 Ribi, would you be able to lead us in prayer? Okay, how about Lubega? Let's pray. Yes, yes. Our Father, our Father in Heaven, we thank you for this morning and this day. We really thank you for this lecture we are going to have. Lord, we do pray for our lecturer. Let her be used as a vessel to teach, to remind us and to train us and Lord also let us be here to understand as we take the work of the Lord to another level in our generation. We do pray as those brothers and sisters who have not yet been able to go. We do pray and believe in the name of Allah Jesus Christ, amen. Amen, amen. Thank you. Thank you Lubega. So we will continue with what we were discussing in the last class. We saw how Satan has his strategies, he is a defeated enemy, we already have the victory but then he does his best to try and interfere with God's purpose for our lives. He does his best to play, we said mind games earlier if you recall, the methods of workings of the devil, his schemes and plots we should not be ignorant about them and many of them have to do primarily with the mind. So that is one way mind games is something that he is so well versed in and he can use that to bring down a believer. So when the believer is aware, this is how he works, primarily he works through the mind, he tries to interfere with the thought patterns of a believer and then we also, we will talk about open doors, violations and intrusions that he uses to interfere. So when a believer understands these things, we can be prepared. I am not going to, when you know that this is how a thief will try to get in, he will try to get in from the backyard, if so then what people do, they try to have some security system in the backyard or they have a big lock on that door that opens into the backyard. So preparation, so we are prepared even in our mindset. This is how the enemy could attack us, so we are well prepared and if at all, we are in the attack, we also have what it takes to overcome the attack. So that is how it is important to know all these things. So talking about mind games, again in the last class, I said that he wants to influence and take it to the greatest influence. So if we allow him, then you know, it just the influence, it goes into oppression and then it goes into, you know, the thoughts leading to arguments and reasoning and finally a stronghold and we know that strongholds in the mind area is where demons can occupy. The stronghold is a fortress. So in the olden times, you would have fortresses where people will dwell and soldiers would dwell in those fortresses and that is how the demons use the fortress created in the minds or in other words, strongholds to dwell there and we say that believers are demonized because they have strongholds in their mind. Unless these strongholds are broken, it's difficult to evict these demons. So we said put on the armor of God, we have to be thoroughly prepared for the attack of the evil one. So parts of the armor of God, you know, we went over different things and we said that, you know, if we can maintain, like if I have to summarize, then the armor is when in our mind we are prepared. So I understand what is salvation, I understand who I am in Christ Jesus, then I understand what is the truth, what is righteousness, what are righteous acts and I go by that. And I don't give any place to sin or the works of sin. So you know, nothing sinful, nothing unrighteous, unholy, even things that have to do with anxiety, fear, intimidation, I try to stay away from that. So then I am preserved from any attack of the enemy and even if there is an attack, I know how to overcome the enemy. So that is the manner in which one needs to protect themselves and don't give the enemy any foothold. That is no entrance, no entrance. Sometimes we see in territorial warfare that people will go and occupy a land very close to a certain space and before you know it, from there they will enter. If you remember the story of Troy, so very close to a place, the community is a horse and there is nothing wrong with this wonderful good looking horse and so what do the people do? They take that structure, that horse into within their fortress, they allow it and they think, nothing will happen, we'll just have this beautiful horse inside but that's exactly what the enemy does. He doesn't want you to fully open up everything to him. He just wants one entry point. So once the horse comes in, then the rest of the story of Troy unfolds, that there were soldiers within it and they come out, they attack, they destroy, I don't remember the names of the communities but yeah, so it's the war that happens. In the same way when we allow a little bit of the enemy and the beautiful thing is that we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within every believer and the Holy Spirit is so faithful to do his work of convicting us, of sin, righteousness and judgment. Now when we respond to it well and good, we are keeping the doors shut to the devil but when we don't respond to the Holy Spirit and we continue with our sin, that is when the problem starts, it's like giving ground to the devil and that foothold or that opportunity or the power that we give him, he can use that to his advantage and bring the crack in the entire building. So mind games, in the area of the mind, you know, be very, very firm with the word of God. So meditating on God's word and that's also something that I emphasized in the last class, we can all work on it and you know, it's one of those disciplines that really helps us to maintain a strong and a victorious Christian life and particularly against the attacks of the devil. Now other open doors, we said other open doors can be sin, sin is definitely one nice open door that Satan can come in through wrong words, either spoken over us or, you know, whomever we have authority over, that also will cause an open door for the enemy to enter through. And situations, you know, sometimes there can be certain situations that Satan will take advantage of, maybe some strife situation in the family or some confusion or, you know, something, something like you're going through a great time in the ministry and all, and that's not the time when you expect, you know, some attack to land on you. But, you know, maybe those are the times when we are not guarded anymore. Let's say I went and I preached, I'm not going to explain in detail sin and wrong words. We've discussed that thoroughly last time. So I'm just coming to situations here in our notes, I'm on page 42. So situations is like, even if it's not a certain situation where, you know, some family member is causing strife or, you know, something else, confusion in the home and that Satan can use against us. If not that, just in our own journey, the highs and the lows can be moments that he can use. So I was saying, if the ministry has gone well, or let's say, you know, somebody has gone on a mission trip and they've preached so well, they've seen so many people healed, they've seen so many people delivered from demons and miracles have happened, testimony, so it's a high. So what happens right after a high, generally to us human beings is we take it easy. We think, ah, okay, now I'm going to rest. I've had great ministry, I'm just going to chill, okay? So we sometimes also are low on guard, guarding ourselves because those moments we make ourselves more vulnerable and Satan can easily use it. So maybe pride, that's a good thing for him to do. He could say, oh, okay, come and put thoughts in our mind so that, you know, pride can happen or people may come and there can be a lot of flattery and those same people can give us some wrong suggestions and, you know, we end up doing something completely, you know, something that we have not thought through well. So there are a lot of ways in which he can use our un-guardedness and this un-guardedness happens when, you know, we are at peace or we are relaxed or we are very happy. So it can happen during moments of triumph or it can also happen during moments of great grief and trauma. So let's say we've been through a very low phase in our lives. It's easier, isn't it? For Satan to plant thoughts to say, oh, God doesn't love you or God has forgotten you. He can use that moment because you are vulnerable and many a time for believers, those are the moments where they feel, why did this happen? If God was with me, if God's promise was true, you see, what is happening? They are slowly letting go of faith and slowly Satan is bringing in his thoughts into their minds. So especially when things go very well for us and when things go quite badly for us, it's best to be on double guard, you know, over ourselves. Maybe you want to take time out or maybe you want to rest and then spend time in God's word or something like that where you are still alert and you can catch the enemy. If at all he tries to come in a certain way. So Satan is very happy to get such situations, opportunities, even when it comes to, see I'm talking in terms of an individual and that person's walk of victory. But think about a church situation, even in a church situation, Satan is very happy when you see some cracks, you know, maybe you remember in act six, there is a time when one community starts complaining that another community is not supplying food to the widows. That's a great chance for the devil. Now, if the leaders don't use wisdom to resolve it in a nice way where both the communities have been considered, Satan can use it to bring division and say, you know, the pastor is for that community or the elders are for this community, they are not taking care of you. You know, so many things, he's just waiting, okay, where is the crack? Even when it comes to a church setting, he can use different situations. So you know, one really needs to walk with God's wisdom. There was one such incident when Paul wrote to the Corinthian church. So in 2 Corinthians 2, he talks about one of the brethren who fell into sin and, you know, he tells them that, you know, you restore such a one, they had put him away because of the sin, but later Paul tells them, you please reaffirm your love to him. So this is, I'll tell you 2 Corinthians 2 verses 8 through 11, so I'll read the full passage. Therefore, I urge you to reaffirm your love to him for to this end, I also wrote that I might put you to the test whether you are obedient in all things now whom you forgive anything I also forgive. And for if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ. So verse 11 he says, let Satan should take advantage of us for we are not ignorant of his schemes. So, you know, Paul recognizes, okay, so that is an incident of a brother being restored. Now if that brother is upset and, you know, if, you know, he carries bitterness against the leaders, so many things can happen, isn't it? And that could bring about an issue in the church. So he is trying to speak wisdom into their lives and saying, okay, in correcting this person so far, we have, you know, dealt, we have spoken the right things, you know, for him, we have given him time all that, now it is our time to reaffirm our love to him. It shouldn't become like a war between us and this person. So employing wisdom, particularly in the church setting, we have to pick up, okay, is there some kind of bitterness that is cropping up? Is there some kind of anger? Is there something, anything, any situation because Satan loves it. If he can have one or two of those situations that he brings in commotion, very strategically he will tend to do that. So whether it is in our personal lives or in the church setting, keep the door shut to the devil, okay. So what, what open doors to the devil, we said that sin can open door, wrong words can open doors and certain situations that we don't deal with, they can also open the door for the devil. Now the third manner in which, you know, the devil would like to attack believers is we are calling it violations and intrusions, okay, violation and intrusions. Briefly I had mentioned this sometime back, I don't know if you remember. So if my home has a protective wall around it and the people who are permitted to enter can only enter through the gate, then you know, that's how the good people would do it. But what will a thief do? The work of the thief is jump over the wall, okay, or enter from the back gate as, back door, gate, whatever, as Jesus says. So what's happening, you know, this is intrusion, legally Satan is not supposed to do this. This does not belong to him. But here he is, okay, entering, violating, right, violating is again, you know, violation is wrongfully doing something, okay, that's not his, his part to do it. But here he is meddling with things that he should not be meddling with. It's a violation of the rule, violation of the law. So Satan tries to do this in the lives of believers. So there can be times that we are wondering, okay, I'm a believer, I'm a tither, you know, I give, I am wise with my finances, I'm a good steward, you know, I don't waste money, I save money, all that, okay, everything is fine. But in the area of finances, you see that Satan is trying to do something, okay, something happens, some big loss happens, and then you're like, what is this? How can he do this? And so then we, you know, it could be any one of these things, whatever we listed out so far, Satan is trying to attack us in that way. He could have an open door. So then what should I do as a believer? I should shut that door, maybe sin or, you know, something that I said, my wrong confessions, you know, or a situation that he had created. So then I tried to fix that, or it could simply be that, yeah, there is no open door, but he is trying to violate. He has broken the rule, he has broken the law, he has broken the, you know, because we are in the kingdom of light and we are in the kingdom of God, the blessings of Abraham apply to us, you know, the power of the cross applies to us, the healing that God has promised as our covenant God applies to us, his deliverance applies to us, his provision applies to us. So legally or lawfully, these are the things that belong to us. Now what does Satan do, violation, intrusion, he'll try to bring a sickness, he'll try to bring, you know, problem in the finances, he'll try to bring a problem in the family, he'll try to do all these things which he's not supposed to do. So then in those moments, if we have understood, yeah, there is no open door, so this is an intrusion, okay, or this is a violation. What do you do? Basically, you take your stand and you say, no devil, I will not let you do this, okay, or, you know, a child whom you brought up in the ways of the Lord and now the child is influenced, you know, more influenced by, let's say, some friends who are leading the child into wrong habits and things like that, you can say no devil, you can't and then you have to take your authority and begin to enforce victory when you find that the devil is trying to violate or intrude into any given area of our lives. So as a believer, we can't just, you know, they say, right, let the devil eat your lunch and throw the bag. So if you allow him, he will do it. He will just enter in and take as much control as is possible. But when we enforce our victory, then what are we doing? You know, we are evicting him from this zone, okay, come on, this belongs to me, I belong to the kingdom of God, I am redeemed, you cannot touch me, you cannot touch my family, you cannot touch my finances, you can't, you know, my mind belongs to God. So these are all things that we begin to fight with and enforce our victory with because our understanding is quite clear. Here is a defeated enemy who is doing his best this way or that way to bring destruction. So time and again, it is my responsibility as a believer to catch him. He does an open door, shut the door. If he is trying to violate in truth, stop him. So when I do that, that is when, you know, I am taking authority over Satan and his demons. And you know, while we talk about this, there is also a very important thing. See, we are resisting the devil, okay. So that's what we were saying right now. So if he is trying to come in illegally, resist the devil, James 4.7, okay, it says therefore submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. So we have to resist the devil, but always remember that the resistance comes after submission. So which is why I said, are there any open doors? We check on that. So as long as I am submitted to God completely, whatever the Holy Spirit is speaking to my heart, I am doing that. I'm in a good place and then I can resist the devil. Now, unfortunately, and we'll talk about this later as well, when we start to resist, but you know, there are loopholes in our attitude towards God. That's not effective against the devil, okay. But yeah, the point from this chapter that you have to take with you is, we can't let him do what he's doing. And that is another reason like, you know, we minister, right, we minister, many of you are involved in your churches, you are involved helping pastors for the Sunday services for other meetings. So what happens through all this ministry, you know, we are going against the devil who is putting destruction over people's lives in different ways. And that's what we are doing as a body of Christ. We are saying no devil, you can't do it. So instead, you know, we speak healing instead, we speak deliverance instead, you know, we speak blessing, prosperity over people's lives. That's our, that's our role as God's people. We are here to enforce God's victory in our lives, in every area of our lives. So you would say, in my marriage, children, finances, workplace, relationships, future, ministry, everything, okay, and others, anyone that the Lord brings to me. I'm here to resist the devil, to enforce the victory of the cross, because we have already seen that Satan is crushed, expelled, condemned, disarmed and destroyed. So you know, we do our part, okay, and the Lord Jesus, he also equipped his disciples and he told them to go and do the same works that he did. What kind of works did he do? John John 3-8, we know that the Son of Man was manifest to destroy the works of the devil. And here we are disciples. What does a disciple do? Does what the Master did and what the Master has instructed and very clearly, you know, even at that time, when Jesus had his disciples with him during his earthly ministry, he sent them out, okay. He sent them out to go heal, deliver and do all the mighty works. So this is the way in which we recognize the games of the devil, yeah, sorry about that, and we have to take our position and enforce our victory, okay. So this would lead us into the next chapter here, which is about maintaining an overcomer's lifestyle. We can't, we've seen this, right, so the devil still has time before he is totally stopped from influencing this world, but while he is still active, we can maintain an immunity against the devil. And if he chooses to intrude, violate, we enforce the victory, okay, through an overcomer's lifestyle. So we are going to discuss that. But before that, I think I'll just pause and see if you have any comments, any questions, any thoughts at this point. Yes, yes, Nicholson, please go ahead. Yeah, good morning Parthik, am I audible? Very much so, based on what's happening at church, I just had a question, like there's this scenario where probably one spouse is a believer and the other is not. And one is a strong believer, they believe in God's word and they enforce all of this, but the other is the other extreme where, you know, they're still following certain rituals and obviously open doors. And that is one scenario where we've not seen any breakthrough, actually, where it is affecting the family. So as per my understanding, being, even though it's the wife, she has the authority to claim the family for Christ, but there's still not complete deliverance there. So that is one question. And the other one is similarly, there's another recent family who are new believers as well, whether daughter as such is under the influence, but she's much older. So she has her own thinking, her own rituals, but this family doesn't know how to handle it because she's on or she's off on her own. And what like, I hope I don't know if I'm too clear or not, but how does the authority and resisting the devil come into play there because they're not seeing deliverance? Okay, yeah, sure, Nicholson, no, you were clear. So we've understood the scenario, just a moment, I want to give you a scripture. Okay. So we have talked about this passage when we did prayer and intercession, first Corinthians chapter seven and verse 14, I'll post it for us. So as you can see, it says for the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband. Otherwise, your children would be unclean, but now they are holy. So from this, the idea we get is, if there is one believing spouse or one believing parent, their spiritual authority is greater than the spiritual influences, you know, whatever spiritual influences that either, you know, that other spouse has or the child. Okay. So having seen this in God's word, I would say Nicholson that it's just a matter of time. So though you haven't seen breakthroughs yet, you know, continue in prayer, continue in seeking God's wisdom and, you know, yeah, just hold on and claim, you know, the passages of scripture that say that you and your household shall be saved. So if you look at God's word, there is one believer in the house and in this marriage scenario, there is incredible spiritual influence. Okay. So keep exercising that influence is what I would say. Sure. Thank you, Pastor. Yeah. Yeah, sure. And I know, I mean, right now you don't have, it doesn't look like this has, this is visible, but yeah, you just need to encourage the person to continue praying and continue speaking God's word. Sure, Pastor. Thank you. Yeah. Sure, sure, sure. Thank you. Yes. Very, very good question there. So anything else from the others? All right. So anyway, we are all in agreement that Satan tries to influence us, you know, in different ways, but, you know, by God's power, his dominion and authority, we can overcome the enemy. So let's study about how you and I can become overcomers, because this is one enemy that we have to face, whether we like it or not. So how can we be in a safe position to start with, we'll talk about our position and how can we maintain that safe position? So first thing is us being a believer in itself gives us, if you want to call it immunity. Immunity doesn't mean that Satan will not try to influence you, but it definitely means that we have some strength against what he does. So when we are in Christ Jesus, we have that immunity. So there are two scriptures given here. Yeah, let me read. Volosians 3 and verse 1, it says, if then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, but Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. So this is Christ's position. And you notice, we have also been raised with Christ, and we've seen earlier that we have been seated with Christ. So when we are in Christ and positioned with Him, as we see in Ephesians 2, positioned with Him in the heavenlies, the right hand of, like we are with Christ, the enemy cannot touch us. And I've given you that scripture earlier, 1 John 5, 18, which says, we know that whoever is born of God does not sin, but he who has been born of God keeps himself and the wicked one does not touch him. So by virtue of the fact that we are now God's people, our God's children, the enemy cannot touch us. So we already have that inner strength or if you want to call it immunity against the evil one. So we have protection. And not just that, when we study Psalm 91, we see that he who dwells in the secret place of the Most High will abide under the shadow of the Almighty. And the Psalmist says, he goes on to share how protected he is, how covered he is by God's presence. Now if you go back to the time that man was created in the Garden of Eden, sorry everyone, it's just this little long standing cough that I'm trying to deal with, but it's a lot better now. So yeah, it should be okay. So when man was created, I was saying that God would come and meet with them. If you remember that, it's like the presence of God was a constant at that time. Like the Psalmist says, Psalm 91, he who dwells in the secret place of the Most High will abide under the shadow of the Almighty. So it was like the presence of God was their address. That's where they dwelt when they were in the Garden. And that position of being in the presence of God and being in relationship or communion with God was something very, very special. Okay? And we know that God tried to restore this for us through the Lord Jesus because mankind had lost it through the fall. But when we go back to that original setting of this presence of God, communion with God, God visiting man and being so close to man, talking to man, the original setting. Sometimes you have your gadgets and all they come with some original setting. So that original setting was that there was a relationship that God established with Adam and Eve. This was an intimate relationship which involved worship of God. Okay? So they were adoring God, they were honoring God and they were walking with God. So there is a relationship which marks that interaction. There's also submission because for the entire time, except for when Adam and Eve chose to disobey God, they were submitted to the will of God. Okay? Whatever God had told them to do, they were doing it. So there was relationship, there was submission in the original setting. Okay? Then there was also responsibility. Responsibility is God had given them a mandate and told them that, okay, I put you here. Now I want you to subdue the creatures of the earth and also I want you to be fruitful, multiply, you know, have dominion over the earth so on and so forth. So he gave them responsibility in that sense and we also know that, you know, he gave them, he wanted them to tend the garden. So originally God gave them a sort of a fulfilling life where there was something for them to do, something for them to accomplish and enjoy. So that's how God made them, then God also gave them dominion. So they had the authority to care for everything in the garden. They had the dominion to protect the garden, which means that if at all there was an intrusion, they must stand up for it, you know, was Satan around at that time? Yeah. You know, he's a creature, he was created way before. So he very much was existent at that time and, you know, God in his understanding knew that the garden needs protection. So it was the responsibility of Adam and Eve to walk in the dominion that God gave them. So all of this was how God originally intended for them to live. And as long as they maintained relationship, submission, took on the responsibility which they had from God and exercised their dominion, they were okay, so nothing really went wrong. So in other words, you know, we can look at their lives and we can see that, okay, at that time, what did we discuss? We said, okay, we must speak God's word, we must renew our minds, you know, we have all the other weapons of warfare which we will study about the name of Jesus, the blood of Jesus, all of those things, but in the garden, these people were able to have a safe and a fulfilling life just by virtue of these four things, maintaining their relationship with God, maintaining their submission to God, maintaining the responsibility and the dominion that God had given them. So learning from this, what we are saying is, one is we recognize that now we are in Christ Jesus, now we are seated with Christ in the heavenly places, so our position has changed. So knowing it, God's people perish for lack of knowledge, so we know and we can use that. And also, when we live in the presence of God in this way, like Adam and Eve live, there is also a place of security. He who dwells in the secret place of the most, I will abide under the shadow of the Almighty. So shadow is like a covering. Just through these things, we end up having a covering, you know, by maintaining our relationship with God, by developing our relationship, intimate relationship with God and also, you know, our submission to God and knowing our identity, okay, I have dominion, I have authority, all these things. So we just like to encourage to keep this up and that in itself is like a weapon against Satan. Okay. Now, the next thing that is important in our lifestyle, one is we are maintaining the strong relationship with God, we are aware that we are in Christ Jesus. Next, holiness and consecration is very important, okay, what is consecration? Consecration is being set apart, you remember, for this whole deliverance topic, we said that any object which is consecrated or in other words, we can use the term dedicated, okay, dedicated to demons, it becomes a channel or it becomes a vessel of expression of that, you know, that kingdom. So if it is dedicated to demonic entities, we would say, okay, that particular object was consecrated to demons and demons start expressing themselves through it. Similarly, when something is dedicated to God, or let's put it this way, talking about people, when we are dedicated to God or consecrated, set apart for God, what can you expect? You and I become channels of expression of the Holy Spirit, okay, so to become a channel of expression and you know, part of that expression is overcoming, victory, okay, overthrowing the devil, enforcing, you know, our victory, all of that. Now how to do this? We have to dedicate and you know, how do I put this, holiness, meaning we decide that my life is for God, okay, my gifts are for God and the whole list, whatever I told earlier, you know, my family is for God, my finances are for God, my possessions are for God, my children are for God, things like that. You dedicate, you consecrate, you sanctify everything that belongs to you and one is we make that dedication and then we walk in submission or in obedience to God, okay. So earlier I brought up this verse from James 4-7, submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. So before resisting the devil, if I maintain a lifestyle of submitting to God and what happens? I am in a good position, I am protected and Satan will do his part, you know, if he gets an easy access, he would love that. But through these three things that I first shared, we are not giving him any easy access. We are covered, we are protected and you know, we are in a place of immunity. So if we want the enemy out, then we better maintain a lifestyle like this. But if we choose to, you know, play around with God and also say, no, no, it's okay. You know, I want God's protection, but you know, I don't want to also fully be obedient to God. You know, it will not work and which is why particularly when it comes to facing the devil, facing Satan, the main thing is my submission to God. The more I am submitted to God, the enemy cannot look me in the eye. He'll be like, okay, I better leave this place. You know, and that's what, remember Jesus also said, Satan has nothing in me because he was fully submitted to the Father and that is what is required of us. So can we walk in obedience, can we walk in submission and holiness before the Lord? And you know, you also in James 4, 6 and 7, you see actually in 6, I think, yeah, it talks about God giving grace to the humble and then 7 is where you read submit to God, resist the devil. So being submitted to God or, you know, being humble before the God, before God is when we receive our empowering. God gives more grace, he gives more grace to whom, to the proud, oh, he in fact resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble or the submitted to God's leading and God's guidance. So let's put it this way, to the extent he reigns in me, he can also reign through me. So we must allow God to rule and reign in our lives and that's the best way of living a life of an overcomer against Satan. So let's take a break now, we'll come back and we will look at a couple of other things that will protect us against Satan. So 10 minutes, let's come back at 11 o'clock, thank you.