Beat the devil at his own game and wage warfare with confidence! There is a spiritual battle going on, and prayer warrior and intercessor Cindy Trimm has given you a manual to wage effective warfare. The Rules of Engagement helps you recognize the spirits that operate in the kingdom of darkness and gives you declarations for engaging them armed with God’s power and authority. Watch these funny retro-style clips showing the 'spiritual rules' of dating.

From the desk of Steve Shultz:

This is a great word and reminder by Cindy Trimm to always 'Speak Life into Your Situation' no matter what! Cindy gives us some practical guidelines and then speaks some powerful declarations. I'd receive them if I were you, and just watch how your circumstances change as you also speak powerful declarations full of LIFE over every circumstance you are facing.

But first, here are a couple of great prophetic E-Books by Cindy Trimm:

Rules Of Engagement Movie

Job 22:28:You will also declare a thing, and it will be established for you; so light will shine on your ways.

Scriptures are replete with principles that support the power of the tongue. This Scripture refers to your royal anointing—the favor God has poured over you because you belong to Him. It reminds me of the story when Samuel went to David and poured anointing oil over his head to signify he would be the next king of Israel. Samuel didn't bring him a crown, but anointed him with oil—a symbol of the Holy Spirit and God's blessings and approval.

It was many years later before David actually wore that crown, but from the moment he was anointed, he was already a king in God's eyes. Good things began to happen to him almost immediately because he started looking at his world through eyes of blessing rather than eyes of failure. Even as he overcame the lion and the bear, he knew he could overcome giants. And just as he took authority and overcame everything that threatened his ascent to the throne, you must take authority and overcome everything that threatens your ascent into the realm of success and prosperity.

A king does not beg and cry for anything. He does not have to. He declares something and that thing is established. A king has the legal power to decree, which is an old English word for 'legislate.' He institutes, he confirms, he settles, he summons, he authorizes—that's what a king does.

Peter tells us we belong to 'a royal priesthood' (1 Peter 2:9). The word royal speaks of our kingly attributes as Believers. Remember, Jesus is King of kings—He is the capital 'K' King and we are the lowercase 'k' kings. You must manifest your royal anointing to decree blessings over your marriage, family, business, ministry, and every other realm of your life.

The whole universe is waiting for us to give it instruction. As the Bible says, 'For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God' (Romans 8:19). The whole universe waits in anticipation for the sons and daughters of God to manifest themselves and bring it back into alignment with God's original intent for them. Every word you speak is pregnant with regal, creative power.

The first to illustrate this was God Himself. According to Hebrews 11:3 (ESV): 'the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.' In the book of Genesis, chapter one, at the beginning of each day of the creation story, we see: 'And God said, 'Let there be...' God spoke out what He had seen in His mind as He had dreamed about creating the universe, and when He spoke, the earth, all the planets, the sun, moon, and stars, as well as every plant, animal, and humanity itself appeared just as He had seen us all in His mind's eye. God spoke, and from 'nothingness' came everything that exists in the physical universe.

James, the brother of Jesus, told a parable of how this is to work in our lives:

For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.—James 3:2-5ESV

When a ship sets sail to cross the sea, the pilot plots out the course. Then he determines the times he will need to adjust the direction of the ship to follow the course he has set. He checks his calculations from time to time to ensure he is always headed in the right direction, and then he keeps the steering as steady as possible heading towards his predetermined destination. Certainly along the way he may have to adjust the helm to go around storms, navigate currents, or avoid obstacles in the water, but he always steers with his focus more on where he is going than what he is going through. If he constantly changes the steering from one minute to the next fixated on his present circumstances, the ship is more likely to go in circles than it is to arrive at the desired port of call.

For the pilot, the course is created first in his thoughts, communicated through the rudder, and then realized as the rest of the ship lines up with his intent. For us, our lives only arrive at our desired goals if we line up our thoughts, words, habits, and actions in a similar way.

You must take the time to carefully consider your course. Where are you heading? What will it look like when you get there? Let your imagination take over. Spend time daydreaming about where you want to be in life. Read about it. Study that place. Write about it in your journal. Draw it. Paint it. Let your mind run free with the possibilities of what you could attain.

What will it take to get there? Are there skills you will need to acquire? Are there people who live in that place that you can learn from? How did they get there? What paths did they take? Are there habits that you should form that will keep you on course?

Now talk about it. Line up your mouth—the rudder of your life—with where you are going. Then keep it steady and on course.

What happens to a ship if you head it in one direction at one moment, and then turn it in the opposite direction in the next—and keep doing that over and over? Pretty simple—it goes nowhere. This is what happens when people start speaking about the good things they are expecting to happen one minute, and then spend the next half hour talking about all the negative things happening to them that are keeping them from getting there. They are turning their lives in circles. They line up their spoken words with where they want to go for a little while, then when they meet a storm along the way, all they do is talk about the bad weather and lose track of where they were headed in the first place. They forget that they have the power to turn their lives around the storm or press on through it to the sunshine on the other side. They forget that the 'Son' has never stopped shining on their lives, no matter how dark the clouds in the sky are.

Even in the midst of what looks like catastrophe, keep speaking the blessing, keep the ship of your life on a steady course, and before you know it the storm clouds will clear and you will have broken through your difficulty and left it far behind you.

Tell Your Troubles Where to Go

Your every decree is pregnant with the power and potential to revolutionize your life. Psalm 2:7-8 indicates that God utilizes this prerogative, and grants the same to His earthly ambassadors:

I will declare the decree:'The LORD has said to Me, 'You are My Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You...'

David used his right to decree and declare to turn the tides of Israel's unfavorable fate and to defeat their enemy Goliath. In the book of 1 Samuel 17:46-51, David addresses his enemy with conviction and authority:

'This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall know that the LORD does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD's, and He will give you into our hands.'

So it was, when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, that David hurried and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. Then David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone; and he slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him...David ran and stood over the Philistine, took his sword...out of its sheath...and cut off his head with it.

And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.

Since the spirit realm is the causal realm, Goliath was dead long before he was struck by the stone and beheaded by the sword.

Remember, according to Proverbs 18:21, 'Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.' Choose to use your tongue to bring life and not death, to bless and not to curse—even when it comes to your 'enemies.' Learn the art of blessing, for in blessing a thing or a person, that thing or person must bless you. 'Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse' (Romans 12:14). When you bless, blessings will be drawn to you, or as Deuteronomy 28:2 says, 'blessings shall come upon you and overtake you.' Conversely, in cursing a thing or a person, you draw curses upon yourself.

Again, as James said: 'A double-minded man (is) unstable in all his ways' (James 1:8). What did he mean? A double-minded person is a person with conflicting thoughts—someone who holds two different opinions at the same time. That person is the pilot who steers his ship towards one port for a while, then reverses to steer it towards another in the opposite direction. 'He...is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind' (James 1:6). At one point your life is headed towards blessings because that is what you have spoken, and the next it is headed towards cursing because that is now what your mouth is proclaiming.

James again describes this pilot's plight later in his letter:

With it (the tongue) we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.—James 3:9-10

I am convinced that Believers tend to live beneath the standard God has ordained for His children because of ignorance. We do not know that our daily declarations and decrees have the power to alter our destiny and change the quality of our lives. Proverbs 13:3 states that 'He who guards his mouth (watches what he says) preserves his life.' Or again as James said, 'If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect (mature) man, able also to bridle the whole body' (James 3:2). If guarding your words causes you to keep your life and grow in maturity, imagine what happens when you do not guard your words?

Speak Out Your Blessings

Hosea 8:7 (NIV) states, 'They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind.' This demonstrates the powerful nature of words. Whatever you sow will come back to you multiplied.

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.—Galatians 6:7-8

I decree and declare that you dwell in the secret place of the Most High God and dwell under the shadow of the Almighty, and everything that is misaligned I command to come into divine alignment.

• That you have the mind of Christ and therefore seek things above and not beneath.

Rules Of Engagement Movie True Story

• That you ascend into new realms of power and authority and access new dimensions of divine revelation.

• That you wear the helmet of salvation to protect your mind from negative thoughts that would derail God's purposes and plans for you.

• That truth protects your integrity, righteousness protects your reputation, the Gospel of peace guides your every step, the shield of faith secures your future and destiny, and the sword of the Spirit grants you dominion and authority.

• That new cycles of victory, success, and prosperity will replace old cycles of failure, poverty, and death in your life.

• Today is the dawning of a new day. Your season of frustration and failure is over, and you walk in a season of success and prosperity. Old things have passed away; all things have become new.

• That Psalm 25:21 ministers to you, 'Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on Thee.'

• That your thoughts are governed only by things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse (Philippians 4:8-9 The Message).

Be Blessed. Speak life into your situation!

(Adapted from Commanding Your Morning book)

Blessings,

Dr. Cindy Trimm
Cindy Trimm International
Email: info@cindytrimm.com

New to Agile? Use a Rules of Engagement document.

How do we work together? Seems like a simple question, right? How wrong you could be! For an agile team, working together is vitally important, but it is also the hardest thing to accomplish. Why? Because we don’t normally work together very well. Think about the stereotypical high tech company and their sterile cubicles with “resources” working hard in isolation. This is a far cry from the PEOPLE on an effective agile team who work in an open, collaboration friendly environment. (In case you can’t tell, I have a pet peeve about calling people anything except people – in my opinion it is degrading to call people anything else) But this isn’t the only problem…

Once we get the team working well together, we still have those pesky PEOPLE known as managers and executives that want to pry into every little detail. Sorry, but that isn’t very agile, so wouldn’t it be nice if we could keep them from doing it? What about the product people constantly changing the focus of the team on a day to day basis? Or how about fixing the problem of the development manager constantly trying to tell the team they can do more work than is possible? All of these things and many more come into play when we talk about the seemingly simple question “How do we work together?”

Because all of these things add up in a hurry, I encourage teams to put together a rules of engagement document to make clear some of the most basic rules and interactions. I do this in conjunction with having the team determine their definition of what “done” means. Both of these items are completed prior to starting the first iteration. For maximum effectiveness have the team, managers and executives all sign the document as a sort of contract among themselves. Having executives sign the document is extremely empowering to the team and helps them recognize they have the full support of the organization to be successful!

Feel free to use my sample Rules of Engagement document for your team. If you make changes, please leave a comment here so I can consider making your change to the master document I use when I train teams. If you have questions about the document either leave a comment here or email me and I’ll try to get you an answer. This way we all can learn and improve this document for the teams that will use it in the future.

Until next time I’ll make sure teams I train use a Rules of Engagement document because it provides a lot of help in Making Agile a Reality™ for an organization.