The Shield of Faith | Dr. Mike Woods | Radah Church (4.30.23)

Hallelujah! I'm so glad that I discovered as long as I got him, nothing else matters. And knowing that he fills my life with his glory. Hallelujah! Father, we bless you tonight and we thank you for another opportunity, God. To come into your house to give your name praise, to lift you up, to teach your word. God, thank you for what you've done for us throughout the course of last week. We start a new week today, and God, we give you praise that the blessing of the Lord that makes rich and adds no sorrow will go into our week, and we won't lack a thing, we won't have a care. We rebuke the devil in the name of Jesus. Your word declares, 'Whatever we bind on earth, that it would be bound in heaven.' So we bind up the spirit of fear, we bind up doubt and unbelief, and we loose the faith to believe you for anything. In the mighty name of Jesus, we glorify you, Almighty King. You're worthy to be praised. You're perfectly and absolutely wise, and we love you tonight. God, as we teach your word, let us experience the light, illumination, and your intelligence. And we praise you for that. May your people be blessed by you and never impressed by me. May they see you more clearly, love you more dearly. And walk with you more nearly. Now, Lord, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. And thank God. Would you give God a hand of praise again? Hallelujah! Ah yeah, bless him, he's a mighty God. Hallelujah! You can be seated tonight. Glory to God! I love the Lord so much. I couldn't live without him. Just, just open your mouth really quick and just say, just give me God. Come on, say, say, just give me God. Hallelujah! That ought to be your story. Praise God! I just want him. Hallelujah! I got off a plane, went home, changed clothes, and, um, we're really excited always about being in the house of the Lord. We had such a tremendous time in the DMV on this past weekend. God met us there. It's always a tremendous joy to watch Lives get changed. And, um, you know, you gotta really love God to sit and listen to me talk. I started teaching on Saturday at 10 o'clock and we left the church at 7. Hallelujah! But dominion is not an easy subject, so we just poured in, and the more they pulled on me, I kept teaching. Hallelujah! Because they were hungry and they still didn't want me to quit at 7. Hallelujah! Somebody said, that's just too long, preacher. Glory to God. But I'm telling you, we had an amazing meeting. It was great. Uh, tonight, uh, we're going to continue our series on the life of faith. All right, um, I started this last week and I'm gonna be as extemporaneous as I possibly can because I know it was very hot when we came in here because the air was not left on, but if you bear with me, I'm going to share something tonight that I think will be a blessing to you. As I said last week, and just by way of review, uh, it is intrinsically impossible to achieve dominion, to occupy and do business in the kingdom the way Jesus wants us to without a supernatural measure of faith. But as a matter of fact, last week we learned without faith you can't even please him. Y'all here? Yeah. Glory to God. Okay, y'all, y'all, I'm gonna teach to midnight if y'all don't say something now. Well, that's because by you not responding, it lets me— I don't know if you are here, so y'all need to say something. Glory to God. Y'all talk to me tonight, all right? Glory to God. I ain't here by myself. We in here, so y'all talk to me. Glory to God. I will try it again. It is impossible to advance the kingdom, to achieve dominion, to occupy and do business in the earth the way Jesus would require us without faith. All right, now, now we working. We cooking with chicken grease. Glory to God. Chicken grease, fish grease, and everything else. All right, so what God would want is for us to continue to grow our faith. The more faith we have— we're going to learn that tonight— the more we're able to conquer and accomplish in God. I gave you a definition last week of faith. It's from the Greek word pistos, and it means to leave what you can see for what you cannot see. It means to be absolutely reliant, totally confident, trusting, dependent upon God. That's what pistis is.

It—

faith actually brings into reality the things God has already performed in the spirit before we see them. Faith gives us the ability to see it before we see it. Ah God, that's good. But listen, I want you to understand, if you don't see it before you see it, when it manifests, you won't recognize it. I'll say that one more time. That's, that's, that's tweetable. Okay, if you don't see it before you see it When it manifests, you won't recognize it. And that's why in the realm of the spirit, you need to be able to see what God is doing, so that when the things that he has for you shows up, you know that's it because you saw it.

That's right, that's good.

You will never get distracted by stuff that doesn't belong to you when God shows you what's yours. And faith gives you the ability to see what already belongs to you. But I'm gonna talk tonight whether y'all let me or not. So tonight I'm going to, uh, because I think y'all got your hand on my throat or something. I'm gonna do it, glory to God. I'm gonna press through it, glory. I'm gonna remove the chokehold. Y'all trying to gnaw me to sleep or something. Y'all need to get with this, glory to God. I don't flew home and everything. I need y'all to come on with it. Now you know what, Sister Robinson? It's out tonight, but I promise you, if she was in this room, you would hear her. Glory to God. And sometimes I told her, I said, sometimes it just works my nerves because every other sentence— but glory to God. But let me tell you something. I mean, I told her, I'm not telling you that I didn't tell her. I'm not saying it jokingly. I'm like, I ain't even got the word of a good— and you saying amen. So I need some of y'all to catch her anointing tonight, okay? Glory to God. Praise the Lord. So now I'm, I'm, I'm learning to appreciate her. Glory to God. Hallelujah! Somebody shout glory to God!

Glory to God!

Hallelujah! All right, so tonight what I want to talk about, because I believe this is important, because the moment you make up in your mind you're going to advance the kingdom, the moment you make up in your mind you're going to pursue your dominion purpose, The enemy is coming to rob you of that desire. As a matter of fact, he wants to steal your faith. He wants to tell you that it cannot be accomplished. And so tonight, what I want to talk about is the shield of faith. The shield of faith is a weapon that we use against the enemy when it comes to steal our progress.

That's good.

Touch yourself and say, God wants me to progress. Come on, I dare you, say it again. Say, God wants me to progress. Say it one more time. Say, God wants me to progress. God never called you to be still. He never called you to be stuck in one place. Progression is on his mind. Matter of fact, God never does anything just to be doing it. Whenever God does something, he does it so it can grow bigger than it is. Oh Lord, have mercy. So tonight we're going to talk about the shield of faith, but the first thing I want to do is give you some facts out of the scripture concerning faith. So the first thing I need you to do is go to 2 Thessalonians 1 and verse number 3. Glory to the name of God. The Bible says your faith is growing and your love toward each other is increasing and abounds. Y'all hear that?

Yes.

So the first fact about faith I want to give you is that faith can grow. God never wants your faith to stay small. Yes, he wants you to have the ability to believe bigger than where you are. Amen. The scripture says your faith is growing. Now how does my faith grow? Faith come by hearing. Oh, glory to the name of God. And hearing the word of God. So the more I hear the word, the more my faith grows. That's why you ought to hear the word every day. Even if you ain't watching a preacher, you ought to open the Bible and start saying it out loud. If it say faith come by hearing and hearing by the word— watch this— now the best way for it to grow is with the preacher. Come on, because how can you hear without the preacher? And how can he preach except he be sent? So you need to be listening to somebody that's sent. Oh, y'all got to talk to me here. You see, a lot of times we got people that got small faith because they're not listening to people who were sent by God. They were sent by man. Y'all not talking to me here. So the Bible says your faith is growing. Watch this. And your love. I want you to grab this. Your faith cannot grow without love. Let me give you an example. If you love somebody, the more you know they love you, the more you trust them. Oh, y'all ain't got to say nothing. You, you— somebody could be telling you all day, yes, yeah, I love you. Yeah, but as your trust grows in them and you see the actions behind what they saying with their mouth, the more you can trust them with your heart. That's no difference with God. As we grow in God, and the more we know he loves us, the more we trust him. And that's why you ought to review your testimonies often. Everybody in here got something that you can look at and say, that's the love of God. Y'all not talking to me here, that God brought me out of that because he loves me. Y'all ain't got to say that. I know I got some stuff that I should have never got up out of, and the only reason I got out is because of the love of God. And that's why I have to trust him, because he's proved his love to me over and over again.

Yeah, hallelujah!

They can't grow without love. Come on, are y'all here? Listen, everything in the kingdom grows. Nothing that is connected to the kingdom, whoo, is stagnant. God never wants a kingdom project to be still. Let me tell you something, if it's not growing, it's dying.

That's right.

If a child is not growing, it's dying. There's, there's something called the spirit of arrested development.

You preaching. Come on, come on, come on.

And what happens with this demon is, is religion locks up your mind in a mind trap and makes you believe you're growing through deception. Oh my God. And you're really not. Come on, somebody say it's a mind trap. Come on, I dare you, say it again. Say it's a mind trap. I dare you say it one more time. It's a mind trap.

Mind trap.

Jesus. So, and the enemy, what he'll do, he will deceive you to believe that you're one way and you're really not. And let me give you an example of arrested development. It's, it's a psychological, in the natural, behavior disorder. And there was a case about 10 years ago where a woman took her 4-year-old child, locked the 4-year-old child up in the closet and would not feed the child, would not communicate with the child for weeks at a time. Just locked them in the closet. Well, of course the child now is suffering from malnutrition. But psychologically, the child's mind is not developing because she's not engaged with society. When you are not engaged with God in the realm of the spirit and you're not praying and spending time with God, it puts you in a mind trap and you get underdeveloped, and now you can't be effective in what God has called you to do. Are y'all here tonight? God's saying the faith has to grow, and you got to engage faith by hearing the word of God. God's got so much he's promised us, but we can't get it if our faith don't expand to receive it. So that's the first fact about faith. Secondly, I got to run through these. There's another fact about faith. Now, faith leads leads— watch this— to utterance out of your mouth.

That's right.

When you got faith, you're gonna say some things that reflect faith.

Come on in here.

A person that lives by faith doesn't speak negativity. Oh, y'all not talking. They don't entertain negativity. They don't waste time with idle gossip. Okay, let's go to the Bible. 2 Corinthians 4 and verse 13. Watch this. The scripture says, yet we have the same spirit of faith as he had who wrote, I have believed and therefore I have spoken. We too believe, therefore we speak. Let me tell you something, you can learn a lot about what people really believe by what comes out of their mouth. That's why a lot of times I just sit around people, especially people I just met, and I just listen.

Listen.

Amen. Because I'm trying to measure where you are. Yes. And at the end of the day, you can tell where a person is by what they're speaking. Listen, you can tell a person, a baby, they're gonna babble like a baby. Babies don't have language. Babies communicate in their own way. But they can't talk.

That's right.

They're not talking to me. And there are some immature saints who babble, who don't have faith that God can and God will. And your voice and your words will reflect what you believe. That's why I don't spend time talking nothing negative. I talk faith. I don't look at my circumstances. I don't look at the size of our church. And speak as if we're not progressing. I speak to the future. Y'all not talking to me here. I speak to the growth. I speak to the increase because I believe what God said. Ah, y'all not talking to me here. I got to get out of here. Number 3 is another, uh, glory to the name of God fact about faith. Not only does faith grow with love, faith works through love.

Yeah, glory to God.

Watch this. Love. Hallelujah. I talked up my amen corner. Y'all, y'all are doing good. My amen corner just came in the door. Glory to God. I talked you up. Glory to God. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Thank you, Jesus. I told them they need your anointing, Sister Robinson.

Praise the Lord.

To say amen even before I get the word out my mouth.

Hallelujah.

Glory to God. Thank the Lord. Y'all give God praise. Hallelujah. Somebody said faith works through love. The scriptures right here, Galatians 5 and 6. Watch this.

Thank you, Lord. Thank you.

This text, it makes it absolutely clear: faith works through love.

Yes, glory.

Period.

Amen.

We need a revelation— watch this— concerning God's unconditional love toward us.

Yeah.

See, when you know God loves you for love alone, you'll trust him. Oh yes.

Yeah.

God don't need you to do nothing else but love him, love you. God loves you when you don't love yourself. Oh, glory to the name of God. God loves you when you mess up because he knew you was gonna mess up. Don't think I've been talking to you. I need you to be clear. God loves you when you come short. Nothing about you surprises God. Are y'all listening to me? Nothing about you surprises him. He's omniscient. He know you. Yeah, he know we jacked up in certain areas, and he chooses to love us in spite of. And that ought to increase your faith to say, hey God, I love you, I love you because you love me first, I love you because you love me for love alone. Does anybody understand how much this dude loves you? And how dare you doubt him? How dare you not trust that he's going to bring you through and bring you out. Lord have mercy! I dare somebody to shout, he loves me!

He loves me!

Look, conference, I'm telling you, he loves you, he loves you, he loves you, he loves you. This is a fact. And you know how much he loves you? He— let me tell you something, I can't talk for y'all, but I know this dude love me. He take real good care of me, he looks out for me, he heals my body, he takes care of my children. Y'all not talking here, listen here, he loves me. So that's why I worship him, that's why I praise him, that's why nothing can stop my joy. No matter what the enemy sends my way, I live and function off the love of God. I tell you, shout it, he loves me!

He loves me!

Good God from Zion, do you realize this? Glory to God, love is the carrier. Yes, God. Of faith.

Hallelujah!

It's the vehicle that faith rides in.

Oh God, bless your name, Jesus.

In other words, when faith needs a ride, it gets in the car with love.

All right, all right.

Because when you can really relate to the love of God, yes, you say, you know what, ain't no way in the world I'm going to not trust this 'Cause he got me.

He got me.

I think he shouted yes, he got me. Listen, here's another fact about faith. Faith dispels fear and worry.

Yes, yes.

As a matter of fact, fear and faith are inept to each other. Yeah, they cannot dwell in the same room. All right, all right. If fear is there, faith ain't nowhere around.

That's right, that's right.

Oh, y'all not talking to me here. If you worried about something, yeah, yeah, it means your faith is low.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Because faith and worry don't go together. Well, God knows my heart, it's just natural to worry about— no, it ain't natural. We walk by faith and not by sight. Some folk gonna sit up and worry themselves into a disease. Y'all not talking to me here. As a matter of fact, the word disease is dis-ease.

That's right, that's dis-ease.

You get uneasy, you get worried. That's how disease creeps in your life because you refuse— you sit up worrying about cancer. Come on now, you sit up watching your money, so you worried about going broke. Y'all ain't talking to me You worried about whether you'll be able to pay your mortgage next month, but when you walk by faith, you ain't worried about how the mortgage is coming. You just keep doing what you can, and you know God's going to do what you can't. I wish I had some help here. Just let somebody say, I ain't got no fear, I got faith. Watch this, Matthew 6:30. You ain't got to go there, but you can write it down and go and study it later. Matthew 6:30 says that— watch this— we should not have any anxiety or worry. We should not take any thought.

Yes, that's right.

So what we'll eat?

Yes.

All right, y'all not talking. What we'll drink?

All right.

What we gonna put on? He said take no thought for that. He said look at the birds and look at the flowers. He said I take care of them. He said what more will your God do for you. He said, if I take care of them, I'll take care of you. Yes, we send a word and God says, I got you, you're my choice creation. God love you, he's your daddy.

Yes, listen, if you take care of your own children, yes, how much more, how much more will God take care of you?

All right, all right, listen, I ain't, I'm not about to let not one of my children go without nothing.

That's right, that's right, that's right.

Even though I have to remind them sometimes, they think that my money is their money. I said, I'm going to let you be clear about something. This is my money.

That's right, it ain't your money.

I just choose to share my money with you. With you. I'm not talking to you here. Watch this. And when you look at that from the perspective of our Father The earth is the Lord's. Y'all not talking to me here. And the fullness thereof. It's his earth, it's his stuff, and he chooses to share with us.

Thank you, Lord.

Thank you, Lord, for sharing with me. Thank you, God. And we know that God says, I'll supply your every need.

Every need.

Philippians 4:13. According to my riches in glory. Watch this, he didn't say I was going to supply the need out of my riches. If I blessed you out of my money, yes, I could give you $5 and say, hey, I'm gonna bless you out of my money. But if I bless you according to what I have— Then I had to write checks for $20,000, $30,000, $40,000 all through the room because I'm going to bless you according to what I got. Y'all ain't got to say nothing. God says I own everything, and I'mma bless you according to what I got in glory.

Hallelujah!

Take it deeper. The riches are in glory.

Yeah, that's right, that's right, that's right.

Which means you got to spend enough time with God to until the heavens open and it releases glory. No glory, no— oh, y'all not talking— no supernatural supply. I'm telling you tonight what God wants to do. God wants to eliminate fear. He wants to eliminate worry. He wants to give you supernatural supply and meet every need in your life.

Yes, yes.

But you got to get up in the glory.

That's right, get up in the glory.

Stop being afraid.

That's right.

Of what life's going to bring you. That's In Matthew 8:26, these dudes on a boat, Jesus sleep. And let me tell you something, they worried. They go down and wake Jesus up. Jesus, I'm sure he had attitude. Someone says, gee, he was God and man. He was sleeping. The Bible said he was fast asleep. I know you wake me up and I'm fast asleep, I ain't gonna feel too good about it. Cause see, when I get up in the morning, I have to talk to God before I talk to other people. Y'all are saying that?

Amen.

Because I'm not a morning person. Amen. If you catch me before I spend some time with God, yes, it may not be a good situation.

Be nice.

Yeah, I need to talk to him. Are y'all here? So I can get right.

Yeah. In order to talk to you.

Yes, yes, he was fast asleep. See, when I tell you she had an anointing, I'm going to catch her. Glory to God, glory to God. Thank you, Jesus. Your faith— watch this— it grows through experiences.

Yes, it does. Yes, it does. Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes.

I know a lot of people teach faith and say you going to get everything you want. Sometimes you ain't gonna get everything you want.

That's right, that's right.

Sometimes God uses the experience, yeah, to build your faith for something better. Yeah, right, because most of the time what we want, God's got something better.

Yeah, hallelujah!

You should never settle for what God didn't give you. Yeah, I don't want nothing God didn't give me. Because when you get the gift God gave you, it's perfect. It's perfect for you. It has everything. Y'all not talking to me here.

It has everything you need.

Here's another fact about faith. I got to keep it moving. Faith heals the sick. It heals the sick. I say it again, it heals the sick. If you look at Matthew chapter 8 again, verses 1 through 17— I'm not going to read it— but you find in that context several healings. And every time you see those healings, Jesus says, 'Go, your faith has made you whole.' You want to be whole, you got to trust him by faith. There's no disease God can't heal. Yes, there's no illness God can't heal. There's no condition God can't fix.

Glory, glory.

I've seen him do it. Yes, I've seen through faith God heal someone. Matter of fact, I use this one as an example. This little boy was 9 years old, blind from birth.

Wow.

And I laid my hands on him in faith.

In faith.

He had no idea how to believe God.

Yes.

So it was my faith and my belief in God See, y'all think the other person got to have faith. That's an excuse. You just got to build your faith up enough so when you pray for them, you trust God that he's going to provide the miracle. See, here's what I understand. I just stretch forth my hand, yes, and God provides the miracle. The healing ain't in me, it's the faith in God's ability. Somebody shout, God's able! I laid my hands on it. It was, it was under a minute, the boy's eyes popped open.

Hallelujah!

And he screamed because he saw light for the first time. Never had seen light a day in his life. I was in Huntsville, Alabama. There was a lady who had been blind for 33 years. You guys were there. Glory to God. This woman had been blind for 33 years. Wow. She had got shot in the head, lost her Sight, could not see, had not seen her baby girl since she was 3 years old. Her baby girl was in the service. I was sitting there, I, and I got up, I said, we got to pray for this woman. I brought her up, and by faith I laid hands on her, and her eye popped open. Y'all not talking to me here. This woman was healed instantly, and for the first time in 30 years, she saw her baby.

Me.

And she wept. And today she still sees. Every time I go to Huntsville, she walks up to me and say, Apostle, I just want you to know the miracle still is working. I still got my sight. I said, baby, it ain't me, it's the faith that I have in God. I said, keep on seeing. And guess what? Here's what I know.

Thank you, Lord.

God wants to heal people.

Yes, he does.

And he wants to do it through us. We just got to build up our Glory to the name of God. I was talking to my brother Ken. He has a— it's your nephew, right? That was in the hospital. They gave him up to die. Glory to the name of God. Ken went in the hospital with another one of his family members, laid the hands on him, believed by faith. Now the dude is here walking around. They gave him days to live. I'm telling you, faith brings healing. Oh yeah, glory to the name of God. I got to get out of here, y'all. Good Apostle. Faith brings provision, my Lord.

Yes, God.

Faith will take 2 fish.

Oh yes.

And 5 loaves of bread.

Oh yes.

And feed 5,000.

Yes.

Matter of fact, the Bible said He fed 5,000 men.

Men, that's right, that's right.

Plus the women and children. So it was really more than enough for 5,000, cuz he fed the men and their families.

Yes, by faith, by faith, took a little.

The Bible said he blessed it, he blessed it, then he broke it. Glory to God. Hallelujah. See, you got to learn to take what you you got and bless it. It may not be everything you want right now, but just bless it. Look at that bank account and just say, I bless this bank account, I command it to increase. Look at your business and say, I bless this business, I command it to increase, I command it to grow, I command dividends to come into my life. Look at it and bless it. And then after you bless it, break it. Glory to— what do you mean break it? That means, glory to the name of God, you got seperate it from the natural and make what you have spiritual so God can multiply in the realm of the spirit. So by faith, you can see the reality of what's coming before it gets here. I dare somebody shout, it's coming! Glory to the name of God! I dare you speak it in the atmosphere. I dare somebody shout, millions is coming! New business is coming! New members are coming! Oh Mary, say nothing to me! I dare you shout, new houses is coming. Property is coming. I dare you, shout it to the top of your voice.

It is coming!

I wish I had a church that believed it today. I dare you, slap somebody a high five and tell them it is coming. You ain't do it. Slap somebody a high five and say it is coming. Glory to the name of I got to get out. I said I wasn't going to do that. Y'all sit down. I tell you, faith brings provision. I just heard God say, I'm getting ready to catch you up. Somebody's in here behind, and God says, I'm about to catch you up. God said, appropriate your faith. Every bill that's behind, I'm getting ready to catch you up. God said that debt that's on your credit report, I'm about to give you debt-free status. He said release your faith, I'll pay off your house. Release your faith, I'll pay off your car. I decree and declare that God is paying off your real estate, that God is paying off your vehicles! I say you receive it in the name of Jesus if you believe it shall be—

yeah! Faith brings provision.

Faith saves us from sin. Faith fills us with the Holy Ghost. Faith purifies the heart. Faith sanctifies the soul. Faith brings revelation. Faith justifies. Faith gives grace. Faith gives access to the God of Heaven. See, some of you don't even understand. God wants you to access him, and it's by faith you'll know him. Good God from Zion. I got to quit, y'all.

Listen, listen, talk about the shield.

Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord.

Yes, Lord.

Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. About faith. I'm telling you, my faith is working. I'm believing God for bigger than ever. Good God from Zion told me he was going to make me a billionaire. My faith is working, and every day he's proving it to me. My faith is increasing. My Faith is opening doors. My faith is making ways out of no way. Let me tell you something, when people said it was over for me, it was my faith that raised me up again.

I believe God.

I'm sorry, y'all, I apologize.

I believe God. We got to address our unbelief and learn more about trusting God.

The centurion said, Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief. Oh God, you got to be honest with yourself even when you know you love God, but there's something stopping you from believing him fully about this thing. You got to cry out to God and say, help my unbelief. You can't act like you got it all and you really don't. You got to say, God, I need you to look in me. Put the— old mother said, put the searchlight on my soul. Oh God, hallelujah! And if you find anything that shouldn't be, take it out. And strengthen me. I want to be saved. I want to be whole. I want to live by faith. Anybody here want God to strengthen your unbelief? Now let me teach this. I'm sorry.

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Help God!

We have to help God. Go to Ephesians 6.

Wow, wow, wow!

Verse 16. The enemy don't want you to walk by faith.

Thank you, Jesus.

He wants you to trust in yourself. He wants you to analyze before you believe.

Jesus.

He wants you to believe that your way is the right way.

Yes, Lord.

Oh my God. But God's way is the only way. Yes. Matter of fact, Jesus said, I am the way.

The way, the truth, the truth, and the life, and the life. Yes, hallelujah! Thank you, Lord. Bless your name, Jesus.

Let's talk about this shield of faith real quick. We're going to get out of here.

Bless your name, Jesus.

Hallelujah. You are welcome. And verse 16, it says, lift up over all the— Ephesians 6:16. Yes, I'm reading in Amplified. or NIV, I'm sorry. King James says above all. Yeah, lift up over all is the Amplified, covering the shield of saving faith upon which you can quench all the flaming missiles of the wicked one. The King James says above all, taking the shield of faith. Yes, where if you shall be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked. I like the Amplified because it goes ahead and translates the words out from the Greek. Now watch what it says. Instead of above all, it says lift up. And when I looked at that, I thought about a shield. If I had— if I had time to go get one today, I would have went and got one because God gave me this on the plane. But when I think about a shield, a shield is useless unless you lift it up.

That's right, that's right. You talking good. That's powerful.

As Captain America is.

All right, all right, all right.

Yes, his powers are limited.

Yep, they're limited without his shield.

That's right, his shield can ward off a nuclear bomb. That's how powerful it is. Yeah, and it woke me up when I could just— the missiles of the— see, the King James minimizes it. It says fiery darts. The enemy ain't playing fair, throwing no little darts at you. This word means he's shooting missiles. The devil is going for broke. He's trying to kill you. And he says, I want you to lift this shield up so that when those missiles get launched at you, all right, all right, the shield explodes them. And watch this, it sends them back to the center. If you ever watch Captain America, anytime something came at him, it went back to the person that sent it. God said this shield of faith is more powerful than Captain America's shield.

All right.

And when the enemy— I don't care what the witch throws at you.

Yes, that's right.

I don't care what the warlock does to try to bind you up. See, the only reason witchcraft and warlocks work, because we take belief in it. Y'all not talking. If you believe the witch got some power and that she can work something in your life, then it's going to defeat you. But I take above all the shield of faith. Let the witch throw it if they want to. My faith tells me— y'all not talking to me here— that God will not suffer the witch to live. So if the witch throw something at me, they're going to die. Nobody talking to me here because I'm not going to sit here and let you throw a missile at me and try to bind up my money, bind up my finances, bind up my children. No, I'm going to lift this shield up against that witch, against that warlock, and I'm going to send it back to them. Y'all not talking to me here. I'm telling you right now, you better lift that shield of faith up because people will come with negative trying to get you distracted. It, trying to stop you from believing God. But you better lift up that shield, glory to the name of God, and say, I ain't going to be moved. I'm just like a tree planted by water, and I shall not be moved. You better lift up that shield when you get that doctor's report. You know, matter of fact, you want to learn just how to do this even when you ain't got no shield. You get a negative report right there in the doctor's office, say, excuse me, God, but I need to do this because them words you're speaking to me goes against the word of the The word of the Lord said, by his stripes— who am I talking to? I am healed. So I throw up the shield and I'm sending the words back to your diagnosis. You better learn how to throw up the shield of faith. The devil tells you you're about to lose everything and that your needs won't be met.

Throw up the shield.

Who am I talking to here? And tell that devil, my God shall supply all that I need. Me.

According—

I got somebody throw the shield up and let the devil know he won't stop me. I'm going to announce to you tonight, you're unstoppable. And everywhere you go, above all, lift up the shield. Glory to the name of God. All the other warfare weapons are great, but he said lift this one up above all. This is a defensive weapon. Glory to all the other ones are offensive. And I'm inclined to believe if I learn how to use this one effectively, I don't even have to use the other ones. I just lift up faith. Y'all not talking to me here. And everything else comes in place. I'm telling you, faith is taking you someplace. You need to hear this tonight. You're going somewhere. Well, I said I was going to just teach and go home, but I tell you, there's somebody tell them you're going somewhere. You tell them you're going somewhere. Your faith is taking you someplace. Your faith is taking you to a higher dimension. Your faith is taking you to the next level. Your faith is opening doors. Your faith is building you up. I will— somebody shout! My faith is taking came me some place. I tell you, lift your voice and shout!

Yes, yes, Lord!

Yes, Lord!

Hallelujah! Yes, Lord! Does you no good if you don't hold it up.

Jesus, some of you You accept stuff that comes to you, and the shield is in your hand.

Yes, you better use that shield when the enemy comes up against you. Yes, God.

Listen, lazy Christians will never stay protected.

Yes, yes, that's good. From the wicked plans of the devil.

Yes, because they're too lazy to lift up the shield. Yes, they're too lazy to open their mouth and declare the word.

Yes, Lord.

Glory to the name of God. 2 Peter 1:5 tells us that we should employ every effort in exercising our faith. See, walking by faith is a spiritual effort. Yes, I'm almost through, I promise you. Jesus. Go to 1 Timothy 6:12. Say, faith is a defensive weapon.

Faith is a defensive weapon.

A lot of times we playing offense, but you ever heard the term defense?

Oh yeah, oh yeah.

Wins games.

That's right, Lord.

My Lord. Even if the refs playing defense.

Oh Lord.

Glory to God. The refs play defense against the Cavs and go tonight, y'all. We supposed to win the game. Y'all stay with me. Y'all saw I prayed last week. We won that.

Oh yeah, amen, amen.

Oh yeah, play.

Yeah. Hit it! Glory to God!

Faith is a defensive weapon.

Yes, yes.

We play too much offense in the spirit.

Yes.

When we should just be throwing up defense.

Yes.

And you know you are a threat to the enemy.

Yes.

When he brings offense toward you.

Yes. Oh, that's good. That's right.

It don't mean you going out here looking for no fight. He'll bring it to you if you're doing something.

Yeah, that's right.

The devil don't mess with people that are not a threat. Amen.

That's right. That's right. What he fears.

Oh God, yes. Watch this. 1 Timothy 6:12 said, fight the good fight of faith. And sometimes really we have to fight to hold on to our faith.

That's right.

We got to fight doubt. Yeah, because I'm telling you, you're going to be tempted to doubt. Yes, you're going to be tempted to not believe. Come on in here. You got to fight doubt, you got to fight unbelief, you got to fight the lies of Satan. Preach! You got to fight stuff that ain't even the devil. You got your own reasoning.

Oh, that is so true.

Yeah, some stuff ain't the devil.

It's not the devil, it's you.

Some things is you.

It's you, so stop it.

And you gotta, you gotta fight against your own thought process. Throw that shield up when those thoughts come. Yes, as I rebuke you in the name of Jesus. I bring every thought captive that exalts itself against the knowledge of Christ. You need to— you should have a little man in your mind that has on a uniform like a correctional officer.

All right.

That every time you go to reasoning against God, he takes that thought, yes, and locks it up, locks it up, and gives it a life sentence.

Yes, throw away the key.

You got to trust God.

Throw away the key.

Cuz you start reasoning and you will miss God.

You'll miss it. I know that's right.

You'll miss what God has for you because you create delays while you're reasoning.

That's a good word.

Thank you, Lord.

Yes, Lord. Hallelujah, Jesus.

Sometimes—

bless your name, Jesus—

we get tired, man.

Yeah, that's right.

That is so true. It's real.

Yep, it's real.

Sometimes you go through seasons where you're tired of trusting God.

Yes, you talking good, but keep on— maybe I'm the only one talking good.

Maybe everybody else got a chair outside waiting to carried them back to glory. Well, there are times you like, Lord, when, when? You've been promising, God, you said you do. Jesus, yes! But you got to fight. Got to fight. Yep, you got to fight, cuz the only way you're going to lose is if you quit.

Yep, that's right, that's right, that's right.

The only way you lose, yes, is you stop believing and quit. But if you keep believing by faith, hallelujah.

Yes, Lord. Glory to God.

See, this, you know, if you get tired of believing, let me tell you what it's like doing it. It's like saying, I'm tired of cooking, so I'm gonna just starve. We're doing the same thing. And everybody, I don't care how tired you get, yeah. You're gonna find a way to eat.

Yes, Lord.

You're gonna find you some bologna. Yeah, some peanuts, whatever, some beanie weenies, spaghetti.

You gonna find something. Yes, yes.

You ain't gonna starve.

Something. Yeah, Jesus. Yes, you're right, you're right.

Even the man out on the street, yeah, he gonna find something. He gonna find a way to eat.

That's right.

Even when he gets all his high done. That body gonna tell him he gotta eat.

Yeah, that's right.

Faith is the same way. You gotta find a way to believe.

Yeah. Wow.

You don't want to.

You don't want to. That's good.

Yes, I'm talking from experience. I've had some days. Yes, I didn't want to believe.

Yes, yes, I didn't want another prophecy.

Yes, I'm like, God, you ain't brought the past these that I got.

Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Jesus.

I need you to bring these to pass. Yes.

Hallelujah.

Sometimes you just get tired. You get tired of waiting.

God. Yes, God.

But God say you got to fight.

You got to fight, cuz you're close.

Yes.

Hallelujah.

And at the end of everything is the greatest pressure. Oh God, you under pressure because you're at the end. You fighting to keep yourself now because you're at the end of it. Y'all not talking to me here. When you at the end of that thing, that's when the enemy come the hardest. Y'all not talking to me here. You were doing real good. Yes, keeping yourself on the subjection. Now every time you look up, your body say, uh-uh, you need to take care of that.

Yeah.

I just lost about 4 people. Okay, you'll catch it on 28520, however you go home. All right, yeah, the closer you get, the harder it is.

Yeah. Oh yeah, that's right.

But you got to hold on.

Hold on.

Watch this, at the end of everything is the greatest pressure.

Yes.

Let's go back to that game. Listen, Revelation, watch this. At the end of the game, the Cavs had the game won.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

The man missed the second free throw.

Yes.

J.R. Smith gets the rebound.

Yeah.

Because he's under pressure.

Yeah, Lord.

He does the stupidest thing a basketball player could do who needs to win the game. He runs away from throw with 4 seconds on the clock. Yeah, when what he should have done was turn around and put the ball back up. Even if he would have got fouled, yeah, he would have had a free throw and they would have won the game.

Yeah, yeah, he would hit that pressure.

Yeah. And then when they interviewed him, they said, man, the pressure— I thought we was ahead. Ain't no way you thought y'all was ahead. The game was close. Wow.

Let me tell you something, always know the score.

At the end of everything is the greatest pressure. You gotta maximize the end and hold on and don't give up.

Yes, Lord.

Let me show you to show it to you in scripture. 1 John 5, verse 4. Y'all go to it real quick. Say, I'm leveling up in my faith. Come on, say it again. Say, I'm about to level up in my faith. So nothing shall be impossible to me because I believe. Yes. Uh, 1 John 5, verse 4, it says this. It says, whatsoever is born of God, yes, overcoming the world. Oh yes, good God Almighty. And this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. You want to overcome— the word overcome is, watch this, hopokainai in Greek. Hopokainai is the same word as more than a conqueror.

Yes.

So those, those words are interchangeable in Greek. So he says, my faith causes me to conquer the cosmos, the systems of the world. Yes, the world's way of doing things.

That's right.

See, if we want to overcome and take dominion and take control of the world, our faith has to expand. Yes, so that we can become more than conquerors.

More than— oh God, hallelujah!

We must every day walk in faith.

Yes, yes, yes.

In order for our faith to grow so we can be more than conquerors.

That's good, that's good, that's good.

Go to Romans 1.

Thank you.

I'm almost out of here.

Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus.

Verse 17.

Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord.

Walking in faith means that you always ready. Yep. To throw up the shield.

That's right.

Yes, you never trust yourself. All right, walking in faith is the ability to move from feelings, yes, to faith. Emotions is an enemy to faith.

Yes, it is. Yes, Lord.

Yes, because you can get emotional and stop believing God.

That's right.

And your emotions will influence you to try to fix it yourself.

Yeah, mess up everything. Yes, Lord.

Romans 1:17 says, the just shall live by faith, and we go from faith to faith. Yes, the scripture ain't saying we go from doubt to doubt. Come on in here. Or we don't doubt and go back to faith later.

Yes, sir.

Okay, all right, all right. So it's a consistent walk.

That's good.

So when I'm living by faith, I'm not living in my feelings one day, then I'm going to go Monday I'm in my feelings, Tuesday I'm in faith. Monday I'm in my feelings, Tuesday I'm in faith.

Nope, nope, nope, nope.

It's Monday, I'm in faith.

Yes.

Tuesday, I'm living my faith. Wednesday, I'm walking by faith. Thursday, still got faith. Friday, still got faith. Saturday, still trusting. Hallelujah. Sunday, still got faith. Not in my feelings, no, Daddy.

I trust you, God.

Jesus, I walk by faith. I'm growing it as I walk. Yes, the more I walk with God, the more I know about God. Yes, the more faith I enact. Yes, the more faith God trusts me with. Yes, because you know faith is a gift.

Yes, it is.

So that's why everybody starts with a measure.

Yes, yes, yes.

So he releases the force of faith in your life to move anything.

Yes. Yes, God.

Hebrews 2— I'm sorry, Habakkuk 2:4 and Galatians 3:11 both state that the just shall live by his faith. The faith is his.

That's right, it is his. Yes, that's right, it's his faith.

And he gives it to us as a gift because he understands without it, one, we can't please him, Without it, we will never accomplish anything spiritual. Yeah, so let me give them this gift so they can trust me. You realize all of us have it?

Amen.

Yeah, if you have the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost, you have the gift of faith.

Amen.

It's one of the gifts. Hallelujah. Are y'all here? Yes, it comes with that spirit. You have no excuse for not trusting God.

That's right, that's right, that's right.

Glory to God. Go to James 5:16. I promise you, Jesus.

Thank you, Jesus.

Faith is a vital force that can be released against our enemies. Yes. James 5:16 says, the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous man availeth much. In other words, the effectual, which is the continual prayer.

Yes.

The fervent prayer, which is the— watch this— the prayer of faith.

Prayer of faith.

Fervency is not really fire in Greek. It's the faith that gives you passion.

All right, all right, that's good, that's good.

See, affirming prayer is a passion to pray by faith.

Yes, that's good.

It ain't how loud you pray.

Come on, that's good.

Yeah, I've been doing this for 29 years, and I remember the stages of my ministry. I used to just be really terrible at trying to get ready for what I got to do. All right. So I would— when I travel, I would get in this room, I'd be in the room praying, hollering, and got music going, setting atmospheres. And I didn't realize that didn't make me no more anointed. Nope. And I already was.

You already were. Yeah, that's right.

All I needed was the faith to believe, to release your faith. That's right. And when I tell you, there's seasons why I ain't have time to go in no room laying the floor.

I know, that's right.

I know them have been some of my most anointed services. Yes, because the passion comes from wanting to know God. Yes, you pray to know God.

Yes.

Are you here? We don't pray to preach.

Yes, that's right.

I pray to know him. Yeah, and the byproduct of that, yes, is revelation. Yes. I study to get revelation.

Yes.

Are y'all here?

Yeah.

Every time I go into prayer, I'm trying to get closer to him. That's right.

That's right.

So he can rub off on me and I can be more like him.

Yeah, that's right.

But if we've taken our prayer time trying to get more anointed—

yes. Wow, that's good.

Then only comes through faith.

That's good. That's good.

That's good. It's gonna— the prayer of passion is gonna come back to you. Because God anoints you in prayer. When you stand up and do what he tells you to do, you're gonna be anointed.

That's right, that's right.

You just gotta believe it.

Just gotta believe it.

You gotta believe that you don't need the tools of man.

Yes.

Watch this. To do what God called you to do.

That's right, that's right.

What did God say to Jeremiah? Open your mouth. Open your mouth and I'll speak for you. You talking about faith.

Yeah.

Jeremiah ain't had no books and no lexicons and He ain't went to no schools. God just told him, open your mouth.

Yes, I'm gonna speak through you.

Oh, y'all ain't saying nothing. And Jeremiah had to move in faith and believe that when he opened his mouth, God was going to speak for him.

Yes, thank you, Lord.

You realize God doesn't need your help.

Yeah, that's right, that's right.

He ain't putting no application for us to help him.

No, no, it's the other way around. Yeah, that's right.

He's here to help us. I'm getting out of here, y'all.

Thank you. I'm getting out of here. Thank you, Jesus.

Oh Lord, I'm gonna close with this scripture right here.

Bless your name.

Psalm 118. Hallelujah. And 24.

Yes.

Glory to God.

Thank you, Lord.

What does it say?

Thank you.

This is the day that the Lord has made.

Yes.

He says, I will rejoice and be glad. Somebody said, why are you reading that? They got nothing for you. Yes, it does. Yes, it does. This Psalm, Psalm 118, is the longest scripture in the Bible.

Yes.

Or division. It's not a chapter. It's the longest division in the Bible.

Yes.

And this particular part David wrote early in the morning. All right, before his day started. Yes, it takes faith. Yes, to believe God made the day. All right, all right, y'all been talking to me. You need faith to believe that God actually created the day.

Yeah, that's right.

I know somebody said, well, no, I just automatically know he did. Now you know you want to do you ready to see him create today?

That's right, that's right.

You ain't never seen God.

That's right, that's right.

Come on, somebody, you got to have faith to believe that he created the day.

That's right.

And David is saying, I know Saul is trying to kill me, my life is in the balance. But by faith, this is the day that the Lord has made. The devil's trying to take me out, but this is the day that the Lord has made. Good God, you may be facing something, you know, when you get up the next morning, but you ought to get out that bed as soon as you get up. This is the day that the Lord has made, and I will rejoice. They tried to kill me, but I'm going to praise him anyhow. They're talking about me, but I'm going to praise him anyhow. Glory! I ain't got the money to pay all the bills, but I'm going to praise him anyhow. They're holding up my blessing, but I'm going to keep on rejoicing. They're trying to attack my children, attack my— but this is the day. The Lord— by faith, I'm going to declare, this is the Lord's day. I got somebody shout, this is the Lord's day!

This is the Lord's day!

Shout, this is the Lord's week!

This is the Lord's week!

Come on, say, this is the Lord's year!

This is the Lord's year!

And no matter what comes at me, come on, say, no matter what comes at me, I will rejoice. And be glad. Say this: I choose to be glad. Come on, just jump on your feet and say this stuff with me. Come on, say: By faith, I choose to rejoice. By faith, I choose to be happy. By faith, I choose to give God praise. By faith, I choose to follow Jesus. Jesus. When everybody else is leaving God, I choose to follow Jesus. I tell you, lift up your voice and say, I will rejoice, I will get happy, I will shabach God. Y'all not talking to me here. The word shabach is a Hebrew word that means to express yourself in a loud tone, to scream if David said, I will rejoice, I will scream through this day the praises of God. I want to tell you something, the devil cannot win, he cannot win as long as you got the shield. I don't care what he said, what's in your mind, you're going to win. Clap your hands and praise God. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. It's the evidence. Listen, I got evidence. I ain't got the car yet, but I got evidence. I don't have the billion dollars yet, But I got evidence. I got— somebody say evidence. Evidence.

Evidence.

I got it. Say it. Say evidence. Evidence. Evidence. Oh God, I got the evidence, and it's already mine. It's already mine.

Do me a favor really quick.

Grab one person by both hands.

Do it quickly.

Grab one person by both hands.

Thank you, Lord.

Get one person. Genesis 1:28 says that we should be fruitful, multiply, subdue, replenish, and have dominion. This is the dominion mandate. The word Rada means dominion and authority. Rada Church is an apostolic and prophetic ministry designed to assist Kingdom citizens, believers, to deliberately help them really to shift their life into supernatural overflow, because you really can't have dominion and moving your dominion purpose without supernatural overflow. So Rhoda Church exists to help you discover your dominion purpose, because your purpose is never your decision, it's always your discovery. And once you discover We're here to help you develop that selfsame purpose. And the reality is, it's no good if that purpose is not deployed. So we're here to help you deploy that purpose into the earth so you could be effective. So you owe it to yourself, man, to visit Rhoda Church and experience this place. It's absolutely amazing. Go to rhodachurch.com right now. And set yourself up for dominion purpose. Peace.