 alright welcome back let's proceed we were talking about how to exercise our spiritual authority and we looked at a few terms that can be applied and now we look at other ways one is to issue commands with all these words like destroy remove bind lose so we are releasing our authority by these words now other things prayer prayer and intercession so that's what I shared even in the context of corporate you know spiritual warfare prayer and intercession is so very helpful so we need to engage in that and we can see results when there is a prayerful first of all prayer and prayerful atmosphere I don't know if any of you has experiences but I have sometimes when you go to let's say you know visit a church community or something you feel God's presence in that area but if you go to other parts of the city it's very different and then like you can almost tell the difference because this community is a praying community so not that demons won't be active demons are there everywhere but you can also understand that God's presence is also established in a powerful way so that is the the power of prayer and intercession where we have praying communities we can experience the victory of God even in that atmosphere sometimes we can tell and which is why even when it comes to our homes so if we can have prayer in our homes family prayer time together worship whenever every family has its time but these things are so powerful that God's presence can be established right so that is one thing now prayer and intercession in our struggle against the enemy so when we pray when we intercede God's power works you remember the example of Daniel okay when demonic spirits were interfering with the answer that God was sending to Daniel what happened Daniel was praying Daniel was fasting sometimes we are fasting and praying how does it help then God sent his angel the angel went and fought with the principality and then the answer actually came through so there is a role that prayer plays in spiritual warfare so we need to pray so to overcome demons we must pray as we pray as we intercede we will exercise our authority and scriptures tell us pray for all the saints right all kinds of prayers in Ephesians chapter 6 what do we read about in Ephesians chapter 6 we went through the last few classes anyone yeah spiritual armor spiritual armor so parts of the armor we have you know helmet of salvation breastplate shield belt shoes all these are parts of the spiritual armor but in verse 18 it also says pray for all the saints so in a way think about this Paul is talking to the Ephesian church about how to overcome the devil and he says to overcome you should have armor but in the same continuation he says pray for everybody which also means that prayer is also part of the weaponry against the devil so if you want to overcome Satan prayer intercession will overcome the evil one so we need that as a part of our warfare weapon even in the case of Peter Jesus told Peter I know Satan is planning something against you but I have prayed for you that you should not fall that you know your faith should be preserved so how did Jesus protect his disciple from Satan's attack what did you do prayer right so true prayer we can even speak protection or we can ensure protection for our lives and our loved ones for our family for our you know church or someone in church maybe we are ministering to that person pray for them so when we pray for them they will be able to overcome Satan will be able to overcome the enemy so prayer is so very useful prayer and intercession and yeah we can overcome Satan through this yes next is righteous actions righteous actions we talked about the breastplate of righteousness so the breastplate of righteousness what does it mean it means two things one is I must believe that I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus what does Satan want us to believe about ourselves sinners correct that we are sinners that we are condemned we are guilty he wants us to keep believing that because when we believe that our identity becomes faulty that's not our identity now I'm washed by the blood of Jesus I am a child of God I am sanctified I'm made righteous so that is my identity so we have been made righteous through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross second thing about righteousness is we have to walk in righteousness so I am righteousness but what if I engage in sin is it helpful against the enemy no because I myself am what we say opening doors for the devil to work in my life so it has to be both identity has to be correct my understanding secondly walk in righteousness don't walk in evil ways then also we can overcome Satan we can overcome demonic powers so keep doing what is right and Satan will get very irritated and for example let's imagine you know an office situation where there are people who try to make you angry they want you to get angry they want you to you know shout and sort of be enraged they are expecting that kind of a reaction from you but what if you don't what if you know you're cool as a cucumber as they say right so you're very composed because you're trusting in the Lord even though you're irritated you're still not you know losing your calm and then you do that what is happening you're walking in God's righteousness isn't it so when you're working in God's righteousness there is somebody engaging in righteous actions that is also like overcoming the devil it's irritating that to the enemy because he wants you to lose your calm but here you are you're working in trusting trust in the Lord and forgiveness and patience and all the good virtues the fruit of the spirit that in itself is warfare you know it's like Joseph in Egypt who did the right thing that is spiritual warfare righteous person having the righteous person is spiritual warfare in itself or Daniel even in the lion's den no problem there's nothing that can actually harm him because God is on his side so living if you're a righteous individual when we're walking in righteousness it's automatic warfare against the devil but in some situations we have to intentionally involve in righteous actions as a warfare against the devil I'll explain myself let's say in in a community okay there is a lot of financial like you know misdeed people are doing the wrong thing financially now as believers if we are going to be wise with our money if we are going to be generous with our money if we are going to put our money into godly things then that becomes spiritual warfare where everyone else is is maybe hoarding money they're all keeping money and they're all you know doing it the wrong way as believers we decide no we will not engage in anything that is corruption we will be true and righteous we will be generous that is warfare against the devil in that community because what is happening all the believers now are doing the right thing as far as money is concerned so in some places when we see you know a particular evil we may have to decide that we will do the opposite that becomes spiritual warfare okay maybe there is injustice in some places so we've seen this in history how people are ill treated you know on the basis of their ethnicity so many things have happened in history but let's say we are observing things like that but we do what is right we don't go by you know which ethnicity a person belongs to or what is their origin people are people all people are made in the image of God so we choose to treat everybody correct not like how others are doing it that becomes spiritual warfare so depending on the evil in that community as believers when we decide okay I will do the opposite of what others are doing I will do the righteous actions the enemy is actually experiencing an attack from you got it so things like that or let's say something had been done in the past which is not good okay maybe one particular set of people where ill treated there have been I mean I have heard of stories where leaders like spiritual leaders of the community have gone and asked for forgiveness for something that happened in the past which was not correct okay to these people so when such things happen for example let's say you know there is a there is a group that is very poor because injustice was done to them and they are poor and the spiritual leaders actually go and ask for forgiveness from those who were oppressed many years ago or you know a generation ago it will release up the power of God in a fresh new way because we are doing an action opposite to what Satan has done right so all these things will also really make a big difference and even at a community level so this is also spiritual warfare righteousness that we can engage in any thoughts about this any questions yes yes please go ahead yes I so make sure so anytime we're doing action that is opposite of the devil we are in warfare like you gave the example treating people right regardless of race whatever what other people may be treating in certain race are different but we're not that's walking war for just anything that's opposite of the devil is walking I want to make sure that is that what you were saying to make sure I'm clear yes that's that's exactly what I'm saying okay perfect thank you yeah so what I'm saying is like counter trend if the trend is you know the trend is downward we go upward and in that way we are setting God's standard in that community okay thank you yes thank you alright so sure now we look at a few more actions to engage in power of agreement power of agreement as scripture teaches and prayer we've learned when we pray together we agree together you know that is strong that is very powerful and we can leverage that when it comes to warfare against Satan to pray with someone even when we are ministering we we can pray over them but there are times when you can pray with them in agreement and that can really help so that is also something we can use and pray as a team pray corporately for warfare against demons angels and engaging angels can also help because angels can war the demons okay so how to have more angelic activity we already discussed in the last class one is pray and ask God to send his angels second is we can declare scripture because the angels heed the voice of the Lord so when we declare scripture angels will do the work they'll start to you know take action so that is also something we must look at and yeah in the Bible there are many different kinds of angels there are examples given here in our notes we can go back and look at those examples like guardian angels what do guardian angels do they protect so they might just protect you in different times and they might cover you from the harm that Satan and the demons want to do to you so guardian angels there are messenger angels like Gabriel right they come they give a message that this is what God wants to speak to you so there are messenger angels who can come to us there are warring angels so we see them in the Old Testament they they come to engage in war okay and that's their task so every category of angels has a task they so as we pray as we praise as we declare the word angels can actually start destroying the demons so it can happen because scriptures talk about warring angels so there are warring angels there are also assisting angels those who will help us so God can send an angel to help us strengthen us okay guide us and and all of those things so there are assisting angels so in spiritual warfare we can engage angelic assistance for that we need to pray and declare pray and declare so make that a part of our practice is to pray and declare fine so angels and the last section here is authority gateways what are authority gateways authority gateways are the order of God God has created an order in every setting so if we look at any state or any nation we have government isn't it so we have government we have leaders and then you have different structures that oversee the activities of that particular place now if you take up an institution there is a leadership for the institution you know there are other people who are assigned responsibilities so that becomes the authority gateway so through the leaders of the institution God works if you take the church then pastor and leaders that is the authority gateway if you take a family then you know the father father mother and then the siblings so the authority flows like that we have to respect that if you take a you know married couple then the husband is the authority husband over the wife so it flows like that now why are we trying to understand this you see those who are in authority we can exercise we can exercise whatever we discussed on this on our sphere of influence now let's say I'm the leader of the church as a pastor I can bless I can speak protection I can speak you know God's intervention in people's lives it will be very powerful because that is how the authority flows more than can a believer pray for another believer yes we can but there is something about the authority structure when it goes in the order similarly for a family like if a parent prays for their children that's very powerful and similarly you know a husband can pray over his wife it's very powerful so these are all these are all structures that we must respect and we must also use the influence appointed by God given by God to that you know authority person in that circle so we see in first Corinthians 7 14 we've read this earlier in the prayer chapter that in a family even if let's say between a husband and a wife even if one person is an unbeliever there is going to be spiritual influence that one can exercise right so that tells us that our prayers are powerful as long as you are a believer prayers are powerful okay and we clarified last time also that this is in the situation that let's say you know it's not like you should go looking for an unbeliever to marry but if for whatever reason that has happened then yes we can still exercise our influence in prayer and yeah a husband can pray over his wife you can pray over the family a pastor can pray over the local church government leaders can have influence over the people and any team any group right whoever is the captain of the group carries some level of spiritual authority to bless to lead well and you know all of that so authority gateways or structures so if a person is in a position of authority use the influence in a positive way we can use it in a positive way over the people and if we let's say the leader is is walking in righteousness it will affect the people now let's say the leader is not walking in righteousness can that affect the people or do you think leader should be good leader should be doing the right things you know praying the right things over the people now what if the leader has sinned in their own lives what might happen see we said the authority gateway is that authority flows from the head of that institution now if the authority struck authority person is good if you take for example a church and the pastor is a good pastor walking in righteousness there's a good influence on the people what if the pastor has unrepentant sin in his own life then will that affect the people that's my question yeah so that's correct so if the leader is not careful whatever weaknesses we entertain as leaders we may find the same weaknesses in the people because it's like an open door so Satan and his demons can enter they can affect the leader's life and also the lives of all the others okay so that is very like you know we have to be so careful that we don't give any entrance to the enemy into our lives as leaders or whatever position even in the family whoever is the leader you have to be very careful but in some churches there is always a tendency where they keep finding faults with pastors you know so how do you keep finding faults with pastors I'm not saying pastors are not blameless but just to figure out you know okay this is what wrong this is how we react it this is how he responded this is what he spoke that type of her mindset it's like yeah yeah once again I'm just finding your scripture yeah it's first Timothy 5 verse 19 where it says do not okay let me read NKJV yeah NKJV version do not receive an accusation against an elder except from two or three witnesses so the Bible has see God respects the authority that he appoints so when it comes to accusation against a leader I'm not saying leaders are faultless they have their own weaknesses but if there is a serious accusation right one thing that we are told is the way we approach it it will be little bit different now if it's someone else even then I think Matthew 18 has a has a way like first you go speak to your brother try to resolve it if he doesn't listen then you go with you know some elders to talk about that matter so the Bible gives us a pattern to follow when when we have an accusation against a person and when we have an accusation against an elder or a leader it says first of all we have to be very sure that's that's what it means do not you know accept or do not receive an accusation that doesn't mean don't accuse them but it says you have to be sure I have to be very sure that there is a problem there's an issue and it says you need to have two or three witnesses so that again is telling us be very sure if there is a serious matter two or three of you are saying the same thing about the leader that means there is a problem okay now how do we address it the Bible teaches us that also it has to be done in a different way because there's honor involved you know towards the leader so you can't just address it a good way to do is to maybe have another elder who speak to the pastor or someone so that way it might be you can still address the problem okay yeah but I think thankfully in today's culture at least here in Bangalore what I have seen here in our church we do encourage people to share feedback and sometimes the feedback is you know good many times there is feedback that is not easy to digest but there is that openness if you want to say something say it right and to have a culture like that also so helpful because we don't have to wait for something big to happen constantly we are getting feedback and you know me someone can just come up to you and say hey you know what you said I don't think that is accurate or something like that right so I hope it addresses your issue thoroughly all right okay so yes leaders have to be careful we need yeah and the other aspects of it is that when there is authority over our lives we also have to be in right submission to it then God's power God's blessings will flow when we are in right submission to the authority and if at all there is a problem with the authority then as a person who's under authority I can still protect myself I don't have to you know have the weakness which my leaders have because you remember Paul told Timothy don't let anyone look down on you because you are young you can be an example in word indeed in behavior and everything so just because there's a problem with our leaders and I can't say oh they are like that that's why I'm like this no I can take my own responsibility and shut the door on whatever activity is going on right I don't want that to touch my life I can still walk pure and still walk with integrity if I make up my mind and determine to follow the Lord so these are some things that will really help us to walk strong with the Lord we'll take up some questions today and then I think the rest of the chapters are more practical and we have sufficient time to complete it in the coming weeks okay let me look at the questions here I'll go to Prat's question ma'am is there such a thing as a gift of intercession or ministry of intercession what are some biblical examples yes there is a ministry of intercession a good example is Epiphras in the New Testament so you can read up a little bit about this person he was a minister together with Paul and he was called to prayer he was called to intercession I hope that addresses your question Prat the second question that Prat has how do we identify or discern if we have a ministry or off intercess of intercession of prayer so we may sense that we are being stirred up more and more to pray we are receiving if you would like to call it like burdens from the Lord in our hearts and we feel like okay I need to make time to pray that could be an indicator that God wants us to spend more time in prayer and intercession so you can begin there and I'm sure the Lord will lead you okay Shani I'll just let you talk I know you posted something here in the chat but I didn't quite get the meaning of that yeah please go ahead yeah my question is when you say we have to have the right submission to the authority I think I kind of know what you mean but can you explain that can you give me an example yeah so right submission to authority means see we have we have the teachings the Apostle Peter if we read his writings the episodes that Peter wrote he talks about how one must behave with you know in the work setting so if we have a boss then what should be the attitude of the employee he talks about you know if there's a husband and what should be the attitude of the wife if there's a leader what should be the attitude of those who follow the leader so Peter talks a lot about this and maybe reading his episodes might help you first Peter is a good episode to study so we get the understanding that we must be good followers but at the same time it's not telling us to come under their control so there's there is that border Shani so submission does not mean coming under someone's control so we can still be our own person and still exercise the freedom that God has given us and yet be fully submitted to the authority over our lives so I just kind of summed it up do you have follow-up questions to that no that that was good thank you what I put in the chat I was thinking you were asking about in terms of them why is it not good for I guess a pastor to be sitting that's what I meant I thought that could you say didn't understand that what I was trying to say was that like if somebody is sitting or pastor that's cheating on his wife or things like that I just thought there's a certain spirit that can get on the congregation that's what I meant but I don't know if that's true but that's what I was told yes Shani so when let's say there is a weakness in the leader and as obviously like you know especially when it comes to a spiritual leader and they are sitting that's very dangerous that's very very dangerous and yes demonic spirits can enter through it and that could be a spirit behind you know whatever you you the example that you gave just now and that can affect people in the congregation and you might find that they are doing the exact same thing that the pastor is doing okay thank you thank you yeah so then as leaders we have to be on the guard so it's it's a high call it's a high call yes I think we have addressed the questions in the chat and we can just begin with one question that just there in my mind without taking a person's name see in the past there was a very famous man of God who had a very successful ministry okay so there were a lot of people who followed his works and you know his his ministry yeah and later when he moved on when he passed away and then they find out a lot of things which is not like fair so then the way people responded was in shock okay but honestly speaking that time do you actually nullify the way God worked through his life and the ministry and the people that he reached out that's the first question and the second question is like as a believer as a child of God the Bible also says no don't take the dust off somebody else's eye before you take it out of your own eye so people were like very much you know on the thrust of you know disapproving of what he did and yeah that's that's fine but yeah we are like we are not too judgmental on just the way he lived and yeah sure see we I maybe I'll answer the second question first and then the first question so the second question when somebody is sinning okay yes if you look up James chapter 4 it says do not judge your brother right don't judge your brother we see even in the teachings of Jesus it says like you you will be judged with the measure that you judge the Bible has to be like when we read when when we interpret it as you know one thought is coming through you have to see if there are opposing concepts in other parts of the Bible right so okay we get it that okay don't judge them in in an unbalanced way that point we got but when you look at the life of Jesus no scriptures tell us that Jesus was anointed Jesus was exalted because he loved what is good and he hated what is wrong think about this even Jesus when something was wrong he was upset about it he did not cover it up so then can we judge an evil in another person's life answer is yes we should get upset when we see something wrong in another person's life but how do we address it you know as we discussed earlier if it's somebody in leadership there is there is a correct way of going about it and we must speak the truth in love okay speak the truth in love so the answer is it's okay to judge a kill it's okay to judge the sin the sin yeah in the scenario things came into light only after he passed away yeah but at least we are admitting that what happened was wrong we should admit that it just remove all the works that he's done and all the books that is written and those things yeah so see one is we are clear on what is right and wrong what happened is wrong that should not have happened okay that is one thing now what do we do with his ministry what do we do with his works now we know you know scriptures tell us I think it is Romans 1129 the gifts and callings of God are irrevocable so gifts and callings come from God and in the ministry there could have been a lot of things said and done which were genuinely from God you got it yes God used him as a vessel and we don't have to burn all the right things yeah we don't have to get rid of everything but you see the problem is now when we read those books or when we listen to those sermons we we may struggle to accept right many of us we're like oh why should we listen to this person because testimony is something once a person loses their testimony it makes it that much harder for people to accept their ministry yeah yeah God spoke through that person like scenario where you actually look at it on the different perspective as you know like when you can go back to listen to some sermons now it had a very good positive influence worldwide so you can always take it like you know God spoke through him yeah people and rather than just saying no I will no longer listen to this yeah yeah see God definitely work through the person but again it's each one's individual decision because some people may not be able to you know when when you think of that person you don't feel like like how do you know how do you know what he's saying is right like you get all these doubts so some people may on purpose not want to venture that site so we let them be sister can I say something yes yes sister cartoon sister see when the person is alive they didn't confront with his sin attitude or whatever when the person dies they are bringing all the allegations but we don't know I think like it could be a demonic attempt to bring down his ministry because if if they were right they could have confronted when he was alive okay no I see a point but also if there is enough evidence sister that's why I was telling Akhil if there is enough evidence and we know wrong has happened then it's okay to admit that yes what happened was wrong this person was wrong it should be fine yeah but but thank you I totally get what you're trying to thank you yes thank you sir yes Warren yes I just want to say you know this just incidents like this just go to prove to us you know no matter how close we have to go to how fully a person may seem to be we are always prone to temptation and you know we have to always be on our guard and the more we get closer to God the the more the enemy wants to attack us and bring us down okay so you're just sharing no Warren it's not a question exactly I'm just sharing sorry yeah so Warren is saying we have to be on our guard you have to be on our guard especially when we are serving in areas of responsibility and the Lord is helping us rise up in responsibility yeah thank you for sharing that Warren Shani yeah can you clarify I know it says to don't judge somebody but then you said it's okay to do it because if somebody's sending you gonna judge him so can you kind of clarify that because you had mentioned that earlier yeah see judging by judging I'm not saying that we are condemning a person but we are calling right right and wrong wrong which is admitting right and wrong okay okay I think that okay it's like if you're made the right or wrong then it kind of condemning them and oh yeah yes go ahead yeah I don't know if you're if you're I don't know because some people if if they're doing something that's not right and you tell them it's not right isn't that they may think of that as kind of condemnation in a way I don't know that's kind of how I'm gonna talk a little bit okay see that it needs a lot of wisdom there's a right way of approaching this and the right way of speaking the truth to them but someone has to address it Shani and you know that I mean there are other scriptures that teach us that when we do this it will help them come out and lead a righteous life but the opposite of that okay now let's consider we don't correct someone we say okay yeah it's fine everything is fine keep going but that is flattery and you know like just praising them despite the issues that is not correct no because then we are actually misleading the person okay so if they're if they're doing something that right just tell it I guess the way you approach it to a tell them but don't ask them won't don't keep badgering about it and like telling them you know over and over again about is that what you're trying to say yes yes so when we do it with the right heart our intention is to help that person bring them out of that situation it's a good thing there's there's nothing wrong with judging the sin what they keep doing it you see that's up to them there's only so much that we can do for each other but beyond that if that person is not willing to take responsibility then at least we did what we are supposed to do okay so they keep doing it just leave it along because you already told that okay okay perfect clarifies things thank you thank you thank you okay some comments here in the chat okay sister Gertrude but sometimes people judge after people's death why not when person was alive I think the evidence came out after the person died and maybe that's why you know the issue started and we don't judge the person okay Sanjay says hate the sin not the sinner great all right so yeah thank you class it's interesting as ever for teaching you know and spending time with all of you let's close with a word of prayer and I want to request someone from our online batch to please pray before we end the class anyone okay sister Gertrude could you please lead us yes sister heavenly father but thank you for what we have learned today my master and all the details my master to how to protect ourselves and depend on self and to have the warfare my master lord with the righteousness my master lord in our heart I pray that we will use all the weapons that we have given us everything that we have taught us in detail my master to stand on your word and to take a right full place my master to defend our family our church and our nation my lord I thank you for all that sister's taught us that we may practice it every day in our life in the mighty name of Jesus I pray amen