Battles of Faith

Knowing Without Knowing

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Ivor and Atonte Myers

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Series Code: BOF

Program Code: BOF000031


00:14 Welcome to BATTLES OF FAITH, we are your hosts
00:17 Ivor and Atonte Myers.
00:18 Today's program is entitled 'Fighting without Fighting,'
00:22 'Knowing Without Knowing'.
00:24 If you have been watching the last several programs,
00:27 you know we are talking about the art of war.
00:29 We have learned several different arts that will help
00:32 you in your spiritual battle.
00:34 The first one was learning how to be still, then to be
00:37 silent, focus and breathe deep.
00:40 Today we are going to learn how to fight without fighting
00:42 and knowing without knowing.
00:44 I know they are saying how on earth, what in the world?
00:46 How do you fight without fighting?
00:48 Well we are going to start actually with knowing without
00:52 knowing because we are called, as Christians, to fight the
00:56 good fight of faith.
00:58 We want to understand the definition of faith in light of
01:01 this art, the art of knowing without knowing.
01:03 So if you would look with me in your Bibles,
01:06 Hebrews 11:1
01:09 we are going to see this principle,
01:10 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the
01:14 evidence of things not seen. "
01:18 Let me read that in another translation very quickly.
01:21 The Good News Bible says, "to have faith is to be sure
01:24 of the things we hope for. "
01:26 So what we see here Atonte, is that faith is described
01:30 initially as knowing, to be certain, to be sure.
01:35 What it means to have a faith is to be 100% absolutely
01:40 confident of something.
01:43 So we may say that faith is knowing, but it doesn't stop
01:48 there because it goes on to say, "that faith is the
01:52 substance of things hoped for,
01:54 evidence of things not seen. "
01:56 Now the Greek word for seen here is the word 'Blepo',
02:01 it means to know or to perceive.
02:03 So faith is knowing, being confident, certain but yet
02:09 without the evidence of our eyes, the evidence
02:14 of what we hear.
02:16 Faith is knowing therefore Atonte, without knowing,
02:20 it is believing without the evidence that
02:23 allows us to believe.
02:25 This is what we are describing as the art of
02:29 knowing without knowing.
02:31 I like the way the Amplified Version puts it as well.
02:34 In Hebrews 11:1, "now faith is the assurance, the
02:37 confirmation, the title deed of the things we hope for
02:41 being the proof of things we do not see, and the
02:44 conviction of their reality. Faith perceiving as
02:48 real fact what is not revealed to the senses. "
02:51 Okay, not revealed to the senses,
02:53 in other words, faith goes beyond our senses.
02:56 Now we hear the word senses, people are likely to think
03:01 of when you come perceive something outside the realm
03:04 of your five senses, what are you thinking about?
03:07 You are thinking about that sixth sense.
03:10 Again I believe Atonte, that out there in those
03:14 New Age circles that sixth sense is really a
03:18 counterfeit of the genuine gift of faith which
03:22 is knowing without knowing.
03:24 We are going to look at some examples in the Bible of
03:28 what knowing without knowing really means,
03:31 and the first example I think of Atonte, is the story of
03:33 Joshua and Caleb and the 10 spies.
03:35 They were all sent out to spy this land and they
03:39 returned, 10 spies returned with an evil report,
03:42 Joshua and Caleb returned with a report
03:45 that was opposite.
03:47 A report that was glorifying God.
03:50 The 10 spies said hey, we went to the land it was big,
03:53 it was great, it was grand but there were giants in the land
03:56 and there is no way that we can take these giants.
04:01 Joshua and Caleb on the other hand, see the same thing,
04:06 and they understand and believe that they can get the
04:11 victory over these giants, the only thing is
04:13 they don't know how.
04:15 So in this context we see that faith which Joshua and
04:18 Caleb had was knowing without knowing how.
04:23 Very important principle, knowing without knowing how.
04:26 Understand that God was going to give them the victory,
04:30 but not necessarily seeing how He was going to do it.
04:33 They moved forward in Faith, they said we are able to go
04:37 up and possess the land.
04:38 So we must always move forward in Faith, believing that
04:42 God can give us the victory, no matter how hard it is,
04:45 what the problem is, what the situation is, how long you
04:48 have had a stronghold, what ever it is, God is able,
04:51 we must believe without doubting.
04:53 Now you think of the story of Abraham and Isaac.
04:57 When God commanded Abraham to go and take Isaac to
05:01 sacrifice him as an offering,
05:04 and Abraham, I'm sure his heart is torn in this story, but he
05:10 takes his son Isaac, they go to the place where he is to
05:16 be sacrificed, and Abraham tells his servants, I and the
05:21 boy will go up yonder and worship, and I and the lad will
05:27 return again unto you.
05:28 Now Abraham made the statement of what?
05:31 Faith, he knew that God had promised him that through
05:36 this son he would be the heir of a great multitude.
05:40 But now God was telling him to sacrifice your son.
05:45 It seemed like an impossibility, like God you are not,
05:49 how can You fulfill Your promise if You take my
05:52 son away for me?
05:53 Abraham new without knowing how, I don't know he could
05:56 have thought that God was going to resurrect him or
05:59 something, but he said I am the boy are going and will
06:02 come back again and this is another example of knowing
06:05 without knowing how.
06:07 This is what faith is, it is that understanding, that
06:12 knowing outside of our senses, sight, hear, touch, taste,
06:16 taste and etc... knowing without knowing how.
06:19 So it is a mentality, you have to have a positive,
06:23 I'm trusting God's word above all worldly circumstances,
06:27 this is going to happen.
06:29 Exactly, faith is also knowing without knowing when,
06:32 knowing without knowing when because consider the story
06:35 about Elisha when he began to look for the rain.
06:41 The Bible says Elisha prayed once, prayed Lord sent the
06:44 rain, the rain did not come.
06:45 He prayed again, and again, and Elisha prayed seven times
06:49 and he was persistent because he knew that God was going
06:52 to answer his prayer, he just didn't know when,
06:56 faith is knowing without knowing when.
06:59 It is having the confidence without knowing exactly when
07:04 or how God is going to move.
07:06 You think of Sarah, she couldn't get pregnant right away, and
07:11 by the time she was 99, she finally conceived a son.
07:16 So that is definitely not knowing when, but she took it
07:20 as a joke almost, like there is no way this point of time
07:23 but God can do anything.
07:26 Faith is knowing without knowing how, it is knowing without
07:29 knowing when, and it is also knowing without
07:31 knowing where, consider again Abraham.
07:34 God says to Abraham, Abraham, I'm calling you out
07:37 of your land at want you to go out, He did not tell him
07:40 where he was going, He just said go.
07:42 Abraham had faith that God knew where he was going,
07:46 he had faith that he would enter into the promised land,
07:49 but he did not know where he was going.
07:50 In fact Hebrews 11:8 reads: "by faith Abraham, when he
07:55 was called to go out into a place which he should after
07:59 receive for inheritance, obeyed. He went out
08:03 not knowing whither he went. "
08:07 Faith is knowing, but Abraham went out knowing but not
08:11 knowing, knowing that he was going, knowing that God
08:14 would bring him into the promised inheritance but not
08:18 knowing where it was.
08:20 This is what faith is, knowing without knowing when,
08:22 knowing without knowing how, and knowing
08:25 without knowing where.
08:27 You know it is just like when Jesus was in the boat with
08:30 the disciples, and the winds came and the storm came
08:32 and they were afraid.
08:34 He was able to easily calm the winds and stop the storm,
08:37 and said why are you so afraid ye of little faith?
08:40 Jesus looks at us like, you believe in Me, but you don't
08:45 fully believe in Me.
08:47 If you believed in Me you would have the faith that
08:50 Jesus desires from us, He would be able to do many more
08:54 things in our life, that is what He is asking from us.
08:57 Just believe, claim it, and I will do it.
09:00 I call it miracle working power.
09:03 What Jesus is telling us here is that we don't need to
09:07 know all the details of when He will do His work, but we
09:10 need to have ultimate faith and trust Him at His word.
09:14 When He says go up and take your giant, go and conquer
09:17 your sin, we may not know how is this going to be
09:21 accomplished, it looks like an impossibility.
09:24 We like Joshua and Caleb should say, we are able
09:27 to go up and possess it.
09:29 We are able to do this, we may not see the evidence with
09:33 our physical eyes, we may not be able to see the evidence
09:37 before us but faith is knowing without knowing.
09:40 That's what the Bible calls the fight, the good fight of
09:44 faith because it takes faith,
09:47 when you look at self and see all the power self has, you see
09:50 the Confederacy that self has formed with Satan.
09:54 You look and say I don't see how I can actually overcome
10:00 myself, but that is why we need faith, because
10:03 Faith eliminates the evidence around us, the evidential
10:08 circumstances that allows us to go beyond the evidential
10:12 circumstances where other people are saying, yeah there
10:15 is no way in the world.
10:17 You look at David, David facing Goliath...
10:20 no way in the world that David should
10:23 have won over Goliath,
10:24 but David had faith knowing without knowing how, he went
10:28 into the battle and confidently said God is going
10:32 to give me the victory.
10:33 So some of us look, our young people are out there
10:36 looking at that video games saying how on the world
10:39 will I ever give this video came up?
10:41 Or how I'll ever get the cigarette up?
10:44 Or give this ungodly relationship up?
10:47 Like David, we can see God will deliver you into my hands
10:53 this day, and you say with so much confidence that you
10:59 reveal that God's faith is dwelling heavily in you.
11:04 It is this type of faith that scares Satan to death,
11:09 he knows that if we believe, we really believe that God
11:13 will do these things, he knows that God will do them, and
11:16 when God does them that he has no chance in the world.
11:20 So I believe he has certain demons that are there just
11:24 to try to discourage us and give us doubts so that we
11:27 will not claim the words, so we will not truly believe.
11:30 He will always whisper, God can't do that...
11:32 He is not going to do that for you...
11:33 You can't have the victory in that, just so we will not
11:36 reach that level of faith.
11:39 If you want Satan to shake in his boots, I know I
11:42 do, and we want that for you.
11:44 This is the type of faith, knowing without knowing when,
11:48 where, or how, whatever just believe it.
11:51 We can also describe faith as hoping in the face of
11:57 hopelessness, when you are in a situation where it looks
12:00 totally hopeless, faith is hoping in the face of
12:04 hopelessness and we can go back again to Abraham.
12:08 This is why Abraham is called the father of faith because
12:11 there are so many examples in his life that reveal
12:14 what true faith is.
12:16 Let's look at Romans 4:18, the Bible says as speaking
12:20 of Abraham, "who against hope believed in hope that he
12:24 might become the father of many nations according to
12:28 that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be. "
12:31 The Bible says here that Abraham hoped against hope.
12:35 Let me read this from a couple other translations.
12:38 The Good News Bible says, "Abraham believed and hoped
12:42 even when there was no reason for hoping. "
12:45 The Murdoch Bible, it says, "and without hope he
12:48 confided in the hope of becoming the father of a
12:52 multitude of nations. "
12:54 And Wycliffe New Testament says, "under utterly hopeless
12:57 circumstances, he hopefully believed. "
13:02 Faith is hoping in the face of hopelessness,
13:06 so that when the warrior is in a circumstance, or a
13:10 situation where all looks hopeless, faith is that thing
13:15 that allows him to hope when it looks like there is no
13:19 hope, and so often the Devil and self together
13:23 combined make it seem like you stand no chance.
13:27 You are out numbered, you just don't have a chance in
13:32 this, your sin is too great.
13:33 Faith is that thing that overcomes the world,
13:37 as the Bible says this is our victory that overcomes
13:40 the world, even our faith.
13:42 What I like is where the Bible says that "God's strength
13:45 is made perfect in our weakness. "
13:48 It's almost like our weakness, where we have no hope,
13:51 if you would just believe that activates God's power.
13:55 It says okay now I can relinquish this power to you
13:58 because you are believing where there is no hope,
14:01 I can see that you are completely weak, but you believe
14:04 that I can do it for you, so I will do it for you.
14:07 That's right, the Bible says that the just walk by
14:11 faith not by sight.
14:13 The just not only walk by faith and not by sight, but
14:17 they fight by faith and not by sight.
14:20 Now when my brother and I were younger, we used to
14:23 practice the martial arts, and
14:26 one of the things we used to love to do was blindfold
14:28 ourselves and then try to fight blindfolded, and
14:31 it is something that a lot of martial artist will do,
14:34 and this is how they heighten their sense for hearing.
14:37 We know that the Bible says faith comes by what?
14:41 Hearing! And hearing by the word of God.
14:44 So for the Christian warrior to be able to fight by
14:49 faith, if the word of God says ABC, then the Christian
14:53 warrior believes ABC and he hopes in that, and trusts
14:57 in it, that despite what his eye may tell him.
14:59 He doesn't need to use his eyes.
15:01 He doesn't need his physical, or the physical senses,
15:06 all he needs is the sense of faith.
15:09 Faith is finding the way Atonte, when there is no way.
15:15 Let's look at Isaiah 43:16 a powerful verse here
15:19 speaking about this very principle.
15:20 "Thus saith the Lord which make up the way in the sea,
15:25 a path in the mighty waters. "
15:29 We see here that God is here talking about, His deliverance
15:33 of the Israelites out of Egyptian captivity.
15:36 He actually says here that He is the one that makes
15:39 the way in the sea, and
15:42 you know that there is no way in the sea.
15:43 When the Israelites came to that Red Sea and saw it,
15:46 there was no path of escape.
15:47 God was the one that came in and made the way of escape
15:51 when there seemed to be no way of escape, and
15:54 the same is true in our Christian warfare.
15:57 Faith is that thing that makes the way, when there
16:01 seems to be no way of escape.
16:03 Joseph in the midst of a crises with Potiphar's wife
16:06 coming on to him, where to the normal mind it would seem
16:10 there would be no way of escape.
16:11 Joseph having the mind of faith was able to find the way
16:18 out, when for most other men, there would be no way
16:21 out of that temptation...
16:23 faith is finding the way when there is no way.
16:25 There was a great magician that lived by the name of
16:28 Houdini, and he was known to be able to get himself
16:31 out of any trap, and
16:32 I believe that Jesus way surpassed any strap the devil
16:40 could put Jesus in, even down to death, Jesus was able
16:47 to find the way where there seemed to be no way,
16:50 and then He offers the same faith to us, so that when
16:53 no matter what circumstances the devil tries to bind us,
16:57 faith frustrates the plans of the devil,
17:00 because he is going,
17:01 how did he get out of that?
17:03 Faith! Faith, hearing the word of God.
17:05 How did he know that that was the way of escape?
17:09 Knowing by faith, knowing without knowing when,
17:13 how or where, it is hope in the face of hopelessness.
17:18 Who wants to frustrate the devil?
17:20 I know I do, this kind of stuff gets me excited because
17:23 we have said this before but, SATAN IS A BEATEN FOE.
17:27 If he can get our minds and our thoughts to think that
17:31 he is much bigger and stronger, which he has strength
17:35 but nothing compared to God.
17:37 God is asking us, if you would just believe, I am able
17:40 and willing to do more for you, more than you could
17:44 ever imagine or think, and
17:45 He wants to do it spiritually for you in this battle,
17:48 in this war that we are in.
17:50 Now we're going to look at James chapter 4 and we are going to
17:53 our next principle, the next art which is the art of
17:56 fighting without fighting.
17:59 That sounds like an oxymoron, how will the world do you
18:02 fight without fighting?
18:05 The Bible says hearing James 4:7, "submit yourselves
18:09 therefore to God. "
18:11 Now what does that mean, submit?
18:12 It means don't fight, it means to surrender.
18:15 We are told that this is the way that we fight the devil,
18:20 because he goes on to say, "resist the devil and
18:24 he will flee from you. "
18:25 What does resist mean? It means to fight to war against.
18:28 How do we fight against the devil, by not fighting
18:32 against God, submitting ourselves to God we learn how to
18:37 fight with the devil.
18:38 It is fighting without fighting.
18:40 This is an art that is crucial for Christians to learn.
18:44 This art of fighting without fighting, submitting
18:49 ourselves to God, refusing to resist God that we may
18:54 have power to resist the devil.
18:57 When we submit to God, Satan automatically loses.
19:00 That's right, that is where the real battle is Atonte.
19:04 The devil doesn't want us to submit to God because in
19:07 not doing that, in not submitting to God we
19:10 automatically submit to the devil.
19:12 The Bible says we can only serve one of the two masters,
19:15 so the devil does not want us to serve God,
19:18 so all he needs to get us do is not submit to God.
19:21 God tells us here that the way you fight the devil is
19:24 by not fighting against Me.
19:26 Now there is another part of this principle of fighting
19:30 without fighting that we need to understand,
19:32 Jesus, when He was here on earth, it is evident that He
19:36 fought against the devil.
19:38 He fought against principalities and powers, but the
19:43 question is, how did He fight?
19:46 We know that He thought the devil in the wilderness,
19:48 especially in the wilderness is where we see one of the
19:50 culminating fights between Christ and the enemy, and
19:55 as we look at this style of fighting that Jesus used
19:59 in the wilderness, we learn an amazing lesson of this
20:03 art of fighting without fighting.
20:05 Atonte you will notice that every time Satan came to
20:09 Jesus, he tempted Him by saying if you be the Son of God
20:14 do this, it is almost as though Jesus, or rather Satan
20:18 wanted Jesus to engage him in battle.
20:21 How did Jesus fight Satan? By not fighting at all,
20:25 by resisting, by refusing to enter into controversy
20:30 with him, and oh what a powerful lesson that is for
20:35 the Christian warrior today.
20:36 When you come into a confrontation with someone.
20:39 When someone wants to challenge you and they are
20:43 accusing you, or something of that nature, the Bible
20:47 says we should not return evil for evil, or rather good
20:51 for evil, we fight by refusing to fight.
20:55 Now just imagine how many arguments in the household,
20:59 between husband and wife, could be solved if one of them
21:02 learned this principle of fighting by not fighting.
21:06 Just one of them. - Just one of them.
21:08 If one of them is that okay, the way I'm going to fight
21:10 against devil in this home is by refusing to fight
21:15 externally, by refusing to engage in the conflict.
21:19 It is non-resistance, saying I don't care what happens,
21:23 I will not engage with the devil.
21:25 I will not fight, I will not go into his traps, I will
21:31 not be lured by him.
21:32 Jesus on the cross, if you be the Son of God do what?
21:36 Come down from the cross.
21:39 The devil was tempting Jesus to fight...
21:42 come on Jesus show them what You have,
21:45 show them who You are, and
21:46 Jesus fought back by refusing to fight.
21:50 By still submitting to God because He was supposed to
21:54 be on the cross to fulfill His mission.
21:57 He completed that and He beat the devil
22:00 without fighting him.
22:01 I like this powerful statement in the book
22:03 'Desire of Ages', page 119, where the controversy between
22:08 Christ and Satan in the wilderness is described.
22:11 Listen to what it says: "though Jesus recognized Satan
22:16 from the beginning, He was not provoked to enter into
22:21 controversy with him. Strengthened with the memory of
22:25 the voice from heaven, He rested in His Father's love.
22:30 He would not parlay with temptation. "
22:33 Powerful, powerful lesson Atonte.
22:36 The way Jesus overcame Satan was by refusing to enter
22:41 into controversy with him.
22:43 "Refusing to parlay with temptation. "
22:46 You know so often temptation is brought before us
22:49 and what do we do?
22:50 We look at and wonder shall I do this thing or not?
22:53 We wring our hands, were going what, what?
22:55 But Jesus is telling us here that the way to fight
22:59 against temptation is by refusing to fight.
23:01 I'm not going to get into this, why don't you do this?
23:03 I'm not even going to pay attention, that is what it is
23:05 saying, I will not even pay attention to this
23:08 temptation, I will not engage in this fight.
23:11 I will fight, but I'm not going to fight.
23:13 I'm just going to turn my eyes the other way.
23:16 Come on why don't you get involved?
23:17 I'm just not going to do this,
23:19 I'm just not going to listen I will walk the other way.
23:22 This is what it means to fight without fighting.
23:26 It means to refuse to engage temptation. Refuse
23:30 to parlay with temptation, again Atonte, how many
23:35 of us would experience the power of God if we,
23:39 like Jesus, learned to turn the other cheek?
23:43 To not try to defend ourselves, to actually
23:48 fight by not fighting.
23:50 We would win many victories that we are now not winning,
23:56 and God wants us to learn these lessons.
23:59 We are trying to be as practical as we can be because we
24:02 know that as Christians, Satan is after us all the time.
24:06 He is after everyone, but he wants us to fall, he wants us
24:09 to be discouraged, he does not want us to make it.
24:12 God is cheering for us and saying look I have made every
24:15 provision for you, I don't care what your problem is,
24:19 I don't care if it is pornography, alcohol,
24:21 cigarettes, drugs, other women, what ever it may be,
24:24 inherited, cultivated sins or whatever, God has said
24:28 I can do it all for you.
24:30 Hebrews 12:4, Atonte, tells us that we must resist
24:36 against sin unto blood, we must resist against sin
24:43 even unto blood, that means our resistance,
24:46 our capacity to fight by not fighting must be even unto death
24:52 In other words we have got to learn this art of learning
24:57 how to disengage, or how to not engage at all the enemy.
25:02 To not parlay with temptation.
25:04 When he brings something before your eyes, you simply
25:07 say, I'm not even going to fight that.
25:09 I'm not even going to engage in this fight.
25:11 How can we say that? The Bible says and God tells us
25:14 you stand still and I will fight for you.
25:18 So the battle is not yours, it's the Lord's.
25:22 We can say, oops, not my battle, you deal with God on
25:25 that, and allow God to fight our battles for us.
25:29 So often we try to take the confidant ourselves and
25:32 parlay with temptation, and in parlaying with temptation
25:36 we eventually fall into it.
25:38 Just like Eve at the tree, if she had turned her eyes
25:42 away at the first sight of sin and just said, I not
25:46 even going to entertain this discussion.
25:48 She engaged the devil, tried to stand on her own,
25:53 and ended up falling into sin.
25:55 That is why we can actually say it is Christ's
25:58 righteousness, not our own,
26:00 because He fights and He wins it for us, so it is His.
26:02 He will do it for us.
26:04 We fight by not fighting. We fight by resting.
26:08 We fight by resisting the devil, but submitting to God.
26:12 So ultimately what are we hearing here?
26:15 Be still, be silent, focus and breathe deep.
26:20 Know without knowing, find a way when there is no way.
26:26 Hope in the face of hopelessness and fight by not fighting,
26:32 this is the art of self-mastery.
26:35 We are learning how step-by-step to get that victory
26:40 over that wicked human nature, your most terrible foe,
26:43 which happens to be the person you get up and look at,
26:47 in the mirror, every morning.
26:49 This is how we learn to master ourselves.
26:53 It is by fighting without fighting.
26:55 Self does not want to submit to these arts, but with the
27:00 grace and power of God, He can help you.
27:03 Again, it is lifestyle and I will say it over and over
27:06 again, because it is a challenge.
27:09 It is a lifestyle that God is asking us to submit to.
27:13 It is going to take that to learn these arts to be
27:18 victorious over those things this Satan has
27:21 strong holds over us.
27:23 You know I love Psalms 18:34 because it tells us as David
27:28 was writing there, said of God, "he teacheth my hands to war,
27:32 so that a bow of steel is broken by my arms. "
27:36 God wants to teach us how to war, He wants to teach us
27:39 how to become masters over ourselves.
27:42 To master ourselves and He says I will not leave you to
27:46 figured this out by yourself.
27:48 I will teach you and instruct you, I will be your
27:51 teacher, you will be My student, My disciple, and
27:54 in being His disciple we learn to master ourselves and
27:58 this is the Grace of God given to us.
28:01 We are all out of time, until next time, God bless!


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Revised 2014-12-17