 Welcome back to Steps to Freedom. We are taking a look at Satan's counterattack tonight, and we're gonna do a little Bible study about Satan's counterattack. So whenever we have a victory, and we know what that means, right? Any kind of breakthrough, any kind of victory or prayer that's answered, you've got some deliverance, you've got a healing, any kind of breakthrough, the enemy is ready to counterattack, okay? You've attacked the kingdom of darkness when you get that breakthrough. Does that make sense? You have done damage, and now he's countering that attack. And so that's what we're gonna talk about this week and next week. Talking about Satan's counterattack. What I'm teaching from is on our website. So at hardcorechristianity.com, under the teaching section, it's actually the very last teaching that Mike has listed there. It's a Bible study called Satan's Counterattack. And so everything that I'm going over is straight from there. There's so much great information on the website. A lot of us, we look at it and we just kind of pick and choose what we want or what we're looking for, but I thought it'd be helpful to kind of slow down and go over it. So in specific to deliverance, once you get some deliverance, okay? And we know deliverance comes in many different forms, right? It can come through tears. Deliverance can happen through crying, coughing. Some people burp, okay? Some people do vomit. Deliverance can just happen. Mike talked about a woman who had a spirit of infirmity. Come on in, sister. And he held her around her core and he could feel that spirit moving up and then it just left. It just popped out, okay? So she got deliverance and she got healed. So when that happens, you cannot allow the spirits to come back and steal your breakthrough, your deliverance, your healing. You have to be proactive on this. So a lot of times we'll get healing and if we don't know, if we're not wise to the schemes of the devil, we'll just get healed and go about our merry way and we don't realize how they try to get back in. Okay. So John 10, 10 says the thief does not come except to steal, right? Kill and destroy. But Jesus said, I have come that you may have life, life and that they may have it more abundantly. I look at that word life and I say, that's every good thing that God's given us and he just doesn't want us to have good things. He wants us to have more and more good things, right? More peace, more joy, more rest, more healthy relationships. He wants us to have more of that, God's power moving through our lives. So that enemy is always, so we have Satan up here and he's got his angels, those principalities over regions and then the demons are here in our realm. They're in us, they're moving around us, they're working in other people and we have to be mindful. I don't think we should be always focused so much on that but be aware, it's gotta be one of the, one of the things that you're considering. What's my problem? Okay, you know, what is my issue? My car's breaking down again. Do I just need a new car? Do I need to get it fixed again? Do I need a different mechanic or is this spiritual? Cause it can happen like that, right? We know that. So when you get deliverance or when you've gotten some type of breakthrough, we have seen here at the center within 48 hours the enemy comes back hard. So whatever spirits you released, those spirits try to get back in. They try to get back in. They wanna reenter within 48 hours and this is how they do it. They usually use negativity from people in your life. These people, so the negativity from people to set up, they set you up. These spirits are very intelligent and they're patient and they'll set up a scenario and they're gonna use people in your life generally that you care about. You can expect someone like a family member, a coworker, a neighbor, children, right? Even a stranger at the grocery store to verbally attack you and it's gonna happen in a short amount of time. So let's say you did some deliverance yesterday, self-deliverance, you got a little bit out. You better believe the next 48 hours, they're coming back. They're coming back, they wanna get back in. Okay, so you have to be aware. So think about it, who are those people in your life that the enemy might use? They're people that are close to you. These are people that can trigger strong emotion in you. And who are the people in your life the enemy will use? So who are the people in your life that are negative? Co-workers, fellow classmates, people you work for, people you serve, people at church, who are the negative people in your life, family members, right? And then think specifically, okay, who's the enemy gonna use? It's gonna use my mom personally. He's gonna use people that are very close to my heart. The enemy's not going to use the person checking me out at the grocery store. I could care less what they think of me. I don't care. I don't care. The enemy's gonna maybe use that person that you're ministering to. Today I listened to a story from a sister. She was helping somebody and then she got criticized for the way she was helping, okay? She's getting a lot of breakthrough in her life and the enemy's like, okay, what am I gonna use to try to get back in? Let me use criticism. She's using her heart, her compassion, her heart to help this person and then the enemy turns it around to have that person criticize her, trying to set her up. But she's wise to the schemes of the devil in that moment she was, so she didn't take an offense. So the minute you take an offense, and I wanna say be careful, because we have to have an open door for these things to walk in, right? I believe that the Bible says don't let the sun go down on your anger. It doesn't say never be angry, although some people would argue with me on that. But it says don't let your sun go down on your anger. I interpret that to mean God gives us time to work stuff out. God is not a task master. He's a loving father. He's like, if you have a heart to wanna work this out, God's like, I'm with you. I'm helping you. You still have unforgiveness towards somebody, but you're working it out. Oh, I see Holy Spirit. He's walking right with you. He's walking with you. It's those people that are like this. No, I don't wanna forgive. Nope, I don't wanna talk about it. No, I don't wanna talk about that. That was in the past. I'm over it. I'm over it. I don't wanna talk about that. Let's change the subject. That person's in danger of tormentors. Not the person who's like, I'm having such trouble forgiving. God help me every night, you know, Lord bless them. I still have these negative feelings of Lord, I need your help. I don't think that person's in danger of tormentors. Although some people would argue me on that. We have a loving father. He's helping us. He wants to help us. He sees our heart, right? So who are those people in your life the enemy will use? Also, you can expect something unusual to happen shortly like a car accident. Like somebody hacking into your bank account and stealing money, getting cut off in traffic. I mean, you've experienced some of these things before, right? Some random rash appearing. The enemy uses whatever he can to try to get you in a place of not trusting God, in a place of not having faith, in a place of fear so that he can look for a door and a crack to get right in. We have to be aware. So think about it. What might he use in your life? What unexpected thing would really get you? Get you mad. Get you to lose your cool. What is that? Someone cuts me off in traffic. It's not a big deal. I don't care. I'm like, go ahead. I might be like, hey, hey, stop. Get back, you know? But I don't feel any emotion when someone cuts me off in traffic. The enemy is not gonna use that with me, but he might use it with you. So you gotta think about it. How is the enemy gonna get you? Are you a very emotional person? Then he's gonna use your emotions, right? Do you have, you know, I know, sister, she's got a dog, right? Couple dogs? Animals? Yeah, yeah. Yes. The enemy could use one of your animals because they're surupory because he knows you love your pets. I love my cat. When she gets not feeling good, I get a little, you know, the enemy knows that. I mean, she's my buddy, right? With her every night, my little kitty cat. So that's one of the ways that enemy might try to set me up to get me in fear and doubt and, oh, God, you left me, you know? Crazy thinking. You know, something that's gonna upset you easily. Next, if the demons get you to doubt, receive unbelief, absorb an offense, or engage in a simple behavior, they can steal your healing and reinfect your body, okay? Or your mind. Working with a guy on Facebook and he's repenting and he's saying all the right things and then he says, I got stoned. I just smoked marijuana. Like, oh my gosh. No, don't do that. He engaged in sinful behavior. You have to repent. Well, how do I do that? Well, flush that stuff down the toilet. Sends me a video. So proud of him. We'll see how long it lasts, right? You have to repent. You have to stop doing that behavior. You declare, I'm gonna trust the Lord. I was, if you don't mind, I'll just talk to the sister about her children. She's worried about her children. They're struggling with some health issues and she's very concerned. And I said, you've done everything you can for them and it's not working. Release some of the God. It's really hard. I know I'm saying it really easily. It's very easy to say. But we really have, we don't have control over anything. But we do have control over whether or not we trust Father. Because he loves your children and he's the only one that can help them, right? So don't get into unbelief that God's not gonna help them as soon as you get the breakthrough in understanding that God does wanna help my kids. I am choosing to repent from trying to do everything for them. And I'm gonna let God, I'm gonna get out of the way. I'll say her children are adults, they're not five. So five year olds, we gotta take care of them. Okay, it's different. So 48 hours, I call it the 48 hour rule. Typically after I do deliverance on somebody, I write it on the paper, 48 hours. Pay attention, two days, that's two days. Something will happen. So we need to fight back, right? We must be, first Peter, five eight says, be sober, be vigilant because your adversary, the devil, what walks about like a roaring lion, looking for anyone, everyone to devour. Always looking, you know, being sober, minded. Any kind of, I used to drink wine and beer. And when I was engaging in that behavior, I was not sober-minded. And I wasn't remembering these things. And I was leaving a door open for the enemy to come back into my life because I wasn't taking my thoughts captive. I wasn't casting down imaginations. Even good imaginations. No, I'm not fantasizing about that, about how great dinner's gonna be. You know, the devil even wants us to get, he wants us to fantasize about anything in the future so that we can have a let down. It's a setup. But if I say, Lord, I trust you with my future, even my near future, and I know it's gonna be great because I'm putting it in your hands and I don't have to think about anymore. We all have to practice this. So you must use your spiritual weapons to retain your blessings from God. You have to do something. And so second Corinthians 10, if you wanted to write that down, four and five explains to us, and we know this, for our weapons, for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. Those are thought patterns in our mind. These are ways of thinking that you are used to thinking that way. You gotta recognize it. And God will empower, he has the power to tear them down. He wants to help you do it, dismantle them. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for casting down imaginations. And every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, if it contradicts the word of God, guess what? It's a high thing. It's trying to exalt itself, a philosophy, an idea, a way of thinking, a way of doing things. We have to be mindful of those things, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. We talk about that a lot here. You gotta take your thoughts captive. The good thoughts, the negative thoughts because they can expand into imaginations. And then you're into fantasy, then you're into daydreaming, and then you're in the devil's playground because he will take advantage of you. So we have to be wise. We must use the word of God to bind the spirits. So Matthew 18, 18, he says, assuredly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. And whatsoever you loose on earth, shall be loosed in heaven. So on earth, maybe you're the earth, right? Whatever you bind with your words, we have power with our words. I've seen it so many times. I bind you, spirit of fear. You leave me alone. You get out right now. I bind you, and I loose you away from me. Okay, and I've heard some people say, I'll bind something negative and loose something positive. Okay, that's fine, but we have to know that we have authority, and we have to use our authority to bind those spirits of fear especially. Okay, spirits that torment us, cowardice, fear, unbelief, doubt, bind those spirits and send them away. Send them out. Get them out, send them away. Get away from me, get off of me, get out of me. Whichever, right? Just leave. Luke 10, 19 says, behold, I've given you authority to what? Trample on serpents and scorpions, which are symbols of evil spirits. And over all the power of the enemy, I gave you authority over all the power of the enemy. Wow, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. I know, it's a big one because when we get in our emotions, I've been there so many times, the emotion is so, feels so strong. It is real. Your body's shaking, your gut is tightened up, your mind is racing. You're like, no, this is really happening to me. And I am scared. Well, you have authority over that. One of the most wonderful things a dear friend of mine taught me a couple of years ago. He said, you know what? Those emotions aren't even yours. They're not yours. You don't have to feel it. I was like, what do you mean I don't have to feel it? He's like, just say, I'm not feeling that feeling. Stop it. Anxiety, I'm not feeling you. I'm not gonna feel you. I bind you. I bind you and I send you away. I have authority to trample on you, anxiety. You leave in the name of Jesus. And you know what? It takes some time. I think we say over and over again not to tell them what to do, but to convince ourselves that this really works. I live by myself, so that's nice because I get as loud as I want. And no one's disturbed by that. Not that I owe my cat. She does get disturbed sometimes about that. But you can, you know what? Sometimes you have to be convinced of this yourself that this is true. The enemy can see that you're in doubt. And then the enemy's like, I don't have to do anything. Go ahead, keep telling me. Yep, you don't really believe it. But I'm telling you, when you say it over and over again and you allow yourself to get emotional, like to fight against it, that thing leaves. And I know this from experience because I struggled, like I said, 18 and a half years with anxiety disorder. Feeling the churning, I called it a buzzing feeling. It felt like huge electrical cords inside my body buzzing with electricity. That's how it felt to me. And it's a very uncomfortable feeling. And it does come back. And guess what? I get a little loud. Oh no, no, no, no. You are not doing this today. You just leave because I can feel it right here. Sometimes it makes me a little dizzy. Like no, I'm not feeling you. Get out, leave. And it goes. I don't know. It just does. You keep saying it. You keep convincing yourself that God's word is true because God's word is true. Because that spirit is not from God, it is from the devil. And we have authority to trample on them and we have power over them. And that thing is not gonna hurt me. This is coming from someone who ended up in the hospital twice because of my anxiety attack. I thought I was having a heart attack. I thought I was having a heart attack. Once I got to the hospital, guess what they told me? They're not having a heart attack. Wow, that was an expensive lesson twice. So, Luke 10, 19, behold I, Jesus said, I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing by any means shall hurt you. You have to believe that. You have to believe God's word. Next scripture to support this fighting back, okay, is Romans 16, 20. And the God of peace shall crush Satan under your feet shortly. There's an end to this thing. There is. We gotta hang in there. Don't give up. Don't grow weary in doing good, right? But in due season, you shall reap a harvest. You shall reap a harvest of peace. It says, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, be with you, amen, okay? So, we serve a God of peace, but he doesn't have peace towards the enemy. His peace is towards us, his children. You know, God never wants to crush you. He loves you. He's not giving you anxiety. He's not giving you pain or disease. He's a God of peace. So we must not take an offense from the attacks from others or the spirits to steal the progress that you're making, okay? You gotta be wise to the schemes of the devil. John 16, one says, these things I have spoken to you that you may not be made to stumble. Jesus said these things to us so that we could stand that we could stand in the day of trouble, right? So we could fight back. So we could retain our healing. So I'm gonna, there are seven ways to counter Satan's attack. So what I just read through were some scriptures that tell us that we have the authority. We have the power to do that. God gave it to us. We have power over the enemy in our lives, in our mind, in our body, in our emotions. And now there's seven ways to ward off attacks and retain the blessing that you've received. So I'm only gonna go over half of them because I wanna allow for some time for us to meet together in a group and kinda answer some questions and share. And then next week when we meet again, we'll go over the rest of them, okay? So number one, the first way to counter Satan's attack is to speak back. Speak out loud to the spirit and rebuke them sharply. I'd say in quickly. Don't wait, don't wait. You get that negative thought that comes into your mind or a friend, okay, well I don't know if you wanna do it to a friend of yours, but let's say you get a negative thought in your mind, right? Peter got a negative thought. In Matthew chapter 16, 23, Peter was listening to Jesus talk about him going to be crucified, and Peter didn't like that. So he's saying, Lord, no, I'm not gonna let you do it. And Jesus said to him, get behind me, Satan. He rebuked him quickly. He said, no, you're an offense to me, for you are not mindful of the things of God. The thoughts that you have that are not of the things of God, get rid of them. They don't belong, they don't belong in your life. Luke 4, 18, again, Jesus answered and said to him, get behind me, Satan. This is when Jesus was tempted and said, for it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and him only, you shall serve. And so the enemy was trying to get Jesus to go against his word, was trying to get him to turn stones in the bread or whatever he was trying to get him to do, and Jesus recognized, no, he spoke out loud. He rebuked him sharply, quickly, and it took three times, right? We see in the scriptures, and then he finally left. If it took Jesus, Jesus had to rebuked Satan three times. What makes us think we only have to say it once? It took Jesus three times that we have recorded in scripture. So maybe quadruple it for yourself. Matthew 17, 18 says, And this was, Jesus was casting out a demon from a child. He said, and Jesus rebuked the demon and it came out of him and the child was cured from that very hour. He rebuked it. I rebuked you, Satan. You feel anxious, you feel nervous, you feel angry, offended. No, I rebuked you. That's not my thought. I'm not gonna feel guilty for that thought. I'm not gonna feel guilty for that feeling. I come across a lot of people who struggle with condemnation. All of you in this room, I know personally, you're trying so hard to do the right thing. You want to please the Lord. You're like, this is my time, my season that I am choosing to walk uprightly. I'm choosing to walk in righteousness. But the enemy, he comes at you and says, you're not doing it perfectly enough. Oh, you messed up right there. And then you get into, oh, I feel bad. I shouldn't, you know, no, devil, shut up. I am not gonna, yeah, I messed up. It's between me and God. There was something a while back about a year or so ago, some incident happened in my life. And I started having racing thoughts of condemnation and guilt and shame and all of that. And I said, shut up, devil. This is between me and my father. You do not have authority to speak into my life right now. So shut up. I don't say shut up to anybody and like human beings. I was a teacher for 20 years and I never told my students to shut up. I just think it's so disrespectful. But I have no problem telling the devil to shut up. I hate the enemy. I hate those demons. And I say, no, shut up. I'm not listening to you. And I even prayed. I said, father, I said, I know that I'm, I'm messing up in this area. Could we talk about this at a later time? So that I know that what I'm feeling and what I'm thinking is not from you. And I just rebuked the devil, kept rebuking those thoughts. I kept rejecting the guilt and the awful feelings that I was feeling. I was like, I need to know that's not from God. So I asked the Lord, I said, could you give me a few days before you deal with me on this? And that way I could easily, you know, be like, shut up, devil. Huh. You know, the devil will tell you things that are logical. That those demons will tell you things that are reasonable. That they'll even tell you things that are true. But you know what? We don't have to listen to what the devil says, even if it's reasonable or logical or true. That devil does not have authority to speak into your life. Regardless of what he's saying, oh, but it's helping me better be a better person. No, he's not. Because the ultimate goal is to steal, kill and destroy. So you always rebuke the devil. You always reject those thoughts. Guilt, shame, condemnation are all from the devil. God does deal with us. It's better to go to the Lord, right? I don't know. I heard a saying, you know, it's better for you to fall on the rock of Jesus than to allow that rock to fall on you. You know, when you fall on the rock, that's you humbling yourself, repenting. Lord, I'm sorry I hurt you. Lord, forgive me. Teach me how to do this better. Help me, Lord. Compared to the other way, which would be punishment, right? Which would be reaping those consequences. How many times have you been driving down the road and you're going a little too fast? And you see a police and you're like mercy, Lord. This happened to me last week. I was going a little too fast. I was on the freeway and I swear that cop was pulling out and I was like mercy, Lord. He pulled the guy in front of me over. I was like, Lord, help that person. I was like, thank you, Lord. Mercy, right, is getting something, not getting something you deserve. I did deserve a tick, I was speaking. I thought he did, he gave me mercy. I'm so thankful. Doesn't always happen, but that time it happened. So that's Jesus. He rebuked the demons again in Mark chapter one, verse 25. But Jesus rebuked him saying be quiet and come out of him. Mark nine, 25 says that he rebuked the unclean spirit and he commanded that spirit to come out. Luke chapter four, 35, Jesus rebuked him saying come out. He's telling him what to do. He's rebuking him sharply, quickly, confidently. You can do it quietly, but with force, get out of him. It's all in your attitude. They have excellent hearing. Demons have excellent hearing. Sometimes you're with family. Sometimes you're in the grocery store. Sometimes you're with a bunch of people and you don't want to go off the handle. I rebuked you, devil. Okay, then we'll all be labeled. We don't need that. So use wisdom. Yeah, again, Luke nine, 42, Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit. So many times in scripture, right? He says this, rebuk. And you could just say, I rebuk you, devil. I rebuk you spirit, evil spirit. I rebuk you. It's like coming against. It's a resisting. And it's an offensive resisting. This is the last one I'm gonna go over for tonight. I think, no, maybe number three. So number two on the seven ways to counter Satan's attack is speaking in tongues on and off throughout the day. Every day, every day. Include singing in tongues. You're drawing in the Holy Spirit. You're becoming more aware. It brings you into awareness. The Lord is always with us, right? He's always with us, but we're not aware that he's with us. And praying in tongues helps. Helps a lot. I would read first Corinthians chapter 14 that talks about speaking in tongues. But specifically verse two and verse four, I'm gonna read the whole thing. It says, for he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men, but to God. And when you are fighting spiritually, you need to be talking to God. You need to get in front of God. You need God's attention, because you need his help. You need to be one with the Lord. You need to speak directly to him. So speak in tongues. And it says, for no one understands him. Awesome. That is the best news ever. Because you know, when you speak in English, are you speak? Not in English, but if you speak out loud, yes, the Lord may hear you. But guess who else hears you? The enemy hears you. And the enemy wants to answer your prayers too. Because he wants to gain your trust. So you have to be wise to the schemes of the devil. Pray in tongues and the enemy can't understand that. It says it right here. And verse two, it says, for no one understands him when he speaks in tongues. However, in the spirit he speaks mysteries. And verse four, it says, he who speaks in a tongue edifies himself. You know what? If you're going through deliverance, if you're going through your body's healing, you're getting breakthrough, you're working this thing out, you need to edify yourself. There's false teaching out there that says tongues isn't for today because who can understand it? You're only edifying yourself, not to church. As if that's a bad thing. We have to build ourselves up spiritually to fight the spiritual battle. Number three, I'll do number three and then we'll stop there. You must finish your deliverance or your healing process. Some people are healed instantly and some are healed gradually. Do not give up, you gotta keep going. If you have surgery, I had my appendix out. And I was not released from the hospital the very next hour or the next day. And even when I was released from the hospital, I still had recovery, right? I was healed, but my body had to recover. When we're going through deliverance and even when our body's healing, it takes time. So when people come in for deliverance and they begin or maybe they just started going through it, I say, you are in spiritual recovery. You have to be patient. I was working with a lady a couple of weeks ago and she came in and she's just like, I want these demons out now. I just folded my arm sat back. I said, okay, good luck with that. That's not how it works. It's not how it works. So we use this term a lot here. Finish your deliverance. So I'm gonna read these scriptures first and then I'm gonna say what I'm gonna say and I'm gonna let you ask questions because you might have some questions about what does that mean exactly? Finish, okay? Exodus 2330 says little by little, the Lord is speaking, I will drive them out before you until you have increased and you inherit the land. Deuteronomy 722 says, and the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you little by little. You will be unable to destroy them all at once. I'm sorry. You will be unable to destroy them at once. Least the beast of the field become too numerous for you. Mark 823 through 25, so he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of town. And when he had spit on his eyes and put his hands on him, he asked him if he saw anything. And the man looked up and said, I see men like trees walking. Then he put his hands on his eyes again and made him look up and he was restored and he saw everyone clearly. That's Jesus putting his hand spit in the man's eyes. He put hands on him. This is Jesus and the man was not restored like that. Why? Because Jesus is unable to do that? I don't think so. I think because he's showing us an example. Sometimes people are healed instantaneously and sometimes people, it's a gradual, it's over time. It's over time. And I think all of us in here have had deliverance. I'm meeting people watching online. You've had deliverance and you know it's a process. The first time I started, my very first deliverance was about 12 years ago and it was quite dramatic. And I went through more deliverance for about five months, twice a week. I was very religious about it. I came twice a week for five months. Cried and coughed my head off. Got a sore throat. Every time I went to the McDonald's a patty corner across the street and got an ice cream. I did, we're in a different location now so there's no McDonald's around. But I thought I was good. I was feeling like a million dollars. I was clear. My body didn't hurt anymore. I had relationships were restored. Everything was like beautiful in my life. I was making new friends. I was a part of this little fellowship and they had gone through deliverance. So I felt really good and I stopped going. I didn't know, I don't know if I was practicing self-deliverance. I don't remember my talking about self-deliverance so much back then. But I was around people that did deliverance also. So we were always talking about it, but I didn't finish. I didn't know that spirits go dormant and hide. So even though it seemed like I had finished, quote unquote, I wasn't done. Two things I wasn't done with. I wasn't done getting all the spirits out. I don't think you can get all the spirits out completely. I think it takes our lifetime. We can be in a winning position though. But two, I didn't finish learning how to do spiritual warfare. I didn't know. I wasn't confident in it. We all have learned many things. You didn't know it. You learned how to do it. Now you know how to do it. Am I like super level 10 spiritual warfare person? No, but I probably can hang with some of the best now that I've been practicing for over two years, like almost every day. And I'm surrounded by people that know much more than I do. So I feel more equipped now. Do I have every single spirit? No, something just got revealed recently from childhood. It's still in there. I'm like, when does this stop, right? But I'm not worried anymore. I'm not in, I didn't get in fear. I'm not sad. I'm not staying at home in bed. I'm still continuing on because I know I've learned how to fight. And I do fight, and I'll continue to fight. So when Brother Mike writes here on these steps, these seven steps, finish your deliverance or healing process, I believe that means finish learning how to do this. Become strong, finish. Get strong. Strengthen, be strong in this skill. You maybe know the word really well. Or you may be able to catch those negative thoughts quickly. Maybe your faith is strong for, you know, commanding healing in your body or somebody else's. You know, maybe you're lacking in getting up in the middle of the night when you feel inspired to by the Holy Spirit, especially in the winter when it's kind of cold out there, out from under the covers. But the Holy Spirit calls us to do that sometimes. That's part of deliverance, is keeping your deliverance and fighting back. So the word finish is, I think people get stuck on the word, but I think it means maybe proficient. In education, we talked about proficient, lacking, proficient, distinguished. I think Brother Mike is distinguished at his deliverance. He still practices, I think, coming here and being a part and he does his Facebook ministry, he's always helping others and he's still building himself up. He's still sharpening, you know? So one of the reasons, for myself, I know I have to be in ministry. Not just because God called me and I believe that He wants me to serve Him in this way, but because it's gonna save my life. Back then, I fell back into sin because I got away from the ministry and I started doing things my own way and I started hanging out with people that were not like-minded, but the Lord's will will be done and He brought me back. I'm grateful. And so now I know, am I staying here the rest of my life? I don't know that, but am I staying in service to the Lord? Yes, I am. Yeah. It's like two part one because I'd love it. Two, because it's gonna save my life and keep me out of trouble. I tried to live my own life and live for God, I couldn't do it. Maybe you can't either. Really, there's no better way to live. We don't have much time here. So why not give Him everything? Right, doesn't mean you can't have a job. It doesn't mean you can't make money. It doesn't mean you can't go on vacation. It just means the attitude of your heart and what are you doing with your free time and your resources and your talents? So, questions, any questions? I know I went through those maybe kind of fast, so we talked about the 48 hours. The enemy is gonna come back after you get a breakthrough, after you have deliverance within 48 hours to attack you. Is anyone have any questions about that? Okay, great, this is my honors class here. And so I did three of the seven steps. One was speak out loud to rebuke the spirits. Any questions about that? Okay, somebody make up a question. How about number two, speaking in tongues? Any questions about that? Anyone not speaking tongues here? Need their spiritual gift? Not everyone does, okay. Oh yeah. It's okay, I have a couple questions. Thank you, saved. I'm very familiar with the attacks after intense deliverance or intense prayer just times of the Lord. I actually laugh at them and I just thank the Lord because I'm always protected by whatever happens. And I do capture myself when I know I'm under a certain type of pressure and I'll tell somebody I'm not in a good place right now, I'm not feeling well, I'm not able to talk right now, I'm at that bursting level and I'll be quiet because I've already told them and they'll continue to keep talking to me and I just chuckle and walk away and I'm like okay. Because I know that was like another try to poke me. Right. They were pretty much all the time when I asked them not to, because they'll take it personally, I'm not trying to be rude, but I'm at that level right now, there's nothing you can do, there's nothing I can do, it's just, this has to pass, this is for me. But, and I know there's little tricks there, I just. So you set a boundary. Yeah. You know yourself. Right. We're all at different places, right? If, and you set a boundary and that person on the other side of that boundary either doesn't understand what you're saying or doesn't care or didn't hear you and they keep coming at you, right? Is this what you're describing? I think they do care as my mother. So, and she does under. Love mothers. She just tries to help, she tries and thinks she can fix it and she can't. She doesn't understand. And she really doesn't believe in deliverance either, so. Not yet. Not yet, but that's, and I get that and I was just like, cause it was this morning it was just, I was at that bursting level just certain things going on and she just kept going on and not, and at those times, I just need to like understand like that's just who she is. She does it to everybody. And I just expressed at this time I don't want to listen to me or ask questions and appear to be rude. Cause I know, I get reminded you won't have to go through deliverance if you respect your parents. Your mother and stuff like that. And I just like chuckle about it. Like, this is the next tap. To say you can just use that to get me more upset and I'm not upset about it. So I just chuckled about it and just think the Lord, thank you for this observation and I know about it. Yeah, it's like you get to step back and you'll always see what's happening here. I see them. And I'll be ready for the next go for it. Next say, I'll be able to accomplish that too. It's a challenge. And then I was told, I've heard other things I've been speaking in time since I was 14. I've heard people say, oh, it's the, it's the sign of evil. You're not speaking to the Lord or this. Oh, that's from Satan and stuff like that. And I just don't even listen to that about that because you'll see a lot of crazy people just doing whatever. Well, there are demonic tongues, right? We know that. I don't know that. Oh, yes, there are tongues that are demonic. Did you have a question? Sort of, because I didn't think there were demonic tongues. There are demonic tongues. I don't think it's very news. I won't watch them though, but you'll hear them. But it's sort of similar to speaking in tongue, really. And I can understand why some people will say that's demonic or that's an advantage of Satan or something like that. Yes. I didn't realize there are demonic tongues. There are demonic tongues and it will scare the heck out of people. So I just, I usually use myself as an example. That way I keep everybody else. I don't offend anybody if I just use myself. So I did it with my mom. Oh, it was, gosh, so many years ago. And I was involved in an ministry and we were visiting a gal in the hospital. She had valley fever and she was in the hospital for a year. Me and this other gal took turns visiting her like every other day for a year. It got me over my fear of hospitals. I don't know why I had a fear of hospitals, but I did. Anyway, this young woman, she's from Africa. Her mother comes in the town. I picked her up from the airport. I took her to the Ronald McDonald house. That was kind of a cool thing. They put her up there and it was right across the street from the hospital. I spent some time with her and she probably laid hands on me and prayed for me. I don't know what happened. Anyway, I go visit my mom. My mom is not spirit-filled at this time. And I don't know what's going on and something comes over me and I start speaking in tongue. I don't know anything about deliverance. I start speaking in tongues and shaking and I can't stop it. And it scared my mom. And I have apologized. I probably could still apologize because scare is so bad. I felt terrible. I didn't know because I had received the baptism in the Holy Spirit in college. So this was several years after college. Well, I don't know, several, maybe four years, okay? So I knew that I experienced speaking in tongues but this was something different. And I remember that. And I know now looking back that that was a demonic tongue. I've met with people in my office. I'll start praying for them and they'll start speaking in tongues. And I'm like, whoa, stop that and they can't. Or they don't want to. Or they're not even present any longer. It's another entity that's taken over their mouth. Typically witches and warlocks or wizards, they do speak in tongues. They have a prayer language too. Yeah, it's very distinct. It's very choppy a lot of times. It's harsh. You just, you kind of know it when you hear it. You're like, ooh, that doesn't feel good. It doesn't feel right. I don't know how to describe it other than that but there are absolutely demonic tongues, especially someone coming out of the new age or sorcery, witchcraft, something, they have it. They may not have used it, but while they're going through deliverance, it'll come up. Satan's not original. He always wants to copy God with everything else. He's not original. He wants to copy God all the time. Yeah. Yes. Well, I worked volunteer at the pantry for Dream City and I was there one day and actually it was last year. I was going through the chaplain school and the guys that I worked with volunteer there know that and one of the ladies was there. A lady, one of our guest ladies was there picking up food and she was really young and she was really having a hard time with her boyfriend or her husband, I don't know, but she wanted prayer. So they got me to pray for her since I'm going through chaplain school. So I took her outside to her, you know, away from everybody and I started, she told me that I asked her what her problem was. She said that she was not fetting all right now, blah, blah, blah, you know, her husband's really, her boyfriend's really abusive and verbally and physically, she doesn't want to go home. So I started praying for her. She started speaking in tongues and it just threw me off. What threw you off about it? Because she told me she was high. Uh-huh. I'm fetting all. Okay. But when I started praying for her, she started praying in tongues. Was she born again? I have no idea. Oh. She said that's why I couldn't, I don't know. So what's your question? My question was, was that demonic or are these? Not necessarily. Do you think that she was, at one time she was, So the spirit, the speaking in tongues comes from your spirit, man. When you're born again is of my belief and us here at the Arizona Deliverance Center in hardcore Christianity. Once you become born again, you have the ability to speak in tongues from your spirit. Yeah. Okay. Just because she is in a back slidden state doesn't mean she lost the Holy Spirit. It doesn't mean her spirit died. So? That's what I just wanted to know. I know I heard stuff where people preach whole drunk. Like, you know? Is he preaching? He's so drunk right now. So, your spirit, right? Yeah. Being drunk is affecting the body. The mind. Not your spirit. It makes sense. Yeah, your spirit, man, is not going to be drunk. So in that situation, when she is praying what somebody do is high and they start speaking in tongues, the best thing to do is say, whoa, hold on, just receive. You don't have to. You're asking me? So, when people are under the influence like that and they tell me, I generally say a very basic prayer for God to help them. I may ask them if they want to repent. Do you want to repent for getting high? Do you want to repent right now? I'll pray with you. Lord, I'm so sorry for not trusting you. Right? Okay, wow, you have your tongues, you have your spirit language. Great, let's stop that for right now and let's just, you know, would you repent to God? He wants to help you in your marriage. He wants to help in your life. Right? If they say no, then it's a quick little prayer. Okay, God, protect her, help her, save her, deliver her. In Jesus' name, amen. You know, because you don't want to get too involved if they're in rebellion right there in front of you. But if you talk to her and she starts to break down and she's sincere, you know, I wouldn't do deliverance on her because you're looking around and going, okay. Yeah, but that's how I would handle that, but I would stop them. So even, yeah, especially if I don't know the person, I don't know, I don't let people pray for me that I don't know, so. But yeah, you know, you have to use wisdom. You know, you probably did fine. You did great. You were led by the spirit. You were led by compassion. So you couldn't have done it wrong, right? You were led by God. So that's good, you know. Don't beat yourself up at all about, oh yeah, I should have did that. I shouldn't have did that. Don't worry about that stuff. I was in training it. You know what? We're all in training still, sister. None of us has got it straight. Yeah, we are just in training. You know, if you think about your children, I know there's a lot of moms in here. If you think about your little child and they try to set the table and they get it totally backwards. You might gently, you might leave it, great job, high five. You might say, no, you know what, we need to move the, the fork needs to be next to the plate on this. You know, whatever you're trying to accomplish, whatever, right? But gently correcting and gently trying to help them work it through, or you say nothing, but you would never come down hard on them, right? Because that would just crush the little spirit. Father, he's better than that. He calls us evil, giving good gifts to our children. And he's so much greater than that. We have to remember that. So anybody else? All right. Anything on the finishing your deliverance? Okay, I hope I can answer it. Well, could finish mean that you just keep going until you've kind of like exhausted all the, you know, like you talked about having like thought or forgiveness, like, you know, the deliverance. Like, do you? Oh yes, good. I know what you're saying. So if I'm correct, you're saying, could finish mean dealing with everything that you know of? Yeah, I'd like that. There are stuff that the Holy Spirit's gonna bring up. Deal with it then. I have a client that I tell her, stop picking up rocks. Stop looking for things to repent for. Stop that. Stop looking for things to cast out. Okay, just relax. Let the Holy Spirit bring it to you and then deal with it. All right, finish though. I kind of think it also can mean there are major things that I dealt with in my past. And they're no longer affecting my current, not 100%, okay, because I think some of us are tempted to be afraid. That's a temptation we have. Some people, they don't have that temptation. That doesn't tempt them. I dealt with fear and anxiety, you know, I still deal with it. It's something that tempts me. So I'm gonna struggle with that my lifetime. I know that. I'm getting better, I'm stronger. Fewer things can move me. I'm not moved like I could be moved easily back, you know, a couple years ago. I'm way better. So I think the finishing is more like you're, you're more proficient in fighting. You're more consistent and you're more aware. You've dealt with the obvious sins. You're dealing with things as the Holy Spirit brings it to you. You're catching those negative thoughts and you're casting down imaginations. You know, you are, you're working the program, I like to call it, okay, huh? You're growing. You're growing, yeah. And I mean, at first you grow really fast and then there's kind of a slower growth. I think you know, and this is a myth too, that oh, I have to finish my deliverance before I can serve God, before I can be in ministry, before I can pray for anyone. No one would ever get any prayer. No one would ever be in ministry. There would be none of that if we had to finish 100%, right? So I wouldn't worry about that. Yeah, the word finish is difficult, but just know that little by little, God is helping us work through this stuff and we have to keep working on it little by little. He's helping us the whole way. Yeah, so that's great, great questions. I'll open the stretcher. Yeah, go ahead. So just last Friday during, after brother Mike's seminar, so a sister was praying with me and I, you know, still going through to deliver some certain stuff and I go, when is it ever done? And she said something that was just so profound and what she said to me was deliverance is a lifestyle. It's a lifestyle. It changes over time. So that means it's always good, you're always good. To me, I took this, it's never done. It's very continually, like you're convincing yourself going through it. That's how I took it and that was being freshly, because I didn't have that in my lifestyle all the time. Right. That will be going through deliverance and it's something when it comes upon me, I won't try to stop it. There you go. Nice. I let it happen. You know, we could say repentance is a lifestyle. Forgiveness is a lifestyle. Catching negative thoughts is a lifestyle. For the Christian, right? Casting that imagination is a lifestyle. Deliverance is a lifestyle. It's part of the Christian lifestyle. Yeah, it's not something we have to be afraid of or be frustrated with or tired with and it's not something that's constant every day all the time for the rest of your life. That's not what we mean by lifestyle. When someone hurts you, forgive them. You get negative thoughts, capture them, cast them down. Your mind starts to fantasize about, you know, this and that and the other thing. Cast that, get rid of that thing. You know, it's just always constant on that. Good, that's great. That is a profound statement. Thank you. Well, let's say a prayer and then, I don't know what time it is because the clock stopped again. Thanks God. Thank you Lord for this Bible study about how Satan attacks, why he attacks, when he attacks and how we can counter attack. We can attack back. Lord, we are not powerless to do so. You've given us tools. You've shown us through your scriptures examples of how we can combat the enemy. Jesus demonstrated for us. So Lord, I pray that we will continue to make living the examples in your word a part of our lifestyle and that we would be where we would be mindful and be wise to the schemes of the devil and know that when we get a breakthrough or healing or we go through deliverance that the enemy is gonna counter that attack because we just did damage to his kingdom. Lord, I thank you. I pray that you bless us this rest of this evening and everyone listening online. In Jesus' name, amen.