Battle Fatigue

Originally this thought word turn out to be a prophetic word for our church and because I believe it also applies to the global state of the church, I decided to share it in the hopes that it will help some of us soldiers, farmers, and athletes of God. Yes, I just cheap-plugged my own future message about soldiers, farmers, and athletes of which will be titled something like the three vocational attributes and behaviors of authentically born-again Christians. Boopsie-bow-wow, God just gave me that as the title so it will be the title. Look for it soon as it is imperative we understand those three attributes within our very selves. 

So shortly before I was to share this message God confirmed that I was on the right track. You know it is reassuring to know that you are on the right track with God when He asks you to do something. 

Right soon as I closed my eyes to begin entering into our weekly prayer meeting, I saw the following statement, “We can often grow more weary waiting for the will of God than we can in going in the wrong direction. I didn’t try to give an interpretation as I thought as I read it that it could mean several different things depending on who hears it, and so I left it alone confident that I was on the right track with this message.

I was going to change the prophetic message for this podcast and just now decided against it. So, you will be getting the same message that God gave our church. To shift into the teaching mode for just a second, this is the prophetic gift as outlined in 1 Cor 12:8-10 and not the office of a prophet as described in Eph chapter 4. Listen for these three attributes of the prophetic gift, edification (building up), exhortation (encouragement), and comfort.  

Let’s pray that we keep at the forefront of our minds and spirits our determination, our press, our sticktuativeness, our endurance to keep pressing forward and to fight for the things, that is the ministry, relationships, jobs, creative ideas, finances, and/or health that God is trying to manifest through you, even though for a time or season you do not see the horizon of victory.

https://appliedstrengthsministry.org/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:14

Hello, this is Kenyon Podcast Preacher. Welcome back to my podcast, Deep Waters. This podcast is brought to you by Applied Strengths Ministry, where we believe working together in our strengths is the effect of working out the will and calling of God and into our lives. Thanks for joining me. Let's open up in prayer. Blessed be the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed you with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Just as he chose you and him before the foundation of the world, that you should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestined you to adoption as a son or daughter by Jesus Christ himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, which he purposed in himself, to the praise of the glory of his grace, and which he made you accepted in the beloved. In him ye have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace which he made to abound towards you in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to you the mystery of his will, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times, ye might gather together, in one, all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth in him. Ask that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, and the knowledge of the mystery of him, and to the deepest knowledge of him that you were willing and able to receive, that the eyes of your understanding would be open wider, and that you would be enlightened to who he is, that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in you, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power towards you who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead, and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, that he would grant that you would be strengthened with might through his spirit, in the inner man, in and through your spirit and heart, and that you would be able to stand against your flesh, this world and the devil, in and through any and all temptation. I pray that your love may abound more and more in all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense until the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ to the praise and glory of God. I ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him, being fruitful in every good work, strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, in all patience and long suffering with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints who walk in the light. I pray that your hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love and unity, and that you would attain to all the riches of the full assurance of understanding, both of the Father and of Christ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God, which has been given to each of my listeners by Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in everything by him, in all utterance and all knowledge, so that you do not come short in obtaining or operating in your calling and purpose, nor in using any spiritual gifts or talents, eagerly waiting for the continued revelation of our Lord Jesus, who will confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the near coming day of our Lord, God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son Jesus. Okay, so now therefore, my sisters and brothers in Christ, when things get tough, think about whatever things are true, noble, just pure, lovely, and whatever things are of a good report. If there is any virtue, and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things alone. I pray that in these very days that you would let your love be without hypocrisy, hate and loathe what is evil, cling to what is good and righteous, be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another, not lagging in diligence, fervent and fully engulfed in spiritual fire, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, walking in the peace of God, patience in tribulation, continuing steadfast in prayer, distributing to the needs of the saints, that is each other, and that you would be given the hospitality. May the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like minded towards one another, according to Christ Jesus, that we learn to be of one mind and one accord, operating completely and fully in love and unity, always striving for the working out of God's specific will for each of our lives, while working in partnership with each other within the church and the Holy Spirit, as He manifests His miracle signs and wonders through the daily activities of our ministry and kingdom work, and while we also go out preaching the gospel and word and deed. Let us love and serve one another, our enemy, and those who wouldn't expect us to do so, considering each person better than ourselves. Find up any words or thoughts that are contrary to the love of God, or which would set you back in your Christian walk. Ah, step out of faith today and walk with God, being assured that nothing will separate you from him as long as you abide in him. Call those things that don't exist as though they do. Remember he that is in you is greater than he that is in the world. Be more than a conqueror today, submitting to the will of God in everything. Let each of us express uncompromising love towards one another in humility while maintaining a teachable spirit. I pray that God would give you the revelation within this message that He intends you to receive with the understanding. Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. In Jesus' name we pray amen. The title of this message is Battle Fatigue. Originally this thought word turned out to be a prophetic word for our church, and because I believe it also applies to the global state of the church, I decided to share it in the hopes that it will help some of us soldiers, farmers, and athletes of God. Yes, I just cheap plugged my own future message about soldiers, farmers, and athletes, of which will be titled something like The Three Vocational Attributes and Behaviors of Authentically Born Again Christians. Bopsi Bow Wow, God just gave me that as a title, so it will be the title. Look for it soon, as it is imperative that we understand those three attributes within our very selves. So shortly before I was to share this message, God confirmed that I was on the right track. You know, it is reassuring to know that you are on the right track with God when he asks you to do something, right? So right soon as I closed my eyes to begin entering into our weekly prayer meeting, I saw the following statement. We can often grow more weary waiting for the will of God than we can and going in the wrong direction. I didn't try to give an interpretation as I thought that as I read it, that it could mean several different things depending on who hears it. And so I left it alone, confident that I was on the right track with this message. So I was going to change the prophetic message for this podcast and just now decided against it. So you will be getting the same message that God gave to our church. To shift into the teaching mode for just a second, this is the prophetic gift as outlined in 1 Corinthians twelve, eight through ten, and not the office of a prophet as described in Ephesians chapter four. Listen for these three attributes of the prophetic gift edification, that is building up, exhortation, that is encouragement, and comfort. Okay, so the meeting started out. Let us pray that we keep at the forefront of our minds and spirits our determination, our press, our stick toativeness, our endurance, to keep pressing forward and to fight for the things that is the ministry, relationships, jobs, creative ideas, finances, and or health that God is trying to manifest through you, even though for a time or season you do not see the horizon of victory. And but while we are in the heat of the battle, we must avoid thinking in our hearts that we will just stay busy doing random things not conducive to the building of that future ministry, relationships, jobs, creative ideas, finances, and our health. Because we have allowed ourselves to become worn out in the waiting and in the doing of spiritually non essential things that add no value to our current calling and future hope. The devil is very active in attempting to stop us from entering into our God promised promises, as it is easier to stop a thing before it begins than it is to try to stop it while it is gaining momentum and forcefully advancing, taking previously owned, devil held lands. The antidote is to understand that it is God who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did. Romans four seventeen. We are now in a season of birth pains, so we must also be in the very same season, in the motion of preparation, so that when the day comes for the birthing of the ministry, relationship restorations, jobs, creative ideas, finances, and or health, all preparations have already been taken care of. I added that Sun Tzu is stated in a book titled The Art of War, in which he stated that in peace, one must be prepared for war. And I know that you can't wait for my message on soldiers, farmers, and athletes, right? But back to the prophetic message. As an example, I have been reading for twenty five years, not knowing that I would eventually end up in a teaching ministry. Had I stopped reading because I was absent of the answer or reason as to why God was having me go through that, then when it came time to launch the ministry, it would have been too late to prepare. I would have been spiritually ill equipped to do what I am doing now. Hebrews twelve one three, specifically verse three. Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God, for consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, least you become weary and discouraged in your souls. So I went on to define the hinge word in that verse, which is every weight, as it appears to be different than sin, right? In Hebrews twelve one, every weight refers to the Greek word akos, which means a bulk, mass, burden, or encumbrance. In the context of a spiritual race, it represents anything that hinders, slows down, or distracts a believer from following Christ, which may not be inherently sinful, but impedes spiritual progress. Key aspects signifies a heavy load or bulk that encumbers, often referring to excess baggage that an athlete would shed before competing. Some of us need to get rid of some things that are happening in our life before we can actually move forward. It is distinct from sin, but it is often interpreted as a hindrance, such as unnecessary distractions, improper attitudes, or worldly entanglements that easily beset a believer. We got families taking their kids to baseball, hockey, ballet, yoga, the gym, camping every other weekend in the summer. These things in and of themselves can build relationships if they are done so in the context of ministry, but they can also distract us and inhibit us from growing stronger in the Lord. Lay aside, the instruction is to proactively, intentionally throw off or remove these burdens, much like a runner stripping off heavy clothes. The practical application, while sin is a direct violation of God's law, a weight may be a neutral thing in itself, like a hobby, friendship, habit, or some of those things that I mentioned earlier, that becomes harmful by slowing one's spiritual growth. Just a little Easter egg for my listeners is this scripture which IDs us as soldiers. Second Timothy two four. No one engaged in warfare, that is, everybody who calls themselves a Christian, entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier, that is God. I'm trying to avoid going into my soldiers, farmers, and athletes message, but it is difficult. Okay, back to the prophetic word. Galatians six, seven through ten. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh, will of the flesh, reap corruption, but he who sows to the spirit, will of the spirit, reap everlasting life, and let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially those who are of the household of faith. I did explain that the thing that stood out to me in that verse was the word will, not maybe or might, or however, if you do such and such, you can reverse the curse. Nope, nothing but this statement He who sows to his flesh will, of the flesh, reap corruption. So once a seed is in the ground, it will come up and produce a harvest. And this is why we must be careful what words we use and in what attitude we are using them, because if we are not careful, come harvest time, we will have to make a star thistle stew because that is the seed that we planted. Okay, back to it. If we walk in the flesh, even for one outburst of anything, one gawk at the wrong thing, one snap in response to something we didn't discern was a spiritual attack or a test to see how we would respond, what seed we would sow. Then you are sowing to your flesh, and will, of the flesh, reap corruption. I believe the spiritual weariness we encounter at times comes from the unnecessary warfare caused by our sowing seeds that continued to feed the flesh, ultimately reaping flesh death or spiritual fatigue. Remember those Israelites got tired of waiting for Moses and turned to worshiping other gods, and committing great sin against the very God who had delivered them from the influence of those demonically empowered false gods in the first place. They got wearied of waiting, and if they did it, so can we, if we are not proactively discerning God's intentional delays. We want to be ready for it suddenly, right? So after that, we went into prayer and allowed God to do his thing. Alright, let's close in prayer. May the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before your God and Father at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. Now may the God of peace, the one in whom we call wonderful, counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, may He Himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. To our Lord of Lords and our King of Kings, to our high and lifted up, great high priest, who has, once and for all, paid the price, that you might see and hear God. May He hear and respond to our prayers. To our God we stand and pray as He too always lives to make intercession for you while seated at the right hand of the Father. May the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do his will, working in you what is well pleasing in his sight. To Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Well that's it for today. Remember not what you find wrong or disagree with regarding these messages, but what you can take away from it. Together we can do more to impact the kingdom than if we work alone. Let's flip the script and kill, still, and destroy the works of the enemy and create space for the light of light to shine through in people's lives. And if you need to click on the like and subscribe button, link this message out, or teach from it in your Bible study, your life or style group, and yes, even in your church. You can be assured it comes from one call to teach, and go, and perfect, you have the word of God to use to test everything I say. Let's build this ministry together. Thanks and see you next time in Deep Water.