We Must Walk in Faith

 

 We Must Walk in the Faith

                   Hello and welcome to My Little House of Prayer. I am your host Dayla Smith. I am so glad that you could join me today. First, I want to thank all of you for your patience this past week. Mom and baby are doing great. I never knew just how blessed I was going to be. But, I am over the moon blessed. My daughter said I could introduce you to Him. My little Avery.

                So far we have discussed Ephesians 6: 10-15 and 18. I hope that we are learning a lot in these discussions. I would greatly appreciate your input. Especially any questions you would have.In Verses 10-11, discussed how vitally important our need is for the full armor of God. That when we join this Christian walk, we are in a battle that belongs to the Lord. Matthew 11:12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. In verse 12, we learned what and where the battle lies. That we need a personal relationship with the Lord  Jesus Christ of Nazareth. We need to know to whom we are and to whom we belong. 2 Chronicles 20:15-17  15 And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's.16 To morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel.17 Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you.Then, in verse 13, we learned about our need to endure to the end. That we are to totally trust in Him who is able to save to the utmost. That after we have done all we know to do, we are to put our trust in Him. Exodus 14:13-14  13 And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.14 The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

Matthew 24:1-15 24 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) This sounds a lot like what is going on in the world today, doesn’t it? Because of a question that was asked, we jumped to verse 18 and learned about leading a prayerful life in verse 18 of chapter 6 in Ephesians, our desperate need to read the word of God on a daily basis and how to read it. Matthew 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God., and our need for living a fasted lifestyle and how, according to Isaiah 58. Then, we discussed verse 14. How we are to have on the belt of righteousness and our loins girt about with truth. John 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

John 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Matthew 18:20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. 

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12  9 Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.10 For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.11 Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?12 And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

 Proverbs 4 :23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.24 Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.25 Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.26 Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.27 Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil. 

 Jeremiah 17:9-10  9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?10 I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. And in verse 15 of chapter 6, And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Our feet in scripture speaks of our Christian walk. We either have one or we don’t. There is no middle ground.  Our lives are our epitaph. Our eulogy. Our last will and testament. When Jesus walked the earth He never proclaimed who He was. He let His life speak for itself. And, it did.

Matthew 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. To show us by example that we could follow God’s laws. And, He came to fulfill all prophecies concerning Him.When something is important to you, you stress the importance of it through repetition. I believe what Jesus was really saying right here is ,”Peter if you love me? Feed my lambs and sheep. Take care of those I’m leaving behind. If you love me, show me. Show me by taking care of those that I am leaving behind. By sharing the Gospel. The Gospel of peace.  The Lord has given us a gospel of peace. So, we are to put on the shoes, put on our walk; of the preparation ,be prepared; of the Gospel of peace; to pass the baton of Jesus Christ of Nazareth’s peace.

                           Now, today we are discussing Ephesians 6:16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.  

                      I want to give you a mental picture. When Roman soldier’s would go into battle, they would use their shields to form a wall. When they went to reload their weapons, they would kneel down raising their shield over them to protect them. This is how we take up our shield of faith. We kneel down and raise it up. How do we raise it up? Faith. Hebrews 11 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. The scripture says, “above all taking the shield of faith.” So, the first thing we should reach for is our shield of faith. It takes faith to believe in God. Especially for the impossible. 

1 John 5:14-15  14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:

Deuteronomy 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;

Jeremiah 32:18 Thou shewest lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the Great, the Mighty God, the LORD of hosts, is his name,

               In Luke 18:8 Jesus asks, “8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? In Hebrews 10:38 it says, “ Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. This walk is a walk of complete faith. Faith is not a cake walk. It will and is constantly under attack. That is why the Lord called it a shield. A shield of protection. The fiery darts are fear, doubt, and unbelief. I have a great example of this kind of faith under attack.

                     Since the beginning of my Christian walk, I have been blessed with crazy faith that is always under attack. And each and every time, the Lord vindicates me. I am a praying woman. With my ears always inclined to His voice. It is as small as a whisper, yet very distinctive. I love His voice. I am so honored that a holy, righteous, living God and creator would ever want anything to do with me, much less speak with me. And yet, because of His name, He does. 

                 Anywho, the latest started out as a dream about 8 yrs ago. I was in a house that was under construction. I woke up thinking it was about my spiritual walk that was under construction. But, in the dream I was designating what went where. I stopped at one point in the dream and said, “Wait a minute! I ain’t got no money to build no house!” hahahahahha And I awoke thinking the Lord was talking about my spiritual walk. 3 John 2 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. So, two to three years later, I am homeless. A sister in Christ gave me a place to live until I found me a place to live. Well, that was in January of 2017. In September, of 2018, I was able to purchase a piece of property. And in October of 2018, I was able to purchase my rent to own home and put it on my property, designating what went where in the shell of my home. It was delivered December 4th of 2018. When I walked inside, the Lord whispered to me, “Take note. I Am going to finish your house.” Can I tell you the people that thought that I was one who flew off the cuckoo's nest. The people that spoke against it. I felt like Noah when he was building the ark. “Rai what? What is rain? Flood? How?” “Dayla you put everything on  God. God isn’t going to magically build your house. It takes money to finish your house. You don’t have that. It will never happen.” Well as of March, My house was finished literally by the hand of the Lord. How awesome is that? It took the shield of faith to believe God for the impossible. Only God could finish my home for me to live in. The Lord gave me two scriptures to stand on. You see, when the Lord speaks something to your heart, He will give you scriptures to line up with the vision. And, it will always line up with His Word. Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. 

Isaiah 55:11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.

The two scriptures the Lord gave me where: 2 Chronicles 16:9 and Zechariah 4:6-His words never hit the ground.

                          You see, the fiery darts of the enemy can come from within and well as without. They come in the form of fear, doubt, and unbelief. I take everything to the Lord. Because if I am on the wrong track, He is faithful to put me on the right track. He is faithful to do this for all of His children who are walking in the faith. The worst sin is the sin of no faith. Faith requires action. If you believe in Him and His Word, you must walk your belief in His word. James 1:23-25  23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

                            How do we quench all the fiery darts of the enmy? By lifting up our shield of faith in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Bowing our knee in prayer, drawing strength from the name of the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Ephesians 6:10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

Zechariah 4:6 Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.

                             Jesus asks this question in Luke 18:8-14  8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

                          I believe this passage is self explanatory. When I hear these scriptures, I think of these scriptures. 2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Micah 6:8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?

          The Lord had been speaking to me through my pastor. Four or Five years back, the Lord started speaking through my pastor. I would go to him about wanting to teach on prayer. He immediately said, “Try holding a bible study first. Let’s see how that goes.” A minister visited my house, and as she was leaving the Lord spoke to her for me to make a sign. He called my house A Little House of Prayer. Keep in mind, the home I was living in before I left it, was filled with prayer. To the point people would walk in and could tell that I had been there. Their words, “The walls are permeated with her prayer. She is no baby whoever she is.” This ignited a fire in me. I hope that everywhere I go, my prayers permeate the walls. In February, the Lord had me stencil a scripture on my front steps. James 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. As of January, My Little House of Prayer Ministry was born. I am left in awe at the goodness and faithfulness of God. It is such a blessing to serve Him. To be His daughter, friend, and servant. I thank God for allowing me to communicate with Him. For being accepted  by Him. And, for being allowed to apart of His wonderful plan. 

                  Let me ask you. Would you like to be in a relationship with the living God? The Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth? You have to be  born again. How do you become a born again Christian? By examining your life according to the law and recognizing that even your best is nothing but filthy rags before Him. Because when you break one commandment, you’ve broken them all. That is when you realize that who can attain it? You are defeated before you even start out the gate. But, there is only one way to become redeemed and victorious. The sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

                         If you do not know the Lord Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. Let me introduce you to Him. It is real simple. First you must acknowledge that you are a sinner in need of a savior according to the law of God. Ask Him for His forgiveness for all of your sins and call each and every one of them out to Him. Thank Him for His forgiveness. Then, forgive those who have sinned or transgressed against you. Then, repent. Repent means to change your mind concerning sinful habits. Change your choice making. Let Him influence your choice making decisions as you get in His Holy Word. Ask Him to be Lord over your life. I want to pray this prayer with you. But, this is just another outline. The real work begins after I pray with you. 

                    Lord Jesus, I confess my sins and ask for your forgiveness. Please come into my heart as my Lord and Savior. Take complete control of my life and help me to walk in Your footsteps daily by the power of the Holy Spirit. Thank you Lord for saving me and for answering my prayer. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

                         This is the beginning of becoming a doer of the Word and not a hearer only. This is how you take up your shield of faith to quench all the fiery darts of the enemy. Let me encourage you. The fight is on now! “I thought you were going to encourage me.” You’re probably thinking. I am. The fight is now on because you are a threat to the enemy’s kingdom. And you are going to have to choose wisely whom you will serve for the rest of your crucified walk. But, I can tell you this from experience; you never give up something without Him giving you back something far greater. An eternity with Him. Daily blessings. But most importantly, a divine relationship. I am hoping today’s message blesses you. I will see you next week.