Claiming Victory Through Prayer and Spiritual Warfare

We know something did shift in Covid. Come on. So much so that when we stepped into this new era, we didn’t just sit in our living room and say, well, on the calendar on this day, on January the 1st, 2020 through, oh, it says a new era started. Well, Hallelujah. No, new era does not come on your calendar because it’s not a date.

It’s not a time, but it’s when something has happened in the atmosphere that begins to shift and begins to move. Look at your neighbor and say he’s shifting and moving us. There’s a culture shift when a new era comes in. And I believe that we’re both in peril in prophetic times. Do you believe that we’re wrong things right and right things wrong?

And the Word of God is trying to be taken out of our society. When kids say, in God we trust, it said the other day, in us we sound like we’re really, come on. But I heard this in the spirit the other morning when I was praying. Come on, the Word of God cannot be canceled as long as you carry that word on the inside of you.

Amen. So we’re living in this season that we don’t really know what is ahead of us, because new means something you’ve never, ever experienced before. You’ve never experienced. There’s no pattern to follow when you’re doing church planning. Just throw everything away because it’s something new that is happening. And it sounds like you all are doing the new thing with businessmen and doing things with the schools and everything that’s happening.

But I heard in the spirit when I was praying one morning, and I was just talking to the Lord, just saying, God, what is all of this about? Why are they trying to take your word out, and why are they removing things from the school and indoctrinating our babies with all this nonsense of who you are and this gender confusion?

And I was just unloading on the Lord, that’s all. And he said, it doesn’t have to go this way. He said it very clearly. He said, it does not have to go this way. If the righteous will rise up, it can go another way. That’s what the Lord said. He said it can go another way.

And then he said this: He said, I’m awakening my people, and the spiritual wombs of intercessors are leaping and conceiving something new and are about to give birth. Now relax, Sarah. I’m not saying in the natural, grandma and grandpa. Well, grandpa, well, we won’t go there. I do a lot of women’s conferences. If I say gals a lot, you guys, you just understand I’m talking to you too, okay?

But birthing something in the spirit is when God is wanting to birth something new on the earth. Romans 8:28 says we don’t even know how to pray. Sometimes in these new seasons like this, we don’t know how to pray. But he said that the spirit would make intercession through us with groanings and travailing, and that is what he’s doing now.

We’re birthing things when we go into the spirit realm, and we begin to cry out to God, and we begin to have sounds that we don’t even know where those sounds come from. But it’s okay, because it’s the Lord wanting us to release his will on the earth. He set it up that way. I don’t know why he would trust me.

Maybe he can’t. You know, maybe he’s like, this is just something that I want to birth through Sheila Bowling, or I want to birth it through Selene, and Selene will be faithful to do this. Pat might not, but Selene will. Like he said. Yes, Amen. But the overcoming church is going to prevail. Amen. Because the church has the keys to the kingdom, and the gates of hell cannot stop what God wants to happen.

So as we began to do what he spoke to me that morning about, we began to pray and travail. And I know in the last days it talks about a shaking that’s going to happen, and everything that can be shaken will be shaken. And I was thinking about that the other day and about the shaking. And when you have an earthquake and it shakes things like this, or you can shake a milkshake like this, but it’s really nothing moves.

But things begin to fall off. And we know God’s cleansing the house of God. Never before have I seen so many men and women that are leaving the church and repenting. And thank God they’re repenting. But he’s shaking up the church. He’s getting us ready. He’s preparing us for what is ahead. Look at your neighbor and say he’s preparing you.

He’s preparing you. So shaking just shatters up and shakes up stuff. But when things begin to shift, and that’s what we’re experiencing is a shift in our culture. When that begins to happen, like an earthquake, things begin to shift. That’s where you see, like the Grand Canyon, that things actually physically shifted. And things are spiritually now shifting, and we’re trying to catch up with what it is that God is wanting us to do.

Amen. He says in this word in Revelation that there are bowls of prayer that are on the altar, and those bowls are filled up with the prayers that we have prayed and that we’ve cried out. And it says that when they tip over, they will at one time tip over on the earth. And I’m like, I’m trying to visualize what is that going to look like when they tip over on the earth?

I believe that all at once, that’s when that great harvest is going to come, because I believe that all of those that you’re believing and praying for to be saved are going to get saved all at once, all around the world. Come on. I’m talking about a revival that’s not just a city revival, not just a church revival, but a global revival.

And his prayers come out and miracles and signs and wonders. Legs are going to grow, and arms are going to grow, and eyes are going to open when our prayers all tip out in America. Amen, Amen. So I’ve been hearing it’s harvest time, and that’s why I’m going to kind of land here right now, just talking to you about it’s harvest time.

So for you that are believing for your loved ones, it’s harvest time. If you’re believing for that wife or that husband, it’s harvest time. If you’re believing for your son and your daughter, it’s harvest time. I think there should be some rejoicing when we think about it’s harvest time. Come on, let’s give a shout to the Lord. Hallelujah!

We believe that. Oh, God, we believe that it is a season. Oh, Father. Hallelujah! Revelation 14, I’m going to read it from the Message. That might sound just a little bit different, and I’m going to read from verses 14 through 16. It says, “I,” who is John, “looked up and caught my breath.” There’s that word breath again. A white cloud and one like the Son of Man, which is Jesus, the Lord of the harvest, was sitting on it.

He wore a gold crown and held a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, shouting in the cloud and throne, “Swing your sickle and reap its harvest time.” Say it’s harvest time, it’s harvest time. Come on, the earth’s harvest is ripe. That first sickle is that harvest that comes before he comes. The second sickle that you talk about, you can read it in Revelation. It’s talking about judgment. So we, his harvesters on the earth now, are the ones that have the sickle in our hands. And we’re going to be the ones that are going to begin to reap that great harvest. He doesn’t want one person to perish. If you’re here today and you experienced the presence of the Lord, at the end of the service there will be ministers down here.

Just come down and let them pray for you. Don’t leave here. We know we have no promise of tomorrow. Don’t leave here not knowing him as your Lord and your Savior. Amen, Amen. In John 4:35 it says, Jesus said to his followers, “Open your eyes, and look at the fields; they are ripe for harvest.” Being a farm girl, I was raised on a farm.

Yeah, I wore bib overalls. I wore boots that were rubber boots up to here, wore a cap with no bling-bling on my farm. But we milked cows. We did everything. We had over 100 acres of crops. So I understand when he’s saying, “Open your eyes, the harvest is ripe.” And then he begins to say that the grain begins to turn a bell white.We he’s talking to us about. This is an urgent time to get this harvest because wheat is usually kind of like a brownish goldish color. Once it turns white, when he was talking about it turning white, it’s ready to fall down. And then you’ve lost your harvest. And so that’s what he’s talking about when he says the fields are white and the harvest. He’s stressing the importance of getting into those fields before it’s too late.

There is always an urgency at the right time to go out every time, the right time. But there is a season when his harvest is ripe, and he tells us that in his word, that we have to go. Look at your neighbor and say, he’s preparing you. There’s over 8 billion people in the world right now. Only one-third of them confess to be followers, and that’s 4.5 billion people that we need to reach before he comes back.

And I believe that Jesus, the Lord of the harvest, is standing, and he’s ready to take his sickle and reap. And why do I say that? Because it’s harvest time. It’s harvest time. Come on. Before he comes back for his church, before he comes back for us, he is going to bring a revival that is going to sweep this nation, and it’s going to begin like it is here at Word of Life Church.

It’s going to begin in an overcoming church. You’re being prepared. You’re getting ready to go out into the harvest field. Amen. He’s coming. He’s not going to just bring the harvest into any church. He’s going to bring the harvest into an overcoming church that is passionate, that is pure, that is holy. It says that without spot, without wrinkle, without blemish, that’s what he’s going to bring his harvest into—this last day’s harvest.

And I believe that he’s been preparing this church for such a time as this. And I don’t believe that you chose to be here by accident, but he chose you to be here. Do you believe that he chose you to be here today? If God needed a Smith Wigglesworth, he’d have Smith Wigglesworth here. If he had needed a Charles Finney here, he’d have had a Charles Finney here.

If he needed all the great revivalists and all the great prophets, he would have had them here. But he chose you to be here because in your mother’s womb, he had already developed you and already formed you and prepared you for this people in this region. And God is going to use you. Look at your neighbor and say, he’s going to use you for this great harvest.

Come on, he is going to use you. I believe that the anointing of John the Baptist is being released already on the earth, where he said to make a people ready, prepared for the Lord. We just had. You probably heard about the Hurricane Helene that hit in the mountains of Tennessee and in the Asheville area. And this wasn’t something that was planned.

This was a disaster, a disastrous thing that happened. I mean, who heard of a hurricane in the mountains? But when it happened, mudslides and things began to just wipe out whole cities and whole homes and whole families. But what happened is when they were not allowing some people to come in, our church and other churches began to go in and take in supplies and help people.

And what began to happen was because of this disastrous time. And the people were desperate. Guess who they were calling upon? They were calling upon Jesus. So as they were pulling them out of the mudslide, they were being saved. And they were pulling them off the roof, where they were up there to get away from the flood. They were being saved.

When they pulled them out of the trees, they were being saved. And the great harvest has begun. Amen. I read yesterday there were 328 baptized in this little town up in the mountains, and they had to go in on horseback to get to some of these people because you can’t even get there by any natural road. They’re mountain climbers climbing the mountains and going down to get them.

And why am I saying that? Because in Matthew 24, it talks about the signs of the times, and one of them is all of these disastrous things like earthquakes. The one in Florida that just happened—there were four tornadoes that came right in before the hurricane. That’s unheard of. The church had better get ready.

We’d better be ready to get this great harvest. I believe God is wanting to take us spiritually to places that we’ve never been before. I believe that he’s going to take us into some new territories. Maybe some places you’ve tried here in Milwaukee, maybe at the bottom of the valley, at the top of the mountain, wherever that is, that down that you have tried before and you’ve been like, they’re just not ready. Go again.

Go again, because now it is harvest time. And I’m prophetically telling you, church, it is time to go out into those highways and byways. And I’m not talking just as a church. I’m talking individually, that you go out. Have you seen the revivals on the streets in America? They’re on the streets. They’re out there again with just a little mic and a little speaker, and they’re calling people in. And they’re not saying, oh, repent, or you’re going to hell.

That was yesterday. That’s not today. Jesus loves you. He loves you so much, and he gave his only begotten son. And they’re giving altar calls, and they are being saved by the hundreds. They even have, what do they call them, circuit riders now. Oh, come on, God is wanting to stir us up and wake us up and get us ready.

And you might want to draw back and say, I’m not really, I’m a capacitor, Sheila. I’m full of the Holy Ghost power of God. And I’m glad you’re filled with the Holy Ghost and the power of God. But there is so much more that we need to do. Come on. There’s more territories to take. There are more babies to save.

Come on. There are more churches to build. There are nations to save. There is more. Look at your neighbor and say, there’s more to do. There’s more to do. Hallelujah. So I’m going to go and just kind of hang there. If you have your Bible with you, I’m going to go to the first chapter of Joshua. I’m not going to go any further in that.

And these guys up here, you’re doing great with PowerPoint. I throw some verses in that you don’t have. So it’s okay, right? Oh, great. They still like me. All right. So in the first chapter of Joshua, there are some keys that we want to look at. And I’m not going to give you all of them. I had so many keys I was like, oh my gosh, that would take us all morning.

That would be a seminar. And I know we got to eat after this. And so I’m not going to give them all to you, but I am going to give you a few of these that help successively make this divine shift with God in this new era. Joshua and the people were entering a new era. They had wandered around for 40 years, stuck in the wilderness, and they were about ready to cross over into the land that God had promised them.

God appointed Joshua to take the people to Canaan. He appointed him. And he emphasizes in these first chapters about how important it is to be obedient, obedient, so obedient. Command. The word “command” is used eight times in this first chapter. So during transition times that we’re in right now, it is very important that we have courage to obey the Lord and to do it quickly.

So in verse two, God gave Joshua these instructions: Moses, my servant, is dead. Now therefore arise and go over Jordan, and take all the people into the land which I have given them. So in other words, Moses is dead, but our God is still alive. Say, he’s alive. He’s alive. Say it again. He’s alive. God was announcing to Joshua, it’s now your time.

You’ve been trained, you’ve already been equipped, and now you’re the one to take these people into the promised land. It’s your turn. That’s what he was saying to them. It’s your turn. And this is going to happen. You’re going to be the one, Joshua, that’s going to do it. And I don’t know how Joshua felt. I know how I might have felt.

I might have felt a little insecure because I’d watched Moses and how Moses had done everything. But Moses wasn’t the one that took them into that promised land. It was Joshua that took them. And God tells him, he says, I don’t want you to wait any longer. In three days, we’re going to cross. Say, in three days.

They had been waiting for 40 years. I can’t imagine what they thought. Maybe they thought, well, you know, we’ve been here 40 years. God, what’s Joshua doing telling us? I don’t think he heard you right. God, I think I don’t think he said in three days. And by the way, God, did you know that the Jordan right now is flooded?

Did you know that there’s a mess in there? There’s all kinds of debris and all kinds of stuff, and maybe this just isn’t the right time. I’m sure they were doubting. I’m sure they were saying, you know, I don’t know, Joshua. People really heard correctly, but God was very specific. And Joshua had the courage to obey.

He said, in three days we’re going to go. We’re going to cross that river that is flooding right now. In verse five, it tells us that no one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. So when that fear comes on us, maybe of the new or what’s coming up, sometimes transitioning can be very messy because you’re the only

one that really knows that you’ve heard from God, and maybe people would doubt you..But during this time of transition, you have to have the courage to obey. And he’s telling Joshua, lead them into the land, and I want to declare over you Word of Life Church, lead the people, lead the people. Pastors, lead the apostles, lead them. People, there’s people that God has assigned to each one of you.

Your workplaces, your family. And God is saying to you, lead these people and go and take in the harvest. Do you believe that today? Do you believe that? I believe that. I believe that he’s wanting us to know that he has given us all authority and all power, and that he is telling us that the Almighty God, when he said, “I am with you,” that means he is with us always.

All the time, and we carry the warrior. God is a warrior, and because he’s a warrior, we’re a warrior. Look at your neighbor and go, “I am a warrior.” And I know you think, “Oh, well, it’s really dark right now. Maybe we should wait until things clear up just a little bit after. Maybe after the election, or, you know, after that.” Because I don’t want people asking me any questions. I don’t want to go there. Just let me tell you, God is going to take care of you. He’s going to fill your mouth like he did Jeremiah, and he’s going to give you the words to say. He’s going to give you the words to speak. Amen. And so God is letting us know that we are not grasshoppers.

Come on. We’re not some little weak, dynamic little people that don’t know what they’re talking about, don’t know what they’re doing. You’ve been prepared, and you’ve been equipped for this great harvest. And I believe that. Now. Say, “Now.” Now is the time. Amen. So I don’t believe that we’re going to draw in the lost with just gift cards.

I mean, if you do that, I’m sorry, but maybe that works. But I don’t believe that the church is going to draw in this community and all that’s going on with just giving them a gift card. He’s not going to be drawn in because the Easter bunny is coming on Easter. Come on. The city is not going to be drawn in because Santa Claus is here at Christmas.

He’s going to be drawn in by the power of God. And that’s what you all are cultivating right now, is the presence of the Lord. And when you cultivate this presence like this, come on, I’m telling you, people are going to begin to stop their cars and say, “What in the world, what’s going on in this house?” And they’re going to begin to be drawn in by his presence.

Come on. The harvest is not looking for us to be the smartest people or the sharpest people. Come on, they want to know, how did you make it? How did you overcome? And testimonials are really what it’s a great way to reach out to the lost, begin to tell them how you made it, what you used to do, and what happened to you.

And that is what is grabbing now, especially our young adults. They’re like, “I don’t care how good they preach. Pastor Sheila, how did they make it? How did they overcome?” And that’s what they want to know because of all the things that they’re going through—the mental illness and all that’s happening, the depression and the oppression. They feel like they can’t make it.

But the church is here to tell them, you can make it. You can do this. You can overcome. Amen. Come on and give the Lord another big hand clap for that.

Hallelujah. So Joshua 1:6 says, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.” So God is calling Joshua back to the promise that he made to Abraham. And whenever we go through these hard times of transitions, it’s imperative to remember what God has spoken to you.

Come on, what he said to you about what’s going to happen, the prophetic words. Like this morning, I was hearing them. You got to begin to pull those words down, just like Paul told Timothy to wage a good warfare through the prophecies that have been given to you, that have been spoken over you. And Paul began to talk to Timothy about pulling those words down.

And I want you, church, you are full of the prophetic word. I mean, I heard the prophetic more probably in this altar than I’ve heard in a long time this morning. And so you have to realize that God has gifted you with the prophetic word, and he’s wanting you now to pull those words down and begin to speak them out in prayer and begin to release them.

Come on. In this atmosphere, in my walk, I don’t know much about my walk. I should have probably researched it, but I do know there are good, godly people in my walk because I know you guys. But he’s saying pull those words down and begin to use those against the enemy. There’s always going to be a battle over the harvest.

It’s going to come whenever you’re plowing up the ground. It’s not going to come when you’re putting that seed in the ground or tending it. But when it’s harvest time, there is going to be a battle like you have never seen before. And that’s what I’m telling you, is to be prepared for it. You women know if you have unexpected company coming in, you’ve got diapers on the floor and everything’s a mess, and you’re just not ready for them.

You’re not prepared, and we don’t want to be that in the spirit. We don’t want to not be prepared for what is coming because we know what’s coming. Like 1 Peter said, he said, “Be alert because your enemy is coming to devour you.” He’s not coming to devour the people out in the world, he’s coming to devour you.

You’re like, “I can’t get caught up in that, Pastor Sheila. Really? Really.” Yeah. He came to devour you. You might say, “He can’t sneak up on me and eat me all at once. You can’t gulp me down all at one time.” But he can take a little bit at a time. He can begin to speak lies to you.

He can begin to say things to you like, “It’s not time for you.” Or he can say, “You’re not equipped to go out and preach or to minister the gospel. You’re not equipped to witness to somebody else.” He’ll tell you, “You know, I know your past. There’s nothing that you can do about it.” And the devil will come in, and he is sly, and he will come in to try to get you off-key.

But now you’re hearing this word, and I want you all to just say, “He won’t eat me. I don’t care if he puts some pepper on me. He ain’t getting me.” Amen. Nope, nope, he ain’t doing it. Things are just unfolding though, and the enemy does not want you to get to the place of harvest time. He doesn’t want the world to get to the place of harvest time.

And I believe that a lot of times it will bring confusion. Am I like talking too fast? Oh great, because I talk really fast. Okay, for three years, I believe, you know, when Jesus was with the disciples, they were happy, right? They were just on top of the world. But whenever he went away, they came to a point of frustration, and maybe a little bit, you know, Peter—Peter’s always going to say something.

Peter says, “What are we going to do? What’s up with that? What’s up?” Yeah, that’s what he said. So the enemy will try to confuse you, to stop you from your destiny. For three years, Jesus had been there with them. They watched him die. Then he was raised from the dead, and they were so excited. But then he left again, and they felt like something this time might be permanent.

I feel like they were a little confused about that, and they said, “He talked to us about the Holy Ghost, and I don’t know what that is. I don’t understand that. But it would have made more sense if Jesus would have just stayed here with us on the earth.” And then Peter said, “I’m going fishing.” He said, “I’m just going to go back.” I think essentially he was saying, “I’m just going to go back to what I know and understand.” He said, “I’m going back. I’m going fishing.” And some of them decided to go back with him. But Jesus interrupted them and sent them back on their path as apostles again. And then you know what happened. Remember the day of Pentecost?

And that was right after that. See, the devil wanted to abort what was going to come in this next era that they were ready to step into. And that was when the fire and the power of the Holy Ghost came down upon them. And they walked out of that room, and 3,000 immediately were saved, maybe more. And so they turned their world upside down.

Amen, Amen. I believe that’s what God is saying to us as we’re ready to enter into our—not ready—we have entered into this new era, that there is something that he is going to have each one of us do that’s just a little bit different. And we’re going to have to just stand, and we’re going to have to—you know, the disciples would have got their mind back.

I believe, I believe. You know, I’m just paraphrasing what happened with them. I don’t know that was exactly what happened, but I know how it happens with us sometimes. If we don’t understand something, confusion comes in, and then we want to stop, and that’s what the enemy wants to do. He wants to stop us in our tracks. AndRevelation 12 talks about the accuser of the brethren, and that is one of the major attacks.

When you enter into a new era that is going to come. And so we’re going to kind of stop right here, and I want you all to stand with me. You’re like, why are you stopping abruptly? Because I felt like the Lord said, stop now. They said, stop now. Let’s deal with this spirit right now. So we’re going to deal with the spirit, and then we’re going to pray for some people if they want prayer.

I’ll be glad to pray with you. Hallelujah. So in Ephesians 12, it says the accuser comes day and night to accuse the brethren. And so what he does is the lies that he speaks over you are meant to stop you from going forward into moving into the next season that God has for you. And so I just want you to raise your hands, begin to pray in the spirit, hold him accountable.

Come on. He stopped me on purpose. There might be somebody here right now that he has under such an attack. I want to go to the handheld. Thank you.

Come on and pray. Come on, stir your spirit up. I come against every lying spirit right now that has come to hold you back, to stop you from what God has called you to do. There are people in this room right now who have just said, “I’m done. I’m not going to do anymore.” And I break that lying spirit right now off of you in the name of Jesus, the accuser of the brethren. Come on, right now it’s broken in Jesus’ name. Oh yes, Lord, we thank you, Father. Come on and pray.

The accuser of the brethren has come to rob and to steal from you the harvest that God has in your hands right now. Come on. He’s put a sickle in your hand. Come on, and He wants you to use that sickle now, in this region and in your family. Oh, I thank you, Father. I thank you, Lord. Oh, we bind up now every lying spirit in the name of Jesus, every lying spirit that has come to destroy your family, to destroy your homes now, in the name of Jesus.

Oh, Jesus, I thank you right now. God, I praise you, Father, that you are moving. You are moving in the homes, God. Even when we don’t see it, you’re moving. We know you’re moving, God. You’re shifting and you’re rearranging. Oh God, I thank you right now. There’s no principality, no power above your name. Oh God. Oh, Father, I thank you right now that we already have the victory in you, God. And we just remind the devil right now. We remind him that he is under our feet. He is under our feet. Oh, yes, Lord. Come on, somebody, you need to just go down.

Cast down every imagination, every thought the enemy has brought to you that would hinder you, that would stop you, that would contain you. Come on, we cast it down now in the name of Jesus. We cast it down now in the name of Jesus. Oh, yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Oh, yes Lord. Yes. Oh, come on and be praying.

Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Father. Oh, we magnify you, God. We magnify you, God. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Yes, God. Yes, God. Some of you are not saying yes because you’re like, “I don’t know what’s going to happen if I say yes.” I want you to know right now, your yes is your destiny. Your yes is your destiny. God is calling you to come forth. He’s calling you to go further. He’s calling you to come up right now into His presence. Come on and pray. Come on. He’s here right now. He’s here right now. He’s here right now to set you free. Come on.

The enemy said, “You’ve been through too much.” Say no to the devil. I break that lie off your mind. I call it null and void right now in the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. Oh, the devil! Come on, the devil doesn’t have any say over your blessing. The devil has no right to tell you anything like that. You know for sure. It’s here to remind you that you’re ahead.

Oh, come on and pray. Come on. We gotta know that when we step into spiritual warfare, the war is over your harvest. Come on. When we step into it, we gotta know. We gotta put on the full armor. Come on, we got everything it takes to win. We got everything He’s given to us. Come on. You got the helmet. Come on, when you turn on your full armor. When you get up, when you pray. You begin to believe God. And He’s going to do it for you. He’s done it before, and He’s going to do it again.

Pray, church, pray. You’re pulling down strongholds right now in this community. We pray for this great harvest right now in the name of Jesus. Oh, we declare, Lord, we walk in Your power, Lord.

You gotta surrender in this time. Surrender, surrender, surrender, surrender, surrender. His will, His will, His will. We break every lie, every lying spirit. We break it now. We break it, we break it, we break it now, in the name of Jesus.

Thank you, Lord. I want to give you just one last thing, and then I’m going to turn this over. In the Bible, in James 4:7, it says, “Submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee.” So a lot of times we just allow things to hit us because we’re like, “Yeah, you know, I’m just in a bad season.” And you don’t really go and break what the enemy’s got planned to do to you. So you have to realize sometimes it’s not just a bad season.