THE FIREARM OF EVERY BELIEVER

 Life is a battleground, and in any warfare, a soldier that goes to war without a firearm is doomed for destruction. The bible in the book of Mathew 11:12, makes us to understand that from the days of John the Baptist until now, that the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force. The bible used the word “violent” not to describe hooligans, rapist, fornicators, adulterers, cultists, militants, terrorists, and all other forms of social vices, but to refer to the category of believers who have had enough of the antics, lies, deceit, manipulations, oppression, perversion, of the devil, and have risen up to the occasion to take back their possession which have been stolen from them by the devil.

Victory in any battle can be achieved, based on certain principles even in spiritual warfare. For a soldier to experience victory in a battle, he must first of all discover his enemy and secondly, the type of battle he is engaged in, because this will further inform him on the type of weapon to use. When you do not know your enemy, and the type of battle you are involved in, this will lead to the use of the wrong weapon. In this situation, failure is certain and that is why many soldiers today fall by the sword. There are many people in the world today, that have not been able to discover their enemy and the type of battle they involved in, for this reason, their approach to solving such problems lead to little or no result. The world today, is made up of a vast number of people whose enemies are their best friends, fathers, mothers, sisters, uncles, aunties and so on, and that is why the bible in the book of Mathew 10:36, made us to understand that the enemies of a man are members of his household. There is no sentiment in spiritual warfare, because an enemy is an enemy no matter the form it takes. A powerful man of God based in Nigeria called Apostle Johnson Suleiman said that it is “detrimental to be sentimental”, and because man is constantly involved in battles, makes it difficult for you to find any man without a problem, or any form of challenge, even the rich, and that is why the saying goes that the rich also cry. The bible in the book of Ephesians 6:12 says “for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places”, and this is the battle that man is up against. It is evident that each and every one of us including the writer of this article is faced with one type battle or the other, for no two individuals can face exactly the same battle in life, even though they were identical twins. This is because our destinies are different and also our foundations.

God in His infinite mercy and wisdom knew that man was going to be involved in a serious warfare after his fall from grace, and as a result he provided man with one of the most dangerous weapon in the universe. This weapon is more potent than the combination of an atomic bomb and a nuclear bomb put together. This weapon is prayer.

Prayer is the firearm of every believer, and the name of Jesus Christ is the bullet, hence it is one of the most powerful forces in the universe, as all the military arsenals of soldiers of the world put together cannot withstand it. It has the capacity to travel at incomprehensible speeds and to heights beyond imagination. I stand to be corrected, prayer is among the four most powerful weapons on the face of the universe. For the sake of clarity, i would like to mention the other three which are, the word of God, praises and worship, but for the scope of this article, i will be dwelling on prayer. It is a weapon that traverses the heavens and comes before the throne of God. In recent years, man has intensified efforts in space technology, but has not been able to travel up to half of the planets, let alone locating the throne of God, but prayer does. Prayer cannot be melted by the extreme heat of the sun, because the master (God) coded it to be so. Prayer is the communication between man and God through our Lord Jesus Christ. If you are a networking student, you would understand that for communication to occur outside your network or local area network (LAN), there must be a source (sending host), the gateway (router) and the destination (receiving host). In the case of prayer, man is the source (sending host), Jesus Christ is the gateway (router), and God is the destination (receiving host).” If there is a man to pray, there is a God to answer” –Apostle Johson Suleiman, because anything is possible in the alter of prayer. This weapon (prayer) is so powerful that it is greatly feared by the devil, and is one thing that the devil cannot do because he has no one to pray to.

Today, we are very quick to mention in our sermons names like Hannah, David, Elijah, Elisha, Esther, Job, Moses and the rest without examining their lives critically to discover the secret of their success, and why they were immortalized till this day. These were men and women of prayer, and some went to the extent of becoming mobile prayer machines. They understood the efficacy of prayer as an effective weapon for survival and excellence. Moreover, i will understudy three bible characters out of the vast number of great men and women in the bible.

                                                                       

HANNAH

The bible in the book of 1 Samuel 1:1-20, tells us the story of a woman called Hannah who was married to a certain man of Ra-math-a’ im-zo’ phim  of mount Ephraim, and had no child to call her own. Hannah understood the potency of prayer and she prayed to God. “If there is a man to pray, there is a God to answer”-Apostle Johnson Suleiman, and the Lord remembered her with the testimony of children. Are you reading this article today, and you have no child to call your own, why not emulate Hannah. The devil is very deceptive as he makes people to focus their attention on the problem instead of the solution. The devil deceives a lot of women in such situation by encouraging them to spend more time on the altar of weeping than in prayer, and i say to you woman wherever you are, stop crying and summon up courage like Hannah and move straight to the altar of prayer. I can assure you that God is waiting for you on that altar of prayer like Hannah with your children in His hands. Remember that Hannah had no children but when she prayed, God did not just stop at giving her a child, He blessed her with three (3) sons and two (2) daughters (1 Samuel 2:21).

                                                                          

   JABEZ

There was a certain man in the book of 1 Chronicles 4:9, who was called Jabez. The meaning of his name was “sorrow maker” as recorded in the book of 1 Samuel 4:9 (Amplified version), and his name was given to him by the mother because she bore him in sorrow. This man called Jabez could not succeed because his name was a stumbling block to his promotion, and that is the reason why every parent should be very careful with the names they assign to their children. Parents should carefully screen the names they give to their children, because the name of a person can affect him either positively or negatively as was in the case of Jabez. The circumstance through which a child is born should not dictate the name of the child, but when Jabez cried unto the Lord in prayer, God granted him his request (1Chronicles 4:10) and changed his story. In the book of Jeremiah 32:27, God was asking us a question if there was anything too hard for him to do for us, so why don’t you trust God and go to Him in prayer. My fellow brethren, mourning, murmuring, will not solve the problem and also suicide is not the solution either. God is calling you today with a promise that He will give you rest.

                                                                                    

  DAVID

As we all know, David was a man after the heart of God (Acts 13:22), and he was a genius in the art of both physical and spiritual warfare. David went through several challenges in his life despite the fact that he was a friend of GOD, but whenever he encountered challenges, he was victorious because God was with him. Alot of people think that given their life to Jesus Christ automatically wipes away all their problems. This erroneous doctrine has been propagated by some preachers and ministries. Challenges will come but God has given us sufficient grace ( 1 Corinthians 10:13) to be victorious through Jesus Christ. Every challenge in a man’s life serves a purpose, and the wise learn and become wiser, because even our Lord Jesus Christ suffered pain and humiliation in order to provide us with salvation. One of the challenges David faced, was recorded in the book of 1 Samuel 30, when all he had was stolen including his family and that of his men. He wept bitterly (1 Samuel 30:4) because that was the power of the flesh at work, but he did not remain on the altar of weeping as he encouraged and strengthened himself in the Lord his God. After he had finished encouraging himself, he inquired of the Lord his God (1 Samuel 30:8), and the Lord gave him an answer. The word “inquired”, means that David made a prayer of inquiry unto the Lord, and God answered his prayer. David recovered all that he lost. How long have you been on the altar of weeping, and what has the devil stolen from u? , it is time to encourage and strengthen yourself in the Lord like David. God is able to do exceedingly all things (Ephesians 3:20), as He will restore unto you whatever the devil has stolen.

However, for your prayer to be effective and produce results, you will need to give your life to Jesus Christ. Prayer is the firearm and the name of Jesus Christ is the bullet. A man or a woman who prays in another name other than Jesus Christ is likened to a soldier with a gun without ammunition and therefore cannot shoot let alone killing a target. The bible in the book of Acts 4:12 says and i quote “neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” .It is a very serious matter and i would like to ask you a destiny question, in whose name are you praying? One day in a church service, my mother in the Lord Senior pastor Sara Michael, decided to go very practical as she was conducting deliverance for members in the church. In that service a lady was standing before her, and the pastor decided to call other names that religious people call when they are offering incantations, but the lady did not move an inch. The pastor continued chanting these incantations, but nothing happened and immediately she called the name of Jesus Christ, the evil spirit in the lady started manifesting and she fell down to the ground. This was a practical example of the power in the name of Jesus Christ, and i ask again, in whose name are you praying?. If the various names that religious people call couldn’t bring to submission the evil spirit in the lady, then that means that, any prayer offered without the name of Jesus Christ is in futility. Prayer is useless in the hands of an unbeliever.

JESUS CHRIST IS CALLING YOU TODAY FOR HIS SECOND COMING IS AT HAND. GIVE YOUR LIFE TO JESUS CHRIST BECAUSE THE NEXT SECOND MIGHT BE TOO LATE. GOD BLESS YOU.

#TheMessenger