It is not by power

Christians, the children of God, are in constant battleagainst the devil and his agents. The devil is a spirit fighting the physical human beings, using his human agents. In all the cases, the battles are at the spirit realm, which is beyond human capacity. Cases are first settled in the spirit realm prior to its manifestation in the physical. Whatever is settled in the spirit realm will hardly change in the physical; before any change is made, it must be another spiritual battle to effect that alteration. God in most cases empowers His trusted servants, His obedient children in the spirit and use them against the devil and his agents as deliverance instruments. That is why in our second text above, Apostle Paul made it clear to the Ephesian church that since God’s children are not fighting against the flesh and blood, but against spirits, they should arm themselves with the whole armour of God to withstand the evil days, which the devil and his agents are bringing against them.

Devil hinders the operations of God’s people;hence, we must overcome him prior to doing exploits in life both physically and spiritually. God promised the outpouring of His spirit on His people as the Bible says in Isaiah 61:1-3: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. 2: To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn. 3: To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that he might be glorified.”

Whenever there is any out pouring of the spirit of God upon any human being, God uses the person to do exploits. Our Lord Jesus Christ read this scripture in a Synagogue in Galilee and ended it with the acceptable year of the Lord. The acceptable year of the Lord represents the years of grace marked by the first Advent of the Lord when sins are forgiven based on the sacrificial death on the Cross of Calvary. The spirit of the Lord was upon Him for the deliverance of the people of the world that are in bondage of sin. Prior to the coming of the Lord, the Israelites celebrated it as the Year of Jubilee when debts are cancelled, slaves are freed, and sins are forgiven. Presently, Christians are in the acceptable year of the Lord where grace abounds.

The spirit of God was upon our Lord Jesus Christ who offered Himself to die for the sins of the world. In the Bible days, the spirit of God was upon Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Elijah, Elisha, Queen Esther, Apostle Paul and all other prophets and apostles and they did exploits for the Lord. In that manner whenever there is an outpouring of the spirit of God on any individual, the person is bound by that power to do exploits to the glory of God. We should, therefore, at all times pray for the spirit of God to come upon us. This will enable us to do that which God wants us to do for Him. Zechariah 4:6-7 says: “Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, this is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.7: Who art thou, O great mountain? BeforeZerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.”

King Zerubbabel was faced with the problem of completing the Temple of God he started and the promise was that as long as his hands had laid the foundation, he will finish it. He did finish the temple to the glory of God. The spirit of God was with him and he had the grace to complete what he has started.

Prophet Joel 2:28-29 said: “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.29: And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.” The prophecy of Joel came to fulfillment on the day of Pentecost. Although Apostle Peter did not state it in his message to the multitude that gathered, but the events of that day was the fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel. The spirit of God is still possessing people today, giving them the utterance to preach the gospel in season and in ordinary days drawing people to the kingdom of God.

The coming of the spirit of God will always make the difference. In Joshua 5:13-15, the Spirit of God appeared to Joshua thus:“And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, art thou for us, or for our adversaries? 14: And he said: “Nay; but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, ‘whatsaith my lord unto his servant? 15: And the captain of the Lord’s host said unto Joshua, loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.”

The coming of God’s Angel to the warfront to campaign for the children of Israel clearly changed the scenario for them to take over the Promised Land, as the angel took over the battle andJoshua was defeating every enemy in the war front. In one of the battles, Joshua had to command the sun to standstill and never to go down until the Israelites conquer all their enemies. The sun did not set that day. Joshua was in charge in the battlefield because the spirit of God was upon him and God fought and gave them victory.

In all your endeavours, pray for the spirit of God to empower you to do exploit. God made a promise in John 14:13-14 saying:“And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14: If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.” The will of God is that we should ask for our needs,and that includesspiritual empowerment. If we ask God’s spirit to come upon us as He did on the Day of Pentecost, God will do it for us to enable us do exploit. God is prepared to answer our prayers and attend to the needs of His people. Therefore, in any project you want to embark upon, ask for the spirit of God to come upon you and you will be able to do all things as God will strengthen you in Jesus’ name.