 Session number one, what is a stronghold and how do they work? Let's establish this truth first. If you are spiritually bound, you're not living the Christian life. Where there is bondage, there is deception. All spiritual bondage is ultimately rooted in spiritual deception. The Scripture declares where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. That is where he has influence. And whatever area of our lives we've given up influence to the enemy, that is a breeding ground for deception. That deception wreaks havoc in our lives if we don't identify and eliminate that deception through the believing in truth. But I believe that God created you for so much more than spiritual struggle. Sadly, many believers have taken the idea that spiritual struggle is just a part of the Christian life. That spiritual defeat is inevitable. That spiritual battle or being embattled or being defeated, I should say, that living under that defeat is somehow a sacrifice made unto God or a cross to carry. Spiritual defeat is not a cross to carry. It's not even supposed to be a part of the Christian life. Now, we have this idea that the more we struggle spiritually, that the more spiritual we are. And this is actually a lie. Because in this idea is rooted a very subtle form of spiritual pride, if you can even call it that, because spiritual pride is a contradiction in terms. Pride is not spiritual. I shall call it rather religious pride. Where we say things like, well, the devil's attacking me because he knows how big of a threat I am. My friend, if you're a threat to the enemy, the scripture says he flees, he doesn't fight. So this idea that if I struggle spiritually, that this is somehow proof that I'm at a different level, that's religious, that's legalism, that's you trying to bear the punishment for your growth in Christ. When that was already paid on the cross. And so the moment we believe something like that, the enemy already has us because we've granted the premise that suffering spiritually is a part of the Christian life. Now let me clarify, lest you misunderstand what I'm saying, because I want to be perfectly clear. Jesus said in this world, you will have tribulation. That's a fact. You're going to have trials, you're going to have tribulation, you're going to face tragedies. Not everything is going to go the way you want it to go. But my friend, no matter what is happening around you, you should have spiritual victory within you. No matter the pressures that come against you, there's always power within you. So yes, we will face trials. I mean, think about the fact that Jesus wept when John the Baptist was killed. He felt the pain of that tragedy. So I'm not saying you will not feel pain. I'm not saying you will not be attacked. I'm not saying you will not be tempted. I'm not saying the enemy won't attempt to deceive you. I'm not saying he won't try to wreak havoc in your life. I'm not saying that people won't come against you. I'm saying despite all of those things, you should have victory internally. What does that mean? Does that mean the circumstances always go the way you want them to go? No. I mean that regardless of the circumstance, there's peace. Regardless of the circumstance, there's joy. Regardless of the circumstance, there's spiritual stability. Your spiritual life should not ebb and flow depending upon the circumstance. Your spiritual life should be a straight line of growth despite what's happening around you. Now I'm not saying we live in perfection. I'm not saying we won't make mistakes, but I am saying that we have to stop granting the premise that that internal suffering, that internal defeat is somehow a given in the Christian life that is not what the Scripture talks about when it mentions this idea that we are to carry our cross. It's time to break free from that cycle once and for all. God did not create you to live in depression. God did not create you to live with torment. That is not just a part of your personality. That is not the lot you've been given in life. That is not something you should accept as God's gift to you. God did not create you to live under the power of sin and temptation. God did not create you to live in confusion. God did not create you to live a life where you're aimlessly wondering, looking for a purpose. God created you for purpose. God created you for peace. God created you to love Him and be loved by Him, to know Him and be known by Him. That is the great achievement of the Christian life, that fellowship that we have with Him. And so I believe that no matter how long you've attempted to be free, no matter how many tries you've had at breakthrough, no matter how intense the battle or the struggle may be, you can and you will go free and it will be the truth that sets you free. So let's take a look here at 2 Corinthians chapter 10. I'm going to read verses 4 and 5. The Bible says here, we use God's mighty weapons, not worldly weapons to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. We destroy every proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. That's 2 Corinthians 10, 4, and 5. Now the context of this particular portion of Scripture is that Paul the Apostle is defending his apostolic authority against pretenders who are jealous of what God had given to him. And these pretenders are coming into the church and sowing seeds of discord by making deceitful remarks such as, oh, they're not true apostles or oh, they don't have real power or who are they to have authority and so forth. And Paul the Apostle responds to that deception by speaking to the church a message of truth. And then he says that we tear down these strongholds, these forms of reasonings, these thought patterns. We tear down these strongholds, we capture them and teach them to obey Christ. In other words, though the context is Paul the Apostle defending his apostolic authority. The takeaway principle is that reasoning, thought patterns are like strongholds in the mind. Now stronghold in the natural is a wall or picture a high tower, a place of refuge. Anything that is built with the purpose of maintaining ground, anything that is built for the purpose of maintaining safety of an occupying army or territory and so forth, these are structures in the mind that the enemy uses to form ways of thinking. These strongholds are thought patterns. And just as a wall or a structure or a high tower holds ground for the enemy, so these thought patterns we develop in our lives hold ground for our spiritual enemy. Now how does this work? Well let's really break down the scripture here. Our weapons are not carnal. That means they're not fought by physical means nor by human effort alone. You can't fight the devil with your fists. The enemy is not intimidated by how much we think we know about the spiritual realm. The enemy is not intimidated by our credentials or how long we've been in ministry. The enemy is not intimidated when we raise our voices, scream and yell or wave a physical copy of the Bible in his face. It's our physical means. The weapons we use are not fought or not used in a physical way I should say. Mighty through God, meaning effective for the cause of God. That's unto a purpose. We don't fight this battle without an aim or a goal. We fight this battle with a goal in mind and that is victory in Christ. Now I love this right here. To the pooling down of strongholds. This reference here is describing the utter destruction of and total removal of a barrier or an obstacle, meaning if you were to imagine before you was a brick wall and that structure stands in place brick by brick by brick. If you were to use what's being described here in the Greek against that wall, it would be such that not one brick would be left upon another. To the point that when you are crossing beyond that barrier, you don't even have to lift your foot over a single brick. It is the complete removal of the utter destruction of that obstacle in your life. Everything about the kingdom of hell is built on shifting shadow. Every brick, every structure, every wall, every fortress, it's shifting shadow, it's darkness. The weapons are sharp silhouettes. His power a smoky illusion. You do not defeat darkness by screaming at it. You do not defeat darkness by philosophizing about it, analyzing it, talking about it, complaining about it. There's only one way to rid the darkness and that is when you turn on the light. And the moment you turn on the light, everything about the kingdom of hell is vanquished. My friend, it's like a child sand castle dissolving under a powerful ocean wave. That's how these structures are taken down once you realize the truth. Once that light goes on, these structures are dissolved. So this is the utter destruction to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations, reasonings, deceptive paradigms or mindsets. Every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, that is the truth about God, bringing into captivity every thought when a stronghold is taken, so are prisoners. When you finally take in hold of the thought pattern, then you can take the thoughts themselves captive. Here's the problem. Many believers try to just address the thoughts that come to their minds and they fight them, they resist them, they sometimes will physically even turn their head to try to resist that thought. An intrusive thought, a lustful thought, a thought of unforgiveness, a thought of pride, a thought of doubt, a thought of fear. These thoughts flood the mind and we try to just find something that we can grasp, turn our focus so that we don't have to deal with those thoughts flying through the mind. And the problem is we can't take those thoughts captive until we've taken down their structure in which they hide. And that is the thought pattern. Now, a lie is anything that contradicts the truth. Basic, simple, we know this. A lie doesn't become deception until you believe that lie. So, if someone lies to you and you know they're lying to you, you laugh it off or you dismiss them. You say, oh, they're a liar. But if they tell you a lie and you didn't know it was a lie, if they tell you a lie and you believe that lie, now you're deceived. A lie doesn't become deception until you believe it. Now, once that lie has burrowed itself in the mind, once you begin to think according to that lie, that thinking becomes a thought pattern. Watch this now. That thought pattern, a way of thinking, the way you've trained your thoughts to go, that thought pattern now begins to change the way you feel and behave. And then the way you feel and behave, if you consistently feel and behave in that manner, it becomes a habit. That habit can be broken for seasons at a time. Maybe three weeks you're good, and then it's six months again of all that chaos. Or somebody does something or says something or a circumstance arises now that suddenly shifts you back into that old thought pattern. And we call the back and forth between that habit, that way of living. We call that a cycle. And some of you return to your old cycles, your old way of living and thinking. Those cycles are what we call spiritual bondage. And too many people try to address the symptom without dealing with the source. I'll give you an example. There are people watching, and in this room now, I'm sure, who battle with lust. And lust is just one example. We can touch on an array of different things, and in fact, I will be talking about different types of strongholds. Let's take lust, for example. What's the lie behind lust? Think about it. Well, Eve didn't sin until she was convinced of the lie that the enemy told her. And before he contradicted the word, you won't die. He questioned the word. Did God really say? You have to remember that before the enemy will contradict the word, he will question the word. And the moment you start questioning the word, that's how you know you're in danger. Because questioning the word leads to contradicting the word. Now, lust, sexual perversion. It begins with the lie as simple as, this will fulfill me. Or, this won't do as much damage as they say it will. Or, if I just allow a minimal amount, technically I'm still living a holy lifestyle, as long as it makes up a small percentage of the way I'm living. These are subtle things. And then what happens is the people try to address the behavior. Why do I keep doing this? Why do I keep going back to that? Because they haven't transformed the mind. That's what repent means. Repent means a change in your mind. Now, some might say, no, repent means to turn the other way. No, that's not true. And I'm not saying that we shouldn't turn from our sins. I'm saying that the word repent doesn't exactly mean that. You're thinking of renounce. See, we've got our terminology all mixed up in the church world. And because of it, we misunderstand what the Scriptures communicating. Repent means to change your mind. Renounce means to turn from. What do we think renounce means today? We pull out the long scroll that rolls across the floor all the way across the room. And we say, I renounced this and I renounced that. And I renounced what my grandma did and my great-grandma did. And we get on ancestry.com to make sure we went down the list. And I renounced this and I renounced that. My friend, if that were needed, you'd have to go all the way back to Adam and Eve. And I promise you, we don't have records of everything. Thank God that he doesn't hide our freedom behind ancient ancestral mysteries. Thank God that he holds you accountable for what you do. So you can do that if you want. I mean, there's no harm in it, I suppose. But that's not what renouncing is. That's just religious. That's superstition. You're verbalizing something that many people, when they verbalize it, don't even plan on doing it. They say, give me the ritual so I don't have to do the lifestyle. And many people try to make up for in superstitious ritual what they lack in spiritual routine. So repent means I change my mind. Here's how it looks. God, I agree with you that this sin is wrong. I agree with you that it doesn't belong in my life. I agree with you that it must go now. I agree that it must go in all forms. That it must go in all measures. Because here's how it works with the flesh. We say, Lord, I'm turning from this sin. And the flesh says for now. And you say, Lord, I'm done with it. And the flesh says until the cravings get too strong again. And so we verbalize one thing. But internally we believe, well, if I do good for the next six months, then I've earned a month of sin or I've earned a week of compromise. We don't say that out loud. But that's exactly what's going on on the inside. That's how deceptive the flesh is. We are stuck in self-deception. And so what do we do? We keep trying to address the pattern itself. And you should enact discipline. You should exercise your free will. You should do what you can in the practical ways to stay away from sin and temptation when it comes to lust. But until you deal with the mindset, until you repent in your mind, you're not going to be able to successfully renounce in your action. Repentance must come before you renounce, otherwise you're fighting against yourself. The party you want to, but you haven't been convinced of that yet. And so you'll notice that with every stronghold there's a lie behind it. And that was just one example. That's lust. The sin will be worth it. The sin will fulfill. This sin won't do as much damage as I think it will. And we lie to ourselves. And then that lie becomes deception. That deception becomes a thought pattern. That thought pattern becomes a way of feeling and behaving. That way of feeling and behaving becomes a habit. That habit becomes a cycle. There's your spiritual bondage. And this is why I say that all spiritual bondage is rooted in spiritual deception. Matthew 6.23, But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And the light, and if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is. Most believers try to address the habit and not the deception behind the habit. Most try to address, again, the symptom, not the source. And when we address these things superficially, that's when we begin to live in religion. Because we only change and address the behavior we'll never repenting of the heart and the mindset. So again, write this down. Lies equal deception. Deception equals thought pattern. Thought pattern equals feelings and actions. Fillings and actions become habits. Habits become cycles. That cycle is what we call spiritual bondage. Now, a stronghold can do more than you realize. Doesn't the Scripture say who hath delivered us from the powers of darkness? Read the New Testament, my friend, with fresh eyes. And every time you read about deliverance from the powers of darkness for the believer, it's past tense. Meaning it already happened. So that deliverance is already yours. We treat deliverance like it's a substance. I'm gonna go for more deliverance. I got some, I need more. My friend, deliverance is not a substance. It's a position in Christ. You either are delivered or you're not. Now, whether or not you choose to live in the benefits of that deliverance, that's all having to do with your mind. Renew the mind. Therefore, spiritual warfare is the fight to believe God's truths over the enemy's lies. That's it. Say, how can that be? I'll show you. Torment. I'm talking hallucinations, voices, night terrors, you name it, torment. I know because that's one of the attacks the enemy used on me. I discovered for me that all of those torments were rooted in the lie that God wanted to harm me. And that's born of religion. Now, you may say, I don't think that, but analyze yourself. Jesus said, how deep that darkness is if you think you have life. There is no fear in love. Perfect love casts out all fear. Therefore, if there is fear and there is torment, it's because there's a lack of a revelation of the love of God. Jesus said, you shall know the truth and the truth shall. Therefore, if you're still bound, there's a truth you don't truly believe yet. Therefore, if you're still bound, there's a lie somewhere that you're believing. And that is the battle. Yes, strongholds can be that severe to where the enemy can convince you to be tormented. To where the enemy can convince you of things that cause confusion, cause division, cause depression, cause fear, cause sin issues, behavior problems. Why? Because we accept the lies. This is why I tell believers all the time 99% of your problems spiritually speaking would be solved with just knowing the Word. Maybe there's that 1% prayer and fasting and having hands laid on you, people coming into agreement. Yes, that's Biblical, but that makes it maybe 1% of some of the issues you're struggling with. 99% you get in the Word, you start to expose those lies and uproot them, suddenly you're walking in victory. What do we see in the New Testament? Did this church in the New Testament walk in defeat? My friend, they overcame by the blood of the Lamb in the Word of their testimony. We're talking about believers who were martyred for their faith. They would spill their blood for the gospel and still considered themselves victorious. We get a flat tire, we say the enemy's winning. Paul the Apostle, shipwrecked, imprisoned, abandoned, rejected, talked about, misunderstood, beaten, sick, standing before councils. Victorious. Well, you know, my relationships just don't seem to work out I'm under the power of the enemy. Why? Because we confuse circumstance, exterior issues, for internal victory or internal standing. And the moment we begin to believe that life's circumstances are evidence that God has abandoned us, then we're under the power of a lie. You know the power of an endorsement? If a New York Times bestselling author endorses a novel, that will boost the sales. If a political candidate endorses a newcomer, that increases votes. If a professional athlete endorses a brand, that brand gets more sales. That's the power of an endorsement. Here's the thing, the enemy will use your negative circumstances in life to endorse his lies. There's proof you're cursed. There's proof you're under my power. There's proof God's abandoned you. There's proof you're not fully delivered. It's getting quiet in here. That's his proof, and he uses that to endorse it, and what do we do? We grant that premise. Yes, I am defeated, now how do I break through instead of saying, no, even in this I'm still victorious. Because then what happens now is you're chasing a solution that doesn't exist because there's a problem and you've inched you as real. I told you we were going deep. You see how intertwined his lies become with our thinking? Now again, let me emphasize. Yes, he spiritually attacks us. Absolutely. Yes, he tempts us. Yes, he tries to deceive. All those things. Yes, people will come against you. We understand that. But what I'm saying is that those things are not proof that God has abandoned you. Those things are not proof that the enemy is winning. When you face those things, those aren't opportunities for sorrow. What does James 1 say? These are opportunities for great joy. Thinking, well that seems backwards, but it's not. Because we have this sense of entitlement that we should get everything we want all the time from God or else it's just something's not working. My friend, he never promised a life of perfection. He promised his presence in the midst of the storm. Yes, we believe in blessing. Yes, God is a good God. But when those things don't work out the way we want them to, these aren't proof that God has abandoned us. These aren't proof that the enemy is winning. These are opportunities to build the character of Christ within us. Session two, open doors and how they make way for strongholds. Christians can be attacked and should watch for open doors. Let's go to Matthew 12, an often misapplied portion of Scripture. Matthew 12, 43 through 45. When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert seeking rest, finding none. Then it says, I will return to the person I came from so it returns and finds its former home empty, swept and in order. Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself and they all enter the person and live there and so that person is worse off than before. That will be the experience of this evil generation. A few things we can glean from this portion of Scripture is that when an unclean spirit comes out of someone that is cast out of them it goes through the desert so it's bound to the earth. It seeks rest, that means it grows tired outside of a host. It needs a physical host in order to have strength. And then what does the Scripture say? Then it says they can speak. I will, it has a will. Return to the person I came from, it has a memory. So it returns and finds its former home empty, swept and in order. They're observant. They observe the state of your spiritual life. Now watch this. It returns and finds the former home, what? Three things. Empty, swept and in order. Who lives in you? As a born again believer we are you are filled with the Holy Spirit. There's Romans 8 and 9. Is the believer empty? This is not talking about the born again believer. However, please don't allow that to produce apathy. Here's two extremes that Christians live in. One extreme is I call hyper paranoia. They see a demon in everything. They go to the thrift store and get a coat. And if they have a bad week, they go it must be the coat. I got to get this thing off me. My friend, if there's a demon on the coat, the moment you put it on it jumped off. Because the Holy Spirit in you is greater than the spirit who's in the world. That's paranoia. But, wait a minute. There's the other side. There's the believer who says, well I have the Holy Spirit I can do whatever I want. And then they're participating in worldly things that don't affect them. No, neither of these extremes are biblical. So even though a spirit cannot re-enter a believer in the same way that it can re-enter an unbeliever that doesn't mean they don't come back to check for what they can have. And what can they have? The power of deception. And so they make their rounds and they come back and look at your life and they say, how can I attack this person in a way that's going to be effective? And this is why there are seasons of life where you do well, and then when you begin to think a certain way, you neglect the word, you neglect prayer, old habits now begin to reform. When you thought those nightmares and torment stopped, suddenly they're reappearing. You thought you shook that depression suddenly now that weight is coming back on you. By the way, not that depression is something you could just shake off. There are other elements to it of course. Not really in this course, but the Bible makes it clear that demonic powers will go and what do they do? They call for help, meaning they cooperate with one another. There's structure. There's a system. More evil than itself. They're ranked by how evil they are. And they know it. And so when the enemy comes back to the life of the believer he finds you're not empty, so I can't re-enter but that doesn't mean all my attacks are ineffective. Again, two extremes. Not so paranoid. I went to the market and I touched the cereal box who knew where it came from. Maybe this thing's attached to me now and it's hiding in my elbow. Guys, we have to grow out of that. We have to grow out of that. But on the other side I watched that movie with the cultic imagery but I have the Holy Spirit so nothing can happen. My friend, you're playing with fire. You see the two extremes. One is based in fear. The other is based in pride. Neither of those are Biblical. So how do we ground ourselves? The Word. So what can they do? When they come back to check they look for ways that you're most vulnerable to deception. Here's the reality. When you participate in wicked things you are doing things to your mind you do not realize. Why do you suppose they hide this in children's cartoons? Why do you suppose they hide it in the movies? Because it's so powerful that even just hidden those messages can affect the way you think. Well, they can't re-enter me. You're right. They can't re-enter you. But you're opening a door to deception and that deception wreaks havoc in your life. Now, open door number one your connections. These are your relationships with other people. First Corinthians chapter 15 verse 33 says, don't be fooled by those who say such things for bad company corrupts good character. Now, balance in all things. Mark 2.17, who did Jesus hang out with? Sinners. Did he hang out with sinners to affirm them in their sin? By no means. He would hang out with sinners that he might bring transformation to their lives that he might be the light in their dark places. Okay, so I'm not suggesting that we quarantine the gospel. I'm not saying that you need to go rent a lake house in the hills disconnect from everyone and everything lest you be contaminated by their evil spirits. I shook their hand and they're a witch doctor. Did anything jump on me? I promise you if you are walking in the spirit not even a hint if anything there was something stirring in that person and now that demonic power has been weakened. That's what you carry but you go to that same person and you say, tell me tell me a little about your practice maybe give me a reading. All these cards and you start participating now. Now what's happening is that demon going to come live in you now but you've now given that open door to deception vulnerability to attack susceptibility to his tactics you see the difference now those connections we have we have to observe this dynamic are they closer to the enemy or am I drawing them closer to Christ because there is no such thing as a neutral ground when it comes to that. One influence is winning there's no way light and darkness get together and just decide that's your line that's my line we'll stay there one of them is winning and the only way you can know this is by observing your spiritual life around them do you begin to now think like them talk like them participate in what they do and watch your temptations for example I would often go to my friends I have friends who are not saved and I would be the guy because they know I don't drink or smoke or do drugs or anything they know I'm the guy if they're stuck somewhere and they don't want a DUI they call me at three o'clock in the morning and I'd rather them do that I'd rather get that phone call than one saying they were in an accident I told them this now for me alcohol is not a temptation drugs don't even interest me it's not an area in my life where if I'm around it I'm going to be struggling with that if I ever became that I'd say I'm not going near it so for me to go and pick them up at a party get them in the car and help minister to them even though they were kind of out of it that's good for me to do but maybe you struggled with the party lifestyle that would not be good for you to do because the enemy is only going to tempt you with what tempts you he's not going to use something you have no interest in now watch for these lines of influence am I conforming to their patterns do I sense here's a big one please do I sense the discomfort of the Holy Spirit when I go around this place something's not quite right I can just in my spirit I get that check do not hesitate you have to respond to that immediately because he can protect you often from various different things so connections can be an open door why because these relationships begin to influence you because you want to please them you want them to accept you you want them to perceive you in a certain way so you begin to make certain how shall I say it certain areas of surrender you give them ground you grant them certain things you allow conversations to go certain places you begin to conform now those conversations could affect you what they watch could affect you what they listen to could affect you so connections number one is the first open door I believe in divine connections but I also believe in divine disconnections you can say amen to that number two your eyes and your ears number two eyes and ears Psalm 1013 says I will refuse to look at anything vile and vulgar I hate all who deal crookedly I will have nothing to do with them Job 31 1 says I made a covenant with my eyes not to look with lust at a young woman here we see the diverting the eyes away from lustful imagery why? because images have staying power my friend you don't realize what those violent images are doing to your brain you don't realize what those sexual images are doing to your mind you don't realize what those occultic imageries are doing to your thought processes you are surrendering areas when you allow yourself to look upon and listen to whatever it is that pleases you to affect the mind as powerfully as visuals visuals have tremendous staying power the visual experiences that we store in our mind can contribute to the power of issues like trauma lust and mental torment among other issues hear this now the images you allow before your eyes can be imprinted on your mind visualization of the most powerful forms of thought now the enemy seeks to use these powerful thoughts against us he uses them to aid in his effort to cloak our minds under the darkness of his deceptive lies the enemy takes disturbing sinful or distracting visuals and brings them to memory when you are at a weak point just when you are physically drained emotionally drained maybe the marriage is a little strained sexual images from the past because he sees a weak point just when you've hit your milestone of how long you've been sober but he who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall I'm standing now he says he's confident now bring the memory back why? because what you saw and heard it gets stored and ears are similar music is spiritual 1st Samuel 1623 that David would play the harp the tormenting spirit would go away from Saul 2nd Kings 315 we see that Elijah asks someone to come and play the harp so that he could prophesy and as that harp was played the power of the Lord came upon him think also not just music the things we listen to think also how words can affect you Proverbs 1821 says death and life are in the power of the tongue and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof look up at me for a second there's a lot of misunderstanding around this particular portion of scripture I remember I was praying for a woman one time and she comes up to me and she says I want you to pray for me I said what do you want me to pray she says pray for healing in my eye I said okay let's pray for healing in your eye what's wrong with your eye she says nothing is wrong with my eye I said okay so what do you want me to pray she said please pray for healing for my eye I said okay let's pray for your eye what's wrong with your eye nothing is wrong with my eye like 10-15 minutes of this guys back and forth finally I realized she doesn't want to say it because of that superstitious belief that if you say it you cause it oh you know I feel my allergies are getting don't say that you're speaking it into existence take this bottle of water it's very hot as of late you don't want it to hydrate don't speak that over me my friend it doesn't matter if they speak it or not why because we've been conditioned guys we've been conditioned by religious thinking and here's the thing we don't even think it's religious we think it's spiritual my friend if God gave us the power to call things into existence some of your loved ones wouldn't be alive right now because of things you said in a moment if God gave you the power to literally call things into existence there'd be chaos with morning traffic as everyone would be calling lanes into existence the economy would collapse as everyone started calling cash into their bank accounts adding zeros inflating the dollar no there is power in our words though you see God's the one who speaks with creative power when he speaks it causes things to come into existence when you and I speak it causes them to come into order God did not give us creative power in our words he gave us cultivating power the difference is he causes it we shape it he forms it he created it we fashion it he gave you a mind and the words you speak conform how that mind thinks and so that's what the scriptures talking about you can speak a lie or truth encouragement or discouragement a thought that inspires fear or faith you can speak something that lives someone or tears them down you can speak something of forgiveness or you can speak something of the past and the moment you speak those words it affects what they think and then we know what happens from there that's what the scriptures talking about when it says life and death are in the power of the tongue it doesn't mean that if you say you feel like you're getting a cold and so when we're around people who are constantly speaking a certain way please hear me now constantly you don't realize that words are what program the mind words program the mind so when you're around people who are speaking a certain philosophy of the world or a certain thought pattern of secular culture suddenly now you begin to question and then you begin to get it in your heart did God really say guard your eyes and ears again avoiding the extremes of apathy and paranoia people walk into the supermarket I heard a secular song I'm sure these things jump back in me now and they run out of the store hands over their ears no my friend it's not that hearing that song is gonna cause a portal to open up in your being and God to say God's not gonna say sorry you heard it I have to let it happen now can you imagine that? I mean really think about what we're being told these days you walk into the store there's a secular song saying playing there's a secular song playing in the store and God goes I'm sorry I know I know my spirit's in you and I promise to protect you but you walked in that store that song was my hands are tied I gotta let that thing re-enter now that's what some Christians think of God because they magnified demonic power minimizing the Holy Spirit by the way you insult him when you do that now that doesn't mean you go playing those songs anytime you want because why the messages that are coming on that music start to change the way you think so there is still some truth to that but again apathy and paranoia both extremes that are not biblical how many of you your spiritual eyes are being opened tonight now number three there's one that's rarely talked about open doors number three states of being states of being there are sins of commission 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verses 9 through 11 is an example of that and then there are sins of omission James 4 17 he that knoweth to do good and doeth it not to him it is sin things that you should do that you don't that's omission and then there are states of being that cause you to be vulnerable I'll give you an example if you're very hungry and you get into an argument it's very different than when you're well fed and you get into an argument something as simple as that and all the married people said amen why because you're physically drained you're exhausted your reasoning ability is dwindled and I'm hungry why do you think the devil tempted Jesus when he was fasting because it was a state of vulnerability so a state of being though it is not a sin unto itself it can be something that causes you to be more susceptible I'll give you an example again Ephesians 4 26 and 27 be angry and sin not let not the son go down upon your wrath neither give place to the devil now this is not a reference to demon possession or demonic attachment to your being the word here isn't describing a literal physical location it's speaking of influence or more accurately opportunity in other words when we become angry we are more likely to do something regrettable it's easier to say hurtful things become violent gossip or criticize when you're angry out of anger many accused hear this now please there are many accused and tear down their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ bringing up past sins and mistakes and in this way they do the devil's work for him beware of these states of vulnerability don't make decisions when you're angry and I'll give you a list now anger fear exhaustion all of these things are states of being not sinful unto themselves but definitely opportunities for sin you're exhausted, you're tired opportunity you lose that edge on self control this is why by the way many in ministry have fallen because they become exhausted by the success of ministry and in that exhaustion they could not stand under temptation we're exposing the enemy tonight now Ephesians 3.16 says I pray that from his glorious and limited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his spirit that inner strength is the place of retreat to where no matter what's happening in my physical being or around me or in my emotions I always have that place to which I can retreat in the spirit this is something you have to practice because you have a decision to make in split seconds in the split seconds that that anger hits you in the split seconds that that exhaustion is causing you to do or say something you have to decide am I going to react from the outer man or am I going to respond from the inner man who is the spirit and many of us are responding from the outer shells of who we are finally number four it's the mouth Matthew 15.11 says this it's not what goes into your mouth that defiles you you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth here Jesus was specifically referring to the strict dietary laws upon which the religious leaders of the day insisted he didn't mean that no harm could come from what we consume or put into our bodies he was simply emphasizing the condition of the heart as more important than strict religious rituals with that in mind we must acknowledge that the Bible does indeed speak quite clearly on the matter of what our mouths consume for example drunkenness Proverbs 23 19-21 1 Corinthians 6 9-11 these mention drunkenness and therefore by way of principle things like drug use things like substance abuse the Bible also mentions in Galatians chapter 5 verses 22-23 about the fruit of self control my friend drunkenness getting high gluttony all of these are entry points when I say the mouth I'm talking about what the body consumes how is gluttony a state of being that makes you vulnerable to demonic attack well sickness can be a demonic attack and when you're not taking care of your body you're overeating people don't touch on this that often it gets really quiet whenever they do you're overeating my friend you're making yourself vulnerable to demonic attacks of sickness you can say keep saying God heal me heal me heal me but if you live a lifestyle we're constantly destroying your body what do you expect same thing is true of anything you would consume in that way and again not just the mouth there's ways people we can get real when it comes to addiction it's more than just the mouth you use people use needles to inject substances into their body I'm talking about the consumption of that physical being that is a state of vulnerability so to recap open doors number one connections number two eyes and ears, number three states of being and number four the mouth before I do session number three I'm going to take an offering Ruben and those of you watching online we're going to take about three to five minutes on this offering we'll do a quick one because I want to get as much substance over here tonight everything this ministry does we do with the intention and the heart to affect change in the lives of people who need it most bottom line we want to see people saved healed delivered and empowered and so what the ushers are going to do right now is they're going to bring some envelopes forward we're going to have you take those envelopes and you're going to do it at the intermission just pass us out there's a reason I'm doing it this way you're going to pass out those envelopes and those of you watching online you can give by going to davidhernandezministries.com slash donate davidhernandezministries.com slash donate you guys can fill that out now and you can put it in the buckets when we take an intermission this way I can continue teaching right after now I think they're giving also in the cafe and you watching online we appreciate your support use that information on the screen it should be on there davidhernandezministries.com slash donate for single gifts davidhernandezministries.com slash partner to become a monthly ministry supporter just to give you an example of how how high the cost can get for these things we're going to be going to New York in July it's going to be a tremendous time we have there that one service in New York hear me now guys New York it's a two night event is $300,000 people don't realize how expensive these things are and that is getting and that's getting a good deal on the building that's the building that's the flights that's the hotels you say how can it cost that much if you saw the breakdown you go okay there it all goes there's sound systems you have to transport we're we have a team taking trucks of equipment over it is a it is a massive undertaking why because I mean even here we we hardly promoted the local one here just through text and email and it's packed and there's people out there and there's people who had to be turned away the services we do around the world they come by I mean I don't even know anymore we can't even count them because we turned so many away now and so the one in New York is probably going to be the biggest service we've done in the history of this ministry they're telling us that even online they were saying the people from that era they were saying you're going to need something that holds at least 5,000 people and I don't know how true that is but we have to have something in place because the response has been huge and it's just momentum is picking up now let me tell you something it's going to sound negative but it's actually positive and then I'll tell you and then you can give for the past I want to say 3 years for the past 3 years not a single event has broken even we've lost money on every single ministry event now people say everything you do it's all about the money I say if it was all about the money we wouldn't do any events we would just do live streams like this and we'd be making enough to do whatever we wanted but then we wouldn't be going and sharing the gospel then we wouldn't be able to lay hands on the sick then we wouldn't go and be able to there's something about in person that's meaningful and so I'm not saying that to say all everything's all over it's doom and gloom no because we make enough surplus every month to where we plan ahead for those losses every month we go okay this much aside this much aside this much aside and that'll help cover what we know is not going to be made up for at the event so you know why because we don't charge registration I refuse to charge registration we're not going broke but I would rather go broke than charge for the gospel so how do we do it it's generous supporters like you people who just give at the live streams people who give in the in person events so these events here locally may not cost that much but we need to take surplus every single month so that we can continue to do these events around the world and I don't want to charge registration and I don't want to say no to the nations because we get invitations all over the world and I don't want to say no to them so all I'm asking you here and you online is to give and give your absolute best that's all we can ask there's no gift so small that it doesn't count there's no gift so large that we wouldn't know what to do with it everything has a place and a purpose and so have you guys filled everything out, everyone good okay so Father I pray you would bless each giver the ones watching online as well Lord I thank you that you're raising people who will support this ministry that we might continue to see lives transformed all around the world Father take these gifts and help us to be good stewards of them in the mighty name of Jesus we pray and the church said amen now don't pass the buckets don't pass the buckets we're going to do that intermission and you watching online again you can give at that link we appreciate your giving I want to get into this now types of strongholds and then we'll get into intermission here session three types of strongholds number one accusation now Revelation chapter 12 verse 10 says this then I heard a loud voice shouting across the heavens it has come at last salvation and power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ for the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down to the earth the one who accuses them before our God day and night who is the one who accuses it's the enemy it's not the Lord this is perhaps one of the toughest strongholds for people to break because there is some truth to the lie that the enemy tells you yes we deserve hell yes we deserve punishment yes we deserve the wrath of God no we are not entitled to blessing no we are not entitled to his goodness and that's just biblical reality like it or not however because of the finished work of the cross you should not feel guilt or shame for living in the joy of your salvation so let me show you how this works taking into account what we've learned thus far about strongholds perhaps you're going about your day and if the day is going too well and if your mood is too good you begin to say surely something wrong has to happen now what is that based on? fear what's that fear? punishment from God because you're still living in the memory of your sin and so kind of like penance we are emotionally whipping ourselves on the back this is my lot this is what I deserve I don't deserve to enjoy that blessing too much it's why you find it difficult when people want to compliment you or give you blessings or give you gifts because something in you says I don't deserve this and again there's some truth to that lie tied in there yes of course we understand that because of sin we deserve punishment but think about the fact that sometimes because of the memory of what was in the past we add punishment to ourselves that God never added himself maybe you can't get over the divorce maybe you can't get over the abortion maybe you can't get over the way you damaged relationships maybe you can't get over that season in your life where you hurt everyone around you and there are things that you carry in your heart for which you feel great amounts of guilt and the enemy takes that remember as an endorsement and he lies to you here's how it works you're not forgiven or God's forgiveness doesn't apply to your specific situation that's a big one because I get emails all the time brother David I know God forgives but what if I they list specific things why because they want to be assured that their specific sin their specific scenario is covered why because they haven't had a revelation of the general truth of God's forgiveness fear demands specifics in many instances and then what is the feeling shame guilt fear what's the action you seek affirmation through specific questions then you begin repeating that sinful mistake because hey if I'm not forgiven in the first place what does it matter and then once you begin doing this the guilt compounds again and some of you are living in it right now and you've been carrying it for decades someone you watching have been living in that for decades and you have this subtle this subtle cloud this this hint of guilt and shame just constantly hovering over you it's not at a boiling point but it's always on this low simmer just hovering there in your life you can't enjoy things too much less you fear that the past come and finally catch up to you you can't enjoy things too much because I deserve maybe some forgiveness but not complete or I can't complete let it go or you feel guilt that you're enjoying life when maybe someone you hurt isn't and you just can't get past that sin that is the stronghold of accusation the enemy taunts constantly bringing it to you remember you may not have even realized that is a stronghold in your life you may think it's just your lot again I told you believers accept some spiritual defeat as a given and they don't even know that's what they're doing and you think in your mind well this makes sense it makes sense doesn't it that you should feel some guilt for the rest of your life for that thing and maybe in some way yes you have to bear a responsibility for it but it is God's will that you would rejoice in your salvation it is God's will and here this is going to be so difficult for many of you to hear it is God's will that you be blessed now when I say blessed I'm not saying everything perfect as you want it I'm not saying you're going to be living in a mansion driving a Ferrari maybe I don't know but the blessing of God is peace and life his presence it's joy overflowing and maybe you've been living in a way that you've just been distant from that real what would David say your hand weighed heavily upon me now let me rejoice again restore unto me the joy of my salvation but you can't if you're under that power now how do you how do you fight that you have to come to the root lie first John 1 9 but if we confess our sins to him he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all wickedness so what happens now but it's just the thought it's not a pattern yet I'll give you an example let's say in front of me is a jungle unexplored no one has stepped foot in this area and I begin to slash and hack my way through all of the foliage cutting away at vines and plants moving aside sticks and shrubs and stones and over time I begin to form a path in the wilderness and then those who come along after me begin to take that same path why because I already kind of cut my way through it over time as more and more people travel through that path gets wider and clearer and more easy to travel that is a thought pattern the people coming along it those are your thoughts when you go to try to think a different way it seems like you're resisting because you haven't cleared that path yet it's a whole new entry point now you have to kind of re-establish a path so the next thought comes along and it looks at this path that you're trying to form or the easy way where are you gonna go? easy path this is why you find it difficult when you hear a sermon on forgiveness you embrace it there's freedom for a couple weeks but then oh after a month or so it's right back to living in that guilt again because you just settled for what was an easier path and you haven't committed yet to the truth to say I'm going to commit to this truth and I'm going to fight my way through so that is what it means to take your thoughts captive to begin to fight for that new path and yes there'll be some resistance you're gonna get scratches and you're gonna get bugs all over you and there's gonna be a struggle to get through to this new pathway but as you begin to form it eventually the thoughts that come behind you and then the Bible says be transformed by the renewing of your mind that's when now that old path begins to become covered again there's growth, there's life and so now this new thought pattern this new life begins to form as you stay committed to the truth so you say okay he's forgiven me there's the truth but now the enemy comes back with another lie yeah he's forgiven you but part of your punishment is now you still have to wear that guilt to some degree so maybe now you believe you're forgiven but you're gonna fall for the second lie there is a series of lies that he throws your way for every single attack and this is why you have to commit ahead of time to say I'm gonna stubbornly believe the truth it's what the Scripture describes think on these things and this new thought pattern can only be formed if you're committed to it you ever talk to somebody you try to convince them of this and it's like they're arguing against their own deliverance and that's just accusation there's temptation too, same thing we talked about it in the other session this sin will satisfy and you fall for that pattern and it creates that behavior the fear, my goodness fear is a stubborn one and it always begins with the question what if remember this fear always asks what if faith boldly declares even if so fear is always gonna say what if this, what if that and even to the point, well maybe I can trust that it's not gonna happen that way but fear pulls you back, but what if it does well it's not, but what if it does everything's gonna go wrong no it's not, but what if it does fear is persistent depression, my goodness now depression can be a combination of various things there's a physical element, a mental element a spiritual aspect of course but primarily it's a thought pattern you ever try to counsel someone who's struggling with that you watch the battle when I'm talking to someone you can see the battle happening in real time I'll say well you know God has accepted you yeah I know it doesn't feel like it, okay but you know you don't have to go by your feelings yeah I know but I've already tried that before well where you yeah I was consistent and they're lying to themselves about the lies these are what we call reinforcing lies to where it's not just dealing with the root now it's lies like what we tell ourselves all the time I've already dealt with that, I've already tried that nothing will work for me, well it's just much deeper and we just create this intricate web and that's why I'm telling you it has to be this stubborn refusal to reject that lie and embrace the truth so fear can entangle you in this way, depression distraction and confusion these are other forms of thought torment also based in lies do you know the greatest lie of torment the lie of torment is that the enemy has power over you this is why I say some people need deliverance from their deliverance doctrines because some deliverance doctrines will team up with the lies you believe the devil does have power over you yes the devil did re-enter you yes the devil does have access and legal right, I'm thinking where is that in the bible show me legal right in the bible do you know what my legal standing is it's justified it's illegal standing and so again we grant the premise, yes of course he has power the enemy is a bully who likes to exaggerate his power over you and sometimes we consume teachings that come into agreement with that oh I know we're going to step on some toes I'm not just going to step on toes I'm going to break legs because we got to be rid of this nonsense guys we have to or we go back to that other belief system and just stay in bondage if it's true why hasn't it said anyone free oh my goodness if it's true why hasn't it said anyone free God didn't call you to go from deliverance to deliverance he called you to go from glory to glory and so we have to realize okay yes there's another lie the enemy I have this great power over you yes you may be able to lie and deceive but you know I was talking to a gentleman one time and he was telling me as we're talking he's like squirming he's like I filled them in me and I saw I discerned by this and sometimes demon possession is real but sometimes it's something else and I could discern this was just not an actual case of demon possession he's squirming and he goes I can fill him in me right now I go are you a born again believer he goes yes I go then you have the Holy Spirit in you the moment I said that like something went off in his head he goes I do and he stops squirming I go what do you feel he goes I feel peace I go what happened I go do you still feel I don't feel that anymore why because here's the thing because fear causes you to feel what you fear oh my goodness you ever had a panic attack I used to get them all the time so you guys know so if you read an article on a heart attack ten minutes later you have all the symptoms from that article now take someone who battles with tormenting thoughts take someone with a mental illness take someone with OCD intrusive thoughts, anxiety sit them in a service street for three hours and tell them that they could have demons hiding in them and if they do they'll fill X, Y and Z what are they going to start feeling so now we grant the premise that the enemy can do certain things that he can't and that's one of the roots of torment and what does that produce all of the symptoms of torment there's an illustration of a man who was observing an elephant with a rope tied around its leg and that rope was attached to a tether in the ground and he realized when looking upon this elephant that this elephant if it used even just a fraction of its strength that that elephant could pull the rope out of the ground and run free and so this man asks the keeper of the elephant how is it that you can keep it staying in one spot with just that rope and the stake in the ground when the elephant is strong enough to break free the keeper responded since this elephant was small it was kept bound by that rope and the stake in the ground when it was smaller and weaker that rope and that stake in the ground were enough to keep the elephant in place now that it's bigger and older and stronger it can break free but it won't simply because it believes that it cannot resist the enemy and he will submit to God resist the enemy and he will does it say he'll fight what does he do he flees so why does he flee he fears nothing more than a believer who knows that he has no power demons are like bullies once you confront them they run but their job is to keep you bound in the mindset of being a subject of theirs you're weaker than you think you are you have less power than you think you do we're going to stay with you the rest of your life no matter what you do we're not leaving no matter how many times you try we can't go you haven't solved the mystery you didn't figure out the riddle and now we have power and believers live under that believing that lie not realizing greater he who's in me than he who's in the world and so once you realize that then you can start doing some real warfare but that lie gets burrowed those troubling thoughts, the torment it grants the premise that the enemy has power now again just so we're not misunderstanding here not paranoid not apathetic vigilant, not paranoid yes they can attack you yes they can affect you yes we are engaged in a spiritual warfare yes we wrestle against principalities and powers of course but don't let them lie to you about what he can do there are limits on what the enemy can do to the believer so far we've covered what is a strong hold how do they affect you we've covered open doors and how open doors make you susceptible to strongholds we've covered the different types of strongholds though not in depth we surveyed a few of them, mentioned a few of them just to give you an idea of how these things might play out in your everyday life and then now I want to talk to you about identifying strongholds because many times we're functioning in certain ways that we don't even realize is a stronghold I'll use myself as an example many of you know my story that as a preacher not as a Christian only as a preacher in the healing ministry I suffered with anxiety that was so severe I would have panic attacks and it was bad it got to the point where it was almost every day my wife in the back could tell you Steve could tell you it was a horrific battle it was so bad that I began to have to plan my schedules around it guys, there were times I would have panic attacks while preaching and nobody knew it remember that Steve we were in forgot what state we were in and I'm preaching, it was a small church I'm preaching there and then I said I'm having one now after the service I said let's go and then the pastor decided to take us on a tour of the city so he's driving around pointing at things this is that, this is that I don't care, I just want to get back to I just want to get back to my hotels I can calm down I tried everything you could think of I had shofars blown over me I had oil smeared on me I went to revival meetings, prayer meetings worship conferences, workshops I took e-courses, read books prophets tried to prophesy me free pastors tried to pastor me free counselors tried to counsel me free and I just couldn't break it and if I had some victory it would last like two weeks right back to that place where now I was struggling again I was experiencing the symptoms of it and so I asked myself why is it that I just can't seem to break it? Surely the Holy Spirit is powerful enough to overcome a demonic power because I think in Christianity certain sub-sex of Christianity we imagine that the Holy Spirit is like grappling with the devil right there's the demonic force here's the Holy Spirit they're locked in by the fingers you can imagine the Holy Spirit's doing this and the demon's doing that and the Holy Spirit says give me a name give me a name, I need to know its name give me a type, give me a type I need to know what type find the root, look at your ancestry what happened three generations ago give me some information that I can use and we're imagining that the Holy Spirit is waiting for us to solve a riddle before he can do anything I knew that wasn't the case where I knew that the Holy Spirit and so I had to come to terms with the fact that part of it was demonic yes and how do we deal with the demonic we resist the devil by submission to God we rebuke the enemy we confront the lies of the enemy with truth, we fast and we pray we have others intercede and if you're standing in the authority of Christ that demon has to obey now what do demons do to Christians remember they harass, they speak they deceive, they primarily use their words against the believer or projections like images and sounds such as in torments especially when you're half asleep and there's a whole thing I've done on sleep paralysis maybe we'll get into that later but you know I didn't recognize that I had already defeated the demonic aspect and this is where people get stuck they rebuke the devil or they repent so they'd have no open doors to vulnerability and let me be very clear I'm talking about believers now who are walking as they should living good clean lives in prayer in the word, you're living the Christian life I'm talking about after you've dealt with the demonic aspect because there is that demonic attack you rebuke him he has to stop lying you rebuke him he has to stop harassing he has to flee once you've done it successfully if that attack persists fast and pray as Jesus said to do then come back and if it still works now you know you're dealing with the flesh but most believers get stuck they say no it has to be demonic it can be yes we've covered this but what I'm talking about now identifying those strongholds you're never going to apply the correct cure if you don't have the correct diagnosis and so Christians go their whole lives saying things like this oh man for 20 years I've been under this curse and no one can break it but really think about what's being said there they've gone to all all of us YouTube preachers that they watch on YouTube they've gone to all the pastors they've had everyone lay hands on them and I'm thinking sometimes people will come up to me and they'll say you know I had so and so lay hands on me so and so lay hands on me and I'm thinking these are powerful men and women of God I'm thinking if they laid hands on you surely something happened and the problem is that after we've dealt with the demonic we have to now and again hear me clearly after we've dealt with the demonic I often get accused of saying that we don't have to deal with demonic powers no after you've dealt with that as I've shown you exercising authority now you have to transition and say okay what do I deal with in the flesh that's been influenced by the lies of the enemy because if you don't you're going to go your whole life fighting a demon that fled years ago you're going to go years of trying to break a curse that was already broken and wondering why it doesn't work and so once you've dealt with that demonic attack now you move into dealing with the flesh and so I realized yes it was a spiritual attack my great great grandfather was a warlock from Zacatecas Mexico very famous from the region politically powerful wealthy man he was actually I'm told and we have some of his letters with the heads of different studios he was the man who brought movies into Mexico he had an influence in media but he was a warlock and so those demonic powers that he invited into our family line yes they attacked generationally but remember this though demons attack generationally they only have power that you give them as an individual we blame our ancestors in generational curses when we have an undisciplined flesh so the moment you're born again curses are broken but that doesn't mean the enemy doesn't stop trying to attack and so we have to align our thinking properly with the word otherwise we're left in confusion and wondering why isn't it working why isn't it working so that's what I thought I rebuked the enemy and I can tell you there was some spiritual warfare took authority fasted and prayed came against the powers of darkness God resisted the enemy demonic dealt with and then why am I still having panic attacks well I didn't realize that there was a lie that I was believing and hear me please because I can say this but until you've actually lived this and dealt with that lie in your life it's just not something that can really be understood because we accept here intellectually yes I have to deal with the lie and then we discover the lie and then we kind of address it at face value not realizing just how intertwined that lie is with almost everything we do and say and think and so I'm having these panic attacks dealing with this anxiety and one day all came to a peak I was not in a good place I was a newlywed so I was still navigating marriage dealing with a lot of selfishness in me that's marriage is an assault on selfishness a lot of things in me being worked out so there was a little tension there we were good nothing that we would label as major but there was some tension there of failing as a husband nobody was watching us on YouTube we were lucky if we had 300 views on one video over a month's time no one was reading the blogs no one was reading the books you came to our services then now you come hours early and maybe get a seat back then you can come hours late and you can pick whichever seat you wanted am I telling the truth Steve some in the front row wherever you want and so I was discouraged the anxiety was at a peak the fear was at a peak the worst case scenario thinking was just ruling my thought patterns and so I get picked up early in the morning and for me if it's too early I'm just exhausted some people they're morning people some people evening I'm more of an evening person for some reason the pastor I got six a.m. flight some so I had to be up early I get picked up I get in the car marriage is tense finances are tight ministry is by all human standards of measuring success failing my friendships are strained because of the paranoia in which I was living suspicious of everyone trusting no one not believing anything anyone said just a mess so I'm sitting in the car on the way to the airport and it's LAX not a place you want to be when you're in that state of mind you can be in a good mood go there and you're going to be challenged I was in the worst state of mind an emotion I could have been in on my way there early morning and I'm thinking I don't want to go to the airport I don't want to check in I don't want to get on that plane and God forgive me I said I don't want to preach I'm just so done I'm tired so I'm sitting in the car and as we're driving to the airport a car from I want to say three or four lanes to the left of us starts to cut across traffic to this day I don't know if the guy fell asleep or was just in a hurry and wasn't paying attention but he cuts across four or five lanes of traffic right in front of us hits a center divider the car flips lands a few feet from us my friend who was driving breaks we are breaking the car is skidding forward it was like forgive me I'm not trying to be funny but it was like what you would see in a movie where we're breaking and we're just hoping we don't make impact this car is skidding I look I see papers and luggage flying I could see the people flailing or the man flailing around in the car thank God it was just one individual and it was so bad it woke Mr. Lay was actually in the back seat he wakes up and he's panicking seeing what he says and he begins to say are they dead are they dead are they dead because it was that bad of an accident mind you I had a phobia of driving in fact it was my fear of vehicles that first allowed the anxiety to get a root in since I was a little boy long story there but we're there now my anxiety is through the roof so we did what we could we called for help we had to get off of the freeway made sure the man was helped I still to this they don't know what became of him because I had no connection they wouldn't they're not going to tell me anything I'm a stranger so I'm there at the airport checking in my hands are just shaking and I can't even remember how to check in to get my plane ticket keep in mind the anxiety wasn't just the panic attacks it was it was night terrors you name anything that comes with torment and fear it was there and so all I remember past that point is waking up the next morning in my hotel room I'm sure I functioned relatively fine but I'm lying there staring up at the ceiling in my hotel room and I had never felt so downcast I was so fearful so sorrowful that I felt hollow and empty and emotionless you ever feel like just a shell to where you it was almost like I had just exhausted my emotions to max capacity and I'll tell you this I came to the end of myself I was I had no more strength that's when the Holy Spirit shows up I'm lying there in the bed staring at the ceiling and suddenly I sense the beautiful but gentle presence of the Holy Spirit just like a breeze and the Holy Spirit began to question me not like interrogation but like ask me about about life and things I had gone through little by little through the timeline of my life the Holy Spirit begins to run through various how shall I say highlights of anxiety and the Holy Spirit asked me do you remember when you were a little boy and you used to see demonic faces in the walls do you remember when you would hear whispers and see demonic figures guys you talk about demonic attack I saw demonic powers in actual form to this day I can remember conversing with them you want to talk to me about attack I'm telling you I've had full on conversations with demonic entities manifested in my room not proud of that but I'm telling you how deep the darkness was when I was a boy all of that happened so I remembering now being a boy and I said yes Holy Spirit do you remember how afraid you were when that happened I said yes I remember and then the Holy Spirit asked me do you remember when you first started going to school and how afraid you were of going to class because of the way the kids treated you and made you feel I said yes I remember that and do you remember going to theme parks as a little boy your favorite thing to do and having the day ruined because you were so overcome with panic and fear that you were convinced that you were going to die as a little boy I said yes I remember that and do you remember he just starts now going through the line not being able to get your license because of how afraid you were being in a car accident he's just going through the whole timeline of my life and it gets to the point where he's now in recent times do you remember how you felt when you got married do you remember how you feel about the ministry do you remember how you just on and on and on and on and on and then he asked me a question that challenged something in me that I didn't even know was there he said why don't you believe that I love you and that I plan to do good things in your life and I realized in that moment that that lie as simple as it was though I did not believe it intellectually I had embraced it in my being and I realized then that all of those times that I was so filled with fear all of those attacks of anxiety every single instance was based on the lie that God wished to do me harm everything built on legalism tears began streaming down my face and I realized that's the lie it's always been that lie and I'll tell you something that day broke and when I embraced the love of God and I realized no he to the point now and I've told this to Mr. May so you see running around because we have similar the enemy attacks the minds in similar ways I told them now the way I view it I say I am one of God's favorites like God loves me he really really really loves me and now that I see that I walk in this victory now I've not had a panic attack since I've not I've not dealt with with anxiety in that way now of course remember we saw it in Matthew 12 of course the enemy returns let me see if I can try it again okay I'm gonna go over here then and they keep doing that but but he finds there's no vulnerability now there's no place of influence in any time that fear tries to come back I can identify the lie now you have things about you that you believe that you don't realize you believe I was talking to this gentleman right here help you don't mind me using you as an illustration for all the world to see do you you don't mind okay we were talking at the intermission and you asked me how do I overcome this fear or you said what is at the root of the fear of losing my salvation what's the lie I said it's legalism legalism is the belief that you have anything to do with your salvation now some hear that and they say oh but you're supposed to live holy no one's saying you shouldn't you see how instantly that comes up of course we live holy but you have to understand the context of holiness we don't as believers live holy to be saved we live holy because we have been saved it's our reasonable service so if you're a true believer you desire holiness right that's what I asked you are you a true believer you said yes do you desire to live holy you said yes what do you think gives you that desire so there's legalism and people live in that fear they view their everyday life as a performance and depending upon how they're doing that day if the rapture comes or if they should God forbid they should die at the wrong time maybe they missed it well now you're not just trusting in the cross you're trusting in good timing and you think that's what saves you now don't hear what I'm not saying YouTube people like to take clips by the way when it comes to hearing from preachers don't ever take what their critics say about their words let people tell you what they mean in their own words by their own words don't let critics frame because someone could take that and say oh look he says living in sin is okay and I never said such a thing but see how they can do that so I'm not saying you should just live however you want I'm saying if you're truly born again you'll desire to live holy but there we see at the root of that fear is legalism and then you live your whole life wondering is God mad at me am I saved is this working that's not blessed insurance my friend that's just hoping that God maybe will accept you and for every one of us there's a lie that we believe that's causing some behavior causing some thought pattern causing some feeling it could be the lie that you deserve to bear the weight of past sins even now it could be the lie that God doesn't love you it could be the lie that there's just something intrinsically wrong with you that could never be fixed it could be the lie that God called you to struggle mentally and emotionally it could be the lie that you're somehow trapped in a curse that just can't be broken because you can't find the information that's necessary for breaking it it could be the lie of anything that the enemy uses that contradicts the word how do we know the truth here's how you identify it John 8 31-32 Jesus said to the people who believed in him you are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings and you will know the truth and the truth will what? so if you walk into a dark room this is silly but it's an illustration if you walk into a dark room and you want to see what are you going to start doing? you're going to start punching at the darkness you're going to start screaming you're going to try to scoop that darkness out with your hands like it's a substance no what do you do if you want to see in a dark room you what? you turn the light on people believe lies because they're not in the word if you would just do the spiritual basics you would avoid spiritual crisis when we neglect the basics of Christianity we ruin the foundations of freedom lay hands on me say a special prayer that's fine there's nothing wrong with that but if you're not doing the basics of Christian living how can you expect to be free? don't tell me you're desperate for freedom and you're not devoted to the word on a daily basis don't tell me you're desperate for freedom and you're not praying consistently don't tell me you're desperate for freedom and you're not fellowshiping with other believers people can say one thing but their actions reveal another now if you're in the word this is going to solve many issues for you if you read the word what begins to happen is you begin to identify the lies you start to notice as you go through the scripture things that contradict the word in your heart now watch this psalm 119 105 your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path 2 Timothy 3 16 all scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives it corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right we complicate this guys we think that the solution should be just as complicated as the problem I've sat and counseled believers coming to me with these long stories of this demonic influence and that demonic influence and my heart goes out to them I'm not trying to be dismissive with those plates but here's where it becomes revealing is when I introduce the solution sometimes if I introduce a solution like the word or prayer they literally pout in front of me Steve you've seen it like because it's not to them exciting enough it's not interesting enough I'm just going to go there we say things like don't practice things that don't participate in the occultic practices of the world or don't play things like Dungeons and Dragons but then Christians go and create their own form of Dungeons and Dragons that they just call it demonology oh we're going there and now they're feeding something they crave in the flesh but they're disguising it as spirituality oh I don't watch horror movies yeah but all you do is listen to things on demons and that's how you're feeding that part of your flesh thank you Jesus for exposing things that contradict and so what happens is I'll tell them just get in the word, get in the prayer yeah but I don't know there has to be something more and they imagine that it's like in the movies where they're going to get an amulet or something oh this is what they did in this big dramatic scene where now they're finally free I'm thinking it's in the word guys your freedom is found in the word now again don't hear what I'm not saying balance here, yes there are aspects to this that require deep discernment and of course spiritual practice and we acknowledge that these things are real but the solutions for your problem are not found in the occult, are not found in the new age they're found in the word we have to stop reverse engineering the occult and calling it deliverance doctrine where we take things from the new age those teachings and just make a Christianized version of it when it's not even in the bible little leaven spoils the whole thing guys where now we take that and we say well it's not in scripture but I learned this from the occult I learned this from the new age no when you get saved you leave that system behind you see in the new age and in the occult it's transactional you do this, you get that but in the New Testament way of living it's a completely different system now and so we neglect the word and we go seeking after things that satiate that hunger in us for the things of the world and we don't even see it when if you just get in the word now you begin to see that light shining and as the word begins to shine that light you go oh that's not of God or oh there's something in me that shouldn't be, guys every day when I read the scripture I'm going there are so many ways I'm not like Jesus I'm serious I get like frustrated with myself as I go through the scripture I'm going oh that's something in the nature of God that I'm contradicting there's something in my mind that I'm contradicting and we have to come to the place now where we're bowing to the word but that's number one you want to identify stronghold you got to be in the word every day reading scripture now I know this isn't entertaining necessarily the flash desires entertainment the spirit desires edification see what people want is a list this symbol that symbol this color that color this number that number guys the word what happened to the word we get in the word and we become people who start to think according to the spirit now and now when I have the truth I begin to identify and you realize that was something I believed that contradicts the word and it breaks something you see breakthrough happens when you identify the lie but freedom is found when you begin to walk in the truth there's a breakthrough moment where the lie is revealed and it's oh like an aha moment in the spirit and then when you begin to walk according to the truth that contradicts that lie now you begin to walk in freedom number one you know the truth by God's word this is how you identify a stronghold you cannot you can't systemize discernment I think sometimes we like our lists there's nothing wrong with lists where give me you know a thousand and one things that could deceive me or I could just give you the truth and you know the truth you compare everything to it easier way to live simpler my burden is like Jesus said and we take on these religions these burdens of well I have my list and hold on let me check the list here how about you just know the truth and you take that principle of truth and live by it and if anything ever contradicts it you know it's not of God you cannot systemize discernment it's found in truth is this challenging you tonight so we know the truth by God's word number two we know the truth by the Holy Spirit John 14 26 says but when the father sends the advocate to my representative that is the Holy Spirit he will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you John 16 13 when the spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all truth he will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard he will tell you about the future the Holy Spirit takes the word and gives revelation you walk in the spirit and you will not walk in deception you know what I said it's impossible if you are here's a series of thought I had that helped me to kind of put this together in my mind if you're walking in the spirit can the enemy touch you if you're walking in the spirit can the enemy touch you so why aren't we just teaching people how to walk in the spirit again yelling at the darkness or turning on the light now there's nothing wrong please don't hear what I'm not saying there there's nothing wrong with understanding the powers of hell as the scripture reveals them we have to but what I'm saying is that we cannot forget the simplicity also of the freedom that's found when we walk in the spirit so you know how to identify a stronghold by the truth of God's word number two you know the truth by the Holy Spirit number three we know the truth by sound teachers Ephesians 4 11 and 12 tells us these are gifts to the body Titus 1 9 he must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it be careful of what you listen to a call back to open doors eyes and ears what you hear do you realize that some of the teachings we hear in spiritual warfare are coming into agreement with the lies of the enemy guys this is some heavy stuff here but if we want to be free we have to get to the root of some of this now I am not saying that these things are taught intentionally I'm saying that we in Christianity begin to develop certain belief systems because of man's nature so number one you know the truth by the word number two you know the truth by the Holy Spirit number three you know the truth by sound teachers as you begin to take on truth and light begins to shine then anything that comes your way that contradicts it you reject it right away and so what I want you to do in this moment and also those of you who are watching this session right now I want you just for the next few minutes to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you a lie or two that is wreaking havoc in your life just ask him close your eyes Ishmael you don't have to come it's not going to be long I just just close your eyes you watching online do the same ask the Holy Spirit to identify a lie you believe about God or maybe about yourself or maybe about your salvation or maybe about it could be anything something from your past something from recent something from a family member a lie you believe that you know is not true but you suspect maybe is affecting different things in your life can you look up at me does anybody want to share one and keep in mind this is live and it is being recorded publicly does anybody want to share one that maybe just you don't have to get detailed right there way in the back that you're disappointing God that you're disappointing God so this is a big one here so when God looks at the cross he sees our sin when he looks at us he sees his son and so we know that here right and you are not saying that you just want to live however you want to live you're trying you're doing what you can but that's what grace does now grace does an excuse sin grace makes up for those areas where we are weak and empowers us unto holiness and so that's a lie that you know is affecting many things now that you've identified it ask the Holy Spirit all throughout this next couple of weeks to show you not just where that primary lie is but to show you where that lie has affected your life in all different ways I've been counseling someone recently who was dealing with anxiety and they told me just the other day they said you know I'm starting to realize just how many of the things I'm doing are because of fear I didn't even realize it until it started to come undone he says I've missed out on so much in life and I didn't even know it was all rooted in that someone else you in the comment section just write some of those lies that maybe you're believing yes right here no matter what you do you'll always be cursed now here's a great example of that belief now can you see how some of the deliverance doctrines we hold to can partner with that instead of introducing the truth that you cannot curse whom God has blessed they say well maybe it's true well I wonder what you did or didn't do or what are you missing so instead of just saying here's the truth it's well what's the missing of course you'd never find it why? because it's just based on a lie thank you for sharing that that was very vulnerable anybody else right here if you give it you all you're all you will fail and so what does that keep you doing not trying you see that right back there yes ma'am that the mental issues that are in your family will continue and that there's nothing you can do about that that's what the enemy says you see how this can get you just to go accept things and embrace and now we start to see it okay next session I'm showing you how to tear it down yes ma'am right here so those of you who couldn't hear she says that I should have never been born imagine how that affects all the different things and you nearly died at birth and see so the enemy uses our circumstances to endorse his you see that is this starting to click now for some of you and so you see those lies start to lead to thought patterns and then actions start to become habit and all this bondage rooted in what the lie okay I'm going to show you how to tear them down now you ready session five tearing down strongholds tearing down strongholds the only power the enemy can have over you is the power he deceives you into giving to him to tear down a stronghold once you've identified it number one rebuke the enemy that is to take authority Matthew 8 16 says that evening many demon possessed people were brought to Jesus he cast out the evil spirits with a simple command and he healed all the sick now we are not talking about demon possession right now because we are talking to the believer however I want you to take note that demon possession is an extremely intense and powerful form of demonic influence if not the most powerful form of demonic influence once they've come to that point there's a lot of spiritual root that needs to come undone there now if Jesus was able to expel that level of demonic influence with just a simple command how much more will a simple command work against deception and torment and temptation so the enemy what does he do? he speaks he lies that's why the enemy is constantly referred to as the liar the accuser the deceiver the tempter all that is where this is words and what did he do since the beginning he contradicted the word that's what this is about it's dominion over what you believe and so you rebuke the enemy through a command in authority now everybody say this Christ is in power say it again Christ is in power I am in Christ people of God when you rebuke the enemy it's as if Jesus himself is doing it now alignment with his authority is what produces that exercise of power either you have that authority or you don't either you're walking in that authority or you're not two things that can take you out of authority with that alignment one that is compromise you saw with the seven sons of schiva they did it out of ritual not relationship ritual not relationship so what happens they were overpowered so that's number one compromise takes you out of alignment with authority number two is doubt well that's why Jesus questioned the disciples or I should say rebuke them when they could not drive the demon out of that boy after he gets down from the amount of transfiguration can you imagine his frustration he's glorified he's transfigured he's walking in that glory he comes down from the mountain and these guys in the valley who can't even get a devil out of this boy he says you faithless people faithless why couldn't they cast it out they lacked faith they lacked faith so what does the enemy try to do he tries to exaggerate his power so you too have doubt when you come against him because the faith is what aligns you with his authority well that's why he said the fast and pray isn't it because when you fast and pray now you come back into alignment with faith so when you rebuke the enemy and he doesn't listen it's not that the enemy is so powerful that he resisted the power of God it's that you weren't using the power of God that's a big difference if I'm not using the authority Christ gave me when I come against the enemy then of course that's not going to yield any results but the moment you step into that authority whether that be through fasting or getting rid of compromise now there's an instant response so when the enemy is lying to you you rebuke him has to be silent if you're aligned with authority number two you resist the enemy James 4 7 says submit yourselves therefore to God resist the devil and he will flee from you submission to God gives you the ability to resist the devil not your credentials see I can talk on these things because this is exactly how my mindset used to be and I had to repent of a lot of this stuff that I was teaching and I taught it fervently and passionately I felt like Saul to Paul passionately and I would anyone disagree with me well you need deliverance maybe you have a demon and I would oh my goodness I was arrogant oh maybe you haven't gone deep enough you haven't dealt with real demonic power like I have that was what I would say why because it was all rooted in religion and religion is all about pride so my submission to God is what gives me the power to resist the enemy not my ability not my knowledge my submission to God because now I'm aligned with him I resist the enemy and what does he do he flees so the moment you stand in that position he sees oh they know who they are he's out of there he's gone so now you deal with that aspect of it so you rebuke the liar you resist him now begins the work of renewing the mind this is where we get stuck you rebuke him you resist him he's out of there but then you keep rebuking and resisting rebuking and resisting why isn't this working because you didn't get to the next step which is renewing the mind you have two enemies Satan and self Satan is dealt with through authority self that is the grace of God giving you the discipline to enact spiritual living in everyday life and so we see where the scripture says, Romans 12 2, don't copy the behavior and customs of this world but let God transform you into a new person by what changing the way you think or be ye transformed by the renewing of your there it is how do you experience transformation it's your mind now we talked about in previous sessions the lies and then the reinforcing lies watch this now, I'm going to show you something knowing what you know about scripture now knowing what you know about how the enemy works, knowing what you know about the dynamics of how the enemy attacks believers let's look now with fresh eyes at Ephesians chapter 6 I want you to start seeing some of this oh this is going to be so powerful I'm excited I love this, I love this revelation from the word okay Ephesians 6, watch this now Ephesians 6, 10 through 12 just lift your hands say thank you Jesus thank you Jesus how many as we're talking you feel like burdens lifting it's like wow, okay I can see a path forward now, I don't have to deal with this for the rest of my life Ephesians 6, 10 through 12, watch this now a final word be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power verse 11, put on all God's armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil two things here, number one it's a command you put it on there's something you have to do now to use or make use of this armor that God has given to us now watch this read along with me so that you will be able to stand firm against some strata, what? is it some or all all strategies of the devil in other words anything the enemy can do to you can be thwarted by use of the armor of God there's no attack not covered there's no mystery uncovered that needs to be uncovered there's no technique not mentioned all strategies of the devil, that word strategies means methods or deceptions or we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world against mighty powers in the dark world and against evil spirits in heavenly places so there's the command and then again we see all strategies not some all, not some all now verse 13 therefore put on every piece of God's armor so that you will be able to resist the enemy of evil then after the battle you will be standing firm notice here you put on God's armor and then it speaks of the time of evil in other words you prepare for spiritual battle not when you arrive in the battle spiritual battle is prepared for in the lifestyle you live leading up to it a surgeon doesn't study the text books right before the surgery they go through years of medical training the soldier in battle doesn't just show up and go how do I use this weapon they go through boot camp training conditioning break them down, tear them up send them into the battle but they don't go without first being prepared athletes do not win championships and medals in the moment that they technically win them they win championships and medals in the disciplined lifestyle leading up to that key moment in the same way you must wear this armor live this way so when the battle comes you're ready I know how the enemy affects me he lies so when he's ready with a lie I found you and no matter how convincing the lie no matter how seductive the lie no matter how convenient the lie I'm going to resist that lie and how do I know the word the Holy Spirit sound teachers now watch this 14 through 17 stand your ground putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God's righteousness for shoes put on the peace that comes from the good news so that you'll be fully prepared in addition to all of these hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil do you know what those fiery arrows are? they're his lies now fire like deception spreads if you don't quench it watch this now verse 17 put on salvation as your helmet and take the sword of the spirit which is the word of God now what is the belt of truth it's simply truth what have we learned so far spiritual warfare is the fight to believe God's truth over the enemy's lies if you apply this armor you can succeed against all strategies there's not a method he can use that can work if you wear this armor so what does the armor do? by seeing what the armor does we expose what his strategies are so the belt of truth is truth body armor of righteousness this is the righteousness gifted to us by God when we what believed now if you study the armor this would be armor in which the belt holds the body armor of righteousness truth holds righteousness to us you cannot walk in righteousness unless you're walking in truth this is why I say that the root of temptation is deception because if you don't have the belt of truth you're not wearing the body armor of righteousness so truth holds to us righteousness watch this now shoes of peace what's the peace it's the declaration of the truth of the gospel there again we see truth the shield of faith what is the shield of faith? the shield of faith and I'll come back to this in a moment is your belief in what God has said I have faith in what God has said now how do we quench the fiery darts oh my goodness thank you Jesus how do we quench the fiery darts the shield not the sword it's the shield we hold it up it quenches the fiery darts now watch this when the enemy lies to me I hold up my belief in what God has said and the dart is quenched that's how it works so the enemy launches a lie you can either choose to get hit with that dart and believe it or you can say I'm holding up instead my belief in what God has said and I promise you every time the shield will hold every time the shield will hold now watch this the helmet of salvation first Thessalonians 5.8 gives us insight you know the helmet of salvation is mentioned elsewhere in scripture first Thessalonians 5.8 it tells us clearly but let us who live in the light be clear headed protected by the armor of faith and love and wearing as our helmet the confidence of our salvation what is that confidence that is belief I am born again that is belief in the finished work of the cross that is belief in the grace of God belief in the power of the blood of Jesus I am confident in that salvation so that helmet now is belief in the truth about what God has done concerning your salvation sword of the spirit which is the word of God the truth of God's word do you see a theme here every piece of armor is all about fighting deception so here's how the battle looks sword shield the enemy launches a lie your family will always deal with mental illness there goes the arrow I hold up Psalm 103.3 forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases then you take the sword of the spirit see the shield takes care of the lies the sword cuts down the liars themselves and now you take that sword of the spirit and you declare that will keep him in perfect peace whose mind has stayed on thee because he trusted in thee enemy destroyed you have the shield coming up against the lie you should have never been born before you were formed in the womb I knew you the enemy lies and you believe that over that line and then you take the sword of the spirit for I know the plans I have for you plans to prosper you and not to harm you to give you a hope and a future and you cut down the enemy destroy that's the power of doing battle the Holy Spirit's way and that's the battle you face as a believer every day so when we talk about spiritual attack every day we're talking about fretting and worrying over little details of symbols and numbers maybe there's some truth to that I don't know or we can come back to the simplicity of truth versus the lies and then what begins to happen is we begin to see who we are when we begin to see who we are in him then we finally begin to stay free see even as you're hearing this truth right now I can sense in this room strongholds are being broken there's a hope now do you see how this leaves you with hope instead of fear there's a there's there's there's the you can see the light now it's attainable it's something that you know will work you just know it in your spirit but now you have to stay on the battle Acts 26 18 to open their eyes so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God's people who are set apart by faith in me here the scripture is talking about the fact that God has overcome the powers of darkness in our lives he has turned us from darkness to light Ephesians 2 2 where an in time passed he walked according to the course of this world according to the prince of the power of the air the spirit that now worketh in who the children of disobedience is that you who are you your children of the light so so you've been rescued from that now you are not under that jurisdiction Colossians chapter 1 verses 12 to 14 giving thanks unto the father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in lights who hath delivered us from the power of darkness who hath past tense delivered say delivered us from the powers of darkness who's the powers of darkness it's the devil and his demons and hath and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear son in whom we have redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins verse John 4 4 but you belong to God my dear children you have already won a victory over those people because the spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world greater is he who is in me than he that is in the world my friend stop chasing atmospheres you are an atmosphere stop seeking after signs signs are gonna follow you he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him is what the Scripture declares Ephesians chapter 2 verses 4 through 6 but God is so rich in mercy and he loved us so much that even though we were dead because of sins he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead it is only by God's grace that you have been saved for he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in heavenly realms because we are united with Christ John 1 12 says but as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name you believe on his name son of God and the ladies say what about daughters if I have to be the bride of Christ you gotta be sons of God sons of God you inherit there's an inheritance that comes with sonship sons of God do you remember in the Scripture that when Jesus would walk in the earth in physical form that everywhere he stepped demons would freak out they didn't even want to get near him you're tormenting us before our time why because he was a son of God he was the begotten son of God and now you and I believe become sons of God my friend it's time to take back that dominion and power and authority stop believing lies about what the enemy has over you step into the truth and you'll know it by your spirit you step into this place now where you know by faith I have the armor of God the Holy Spirit within me I'm walking in realms of glory and demons cannot swim in the depths of God the sonship that God has given to you is the life you now live my friend when you walk into rooms conversations change when you walk into rooms sickness starts to lose its hold when you walk into rooms demons begin to tremble and quake where you step God steps where you go his spirit goes a carrier of the glory a host of his presence a dwelling place of the Most High God free in Christ Jesus we give you go lift your hands and just begin to thank him come on you in the chat watching live just begin this just right thank you Jesus thank you Jesus what a wonderful Jesus we serve what a wonderful Jesus we serve we love you we honor you lord we thank you we thank you we thank you everybody stand to your feet please what a wonderful Jesus you just sat through about three hours of Bible teaching just about three hours about two and a half it flew by for me teaching and I'll tell you I don't know how you felt listening to it but I flew right by now listen we're gonna pray right now okay and I want to come back eventually here maybe in the next couple of months or so we'll do a service here I'll pray for the stick and so for tonight was a seminar but man you can sense a tangible touch of the anointing here so what I want you to do is lift your hands and I want you to repeat this after me and those of you watching online I want you to repeat this after me say in the name of Jesus in the name of Jesus say it again boldly in the name of Jesus in the name of Jesus I declare I am a son of God a child of light a carrier of the glory a dwelling place a dwelling place of the most high God and I declare in the name of Jesus I will live by truth I will live by truth I choose to believe truth to live truth to teach truth now I want you to say this with boldness say in the name of Jesus I come against I come against every demonic power in the name of Jesus say it again and now you know what the scripture means when it declares where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty sir if you don't mind me asking I'm looking at you with tears in your eyes what's happening for you right now sir can you put it into words is that possible right now he says there's an attack on his family and only God he says can set us free that's right who hath delivered us I look around I'm seeing tears everywhere what a beautiful presence just lift your hands pray just for the next minute or so in the Holy Spirit you watching online do the same what are you singing there Steve what is that pardon great voice joins together singing Jesus name above all names come on the victory as we declare Jesus name above all names Jesus blessed Redeemer if you're watching live make sure to also leave a like Tim Britt I think we'll leave this up for about 24 hours and then we'll take it down and make it into an e-course what do you think it would be a good e-course so and make that announcement on the social media platforms that this is going to be left up for 24 hours and then we have to take it down to turn it into an e-course we'll see maybe they might really pressure us to keeping it on I don't know but we love you and if you haven't done so yet make sure to leave a like on the video and also subscribe to the channel so you can receive more teachings on the Holy Spirit prayer, spiritual warfare we also show services like this tonight we didn't get to pray for the sick and pray for those who need deliverance but it's a seminar tonight but usually this would be the time now where we'd pray for people and we'll do that again soon and if you haven't done so yet make sure you subscribe to the channel and do click that notification bell when you do so let's say good night to all of our friends watching live let them know you love them God bless you guys