 I have something to share with you today, as it is a wonderful month that we are just coming out of a month of victory. There are many things that have happened that those that stand for life are celebrating. Those that stand for hope, those that stand for faith believe that there's victories that is happening in our nation and in the world. And I'm gonna talk about that today. And ironically, before I go into the message, I have a little story to share with you. And it's about something called Operation Mince Meet. Has anyone heard of Operation Mince Meet? They even have a movie about it now, Operation Mince Meet. And I know that Pastor Vlad last week was talking about war as well. So it's kind of like ironic that I'm using a background story of the same world war as well. But Operation Mince Meet was something that took place in 1943. Second World War was full on. The war was raging. The Nazis were taking over every front. North, south, west, east. They were just expanding. So the Allied Forces in Great Britain, they had reclaimed North Africa and they were planning to attack and Nazi Germany from the south. And you can show the photos, I have a photo there. And Operation Mince Meet was a counterintelligence operation where a small group of people, just about eight people came up with an idea on how to outsmart Hitler. So they tricked him by a small group. They turned the tide of the Second World War in Italy because the armed forces of the Nazis were on the island of Sicily. And by using smart tricks, they were able to outsmart them and trick them into moving their troops away from Sicily into Greece. And then the Allied Forces could take over Sicily and then they could have supplies come in from America and other places into the heart of Europe through that island. And that was a very small group of people who outsmarted the bigger enemy. And because of that private victory that they were able to accomplish, we just ate people. They saved tens of thousands of soldiers' lives. It would have been a massacre on that island but because of that, that was the beginning of turning, the chain of events that turned the tide of the war, of the Second World War. These were the eight people. Eight people that saved tens of thousands of people. So my title of today's message is Private Victories. Can someone say Private Victories? Private Victories. Private Victories always precede public victories. Many of us today, we are looking at the great man of God around us and we see like, oh wow, that minister of God is operating so powerfully in the anointing of God and he's being used so powerfully. I want to be like you, can you show me, can you teach me how I can be like you? And what we fail to understand is the public victory that that man or woman of God is walking in and living in today is just the accumulation of many private victories. You cannot get the public victory before first overcoming in the private. It is the small things, the small weaknesses, the things that you are battling with as a person. When you begin to overcome those things, the private victories will precede your public victories. So it's very important for us to understand that to overcome that, like for example, me, I received deliverance about, I always say eight years ago, I've been saying eight years ago for four years now, so it's probably 12 years ago. I received deliverance about 12 years ago and because, and that deliverance that I received, it wasn't like a one day thing, it was a battle that I had been battling for a long time, trying to overcome, trying to overcome, overpower the enemy and so on and so forth, but because of that private victory and many other private victories, to some degree, I'm able to walk in public victory today. I believe that we are delivered to deliver others. We are saved to save others and we are healed to heal others. If you are here today and you want to receive deliverance from God Almighty, remember your deliverance is the private victory that will lead you to the public victories that God has in store for you. You have a calling, you have a purpose and that is what we're gonna talk about today. At the end of the sermon, I'm gonna give a couple of prayer points if time allows for how you can walk in private victory. Some of us are battling with weaknesses. I think all of us are battling with weaknesses and temptations in some areas. If you remember the story of David in the book of 1 Samuel 17, David overcame the giant and many people want to be like David today. We want to be able to overcome the giant. We want to be able to be that small guy and just sling that one stone of faith and just kill that giant instantly in our lives. But the thing that we forget was that David killing the giant was just as a result of previously killing the lion and the bear. It was because he had overpowered the lion, because he had overpowered the bear that he was able to kill the giant. I want to take you quickly to the book of 1 Samuel. That's one of our proof texts today. 1 Samuel 17. And just read it for your refresh our memories. 1 Samuel 17, we can start from verse 32. Then David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine. And Saul said to David, you are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him. For you are a youth and he is a man of war from his youth. But David said to Saul, your servant used to keep his father's sheep. And when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it and delivered the lamb from its mouth. And when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard and struck and killed it. Killing the giant in public, in front of everyone to see, for the world to see David's accomplishment. It was one of the things that then propelled him towards the destiny that God had in store for him. That started way back in private. When no one saw him, when no one knew what was happening, he had already fought his enemies. And because of that victory, he could overcome the giant as well. One more Bible verse and then we're gonna go right into the points here. I'm a point person. So I have four points today on how you can live in private victory today. How you can succeed to overcome the weakness that you might be facing. How you can overcome the challenges in your private life so that you can begin to walk towards the purpose that God has in store for you. If David had not killed that bear and not killed that lion, he wouldn't have had the courage, the boldness or the confidence or the faith to fight against the giant. Yeah, come on. The book of Exodus chapter 17. And this is another one. This is also a private victory, a private battle that resulted in a public victory. It's Exodus chapter 17 verse eight. And many of us, once again, we can liken ourselves to this story as well where we see a war being waged. You see it here. Every Sunday, there's a war being waged here. We believe that there is a cosmic conflict between good and evil. And that God is good and all good. And the devil has no, even a single atom of goodness in him. There's nothing good in him. And because of that conflict that we see here, and you see it when there's demons being manifested, when we are praying for healing and deliverance, those things are public victories. It's public victory for you to see the glory of God. But it didn't start there. It didn't start as someone doesn't just wake up and go and kill the Goliath one day if you haven't killed bears and lions in the past. So I'm talking to the young people. I'm talking to every single one of us. If you have a desire to be used by God to any degree, if you want your victories to be public. And you know what? It is the public victories that encourages people's faith. It is the public victories that shakes the world. It is public victories that challenges the foundations of people's faith. It is the public victories that overcomes the powers of darkness. But it is the private victories that lead us there. Exodus chapter 17 verse eight. And this is Joshua fighting with the Amalekites. Now Amalek came and fought with Israel in Refidim. And Moses said to Joshua, choose us some men and go out fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand. So Joshua did, as Moses said to him, and fought with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron and her went up to the top of the hill. And so it was when Moses held up his hand that Israel prevailed. And when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands became heavy, so they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. And Aaron and her supported his hands one on one side and the other on the other sides. And his hands were steady until they going down of the sun. So Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. What you see here is Joshua fighting the Amalekites. Every Sunday when we have prayer line. That is not where the battle starts. That is not where the battle starts. There's a private battle going on and there's private victory that always happens before public victory. Praise God. So the four points to you today, to be able to begin to overcome in your private victories so you can actually begin to take steps towards growing toward that purpose that God has in store for you. Number one thing that we can learn from these stories of Joshua fighting the Amalekites and David fighting the giants is number one, how to overcome private battles, how to have private victories. Use what is in your hand. God has given you something. David when he chased after the bear and the lion, he didn't look for something. He had everything he needed in his hand. Moses when he stepped up on the rock, it says that he was holding onto the rod of God in his hand. The exact same rod that previously had parted the Red Sea. The rod of God was in his hand. You have a battle to fight. Maybe you are struggling with lust. Like I was doing back in the days. Maybe you are struggling with anger. Maybe you are struggling with jealousy. Maybe you have depression, anxiety, maybe sickness, infirmity, whatever it is that is your private battle. God has equipped you already. Use what is in your hand. What do we have in our hands, people of God? We have the name of Jesus. The name of Jesus, there is above every other name. At the mention of that name, every knee must bow. That means the knees of whatever Amalekites, whatever bear, whatever lion that you may be facing, their knee must bow. If you use the name of Jesus, how he has commanded you to do. Secondly, we have the word of God. This word is the power to overcome the enemy. Some of us don't really understand how to wage war with the word of God. I'm gonna give you just a really quick insight. Ephesians 6.17 says, the word of God is the sword of the spirit. Hebrews 4 verse 12 says, the word of God is living and active. So it's a sword that is alive. It's what you have in your hand. Deuteronomy 30 verse 14 says, the word of God is not far from you. It is in your heart and in your mouth. You have it at your disposal. And finally, the one I want to read for you is Jeremiah 23 verse 29. This is a Bible verse that God just showed me this Bible verse, it's a very powerful one. I love using it in the past, but God just showed me really how important it is to understand that the word of God is from Jeremiah 23 verse 29. I can't find it now and I'm so hyped up that my hands are shaking so I can't turn the pages of the Bible so I'm just gonna memorize it. It's not my word like fire declares the Lord and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces. How do you use the word of God to wage war against your private enemies, against that bear and that lion? How do you go about it? First of all, you have to read it. You have to put it into your heart. And how we do that is not, there's two ways of reading the word of God. And I shared this in a group that we had here a couple of days ago, but there's two ways to read it. When you are waking up in the morning and how many are morning people here? Are you a morning person? How many are not morning people? Of course, all the young people over here, you are never morning people. Don't worry, I was not morning person in your age either. It changes. Many of us, we skip breakfast because you don't have time or you're not hungry or whatever reason. But for those of us who eat breakfast, who how many eat breakfast here? I don't, but I'm dying a little more every day. I'm on keto and I'm on intermittent fasting. So there's one Bible verse that speaks to me so strongly every morning when I wake up and it's John 3.30, it says he must increase, but I must decrease in volume and in weight and everything, I'm just obeying scripture. Praise God. If you are a morning person and if you eat breakfast, you know that breakfast isn't your longest meal of the day. Many times you pour some milk, put your cereal in, eat it, you're half awake, and then off we go to work. And that is good. That is how you survive. It's to sustain you. The same goes for your morning devotions. Your morning, not all of us have the opportunity to take an hour in the morning or two hours to pray and read the word of God. And I love when I have the opportunity to do so. In fact, I have quite a lot of opportunity to do so nowadays, but it wasn't always like that where you actually just wake up and you put your daily devotion on audio while you're showering and you hear a little bit, but then you don't hear also. And it's kind of like the breakfast one. You're breaking your spirit so fast and those devotions are good, but it's not enough. You have to take time in the evening. I'm a person who loves food, no surprise there. And one of my favorite foods in the world is what they call a charcuterie board. Charcuterie board is basically, in English, it's called like a cheese and meat platter, but charcuterie sounds more bougie, right? So, charcuterie board is what I like. And when you have a charcuterie board with different kinds of cheeses and meats and olives and some fruits and some grapes and this and that, you really, you don't wanna rush it like a breakfast. Like if I got a charcuterie board for breakfast, I would probably be like, no, I'll keep it for tonight when I have more time. The same goes for the word of God. You need to have charcuterie board reading with God Almighty as well. You need to savor on the word of God. You need to sit down and bring your little notepad and your highlighter and your pen and leave your phone in the other room and then just sit down and savor. It's not about how fast you can read your three chapters. That's your breakfast diet. But in the night, you need to take time. You know that God's love language is quality time. God's lovely, you know the five love languages and I am confident that God's love language is quality time. In the Old Testament, His love language was gifts but that changed because everything you offer this and you offer that, God really loved gifts in the Old Testament. He still does but His number one love language is quality time. Give Him your time. Sit down, read, it's not, you're not gonna count. I'm gonna read 10 chapters now and then I'll finish the book of Proverbs and then I'm halfway through. The Bible and I can finish the book of Jeremiah in 21 days. No, forget about all that, just sit down. Take one at a time, savor on it, just let it juice, let it just spread, let you just enjoy the fullness of the flavor of the word of God. And when you do so, you can now begin to meditate on that word and use Bible verses as prayer points. Now we're going into the warfare part of it. The first one is just filling up. You're filling up, it's like you're gathering arrows in your quiver by reading, by savoring but then when you begin to attack the enemy, when you begin to wage war against the bear, against the lion, you need to put those Bible verses into prayer points. Turn your Bible verses into prayer points. Use it to begin to destroy the works of the enemy. It's not my word like fire declares the Lord. This is not, the Bible verse goes like that, but I have just two words that I want to add and I think it's just something that God showed me and you test it and see if it's God or if I'm just coming up with these things but it's not my spoken word like fire says the Lord and my written word like a hammer that breaks the rocking pieces. What you see here on Sundays, it's the spoken word of God. It's fire, it burns down houses, demonic presence, it burns them and pursues them out but it is by hammering on that rock in your life. That stronghold that you have in your life with the written word of God, that is how you begin to overcome and break down that rock of lust, break down that rock of anger, break down that rock of anxiety and whatever it is that you may be facing, it is with the word of God. You have it at your disposal. This is your weapon, get back to it. It never gets old and we hear it all the time but how many actually do it? Savor, spend time in the word and begin to use it whatever your situation may be. Trust me, whatever your hardship is, whatever that lion is, whatever that bear is, there's a Bible verse for it. There is a Bible verse for it. I believe that the word of God is complete. I believe that the word of God is final authority and I don't believe that anything is missing from this book for us to be able to live a perfect life today. It's there, begin to search for it. What are you battling with today? Look for that Bible verse, memorize it, then begin to shoot it against the enemy as a prayer point, as a prayer point. I wanna read just a few. This is one of the ones that I use personally in my battles with lust in the past and there are many other Bible verses for those of us who would like to take note. Psalm 119 verse nine, how can a young man cleanse his way by taking heed according to your word? Psalm 119, 37, turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things and revive me in your word. Oh, what a weapon, what a weapon. First John 2, 16, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, it's not of the father but it's of the world, turn that into a prayer point. Lord, right now in the name of Jesus, I come against the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life in the name of Jesus. Psalm 19 verse 14, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight. Oh, Lord, my strength and my redeemer. This is just for one of many, many bears and lions that you may be facing in your life. Second key, and remember there was four points so I'm gonna be fast. First point, use what is in your hand. Second point, endure until the end. Yeah, come on. Galatians 6 verse 9. Many of us think that overcoming a lion or overcoming a battle is an explosive sprint. It is not. How you overcome your personal private battles is by marathon. You outlast the enemy. You outlast him. You don't win in a hundred meter sprint. You win in the marathon. Because if it was a hundred meter sprint, we would lose. Because it's a marathon, you and I have the opportunity to win. You don't give up. No matter what, if God heals me or not, you are my healer, Lord. If you set me free or not, you are the God my deliverer, Lord. Whatever you face, you do not give up. There's a boxer, and I know he's a controversial man, but I would argue to say that he has the most flawless record in history of boxing. He's 50-0. His name is Floyd Mayweather. Some people hate him, some people love him. Some people say that he's not the best at the ones before him in the old days, Muhammad Ali and others, they would punch the living gats out of him. Might be true. Nonetheless, Floyd Mayweather is a record holder. 50-0 is his statistics in boxing. And you know what his style is. He doesn't have even, I mean, he probably has strong punch, like stronger than me or anyone here probably, but comparatively speaking, his strength isn't in his arms. Anyone that have watched any of his 50 games, they would agree with me that it's the most boring boxing ever. He's just jumping around, he doesn't even punch. All he does is he outlasts his opponent. He doesn't give up. He's running a marathon and he has the long side in his aim, but his enemies come in and they're like, I'm gonna get these three rounds and I'm gonna get him down. And they go three rounds and he's still standing there and they're like, four rounds and he's still standing, five and then they stand like this after like 12 rounds or however far you go. And he can just like, and they're out. He outlasts his enemy. Look at Moses on the top of the mountain. He had to hold his hands up high, worshiping God. It says he had to hold it up until sunset and then victory came. Hold out until sunset, my brother and my sister. Maybe you are in the battle already. Maybe you are already trying, but you feel hopeless because you're in the eighth round and he's still punching at you. You're still there, but you feel weak. Take hope. Enduring the battle is how to achieve victory. Endure until sunset like Moses did and you shall be victorious in overcoming your enemy today in Jesus' name. Praise God. So don't focus on how fast, but focus on I can maintain this battle forever. I'm not gonna give up. It's hard. It's tough. It's painful. The tempter is right there. The battle is right there. The sickness is staring me in my eyes, but I am not giving up. I'm gonna continue to stay in the ring until that day. Point number three, don't fight alone. Don't fight alone. Moses was up on the hill and if you read it in Exodus 17, he actually would have failed if he was alone. It was because he had Aaron and he had her on his side and those people helped him to maintain his endurance until the end, until sunset. You cannot do it alone. You know what? I normally like to say that we Christians, we are like lions or something, but just for a moment, we're gonna turn the tables. Let's say that the devil is a roaring lion, looking for whom to devour. Moving around. Do you know when lions hunt and they are hunting gazelle or something? You know what they do? They hunt in a little pack. They are normally not completely alone. And when the gazelles are sticking together, the lions will try to trick them into beginning to run and then they will try to separate just one of the gazelles. They will try to get between one and the rest of the herd. And the moment that gazelle is outside of the herd, disconnected from the rest of the herd, suddenly the lions can pounce on them and it will be a wonderful snack for the lions. Don't be a snack to the devil, people of God. In this typical analogy, we are the gazelles, okay? You have roaring power as well, but you are not strong by yourself. Where are you plugged in? Who is your errand? Who is your herd? They will come and lift your arms when you are weak. If you don't have that, get that today. This church, and I'm talking to people online as well, this church is one place. We have connect groups. We have life groups. We have people who want to fellowship with you. They are looking for you today. Don't wait, let someone mentor you that you are fighting alone. It doesn't mean, well, he said it's a private battle. I have to fight alone. No, your life group fights your battle together with you and it's still a private battle. Your mentor fights your battle together with you and it's still your private battle. Surround yourself with people that can hold your arms up high. Strengthen your faith and be with you until sunset. Hallelujah. Final point, final point, prayer is our lifeline. Prayer is our lifeline and we have a photo here. So this is a very old diver. This is how it looked like 50 years ago when they were going down to explore the bottom of the sea. And when these divers were sent down into the water, there is something called a lifeline connecting them to the surface, okay? Now that line, if you look here, it's twofold. It actually has two, yeah, that's another one. There's, it has two purposes. The lifeline has two purposes. Number one, oxygen flows to the diver when he is down in this deep and he's walking on his own and he doesn't even know what he's doing there but it's weird and he's fighting and there's creatures showing up, much like our spiritual life many times. You're walking somewhere, you're like, how did I end up here? Maybe you are Peter and Jesus wasn't there to lift you up and you end up diving down in the sea or something but many times we are fighting, we are fighting in the battle and feel like we are on unexplored territory. The number one purpose of the lifeline is to provide oxygen to sustain you while you're on the bottom of the sea. And the number two purpose, it is the same line that is used to lift you up from the sea when your sea walk is over. The same goes with prayer, people of God. It is prayer that will sustain you in the middle of your battle and it is also prayer that will get you out of your battle. It is prayer that will help you towards your victory and without prayer, you cannot win. Without prayer, you cannot overcome the enemy. So whatever situation you may feel like you're in today and you're exploring unexplored territory in your life, something is going on that you've never seen or heard before. Remember without praying, it's like someone is cutting the support. How long will you be able to sustain down there without prayer? You will die, no oxygen, no life, no prayer, no growth. Prayer is what I just spat on you, I'm very sorry for that. I have this funny story of a pastor who was praying for people and he was praying on a prayer line. And you know, when you're watching, you might not see the speed, the flows, but when you're up here, you see everything, every single little thing that flows out of your mouth. And you know, English is my second language, so sometimes the S's and everything, it just flows everywhere. It's good that there's like a six feet here for safety purposes. This pastor was praying on a prayer line and then he shared the testimony afterwards. One, he turned to a woman and he was praying in Jesus' name and he saw a big one. And when you're up here, it feels like slow motion, always you're like, is it landing? Should I pretend? Should I look away? But for him, the little speed hit the woman and instantly the woman goes, you know, Jesus actually used saliva too, so I'm just telling you, if that anointing comes here, hallelujah. No, it's not coming today, I'm pretty sure. Don't worry. Praise God. So prayer is your lifeline. If you cut that, what is your connect? How long can you survive without your lifeline? You can't hold your breath forever. And maybe you are here today and you have been holding your breath for too long down there. You're like, God, why am I down here? Well, it's not always God that put you there. Circumstances can put you there. Situations can happen. I was apart from my wife for three years. It wasn't God that put us apart. It's against scripture to be apart from your wife. It wasn't the will of God. I could have easily said, God, why did you allow me down on the bottom of the sea? I feel so disappointed with you and I never realized that it is that the only thing is what's gonna take me out. It's your lifeline, providing oxygen to you while you're there and then you hook it and they begin to reel you in from above, hallelujah. By prayer, we sustain on the bottom of the sea and by prayer, we overcome our battles today. Where are you at today? Maybe you are struggling in your private battle and you don't know how to go about it. Well, I want to encourage you. God Almighty is with you. He has given you everything you need to overcome the lion and the bear. Praise God. And I want to give you, I'm not gonna share the prayer points, but I wanna give you three ways, three prayer points, three prayers that I encourage you to pray in your private battle. Three prayer points that will help you to overcome those things. If you don't know what to pray for, this is a good idea to overcome. And this is actually for me personally, this is how I believe that self-deliverance, the exact prayer points of self-deliverance. It's the same, spiritual warfare, self-deliverance. It's the same prayers. And these are the three prayer points that has worked in my life. And I encourage you to try it if you don't know how to go about your battle today. Number one is repentance. Prayers of repentance. Yeah, come on. Number two is renouncing. Prayers of renouncing. And the third one is prayers of resisting, violently resisting the enemy or repelling. So it's repent, renounce, and repel. Praise God. And I want to say that the importance of these prayer points, and I'm gonna show you why this exact approach in prayer is so powerful when you come to Jesus in this manner. If you, let's say that you have Netflix in your TV and you are tempted by Netflix and you need to overcome Netflix and you have to stop your Netflix addiction. The first step is what you do. You stop watching Netflix. Repentance means stop watching Netflix. Now you can put in whatever here. This is just an analogy. The renouncing part of the prayer is when you cancel your Netflix subscription as well. Sometimes you think it's enough to just stop watching Netflix, but then you still have it in your TV. What's gonna happen on the day when you're so bored and nobody else knows what you're doing and you are tired and you don't care and it's been so long. Netflix comes back on by renouncing, going to God and approaching the situation by renunciation, you are cancelling your Netflix subscription. Now the final one is if you never want to see Netflix, you never wanna hear Netflix, you never wanna know anything about Netflix again in your life. You gotta take Netflix to court. And that is how you overcome Netflix completely in your life. I can seem like a gigantic task, but if you build your case, if you build your case, the person who's gonna judge your case is actually on your side. You have already favor. It's like the judge is saying, if you come to court, I'm gonna judge in your favor, just bring Netflix to court. And I'm gonna stop using Netflix now because it's just an analogy. It could be any other subscription service. I don't want no trouble here, okay? Even though we stand for many things that the rest of the world doesn't stand for, but that's a different story. It's not enough to stop watching. You have to cancel the subscription and then you gotta take them to court. When you take them to court and you pray against that subscription service in your life, it's gonna be broken and you will never hear about it again. That is how to overcome in Jesus' mighty name. If you're interested in learning more about hungry Jen, our internship, our conferences, deliverance and so many other things, go to hungryjen.com for more information. And as always, remember, better is not good enough, the best is yet to come.