As Christians, we have 3 main enemies: lust, pride, and greed. Adam, Eve, and Jesus were tempted by the devil using these tactics. Satan didn’t invent anything new; he still uses the same tactics against us. The good news is that God has given us 3 weapons to combat these tactics: prayer, fasting, and giving.

Let’s look closely at all three:

3 Main Weapons

Praying

A lot of times, people state busyness as an excuse for prayerlessness. But I think it’s just pride masquerading as busyness.

It’s interesting how people say they are too busy to pray, but the moment they have an accident, they start praying.

When we pray, we’re saying: “I need God, I can’t do it alone.” Prayer hits pride right in the face.

Fasting

Fasting helps with lust (fleshly cravings/desire for pleasure). Christianity is about self-denial. It is not about self-discovery; it requires full surrender of your life.

You were created to fast. You’ll notice that as you do it your spiritual senses will sharpen.

Learn to replace your food with God’s word, your drink with prayer, binge-watching with bending your will to God. God rewards us not only for finding Him but also for seeking Him.

Hebrews 11:6 says: “But without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”  

Giving

As followers of Jesus, we cannot be close to God without our hearts being connected to Him; and our hearts will not connect to Him if our treasure leads us elsewhere.

Have you ever noticed that nobody ever asks what Apple does with their excess cash, but when it comes to church everybody becomes very miserly. We mask greed.

For those who are afraid of spending their money for God’s kingdom – we will lose it anyway to life, the devil, coronavirus, etc. “The moth and rust will eat it” (Matthew 6:19).

We shouldn’t use any excuse to not to live a life of generosity. Jesus commends the widow in the Bible who gave money to the corrupt church system. There is no other way to get rid of Mammon except to give.

Every new season in your life will require a new sacrifice. You don’t give to go to heaven, but you do it because prayer, fasting, and giving strengthen your spiritual cord. “Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” Ecclesiastes 4:12

How To Keep The Fire Of God During Problems

Acts 28:2, 3, 5 states: “And the natives showed us unusual kindness; for they kindled a fire and made us all welcome, because of the rain that was falling and because of the cold. But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand…But he shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm.”

There are 3 main lessons we can draw from this passage:

1. You can only build a fire to the extent that you overcome excuses of the flesh.

Understand that life’s problems are usually temporary. Whatever the issue you have, the weather will change; you will conquer the lust of the flesh, etc.

Learn to beat excuses.

2. Somebody will start the fire, but it’s your “logs” that will keep the fire going.

Conferences, retreats, crises, and situations in your life start the fire, but you must find yourself logs or firewood to keep it going.

Leviticus 6:12 says: “And the fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it; it shall not be put out. And the priest shall burn wood on it every morning and lay the burnt offering in order on it; and he shall burn on it the fat of the peace offerings.”

We need to go from faith to faith instead of deliverance to deliverance. Prayer, fasting, giving, and reading the Bible keeps the logs alight.

Saul in the Old Testament died in rebellion towards God, but Saul in the New Testament was filled with the Holy Spirit, preached, and died as Paul the apostle. He wrote two-thirds of the New Testament. Get some firewood every day. Go to prayer meetings, read the Bible, and give.

3. When you start building the fire, vipers will come out.

When you start building the fire, your life will usually get worse. God is to be worshipped, not used. The only secret to being used by God is to stop using Him and love Him. The fire doesn’t bring snakes, it will expose snakes in your life, meaning that the problems that were already there will begin to be exposed.

Don’t blame your giving or the church – it exposed something in you that needed to be dealt with. If the fire exposed it, that fire can kill it.

You must have your own fire where you will throw your snakes into (depression, nightmare, sickness, etc). Don’t trust in your pastor’s or anyone else’s fire. When you are building your flame, you are “raised to deliver,” you have the authority, and you walk in dominion.

You can’t walk in dominion if you don’t have devotion and you can’t fight the devil if you don’t have a fire.

A snake bit Paul’s hand, a hand which God intended to use to heal the sick people on the island. Be a priest and build an altar; you will see that every snake in your life will die –depression will die and generational curses will not succeed, etc.

You are a fire-breathing disciple of Jesus!