 Good morning everyone. Let's pray and get started in today's session. We can begin with a word of prayer. Anyone can please lead. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this wonderful morning, and we thank you for this class, my Father Lord. Yes, Lord, as we are here to learn from your word, my Father Lord. Lord, give us wisdom. No, let's understand that we learn more and more from your word, my Father Lord. And Lord, yes, Lord, we really want to learn, my Father Lord. And I thank you for all things. I thank you for ma'am. I thank you for all students also, my Father Lord. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen. Amen, amen. We will move ahead to the next chapter here, which is regarding the methods of workings. We saw last couple of classes about the origin of Satan, demons and also the nature of Satan, demons. We saw that the way we describe them also has to do with their activities. They work against the purposes of God. They work against the people whom God has created. So what exactly do they do is what we will understand now. Their nature, we have an idea. But what are their methods of workings when it comes to interfering in God's plan for people and this world? So we look at that. Here in our notes, chapter 4, there is a reference to 2 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 11. Could somebody please read it, either the online students or our students here. This verse, 2 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 11. Let Satan should take advantage of us for we are not ignorant of his devices. We are not ignorant of his devices. So devices is a word which is used there. Devices, the Greek word there, neomata means purposes, schemes, plots. So he is an enemy. Satan is an adversary to us and he works on ideas to pull us down. We can also call them as schemes or plots. So what are these schemes and plots? One thing. Let's also look at another verse before I begin to explain. Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 11. Ephesians 6 verse 11. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the vials of the devil. Okay, so another term here. Earlier we saw devices. This time the term is vials and that simply means methods of working. So Satan from the beginning till now, if we observe in scripture and also in our experiences, we would notice that he primarily uses a couple of techniques or methods over and over and over and over again. For example, deception. What did he do to Eve? He deceived her that you will get this or you will get something else but he led her in the path of destruction. If you look at the life of Judas, we read that he sold Jesus for 30 silver coins because he was deceived in his head thinking, I'm going to get something great out of betraying Jesus. But what he was looking at was actually a very small amount compared to the redemption of the world which is so much greater. So he was deceived. We could say that. So the point I'm trying to make is Satan uses some common methods or schemes quite often and if we figure it out, then it becomes a lot easier for us to deal with him. So there is a list of these common methods, things like temptation, common, very common. Even Jesus, he tried to tempt. Intimidation. Intimidation is to bring a sense of fear through which the person is paralyzed, paralyzed not physically but paralyzed meaning not allowing them to move forward where you're so scared that you don't want to act on what God said to us. So intimidation, you scare the people such that they become inactive. Intimidation, intrusion. Intrusion is to try and barge in, to try and in a wrongful way come into our territory or our zone. So intrusion is something he does. So I want to explain these now. We look at it a little later, each one in depth. Let me list them out. Opposition, deception, oppression, possession, domination, empowerment. So these are all the techniques that Satan uses. There is also a chart which is given in our notes and I hope you're able to see it. Let me see if I can share it here for our online students. I'll try to share the screen. Yes, this will be helpful because then you can look at it as I share. So we talked about the different techniques or the methods. These methods of Satan can affect a person in varying levels or degrees. That's what the stable tells us. So here we have a stage which is known as influence. So either with temptation, deception, intimidation, oppression, Satan could influence a person. So that would be the lowest level at which he tries to affect people's lives. Now if we are not careful, it can go to another level. So you see an arrow there? Increasing levels of demonization or the effect of Satan in our lives. So if we don't deal with him at the level of influence, we may experience something known as oppression. Now if that is unchecked, unfortunately it would be at the next level of what he can do and that is possession. But we've already clarified that for a believer this is not applicable. Demon can never possess a believer. We therefore use the term demonization where there is we will talk about it later. It's almost it appears like the person is possessed but the believer cannot be possessed. That is possession for an unbeliever or demonization for a believer. And of course the final stage here that we see is empowerment. So we'll talk about each of these levels. So talking about influence. Influence is where the enemy would try to interfere, intrude into our lives through any of these methods. He will try to intimidate us, tempt us, deceive us and all. But as children of God, what we must do is we have to overcome the devil. Overcome Satan, overcome demons. How is it possible to overcome? Do you know any scripture that talks about overcoming Satan? When Jesus is being tended by Satan and he overcomes the devil through the scriptures, through the word of God. Okay, great. So that's a tool we can use against the devil. What else can we use right at this stage? Let's say I'm facing temptation. So I have to do something right immediately through the weapons that God is given. So what are some of those weapons? The armor of God. The armor of God. Okay, the armor of God we have. Anything else you can think of? Prayer. Okay, prayer. We can wage war against the enemy through prayer. How about the name of Jesus, the blood of Jesus. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. So you see in the word of God, there are many things that are given to us that can help us overcome. Right when I'm getting influenced the way Rin pointed out, when Jesus was tempted, he said, it is written. He used the weapon of God's word, the sword of the Spirit. He used the word, it is written. It is written and he fought and he got rid of the enemy. So that is what is expected from a believer. When we sense that there is an influence of the enemy in this area, immediately you use the word. You use the name, right? You rebuke. I rebuke you in the name of Jesus or you bind. Oh, the spirits are at work. We bind in the name of Jesus. We have to get rid of the influence at this very stage. Okay. There is a very, there is an interesting statement that Jesus made. He says this in John 14 and verse 30. He says, I will no longer talk much with you for the ruler of this world is coming and he has nothing in me. So what Jesus is saying is, Satan may want to influence him but he cannot. Reason is there is nothing in Jesus which aligns or which agrees with Satan. For example, remember in the last class we said if there is a plate of food with leftover food and we don't clean the plate. What is happening? It's an invitation to flies and bugs to actually come but what if the plate is clean? There is nothing in the plate which can invite flies. Isn't it? So very similar. What Jesus is saying is there is nothing in, there is, he has nothing in me. So Satan has nothing in Jesus which will align Jesus to satanic works. So when we apply this to our own lives, basically what Satan wants is when he tries to influence us, he wants to find something in us that will agree with him. For example, the works of the flesh. So if he finds, let's say, lust in my life then it's easy for him. Okay, come on. Something in this person's life is aligning to who I am and then he'll start working on it more and see that, okay, let's make it worse or if there's unforgiveness then he'll be very happy. He'll think, okay, I can take the influence to the next level because there is something in this person which is aligning or agreeing with what I'm doing. So any form of fleshly manifestations or the works of the flesh in us, it will give the devil an opportunity to influence us in a greater way and that is why for us as believers, we always say, walk in the spirit. Paul said that, walk in the spirit that you may not satisfy the desires of the flesh. But when I make a decision that I want to walk, align to the word of God, Satan will try. He will try all he wants but it will not affect us. That is why the armor is given to us. It's like you can imagine, I don't know how many of you have played these games. In some places you have a setup where they give you a suit to put on and then it's a game. So everyone is given those guns or guns which have some sort of a sticky arrow in them and then you walk through the dark place and everyone's shooting at each other till you finish the game. But if you have your armor or if you stand behind some pillars, then you escape. You are unhit. So basically that's the job of a believer. Our job is to escape Satan. Is it possible to escape Satan very much because Jesus has done the redemptive work and he has given us what are known as the weapons of warfare. The weapons of warfare. We have to use the weapons against the devil and also walk in the spirit when he has nothing in us that agrees with him. He'll try, he'll try but nothing will stick to us and we can come out victorious. And this is the level at which one must demolish or nullify the influence of the devil. The Bible also talks about using the shield of faith. When I use my faith, again, same thing. You hold it up. What happens when somebody holds up the shield? The arrows will come but it will not touch us. So constantly Satan will try to shoot his arrows but we are protected. We are immune by taking care of ourselves. So this would be the first level where he wants to gain access. Now if, let's say the believer is not careful, there are works of the flesh or there's no faith and all that, then wrongfully he can gain access. Is it lawful for Satan to gain access into our lives? Actually no because we are ready now. We belong to God. So there's no work of Satan in our lives but if we open the door, we usually talk about it. If we open the door for him, he can gain wrongful access and then he can start afflicting us, affecting us in a greater way. Now that is known as oppression. So oppression is the next level. So as a result of oppression, what are some things that can happen? Manifestation of the oppression can happen in a person's life. So something like sickness. Actually the sickness may not be a natural thing. For example, let's say I go out in the cold. It's very cold and I go out. I get drenched in the rain. What is a natural process? I catch a cold and then I'm sneezing or whatever. I have a little bit feverish. That's a natural thing. But when you talk about oppression, what happens is the enemy has, now there's no particular reason why this person should be sick in this way. But it is a manifestation of oppression in that person's life. It's a demonic work. You get it? So there is a sickness but that sickness is connected to demonic activity. So he can oppress people with sickness or it can be some form of mental challenges like somebody is going through depression but that is demonic. It's not a natural cause. In a demonic way, there is this oppression taking place. Depression or there can be some sort of a bondage, addictions. Sometimes these, I mean generally we notice that addictions are sort of empowered from the spiritual realm and people want to break out of it but they are not able to. It's as if something is pushing them to continue in those bondages or those addictive habits, addictive behavior. Or you can see a manifestation of something more serious like some major mental health issues. People begin to display or emotional state is disturbed or there are some behavioral strongholds. Different things happen but the point is there is a strong demonic influence which is now beginning to manifest in the person's whether it is the physical health or their soul part of who they are. So that is known as oppression. Now even there if the person does not find freedom, it moves to the next level. Alright, so that is what we call as possession for an unbeliever and demonization for a believer. How does it look? See when it comes to possession till now, till oppression level, you could say that the individual had some control on their own faculties. When I say faculties, I mean, you know, we have our mental faculties that help us make some decisions, make choices, speak, communicate, relate. But these faculties also demons can take over. So that is why when we notice there are people who are possessed, even physically the demons can express themselves because there is no longer control of faculties that are helpful in communication or you know all the other things that I listed out. Now suddenly the demon is using the vocal cords of a person or the facial expression of a person and expressing themselves. Okay, so in possession what happens is the level of control that demons have is much greater. They begin to take over the faculties of a person to express themselves or maybe this person doesn't want to go to you know like a bar or something but the demons will drive them, use their body, push them over there, get that person drunk. The person doesn't want to but now there's no control left. So this is demonization or this is demon possession. Okay, now we would notice that in most instances in our experience, we may have seen somebody who is, we use the term manifesting, have you heard? Manifesting, they are manifesting. So manifesting or the expression of the demon that has overtaken this person is coming through but not always, it can be partial meaning maybe when sometimes we've all seen this, when worship is going on, some people start manifesting or when the ministry time is going on, some people start manifesting. Okay, so only sometimes they manifest, other times they seem quite normal, they're going about their normal lives, you'll never even guess that they are demonized or they are demon possessed. So it can be like a part time or you know sometimes the expression happens but in some situations the demonization is so bad that that person is fully taken over by demons where the entire time, they may not have their mental faculties, they're not able to think or they look as if they're unconscious, there's zero control. Okay, so I have heard some pastors they've shared that they have ministered to people like this where families, they have called them and told oh my child, my daughter, she's not even getting up, she's not doing anything, she's always looking like she cannot think, even if she's awake, she doesn't have any capacity to speak or all that so something is happening pastor, please come pray. Okay, so you see that when people are possessed, it can come through, the expression can be seen either the entire time or sometimes. Okay, now people who are demon possessed, unbelievers we can understand, they are manifesting, when we sometimes pray we see their face is changing, their voice is changing, I have heard one of our outreach pastors he told, he went to pray for somebody and that she's a lady, she suddenly became so strong, she lifted the bed, you know like caught is there right, one leg of that thing, she lifted the entire bed up, can you imagine and but he didn't get scared, he has seen so many such people but he said that's what happened, like her physical strength just changed in moments and you know they try to do all these things again so that remember I shared intimidation, it's a tactic to scare us, we think oh my goodness if they're so powerful I have to be you know I have to be safe but don't get scared about all these things okay, you would notice that these expressions come through, now can a believer manifest what do you think, can a believer manifest, can demonization also show like you know their voice changes or they behave in all these ways, is that a possibility what do you think, any thoughts, sometimes possible, okay okay possible yeah people are saying possible, what about online students, what do you think, okay thank you for those answers here about the weapons of our warfare but any thoughts about yeah so Sean if the person is weak in spirit it might be possible okay fine sure so Sean is also saying it might be possible so that's that's a reality that sometimes we see believers also manifesting but we should not make the mistake of saying you are demon possessed, how come you're born again, how come you know you're manifesting or your son is manifesting maybe he's not born again, no they could be born again and yet they could be manifesting it is a possibility okay but the whole point is at every stage we want freedom because God has already given us the weapons that we need he's already given us the victory through the cross the power of the spirit okay so that we will talk about it later but now all this is for our understanding so demonization or possession that stage we have understood now let's go on let's see what else is there the next one is empowerment empowerment so what is this level of you know demonization that a person comes into possession is when the demon spirits take over the faculties of a person but in the case of empowerment they begin to give supernatural powers to a willing individual or let's say they have completely deceived the individual and taken over the mind of this person and they start to work through a person so in this category we may find that there are there are people who practice witchcraft sometimes they demonstrate some supernatural powers and because of who they are they now become influencers through that demonic empowerment okay so you understand so that is why we use the term empowerment it's not a positive empowerment it's a you know destructive empowerment so the demon spirit or spirits are now giving power to this person to influence and control it could be you know a certain community many communities entire regions okay so we see that in the book of acts we see that when the gospel is being preached in acts chapter 13 to a government official that official is not able to understand it in in pathos there there is a sorcerer by the name of elimas okay then what happens the like paul he rebukes he says okay blind you will be blind so when this sorcerer is sorcerer is out of the picture then that person is able to believe so what is happening there is an individual who is controlling through the empowering of spirits so there can be such influencers and many of them they engage in witchcraft they engage in you know black magic casting spells you know we also see that there are terms like medium mediums so they talk they they are the connecting unit between the spirit realm and the natural realm so they hear the voices of you know dead people something and all so mediums there are there are mediums there can be other kind of individuals who do signs wonders miracles okay and the people get deceived and they look at these people and they think wow amazing you know you're saying that god can do miracles but see this there is some power here this is also a supernatural power and so tell me how come you're saying only god can do this these people are also doing it but it's like that story of moses and the sorcerers where moses could do but to some extent the sorcerers could copy him but they could not replicate you know the plagues of egypt isn't it egypt was in calamity but god's power is much greater so these empowered individuals to some extent they can display supernatural power okay so this is how we see a taking over of demonic spirits but then for a believer we must always remember that if a believer is walking with the lord if a believer is overcoming the works of the flesh and you know the most important thing is when we are convicted even the smallest conviction comes into our hearts right where god says this is not right or you lose your peace over something i shouldn't have said that i should not have gone there i shouldn't be in the company of these people you take it seriously right and you begin to walk in a righteous path follow even the small convictions that come from god's word god spirit keep our lives clean so the way jesus said he has nothing in me satan has nothing in me we shouldn't be in that position that's when we can live a victorious christian life okay and for us our body is a temple of the holy spirit so why i love demonic influences and you know uh uh we we need the holy spirit christ is the one who's dwelling in us and we have to go forward with that and never give a devil a foothold in Ephesians 4 24 um paul talks about it in believers are instructed not to give any place or uh it's a place of access to the devil so when we are careful then we can actually overcome okay all right um so having seen how this taking over or increasing levels of demonization in individuals works uh it becomes important for us to also understand how to minister deliverance isn't it at every stage now if a person is um under the influence a young person comes to you and he says um uh pastor i'm going through all these temptations i don't know what to do he's just in the category of influence right now and i'm discerning it oh okay it's just influence okay come on then i'll teach him uh that okay here are some scriptures which are relevant to your situation this is what god is saying you meditate you confess you declare okay and uh then i might give him some practical advice and say you're feeling tempted because you're going to that place stop going there or something like that some practical advice i might give and that would be helpful to release that person from the situation but when it comes to increasing levels we'll have to learn how to minister deliverance how to cast out that demon or set off demons we'll go to deliverance ministry soon all right so let me um take a pause here i know we discussed quite a few things uh if there are any questions or any comments we can take that up now and then we will proceed further from here okay we've understood it's pretty clear isn't it okay let's move on then let's go to the section on temptation and see how temptation really works okay so i'll share a gist of how this temptation satan uses temptation so in matthew chapter 4 verses 1 through 11 we read about the temptation of Jesus okay and i have told this to us many times that uh it was in the area of his mind so that's how satan was able to tempt him and in the book of Hebrews there are passages like Hebrews chapter 2 uh verses 14 17 18 Hebrews 4 and verse 15 which tell us that though Jesus was tempted in many ways he was without sin so Jesus is an overcomer as far as temptation is concerned one thing we can be very clear is that Jesus overcame temptation did satan spare Jesus of temptation because he's a son of god okay exempt exemption Jesus we will i will not tempt you no even Jesus was tempted sometimes believers have these questions they say things like i mean i've come across incidents where i've been asked okay i never want to be tempted again now i'm a believer i want to live for god i want to live a holy life pastor please pray that i'll never be tempted is that possible for that you know we have to be in heaven hopefully you know so so that satan will not tempt us but when we are here we are here in our body in the flesh even Jesus he didn't spare so what have we told it's a very common tactic of satan temptation and the good thing is from our example the Lord Jesus and the pattern of his life we see that he was tempted in every way but he overcame all of them yet without sin one more point for us to understand the the you know scripture says that Jesus was tempted in every way yet without sin so is temptation sin isn't it so for example i am going through my day in in a surrendered surrendered to god and you know i've said okay lord i've committed my life to you suddenly a thought comes to my mind okay and it's a thought of greed where i feel wow if i had so much money or if i did this i can get the money if i just put the signature i will get so much of money what is it it's a temptation leading to greed okay so as a believer immediately i'm like what is this i just now i pray for three hours you know i fasted for one week and this thought is coming sorry lord you know i'm so sorry jesus it's okay i mean maybe sometimes we are concentrating on on money and all getting things so it has come but there can be times when my mind is pure in that area i'm not a in general a greedy person but what satan does no he'll put that thought into our minds or maybe a thought of lust which is normally driving you know sometimes it's just driving down the road and suddenly you see a picture and all kinds of thoughts start coming into your mind and you're like how did this happen you know i just came out of four hours of speaking in tongues and what's happening to me but you know what that's how satan works he'll plant a thought okay so the first thought that is not sin but if that first thought becomes your second thought then yes because what what are we doing something in me is agreeing with satan so the second thought is sin but the first thought is not okay so when the first thought comes immediately start pulling out your weapons for it is the will of god you know the book of the salonians it says your sanctification so it is god's will that i be sanctified and that verse says flee youthful lusts so sorry satan i have no time for you i have other important things to take care of so begin to think about other things right so in this way the thoughts will come but that first thought it's not sin but if we begin to agree with what is put into our minds the second thought the third thought the fourth thought along along those lines that becomes a sin so this is how satan tempts us so is the thoughts in our minds okay is it all from satan is that a yes is that a no the heads are shaking around and round so i don't know 100% no okay 100% no all right so good good to have that clarity the thoughts in our minds are one our own thoughts because remember like we have to make some choices i will our own decisions there can be thoughts from god know the way satan plan plants his thoughts god also puts for example neha maya you remember he was thinking about the broken down city walls that's a good thing so god also can put something in our hearts like you need to do something about your your city or these people the poor people so god is putting some thoughts some thoughts are ours but there are some thoughts which are satans so we have to do the work of a gatekeeper you know what gatekeepers do and nowadays there's like id card and all so you just do the doors will open or close so basically it's like that any thought which is from god open the gate okay i love it any thought which is not from god you shut the gate okay so that's the way in which we will tackle temptation so now let's also understand a little further about the temptation this is given for us from one john chapter 2 versus 16 and 17 i'll request anyone to read that passage i don't know whether we can look at it in detail today but at least read it and then we'll explain it in the next class one john yeah mike for all that is in the world the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the father but is of the world and the world is passing away and the lust of it but he who does the will of god abides forever amen so here all that is in the world the lust of the eyes the lust of the flesh and the pride of life so there are three categories there are three categories in where satan tries to draw us away from god okay now how to understand these three categories we can think of the example of eve eve who was tempted by the fruit in the garden so we read that she saw it and you know it looked good to her it looked good to her the lust of the flesh is when she desires to eat it she saw it and that satisfied her but then the next thing is that she wants to experience it by eating it as a lust of the flesh and the pride of life we understand pride of life is the way he told adam and eve that you will be wiser than god you know have something have achieved something out of it so there are three ways or three manners in which he he tries to he tried to deceive eve so the lust of the eyes is how do we understand this you know when we look at something we find gratification in it okay so lust of the eyes there are many things in the world where we can just look at stuff and you know that gives pleasure and we all understand especially in our generation so many you know immoral things are done and there are pictures that don't glorify god there are this stuff you know pornography things like that so that would fall in the area of lust of the eyes where just by looking at some stuff people find gratification or satisfaction so what is what is john writing he's saying there is the lust of the eyes satan gives us that and says hey you'll you'll feel better you know you will feel good but that's not true you never feel it's never enough so the lust of the eyes the lust of the flesh is the way eve saw the fruit and that gave us some satisfaction but then the lust of the flesh is to experience it there are temptations in the world where satan wants us to get into it to experience and that destroys our lives it could many areas where we lack self-control whether you know it can be even the natural appetites but we go overboard on those natural appetites or sexual appetites right we go outside the boundaries of what god's word is saying to us what happens that is actually the lust of the flesh because satan is tempting us he's telling us you experience this you will find gratification satisfaction a big lie lust of the eyes lust of the flesh pride of life you know pride of life is okay have all this status and all you'll be respected you'll find honor but all of these things are what what does it say they are from the world it's not of the father the father is not giving you these things it's of the world or there I think the word that's used is cosmos the systems of the world are trying to attract us into these things but these are actually temptation we have to understand and stay out of it okay we have just enough time for that much what I'll do is I will look at the process of temptation a little later yeah one question yes okay so Chhira's question is does satan know our thoughts so the answer is no he cannot unless you share it like if you're speaking to somebody then he will know what your like you you're telling your plans right to someone I'm gonna do this then he can know but if it's within your mind satan cannot know it because he is not omniscient omniscient is God's nature it's God's attribute satan cannot anything else all right so ah yes okay can satan kill um see if you have planned to share the gospel with someone would he try to would he try to keep them away from you sharing the gospel yes he can try in many ways and I don't know whichever way he wants he can try yeah so see we know that satan is very wicked okay and that's what jesus said he said the thief comes to steal kill and destroy ultimately he wants to kill and destroy everybody that's what he wants so he will he will work on that person but what we need to do is you pray you just pray cover them with your prayer um and do other practical things to reach out to them right okay so let's wrap up then let's pray and close can one of you please pray I think the mic is with you right yeah thank you Jesus thank you Lord thank you for this session Lord Jesus thank you for giving understanding more understanding of your word thank you for everything thank you for men say ma'am thank you for this class Lord Jesus Lord all glory and honor belongs to your name in Jesus name we pray amen amen amen thank you thank you thank you everyone God bless you we'll see you in the next class bye for now