SETTING YOUR HEART ARIGHT 4
(mr/02/11/18)
OLUBI JOHNSON

We will need to set our will daily, weekly and monthly. One of the reasons why God instituted communion is to set the will. When we come to the communion table, we do a self-estimation of all our deeds and the things that have gone wrong, in order to take communion worthily (1Cor.11: 26-30).

It is vital to understand the importance of communion so that we do not partake of it unworthily. When we take it with understanding, we will judge ourselves, set our wills by taking wine which represents the Blood of Jesus that cleanses the sin of where we have gone wrong or when our will has been in the wrong place. Then we take the Bread to receive ‘ZOE’; or the life of God, which goes to set, or fix our wills back in line with God’s will. This is the essence of Holy Communion.

The Lord Jesus reset His will in Gethsemane and then stood up and said, “Rise up, let us go; lo, he that betrayeth me is at hand”. From that time on, His will did not waver! They took Him to the house of Caiaphas to hold a kangaroo court around midnight! They arrested Him and put Him in shackles after midnight when there was no one there except themselves. That was an unjust trial! They asked Him all kinds of questions and said all kinds of things. They slapped Him, but He answered them not a word because His will was set by the power of the Holy Spirit! No amount of provocation, or negative occurrences  could change it! Remember that it took three hours of prayer to do it! We need all to be like that!

We too can become like the Lord Jesus, that when our will is set, no matter the provocation, no matter what men say or do, it will not change our will! But to do this, there is a labour in the Word and in the Spirit that must be done. It is not automatic! The Lord knew this; it took Him time and effort by God’s mercy and grace, but He got it done!

The prayers in our book, ‘Keeping Yourself in the Love of God’ were constructed by the Holy Spirit, with scripture backing every line. One of the prayers in this book says, “I choose to fear God”. When you say this, you are setting your will!

At the beginning of everyday, you should choose to fear God. You set your will to the fear of God, because the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom (Pr.9:10)! The other love prayers too have powerful declarations and confessions built inside them; for example, “Nothing shall offend me”.

When you put on the armour of God by confessing and praying such prayers, you are literally setting your will to walk in the love of God for that day after all the upsets of the previous day. During the day before, you had been buffeted here and there, you had faced tribulations, disappointment, injury, pride, rebellion etc; so you must reset your will at the beginning of every day! You are not just praying for the sake of it, there is a spiritual operation taking place. You are praying with understanding, conscious of what you are doing. One of the reasons why we don’t limit our prayers to the understanding, and pray in tongues is because the Holy Spirit now releases the power to set the words that have been spoken in the right place in the Spirit.

So, set your will when praying; set your will when taking communion! However, you don’t need to wait to take communion before you set your will. Communion is a ceremonial observance, which is good; the Lord Jesus told us to do it in remembrance of Him:

Luke 22:19 KJV: And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.  

However, we do not have to wait for an emergency before we set our wills aright! 

1Corinthians 10:13 KJV: There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. 

The prayers made in the ‘Good Morning Jesus’ daily, cyber upper-room prayer platform were not chosen randomly; each one has its place, is in order! We see this in:

Ephesians 6:12-13 KJV: For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (13) Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 

The point here is that we need the whole armour of God to deal with the power of Satan in the air, in other words, all of the fruit of the Spirit because God is love so the armour of God is the armour of love: the fruit of the spirit.

Galatians 5:22-23 KJV: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, (23) Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

We must inject the fruit of the Spirit into our minds, will, emotions, bodies and  circumstances in order to be fully clothed in the armour of the Spirit! Have you noticed the S.W.A.T. Riot Squad when they are going for an operation? They are clothed from top to bottom with riot gear to withstand the flying bullets!

When you have your spiritual, “Satan-proof” apparel on; the whole armour of God, everywhere is padded and you can go into battle and even though the fiery darts of the wicked are flying everywhere, you are fully covered and protected and can keep on fighting!

The greatest disaster is a Christian that goes into the spirit and tries to pray in the Spirit without spiritual armour! He will be totally defeated!

Sadly, many Christians do this. Notice from the scripture in Eph.6:12-18, praying in the Spirit is the last thing! The armour comes first! The Word of God: the sword of the Spirit comes second and then praying in the Spirit comes third and last. Without the armour, the tongues and prayer in the Spirit will not be as effective as it should; Satan will see to that!

We have been praying in Scripture Pasture Christian Centre in the manner described in Eph.6: 12-18 for many years. This is to the glory of God, (I yet not I (1Cor.15: 10)) so we are not boasting. We boast in the Lord and His grace and mercy upon our lives. In Scripture Pasture Christian Centre, people pray for hours in tongues with travail! We do not say this in a derogatory manner; we want it to be better for all of the whole body of Christ! We must ask the question; “Why is it that most Christians cannot pray for more than fifteen minutes in tongues continuously, in intense intercession?” The reason is that they enter into prayer without their spiritual armour.

There has been much contention against Scripture Pasture in the past because of our use of the Life and Power scriptures, which are a critical part of our Christian armour and also give us spiritual ‘fuel’: the life and power of God; to stay spiritually ‘airborne’ in the spiritual battle with evil spirits in the air and heavenlies! Upon close examination of the Life Scriptures, you will find out that each of them addresses different things. For example, we pray from Ps.119:25 and say, “My soul will not cleave unto the dust”. We do this so when we enter a battle and the spiritual “bullets” (or fiery darts) start flying, we can stand (Eph.6:13) and keep our minds and emotions on spiritual and  not carnal things!

When you put on your armour properly, you can stay in a “spiritual fire-fight” for six hours! It is not that the “bullets” (or fiery darts) are not flying, but because you are protected, you are safe! When you learn to set your heart aright, then you will experience the reality of the scripture that says:

Philippians 2:13 KJV: For it is God who worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

You set your will, and then God will strengthen your will!

So set your heart aright! Don’t go into a prayer battle without putting on full armour; that is why the dominion of divine Love, or, the armour of divine love must take first priority in our prayers and Christian lives.

Matthew 6:33 KJV: But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

1Corinthians 13:1 KJV:  If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

Don’t start praying about physical things until you first of all put the dominion of the kingdom in your soul, body and circumstances; then you can pray about anything and you shall prevail!

Selah!