when you use God’s word, you are using the sword of the spirit!

1. sticks and stones can hurt my bones but words can never hurt!
   1. Is that your statement? Is that a true statement?
2. are words irrelevant or a neutral factor in our daily living?
   1. Proverbs 18:21 – death and life [are] in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
   2. for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. – Matthew 12:34
      1. Our heart is where our faith resides. speaking sends our faith in motion. words spoken in faith have power!
3. the enemies of God want people to speak words of power, negative words! destructive words. words against ourselves, against each other!
   1. and the tongue [is] a fire, a world of iniquity. the tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. – James 3:6
4. what is the difference between a thought and a spoken word?
   1. a thought is a word in the womb.
5. what’s the problem? the power of your words and thoughts have consequences!
   1. there is perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee. – Isaiah 26:3
6. God’s solution? the battle is the Lord’s!
   1. God and his word are one! John 1:1
   2. Jesus said, “it is the spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. the words that I speak to you are spirit, and [they] are life.” – John 6:63
   3. you and the Lord are one spirit. But he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit. 1 Corinthians 6:17
7. your identity with who you are in Christ and what you are in Christ and knowing that you are one spirit with the Lord
   1. “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the [life] which I now live in the flesh I live by faith of the son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. – Galatians. 2:20
8. the perfect man in you and you in him is able to steer, (guide and control) the tongue and the whole body!
   1. James 3:2 for we all stumble in many things. if anyone does not stumble in word, he [is] a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.

God has made a way to overcome in those battles if we choose to.

1. all humans have life’s battles, some are small some are large. God has made a way to overcome in those battles if we choose to.
   1. we have a God given, “Freedom of Choice.”
   2. are you in Christ or not? Do you walk in darkness or light? Do you know the difference? – 1 John 1:6 – if we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. What is practice the truth?
2. who causes life’s problems?
   1. Jesus said in John 10:10 – it is the thief that comes to kill, steal and destroy. I have come to give you life and life abundantly.
   2. persecution and affliction arises for the word’s sake! – Mark 4:17
3. are you fearful with the life’s problems? __yes __no __sometimes
   1. is fear normal? Is it a good thing or bad thing to be afraid?
   2. fear brings torment! – 1 John 4:18
4. your thought life is food or poison to you
   1. what you think about and focus on will reproduce itself in you.
   2. seeds are planted when you hear things or see things and the imagination takes over
   3. Psalms 34:5 – they looked to him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed. This is God’s way for you!
5. fear is a fruit of judgement. the whole world is under judgement. how do we escape it?
   1. John 16:7-15 – your belief system is led by your knowledge
   2. John 1:12 – through knowledge you have the ability to live in Sonship, but you can still be a son and not receive victory. – Galatians 4:1-3 – now I say [that] the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.
6. walking in his perfect love is knowing the battle is the lords
   1. let your guide always be the word of God which will let God’s spirit lead you. Romans 8:13-16
   2. put the axe to the old root that re-grows the shoots of the tree of the knowledge of good & evil. Matthew 3:10, Hebrews 12:15
   3. we are in a new root: Romans 11:16
      1. what is that new root? It is the love & mercy of God. Revelations 22:16
      2. cultivate the seed of God’s love in you. Hebrews 10:10-22
      3. cultivate to improve, prepare as by plowing and fertilizing your inner thoughts.
      4. keep your eyes on Jesus and the cross, this is a Victory’s Vision!

we are in a life and death struggle for survival!

1. whether we know it or not, we are in a life and death struggle for survival!
   1. are you equipped for life or not?
2. God wants us to be overcomers in this life!
   1. are we discouraged with areas of our lives? Are we allowing our lifes current to drag us into the way the world wants? Are we discouraged with life? are we depressed?
   2. Revelations 2:7 (NKJV) — “He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. to him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.”
   3. 1 John 5:4 (NKJV) — for whatever is born of God overcomes the world. and this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. James 1:12 (NKJV) — Blessed [is] the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the lord has promised to those who love him.
3. God wants us to fulfill the plans and purposes that we were created for!
   1. Ephesians 3:20 (NKJV) — now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us. Whose power are you letting work in you?
4. when we get into desperate situations we quit hanging onto and using the weapons God has given us!
   1. God wants you to make his enemies his footstool, (& your footstool too) – Hebrews 10:13, who are his enemies? Romans 8:7 (NKJV) — because the carnal mind [is] enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.
5. God has equipped us for survival and victory over life:
   1. hope – Hebrews 6:19, Hebrews 10:35, No Hope, No Faith Hebrews 11:1
   2. vision – Matthew 6:22, Proverbs 29:18, God will give you help & direction Acts 18:9
   3. righteousness – Matthew 6:31-33 Things added unto you
   4. relationship – Intimate with God gives us benefits: Psalms 103:5 don’t forget them!
      1. help in a time of trouble – Psalms 91:14-16
      2. prosperity – 3 John 1:2
      3. wisdom – 1 Corinthians 1:30
      4. favor – Psalms 5:12
      5. Boldness & Confidence – Proverbs. 28:1, Isaiah 30:15
      6. power – 1 Corinthians 1:18, 1 Corinthians 2:4
      7. stability – Isaiah 33:6, Matthew 7:24