INTRODUCTION
The book has a holistic approach of
being a true and victorious Christian. From the clearing and renewing of mind,
to the best control of tongues and taking courage to live a life of faith, the
authors gave a series of anointed messages in the two hundred and sixteen pages
work. Glory to the Lord Jesus Christ.
The topics seemed to be very basic but the
authors managed to press the juice up especially making them become more
understandable in Asian contexts using their personal testimonies and experiences.
The translation from Chinese was also good, although there were some
grammatical errors or typo errors, which were forgivable because perhaps, some
of the Chinese terms were too hard to translate.
Terms
like “divine release”, “to die to self, diet to pride”, “mantle of exultation”
and more, just make the whole book more colourful and interesting to read. This
is aside from the big font size, which make it easier to run from one word to
another and from one line to another.
All
in all, it was a great book and I enjoyed it. This is a good read and is highly
recommended for ministerial use especially as a material for Christian living
modules.
If a
minister wishes to give a basic teaching to whether baby Christians or old
ones, the book can give good inputs. The contents basically laid down a
progressive approach to life as the Bible teaches.
CHAPTER
1 : BEGINNING WITH THE MIND
As
what the Apostle Paul said in the book of Ephesians, on the sixth chapter,
“Take the armor of God.[1]”, we are to keep in mind
that we are in battles. The first part of the armor that he mentioned was the
helmet and this means that, the mind has to be the first thing to be secured
from the offense or defence of the enemy and even of self.
The
authors made it clear that for us to be victorious Christians, we are to renew
our mind on a daily basis. They emphasized that we are not to be too
comfortable of where we are.[2] I agree because most of
the time, it is when we are out of our comfort zones when we finally see what
God is up to. We grow when our limits are stretched out.
As
the enemy aims to deceive, dominate, and destroy us, it is important that we
engage in Prayer and immense ourselves in the Word of God. [3] Indeed as the Word says
that our battles are not of flesh and blood but of that in the Spiritual realm.[4]
A
battle is never comfortable. It is literally bloody, tiresome, and there is
fear all around. Yet when it is a winning battle, then you could have the joy
while you are in its midst. As you slay the enemy and all the demons conspiring
against God and the Church, your heart rejoices. You are perspiring and may get
some wounds but these are nothing compared to the joy of winning because you
belong to the winning team, and that is God’s team.
CHAPTER
2 : ACTIONS OF FAITH
You
are an overcomer because you are a child and warrior of God. No one loses in
His team. It is a promise from the Lord.[5]
God
promises you to win it all and you have to cling on His Word. To do this, it
takes courage and faith. The authors of this book stressed that from the
renewal of mind, actions of faith come next. First, the words coming out of the
mouth[6] and second, the actions of
the body or how you live your life.
Living
life is about dying to self.[7] The authors painted its
spectrum in a nutshell of man’s main problem, pride. Without breaking the walls
of pride down, it is not possible to follow Christ and live the promised life
to the fullest. Winning battles is therefore never possible when this obstacle
is not overawed. Pride has destroyed many people like some Kings[8] in the Old Testament, some
Pharisees in the New Testament, and even Satan himself. Pride can destroy you,
but if you have it rescinded in your hands by God’s grace, then you will win.
The
authors wanted to emphasize that we are to die to ourselves daily, as the
Apostle Paul said so too. This is along with the renewal of mind on a daily basis.
CHAPTER
3: A DEEPER KNOWLEDGE OF GOD
The
grace of the Lord is new every morning.[9] As we have our minds
renewed daily and our death to self daily as well, we grow in the knowledge of
the Lord.
Knowing
about God is superficial. Knowing Him is our goal. We are to understand how He
thinks, how He deals/t with people then and now, how He sees the future, how He
loves, how He gets angry, and so forth. The authors introduced this to me as
they entitled chapter 8 as “Spiritual law of imagination”[10].
Knowing
God, who He is and what He is up to in this world, will make us better
Christians. It will help us take the true narrow path that leads to Him. “How
to work the works of God? A work of God is a miracle. How do miracles operate?”[11] These questions are so
valid that they actually set a framework for our Christian living.
God
is the God of miracles and we are to live a life of miracles, be it small or
huge miracles. We are to see God in everything. In joy or in pain, God is with
us. He has miracles in store in every circumstance. Sometimes we see it,
sometimes we do not. Our goal is to be freed from our blindness and see God’s
miracles hither and yon then within and without.
The
authors gave a list of doing this: Knowing God through His name, through His Word,
through the lives of people of faith, through love, and through the Spirit.[12]
CHAPTER
4: MOVING WITH GOD
Being a Christian means walking in step with God. Hence,
we are expected to move in His direction. This is with regards to all aspects
in life be it physical, emotional, mental, and even financial. The authors
implied that we have a mission with the Lord and this involves our money.[13]
For us to become victorious Christians, we are to let God
take over. We have to permit Him in our lives just as how Peter has allowed
Jesus to be in his own boat.[14] Many times, we try to let
God out of our lives or just limit some parts of life where God is only
allowed. It seems like one saying, “Lord please leave this part of my life for
myself, You can join me in “this and that” but not here please..”. That is not
the way it should be.
God cares about us and He knows best. He needs to be in
your life in every single angle every single day. There has to be no
limitations for Him. Trusting God is a daily need for us all.
Fear may come but with God, you are safe. There is
nothing to fear for a surrendered life to the Lord. So whether it is about your
dreams, relationship, money, work, ministry, family, and everything, trust the
Lord and live a life of obedience to His Word and you will not have to worry so
much about your life in general. You are safer than you could ever imagine.[15]
CHAPTER
5: NOT JUST A SOLDIER BUT A GENERAL OF GOD
When in a battle, the first emotion that may take over is
fear. Nonetheless, Christian life is about overcoming fear. Three hundred and
sixty five times, God either said or implied “Fear not” from Genesis to
Revelations.[16]
As soldiers and generals of Christ, we are to hold on to
His promise that He is with us and there is nothing to fear but Him. Fear, that
is not according to the will of the Lord, is a source of destruction.[17] Hence, we should face the
battles with our heads held high for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, our
commander-in-chief.
To win the battles, we are to have a good plan and it is
very important that we know the tactics of the enemy. The authors gave a
resolution for this by defining Satan’s target, Satan’s weapon, Satan’s
purpose, and our weapon of defense.[18] Nonetheless, I believe
that we should not just do defence all the time, we are to make sure that we do
offense moves against the enemy. We should not be too kind to Satan.
Satan is very keen with the thoughts of our minds, words
of our mouth, and motives of our hearts.[19] We should be praying at
least one violent prayer a day and slay
the enemies with the Word of God spoken by our mouth, motivated in our hearts,
and proven by our deeds. Our faith in God is our shield and His truth will give
us balance. His boots of peace will carry us to His ordained battlegrounds and
His helmet will maintain our salvation and victory.
God has provided everything we need in the battle and all
we need is just to keep our eyes and ears open as He gives instructions. With
God and yourself as a team, mountains can be moved, oceans can be parted, and
the sun can stand still. All these are possible if we pursue a life of
holiness.
“Holiness is not external dressing but inward moral
attitudes and heart condition.”[20] Jesus pursued holiness
even as a man, setting an example for us. He values holiness for God is holy.
As children of God and as originally created in His image, we were originally
perfect and holy. God wants us to be restored and He is able to do this through
His Son Jesus Christ.
Now as the blood of Christ has already washed away our
sins, we stand righteous before God, who cannot actually look at any pigment of
sin. We can only stand clean and bright before Him because of Jesus Christ our
Savior.
As our mediator, Christ should be followed in our lives.
He hates sin that is why He died for it so we will be saved. Now as we receive
Him and follow Him, we should also hate sin as He did and still does. We are to
pursue holiness and it is quite a huge battle everyday to defy the temptations
set by ourselves and the enemy. But again, we are warriors who are fighting
winning battles because the sovereign God is the one fighting for us.
Battles can be won when it is led by God. Every success
is dependent on how intimate you are with the Lord.[21] Hence, relationship with
the commander is the priority.
CHAPTER
6: EMPOWERED AND ANNOINTED TO PARTNER WITH GOD
“Without the supernatural empowerment of the Lord nothing
will be accomplished but works of the flesh manufactured by man’s good ideas.”[22] So how do we remain
empowered by the Lord and not by our own limited capabilities?
I would agree with what the authors said when the key is
to imitate Christ. The early Church had her original name as “The Way” as called
by the Church herself. But later, people around them called them Christians in
an offensive way because they are followers of Jesus Christ. Now that would be
the most beautiful accusation from any persecutor. I also pray, as the authors
do, that the world would accuse us of being like Jesus.[23]
Five evidences of Spiritual awakening were mentioned in
the book[24]:
First is the “new desire for serious prayer and fasting, Second is “a renewed
passion to win the lost”, Third is “God’s grace resulting to healing in
relationship”, Fourth is “God’s grace resulting to an attitude and atmosphere
of spontaneous giving and sacrifice”, and Fifth is “God’s grace leading to the
development of God’s divine strategy or method to fulfil the great commission
to the world and global mission that sends out missionaries.”
All of these were Jesus’ agenda even from Genesis up to
His 3-year ministry and as passed on to the early Church up to the current
Church. With God’s on-going agenda being accomplished, I pray that we join Him
until His second coming.
CHAPTER
7: CONCLUSION
HOW
IT APPLIES TO MY CURRENT MINISTRY
There are five opportunities for change, as advised
towards the end of the book. I would like to shred it out and assess the
ministry that I am involved with today.
A
Time of Crisis: “ This is a time where something has to be done..”
This is such a time where
things happen so fast and we have to double time as well. Christ is coming soon
as the birth pains of the promised time are rampantly felt. Moral crisis is rising,
poverty is escalating, world power, prominence, and idols take the throne in
many hearts of people. Something has to be done. While the world gets worse,
the children of the Lord should do better.
A
Time of Pastoral Change: “thinking about the future of the church”
Where is the church
headed to? This should be a constant question to answer every week or even
everyday. As a head of an outreach, I should be burdened more and more about
the destination of the flock that is assigned to me. Where am I leading them. I
am indeed accountable to them and to God. It may seem fearful to lead because
it is hard to make mistakes as they depend on me. But this just means that I
must depend on God and not on myself at all. It is also my responsibility to
redirect your dependence from me to the Lord. Jesus is our cornerstone who will
make us stable, strong, and united.
A
Time of Budget preparation: “rethinking of priorities and direction”
It is time to also start
teaching them more about giving. God is a gracious God. He gave all that He can
give when actually, us the worshippers are the one to give to Him. Learning
from His generous heart, the church should be able to give to the Lord generously
and joyfully. “Giving until it hurts” is not the goal but “giving until it
won’t hurt anymore” while you give your all in all.
A
Time of revival: “refreshing.. new opportunities.. new approaches in the
ministry.”
There are some
adjustments to be done in the church especially this time that we seem to
moving forward so slowly. There has to be some baggage that should be given up
so we can enter the “needle hole”. These may be pride, insecurities, bad
thoughts, distrust, or even self-centeredness. We are to be cleansed and the
system should be reprogrammed by God’s grace.
A
Time of Planning: “development of long range plans for the future.”
Since we are leading a
generation, we need to project the impact that we are going to make to the
succeeding generations. The roadmap should be well established and the goal
should be carefully studied according to our context. Most importantly, the
plans should be missional in nature as our Lord give us the bigger picture of
His agenda in the world too.
For whatever is to be
accomplished from this point on, may the Lord Jesus Christ be glorified. I pray
that changes happen in my own life first, and then to my family, church,
friends, adversaries, and the world. God is good.
[1] Ephesians
6:10-20, verse 13 says: “Therefore
put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may
be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”.
[2] P.13.
[3]
P.14.
[4]
Ephesians 6:12,
“For our struggle is not against
flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against
the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in
the heavenly realms.”.
[5] 1 John 5:4 “ for
everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that
has overcome the world, even our faith.”.
[6]
P.26-32.
[7]
P.41.
[8]
One example is King Uzziah in 2 Chronicles 26:3-21. He used to be pleasing the
eyes of the Lord but later, he became prideful and took over the priests in the
temple. Even though it is not lawful for him to enter the sanctuary, he still
did and became prideful before the priests of the Lord. Because of his
behaviour, he was punished by the Lord, who gave Him leprosy until the day of
his death.
[9]
Lamentations 3:22-23
[10]
P.79.
[11]
P.79.
[12]
P.87-95
[13]
P.96
[14]
P.105.
[15]
Hold on to the promise of God in the book of Revelation, chapter one: “Do not
be afraid: I am the First and the Last, I am He who lives and was dead and
behold I am alive for evermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and Death.
[16]
P.107.
[17]
From page 107 to 108, the authors pointed some Biblical characters who were
victims of fear. When Adam and Eve feared being inferior. When Elijah ran from
Jezebel. When David ran from his son Absalom. When King Saul lost his ministry
anointing because of fear of people. When Peter denied Jesus. When Judas
Iscariot betrayed Jesus. All the failures that came after all their fears did
not do anything good for then or anyone at all.
[18]
P.111.
[19]
P.112-115.
[20]
P.120.
[21] P.151.
“All that you
accomplish and achieved in ministry is related to how well you know or how
intimate you are with Him.
[22]
P.208
[23]
P.212.
[24]
P.212-213.
