Faith to Defeat The ENEMY! | DR. MIKE WOODS, SR. | 6 MARCH 2025

Well, praise the Lord, everybody, and welcome to Thursday night. I'm so glad that you're here. Uh, do me a favor, guys, let me know in the comments if the audio is fine. I want to make sure we're good tonight, don't want to have any problems. Glory to God. But I pray everybody is well. Glory to God. Uh, Praise God. God bless you, Pastor Jasper. Welcome tonight. Uh, I need everybody that can to do me a kind favor and share this. Tag people in the comments, let them know that we are live right now. Glory to the name of God. And, uh, we're gonna jump into this message tonight. I believe God has something he wants to say to us. Praise God. And, uh, we're going to make sure uh, that we don't miss any of it. My God, tonight we want to make sure we get exactly what the Lord intends for us to have.

Amen.

And so guys, I want you to go ahead and please, uh, by all means, I need you to share this. Glory to God. Let people know that we are here. So while you're sharing, glory to God, I'm gonna share and I'm gonna throw up this uh, Bible question. I don't know how many of you do these when we put them up on Thursday night, but it's a good way to test your Bible knowledge. And while you're sharing, I'm gonna drop this up— glory to the name of God— on the screen, and then I will be back. Praise God.

Well, praise God, family, once again, and welcome tonight.

I'm so glad you're here with us on this Thursday evening. It's going to be a great teaching. Um, a lot's going on in our world, and seemingly, uh, the Lord is not allowing me to bridge out of this series on the faith that takes. Uh, on Sunday I had a— another message I wanted to preach. I thought that's what the Lord was leading me to preach, only to get up Sunday morning and the Lord said, no, we got to keep dealing with faith. Um, and tonight I want to talk about something that I believe, uh, will actually be very useful immediately. I try to teach things, guys, that you could take and apply immediately to your life. Uh, it makes no sense for us to get a whole lot of entertainment, a whole lot of hoopin' and hollerin', and, uh, we never really grasp— hear me, family— the realities that surround making application to revelation. You can get some phenomenal revelation. There's some great revelators out there, some excellent preachers and teachers. But the reality is it doesn't matter if when you hear the stuff you do not apply it. Amen. So tonight I want to really just kind of take my time and walk this teaching out. I believe that God has something to say to us. Amen. And, uh, if we listen and take heed, he will, uh, glory to the name of God, prove his word to be true.

So we're going to pray.

And listen, again, the message is on the screen. Have you shared this experience yet? If you have not, I need you to do it. Uh, we're streaming right now over 5 different platforms, uh, 3 Facebook pages, on YouTube, and we're streaming on Instagram. So wherever you're watching us, glory to God, uh, please do us a favor, hit the like button, number 1. Number 2, I need you to share. And then number 3, I need you to comment below, let us know that you are here. You know, some people, uh, will watch you And, uh, they'll never say anything, they'll never like anything, and, and we understand. So, but at the end of the day, if, if this is blessing you, the scripture says, you know, I just believe the Bible on all cylinders. You're— if something's blessing you, you have to give it away or share it at least with someone else. The Bible says we're blessed to be a blessing, and, and what that's saying loudly to me, guys, is that a blessing is not a blessing until you give it away. I'm gonna say that one more time. A blessing is not a blessing until you give it away.

You guys, do me a favor, please comment in the comments and let me know that you can hear me okay.

I, I really want to make sure that our audio is, uh, solid tonight. Uh, so if you can hear me, just type, I can hear you, Apostle.

Um, but again, however you're watching, please share. Glory to the name of God.

I'm going to jump right into this after we pray. Let's pray. Father, in Jesus' name, yes Lord, I love you, I adore you, I thank you, I glorify you, I lift you up, I honor you. Beside you there is no other. It's in you we live, it's in you we move, it's in you we have our being. God, you're the joy and the lifter of our head. You're the strength of our life. And God, I just give you praise for illumination. I give you praise for the intelligence of the Holy Spirit. So Father, I pray that even as we walk through the word tonight, that the Holy Spirit would superimpose itself upon us. And God, I yield my faculties, my entire neurology system. Think through my mind, God, and I give you glory. I give you honor and speak through my mouth. And I pray, God, that as this word goes out, that we will be better because we have heard it and we have received it. And we praise you for it now, in Jesus' name. Amen. Uh, say that with me. Say, the faith that takes. Glory to God. Again, if you can hear me, I need you— glory to the name of God— to let me know how the audio sounds.

Praise God. Uh, nobody has said nothing yet, so I don't want to start getting into this and then y'all say, oh, boss, I can't hear you. So do me a favor, somebody that's listening, would you kindly, kindly please just type in the comments?

Because I mean, if you ain't hear me say this, maybe you can't hear me. All right, so please.

Well, I see the closed captioning, so that means Facebook can hear me. Y'all just—

I don't, I don't understand.

So, okay, well, when you feel like it, all right, type in the comments if you can hear me or not.

Oh, glory to God.

All right, all right, somebody say the faith that takes.

Glory to God. We all get in this and we're gonna beat up on the enemy really bad. Matter of fact, we're going to defeat him, we're going to destroy him.

Glory to God. We're going to put him under our feet where he belongs tonight. Glory to God.

And when we walk away from this live, we're going to be armed and dangerous, just like a Oh my God, sniper in the spirit, knowing that however he moves, we got the faith, we got the power, and we got the authority to bring destruction to him. Are y'all with me tonight?

Glory to the name of God. So let's get into this. Um, tonight I want to talk about faith to defeat the enemy because there's a real enemy.

Glory to the name of God. And we are in a real war. Glory to God.

Um, the enemy doesn't like anybody that's born again, that has authentic purpose, a unique assignment from God. And watch this, because everybody has those things, but here's the flip side—

everybody has not gotten clarity about those things.

So the enemy tends to fight those who understand who they are who are clear about the assignment and making attempts to align themselves with God's will, he tends to fight and bring warfare to those individuals just a little more harder than people that just really ain't doing it. Matter of fact, lackadaisical, lazy people, laid-back people who are not aggressively trying to align with God's purpose, they don't have to fight the enemy much.

But there's a real war going on, and what the enemy would love for us to do is to try to fight this war against him in our flesh, to fight this war against him, uh, trying to use natural means. But you cannot, and we're going to see that tonight.

It's a spiritual war, and we got to learn how to do warfare— hear me—

God's way.

Say that with me.

Say, warfare God's way.

Come on, say it again.

Say, warfare— my God, tonight— God's way. I need you to open your mouth and say it.

Glory to God.

Warfare God's way.

God wants us, glory to God, to learn to do warfare his way.

Glory to God.

And the reality is, when we learn to do warfare God's way, it is a signification in the realm of the spirit— watch this— to demonic forces, angelic forces. The spirit realm begins to understand— watch this— who you are because you're tapping into the dimensions where they abide. And so now these entities recognize your movement in the spirit because you have chosen to resolve that you're gonna handle spiritual things— listen to this— in the realm of the spirit. Anybody trying to handle spiritual things in the realm of the flesh is gonna lose. Hear me. Every single time. Every single time. And I need you to hear me. If you are doing warfare God's way, you recognize, number one, you already— already, past tense— have the power to defeat the enemy through the Holy Spirit that lives in you. And secondly, hear me, family, you rest in God's power and his methods to overthrow the enemy's plan. So you, you don't lean to your own understanding, you follow after him. So let's lay some foundation here, then we're gonna get into some scripture. First of all, let's, let's define what war is. Let's talk about war. You cannot talk about warfare if you don't talk about war. So, so war is a conflict, it is a series of battles that exists between enemies, all right? People on opposite sides of an idea. Glory to God. And somebody wants to win, and these two entities are battling for victory. So when you are a child of God, the enemy is constantly trying to break your focus. He's, he's warring with you for your focus. He's warring with you for your faith. And he's warring with you many times for your very life in God because he doesn't want you to experience the things that God has planned. Here's what I want you to understand about war. If you're born again, none of us who are born again are exempt. Oh boy, none of us are exempt from warfare.

I need you to hear this.

If you're saved, the enemy has a problem with you. And like I said, there are those of us he has a greater problem with because we are chosen. So when you choose to align and when you start trying to get it together, he's really coming after you. Because if he realized he couldn't get you before you were focused, and now that you're focused, he's gonna lay it on thick.

Reality: we're all soldiers in God's army. Army.

When I was growing up in the church, they used to sing a song, I'm a soldier in the army of the Lord, I'm a soldier in the army. And the reality is we are soldiers for real in God's army. We're in a real fight.

Praise God.

Hallelujah.

And the reality is he's after your purpose, he's after your assignment, he's after your future.

Watch this, nothing you're going through right now is about where you are.

It's about where you're going.

I'm gonna say that again.

Nothing you're dealing with right now is about where you are, it's about where you are headed. Yes, glory to God.

Let's, let's go.

Glory to God.

Let's, let's walk this out, man. So go to 2 Corinthians 10, and we're going to start right here. We're going to walk out some scripture because in every warfare there's a war for sure. There's, there's an enemy, glory to God, with— and our enemy in this particular war is the devil, is demons. It's not spiritual, it's not physical, it's spiritual. So even when demons are manifesting through people or jobs or your— or situations with your finances or, or the vestiges of your past, it's never physical, it's always spiritual entities seeking to destroy your progress. Say that with me. Say, it's always spiritual entities seeking to destroy my future and my progress. I need you to receive that tonight. In every war— while you're going to 2 Corinthians 3:5— there are weapons. The Bible tells us our weapons are not carnal.

Glory to God.

So let's read it. Let's read this. 2 Corinthians 3.

Glory to the name of God.

And we're going to read through verse number 5. The Bible says, for though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. All right, so y'all hear this. So the Bible tells us we're in the world, but we don't fight the enemy with carnal artillery. We don't wage war with bullets and guns and nuclear weapons. Glory to God. As a matter of fact, the people that hold the responsibility to those type wars, you know, we have— that's why we have to constantly pray and war in the spirit that these people are never influenced to push those buttons. Because if they were, glory to God, it would be a demonic influence that causes that, because that can end mankind as we know So we should be constantly in warfare for our world, for our nation, to ensure— hear me, family— that we don't have these kind of tragic things occur prematurely. And as a matter of fact, tonight, in the name of Jesus, I decree and declare that premature death is bound in your life, in my life. I declare in the name of Jesus that no one listening to me live— lemushi, brin, tekese, on tour, rongesa, tabapaya— live or by replay will die prematurely. My God, tonight I declare that you will live a full set of days as God has ordained for you in his word. You will live at least to that or beyond. And I decree and declare that no weapon formed against your life will be able to prosper. And with long life, my God, has God satisfied you. I declare that cancer won't destroy you. I declare that heart disease will not destroy you. I rebuke tonight in the name of Jesus that dementia and Alzheimer's— will not cause you to enter into premature death. I rebuke it now in Jesus' name.

I, I, I, I, I, I just—

I was just led to go there. I'm sorry, but I just felt impressed because I believe someone listening to me tonight has been having thoughts of premature death and thoughts about death. But the devil is a liar.

Thoughts about death and your loved ones.

The devil is a liar. I decree and declare life over you. Amen. In the name of Jesus, I decree it over you now.

In Jesus' name.

Yes, God.

Yes, God.

Okay, I'm gonna move. He said, for though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.

Verse 4.

The weapons we fight with are not weapons of the world. I'm reading out the NIV. On the contrary, our weapons have divine power to demolish strongholds. So the King James kind of reads it like this: the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. God bless you, Vanessa. We missing seeing your face at church, woman of God. Good to see you on this live tonight.

God bless you, God bless you. Hallelujah.

Listen, I, I need you to understand something, family. Hear me good when I tell you that our ability to pull down strongholds is again a spiritual power that is given to us, and it has to be moved. You know, you got to have faith to operate in this stuff, man. Glory to the name of God. Because you can't see any of it, but you have to have faith to know that you have the power to pull down strongholds in the realm of the spirit through your faith, through your praying, through your worship. Glory to the name of God. Through the words that you speak out of your mouth. Watch this.

A stronghold—

let me define that for you— is anything that is, oh my God, built that has the design to keep what's inside inside and what's outside outside.

I'm gonna say that again.

A stronghold is designed to keep whatever in in and whatever out out. So when the enemy erects a stronghold, that stronghold is designed to keep your old way of thinking, your old way of doing, your doubts, your fears, your, your religious attitude in and keep the truth out. Oh, the enemy many times wants your perception— hear me, family, oh my God— to stay the way you get saved and you never change your mindset, you never change your vantage point, you never change your perception. Now it's a stronghold that's been erected to keep that in. By faith, you have to pull those strongholds down so that that which is truth and power and faith-building— oh my God— and progressive can get in. I'm telling you, tonight we're pulling down those strongholds of the enemy that keeps you blinded and keeps you stuck in yesterday, that it keeps you locked into history and destiny cannot manifest because there's a stronghold. But we got to have the weapons through faith, mighty through God, to pull down these strongholds. Oh my God, touch yourself, say, I got divine power to pull down strongholds. Come on, say it again, say, I got divine power to pull down strongholds. Oh my God. I need you to understand that. So whatever stronghold that's, that's got you wrapped up on the inside in sickness and disease— glory to God, hallelujah— in carnal thinking, in sinful ways and behavior, whatever thing is influencing you— yes God, whatever is deceiving you to believe that the way it is now is how it's going to always be. I'm telling you tonight, the way it is now is not the way it's gonna always be. Oh my God, somebody that, that's listening to me, type some hands or something in the comments. Glory to God! And just give God praise that your strongholds are coming down tonight even as I'm teaching this word. I'm telling you, your strongholds are coming down. Every stronghold, glory to God. I'm declaring it tonight that your strongholds are coming down. It's coming down. Oh God, your stronghold of debt coming down. Your stronghold of fear and doubt and unbelief coming down. Your stronghold of religion and tradition coming down. Your stronghold of poverty and lack, I declare, is coming down. And I declare that there'll be no more dry seasons in your life. No more dry season spiritually. No more dry seasons financially. No more dry seasons emotionally. I declare tonight in the name of Jesus, it's coming down in your life in the name of Jesus. Oh God, I feel like running out of here right now. It's coming down, it's coming down, it's coming down. It's coming down, it's coming down, it's coming down. Don't you dare accept things the way they are. Pull it down in Jesus' name. Oh, shabba-ba-ba-ba-ba-taya, lebo-uta, idimando-sai.

Yes, God, I give you the glory, I give you the honor, I give you the praise. It's coming down.

The enemy won't win this one. We're gonna believe God, we're gonna trust God, and we're gonna win. Glory to God. So verse 5, let me keep reading. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, verse 5, the Bible says, we demolish arguments and every pretense that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. We take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ. Glory to God. So every argument every thought that ain't of God. See, the enemy— oh, because of soul ties and emotional attachments to things in the past, and our preoccupation with history, and our preoccupation with defeat— the enemy has opportunity when we're idle and we're focused on those things to linger in our mind. And he will bring thoughts up that war against what you know about God and what you know about God's ability. You could have seen God move for you. Yeah, I know I've seen him move. I've seen him move. Glory to God. I've seen him bring me out. I've seen him lift me up out of a horrible pit. I've seen him bring me through places and attacks. Glory to God. And listen, if I get idle, it is so quick, if you're not careful, to forget where God has brought you from and to not remember what God has done.

Can I submit to you tonight?

His has done— oh, I feel like running, y'all—

is just as powerful as his will do. If he did it before He can do it again. Yeah, God, we give you glory, we give you honor, we give you praise. I'm telling you right now, you better trust God. You better believe that what God says, he'll bring it to pass. Because the enemy will lie to you in your idleness, because the idle mind is the devil's workshop. Hear me. So the enemy will lie to you about where you are. He'll tell you ain't gonna never change, things don't ever get better, you're gonna always be like that. And the devil is a liar. You won't always be that way. God wants to transform us. God wants to change us, but you've got to allow him. And you got to trust God's word over what the enemy says.

And you got to bring those thoughts captive and make them come into—

captive means you lock them up and throw away the key, that they never emerge again, and they live under the obedience of Christ. Oh, those thoughts that are not of God, those desires that come through your mind that's not of God, You have to bring those thoughts captive and, oh, and bring them into the obedience of Christ. Glory to God. All right, there's another piece to the armor and to the, to warfare. So in warfare, there's war. Um, this is introduction. There is enemy, there is weapons, and we just read about those three in 2 Corinthians 3:10, 3 through 5. Now there's another piece to warfare, and it's armor. Glory to God. So we understand that the armor is not carnal, that our protection from the enemy is not carnal. It's the armor of God. Let's go to Ephesians 6, and I'm gonna work real hard to just read this because I want to cover a lot of this ground tonight. Ephesians 6, verse 10 through 18. The Bible says this, he says, finally be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.

Finally.

I'm gonna try to get past this, y'all. Finally, finally, finally, finally. So after you've doubted, okay, after you've leaned on yourself After you trust the opinions of people, after you trusted in your job, after you trusted in your family, God says there has to be a place, a resolve in your life in this level of warfare that you get to where you say, finally, I trusted everything else and it proved to be inconsistent at some point. It proved to disappoint at some point, but God never will disappoint. And you got to get to a point where you say, finally, oh my God, finally, Mama, finally, glory to God, finally, finally, finally, finally, finally.

He says, be strong in the Lord, not in your own resources, not in what you think, not in your opinions. This means be interpenetrated with the Lord. Allow him to interpenetrate your life, your very essence. Allow him to superimpose himself on every situation. And you, you live with the understanding that your strength is in the Lord. It ain't in your friends, it ain't in your mama, it ain't in your daddy.

It ain't in your leaders.

Your strength is in God. Hear me. Be strong in the Lord and in the mighty power he holds. I'm reading NIV still. So he says, I want you to be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power, his kratos, his ability to be the most powerful being on earth and in heaven. And in the universe.

Find your strength in him.

This also denotes to me—

watch this— that I got access to this guy. I got access. That's right, wife. Finally. That's right, finally. You got to get there. Well, when we trust him in the power of his might and his ability He— there is no other being that is as powerful as our God.

And what the text is telling us, there has to be a resolve where we draw all of our strength and all of our power from his power. He's saying to us, we have access to this power. Woo! He never would have told you to get to this finally if he wasn't trying to tell you You got access to it. Hear me, you got access to this power. Oh God, are we here tonight? Glory to God. You got access to this. Glory to Jesus. You got access to this ability, to this power. Glory to God. And oh, shi. And you gotta make up in your mind because you know why, you know, you get weak and you get tired. We all, we get wore out because we start depending on ourselves. But you know what, when you start seeing you're running out, pull over and fill up.

Glory to God, glory to God. Because Jasper just was coming back from DC on a road trip and he mentioned something to me.

He said I got one more stop in Gaffney, South Carolina.

I think that's what he said. And he said, because there's something magical about their gas.

And you know, the very next question came out of my mouth to him was, well, I don't know how you could tell the difference from that gas or another gas station gas. And he said to me, he said, well, the car just drives differently when I fill up with that gas. Well, the optimal reality here is, is that he, he understands that by making a choice to fill up there, he's going to have a better ride in his car. So when you see yourself running low, instead of filling yourself up— hear me— with gossip, with TV, with people who don't know how to help you anyway because they don't have the anointing to solve your problem. Never talk to anybody about your problem that is not qualified to solve it, period. So you need to fill up with God. Why not just go to the source that's got the power to really bring deliverance, that's got the power to really set you free, that's got the power to really give you strength to make it to the next level.

But it's easier seemingly to text that person you ain't got no business texting, right?

Come on, come on, come on. Or it's easier for you to have carnal conversations, and which are not gonna fill you up. Watch this, you may think those carnal conversations are building you up. It's appeasing your flesh, but it's draining your faith. Oh boy, oh boy, I'm telling you. Glory to God. I need you to hear me. I need you to hear me. You need to go to God and let him fill you up. That's right, Minister Anderson. You got to go to God. You got to talk to him. He's a source for real. Listen, you have seen this in action because after you get through talking to people that don't have no answers anyway, they might act like they got some. You still walk away from the table unresolved, unstrengthened. No faith, no power, because they, they don't— they're not thinking in the way you're trying to go anyway. Okay, let me keep moving. Finally, be strong in the Lord, in his power, in his power, in his strength. Verse 11: Put on the full armor of God, that you may take your stand against the devil's schemes. So here we go. The devil has diabolical schemes to break your focus and create doubt in your life. To, to make you a person that doesn't believe God. So you're not operating in a faith that takes, a faith that removes, a faith that conquers. His, his desire is to break your focus off of God's ability. So, but the Bible says here, put on the full armor of God so you can stand against his schemes. Now notice, in order to stand against his schemes It did not say put on one piece of the armor.

Uh-oh.

It didn't say put on a couple of pieces. It didn't say pick and choose what piece you like better or feels better or is more convenient and more comfortable for you to use. Here's what it said. It said put on the full armor of God. Put on all of it. Oh, oh, put on all of it, not just some of it. Put on all of it. Glory to God.

My God tonight, my God tonight.

So let's get into it. He said, for our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Uh-oh, here we go.

So your struggle is not against flesh and blood.

Uh-oh, your struggle is not against Trump.

Your struggle is not against the White House. Your struggle is not against the governor's house, the mayor's house. It's against spiritual forces influencing these rulers, influencing— you're struggling against the police because you get pulled over because you're Black in a nice car. No, that, that's not your struggle. There's a, there's a spirit that's influencing this activity. So one would say— and I heard a preacher, they're doing this Target fast, right? So again, my question is, is this the fast that God has ordained? Because fasting against— watch this— an entity— watch this— that employs Hear me, over 400,000 Black people. Are, are y'all hearing me? That's nationwide. Over 400,000 Black people depend on this place for work. So I don't really see the wisdom in Black folk challenging these people and they, and these people not being able to produce, number one, so these people that need their job can work. That's my first piece. You ain't got to agree. But here's, here's what I really wanted to get. It's not against Target. It's not against what's coming out of the White House. It's not against the climate that we're dealing with in, in these— that we're gonna be dealing with these next 4 years. There's gonna be some changes, things happening that you ain't never seen. But you're gonna have to be a person of faith that wars with your faith and realize you ain't fighting against flesh and blood. Oh my God, you're fighting against the demonic forces and the principalities, princes in their palaces. Hear me, that are influencing the people in authority. Hallelujah! And we have the authority as kingdom citizens to war in the spirit, to rebuke, to correct, to pull down in the realm of the spirit so that there's a shift. Do you realize the Bible said the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord? And, and oh my God, and that the Lord would turn it however he pleases. Listen, we have the authority to pray that the king's hand and our leadership's hand is turned the way God desires it to be turned. But we're too busy complaining about stuff. And guess what?

Never complain about what you permit. Oh God, hey Jericho, God bless you, good to see you on tonight. Never complain about what you allow.

If you allowing it, and you ain't praying about it, you ain't warring after it in the spirit, shut up about it, please.

Okay, all right, that's my two cents. Let me keep reading.

All right, so the struggle is not against flesh and blood, against rulers, against authorities, against the powers of this world, and against spiritual forces of evil in the heaven realm.

So in conjunction, the evil forces in the heavenly realm are influencing those that are yielding to their influence That's why we must war.

All right, therefore, so this is what we do: put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes— this text is denoting, family, that is coming.

All right, it's coming.

Evil days are ahead. I want you to hear me, but we got to get girded up with armor. He says that when the evil day come, you may be able to stand your ground. And after you have done everything to stand, stand. So watch this. Basically what he's saying is, those of us that got the armor on, when the evil day comes— whoa, I got to get ready to get out of here, y'all. I got a few— I got about 10 more minutes. Oh, and I'm still in introduction. Glory to Jesus.

I knew when I was getting this together I wasn't gonna get out of this.

Listen, he's saying to us, if you got the armor on, when that stuff hits the fan, it's not going to affect those who are protected by the armor. Oh my God. Or fighting this warfare through the armor. Yeah, you gonna stand while everybody else is falling. So listen, if you're a believer, I need you to put the full armor on. If you are not a believer, I need you to get saved and put the full armor on so that when the evil day comes, you'll be able to stand. There. There's no guarantees if I'm fasting against Target or Walmart or Amazon that I'm gonna stop the evil day. But what does guarantee I'm gonna be able to stand is I got on the full armor of God. Let's look at what that is. He says, verse 14, stand firm then with the belt of truth buckled around your waist. So the belt is the center of your being. All right, so you want to gird your loins, put it around your waist, gird your loins with truth. Your reproductive organs, uh, the thing that is, if exposed, can be shameful. He says cover your future. Watch this, reproductive— cover your future with truth. Yeah. Glory to God. This, this belt is the word of the living God. I've been telling y'all throughout this whole series, you gotta feed your faith the word. And so you better get in the word and stay there. Oh my God. And you better stand on what the Bible says and not what these preachers that don't study say.

Oh my God.

Oh boy. Not what they're saying on on the most popular YouTube post that's twisting scripture, or the most popular podcast that's twisting scripture because it appeases to your flesh, man, you better find faith in this truth of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you better stand on it, and you better gird it around your waist. Hear me. Hear me, hear me. Put it on, put it on. Y'all hearing this? Put it on.

Glory to God.

Put it on. Put this truth around you.

Study this Bible. Glory to God.

Faith come by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. So, and when I get truth, I'm set free, not just from sin, but I'm set free from attacks. That would bind me up. I don't even have to deal with that. See, this is warfare God's way, is tapping into the things he tells us to tap into to protect us, not getting out there with an M16 trying to fight it ourselves. Okay, let me keep moving. He says, stand firm then with the belt of truth buckling around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness says.

Oh my God. In place, covering your heart. Ah, thy word is still hiding that word. Thy word I have hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. Oh my God. Oh my God. Put on that breastplate of righteousness so you could stand upright. This is a hard one for some people because listen, you, you still looking for ways to justify your fornication. You're still looking for ways to justify your adultery. You're still looking for ways to justify your homosexuality and your lesbianism. You're still looking for ways to justify your lying and your cheating.

Listen, you cannot afford in this climate to be found operating in sin, especially sin of commission.

There may be things you do that you really didn't even realize you were doing it, and it's sin, or a thought that comes and you have to bring it under control.

At the end of the day, you want to keep that breastplate of righteousness on so that your heart is covered and you're following the path of what is right.

Are y'all hearing this, man?

This word righteousness, dia suna, which means the behavior, pneumaticos, also in Greek, the behavior of spiritual people. So the breastplate that protects how you behave— this righteousness deals with a holy, chaste character. We got to walk in character and integrity, and we got to walk under the covenant of what is right. We gotta stray away from hermisi.

Here.

Even if you ain't a homomonger, a lesbian, homosexual, none of that stuff— sin is all unrighteousness, is sin. So all of it is sin. No one is exempt. We should be out here trying to do things right, to align ourselves with the word of God. Come on, man. You know, the homosexuals and the lesbians say that we're always picking on them. No, we're not picking on you. Sin is sin. You, you don't get a pass, and you don't get to try to push your sin on us and make us feel like we're doing you wrong because you're living in that. No, because we can't live in ours. Y'all like, okay, all right. The reality is, if you want to stand in that day, you better gird up yourself with the breastplate of righteousness and start practicing holiness. Here's what God is calling for. He's calling for responsible kingdom living and practical holiness. I'm gonna say that again: responsible Christianity, responsible kingdom living, and practical holiness. That's what putting on the breastplate of righteousness looks like. Okay, not you trying to find a way to justify your wrong, to justify your doubt, to justify your fear. Well, my name is Michael Woods, and guess what? I'm gonna tell the truth every day of my life. At the end of the day, I'm called to tell the truth. I'm called to, to challenge you toward godly behavior. Part of my mantle as an apostle is to challenge you into realms of holiness. And if you think it's so, and if you just out here looking for ways to not be right, you'll have some problems, okay? To justify your wrong by committing willful sin, by premeditating sin, okay? I ain't gonna even go there tonight. I'm just trying to show you somebody said, well, Pastor, you already went there.

Yeah, I really did, but I'm about to move.

The reality is you got to put this thing on, man, so you can stand it, because this is why we're putting it on, because that day is coming, and you got to have faith to defeat this enemy that's at work. You got to put on the full armor. Here we go, let me keep reading. He says in verse 15, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. How about all of these pieces of the armor are so connected to the word? Hear me. So your feet has a readiness that conforms— are y'all hearing this— to the gospel of peace. So in other words, you're not quick to run to mischief. You're not quick to sow discord. You're not quick to follow confusion. But the gospel of peace is the gospel—

watch this— uh, peace in Greek is Sophia.

Well, Sophia is wisdom.

Irene is peace. I get them mixed up sometimes because Sophia is feminine, Irene is feminine, but Irene in Greek here is, uh, peace. And what is translated to me, actually, watch this, is supernatural lifting or assistance from God.

It's the nurturing of God. That's why it has a feminine connotation. God's not a woman, but this word peace has a feminine connotation because it deals with a nurturing aspect, which normally women are more nurturing than men. But God, because he's all powerful, almighty, he has also the ability to love on you and nurture you.

But he's not a woman, okay? He is God. Uh, somebody was— I was out somewhere eating, I think when Ben Tanker was here, we took him out to eat. Somebody was passing out tracks talking about, come to our Bible study, we discovered that God is a woman. People ain't got nothing else to do but try to change this book. Listen, again, this—

that's a great example. I'm not running to that to see if they right. I got a relationship with God for real, so I know they wrong. I ain't got to go over there and see what they teaching. The reality is the gospel of peace says that God loves me, he's going to nurture me.

I—

no matter what's going on, I'm not going to buy into what the media is saying. I'm not going to buy into what CNN says, World— ABC World News, Fox News, MSNBC. I'm not buying in because I'm going— my feet are fitted with the gospel of peace. I got peace in my life, glory to God, that comes from the gospel— the death, the burial, the resurrection, the ascension, and the birth of Jesus Christ. Glory to God, that, that thing brings me great peace. Whoa, my God, hallelujah!

Hallelujah! My God, Pastor Bird, God bless you, God bless you.

Hallelujah!

God bless you. You so right, they don't believe it, man of God. They don't believe it. Glory to God. But they gotta change. Glory to God. They need to be transformed. Hallelujah! Glory to God. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! We give God praise, we give God glory. Let's keep reading, let's keep reading.

Verse 16, he says, in addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, so you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

So when the enemy starts throwing arrows at you, instead of you getting afraid, you throw up that shield of faith, and every dart and arrow he throws at you will be diminished.

Oh God, it will be destroyed. See, a lot of times we get hit because we doubt.

We get hit because we fear.

It— I said it before and I'm gonna keep saying it throughout this series. Every failure in my life, every failure I've ever had, it was a prayer failure and a faith failure first. Every success I've had, and I've had a lot of them, was a faith failure and faith success and a prayer success first. I'll say it again: every success I've had has been a prayer success and a faith success first. Every failure I've had was a faith failure and a prayer failure first. So you, you got to recognize that the difference between failure and success is faith.

So when the enemy starts throwing stuff at you you ain't gonna make it, things ain't gonna change, you shouldn't have did this, you shouldn't have made that decision.

You better throw up that shield and quench that dart and quench that arrow. Notice it said the arrow is flaming, so that ain't just one that's gonna puncture you, it's gonna puncture you then burn you up. So you might want to block that. So every time you get hit, it's burning up something and setting you back, man. Instead of buying into what's being thrown at you— the odds, the obstacles, the principles, the things that are attacking you— throw that shield up.

Glory to God.

I got to go, y'all. Throw that shield up and quench that dart, man. We gotta stop playing games with this.

Glory to God.

I'm for real.

We really got to stop playing games with this and trust the word of God.

He said put on the shield of faith.

Glory to God. So you can extinguish, put out the arrows, destroy them. Verse 18— no, verse 17, I'm sorry.

Then take the helmet of salvation and the sword of sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Again, all of these pieces are rooted in truth, they're rooted in the word.

So feed your brain the word and put on a helmet to protect it, to keep your salvation intact.

Then take that sword of the Spirit. Notice there's only one offensive weapon, the sword of the Spirit, which is the word. So your, your warfare, God's way against the enemy, is his word. Is every time he throws up, slice him up with that word.

Every time he brings doubt to your brain, slice him up with that word. Are y'all hearing me? Every time he tells you you're never going to get past where you are—

the devil is a liar.

I slice you up. The word— the word of God says that he would that I prosper and be in health even as my soul do prosper. Glory to God. You gotta slice him up. Yeah, with that word. Glory to God. You gotta slice him up. Oh God, I dare somebody type in the comments, slice him up. And if you got a sword emoji, put it in there. Glory to God. So when people come on here, they can see that. Slice him up with that word.

Glory to God.

Stop taking what the devil says. Slice him up. Glory. Oh, I feel like running. I know the doctor gave you a diagnosis, but whose report shall you believe? I shall believe the report of the Lord. Glory to God. I'm gonna slice him up. I'm gonna slice him up.

Glory to God.

Oh, Shabba, I got to get out of here. He said Yeah, yeah. In verse 18, he says, and pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.

So watch this, praying in the Spirit is praying in your heavenly language. Hallelujah. If you ain't filled with the Holy Ghost, you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I know they've taught in times past in the religious churches that having baptism in the Holy Ghost happens at the point of salvation. The Bible gives us clear distinctives. You go to Calvary to get pardoned for your sin. Jesus dies and he saves us with his blood. But then you have to go to Pentecost after Calvary and get power. Ah, glory, glory! And you have to receive the baptism. That's why Jesus said, go away, for you shall be endued with power from on high.

And when—

if one of the first things that happened, bam, they spoke in tongues. Glory to God! As the Spirit gave utterance. I don't have time to do a whole teaching on tongues, but can I tell you something? Tongues is your language of your home country. It's your heavenly language. That's why when you pray in the— you're praying out of your spirit.

Glory to God.

And when you feel your tongue shift while you're praying, keep praying in the spirit.

Don't stop, because now you've gotten up into another dimension.

And just keep going.

Glory to God.

Because when you pray in the spirit, the spirit is making intercession for you with moanings and groanings that cannot be uttered. He's praying things that you don't even know. Ah, he said, with this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord people. Now watch this. In other words, Paul says— and I gotta stop y'all— he's saying everybody gonna get there, all right?

He said everybody ain't gonna get this.

So I want you to stay alert, keep the armor on, and pray for everybody so they'll have a synergy, so they'll line up with this, so they'll be able to stand in the evil day. Glory to God. Hallelujah. Let's pray. Father, in Jesus' name, we give you praise for this teaching, for this word. Thank you for every person that watched live and every person that will watch by replay. I decree and declare tonight in the name of Jesus that no weapon formed formed against us will be able to prosper. I thank you, God, for warfare your way. I thank you for faith that defeats the enemy. God, we only went through the introduction tonight, but God, I pray that as we have read those scriptures concerning warfare, I decree and declare that your people will grab it and they'll walk it out, and that they will defeat the enemy in Jesus' Amen. Listen, I'm gonna finish this on Sunday. Glory to God. Uh, because this is necessary. That day is coming, and we got to know how to defeat the enemy with our faith. Listen, guys, before we go tonight, I need you that are here, I need you to be obedient. And I need you to trust God. I'm going to pray right now just for your giving. Don't leave, stay here. I need every person here to get seed in the ground. Yeah, you too. Yeah, so, so I gave last week, I gave it to office. No, we're talking about right now. There's a timing connected to this seed, and I want to pray because I'm being led of the Lord to release this to you because there's some keys on this seed that you need to get seed in the ground. Father, we give you praise and we give you glory. Thank you, God, that as we have communicated your word to your people, I thank you that now they'll communicate your— oh my God, their natural things, and they'll sow into ministry tonight. And we give you praise and glory for it now. And I declare that as they sow this, this seed will have keys that will unlock mysteries and open doors that they need open in days to come, and I praise you for it now. Thank you for the faith to give and the sacrifice and the sow. Thank you that we are in the circle of supernatural provision, and we bless you now, Jesus. In Jesus' name, amen. Glory to God. I love y'all. I'm gonna put the ways to give up. Praise God. And I want you to get your seed in the ground. Hallelujah. Do that for me, please. I'm gonna give you a moment to do that. Glory to God. Please be obedient. Please be obedient. The ways to give are on the screen. Glory to God. We love God. He's such a good God. Hallelujah. He's such an amazing God. Do y'all love him? Hallelujah. He's good. Thank you, Jesus. He's kind. He's wonderful. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah, glory to God. Thank you, Jesus. Hallelujah, we give you praise, God. Get your seed in the ground tonight. Thank you, Jesus. We give you praise, God. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Yes, Lord. Thank you, Pastor Jasper. For, for placing the ways to give in the comments. So the ways to give are in the comments and they're on the screen. Please get your seed in the ground. Glory to God.

Hallelujah.

Father, we thank you for those that are giving now. We thank you for those that are blessing the ministry now. We thank you for it, God. We give you praise and we thank you that as they are sowing, those seeds are coming back to them a thousand thousand times more. I release the thousand times more harvest into their life tonight in the mighty name of Jesus. We give you glory, we give you honor, we give you praise. Hallelujah! Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. We bless you. We bless you for the givers, God. We bless you for the givers. We bless you for the givers. Hallelujah, Father. Again, bless the givers. Let those seeds come back pressed down, glory to God, hallelujah, shaken together, running over, praise God. Shall men— how did they— give unto their bosom. Hallelujah. Those ways to give are now scrolling at the bottom of the screen. I'm going to give you a few announcements. Stay with me, glory to God. We got some great things coming up at Rhonda Church. Number one, glory to God, I want you to join us Sunday, this coming Sunday at 9 o'clock AM. We're going to have a high time in the Lord. Make sure you're in the building in person. Uh, we're going to finish this teaching, but I believe God's going to show up. I believe heaven is going to be there in a strong way, and you need to be in the place. Amen. Secondly, I want to invite you guys to fast with us. And Pastor Jasper, if you would put this information, uh, in the comments as well, um, so that it'll be there. We have a flyer coming up for this, but I'm going to invite you guys to fast with us starting on Monday. Glory to God. Um, March 16th, I think it is. Let me, let me look. I think it is the 16th. Yes, starting on Monday, March 16th. Glory Glory to God. We will begin a fast unto the Lord through Friday, March 28th. We will start at midnight on the 16th, uh, glory to the name of God, and we will fast through the 28th. Uh, we will fast every day until 5 o'clock, so we will go from midnight to 5 daily throughout this fast. It's going to be a great fast unto the Lord, man. We're fasting for the salvation of souls and the synergy of the saints. So we're praying that God would save and deliver and bring people into the kingdom. We're fasting and praying for people being born again and God adding, hallelujah, to the body of Christ, to Rhema Church and every church. We're believing God for souls. People need to be saved. Glory to God. Every day during the fast, I'll be teaching at 12 noon for 12 days. So I need you to make sure you jump on, glory to God, and get the word. We're gonna be talking about power evangelism. We're gonna talk about how to operate in signs, wonders, and miracles, glory to God, using those gifts as a believer to bring people to the kingdom. What a mighty thing, glory to God. So there's gonna be a great fast. We're gonna talk about unity, uh, synergizing the saints, working together. It's so important, amen. And then as we close the fast on the March 28th, 29th, March 30th, we're going to have 3 days of— oh my God— impartation and revival. We're calling it I Am One of Them. Listen, God gave that to me yesterday from Mark 16:15. The Bible said these signs shall follow them, them, them that believe in my name. They will cast out devils. In my name, they will speak with new tongues. In my name, glory to God, they'll tread upon serpents and scorpions.

In my name, they'll lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.

Listen, he said, I've given it to them, not just people who are perceived in a certain office or certain anointing. It's for every believer. And I want to invite you guys out to join myself and Apostle Brandon Kenyans. We're gonna be ministering together and imparting unto you the ability to stir these gifts and to manifest them. Our goal in this meeting is to deploy you into the world in power and authority. Glory to God! So you can operate in maximized potential in the realm that God has called you to operate in. Listen, man, I love y'all so much. Y'all are great people. Thank y'all for staying with us. Glory to God! It's, it's certainly blessing to have people that are hungry, uh, for the word of God. Amen. And want the word of God. Hallelujah. Uh, the reality is that's rare. Some people just want to be entertained. Some people want to book, they want to shout, they want to cry. But listen, after all that's said and done, it takes the word to save you and it takes the word to keep you. The word of God is your fuel. We just read it. It's your tool of warfare. Glory to God. So thank y'all for being people who love the word of God. Amen. I love y'all. Y'all so, y'all so wonderful. I will see you guys on Sunday. Y'all be blessed. Heaven smile upon you is my prayer. Peace.