Christian Spiritual Warfare Ministries

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HOW TO FIGHT BETTER

By: Pastor Richard Ebofin

There is something about God that any time that you look at Him, He will always bring this awesome feeling upon your life. I will tell you that this is what the twenty-four elders saw in the book of Revelation. They kept bowing down to God and when they come up again, they saw something wonderful and awesome and they had to go back again. Can you just imagine it? When a set of people just continues to worship and bow down all the time – the moment they are coming up, something wonderful about God is revealed again and they say, “Look, we have never seen this one before – we must worship You again.” It is a wonderful thing that you worship God because there is no God like Him. Amen.

There are so many wonderful descriptions of God. Let me tell you: Any time the enemy seems to be larger than you, look at God and you will see the enemy no more. That is the truth. When you read the Scriptures, God is described as the Omnipotent – the One that has all the power. He is described as the Omniscience – the One that knows all things. He is described as the Omnipresent – the One that is everywhere. When you read the Scripture, you will see that they call Him, “Jehovah.” It is a compound word that they come up with that says, “Jehovah Nessi” – that is, “The Lord our Banner.” They call Him Jehovah Raffa – “The Lord our Healer.” When the enemy comes anyway any day and you have this vision of God – you have this understanding of God – the enemy will have to go and today something is going to take place in your life that the enemy will regret forever more.

This same God is called, “The Everlasting Father” – so He is not going to be a Father for you yesterday and then today say, “I am no longer your Father.” You know, when I was teaching something about the identity, I told you about the young boy that said, “Please, how can I disown my father? I don’t want my father again”, because the father has disappointed him so badly, he said, “I don’t want him again.” The boy wanted to disown his earthly father, but this Father that we have will continue to be your Father even now and in eternity. That is the God we are talking about.

He is called the Ancient of Days. He is called the King of Kings. He is called the Lord of all lords. And there is something that is ascribed to Him that is a little bit confusing to some people in the developed world. They call Him the “Man of War.” And some people say, “I can’t understand this gentle, wonderful person that they have described to be the Man of War.” No one should have to ask, “Which battle is God fighting?” because if you are here and are still asking that question, that means that you are yet to start. God has enemies so if you say that you do not have enemies, then something is wrong somewhere.

HOW TO FIGHT BETTER

Today we want to look at, “How To Fight Better.”

Where I come from they have some fights were there is no rules or regulations – everything and anything goes. But there is something about the Christian life – Christians are not permitted to fight with broken bottles. I hope you know that. If a person says, “I am fighting on behalf of God” and then he begins to break a bottle, that one is not a Christian.

The power and the understanding of the warfare that our God is into is spiritual and so many Christians – I have seen people in my life and in my short time in ministry that pray very hard – they pray very long, but to little result. The same problem that they contend with seems to rubbish them the moment that they say, “In Jesus’ Name, Amen!” The next moment, the same problem rubbishes them. And I have been asking myself, “God, what is wrong with these people? Or what is wrong with their method? Or what is wrong with the prayer?” And I discovered that it is this thing that we want to learn today that they need to learn so that they can know how to fight better.

Please open your Bibles to Ephesians 6:10

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
11Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world….”

See, there is a qualification of this world here. It did not say that there is any darkness in Heaven. Do you see that one there?

“…. against spiritual wickedness in high places.

13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”

It is only a person who knows how to fight better who will remain standing after the fight is over.

Satan raised something right from the Garden of Eden. He started to pursue Jesus Christ and when He got to the cross, he said, “Finally! At last, I got Him!”

Satan thought he finally had put an end to the plan and purpose of God in Christ Jesus to redeem men. On the cross – he thought it was over. When Jesus Christ breathed his last, he thought it was over. He said, “Just in case, I don’t want any surprises – take his body and put it in that grave. Then make sure that they seal it up.” And they put soldiers there.

But the One that know how to fight better, when the third day came, an earthquake came and the stone rolled away and an angel – just one angel rolled it away and sat on it and all the soldiers with all their armour disappeared. They were sleeping when the angel was rolling it away and then the Son of God just walked out majestically. He said, “I am the One standing. Satan, you are done for. You are finished!”

That is the Person who knows how to fight better and that is our example. Many Christians say that they are fighting like Jesus, but sorry, they are fighting like the devil. We will stop fighting like the devil and we will start fighting like our Father. The One who remained standing when the devil thought it was over, the one who thought, “I got Him on the cross!” But Jesus Christ surprised Him and came out of the grave. Your glory will come out of the grave today.

There are so many people that say, “Okay, we have got you where we want you,” and on a serious note, some people have started to agree with the enemy, “I think it is over for me oh. If you people can contribute money for me.” Your situation will change today in the Name of Jesus.

The one who ought to be blessing other people is now becoming a beggar. You will learn how to fight better. Say, “I will learn how to fight better.”

Why are we encouraged to be strong if in the Lord if there is nothing in this world to make us to be weak in the Lord? Look at that passage. It says:

10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

That one is saying that some people can be weak in the Lord. There are people in the church who name the Name of the Lord and they are weak. They are weak. When they say, “We are going to deal with the demon that is troubling this person, oh yeah, every Christian here, gather yourselves,” They say, “Excuse me, um, um, they told me that person that is troubling ahem should not come near another person.”

I told you that there was this person some years back. He went somewhere and then he saw this man. The man just had an attack right there on the street because there was a demon that wanted to disgrace that man that has been following him around. A matured man just fell on the road and this brother was there and just saw that the man fell. When people were just gathering around and just looking at the man and saying, “Wow, look at this gentleman that is just rolling on the floor” and the man did not even know where he was. This brother went there and carried him from the gutter and then was ministering to him in the gutter. And one Christian saw the brother there and said, “Ah, ‘Super Christian.” And when people were coming close, he said, “Move back oh. Move back all of you! Go back! What he is dealing with there, if it comes out, it will jump on you!”

He was a weak Christian. There are weak people in the Lord, but today the Lord wants you to be strong in Him. Say, “I will be strong in the Lord.”

He said that you should put on the whole armour of God so that you will be able to withstand the whiles of the devil. “Wiles” are what they are calling the strategies of the devil. It is talking about the deceit of the devil. That one is the deceit that the devil used in the Garden of Eden and some Christians still today they still do not know how to discover the deceit of the devil and they say that they are fighting. How can you fight when the enemy that you are fighting is already inside of you? Is it possible for you to win when the person that you are fighting is already inside you? It is not possible.

A man was wearing armour and said, “I have gated out all the enemies of my life.” He said, “Tell me, where is my enemy now?” And a wise man looked at him and said, “The enemy that you are looking for outside is inside oh.”

He said, “It is not inside.”

He said, “Yes, you will see. It is just a matter of time. Wait.”

Of a truth, in a matter of time, the one that put on the armour himself removed it because something was inside. Every internal enemy that is making you look like a cheap Christian, they will be exposed and they will be disgraced today in the Name of Jesus.

There was this man that made one of the few greatest mistakes that people can make in life. He made a mistake. You know, there are many mistakes that men make and women make but his man made one of the few mistakes that men can make in life. He married a wife and then one day, I do not know what happened between them, but he just decided to beat up his wife like a punching bag. The wife said, “You raised your hand to beat me, ah, the people that know you will pity you.”

This man thought, because he was a man, instead of prostrating and begging, because for a woman to tell you, “Those that know you will pity you,” it is going to get that man where that man will never expect. The man never knew.

The woman said, “You raised your hand to beat me!”

He said, “You are still talking?” and then he continued to beat the woman. The woman said, “Ah. The ones that know you and the ones that did not know you will now pity you.”

The man said, “If you open your mouth again, I will remove all the beautiful teeth in front.”

The woman opened her mouth again. You know, when the thing comes, you know what women also do with me. She said, “I will kill you today oh.”

That man left the house after beating the woman to his satisfaction. He went out and as he was walking on the street, there was this whipping that started. It was leaving marks on him. Somebody was whipping him but he did not see the whip and he did not see the hand. Initially he thought, “I am a man. I am a man. I am a man.” By the time he received number twenty-four, he began to respond. As he was responding, people were looking at him and saying, “Are you okay?” He said, “Ahem. Do I look okay?” Because his clothes were tearing. He said, “This man, you are not okay.” He said, “Ah, I know I am not okay. Help me.” They said, “How can we help you?” He said, “Who is beating me?” They said, “We don’t know.”

He never realised it was his wife that was dealing with him. He got home that day whether alive or dead, mad or sane, he did not know. When he got home and the wife said, “What happened to you?” He said, “I am dying. Help me.” That one said, “I was telling you that people who know you and the ones that don’t know you will pity you.” He said, “You mean you did this?” She said, “That is just the beginning.” The man now prostrated – the one that he should have done in the morning and said, “Please, forgive me.” She said, “No, not until I am done.” That is the way that people fight. Close your eyes, “Every tormenting power working upon my life, die!”

We are learning how to fight better. In the passage that we read, it says that there is an evil day that is coming. Do you see it there? It is in verse thirteen:

13Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

The evil day of Brother Job came and he did not know it. If that man did not know how to fight better, he would have gone under. Brother Job – in the same day he ever lived to work for was ruined. His children died the same day. Brother Joseph the dreamer also had an evil day. In the day his brothers would look at him and say, “Yes, we got you alone now! Ah ha! We have been waiting for this opportunity for a long time. You have always been hiding under our daddy but now our daddy made the greatest mistake of his life in allowing you to come to us.” And they stripped him of his coat of many colors. They thought that was the end. No. The evil day came when they sold him and then he was sold again. When he got to Potiphar’s house he thought, “Ah, evil days are over” and he was working. He was diligent until the Madame of the house said, “This handsome young man.” The evil day came again but something was seeing this man through his evil days. This is what we are learning today – how to fight better. How do stand in the days when the evil will come. If you are still on earth, excuse me, the evil day will come. You will not know like our sister that gave the testimony. She said that she has been working in the office for years and she did not know when they put the thing there, but the thing has been working upon her life and she did not know. The evil day will come but you must know how to fight better.

If you want victory on the day the evil will come, then raise your right hand to the Heavens, “I receive victory over evil days in my life in the Name of Jesus.”

A brother had an experience, but thank God because when you know how to fight better, the enemy will not catch you napping. This brother was sleeping – he was on his bed and he was really, really tired and the Holy Spirit came to him and said, “Son, it is time for you to get out of bed.”

He said, “Sir, I have nothing to do today. Let me rest a little. I have the whole day.”

The Holy Spirit came again and said, “Son, it is time to get out of bed.”

At that moment he rolled over and pulled the comforter over. The Holy Spirit came this time and said, “Stand up now!”

And then he jumped out of the bed. The moment that he jumped out of the bed, as he was standing by his bedside, something crashed on his bed. Something entered through his window and smashed the portion where he was sleeping on his bed, and he said that he was shivering and said, “God, in just less than twenty seconds, that would have been it.”

God said, “Yes.”

God will always get to you before the enemy gets to you. It is a fact – He is closer to you than you could ever think.

I Timothy 6:7:

7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses
Fight the good fight of faith. Many things and many people are in the world drowning in the evil of the destruction that the enemy is throwing at them. Some people that you are seeing died or they just disappeared. It is not as if God did not want to save them, but it is because they did not learn how to fight better, so the enemy got the better of them. The enemy will not get the better of you in Jesus’ Name.

Ananias and Saphira did not die in the world. They died in the church – at the feet of the Apostle because they came with a bold face to lie to God and they died because they did not know how to fight better. They were fighting for survival and they kept something back that they aught to give and they pretended that, “Oh, this is everything.” Peter asked them, “While it was remaining, was it not yours? Why are you lying to the Holy Ghost? It is just because you are fighting to save yourself alive, but sorry, you just lost your life.” And they died. You remember Daman? He denied everything that has to do with the Gospel because he did not know how to fight better. But praise the Name of the Lord, the Psalmist says in Psalm 144 – please open to Psalm 144. That will be your own song today in the Name of Jesus.

1Blessed be the LORD my strength which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight:

God can train His people to fight the right way. If there is no need for us to fight, God will not have need to train us. He would not be a Man of War Himself. It is because there is a conflict that is going on over your life every second of the day. Many people may not know it but you have to make choices whether you want to go with evil or good every day that you wake up. Is that correct or not? That one is saying that there is a fight and some people in the course of a day, they loose the battle and they end up far away from home and far away from God.

There as a person was an university undergraduate. She was in the university. She believed God, but academically she just did not make up and then she failed and she was asked to withdraw from the university and she said, “Wow. God, I have known You before I entered the university. I praised You for giving me admission into the university, but now, do you want me to thank You for sending me out of the university? Okay, I will now show you something. I will deal with You.” She wanted to deal with God, and actually, she deal with God but listen to this. How she dealt with God is this. She went out and threw her Bible aside. Everything about God she forgot it and said, “Yes, any available man can have my body.” So she sleeps from one bed to another and she continues like that. She said, “God, look at me! I am dealing with you.” By the time she ended it, she ended it with HIV and then she now came to herself. No man will now have her when they discovered she had it. She now became a plague that nobody should come near her. She now crawled back to God and said, “God, I thought that I was dealing with You, but now I know that I am dealing with myself.” She was fighting – but she did not know how to fight better. You will learn to fight better today in Jesus’ Name.

There is another way of fighting as a Christian. How do we fight better and against what?

HOW DO WE FIGHT BETTER AND AGAINST WHAT?

There are two things that I am going to mention quickly. We are going to look at what we should fight better against, and what we should fight better for. There are two things – we are fighting against some things and we are fighting for some things. Do you understand what I am saying?

I have seen some people mess up the lives of people that they have no business that they should mess up. Parents mess up the lives of their children sometimes. When the father and the mother just decided to quarrel and they fight and they say, “Okay, let everybody go their own separate ways,” and then one will go to the court and say, “Well, I want custody” and the other one will go there and say, “I am not giving custody” - one is fighting for something and one is fighting against the same thing. Do you understand what I am saying? So for us to fight better, we need to know what we are fighting against and what we are fighting for.

WHAT ARE WE FIGHTING AGAINST?

1. SIN. This is the number one thing that as a Christian, every day that we wake up we should fight better against is sin. In Hebrews 12:1,4 it says: Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,” It is talking about the sin that is so easy to entangle us. The sin that is so easy to trap us – we should fight against it better. You should fight against it better. You should stop making excuses for those little, little things. If you do not stand against them better, the enemy is there to wreck havoc of that person’s life and I pray today that the enemy will not wreck your life in the Name of Jesus Christ.

2. LUST. In Galatians 5:16,17 16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 17For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. When there is lust in your life – let me tell you one thing, all those things that you need to do to be able to fulfil your destiny, you will not be able to do them. You will know what to do, but you cannot do it. Have you collected something from somebody and you know that collecting that thing from that person may have a boomerang effect, but you went ahead and collected it? When you now finish the thing, that person now came up and said, “Excuse me, I need this thing, this thing and this thing.” And you say, “But you know I cannot give it to you.” They say, “Ah, you cannot deny me now.” Brother Samson, you need to ask him in the Bible – what removed the anointing of God upon his life was lust. When he was sleeping on the lap of Delilah and Delilah was caressing his head and said, “Tell me where your power is so that I can bind you,” and the man said, “Look, your love is even intoxicating me. I will tell you everything. Don’t worry – I will tell you.” And he opened his mouth and told the woman everything and the woman removed the anointing of God upon his life and they bound him and they removed his eyes. Excuse me, he was not supposed to be bound. His eyes were not supposed to be removed, but they removed his eyes and then he began to grind the mills for his enemies. Many people, because of the lust in their lives that they are not fighting against, they are grinding mills in the camp of their enemy. Today, the Lord will deliver you. You remember Esau? He was just hungry – as if he has never been hungry like that in his life before, he said, “Look, what is my birthright to me? I am hungry now! Give me food!” And he finished eating and his destiny just sat down and he finished. That is all. And when he realised what he did he searched it with tears, but he could not regain it again. You should fight against lust in your life. You know yourself beloved. I know myself. Know the areas of your life that you are lusting. Lust – you need to stand against it and say, “No more in my life!” King Herod in Acts of the Apostles wanted recognition at all costs, and when he was speaking somebody said, “Ah, this is not the voice of a man. This is the voice of God.” And he smiled. And immediately God said, “Ah, you want the recognition that I did not give you. You want the promotion that did not come from Me. You are dead!” And immediately worms began to eat him up. You should fight against lust in your life. Today, the Lord will set us free from lust in the Name of Jesus Christ. There are some people who just go out and keep buying things and then they discover that they already have three or four of them at home. What do you think is making a person to go ahead and do that? It is lust. It is the lust of the eyes. They call it something where I come from: “The eye which sees but will never let go.” It kills so many people that have these eyes, because instead of turning away their eyes, their eyes capture them and they die. You will not die in the Name of Jesus Christ.

3. UNPROFITABLE WORDS. The words of the mouth that are unprofitable. The words that come out of your mouth. Lies of any shade of colour. It is unprofitable oh – you should fight against it. Do not say it is purple or green or black or white. A lie is a lie and there is a father of lies. Do you know the father of lies? He abode not in the truth. When you lie, you are speaking his language. Unprofitable words – you should fight against it. Criticism is unprofitable words. Exaggeration is unprofitable words. Complaining and murmuring is unprofitable words. It is profiting nobody. When you murmur about everything. What is it that you want that will be okay for you? Some people will sit on the chair and say, “This chair is not comfortable.” They sit on the floor and they say that it is not good. The only problem is that they cannot levitate, otherwise they would sit in the air and say that it is not good. Unprofitable words, vain words, angered words, tale-bearing - “Have you heard?” Who sent you? That is the next question, “Who sent you?” Deceitful words, hypocritical words – now, let me tell you the truth: There are so many people that when people from outside the country – maybe Europe or America, comes back home, there is a way in which they carry themselves that makes them to attract witchcraft arrows. Do you understand what I am saying? They are working the grave yard shift here and when they come home, they act as if they are the custodian of the key to the vault in the central bank. Do you understand what I am saying? He will say that he has his own business. He will tell people to come and bring him their business proposal. He will ask them to give him money to start up the business – to finance it and when they give it to him two thousand Naira, he will say, “Two thousand Naira, this is chicken change. Chicken change.” But this guy, it is his credit card that he used to go to Nigeria. By the time he finished with the chicken change in Nigeria, when he now gets back here, he will be struggling to meet up with the line of credit and the credit cards. He has forgotten the proposal that they gave him and that one has been doing fasting and prayer in the church and on satanic altars. They will say, “Anywhere he is oh, money, money, money.” The credit card he will not be able to settle down. The ones back home when the money is not forthcoming in one month, two months, they will begin to send curses. You know, when a person is hungry, the next thing is annoyance. The thing that brought the problem upon the person is the mouth. Unprofitable words. What you are not, you tell them that you are. The one who is cleaning gutter here, is telling them, “If you come to this place, it will be good oh.” He did not own one single car here. If not the grace that the subway is there, he would be trekking. Amen. And then he took the picture of some rented cars and he posed there and then he gave it to them at home. Amen. How to fight better. Learn how to fight better. What you cannot do, do not tell anybody that you will do. If they come up to you and tell you that you are a useless person say “Thank you. God has not made me useless oh.” They will be the first person that will come at you even when you are down to tell you that it is finished for you. You do not need to tell them who you are not. Say, “The Lord will help me with my mouth. I will not kill myself.” You know that there is the power of life and death there in the tongue. Say, “With my mouth I will not kill myself.”

4. UNHOLY THOUGHTS. You should fight against unholy thoughts because it defiles you from within. Some people are seated there but they have so many people that they suspect that is harming and speaking ill of them so when the pastor says, “Move around and tell a person, ‘You shall not die but live’” when they see the person, they say, “Ah! Ah! Ah! When I am in my prayer room I am saying, ‘Fall down and die,’ but now you say that I should pray for this one, “You shall not die but live?’ No, no – not this one.’” Unholy thoughts.

5. WASTAGE. When the time of your life is wasted, your destiny is wasted. When your time is wasted a person’s destiny is wasted because every second you waste goes into every minute and every minute puts itself together and becomes one hour. As it become an hour it becomes a day and as it become a day it becomes a week, from a week it becomes a month and from a month it becomes a year. Dr. Olukoya was the one that said, “When you are doing what you aught not to do, you are wasting time.” When you are doing the right thing at the wrong time, you are wasting time. When you are procrastinating what you aught to do now and say, “I will do it later, I will do it later” – you are wasting your destiny. When you are sluggish in what you are doing in two minutes you are doing it for ten minutes, you are wasting time and wasting your destiny. A person who decides to oversleep all the time is wasting their destiny. If a person lives to sleep eight hours every day and he lives to be sixty years, by the time he reaches sixty years, he will have slept twenty years. He would have slept for a solid twenty years of a useful life, so what is remaining? The one that is remaining is the one that a person will have. You should fight against it. You waste your time and your energy when you overeat. You say, “Look, those cuisines are so wonderful – I can’t just resist it. Just give me a little bite, a little bite, a little bite,” and you keep biting until the thing inside you begins to bite you. Praise the Lord.

6. OVER-DECORATION. It is a waste of destiny. Do you understand what I am saying? I have seen men who will over-decorate more than women. I know one. When I saw this man, I never believed it. The man was busy – he was about two hours. For goodness’ sake – for a man to dress for two hours – that one did not even include the shower. No. I mean – dress. When I looked at him I thought, “What is happening to you? Is this the last time you will ever dress?” It was not even including the ironing. The man went there and was polishing his fingers – I will look at it like that. A man! I am not talking of a woman – a man! It is not good for a woman either because you are wasting your destiny. You should stand against it, Beloved. You say, “This eyelash is not good enough.” So you rub it off and then put another one. And then by the time that person finishes, it becomes mascara. Please, for goodness’ sake, I do not hate women. I have a wife so I do not hate women, but for goodness sake, what will not add value to your life, why are you still doing it? Why are you still doing it? It is taking away from you and you say, “That pastor hates women.” No, I love women. Without women, some things would not even work very well in this life but for goodness’ sake, when you know where you should be, be there. Praise the Lord.

7. DISOBEDIENCE. Fight against disobedience

8. FIGHT AGAINST THE YOKE OF BONDAGE. I want to read a Scripture for that. In Galatians 5:1 1Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage It is saying that you can be free from bondage, but a person can go back into bondage. When Abraham came out of Haran and he came out of the land that God called him out of and it was time for him to get a wife for his son Isaac, and he told Eliaser, go get my son a wife and his servant said, “Sir, if I go there and they say that they will not give me a wife for your son, will I take your son back?” And the man said, “No! Don’t take my son back into bondage.” But many of us today are not fighting better because we go back into bondage. We go back into our vomit. I have seen women who are married and respectable, because there was some financial down time in their family, do you know what they did? They crawled back to their ex-boyfriend. They said, “You know, we just have this little problem. How is your family?” And they chat about each other’s family and they say, “Let us meet for coffee.” And they meet for coffee. That one said, “Wow, I told you that your husband is not taking care of you. Let me take care of you. I wonder why you married that crazy man.” And she says, “Don’t talk about my husband like that.” What is she doing there? And then by the time that one says, “I learned that you said that you have this financial problem, okay, we can take care of that.” He gives the first cheque and she says, “Thank you.” She takes it and the innocent husband and the family at home did not know where she got the money from. The husband said, “Where did you get this money from? Wow!” And she said, “My uncle gave it to me.” That was the beginning of the problem in that family. Why will anybody do that? She went back into bondage willingly. What are those things that when you gave your heart to Jesus Christ you have taken them out of your life because in obedience to Jesus, you took them out and now they are crawling back. They are not running – they are just crawling and you say, “Well, it is not really, really bad. It is not bad. It doesn’t matter. It is just one cheque he gave me now.” And when they have the second problem, she went back and she went back and the man said, “That won’t be free now. You need to drop something.” And she dropped something. Do not go back into bondage. Say, “I will not go back into bondage.”

9. THE ROOT OF BITTERNESS. In Hebrews 12:15 15Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; What does it say that the root of bitterness will do to a person? It will trouble the person who has it. If you have the root of bitterness against anybody – whether they are dead or alive, it is going to trouble you. Do you hear what I am saying? That is what the Scriptures is saying there. It defiles so many people. So many people will go to the Lord and say, “God, I want deliverance from this thing,” but there is bitterness in them. When we were conducting deliverance for a woman back home, this woman came the first day and the manifestation was violent. The second day it was mild and the third day we praised God, “Oh she is better.” The fourth day it seems as if they brought all the demons that we were casting out of other people and put it inside of her. I said, “What happened? You should be nearing the completion of your deliverance, what is this?” She said, “Nothing. I don’t’ understand myself.” So I went to God and said, “What is going on?” And God said, “She did something.” She was confronted and I said, “God said you did something this morning.” She said, “Oh, that one.” She said, “It is my useless husband. It is that my useless husband. I saw him when I was coming for this deliverance and I told him, ‘Wait oh, your case, I will come back and meet it, but for now, let me just go for these prayers. When I am finished these prayers, you will see.’” And with that one she came into the deliverance. All the demons that left – they tripled themselves. They even multiplied themselves by seven and they came back. I just said, “Sister, go to that side and begin to sort yourself out with God. Leave this place. Leave us alone.” She said, “Ah! What are you doing? Pastor, don’t do this oh.” I said, “I am doing it. Go away from here. You don’t know what you are here from. This thing is troubling you and this man is not the one coming for deliverance. You are the one coming for deliverance but the root of bitterness in you is not making you to be delivered.” So you should fight against it, and who will fight better against bitterness than you?

10. THE STRONGHOLD OF FEAR. Fight against the stronghold of fear.

11. WICKED IMAGINATIONS. Those are the things that you need to fight against.

These things you should fight to keep them out of your life. These next ones you should fight to retain them in your life.

WHAT ARE THE THINGS YOU SHOULD FIGHT BETTER TO RETAIN?

1. YOUR CHRISTIAN FAITH. In Jude verse three it says, 3Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. You should contend for the faith. You should fight to keep your faith in Jesus. Many people do not know that they need to fight to keep their faith in Jesus. There are so many things on the cable that you watch and there are so many things on the news that when you hear it, it will make your faith to shake. Is there any day on your own cable that you turn on the news and you do not see tragedy and disaster? Is it possible that you tune into the television whether in an undeveloped country or in a developed country – it is the same. The news is always saying that some people died. Somebody died. Somebody walked away. Somebody was kidnapped. Somebody was killed. Something like that. It is affecting your faith. It wants you to keep doubting God - to say, “God, will You be able to keep me from all these things?” You should keep your faith. He that is with you is greater than he that is in the world.

2. YOUR HOLINESS BEFORE THE LORD. Hebrews 12:14 says this one clearly, “Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.” Without holiness in your life, you will not see God. Men may tell you that you will see God – it is a lie. The Bible says that nobody without holiness will see God.

3. GOD’S GRACE AND HIS GLORY OVER YOUR LIFE. The grace and glory of God – you should fight to keep it in your life. There is something in the animal kingdom. Anywhere, with what we have read about lions, anywhere lions moves, which animal will say that they are not moving? That the lion is not there? There is a glory that is given to lions. There was a glory that was given to the Son. You have a glory and you should keep it. You should not sell your glory. The glory departed from the household of Eli and when the grandson was born, they called the child, “Ichabod” – the glory has departed. Any glory that has departed from any life here, the Lord will bring it back today in the Name of Jesus. When they look at you they say, “Ah, nothing more,” but today the Lord will restore it into your life in the Name of Jesus Christ. You should fight to keep the glory and the grace of God upon your life. Let me tell you, grace can do a lot of things. Grace will open doors where no man can open it for you. When you have the grace of God upon you, do you know what it means? It is saying that you have unmerited favour. Fight to keep the favour of God upon your life. Dr. Olukoya said that God has favourites. When Achan wanted to run away from the presence of the Lord, God said, “Go, I don’t need you” but when Jonah was running – God pursued him. You have a grace upon your life. You should fight to keep it. Say, “I will keep the grace of God upon my life.”

4. THE MANIFESTATION OF THE PROMISES OF GOD. God has a promise for everyone that comes to Him. You should fight to keep that promise. God has a promise for life. God gave Abraham a promise and when things were going like it was not going to work, God called Abraham and said, “You are stepping out of the promises” and Abraham went back and at the age of one hundred he had the promise of God. It took him twenty-five years to arrive there. It was not the fault of God but it was because he was not protecting the promise of God over his life. Some people here who have had some wonderful walks with God and God has given them revelation of what their life should be, and sorry, they are far from it now. It is time for you to go back to that revelation. It is time for you to go back and say, “God, you said so and so to me.” Some people are even good at keeping the record. They said, “God, this is Your Word for my life. I want it fulfilled. I am standing for it now. I have left it. I have abandoned it, but now I am coming back to it.” Go back to the promise of God for your life. When you defend the promise of God in your life, nobody can rubbish your life.

5. THE KNOWLEDGE OF HIS INSTRUCTIONS. When you come to church week in and week out, there is Divine instructions coming. Line upon line God is building something. Precepts upon precepts. A little here and a little there. He is putting some things together for your life and when you do not learn how to follow instructions, you will not learn how to enter into and enjoy the blessings of God. But because God wants you to enjoy His blessings, begin to fight to protect the instructions of God for your life.

6. TO KEEP YOUR FELLOWSHIP WITH THE HOLY GHOST. Every meeting in Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries, we share the grace, is that correct? Many people just say it but they do not fight to keep the fellowship with the Holy Ghost. It says, “Sweet fellowship and sweet communion” with the Holy Ghost will be with you now and forever more, but a lot of people do not know how to protect the fellowship with the Holy Ghost.

HOW DO YOU FIGHT BETTER?[b]

[b]1. CHECK YOUR RELATIONSNIP WITH GOD. The Bible says, “They that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits.” Check your relationship with God. Is it a pleasurable relationship or is there something amiss in your relationship with God? Check it. Do not let anybody check it for you because they can make a mistake. They checked for a woman. The woman was attending this church where she was a generous woman. She was generous with the things of God. She gives what she has and then she was like a pillar in the church and any time she had some things with the Word of God, she says, “Pastor, I think I am not growing as a Christian,” and the pastor said, “Ah sister, don’t you ever say that! If a person like this says that you are not growing, all of us will go to Hell Fire –you are growing!” She had a dream and she told the pastor, “I had this dream oh. I dreamed that these small, small powers were dragging me to a place where crying as if they were tormenting them.” The pastor said, “I bind that spirit in Jesus’ Name.” He said, “Actually, the matter of which I came to you Sir is that the church wanted to buy a bus.” She said, “No problem. I will give my quota.” And she gave. She was sick one day and she was hospitalized. Right there in the hospital room she had the same dream again. She said, “Go call my pastor.” When he came, she said, “Pastor, I have been telling you and you have been telling me the same thing, but this time around, tell me something different. I beg you in the Name of God, tell me something different.” And the pastor said, “Actually, you see that dream? Um, it is true that if you die now, from what you said now, you will go to Hell Fire.” She said, “Why don’t you tell me all along?” He said, “You see, I don’t’ want you to leave the church.” She said, “Then you did foolishly. Can you tell me how to be saved? I want to make Heaven.” And then the pastor now led her on how to make Heaven. You know what she did? Her giving in that church now increased but her pastor also changed from telling lies to just make money. Beloved, you need to know your relationship with God. For you to fight better, know your relationship with God. The person that is not your Father indeed, you cannot call Him to come when Satan comes. You must belong to Him.

2. UNDERSTAND THE SCRIPTURES THAT YOU ARE CARRYING AROUND. Read it. Know it. Know the Bible. Beloved, know the Bible. Jesus Christ said, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone but by every Word that comes out of the mouth of God.” He knew what is written and you must know what is written in this Word for you to fight better.

3. WALK IN OBEDIENCE TO THE WORD OF GOD. You know, the AGO said the other time, “The level of your obedience to the Word of God is the level at which demons will submit to you.”

4. WALK IN LOVE. Nobody that is walking in hatred will fight against the enemy and will succeed. Nobody. You must walk in love.

5. STAY FOCUSED AND FIGHT WITH CHRIST’S AUTHORITY. There is authority in the Name of Jesus Christ. At the Name of Jesus Christ every knee shall bow of things in Heaven, of things in earth, and things beneath the earth. You must stay focused on Jesus, looking unto Jesus, the Author and the Finisher of your faith and then you now fight in the authority of the Lord Jesus. Today the Lord Himself will do a new thing in your life in the Name of Jesus Christ.