Your Invisible Army

Open your Bibles to John chapter 10 and meet me at verse 10,

John 10 · chapter mention

John chapter 10, verse 10. I'm going to read this from the Amplified Classic today.

John 10:10

And the Lord Jesus tells us the thief comes only in order to steal, kill, and destroy.

He says, but I came that they may have and enjoy life and have it in abundance

to the full till it overflows.

Last week, we talked about a message from the Lord that we titled, What Happened?

What Happened? And we got into some deep waters talking about why does bad things happen to people?

Preferably, why does it even happen to good people? Why does stuff just tend to happen?

And we went over some different things throughout the scriptures of why these

things occur. I'm not going to re-preach it, but I encourage you to go to truelifefc.org.

And check out the message, what happened.

But one of the things that I've noticed in my studies is the Old Testament doesn't

really do a tremendous job, in my opinion, of describing our enemy.

In the Old Covenant, people tend to think whatever happened was because God

wanted it to happen or God was behind it. He caused it to happen.

But Jesus came, still operating in the Old Covenant. Matthew,

Mark, Luke, and John is still under the Old Covenant. The New Covenant did not

start until Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection.

But under the Old... Happy birthday, Adrian, by the way. Today's Adrian's birthday.

Happy birthday, Adrian.

But under the old covenant, we didn't really see Jesus, or let me say it this

way, the devil and his devices.

Jesus came in John chapter 10, 10, and he says, The thief comes to steal,

John 10 · chapter mention

kill, and destroy, but I have come that you may have and enjoy life and have

it in abundance to the full until it overflows.

And so Jesus told us there is a thief.

And so he drew a line in the sand. He said, the thief is the one that is stealing,

killing, and destroying.

Jesus said, but I came to give life. And so if there's life and life more abundantly,

we can attribute that to Jesus.

But if it's stealing, killing, and destruction, we can attribute that to the thief.

And a lot of times things happen in life because of the thief.

We think God was behind it. We think God orchestrated it, but the fact of the

matter is the thief somehow got in and was able to steal, kill, and destroy.

Now, what I want you to understand today is our thief is invisible.

Our thief, our thief, the thief, he's not our thief.

The thief is invisible. The thief we cannot see with our natural eyes or our five physical senses.

Many years ago, I was working in corporate America in a call center,

and a call center typically had some viewbicles.

Anytime the customers would call, one of us would have to answer the call.

It was, you know, I enjoyed my time there, but I'm so glad I'm not in the call center any longer.

But I started my career in a call center, and during the downtime of the call

center, we were able to, you know, talk, have fun, do whatever we need to do.

But as soon as the phone ring in your ear, you had to get serious and address

the customers and clients.

Well, during this particular downtime, there were people that were playing the dozens.

They were talking about one each other, laughing, making jokes.

And people were just involved, heavily involved in this.

Personally, I don't like to play the dozens. I don't like to talk about somebody

because somebody always tends to get upset, really, really upset.

I don't participate, but one particular guy kept weighing in on me,

and he kept weighing in on me.

He was just making up things. He was on, and I would sit there and just kind

of smile until I got fed up, and I said something about him,

and everybody started to laugh, right?

That became the laughing moment of the day.

Well, then my phone rung in my ear, and so I needed to turn to my seat,

get serious, and address the client.

Well, this guy was really upset that I had said something about him,

and he couldn't let it go. So he was standing behind me.

While I was on the phone, he was standing behind me. He was saying stuff,

and I have to, you know, I got to stay focused.

The client can hear me, and what I'm saying, he was behind me.

Finally, when I got off the phone with the client, I said, you and I, outside right now.

I was going to take him to the parking lot and beat him down, okay?

Yes I love the Lord And Jesus lives in me But he was going to get a one two Hit a quitter okay,

And I got up, and I ran to the elevator. And I was like, you,

come on. Let's go right now. You want a piece of me?

You're going to get it right now. I ain't going to put my hands on you up in

here, but I will in that parking lot. Let's go.

A guy I'll never forget, his name is Jamie Ficino. Jamie Ficino ran to the elevator,

stopped me, and said, do not go down this elevator.

Because if you go down the elevator, they're going to let you go.

They're going to say, you started this fight, et cetera. Don't go.

He would not let me go in the elevator.

Obviously, the other guy never got up out of his seat because he was going to

be sat right back down if he did.

And so I didn't get a chance to get downstairs. Thank God for that.

The very next weekend, I went to church and I shared this with a man in the

church, just a friend of mine, what had happened.

And he said to me, he laughed and we chuckled about it. I told him I was really upset.

And if you know me, I'm not a fighter. I'm a lover, you know, I'm not a fighter.

When I used to go to the clubs and stuff, you know, let them other dudes fight.

I was picking up their girl, you know. Okay, forget about that. And so...

He reminded me, he said, you must remember that our enemy is invisible.

And in Ephesians chapter 6, verse 12, in the New Living Translation,

Ephesians 6:12

it says, For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies,

but against evil rulers and authorities, watch this, of the unseen world,

against mighty powers in this dark world and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.

That word heavenly places simply means in the atmosphere.

And so he reminded me, your fight isn't with this individual.

Your fight is against the enemy.

And your enemy, he's the one that motivated this individual to entice you, to get you to fight him.

I got promoted two times in three years at this company, making $28,500 to over

$120,000 in the same company.

The enemy was trying to stop that.

That's part of my testimony now.

I left that to go into the full-time ministry. The enemy was trying to stop

that and hinder the progress that the Lord had me on.

And what I want you and I to understand is our fight is not with each other.

There is an invisible enemy that is determined to get you off course,

to get you tied up, tangled up, get you all discombobulated in some

other thing with another human being while he goes undetected.

And so we must remember that we are fighting an invisible enemy.

Now, Jesus has already defeated this foe for you and I. All we're doing is staking

our claim and resisting him.

He's not victorious. We're just resisting him each and every time he comes our way.

And he's invisible. It's not flesh and blood. It's not your mama now.

It's not your neighbor. It's not your family.

It's the enemy that is trying to get on them to get you outside of what God

wants you to accomplish.

But I want you to understand today is even though our enemy is invisible,

we also have an invisible army. Say amen to that.

Say, I have an invisible army.

In 2 Kings chapter 6, I'm going to read through 18 through 17.

2 Kings 6 · chapter mention

Now, pay close attention here. 2 Kings chapter 6.

2 Kings 6 · chapter mention

When the king of Aram was at war with Israel, he would confer with his officers

and say, we will mobilize our forces at such and such a place.

But immediately, Elisha, the man of God, would warn the king of Israel,

do not go near that place, for the Arameans are planning to mobilize their troops there.

Verse 10, so the king of Israel would send word to the place indicated by the

man of God, time, and again, Elisha

warned the king so that he would be on alert there. Look at verse 11.

The king of Aram became very upset over this.

He called his officers together and demanded, which of you is the traitor?

Who has been informing the king of Israel of my plans?

It's not us, my lord, the king, one of the officers replied.

Elisha, the prophet in Israel, tells the king of Israel, even the words you

speak in the privacy of your bedroom.

Verse 13, go and find out where he is, the king commanded, so I can send troops to seize him.

And the report came back, Elisha is at Dothan.

Look at verse 14. So one night, the king of Aram sent a great army with many

chariots and horses to surround the city.

When the servant of the man of God got up early the next morning and went outside,

there were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere.

Oh, sir, what will we do now? The young man cried to Elisha.

Verse 16, don't be afraid, Elisha told him, for there are more on our side than

on theirs. Look at verse 17.

Then Elisha prayed, oh, Lord, open his eyes and let him see.

The Lord opened the young man's eyes. And when he looked up,

he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.

So understand in this passage of Scripture, a king...

Wants to defeat Israel, but Israel has a man of God, a prophet there.

And the prophet Elisha is able to hear what the opponent king is saying in his bedroom.

So the king thinks there's traitors in the room. He's like, no,

there's not a traitors. This prophet can hear what you are saying, even when you whisper.

And so he said, let's go seize him. He sends a great army to seize them.

The servant of the prophet, the assistant, the helper says, oh my gosh,

what are we going to do? Look at all of this army against us.

Elijah says, relax, relax.

There's more with us than against us.

And then he prayed for his servant, his assistant's eyes to be opened so that he can see.

And what he was able to see in the invisible realm was that there were more,

with them than against them.

What I want you to see as you and I are walking around in this earth,

there are more with you than against you.

You may not be able to see it with your natural eyes, but in the spirit realm,

there are more for you, there are more with you than there are against you. Say amen to that.

The presence of angels brings security. Amen.

The presence of angels brings security.

That's what I want to talk to you about today is angels.

The presence of angels brings security.

In Daniel chapter 7, 9 through 10, Daniel chapter 7, 9 through 10,

Daniel 7 · chapter mention Daniel 7 · chapter mention

as I watched as thrones were put in place and the ancient one set down the judge,

I like that name, the ancient one.

You know, God has many names, and we only usually say God or Lord,

but last year, we did a whole series on the names of God.

I like this name right here, the Ancient One, sat down to judge.

One of his names is also the Ancient of Days. Oh, I like that name too, the Ancient of Days.

His clothing was as white as snow, verse 10, and his hair like the purest wool.

He sat on the fiery throne with wheels of blazing fire, and a river of fire.

I want to see some of these things. A river of fire was pouring out,

flowing from his presence. Watch this.

Millions of angels ministered to him.

Many millions stood to attend him. Then the court began its session and the books were open.

I want you to realize there were millions of angels surrounding the throne of

God and millions more attending to him.

There is no shortage of angels.

Matter of fact, in Matthew 26, 53, in the New Living Translation, Jesus said this.

Don't you realize that I could ask my father for thousands of angels to protect

us, and he would send them instantly?

Hallelujah. Not only are there millions of angels, Jesus said,

I could ask the father to send thousands of angels right now,

and they would come instantly.

Angels are mentioned more than 200 times in Scripture.

And what I want you to know is God created angels.

God created angels. Angels existed before humanity.

All right? God created them. They existed before you and I.

Angels were created as God's servants and messengers.

Now, we understand that a third of the angels led by Lucifer rebelled against

God and got kicked out of heaven.

You know, Scripture says, Jesus said, I saw Satan fall like lightning.

I mean, that's how fast they got kicked out of there for their rebellion.

One third of them were led by Lucifer, who is now known as Satan.

They rebelled against God. But notice two thirds of the holy angels continue

to serve God's purposes.

So it's two thirds more than one third.

Let me ask again, many of you may not know. Is two-thirds greater than one-third?

There are more angels than there are demons. Hallelujah.

There is more with you than there are against you. Say amen to that.

And so we understand here in Hebrews 1, verse 14, take a look here. Hebrews 1, verse 14.

Hebrews 1:14 Hebrews 1:14

Therefore, angels are only servants.

Spirits sent they're on the mission on an assignment to care for people who will inherit salvation,

notice angels are servants of God and they are sent to care for you and I those

that will inherit have you inherited salvation

well angels have been sent on assignment to serve you and I.

They are sent to serve.

Say this out to me. Angels are sent to serve.

They are sent to serve God for his purposes and to serve the people God loves.

That's you and I. Angels have been sent.

You don't see them with your natural eyes, but they're all in this room right now.

When our kids go to school, angels are with them right now.

When I jump in my car and drive, the angels are with me right now.

Now, there is more for me than against me, and because God loves me,

he has assigned angels to serve in Jesus' name. Say amen to that.

I believe, God's turn real quick, Matthew chapter 18, verse 10, I believe.

Matthew 18:10

Matthew chapter 18, verse 10.

Matthew 18:10

Let's see here. If not, if they didn't get it up, I may have it in my notes.

There it is right there. Matthew 18 verse 10. Watch this. Take heed that you

Matthew 18:10

do not despise one of these little ones.

For I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my father.

In heaven. What I want you to see here is Jesus is talking about little children.

He says, don't despise these little children. Don't offend little children.

Don't misuse or abuse the little children. Why?

For their angel is always in the face of God.

So that got me thinking, if I have angels as a child, now that I'm a 48-year-old

man, did the angels somehow leave me?

Did they disappear and go somewhere else? They're still with me.

And so my angels, and I believe you got more than one with you.

Our angels are with us, and they're always before the Father,

always assisting us, always helping us, always intervening for us. Say amen to that.

Now, Psalms 91, watch this. Psalms 91, 10 and 11.

We got an invisible enemy, but we're not fighting without this invisible army

that we have at our disposal. Psalms 91, 10 and 11.

No evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling.

For he shall give his angels charge over you to keep you in all of your ways.

That word keep means to protect.

Notice he is giving his angels charge over you.

The word charge means that he has assigned them to you, that they have special

orders to watch over you and protect you.

These angels are ministering spirits.

They are messengers. They're heavenly assistants and they're covenant enforcers.

We have angels watching over us We don't have any reason to be scared.

Do you hear me? We have no reason. We have God the Father who said he'll never leave us nor forsake us.

We have Jesus the Son who's always with us.

We have the Holy Spirit who lives on the inside of each and every one of us.

And now we're finding out we have angels that encamp all around us,

charge us, and assign to keep us and to minister to us.

We have no reason to be afraid.

If you're afraid, you got to ask, why am I afraid?

I have all of God's arsenal with me, for me, and will protect me. Say amen to that.

Angels are covenant enforcers.

They're covenant enforcers. The covenant contains everything that pertains to

life and life more abundantly.

And the angels are called to enforce this covenant that we have with God.

Spiritual policemen are the role of angels.

Listen to me now. Spiritual policemen are the role of angels.

Did you know that policemen don't make the laws?

Their role is to enforce the laws.

And so angels are not making the covenant eternal laws.

They already have been ratified by the blood of Jesus and by our testimony,

the blood and our testimony and the sacrifice of Jesus has already been ratified.

Angels are here to enforce the covenant that we have.

If anything gets in the way that wants to steal, kill, and destroy,

an angel or angels enforce God's covenant in our life.

There are angels right now that are hindering things. You're sitting in here

hearing this word, and angels have gone before you and make it crooked places straight.

Protecting you right now, having you stop at a stop sign and for that one second

altering maybe an accident that could have taken place in Jesus' name.

There are times now that I get held up.

I get in a line at a grocery store or something and the line takes forever.

I used to get really mad about that. Hurry up!

But now I see this could be divine appointment by the angels.

Set me up to miss a car accident, to miss something bad happening.

Now I just be patient and say, I trust God, and the angels are going to take

care of it. Say amen to that.

They're covenant enforcers.

Hallelujah. Say this. The angels are covenant enforcers.

Psalms 103, 20 through 21. Psalms 103, 20 through 21.

Bless the Lord, you his angels, who excel in strength, who do his word,

heeding the voice of his word.

Bless the Lord, all you his hosts, you minister of his, who do his pleasures.

I want you to notice here that the angels are commanded to heed the voice of the word of God.

To heed means they listen for, play close attention to, hear,

and they do the word of God.

There's a mighty host of angels waiting to hear the word of God come out of your mouth.

So they heed God's word.

When you put God's word in your mouth, it's not so you have some religious activity.

Well, you know, let me say my confessions or let me say something.

Let me try to impress somebody that I know a little scripture.

That ain't why the word should be in your mouth.

The word is in your mouth because the angels are heeding the voice of the word of God.

And when it comes out of your mouth, it activates angels to operate in your life.

So when I get up in the mornings and I pray with my children that no weapon

formed against you shall prosper, the angels have been activated right now to

enforce what I said, that no weapon shall harm my children in Jesus' name.

And then I pat them on the back, and I thank God that they went to school so

I can have a little break. Amen.

If God has assigned an invisible army to assist you, then you need to stop living like you're alone.

You have assistance.

How do you get the angels to work on your behalf? The word of God is the ignition.

And well, let me say it this way. The word of God is the ignition switch that

turns on angelic activity.

The word of God is the ignition switch that turns on angelic activity.

It's important what you're saying out of your mouth. If you're saying things

contrary to the word of God, I believe the angel's hands are folded because

that's not the word of God.

And so they're standing there saying, please say the word of God so I can enforce

God's word in your mouth.

I need you to speak the word, not for some religious activity,

but because I need to get the angels to work in my life to do what God's word

has commanded it to occur in my life.

The angels are there to minister and to assist. And I've got to get God's word

in my mouth so that they can be activated, so I can turn the ignition switch on in my life.

Are you listening to me today? Now what I want you to understand is this.

And there has been some teaching I've heard going around. I don't think it's biblical, okay?

But I'm going to say it, and there's some people that I trust,

ministers I trust that I've heard say this. I don't think it's biblical, but.

I'll say it anyway. You have no right to command an angel.

I've heard people say, command your angel. That's not biblical.

There's nobody in scripture, no human in scripture commanded an angel.

I've heard people say, wake up in the morning and command your angels,

tell your angels to go do this and go do that.

That is, that's not biblical. Okay, you can get into some angel worship and get off.

We have no biblical reference to talk to your angel.

Now, if an angel talks to you, respond, okay?

And scripture says that angels may come looking like you and I,

and we could be entertaining them at all times. So we got to treat everybody

with patience and kindness.

But this whole idea that I'm, what I'm lacking, I heard one minister say,

what you're lacking is you didn't command your angel. That is unbiblical, okay?

That's not right. I don't care who said it. It's not in the Bible where humans

have been commanding angels to do anything.

However, you can activate the angels by speaking the word of God.

When you put God's word in your mouth, they heed his word and they can be activated.

But you have no right to point, angel, go over there and get that money out that bank for me.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, that is not Bible, okay?

You can ask God to release his angels. They're his angels.

They're on assignment to serve you and I, but they're not our angels. We don't own them.

So even Jesus said, I could ask the Father, right, to send 12 legions.

He still had the ask of the Father to do it. You don't, I'm going to send the angels.

You don't have that authority. So when you're praying, this is what I pray.

Father, release your angels to go before us and surround us and camp around about us.

And Father, I ask you to surround this place with your angels.

We can ask of God to release his angels. Am I making sense today?

But you don't have any right to command an angel to do anything,

or I was talking to my angel, or I woke up and I was commanding my angel to

do it. That's unbiblical.

I don't care who says it. It's not Bible.

OK, in the Bible, we ask of God because they're his angels and his angels are

activated when we put God's word in our mouth.

So God's word in our mouth gets the angels moving.

But when we when we speak fear and we speak worry and anxiety,

the angels just kind of stand there and say, come on, come on,

say something about the word.

Say something about the Word so I can get moving and get to producing in your life.

But when you don't speak God's Word, I believe they're standing still.

We've got to activate them when we speak God's Word out of our mouth.

We have an invisible enemy, but we also have an invisible army.

And our visible army are angels. God's angels sent forth to minister to you and I And,

I believe each of us has at least one angel,

That travels with you wherever you go You could have more than one But I believe

you at least have one I got 10,000 So no, I'm just kidding I don't know how

many I have But I believe through scripture we at least have one,

And so you're not alone.

You have the Holy Spirit, you have the Father, you have his Son.

And you have innumerable angels at the disposal of the Father.

All you got to do is ask of the Father, and he'll release whatever is necessary for your behalf.

Nothing shall by any means hurt you. Receive that.

Nothing. Say that. That nothing shall by any means hurt me.

Jesus said that. Nothing shall hurt you. You, I want you to be bold to go do

what God's called you to do.

No reservation, no hesitation, no fear. Be courageous and go get it done at

all costs. There's three things I want you to do.

Believe that God is working even when you can't see it.

Believe he's working. Matter of fact, he does his best work when you and I can't see.

Believe he's working. Some way or another, he's working.

And when you are ready to quit, that's when God's doing his best work.

That's why the enemy is putting so much pressure on you to quit,

because you don't see what's happening underneath the surface.

You don't see what's going on. So he's saying quit. Anytime I feel like this

overwhelming desire to quit, how many of you have ever felt that way?

You just felt like overwhelmed, desire to quit.

I have to remind myself, the enemy knows something that I don't know.

And so the enemy don't know everything, but the enemy is in the invisible realm as well.

So the enemy can see in the invisible realm and say something good is about

to happen. I've got to pressure them with an overwhelming desire to quit.

I lock in at that point, like something good is about to happen to me.

If I just hold on, the angels are bringing it to me. Do you remember in Daniel,

I believe it's chapter 11, Daniel prayed and the angel finally showed up and spoke to him.

And the angel said to him, where is it chapter 10, 10, 11, 12,

somewhere around there. Read all three chapters. The angel said to him.

I was hindered, but I came, you remember this, because of your word.

But there was a hindrance that took place, but he was coming. What am I saying to you?

When that desire to quit, know that God has already dispatched them.

They are coming, and they're going to work on our behalf. Say amen to that.

Speak God's word instead of speaking defeat. These are things I want you to do.

Speak God's word instead of speaking defeat.

When you speak his word, I believe you're activating the angels to work on your

behalf. And number three, move.

Take the step God has told you to take.

You're not alone. God is with you. Start that business. Make that phone call.

Ask that girl out. Whatever it might be, move quickly and be bold knowing that God is with me.

I'm not alone, and the angels have been assigned.

Their only assignment is to care for you and I, to minister to you and I.

Remember when Jesus needed ministry, it said the angels came and just ministered to him.

That's their assignment. They've been created to be ministers,

servants to you and I. Now, they're not our servants, so I can't commend them.

I want to get back to that because as soon as you get back, I know you're going

to hear somebody on social media say, commend your angel and say,

Pastor Devon said that is not biblical, all right?

Ask the Father, and the Father will release whatever you need in your life. Say amen to that.

Amen. This is how you experience true life.