There's just one scripture to read from Genesis chapter 11 verse 6 it says the Lord Yahweh said behold the people are one and they all have one language and they are beginning to do this and now nothing which they have imagined to do will be impossible for them. The title of my message today the swords of the kingdom, the swords of the kingdom. Now in our previous message in this series we looked at the keys of the kingdom and we saw that God has given everyone some keys and we saw that there were different levels of authority which are symbolized by those keys.

We saw that mankind have been given authority in the earth but it takes more than authority to make things happen. You also need ability or power to add to the authority to make it fully effective. Now the Greeks had two different words for this which are often both translated as power in the New Testament.

The one was the Greek word exousia which speaks about the power of authority and the other was dunamis which speaks of the power of ability, dynamic power. Now just as authority we saw was symbolized by keys God has often showed us another symbol which speaks about the power of ability rather than the power of authority and that is the sword. Now swords these days don't mean quite what they did in days gone by but you know most of our symbols from the scriptures are based on past experiences and so swords speak of the power of ability whereas keys speak of the power of authority.

Now the way you use a key is a bit different to the way you use a sword. A key is not aggressive but it has power to allow or release or open or to block and prevent. A sword on the other hand is very aggressive and it has the power to make things happen.

Now we looked last time at how to use the keys today we're look at the swords and how we can use them. Now just as God has given keys to every human being by virtue of the fact that they are human in the same way God has given swords to all of us as human beings which are latent powers within us. They're native to us because we are human and I want to look at those swords first today.

Now when God made Adam and Eve when he made mankind he made them to subdue and to dominate. How do I know that? Genesis 1 verse 28 says and God blessed them and God said to them be fruitful and grow and fill up the earth and take control of it and rule over the fish of the sea over the fowl of the air and over live every living thing that moves upon the earth. Mankind were made to rule to be in control and to dominate everything in this world the rest of creation.

Now the first sword the first latent power that God has given us lies in our bodies. The human body can be programmed to do amazing things. You know most of us we never realize the full potential of our bodies but you just need to look at those who are involved in sporting activities, in athletics, those who strive for awards or breaking records.

It's amazing what the human body can do and you know it's not that such people were just born naturally with more ability than others. Yes it's true some of us were given better bodies than others some of us were given bigger bodies some of us were given thinner bodies but the body in itself has amazing capabilities if you take it and train it and program it and people who have broken records in speed and endurance and and so many things that the body is able to do they they program their bodies to be able to do these things. It didn't come naturally.

Your body is your first sword and you should use the full ability that's been given to you in your body. Why? To build the kind of life that God wants you and designed you to have which is the abundant life which is the title of the series that we are dealing with right now. Now this does not come automatically unfortunately.

You have to make an effort. For some of us it's fun some people enjoy exercise some people exercise until it becomes like a drug. For others it's just so much effort.

I don't feel like doing it. I'd rather just sit and watch TV. I'd rather just sit and read.

I'd rather just sit and sit. It's not going to come automatically folks. If you want to tap the potential of your body you're going to have to do something.

You're going to have to make an effort and the two main efforts unfortunately are diet and exercise. Well the diet part we don't have a problem eating that's easy but eating doesn't necessarily make a fit body it just keeps it alive and so sometimes we have to be careful what we eat in order to maintain our health and then we need to exercise the muscles of the body to develop them to their fullest potential. That's how we develop the latent power of the body.

The second sword that God's given us is the soul and so we have a latent power in the soul where our mind and our emotions and our will lie. The human intellect is amazing but unfortunately none of us are born with knowledge. We're born with a clean slate.

We're born with a brand new computer with nothing in its memory or hard drive. You know we don't even come with all the apps built in that you get these days when you buy a you know these days you buy a phone or a laptop or a tablet and it comes with all these programs that have already been created for you to use. You're not born with those you're born with a clean empty slate and those apps have to be created and programmed into you and made to work.

It takes an effort it takes an effort to tap into the potential that God has given you in your intellect. You need to hunger and thirst for knowledge. Knowledge will not fall on you.

It will come to you and if you receive it and make use of it you will benefit from it and you will develop your intellectual capabilities and the capabilities of your soul. You have emotions which you can develop. You have willpower which you can develop.

These are all latent powers of the soul but you've got to make an effort. You must choose to learn from what life teaches you. The experiences that you have in life can be good or bad but the way you respond to them is going to determine whether your soul is going to improve or whether it's going to deteriorate.

Are you going to sit and wallow in self-pity because things that happen or you're going to learn from it and build up your knowledge and improve your life. It's up to you. It's up to you.

You can choose to be a student or you can choose to be lazy and let everybody else do the studying and then become dependent on somebody else for knowledge that they have but you must be teachable. You should be able to learn from every single situation that you face. You should be able to learn from every book that you read, from every video that you watch, from every audio that you listen to, from everything that comes in via your senses.

You should be prepared to learn from that. If you're not it'll go in one ear and out the other and whereas somebody else could take what may even have been a bad experience and learn from it and grow, you'll stay right where you are. Well, what made the difference? Was it the experience? Was it the circumstances? No, it was your choice.

It was your choice. It's not automatic. Our third soul is the spirit, the human spirit which God has created.

In your spirit you have a piece of God inside of you and that piece of God contains creative ability. Just as God being the creator, he puts some creative ability into you and that creative ability that's in your spirit will enable you to create the kind of life that you want to live and that you desire. It can affect your natural life.

Your spirit actually maintains your health and empowers your body. When your spirit leaves, your body dies. So your spirit is very much part of maintaining your first thought.

It pours inspiration and ideas into your soul, come up from deep inside of you, new ideas, new thoughts and also it allows us as believers to hear the voice of God. Unbelievers, their spirits are dead towards God. They still have a spirit.

It still has latent powers but they're unable to hear from God. As believers we have something extra. We have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us and our spirit can now listen to the Holy Spirit, receive and pass that back up to us.

Now these latent powers that are built into us naturally, they can help us humans to accomplish every desire that we have in life and many people in this world even as unbelievers have done just that. Just look around you, look at all the big names and all the successes, those who've risen up and become wealthy and famous and built a life of success and a life that we may even envy at times. They did it without the Lord because they got three swords and they learned how to use their swords.

Sometimes believers don't even bother picking up those swords and using them. Do you know why? Because we leave it all to the Lord. We become lazy.

We expect God to do everything. When God has given us abilities, powers, things that are latent to us as human beings and we've taken them for granted and not appreciated what he gave us. Now I want to look at a subject that many people stumble over and that is the will of God.

The will of God and how it affects us as human beings. As believers we become very conscious of our desire to please the Lord in all things and to do what he wants us to do and so it has become a common approach and it's commonly taught that in order for us to succeed in life and live the kind of lives we should, we should find out what God's will and plan is for us and having found that try and align ourselves with that plan. That sounds very spiritual but it's not entirely correct as I will show you shortly.

How do you know what God's will is for your life? Well it's quite simple. He wrote it down in his word, the Bible. I've spoken before about standing orders where in the military there are orders that are given that every soldier must obey.

They don't have to be given a specific command to do it. It's a standing order. Everybody must obey it.

The Bible is God's standing orders. If you want to know the will of God, read his word. That's what he has told us we should do and what we shouldn't do.

I just wonder what God's will is for my life. When's the last time you read the Bible? Well you know I have a pretty busy life you know so you know I want you to come and prophesy over me and tell me what God's will is. I don't feel like spending hours reading the Bible.

It's boring. Oh dear, you've made the first step in the wrong direction because God's will is revealed in his word and the only way you can get out of God's will is to disobey his word. His word is the foundation on which we build the things that we desire.

God's given us a foundation but we want God to do more than that. We want him to put up the buildings and to plaster the walls and to glaze the windows and paint it nice for us, put central heating in and to make it the kind of hope that we want. No no he's given you the foundation.

The building of the home is in your hands. Oh how do I do that? You have resources, latent powers, you've got swords that you can use. You see God doesn't command you to do something specific.

His commands are in his word. Well has God told me that I should follow this career? What is God's will for me in life? Should I study and become qualified in this or am I meant to be a preacher or what am I meant to be? Listen, God does not command, he allows. I want you to clarify that God does not command you what to do.

He allows you to do what you desire. All you need to do is ask his permission. Lord this is what I would like to do.

Is that okay with you? It doesn't violate anything that's in your word. Lord are you happy with me to follow this plan? And you know what, unless it's something that's sinful and goes against the word of God, God will always say yes do it and I will bless it and I will help you and you can go ahead and do it. You don't have to sit and wait to find out what God's secret plan is for your life because he doesn't have a secret plan for your life.

That's in your hands. God has given man freedom of will. You are free to take the first step.

So stop waiting for God, he's waiting for you. Oh I'm just waiting for God to open the doors and make things happen in my life and when he does I will do it. You know, well you know God didn't give me the ability to speak in tongues so one day when he gives it to me I'll do it.

That's the kind of approach we take as Christians. Do you know what, God will never impose himself on you in any way. He's given you all that you need to build an abundant life in this world and if you need his help he'll be there to help you but he's not going to do it.

You're going to have to do it. You know what stops us? Fear. Fear.

We're afraid to step out in case we mess it up. We're afraid to step out in case somebody opposes us. In case somebody puts us down.

In case we fail. So we sit in our little safe ground and we say I don't think it's the will of God. I'm waiting for the Lord to reveal his will.

You're a coward. Come on you're a coward. He's given you what you need.

As I'd be standing hiding my sword behind my back when I'm facing the enemy. Lord, Lord please will you hit him? The Lord says what's that behind your back? It's a sword. What are swords for? To attack enemies.

So what are you doing with the sword behind your back? Lord I'm waiting for you to do it for me. He's not going to do it. He's given it to you.

Scripture says what you bind on earth will be bound in heaven but you loose will be loosed. Stop hiding behind God's will. Stop hiding behind the fact that God hasn't done anything yet.

He's waiting for you. You have the freedom to choose what your life will look like. You have the freedom to choose what you will accomplish.

You have the freedom to choose what you will become. Your future depends on you. You see if it depended on God then there would be no failures in people who have a calling with them.

How many people do you know who had such potential, had such a powerful call of God in their life and they never fulfilled it? I know people very close to me, even relatives, who died without fulfilling a clear call of God on their life. Well who failed? Was it God? No, God was waiting for them to take that call and everything that he'd given them and to do something with it. So folks stop waiting for God to initiate things.

Well you know we say it glorifies the Lord because I'm not going to step out in my own strength and pride and claim credit for what I'm doing. I want to give God the glory. Sounds so spiritual, that self-righteous garbage.

You're a coward. You don't have the guts to step out and do what you know you should do. We hide behind this false humility.

It's not humility, it's stupidity. God works through you. He doesn't work apart from you.

What God going to do in this world, in your life, he's going to do through you and through others that he sends along to help you. So you have to take the first step. You've got to start by opening your mouth and speaking the things that you desire to do.

Speaking what you plan. Speaking what you want. Speaking the kind of life that you want.

Then after you've spoken it, start taking action to make sure that it comes to pass. You know I'm not going to do it in the flesh brother. I'm going to do it by the spirit.

Oh yes. I am so spiritual that but I won't mouth. Mama, who are you kidding? Hmm? God is waiting for you.

He's ready to do all that he can do, but he's waiting for you to take the first step. See, in his full knowledge, God saw and he knew what you would do, what circumstances you'd be in, the desires you'd have, the choices you would make, and he's ready now to help you to do it. The abundant life is not built by being passive and trusting God to do it all, and it's not built purely on self-effort and leaving God out of it.

It's built by a partnership between you and God, working together, each one doing their part until it all comes together. God will give you whatever you need to fulfill your desires and to carry out your plans. Once you speak and act, God will move.

You know, the scripture says that the early disciples went out and preached the gospel and said the Lord worked with them, confirming the word and signs following. If they didn't step out, nothing would have happened. Nothing at all.

Scripture says God will bless the work of our hands. What do we do? One of the things Satan accused God of, where Job was concerned in Job chapter 1 verse 10, he said, have you not made a hedge about him and about his house and about all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands and his assets have increased in the land. You're blessed what? The works of his hands.

But you know, if your hands aren't working, what's God got to bless? We pray, Lord bless me, bless me, Lord bless me, bless me while I sit on my backside and do nothing and you do all the work, Lord. He's not Lord any more than he is, he's servant. Obeying your commands.

There's a fourth sword folks, which we as believers have. I take us to a whole new level. The Bible calls it the sword of the spirit.

Ephesians 6 verse 17, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the rhema word of God. That sword is a spoken word, a rhema word. It's releasing God's power and authority together using your mouth.

Jesus gave us the supreme example of this. And John gave us a beautiful description of this when he saw Jesus on the Isle of Patmos in Revelation chapter one and verse 16, it says, and he had in his right hand seven stars and out of his mouth went a sharp two edged sword. Out of his mouth went a sharp two edged sword.

And his face was as the sun shines and it strengthens. You as a believer have been given an additional sword to add to the three that are native to all human beings. And that gives you the possibility to accomplish far more in this life than any unbeliever can accomplish.

But you know what we do as believers, we look to the world as our model and our example, and we envy them. Well, sometimes we also envy those that appear to have risen up and tapped into the power of God and have been used by God to do mighty things. Not long ago I complained to the Lord and I said, Lord, it's not fair.

And I gave him a whole list of names. I said, you took these people and you lifted them up and you made them famous and you gave them your power and they're doing signs and wonders and miracles and they have a huge following all over the world and they're wealthy and they have everything. Lord, why didn't you do it for me? And he said to me, I'm not the one who failed.

He said, the ball is in your court, what are you going to do with it? He said, I've given you all that you need. He said, do you think that these men and women, it was just handed to them? He said, they paid a price, they made the effort, they used what I'd given them and they rose up. You know what, it didn't happen overnight.

What are you doing to rise up and become the thing that you desire? You're still waiting for God to open the door. You're still waiting for God to make it happen in your life. You have in your hands, I don't care what circumstances you grew up in, you have in your hands all that you need to succeed.

How do we use our swords? Well, they have latent powers that we must use and we don't wait for God to do it, but God will take these powers and he'll add to them through his spirit. He'll do it first by his spirit that comes to live inside of us when we're born again, by a power that we can tap from deep within, which we call the internal anointing. He'll do it by his power that comes upon you, which we call the external anointing.

And these are all available to you freely. He didn't just give them to his favorites. Well, you know, I just was not born with any real talents.

That guy there, he was lucky. It was just handed to him on a platter. Stop making excuses.

What have you been given? You have been given something. You have latent powers. What are you doing? If you want the additional power of God's word, all you need to do is ask for it.

It's free. Just ask for it. Receive it by faith, using the arm of faith, which we taught you about, and then start making use of them.

Now, we've been given resources through the word. You need to read it and learn from them. Otherwise, you won't know some of the powerful principles that you could use to build a very successful and powerful life and ministry and career or whatever it is that you desire in this world.

You need to get some of them into your memory if you want to tap into the full power that's in the word. God said to Joshua in Joshua 1.8, this book of the law will not cease to come out of your mouth, but you will meditate in it daily and at night. Why? So that you are sure to carry out everything that is being written in it, something for you to do.

And if you do that, then you will cause your journey in life to be prosperous. God says, if you do this, I will cause your journey in life to be prosperous. No, it doesn't say that.

It says you will cause. Your journey in life to be prosperous, and then you will succeed wisely. Well, you know, I don't feel like spending a long time in the word.

I don't feel like doing what God told me to do. Then do not complain that those who bothered to do that and rose up and built a life that you're envying right now. A sword has to be wielded before it can work.

So you must identify your swords. You need to sharpen them, develop them, learn how to use them, and then take that power to do something with it. Now you have swords.

You were born with them. And if you are born again, you have additional power in your spirit. If you've been filled with the Holy Spirit, you have, again, extra power that's been made available to you.

You have swords. And do you think it's time you start using them? Well, how do we do that? Well, start by making a plan for your life. What kind of life do you hope to live? Well, you know, we'll just play it by ear and see what comes tomorrow.

Living by the seat of our pants, that's the expression they use. I'm living by the seat of my pants. Some days are good, some are bad.

You know, some days are diamonds, some days are gold. You choose. You choose.

You need to start, firstly, with a core desire. You've heard me speak about this plenty of times, and I've had people ask me, well, how do you get a core desire? Well, I actually covered this in a fairly good detail in my book, Building the Dove. If you haven't read Building the Dove, shame on you.

It's a very powerful book on the fruit of the Spirit and all that God's given us. But here's a quick, simple answer for you. I may actually even do a complete teaching on, specifically, a core desire.

A core desire is developed by what we see with our eyes in the world round about us, which we learn from our body. It's what we see in our minds and our thoughts. And then we ask God for confirmation and direction and permission.

And he confirms it and says, go ahead and do that. If you add those three together, every part of your being is actively involved in creating this desire. You've seen, for example, somebody else who's accomplishing something, who has a talent or an ability or has succeeded in something in life, and you look and you say, wow, I would like to be able to do that also.

That's the start of a desire. But it's not enough of a desire because that desire will soon fade as you experience and see other things. But when you start to let it fill your mind and you meditate on it and you think it and you visualize yourself and see yourself in that, it becomes a stronger desire.

And if you keep doing that over and over again, that desire begins to grow in you. And then you just bring that desire to the Lord and ask him. If you never journal, this time you do learn how to journal and ask God.

Otherwise, look in his word, but better to journal. And if you really have to, maybe somebody will prophesy it over you and confirm to you what you've already been desiring. That's actually all a prophet is meant to do, is not to give you news that is news.

Oh, I didn't think I was going to do that. That's strange that God chose that for me. A lot of the time, God didn't choose it for you.

The prophet did. Don't believe every prophecy. Every little flaky prophet prophesies over you what they think you should do.

Okay, you decide what you want to do. And you ask God, Lord, should I do this? God says, yes, this is of me. Go for it.

That's all I need. That's all I need. And I've got a core desire.

I've seen it. I've dreamt it. I've meditated.

I've thought it. And God said, do it. Well, what's stopping me? Nothing in this world.

I'm going to go out. I'm going to go for the mark. As Paul said, press for the mark.

Until I get to it, you're going to have to lay out some plans. Once you've got that core desire, how are you going to obtain the thing that you desire? Again, we'll wait and see. God will bring it to pass.

He'll make it just happen for me. Well, I'm 72 now and I'm still waiting for God to make things happen for me. And so far, everything that's happened, I got tired of waiting for God.

And I said, okay, Lord, I'm going to do this. And he said, well, what have you been waiting for? And I did it. Well, I could kick myself for the years I wasted.

You know, if you're young, you should be doing this now. Don't wait till you're like an old top like me. Do it now.

Once you've made your plans, set your plan into action. Well, I'm waiting for the right time. You could die before then.

You know when's the right time? Well, you know, I'm going to lose weight. So I'm going to start dieting from Monday. Which Monday? Because Monday never comes.

The Bible says now is the acceptable time. Now is the day of salvation. Now, now, make up your mind and start acting now.

If you're always acting now, you'll always be doing it until it happens. Now it's going to take courage. It's going to take boldness.

You're going to have a whole lot of people who are going to feel that they're called of God to tell you that you're making a mistake, or that you're being fleshly and unspiritual, or that you're in deception, or whatever. You're going to get a lot of opposition. Satan's going to tell you, you imagined it, that God's not going to do this for you, that you're being fleshly and worldly, and he'll throw everything at you to stop you from doing it.

Brush those things aside and step out and go for the moment, in boldness and in faith. Then tap into God's power. Get into his word daily.

Come into his presence daily. Hear from him daily. As I said, if you haven't learned how to journal, learn.

Start practicing. Spend time in prayer, listening. You can even get a word from God by speaking in tongues and interpreting your own tongue.

You can prophesy over yourself. All of these things are possible to hear God's word. Hear from God daily.

That's how you get your plans in action. Then start building your abundant life. Start building your abundant life.

Your time is limited. Actually, you don't even know how much time you have. I must disqualify that.

God hasn't decided your time. God hasn't decided that your life will end at a certain time. That again lies in your hands.

If you give Satan the opportunity, he'll take your life away and stop you from fulfilling your dreams and your plans. He doesn't want you to be happy. So plan as though you're going to live forever.

God, we know Jesus could come. Our life could end. Today may be the last day I'm alive.

I don't know that unless God's revealed it to me. I know I'm not going to die just yet because the Lord's given me a whole lot of future plans of what I will do. He's promised me that he'll make sure that as I trust him, he'll take me through to fulfill those.

I'm not planning to die for a while. Satan keeps trying. He keeps trying to sidetrack me and tell me that I've got something serious wrong with me, that I'm sick, and that I could die.

I tell him to take those lives back to hell where they came from. God's word is truth. God promises me health, wealth, and favor wherever I go.

Take your swords. Make the most of what God has given you. Take what you have and develop it.

Develop your swords. Develop your physical characteristics. Develop your mental, emotional, and volitional characteristics.

Develop your spiritual power until it rises up. You've got a flaming sword in your hand and take that sword and get out there and build the life that you desire and which God intends you to have because he wants the best for you and he wants you to be blessed in all things. Father, I thank you for your word.

I gave it as you gave it to me. I hope that you've challenged your people. I hope that you brought conviction to some and inspiration to others.

And Lord, I ask you to set a fire in each one to get out and accomplish in this world because that's the only way you will be glorified, Lord, is when we take what you've given us and use it with your power to build your kingdom and to build the kind of life that you designed for us to have. Thank you, Lord, that whether it be a humble task that we are satisfied with or a desire to rise up and to conquer and to do big things, whether it be a desire to rise up in ministry and to reach many people for you, whatever that desire is, I pray that you will inspire your people to get going and to use what you've given them to accomplish every single desire and to build this abundant life. I ask it in Jesus' name.

Amen.

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