A.                The call to overcome is a theme in Revelation (2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21; 12:11; 15:2; 21:7).

B.                 Blood of the Lamb: Our basis of victory is the fact of Jesus’ finished work on the cross. Jesus gained victory over Satan on the cross and paid our debt, removing his “legal right” to accuse us.

C.                 Did not love their lives to death: We pursue 100-fold obedience and abandonment to Jesus. 

D.                Word of our testimony: Our testimony or confession of faith is what we believe about who Jesus is, what He did on the cross, who we are in Him, and what we believe God thinks about others (including individuals, ministries, our city, our nation, and the end-time Church, etc.).

E.                 We can stir up the faith of others as they hear the word of God from our lips. Their faith can become effective by the knowledge of every good thing in them. You can speak this to them.

F.                  Jesus resisted Satan by speaking God’s word (Mt. 4:4-10.) The power of the Word to change others is also in our mouth. We “prophesy” God’s word to others in a supernaturally natural way.

A.                Encouragement: Speaking the word of our testimony about others is to speak affirming truths about them without flattery. We focus on budding virtues that have not yet matured in their lives.

B.                 Encouragement puts courage in the hearts of others through these affirming truths. We start with our family and with those we are most familiar. It is not enough to just think affirming truths about them; we must speak the obvious to them because the Devil obscures these truths.

C.                 Hardened: Our hearts will naturally harden unless we intentionally resist the process.
Henry Thoreau wrote, “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation”.

D.                It is our sacred responsibility to encourage those God sets with us. One way we consider others is by asking the Lord for insight into how He feels towards them (family, friends, etc.). Our love grows for others as we tell them of their virtue and destiny, even in their weakness.

E.                 We can set our heart to live as a son of encouragement to change the lives of those around us.

F.                  Our words can release life or death. They are powerful in causing faith or fear to grow in others. Simply by speaking, we can help people come into agreement with God’s truth about them.

A.                As the guardian of the culture of the Body of Christ, the Holy Spirit requires that we dwell together in a culture of honor. God’s love is experienced most as we honor each other. Part of our inheritance and what we lack is in the hands of others. We can receive this by blessing them.

B.                 Out of honor comes blessing. We must demonstrate a culture of honor in our personal families, ministry assignment (church, marketplace, school, neighborhood), and all of IHOP-KC.

C.                 Honor: This is translated in the margin of the NAS as “out do one another in showing honor”.

D.                Bless: We bless the budding virtues of all ministries regardless of their deficiencies and without needing to agree with or endorse their differences in ministry focus, style, and standards of excellence. The Holy Spirit forbids us to verbalize their deficiencies and differences.

E.                 The Scripture makes it clear that there are times to bring righteous judgment to ministries with destructive doctrines and behavior (Mt. 18:15-17; 1 Cor. 5:1-11; 2 Cor. 11:12-15; 1 Thess. 5:14, 21; 2 Thess. 3:6-14; Rev. 2:2, 14-15, 20). We must do this in the right way and with a right spirit.

F.                  Same mind: We “get on their team” by asking the Lord to show us who they are to Him. After we see their virtues, then we feel differently about their deficiencies and differences.

G.                Do not be wise in your opinion: We do not presume to understand all that God sees in them.