6 July 2020

BASIC MILITARY TRAINING FOR EVERY BELIEVER (1)

By John Ollis

Most of my blogs are for my fellow believers, the last one on “Reproduction” was for Leaders, ands I do pray it gets wide coverage,

Almost totally, all my other blogs are written from a Pastoral perspective and from my personal experience in my walk with the Lord, and because the truth/s has been so profound and impacting in my life, it is often repeated in my blogs, and we know repetition is an essential part of teaching, as we forget and need to be reminded so often, plus it often needs to be expressed numerous times before the “penny drops” that is the information becomes revelation, the Logos becomes a Rhema and becomes life transforming.

There are 2 truths that I often mention, that even though they have become revelation, we need to be constantly challenged to make sure it is and continues to be a life style.

  1. continual surrenderRom.12:1 AMP. N.T. I APPEAL to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship.

We know that the problem being a “living sacrifice” is that it always wants to crawl off the altar, so Paul’s language to the Roman Believers is in the “present continuous tense”, that we must learn to live in complete surrender 24/7, only then is our old nature “rendered powerless” but the moment we get off the altar, sadly it is very much “alive and well”.

2.Continually being filled with the Holy Spirit Eph.5:18 AMP.N.T. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but EVER be filled and stimulated with the [Holy] Spirit.

We thank God the Holy Spirit came into our life the moment we were born again, but through that continuous act of complete surrender we are letting the Holy Spirit FILL THE HOUSE, but once again often unwittingly we push the Holy Spirit out of areas in our life, we need to be ever reminded that only when the Holy Spirit is PRESIDING & RULING in our life, can we know the power of God to assist us to live holy, and victorious lives. Again Paul is using the present continuous tense in the Greek.

As I was praying on Saturday morning, I was thanking the Lord for these awesome truths, that I constantly seek to maintain in my life, I asked myself the question “what else does God make available to us to help us live holy lives. Instantly I believe the Lord spoke to my heart and said He has given us a complete set of armour that we must learn to recognize we need, then learn to put them on, and learn how to use them.

I have often said when we were born again we enlisted into Gods army, but it has come to me as revelation,that every Believer is in a “state of war” against 2 enemies.

  1. The devil 1 Peter 5:8 N.L.T. Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.
  2. Our depraved deceitful heart Jer. 17:9 N.L.T. he human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked, Who can really know how bad it is?

As I began to meditate on the WHOLE ARMOUIR OF GOD, I asked myself the question, Is this a one off decision when we recognize we have this available to us,(sadly often after years of struggle/defeat and lack of Biblical Discipleship)I decided to phone my Greek scholar friend to check with him, he confirmed that Believers must CONTINUALLY CHOOSE to put on the whole armour of God. When I got off the phone I actually felt embarrassed when I began to think, it is of course common sense we would need to be continually putting on our armour. (I guess I need more!!!)

You cannot be a part-time soldier in God’s army, nor can you go on holiday from being involved in a battle, during the Vietnam war for example Australian soldiers were flown out to Hong Kong for R&R (Rest & Relaxation) BUT NOT IN GOD’S ARMY.

I have written about the Whole Armour of God before, but we will look at each of these 7 pieces of Armour separately, and not only seek to describe them, but the Holy Spirit helping me I will seek to assist you to recognize which piece you need, encourage you to put it on, and how to use it.

We will start from the permanent base of CONTINUOUS SURRENDER, & SEEKING TO BE CONTINUALLY FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT, and that as we learn to put on and use each piece of armour, we are doing RESISTANCE TRAINING James 4:7 NKJV Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you, and the more we do it (submit & surrender), the stronger we become, and the more the enemy will run away defeated.

I do pray, this blog and teaching is going to help many fellow believers in their walk with the Lord and they will see the level of victory rise dramatically in their lives.

I read recently a statement by Charles Spurgeon,

WE HAVE TO LEARN PRAY WITHOUT CEASING, BECAUSE WE ARE TEMPTED “WITHOUT CEASING”.