 I know what it's like to battle with anxiety and suffer from panic attacks on a regular basis. I know what it is to need freedom mentally and emotionally. I know what it is to go to prayer meeting after prayer meeting. I know what it is to go to the conferences, the worship seminars, the revival retreats, the special events. I know what it is to have people lay hands on me, prophets prophesy over me, pastors pastor me, teachers teach me. I've had oil poured over me, shofars blown over me. I know what it is to pray the curse breaking prayers to go through the deliverance sessions and then still time and time again come up short. I know what it is to ask, will this ever end? Or is this just something that I'm going to suffer with for the rest of my life? I know what it is to lift my hands to heaven with tears streaming down my face and to say, Lord, don't you see what I'm going through? Why can't you move and break the power of whatever it is that's causing me to suffer? I as a Christian know what it is to suffer mentally and emotionally. The truth is that even after we are saved, we can still battle things. We can still be attacked, not possessed or demonized, but attacked by demonic powers. We can still suffer emotionally. We can still suffer mentally. And unless we address the problem at the root, we'll continue to live in perpetual bondage. So for me, for several years, nothing seemed to be working. And that's exactly what I want to share with you about. I want to share with you my testimony and how the Holy Spirit helped me to overcome anxiety and panic disorder, panic attacks on a regular basis. Yes, I went through this. Yes, the Holy Spirit set me free. And yes, today I am living in the liberty of the work that he continues to do in my life. But this goes even further than just anxiety and panic attacks. I'm talking to anyone who needs an emotional or mental healing. I'm talking to those of you who suffer with things like OCD, depression, confusion, apathy. I am talking to those who are looking for stability in their mind and their emotions. I'm talking to those who are suffering and don't even know why. You see, it began for me at the age of seven. Even as a seven-year-old boy, I can recall sensing the spiritual warfare over my life. I could sense in the atmosphere around me the battle between light and darkness. As a seven-year-old boy, I was attacked viciously by demonic powers. I can recall seeing demonic faces in the walls of my room. I recall on several instances seeing demonic manifestations, not in people but actual demonic beings right before my very eyes. In fact, on two occasions, I actually conversed with demonic beings directly. I'm not proud of this. I'm not bragging about this. This is not something I'm sharing so that I can glorify demonic power. I'm sharing this with you so that you know just how severe it was for me. Now, I began to look at this and then I did some research on my family history. I do believe, by the way, that demonic beings strategize against people generationally. Why? Because what works on the parent will likely work on the child. Genetics, upbringing, inclinations, thought patterns, parents produce children who are very similar to them. And so the enemy is very wise in this area. He knows if it worked on the parent, it can work on the child because there's so much alike. They had a similar upbringing cycles repeat. But I don't call these generational attacks generational curses. I don't use that terminology because the word curse implies that you have no power to overcome it. The word curse implies that you have no responsibility in what you're suffering with. The word curse implies that you're a victim, a victim of your parents' decisions, even though the Scripture makes it clear that God won't punish you for the decisions of your parents. But see, what happens is the enemy strategizes against us generationally. And if we make similar choices to our ancestors, we will experience similar consequences. To break the power of generational attack, you simply have to choose to make different choices. And in choosing to walk in the Holy Spirit, in choosing to walk in obedience, and now you're set free from having to repeat the same consequences and scenarios that your ancestors before you had to repeat. I recall one time a woman coming up to me and she was in tears, just absolutely broke. And she tells me, David, I thought I broke the curse in my family. And she was talking about her son who had committed a sin that generationally each family member had committed. And she said, I thought I broke that curse. I said, you did. You can't curse whom God has blessed. This is not a curse. That was his choice to go and do what he did. And that choice was in response to an attack of the enemy. So it's not as though there are demons in the delivery room, waiting in the corner. And as the baby is born, they jump in and say, now is my opportunity and I can make them do whatever I want. No, we are all given free will. We are all given the opportunity to choose differently. And so I refer to these generational attacks again. I don't necessarily have a huge problem with the term curse, but it implies things that just aren't biblical. Here's a question for you. If God says blessed, can you say cursed? If God says blessed and his words are all powerful, then whose words are powerful enough to contradict what God has said? Now some might say, Brother David, what about open doors? Well, an open door is simply vulnerability to demonic attack and deception. You can do things and say things and think things that cause you to be more vulnerable to deception and demonic attack. But this is not the same thing as a demon coming in to enter the believer. This is just giving the enemy the upper hand in their attacks that they weigh against you. Now I said that because as I did my research on my family history, I found that I came from a line of witches and warlocks. My great, great grandfather was a warlock who practiced in Zacatecas, Mexico, and he was very famous in that region. People would come from all around the region to have him place hexes on their enemies, to have him heal their sick. And of course he operated in demonic power. There were some reports. I don't necessarily believe these. I think they were probably exaggerations, but there were some reports that he was able to call down fire from the sky. And again, I think that was probably an exaggeration of his power. But this just goes to show you how much people believed in what he was doing. And so these same spirits, these same attacks that came against him that he really welcomed into the family line, now these demonic beings are strategizing against our family generationally in that same area. My grandmother and her sister, when they were little girls, would play a game. And in this game, they would move things with their mind. They thought all the other kids could do it. They could open and shut cabinets with their mind, and my grandmother would sit there and say, okay, do it again, do it again, do it again, shut all the cabinets, and then tell her sister, go for it, and she would with her mind open all of the cabinets. And that's an account I heard firsthand from my grandmother. And again, they thought this was normal. Of course you can move things with your mind. Of course you can place hexes. Of course we have these supernatural abilities. But this was demonic power. Now, my family came to Christ, my grandmother eventually, and my grandfather came to Christ. And of course the moment you come to Christ, curses are broken. I don't care what your family bloodline is, it's not more powerful than the blood of Jesus. And so when you come into Christ, you become a new creation. All things become new. The Scripture says not some things. Everything that has to do with your nature now transforms. You become a completely new creation. Colossians 1.13 tells us he has delivered us from the power of darkness. Now he's actually placed us under a new jurisdiction, into a new world. We now become protected by the Father, but this doesn't mean that the enemy can't still attack us. So my family was protected to some degree. The enemy was limited on what he could do, but he still came back to see what he was able to get away with. Of course he began attacking the grandchildren. Myself and all my cousins on that side of the family, we all have stories of demonic encounters. We all have stories of things that we remember that now we realize that wasn't normal. But back then we thought, oh that's just of course that's the supernatural manifestations. I recall having friends that would stay the night at my house and they would often report sensing another presence in the room with us. They would see different things move around the house. They would have these unexplainable things take place right in front of them. Things moving from off the shelf, things being thrown and tossed. When I was a kid I can recall just playing and an entire bookshelf just moved forward and fell on top of me. No one was touching it. It wasn't being moved. It wasn't next to a window where a draft could come in. It was just up against a wall, a bookshelf that had never been moved before, hadn't been moved since, wasn't prone to falling over. It was a shelf and it just out of nowhere moved forward and fell on top of me. I remember as a kid just thinking, how did that even happen? I was literally just playing and looking back now I know exactly what that was, demonic attacks. And so as a kid I developed this heaviness and I just remember sensing this weight on me. I would hear these voices and see these faces. In one instance I woke up in the middle of the night and I turned over and I saw a couch in the middle of my room. This was not a couch that was there during the day nor had it ever been there before or since. And on the couch there were these three old women and I could describe them to you in detail. I think that's necessary for this stream but these three old women were sitting on this couch and just looking at me. And I remember vividly wondering who are these three old women. Later I find out these were actually people from our family history. Now I think those were demonic powers imitating them. I don't think that was actually them. So this heaviness began to develop on me and I remember just having this deep sense of sorrow. Not only that I also had this this really anxious heart. Every scenario I thought worst case scenario even as a kid I was very aware of eternity in hell, death, accidents, danger and it was just something that ate me up inside from seven years old and onward. Now this intensified seven years old, eight years old, nine years old, 10 years old and it intensified every year. And finally when I was 11 years old I remember I said I've had enough and I gave my life to the Lord. Now I know that there are some people who have an issue with the what they call sinner's prayer and if someone uses it as a script. If someone uses the sinner's prayer as a script and doesn't necessarily mean it sincerely then of course that's not something that I think would save them. But though the Bible doesn't talk about the sinner's prayer it does talk about sinners who pray. The Scripture is very clear about the importance of confessing with your mouth. It's not that the verbalization or pronunciation actually produces salvation otherwise how could mute people be saved. But rather it's talking about a verbal confession that coincides with the genuine surrender, a genuine placing of the faith in the finished work of the cross and that verbal confession that coincides with a genuine placing of your faith in the finished work of the cross is sometimes what demonstrates salvation. Now again I'm not saying that is in and of itself what demonstrates it but it's an expression I think is a better way to say it. It's a sincere expression of what's actually happening in that moment. So I remember I prayed the sinner's prayer. I'm sitting on my bed and this was at a Bible conference by the way. My family had been there all week and I'm sitting on the hotel bed. There were two hotel beds in that room. I'm sitting on one bed across from me sitting on the other bed as my father and I'm just telling him dad I need to get saved. I need to receive Jesus. I grew up in church. I know the Scripture but I don't know Jesus. And so he takes my hands and we begin to pray. And as I begin to pray this overwhelming sense of love like waves of love and joy and peace were just washing over me. I can't even begin to describe to you what it was that I was sensing in that moment. And I'm trying to repeat the words my dad is saying but I was so overcome with this love and this joy and this peace in this euphoria of just felt like I was bursting with light. That's the best way I can explain it. And I remember it was such an intense moment. I was so overcome by the moment that my mouth was shaking and tears. I remember just feeling the heat of the tears on my face. Tears were pouring down my face. I couldn't even get the words out. I'm just expressing what I can in this prayer. And I'll tell you this right now. It was in that moment that Jesus walked into that room. And the moment that Jesus walked into that room every devil that had tormented me walked out. You see at salvation you are delivered from any demonic beings that may be attached to you or inhabit you. Let me show that to you. It's not in my notes. And as I mentioned before the stream for those of you who were tuning in earlier, I don't have any notes. I'm just sharing my testimony today and we'll have some scripture commentary of course. A giving thanks Colossians 112 giving thanks unto the father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints of light. Wow. I'm not a sinner. I'm a saint. I am of the light not of the darkness. Who hath by the way this is past tense speaking to Christians now who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear son. So the Bible is clear when you are born again demonic attachments are broken. God does not hide our freedom behind demonic mysteries and genealogies and ancient secrets and riddles. God sets us free the moment we receive Christ. Now this begs the question and this is somewhat of a side note but I think it's important to discuss. This begs the question well then why even have deliverance ministry because as you know I love the Holy Spirit's deliverance ministry. I believe in deliverance. I believe in casting out devils. This begs the question well brother David if demons leave when you are saved what then is the point of casting demons out of people? Well some people will not come to Christ until they've experienced exorcism. Think of Mary Magdalene. Think of the demoniac the one who said he had a legion of demons in him. After he had his demons expelled then he was able to experience that freedom in a way to where he desired to follow after Jesus. He was delivered and then he desired to follow Jesus. Think of the slave girl who the apostle delivered through the power of the Holy Spirit. That demon was driven out of her. She wasn't a believer at that time but the demon was driven out of her. So deliverance exorcism I should say more specifically exorcism can lead to salvation. So deliverance ministry isn't pointless just because when we're saved we lose demonic attachment. In fact it's God's goodness that leads a man to repentance. So sometimes when someone experiences that exorcism the demons go the attachments leave they can no longer habitate you or inhabit you I should say. Then that they're released from that now they want to follow Jesus after they've received their exorcism. So again exorcism can lead to salvation. So those who are wondering well what's the point then of casting devils out of people? Well now you know because sometimes it can lead them to salvation. Anyway in that moment I was I was liberated from the demonic power. Now watch this because I'm gonna I'm gonna be real honest with you here. I told you I'm gonna be vulnerable with my testimony. I think it's important that you hear this because even though I was set free in that moment that was the last time I would ever deal with anxiety or even depression or even panic attacks. No no my friend. In fact my worst battles were up ahead. You say how can that be? Many believers don't understand I didn't that there are more that we have more than one enemy there's self and satan. You get rid of demonic influence. You get rid of demonic attachments demonic habitation through salvation or through exorcism. You exercise commands over demonic beings and they have to obey those commands if you're coming in the authority of Christ. So even when demons lie to you harass you which they can harass and lie to Christians of course even though those demonic powers are lying to you harassing you tormenting you tempting you accusing you they can do all that from the outside. So our battle with demons isn't completely over when you rebuke them in the name of Jesus they have to be silent they have to be quiet in that moment why because you're exercising authority so you deal with demonic powers through the authority of Christ but the emotional and mental issues that come from the lies that we believe sometimes take a season of life to overcome. Demons go instantly your flesh now that's a work in progress you can drive out devils but you can't cast you out of you and so this is where many Christians become confused they say wait a minute I thought I was delivered I thought I was set free you were but you have to remember that there's still work to be done on you and so for me I went through this season after I was saved where I did not deal with anxiety or depression for a long time from the ages of 11 to 13 I remember there was this beautiful season in my life where I prayed four to eight hours a day read dozens and dozens of chapters of the Bible this is when I became a friend of the Holy Spirit I wrote about this in carriers of the glory this is where I began to develop my fellowship with him my familiarity with his presence and out of that two-year season was birthed a ministry and then I began to preach at the age of 13 I would preach at youth conferences and so I preached from 13 all the way in my early 20s and right around that time right in that transition suddenly the anxiety began to come back this was confusing to me because I thought wait a minute the demonic power was broken when I was saved and that was true so why then again was I having to battle these issues what was happening to me I remember starting to get panic attacks again and it didn't happen all at once like that's part of part of part of what troubled me is I couldn't pinpoint a certain instance in my life and say oh that's where it came back I couldn't pinpoint a certain compromise say that's what I did to open the door no it just slowly crept in on me and I'm thinking okay how did this happen how is it possible that I was set free when I was saved 11 years old I haven't battled this for years and years and years and now here I am again anxious depressed I wake up some mornings go like why why do I feel just this sorrow in my heart and I could not pinpoint it and it was bugging me I'll just be honest it was bugging me and so this went on for for several years in fact it continued and here here's the truth it continued even in my earlier years of ministry in my in my 20s my early 20s I was facing these things in my early 20s and I'm going Lord I feel like a fake I feel like I feel like a hypocrite because I'm seeing you cast devils out I'm seeing you heal the sick people are getting saved in this ministry believers are receiving the baptism with the Holy Spirit I'm watching you do miracles through my life why am I suffering this way and then I began to worry because I thought about those you know God's generals as we call them and I had read about many many women of God just lost their minds why not because they were battling necessarily specifically with just some demon but because they were dealing with some emotional and mental issues that they just couldn't get to the bottom of so I was frustrated and this culminates right this goes on for years just this this slow simmer of anxiety and depression I just couldn't figure out why it was back and I remember it culminated it peaked I should say in one instance one day I took Jessica out my Jessica was our anniversary we were newlyweds and I remember taking her to brunch one Sunday morning and the plan was that we were going to go to brunch we were going to go hiking it was this whole day that we had filled with plans and we were really looking forward to it and by the way that was a really busy season of my life things with the ministry had started to finally pick up just enough to where I was busy and so we were looking forward to this time alone it was something we both looked forward to because up until that point we had just been kind of having hit and miss date nights it was just you know we were working out our marriage newlyweds trying to schedule things and practice consistency practice date nights and so forth what not that dating is something you practice but I think you know what I mean and so I'm sitting there I'm at I'm at brunch with her and we're talking and I remember looking at her face she was so happy I saw it in her eyes I saw the smile on her face she was just elated right it was me and her we're having brunch we're enjoying our meal it's going to be a fun it was a beautiful day this is when we lived in southern California we live right by the beach walking distance from the ocean and so it was just this perfect it was this perfect day all set up and ready to go and so we're having brunch she's talking to me I don't remember specifically what she was talking about it was just casual talk and all of a sudden right there I began to sense a familiar but unwelcome feeling and I remember saying within myself something like please not now please not now no no no no not right now this can't be happening right now it was a panic attack and it came from nowhere there was nothing scary happening in our day I had looked forward to this and all of a sudden I my vision right tunnel vision begins to blind my peripheral I began to feel this numbness come over me my heart was pounding so hard I could feel my pulse in my neck my face felt like it went numb I felt also like this tingling sensation all over my grip felt weak my palms began to sweat and this overwhelming sense of doom and dread came over me my body began to shake and then all of a sudden right there in the middle of brunch I began to have a full blown panic attack mind you at this time I'm in ministry at this time I was traveling at this time I was seeing miracles but I had allowed this issue to become so strong in my life that now I'm having a panic attack here on my anniversary a brunch date with my wife and I remember telling myself it's just a panic attack don't worry but in moments like that reason doesn't really prevail I want it to be rational but when you're panicked you're just not rational you don't think that way I remember going up to the waitress giving her the cash and I said listen I have to leave right now I'm paying this bill I'm sure this is enough keep the change I got to go and I'll never forget this because it was so odd what she did by the way the waitress it was so odd I didn't know who that waitress was I had never spoken her in my life before we didn't have any conversation that I think that would make her feel comfortable enough to tell me something like this but she looks me right in the face and I think it was the Holy Spirit I truly believe that the Holy Spirit was trying to speak to me through this way I wasn't listening so the Holy Spirit said fine I'll use this waitress to speak to you and she said it almost like in a motherly way she looks right at me she goes sweetie you're fine you're just having a panic attack she goes I'm looking at you right now your color looks fine you're okay and she's trying to assure me you're okay and I remember just dismissing it moving on and I look back now I go that was the Holy Spirit he wanted me to calm down but I allowed myself I chose to let panic win and it doesn't always feel like a choice but let's just call it for what it is I chose to let panic win and my wife and I drove to the emergency room or the the urgent care she drove because I was too I was just not in a state where I could drive she drives me to urgent care we check in I'm sitting in the waiting room we're there for quite a while waiting and I remember just sitting on the chair slumped forward with my face in my hands and my whole body was shaking Jess was rubbing my back not saying anything she didn't have to say anything we'd been there before we knew what this was and she was just there just touching my back letting me know I'm here and I remember feeling so embarrassed so weak so hypocritical and I thought I did it again I let the panic win I let the fear win I let this anxiety swallow me up and I didn't do it and it ruined today I ruined our anniversary day she was so and I couldn't get it out of my head I just kept picturing the smile on her face I kept picturing that that that bright look in her eyes she was enjoying her day and I was selfish enough look you might not want to hear this but I'm just telling you like it is I was selfish enough to give in to my fear all I was thinking about was myself we didn't need to be seen by the doctor so we left we waited for like I think like 45 minutes if I remember correctly we waited for like 45 minutes I calmed down I said this was just a panic attack let's go home and we never even saw the doctor and I felt so defeated and that's when I determined in my heart enough is enough I've got to get a hold of this I've got to find out what's going on and during that season I was having maybe two or three panic attacks a day there were times when I would be preaching guys I'm gonna get real here there were times when I would be preaching and I would sense the physical symptoms of a panic attack some might say brother David was that a demon no it wasn't because I was still living clean I was living in prayer living in the word walking in the Holy Spirit but I was lacking something very important and that was the knowledge of the truth I often tell believers if you just do the basics you will walk in freedom and that's still true and it would have been true for me had I also walked in the basics but I was lacking truth I was lacking the belief in what God had said you might say how is that I'll explain that in a moment but anyway so I start to do this search right and now I'm really trying to figure this out guys anything and everything you could think of I tried it and it wasn't working as I said before and I want to make sure I say this again so it's clear there's two different types of demonic influence one is possession that's what the Bible refers to as demonization that word demonization in the greek is always and literally a reference to full-on possession there are no degrees of demonization if you study it out I know it's commonly believed that demonization just means like demonic influence no if you study the greek word you actually will find that that the reason that the translators of the bible and nearly every translation that you own the reason they chose the word possessed is because that's precisely what demonization is demonization literally means you can look this up in strongs to be possessed by a demon and there's other of course greek resources that you can use and all the definitions will be consistent on that so demonic possession the answer to that is exorcism and that you you you you perform an exorcism by speaking a simple command in the name of Jesus and if it truly is a demon and you truly are a believer filled with the holy spirit walking in God's authority that demon has to obey there's no techniques no rituals it's just simple you command it and that demon has to obey authority then there is demonic attack this is deception this is torment torment may sometimes feel like possession but it's actually taking place from the outside where they tell you lies they project images hallucinations audible you know like like maybe you might hear voices and so forth there that's a lie they're projecting that from the outside the projections exaggerations of the enemy's power deception the enemy lies to you torment accusation constantly bringing up your past there are so many different attacks that the enemy can do but it all has to do with deception they attack you again and again so demonic possession the answer is exorcism the answer to that and the way you use exorcism is an exercise of authority demonic attack now we're talking about the born again believer that's dealt with by addressing the lies of the enemy and rebuking the liars themselves but here's the problem if you believe the lie of the enemy for long enough eventually you begin to echo that lie demons have a voice and the lies we tell ourselves are the echoes of that voice so then it works like this a demon lies to you lies to you lies to you lies to you you can rebuke that demon you can say be silent in the name of Jesus you can do that that's that'll work that'll get them to be silent but if you don't address the lies that they left there if you don't address the mindsets that you developed well-being lied to by those demonic beings you're not going to be free you'll be free from the demon it's attack but you won't be free from the lie and so demonic deception always results in self deception in other words a demon lies to you for long enough telling you lies again and again and again and again eventually you begin to repeat the lies of that demon to yourself and once you understand these very simple explanations then things start to make sense okay as a born again believer that's why sometimes I feel so heavy that's why I feel attacked yes it is a demonic attack but once you've rebuked them and silenced them using the authority of Christ you have to deal with the emotional and mental problems that are left over from those attacks that come about as the result of the deception that we believe so when you believe the deception of the enemy now you come under a certain mindset so for me I had to find the lie that was working on me I had to find out what is going on why do I continue to fill what I feel why do I continue to have panic attacks why do I continue to feel anxious well the answer came from me one day and it was an unexpected thing and and and it actually came to me at the worst time in my life I mean God really gave me breakthrough breakthrough comes when you know the truth freedom comes when you live in the truth you have your aha your spiritual epiphany when you learn of a truth that will set you free but only when you walk in that truth do you realize does that freedom become tangible so this was at a season in my life my friendships were strained because of my paranoid mind my marriage I was a newlywed so it was a little it wasn't terrible but you know it was in need of some work definitely the ministry wasn't doing well by human metrics in other words anyone looking at the ministry from the outside in might say okay well it's kind of a small ministry not really making big impact you know no one was really watching the videos people weren't exactly reading my blogs my books exact weren't exactly being spread around the world and so forth so so at least by natural metrics you wouldn't have deemed the ministry a success I know we measure our success by our obedience to God but I'm just painting a picture for you to let you know I was discouraged friendship strain marriage a little unstable ministry it wasn't going anywhere it didn't seem to be going anywhere I was afraid I was failing as a husband I was afraid I was failing as a minister I was afraid that I wouldn't fulfill my purpose I was battling with anxiety I was battling with panic attacks I was battling with heavy weight of emotional like like depression on me it was tough and so I was booked to go preach at a church in North Carolina and I remember the flight was very early in the morning this is before I had an assistant who would help book my flights it was basically whatever flights they booked and so they booked me on you know to save like 20 dollars they booked me at like a 5 a.m flight or something ridiculous like that and so I remember the night before just packing and I remember thinking what am I doing I'm just so discouraged I'm fearful having panic attacks again I didn't want to go to the airport I definitely didn't want to wake up that early and if I'm just being real with you I didn't feel like preaching either I just wanted to go to sleep and maybe sleep through that bad season of life you ever just want to push the skip button and jump right ahead to where what you think is the ideal situation well that's where I was I wanted to jump ahead but you know that's when the Holy Spirit shows up and so the morning comes it's early I'm tired I'm physically just drained I didn't get much sleep because my anxiety didn't allow me to get much sleep and I remember getting picked up at my house there was a couple of other ministry team members there I get picked up at my house I'm being driven to the airport it's so early the sun isn't even out yet and as we're driving on the freeway this car from the far left lane begins to cut across several lanes rapidly the car zooms right in front of us hits the center divider we were exiting right when this car came all the way across to the right hit the center divider flipped over onto the ramp that we were already on there's just one lane flipped over onto the ramp and begins to skid sparks are flying from the car it's on its it's on its roof sparks are flying from the car hitting our windshield we are breaking as the car in front of us is skidding it was like something out of a movie it was horrible the I remember I to this day I still can remember the sound the screeching the visuals I looked and I saw the driver of that car being thrown everywhere in his car papers flew everywhere his luggage flew everywhere and we swerved just in time to miss it I think we use like the the safety lane to do so and I remember just being so shaken up by that I couldn't believe it it was like a movie right in front of me and so we call 911 of course we made sure that this gentleman got help to this day I don't know what happened to him we didn't know him we weren't family we weren't friends so it's not like they would give us an update I don't know but I'll tell you this right now it just did not look good for that individual I remember just seeing and I don't need to go into detail I it just did not look good for this person now we were early enough still to where we were able to get to the airport and I remember trying to check in we've just made it my my hands are shaking I just I was so shaken up by this and I was absolutely just swallowed by anxiety it was remember I had already come to this point where I'm thinking this is really bad I'm just not at a good place in life and then this happens and I remember thinking I've never felt this bad things have never been this bad for me I never I don't remember feeling this hollow this afraid this anxious this hopeless and I'm just thinking holy spirit where are you I mean I sense you in the meetings when I'm ministering but like I need you now I don't remember much about the flight I do remember checking in to the hotel going to sleep and then just waking up the next morning and I woke up that morning and I just remember waking up staring at the ceiling in my hotel room I'm staring at the ceiling and this may sound like a contradiction but I'm just telling you what I felt I felt sorrowful I felt terrified I felt hopeless yet I felt numb just like this hollow shell like there was nothing to it I had never before felt so bad in my life I can't remember feeling as bad since never before had I felt that bad and ever since then I've never felt that way again it was probably the peak of my anxiety peak of my panic peak of the depression all in one and so I'm sitting there I'm lying there I'm staring at this ceiling and I just I didn't know what to do I just remember thinking help me holy spirit help me holy spirit help me holy spirit and so this is a little odd because the holy spirit had never done anything like this with me before but the holy spirit spoke concerning my entire past this is what happened this is this is the conversation something to the effect of this the holy spirit reminded me of when I was a little boy and I would see those demonic beings and hear those demonic voices and feel that demonic attack and the holy spirit said do you remember when you were a little boy and you were so terrified because you could see those demonic faces in your wall do you remember how you couldn't sleep do you remember how you had to have your father place tape on the walls and the places you were seeing those demonic faces I said yes I remember that and then the holy spirit said and do you remember when you first went to school kindergarten and you were afraid of going to school because of how the kids treated you and how you felt unwelcome unwanted rejected and afraid I said yes holy spirit I remember that then the holy spirit said do you remember how you loved going to theme parks with your mom and dad and your brother and sister and how that was one of the highlights of your childhood and do you remember how anxiety began to ruin those days how even in those moments you had this overwhelming sense that you were going to die even as a little boy going to theme parks with this mom and dad I said yes holy spirit I remember that and the holy spirit began to take me the various phases of my life and as I began to look all of my fears he said do you remember do you remember how it took you forever to get your license you had to do many attempts because your anxiety surrounding the subject of driving was so bad that you just couldn't get your license I said yes holy spirit I remember that fresh in my memory and then he took me through my marriage remember how you're afraid of failing as a husband reminded me of the ministry do you remember how you're afraid of failing in ministry I said yes holy spirit I remember he went further do you remember how as a teenager you would hear preaching about hell and the rapture and the end times and you would always be afraid of being left behind of being rejected about being punished about going to hell even though you were born again and I said yes holy spirit I remember this by this time I am just like I'm a mess it was just a constant stream of tears and then the holy spirit asked me a question people of God this is going to sound so simple but you have to listen to me explain this then the holy spirit asked me 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 all throughout my life it had been the same lie when I saw the demons when I was afraid of the other kids when I couldn't get my license when I was afraid of dying when I was afraid of hell when I was afraid of the rapture when I was afraid of the end times when I was afraid of failing in my marriage when I was afraid of losing all my friendships when I was afraid of failing in ministry all of those fears were based on one lie that lie that deception it came in various forms various stages of my life and then I even saw it in the granular how how my mind would just jump to the worst case scenario in every situation big or small and I began to see for the first time just how deeply this had affected me I began to see just how deeply this had gone I began to see just how how detailed this attack was on my life things that I thought that I didn't even realize were anxiety ways that I behaved that I didn't even realize were anxiety and then I realized it was all that one lie it was all that one lie that God didn't love me that God was angry with me and that he wanted to punish me that's what I thought I didn't think it here it wasn't something I thought about at the forefront of my mind I had never said that out loud I had never acknowledged that intellectually I had never said that or even believed that literally but deep down in my heart deep somewhere in the core of me I believed the lie that God was angry with me and waiting to punish me there is no fear in love perfect love cast out all fear the lie may take a different form for you hear me now please because this is so key to your freedom the lie may take a different form for you but it's the same thing if you are afraid if you are anxious you're suffering with panic attacks you don't believe God really loves you I know you may not think that intellectually I know you may not say that outright and literally but somewhere deep in the core of who you are is the belief that God doesn't love you and that he's waiting to punish you that's legalism child of God that's legalism legalism that says that you have to perform in order for God to love you now I didn't know that the emotional and mental issues that those were contributing to the physical manifestation of a panic attack but they were and it wasn't until I finally realized my goodness it's the same lie fear asks what if faith boldly declares even if faith boldly declares even if because that's how fear works begins with the what if what if what if what if what if what if and then even if you're able to bring your mind back to truth you start to believe what's right fear takes you right back yeah that's true but what if my friend once you're made perfect in that love there is no fear once you recognize that the most powerful being whoever existed loves you immensely that God who has limitless power loves you with an everlasting love and he intends to do good things in your life once you know that and you start to allow that truth to permeate who you are like actually begin to affect everything about you my friend that's when fear begins to lose its power that's when panic begins to lose its hold now I'm gonna pray with you and I want to talk specifically about panic attacks in just a little bit I'm going to give you some practical advice on panic attacks that I think could help you but first let's pray let's pray first of all that the Holy Spirit would expose the lie that's at the root of your panic of your anxiety remember this and I'll break this down one more time and then we're going to pray there are two forms of demonic attack categorically speaking there's possession that's demonization that's ownership once you are born again demons cannot inhabit you that's a biblical fact well established we know that but they can still attack you and those attacks include deception accusation temptation torment confusion distraction these types of attacks come from what the demons speak they're deceiving you you overcome those demonic attacks through an exercise of authority speak against those demonic powers using the authority of Christ once you have done that you've dealt with the demonic and now it's time to deal with the mental and the emotional because when demons lie to you and you begin to repeat those lies to yourself they don't even need to say anything anymore you just lie to yourself for them so now you have to deal with that lie somewhere in the core of your being you have to deal with that lie now and that's how you cause yourself to become untangled from fear emotionally and mentally and for me it was a process yeah that was a breakthrough moment for me what I described when I was in my hotel room looking at my ceiling that was a breakthrough moment for me but I had to learn to walk in that truth I had to catch myself and go wait a minute that's the lie wait a minute that's the fear wait a minute that's the anxiety and today I can tell you free of panic attacks I find and I'll get to practical information in a moment I find that if it tries to come over me ever I know exactly how to stop it and prevent it and I'll show you how to do that in a moment but first let's pray father in the name of Jesus I pray for that one watching right now who's suffering mentally and emotionally and first of all Lord I rebuke every demonic power every demonic power must lose its hold in the mighty name of Jesus and now I pray Lord you deliver your people from the lies of the enemy deliver them from deception I pray cause them to know the truth that the truth might set them free and then cause them to walk in that truth that they might remain free mighty name of Jesus we pray I want you to say it because you believe it say amen and I will talk about panic attacks right now I'm going to give you some practical advice but first I want to talk to you about the mission of this ministry we want to see souls saved people delivered healed and empowered and we have a simple vision as a ministry we are focused on spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit we are focused on winning souls and discipling believers through media and events what you're watching right now is a live stream we recorded it live maybe you're watching the replay but this is a live stream we also release content that's edited and the production value is really high and that helps to spread the message even further we also do events all around the world we do not charge for the live streams we do not charge for the content we do not charge for the events you know sometimes I believe you know we get confused with what our mission is as ministries and I think it's important that we freely give now I'm not against selling books or e-courses and so forth but there has to be a place where people can receive the word of God for free and so we produce the live streams we produce the content we do these events all around the world freely we receive so freely we give it's all partner and donors supported if you believe in what we're doing if you believe deliverance is for today if you believe healing is for today if you believe God's power can set people free help us spread the truth help us spread the reach of this ministry it's time that we engage in the battle for the soul of a generation I want to ask you to do one thing I want you to ask the Holy Spirit what you should do I know it's tempting after the lesson to just go and click on something else I understand that to some degree saying okay I got what I want and now I can go and I appreciate that you've received from this ministry I'm glad you did but I also want you to be challenged to do your part challenged to help this ministry so that others might also be ministered too the gospel is free but the means to deliver it on a mass scale that takes resources so we have a very generous community many many many of you give I want you to join in with the givers don't just say oh somebody else will do it oh some other time get involved right now by going to davidhernandezministries.com slash donate to give a single gift or davidhernandezministries.com slash partner to become a monthly supporter hey replace a streaming platform with your support of this ministry get rid of uh you know some of those secular streaming platforms instead partner with us because we give the content out for free and it'll help others too so partner with us give a single gift there is no gift so small that it doesn't count there is no gift so large that we wouldn't know what to do with it go right now do your part hear the voice of the Holy Spirit get involved thank you Lee Ann for your generous gift thank you Nicole for being a partner thank you barcode for your generous gift thank you also to Rita and John and Kate for being partners thank you so much patricia and repeat and alisha and Matthew and Darian and Helen thank you for becoming partners Elizabeth thank you for your gift to this ministry I can see many of the donations coming in directly on my phone here and I want to thank you for your support so go and do that now hear from the Holy Spirit bottom line it's quite simple support the ministry so we can continue to expand the kingdom of God this ministry is experiencing rapid growth our vision is simple get behind what God is doing be a part of what the Holy Spirit is doing in the earth today one more time david hernan's ministries dot com slash donate to give a single gift david hernan's ministries dot com slash partner to sign up to become a monthly supporter and I want to talk to you real briefly about panic attacks because sometimes you'll find that even after you've dealt with the demonic aspect even after you've dealt with the mental and emotional aspect that sometimes there's still a physical element that will take time to catch up this is the analogy I like to use if I kill a weed at its roots like I spray the weed killer on my lawn right if I kill a weed at its roots the roots will die before the weed dies so sometimes when you cut something off at its root by dealing with the demonic aspect and dealing with the emotional and mental aspect sometimes the physical manifestations of that take a little time to wither now don't hear what I'm not saying God can set you free and heal you instantly like that no problem but you'll find sometimes and I'm not saying this is going to be the case with you but if it is don't be discouraged God works in many different ways miracles come in many different forms you can address the root by getting rid of the demonic aspect you can address the root by getting rid of the emotional and mental aspect that's a fact that can happen but now sometimes not every time there's still the physical aspect like you may still feel like the panic the heart pounding the the palm sweating so here's what I would do after I dealt with the demonic after I dealt with the emotional mental it took a few weeks to finally get rid of the physical aspect of it and you're talking to someone who had him on a daily basis guys a daily basis panic attacks it was horrible it was just no way to live I never knew when it was okay to drive when it was okay to go to lunch it was awful so here's what I would do I would instead of fighting the panic attack like trying to avoid it trying to go somewhere else in my mind I would stop what I was doing I placed my hands on the surface I'm giving you real practical advice here and I would just allow myself to feel the panic and I would tell myself something very simple something like this feels very scary but it's not going to hurt me this feels very scary but it's not dangerous now your mind will automatically go but what if this is the one time that I got it wrong and it actually is dangerous well here's the problem with that is that your mind can always go to worst-case scenario and it's quite possible that there could be some physical problem but panic isn't the result of it go get checked okay of course do all your due diligence but when you're dealing with it in the moment it's okay when you know it's a panic attack you say okay I'm dealing with the panic now and just feel the symptoms I would allow myself to say okay that's my heart racing my palms are sweating I'm feeling a little dizzy my body feels numb so forth right and then I would just relax my body you know that by relaxing your physical body you're sending a signal to your brain to let it know there's no problem here when you tense your body like this or you start hyperventilating or you start you know moving like you're in a panic your brain agrees with you yeah we're in a panic but if you just sit up straight calm down relax untense your body breathe normally after a few minutes your brain's going to get the idea that you're not actually in any danger you almost have to trick your brain act as if nothing is wrong so your brain can be tricked and this won't have immediate effect right away but if you've dealt with the demonic aspect and you've dealt with the emotional and mental aspect then by doing this you're actually going to begin to overcome that now there are other techniques but that's just one I thought I'd leave with you it worked for me it may work for you but so long as you deal with the demonic and the emotional and mental route you will find that eventually the physical aspect will also fade away