 Hello, David Diga Hernandez here. You're watching Spirit Church on Encounter TV today. I'm continuing my two-part message on demonic attacks. Last week we talked about accusation and temptation. This edition of Spirit Church, I'm going to be talking to you about depression, discouragement or anxiety and distraction. These are three areas that the enemy attacks us, and I'm going to show you today how you can defeat the enemy when he tries to attack you in this way. Stephen Mockezuma is here with me as usual. He's going to lead you in some worship, and then we're going to get right into this lesson that I believe is going to bring breakthrough to your life. Here's Stephen Mockezuma. I want to get right into this. We're talking today about the three attacks of the enemy, namely depression, discouragement or anxiety and distraction. Before we get into those specifically, I want to read to you this verse, Romans chapter 14 verse 17 says, For the kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Some translations say of righteousness, peace and joy. And so I believe that the kingdom of God, though it does impact and it does give us an opportunity to influence the places and positions of this world, ultimately the kingdom of God is an internal kingdom. Ultimately the kingdom of God is about peace and joy and the reign of God's righteousness in us and through us in the earth. And so to stop that kingdom at work in your life, to prevent God from having his full reign in your sphere of influence, the enemy will attack you not just as we found out on the last edition of Spirit Church, accusation and temptation, but also in these areas of attack. The enemy's attacks are completely 100% based on deception. The enemy can only speak things to you that cause you to believe things that make you feel and act in a certain way. The deception of the enemy has no power over you if you refuse to believe his lies. But what good does it to combat the enemy or seek to combat the enemy against his deception if you do not recognize that deception? We have to fill our minds with the word and when our minds are filled with the word, we understand what the truth is. Jesus said, you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. So instead of doing it the difficult way, the complex way and addressing every single lie of the enemy, it's best to instead know the truth and what the Bible says in general about you so that when a lie comes your way, you simply can compare it to that truth and if it contradicts that truth, you reject that lie from your mind. The scripture says in 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 5, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Your thoughts are the actions of your mind. And just as you can obey God's word with your actions so you can obey God's words with your thoughts, Proverbs chapter 23 verse 7 says, for as he think it in his heart, so is he, Philippians chapter 4 verse 8 says, and now your brothers and sisters, one final thing, fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right and pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. So the battle against the enemy's deception, the battle against the demonic attacks of deception are all based in the mind. As you think so are you. So number one, let's look at this first attack of the enemy. This is distraction. Now Ephesians chapter 6 verse 12 tells us that we wrestle not against flesh and blood and while we recognize that truth, we so often fail to apply that truth in our everyday thinking and action because we become so distracted by the attacks of the enemy that are nothing to do with our call or nothing to do with the big picture. You see the enemy will come at you and rather than cause you to completely disobey God, he instead looks to cause you to delay that obedience or cause you to be veered off track just very subtly. In other words, if the enemy can't stop you with temptation, he will delay you with distraction. So he throws things at you, not just in your everyday life, not just entertainment and not just pleasures of this world and not just concerns and anxieties, but he primarily to distract you will throw at you battles that you don't need to fight. The enemy is very deceptive. The enemy looks to distract you with battles that have nothing to do with the call of God, that have nothing to do with your Christianity and it veers you off track. It absorbs all of your energy, all of your effort and when you put all of your energy and effort into things that you should not be fighting in the first place, you lose the other battles because you've wasted all the energy that you have. For example, we think that demonic attack looks like a seance or a ritual or perhaps a demonic movie or a movie that we've deemed demonic, but while the enemy can sometimes work through those things, he will more often than not work through the mundane or the seemingly dull so that while we're looking to find the enemy in a seance or in some type of manifestation that is obvious, it's true that demonic attack looks more like gossip than it does like ritual. It looks more like slander than it does like an exorcism you would see in a movie. The enemy wants to assault you through distraction and that distraction can sometimes be the battles we fight with each other. Why does the enemy need to discourage any of us if we're still busy doing it to each other? So often we do the enemy's job for him by slandering people, by discouraging people, by speaking evil of our brothers and sisters and this should not be so. There was an army called the Ghost Army during World War II and this army, all it was, was Hollywood actors, film producers, Broadway stars, Broadway producers, radio specialists and special effects people who had worked in the entertainment industry and what they would do is they would create the illusion of a grand army and so during the World War II the, I believe it was the Americans had the Germans backed up at the Rhine River and when the Germans looked for the Americans at the southern border because they had set up this fake army, the real army went and attacked them in the north and so while they were focused on this fake army, which by the way disappeared in the night, they packed up everything and left, in fact they were so good at masquerading as an army that I think it was about a thousand of them that looked like 10, 20 or 30 thousand, they had inflatable tanks that were essentially balloons, they had radio chatter that they produced that they spread around giving the enemy false information, they had a runway that looked so real that one of their planes actually tried to land on it and they said no this is not a real runway and so they created this illusion of a powerful army, distracted the enemy, caused them to attack in the south and they took over in the north and that was a final blow that basically helped to win the war and so the enemy does the same with us, he will set up things in our lives that command our attention and when they command our attention we look to those and we waste our energy on those things, whether it's battling with a brother or a sister in the church or doing things that are not productive to the call of God, I understand we all need recreation but there are some people who live in a lifestyle of running from God's call because they're pursuing other things, there's no time for the things of God and so we so often become distracted with things that don't matter, in fact it's so complex and so specific to each individual that I had trouble even coming up with things to list, you know me I like to give you example after example that help with the application of my lesson but even while going over this I couldn't think of anything really specific that could be helpful because in my own life for example it was this distraction I felt, this need that I had to go to college and study philosophy or study biblical texts and many people ask me did you go to college and I want it at one point in my life I wanted to be able to say yes I was a college graduate and you know I wanted all that for myself but for me the Lord didn't have that for me, in fact I remember I think I was 18 years old and I watched as a lot of my friends started studying for their future taking their courses getting enrolled in the colleges and I was standing there watching them do their thing and I said Lord I want that for myself but I was already full-time ministry I was already traveling the world and I wasn't to put it on pause the Lord told me I don't want you to do that that's not for you for me I wasn't someone who needed college and so the Lord had other plans for me now that's not a statement on college or education you understand that that was a distraction for me so because it's so specific to you I didn't want to say anything that could possibly sway you in a direction that God is not guiding you instead I want to just mention to you that there are battles you are fighting there are things you are fighting for there are things you are looking to do there are things that you let get to you in your mind your emotions that aren't necessary and they don't deserve your attention they don't deserve your time and only you can truly know what that is by revelation of the Holy Spirit but I did want to expose the fact that the enemy does at times come against us with distraction distraction is number one number two depression now the scriptures we just read have to do with the mind and I want to actually I'm gonna tie these two together depression and anxiety or discouragement you think of the word discouragement discourage to remove courage to cause you to fear discouragement is not depression it's anxiety first Peter chapter 5 verse 6 through 7 says therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you at the proper time casting all your anxiety on him because he cares for you depression and anxiety first and foremost people have asked me brother David our depression and anxiety demonic we'll think about it this way there are some things that you should fear I mean you're not going to go walk across the freeway at least you should be afraid to do that you're not going to jump off a building you should be afraid to do that it's a good healthy fear there's also fear or the type of fear that's synonymous with the word reverence we should have fear of the government of leadership of our headship of authority there is a healthy fear that is respect there is a healthy fear that is self-preserving but then there was an unhealthy fear that causes us to walk in this paranoia this anxiety this state of torment and that's not of God same thing goes for depression if you lose a loved one someone very close to you of course you're going to go through depression of course you're going to sense sadness and sorrow Jesus himself wept and so that sadness in and of itself is not demonic however what demonic beings can do is by means of deceptive lies prolong and agitate depression and anxiety beyond the point of normalcy in other words they can take what it should be just depression which is a natural response to a life occurrence and they can prolong that past the point to where it becomes crippling to you emotionally the same thing for anxiety they can take what our normal fears for self-preservation and normal fears of as far as reverence goes and they take that fear and cause it to cripple you it owns you it rules over you it oppresses you so to some degree depression and anxiety are naturally occurring in response to the events around us in life that's life we become afraid we become anxious we become depressed but what I'm talking about is the depression and anxiety that is based on a lie now depression comes from the lies that you believe that are a result of your past anxiety comes from the lies that you believe about your future joy comes in believing the truth about your present moment I feel the anointing right now someone's being set free from depression and anxiety you're living in the past and that causes depression or you're living in the future and that's causing anxiety you need to live in the present moment the joy of the Holy Ghost and so we're so preoccupied with the past we become depressed or we're so concerned about the future that we become anxious but what we have to do and I heard someone say the other day that if you think someone can overcome anxiety and depression by thinking you're ignorant that's not true because I had very severe depression and anxiety I'm talking panic attacks I'm talking very depressed I mean I used to have it very bad and so I want to encourage you you're looking me I'm looking at you I'm telling you I'm an example of someone who's been set free from those things now the tendency still come just as a man who's set free from fleshly rage still have moment has moments of anger I of course still experience moments of sadness and still have certain fears but well I may have fears and things that cause me sorrow while I may have fears those fears never have me while I may have sorrows those sorrows never have me and it is that difference that is the difference between freedom and oppression or living under the weight of this deception remember in this series I've talked about that word oppression and how some people just mean it to mean they they say it just to mean a Christian form of possession but I don't even believe in that I believe oppression comes as a result in our emotions of the lies that we believe I can tell you it is about your thinking it ultimately comes down to your thinking now here's the way fear works anxiety it starts with a what if and that what if you suffer through that what if for an hour for a day for several minutes and that what if becomes more and more intense and then you finally resolve it and say I'm being silly that's my fear that's my anxiety and then you come right back around to you but what if the same thing goes for depression there's a memory you're holding and that memory causes you to suffer and then you let go of that memory and you're free for a moment and then you come right back to that memory if you're honest with yourself like you can tell yourself it has to do with your thinking think on these things cast down imagination the enemy assaults you so the key then is to identify the lies that cause you to be fearful that cause you to be depressed the key is to identify where the enemy is attacking now I talked to some people for example I was talking to some accounts to someone who had depression and I told them well and this is a paraphrase of the conversation and I don't want to give up anyone's private information so I'm changing a lot about the conversation but you'll understand the structure is a perfect example so I tell this person you're going to be fine your future is going to be bright God has plans for you and they just could not let go of the idea in their mind that their life was ruined because of a mistake they had made so I was tying them you can make this you're going to see things turn around God has plans for you to prosper you and they said yeah I hear what you're saying but I don't think that's for me I said what are you talking about it's for everybody God wants to probably well maybe it is for me but I don't think it's going to happen anytime soon it can happen now just believe well maybe that's not for me and they cycled through lie after lie after lie and they held on to this depression let me tell you something you got to ask yourself do I want help or do I want attention now if you want attention no one's ever going to be able to help you but if you want help it comes down to your thinking and the enemy can assault you with lie after lie after lie every lie has to be confronted with the truth when the enemy tells you you're alone you say the Lord said I'll never leave thee nor forsake thee when the enemy says you don't have a future say the Lord promised to give me a bright future every time the enemy lies to you you combat that with the truth and I know this is a very short lesson but that is it for this edition of Spirit Church and what I want to do is this I want you to ask me questions in this lesson about those topics because I know there's a lot of questions in you and we're going to work through these things together and I'll probably do a live Q&A very soon but all of these teachings are coming out of my book 25 truths about demons and spiritual warfare you can get that on my website but you can also get it on Amazon and you can also find it at Barnes and Nobles to find out if it's in local Barnes and Nobles near you all you do is go to BarnesandNobles.com check that title out and then you'll be able to see what stores have it near you but I want to pray with you now and let's believe that the Lord is going to do something because here's the truth I'm going to pray over you something's going to be broken over you today but then you got to take the discipline and work from this day forward to say I'm not going to believe the lies of the enemy come on let's pray father in the name of Jesus I pray for that one watching right now who's suffering through anxiety and depression and I ask you Lord that you would help them to overcome this attack Lord help us identify the lies that cause deception and I pray for complete and total freedom in the name of Jesus and I want you to say it say amen I'm going to read now the comments but before I do I want to welcome the new members of Spirit Church there you are up on the screen we love you we are praying for you we're so happy you joined go ahead and take a quick look there's you'll see from all over the states and all over different countries if you like information on how you can join Spirit Church go ahead and click on the link that's just about to appear over my head let's get now to your comments here's the comment from big beauty affects 57 writes I can't thank you enough for taking time to minister online God is so good for leading me here God bless you abundantly Marco writes I love you guys and your ministry show how it's done when God leads that's right this is the Lord's doing and we give Jesus all the glory John Clark writes brilliant and important teaching brother David come to England because we need anointed teaching here as well but if you want me to come to your area all you have to do is call or text 562 396 5339 and we'll get something set up by the way these comments are on the teaching the first part of this teaching overcoming demonic attacks as part of this one of two here's another comment this is thank you so much pastor David for this loving message this topic helps me a lot in my spiritual growth or help me a lot in my spiritual growth and to stand against the plans of the enemy God bless you and your ministry Jasmine writes thank you so much for this message I came home from work and your video was the first on my suggested videos I've been struggling these past few days and your video was heaven sent it has really helped me I can't wait for part two well I hope you enjoyed part two which I just did all right the next comment thank you Lord for freedom from condemnation now if you missed the last teaching there is a powerful anointing on that when I started talking about condemnation and guilt the power of the enemy was broken over that I'm telling you go back and watch that it's going to set you free Hannah writes David thank you so much for your ministry it is extremely anointed and I can't wait to see what else God continues to do in your life and in your team also Steven sounds great and his humble heart and worship is very inspiring God bless you all and you have my prayers well what's in the future for this ministry I see stadiums being filled I see thousands coming and receiving Christ being healed and you can be a part of that let me tell you something as much as what's happening in this ministry as much as God is doing this is only the beginning and you can be a part of it I'm asking for a thousand new thirty dollars a month partners I want to open up a brand new ministry center in Southern California where we will hold weekly meetings and twenty four seven prayer if this ministry is blessing you you know we're all about the gospel our why is souls we want to win souls and you look at ministries that grow to large extents and you say how does that happen where does that come from this is where it happens this is where it comes if it doesn't come out of nowhere it comes from people like you saying I'm going to be counted I'm going to stand and I'm going to help spread the gospel and change this world with the gospel of Jesus Christ you're watching this I challenge you become a thirty dollar a month partner today help me take the gospel all around the world we need a thousand new thirty dollar month partners to get this new facility going get it get it started on construction and you can be a part of it and that will help to impact more people all around the world when you give to this ministry you are joining your gift with believers from all around the world and together we're pooling our resources and pushing back against the darkness with that is it for this edition of Spirit Church until next time remember nothing is impossible with God. Hey fam Steven Moctezuma here I want to encourage you to subscribe to our channel and to share our content I hope you're enjoying all the content that we're sending your way in addition to David's teachings and ministry videos you can also join me on my worship playlist where I release a brand new video every week thank you guys so much for watching EncounterTV God bless