life, this is all I will have. But here are Paul and Silas knowing that there is much more awaiting them. There is a greater purpose for their lives than just being imprisoned. They know that God has taken hold of them and given them a calling and so they will be able to accomplish things for God whether it is in prison or outside prison so they are very sure of that. So there is no sense of lack of purpose, there is no meaninglessness in their lives in Paul and Silas' life. So the other prisoners are listening to them and wondering what are they so hopeful about, what are they so excited about, what is it that they have which we do not have. So they are all listening over there and then it says there was a violent earthquake and it says the foundations of the prison were shaken. So it was rather a violent earthquake and obviously because of the earthquake the prison doors fly open and then it says everyone's chains came loose. Now an earthquake can cause doors to open. We could say okay fine maybe the locks in those days were not very good, not the kind of technology that we have today. So yes maybe the prison doors flew open but one thing we know earthquakes don't exactly make chains on your hands fall off. So we see something divine happening over here in answer to the prayers of these people and they are praying with confidence, singing hymns and saying knowing that God will hear an answer. So I am just kind of thinking maybe there is more to this passage than just the physical release of Paul and Silas from jail. Maybe there is something more happening over here because not only do the shackles fall off, not only do the chains fall off from the hands of Paul and Silas, the chains fall off from all the other people's hands as well. It very clearly says that at once all the prison doors flew open, not just the jail cell where Paul and Silas are being placed, all the prison doors fly open. Everyone's chains come loose. So I am just thinking if we really pray with confidence before our God fully understanding what he has done for us on the cross, fully understanding the love that he has for people and the deep desire that he has to deliver people from their sins and the things which are holding them down. If we really pray with confidence with singing because we are so confident the Lord will do it. If we are praying with that kind of an attitude, it looks like as if chains which are holding people down would be released. So you see we are not just overcoming the devil's work in our own lives. We are able to overcome the devil's work in the lives of our congregation, in the lives of the people that we are trying to minister to. In the lives of that little prayer group that you are leading, the chains of the things which are binding them can be broken. If you are praying in confidence and you are praying with singing, knowing that your God is in charge and that your God has already won the victory. So I think the way we do it is so powerful. Not only can it just set us free, it can set even the other people that we are ministering to, even they can be set free through our praise and prayer and worship. So sometimes when we are ministering to people, I mean we may be in full-time ministry or we may just have a secular job and we are serving Christ wherever we can. So it doesn't matter whether we are full-time, part-time or in what capacity we are serving the Lord. When we are serving the Lord, we keep coming across so many people and their needs. Some of them have such great needs and we think, oh my, will my little prayer really make a difference with this huge crisis that this family is facing and we feel sometimes so helpless. So at such times I think it really helps for us to remember that our God cares deeply about each of us and that it says right in Matthew chapter 1 itself. He came to save people from their sins. So no matter what the people that we are encountering are going through, we know that our God came to actually help them. All the consequences that we face in this fallen world of sin, He came to deliver people from all of that. So I think we can actually stand in confidence and pray even for the impossible situations that we see and we can do it with singing, knowing that indeed our God is a deliverer. So He will overcome the works of the evil one which we see happening in those families that we are praying for, that we are interceding for. So if we do that with confidence, the chains which are holding them down can actually be broken off. I mean I know I am taking a historical event that actually took place and I am adding a spiritual overtone to that. But I mean it seems to make sense because the other prisoners were listening to what is going on and then they actually with their own eyes they got to see the results of what they were listening to. They saw that the prison doors were opened, they saw the chains fall off and that must have made a lot of them sit up and think oh my goodness this must be a living God. So I think there are lessons that we can learn about prayer and praise and worship and trusting God from this passage. So prayer, praise, worship, the simple faith that we have in the Lord, these things can be powerful weapons against the works of the evil one. The other one of course is intercession. Maybe we can look at Acts 12 verses 5 to 7. Yeah, Acts 12, 5 to 7 if someone can read out please. Acts chapter 1 verses 5 to 7. But while Peter was in prison, the church paid a very earnestly price. The night before Peter was to be placed on track. He was asleep fastened to the two chains, the two soldiers. Others still recorded the prison day. Suddenly there was a bright light in the cell and an angel of the Lord stood before Peter. The angels struck him on one side to awaken him and said quick get up and the chains fell off his chest. Over here we see there is a direct connection between the intercession being made by the church members and what happens over here in the prison cell. So the church is at some other location but it says that they were earnestly praying to God for Peter and as a result of their intercession, we see an angel being sent over here to do something extraordinary and if you read that entire passage we get to know Peter assumes that everything that is happening is a vision that is just seeing it in the spiritual realm. He doesn't actually realize it's happening to him in the physical realm itself where he's actually being taken out of the prison where he's being led out of the prison. He just assumes he's just seeing it in a vision and then later he realizes that after he comes out he realizes oh my goodness I'm actually physically in body out of the prison. So over here even as the church was earnestly praying to the Lord God sends forth his angel to do something miraculous. So a very important weapon that we have with us is intercessory prayer. We can actually use that to defeat whatever plans Satan may have against the church, whatever plans Satan may have against the people of God. So intercession can make a very great difference. So we looked at various methods that we can use, various strategies that we can use to overcome the evil one. We started off by looking at what has legally already been accomplished that on the cross Jesus has defeated Satan. So now he will have to use illegal methods of trying to get hold of us, trying to attack us. He cannot just do it outright because we no longer belong to his kingdom, we are no longer under his power. So he has to somehow entice us and somehow deceive us into coming to him and allowing him to harm us. So he tries all kinds of different tactics, tries to make us doubt God, tries to make us divided between us, losing our unity. He tries all of these other tactics and so we saw how we should open the closed doors. We saw how we can use the name of Jesus as a weapon in cancelling the works of the evil one. We saw the care that we should take regarding submitting to authority in the church so that Satan does not use that as an opening to gain a foothold. There are so many points that we covered. It's all there in last time's video. So these were all the things that we saw that we can do to overcome the devil. So maybe we can take a slightly early break because then we can come back for the last chapter with a fresh recording. So it's now actually 43. So could we all please log back in at 10.53 because then we can get into our final chapter. So now it's 10.43, we will log back in at 10.53. Thank you.