SPIRITUAL WARFARE - Tape 2

By Rev. Dick Sipley - At Briercrest, SK, 1991 - 7 Pages Transcribed The question was asked: Did I say yesterday that a Christian could be demon possessed? No, I did not say that. I don't like to use the word "possessed" because it is not a genuinely Biblical word. The words "demon possessed," in most translations, it should really be translated "demonized," which does not necessarily imply what we think of when we think of demon possession. When we think of demon possession we think about it what we have been taught to think about it, so because we have been taught certain ways that may hinder us in understanding what God is trying to teach us. We try not to use that term because it misleads us. A person who is a born-again Christian, who has had Christ come into their heart, their inner spirit, he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit--we have been joined by the Spirit of God by the new birth, baptized into the body of Christ by the action of the Holy Spirit--no evil spirit can penetrate that inner spirit of the Christian which is in her heart where Christ dwells. You would have to bind the strong man first; you cannot do that. So, for the Christian, no evil spirit can penetrate his inner spirit; however, we are multiple beings--we have a soul and a body, and it is possible for evil spirits to penetrate the body of a Christian, or to lodge in their body or their members, or in other ways to afflict them. Now you hear a lot of artificial distinctions: possessed, oppressed, obsessed--all these words. I think it would be better to dispense all those words because all they do is form grids in your mind through which you try to understand and you may misunderstand because of what you think those words mean. So let's use the Bible word--DEMONIZED, which means that a person has a problem with evil spirits. The problem can be all different kinds of problems, and there are many different kinds of problems that have evil spirits, but this means SOMEBODY WHO IS PARTIALLY UNDER CONTROL OF AN EVIL SPIRIT IN SOME WAY, that one or more evil spirits in some degree control that person or a part of that person, and thereby they are demonized. They are not necessarily demon possessed in the sense we think of it. I want to give you three scriptures: I Peter 5:8-9 "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world." If he cannot attack us then why did God warn us? It is obvious that he can do that, so we are warned to be alert and watch out. We are to resist him, not in our authority or strength, but in the name of Jesus. Because we have been placed in the body of Christ, we have been raised up with Christ, seated with Christ in heavenly places far above all principalities and powers, and every name that is named in this world or the world to come; therefore we are seated there with Him in Christ, and in Jesus' name and in that position and authority, and through the merits of Christ alone we can resist him and he must flee. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing the same experiences of suffering, that is the same kinds of experiences of suffering that is being attacked by the evil one, are being experienced by your brethren which are out in the world. So all Christians are certainly attacked by Satan, by evil spirits, and tempted by evil spirits, and resisted, and the devil is always trying to stop us from what we are trying to do for God. All Christians are up against this spiritual power. Then there is a very interesting Scripture in-- Ephesians 4:27 "Neither give place [ground] to the devil." I want you to underline that verse; it is a very important verse. The word "ground", probably the best translation there: DON'T GIVE ANY GROUND TO THE DEVIL--DON'T GIVE ANY EVIL SPIRIT ANY RIGHTFUL PLACE IN YOUR LIFE WHERE HE CAN PUT HIS FEET. DON'T GIVE HIM ANY PLACE TO STAND ON. The way to deliver people from evil spirits is to remove all the ground upon which those spirits are standing. Now if we just try to "power" them out, we may run into all kinds of problems. Sometimes you can come up against an evil spirit that's manifesting itself openly in somebody's life--speaking through their mouth, or violently throwing the person around, or doing something that is a violent manifestation. Our tendency then is to immediately come against that spirit in Jesus' name and "power" it out. Sometimes you can do that, and especially if you can get at the issue. But many times there is ground in that persons life and that ground is part of the kingdom of darkness and it is legal territory that belongs to Satan. Get this in your mind that one of the things in dealing with evil spirits in anyone's life is the right that evil spirit has to be there. There is a hierarchy, a kingdom of darkness, positions of power and authority in that kingdom, and there are parts in the kingdom of darkness that are willingly part of that person's life. Then that evil spirit has a right to be on that territory. And you may try to "power" him out of there but if that person isn't willing to deal with that particular territory, then you are going to have a very difficult time, and very possibly not be able to do it, and you may think you've done it but just be fooled and find out that you haven't. So what I briefly want to show you a process that we can go through to try to deal with this kind of a problem in people's lives. Another passage: Revelation 12:7-11 "And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night." [Satan accuses us before God day and night and to ourselves constantly, and can really SPIRITUAL WARFARE, Tape 2, Cont. - 9 harass us and defeat us.] And they overcame him by [because of] the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death." That is, that the blood of Jesus Christ is that wonderful atoning blood of the Lamb of God that removes the sin from our life. He is faithful to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth [keeps on cleansing] us from all sin. (I Jn. 1:6-7) The blood of Jesus removes the sin as we keep confessing our sins to Him with honest open hearts, walking in the light, not trying to be deceitful, dishonest, doing what the devil does--lying and cheating and covering and walking in the dark--but if we come out in the light where God is and walk in the light, and confess our sins continually and have them cleansed in the blood of Jesus Christ, there is no ground or territory on which Satan can put his feet in our lives, and there is no territory where evil spirits can stand in our lives. This is very important--the BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST--because of the removing of the ground. The word of their testimony is simply the fact that they confess with their mouths not only their place in Christ and identity in Christ but with their mouth they stood against the evil spirits, and against the powers of Satan in Jesus' name and bound those powers and resisted them in the name of Jesus Christ. They confessed what they believed and their position and authority in Christ. That's the testimony they took against Satan, his power, and evil spirits. Their lives were not important to them. They were willing to give their lives for Christ--a total commitment to the cross of Jesus Christ, where death and resurrection with Him was accepted, the death principle was a part of life, and the life principle part of their life was surrendered fully to God, and to the work of the cross, and they could be filled with the Spirit of God, and have His power in their lives. And he overcame Satan and the powers of darkness. We need Christians in that condition that can do it today! We can kid ourselves and we can think that all these thousands of Christians around us that are born again, and most of them are and are going to heaven someday, that they shouldn't have any problems with Satan or evil spirits because they are born again. But that's not true, because in many of their lives there's all kinds of sin and they know it and they want it, and haven't yielded to God, and it's not being cleansed, not being dealt with, not walking in the light but rather in darkness, and living lives of deceit, and wonder why they are having so many problems when they're in so much bondage and slavery. But it's because they have not gotten their sins under the blood and they are not willing to confess with their mouth what God has done, and take a stand against the powers of darkness, haven't committed themselves to the cross, and given up their lives to Him, they don't know the fullness of His Spirit, and so they've got problems. Every where I turn I am running into it. People are coming to me and telling me one story after another. Now let me walk through with you a process that we use in our church, but it's not peculiar to us, and it's being used by many; it is material from someone else. We began to find in our church that there were many, many people who had problems that couldn't seem to be taken care of; we had good counselling in our church, lots of Godly people to pray with people and disciple them, but we found we had problems in people's lives that were not being taken care of. Some were very extreme problems, and sometimes there were open manifestations of demonic presence. We knew this, understood it, and dealt with it over the years, but we finally decided we need to get more thorough and careful about this. So we set up a "Deliverance Team". Now what comes to your mind is whatever experience you have had with that. So eject that from your mind, whatever it is. It may be accurate for ours but it may not. You may have immediately in your mind a bunch of people who are down on the floor, screaming and yelling, beating the floor and shouting to the top of their lungs, and commanding demons to come out. If that's your idea, get rid of it, because that's not the way we go at this. A team of people have been very specially hand-picked. Usually our team is led by our minister of personal care whom God is using in this area. Sometimes I lead the team, or deal with it by myself just with him to help, but generally he leads the team of Christians. This team is hand-picked whose lives that are clean and are filled with God's Spirit, have faith and are people of prayer. These are people who know how to pray and who know God in prayer, and who pray quickly and easily. There are usually about 25-30 people who are the prayer backing of this ministry. Every Thursday morning there is a house where one of our elders live (he's one of the members of the team) where "deliverance session" takes place. All the people who are on the team know about that place, know where the deliverance session is going to take place and they know the people that are on the team. That session takes place between 9 and 12. By 9:00 all 25 to 30 people are in prayer. Basically they stay in prayer most of the time. Some fast and pray all that morning, fasting from the night before until noon. They concentrate their prayers on this team and on this house. They do not know who is being dealt with for deliverance, but they know this is happening and they are in prayer. People may not believe how much difference this makes. We go running in where angels fear to tread, but we need to learn that prayer really pays. I remember the first time that I walked into that particular house for a deliverance session, I was not leading, but I simply wanted to be in it. I had had my time of prayer that morning alone, I got out of the car and as I walked in that front door into the living room, it was like walking into a sea of calm. I've been there to eat in that home before and it was great, but this was different. Each day before I have come here to this place in prayer I have cleared this place. I want you to understand some things: 10 - SPIRITUAL WARFARE, Tape 2, Cont. 1. First I've gone to prayer, praying for myself and my family and got everything clean, filled with His Spirit, covered with the blood of Christ, surrounded with his angels and protected in every way--all that pertains to me. 2. Then I come against the evil spirits, and I began this before I came to this conference, coming against the evil spirits that might be on these grounds and in this building. I come against them in the name of Jesus, and smite them with the blood of Jesus Christ in Jesus' name. In Jesus' name I bind them and render them powerless, and command to leave this place until this conference is over. 3. Then I ask God to fill this place with His Holy Spirit, and the presence of Jesus Christ, and the Father Himself as He wishes, his mighty holy angels of power, and then we are ready. Every Saturday night and Sunday morning I do this, and there are men and women in our church that do it, so the time we come to our church grounds and buildings, that's all been done. The powers of darkness have been driven from those places, and those places are full of the Spirit of God, and they are wonderful places for people to come. They walk into that sanctuary in our church and they say, "There is something different in here. It's a wonderful place." We have been too careless about all our sin because we aren't conscious of the warfare world. So we do this kind of thing to get ready. Now, about the people who are going to be dealt with: The people who come for a deliverance session are mostly people who have asked for it. For some reason or other they have come to me or to our Minister of Personal Care, or someone in the church who is counselling or trying to help them in, and they have said, "I think maybe I need a deliverance session. 1. They are asked some questions, and then if we think maybe it would be wise for them to come in for such a session, they are given some procedures to get ready for that session. One of the things that we do is we give them some warfare prayers to begin to pray daily. (Some of these prayers are from Mark Bubeck, or from this booklet "Victory Over the Darkness" by Neil Anderson.) 2. Get them to make a LIST OF EVERYTHING THAT IS OCCULTIC or even if they don't think it's occultic but they think it might be, every kind of contact they have ever had with anything occultic, or their parents, grandparents, or anybody they know about in their family has had anything to do with anything that could be occultic, and MAKE A LIST. 3. We ask them to pray, make a LIST OF THE SINS OF THE FLESH that are or have been a problem to them in their life. 4. The third LIST IS EVERYONE AGAINST WHOM THEY HAVE NOT FULLY FORGIVEN. For certain kinds of people we have them also get into one of our SUPPORT GROUPS. We have a larger church and I realize that you cannot do all these things, but you can do all the other things I've suggested. If we think someone has been abused, we have support groups for them. They almost always need a deliverance session. They go into the support group and begin to find love and acceptance and share their sins and mess of their lives, and the other people have been in the same messes and understand, and it's a loving atmosphere. There is Bible teaching, prayer time and they begin to open up and get ready for this deliverance session. There is a process of getting people ready for this. We don't just dump them into it. It would be very difficult in a situation like this if somebody comes and says, "Can I have a session today?" Not likely, because there has been no opportunity to get him ready for such a time. He might not be prepared & we might waste our time with him. Careful preparation is needed to do these things thoroughly. Then the person comes into the session when we think they are ready, not when they think they are ready. But you say, "But these people are suffering. Why don't you just rush right in and deliver them?" Because people are trying to do that everywhere, and it's not working. I've already had some of you tell me about some of family and friends and different ones that people have prayed with to be delivered and they are not delivered. We want to help people. When in the session, the leader begins to lead them through a process. In most cases of this type by the time they come to this session, there are no manifestations taking place--no demons speaking out of their mouth, not throwing the person around, not violent. There are many people who are in bondage to evil spirits who never have had any of those manifestations, nor never will. That's extreme. Normally that's not happening when they come into these sessions. If it has, it's been happening somewhere else and has been quietly dealt with, and those spirits have been bound. But when they come into this session, if there is any manifestation we immediately bind that spirit, command it to be quiet, and not to manifest itself in any way unless it is given permission. Don't get these spirits carrying on, because they like to put on a show, and they'll carry one and they'll throw a person around the room and all kinds of things. NEVER, EVER PUT SPIRITUAL WARFARE, Tape 2, Cont. - 11 YOUR HANDS ON A PERSON THAT YOU THINK MIGHT HAVE A DEMON. If they become violent, do not hold them down. I am appalled at hearing of cases where Christians have held people bound in a room so they can try to deal with evil spirits. I don't think that is necessary or wise, because you may end up hurting the person and may end up in a lawsuit, or you may get hurt. At the very BEGINNING OF THE SESSION WE PRAY AUTHORITATIVELY. Such as, "Dear Heavenly Father, we acknowledge Your presence in this room and in our lives. You are the only omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent God. [This isn't a battle between two equal powers.] We declare our dependency upon You, for apart from Christ we can do nothing. We stand in the truth, all authority has been given to the resurrected Christ in heaven and on earth, and because we are in Christ we share that authority in order to make disciples and set captives free. Therefore we command Satan to release John in order that John can know and choose to do the will of God. Now in the name of Christ we command Satan and all his forces to be bound and silenced within John, and they cannot inflict any pain or in any way prevent God's will from being accomplished in John's life. We ask the Holy Spirit to fill us and direct us into all truth. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen." Set the perimeters right from the beginning. As we proceed through this session we say to the person: "You tell me anything that comes to your mind, any thoughts of any kind, especially of resistance against what is going on." They will get thoughts like: "You don't believe him, do you"; or, "He doesn't know what he is talking about"; or, "This isn't true; this is a lie". We warn them, any thoughts you get, tell us. Why do we want them to say it? Because as soon as they say it out loud, it goes away. Satan works in the dark, and he works in the mind and presents thoughts to the mind, so these evil spirits will present thoughts to the mind, but if they tell us the thoughts, they're gone. And we can take care of that. Occasionally also in the process we'll ask them to do something, they won't be able to do it, like, we say we want you to say this prayer. And they will say, "I can't pray it." If they can't pray it, then we need to know it. Then we stop and and in Jesus' name we bind the spirits and command them to release them so they can pray, and then they can go ahead and pray it. It really works just that simply. Don't shout, don't make a noise, just say quietly, In Jesus' name... and they obey. 1. Here are the steps that we go through. First DEAL WITH THE OCCULT. If they have their list, and we also have a list, and we present that list to them and have them take time to go down through it. We have before them prayers that they can pray, so we say to them that we want you to say this prayer: "Dear Heavenly Father, I ask You to reveal to my mind all the occult or occult practices, false religions and false teachers which I have knowingly or unknowingly been involved." Then we present them with a list that they can go through. Take time--this may take two or three hours through the whole thing. You will be surprised, as they have asked God to open their minds, suddenly they'll say, "Oh, I didn't think there was anything, but I remember..." They now have a complete list of any kind of involvement that they have been involved in. One young lady said, "Well, I've never been involved in anything like this, and neither has my family." And we say, are you sure? So she prays this prayer, and looks at me very strangely and says, "You know what I just remembered? We have a photograph at home of my aunt holding me when I was a baby, and my aunt is dressed in her robes as a satanic high priestess." This is why we do this slowly and very thoroughly to be sure that we have covered all the ground. Then we have them pray something like this: "Lord, I confess that I have participated in __________ (and then they name it, such as, Ouija Boards, Dungeons and Dragons, seances, horoscopes, etc.). I ask Your forgiveness and I renounce the Ouija board in Jesus' name." And they go right down the list if they have a dozen or whatever. Each one they confess as sin, ask forgiveness, and renounce it in Jesus' name, everyone until it's clean. Let's get the record clean; get it under the blood. We overcome Satan by the blood. Confess sins and then can be put away. 2. Next, deal with DECEPTION VS. TRUTH. Satan's number one weapon is deception. The sting has been pulled and Satan and all his forces have been defeated, and the only way that they succeed in the world today, as they do, is by deceit--by lies, darkness, deceit. That's his number one weapon. We need to deal with deception and truth. So we have "Dear Heavenly Father, I know you desire truth in the inner self, and facing this truth is the way of liberation. I acknowledge that I have been deceived by the father of lies and that I have deceived myself. I pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, that You, Heavenly Father will rebuke all deceiving spirits by virtue of the shed blood and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and since by faith I have received You into my life I am now seated with Christ in the heavenlies, I command all deceiving spirits to depart from me and I ask the Holy Spirit to guide me into all truth. I ask You to search my heart, try me and know my anxious thoughts, and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen." (NOTE: Beginning of SIDE 2 of this tape is on page 11, indicated above by the bold words, The sting has been pulled...) 12 - SPIRITUAL WARFARE, Tape 2, Cont. He prays through a prayer like that thoughtfully, slowly, and then we have an affirmation of faith (in manual), and take it them pray a prayer something like this: home with them and read it every day for as long as they want--all their life, if they want. It says such things like, "I believe that I am now a child of God, and that I am seated with Christ in the heavenlies, I believe that I was saved by the grace of God through faith, that it was a gift and not the result of my works. I choose to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might, I put know confidence in the flesh..." This affirmation of faith is very good. I believe that Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth, that apart from Jesus Christ I can do nothing. I choose to abide in Christ in order to bear much fruit. I believe that the truth will set me free and that walking in the light is the only path of fellowship; therefore, I stand against Satan's deception by taking every thought captive to obedience to Christ." Isn't that what the Word of God says? Though we are living in the flesh we do not war after the flesh, but the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and taking captive every thought to the obedience of Christ (II Cor. 10:3-5). We have to bring every thought into obedience to Christ. Satan is dumping his wicked thoughts into our minds all the time if we don't watch it. The reason why some Christians cannot possibly get this kind of victory is because day after day, and week after week, and year after year they are filling their minds with the thoughts of the world, and all the filth, garbage, lies, false philosophies and psychologies, and every kind of deceitful untruth that the world can produce. They are reading it and watching it on television, listening to it in their music, they are thinking the devil's thoughts after him constantly, and they wonder why they are deceived and why they are captive and enslaved. You have to clean that stuff out, and a good way is by hearing my tape on "Renewing of the Mind." The third thing that we have them deal with is BITTERNESS VS. FORGIVENESS. What will happen sometimes when we are going through this affirmation of truth, they will get stuck. They will go to read something and they say, "I can't read that." We say, "Try again." And they say, "No, I can't; I can't say it." So you say, "What have you been believing that is contrary to that?" And after thinking about it they say, "O yes, I've always believed..." Now we'll show you in the Bible that that's a lie. Are you ready to renounce that lie and to believe God's Word? Like, somebody says, "I believed all my life that I'm no good." Are you a child of God? "Yes." Have you been forever sanctified by the blood of Jesus? "Yes." Are you a new creation in Christ Jesus? "Yes." Do you believe that He would create something that isn't good? Everything God creates is good. You have to get them to where they are willing to face the false beliefs, then we pray, and release, and then they can go on and make the affirmation, and begin believe truth, and to affirm that it is true. 3. Deal with BITTERNESS VS. FORGIVENESS. It is absolutely important that people will deal with forgiveness if they want to be free from the powers of darkness. I believe, and I think that most people who work broadly with Christians, would believe the same thing, that the number one problem with Christians is bitterness. It is the number one problem in the psyche wards, everywhere you go people's lives are full of bitterness. Since I got on these grounds, speaking this week, I've come against it--deep bitterness from the past, from both sides of the family. People have to deal with this thoroughly because in Matt. 18 where Jesus gives His parable on forgiveness, you remember when He came to the end of that parable where the man owed his master ten million dollars--he did a bad thing in business, and lost his master's money. His master freely forgave him, and that means his master took the loss. And that's a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our sins are against God, and when God forgives us, He forgives because He took the loss, He bore our sins, He paid the debt on the cross--He died in our place, took our penalty and paid our debt. We are set free and forgiven. That's the Gospel. But this man turned around and he had a friend that owed him $22.00 and grabbed him by the throat and wouldn't forgive him. Some of the other servants went and told the master. [I tell on people to God, saying, "Look what they're doing."] The master said, "You wicked servant. I forgave you all that debt and I took the loss, and why wouldn't you forgive your fellow servant? Take him and deliver him to the tormentors. So shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, every one of you, don't forgive your brother from your heart." That's serious. That means that we have thousands of Christians all through our churches who have been delivered into the hands of the tormentors. The tormentors refer to evil spirits. You say, "God wouldn't do that, would He?" Then why did Paul say concerning a certain man that I have delivered him to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit might be saved in the day of Jesus Christ. He is talking about a Christian, that He had delivered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh as discipline so that the man would get right with God, and his spirit would be saved in the day of Jesus Christ. There are others. What about God and King Saul where an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him? There are good reasons why Christians are struggling against demon power, and one of the reasons is because of unforgiveness. So, we have to go through this kind of thing very carefully. I can think of a case where someone was dealing with this kind of thing and trying to forgive and said, "I don't have very many people to forgive." I told them to pray this prayer. "Dear Heavenly Father, I thank You for the riches of Your kindness, forbearance and patience, knowing that Your kindness has led me to repentance. I confess that I have not extended that same patience and kindness toward others who have offended me, but instead I have harbored bitterness and resentment. I pray that during this time SPIRITUAL WARFARE, Tape 2, Cont. - 13 of self examination You would bring to mind only those people I have not forgiven. In order that I may do so, I ask this in the precious name of Jesus. Amen." And all at once she starts remembering. What a list! The list is gone through and then the person takes each person that they have written down on a piece of paper. (If they haven't brought their list with them, or they don't have it complete and they add more, then they say, "Lord, I forgive my father (or whoever it is) for (and they specifically identify all the offenses and painful memories. I forgive my father for the fact that he sexually abused me from the time that I was eight years old till I was eighteen. I forgive my brother for the fact that he cheated me out of $50,000. dollars about ten years ago. They name it (the offense) and in Jesus name forgive. Forgiveness is not a feeling; forgiveness is a decision I make. I decide to accept the hurt that's been done to me, and let the other person go free. That's what God did and that's the way we forgive. That is extremely important if you want to see a person set free. 4. REBELLION VS. SUBMISSION. We live in a very rebellious age, and rebellion in Scripture in I Sam. 15:23 says that "rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness [insubordination] is as iniquity and idolatry..." People who have a rebellious spirit--may be some in our church, or you may know someone who has a rebellious spirit against the leaders of your church. What do you think happens to those Christians that continue year after year with this rebellious spirit? Is it any wonder that we have so many problems in Christian's lives? It's because they are rebellious, so that needs to be dealt with. We have a list: civil government, parents, husband, employer, church leaders--they go down the list. Is there any rebellion? They pray and ask God to bring it to their mind. If there is any rebellious spirit it has to be dealt with, con- fess as sin, ask God's forgiveness, and say to God that they are ready to submit to authority and to take their proper place. 5. PRIDE VS. HUMILITY. Pride is a killer. What was Satan's great sin? "I will"... He exalts himself in pride above God. The great sin in evil spirits is pride. They want to be worshipped as God. So, it must be dealt with thoroughly if there is any pride in their life. We have them pray a prayer like, "Dear Heavenly Father, You have said that pride goes before destruction, and an arrogant spirit before stumbling. I confess that I have not denied myself, picked up my cross daily and followed You, and in so doing I have given ground to the enemy in my life. I have believed that I could be successful and live victoriously by my own strength and resources. I now confess that I have sinned against You by placing my will before You, and by centering my life around self instead of You. I now renounce the self-life, and by so doing cancel all the ground that has been gained in my members by the enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ. ...with humility of mind I will regard others more important than myself. Enable me to love to serve others and honor and prefer others. I ask this in the name of Jesus Christ my Lord. Amen." Do you think it is important to deal with the self-life? Self-life is the seat of pride. 6. BONDAGE VS. FREEDOM. This is where we deal with sins of the flesh, and hopefully they have their list with them, and they may want to add to it. And we have them pray a prayer something like this: "Dear Heavenly Father, You have told us to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. I acknowledge that I have given in to fleshly lusts which wage war against my soul. [Isn't that what the Bible says? Absolutely] I thank You that in Christ my sins are forgiven but I have transgressed Your holy law and given the enemy an opportunity to wage war in my members. I come before Your presence to acknowledge these sins and to seek Your cleansing that I may be free from the bondage of sin, and I ask You to reveal to my mind the ways I have transgressed Your moral law and grieved the Holy Spirit." They are asking God to reveal to the mind, and for the leading of the Holy Spirit, and we all get quiet until they feel they are finished, when God is speaking to them. If you are not ready to really suffer, don't try this. I have a rule in our church that our deliverance team can only do a deliverance once a week. Once in a while we violate that rule, but we try to keep it, because you simply can't stand it. Unless you re winning souls and the people around you are winning souls, people have no idea what's going on out there. In those sessions I have heard every sin confessed that is possible to be committed on this earth, except murder. However, I believe abortion is murder. You get somebody who really wants deliverance and is desperate, and they are really to dump this stuff, and you are just going to have sit there and listen to it. Let them pray, and let them pour it out to God. Usually the tears will come and there will be a tremendous cleansing taking place, and it has to be done. Now, you have lots of people who don't have that kind of thing, but if you're going to deal with people who seem quite obviously to have some demonic problems, then you're going to get some really rough ones; and yet, you would never know to look at them. If I were to take you into my church Sunday morning and say to pick out the people here who have had the most rotten background confessed to God, you couldn't do it. There are fine looking people, business people, brilliant, making good money, clever, educated, cultured, refined--everyone. Our 30-40 age have come up through a bad time in North America, and their lives are in bad shape. The look nice on top, but there are people sitting here listening to me this morning who have been hearing voices for years in their heads. Some doctor told you it's schizophrenia, or something, but there may be a physical problem. There's a lot of Christians who look very nice on the 14 - SPIRITUAL WARFARE, Tape 2, Cont. outside that are having lots of problems. We need to be willing to take the time to go over these problems. "I now confess these sins to You and claim through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ my forgiveness and cleansing. I cancel all ground that evil spirits have gained through my willful involvement in sin. I ask this in the wonderful name of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ." When people get willfully involved in sin, and many times even Christians, in that willful involvement of sin they are rebelling, yielding to the lusts of the flesh, committing sins against the body and against God, and doing it willfully and stubbornly. And in that process many times they give grounds to evil spirits, and that ground has to be taken back. They gave it willfully and they got to take it back. So they say, "I now take back all ground that's been given to any of the powers of darkness through any of my actions, or sins or beliefs. I take it back in Jesus' name and I give all that ground to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory, and to the Holy Spirit of God that He may inhabit all the territory in my life. Amen." 7. RENUNCIATION OF THE SINS OF OUR ANCESTORS. It is possible for people to be in severe bondage from the sins of their ancestors. Here's a prayer we have them pray: "Dear Heavenly Father, I come to you as Your child, purchased by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. I hereby reject and disown all the sins of my ancestors, as one who has been delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son, I cancel out all demonic workings that has been passed on to me from my ancestors. As one who has been crucified and raised with Christ and sits with Him in heavenly places, I reject any and every way in which Satan may claim ownership of me. I declare myself to be eternally and completely signed over and committed to the Lord Jesus Christ. I now command every familiar spirit, and every enemy of the Lord Jesus Christ that is in or around me, to go to the pit and remain there until the day of judgment. I now ask You, Heavenly Father, to fill me with Your Holy Spirit. I submit my body as an instrument of righteousness, a living sacrifice, that I may glorify You in my body. All this I do in the name and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen." Do you think that the young lady who had the photograph at home of her aunt, who was an high priestess of Satan, holding her in her arms as a baby, needed to pray this prayer? You better believe that she needed to. We discovered that her mother told her since the day she was born that she was under a curse because she was the oldest daughter. She was told this all her life, and the entire family had been told that, and they had all treated her as if she had been under a curse. Her mother told her that she herself was the oldest daughter and was under the same curse, and that her mother was the oldest daughter and under the same curse, and her grandmother was the oldest daughter and under the same curse, and all the way back to the land of Romania this curse had come down through the generations to the oldest daughter, and it was just too bad but she was under a curse. And she believed it. Do you think she needs to break loose from the past? She certainly did. Those kind of things need to be renounced. I think of parents that are adopting children, you need to have some definite time of prayer, calling your pastor and your elders, if you are adopting a baby or child, and take a stand against all connections of that child with his past sinful ancestors and any involvement that may have been in those ancestors. In fact, because the child was illegitimately born, it is very likely almost always the case. And it is very likely that the people who gave birth to it were living sinful lives and many times were involved in the occult, and evil spirits can be passed on from those parents to that baby, even though you are a Christian family and you've adopted it. You may adopt that child and bring evil spirits into your home, and they may disrupt your home, and you may find out later what you brought into your home. You need to deal with that and make sure that it is clear. When you have a little baby you can clear it and cancel it all out, because you have authority for the child now it is in your care, and before God you can cancel out all the past, and cut all its ties. If there are any evil spirits that have been passed on to that child, you can bind them and command them to leave, and never return, and you can set that child free. I know, because I adopted two children. AFTER CARE: We give them prayers to pray every day, warfare prayers to pray every day, and if possible to be put into a support group where they can get constant support and teaching and discipling to keep on growing in the Lord, and keep contact to find out how every thing is going, check them out, make sure they are not having any recurrences, and they are indeed free. We are seeing people constantly set free, week after week. I want to say something that I feel will be a help to you if you feel that God wants you involved. Dr. Neil Anderson, who wrote this book, is a professor at Talbot Seminary. It is just good solid Bible truths. Dr. Anderson has been involved in this kind of ministry for a number of years now and has a very fine ministry in this area. You can get from Freedom in Christ Ministries, the booklet called Steps to Freedom in Christ. You can order these--leaders guide, student guide. Don't do it because you think it sounds exciting or are curious. This is not exciting. It is like every other Christian ministry, it is the cross of Jesus Christ. And you will pay a price for this kind of thing. Everything you do for Christ is going to cost you something. Freedom in Christ Ministries, 491 East Lambert Road, LaHabra, CA 90631