A hallmark is a distinctive feature, signifying excellence. It is the stamp imprinted onto gold and silver that declares its purity, and therefore its value.
Similarly, it is a huge indicator of a spiritual warrior’s true worth to the community in which God has placed him. Warriors are people who confidently make choices about where and how to focus from the inner man of the spirit, through the outer man of the soul
Despite external realities that are adverse and chaotic, spiritual warriors live in a state of untroubled calm and rest by which they are bound to the inner life of the Holy Spirit. They view troublesome, annoying circumstances as opportunities to defeat the enemy or to practice their own inner spirituality before God. They do not react to events because their focus and training in warfare is to respond to God from their inner man.
They know that part of their inheritance in their walk with God is that they enjoy complete confidence in him. They realize that all the promises of God are to enable us to be inspired in our dependence and reliance upon him. They know that new life events are always followed by an upgrade of God’s presence and provision.
Many people get promoted at work or find a new job but never think to upgrade their rest and peace. A new job or a major change will involve the stress of new people, new learning, larger expectations, and possibly bigger opportunities to fail, as well as succeed. All these can cause pressure not only on us, but also on family. With every new situation there is a fresh provision. The God of peace is with us to bring us into a deeper, broader experience of rest that enables us to overcome – John 14:27/16:33. People take on new responsibilities but don’t raise their faith to a new level. We battle through circumstances that we feel ill-equipped to tackle but do not look for the provision that improves our capacity to receive under pressure.
Many people are unaware that God always uses foresight in his relationship with us. He knows what is coming down the road for us on our journey. He knows where life plots against us. He knows the ambushes of the enemy. He can see the difficult terrain we will have to cross, and he provides for all those eventualities.
People pray as if they are begging God to do them a favor. They forget that he always sees the end from the beginning. He knows all things! The God who knows our journey better than we do has strategically placed a provision next to every problem, obstacle, and opposition – human and demonic. This is called favor.
We rejoice in who God is for us, pray joyfully for the favor that is present, and give thanks for the father’s foresight and intentionality. This is being led by the spirit.
What you think about God is the most important thought you are ever going to have about anything! How you perceive him is how you receive him in your day. We must never have a thought about God that does not magnify his love. He is good; therefore his goodness must be exalted in our thinking. I would have despaired unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, said David – Psalm 27:13. This is what it means to be a man after God’s own heart, like David. It means that we have a confident expectation of God’s nature towards us when circumstances are against us. In difficult situations we seek out God’s heart for us now, and we hide in who he is for us. He is our rock, or fortress, and are hiding place.
To step back into his kindness has been my salvation in countless circumstances. That’s why God gave me a revelation of his kindness! It is my access point, my doorway into the secret place of his presence. I can escape into his nature for me and live in a higher place than my circumstances. In this way, I get to go through my situations at rest, faith, and favor. They become opportunities to overcome something and to declare the nature of God to me personally.
We fight from victory, not towards it. Therefore, we are never staring defeat in the face; the enemy is, when he looks at us. Some obstacles take longer to overcome; in those cases were learning about patience and persistence. The point is this – victory, whether initially or eventually, is never in doubt in our hearts and minds. We focus on God, not the event – the rest is just thinking.
Spiritual warriors joyfully and humbly trust God to come through, no matter what situation they find themselves in. For that to happen, our confidence must first be in God’s nature; not just in his power. What is God really, really like? Who is he for you? How do you see his nature, character, and personality?
Every circumstance reveals to you, who God is and what he wants to be for you. This is the first thing that we focus on. In fact, we do not focus on the situation at all, initially; we do that eventually. It’s the difference between what is urgent and what is important. Every circumstance has a sound. Difficult situations have a way of clamoring for attention; they have an urgency. However, there is always another sound at work. It’s the sound of God speaking in our spirit – the still small voice, the whisper of peace: I am with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you; come to me, I will give you rest.
Why does God whisper in moments like this? It’s because he is teaching us to come aside and listen. God is always speaking; warriors are always listening. Never allow the noise of your circumstances to drown out the sound of the spirit.
Situations are urgent; communion with God is important. The best way to commune is to step out of your circumstances altogether. Step away from them and come to a place of worship, rejoicing, and Thanksgiving. If we try to worship in the situation we may not get to a place of breakthrough before God, and the urgency of the event will bring us to prayer too soon. There is a reason why prayer is part of the celebration sandwich.
Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks for this is the will God for you in Christ Jesus – 1 Thessalonians 5:16 – 18.
Real prayer is preceded and followed by a celebration of who God is for us. Majesty is vital when we are in extreme circumstances. We are created to magnify. God put this stamp on all creation: seas roar, trees Clap, even the rocks can cry out in exultation of God. We will magnify; it’s in our DNA – even if we magnify the wrong thing.
To magnify means to see something bigger than it actually is in reality. The enemy, through intimidation, always tries to make himself as big as God, to us. He tries to magnify a molehill into a mountain, regarding our circumstances. He wants the problem to become greater than our faith – the pressure, bigger than our peace, the issue to become larger than God’s presence.
To magnify also means to see someone as big as he really is. To become overwhelmed by God’s sovereignty – not in relation to your problem, but in proportion to who he is in himself.
The easiest way to separate the problem from the provider is by putting them in separate places in your heart. I often do this physically, too. I have a room for worship and devotional intimacy and a room for prayer… In my heart, and in my house. When faced with a problem clamoring for attention – I go into my prayer room (or just another space) and lay the problem down before God. Then I step out of that room, close the door firmly, and go to another room to rejoice and worship.
The act of shutting out a problem in this way enables me to focus my attention fully on the nature of God, and who he is in himself – for me. The most important part of every situation is the presence of God over you and the revelation of God for you in that situation. Whatever you see and hear of God in worship is who you get to become in the situation you find yourself in at that time.
Situations are not just there to resolve. They are allowed, to bring us into a revelation of God and an experience of him at that point! Our goal is always to become a partaker of Christ.
We have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm to the end. – Hebrews 3:14.
To be a partaker means we must become engaged and involved in Christ, for himself. We do not live in our circumstances; we live in Christ. Give Jesus the total preeminence of your focus and attention. Allow the problem to take a lesser place. By shutting it in another room, I am physically free to receive Christ and appropriate him.
Never focus on the situation. Focus on Jesus. The circumstances is a means to an end. God knows the end that he wants you to receive. There are two of them: firstly, for you to grow into Jesus, using this particular event – for you to become Christ like. And as we partake of Christ, then secondly, we get to partner with the Holy Spirit in the provision of God.
We live in two realms; therefore every situation has two solutions. We live in heavenly places in Christ; therefore we must put on growth in this dimension. Also, we inhabit the earth; so we must bring from heaven to earth the provision that God has set aside for us. It’s called inheritance. On earth, as it is in heaven.
Spiritual warriors are absolutely convinced that the Lord wants to reveal himself to them, as well as help them in their circumstances. As I go to another place in my heart ( and in my house ) I’m free to concentrate fully on who God is in himself. As I rejoice and worship, faith and conviction begin to rise up within me. The Holy Spirit, by his initiative, begins to declare to me the Lord’s favor and provision. I can write that down as a crafted prayer or a declaration. Then, when he is ready, I can enter the space where my problem is and begin to pray and declare all that the father has revealed to me.
Spiritual warriors are totally convinced that the father is utterly incapable of letting them down. Therefore, in times of warfare and adversity, they draw anointing and power from their own personal crisis and use it to stand with boldness in corporate situations. This enables them to hold their nerve and be fearless in the face of enemy attack. They are partakers of Christ.
What the father reveals to us in the beginning, will not be the solution to the problem. Firstly, he will show us what we can become a Jesus because we have this situation to empower us – Romans 8:28. When we see that and receive it, then we get to stand in that as our place before God. We get to put on Christ and hold fast to that revelatory experience all the way through the issue – Hebrews 3:14.
At some point the problem will have to bow to Jesus because of his irrepressible and irresistible nature. This is our contribution to corporate problems and attacks… Warriors supply confidence. We inspire it. We give people a radiant idea of God. Warriors live with a growing conviction that the Lord is delighted to pour out, with extravagant abundance, the certainty of his affection for them. God is disposed to love and care for us.
The Scriptures refer to that certainty with a series of extravagant promises which Lord is pleased to fulfill. These are written to give us a foundation for our pathway of approach to Lord. This is how God makes a straight path for our feet – to inspire and empower us to come to him with the right attitude and outlook. his words to us enable us to position ourselves before God in supreme confidence that we are expected and will be received by him .
2 Peter 1: 2 – grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that his divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life godly us, through the true knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and excellence. For by these he has granted to us is precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
Grace and peace are multiplied to us as we live and move and have our being in Christ. Everything we need to become powerful and godly has been supplied in Christ – Philippians 4:19. We are called to inherit Jesus, just as he has inherited us from the father – Ephesians 1:18. It is his own glory and excellence that is willingly bestowed upon us.
The Promises of God are given so that we can fully participate in the nature of Jesus. We share in all that he is and all that he has in himself. Making us partakers of the divine nature is a wonderful expression of the father’s affection and attitude towards us. It is the evidence of fullness – to be fully like Jesus. We are called to an abundant life, and the sheer size and scale of the promises are designed to convey the wonder of it all.
That we would become as confident in life as the father is in creation! What would it take for us to live a life of supreme confidence in God – were in his great love for us, we could not fail just simply learn to be better next time; one where the enemy has no power to deceive us because we have left maturity far behind? We are not children tossed to and fro by lies and false perceptions. We are steadfast, immovable in our trust in the assurance of the nature of God to us. Grace surrounds us, peace is increased to us. We are multiplied in the favor of God.
For the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught – Proverbs 3:26.
God is very confident in himself. He seeks to build that confidence into the people he touches with his grace. We can stand before the Lord with the bearing and demeanor of a much love child in the presence of a loving father.
Assignment – examine your current circumstances and describe them. How difficult are they? How do they affect you? What is the provision of God for you in your relationship and experience of him? What is your upgrade in the spirit? What favor is God bestowing on you at this time? What will your crafted prayer and declaration look like and sound like as you proclaim it to the problem?
Commission – work through the above exercise then deliberately enter into the problem of a friend and teach them what you have discovered.