 Are you possibly doing something that's inviting demonic influence in your life? We're going to look at the scripture and explore open doors to demonic influence. Before I begin, make sure you're subscribed to EncounterTV on YouTube and make sure that you click that notification bell. You can also follow us wherever you're watching us. A few years ago I had a dream and in my dream I was lying in my bed. I look over and floating in the middle of my room was a cloudy, dark substance. It was almost like a being made of smoke. And in the middle of that smoke I saw a smile begin to form and I saw eyes begin to appear. Make no mistake about it. What I was seeing in my dream was a demonic being. I could feel the demonic presence in my dream. So in my dream I began to rebuke this demon over and over again and all it did was look at me and smile. So as I began to rebuke it, it taunted me and I thought this was odd because I know according to the scripture when you rebuke a demonic being if you're walking in God's authority that devil has to go immediately. So I asked it why are you still here? What right do you have to be here? And then it told me ask the one in your family who's talking with the dead and then I woke up. The scripture says this in Job chapter 33 verses 14 through 15. For God speaks again and again though people do not recognize it. He speaks in dreams, in visions of the night when deep sleep falls on people as they lie in their beds. So I'm not talking here about demonic possession. I'm not talking about oppression. I'm not talking about this being taking over my being. No, this was just a dream that God used to communicate to me that someone in my family was allowing demonic influence in their life. So I called my grandmother and said someone in our family is practicing necromancy. The Lord showed me and so she immediately knew who it was called the individual and told them about my dream so they received a godly warning. Matthew chapter 12 verses 43 through 45 says this when the unclean spirit is gone out of a man he walketh through dry places seeking rest and findeth none. Then he saith I will return into my house from whence I came out and when he has come he findeth it empty swept and garnished. Then goeth he and takeeth with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that man is worse than the first even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation. Now we know biblically speaking that Christians can't be demon possessed so this scripture is actually describing someone who has a demon cast out of them doesn't receive Christ as Lord and then the demon comes back to them. So though demonic possession doesn't apply to Christians it's still important to remember that demonic beings come back. It's in their nature to be persistent. It's in their nature to come back around and look for a place of influence. The scripture says in 1 Corinthians 10 12 wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. Demons are very calculated. They look for weak points. They look for places that you are susceptible to their influence. Now as I said this isn't about ownership. This isn't about possession. This isn't about oppression or demonization that doesn't apply to believers. This is not about demonic curses. We know from scripture that doesn't apply to believers but we also know from scripture that demonic beings can gain influence over believers through deception. So this is about susceptibility to deception and that deception remember brings about negative feelings and actions. So this is how I define an open door. Anything that makes one more susceptible to demonic deception and influence. Anything that makes you more susceptible to deception or influence is an open door. So even if Christians open doors they can't become possessed but they can become influenced. They can't allow for strongholds or mindsets to be built in their lives. And these thought patterns become actions and feelings and these actions and feelings become ways of being and this is what we describe as a stronghold. So the enemy wants to influence your thoughts. He wants to influence your actions. He wants to influence your feelings and he's looking for ways to make you more susceptible to that influence. Now the enemy doesn't necessarily attack in any particular order. Sometimes he attacks your thoughts first. Sometimes he tries to attack your behavior patterns first with such assaults as temptation. Other times he tries to attack your feelings but your thoughts, actions and feelings aren't attacked necessarily in any particular order. For the most part your thoughts are attacked first but this doesn't mean that the enemy won't try for other entry points. This is why it's so important that you first identify the open door. See where the enemy is gaining influence so that you can shut it and move on. The enemy will enter where he can and he will use any entry point to affect the other areas of your life. So what are some of the open doors? What are some of these places that the enemy can find influence in your life? First your thoughts. Philippians 4-8 says finally brethren what so ever things are true, what so ever things are honest, what so ever things are just, what so ever things are pure, what so ever things are lovely, what so ever things are of good report if there be any virtue and if there be any praise think on these things. So here the scripture is giving us insight to our ability to control our thoughts. Demonic beings can suggest ideas to you. They can lie to you. They can speak to you and if you're not careful you'll allow the whispers of the enemy to become thought patterns. Thoughts are the actions of the mind. You can choose what your thoughts are. Thoughts like self pity, jealousy, pride, demonic doctrines, deceptions, outright lies. Lies like God doesn't love you. God has rejected you. No one cares. These are demonic lies and your thoughts can be entry points for influence not for possession. Remember that's the distinction we have to make if we're going to stay biblical. These entry points can cause the enemy to gain influence over you through deception. So if you're not monitoring your thoughts, I'm not talking about monitoring your thoughts in a paranoid way. I'm talking about developing the behavior of thinking according to the word of God. If you're not monitoring your thoughts then the enemy will be able to sneak suggestions in there and you won't know when he's doing it. So make sure you're aware of what you're thinking. The other open door is your connections. First Corinthians chapter 15 verse 33 says, don't be fooled by those who say such things. For bad company corrupts good character. Negative people produce negative people. Now I'm not saying that you should cut everyone out of your life who's struggling because otherwise how would we ever help those who are struggling? If everyone who is positive cut off everyone who is negative, the negative could never really be helped because the positive people rejected all of them. So I'm talking about connecting to people in a way that gives them influence over you. But it is true that divine disconnections are just as important as divine connections, but you have to be prayerful about each relationship. Watch how relationships affect you. Some relationships will convince you to compromise. They'll convince you to think a certain way. They may distract you. Any relationship that takes you further from God, any relationship that causes you to take the word of God less seriously, any relationship that causes you to pray less, any relationship that causes you to think not according to the word of God is a relationship that has become an open door to demonic influence or susceptibility to deception. So be careful of your connections. Even godly people can cause negative influence in your life. This is important that we monitor our connections. Next, your eyes. Psalm 1013 says, I will set no wicked thing before my eyes. I hate the work of them that turn aside. It shall not cleave to me. Are we watching things that remind the Holy Spirit of things that break His heart? What are we putting before our eyes? It's interesting to me that someone can sin on a Friday and not realize that the temptation didn't begin on Friday, but began on Sunday. Temptation is a process, not an event. So if we're not guarding our eyes constantly, then what we fill our minds with through our eyes will eventually overflow in the giving in to temptation. So watch what you put before your eyes, because what you put before your eyes will affect your mind. It will affect your soul. What you see will affect your soul. Next, your ears. Remember that music can be spiritual. I've taught on this before. 1 Samuel 1623 says, And whenever the tormenting spirit from God troubled Saul, David would play the harp, then Saul would feel better, and the tormenting spirit would go away. When you listen to music, you're opening yourself spiritually. Again, not to possession, not to curses, not to oppression, not to demonization, but to influence, which is susceptibility to deception. When you listen to music, the soul is more vulnerable. And the words that are being spoken over that music track are going deeper than words that are spoken without the music track. Music is spiritual. And that's just one example of something that you hear. But music isn't the only example. It's possible you're hearing words. It's possible you're hearing philosophies. It's possible you're hearing ideas that are not of God. And by filling your mind with these things through your ears again and again, you become susceptible to deception. The words you hear can affect you. The conversations you have can affect you. Be careful about what you hear. Another open door states of being, for example, anger. Ephesians 4, 26-27 says, And don't sin by letting anger control you. Don't let the sun go down while you are still angry. Watch this. For anger gives a foothold to the devil. Now, this is not about possession. This is about influence. But when you do things in anger, you're inviting the influence of the enemy. Think about this. When you're arguing with someone and you become angry, what do you start to do? You start to say things that you know will hurt that person. You start to bring up things from their past that you know will cause them pain. So what are you doing? You're doing the work of the accuser and you wouldn't have done the work of the accuser if you weren't responding in anger. So anger makes you more cooperative with the enemy by your own will. You're doing the work of the enemy for him when you bring up someone's past. You're doing the work of the enemy for him when you criticize people in a mean spirited way. So the anger is a foothold for the enemy. The anger is an open door. That's a state of being. Another state of being that you have to be careful of is tiredness. 1 Kings chapter 19 verses 4 through 8 says this, But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a juniper tree. And he requested for himself that he might die and said, It is enough now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am not better than my fathers. And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, an angel touched him and said unto him, Arise and eat. And he looked and behold, there was a cake bacon on the coals and a cruise of water at his head. And he did eat and drink and laid him down again. And the angel, the Lord came again the second time and touched him and said, Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for thee. And he arose and did eat and drink and went in the strength of that meat 40 days and 40 nights unto Horeb, the mount of God. So here we see the prophet coming to the place where he's saying, Lord, I don't want to be alive anymore. Why? He was tired. He was hungry. He just had a wonderful time of ministry. This is why I often caution ministers to watch their pace in ministries. When this prophet was in this state, it was right after a mighty victory. He just got done calling down fire from heaven. People turned to God. He was destroying the work of the devil. And then he's tired and says, Lord, I don't want to live, take my life. Well, that's proved to us that when we're tired, we're more susceptible to attacks of the enemy. So states of being are open doors to demonic influence. Examples of these, again, are anger and tiredness. Now, another open door that we should consider is the mouth. And I'm not talking about the words you speak, though that can in some ways be an open door itself. I'm talking about the things that you consume. Think about the fact that sickness is not of God. Yet the way you eat can invite sickness in your body. Gluttony opens you to sickness. Drugs open you to torment. Well, look at this. In Galatians, chapter five, this is very interesting. Galatians five, I'm going to read verses 19 through 21. When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear. Sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outburst of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, well parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the kingdom of God. Now watch this in verse number 20. It says idolatry, then sorcery. That word sorcery in the Greek is pharmakia. This is talking about drug use, people of God. Drug use for recreational purposes. Now, in 1 Timothy chapter five, verse 23, the Bible says, don't drink water only. You ought to drink a little wine for the sake of your stomach, because you are sick so often. So we see that the scripture does advocate for medicine. But in terms of using drugs for recreation, the Bible classifies that as sorcery. And that's an open door to mental torment, especially because it not only affects the soul, but it affects the makeup of the physical brain. It actually affects the brain physically and causes even more torment. So what you put in your mouth can be an open door for influence. So how do you close these doors? For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. That's Romans 14-17. To close these doors, you don't have to go around, find a long list of things you need to renounce. You don't have to go to each individual one and name it generations back. If the believer wants to live in freedom, the believer simply needs to walk in the spirit. Where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Think about that. So if the influence of the Holy Spirit is invited in your life, there can be no other influence. Living in freedom is simple. Obey the word. Have a lifestyle of prayer. Have a lifestyle devotion to the word. Have a lifestyle of repentance. Just obey God and you'll walk in freedom. How do you close these doors? Stop doing the things that invite influence from the enemy and then ask God to help you walk in freedom. It's that simple. For the believer, it's simple obedience that produces freedom because that invites the influence of the Holy Spirit. If you want to get rid of darkness, you don't start punching at the darkness. You don't grab a cup and try to scoop up the darkness and throw it out of the room. No, what do you do when you want to get rid of the darkness? You simply turn on the light. So don't get caught up in silly superstitious approaches to this. Don't be compared and go, oh my goodness, where's the open door? Where's the open door? Look, just obey the word. Just live clean. Live like a Christian should. And that will invite the influence of the Holy Ghost. And where the light is, the darkness is not. Father, I pray, you help us to recognize and close these open doors. We thank you, Father, that in you we have liberty. We thank you that we belong to you. We thank you that you give us peace and joy and righteousness. And now I pray, Lord, that you would expose these open places and cause us by obedience to your word to close these doors. Holy Spirit, we invite you to have ultimate influence in our lives. We honor, we bless you, and we thank you. In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray. And I want you to say it because you believe it, say amen. Well, here now is a question for conversation. What open doors do you need to close right now? Tell me about it in the comment section right now. And I'm about to read your comments from a previous video, but before I do, I want to encourage you. Help support the cause of souls. Get behind this ministry by giving a one-time gift or becoming a monthly ministry supporter. To give a one-time gift, go to davidhernandezministries.com slash donate. To become a monthly partner, go to davidhernandezministries.com slash partner. Everything that we do as a ministry is donor supported. The content, the live streams, the events, the Holy Spirit School. So if you believe in the cause of souls, you love the gospel and you want to see the gospel go around the world through this ministry, then go to davidhernandezministries.com today. Again, slash donate, to give a one-time gift slash partner to become a monthly ministry supporter. Help this ministry to continue to go and grow. So here's what you said on the video titled The Armor of God, How to Defeat Your Spiritual Enemy. The question I asked in that video was, what are some common lies that the enemy uses to deceive Christians? The first commenter responded, the enemy makes us believe that we are alone, that whenever we sin we are unclean, and that God will never hear us. But that's a blatant lie. Sonny Channel wrote, lies the enemy uses to deceive Christians. You're not good enough, no one loves you, and even God can't forgive you and so many more. But don't believe these or any other lies, instead fight with God's truth, the Word of God. Jordan Cross wrote, the enemy tries to deceive me with thoughts about my past and feeling bad and guilty about decisions or mistakes I've made. That's a common one right there. And finally Isaiah wrote, some lies of the enemy. God doesn't hear your prayers, you can't fight the devil, this problem won't go away, and distracting pictures of the past when praying. Well thank you for watching and again don't forget to subscribe to EncounterTV on YouTube. Make sure you click that notification bell, you can also follow us wherever you're watching us and until next time remember, nothing is impossible with God. Thank you for watching EncounterTV. Don't forget to subscribe and click the notification bell. Also help us spread the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. Make a one-time donation or become a monthly supporter by clicking on the donate link now.