The contents of this paper are based on the lessons and teachings derived from the Movie War

room
and the various contributions made by UBCYF Harare East youths on the movie day. Without
wasting any of your reading time with a lengthy introduction I will just dive in. Happy reading.

Who is the real enemy?

Just like Elizabeth who was fighting with her husband whom she thought was her enemy, most
Christians do not know who the real enemy is. We spend our time and energy fighting people but
thats not where the real battleground is. Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and
blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers
of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly
realms. Our real enemy is the Devil. And we have to take the fighting to
him. However, this fight you will not win without the right resources and the
right strategy.

On the other hand we are also our own greatest enemy. Self is a chief
enemy. Elizabeth, there's not room for both you and God on the throne of your heart. It's either
Him ... Now, if you want victory, you're gonna have to first surrender. ... we must give way for the
will of God. Self-denial is a key to being a disciple of Jesus (Mathew 16:24) . Once we win that Battle it
will be our greatest victory. Rees Howells, a man who was used by God to bring a great revival at
Rusitu Mission acknowledged that he truly had a breakthrough when he finally found the courage to
deny himself. He taught, Unless your death to self is real, you will not prevail to deliver others.1

God wants us to be Hot Christians.

Sometimes we want to be boundary Christians, with one foot in the world and another in the word.
We become lukewarm Christians because we are neither hot nor cold. But Got does not want you to
be lukewarm he likes his Christians Hot. Just like most of us like their tea or coffee, Hot! This is the
starting point of our strategy. We have to evaluate ourselves to see whether we are hot Christians or

1 https://refinedinthefire.wordpress.com/2008/02/23/more-on-rees-howells/
cold Christians. Lord, we need a generation of believers who are not ashamed of the gospel. We need
an army of believers who hate to be lukewarm and will stand on Your Word above all else. Raise em
up, Lord. Raise them up.

Focus on what God can do for you

Elizabeth Spent almost an hour complaining about what was happening in her
life and Clara asked her an important question that we have to ask ourselves
today, How much of the one hour we have today are we going to spend
whining about your husband or learning what God can do about it? She
wanted to change Elizabeths focus from her circumstances to her God.
Sometimes we spend too much time pondering on our circumstances rather
than on God. If we shift our focus from our problems to God, we will able to
see that God can change our circumstances. God can give us salvation, he can give us grace, he
can change our hearts and he is in control of our situations. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and
his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you (Matthew 6:33) that is the first step
and the foundation of faith, prayer and worship. Seeking God first.

God is in Charge

A lot of people want to do great things for God. A lot of people want to
change the world. I just shake my head when I hear that. God is the only
one who can change the world because Hes the only one who can change
hearts and minds. Pray and ask God to do what only He can do and
then get out of the way so He can do it. Sometimes we are busy meddling
with Gods work. Trying to fix and control things which only God and fix
and control. We must come to the realisation that we dont have a strength
of our own or a power of our own. All we have is by the grace of God and all we can do we can only
do it through him who gives us strength. Our main purpose is to worship God and glorify him
because he is in charge and all powerful. We do this mainly through prayer.

Psalms 46:10 says, Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted
among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. Sometimes we are not
still and we run around trying to apply our minds to our situations
because we lack Faith in God, we lack confidence that God will resolve
our situation.

Prayer is a total surrender, prayer is an admission that we are not in

control and yet at the same time completely and confidently under
Gods control.

Then I started really studying what the Scriptures say, and God
showed me that it wasnt my job to do the heavy lifting. No. That was something that only He could
do. It was my job to seek Him, to trust Him, and to stand on His Word.
Our Joy is found in Jesus.

I am so sick of you stealing my joy. But thats changing too. My joy doesnt come from my friends, it
doesnt come from my job, it doesnt even come from my husband. My joy is found in Jesus, and just
in case you forgot, He has already defeated you... Sometimes we focus our energy on the wrong
things. We become sad over the wrong things because our joy is based on the wrong things. The
moment we realise that our joy is found in Jesus is the day we truly become happy because he will
never fail us.

For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor 12:10b)

The devil trembles when he sees the weakest Christian on his knees. He
knows that the Mighty God who is in charge is taking over the situation.
We must acknowledge our weakness, we must know that our strength
comes from God. The weakest Christian may mean the person who is burdened
with sorrow or sin to the point that even praying becomes difficult. The Devil will
make you feel that you dont deserve Gods grace and Mercy. He will like
you to remain in that situation because it is ideal for him to destroy your life.
When you come to the realisation that God is merciful and gracious and you get down on your knees
and pray the Devil will flee.

We must learn to forgive others

Jesus shed His blood on the cross. He died for you, even when you did not deserve it. And He rose
from the grave and offers forgiveness and salvation for anyone who turns to Him. But the Bible also
says that we cant ask Him to forgive us while refusing to forgive others. We pray the Lords Prayer
every Sunday, forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us A forgiving
heart is a prerequisite of Christianity. God is love (1 John 4:8) true love forgives because love does not
keep any record of wrongs (1 Cor 13:5). We dont deserve Gods grace but he gave it to us and forgave
us anyway, we must forgive others even if they dont deserve it.

Elizabeth was surprised when she was told that she must give grace to her husband, she thought her
husband did not deserve grace. We learnt that God gives us grace and he helps us to give it to others
even when they dont deserve it. We all deserve judgment and yes we will get that Judgment if we
dont believe in his son Jesus Christ. The grace of God does not only save us it also sustains us.

Read the word of God

For this part I will insert a message shared by Rev G Dandato;

Prayer and reading the word of God are inseparable. We should pray according to the will of God
and the will of God is the written Word. The will of God and ours (self) are at par. Therefore, the Holy
spirit in us helps us when we pray because 'we do not know how we should pray' How? By helping
us to understand the will of God when we read the Word and even pray on our behalf. The Spirit
knows the full will of God so can intercede for us better. Read Romans 8:26-30. When we pray we are
talking to God and when we read the Word God is talking to us. Christians of today always want to
talk to God without listening to what God is saying to us through His Word with the help of the Holy
Spirit in us. When we listen to God more, we talk less.

Discover the truth about God, who He is, how He works, how much He loves. And then youll
uncover the truth about yourself, your sin, the ways you displease God. The truth about your life is
always better to know, even if it hurts. The goal of prayer is not to change Gods mind about what
you want. The goal of prayer is to change your own heart, to want what He wants, to the glory of
God.

We must have Faith in God

Without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to
Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him. This is drawn
from Hebrews 11:6. Most time we think that if we do not see God working
the way we want him to then he is not working
at all. We must trust in God in every situation and
we must trust in his will. Everything will work
together for good for those who love God (Rom
8:28). Lets put on the whole amour of God and the Shield of
faith shall block the enemys arrows.

Prayer brings Breakthroughs

If we surrender to God in prayer, he will make

our business his business, he will become actively
involved in our lives. We must allow him to take
his position on the throne of our hearts and we
will see wonders in our lives. To him nothing is
impossible, to him no thing is beyond his power.
In him we find all strength.

The Lord called us to Battle, that we may proclaim him the King of Kings and Lord of Lords

2 Chronicles 7:14 states, If my people who are called by my name. Shall humble themselves and
pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways: Then I will hear from heaven and I will
forgive their sin, and I will heal their land. Allow me to break this verse down and see what it
reveals to us about God.

a) God is calling upon his people, who are called by his name. All those who receive Christ and
believed in him he gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12). That is the first step.
b) Humble yourself before the lord and he will lift you up (James 4:10). The best way we can
show humility to God is denying ourselves and let God be in Charge. Let his will be done.
c) Prayer comes after humility because our prayers must always be clothed in humility. Prayer
must be total surrender to God. It must be focused on God not us.
That leads us to the next item,
d) Seek God. Prayer must be focused on want God wants. We must
seek his will. We must seek him first (Mathew 6:33)
e) Then God gave out the promises that he will deliver. He will hear,
forgive our sins and heal our land. These promises are a result of a
prayer focused on God not what we want. The things we desire
must not drive us or lead us into prayer, they must not be the goal
of prayer, but we must pray to God because he deserves the Glory
and he is in Charge.

Prayer is a powerful weapon and let us continue to read the word of God and feed the Holy Spirit
that is in us which will help us pray. Let our prayers be guided by the word of God and the Holy
Spirit. Let us be prayerful and pray in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit in us is from God and if we
are led by the Spirit our motives and desires will come from God and he, the Father in Heaven
will listen to the testimony of the spirit in you. God Bless you.

Compiled by

E. T. Nhachi