If people could see the value of the Word, they wouldn’t look somewhere else, searching for other doctrines, which bring forth apostasy and destruction in the lives of people. God’s Word possesses life and peace and brings victory in every situation. Ae peitai, you must have faith in the Word. Because without faith in God and Jesus Christ; the Word the written words shall remain written words and shall not produce any fruit in the lives of people. When a person has faith and truly believes what the Word says, the person shall stand and keep standing on the Word and not deviate from the Word, no matter what people and the science of the world say. The person shall not leave God and His Word. Through submission and obedience to the Word and by doing the Word, the Word shall bring victory in the spiritual battle
The battle between God and the devil
In both the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, we see the battle that took place and still takes place between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness. In both covenants, we see the greatness of God, and His power revealed. Because God and His Word brought and still bring victory in this (faaleagaga) battle.
The only difference is that the covenant and the position of the people, who belong to God, have changed. Because of that the battle scene has changed.
The new man no longer fights from his position on the earth from the flesh like the toeaina, but from a new position; a better position, namely in Christ from the Spirit.
Ae peitai, the enemy is still the same and the spiritual battle is still the same and shall remain the same. O lea la, the new man still has a fight to fight.
The battle in the Old Covenant
In the Old Covenant man couldn’t become born again, but was trapped in his flesh. The spirit of man had died because of sin and man had fallen from his position. Man had become a living soul, consisting of a soul and body; flesh and blood. There was only one way to become part of Gods people and that was through natural birth and circumcision (o.a. Gen 17:9-19; 22:18, Ex 12:48; 32:13).
Man was not spiritual, but soulish. Therefore man was led by his will, manatu, senses and feelings. But God is Spirit and since He had to deal with a carnal people God made Himself known through His Word and the signs and wonders, that took place in the natural realm as a result of the execution of His Word.
God revealed His greatness in Egypt, through a.o. the plagues that came over the land of Egypt. During the departure from Egypt and the time in the wilderness, God revealed Himself through His Word and the signs and wonders He performed in order to protect His people and provide for their physical needs.
God made Himself known through the law
Since God’s people were carnal and God was spiritual, God revealed His nature and His will and His way through the law. God revealed His nature and will and wrote them on tablets of stone and gave them to Moses, so that His will became visible to the people. (Faitau foi: Why did God write on tables of stone?).
This law, which was also called the law of Moses, ensured that His people would walk His way and live in His will.
Through obedience to the law, they would be protected and wouldn’t lack anything. The words of God would produce life and peace in the lives of His people.
As long as they stayed obedient to the law and the words of God reigned in their lives, which became visible by obedience to the law and by doing the words of God, God protected them and they were save. They were blessed and lived in peace and didn’t lack a thing.
The war between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of the devil
The power of the ruler of the world; the devil was visible on earth through the lives of the heathen nations, who served the devil through their lies, pride, ifo i tupua, fornication, le faamaoni, rebellion, (feusuaiga) uncleanness, ma isi. They did all those things that went against the will of God and were an abomination to Him.
Because Gods people belonged to the generation of the old man and therefore were carnal and not spiritual, the only way to deal with the rulership and works of the devil and destroy the power of his kingdom on earth, was by destroying the Gentiles; the people, who belonged to the devil and served him through their works
The people were not able to fight against the spiritual powers, malo, and forces of the kingdom of darkness, since the people belonged to the generation of fallen man, and through sin and the fall of man the spirit died and lived under the rulership of the devil and his kingdom.
There was only One, who was stronger than the devil and was positioned above the devil and His kingdom in the spiritual hierarchy (order) and that was and still is God.
As long as God’s people stayed obedient to Him and His Word and walked in His will, God fought in the spiritual realm for His people. God brought the victory for His people in every battle, before His people went in the natural world to the battlefield to fight.
God fought for His people and brought the victory for His people
And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace (Ex 14:13-14)
The Lord your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes; And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the Lord thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place (Deu 1:30-31)
As long as the people lived after the will of God and obeyed His words and Ana poloaiga God was with them. Before they went to battle, they inquired God and God made His way in the battle and the outcome of the battle known to His people through His words.
God told His representative on earth (leader, prophet, priest, ma isi. ) exactly what the people needed to do.
And as long as God’s people had faith in God and submitted themselves to Him and relied on the words of God and obeyed them, by doing His words, they overcame and were victors.
This didn’t happen just once, but this happened every time as long as His people did what God had commanded His people to do.
They didn’t overcome by their own insights, skills, (martial) methods, and power (natural ability), but they overcame through faith in God and His power. Trough their faith in His words and obedience to His words, they showed that they had faith in God and His words and that they relied on His insight and power instead of their own.
Before God’s people went to the battlefield and did what God had commanded them to do, God had already given their enemy in their possession. God fought for them and brought the victory through their submission and obedience to Him and by faith in His Word.
God’s people lost the battle
Ae peitai, God’s people didn’t gain the victory every time they went to battle. There were moments when the people were not victorious but lost the fight. This was not God’s fault, since God never contradicts His Word and always keeps His promises. Because that would mean that God is a Liar, but God doesn’t lie. The only ones, who lie are the devil and those, who belong to him. But their defeats were due to their own disobedience to God and His Word.
There were moments, that they had won so many battles, that they became prideful and in their pride, they thought they could do it themselves.
They trusted their own insights and relied on their own understanding and looked at their previous victories and used them as a guideline and made their plan of battle, instead of inquiring God and asking Him about His plan. Ona o lena, they lost their fights with the same amount of soldiers.
They had become prideful and trusted their own insights and relied on their own understanding, skills, and power (natural ability) and assumed they could manage, but the defeats proved that they were lost without God.
Because the devil, who is the ruler of the world had all the power and might in the world. Therefore the Gentiles, who belonged to him and had all his power and might gained the victory every time God’s people went out by themselves without God.
Without God, it was impossible to stand and fight and be victorious over the Gentile nations.
Because only God is seated above the devil and is stronger than the devil. Therefore they could only overcome through their dependence, submission and obedience to God and through their faith in God and His words and His power.
God fought for His people and brought the victory in battle
Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them; For the Lord your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you (Deu 20:3-4)
When His people acknowledged God for who He is and inquired Him and obeyed His commandments, they would get the victory over the Gentiles, who belonged to the devil, and be victors.
Because before they went to battle in the natural realm and fought the fight, God had already delivered their enemy and their country and possessions in their might.
God fought the fight for them and brought the victory to them through their submission and faith in Him and His Word. The only thing the people needed to do was to go to war and act according to the words of God and possess the land.
The coming of Jesus and the battle against the kingdom of darkness
These things I have spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world (Jn 16:33)
Then Jesus Christ came to the earth and changed the whole war scene. Because Jesus was born from the Spirit. Although Jesus was fully Man, Jesus didn’t have the same position as fallen man and didn’t only have a soul and body, but Jesus had a Spirit, agaga, and body.
Jesus didn’t strive against people and didn’t act the way the old man acts. When someone committed adultery or fornication Jesus didn’t stone the sinner, like the old man was commanded to do by God.
Does this mean that Jesus was disobedient to God? Leai, but since Jesus had received the Holy Spirit and walked after the Spirit, Jesus didn’t fight against flesh and blood, but against powers, authorities, mights, principalities and the rulers of the kingdom of darkness.
Just like God fought for His people in the heavenly places, Jesus also fought in the heavenly places and therefore Jesus called God’s people to repentance and commanded them to turn away from their evil ways and cast out demons and healed the sick.
Jesus was the Firstborn of the new creation
Jesus walked as the first new Man in the Name of His Father; in the authority of His Father on earth and made the will of God and His Kingdom known to the people.
Jesus set the example and walked not after the flesh, but he walked as the new Man after the Spirit. Therefore Jesus didn’t serve the death through sin and didn’t bow to sin and the power and authority of the devil and his kingdom.
Jesus depended His whole life on God and trusted God and spend much time with the Father in prayer.
Jesus did everything He had seen His Father do and did everything in His power. Jesus could have relied on His own soulish power, but He didn’t do that, because then Jesus would have walked after the flesh in the power of the devil and the kingdom of darkness.
Jesus could also have used the words of God for His flesh, but Jesus didn’t do that either (Faitau foi: “O le a Ou tuuina atu ia te outou oa o le lalolagi”).
Jesus only did the will of the Father and used the words of God to establish His Kingdom on earth.
And so Jesus revealed the lies and works of the darkness and fought against the devil and his kingdom on earth, by representing, preaching and bringing the Kingdom of God on earth and call the people to repentance (Faitau foi: ‘Destroying the works of God instead of the works of the devil’)
Jesus never bowed for the devil, by listening to His flesh and by giving in to the temptations in the flesh. But Jesus walked in the love for His Father and therefore Jesus was able to resist all the temptations of the devil and stayed loyal to the will of His Father until His death.
The spiritual battle in the New Covenant
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him (Rom 6:6-9)
The coming, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ brought a change in humanity on earth and in the spiritual realm.
Because through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ man could be born again by faith in Jesus Christ and be redeemed from his fallen state and delivered from the rulership of the devil and the power of his kingdom.
Jesus was and still is the way of redemption for fallen man and the deliverance from sin and death, through the rebirth and by being transferred from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of God.
Through regeneration in Christ, the new man had received a new position in the heavenly hierarchy (spiritual order), just like Jesus Christ.
The new man no longer lived under the authority and rulership of the devil in his kingdom, but through the new birth in Jesus Christ, the new man was transferred to the Kingdom of God and was positioned in Christ above the devil and his kingdom.
Although the new man lived in the world, the new man didn’t belong to the ruler of this world and no longer served the devil and death through sin.
The spiritual position and power of the new man
Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven (Lu 10:19-20)
All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. O lea ia outou o atu ai, ma aoao atu nuu uma, ma papatisoina i latou i le suafa o le Tamā, ma le Alo, ma le Agaga Paia: Ia outou aoao atu ia te i latou ia tausi i mea uma ua ou fai atu ai ia te outou: ma, faauta, I am with you alway, e oo lava i le gataaga o le lalolagi. Amen (Mat 28:18-20)
And, faauta, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high (Lu 24:49)
O le 120 disciples of Jesus were, after Jesus, the firsts who were born again and belonged to the generation of the new man.
When they received the Holy Spirit they immediately went out in the power of God to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God and they released many prisoners of the kingdom of darkness and brought them into the Kingdom of God.
Just like Jesus, they spend a lot of time in prayer and stayed dependent upon God by living after the Spirit and His Word and not be influenced and led by their senses, lagona, and emotions. They stayed obedient to the Word of God, despite the consequences.
Many people were convicted of their apostasy and their sinful nature and state and repented by the preaching of the gospel and hearing the truth of God’s Word.
Many people repented and made Jesus the Lord of their lives and were delivered from the power of the devil and were reconciled with God and transferred to His Kingdom.
God’s people no longer had to fight against people; flesh and blood, but through the change of position of God’s people in the spiritual realm, God’s people had to fight against the powers, malo, might, and rulers of the kingdom of darkness.
God’s people were no longer carnal but had become spiritual through the resurrection of the spirit from the dead and still stayed depended on God and were led by His Word and His Spirit.
Ae peitai, God’s people now reigned together with God. God had accomplished the spiritual battle and gained the victory through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, but God’s people still had to go out and fight and make the victory of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom visible on earth.
Because the spiritual war between the Kingdom of God, where Jesus Christ is King and the kingdom of darkness, where the devil reigns is still going on.
The Word brings victory in the spiritual war
Now thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of His knowledge by us in every place (2 Co 2:14)
As soon as a person becomes born again and becomes part of God’s people, the person has entered the spiritual war and belongs to the army of God. The new man is seated in Christ and by walking in Him the new man is clothed with the spiritual armor.
The new man has to fight the spiritual fight from the Spirit in the spiritual realm and fights together with God, Iesu, and the Holy Spirit for His Kingdom.
Through obedience to Jesus; HIs Word the new man shall overcome every battle and be victorious.
But the new man should walk after the Spirit in obedience to the Word and not rely on his own insight, lagona, lagona, skills, technics, methods, power (natural ability) and natural means.
Because if he does, he shall trust in his flesh; his soul and body and shall not be able to overcome from the flesh but shall lose the fight. Since the flesh is under the authority of the devil.
As long as people believe in the words of the world and rely on his flesh and therefore lives after the flesh people shall live a defeated life and not gain any victory
If you know that He is righteous, you know that every one that does righteousness is born of Him (1 Jo 2:29)
For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not grievous. For whatsover is born of God overcometh the world;: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith (1 Jo 5:3-4)
Only when the new man remains in the Word and walks after the Spirit, the new man shall be seated in Jesus Christ above the devil and reigns in Jesus Christ over the power of the devil and his kingdom and shall overcome every spiritual battle.
The Bible has never mentioned the length of time, but the Bible has given us the promise of being victorious. Because in the New Covenant God’s Word still brings victory in every battle.
It doesn’t matter what kind of fight it is, since the Word is eternal and shall stand until eternity, it shall forever bring victory in the spiritual war.
But it depends on whether you truly believe the Word of God and act according to the Word and keep standing on the Word despite the length of time and the resistance of the world (Faitau foi: ‘Ou te maua ea le faatuatua i le lalolagi?)
The sons of God are victors in Christ Jesus
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death (Rev 12:11)
God no longer fights for His people and His people no longer fight against flesh and blood like in the Old Covenant, but God fights together with His people; His Church against the principalities, mana, malo, might and rulers of the kingdom of darkness.
The sons of God have received His Word and His Holy Spirit. Through the blood of the Lamb and their testimony, they shall overcome. This means that through their position in Jesus Christ and their testimony of Jesus Christ and the truth of the Word, they shall overcome and get the victory.
They shall tatalo directly to the Father and reign spiritually on earth by doing the will of God on earth and establishing His Kingdom on earth.
Mulimuli ane, o'u uso, ia malolosi i le Alii, ma i le mana o lona malosi. Ofu i le ofutau atoa a le Atua, ina ia mafai ona outou tutu e tetee atu i togafiti a le tiapolo. Aua tatou te lē tau ma le tino ma le toto, ae faasaga i malo, e faasaga i mana, e faasaga i pule o le pogisa o lenei lalolagi, e tetee atu i le amioleaga faaleagaga i nofoaga maualuluga. O le mea lea ia outou ave ai le ofutau atoa a le Atua, ina ia mafai ona outou tetee atu i le aso leaga, ma le faia o mea uma, tu (Eph 6:10-12)
Instead of pleasing and serving their flesh by becoming partakers of the works of darkness, they shall serve the Spirit through obedience to the Word.
The sons of God shall never compromise with the lies and the works of the darkness, but shall reveal the lies and the works of the darkness and destroy them.
They shall resist the temptations of the devil and fight against sin and death instead of serving the death through sin and empower those, who serve the death through sin (Faitau foi: ‘A reprobate mind delights in sin and takes pleasure in those, who practice sin’).
They shall reign together with Jesus Christ as kings and live as priests on earth, which means that they belong to Him, and hey shall live holy lives because that’s the will of God.
‘Ia fai ma masima o le lalolagi’
