Warfare prayer of the soldiers of the Army of Jesus to bind and destroy the works of the devil

Let us bind and destroy the works of the devil in the name of Jesus Christ who has conquered sin, satan, curse and death on the cross

Psalm 7:4  The spirit which makes one plunder the enemy without cause

whole body will be full of light

“The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.

Eye photographs things and  the images are recorded  in mind. The picture or image it imprints in your mind remains forever. In this perspective, we can say that eye is the most important of all the five senses. Because the image it has imprinted in

your memory and mind is most unlikely to be  changed by any other senses like hearing, touch or  smell . As  a good camera takes good photos, the picture  taken by a  good  physically and spiritually healthy eye   will be proper. If the eye is sick, the photo it takes  and records  will not be correct. When we invite videographer for a function, we look for the best man who takes good photographs. Sick eyes will take wrong photographs. Either there will be double vision, or wrong vision.

In another version of the  Bible, the same verse is given like this.

Mat 6:22  “The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light”. In this version the word ‘healthy’ is substituted by "single". What is ‘Single vision”?

1. When we read the Bible, we should see it in the same way as God sees it. The problem of God with Israel was that whatever God said to them was seen by them in a different way. They had vision problem.

And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, of the giants. And we were in our own sight like grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. Num 13:33 

Today the problem of God with His children is the same. When He says something, we have to believe it. We should utter  the same words along with our loving Father. e.g. when the Lord says,

 “Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life”. Isa 43:4  Confess it as it is,  in faith.

The whole world might tell you, “You are stupid, good for nothing etc… you should look at yourself with a  single eye and say, “I am precious in my Father’s eyes, and honoured, and He loves me”.

The Practical

Given the right circumstances, a private home can be the ideal setting for a church meeting.  The smaller, homey setting fosters the genuine friendships. The Lord's Supper celebrated as a holy meal in this relaxed, unhurried, comfortable setting helps build unity and love. Since a home is usually not big enough to accommodate a huge number of people, participatory worship wherein each person contributes according to his spiritual gift is much more intimate and meaningful. Also, with no joint ownership of property, the carnal temptation to fight over such things as the color of the carpet can be avoided. House churches can be simple, wonderful, down-to-earth (yet touching heaven) expressions of new covenant church life. J. Vernon McGee predicted, “the Christians met in homes. I used to hold the viewpoint and I still do .. that as the church started in the home, it is going to come back to the home.”[24]  

comparing apples and oranges. Scholars tell us the early church met in the homes of its wealthier members. This was probably because of the large size of the home and the ability of the host to provide much of the food for the love feast. Roman villas typically also served as a center for commerce. The front two rooms facing the street were often stores fronts. A hallway between the two led into the home’s atrium. At the far end of the atrium was the business office. Thus it was not unusual for strangers to be in and out of a home. Further, there were typically multiple generations of family under the same roof. In addition, the household employed servants and their families. These were big, semi-public houses. There were large areas in which the church could gather, such as the atrium. Walls between adjoining rooms off the atrium could be removed to create a large area. Beyond the business office was an even larger semi-covered and completely enclosed courtyard. Enough believers gathered to make disciples, manifest a variety of spiritual gifts (and multiple people with the same gift), to have a plurality of elders and financially support qualified elders (who were thus freed to provide in depth teaching and leadership). They also probably had more of an Asian mindset to crowding than we do in the West; there may have been 150 people in an early house church.

Many modern homes are simply too small to hold enough believers to have the strength of a New Testament church. In modern Western house churches there often is no one qualified to serve as elder (such men are in short supply) and no one gifted to teach. Consequently, lacking leadership, the church becomes more of a “bless me” club. The fellowship at the Agape is fantastic and often the worship is wonderful and the kids have a good play time together, but no discipleship is really taking place.  Outreach is nil.  The congregation is so small there is no way a pastor could be supported. Though house churches are at the opposite end of the spectrum from mega-churches, it is important to avoid the mistake of thinking toosmall. Like Goldilocks’ porridge, the size should be just right; not to small and not too big.

To function as effectively as the early church functioned, modern church structures, sizes and systems must be carefully considered. The structure should be informal, the size of the community ought to be relatively small and the seating arrangement flexible. Since every member’s participation and ministry was highly valued and encouraged in the early church, a large home is still a good setting wherein every person can comfortably contribute and function for the edification of the whole body of Christ.

Regretfully, due to the structure and the order of churches today, we are often missing some very important purposes of church gatherings — fellowship and one another encouragement. Church is not about passively attending formal services; neither is it to be a program. It is a people. Worship is not going to a service but doing service to one another. It should be about intimate fellowship with one another and actively encouraging one another. It is about interdependently functioning for the edification of all.

We are suggesting that the apostolic church did not erect church buildings in large part because they simply didn’t need them. The letters which were written to the various New Testament churches were mostly written to house churches. Because they are written to house churches the instructions contained in them are geared to work in a smaller congregation.

A reformation is needed to help God’s people function more effectively and biblically. We must never forget that any church paradigm is weak and lacks life without the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God is the life of the church; without Him any church is dead. Let us seek to be clothed with the power from on high as we constantly seek to establish His Kingdom on earth.  May the Lord abundantly pour out His Spirit upon His body, the church!

by Steve Atkerson (To be Continued)