 We have to be aware of how the enemy attacks believers. Now, he has many strategies, but all of his strategies are ultimately based on deception. The only power that the enemy can have over you is the power that he deceives you into giving to him. Now, there are many deceptive strategies of the enemy, but I want to focus on just two right now so that we can really dig in and see exactly how these work against us in our everyday life, but I want you to write in the comment section right now, whether you're watching live or on replay. Write, open my eyes. Let that be your prayer for discernment. Let that be your commitment to being vigilant about the supernatural realm. Remember this, everything about the kingdom of hell is built on shifting shadow. Every structure of hell, every wall, every stronghold is built brick by brick upon darkness. All the weapons, all of the attacks, they're just formations, shadowy figures. So the moment that you introduce anything that has to do with the kingdom of hell to the light of the Holy Spirit, the power of darkness dissolves. Light eradicates darkness. What does light do to darkness? It dissolves the darkness by their very own natures, by the necessity of their natures. Light and darkness cannot coexist. The presence of either means the absence of the other. And so in your life, you have to receive the light of the Spirit. Now, you have the Holy Spirit living in you. You have the power of God residing in you. You've been positioned in Christ. You are in Christ. Christ is in power and you are in Christ. You're seated in heavenly places. So why then do we not always see the manifestation, the realization, the attainment of that power? Why does it seem as though sometimes we live defeated even though in the Spirit we know we're positioned in victory? Well, I want to show you how the enemy attacks. Let's take a look at the first attack. Number one, it's the combination of temptation and accusation. Now, temptation alone can be an attack of the enemy. Accusation alone can be an attack of the enemy. But I want to show you how these two work together. Temptation and accusation are a dangerous combination that make up one single powerful attack of the enemy. In fact, you may be under the power of this attack without even realizing it. So it's my prayer that it's exposed and eliminated in your life. So first, we must understand that Satan is called the tempter. Look at 1 Thessalonians chapter three. I'm going to read verses four and five. Even while we were with you, we warned you that troubles would soon come and they did as you well know. That is why when I could bear it no longer, I sent Timothy to find out whether your faith was still strong. So the apostle here has some concerns about the faith of the people. I was afraid that the tempter had gotten the best of you and that our work had been useless. Think about this here. The enemy's primary goal is to weaken your faith. Why? Because if he can weaken your faith, he can keep you from accessing and becoming all that God desires for you. When the enemy deceives you, he convinces you to not use your power. There's an old illustration that goes something like this. A man was observing a group of elephants. These elephants were held in place by a simple, weak-looking rope that was tied to a stake in the ground on one end and to the elephant's leg on the other. Now, of course, upon observation, he realized that those elephants, by even a fractional use of their strength, could snap away from what was tethering them to the ground, a weak rope, simple stake in the ground, and the immense strength of an elephant. That rope should have been no match for that group of elephants. And so the man asked who he observed was taking care of the elephants. He said, why is it that a rope and a stake in the ground can hold these elephants in place? And so the man who was taking care of the elephants explained. He said, well, since they were little, since they were baby elephants, we would tie them in place by placing a rope around their leg and tethering that rope to a stake in the ground. And when they were small, they were weaker. They didn't have the strength to pull away. And so they became conditioned. And the older they got, the bigger they got. The bigger they got, the stronger they got. And now, even though they have the strength to pull away from that stake in the ground, they simply will not for the simple belief that they can't. That's the believer in spiritual warfare. I think we make the Holy Spirit jealous when we exaggerate demonic power and minimize the Holy Spirit's power. Well, what does the scripture say? Greater is he who's in me, who's in you, the believer, than he that is in the world. Well, I have a great strength. You have a great strength. The power of the Holy Ghost residing in you. We have been given dominion, power, and authority over the forces of darkness. Again, shifting shadow. And we are beings of light because we reflect the glory of God. Yet the enemy deceives us, not wanting us to use the strength of the power that we've been given. Instead, we freak out when he attacks us. What do we do? We fret when we're being targeted. What do we do? We panic when we don't understand how the enemy's coming against us. When we face trials and tribulations, we somehow take this as proof that God has abandoned us, proof that the enemy somehow gained power over us. No, my friend, you have the power of the Holy Ghost residing in you. I think far too believers understand their identity in Christ. And it is an identity crisis. This crisis of identity is what prevents many believers from walking in and realizing the strength of that power. We have been delivered. We have been rescued. We have been filled with the Holy Spirit. But many of us don't realize or actualize or experience the fruit of that freedom simply because we're deceived in not embracing it. The enemy deceives you. He exaggerates his power over you. He wants you to feel like you're bound. He wants you to feel like you're cursed. He wants you to feel like he's this great immense force over you that you just can't break no matter how hard you try. That's a lie of the enemy, like those elephants. You're being held in place because you don't realize the power that's been given to you. And so here the scripture calls him the tempter. So what does he do? He places before us the things that he believes will cause us to choose sin over God. Well, think of Matthew 4. When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, the enemy three times attempted to offer him something that would satisfy the cravings of the flesh. Well, Jesus of course resisted, but the truth of the matter is if sin were a product, demons would be salesmen. But here's the reality. Though demons may tempt you, they cannot do the sinning for you. Many times Christians try to blame their sinful disobedient decisions on demonic powers. Well, I can't stop doing this because it's a demon. And I can't get delivered from that demon because I don't understand the secret to the demon's power. And this is the belief system under which many believers become stuck. They never break free because they just don't realize all of the lies that they've already believed. They grant the premise that they're under the power of the enemy. They grant the premise that the enemy has control over them in some way, completely neglecting the reality of the fruit of the Spirit which is self-control. And so we who have the Holy Spirit have control over ourselves. But what the enemy does do is present the sin. What the enemy does do is try to make the sin seem appealing like he did in the Garden of Eden. The serpent did not eat that fruit on behalf of Eve. Eve ate it. Adam ate it. But the serpent spoke. The serpent used its words. What is that? That's deception, temptation. All successful temptation. Remember this. All successful temptation is ultimately rooted in dark deception. All successful temptation is ultimately rooted in dark deception. Why? Because you believe the lie somehow some way that that sin will satisfy you. You believe that it's worth trading the precious fellowship you have with God for whatever it is that the enemy is offering to you. So the enemy presents it. And he will not tempt you with something that doesn't tempt you. Think about this. The enemy studies you. The enemy knows you. The enemy watches how you behave in certain scenarios. The enemy watches how you behave around certain people. The enemy watches where your eyes go. Watches what your words say. Watches what you choose to listen to. He sees what you do in secret. He sees how you behave in private. And he uses all of this information to create the strongest temptation and place it before you. And so the enemy will not tempt you with something that doesn't tempt you. He's going to use something that you've grown to crave. He's going to use something that you've trained yourself. Here what I said there that you've trained yourself to desire. And yes, you do train yourself to desire things. That's the fact of the matter. When we choose a vice, a temptation again and again and again, we are programming our bodies to crave that which we are choosing. And demons do take advantage of these desires. They take advantage of these weak points. This is why it seems like just when you're doing right, just when you're doing well, just when you finally feel connected with God suddenly here's a temptation coming your way, something offered to you in the form that tempts you. Now James 1 14 says temptation comes from our own desires which entice us and drag us away. So there we see we cannot blame demonic powers. The only reason we're tempted in the first place, please hear me when I say this. The only reason we're tempted in the first place is because we've allowed our flesh to grow in strength. If our flesh wasn't strong, the enemy would have nothing to tempt. If we kept the flesh weak, the temptations would be weak. The stronger your flesh becomes, the stronger the urges of temptations become. And so instead of keeping the flesh subjected, instead of learning to live in the spirit, instead of living a lifestyle of prayer and the word and subjecting the sin nature, we feed it what it desires and we starve the spirit. We starve the spirit when we neglect prayer. We starve the spirit when we neglect the word. We feed the flesh when we choose entertainment over the spiritual on a constant basis. When we're so distracted by the cares and things of this world that we completely forget about the spiritual reality in which we primarily exist. You are not a citizen of this earth as strange as that may sound. If you're a born-again believer, you've been translated from the kingdom of darkness and you now exist in the kingdom of heaven. Now this is how it works. Demons understand us. They seek to tempt us and then they present a lie and here's the lie. Here's the lie. A lie that they use. This will satisfy you. Or, or, or they'll say this isn't that big of a deal. Now you may not say that outright. You may not think that directly but somewhere deep down when you're giving into a sin repeatedly somewhere deep down you've lost that sense of urgency unto holiness because you do at some deep subconscious level believe the lie that it's no big deal or that it's not really affecting you. Look, here's the reality. Even if you were to never get caught for a sin you're committing in secret the fact of the matter is that secret sin is affecting you and your life and your joy and your peace and the people around you in more ways than you realize. It's robbing them even of the person that you should be. So this will satisfy. God won't punish this. It's not that big of a deal. The presence of God isn't satisfying me. These are lies we believe or I can't help it. There's nothing I can do. And thereby the way if I may go off on a tangent thereby the way is one of the lies that is founded upon this idea that demons have this control over us. Well, there's nothing I can do anyway. It's a demon. So until I get that special prayer until I find that special technique until I uncover that ancient mystery until I dig up the information from Ancestry.com I can't be free of the spirit. So there's really nothing I can do and that belief in the fact that it has complete control over us is partially what contributes to us giving in again and again. And so what happens? You begin to feel trapped like you're a hypocrite. You become double-minded. You feel like you're switching from one person to another and you don't know which one's the real you. And then the action that manifests from this is more and more you give in again and again. So first it's the lie. Once you believe the lie that becomes deception. Then this leads to feelings of being trapped, of being a hypocrite double-minded, condemnation, guilt, shame, and that compounds the problem. And so when you feel condemnation, guilt and shame, what do you do? You distance yourself from God. And in distancing yourself from God you strengthen the flesh and guess what? It gains more power to sin. And then you live in the state of hypocrisy. You sin more and more and what results from that sinning again and again and again? That consistent sinning. Well, you form a habit. And what does this habit become? This habit becomes a life cycle. Where six months you do good, two weeks you're back on sin again. And then two weeks you do good and then six months you're back on sin. It just goes back and forth and back. And you go through cycles just when you thought you were free. It's right back in. Why? Because when you finally do get free you're not living in such a way where you keep the flesh subjected. Many believers don't realize that once you're free you have to continue to walk in submission to God in order to stay away from that temptation. So now what begins to happen? A secretive lifestyle, sinful habits, guilty conscience. You feel distant from God. And here's the problem. People try to address just the symptoms. And this is where they come to me or to a preacher or maybe they've come to you before. They say, hey, I'm dealing with this particular issue and I can't seem to overcome this sin right here. Or I'm dealing with this particular habit and I can't overcome this habit. Hey, I have a problem with this kind of attitude, this kind of mindset, these kinds of thoughts. Whatever it may be, however the sin is manifesting we have issues with it and they become habitual in our lives and we feel stuck. Here's the problem. You're addressing the symptom. You want to address the habit itself and you should. You want to address the sin itself and you should. Well also neglecting the root and you shouldn't neglect addressing that root. You must address not just the result but also the root not just the symptom but also the source not just the chaos but the cause of the chaos. What is that? It's the lie you believe. It comes back to you see here now deception. It comes back to this place where you realize oh my goodness I'm believing a lie. It could be you believe that the sin will satisfy. It could be that you believe that you have no choice that you have to sin. It could be that you believe that it's no big deal. It could be that you believe that you're just never going to be free of it. So you might as well give in from time to time. Those are the lies that keep you bound and ultimately all of that giving into temptation is rooted in that deception. Temptation is a form of deception because you must first question the word before you contradict the word with your lifestyle. And so somewhere in there you're believing a lie. If you are bound there's a lie you believe period. Jesus said you shall know the truth and the truth shall what? Write it in the comments. The truth shall set you free. Set me free. So then if I'm still bound if it's the truth that sets me free and I'm still bound then if I'm bound there's a truth I've not yet come to believe. Yet people again just want to address the exterior. They want to address the habit itself when they need to look inside and say okay what's the lie I'm believing? And this is where repentance comes into play. My goodness we as the church have greatly misunderstood what repentance is and what renouncing is because we imagine that repentance is to turn away from something. That's not what it means. Now don't hear what I'm not saying. I absolutely agree that we should turn away from sin. But turning away from sin is to renounce sin. To repent is to change your mind. It's a change in mind that results in renouncing forsaking turning from sin. But many people try to address the habit before they've addressed the mindset. So what does repentance look like? Well, repentance looks like this. Lord, I agree that this sin is wrong. I agree that it's wrong in all forms. I agree that it's wrong in all measures. In other words, I'm not going to allow myself or my flesh a little relief here and there. And I agree that it must go once and for all. And until you come to that place where you acknowledge this is destroying me whether I see it or not. And either way it's contradicting the nature of God. Once you've come to agree with God, this thing has to go now. This thing has to go in all forms. And this thing has to go forever. Well, now you've repented. When you've come to truly believe that. Now you've repented. Once you repent, then you can renounce. What is renouncing? No, my friend. Renouncing is not picking up a list like this and going, I renounced this. I renounced that. I renounced this. I mean, you can do that if you want. There's nothing wrong with it. But that's not what renouncing is. To renounce is to actually turn from. But many people try to turn from sin before they've changed their mind about sin. And then they just get stuck in a battle with themselves. This is why you have to come to the place where you've removed all deception with the help of the Holy Spirit. Identify that root lie. What is it I believe about sin that gives me and my flesh permission to give into it? What is it I believe about sin that gives my flesh permission to engage in it? And once you've identified that lie, well, now you can actually renounce it. So this is temptation. It's one of the attacks that it may mean. Now watch this, watch this. And by the way, 1 Corinthians 10-13 makes it clear that God provides a way out. That's scripture. There's no temptation that comes against you that God has not provided a way out of. So we are without excuse here. Let me say that again. We are without excuse. I'm going to look right in the camera and say it to you. I know this will offend some. But I would rather offend you with the truth than to comfort you with a lie. I would rather offend you into freedom than lie to you and watch you stay in bondage. Here's the truth. Nobody chooses to sin for you, but you. No, it is not a spirit sinning for you. No, it is not a demonic force forcing you to disobey God. We have to grow up. And if you don't grow out of that mindset, you will never be free. Hear me say this again. If you do not grow out of that mindset, you cannot be free. Why? Because you will be constantly blaming demons for your undisciplined flesh. Now, I know this isn't popular to say, but I love you and I want to see you go free and it breaks my heart every time I receive a message from someone who says, I've been dealing with this addiction. I've been dealing with this struggle for years and I just can't break it. And it breaks my heart to see that they've been lied to again and again. My friend, yes, there's grace. Yes, there's mercy. No, this is not a message of condemnation because there's hope and the hope is that the Holy Spirit lives in you and the Holy Spirit has given you self control. Once you finally realize I am responsible for the decisions that I make, then you've begun to accept us of repentance. Then you begin to agree with God about sin. This is wrong. It has to go and it has to go in all measures for all time. But God has provided a way out. God has provided a way out of every temptation. Now, this is why also we mustn't put ourselves in places of temptation because the temptations that come to us, God gives us a way out of that. Now watch this. Remember I told you this is kind of like as they say, the one-two punch because we have temptation and accusation. So how do these two work together? And this, by the way, is counting as, I know I told you I'm covering two demonic attacks right now. So temptation and accusation, that's a combination attack. So I'm going to count it as one. So accusation, look at this in Revelation 12-10. And now watch how the enemy uses both of these. It is so, it is so wicked. Watch this and perhaps he's using it against you. Then I heard a loud voice shouting across the heavens. It has come at last, salvation and power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down to the earth, the one who accuses them before our God, day and night. So Satan is the accuser but Christ is the advocate. So what does the enemy do? He accuses you for the sin that he tempted you with. Now, let me be clear. I'm not saying that Satan is responsible for your sin. I'm not saying demonic beings are responsible for your sin. What I am saying is that demons will present the sin to you, watch you take the bait from their hand and then trap you in guilt and condemnation. And then what does that do? Guilt and condemnation pushes you further away from God or they push you further away from God, I should say. And as guilt and condemnation push you away from God, well, now you're less likely to resist any sin that comes your way. And so the cycle continues. So you can see this great web of deceit that the enemy is weaving. Also, the enemy accuses us of sins for which we've already been forgiven. So let's say you've committed a sin. People ask me all the time, Brother David, does God forgive my past sins? And I'm wondering, is there any other kind of sin that we've committed that's not in our past? I mean, even if you sinned four seconds ago, it's still a sin in your past. So yes, God forgives your past sins. But here's the thing. Once you've acknowledged that the sin is wrong, you've repented before God, you confessed your sin to God, you've repented in your mind, you've changed your mind about it, and then you've renounced or forsaken or turned from that sin. Now you're free. For the Bible says in 1 John 1-9, but if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. So now I'm turning from that sin, I've repented of that sin, and now I can experience God's forgiveness. And here's where the enemy also attacks you. He will accuse you of and remind you of and taunt you about your past sins that have already been forgiven. So even though you've repented, He taunts you and this is where legalism comes into play. By the way, you know you're under legalism if you're constantly worried about losing your salvation. And we pay emotional penance. God says, I forgive you, it's done, it's under the blood, you're cleansed. What do we do? We beat ourselves up concerning a sin from the past and it's the equivalent of whipping yourself in the back and we do it emotionally. This is my penance. This is what I've done wrong. This is what I deserve. And now you are dismissing God's ability to forgive and you're saying, thank you, Lord, I receive your forgiveness. And here's where ego comes into play. We're basically saying thank you for the cross. I think it was enough to save me, but it wasn't enough to liberate me from guilt. Well, think about that. Doesn't the cross cover peace of mind too? He was chastised for our peace. The chastisement of our peace was upon him. With the crown of thorns, he was crowned the Prince of Peace. And so that blood he shed doesn't just cover the remission of sins. It doesn't just cover the forgiveness of sins. It doesn't just cover justification. It also cleanses us and it removes the stains from the conscience so that you can live a guilt-free, sin-free life. And you can rejoice in your salvation, rejoice in the blessings of God. You may have trouble even receiving blessings from God because you're still paying emotional penance for a sin that you committed. And you tell yourself, well, this is just my cross to bear when he already bore it on his cross. No, my friend, your cross to bear is to turn from your sin, to obey what God says, to walk in his calling, to put him first and others. That's the cross, the sacrifice that we make for the sake of our calling. But the cross he bore took care of our salvation and it cleansed us from all guilt. And so you have to stop allowing the enemy to gain this great power over you to where you're living with this heaviness over your head. Just constantly, even subtly, living in the past mistakes and just kind of this thin layer of guilt that constantly shrouds your everyday life. Any moment you experience, can't be fully joyful. Yeah, you're joyful, oh, but there's still that thing. Or you're experiencing something new in life and it should be a moment of celebration and you enjoy it, but I don't want to enjoy this too much. There's that thin veil of guilt and condemnation just sort of weighing on you. And that is an attack of the enemy. You weren't designed to live with that hanging over your head. And in fact, when he died on the cross, Christ, when Christ died on the cross, he took that away from you. So if you're still living with that in your mind, you have this guilt, this shame. It's just kind of lingering from the past. It's because you're still believing the accusations of the enemy, which is a lie. But again, he parrots these. He tempts you, you give into the temptation. Oh, wow, I can't believe you did that. So here's what the enemy is doing. Come on, do it, do it, do it, you do it. He goes, wow, I can't believe you did that. You call yourself a Christian. This is just how wicked and manipulative he is. Again, you are responsible for your sin. You are responsible for the choices that you make. But ultimately, once you've repented, you have to realize that you've been forgiven. And so don't allow either temptation or accusation or that combination to come against you. Just know the truth and the truth will set you free. Now, I want to talk to you about the second attack, which is torment of the mind. This can be a sense of fear and dread. Sometimes you might not even know where that fear and dread is coming from. Hallucinations, the hearing of voices, demonic manifestations around you, even just kind of this paranoia, this anxiety that just kind of floats around your being. We're going to talk about that in just a moment. But first, I want to mention real briefly this resource that's available to you, titled Holy Spirit, the Bondage Breaker, experience permanent deliverance from mental, emotional, and demonic strongholds. This is available at bondagebreaker.com. And in this book, I talk about the root causes of demonic bondage. I talk about the believer's identity. And ultimately, I talk to you about the power of the Holy Spirit that already rests in you. That power that allows you to walk in freedom. Many believers get delivered and then go back to that bondage. God did not call you to go from deliverance to deliverance. He called you to go from deliverance to discipline to dominion. Permanent freedom, the life of the believer is supposed to be one of absolute victory. The life of the believer is supposed to be one of freedom. And if you are not free, you are not living the Christian life. Now that may sound like condemnation. It's not. It's a challenge to aspire to the standard that God created for us. And it's actually a hope-filled statement. In other words, you should know that's not what you were meant for. You were meant for more than just living in bondage. In fact, I myself struggled severely with anxiety for several years to the point where I was having panic attacks daily and it was for a long stretch of time that this was happening. And I tried everything. You name it, I tried it. Nothing seemed to be working until the Holy Spirit revealed to me that deliverance took place when I was born again. And then He showed me how to walk in that deliverance. And this will challenge, many of you, this will challenge the way you think of spiritual warfare and deliverance. But I promise you, once you allow your mind to align with Scripture, everything starts to fall in place and makes sense. The questions get answered. The confusion goes away. And then freedom becomes this attainable thing in your everyday life. I go over addressing bondage at its deceptive root, how to partner with the Holy Spirit and freedom, how to avoid the wrong approaches to deliverance that just make the problem worse, how to win the battle for your mind. We go over things like addiction and torment and accusation and depression. So again, Holy Spirit, the bondage breaker, experienced permanent deliverance from mental, emotional and demonic strongholds available at bondagebreaker.com. Okay, let's take a look at this second attack of the enemy, torment. Again, these mental torments can be things like hallucinations. That's how severe they can be. In fact, they can be as severe as to result in mental instability. And often, this attack of the enemy is what many believers mistake for demonic possession, but not realizing that there's a lie at the root of torment, not realizing that many believers seek all kinds of solutions and protocols and rituals and superstitious applications that either cause confusion or make the problem worse or solve the problem for a couple weeks only for the problem to come back again. There are many different problems that arise when believers try to address these issues in a non-biblical way. But we as believers really are fighting for the fight of truth. Spiritual warfare is the fight to believe God's truth over the enemy's lies. Let me show you something here. 2 Corinthians 12-7-9 Even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God, so to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud. Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, my grace is all you need, my power works best in weakness. So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ can work through me. So here we see that even Paul the Apostle suffered from torment. Now again, it's important to remember that demonic powers attack believers from the outside using deception. They don't inhabit believers. There's a whole teaching I have on that. It's available for free on the channel if you're ever interested. It's called, Can Christians Be Demon? Possessed in that teaching, I go over the difference between possession and attack and then the identity of the believer. But still, we must be aware of the fact that demonic powers can attack us in very intense ways, mind you, especially if you're opening doors to the demonic, and by the way, an open door is anything that makes you more susceptible to deception. Especially if you're opening doors to the demonic, these attacks can become very intense. And like I said, this can even result in mental instability, emotional instability, night terrors and panic attacks and OCD and intrusive thoughts and just this constant sense of dread. Like sometimes people can't even pinpoint what am I feeling exactly? Why am I frightened? Why? It's just this general torment, this general anxiety we'll call it. But notice here that grace was God's solution for the torments that the apostle was facing. Now to be clear here, let's just break this portion of Scripture down just for a moment. Here the Bible says in verse 7, So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh that phrase right there is the analogy. A messenger from Satan, that's the literal application. So thorn in my flesh, it's not literally in his flesh. How do we know that? Well, because it's not literally a thorn. A thorn in the Greek is a wooden stake. We understand the apostle wasn't walking around with a wooden stake in his body saying, Lord remove this wooden stake. So we don't take the thorn literally and therefore in that phrase we don't take the word flesh literally. So the analogy is thorn in the flesh and a messenger of Satan, that's the literal reality. Now this messenger of Satan was not in his flesh, but again what was this messenger doing? Messengers do what they speak and speaking caused what? Torment. So again we see deception. They attack with their words and it's causing something as severe as torment so much so that the apostle said, Lord you got to take this from me. He felt like he couldn't handle it. Three times he asked the Lord. So that means he asked the Lord and then it was still so bad that he kept going back and saying, Lord I really need your help with this. So this was a really bad demonic attack that came against him. Now some scholars believe that messenger of Satan could have been an actual individual who was being antagonistic toward the apostle and that individual who was being antagonistic was influenced by a demonic being. That could be the case. I tend to believe that this was an actual demonic being harassing his mind by speaking and accusing and deceiving and just trying to tear him down with demonic lies. That's what I believe this was. But again we see that there's the analogy thrown in the flesh and then the literal application which is a messenger from Satan. Now to help you better understand that if I say my daughter had so much candy that she was bouncing off the walls. You understand that by that I mean she was just acting a little bit too hyper because of the candy that she had eaten. Now A, you know the candy is literal and the eating of the candy is literal but then you also know that the bouncing off the walls is not literal. It's something I'm saying as a turn of phrase. I think that's the proper term. I don't think actually it is. But you get what I'm saying. That's the phrase I'm using to help accentuate the point that I'm trying to make. So again that's what Paul is doing here. The one in the flesh, the analogy, messenger of Satan, the literal reality. So we see that God's response to this now is grace. Well why grace? Well because it's the grace of God the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit that allows us to walk in such a way that we have perfect peace despite the torments that come against us. And this is where many believers miss it. We imagine that we should panic for the simple thought that we're being tormented. That's what believers do. Had a woman one time come to me. Brother David, brother David. Every time I pray I see a snake in my mind. I said okay rebuke it and then continue to pray. She goes no, no, no, but I have to know the meaning. I said why? Don't you have the authority of Christ? And she would not stop pressing. I have to know the meaning of this snake. What she wanted from me was like a breakdown of what a snake demon is and how they attack and what they do and how it could have possibly found root in her spiritual life through the sins of her ancestors or maybe through the supernatural powers that work over the principality in which she lived, right? That's what people want sometimes and that's not always the best response to these things. I think the best response is simple spirituality. Walk with the Lord. Be a person of prayer. Know the word and you'll see that God will begin to liberate you from these attacks to the enemy. You walk in the spirit and the grace of God, the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit helps you to be totally stable despite the attacks coming against you. People don't realize the way I'm attacked. I'm not constantly talking about it. I'm aware that many believers use this even as like a form of validation, a bragging point if you will. I'm such a target for the enemy and he attacks me and I think that's dangerous to do because A, we should find our identity in the fact that we're saved and children of God and B, I think it also implies that spiritual bondage is like our cross to bear. Look, will you be attacked? Yes. Will you face heartache? Yes. Will you face tragedy? Yes. But is spiritual defeat that is internal defeat? Is that ever supposed to be a part of the Christian life? No. Not at all. Not in any circumstance. And so we mistake the chaos of life. Okay, you know, my car broke down or my parents got sick or the business failed or my relationships aren't working. We look at that that's an attack of the enemy. That's a curse. See, I'm under some sort of power not realizing that, no, sometimes in life, things just don't go the way we want them. And in fact, in other instances, it's also the fact that we're making poor decisions contributing to those things. Not in the case of sickness, but I think you get the point that I'm making generally. But here we see that the solution here is the grace of God. Walk with the Lord. Zea 263 says, that will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee. If you've ever gone to a movie theater, you'll notice that the projector over your head is beaming light onto the screen. Now, it was said that when projection was invented, when they first started showing movies in small movie theaters, that the people who would watch the movies were actually freaked out by what they were seeing on the wall. I think it was, in fact, if not the first, one of the first films that was ever shown in a movie theater was just a clip of a train and the camera was in front of the train so from the perspective of the viewer it looked like the train was coming toward them and so they're sitting in the movie theater they're watching, you got a picture of this this black and white image of a train coming and it was reported that when the clip would play and the train would come toward the audience in the clip, that people would jump out of the way from their seats because they had no concept of what a projection was. Well, my friend, that's what demonic attacks when it comes to torments, that's what it's like. I'm just going to be real vulnerable with you. I know what it's like to have a demonic being manifest in front of me not in a person like where the person is growling I mean an actual demonic being appear before my physical eyes I've seen that. I know what it is to hear a demonic whisper a demonic being trying to talk to me and harass me and lie to me. You don't think demonic beings attack me even to this day? Do the attacks have any effect? No, because I walk with the spirit. Am I freaking out about them? No, but that's what some believers do. Not aware. These are projections and the more fear we allow into our heart the more power those projections gain over us. And so what do believers do when they're attacked by the devil? What did I do? What did I do? Like that lady who wanted to know well tell me about this snake that I'm seeing when I pray well just pray against it. It's the very fact that you're focusing so much on it panicking so much about it that you're giving it so much power this is not to say this is not to say that you're ignoring the enemy or being apathetic toward the things of the supernatural realm. No, we should be vigilant but there's a big difference between being vigilant about the supernatural realm and being paranoid and many believers are paranoid and that's what I'm speaking against that paranoia. So how do you deal with these kinds of attacks? Well, A, you rebuke the enemy that is to take authority. In Matthew 8.16 the Bible says that evening many demon possessed people were brought to Jesus. He cast out the evil spirits with a simple command and he healed all the sick. Well, here we see that Jesus didn't spend time wrestling with demons. I think sometimes we imagine that demonic powers can wrestle with the Holy Spirit. I mean really the Holy Spirit is pushing them out and they're going well I'm not leaving until you know my name. My friend the only name you need to know when driving out a demon is the name of Jesus. And that name, if you're actually walking in his authority and it's actually demonic possession, the spirit has to go. Now, this is about demonic possession so it doesn't necessarily apply to the believer but this shows us just how powerless demonic beings are against the authority of Christ. So that even in the most severe cases of demonic influence, possession, demons still have to instantly obey at the simple command. If demons have to obey at a simple command in the most severe forms of influence, like possession, how much more so do they have to obey when they're attacking the believer in the only way they can attack the believer which is deception. You take authority, you rebuke it in the name of Jesus, be quiet. Tell that devil, shut its mouth. It's not like some of us imagine it. This isn't even necessarily a battle. It's an extermination when you're walking in the authority of the Holy Spirit. Not in your own power, mind you. Not in your expertise, what you think you know about the spiritual realm, the rituals you think you know that work, know my friend, that's all arrogance and religion. I'm talking about just simple authority in Christ knowing that he is the one rebuking it. Christ is in power, I am in Christ. When I stand in Christ and I rebuke a demonic power, it's as if Christ himself is giving that demon an order and it has to obey. So if that works for demon possession, simple deception and attack and projections in the name of Jesus, I rebuke you. Now, if this doesn't work, fast and pray, increase your faith to align you with authority. Rebuke it again. If it still doesn't work after prayer and fasting, what you're likely dealing with after that point is mental illness or the flesh. And this is where many believers get stuck because they keep combating it like it's a demon after they've already rebuked the demon. So exercise a simple command, stand in the authority of Christ. If you're walking in his authority, instantaneous that attack coming against you. I'm not talking about possession. We're talking to believers now that attack of torment coming against you. Simple command, you rebuke it, has to go. Okay? If they have to go when it's possession for the unbeliever, surely it has to go when it's a simple attack against the believer. So you rebuke it, it must go. If it doesn't, fast and pray. If that doesn't work, you're dealing with the flesh or mental illness. Why? Because we know that if it was a demonic spirit, it would have been instantaneously. So what remains is the flesh. Don't get stuck there and get all obsessed. Well, okay, I've got to find his name. Well, all I've been battling this demon for years and I've had a hundred preachers lay hands on me. It's just not working. No, you're probably dealing with the mental illness or the flesh after that, especially if you've had many men of God, women of God, lay hands on you and you fast and you pray. It can't put up a fight. That's just not biblical. So what's left over is something of the flesh. But I'm talking now about exercising authority. So you rebuke the enemy. You resist the enemy. James 4 7 says, submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Well, how do you submit to God? You obey him. You live the basics of the Christian life. You want to avoid spiritual crisis. Do the spiritual basics. You resist the devil by first submitting to God. I live clean. I'm in the word. I'm not living a deception. I have a prayer life. He can't touch you. Demons cannot swim in the depths of God's glory. So live in the glory and demons can't touch you. And then it's a simple resisting. He comes to torment. He comes to tempt. He comes to accuse. You resist that and he flees. Why? Here's this. This is powerful. This scripture is so powerful. Why? Because the moment, please hear me when I say this. The moment the devil recognizes, oh, they're submitted to God and they're starting to resist me. He's terrified. Many Christians are of the impression that the moment you stand in your authority and resist the devil, that he gets bolder and goes, oh, now you want to stand in your authority. Okay, now I'm really going to attack you. Know, my friend, what does the Bible say? Not what man has taught you. Not what traditions have taught us. Not what religious systems have taught us. What does the Bible say? It says, you submit to God. What's going to happen then? You resist the devil. What does he do? He flees. He runs for the heels. He's terrified. Why? Because he recognizes, he recognizes, that you are now standing in that authority. He sees, oh my goodness, they know the power they have. Oh my goodness, they know who they are in Christ. And the moment he recognizes that in you, he flees. Now, do demons come back to try to attack again? Yes. Do demons try different strategies? Are they ever going to let up? No. But for the moment that you're rebuking and resisting, that demonic power has to go and it has to stop attacking. And so, you have to do the spiritual basics. And finally, renew the mind. Romans 12 2 says, don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a person that is watching the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Now, here's another unpopular truth. You can control your thoughts just like you can control your actions. Now, it may feel as though sometimes you have no control over your thoughts, like they're just entering your mind. But the fact of the matter is you've trained yourself to think a certain way even without realizing it over a period of many years. And so your thoughts are just following the tracks that you've laid out. And so, you can control your thoughts by consciously refocusing your mind on the things of God, consciously refocusing your thoughts. The enemy attacks, rebuke the enemy, resist him, submit to God and then train your mind, focus on the things of God, focus on the perfect peace, focus on the face of Jesus, focus on the presence of the Holy Spirit. You start to do these things and you start to transform. And then you combat the lies of the enemy with the truth of the word of God. If he says you're abandoned, if he says, God hasn't forgiven you, you say, if I confess my sins, he is faithful and just to forgive me. You combat the lies with the truth and then you choose to believe them. As I say this, some of you might be saying, well, I've already tried that before. It won't work for me. And there you've just uncovered another lie and there are layers of these lies that the enemy places on us or I can't. It doesn't work for me. Woe is me. I'm never going to be rid of it. I've tried for it. I've tried it. I'm never going to, I'm never going to be rid of it. I'm never going to be rid of it. Let me tell you what. The truth is the虚ction. It's the elephant tethered to the ground. And until you start to choose to stubbornly hear me now, you have to stubbornly believe the truth. That means resist the lies consciously stubbornly refuse to allow your mind to think according to that pattern and choose instead your thoughts and these torments begin to lose their power. Yes, pray. Yes, rebuke the enemy. Yes, have an encounter with God. Can God do it instantly? Absolutely. But if he doesn't choose to do it instantly, there's a way to walk through this scripturally. And we can't limit God to a box and say he has to do it this way every time. We have to also be open to the other ways he may want us to walk through the transformation process. So as it goes with demonic beings themselves, that's instant. You rebuke them, they go. You resist them, they flee. But dealing with the flesh, the patterns of thoughts, sometimes God can do that instantly. And sometimes it's up to you to walk that out in partnership with the Holy Spirit. And we can have encounters with God. I'm gonna pray you have an encounter with God right now. And you must make that commitment. Say it in the comment section, I commit to truth. Write that in the comment section, I commit to truth. Some of you need deliverance from your deliverance beliefs. Some of you need deliverance from your deliverance doctrines because they're half truths wrapped in lies that keep you bound. And so once you've been liberated, truly liberated, you will notice there's a stabilizing effect. There's consistency, where there was confusion, there's clarity, where there was chaos, there's peace. And now you begin to flow. You begin to focus. You walk with the Spirit and no devil can touch your life. So Father, I pray in the name of Jesus that you would cause your people to encounter your presence. Let your power flow even now. I rebuke every demonic attack in the mighty name of Jesus. Every attack I rebuke you now. Say this out loud. Say I rebuke, say it out loud with authority now. Say I rebuke every demonic attack in Jesus' name. Now say Holy Spirit, say it out loud. Say Holy Spirit, help me to walk in truth that I might walk in freedom. Now Holy Spirit, let your power flow through them. Let them sense you near. Come on, stretch your hands toward mine. Ask them to touch your life right now. Many of you are sensing like a heavy weight coming on the room. Others feel like electricity moving through you. Some may feel a heat or like waves. Whatever you're feeling, just understand that the power of God is flowing through you. Even if you're not feeling anything yet, it doesn't matter. By faith, just receive. Thank you, Jesus. We honor and bless you. We honor and bless you. I want you to say it because you believe it. Type it in the comments. Say Amen. 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