Paul has been a vessel of the testimony of Jesus. In that testimony, he declares, “I have fought the noble fight.”
Now, this is a difficult subject to speak on. We are reticent to talk about the devil, the enemy, and his works. We must not give him undue credit.
Yet we see from the Bible that, especially in the last days, the enemy is exposed for the evil that he is. He knows that his time is short, and so he fights against the testimony of Jesus.
Most of you remember the picture in Revelation 12. As the chapter opens, there is a woman in heaven about to give birth, and directly in front of her is the devil himself, who wants to devour the child. This is a picture of his hatred for the testimony of Jesus.
Although we do not want to speak too much of him and his ways, neither do we want to be ignorant of his schemes.
We see our brother Paul passing on to Timothy instructions and revelations regarding the reality of the last days. If you will turn to 2 Timothy 2, we want to read some of these verses. We will pick up in verse 14 and read through the end of the chapter.
Timothy is a teacher in the body of Christ, and Paul is instructing him on various matters to declare.
Remind them of these things, and solemnly charge them in the presence of God, not to wrangle about words, which is useless and leads to the ruin of the hearers.
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.
But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene.
Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, men who have gone astray from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some.
The firm foundation of God stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness.”
Now in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honour and some to dishonour. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honour, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.
Now flee from youthful lusts, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels.
The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance, leading to the knowledge of the truth. Then they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.
Then let us go to 2 Timothy 4, beginning in verse 1.
I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.
But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil your ministry.
Let us have a word of prayer.
Our Father, we thank You for the revelation in Your precious Word. Even as Your Spirit tells us that in the last days there will be great complication and trouble in the church, we hold before us these scenes presented in the Word, and we measure them against Your promise:
I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
Help us in the victory of Your building work, and pour out Your grace upon us that we may endure whatever hardships are necessary to pay the price for Your testimony.
Now, dear Lord, refresh us this afternoon. By Your Spirit, give us attentiveness and open hearts. We thank You for this time together, and we pray in the precious name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
We read this portion of Scripture from 2 Timothy to show us the context in which Paul says, “I have fought the noble fight.” Paul is instructing Timothy as to the way of recovery of the testimony in the time of the large house.
You notice in 2 Timothy 2:20 that Paul says, “Now in a large house, there are these various vessels.”
There was on this earth a clear testimony of the Lord Jesus. Each of the churches gathered in different locations held the candlestick of the testimony of Jesus.
By the time Paul was writing this, some thirty or more years after the church had begun, there had been tremendous growth in the church and many people had been saved. But with this tremendous growth, there had come about a loosening of the truth that is in Jesus.
If you notice 1 Timothy 3:14-15, Paul talks about the church of the living God:
I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long; but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.
How wonderful was the church! She preached the gospel, the true gospel of Jesus Christ. But she also lived in the reality of the life of Jesus Christ. So much so that the church could be said to be the pillar and support of the truth.
If anybody attended one of these assemblies, above the preaching and above the activities, people could see the Lord Jesus in the midst.
But now in 2 Timothy, we have this picture of the large house. My own understanding—of course, we do not have this defined any further—is that it indicates something that had begun to change.
As our brother shared this morning, when the church is in its state of grace, there is her gathered life together and her ministry in the kingdom. But when you read 2 Timothy, you see that the kingdom work has expanded greatly.
There are many servants of God travelling from place to place, preaching the kingdom gospel. But among these many workers, not all are noble vessels. Some are gold, some are silver, and some are earth.
Even though the kingdom gospel is going out, it seems as though the emphasis is being changed to ministry. There are now many workers in kingdom ministry, and the assessment has changed.
The standard in the church is the life of Jesus. But in the expansion of the kingdom work, other standards have come in. Some people align with those who are gold vessels, and some align with those who are silver vessels. There are many vessels in the large house.
But there can only be one standard in the church, and that is the life of Jesus Christ Himself. The church is not a comparison of who is a better preacher. The church is an assembly with the Lord Jesus in the midst.
Now, what is Timothy to do? He wants to be a faithful servant, and there is a proliferation of many servants, with even some compromise among these workers.
What does Timothy do? Does he forsake the assembling of the brethren because the church is becoming corrupt? Is it better to pull out of the church? Or should Timothy start to organise Keswick conventions and speak on the overcomer line on an individual basis?
No, he is not to do these things, because the testimony of Jesus is a corporate testimony. We see in Revelation 2 and 3 that there are those who hold the testimony of Jesus, overcoming in every one of those seven churches.
Paul is telling Timothy to be faithful: continue to preach sound doctrine; endure hardship. Even realising that in these days there are servants of God who tickle the ears, Timothy is to be faithful, probably there in Ephesus, or wherever he is ministering the Word of God.
In the large house, there is confusion. Who is the gold vessel? Who is the silver vessel? What are our standards?
But Paul reminds Timothy that God has a standard. We see in 2 Timothy 2:19, “The firm foundation of God stands.” There are two inscriptions on the seal stamped upon His children:
The Lord knows those who are His.
Our God is not confused by the multitude of professing Christians. Many may say, “Lord, Lord,” but the Lord knows those who are His.
Here is the second part of the seal’s inscription:
Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness.
Timothy has a noble fight to fight for the testimony of Jesus in the corporate life of the church. Bear the testimony of Jesus in such a way that others may be encouraged by that testimony, and that you might be an honourable vessel for the recovery of God’s testimony.
Today we want to look at the schemes of the devil in regard to this corporate testimony. We know from our Lord Jesus that the enemy comes to steal, to kill, and to destroy. This is certainly true regarding the testimony of the church.
His schemes are very much the same as those we have looked at during the last two days regarding the individual. His goal is to draw the church out from under the headship of the Lord Jesus.
He uses two methods, at least as we will simply speak today. First, deception: by deception he draws us out from under the headship of Jesus Christ. Second, he wears down the saints.
We have to admit that the enemy, with all his schemes, has no power over us as long as we walk in the light. But, as our brother shared this morning, the enemy has an ally within the church: our flesh.
That is usually his plan of attack—to take the testimony and steal it away from the church. He cannot do it if we are holding fast to the Head, living by the life of the Holy Spirit, and sensitive to the Spirit’s anointing.
Certainly, if we gather together with first love and simple devotion to our Lord Jesus, and if we do the first works, the enemy cannot really touch such a church.
You remember that the Lord told the church of Ephesus in Revelation to repent and do the first works. This is variously defined, but to me it is pretty simple. We worship the Lord with all our heart; we gather together and pray in the Spirit; we fellowship with one another and share what we have; we witness the gospel.
The Lord is jealous for His church. He protects us and puts a hedge about us. We are protected from the enemy much more than we ever realise, because the Lord loves His church and wants to prepare her to be His bride.
But the enemy has his schemes. The first way he would draw us out from under the headship of our Lord Jesus is by replacing the life of the Lord Jesus.
If we had to look at Paul’s letters and identify that which he battled against the most, it was the inception of religion among the saints. There is something in our fallen flesh that loves religion.
There were new Christians in the churches of Galatia, full of the Holy Spirit and the grace of God. Then some teachers came by and said, “You are not circumcised. Do you want to be a holy man of God? You must be circumcised.”
Those young Christians thought, “It hurts. It must be religious. It must be good. I will prove my loyalty.” But Paul said, “Do not let anybody steal that liberty you have in Christ Jesus.”
Religion is the enemy’s first inroad. Does that surprise you? You would not think the devil would want to introduce religion.
But actually, he invented religion in Babylon. You can remember how the sons of men tried to climb the tower of Babel to be like God. Satan said, “I want to be like the Most High.”
From the earliest days, before Babylon became the first of the four great empires, Babylon had developed a very intricate religious system. By this religion, you could supposedly control your fate and destiny. By this religion, you could appease an angry god.
Babylonian religion included astrology, the worship of many idols, the adoration of a virgin mother, and a hierarchy of magi. It was a very complex system. Satan was behind the invention of religion, and he loves it when religion gets into the church.
By religion, we do not mean the good religion—the right kind of religion that James speaks about. We are talking about the outward actions of men.
The enemy would try to replace our grace-filled life with effort and works. He replaces simple devotion with duty. He replaces the simplicity of our devotion and life in Christ with complicated religious knowledge—terms, phrases, and secrets that can only be understood by those on the inside.
Paul talks about mysteries in his letters, but he says they are all revealed by the Holy Spirit to God’s children. It is our birthright as born-again people to understand the mystery of God, the mystery of Christ, the mystery of Christ in us, and the mystery of the gospel. These are ours.
But religion is very complicated. I have to admit that I have heard Christian messages that are so complicated that I cannot understand them. Maybe you think my message this afternoon is too complicated. I must watch myself.
This matter of religion is so subtle. How did the seven churches in Revelation get that way? How did religion get in and replace first love?
How could Thyatira worship and discuss the deep things of Satan, and have a false prophetess leading the assembly? How does religion get in? It is amazing, is it not?
We could ask another question: how did the Catholic Church get this way? So much superstition and magic replacing faith; a hierarchy of levels of ministers. How did this happen? That was the church back in the first century. How did they accumulate all of this religious business?
We can ask that question throughout church history, and perhaps we should ask it even of ourselves today. How did that which began in recovery in Germany become what it is today? How could that which began in England become what it is today? How could that which began in China become what it is today?
The enemy hates the recovery of the testimony of Jesus. How did the leaven of flesh get into the lump? How did that mustard bush become a huge tree upon which evil birds can nest? When did the enemy sow those tares into the field of wheat?
Even as Jesus says in the parable of the wheat and tares, “An enemy has done this.”
The second matter of deception works right along with this first matter of religion. The second scheme of the devil, by way of deception, is raising up doctrines and teachers to deceive.
Let us turn to Romans 16:17-18. The church in Rome was still a young church, but this deception of teaching could already be seen by Paul.
Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ, but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.
Then, in Ephesians 4, as Paul is talking about the growth and maturity of the church, we read verse 14:
As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming.
By the time of the Apostle John’s letters, these deceitful teachers were everywhere. In 2 John 1:7, he says:
For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.
The enemy’s scheme and device is to send out deceitful teachers. Our brother Timothy had a great deal on his plate as a servant of God, and much of it involved dealing with false teaching and deception.
In 1 Timothy 1:3, Paul says:
As I urged you upon my departure from Macedonia, remain on at Ephesus so that you may instruct certain men not to teach strange doctrines, nor to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies, which give rise to mere speculation rather than furthering the administration of God which is by faith.
In 1 Timothy 1:18-20, Paul continues:
This command I entrust you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you might fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, that they will be taught not to blaspheme.
In 1 Timothy 4:1:
But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons.
In 1 Timothy 6:20-21:
O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called knowledge, which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith.
Then in 2 Timothy 2:18, Paul speaks of men who have gone astray from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and who have upset the faith of some.
In 2 Timothy 3:6, he speaks of those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins and led on by various impulses. In verse 13, he says:
But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
This is just in the letters to Timothy, and this is still in the earlier days of the church. The Spirit explicitly says that the enemy will use deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons. These teachings draw us away from our Lord Jesus Christ.
I summarise these various passages with three different deceptions.
First, there are teachers whose morals and consciences are compromised. Paul says we must keep faith and a good conscience, but some have been shipwrecked. Yet they are still teaching.
Once you live in deception—pretending to be righteous when you are not—your teaching will be a deception, because you will develop doctrines that affirm your own flesh.
Then there is a second group of teachers who have been drawn away from the truth as it is in Jesus. In Ephesians 4:20-21, Paul says:
But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus.
Those who teach—apostles, prophets, and teachers in the body of Christ—must teach the truth as it is in Jesus. In this particular instance, you can see by looking at Jesus and His life as He walked on earth how we ought to walk. We are to walk as Jesus walked. This is the truth in Jesus.
In Jesus there is a balance of truth. Jesus is human and divine. There is a normal human aspect to our life and a spiritual aspect to it. Jesus is the truth. He is the truth objectively and the reality subjectively.
When we discover the truth in Jesus, there is a balance in our teaching. But if we turn from this truth, teachers fall into deception.
For example, teachers become obsessed with a particular doctrine. All truth must be held in balance. But when we overemphasise a particular doctrine, we lose balance and fall into deception. Even though it may be an aspect of truth, when it is out of balance it becomes extreme and leads people astray.
Some teachers have left the truth in Jesus and followed after the philosophy of this world. They begin to teach from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They develop complex doctrine, theories, speculation, and philosophy. But they do not promote truth; they promote religion.
Then we have a third kind of teacher: those who have been led astray by deceiving spirits. In 1 Timothy 4:1, the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons.
People can be deceived by what they think is the Holy Spirit, but it is really an evil spirit. John therefore says in his first letter, “Test the spirits.” There is the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
Our Lord Jesus exposed in the church of Thyatira those who held the deep things of Satan. Why do we bother sharing this, brothers and sisters? Because today, in Christendom, there are many deceitful spirits.
There are those empowered by spirits, producing counterfeit experiences, and many are captive. We are not talking only about far-off lands; this is even here in America.
Sometimes I am surprised when I come to WCCC. In 2008, I spoke among the young people. I forget exactly what I said, but I was talking about the truth in Christ. I happened to mention a so-called revival in the United States that was being driven by an evil spirit.
The evangelist himself said he was channelling an angel named Emma. He claimed there were orbs above him, a hole through which he could go up into heaven, and that he would go up into the third heaven.
During the meeting, he would tell people to watch out for the angel dust that would fall upon them. They would supposedly be healed by angel dust.
I know you think I am telling a joke, but this actually happened. It was so outrageous. Thousands and thousands of people went to this revival from all over the world.
They finally had to close the revival because the evangelist was committing adultery with a woman there. He lost his marriage, and they forced him to stop.
What surprised me was that, when I shared this at WCCC, some young people came up afterwards and disputed with me, telling me that it was a real revival of God.
When you see Christians fall under a spell, when their eyes glaze over and they become passive, there is something wrong. This is rampant through the church.
How can this deception happen? Let us turn to two Scriptures. First, 2 Corinthians 11:13:
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore, it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.
Deceitful teachers look righteous. They are servants of righteousness in appearance. They smile, they praise God, and they say they live rightly. This is their disguise. They tell people, “This is the right way, and this will help you, and this will bless you.”
Satan disguises himself, and so do deceitful workers.
There is a second thing about this deception in 2 Thessalonians 2. Here Paul is talking about the coming of the antichrist in the last days. We will read verses 9 through 11.
That is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false.
It is right here that we see our shortcoming. People do not love the truth. It is almost as if their flesh wants to be deceived.
As Paul says, if somebody comes to you with another Christ or another spirit and talks to you about them, you receive them wonderfully. That is what he says to the Corinthians. Where is their love of the truth? Where is our love of the truth?
The church falls into deception and loses the testimony of Jesus.
There is a second strategy which I believe Satan especially uses on those who truly desire to stand for the Lord. These saints want to bear the testimony of Jesus.
I am sure you are familiar with Daniel 7. Daniel received a tremendous revelation about the coming of the Son of Man on the clouds of glory. But he also asked the angel for interpretation about some of the things he saw in his vision, especially about the one horn arising out of the ten horns of the fourth beast.
This is the antichrist. In Daniel 7:25, we read:
And he will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.
This wearing down is what the antichrist will do when he comes upon this earth in manifest form. But even today, to those who would hold the testimony, the enemy wears us down.
As this world blasphemes God more and more, it vexes our soul. The enemy presses upon us and puts pressure on us, and our flesh begins to come out from underneath the Lord Jesus.
We are called to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, but constant pressure begins to cause people to react to one another in the flesh.
As in the church of Philippi, Euodia and Syntyche, fellow workers began to have an issue with each other. As we live together, we have to embrace the cross and receive one another in the love of Jesus Christ, or different temperaments and personalities will cause conflict in our midst.
Sometimes the enemy is able to oppress us by sitting on our meeting. I have been in a number of meetings where I could feel some kind of heaviness over us.
Then, in the course of time, perhaps we sing a song about the majestic victory in Jesus, and that oppression goes. But the enemy is always bringing pressure to wear us down.
As Paul tells Timothy, people will become tired of sound doctrine and want ear-tickling instead. Sometimes the weight of the cross, especially when we are disobedient, becomes tiresome, and we look for some new and liberating experience.
In our assemblies, as we feel this pressure upon us, leadership is tempted to take the meetings into their own hands and run them with human power.
“Here is what we will do. We will shorten the meeting—less pressure. Brother, only speak twenty minutes.” Everybody says, “Amen.” Less pressure.
We organise the meeting. We bring in special features. We try to do anything except what the Lord wants us to do, which is to come and bow down before His throne and ask Him to give us an open heaven.
If we are not careful, we even end up doing things in our worship that are not at all in the Spirit.
The vulnerable place in wearing down an assembly is to attack the leaders. Our leaders have enough problems with their flesh, ambitions, and all of that. But believe me, we have all seen how the enemy attacks the health, the family, and the well-being of the leaders in the assembly.
You should really pray for your responsible brothers. They are working their jobs like everybody else. They are giving of themselves, and they are a target of the enemy.
Our leadership often starts getting older and feeble, and sometimes they have made a mistake. They have been faithful, but they have not raised up Timothys to carry on. Then the enemy begins to work in his strategies.
When it comes to attacking the testimony, he is not one-dimensional; he is multi-dimensional. A dear brother and sister suddenly decide that they should retire—not from their jobs, but from serving God in the assembly. “We have served long enough. It is time for somebody else. We quit.”
At the same time, one of the important responsible brothers gets a job far away. Suddenly, the enemy attacks, and we are not ready. His attack comes from several sides, and we suffer loss.
This is a reality among assemblies that desire to hold the testimony of Jesus.
Now, what is Timothy to do? He sees all this going on. What is he to do? He cannot produce this testimony. He sees the church in decline. What are we to do?
The first thing is this: wait a minute. God knows. The Scriptures clearly tell us that the Lord knows these things are going to happen. The Lord knows those who are His. He predicted these things would happen.
But we see something wonderful in the mysteries of the kingdom of God. The Lord is using all this tribulation, even these setbacks, for something secret, something wonderful.
What is that? The Lord has a treasure buried in this field. The Lord sees His precious pearl being developed.
Behind the seeming victories of the enemy is actually the waiting of the Lord for His bride to be prepared. The Lord knows.
What should Timothy do? Timothy, be faithful. Fight the noble fight. Preach the Word. Preach sound doctrine. Do the work of an evangelist.
We need to be faithful. Will you be faithful to the Lord, though things decline around you? There is something the Lord is doing. He is creating a noble vessel. He is teaching us how to overcome by His life.
Why does Timothy need to be faithful and continue to preach? Because the church needs to repent, but can only repent if it sees its true state.
The church will not repent if she thinks she is pretty good, like Laodicea. But perhaps, through the preaching of the truth, some will repent and come to the truth. So be faithful.
Gather together with those who call on the Lord with a pure heart. This is 2 Timothy 2:22. We gather with those who have a pure heart. We fear the Lord. We pray to the Lord. We intercede. We ask the Lord to revive His work.
Do you have this prayer in your heart? In Habakkuk 3:2:
O Lord, revive Thy work in the midst of the years.
Do you think the Lord will not hear your prayers? We need to gather in faith, confess our sins as an assembly, and ask the Lord to revive us.
Here is a prayer in Isaiah 64. It seems to me the Lord must answer this prayer. Oh, how the Lord wants to reveal His Son in all His glory.
Oh that Thou wouldest rend the heavens, that Thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might quake at Thy presence—
As fire kindles the brushwood, as fire causes water to boil—
To make Thy name known to Thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at Thy presence!
This is a prayer for revival. We ask the Lord to open the heavens and reveal Himself.
Revivals always result in many people being saved. But actually, revival comes when the people of God repent and get right with God. Oh, rend the heavens and come down. Then the Lord can recover His people.
The Lord knows and desires a testimony on this earth. For the glory of His Son, the Lord must have a testimony of Jesus upon this earth.
Will it be among us, or will He pass us by? The Lord’s eyes look to and fro across the earth for those who have a heart for the testimony.
It is not a matter of how perfect we are, but what is our heart? Do we want to see the Lord recover His testimony?
The Lord is looking for such people to bring us recovery, to recover His testimony. You find that the Lord raises up those who can stand for the testimony.
History teaches us that He raises up vessels who have a connection with that which happened in the past. History teaches us that He sovereignly connects them with other people who have the same heart.
History teaches us that the Lord can recover quickly what has been lost. When you read through church history and see those moments of recovery, it is truly a work of wonder how the Lord was able to recover the reality of the church among some simple people.
The Lord knows those who are His. The Lord has His purpose and His time.
Are we willing to fight the noble fight for this corporate testimony? Oh, that the Lord’s life might be the standard of our assembly again.
Perhaps even in this auditorium there are some young people, and the Lord has given them a heart for Him. They will bring in the next recovery.
Surely it is time for the Lord to revive His work. Surely it is time for the Lord to recover His testimony again. May He find those pure hearts before Him and, in His mercy, open heaven once again.
Revive Thy church in the midst of the years, O Lord. Not for our sakes, Lord, but for Your sake. We pray that Your Son would be glorified.
Help us to be faithful and fight the good fight. Give us wisdom and keep us from deception.
We say that the Lord Jesus Christ is our Lord. He is the Lord, and there is no oppression of the enemy that can hold us down. Help us to stand in the victory of Calvary.
Gather us together with those with a pure heart, that You may recover Your church in these days. We pray in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.