Spiritual Battle 2
How to Defeat the Enemy
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Spiritual Battle 2 Provides
LESSONS FROM THE ARGENTINA REVIVAL FOR AMERICA
War With The Enemy
Spiritual Battle 2 focuses on the war with the enemy in a region that is doing
well at learning what it takes to defeat the devil.
I
recently went on a two-week mission trip to Argentina. The purpose in going was
to experience first hand the revival I have heard so much about. After a few
days of the first week I was wondering why I was there. I was not seeing the
hundreds of souls coming to the Lord as I had expected or the large stadium
events and crusades.
Revival – Spiritual Battle 2
Part
way through the first week I saw the revival. I saw it in the sparkle of the
eyes of the people in the churches and the hope and the belief in their hearts;
this is where the true spiritual battle 2 is. They had belief in prayer and
there was much prayer preceding our coming as well as while we were there; this
demonstrated the spiritual battle 2 for us and me in particular.
Over
and over I heard the comment from the people from the different churches saying
“Our pastors have a plan from God.” It was not just one pastor but many pastors
coming together in unity and purpose to advance God’s kingdom and to transform
their city to exhibit the characteristics of God.
The
pastors exhibited the characteristics of the traits discussed in the article
Spiritual Battle 1 - Keeping Leaders From Unity.
The
pastors had the city where we were at broken into zones with the individual
churches within a zone responsible for covering the area with prayer, for
discipleship training of their members and for reaching out to the unsaved
people in the area.
Unity – Major Spiritual Battle 2
The
churches would work together in unity to conduct prayer fairs in different parts
of their zone. At the prayer fairs there would be individual prayer stations
set up to pray for specific needs dealing with jobs, families, witchcraft,
healing, marriages, abuse and miracles.
The Lord Speaks Spanish
Many,
many non-Christian people from the area would come to the prayer fair and get in
line to be prayed for.
I was
praying at the station for healing and would pray in English because I don’t
speak Spanish. Some times there would be an interpreter but most of the time
not.
Even
though my English spoken prayers could not be understood, people would fall
down, would weep and sob and would claim healing. Workers from the churches
would then ask the people if they wanted to know the Jesus that we knew.
At
another time I was working with two young teenagers who could speak just a
little English and understand me if I spoke slowly. We were on a very busy
street corner in a zone that had received very heavy prayer coverage.
The
girls would hand out a flyer inviting people to a prayer fair then ask if they
would like for me, the American with them, to pray a blessing over them. I
prayed for about 25 or 30 people in a two-hour period. Even though these people
on the street couldn’t understand me, they would weep, sob, and fall down; then
the girls would ask them if they would like to know the Jesus that we knew.
2000 Recorded Salvations in 8 Days – Spiritual Battle 2
The
mission team I was with was actually in the streets working only eight days but
there were over 2,000 salvations recorded on paper with names, address and phone
numbers.
Not
all the zones we went into had been prayed for and in those zones not prayed for
we could hardly even talk to people, let alone talk to them about the Lord. Our
main task in those zones was to help cover the area with prayer to prepare the
way for a future harvest.
Spiritual Battle 2 Lessons For America
Some
of the most important things I have returned to America with from this Argentina
mission trip can be summarized as follows:
1.
Revival
is hard work.
It does not just happen. It takes living a LIFE STYLE of coming into the
presence of the Lord.
2.
It takes
pastors and Christian leaders first seeking the will of the Lord
and being willing to set aside personal agendas, to following what the Lord
leads for the Body of Christ in unity with other pastors. It also takes pastors
and leaders who know how to disciple believers.
3.
There is
tremendous hope for America.
There is a group of
pastors in my city,as well as in a near by city, who have been meeting together
and praying together. I believe the Lord desires Revival and renewal for our
country even more than we do and will begin to transform our cities when we
learn what many of the Argentines have learned - which is expressed in number 4
below.
4.
Prayer works when it is done by believing Christians
(a)
who understand the need to submit to the Lord and understand that the
eternal purpose of God is that Jesus must have preeminence in everything,
(b)
who understand that all the work we do for the kingdom must be conceived
by God to be effective, and not by man,
(c)
who understand that all work for the Lord must depend upon the power of
the Lord to be effective and not upon the natural ability of man,
(d)
who understand that the end and objective of all work, whether revival or
other work to which God will commit Himself on our behalf, must be for His glory
alone and that we are to get nothing at all from it.
When these four issues are
truly settled in our heart then all of hell has to recognize the authority that
we walk in and the spiritual battle 2 is on!
5.
With
proper discipleship,
even new believers are able to operate in the authority of prayer.
6.
The work
is grueling.
You have to prepare, then go outside the four walls of the church to where the
people are.
7.
Our task
is to know the Commander Jesus Christ
– not so much to follow
the Commander’s plan but to know Him intimately.
8.
We must
believe that God wants the non-Christians to come to know Him
and that He will supply all power, fire, anointing, strategy, signs, wonders and
healings to do this through us.
9.
Here in
America we can walk in spiritual authority
and see the same kind of signs, wonders, miracles and healings as in Argentina
if we believe and will accept and walk and work in that authority, expecting
God to do what He has promised to do.
10.
Pastors
in Argentina still pastor their own churches.
A core group of pastors has come together in unity, as the Body of Christ, to
plan strategically together, in the presence of the Lord, to reach their city.
They have a view that there is only one church in the city with one shepherd who
is Jesus Christ, but individual congregations are still individual and
denominational. As the Body of Christ working in unity, they share a joint
vision for the non-Christians and have a joint strategy to reach them, and a
joint vision to transform their city.
11.
Revival
in Argentina is first in the heart and life of the individual
then in the heart and life of the people. From there it is then one on one
outside the church.
12.
In
America, when
we do pray with authority we most often have not spent the time with the Lord to
know what to do. We expect the Lord to do it all for us. The Lord does it all;
however, the thing we don’t always internalize is that the Lord does it through
us as we yield to Him as His vessels. But we must spend time with Him
intimately for Him to reveal to us the steps He wants to take through us.
13.
I did
things in Argentina I never thought I would or could do.
I prayed blessings for people and I prayed for the personal needs of people in
busy public places, people that were non-Christians. People sobbed, wept, and
claimed healing. This was not me; it was the power of the Lord ministering to
those people. I prayed in English, which they could not understand, so I was
just along for the ride and being a vessel through which the Lord moved to
minister to those particular people whom he loved.
14.
In
America we do not allow Christ to move through us often enough.
We have not settled within ourselves the four issues expressed above in number
four. Rather, we allow fear of rejection, fear of what others will think,
and/or fear of failure to work in us. We also do not give the time in intimacy
with the Lord so that He can show us what we should do or say or where we should
go.
15.
The
Spiritual Battle 2 is great
and we must live the life-style taught by Christ and be in Christ to be able to
with stand the enemy.
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