 Welcome back everyone. We were talking about weapons against Satan and we looked at the topic of the Spirit of God as a weapon before we closed the last session. There are some questions here in the chat. I'll start with that and then we will continue. So Sister Gertrude says many churches do not explain about this. Sister Gertrude, you mean about the baptism in the Holy Spirit or what exactly don't the churches do? This thing, the power of the Holy Spirit. I mean when you are born again, you are baptized in the Holy Spirit, right? But the churches don't have the teaching, sound teaching on the power of the Holy Spirit. So many people are still lacking in the gifts of the spirits, the church congregation. That's what I mean Sister. What she is saying is the knowledge that when we are born again we receive, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us and then the requirement to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. These teachings are not spoken of in a lot of places maybe and that's Sister Gertrude's concern. Lucy says how we have confirmation of the Holy Spirit is upon us. So Sister, the baptism in the Holy Spirit on the first day that it happened in the upper room. When people were filled with the Spirit what was the result? What exactly was going on? How did it manifest? Yeah, they spoke in tongues. Now if we read the book of Acts, even other places like Acts chapter 8, Philip goes, he does ministry. But after people are saved they call Peter and John to come so that more teachings can be brought and the church can be established stronger way. When Peter and John come they pray for baptism in the Holy Spirit. Then how does that manifest? People start speaking in tongues. So similarly you see other instances in the Bible, in the book of Acts where whenever people were prayed for baptism in the Holy Spirit, the common manifestation was tongues. So today that's what we also believe. If we say that the Holy Spirit has come upon or the anointing of the Spirit or baptism in the Holy Spirit has happened. What is the evidence? That's what Sister is asking. What is the confirmation the person would be able to speak in tongues? Is that okay Sister Lucy? Yes Sister, thank you. Any other things more than speaking in tongues? Where we manifest God? It's through manifestation of God itself. Yeah, so that's the manifestation of the baptism in the Spirit Sister. It also says in some parts that they were speaking in tongues and then they were praising God. That's also there. But we would take tongues as the common thing that happens. Okay, great. Moving on to Shani. Some churches don't believe the baptism of the Holy Spirit. There are churches that don't believe in speaking in tongues. Yeah, that's true. That also happens. We've seen that around us. But one good way is to always go back to the Word. Because the Word has a very clear teaching about the Holy Spirit and the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Alright, let's now quickly come to the last weapon against Satan. This is praises. Okay, praises. So you have probably done this in your praise and worship class. But we will look at it another time. We'll have to read two passages. One is Psalm 8 and verse 3. How about the online students read both of these? So one of you, could you please read Psalm 8 and verse 3 and the other person can read Psalm 149 verses 5 to 9? Psalm 8 and verse 3. When I consider your evidence, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have ordained. Was I audible, Sister? Sister, you're on mute, Sister. No, Sister Lucy, I was saying it's verse 2. My apologies. 3 is printed in the notes. So I just went ahead and said that. However, please read Psalm 8 and verse 2. Okay, Sister. Out of the mouth of babe and nursing infants, you have ordained strength because of your enemies that you may silence the enemy and the avenger. Okay, thank you. Thank you so much. So notice it says, out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants, you have ordained strength because of your enemies that you may silence the enemy and the avenger. How does God silence the enemy and the avenger when out of the mouth of, it says babes and nursing infants, but out of the mouth of even the believer. When praise is come to God, what can God do? He can silence the enemy. Okay, so that is the power of our praise. We've all learned about King Jehoshaphat. And that battle, when they were praising God, there was a victory. It's in 2 Chronicles chapter 20 where we read about the victory of Jehoshaphat and his people. The way they went into battle, it's very unusual. So instead of going in with weapons to attack like physical weapons, they went with praises to the name of our God. And that itself defeated the enemy. And that's the same thing that we are trying to understand today, that for me to be an overcomer in my life, I need to have praises for the Lord in my mouth. So the believer who has praises is a victorious believer because our praises, what do we see here? Through the mouth of babes and nursing infants, you have received strength and this is the way that God silences the enemy. So my praises will silence the enemy. God will defeat the enemy through my praises. So we are talking about weapons, right? We said, okay, if Satan comes against you, try all this, we have everything in the bag. So we have the word, we have the armor, we have faith as a shield, we have the name of Jesus, we have the blood of Jesus, we have the power of the spirit. But at some times God may say, use praise. Now which weapon God wants us to use at a given time? We don't know because God, we say out of the box. God always thinks out of the box. We can't have a formula that, okay, every time you have to do this, every time you have to do that. When we are walking with the Lord, we have to be sensitive to Him. At some time, God may say, I just want you to take this weapon. So I remember, maybe this happened last year or the year before, I'm not very sure. But it was like, I had come for a Bible college class only I think so. And I had to make one decision about something, something ministry related, whether we are going to make this decision or that decision and I was very anxious about it because it was difficult for me to choose and decide. So once the classes and all were over, I went back and I had a little bit of time before I can make the decision and I just ask God, like God, I don't know what to do. I prayed enough, I prayed in tongues, I've done everything. I'm still very tensed. What decision should I make? At that time, I felt you just sing. I felt like that and it was strange, like what is this God? I'm asking you which decision and what is coming in my spirit is you just sing. So I sat and I just sang a couple of lines of some song and I felt the peace of God once I sang and I just went ahead. But the long story short is I had the peace to make a decision and it went well and the matter was resolved. Okay. But the way God wanted me to operate at that time is so different from the usual way that he does instead of saying, okay, pray in the name of Jesus or command it like this, like that. The thought that came to me is just sing. Right. Then I realized, hey, God uses the praise as a weapon, maybe in this situation, that's what I need. I need to praise the Lord and when I praise the Lord, my enemy will be defeated. So it sounds a little crazy also that in your battle, what you're found singing. Okay. So the enemy might laugh at us and say, what is this? You should be a warrior. You should fight. But here you are sitting and singing or speaking praises. But that's what the scripture says. When we praise God, God will defeat the enemy. Okay. So it's very powerful, very, very powerful, simple things. We are in a tough situation. Instead of grumbling, instead of saying, why did this happen? What? We say so many things, right? Just take a deep breath, say, okay, God, I know I'm in this situation, but I praise you. I praise your name. I know you will make a way for me. As simple as that. Two lines. You're praising God, thanking God. It's like the red, civil part. Because God can do wonders when we praise His name, even in a difficult situation. So that is the power of praise that we must learn. Psalm 149 verses 5 to 9. Can someone please read it, online batch? Yes, sister. Can I read? Yes, yes, sister Ghatron, please. Let the saints be joyful in glory. Let them sing aloud on their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and the two as sword in their hand to execute vengeance on the nation and punishment on the people. To bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron. To execute on them the written judgment. This honour have all His saints. Praise the Lord. Wow. So it sounds like war language, isn't it? Vengeance, execute judgment, bind. But how is all this going to happen? Just, you know, track back a little bit. It says, let the saints be joyful with the praises, the high praises of God on their lips. Okay, so God is saying that He can actually defeat the enemy when the believer is praising Him. And many of us may have heard that song, right? The story of that song, I raise the hallelujah, that it was written at a time when a child was very ill, critically ill, and they wanted to pray for that child to recover. And when they were praying for the child, the person who wrote the song, he got the sense that the way you have to battle for the child's life is, you have to sing, you have to praise me. And so to praise God, he wrote it. I raise the hallelujah. He wrote that song as a battle cry for that child that was critical. And you know, it's like God intervened in that situation. So even for us, in certain situations, maybe it's a very difficult situation, just raise the hallelujah, praise to the Lord. Because through that, what did we see? Vengeance, God will bind the enemy, God will execute judgment on the enemy. So much will happen when we just take our position and praise the Lord. If you don't know what to do, just praise the Lord. Okay? Praise the Lord. And it's so very powerful. That is also a weapon against the enemy. So any thoughts, comments, maybe experiences about praising the Lord and that being a weapon, before I move on to the next section. So God is really training us on how we can be victorious, isn't it? So use the weapons. All these weapons are there. We can use it against the enemy. But imagine, as believers, if we live a defeated life and we keep saying, oh, enemy is doing this, enemy is doing that, Satan is doing this, Satan is doing that. What about all the weapons? What about the authority that God has given us? So be a victorious believer. Ask God, use the weapons against Satan. So one child I remember, this was long ago, when the kid was asked, why do you want to go to children's church? And they said, oh, they teach us how to fight the devil. So think about it. Even a little kid understands that I can have a victorious life when I learn the word of God. So that was the answer of that child. I'm going to children's church because they're teaching me how to fight the devil. So we as adults, as believers, there is so much that God has given us. We can fight the devil. Be victorious. Don't always come under the pressure of the devil and say, oh, Satan is doing this in my life, doing that in my life. No, we can rise above it. God has given us an entire set of weapons and has also authorized us with his authority. Great. So let's move on. We'll go to the next section here. We'll see how much we can cover. Yes, yes, Shani. What verse is that? Will you give an example when they were saying praises and enemies were defeated? What verse is that? Yeah, it's 2 Chronicles chapter 20. Okay, thank you. Yeah, sure. Okay, so now we will go to the practical ways in which we can exercise our authority. And we are slowly moving towards discussing a lot more about deliverance. Okay, deliverance from demonic powers. So how exactly to exercise the authority? So some terminology that we will look at today. Yeah, chapter 11. Different ways in which we exercise our spiritual authority over demonic powers. So let's consider all these ways. And as we consider these ways, there will be some terms that we will explain, which can be used later on when we talk about deliverance and demons. So one way is defensive to protect ourselves. So that we've also discussed in the Overcomer's lifestyle that when we live in a certain way, there is protection already on us. So that is one way that we can escape the attacks of the devil. Second is offensive, where we attack the devil. So that's another way to protect ourselves. We can also protect ourselves through prayer and intercession. Okay, we can protect ourselves through declarations and decrees. We can protect ourselves through righteous actions. We can also walk in the power of agreement in prayer. We can have angelic assistance and we can operate through authority gateways. So I'll explain all of these one by one. Let's begin firstly by understanding how to defend ourselves in the first place. So any country, if you look at any nation at the borders, any smart country will already have either a physical boundary or they will have soldiers or they'll have high security surveillance. Lots is going on because without that, we know the other enemies can just come in. So the same way when it comes to us as believers, every day what we are in this course, what we have learned in every session is there is an enemy. He's active. He's waiting to attack. So when we know this reality and we don't have a protection, that would be very foolish, isn't it? So we've got to have a protection. So how do we have a protection in our everyday life, in our everyday walk? Do you recall in Overcomer's lifestyle, we said Adam and Eve, they did not have any weapons. God didn't tell them blood of Jesus, name of Jesus, nothing. But they were still protected in the garden because of intimate relationship with God, because of submission to God, obedience to God, responsibility. God gave them a responsibility and they were functioning in that responsibility. That was their protection. So apart from that, there are a few more things for us to keep in mind. Now if we follow all these things, there will be like an automatic fence around us and it will protect us from the enemy, a hedge of protection. So the scriptures talk about a protective covering. How does this covering come in the life of Job? Job chapter 1 verse 10. Does anyone want to read it? Job 1 verse 10? Job chapter 1 verse 10. Have you not made a hedge around him, around his household and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his head and his position has increased in the land. So we recognize that Job had a hedge of protection around him. Through the words of Satan, we can understand that because Satan is saying, God, you only have put a fence around him. How did that fence come about? How did Job get that fence? So when we look at the life of Job, we see that he was a man of devotion. He made sacrifices, he worshipped God, he prayed. So he had a lifestyle of worship. So when we have a lifestyle of worship, we have prayer, we are living for God, we have the word in our lives. So when we are constantly living in this way, the way Job had a fence, do you think we will have a fence? Of course, we too will have a fence. That's why God is calling us to a life like that. So having a godly lifestyle will automatically protect us from the attack of Satan. Now Exodus chapter 12 and verse 13. Exodus 12 verse 13. Now the blood shall be assigned for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. Yes. So this is about the Passover. And how did God protect the Israelites from the plague of the first born through the blood? So when they put the blood on their doorposts, the angel of death passed over. That is why it's called Passover, right? Passed over. Today, what is protecting us? The blood of Jesus. So the blood of Jesus is on our lives. So we can proclaim this, we can acknowledge this already by being born again. The blood has protected us, but we continue to acknowledge that the blood of Jesus is my protection. So the evil one cannot touch me. That also protects us. Now what else protects us? We find in Psalm 34 verse 7, the scripture tells us the angel of the Lord protects and camps around those of fear Him. So when we are walking with the Lord, angels also can protect us. Okay. Now how to make angels work for us? Or how do we engage angels? We'll come to it later, but just a simple question I'm asking. We can ask God for the angels. Okay. That's right. Then any other way? Sister, by praying Psalm 91, that's fine. Yeah, it's a declaration. So we can pray that. I'm asking more specifically about angels. We want angels to come and protect us. How? It's not something we can do. Not from our authority, but or lots. So then we ask and pray, right? We pray that we have discussed already. All right, let me just quickly give one scripture. So Psalm 103 and verse 20. It says the angels heed the voice of His word. Angels heed the voice of His word. So this means that whenever we declare the word of God, angels will work for us. So you have to speak. Now what Sister Gertrude said is correct. When we speak Psalm 91 about protection, the angels will hear the word of God and they will be active in protecting us. So speaking the word again declaration of the word is the way to have angels working. All right, so declaring the word. That's the answer. Yes. Yes, please go ahead. So I know we can't command them, but we can pray and ask God, I guess to command them to do something. You want to make sure I'm clear in terms of angels. But speaking, I'm kind of unclear about, can you elaborate more in terms of we speak in the word and I kind of understand the Psalm 91, but other than Psalm 91, give me an example about speaking a word and having angels work on our behalf because we can't command them. We can pray and ask God to, but I'm just kind of, can you give me example, please? So, Shani, what we are saying is that the angels hear the word of the Lord or angels hear the voice of his word. That's what the scripture says. Angels hear the voice of his word. So when I say something like verse three, Psalm 91 verse three, surely he will deliver you from the snare of the fallow and from the perilous pestilence. What we are doing is, we are speaking what God has already spoken. So it is like a command for the angels. They're not our words. They're God's words. So we are just repeating the words that God has spoken and it again remains as a command for the angels. Did you get that? Yeah, yeah, I understand better. Thank you. Thank you. I definitely understand that. So that's how we just speak what God has spoken. It is from Psalm 91, 11. Okay. Says, for he shall give his angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways. Yes, yeah. We can declare that also. Sure, sister. Thank you for sharing that. So we have understood that the blood of Jesus protects us. Our life of devotion protects us. Then angels can protect us. Psalm 91 teaches us that when we are in the presence of the Almighty God, that also protects us. So then we have a defense against the works of the evil one. Now our defense, as long as we are talking about defense, there are a few more words that are used in scripture that we must consider. So what are these words? One is resist. Resist the devil and evil flee from you. Resist. Resist means we will not allow Satan any further to do what he wants to. That's what resist means. There are other phrases or words that are very similar, such as give no place or stand against, withstand. So all this tells us that sometimes when we are defending ourselves, there is a little bit of a struggle. Where Satan, you know the one of the attitudes of Satan and demon spirits are like we will understand this. They're very stubborn. They don't give up easily. So if they were to give up easily, then we don't have to resist and withstand and all that because we've immediately used our weapon and we are free. But demon spirits are not like that. We'll recognize that they'll keep trying. They'll understand the weaknesses and they'll keep trying. They'll keep coming back. So which is why we are being told in scripture you have to stand for some time. You have to resist. So when they are trying, we are also resisting and we are saying no way. You can do what you want to do but I'm not going to allow you to come back into my life again. So that is where the resistance comes in. That is where thewithstanding comes in. So a believer must be aware of these things. Otherwise what will happen? Believers get discouraged. Oh I finished believers authority course and still it's not working. All these weapons, whatever we discussed. Don't worry. Satan won't let go so easily. He'll keep trying. So if he is going to be so stubborn, we have to be double stubborn and we say no way. We are going to withstand you. So we must withstand. In our struggle against the enemy, the Bible also uses a phrase such as wrestle against. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood but we wrestle against demonic powers. You know wrestling, does it take some time to wrestle and win? It does because the enemy wrestler will not just let you go like that. So because Satan tries so much, we also have to put up a fight and we have to wrestle. Sometimes we may feel like that against the sickness or when I'm praying for my family member who's not saved or when we are believing God for a breakthrough in some situation. It feels like why is it taking so much time? It's like a struggle, wrestling. Back and forth with the devil. Sometimes you feel you're on top and then sometimes you feel he's on top and then you're just wrestling. But don't worry. Keep wrestling. Wrestle against or content. And the Bible also tells us that the life of a believer, it's like a fight. You know what Paul said when he finished his living his life, end of his life? I have fought the good fight of faith. So it's not easy. It's not smooth. Like you just sit, you know these slides, the children sit, you sit and then you just slide. Life is not like that. Paul says believers life fight a good fight of faith. So there are going to be times when we have to resist the devil, wrestle with the devil, overcome the devil. So a lot of strength and determination is required from our side. And also quench all the fiery darts. Quench all the fiery darts is when the weapons come, they should be nullified. So what helps the weapons to be nullified? What can you use to quench the fiery darts? Okay, fiery darts of accusation, condemnation, fiery darts of deception. What will you use? Word of God. Okay, anything else we can use? They're all coming. They're all coming to hit us, right? Every day Satan is shooting, sitting and shooting at us. What shall we use to quench? I have to nullify all those. Okay, faith. Yes, faith. So word of God and faith use the shield of faith. So when we do this, we will overcome the attack of the evil one. So this is the way of resisting. We would need to look at the offensive and we will start off with the offensive in the next class. Is that okay, everyone? We'll just stop here for now. If there are any doubts and questions, please let me know. We can talk about it and close the class. Alright, so let's pray and close then. I want to request somebody from the online batch to please pray. Shall I go ahead, sister? Yes, sister Lucy, please pray. Loving Heavenly Father, thank you God for revealing us the depths of your truth, of your word, using the power of your name, the blood of your Lord Jesus Christ, O Master Lord. Thank you, O Father God, guide us to implement in our lives to excel over the kingdom of darkness and to be your children of your kingdom of light, O Master Lord. Thank you for the word you have given us to our lives, O Master Lord. With the assurance that we are not left alone. We are under your shield, under your guidance, by your word, O Master Lord Jesus. Thank you in Jesus' mighty name, I pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you, sister Lucy. Thank you, everyone, for connecting to today's class. We will meet again next week. Thank you. Bye for now.