 Okay. Good morning, everyone. Let's begin with a word of prayer. Let me pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You for the truth of Your Word. Father, we thank You that Your Word is living. It is powerful. It is working in us. Father God, even as we take time to study Your Word this morning, we pray that we will encounter You in a fresh and a new way of God. Father, be glorified in and through Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So in the past class, we started with the workings or the methods that Satan uses to attack. Attack is a big word, but to interfere in the lives of people and we saw that he will try to up his influence and we have to be very, very careful to deal with it in the lowest stage or the lowest level possible. There are a couple of common methods that he has used time and again. If we understand these methods, then it becomes easy for us also to overcome it. So temptation is the basic technique that he uses against people. We saw that temptation is something that happens in the area of the mind. He can work the way he worked in Eve's temptation where he tries to affect us through the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and also the pride of life. But we can say no to what Satan is doing. Now we will today try and understand the progression of temptation in the mind. It's not only temptation, but any wrong thought process can become stronger in the same pattern. So let's look at a passage. This is in 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verses 3 to 6. So if anybody has the mic right next to you, please read into it. 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verses 3 to 6. So it is the process in which temptation takes over our minds. For now we walk in the flesh. We do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds. Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. Okay, that's wonderful. Let's also read from James chapter 1 verses 13 to 16. Then we will discuss. Let no one say, when he is tempted, I am tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And sin, when it is full grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Okay, so we read two passages of scripture. I'll take up the second passage first. So the second passage says that temptation, it's not from God. So for us to say when we are going through a temptation that God is testing me through this temptation would be wrong because we've already seen that God does not tempt anyone. But where does temptation come from? In what James is saying, he's saying it comes from within. We have certain desires. On which the enemy can play it up. And when we start yielding to it, what happens? It can lead to when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, he says. So we let that desire stay and grow within us till it comes to a place where we act it out in some way or it is released in some way and then sin happens through us. And through sin again, what happens? It will lead to destruction. So there is a progression again that is taking place. But it starts with temptation. Temptation not originating from God but from the enemy. And the important thing that Satan needs is our desire. So from our desire, the temptation will progress. So that is something we have seen. Now going back to that first passage which we read in 2nd Corinthians 10 verses 3 through 6, there are certain terms used there. Terms like imaginations, reasoning, argument, bringing every thought captive, stronghold. So you have things mentioned there which have to do with the mind. Now for us to go deeply into this, I would encourage us to read a publication by the name of The Conquest of the Mind. It's available. You can either get it as a PDF version from the book section on our website or simply go to apcwo.org forward slash books and you can download it. The Conquest of the Mind. It explains this progression very in a detailed manner. But I'm just going to touch on it. So there is a progression that can take place in our mind. And as we've said, Satan initiates the temptation. But we have to agree with it. In the last class, you recall, we saw Jesus's statement where he said that Satan, he has nothing in me. So when there is nothing in us to which aligns to Satan and his views, then it's fine. The temptation will not work. But if we have something in us like a desire or a thought that says, yeah, it's okay, you're agreeing with Satan, then it leads to this progression. So what is the progression? It's here in our notes, thoughts, imaginations, reasoning or argument, stronghold. So let's begin with a thought. A simple thought. So there can be thoughts in our minds which are not in agreement to the word of God. Many times Satan will plant those thoughts. Let's say, you remember we talked about alcohol. Now that's a strong example. But then I'm just sharing it over here. So if let's say a young person, he's taught about alcohol and all, hey, it's not good for you. And being addicted to it will lead you to all kinds of destructive behavior. So he knows this reality. But he has a thought in his mind and young people experience everything. So why can't I experience it? So that's the thought, the initial thought that the enemy may put in his mind. Like, hey, just try it once. It's not a problem. That's the thought. It's just a single thought. Now, if he doesn't deal with it then and then, if he's a strong believer in the word, he will take out the weapon of God's word. The sword of the spirit. And he can quote a couple of scriptures. How proverb says that wine is a brawler. Nobody who goes in these ways will, like basically there'll be a lot of destruction. You are unwise if you drink. So you would probably quote passages like that. Or don't be drunk with wine, but be filled with the spirit as Paul wrote to the churches. So he would quote these scriptures and overcome the enemy at the first step, which is a thought, a simple thought. Now, if it is not dealt with at that level, what happens? It may move to the next level. So that would be imaginations. Now, how does it work? The person may just imagine themselves going and hanging out with their friends and nothing. It's just in their imagination. They haven't even done anything right now. So they're just imagining, oh, good evening and I'm just going. It's okay, it's fine. So they're painting pictures in their mind of actually engaging in action. And that happens to our mind. That's the way our mind is designed. If you don't deal with the wrong thoughts, it'll eventually lead to imagination. And that happens even to the right thoughts, isn't it? You think of the good things and then you begin to imagine, oh, yeah, I'm studying. I'm in that college. I'm doing well. So imagination is the next level. Now, if the person doesn't deal with it at the level of the imagination where you go and you bind every wrong thought, you quote the scriptures and you study the word to see, hey, is it really beneficial or not? If they don't do all those things, then it progresses further. It goes to the next level, which is reasoning and argument. Maybe their conscience or their renewed mind will tell them, no, it's not good for you. This is not a good testimony. So many things the renewed mind will say, but the unrenewed mind can come up with arguments. Arguments are something like, hey, I read a research which it says, oh, you should have red wine every day. It's good for your heart. Like basically justification. So you come up with justification, reasoning, arguments. Oh, Jesus, what was his first miracle? He turned water into wine. So if God can turn water into wine, what is the problem? So what's happening? You know the truth, but then you know how to argue and come up with the reasonings. Isn't it? Or in the communion, God said, they served in the early church, they served wine, they served bread. Why did God choose wine to serve? Nothing is wrong. So justification. So in somebody's head, now the imagination is turning into arguments where we know how to justify ourselves. There's nothing wrong. Where in the Bible does it say, don't drink. It only says don't get drunk. So I'm not getting drunk. You know, there are many ways of arguing or to say, oh, sometimes in weddings without our knowledge, they may just serve something. Maybe it's real wine also by mistake. You drink it. In some weddings they do that. But suppose, I'm just saying suppose, let's say there was a church wedding and they served wine and this young person saw their pastor drinking it, even pastor drank it. So what's the problem? So what's happening? Imagination, arguments, reasonings. So the mind is going to another place where we are able to justify the wrong thing that we want to do. This is just an example. Okay. I'm just using alcohol because it's easier to explain. Now what happens if the person still doesn't deal with the reasonings, with the truth of God's word and renew their minds, then it goes to the next level. What is that? It's called as a stronghold. Now we all know what strongholds are. Strongholds are fortresses. Now some of our older, olden kings and rulers, they have built structures around cities, which are known as fortresses. It's very difficult to penetrate. People cannot enter, people cannot come out. That is a fortress or protection. It was built many years ago. That was their way of protecting. So stronghold is like that. Something which is very strong and difficult to break. That's the point. So in our minds, these thoughts settle down. In a very strong way. Now if you know cement, when people are mixing cement and they're putting it, it's so soft like you're working with it and all. But then it has a setting time. So after it is set, do you think you can rework it? You don't want the way it looks. You want to rework it and put it in another way. It doesn't happen. Once it sets, it's very hard. You have to break it and chip it off. Stronghold is like that. Once it is set in our mind. I'm not doing anything wrong. You move on to self-deception. Where the person is convinced. There's nothing wrong. What did I do wrong? I didn't do anything wrong. Then we have come to the place of stronghold. Now strongholds are very dangerous. Especially for believers. Because strongholds act as a place where demons can come and hide. So they use it as a fortress for them. They stay there. And that is why we say people are demonized. A believer cannot be possessed. Because who stays in our spirit? The Holy Spirit. Don't you know that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit? So Holy Spirit is living in my spirit. But what's happening? My mind is not renewed. My mind has strongholds. Those strongholds are now the home for demonic spirits. So a believer is behaving badly. A believer has attitudes and you know you can't even imagine this person is a believer. But yeah, they can be a believer but a very carnal believer with strongholds. Demonization. That's how it works. So having understood these things. What does it lead to? It leads us to a place where we have to recognize even one ungodly thought in my mind should not be allowed. That's what 2nd Corinthians 10 says. It says pulling down every thought and imagination that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. So if I find one thought in my mind which is not correct, that in itself is dangerous. I have to bring it down. Pull down every thought, taking every thought captive. So how should the mind of a believer be? Renewed mind. Renewed mind. That is when like Romans 12 says right then we can prove the good and acceptable will of God. When we are transformed by the renewing of our minds. But when we have an unrenewed mind, sorry. It's very difficult to live a godly life. Because we have this progression in our minds where imagination, reasoning, argument, strongholds and it shows in our life the way we are when it comes to many temptations. I just simply used alcohol but it could be lust, it could be money, it could be so many things, pride, jealousy, so many things. So that's how this progression of temptation works. But we can overcome it. Sean, you had a question? I thought I saw you raising your hand. Yeah, please use the mic. My question was like when you come to reasoning and arguments is that when the person living in denial, can you call that? But then you already covered in strongholds. Yeah, very strongholds. That's when you start to live in denial. They go into denial. You may even want to call it deception point where though everyone around is understanding that this is not good for you, that person is not understanding because they are convinced. So those are the dangers of yielding to temptation. And Satan knows if he finds a believer who's agreeing with his promptings, he knows he can lead them into the stronghold place Stronghold, he can keep them captive. But we have to do the opposite. Every thought we have to take it captive, pull it down. Wrong thought, pull it down. One Corinthians 10, 13 says, no temptation has overtaken you, but that which is common to man. So God will not let you go through anything which is too much for you to handle, too much for me to handle. So God is gracious. And also we see that Jesus, he was tempted in every way yet without sin. That's what we are told about Jesus. And because of that, he has become a very compassionate high priest to us because he can sympathize with our weaknesses. And one more beautiful thing is he can go boldly into his presence to ask for mercy and grace. He can go to the throne of grace. So we may be going through temptation. Sometimes it's very difficult. But in those moments, we may feel very unworthy. Like how could I, I'm a believer and you know, how could I yield to what Satan is saying and all that. But instead of condemning ourselves, we can go to God and say God, you know, I'm sorry, I know that you understand. I need your forgiveness. I need your mercy. I need your strength. And so we can find that deliverance, forgiveness and strength out of temptation. But here the point we want to make is that temptation is a method or if you, if you want to call it a technique, which Satan uses through one thought, he can plant in our minds. And if we are not careful, that can lead into all these things. Okay. Imagination, reasoning and stronghold. But we can overcome like Jesus. How did Jesus overcome? How was his first and best method of overcoming temptation? Word of God. It is written. Okay. Every time Satan put a thought, come worship me. No, it is written that you will worship only the Lord your God. Or Satan put a thought in Jesus's, his mind. You jump from the, you know, the top of the temple. Because Satan is also using God's word because it says that God will protect you with his angels. So twisting the word, he knows very well. Okay. Which is why we should understand the word properly. Otherwise word is there, but it is twisted. That's how Satan works. But Jesus said, no, you will not test the Lord your God. So when you know the word, when you understand the word, when you remember the word, use the word, he has no chance in our lives. That's the best way to overcome temptation. Now, when Jesus was tempted to not go to the cross, what did he do? What did he do? He was under high pressure He was in Gethsemane. Okay, let me give you another clue. What did Jesus do in Gethsemane? Prayer. So another way to overcome temptation is prayer. Just spend a lot of time in prayer. Okay. When Jesus felt he couldn't Lord, take away this cup. He was in that place. But he said, okay, let me pray. He also asked his friends, his disciples to pray. Unfortunately, they slept off. Okay. But there is power in prayer. We can pray to overcome the suggestions of the enemy. So these are ways in which we can overcome. Now, the second technique. Okay, we have a comment here. I'll just quickly read it. So Prince is saying, as believers, we are the temple of God and it's Holy Spirit who dwells in us. But as we talk, when a believer has strong holds, he or she will be demonized. But how can demons come and take place when Holy Spirit is dwelling in oneself? Because Holy Spirit and demons can't go hand in hand. My question is, how can Holy Spirit and demons both can dwell in believer? Okay. Yeah, I know. It sounds very schizophrenic, right? Like this God is saying, you've seen those cartoons, you'll have a God is selling. Don't do this. And the devil is saying, no, you do this. Everything going on inside one person. So Prince will answer your question. It's coming up. Okay. It's coming up just a little later in inclusion. Okay. The third section here. So let me take up intrusion first and you will understand. So I said temptation is one way. Another way would be intrusion. It's number three in our notes. Intrusion is illegal entrance. Illegal. Okay. Or you could call it unlawful access. Now, if this compound or this land has been officially given to a certain person, anyone else coming in and trying to build on this land is illegal. Unlawful. Now, in the same way, what Satan tries to do in the lives of believers is, he knows what is legal. He knows covenant. Covenant says we are healed. Covenant says we are blessed. Covenant says God is our provider. Covenant says we have peace. So Covenant says a lot of things. God has promised us many things. The cross has given us many blessings. But what will he do? He knows legally for the believer. This is what is valid. But he will try to come in and illegally occupy. Okay. And do the opposite. So what are, what is the opposite he will do? Bring strife, confusion in the place of peace. Bring oppression, you know, in the place of freedom. Bring sickness and disease in the place of health and wholeness. So he will, he loves to do that. Illegal work. Which is why we say, you know, sometimes we, we, when we pray or Jesus, we read about Jesus in Matthew chapter 8. Peter's mother-in-law was sick. What did Jesus do? Did he say, fever, please go away, politely, you know, I request you, kindly leave. No. We read, he rebuked the fever because he, Jesus is understanding power, authority, covenant. And he says, it's not right. You know, and similarly look chapter 13. There's a woman, she's bound. She's the daughter of Abraham. How can she be bound? Cast out that spirit. So there's a sense of militancy that Jesus has because, what you're doing is illegal. How dare you do it? Rebuke. That is why rebuke. You know, in Hindi, I used to always wonder, what is rebuke? Badna. You, you don't, you don't scold somebody who's doing a good thing. You only scold somebody who's doing the wrong thing. So that is why we have a rebuke because he's an intruder. He likes to come in illegally. Now to answer Prince's question, you know, Jesus, Jesus said, right in John 10, 10, like in that passage, he talks about him being the good shepherd, laying down his life for the sheep, protect, protecting the sheep. And he says, I've come that you may have life and have it in abundance. But the thief comes to steal, kill, destroy all illegal activity to take away, to rob us. That's why Satan comes. So he is an intruder. No thief who comes to anybody's house, do they give you a check and, you know, some gifts and make you richer? And you're like, wow, they came to my house. How wonderful. Never they come to only subtract, take away, destroy, right, create calamity. So that is Satan's job. He comes to steal, kill and destroy. Now we have to ask the question. Okay. How is it that he can enter? So sometimes he tries to enter forcefully. Okay. And we have to evict him. That's when we have to pray, we have to confess the word. We have to rebuke, we have to bind, do all those spiritual warfare activity. But sometimes what he does is, he finds a back door open. That is easy for him. Anyway, he's trying to get in to bring all the calamity into our lives. Now, if he sees, oh, here is a wonderful believer, church going, you know, tongue talking believer, but they have a weakness. They have a weakness for, let's say, simply, some examples I'm saying, gossip. They have a weakness for, you know, just pride and not respecting leaders, something. He finds some weakness in a believer. Now that is an open for open door for him. It's a crack in the wall. So nobody is there to stop him. You can easily come in. Now Paul calls it, you know, don't give the devil any place Ephesians 4 27 or in other versions, it says foothold access. Don't give the devil any access. So to answer your question Prince, how can we stay and Holy Spirit also if they have access, they can come in. So already we said that when a believer does not deal with sin in their lives, the Holy Spirit will convict us. It's best to respond immediately. Now, as believers, let's take for example, maybe God is convicting me about the way I'm handling money. Okay. I don't yield to the voice. What happens is my heart gets harder and harder and harder and harder and harder. Though Holy Spirit is speaking to me, I am moving in that path of stronghold. And it's like when that sin is not dealt I'm giving Satan access. I'm giving demons access. So with my wrong attitude demons can come in. Am I a believer? Yes. But is it possible for me to be demonized? Yes. So that's how Prince, I hope you got your answer. So both Satan demons and Holy Spirit can dwell in a believer in that sense. So in strongholds demons can stay but in the spirit of a believer Holy Spirit will stay. Yeah. All right. So that is about intrusion. So what should we do about this intruder? Even Apostle Peter, he says you know like be vigilant be alert, be vigilant because the adversary the devil he's like a roaring lion. He's waiting to see whom he can devour. So that is his thing. He loves to do illegal things and bring it on our lives. So we have to be very careful and the Bible also says resist the devil. Stop him. He has no legal access. Today if we find somebody trying to enter into our campus will we keep quiet? No. We'll tell them sorry you have no rights to take over. So in the same way it comes to our spiritual inheritance or blessings we have to stop the devil. Resist the devil. But you know one more wonderful thing in that passage James chapter 4 verse 7 it says resist the devil and he will flee from you. But before that it actually says submit to God. Sometimes what happens to believers by binding the devil rebuking the devil we are fighting against very hard against the devil. But our life is not submitted to God. Full of open doors, full of footholds, full of cracks so from the back door nicely demons are entering. We are not surrendered to God but we are using spiritual authority. So it's very beautiful. Once I heard pastor say this our level of authority is based on our level of submission. How much I am submitted to God that much authority I can use. See when I fight against the devil if I am submitted to God in that area he cannot open his mouth. Because he knows oh this person they have set it right in the matters of whatever money or lust or pride anything. They are obedient to God in this area. So I cannot point a finger at them. So our level of authority will depend on our level of submission. So yes resist the devil. He will flee from you but first submit to God. So our spiritual warfare starts where shooting at the devil all the time no that is step 2 first is submit submit to God resist the devil then we will be very effective in our spiritual warfare. So intrusion is another way in which he works. So we should not let him intrude. Intimidation this is the second one in our notes here and intimidation I explained the other day intimidation is making one fear ok like just now we saw first Peter chapter 5 that our adversary the devil is like a roaring lion so when we see a lion what happens oh we get scared oh my goodness don't even go there you know if a lion roars we are like it's so powerful it's scary but notice even in that verse it says he's like a roaring lion so whether he can damage our lives or not he will pretend that hey I'm going to damage I'm going to do this I'm going to destroy you then what does it create intimidation fear anxiety and when we get scared what happens we don't resist him effectively we give in ok so that's another way that Satan works he tries to scare the believers you remember in acts all the believers they go and preach they go and plant churches and at that time they have lot of resistance authorities they come and they say if you ever preach in the name of Jesus you know stop preaching in Jesus name so what is that all that is intimidation scaring us from doing the right thing Satan loves to do that to scare us if you don't do this you wait and see what I'm going to do so unfortunately for lot of believers they lose the battle because of intimidation they never even take a step they're like oh I'm so scared you know what if I fail what if this happen what if what if not doing anything you know how will you know if you don't do it if we yield to intimidation we will never overcome the devil because basically he's pretending like I'm very strong you can't do anything so that is another tactic which he uses are you all awake alive yeah ok great so then we will move on let's go to chapter 4 here the point 4 here which is opposition so Satan's next technique is opposing so Paul writes to the Thessalonian church he says look I wanted to come to you I wanted to meet you but you know what Satan did he tried to stop me he tried to oppose he tried to create difficulties when we read about different places also where Paul went to do ministry he face lot of opposition sometimes as believers we feel we will serve God wherever we go everybody will accept us it's gonna be amazing but does it work like that it may not because time to time Satan will try to create some confusion some opposition if you are doing the work for God in the right way also he will try to come create something come on let's stop this person did he try to stop Jesus yeah Jesus did miracles and all but think about this people had such opposite response like that pigs know that day we had that discussion about pigs so demons are cast out of the man we will think oh they might they might throw a party for Jesus that this man is set free but what they tell what do they tell Jesus please leave our city Jesus you are affecting our business how sad but that is the opposition that Jesus face see Satan is very good at this he will try to create opposition to try and stop us from doing what God wants to do so we have to be aware of that and there can be times so we have to have we have to use our authority when it comes to opposition remember we said we have the keys of the kingdom to bind to lose so if we are facing opposition from a certain kind of spirits we just say I bind you in the name of Jesus I release whatever authority God is given I release the power of God or the other thing is when opposition is coming from the devil we need to use our wisdom devil is this how you are going to do let me do that I will just give you one small example for church like for not church now the timings have changed but we used to go very early in the morning so I would notice in the early days I would notice that in the morning when we are getting ready something or the other will go wrong like the parl went so now how to iron my clothes or something I forgot the charger for the laptop they have to do power point over there I will go there and I will be like oh no I left the charger then another person has to go there so many things were going wrong so I thought what is this sometimes what believers do they will say the devil I know the devil doesn't want me to go to church that is why all this is happening but don't blame the devil for everything ok yes sometimes he will oppose that is a reality but every time saying devil is attacking me or people also say I started doing ministry and many things are going wrong in my life have you heard that because they feel now the devil will try to attack me more see as long as we are living in the world that is his job whether you are doing ministry or not doing ministry yes of course when we are trying to do ministry he knows maybe he will target little more that is there because the scriptures say you know you strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered so he knows that if he can target a leader it's a lot more beneficial for him but having said that God has given us wisdom ok so we can become smarter than the devil ok come on let's plan better so I've gone a little crazy in this area that you know I pack my bag I keep everything sometimes I even put the water in the water bottle and keep it in the car because otherwise in the morning I forget there will be like a pastor please bring that form bring that key there will be some thousand things which you have to take and go one thing if you forget you know you go so far and so I am just saying instead of blaming the devil that he is opposing me he is opposing me we can use our wisdom ok so maybe we can plan better we can organize better we can have some backup ha if papa doesn't know ok fine we'll do this right so oh devil you are smarter than you so just try to gain God's wisdom to overcome the devil ok we can overcome by spiritual warfare but also wisdom and pastor has given a wonderful he has written out his dream and he has interpreted that dream also I encourage you to read that in point number 4 in your notes where in his dream he felt that many many strategies of the devil were attacking him but each time God gave him a a new way to tackle the enemy and finally when he prayed for the interpretation of the dream he got those passages where it says that the cross is the wisdom and the power of God Satan thought he has defeated Jesus by mailing him to the cross but God's wisdom and power of the cross which he could not understand right so God can give us his wisdom for us to overcome the opposition of the devil so these are all ways in which Satan will try to affect us so what we'll do is in the next class we'll try and complete the remaining methods I'll pause right now to just check if there's anything that you want to clarify further exact meaning and what does it mean okay it's a more severe and a serious thing Rebuke so Rebuke is not just scold in the Hindi language he's telling us that another word is used for Rebuke where somebody is somebody how do you say it yeah or tell them that they are unworthy like sort of assert that they are unworthy or they don't have the right to do what they are doing so that is Rebuke okay great so don't let the devil you know sometimes we just welcome the devil yeah please come do whatever you want to do cup of tea don't play friends with the devil when you are noticing this is not right go against it okay Jesus said no I've given you the keys of the kingdom use it bind, lose so that's the job of us believers we cannot tolerate the devil and his works okay so alright let's pray in close for today and we will come back to discuss more in the next class Sean can you please pray since you have the mic yeah Heavenly Father thank you very much for gathering us all here that's Heavenly Father thank you very much for understanding much better Heavenly Father thank you very much as I understand about how to defend against demonic powers Heavenly Father thank you very much for speaking through my Heavenly Father and Heavenly Father please help us to keep all that we learnt in our minds Heavenly Father and please help us to use it mightily as we go forward Heavenly Father and please help us to learn more new things in our class Heavenly Father in Jesus name we pray amen amen amen amen thank you everyone for connecting we will meet again next week bye for now thank you