We live in dark times. At times the church doesn’t seem to know its own power…or even see the need to use it.  God is calling us to rise up and be what He has called us to be!  What we need to realize is that the keys of His Kingdom, the weapons of our warfare, are prayer and praise!  In fact, prayer is praise and praise is prayer!  If we truly believed this we would be on our faces continually……day in and day out crying out to God and standing against the enemy!  Rise up church and be the church! Let’s run TO the battle rather than away from it. Why should we run toward the battle? Why should we storm the very gates of hell? Because we follow the One Who has Defeated both death and hell.

Revelation 1:17-18 NASB says, 17 When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, 18 and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.”

What areas of darkness do you need to do spiritual battle against today? Let’s face it right now with the faith of spiritual warriors who know the end of the story. Guys, We win! We’ve been talking about this for several weeks now, but it bears reminding:

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NASB says, 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5 [We are] destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and [we are] taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ…

Guys, what this means is quite simple. We have no reason to fear the enemy. God has given us the tools necessary to defeat him and his lies…but it is up to us to put them into practice.

19 "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16:19 NASB

When we band together as the body of Christ, we become formidable. Just think about what God promised the children of Israel in Leviticus 26:7-8 NASB

7 'But you will chase your enemies and they will fall before you by the sword; 8 five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall before you by the sword.

In addition to that truth of spiritual warfare, we, as the body of Christ, are joined by the Lord Himself and are not easily defeated. This is a spiritual principle found in Ecclesiastes 4:12 NASB, which says, 12 And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three [strands] is not quickly torn apart.

Let’s rise up and be the church and let’s face the enemy head on - together. We are assured the victory because Jesus has sealed the deal for us on the cross. If you still don’t know what to do, just begin to speak the name of Jesus into the dark areas of your life. The demons will flee. It really is that simple. And let’s have one another’s backs while we’re at it. I’ve got yours covered in prayer. Do you have mine? We are in this together so let’s storm the gates of hell with the truth of God’s Word! Let’s be the overcomers God says we are!
Dennis Jernigan

To listen to The Dennis Jernigan Podcast on this subject and to hear a song of the same title, go to http://podcast.dennisjernigan.com/e/let-the-church-now-rise/

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