By: Michelle Lao / 16 September 2018
Key Text: 1 Chronicles 12:8
8 Some Gadites defected to David at his stronghold in the desert. They were mighty warriors, trained for battle, experts with shield and spear, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and they were as swift as the gazelles on the mountains.
The Gadites were from the tribe of Gad the 7th son of Jacob born to Jacob’s first wife’s maidservant Zilpah. The Gadites were known as a WARRIOR TRIBE, ready to fight at a moment’s notice.
Have you ever wondered about the meaning of a prophetic insight, act, vision or dream from God?
Oftentimes, we know that the Holy Spirit is saying an important message to us but we do not yet have the clarity as to what it means—or how to respond right at that moment.
Should we obey the prompting of the Holy Spirit and risk appearing a fool to others, sometimes misunderstood even. What if we are wrong?
This morning I would like to share a message entitled –THE ROAR OF THE LION. The roar of the lion is the ROAR OF COURAGE – for OURSELVES, for OTHERS, and for the CHURCH in relation to our role as God’s END TIME warriors.
A major battle will be upon all believers very soon and the Lord is here to impart us with COURAGE to say YES to Him to this new thing.
The words of our mouth, our explicit agreement with Him will move our spiritual position in the right place so that we can be released to roar with the authority of the Lion of Judah.
The roar of the lion will enable us to move to a NEW SPIRITUAL LOCATION -FROM the HUNTED TO become the HUNTERS.
One day, God gave Peter a powerful vision that left him confused.
I read in Acts 10:17: “Now while Peter wondered within himself what this vision which he had seen meant, behold, the men who had been sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon’s house, and stood before the gate.”
The Greek word for ‘wondered’ is ‘diapore’ meaning, to be puzzled or entirely at a loss!
There are going to be times when, like Peter, we are confounded by a prophetic insight. Where we simply can not get the meaning of what God is doing to us and sometimes the process of it unfolding in our mind seems very slow.
The Holy Spirit often SPEAKS in mysteries and the only way for us to understand Him is if we seek for answers in our ongoing relationship with Him. To let this mystery draw us more into INTIMACY with God.
In my case, I let this incomplete puzzle be put together by Him, a piece each day – a tiny piece of revelation today, another breadcrumb of revelation again tomorrow and so on . . . until finally I am in that PLACE OF UNDERSTANDING where everything is making sense already.
Also, it would help if we can find a spiritual mentor who can guide us in this new thing. In this instance, Pastor Lily had always helped me interpret the deeper things of God. I also constantly interact with others who are anointed -friends in the church and who are themselves experiencing this new thing.
We often say who are we that God will give us these prophetic insights? I’m just an ordinary person. My thoughts exactly. This may be our thoughts but while we are wondering God is already working behind the scene – preparing, arranging everything that we need.
In ACTS 10: 48, Cornelius asked Peter to stay with him for several days. He was a new believer and realized his need for teaching and fellowship from Peter.
What NEW THING God is trying to do IN YOU today? Like Cornelius, are we hungry to learn? Are we in that place where we are being stirred by God to do a new thing but we just don’t have the faith to believe Him?
I had an unusual experience last year and after more than 1 year now a related event REVISITED me again this August 2018.
Last year, while I was sitting in our house going about my normal concerns I had a supernatural encounter while awake where I FELT THE ROAR OF A LION ON MY FACE. I did not see an actual lion but I felt his roar on me. The roar sounded like thunder and it came with so- much -power, so close to my face that I was stunned after such experience. It is like the feeling that you get right after an explosion. It blasted right on my face.
You are right, I don’t know what to make out of it. In my mind, I repeatedly asked myself –“What was that thing that hit me.” My spirit wanted to dismiss it but the physical experience was so real that I cannot deny it nor hide it under the ground.
The most obvious question I asked afterwards was –why the roar of a lion on me? Little did I know then that said encounter would reveal so much to me now.
Our Key Text talks about the GADITES whose faces were like the faces of lions. Interesting isn’t it? This could mean that the FIERCENESS and BOLDNESS of a lion is etched on their faces. That, by the mere look on their faces they put their enemies to flight. Their faces INTIMIDATE their enemies and they are not the ones who are INTIMIDATED.
What is the spiritual significance of having a face like the face of a lion? How can we acquire this lion- like face?
As Christians we can drive our enemies away if we come to the King and linger in his presence. If we are in God’s presence we become mirrors of his courage and strength as David is to his army. Men were drawn to David because they see his greatness and as they persist to be around him they become what they see in David.
Acts 4:13 reads:
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.
Where did the BOLDNESS of Peter and John came from? From the fact that THEY HAD BEEN WITH JESUS.
Clearly, we see that our TRANSFORMATION can only come from being in the presence of God.
We are transformed into his image as we spend intimate time with Him and here, as we allow Him to impart His breath on us- His breath becomes our breath, His roar becomes our roar. Whatever His voice has spoken we RESOUND it.
In Deuteronomy 33:20, the Gadites are again compared to the LIONS. In the blessing of Moses on the different tribes, he blesses Gad with these words:
Blessed be he that enlarges Gad: he dwells as a lion, and tears the arm with the crown of the head.
The marks of a lion are BOLDNESS, COURAGE, CERTAINTY, WITHOUT FEAR of any of his enemies, THOUGH they were near him, on his borders, as the Moabites and Ammonites were.
Who are your enemies right now? Is it sickness, poverty, failed relationships, sin, ungodly soul ties, spiritual strongholds, curses, cowardice?
Aren’t we tired of the way the devil pushes us around and that we always lose out to him?
What is WRONG with this picture? Positionally, we are BEHIND the enemy line and we are their prisoners when we should have been on the other side of the line- hunting, conquering, and possessing the land.
What is it going to take to make all our enemies that God said had no authority over us to be put under our feet? What is it going to take to have the victory that God wants us to have?
COURAGE and not COWARDICE.
Now is the time to break off all intimidation and the bondage of cowardice and passive spirit.
God is ripping the “NO” out of us and it’s time to say YES LORD. This is the voice that we must take on. It’s time to rise up as victorious warriors and make the enemy BOW and FALL at OUR voice, OUR command, OUR R-O-A-R.
In Amos 3:8, Amos asked, “The lion has roared; WHO will not FEAR?” We can hear a lion ROAR from miles and miles away. They aren’t called the king of the jungle for nothing. The Bible calls the lion “strongest among beasts” (Prov. 30:29-30).
SO whenever the roar of a lion is released in the jungle, all the animals BOW and TREMBLE for the roar of the lion establishes his authority and the ground shakes before him.
So -HEAR -His -ROAR.
In The Chronicles of Narnia, ’the lion Aslan, who is representative of Jesus in the movie, BREATHES upon the children and His own marks of courage and majesty are imparted into them.
This roar is the roar of courage and power derived from the King of Kings. This roar releases his kingdom authority on his people to take and possess the land.
TESTIMONY ON YC REVIVAL
Last Aug 2, 2018 while I was at home –suddenly, my belly, all the way up to my chest was BURNING. I normally felt heat in my body during church services like worship, prayer, during preaching, altar call – but it comes, remains for some time and it goes. One thing out of the ordinary about this was that the heat stayed with me for more than 24 hours, non-stop. How would I know that? Because I wasn’t able to sleep thru the night. A fire so intense remained in me and all I knew was I just needed to flow and obey His leading and release this fire in Youth Church (YC).
Pressed with such urgency, I opened the matter with Faith and Gen that Thurs. and they gave me their confirmations too from their devo and we proceeded with our plan. A little after that, together with the mentors we agreed to minister to the youth, to just let the Holy Spirit do His work among our youth that 1st Sat. of August.
We were so united in our hearts that the revival fire came in Youth Church. Bill Johnson said that we are born to burn. In the weeks that followed, our catchers cannot anymore catch up as young people were slained left and right. Faith, Winston and the rest just took authority as the Spirit led them.
As they minister, their faces and their voices were marked with fierceness that the enemy recognized as from the Lord and hence, trembled away from.
And so, when God puts this face and voice in us- a voice that carries all authority on earth shaking the very ground where our enemy dwells – we OVERPOWER the devil and we TAKE BACK AWAY from him the land that is ours.
Resistant strongholds may have overcome us over and over again but we will PREVAIL because we have the SPIRIT OF A WARRIOR in us.
When Jacob blessed his 12 sons before he died, he prophesied, “Gad shall be attacked by raiding bands, but he shall raid at their heels” (Gen. 49:19).
Meaning, that Gad should be overcome again and again but that at the last they should overcome ALL their foes.
In other words, it looked like Gad had lost the fight but he shall make a comeback and shall always OVERCOME at the end.
There is still unfinished business with the devil. There is still land that we haven’t taken because of our resistant stronghold as having a DOUBLE MIND in this case.
Clearly, it is not the fact that “indi ta kaya” to advance, to change, to break the power of sin, to commit. We just conveniently AGREE WITH THE LIE of the enemy that “indi ta kaya” hence, we go round and round in life with NO BREAKTHROUGH.
We cannot have a breakthrough because we believe MORE in what we are saying to ourselves than on what God is saying to us THROUGH His Word.
This self -made prison of doubt, passivity, stubbornness, cowardice become our very reality.
We are missing the move of the Holy Spirit -this new spiritual address where God wants us to be right now because we CHOSE to BE a coward.
Repeatedly telling ourselves that “indi ta kaya” to move from UNBELIEF TO BELIEF, from FEAR TO COURAGE, from PRISON TO FREEDOM, from DEADNESS TO LIFE.
Romans 7:22-23 reads:
22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.
We need to bring down this double mind that had allowed us to store these two opposing views.
Willfully we should focus on the truth of God’s word and not on our own speculations.
Listen to this, do you want to become overcomers? Then you should agree with God’s Word, implement such beliefs and make them your reality.
SMASH TO PIECES- the things that had exalted itself against the knowledge of God -every thought, every imagination, every speculation, every argument, every defense, every reasoning, every arrogance, every proud thing in our mind – before we can rise UP to what God had called us to be.
A SPIRITUAL STRONGHOLD according to Dr. Ed Silvoso is a mindset impregnated with hopelessness that causes us to accept as unchangeable situations that we know are contrary to the will of God.
Do we often find ourselves powerless to change a situation?
Then- CAST them all DOWN and PUT ON the MIND OF CHRIST in OPPOSITION to what you think, to what you feel, to what you believe.
This time the roar is for our own, personal shaking.
The ROAR will shake our hearts to the good and put strength in it.
We will be lion-hearted people, which means that we will overcome the Goliaths – the one -who had made us afraid over and over again.
Our Goliaths may look big in us but he is no match for the Gadite Warriors that we are called to become. Unlike the Gadites, Goliath was not in covenant with God and he could not claim the promises of God.
If we resound this ROAR OF COURAGE and let the Gadites in us rise – our Goliaths will fall. Believe this truth and not the lie.
This is a call for us all to go forward, to tear the enemies of our soul, to smash this bondage of cowardice –like lions – roaring and tearing into our prey.
Rev. 21:8 clearly cited that the COWARDLY shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire.
Young People let your hearts be turned away from your resistant strongholds –from your own self interests to the plans and purposes of God for you are the Joshua generation.
Rise above jealousy, competition, distraction from social media, sexual immorality, gossiping, attention-seeking behaviour and continue to be transformed into becoming more Christlike everyday.
Old Christians/Leaders – Let us continue to overcome and walk -in -agreement with God to reach this new place of spiritual significance. our long years with God should not give us the excuse to stop now. We cannot stop now because we haven’t arrived yet. We should not miss the move of the Holy Spirit, the great revival which is soon to happen.
TESTIMONY TO ROAR IN YC:
I am a usually dignified person and it’s hard for me to let go of my so- called dignity and poise to do what the Holy Spirit is urging me to do. Last August 12, 2018, in one of our YC services, the Holy Spirit prompted me to ROAR LIKE A LION while ministering to somebody who needed deliverance. You see this lady had a fortress-like resistance that frankly, I don’t know what to do with her. Then came this urging in my spirit to ROAR ON HER and guess what? I DID NOT OBEY.
Goliath did not fall because I did not resound this ROAR of courage, this ROAR of power coming from the King of Kings. Because I chose not to rise up at that moment I missed the move of the Holy Spirit, I missed being in this new place…
But then came another chance…Last September 2 when Pastor Lily was ministering to us, giving us her downloads she mentioned the exact same word -“roar of a lion.” I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard her say these.
I knew that God is again speaking to me – this time thru a prophet and so… I FINALLY gave out that roar -not anymore thinking what the roar might sound like or whether I’d look foolish or not.
Sometime after, I asked one of my “roarees” what he felt after the roar. He said that he felt heat in his body, he was shaken and his spirit was revived just like the love that he felt for Jesus the first time that he was baptized by the HS. Glory be to God.
When the lion roars we cannot anymore focus on OURSELVES –but we have to release, the authority of Christ within us to those around us.
ENLISTMENT
We have to understand this new voice. We have to ENLIST now under the banner of The Lord of Heaven’s Armies. We have to “Say Yes,” to see more of heaven coming down, we have to “Say Yes.” to see more of the supernatural.
We must be poised to win this war. And most importantly we have to ask God to give us a NEW HEART, a new heart that we can bring with us to this new move.
This roar will stir the church to be alert as it announces changes in times and seasons. The Lord is doing something different. He is beginning to raise up people who are different. Fearless warriors who stop at nothing until they see heaven coming down on earth and the reality of God’s words fulfilled.
We should have Isaiah’s zeal in Isaiah 61:1 to see God’s will done on earth. That as the word is being preached miracles follow, the supernatural is released. It should be our desire to SEE the work of salvation COMPLETED and prisoners from all kinds of oppression –physical and spiritual- be freed.
The new move our church is having now are – Healing Room, Sozo, Prophetic Praise where we see salvation, healing and deliverance truly taking place. I believe a lot are coming as we are starting a revival in YC and raising a Ministry Team and a pool of intercessors.
As we roar with God in this new move that voice will put every devil on notice that we are WAKING UP and DESIRING what belongs to us.
In order to win the war we have to prepare NOW. Good warriors are always prepared, they know the battlefield, know the enemy and what weapon is necessary.
The Bible describes the Gadites as “They were all skilled in combat and armed with shields, swords, and bows.” (1 Chr. 5:18).
Matthew Henry’s described the Gadites as: Disciplined men, trained for war, who can use BOTH offensive and defensive weapons.
Our army in this church has to be organized and equipped and as leaders it is our role to TRAIN our army for the great advance.
God has entrusted us with spiritual gifts. Develop, grow those gifts and impart them in the church. Be hungry and desire to see heaven’s realities fulfilled on earth. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes along the way. Practice and release them within the bounds that Pastor James cited because God’s kingdom is not just a matter of talk but of power. Desire the full measure of all that God has for you.
1 Timothy 4:14-15 reads,
14 Do not neglect[a] the gift that is in you, which was given to you through prophecy when the elders laid their hands on you. 15 Think on these things. Devote your life to them so that everyone can see your progress.
If you’ve been given the GIFT OF HEALING then throw yourself into these tasks. Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. This is what PREPARATION is all about.
When YC went for our E commission in Dumangas last Aug. 25, 2018 we prayed for people. I am a nobody but I just have this faith in Matt 19:26,”…that with God all things are possible.” I held firmly to this verse that when I laid hands on the partially blind woman she got clarity of sight. Her eyeballs were rolling faster and faster while I was praying and when she opened them her eyes were locked into mine for sometime. After she tested her eyes, slowly looking around the place back and forth she said that she can focus and see better now. Praise God. She gave out a short testimony in the church right after thanking God for His glory.
How important is preparation? In the Parable of the Ten Virgins in Matthew 25:1-2 only 5 out of the 10 virgins prepared. As the word “virgin” is used the 10 were all upright in character but ONLY 5 PREPARED and so only these 5 were ready for Christ’s return.
This period of training and preparation requires us all to have self-discipline in prayer, in studying the Word of God, to have character transformation, to become better with our weapons.
We are about to see the authority of the Word of God – the Lord of Armies, unleashed to a new level of authority and power now. Are we prepared for it?
I’ll end with one final testimony.
Im saying what Im saying here now not because I am FEARLESS. On the contrary, I’ve always been resistant, afraid and would like to remain where I am especially in my walk with God. I may exude confidence in the natural but not on the spiritual. Perhaps I’m afraid to pay the price of dying to self over and over again. That’s why God sent a lion to shake me, to roar on me so that once and for all I’ll only listen to this one voice of courage.
Also, I know how it’s like to battle resistant strongholds for my greatest foe had always been the spirit of fear. So believe me, I know what I’m talking about here. As I dig I realized that I have a hyper active imagination and for a very long time I’ve allowed my disobedient thoughts, all these imaginations to rise up and become a fortress in my mind.
But God led me, to find a weapon that I could use, in order to shake the very ground where it stood –and that is, His roar of courage in me.
Deliverance in HRM
Believe it or not my very first case in HRM was to cast out the spirit of fear out of my client. I myself who is not always brave was tasked to confront the spirit of fear.
My first reaction then was,”Really Lord are you testing me?” Part of me wanted to say no, run away and just call out pastors who can better do the job. But as my partner and I started praying I knew that there was no better way to do it but to let the Gadite warrior in me rise. That in the collision of these 2 Kingdoms I should resound the voice of courage in order to open prison doors.
As we take authority, God will go forth like a warrior and prevail. And today, we give God the glory for our client was delivered from the spirit of fear.
Honestly speaking, seeing the enemy eye to eye is not a pleasurable experience. Being new in this area of deliverance had caused me so many sleepless nights. But the roar of the lion is kicking me out of my comfort zone, to not be afraid, to not be a coward but to echo his voice of courage.
Brothers and sisters, do not be intimidated. Let the enemy BOW and TREMBLE at your ROAR.
The face and the roar of the lion is for COURAGE. ROAR for you are called to let out a sound that manifest the rule of Christ on earth as in heaven. So let your voices be heard.
Today it is just one voice your hearing. There are a lot of wonderful testimonies too from our other brothers and sisters in this church as God is releasing His Kingdom Authority in our midst now.
God used the nature of the lion to tell us a very important message today.
The roar to ourselves is for COURAGE to say Yes to the Lord to move us to a new spiritual location.
The roar to others is to impart the spirit of a warrior which will enable us to live as overcomers.
The roar to the church is to sound the alarm for preparation – to organize and equip the church’s army.
LET the Lion of Judah rise up from within you. Let Him RELEASE His KINGDOM AUTHORITY ON you and OUT to others.
