Power up with God

By Warren Reid

How precious is the Word of God? Jesus said in Matthew 4:4 that “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” Yet though God’s Word is precious and nourishing to our hearts, minds, and souls, so few of us know it and know how to apply it.

Power Up with God hopes to remedy this deficiency and help believers get the benefits of applying every word of God. We can read or hear the words from the preacher’s pulpit, but we will gain nothing until we begin to eat the Word of God. The adage “You are what you eat” is true in both the physical and spiritual worlds, and unless we eat the Word of God, we can become weak and sick—even to the point of death.

If we go without food and water, we will become weak. And because we cannot live by bread alone, if we go without the spiritual nourishment of God’s Word, then we will become spiritually malnourished. Therefore, it is essential to read, study, and apply the teachings of the Word, and Power Up with God will show you how to devote yourself to this spiritual diet and make your life happy and prosperous.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Nov 30, 2017
• ISBN: 9781546285328

Warren Reid

Warren Reid was born in Jamaica and moved to the United Kingdom in the early sixties. He has been a born-again Christian since he was just fourteen years old, and he served as a pastor for thirty-five years. Warren also has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Open University and a law degree with the South Bank University in London. Now a retired minister, he resides in Jamaica.

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Copyright © 2017 Warren Reid. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.

Published by AuthorHouse 12/02/2020

ISBN: 978-1-5462-8512-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5462-8513-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5462-8532-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017917818

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Contents

1.   Introduction

2.   Chapter 1 -Holiness unto the Lord

3.   Chapter 2 -The Word of God

4.   Chapter 3 -Prayer and Fasting

5.   Chapter 4 -The Name of Jesus

6.   Chapter 5 -The High Praises of Our God

7.   Chapter 6 -The Blood of Jesus Christ

8.   Chapter 7 -The Holy Ghost and Fire

9.   Chapter 8 -The Shield of Faith

10.   Chapter 9 -The Power of Imagination

11.   Chapter 10 -The Power of Music

12.   Chapter 11 -Be Watchful and Prayerful

13.   Chapter 12 -Understanding the Word of God

14.   Chapter 13 -Knowing the Doctrine of Christ

15.   Chapter 14 -The Withering of the Fig Tree

16.   Chapter 15 -The Gift or the Giver

17.   Chapter 16 -The Way Forward

18.   Chapter 17 -How to Find Your Right Partner in Life

19.   Chapter 18 -The Mustard Seed

20.   Chapter 19 -Lifting Up Jesus

21.   Chapter 20 -Doing Greater Works Than the Works of Jesus

22.   Chapter 21 -If You Continue in My Word You Shall Know the Truth

23.   Chapter 22 -The Pinnacle of Power

24.   Chapter 23 -The Great Love of God

25.   Chapter 24 -The Key to the Kingdom of Heaven

26.   Chapter 25 -The Master Key

27.   Chapter 26 -Getting Your Passport Ready for Heaven

28.   Chapter 27 -The Power of Thoughts

29.   Chapter 28 -Be Ready for Take-off

30.   Chapter 29 -The Total Protection

31.   Chapter 30 -Can a Person Kill God?

32.   Chapter 31 -Can a Person Rob God and Be Blessed?

33.   Chapter 32 -Worshipping God in Spirit and in Truth

34.   Chapter 33 -How to Know God

35.   Chapter 34 -Drinking at the Fountain of Eternal Youth

36.   Chapter 35 -Why Carry Your Heavy Load?

37.   Chapter 36 -The Way to Abundant Life

38.   Chapter 37 -True Israel

39.   Chapter 38 -The Power of the Birth of Jesus Christ

40.   Chapter 39 -The Power of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ

41.   Chapter 40 -The Power of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ

42.   Chapter 41 -Victory over Satan

43.   Chapter 42 -Get Your Name out of theBooks and into the ‘Book’

44.   Chapter 43 -The Government in Waiting

45.   Chapter 44 -Who is a Virtuous Woman?

46.   Chapter 45 -The Conclusion

Preface

Power Up With God

How precious is the word of God, yet so few of us know it and know how to apply it. The aim of this book is to remedy that deficiency so that readers may get the benefit of applying every word of God. Has not the great Master said in Matthew 4:4, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God’? All the reading and all the hearing of the word by the preacher will profit us nothing until we begin to eat the word of God. As in the physical so in the spiritual: you are what you eat. Unless we eat the word of God, we become weak and sickly and are ready to die. And if you do not believe this, do a little experiment. Go without food and water for, say a few days. Then see how weak you are within those days. I hope I have convinced you that it is essential to read and study and apply the teachings of this book and thereby make your life happy and prosperous.

This book will not profit you anything if you rush through it. Go slowly, absorbing the words of truth, which will build you up and give you an inheritance that is sanctified by faith. It is my desire that the Lord will give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, that you might be strengthened with might in the inner being and that Christ might dwell in your heart by the faith of Jesus Christ. God bless you as you do so in Jesus’s name.

Warren Reid

Part A

Introduction

The Weapons of Our Warfare: How to Use Them, and Much More

Fellow citizens of the heavenly kingdom, take it from me that, if there has ever been a time in the history of mankind when we needed to know the weapons of our warfare and how to use them, it is now. I am writing to you because I want to reach out to every one of my brothers and sisters, no matter what part of the world they may be in, so that we all may be enlightened in the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.

Let me use the analogy of Germany and Britain at war. Let us say that Germany has declared war against Britain. Do you think that Britain should sit back and do nothing? It is unthinkable that Britain would sit back and do nothing. She will have to take out all the weapons available to her in order to dispel the enemy and defend herself. But the enemy this time is not Germany; rather, it is Satan, and he is fighting against Jesus Christ and His Church. The Church of Jesus must therefore wake up and put on her full armour for we are constantly fighting against Satan and his hosts. Paul in his wisdom wrote to the Ephesian brethren, reminding them in Ephesians 6:10–18:

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all taking the shield of faith wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. (KJV)

If, over 2,000 years ago, spiritual warfare was so intense, how much more so will it be, therefore, in these last and closing days when Satan knows that his time is very short? He is going about like a mad roaring lion seeking to devour everyone he can, and he is fighting against Jesus Christ and his Church harder than ever before. But he cannot prevail; he shall not prevail. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and as He has said, ‘Upon this rock will I build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it’ (Matthew 16:18 KJV). He also said, ‘The thief comes not, but for to steal and to kill and to destroy: I am come that you might have life and have it more abundantly’ (John 10:10 KJV). Do you not see Satan in action? Just listen to the daily news or read your papers and you will see the number of killings going on in the world today. Who is behind all these murders, rapes, robberies, and so on? The answer is Satan. He gets into people’s minds and gives them instructions about what they must do. He says to a well-qualified teacher, ‘This little girl you are teaching, she is very pretty, is she not? Go and rape her.’ The teacher obeys, and people wonder what got into that man that he should rape a little girl like her. It is not that he wanted to do it, but Satan made him do it. We put men like this away in prison, and all their talents go to waste. It is not prison they need, but exorcists to cast the demons out of them.

The important thing in your life is not to let Satan enter into your innermost being. Bear this in mind, for I will instruct you so that you will know how to keep Satan out of your house and how to resist him. Satan tried to kill me many times, but I am still alive to tell the stories, which you are about to hear, and to give God the honour, glory, and praise that are due to His matchless name. I love Psalm 29:1 which begins, ‘Give unto the Lord, O you mighty, give unto the Lord glory and strength.’ (KJV) Let us pause here and consider. This is a call for every one of us to give to God that which is due to Him. Other verses say:

Psalms 29:2-11Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. The voice of the Lord is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the Lord is upon many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars of Lebanon. He makes them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Syrian like a young unicorn. The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire, The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests: and in his temple doth every one speak of his glory. The Lord sitteth upon the flood; yea, the Lord sitteth King forever. The Lord will give strength unto his people; The Lord will bless his people with peace. (KJV)

I am reminded of the words of the great Master, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, as He says in Mark 12:17, ‘Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s’ (KJV). Please read Psalm 29 over and over again until it is registered in your heart.

Now I am going to tell you about the major encounters I had with the Devil in order that you might understand how I overcame the power of the enemy so that you might learn from my experiences and become an overcomer too.

My First Encounter with Satan

When I was a child, I used to hear many ghost stories, but I could not see the ghosts themselves. I became a born-again Christian when I was fourteen years old. I had the desire at that age to see a ghost, but I could not see any. I emigrated to the United Kingdom when I was nineteen years old. I stayed for one year and six months and returned to my native country, Jamaica. When I returned, I still had the urge to see a ghost. I got up early one day before daybreak and went into the woods to see if I could see one. I did not see any. So I totally dismissed the ghost stories out of my head. But years later, when I returned to Jamaica once again, I had to change my mind. One night at about eleven o’clock I was sitting out in the veranda at my mother’s house. It was a moonlight night. I saw a woman carrying a bucket of water on her head. I said to myself, ‘Who is this woman carrying water at this time of the night?’ So I went out to meet her, and when the woman saw me, she turned to her right and the dogs began to bark. I saw her no more. I was convinced then that she was a ghost. So that was the first ghost I saw.

I returned to England in 1964 and got married in 1966. From that marriage I had five children, two boys and three girls. In 1979 I was ordained as pastor of the Gospel Tabernacle Assembly owing to the sickness of the late Solomon Richards, who was the pastor at that time. It was at that time that we were negotiating the purchase of St Matthias Church, which is now called the Gospel Tabernacle Assembly. It was tough going, but the Lord enabled us to move into the church building in January 1980. However, we could not start worshipping in the building at that time because it was filthy with bird droppings. Most of the windows were broken, and this had enabled the birds to come and go. We spent four months cleaning up after the birds and scouring the benches. However, we were thankful for the opportunity to enter the building to start our worship. We did not pay any rent for a whole year, and in December 1981 we purchased the building from the Diocese of Southwark. This was when trouble began, for it seemed that many people did not want us to own the building, and they set about to drive us out of it. Nevertheless, we began to pray. We started to have prayer meetings from ten to midnight every Friday night. On one certain Friday night we had a real battle with Satan, and we did not finish until about four in the morning. We realized that something was wrong with one of our sisters. After we prayed and prayed and laid hands on her, she stood up and, with a strong man’s voice, she said, ‘I am Lucifer, son of the morning!’ I was so shocked to learn that spirit could speak through a person like that. However, we continued praying until, as I remember, she was on the floor, and my right foot was on her. I was saying, ‘Satan, Lucifer, son of the morning, son of perdition, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, has prevailed against thee!’ I turned these words into a song that the children used to hear me sing. The other day I was pleasantly surprised when one of the children was quoting the words that Satan spoke through our little sister and how we used to sing these words in a song. Now, I must say that my right foot being on my sister was nothing to do with her, but my foot was on Satan to trample him under our feet. That was my first encounter with Satan.

My Second Encounter with Satan

It was not long after that incident that, one day, I was lying down on a bed that was reserved behind a partition in the church so that people might have some rest. Before I could fall into sound sleep, demons like a swarm of bees came upon me in the bed. I drew my long sword, which is the name of Jesus Christ, and said, ‘In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, I destroy you utterly, utterly, utterly, utterly, utterly, utterly, utterly!’ And that was how I was able to dispel them. The name of Jesus Christ is a mighty tower. The righteous run into it, and they are safe. I remember that there was an African Bishop who used to have a church in Brixton. I went to his church one Sunday evening, and as I looked at the people in the congregation, I could see that they were bound up. I said to myself, ‘I would never invite any one to this church.’ And I never returned there again. It so happened that, whenever or wherever I met him – sometimes I met him at Stockwell; sometimes at Clapham Common – all he would say to me was, ‘The mighty man of God.’ I used to wonder why this man called me the mighty man of God. I know that I have no power of my own. I believe that the weapons that the Devil sent against me were utterly destroyed by the power of the Almighty God, and that is why the bishop called me the mighty man of God. But it was not my power; it was the power of God.

My Third Encounter with Satan

I made a plan to return to Jamaica in 1986; it had been twenty-two years since I had been there. Everything was a bit strange to me. I would meet my younger sisters on the street and would not know them because I had not seen them for such a long time. However, I did not go out much. The order of the day was to pray and to go to bed early. One particular night I prayed and went to bed early. I got up at about eleven in the evening. It was a moonlit night, and I was sitting outside on the veranda. Suddenly, I saw the figure of a creature like a mongoose coming swiftly to the house, and when the thing saw me, it turned to the right. I did not pay it any mind. So afterwards, I went back into my room. I was sitting up on the bed, and my mother, whose room was about two rooms away, came with a lighted lantern. She told me that she had a dream that three men were knocking at the door saying that they wanted to come in. I did not know what to make of it. Consequently, my mother left and returned to her own room. So I went back to sleep. I was fast asleep, and suddenly I sprang up out of my sleep and began to rebuke and discharge in the name of Jesus because three spirits came into my room, and by the time they reached the foot of the bed, I was upon them like a flash. But it was not me really; it must have been the Spirit of God. My mother came round to my room, and my eldest sister, who was living next door, came over because she heard the sound of my voice. I administered the sacrament before we went back to sleep. One of my cousins, who was living about half a mile away, said the following day that he had heard the sound of my voice, and he had been afraid.

I got up early in the morning, and while I was in the living room, when the Holy Spirit said to me, ‘Look through the window.’ I looked through the window, and I saw a close relative of mine coming to the house. I was told by the Holy Spirit, ‘Go out to meet him.’ When I went out to meet him, he told me that he had sold his soul to the Devil. I did not know that he was responsible for the incident that had happened. So I asked him to take me down to the woods where I used to look after my parents’ goats. We went a little way, and he turned back claiming that he did not know the way. When I told my mother that he said that he did not know the way, she was so surprised. I believed that he was afraid because he thought that I was going to kill him. I was so concerned about my sister, who was living next door, because I thought that if a force like that should attack anyone, and that person did not have the power to resist it, he or she would die. The following year, after I returned to England, the news came to me that my sister had passed away.

My Fourth Encounter with Satan

Our late-night prayer meeting continued in the church at the Gospel Tabernacle Assembly. One time I was the only person there. I knelt down in front of one of the chairs in the vestry and began to pray. I prayed until I fell asleep. When I woke up, the atmosphere was completely changed. It was as if I was in a den of witches. I realized I had to move out of this atmosphere. I walked out of the vestry, and by the time I reached the wooden railing at the high altar, I could not go any further. I was not feeling any pain; I just could not go any further. Then the words came to me saying, ‘They come to kill you!’ I did not panic or became afraid in any way, but from the depth of my innermost being, I drew the long sword and said, ‘In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth I destroy you!’ That is how I got released. I began to declare the words of God loudly and clearly with such vehement utterances that, for a whole week, my voice was hoarse, and I could hardly speak.

My Fifth Encounter with Satan

This happened on a Saturday night. The hall was rented out, and as a consequence I did not get home until about one o’clock on the Sunday morning. I was living at Cedars Road, Clapham, at that time. When I got out of my car in front of our gate, I looked down to the entrance to the Cedars Estate where the church’s minibus was parked. I saw a tall white man standing alongside the minibus. I wondered why this white man was standing there. I did not do anything then, but I had some things in the car that I had to take upstairs into my house, and I had to make more than one trip. When I came back to the car, the white man was still standing alongside the minibus. I decided to drive my car close to where he was to find out why he was standing there. When I got there, there was no white man there, so I returned to my house. I had about six hours sleep because I had to pick up the children for Sunday school in the minibus. Before I entered the vehicle, I prayed over it and declared the blood of Jesus Christ upon it. After picking up some of the children, I was coming out of a side road from George Canning Pub in Brixton into Tulse Hill Road, and suddenly a huge lorry was coming straight at me. I had to steer and bank my vehicle onto the pavement. I sometimes think that it must have been the angel of the Lord who was steering the lorry away from me. I was not hurt, but there was damage to the side of the vehicle.

My Sixth Encounter with Satan

In late 1990 I returned to Jamaica to attend the funeral service of my late brother, Carlton Reid. One day I went with one of my other brothers to St Ann, Jamaica. On the return journey he stopped in Christiana claiming that he was going to see his grandson, but yet he did not take me with him. He let me stay in the van until he returned. I was sitting in the front passenger seat. He went to a house on top of a hill in Christiana. A woman came out to meet him at the door. After a brief talk with her, he went to a house in the valley where he met a man. I perceived that the woman did not want to do his business for him. After business was settled, he returned to the vehicle and he drove to Mandeville. On our way to Marlie Hill, he picked up a cousin of ours. A few days later, I was staying with my aunt-in-law in Mandeville for about a week. I had no rest night or day. I lay on the bed, but I could not stay there; I lay on the floor, but I could not stay there. Anywhere I turned, I was uncomfortable. During this time my head was pounding until it felt very tender. But I called upon the name of Jesus repeatedly. I kept calling upon the name of Jesus until I was delivered. It came to me that, although the enemy might hit the one head that God had given to me, He could give me seven more heads. It is no wonder when the Bible says, ‘And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered’ Joel 2:32a (KJV). The funeral service of my late brother was in January. About nine months later, in September, I had to return to Jamaica to attend the funeral service of my late sister, Brendolyn Hague. One of my other brothers and I were in a superstore in Mandeville. He was a little way ahead of me. He saw there in the store the same cousin whom my brother had picked up on our way from Christiana to Marlie Hill. When my brother said to him, ‘Warren is here,’ he was so shocked. He said, ‘Warren is here?’ He rushed down quickly to see that it was true. When he saw me, he was so frightened, and I did not see him again until I heard that he took sick on a building site and died.

My Seventh Encounter with Satan

I had a vision that I was by myself and I was surrounded by a high wall. I saw a big man come along to attack me. He had sent out his men to kill me, but they had been unable to complete the task, so he had come himself to do the job. He threw his weapon at me. It was like a reddish round ball. I held out my right hand and took it and began to crush it. When I started to crush it, he himself was being crushed, as was the wall that was around me. It was then I realized that the wall was not an architectural one; rather, it was made up of people. They were all crushed to the ground. It did not take long for this vision to come to pass. One of my younger sisters died in America. I returned to Jamaica to attend the funeral service. The nine-night (a wake for the departed) was held in my late mother’s home. This is a celebration of a person’s life with music and dancing. I was in the house, and at a certain time, I went through the bood – a temporary shelter – where they were singing. I heard that same close relative saying to a group of men, ‘See ‘im deh, see ‘im deh.’ Which means look at him. I turned around and looked at them and said nothing. When I was about to go back into the house, I saw a tall black man looking at me. He looked like the man from the valley in Christiana. I looked at him also. When I entered the house, something or someone moved me to go back and look at him again and stare at him in the eyes. When I returned, however, he was gone.

My Eighth Encounter with Satan

I used to have a pain in my stomach. I did not say a thing to my wife about it. When I was feeling the pain, even though I was lying down beside her, she would not hear a groan or a word from me. But I would lay my hand where the pain was and say from the depth of my inner most being, ‘In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth I am healed.’ Every time I felt the pain, I would say, ‘In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth I am healed.’ I continued in that manner until the pain was completely gone and I felt it no more.

My Ninth Encounter with Satan

This encounter was long and terrific. Never underestimate the power of the enemy. We cannot fight against him with our own power or our own strength. We must go against him with the might and power of the Father, with the might and power of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and with the might and power of the Holy Ghost. The Bible says that Satan is wiser than Daniel. The Bible says in Matthew 24:4-5, ‘…Take heed no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying I am Christ; and shall deceive many.’(KJV) The words here ‘and saying I am Christ’ can also mean ‘and saying I am a Christian’.

One does not expect a Christian to do certain things. Yet, we find today that there are many people who claim to be Christians who are doing worse than what the sinners do. I was almost deceived by a Christian. There was a certain sister from Kingston, Jamaica, who was a member of our association. She came to the United Kingdom to spend six months with her relatives. For this story, I will call her Mary. She began to attend our church services practically every Sunday and also attended any other activities we might have in the church. She duly returned to Jamaica at the appointed time. However, I was shocked to see her one Sunday at our church service. How she had returned to England so quickly was very surprising to me. On the other hand, I was glad to see her. After church service I would normally go around and greet as many people as I could. When I went to greet her, I noticed that she was wearing an engagement ring, so I said to her, ‘Oh, you are engaged,’ but she said nothing.

Time went on, and I recognized that there was a force pulling between Mary and I. Sometimes I would say things to her such as how people used rings to protect themselves, and two cannot walk unless they agree, and she would say that I was reading her mind. After seeing that engagement ring that Sunday, I saw it no more. She also was wearing another ring, but that was just an ordinary one. I knew that the problem was the ring, and I needed to destroy it, so I asked her for it. But the ring that she gave me was not the problem ring, and although she willingly gave it to me, I put it away because it did not mean anything. The force was not in that ring; she did not give me the right one. The time came, though, when I returned to Jamaica for about four weeks, and when I came back, trouble began.

Mary used to do some housework for one of our members because his wife was sick. I believed she used to go there on Thursdays. She always attended our prayer meetings on Wednesdays, but we did not see her at prayer meeting that week, and neither did she turn up to work for one of our other members. Consequently, we were very concerned. We tried to ring her, but got no reply. I asked my assistant to go with me to her house one Friday evening. When we went there, we knocked repeatedly and did not get any answer. I decided to call the police. While I was about to call the police, my assistant called to me saying, ‘She is in the house.’ He had looked through the letter flap and had seen her coming down the stairs. When he called out to her, she began to say, ‘I am redeemed, I am redeemed!’ Even with all the knocking, she still would not open the door. Eventually, the neighbours called the police and they came.

We explained the situation to the police, and they knocked and pleaded with her, but she still would not open the door. Finally, she put one of her feet through the top window, and the police decided to break down the door. We followed them into the house and found things scattered all about. Mary was there on her own. It was the house of her sister, brother-in-law, and nephew. Apparently, they had left her on her own while they went to America. We decided that she could not be left there on her own, so we called one of our church sisters