Gregory Dickow - Manifesting Your God-Given Blessing Through Spiritual Warfare
Welcome champions to this international and inspirational podcast, Think Like a Champion. We exist to create a community of champions and a culture of champion level thinking. That's why you're here. That's why I'm here. And I want to thank everyone who's written a review or shared this podcast on social media. I appreciate you partnering with me to help expand our community of champions. We need to teach people how to win in life. We need to teach people that's God's purpose. That's God's will for us. It's not winning over others. It's not winning and beating other people in life. It's winning and conquering what's right in front of you and becoming the best that you can be. It's. It's conquering previous versions of you. It's beating last year's version of you.
And next year we're going to beat this year's version of us. And we're going to keep getting more in a space of thinking like champions, loving like champions praying like champions, living like champions because God calls us more than conquers. That sounds like champion to me, doesn't it? To you? Well, let's get right into our content today and today I really want to connect the physical and the spiritual realm. Okay. We're not just thinking like champions, but we're acting like champions we're manifesting like champions. We're going to manifest our victory. We're going to manifest God's promises. We're going to use and apply and deploy spiritual warfare.
And this is a topic that most people misunderstand. I have a lot of different views about spiritual warfare than many might have. But I really believe that in this context, in Ephesians chapter six, it'll help illuminate what my my view of this is based on what the Bible teaches, and instead of wrestling with demons, instead of trying to get the victory over the forces of darkness, we need to realize we have the victory over these forces of darkness and learn how to exert our victory or learn how to put into motion what God has put into existence. So in Ephesians chapter six, it says, For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, right? So this is not we're not fighting people, but it's against principalities and against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places, spiritual forces in the air. What's already in the air.
The Bible says the invisible dominions that cast shadows over our lives. So he's telling us that in the air between Earth and Heaven is this realm of existence called the heavenly places. It's not heaven and it's not earth, but it's heavenly places. And our minds and our spiritual position abide in this heavenly place. And we are in this heavenly place, in spirit and in soul, to bring what's promised from heaven and holding being held in this heavenly place for us and bring those things and manifesting those things into the earth and when you learn how to pray like this, when you learn how to speak like this, when you learn how to manifest things in this way, it's really not my idea was God's idea. It's not my idea. It's the Bible's ideas, not my ideas. The way that God set up the universe, the blessing that we long for, the blessings that we that we find and read about in Scripture, they are in these heavenly realms. And as Ephesians two six says, that we're raised up with Christ and we're seated with him, He is seated us with Him in the heavenly realms, in Christ Jesus.
So we're positioned both in spirit and in truth, high above the dominion of the adversary and all of the forces of darkness. Our place in these heavenly realms is not a mere metaphor. Ephesians 1:20 through verse 22 declares, which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all, principality and power and might and dominion. So we're accessing where Jesus is seated. We're seated with Him, we're accessing that power that is in heaven, bringing it into this heavenly realm and then bringing it into this earthly world. The Scripture goes on to say where Jesus is seated, far above all, principality and power and might and dominion. This is a testament to our spiritual authority, our power to overcome whatever comes our way. It's where Jesus is and it's where we are seated with him as Ephesians two talks about now.
So our blessings, our hopes, our dreams, even the needs that we have for physical healing and physical well-being, they're all in the air. Look at look at what it says in Ephesians one three testifies to this praise be to to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. So these blessings are in heavenly places and their spiritual blessings, but spirit becomes flesh. Spirit takes on flesh when we pray. Jesus, the Spirit of God, the Son of God took on flesh and came to the earth and was a man. So the Bible says in the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Right? So if Jesus is the word that became flesh and dwelt among us, we realized then His blessings, his promises these are also words that are spiritual first, and then they come and are made into flesh through the words that we speak.
So when God said, Let there be light, there was no light outside of him when he said it, there was only light inside of him. But when he said it, it manifested outside of him. Okay, so these blessings, these promises, they respond to the call for action. They respond to the call of faith. They respond to the call and the anticipation. They they go where they're invited. They go where they're welcomed. You see these blessings go where they're invited. They come out of the air into manifestation. I know this may sound a little strange to people that have been taught maybe traditional things that are really contrary to the way God set up the universe.
And some some of us were taught "spiritual things" that are like, we're not supposed to have anything manifest. We're supposed to leave everything to God. And, you know, if we left everything to God, we'd have no farms, we'd have no corn. We'd have no we've have no we would have no wheat. We would have no milk from the- like if we left everything up to God... God didn't intend for us to leave everything up to Him. He charged us and gave us the stewardship to exert our God given authority and God given rights in this earth to manifest heavenly visions and heavenly promises into our earthly realm. Okay. That's. That's in every area of our lives. This is how God does things.
Now, so how do we send forth the invitation? How do we. Because the promises of God and the things of God, they're they they are attracted to where they're invited and where they are welcomed. A lot of the problem that people have Christians have is they don't think they can invite these things into their lives and they don't treat these things like they are welcome. Like I invite salvation. I invited salvation into my life by declaring what God says by speaking says in Romans ten nine, If we confess with our mouth, Jesus as Lord and believe in our heart that God raised from the dead, we shall be saved. Salvation is a gift Jesus already paid for in the heavenly places, right? He paid for it on Earth through his blood. But the gift of salvation is in the heavenly places. But it's. It's transferred or translated from the heavenly place into the earth, through my words. Through your words.
If we confess with our mouth, Jesus says, Lord, believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead, we'd be saved. We're not doing any of the salvation Jesus does all of that for free. By grace are we saved through faith, But activating that salvation, God puts it into existence, We put it into activation or we put it into operation with our words. So what is our battle strategy here for true spiritual warfare to manifest the things of God in our lives? And I realize spiritual warfare, most importantly, is to manifest the salvation of our family members, the salvation of people to our left and to our right, the salvation of the of our communities, salvation of our families, salvation of our loved ones and salvation of our unloved ones. The ones that don't love us or the ones that we don't even love. We still want them saved. Right.
So how do we go about what is the strategy? Step one We need to align our thoughts with God's thoughts. In Second Corinthians Chapter ten, verse three through five, he talks about spiritual warfare, warfare, pulling down strongholds, casting down imaginations and taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Now, we're not trying to he's not saying that we have to make sure we never have a disobedient thought. Never have a disobedient thought. Never have a disobedient thought. Because as soon as you tell yourself to never have a disobedient thought, guess what? You're going to have many disobedient thoughts. Because if I say to you, don't think of a pink elephant, you're going to just immediately picture a pink elephant, right? So when he says when he talks about the obedience of Christ, he's saying that the obedience of Christ is the obedience that was performed by Jesus Christ. He performed obedience by dying on the cross for our sins and rising from the dead. His obedience paid for our blessing.
It says in Galatians three that Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. Heaven become a curse for us, for curses, one that hangs on a tree or hangs on a cross, that the blessing and the promises would come to us in Christ Jesus. So you see obedience. The obedience of Christ is the obedience that He performed so that we could have the blessings, the obedience that he conducted, so that we can have the blessings of His obedience. He obeyed and he was made. He was made sin for us on the cross so that we would be made the righteousness of God. He never sinned, but He became sin as a substitute on the cross for us so that we could have the promise and the blessing of salvation and the blessing of all of God's promises.
So first we must get our alignment, align our thoughts with every thought that says it's yours already in Christ, the thoughts that say it's not yours. Those are the ones were taken captive. The thoughts that say you're never going to make it. Those are the ones were taken captive. The thought that says you can't do all things, we're taking that one captive because in Christ, because of his obedience. Now we can do all things through Christ, which strengthens us, Philippians 413 tells us. God will never meet my needs... wrong! Lie! We're taking that captive because it says, How do we take that captive? We speak what the promise of God says, which is my God shall supply all your need according to His riches and glory.
So, number one, we must align our thinking with the finished work of the cross. Number two, step two We must align our actions so we, when we believe something, we believe that God will supply our need. We believe that God's grace is sufficient for us. We must take some action. What is the next step to take in our life in order to receive the blessing of God's provision, in the blessing of God's healing, the blessing of of God's increase, the blessing of your family salvation. Take some action. What is the next step? For example, instead of being anxious when I take the next step, when I exert some form of action, it extinguishes anxiety and it extinguishes fear of being let down.
So, for example, in the case of the blessing of my family's salvation, all of my family members saved. That promise is found in chapter 16. It's a blessing in Christ. And so what is the action step that I take? The first step I'm going to take is I'm going to bring that promise to God and I'm going to say, God, you said you would save all my family members. I'm praying and I'm asking you, So what am I doing? I'm now taking an action and I'm creating a movement that's going to create momentum towards that thing. Manifesting prayer will help that manifest. Being kind will help that manifest. Asking your family member to forgive you if you were harsh to them or or mean to them or self-righteous to them. Like we think we sometimes think.
We can't admit our faults to our unsaved family members, but those are the ones we should very much admit our faults to in the hopes that they would realize that we're really trying to be humble and trying to be Christ like. And and in that action step could make a difference. We don't do it to manipulate, but that action is a movement towards the momentum of the manifestation of that promise. So act in a way that reflects what you believe. Okay, Step three Align your spirits. And when I say align your spirit, your spirit is perfect when it's born again. But what I mean by that is to understand the greater purpose, that the higher purpose for God's blessing, the greater purpose of the blessing, the greater purpose of the promises of God, understand the purpose, the why behind the blessing.
So I can give you some examples. The Bible says we are we are blessed to be a blessing in Genesis. We're blessed so that we can be a blessing. Here's see now we're now we are aligning our spirit with the right motive or the right reason for the blessing. We're blessed to be a blessing. We're blessed to win this world to Jesus. We're blessed to enjoy God's goodness. We're blessed to leave an inheritance to our children and our children's children. You see the why behind the blessing? We're not blessed so we can be selfish. We're not blessed so we can brag, We're not blessed so we can boast. We're not blessed with the manifestation of answered prayer, the manifestation of God's promises in our lives... so that we can feel happier and feel better about ourselves.
We're blessed with these things to be a blessing. We're blessed with these things to make an impact. We're blessed with these things to change our community. We're blessed with these things to leave an inheritance. We're blessed with these things to win souls. Woo You getting this? Step four Believe you have received. So we have to align our expectation now. So we are aligning our thinking. We're aligning our actions were aligning our reasons, motives, our spirits. We're aligning our expectation. Like if we ask for something, we need to start expecting it to show up. We need to ask, expecting to receive. Jesus said, ask and it shall be given to you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and the door will be opened. You like that door knock? Well, for now, that's all I got. You get this.
Listen, life is lived in one of two ways. We live and if you think about your life, you're living in one of these two realities. You're living in anticipation of something to come or in reflection of something that came. Every one of us do this. Often times we are using these two forces anticipation and reflection. We're using them with negative energy. So we're expecting something bad to happen. That's anticipation. And we're only remembering the bad things that happen. That's negative reflection. But if we if we flip the script on anticipation and reflection and start anticipating the good things and looking back, reflecting on the good things, then we are building a spiritual atmosphere, an environment for the impossible, the impossible to become possible. We're creating an environment of expectation. The Bible says whatever a person fears comes upon them.
So if we fear something bad is going to happen, we're giving we're giving our energy and our faith to a negative expectation. And it's usually a negative expectation is going to come in the same way. If we would give our energy to a expectation of God's promises, like my favorite, one of my favorites is in some 27, verse 13, I, I would have despaired. I would have been discouraged. I would have quit giving up and fainted if I did not unless I believed. David goes on to say, Unless I believed I would see the goodness of God in the land of the living. You see, He He is describing negative emotions that will that will overtake you and overwhelm you unless you believe you will see the promises of God's goodness in your life.
So we have to align our expectation and be expecting and we have to envision these blessings coming our way in vision. Good things come. Expect something good to happen in your life today. Expect something good. Feel the joy of it before it even manifests. And step five We need to align our gratitude. So we're aligning a few things here. We're getting in alignment and we need to align our gratitude. We need to realize faith doesn't say God will you? Faith doesn't say God, can you? Faith says God, thank you. Listen, expressing your thanks for what God has done and expressing your thanks in advance for what God has promised. This kind of gratitude is a is an engine. It's a powerful catalyst to the promises of God showing up in your life. It's a magnet for more of God's blessing and more of God's promise.
You say, That's selfish. You shouldn't want more. No, it's selfish to not want more. Because if you don't want more, that means you only want enough for yourself. That's selfish, but if you want more because you know that you're blessed to be a blessing. I don't mean just more money. I'm talking about more happiness, more joy, more peace, more kindness. Why don't we focus on those things? We can have those things if we ask for them to. We can have the fruit of the spirit if we ask for, you know, the fruit of spirit, if we eat of it, if we receive it right. Sometimes people are preprogramed with negative negativity attached to anything that's preaching positivity.
Of course, the devil disguises the gospel and makes people think that, Oh, you're promising too much to people. Really? Because I'm not making up any of these promises. God has made these promises. And second Corinthians one verse 20 says, For all the promises of God in Christ, our yes and with us is the Amen. He says Yes, and we just say, Amen. So be it. Wow, it's really powerful when you thank God. You know, we talked about this last time as well, that when you ask for something that God promised already, we're not trying to make stuff up When we asked for something that God already promised. We need to believe we receive it the moment we ask and it will show up, it'll manifest. But we have to believe we receive it. And the proof that we believe we've received it is by thanking God for it, by gratitude. And then step six Speak it. Declare your dreams. Get your words in alignment. Get your get your declaration in alignment. Declare your dreams out loud. Declare the promises of God out loud. Your words have power to manifest your true desires.
Mark 11:24 There's something very powerful in the King James Bible. I love this translation says therefore, Jesus said, Therefore I say to you whatsoever things you desire, whatsoever you desire when you pray, believe you have received them, and you shall have them. I didn't make that up. Jesus, did. You got a problem with it? Talk to him about it. You know what you got to do to talk to him about it? Talk to him about it. You want to talk to him and make sure that you have exactly the right answer and you never make a mistake about what he meant. When you die and go to heaven, you can figure that all out because he'll make it very, very clear what he meant. I might be missing it a little. I might be missing it a lot, but I'm not going down without believing and trusting for the big things that God said he can do in our lives.
In fact, he tells us whatever we can think or ask. He'll do even more abundantly. He is able to do exceeding abundantly above and beyond all that we can ask, think or imagine. That's our Heavenly Father. Start expecting amazing things to happen in your life. One final step for today. Believe, Believe you've got it. Have faith in the promises of God. Have faith in the process. Things evolve. Your faith is a great, great weapon. You are a champion and champions need the right equipment and the right weapons and the spiritual realm. Your champion. You're not in a place of defeat, but in a position of victory. We're not fighting to get the victory. We're fighting from a place of victory.
Remember, Ephesians two four says, Love this passage. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive in Christ. Even when we were dead in our transgressions and sins by grace, you have been saved. And now he has seated us with him in heavenly places. So take these steps. Believe, invite, get in alignment, Get these things in alignment. Take charge of the spiritual warfare that you have the power to control. Don't live in fear. Live in faith. When you live in faith, fear goes. When you live in love and faith, knowing that God loves you and knowing and believe His promises, your blessings are going to come out from where they are in the air into manifestation in your life. Invite them. Welcome them. They're meant for you. They're meant for you. God did it for you.