Prior to 5:30am this morning, i had a view that stickers were for physical show of identification and for intimidation. But I didn't understand why some cars or home doors would have as many as 4-5 stickers. I thought the occupants/vehicle owners were crazy.
Some religious stickers were left on even apparently outdated and this baffled me a lot. I always wondered if these people had problems with making their cars/doors look better. Or maybe they used the many stickers as sun shield.
You'd see Stickers and Bands like:
"Manifestations of the sons of men 2012"
"Heaven on Earth 2013"...etc
The funny sites are wrist bands; where you see a person walking around with 3-4 bands.(why?)
But this morning after praying, I laid back on my bed to rest a bit then I started planning my activities for today when I heard a very clear instruction from God. ( Yea, I am at the level where God talks to me audibly. Sometimes it's a small voice that jerks me up to look around if there's someone else in the room. Other times, a scripture would drop in my mind and I would quickly check it and see that it is a scripture relating to a particular situation I am handling. God is amazing!)
So I reviewed the instruction and as usual my mind raised objections (this mind has refused to become righteous.)
My Mind: "We can't do that frequently because it will attract attention to us"
My Heart: "We can do it. People do it"
My mind: "Name one person you know who does it"
My Heart: "errmmmm...."
In my struggle to give a case-closing answer, the question "Why do people use stickers? was dropped in my righteous baby-heart. My mind as usual provided our customary answer.
My mind: "for publicity, identification or intimidation"
Suddenly I got an understanding of the purpose of stickers and hand bands.
What happens on the inside of you when you see a flier. You see it with your eyes, even if your mouth doesn't open, your mind reads and understands it and then give a feedback of processed information which is stored in your heart."
An Illustration, when you see a band or a sticker which states:
"Toddler in the car"
Your eyes spots the sticker and you instantly start searching for a baby in the car. Where there is no baby, You begin to wonder where the baby could be. Then you would begin to make up possible locations of the baby.
"Maybe the baby is at the school and the driver is on the way to pick the baby"... Etc but one thing is that the sticker stresses your mind to trail a bit and your senses are part of this process one way or another.
Another example is if you see a sticker
"Nigerian Army"
You would first of all look at the occupant(s) of the car. First, your mind will compel you to search for a person wearing a uniform. If he/she isn't, then your mind starts running with possible reasons why the person isn't wearing a uniform
"Maybe she/he is not on duty. Maybe he/she is connected to the Nigerian army"
And this makes you somewhat careful. If you are driving, you would make sure you don't drive careless around that vehicle to avoid some kinda harrassment.
This is also the case with stickers and hand bands.(spiritually and physically)
Physically:
When you move into a house and your neighbour has up a MFM sticker on the door, you expect that you would have many sleepless nights because you expect him/her/them to pray loudly at nights. So it's either you make up your mind to get back your rent money and move out or you join them at nights from your corner whispering "Amen". (No prayer is a waste of time)
Or maybe you become friends with some wearing a LFC band, you'd expect to be bombarded with fliers, tracts and eventually start attending the church one or another. (You cannot escape. Lol!)
Or you become friends with someone with a RCCG band on the wrist and sticker on the car, you'd expect that your phone would be bombarded with Open Heavens devotional every morning which you eventually would be compelled to read. (Lovely read by the way!)
Or you start dating a person with a DIGC hand band, you'd expect that during praise and worship session, your partner is singing beautiful and melodious songs but you don't know anyone of them because they were all composed by the Pastor. So you just listen to the words and God help you if your partner has a terrible voice. (BTW, The songs are totally awesome!)
I believe this also applies to the spiritual realm. Your identification also raises spiritual expectations.
Let's say you have a sticker.
"I am a child of God. Devil beware"
Do you think the devil won't search for the cause of such boldness; why he should be wary of your identity.
For example,; when you spot a man wearing an army uniform but with a pierced ear and braided hair. First thing that comes to mind is the expected features of an ideal military personnel then you measure that standard with what is before you then you conclude that there's no way this freak could be a military man so your mind resets to default before you can treat the man anyhow you please.
This also happens in the spiritual realm. You affiliate with power which you apparently do not have.
"Beware devil, I am untouchable"
And the devil is a publicity freak who thrives in the world's expectations. You are powerlessly threatening the devil in the eyes of the entire public, he would physically deal with you!
You would just find yourself getting into unnecessarily fights with people.
For instance,
You enter a bus and the conductor for no reason starts yelling at you and before you know it, some altercation occurs. You hear phrases like
"you don't have respect"
"You talk anyhow"
"I will teach you a lesson"
You get home and more altercation and this time maybe a few blows come your way. Same phrases are repeated.
"No respect"
"You don't know your mate"
"You have not seen anything yet"
You go to work and you feel like the world is against you. You try to explain your predicament to people and they say you are paranoid. Trust me, you are not paranoid. The world is really against you. (Satan is the king of the world and you have powerlessly threatened him and you think he would sit still with folded hands and simply look at you)
Don't just wear bands and put up stickers but put on the whole armour of God.
Ephesians 6:10-13
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. 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 spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm.
Therefore put on the full armour of God so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground..."
Verses 14-18 displays the full armour:
1. Truth
2. Righteousness
3. Peace
4. Faith
5. Salvation
6. Word of God
7. Prayer.
These are the spiritual bands and stickers we need as our identification and also for intimidation in the spiritual realm. They are the features by which we are evaluated in the supernatural realm.
When you put these on, then you can boldly say:
"Beware devil, I am touchable!
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