Frankie Mazzapica - Satan's Three Creative Attacks - Part 1
Thank you for tuning in today. My name is Frankie Mazzapica. The title of the message is "Satan's Three Creative Attacks," Satan's Three Creative Attacks. Here we go. Now, the devil, the snake from hell, he attacks everyone in a variety of ways. For one person, there's an addiction; the next person, it's not an addiction, it's a spiritual challenge, they have doubt, they have fear; for another person, it's physical, they're sick, they're tormented by the enemy. I'm not saying all sickness is from the devil, but I am saying there's a lot of sickness that's from the devil, I'm not saying all problems are from the devil, but I am saying that the devil is more involved than what we think he is. And he challenges us, he fights us, he torments us in a variety of ways.
But this message is specifically for those in the room who have committed a sin in their past and they are tormented by that sin, they can't stop thinking about it. They believe that it's so significant that it may have altered their effectiveness for God, they keep it a secret, they don't want anyone to know, they never speak about it. It's also for those that feel like that they have gone into a place, that they have drifted into a place where they feel like their relationship with God is really no longer there.
Again, it's two categories, for one, it's the sin of the past, for another, they've drifted away. There are three things that I want to share with you, the first thing is the devil wants to tell you that you are not special. There's nothing unique about you, you're just kind of thrown into the human race. There's special people that are anointed by God to do something significant, but you yourself, you don't believe that you're special enough to do anything significant, so therefore, you're caught in the grind of life, you're not fulfilling an assignment because you don't believe there's anything there.
That's the first category. The second category is Satan is trying to convince you that you are unrighteous, and because you're unrighteous, because of the things that you've done, the things that you don't want to talk about, the sins of the past, because you're unrighteous, the promises in the Bible are not for you. And the third category or the third point is that Satan accuses you, he's constantly accusing you in two different areas, and I'll get to those two different areas in a moment. But the only way that we can defend ourselves from the enemy and attack at the same time, the only way we can do that is through the armor of God.
My son and I have been playing a lot of chess over the last few weeks, it's not fun for me because he cheats. He cheats, and I'll tell you how, because when I play chess, I'm not very good at it, I can't see three, four, five moves ahead, I can only see the next move ahead, "Hey, this looks like a good idea". But he cheats, he goes on YouTube and he figures out how to put somebody in checkmate in four moves, he figures out how to use eight moves, if I don't follow along with his plan, and so he beats me on a regular basis. He's figured out how to play defense and attack at the same time.
You see, the armor of God teaches you how to play defense and how to attack at the same time, that's what the armor of God does. Come on, if you clap, if you encourage me, I know you got the point, I'll go on to the next one; if you don't clap, I'll feel like you didn't get the point, then I got to repeat it over and over again. So let me just say this before I start talking about the armor of God, the armor of God only has power if you believe it has power, the armor of God is only useful for you if you believe that it exists. If you do not believe it has power, if you do not believe that it exists, if you do not believe that in the spirit it is resting on your body, it's resting on your head, it's resting on your chest, there's a breastplate, there's a sword, there's a shield, if you don't believe you're walking around with the armor of God, it is of no use to you.
But if you do believe it, you are the most feared being on this earth, hell trembles when you walk, and demons fear, they bend down, they cower, because the power of God is resting in the armor of God. Do you believe that this morning? Come on, the power of God is resting in the armor of God. Let's talk about the armor, the armor is discussed in Ephesians chapter 6, verses 12-18, a lot of people stop talking about it in verse 17, but there's another piece of the armor that a lot of people haven't realized that's actually a part of it. Let me dive right in.
The Bible says, in Ephesians chapter 6, verse 12, you and I, "Are not wrestling against flesh and blood". It's not your wife, it's not your husband, the children you're concerned about, the children that are struggling, they're not struggling with anything on this earth other than the fact that they're fighting a spirit. The challenges that you have at work, the challenges that you have with your neighbor, it's not that they're idiots, it's not that they're terrible. I know that's hard to believe sometimes, but the reality of the matter is that there are spirits.
And in that verse, Ephesians chapter 6, verse 12, it says this: "We are not wrestling against flesh and blood, but," we are fighting against, we are wrestling against, "Against evil rulers and authorities in an unseen world". We can't see it but here they are, they're moving around. We're wrestling against those evil rulers and authorities, "Against mighty powers". If anyone told you they're weak, let me tell you, they were wrong, they are mighty, and they are, "In this dark world". We are fighting, "Against evil spirits in heavenly places". The first heaven is the sky that we see. I don't have time to go into the different levels of heaven, but that's the first heaven, the sky that we see. They're floating around, and then they come down and they allow their feet to walk on the same ground that we walk on, and they try to torment us over and over again.
And then the Bible says this: "Therefore," because we're fighting these spirits, "Put on the full armor of God," put on every single piece. We'll talk about those pieces in just a minute. "Put on the full armor of God, for when the day of evil comes". Notice it doesn't say, "If anything comes against you," "If any spirit comes to fight you". No, no, no, it says, "When," it says, "When," when these spirits attack, you will be able to stand firm against them, and you will be able to stand your ground after the battle is over. You're not laying down, your face isn't in the dirt, you're like, "What now? What now"?
And then it describes what this armor is and what it represents. First of all, if you have, if you ever wear a belt, some of you are wearing a belt this morning, there is a spiritual belt available and all you have to do is believe that it's there. There's a spiritual belt and it's called the belt of truth, you need this belt to know the truth. There is a breastplate of righteousness, there is a breastplate that, if you believe it's on you, it's there. There are shoes of peace that you're wearing, all of you are wearing shoes this morning, at least I hope you are, though, you are wearing spiritual shoes, and they are shoes of peace, and there's peace there because of the Good News.
You also have a shield that protects you from the fiery darts of the enemy. You see, all the way from hell, there are darts that fly. If you've ever played darts, you know that the further you scoot back the more that they will dip down by the time you throw them. By the time you scoot back about 10 feet, 12 feet, it starts to dip when you throw them. These are not spiritual darts from hell, they can throw those things from hell and they will fly for miles and miles and miles to stick into your soul, stick into your spirit, stick into your flesh. And the Bible says that you have a shield that can cause you to protect yourself from all of these fiery darts, you have a shield.
But it doesn't stop there, because people who war and people who fight, any time they go to war they have to have a helmet on, and you have a helmet of salvation. No spirit can come up to you chop your head off and cause you, who once had an address in heaven, to end up in hell. No, no, no, no, that helmet, you can't chop it, and it is on there, you can hang upside down, it is on there for good. And you have a sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. I always challenge you, or I try to always challenge you, memorize one or two verses, because those one or two verses, that's your sword. You can back up and say Philippians 2:11, "God has no favorites," the same power that was on King David is on me, and you believe in that sword.
The very last one is in verse 18, it's not part of the physical armor, the spiritual armor that rests on you, it's actually the power that's in your mouth. In Ephesians chapter 6, verse 18, it says, "Pray in the Spirit all the time". When you're walking, pray in the Spirit, when you're in your car, pray in your spirit. Don't ever stop praying in the spirit because words create worlds, and when you speak life, life is there, when you call on the power of God, the power of God begins to move, when you ask God to send angels on your behalf, it begins to happen. When you begin to speak peace, when you begin to speak deliverance, the power that is in your prayer begins to manifest in your atmosphere. And this is why not only are you wearing a breastplate, you have a sword, you got a shield, but there's power in your words.
And so I want to dive right now into the three points that I discussed, that the enemy wants you to feel like you're not special, that you're unrighteous, and I want to talk about how he accuses you. So let's dive right into it. He tells you that you are not special. Let me give you a verse to combat that. In 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 8, God says this: "I will keep you strong into the end". If you feel like I am too weak to pursue you, every time I say I'm gonna pursue you my knees buckle and I mess up again. Let me just remind you that you will never be strong enough until you say, "God, I need you to help me to be strong". Until you say those words, "I need you to help me be strong. If you don't help me be strong, I'll never be strong," the verse says, "I will help you be strong," not to the end of the day, not to the end of the week, but, "Until Jesus Christ returns".
And then he says this, "And I will do this," because, "I have called you to partner with Jesus Christ". The power of Jesus Christ is still moving on this earth and he says, "I have called you to partner with this power". In fact, "I have put the power inside of you". Romans chapter 5, verse 5, I've put the power inside of you, so that you would experience my love. But it's not supposed to stay in you, it's supposed to flow out of you. Not only are you special, but you have been called. In Isaiah chapter 49, verse 1, it says this, "I knew you, and I called you while you were in your mother's womb". That's how special you are.
Let me say this. Sometimes people will come into your life to convince you that you're not special, but God's called you and those are lies from the enemy. Let's talk about, now, how he makes you feel unrighteous. And these are the moments where you look back on your life and there's certain sins that you just feel like has disqualified you, there's certain sins that you can't stop thinking about, certain sins that just embarrass you, certain sins you'll never talk about. You know, there's certain parts of our testimony that we freely tell each other, "Man, the Lord saved me from this, the Lord pulled me from this, he lifted me out of the mire of the grave". But then there are certain testimonies you will never, ever, ever, ever, ever talk about. Oh, it's just me? That's okay. Never talk about.
And these sins, these things that we've done in our past, we think to ourselves, "That has made me forever unrighteous. There's certain things, there's certain Achilles Heels that I can't get over, it's made me forever unrighteous. So therefore, the promises in the Bible, they don't apply to me, because it speaks of the righteous, so they don't apply to me". I want to tell you that that's a lie from the enemy, and let me tell you why. In 1st Peter chapter 1, verse 2, Peter says this, and it was a divine revelation spoken to him by God. And he says the Lord has told me this, that God knew you and called you long ago. He knew your name before your mother knew your name, he knew you before your mother was born, he knew you before he pulled the first mountain out of the ground, and he knew you and he called you.
And so, going back to Peter, he says God knew you and called you long ago, now watch this, and the Spirit of the Lord made you holy. The Spirit of The Lord looked at you, looked at me and he said, "You can't make yourself holy, I'll make you, I'll make you holy". And because we responded, "Oh, thank you, Jesus," that's how you respond, "Thank you, Jesus". And then Jesus Christ, the blood of Jesus Christ forgave you of all your sins. God got involved, Jesus got involved, the Holy Spirit got you involved, and they are the ones that made you righteous. You're not righteous on your own, the Bible says that you wear the breastplate of righteousness because he made you righteous, he made you righteous.
I have a friend of mine, she's a prayer partner, she's a part of our deliverance team, she's been trained in deliverance, she's read books on deliverance, she's been prayed for, there's an anointing on her life. And I think it was her sister, maybe it was her cousin, I can't remember, but she called her up and said, "Hey, I need you to come to California, because I have a daughter who, her face contorts, her voice changes, the devil's speech, she's possessed with the devil. She's got these massive addictions to drugs, she can't stop. Will you come, will you fly over and speak Jesus, use the authority of God, so that she will be delivered"? She shows up to the house, and she takes all the locks to the door, she takes all the locks off and she flips them inside out so that the girl can't run out, that's some confidence right there.
So she walks up to the girl and she begins to speak and tell the demon what's about to happen, "You're about to be cast out". And while she's telling the demon what's about to happen, the demon speaks through the girl and says, "I know you, and I know what you've done". Now, if the devil were to say that to you, let me just say this, if the devil were to say that to most people, eyes would get big and they would go, "Uh-oh, I'm out of here". I have another friend of mine that went up to pray for a person, they laid their hands on and said, "Devil, you get out of them," and the demon spoke back, "Get your hands off me," and he went, "Okay".
But a friend of mine and she she spoke back, and says, "I know what you've done, I know what you've done". And she spoke back to the devil, "You shut your mouth, you don't know what I've done, I've been washed by the blood of Jesus Christ, I've been made holy through the Holy Spirit. I'm not the person that I once was, I'm not the person that you remember I was. In fact, God doesn't even remember what I've done, so you need to forget what I've done, because if God doesn't remember, you can't remember. I rebuke you, now, in the name of Jesus Christ, you come out of her, get out of this house, in Jesus's name".
The enemy wants to tell you how unrighteous you are, the enemy wants to tell you all the sins that you've committed, the enemy wants to antagonize you. But you have the breastplate of righteousness, not because you're righteous, but because Jesus is righteous and his Holy Spirit has touched you and made you righteous, and any other thought is from the enemy, it's from the enemy. You say, "That doesn't apply to me," that's from the enemy. The belt of truth tells you that you're special, the breastplate of righteousness tells you that you are righteous in the name of Jesus, and then, the Bible says that you have the feet that is shod with peace because of the Word of God. And you need that peace because he accuses you, he tells you who you are not.
In 1 Kings, we read about the prophet Elijah, that the spirit of the enemy began to speak to this prophet directly, not through a person, it was his thoughts and his emotions, and he became so depressed that he became suicidal. Sometimes the enemy will accuse you directly and other times the enemy will use people to accuse you directly. You say, "Well, I don't know, because the people that are accusing me, they're saved. I don't know, maybe that's just them accusing me". Can I remind us all that it was Peter that the enemy spoke through when Peter told Jesus, "No, you can't, I will not let you, I do not want you, you shall not be crucified," and Jesus looked back at Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan"! He didn't talk to Peter, he talked to Satan.
If one of Jesus own disciples can be used by the devil, even if it's just for a moment, some of the people in your life, some of the people in your family, some of the people with the enemy will come in and put words in their mouth that the enemy knows is a soft spot for you. It may not hurt them, it may not hurt them, but the enemy knows it will hurt you, and you have to back up and know in your mind, "You are accusing me, you are an accuser of the brethren, you are being influenced by the accuser". In Revelation chapter 12, verse 10, I'm sorry I'm yelling, but I'm getting fired up, let me get control of myself.
In Revelation chapter 12, verse 10, it says that Satan is, "The accuser of the brethren". And anyone who's accusing you of being a person that you know you're not, you just back up and say, "I'm not gonna accept that. You keep on saying that about me, but I'm not gonna accept that, I'm not who you say I am, I'm not who you say I am. You can keep saying it over and over again, but it doesn't make you right, I'm not who you say I am". You throw your shoulders back, and you say, "I've got the shoes of peace, and it is shod by the Word of God, and I don't accept what you have to say". And Jesus wants you to know that you are special, he's made you righteous, and there's peace around you. And if you believe that you have the armor of God, then the armor of God is powerful in your life. Do you receive it?