YOU LIVE WHAT YOU THINK
Proverbs 23:7
We are in warfare – a battle – we are in it whether we are aware of it or not. If you are not aware of it, you will be like a blindfolded man in a boxing ring. Taking the blows but no defense. This conflict is worldwide.
2 Cor 10:3-5 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; (KJV)
Eph. 6: 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (KJV)
We wrestle against Dark Powers
a. Casting down imaginations
b. Bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ
The Battle is in the Realm of the Mind and Thoughts:
The object of Satan's methodology is to gain control of the minds of people through thoughts, arguments and deception. Unseen forces are arrayed against us. The only way that we can get victory and know peace is through learning and applying God’s Word.
The Word of God shows us our enemy – what he is like, his character and shows us our weapons with which to defend our self and to take the OFFENSIVE not defensive.
People and Christians are like an iceberg – 10% above the surface and 90% below – only each one of us know the conflict we face in our own lives. In conflict some Christians are like an ostrich, when scared, buries its head in the sand and pretends its enemy is not there.
Psalm 139, David wrote this after his sin of adultery and repentance. David thought that he was the only one, who knew about it, that nobody else in the kingdom knew not even God (2 Sam. 12 and Psalm 51). David soon found out and hence this following Psalm.
Psalm 139: 1-12 O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. (KJV)
“Mans thoughts sound as loud in heaven as man’s words do on earth”
“Do I want heaven to know my thoughts??” - There is not a thought, imagination, desire, and intents of our hearts that God doesn’t know. GOD IS ALL KNOWING! Don’t be deceived, face the facts, not only does God know our actions but all we think, even what you plan to do – EVERYTHING.
In the Gospels, Jesus knew the thoughts of the Scribes and Pharisees. There is nothing secret to God or the angels.
Heb. 4: 12-13 – with whom you have to do, Consider, For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. (KJV)
Rev. 1: 14-16 and the Judgment Seat of Christ
GOD’S ENEMIES ARE OUR ENEMIES
Ps. 139:21-24 – God’s enemies are mine – what enemies?
vs. 23-24 – Search me and see if there are any enemies IN me.
Rom. 8:7 – The carnal mind is enmity against God
Christians have never been overthrown from the outside – always from WITHIN you cannot be defeated from the outside.
John 14:30 – Jesus said “Satan cometh and hath nothing in me”
When we say that we cannot be defeated consider Israel at Ai – Joshua 7:13
THE IDENTITY OF OUR ENEMIES
1 Cor 9:26 - I fight not as one that beateth the air. We fight against Spiritual Forces, powers of Darkness – Satan and Demon Spirits. Spirits that invade the areas of the mind and take men captive in their thought life.
2 Tim. 2:26 People taken captive by the devil at his will = The Carnal Christian.
The carnal-minded, weak, unspiritual Christian doesn’t bother the Devil too much, but Satan can take him captive at will, whenever he wants to.
The carnal Christian doesn’t have any armor, has no walls around his city and doesn’t know how to meet the enemy, hence the carnal Christian comes into bondage, to frustration, defeat, enslaving habits, bringing them down into despair and ruin by being taken captive in the area of their minds, whenever Satan wills.
There are Seven Spirits – or Demon Powers we are going to look at today:
1. 1 Kings 22:22 – A LYING SPIRIT
Compulsive, Habitual lying, can’t help it.
2. Is. 19:14 – A SPIRIT OF PERVERSENESS
– a Spirit of obstinacy, a spirit that will not obey, that just will not do the right thing, stubbornness, a rebellion, lawlessness. This is what is coming upon young people today – This spirit proclaims to all, “DO YOUR OWN THING!” “BE MASTER OF YOUR OWN LIFE!” We need to control our own lives and those of our children to keep them out of the hands of the Devil because there are things that open the door.
3. Is. 29: 10 – A SPIRIT OF SLUMBER
- Rom. 11: 8 – Deep sleep. Intellectual sleep, unable to see the truth e.g., Israel, blinded to truth. Scribes and Pharisees etc. Had eyes but couldn’t see.
Isaiah 29:9-16 You are amazed, incredulous? You don't believe it? Then go ahead and be blind if you must! You are stupid-- and not from drinking, either! Stagger, and not from wine! For the Lord has poured out upon you a spirit of deep sleep. He has closed the eyes of your prophets and seers, so all of these future events are a sealed book to them. When you give it to one who can read, he says, "I can't, for it's sealed." When you give it to another, he says, "Sorry, I can't read." And so the Lord says, "Since these people say they are mine but they do not obey me, and since their worship amounts to mere words learned by rote, therefore I will take awesome vengeance on these hypocrites and make their wisest counsellors as fools." Woe to those who try to hide their plans from God, who try to keep him in the dark concerning what they do! "God can't see us," they say to themselves. "He doesn't know what is going on!" How stupid can they be! Isn't he, the Potter, greater than you, the jars he makes? Will you say to him, "He didn't make us"? Does a machine call its inventor dumb? (TLB)
Now the areas, which influence the mind
4. Is. 61:1 –3 – THE SPIRIT OF HEAVINESS
1. a. Depression: David would say, “Why am I cast down?”
2. b. Mental Depression: “Why should I carry on” – clouds of depression descend upon you, make you surly and irritable.
IT IS A SPIRIT. Grips you and binds you. The spirit of heaviness goes from the first stage of depression, then to the next stage of oppression, with the final goal to then bring possession.
When you recognize your enemy you are 80% through. The enemy will stay around as long as you let him. The remedy for the Spirit of Heaviness is to clothe yourself – put on the Garment of Praise.
The Devil cannot stand to be reminded of:
• The victory of Calvary,
• The Lordship of Jesus Christ,
• The authority of the Word,
• The Name of Jesus,
• The Judgment written against him, etc.
Praise = Depresses Satan and makes him suffer from heaviness – Submit to God, then resist him and he will Flee from you.
Phil 2: 9-11 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (KJV)
Ps 34: 1 – I will bless the Lord at ALL times, His Praise shall continually be in my mouth.
5. Luke 13:11-16 – THE SPIRIT OF INFIRMITY (or paralysis)
Infirmity is the Greek Word “astheneia” which means:
a. Lack of strength, weakness, infirmity; used of the BODY
A. Its native weakness and frailty
B. Feebleness of health or sickness; used of the SOUL such as:
Lack of strength and capacity requisite:
(i) to understand a thing
(ii) to do things great and glorious
(iii) to restrain corrupt desires
(iv) to bear trials and troubles
6. 1 Tim. 4: 1 – SEDUCING SPIRITS
– Religious spirits, spirits of False Doctrines, particularly the last days, seeking to reduce Christians from the truth, into “so called Higher and Deeper truths”. THERE IS NO HIGHER LIGHT THAN THE BIBLE. - All started outside the Word – Jehovah Witnesses, Mormonism etc.
Faults: claiming to have more light, claiming to be more spiritual than anyone else.
To be spiritually minded is to think the Word of God; you cannot be more spiritually minded than that, for that is life and Peace.
Deut. 13:5-10 – False prophets under influence of seducing spirits seek to THRUST you out of the way.
1 John 4: 1-3 – God’s Holy Spirit is Peaceable and Rest, refer to James 3: 17-18.
Our protection is:
a. Keep to the Word of God
b. Keep under the Blood, short accounts with sin, let not the sin go down upon your wrath etc.
c. Walk Humbly – Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.
7. 2 Tim 1: 7-8 – SPIRIT OF FEAR
There are two spirits that trouble many Christians habitually.
a. Spirit of Heaviness
b. Spirit of Fear
The Spirit of Fear does not come from God. 1 John 4: 18 – The Spirit of God is Power-Love and a SOUND MIND.
The Spirit of Fear:
a. Binds – ties up
b. Restricts – imprisons you
c. Prevents people from praying aloud
d. Hinders people from testifying and sharing their faith
e. Silences their witness for God
Prov. 29: 25 – The fear of man bringeth a snare. – Snare: an almost invisible noose that strangles the bird by the throat. The Spirit of Fear is a snare – it grips you around the neck – you’re bound – but you CAN BE LOOSED – PRAISE GOD.
Let us look first at: - THE ARMOUR for our mind!
Ps 140: 7 – O God, the Lord, the strength of my Salvation, thou hast covered my head in the day of battle.
Eph. 6: 11-17 – What is for the head? The Helmet. If Satan can wound you in the head you cannot wield your sword or use your shield. At the height of the battle Satan can wound you in the mind and cripple you. What the shield misses, the helmet stops fiery darts.
1 Thes. 5: 8 – The Helmet, The Hope of Salvation. The blessed hope that one-day we will:
a. See Jesus and in seeing Him will be like Him
b. Will have finished the battle and fully entered into the victory.
c. We will go and be with Him.
Rom. 8: 24; 1 Cor. 13: 13; Eph. 2: 12. – Without Christ, without hope. Col. 1: 25-27.
When you have Christ in you, you have the Hope of glory. There is one subtle thing that causes hope to diminish and that is material possessions. Because of the cares of this life, sometimes this causes their hope of eternity becomes dimmer and flicker. We are to watch because we ARE LIVING FOR ETERNITY. When this happens to people they become moody, irritable and difficult to deal with and unsatisfied and frustrated because they are losing their HOPE of Salvation and the glory of God. Check its effect in your own lives.
Hope is an essential part of our Salvation and it is also an essential part of the Christian armor. Without it working, your head is not guarded or protected.
Heb. 6:16-20 For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek. (KJV)
Hope is in:
Num. 35 and Joshua 20.
a. A City of Refuge. There were six cities set apart as Cities of Refuge. There were three on the east of the River Jordan and three on the west side of Jordan.
b. Lay hold on hope, as the horns of the altar, when we lay hold, nothing can touch us.
c. It is an anchor of the soul. An anchor is to hold a ship in a totally unstable element; it passes through the sea and holds the ship to the bottom, foundation the rock. We are like a ship, in an unstable turmoil; our anchor is hope, the hope of our total salvation.
The winds may blow and the waves may beat, but we are secure because HOPE IS OUR HELMET. Our hope is added to as we receive the Word of God by the Holy Spirit. Rom. 5: 1-5. It is time for many Christians to heed the call to battle. The war is on – Are you fully clothed in the WHOLE ARMOUR OF GOD???
Are you one who is dogged by Fear or Depression? God has made full provision
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Joel 2: 32. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord SHALL BE DELIVERED.
