Author: Jelena McClellan

Watch your Tongue and Learn to Wield Your Word Weapons!

/ Jelena McClellan / 1 Comment

Have you ever paid attention to the things that come out of your mouth throughout the course of a single day? For some of us it is really quite alarming to say the least. Or maybe you have noticed it when you listen to somebody else who is either a very positive or very negative person. You will hear it in their words all the time.

The Bible tells us in Proverbs 18:21 that “the tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit” (NIV).

There was a period in my life when I was extremely negative. Everything that could go wrong seemed to go wrong and I found myself in a hole. Depression started to set in. I was still a new Christian and hadn’t learned one of the most important lessons (for me) yet, which was to watch my mouth and the words that were coming out of it all day every day.

I had no idea how much death I was speaking until I really started to pay attention and to change my words.

“The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit”. Proverbs 18:21

Words have power. You can either speak life or you can choose to speak death but what you say matters.

In Genesis 1:3 God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. He created it out of nothing, simply by speaking it into existence. Imagine the creative power in the spoken Word of God!

I know you and I are mere humans, but there is still power in the things we speak over our lives and our situations, especially if we speak the Word of God over these things.

So when the enemy comes and tries to steal from you, kill your marriage or destroy your dream, don’t give into his lies and agree with him. Start speaking life instead. Declare victory over your issues. Speak God’s promises over your life and you will be amazed by the changes you will see.

It is so important to watch the words you speak, not just for yourself but also for the people you come in contact with.

Proverbs 15:1 tells us that “a gently answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger” (NIV). It is so easy to fly off the handle when something goes wrong, but other than voicing your frustration, it really doesn’t do you any good to use harsh words. So use wisdom when choosing your words.

Your tongue essentially becomes a sword. You can use it to cut down the people around you and wound them deeply with the words you speak to them, or you can use it to fight the enemy for the things God has promised to you.

Whether you are aware of it or not, you wield this weapon all the time, but if you’re not careful, you will do more harm than good with it.

For me personally, no matter how good I think I’m doing and how far I think I’ve come in my walk with the Lord, it is always an eye opener to see how much work still needs to be done in me, when I get really angry and I hear all these awful words come out of my mouth before I even realize what is happening.

Whatever fills our hearts is usually what eventually comes out of our mouths, whether that’s anger, frustration, hopelessness, discouragement, unforgiveness, disappointment, love or hope: “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of,” (Luke 6:45 NIV).

This topic is so important and so extensive that you could fill books with it (and there are already a lot of books that address this issue), so we will continue this at another time but today let me leave you with this:

When the devil tried to tempt Jesus in the desert, Jesus didn’t ponder on the things the devil said. He had been fasting so you know he was probably very hungry, weak, tired – he was at a vulnerable state and that’s the time the devil chose to tempt him. It would have been very easy to fall into the traps of the enemy but Jesus instead chose to speak the Word of God. He didn’t think it in his head and recalled the scriptures in his mind, but he spoke out loud and quoted scripture to the devil to put him in his place!

“Jesus said to him. ‘Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” (Matthew 4:10 NIV).

Your words are powerful, but the Word of God is your ultimate weapon. Learn how to wield it and take back what the enemy has stolen from you!

“I will be your compass”

/ Jelena McClellan / Leave a comment

During the worship service at church this morning I felt the Lord speak to me “Eyes on Me! Eyes on Me! I will be your compass, eyes on Me!”

I saw somebody in the natural seeing an obstacle come into their way, and by trying to avoid that small obstacle, they unknowingly placed themselves into the path of a much larger problem. That’s when the Lord told me “You don’t see the whole picture but I do. Keep your eyes on Me and I will be your compass. No matter how dark it gets, I will always be there so take your eyes off the natural. Stop looking at the ground. You can’t see the way with your eyes on the ground. Eyes on Me! Eyes on Me! I will be your compass, eyes on Me!”

compass

As I pondered this word all throughout the day it made me think of the trials we all face from time to time. Nobody likes to go through them and every now and then we manage to avoid them. At least we think we did but sooner or later a similar situation comes along and we realize that we still haven’t passed the test. But have you ever noticed how these tests seem to get harder each time we try to skip them?

It is difficult to see the way when you are all caught up in the middle of a storm. When there seems to be nothing but darkness no matter which way you turn it is easy to get discouraged and loose hope but God’s word promises us in Deuteronomy 31:6 that He will never leave us nor forsake us.

If you’re constantly looking at your obstacles instead of at Him, how can you see where God is trying to lead you? You may be wanting to go one way but the Lord is trying to show you another way, maybe even the complete opposite of where you were headed to.

Take your eyes off your problem and fix them on God. He will be your guide in the darkness. He will be your compass and help you navigate through the storm. And when He can’t lead you around a mountain, He will help you climb it so you can shout His praises from the mountain top!

 

Put On Your Whole Armor Of God

/ Jelena McClellan / 1 Comment

As a soldier preparing to go into battle, you would be foolish not to prepare yourself as much as possible. You may not know the enemy’s strategy or plan of attack but that doesn’t mean you enter the fight without protection. You have a helmet for your head, a bullet proof vest to cover your upper body and several other pieces of equipment to protect other parts of your body.

If your body armor gets hit during battle, it might still hurt, but the plates take the blunt of the force, thus saving you. In order to stay safe in the next battle you need to swap out broken pieces of armor and most importantly, put all of it back on of course.

The same goes for your spiritual armor (see Ephesians 6:10-18). You need to put it on daily and on some days, when the attacks just keep on coming, you may even need to put it on again and again and again.

It helps me to actually go through the motions of picking up piece by piece and putting it on, as I make declarations over myself and get ready for my day before I leave my house in the morning.

So what exactly is the Armor of God?

armor-of-god

You start with the Belt of Truth that is buckled around your waist (Ephesians 6:14). The Truth is the Word of God so this belt protects you against the lies of the enemy. Think of a boxer and the belt they wear underneath their shorts in order to cover their loins. Those hits are considered cheap shots and the same goes for spiritual low blows. They come out of nowhere and sting pretty bad. They are the unfair ones, but then again when did the devil ever play fair?

In the amplified Bible the Belt of Truth, or Band of Truth, is also referenced to personal integrity and moral courage. Think about that when the enemy is trying to deal you a low blow. Don’t loose your personal integrity because of a lie the devil is telling you or telling on you.

Next is your Breastplate of Righteousness (Ephesians 6:14) for an upright heart. In the midst of the battle we can sometimes loose sight of what is right. We may want to get even and sometimes we are about to loose heart when the fight goes on and on and on. So remember that this breastplate is covering and protecting your heart!

A soldier also needs boots, right? So, the armor God has given you covers your feet as well as they get fitted with the readiness that comes from the Gospel of Peace (Ephesians 6:15) so that you can face the enemy with firm-footed stability. Stand your ground. Don’t let the attacks of the enemy move you. Also, remember to walk in peace! No matter what the devil throws at you, what your coworker might do or say today or what your spouse did or didn’t do, you can make a decision right now that you will walk in peace and not be moved!

When you think about a medieval knight, a main piece of armor they carried into battle was a shield. Some shields were very small and only protected portions of the knight’s body. Other shields were pretty large, covering almost the entire upper body and even parts of the legs.

Ephesians 6:16 tells us that we have been given a “[protective] Shield of Faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one” (AMP). Did you catch that? It says ALL the flaming arrows, not just some but every single one!

Now think back to the different sizes of shields the knights carried. When it comes to how big your Shield of Faith is, think about how much faith you have. We all have been given a measure of faith (see Romans 12:3) by God, but it is up to us what we do with it.

Faith is like a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger and bigger it gets. And there is really no way around it. I can’t go to the gym for your and lift weights so you can gain strength and get in shape (wouldn’t that be great though?). Usually the people with a strong faith have been through their share of trials and tribulations and have overcome one attack of the enemy after another.

So the more you grow your faith, the bigger your Shield of Faith will be.

One very important (maybe the most important) body part is still left unprotected at this point so take the Helmet of Salvation to cover your head and protect your mind (see Ephesians 6:17). The devil loves to dump his lies and his garbage into our heads and next thing you know you ponder and dwell on all the junk he just unloaded on you. A lot of times we can be our own worst enemy because of the way we think.

Because this is so important plenty of books have been written on this subject alone, like “Battlefield of the Mind” by Joyce Meyer.

I told you earlier that I physically go through the motions of putting my armor on in the mornings and as I do I make declarations over myself. When I put on my Helmet of Salvation I also declare over myself that I have been given a sound mind (see 2 Timothy 1:7), that I am not led by my emotions but by God, and that I take every thought and purpose captive to the obedience of Christ (see 2 Corinthians 10:5).

Up until now every piece of armor you put on was to protect you. You are covered from head to toe against the attacks of the enemy so you can see how important the defense is when it comes to spiritual warfare.

However, you have also been given a weapon, the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God (see Ephesians 6:17).

When the devil comes at you with lies, use your sword, the Word of God, to cut right through those attacks with the truth. Whatever he tries to tell you or show you, if it doesn’t line up with the Word of God, it is not true.

The Bible is filled with promises from God that you can stand on. These are your weapons.

For example, when the devil tells you that you will always be struggling financially, tell him that your Heavenly Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Psalm 50:10) and that God will open the “windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows” (Malachi 3:10).

The Word of God is more powerful than anything else, which is why Jesus quoted scripture to the devil when he tempted Jesus in the desert. Each time Satan tried to test him Jesus answered “it is written” (see Mathew 4:4) and the devil finally stopped because he knew he couldn’t win this one.

So now that you have your full armor on, you can “stand up against all the schemes and the strategies and the deceits of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11).

You are not helpless. The enemy will not defeat you. You are a mighty warrior called for a time as this. Stay alert. You got this!

Who is our Enemy and How real is He?

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We all have experienced situations in which a person or a group of people have attacked us in some form or another. Maybe a coworker got jealous of your promotion and started badmouthing you behind your back. Or a neighbor got their feelings hurt because of something you did and next thing you know, it is all out war between the two of you but you really don’t know what happened to start all of it. Even worse, a family member seems to sabotage your marriage out of spite or simply because they don’t like you or your spouse.

No matter what caused it, now there is bad blood between you and this other person and things just start to spiral out of control from there.

Sound familiar?

Over the course of our lives we all find ourselves in some version or another of the above scenarios. It hurts, right? Especially if the person attacking you is somebody you really cared for and thought highly of.

It can get to the point when all you want to do is fight back and hurt them as much as they hurt you, but would that really solve the problem?

The answer is “no” and here is why:

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12.

According to this, our problem is really not with the person attacking us but it is a spiritual battle that many of us are not aware of.

I’m not saying that people are never mean on their own, but we need to remember that more often than not there is a spiritual underlying cause.

Shortly after I got married, my mother-in-law and I had some serious issues with each other. We laugh about it now and thank God for restoring our relationship in a way we never dreamed possible but for several years it was all out war.

It had never been my intention to hurt her, but nevertheless it happened. That hurt turned into bitterness, resentment and outright hate and when she started attacking me I did little to stop my anger from festering, allowing it to turn into hate, which lead to me opening doors in my own life for the enemy to come right in and make himself comfortable.

My hate for her wouldn’t allow me to see the hurt I had caused. I simply shut her out of my life and the life of my family for years. No matter how many times we tried to fix things, without Jesus in our lives, we were unable to forgive each other.

Because I was too angry and too hurt, she missed out on her grandchildren for several years. When she went through the toughest times of her life, I not only abandoned her, but I also added to her pain because that’s what you do to somebody who hurt you, right? You hurt them right back. Or so I thought.

So who was I fighting? My mother-in-law or the devil?

In the natural it was her, who, in my tunnel vision, was constantly working against me, causing problems between me and my husband, and making me altogether miserable, but in reality, I was fighting the demonic forces behind the scenes so to speak, that seemed to be working overtime trying to destroy my family.

He wasn’t just trying to tear my marriage apart, but also put a wedge between my mother-in-law and myself, and instead of stopping him from doing that, I aided the devil in it.

Once I understood that, it obviously didn’t automatically just solve all our problems. Far from it to tell you the truth. But it did allow me to change the way I prayed about the situation.

It was by faith that I made the choice to forgive her and for a long time I had to pray through gritted teeth “and please, Lord, bless her”, and just be obedient because the Bible does tell us in Luke 6:28 to “bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you”.

So the real enemy is not the person who dislikes you, but the devil trying to use that person to get to you.

Why? Why does the enemy care so much about you that he wants to attack, hurt and sabotage you?

We all have a purpose here on earth to further the Kingdom of God. We are all supposed to share the Gospel but let’s be honest for a moment, when you are all caught up in your own misery, how likely are you to spread the Gospel?

How charitable do you feel when you constantly deal with financial setbacks and live from paycheck to paycheck?

Do you step out in faith when you feel God is calling you to minister to the nations, when you constantly have somebody telling you how worthless you are and that you will never amount to anything?

Do you see where I’m going with this? As long as we are distracted by our own issues, believing the devil’s lies about ourselves, and just staying in our own little bubbles, we won’t do what God has called us to do.

So Satan is as real as God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit and he will do whatever he can do derail you. The Good News however is, that Jesus defeated him on the Cross and no matter what Satan does, he cannot win the final battle.

The sooner you realize and understand that, the quicker you can start to stand up to him when he tries to mess with your life, your family, your marriage, your job, your health, your finances, and whatever else he tries to steal, kill and destroy (see John  10:10).

This is war, but we are fighting on the winning side.

Equipping the Saints

/ Jelena McClellan / 2 Comments

One of the biggest issues in today’s Church is that we have strayed from the nitty-gritty truth found in the Bible in an effort to accommodate everyone and not to offend anyone. We pick and choose what we want to preach and teach and more often than not we opt for “feel-good-messages” instead of the whole story.

Don’the-sword-of-the-spiritt get me wrong, I like messages I can agree with wholeheartedly, that make me feel good and give me hope.  But there came a point when my world seemed to collapse and although reciting scriptures like Romans 8:28 or Jeremiah 29:11 helped to get me through some of the most difficult times of my life, it also seemed to just not be enough anymore.

I felt the urge to do more, to stand up and fight back but I had no idea if that was even possible. A woman in my church reached out to me at that point and began to teach me about Spiritual Warfare. That’s what started my journey as the call that God had placed on my life began to get louder and louder. The call to help others, to teach the saints, and to show you how you, too, can fight back when the enemy tries to wreak havoc in your life.

“Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” Ephesians 6:11

Jesus didn’t just die for us on the cross so that we could have eternal life but also so we could be set free: “The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free,” (Luke 4:18).

So the next time you feel the devil is trying to come into your life, steal from you, kill, and destroy (see John 10:10), remember that you are not helpless.

You have been given the armor of God as well as spiritual weapons. It is time to learn how to use them!