Participants: Ivor and Atonte Myers
Series Code: BOF
Program Code: BOF000031
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00:14 Welcome to BATTLES OF FAITH, we are your hosts
00:17 Ivor and Atonte Myers. 00:18 Today's program is entitled 'Fighting without Fighting,' 00:22 'Knowing Without Knowing'. 00:24 If you have been watching the last several programs, 00:27 you know we are talking about the art of war. 00:29 We have learned several different arts that will help 00:32 you in your spiritual battle. 00:34 The first one was learning how to be still, then to be 00:37 silent, focus and breathe deep. 00:40 Today we are going to learn how to fight without fighting 00:42 and knowing without knowing. 00:44 I know they are saying how on earth, what in the world? 00:46 How do you fight without fighting? 00:48 Well we are going to start actually with knowing without 00:52 knowing because we are called, as Christians, to fight the 00:56 good fight of faith. 00:58 We want to understand the definition of faith in light of 01:01 this art, the art of knowing without knowing. 01:03 So if you would look with me in your Bibles, 01:06 Hebrews 11:1 01:09 we are going to see this principle, 01:10 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the 01:14 evidence of things not seen. " 01:18 Let me read that in another translation very quickly. 01:21 The Good News Bible says, "to have faith is to be sure 01:24 of the things we hope for. " 01:26 So what we see here Atonte, is that faith is described 01:30 initially as knowing, to be certain, to be sure. 01:35 What it means to have a faith is to be 100% absolutely 01:40 confident of something. 01:43 So we may say that faith is knowing, but it doesn't stop 01:48 there because it goes on to say, "that faith is the 01:52 substance of things hoped for, 01:54 evidence of things not seen. " 01:56 Now the Greek word for seen here is the word 'Blepo', 02:01 it means to know or to perceive. 02:03 So faith is knowing, being confident, certain but yet 02:09 without the evidence of our eyes, the evidence 02:14 of what we hear. 02:16 Faith is knowing therefore Atonte, without knowing, 02:20 it is believing without the evidence that 02:23 allows us to believe. 02:25 This is what we are describing as the art of 02:29 knowing without knowing. 02:31 I like the way the Amplified Version puts it as well. 02:34 In Hebrews 11:1, "now faith is the assurance, the 02:37 confirmation, the title deed of the things we hope for 02:41 being the proof of things we do not see, and the 02:44 conviction of their reality. Faith perceiving as 02:48 real fact what is not revealed to the senses. " 02:51 Okay, not revealed to the senses, 02:53 in other words, faith goes beyond our senses. 02:56 Now we hear the word senses, people are likely to think 03:01 of when you come perceive something outside the realm 03:04 of your five senses, what are you thinking about? 03:07 You are thinking about that sixth sense. 03:10 Again I believe Atonte, that out there in those 03:14 New Age circles that sixth sense is really a 03:18 counterfeit of the genuine gift of faith which 03:22 is knowing without knowing. 03:24 We are going to look at some examples in the Bible of 03:28 what knowing without knowing really means, 03:31 and the first example I think of Atonte, is the story of 03:33 Joshua and Caleb and the 10 spies. 03:35 They were all sent out to spy this land and they 03:39 returned, 10 spies returned with an evil report, 03:42 Joshua and Caleb returned with a report 03:45 that was opposite. 03:47 A report that was glorifying God. 03:50 The 10 spies said hey, we went to the land it was big, 03:53 it was great, it was grand but there were giants in the land 03:56 and there is no way that we can take these giants. 04:01 Joshua and Caleb on the other hand, see the same thing, 04:06 and they understand and believe that they can get the 04:11 victory over these giants, the only thing is 04:13 they don't know how. 04:15 So in this context we see that faith which Joshua and 04:18 Caleb had was knowing without knowing how. 04:23 Very important principle, knowing without knowing how. 04:26 Understand that God was going to give them the victory, 04:30 but not necessarily seeing how He was going to do it. 04:33 They moved forward in Faith, they said we are able to go 04:37 up and possess the land. 04:38 So we must always move forward in Faith, believing that 04:42 God can give us the victory, no matter how hard it is, 04:45 what the problem is, what the situation is, how long you 04:48 have had a stronghold, what ever it is, God is able, 04:51 we must believe without doubting. 04:53 Now you think of the story of Abraham and Isaac. 04:57 When God commanded Abraham to go and take Isaac to 05:01 sacrifice him as an offering, 05:04 and Abraham, I'm sure his heart is torn in this story, but he 05:10 takes his son Isaac, they go to the place where he is to 05:16 be sacrificed, and Abraham tells his servants, I and the 05:21 boy will go up yonder and worship, and I and the lad will 05:27 return again unto you. 05:28 Now Abraham made the statement of what? 05:31 Faith, he knew that God had promised him that through 05:36 this son he would be the heir of a great multitude. 05:40 But now God was telling him to sacrifice your son. 05:45 It seemed like an impossibility, like God you are not, 05:49 how can You fulfill Your promise if You take my 05:52 son away for me? 05:53 Abraham new without knowing how, I don't know he could 05:56 have thought that God was going to resurrect him or 05:59 something, but he said I am the boy are going and will 06:02 come back again and this is another example of knowing 06:05 without knowing how. 06:07 This is what faith is, it is that understanding, that 06:12 knowing outside of our senses, sight, hear, touch, taste, 06:16 taste and etc... knowing without knowing how. 06:19 So it is a mentality, you have to have a positive, 06:23 I'm trusting God's word above all worldly circumstances, 06:27 this is going to happen. 06:29 Exactly, faith is also knowing without knowing when, 06:32 knowing without knowing when because consider the story 06:35 about Elisha when he began to look for the rain. 06:41 The Bible says Elisha prayed once, prayed Lord sent the 06:44 rain, the rain did not come. 06:45 He prayed again, and again, and Elisha prayed seven times 06:49 and he was persistent because he knew that God was going 06:52 to answer his prayer, he just didn't know when, 06:56 faith is knowing without knowing when. 06:59 It is having the confidence without knowing exactly when 07:04 or how God is going to move. 07:06 You think of Sarah, she couldn't get pregnant right away, and 07:11 by the time she was 99, she finally conceived a son. 07:16 So that is definitely not knowing when, but she took it 07:20 as a joke almost, like there is no way this point of time 07:23 but God can do anything. 07:26 Faith is knowing without knowing how, it is knowing without 07:29 knowing when, and it is also knowing without 07:31 knowing where, consider again Abraham. 07:34 God says to Abraham, Abraham, I'm calling you out 07:37 of your land at want you to go out, He did not tell him 07:40 where he was going, He just said go. 07:42 Abraham had faith that God knew where he was going, 07:46 he had faith that he would enter into the promised land, 07:49 but he did not know where he was going. 07:50 In fact Hebrews 11:8 reads: "by faith Abraham, when he 07:55 was called to go out into a place which he should after 07:59 receive for inheritance, obeyed. He went out 08:03 not knowing whither he went. " 08:07 Faith is knowing, but Abraham went out knowing but not 08:11 knowing, knowing that he was going, knowing that God 08:14 would bring him into the promised inheritance but not 08:18 knowing where it was. 08:20 This is what faith is, knowing without knowing when, 08:22 knowing without knowing how, and knowing 08:25 without knowing where. 08:27 You know it is just like when Jesus was in the boat with 08:30 the disciples, and the winds came and the storm came 08:32 and they were afraid. 08:34 He was able to easily calm the winds and stop the storm, 08:37 and said why are you so afraid ye of little faith? 08:40 Jesus looks at us like, you believe in Me, but you don't 08:45 fully believe in Me. 08:47 If you believed in Me you would have the faith that 08:50 Jesus desires from us, He would be able to do many more 08:54 things in our life, that is what He is asking from us. 08:57 Just believe, claim it, and I will do it. 09:00 I call it miracle working power. 09:03 What Jesus is telling us here is that we don't need to 09:07 know all the details of when He will do His work, but we 09:10 need to have ultimate faith and trust Him at His word. 09:14 When He says go up and take your giant, go and conquer 09:17 your sin, we may not know how is this going to be 09:21 accomplished, it looks like an impossibility. 09:24 We like Joshua and Caleb should say, we are able 09:27 to go up and possess it. 09:29 We are able to do this, we may not see the evidence with 09:33 our physical eyes, we may not be able to see the evidence 09:37 before us but faith is knowing without knowing. 09:40 That's what the Bible calls the fight, the good fight of 09:44 faith because it takes faith, 09:47 when you look at self and see all the power self has, you see 09:50 the Confederacy that self has formed with Satan. 09:54 You look and say I don't see how I can actually overcome 10:00 myself, but that is why we need faith, because 10:03 Faith eliminates the evidence around us, the evidential 10:08 circumstances that allows us to go beyond the evidential 10:12 circumstances where other people are saying, yeah there 10:15 is no way in the world. 10:17 You look at David, David facing Goliath... 10:20 no way in the world that David should 10:23 have won over Goliath, 10:24 but David had faith knowing without knowing how, he went 10:28 into the battle and confidently said God is going 10:32 to give me the victory. 10:33 So some of us look, our young people are out there 10:36 looking at that video games saying how on the world 10:39 will I ever give this video came up? 10:41 Or how I'll ever get the cigarette up? 10:44 Or give this ungodly relationship up? 10:47 Like David, we can see God will deliver you into my hands 10:53 this day, and you say with so much confidence that you 10:59 reveal that God's faith is dwelling heavily in you. 11:04 It is this type of faith that scares Satan to death, 11:09 he knows that if we believe, we really believe that God 11:13 will do these things, he knows that God will do them, and 11:16 when God does them that he has no chance in the world. 11:20 So I believe he has certain demons that are there just 11:24 to try to discourage us and give us doubts so that we 11:27 will not claim the words, so we will not truly believe. 11:30 He will always whisper, God can't do that... 11:32 He is not going to do that for you... 11:33 You can't have the victory in that, just so we will not 11:36 reach that level of faith. 11:39 If you want Satan to shake in his boots, I know I 11:42 do, and we want that for you. 11:44 This is the type of faith, knowing without knowing when, 11:48 where, or how, whatever just believe it. 11:51 We can also describe faith as hoping in the face of 11:57 hopelessness, when you are in a situation where it looks 12:00 totally hopeless, faith is hoping in the face of 12:04 hopelessness and we can go back again to Abraham. 12:08 This is why Abraham is called the father of faith because 12:11 there are so many examples in his life that reveal 12:14 what true faith is. 12:16 Let's look at Romans 4:18, the Bible says as speaking 12:20 of Abraham, "who against hope believed in hope that he 12:24 might become the father of many nations according to 12:28 that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be. " 12:31 The Bible says here that Abraham hoped against hope. 12:35 Let me read this from a couple other translations. 12:38 The Good News Bible says, "Abraham believed and hoped 12:42 even when there was no reason for hoping. " 12:45 The Murdoch Bible, it says, "and without hope he 12:48 confided in the hope of becoming the father of a 12:52 multitude of nations. " 12:54 And Wycliffe New Testament says, "under utterly hopeless 12:57 circumstances, he hopefully believed. " 13:02 Faith is hoping in the face of hopelessness, 13:06 so that when the warrior is in a circumstance, or a 13:10 situation where all looks hopeless, faith is that thing 13:15 that allows him to hope when it looks like there is no 13:19 hope, and so often the Devil and self together 13:23 combined make it seem like you stand no chance. 13:27 You are out numbered, you just don't have a chance in 13:32 this, your sin is too great. 13:33 Faith is that thing that overcomes the world, 13:37 as the Bible says this is our victory that overcomes 13:40 the world, even our faith. 13:42 What I like is where the Bible says that "God's strength 13:45 is made perfect in our weakness. " 13:48 It's almost like our weakness, where we have no hope, 13:51 if you would just believe that activates God's power. 13:55 It says okay now I can relinquish this power to you 13:58 because you are believing where there is no hope, 14:01 I can see that you are completely weak, but you believe 14:04 that I can do it for you, so I will do it for you. 14:07 That's right, the Bible says that the just walk by 14:11 faith not by sight. 14:13 The just not only walk by faith and not by sight, but 14:17 they fight by faith and not by sight. 14:20 Now when my brother and I were younger, we used to 14:23 practice the martial arts, and 14:26 one of the things we used to love to do was blindfold 14:28 ourselves and then try to fight blindfolded, and 14:31 it is something that a lot of martial artist will do, 14:34 and this is how they heighten their sense for hearing. 14:37 We know that the Bible says faith comes by what? 14:41 Hearing! And hearing by the word of God. 14:44 So for the Christian warrior to be able to fight by 14:49 faith, if the word of God says ABC, then the Christian 14:53 warrior believes ABC and he hopes in that, and trusts 14:57 in it, that despite what his eye may tell him. 14:59 He doesn't need to use his eyes. 15:01 He doesn't need his physical, or the physical senses, 15:06 all he needs is the sense of faith. 15:09 Faith is finding the way Atonte, when there is no way. 15:15 Let's look at Isaiah 43:16 a powerful verse here 15:19 speaking about this very principle. 15:20 "Thus saith the Lord which make up the way in the sea, 15:25 a path in the mighty waters. " 15:29 We see here that God is here talking about, His deliverance 15:33 of the Israelites out of Egyptian captivity. 15:36 He actually says here that He is the one that makes 15:39 the way in the sea, and 15:42 you know that there is no way in the sea. 15:43 When the Israelites came to that Red Sea and saw it, 15:46 there was no path of escape. 15:47 God was the one that came in and made the way of escape 15:51 when there seemed to be no way of escape, and 15:54 the same is true in our Christian warfare. 15:57 Faith is that thing that makes the way, when there 16:01 seems to be no way of escape. 16:03 Joseph in the midst of a crises with Potiphar's wife 16:06 coming on to him, where to the normal mind it would seem 16:10 there would be no way of escape. 16:11 Joseph having the mind of faith was able to find the way 16:18 out, when for most other men, there would be no way 16:21 out of that temptation... 16:23 faith is finding the way when there is no way. 16:25 There was a great magician that lived by the name of 16:28 Houdini, and he was known to be able to get himself 16:31 out of any trap, and 16:32 I believe that Jesus way surpassed any strap the devil 16:40 could put Jesus in, even down to death, Jesus was able 16:47 to find the way where there seemed to be no way, 16:50 and then He offers the same faith to us, so that when 16:53 no matter what circumstances the devil tries to bind us, 16:57 faith frustrates the plans of the devil, 17:00 because he is going, 17:01 how did he get out of that? 17:03 Faith! Faith, hearing the word of God. 17:05 How did he know that that was the way of escape? 17:09 Knowing by faith, knowing without knowing when, 17:13 how or where, it is hope in the face of hopelessness. 17:18 Who wants to frustrate the devil? 17:20 I know I do, this kind of stuff gets me excited because 17:23 we have said this before but, SATAN IS A BEATEN FOE. 17:27 If he can get our minds and our thoughts to think that 17:31 he is much bigger and stronger, which he has strength 17:35 but nothing compared to God. 17:37 God is asking us, if you would just believe, I am able 17:40 and willing to do more for you, more than you could 17:44 ever imagine or think, and 17:45 He wants to do it spiritually for you in this battle, 17:48 in this war that we are in. 17:50 Now we're going to look at James chapter 4 and we are going to 17:53 our next principle, the next art which is the art of 17:56 fighting without fighting. 17:59 That sounds like an oxymoron, how will the world do you 18:02 fight without fighting? 18:05 The Bible says hearing James 4:7, "submit yourselves 18:09 therefore to God. " 18:11 Now what does that mean, submit? 18:12 It means don't fight, it means to surrender. 18:15 We are told that this is the way that we fight the devil, 18:20 because he goes on to say, "resist the devil and 18:24 he will flee from you. " 18:25 What does resist mean? It means to fight to war against. 18:28 How do we fight against the devil, by not fighting 18:32 against God, submitting ourselves to God we learn how to 18:37 fight with the devil. 18:38 It is fighting without fighting. 18:40 This is an art that is crucial for Christians to learn. 18:44 This art of fighting without fighting, submitting 18:49 ourselves to God, refusing to resist God that we may 18:54 have power to resist the devil. 18:57 When we submit to God, Satan automatically loses. 19:00 That's right, that is where the real battle is Atonte. 19:04 The devil doesn't want us to submit to God because in 19:07 not doing that, in not submitting to God we 19:10 automatically submit to the devil. 19:12 The Bible says we can only serve one of the two masters, 19:15 so the devil does not want us to serve God, 19:18 so all he needs to get us do is not submit to God. 19:21 God tells us here that the way you fight the devil is 19:24 by not fighting against Me. 19:26 Now there is another part of this principle of fighting 19:30 without fighting that we need to understand, 19:32 Jesus, when He was here on earth, it is evident that He 19:36 fought against the devil. 19:38 He fought against principalities and powers, but the 19:43 question is, how did He fight? 19:46 We know that He thought the devil in the wilderness, 19:48 especially in the wilderness is where we see one of the 19:50 culminating fights between Christ and the enemy, and 19:55 as we look at this style of fighting that Jesus used 19:59 in the wilderness, we learn an amazing lesson of this 20:03 art of fighting without fighting. 20:05 Atonte you will notice that every time Satan came to 20:09 Jesus, he tempted Him by saying if you be the Son of God 20:14 do this, it is almost as though Jesus, or rather Satan 20:18 wanted Jesus to engage him in battle. 20:21 How did Jesus fight Satan? By not fighting at all, 20:25 by resisting, by refusing to enter into controversy 20:30 with him, and oh what a powerful lesson that is for 20:35 the Christian warrior today. 20:36 When you come into a confrontation with someone. 20:39 When someone wants to challenge you and they are 20:43 accusing you, or something of that nature, the Bible 20:47 says we should not return evil for evil, or rather good 20:51 for evil, we fight by refusing to fight. 20:55 Now just imagine how many arguments in the household, 20:59 between husband and wife, could be solved if one of them 21:02 learned this principle of fighting by not fighting. 21:06 Just one of them. - Just one of them. 21:08 If one of them is that okay, the way I'm going to fight 21:10 against devil in this home is by refusing to fight 21:15 externally, by refusing to engage in the conflict. 21:19 It is non-resistance, saying I don't care what happens, 21:23 I will not engage with the devil. 21:25 I will not fight, I will not go into his traps, I will 21:31 not be lured by him. 21:32 Jesus on the cross, if you be the Son of God do what? 21:36 Come down from the cross. 21:39 The devil was tempting Jesus to fight... 21:42 come on Jesus show them what You have, 21:45 show them who You are, and 21:46 Jesus fought back by refusing to fight. 21:50 By still submitting to God because He was supposed to 21:54 be on the cross to fulfill His mission. 21:57 He completed that and He beat the devil 22:00 without fighting him. 22:01 I like this powerful statement in the book 22:03 'Desire of Ages', page 119, where the controversy between 22:08 Christ and Satan in the wilderness is described. 22:11 Listen to what it says: "though Jesus recognized Satan 22:16 from the beginning, He was not provoked to enter into 22:21 controversy with him. Strengthened with the memory of 22:25 the voice from heaven, He rested in His Father's love. 22:30 He would not parlay with temptation. " 22:33 Powerful, powerful lesson Atonte. 22:36 The way Jesus overcame Satan was by refusing to enter 22:41 into controversy with him. 22:43 "Refusing to parlay with temptation. " 22:46 You know so often temptation is brought before us 22:49 and what do we do? 22:50 We look at and wonder shall I do this thing or not? 22:53 We wring our hands, were going what, what? 22:55 But Jesus is telling us here that the way to fight 22:59 against temptation is by refusing to fight. 23:01 I'm not going to get into this, why don't you do this? 23:03 I'm not even going to pay attention, that is what it is 23:05 saying, I will not even pay attention to this 23:08 temptation, I will not engage in this fight. 23:11 I will fight, but I'm not going to fight. 23:13 I'm just going to turn my eyes the other way. 23:16 Come on why don't you get involved? 23:17 I'm just not going to do this, 23:19 I'm just not going to listen I will walk the other way. 23:22 This is what it means to fight without fighting. 23:26 It means to refuse to engage temptation. Refuse 23:30 to parlay with temptation, again Atonte, how many 23:35 of us would experience the power of God if we, 23:39 like Jesus, learned to turn the other cheek? 23:43 To not try to defend ourselves, to actually 23:48 fight by not fighting. 23:50 We would win many victories that we are now not winning, 23:56 and God wants us to learn these lessons. 23:59 We are trying to be as practical as we can be because we 24:02 know that as Christians, Satan is after us all the time. 24:06 He is after everyone, but he wants us to fall, he wants us 24:09 to be discouraged, he does not want us to make it. 24:12 God is cheering for us and saying look I have made every 24:15 provision for you, I don't care what your problem is, 24:19 I don't care if it is pornography, alcohol, 24:21 cigarettes, drugs, other women, what ever it may be, 24:24 inherited, cultivated sins or whatever, God has said 24:28 I can do it all for you. 24:30 Hebrews 12:4, Atonte, tells us that we must resist 24:36 against sin unto blood, we must resist against sin 24:43 even unto blood, that means our resistance, 24:46 our capacity to fight by not fighting must be even unto death 24:52 In other words we have got to learn this art of learning 24:57 how to disengage, or how to not engage at all the enemy. 25:02 To not parlay with temptation. 25:04 When he brings something before your eyes, you simply 25:07 say, I'm not even going to fight that. 25:09 I'm not even going to engage in this fight. 25:11 How can we say that? The Bible says and God tells us 25:14 you stand still and I will fight for you. 25:18 So the battle is not yours, it's the Lord's. 25:22 We can say, oops, not my battle, you deal with God on 25:25 that, and allow God to fight our battles for us. 25:29 So often we try to take the confidant ourselves and 25:32 parlay with temptation, and in parlaying with temptation 25:36 we eventually fall into it. 25:38 Just like Eve at the tree, if she had turned her eyes 25:42 away at the first sight of sin and just said, I not 25:46 even going to entertain this discussion. 25:48 She engaged the devil, tried to stand on her own, 25:53 and ended up falling into sin. 25:55 That is why we can actually say it is Christ's 25:58 righteousness, not our own, 26:00 because He fights and He wins it for us, so it is His. 26:02 He will do it for us. 26:04 We fight by not fighting. We fight by resting. 26:08 We fight by resisting the devil, but submitting to God. 26:12 So ultimately what are we hearing here? 26:15 Be still, be silent, focus and breathe deep. 26:20 Know without knowing, find a way when there is no way. 26:26 Hope in the face of hopelessness and fight by not fighting, 26:32 this is the art of self-mastery. 26:35 We are learning how step-by-step to get that victory 26:40 over that wicked human nature, your most terrible foe, 26:43 which happens to be the person you get up and look at, 26:47 in the mirror, every morning. 26:49 This is how we learn to master ourselves. 26:53 It is by fighting without fighting. 26:55 Self does not want to submit to these arts, but with the 27:00 grace and power of God, He can help you. 27:03 Again, it is lifestyle and I will say it over and over 27:06 again, because it is a challenge. 27:09 It is a lifestyle that God is asking us to submit to. 27:13 It is going to take that to learn these arts to be 27:18 victorious over those things this Satan has 27:21 strong holds over us. 27:23 You know I love Psalms 18:34 because it tells us as David 27:28 was writing there, said of God, "he teacheth my hands to war, 27:32 so that a bow of steel is broken by my arms. " 27:36 God wants to teach us how to war, He wants to teach us 27:39 how to become masters over ourselves. 27:42 To master ourselves and He says I will not leave you to 27:46 figured this out by yourself. 27:48 I will teach you and instruct you, I will be your 27:51 teacher, you will be My student, My disciple, and 27:54 in being His disciple we learn to master ourselves and 27:58 this is the Grace of God given to us. 28:01 We are all out of time, until next time, God bless! |
Revised 2014-12-17