Joyce Meyer - Are You Resisting or Assisting the Devil? [FULL] (08/17/2019)
Joyce Meyer warns that ignoring the devil assists him—he's actively plotting against believers. Trouble comes from a fallen world, disobedience, or direct attacks. We must recognize his strategies, resist him actively (not passively), and stand firm in our authority in Christ. Passivity invites defeat; informed resistance brings victory and protects our progress in God.
Why Talk About the Devil?
Are you resisting the devil or assisting the devil? That's our subject for the first three meetings, and then I've got... I'm going to go a little bit of a different direction with the last one, but they'll all tie in. I'm going to talk to you this weekend about the devil because I feel like God wants me to.
And you know, for some people that may not be a very pleasant subject. You think, I don't know if I'll come back. I don't want to, you know, I wouldn't talk about the devil. Well, let me tell you something. He's very interested in you. And so maybe you should be just a little more interested in him because he has all these strategies and well-thought-out plans, and the worst thing that we can do is be uninformed or ignore him.
I went to church for many, many years, probably, I don't know, at least 10 years on a regular basis. Dave and I were pretty involved in church, and I got a really good foundation about salvation, but I have to tell you that after 10 years of being in that church, I never really, I never heard a message about how we can have authority over the enemy, how we need to resist the enemy, we need to rebuke the enemy.
As far as I was concerned, I mean, I knew that there was a devil, but I didn't really know that he was the author of my problems. I didn't know that he was the one that had worked through my father to sexually abuse me when I was growing up. I didn't know that he was the one that made my mother so pathetically afraid that she wouldn't confront the situation and that it ended up costing her her mental health.
I blamed things on people, sadly, sometimes even on God, but never really got to the real source of my problems. And the Bible says that we war not against flesh and blood. Now, hear me. I know we all think that people are our problems, and people certainly can be a problem, but it's the enemy working through people.
And so when we just deal with the people, and we never get to the source of the problem, the enemy loves that. We war not with flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers and wickedness in high places. And we need to learn how to deal with the enemy.
Ignorance Assists the Enemy
I don't think we should go around with the devil on our mind all the time. But I think that we also have to get stirred up every once in a while to realize that we have to have seasons in our life where we come against him and that we also need to learn how to really recognize when the enemy's at work and to quickly do the same thing that Jesus did. Get behind me, Satan. I rebuke you, Satan. You're a liar. Here's the word.
If we are passive, it will not stop the devil from being aggressive. You have an enemy. He's not happy that you're making any attempt to serve God. Any time that you're ready to come up higher, be promoted to a new level in anything, spiritually, financially, anything else, I always say new level, new devil. You always get a little bit of different kind of confrontation on every level that you come up to.
And I can be honest and tell you that it's really not even possible for anybody to experience very much success as a believer if you don't understand how to deal with your enemy. Amen? And so some of you are probably like I was when I went to church all those years and, you know, I heard about the goodness of God.
But I really didn't even know that the enemy was... that the devil was real. I mean, I just saw the devil as a... I don't know, red pajamas, long tail, pitchfork, Halloween character. You know, they sold Halloween costumes. You could dress up like the devil if you wanted to. And I didn't get it. I didn't really know who he was.
And, you know, when you're uninformed and you don't know what you're dealing with, then it's very easy to be defeated. And so we can resist the devil, but if we don't know what we're doing, we can also assist the devil. And I want to make sure that I'm not doing that and that the people that I have the privilege of teaching are not doing that.
Three Reasons Trouble Comes
So, first of all, let's talk for a minute about why does trouble come in our lives. I think we've always got that why question. That's a question that will never stop being asked. So I'll talk to you about three reasons why trouble comes.
First of all, we live in a fallen world and we often experience the fruit of just the general curse that's in the world resulting from sin. And so when we have trouble because it's just we're in the world and there's just trouble out there, in the world there will be tribulation, Jesus said.
First of all, let me say that those are not really times where you need to try to figure anything out. We waste way too much of our time with the why, God, why. I don't understand. I don't think that's a bad thing to ask God. But if He doesn't show you anything, don't go on a digging expedition trying to make something up.
It seems like with Christians we always want to have a reason for everything. Well, it's because of this. Well, it's because of that. Well, sometimes it's just because you're living in the world. You know? I mean, it's just that simple.
Those are times to put our faith in God and to trust Him without borders and even sometimes beyond what seems reasonable to protect us, to lead us through, and ultimately in His perfect timing out of the trouble.
How many of you have had great problems in your life at some time and God has led you out of those and you now no longer have those problems? Well, amen. Awesome. God is always faithful and He does not work on our desired timetable. Amen?
Trouble as Training and Witness
At times, He allows us to stay in trouble long enough for us to learn a lesson and it may not even be, well, I'm going to teach you a lesson because you're doing this wrong. It may just be something that we need to learn for the future.
To be very honest, I believe that many of the things that I've gone through in my life, God could have delivered me from them, but I think instead He took me through them because of what He had called me to do. And when I stand up here and talk to you about different things, He wants me to really know not only just by the Word, but by experience also what I'm talking about.
And the Bible says in Psalms that we learn by the Word of God and by life's experiences. We learn some things just by studying the Word, but somehow when you go through something, I understand the fear that cancer brings because I dealt with that 25 years ago in my life.
I understand it being hard to give up the habit of smoking cigarettes because I went through that almost 40 years ago. When you experience something in your life, then you have usually a greater level of compassion. And really, somebody trying to minister to others with no compassion is just... it's not only pretty much useless, but it's just downright aggravating.
There's nothing worse than somebody trying to preach a sermon to you when they have zippo idea what you're talking about. Amen? And so, some of the things that you go through, you may just be getting experience for your future.
And I think that we see... we see also that sometimes God will not deliver us the moment that we'd like to be delivered because He wants us to be stable and show a good witness to other people around us.
You know, the Bible never says that as Christians we'll never have problems. Actually, we have some of the same problems that people in the world do, but we handle them differently. We handle them completely differently. So then, it's very easy to see where light is and where darkness is.
It's very easy to see, well, you know, I get upset all the time every time something doesn't go my way and you seem to be happy and calm all the time. So, what's going on here? And eventually, like Dave's witness to me of being peaceful in all situations, it really affected my life.
It wasn't going to do any good for somebody just to tell me be peaceful because, to be honest, I didn't even know what peace was. I grew up in a dysfunctional home that was constantly full of strife and turmoil and anger and violence. So, to say to me you need to be peaceful it wouldn't have even computed with me at all.
But Dave was an example of peace in front of me and not just for a day or a week but for a few years. And I got hungry for what he had and I began to see that well, if you can do it then it must be possible.
So, how many of you want to be used by God? Okay. Well, can I tell you a secret? Sometimes to be used by God... Well, come on. How many of you still want to be used by God? All right. You better mean what you say because a lot of people is like, well, you know, I want this and I want that and no wonder Jesus told a couple of guys you have no idea what you're asking for.
Are you ready to drink the cup that I drink and be baptized with the same baptism which I'm baptized? Now, it's worth it but I'm just going to tell you that you got to get experience and you got to get equipment and so, sometimes God doesn't deliver us when we would like Him to just because we're getting some experience or because we're being an example to someone else.
Paul and Silas: Praise in Prison
Let's look at a good example in Acts chapter 16 beginning in verse 23. When they had struck them with many blows they threw them into prison charging the jailer to keep them safe and he having received so strict of a charge put them into the inner prison not just the prison but the inner prison in the dungeon and he put their feet into chains so these guys were not getting away but about midnight now I don't know what time they went into jail Long time before midnight.
But God waited until midnight to do something about their situation. How many of you feel like you're in your midnight hour right now? But about midnight, as Paul and Silas were praying and singing, they stayed happy. Of praise to God. And the other prisoners were listening to them.
Can I tell you that people, prisoners out in the world, are listening. To you. And they're watching you. And they don't just watch you in your happy, sappy, yappy times. They watch you when you have problems to see how you're going to behave. Amen. I love that. The other prisoners were listening to them.
Suddenly there was a great earthquake. So at the very foundation of the prisons were shaken. And at once all the doors were opened and everyone's shackles were unfastened. When the jailer, startled out of his sleep, saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was on the point of killing himself because he supposed that the prisoners had escaped.
But Paul shouted, Do not harm yourself, for we are all here. Then the jailer. Then the jailer called for lights and rushed in. And trembling and terrified, he fell down before Paul and Silas. And so he brought them out of the dungeon and said, Men, what is it necessary for me to do that I may be saved? Come on. Amen.
And they answered, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Give yourself up to him. Take yourself out of your own keeping. And boy, what a great, what a great explanation of what it means to be saved. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Give yourself up to him. Stop trying to take care of yourself and trust God to take care of you. Amen. Amen.
And you will be saved. And this applies both to you and to your household as well. Now watch this, verse 32 and 3. And they declared the word of the Lord, the doctrine concerning the attainment through Christ of eternal salvation in the kingdom of God to him and to all who were in his household.
And he took them the same hour of the night and bathed them because of their bloody wounds. And he was baptized immediately and all the members of his household. I love it. So, why did God leave them there till midnight? So somebody could see their witness, see their stability, hear them praising God in a difficult time. And it brought salvation to not only that jailer, but his entire household. Come on.
God, you're being watched. People are watching you. And I can tell you that your bumper sticker and the cross around your neck doesn't impress them. Actually, it will make them watch you more closely. So, for goodness sakes, if you're going to have all the exterior equipment, make sure you've got the life to go along with it. Otherwise, get the stuff off until you grow up a little.
Direct Attacks from Satan
Second reason why we have trouble is the result of man's disobedience and self-will, either innocently or maliciously. That means that we either disobey God out of a lack of knowledge, we don't know what we're doing, or sometimes we just do something foolish, like I did last week when I hurt my back. And then sometimes we know better, and we disobey God. And all of those things open doors for the enemy in our life.
I have had back issues on and off for lots of years. Probably my own fault, because I spent years and years marching around on these hard platforms in three-inch spike-high heels. Because I wanted to look good. These knots on the side of my feet turned out to be bunions that hurt all the time. Then I had to have surgery, and then I had corns on my toes, wearing these pointy-toed shoes. Come on, women, you know what I'm talking about.
I mean, let's get real. Feet were not meant to go in something like that. And we were supposed to be walking on our toes all the time, I guess. Anyway, as you can see, I've changed my shoes. But we can't open doors just to our own foolishness.
And then another way that we can have problems is through the direct attack of Satan. Listen, the thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy. And if you are trying to make progress in your walk with God, I have to tell you ahead of time that he will try to stop you. Thank you for your enthusiasm. I mean, I'd love to say he's going to roll out the red carpet and say, welcome into the kingdom of God, but that's not going to be that way.
But let me tell you something, at least that's a problem you can handle because now you'll have a new friend that knows how to help you come against the enemy. If you stay out there and try to do it on your own, you're done in before you ever get started.
I don't have time to go to all these scriptures, but in Matthew chapter 5, verses 10, 11, and 12, and you know, when Jesus says something once, it's important, but when he says the same things two verses in a row, well, man, I think we need to really listen.
And it says that, blessed are you when, not if, when you are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for doing the right thing. Then again it says, blessed are you when people say all kinds of evil things against you falsely on my account.
Now, one of the, one of the worst kinds of pains I think that we can have is when we're trying to do right and people that we love come against us. I mean, you don't want anybody coming against you, but when it's people that you love, it's really tough.
So when God called me to do what I'm doing now, and actually I didn't know yet he was calling me, I just had a real touch from God in my life and was really excited and I felt like he wanted me to teach the word and I started teaching a Bible study in my home. Didn't know what I was doing, but, you know, I learned by experience.
And I lost all my friends, got asked to leave my church. Well, I didn't understand that. It's like, yeah, God, I don't understand. I'm just trying to do the right thing. I'm just trying to be obedient to you. Well, see, I wish that I would have had somebody then that could have sat down and told me what I'm telling you here.
Somebody could have just said, oh, honey, you know, don't worry about it. You'll get through this. It's just the enemy trying to stop you. You just go ahead and obey God. But I had to kind of go through that myself and figure out a lot of these things just by studying the word of God.
But I'm just telling you that if you, when you pray for God to promote you in some area of life, don't think that you're not going to have to stand your ground. Because you will. And then the next verse says, great is your reward. I love that.
Verse 10, you're going to get persecuted. Verse 12, people are going to talk about you in an evil way. Verse 13, you're going to get a reward. And see, a lot of people don't ever stick around long enough to get the reward. They give up when it gets hard. And they either completely backslide or they begin to compromise and live with one foot in the world and one foot in the kingdom because you don't want people to think you're a Jesus nut or a Jesus freak. Come on. I am too, brother. Don't plan to change. Hey, I love Jesus. He is my life. And I want everybody to know it.
Satan's Origin and Fall
Now, let's have a little bit of background on Satan. He was formerly called Lucifer, was created by God as an angel with free will. He was an archangel, and archangels are a high order of angels with great power and responsibility. Now, let's look at Ezekiel chapter 28 beginning in verse 13. Oh my goodness, I've already found my place. God is with me. I've been redeemed.
You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering. The carmelian, the topaz, the jasper, the chrysolite, the beryl, the onyx, sapphires, carbuncles, and emeralds. Now, he was covered with all these jewels. And your settings and your sockets. Another translation says your tabrets and your pipes, which are actually musical instruments, and engravings were wrought in gold.
On the day that you were created, they were prepared. So God made all of those amazing gemstones that's mentioned here for Lucifer. You were the anointed cherub that covers with overshadowing wings, and I set you so. You were upon the holy mountain of God. You walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire like the paved work of the gleaming sapphire stone upon which the God of Israel walked on Mount Sinai.
You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until iniquity and guilt were found in you. And through the abundance of your commerce, therefore I cast you out as a profane thing from the mountain of God. Wow. A little more background. All the experts don't agree, but many believe that Satan was in charge of worship and that his body actually had musical instruments in it.
So what we see him do was even especially despicable in light of the beauty that God had given him, the power that God had given him, the position God had given him, the closeness that he had with God. And now watch what happens. Isaiah 14, verse 12. How are you fallen from heaven, O light bringer and day star, sun of the morning? Those were his names before.
How have you been cut down to the ground, O you who weakened and laid low the nations, O blasphemous satanic king of Babylon? And you who said in your heart... Now I want you to watch this because in two verses he makes the statement, I will, five times. He had free will. And this is what he used his will for.
I will ascend to heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will sit upon the mount of assembly in the uttermost north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will make myself like the most high. Ooh. Here's God's answer to that. Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to Hades, to the innermost recesses of the pit, the region of the dead.
So when Satan fell, was kicked out of heaven, other scriptures tell us that he took a third of the angels with him. And therefore we have the devil and his demonic hosts who now not only have residence in Hades in the lower region of the earth, but also they can walk the earth and they occupy the space, the atmosphere above the earth.
Now I know some of you probably think this is just super creepy. Because you have never heard maybe anything like this. Well, you know what? I felt like that God wanted me to make sure as a teacher that you knew that the devil is alive and well on this planet and that he is the root cause of your problems and your trouble and that you have to learn how, you have to learn who you are in Christ, the authority and the power that you have and you must begin to exercise it because authority is useless if you do not exercise it and we cannot be lazy Christians and expect the devil not to walk all over us.
↓↓↓ PART 2 ↓↓↓
Joyce Meyer emphasizes Jesus came to reclaim authority Adam lost to Satan through deception. Believers now have power and authority in Christ to resist the devil—the liar, deceiver, and destroyer who roams seeking to devour. We assist him through anger, unforgiveness, complaining, judgment, and irresponsibility; we resist by submitting to God, speaking truth, forgiving, walking in love, and managing our lives responsibly. Authority requires responsibility—close doors to the enemy.
Jesus Reclaimed What Adam Lost
Jesus came to deliver us from the power of Satan. He has power but we have power and authority and there is a difference. You see, Adam had authority over the garden and he didn't use it. When the enemy came in and deceived them he let him in.
And I will show you in Luke chapter 4 later where Satan actually said to Jesus I will give you all these kingdoms because they have been turned over to me and I can give them to whoever I want to. Well, who turned them over to him? Adam did. Adam did.
But Jesus came to put him in his place and take them back and give them to his children. But we have to know the truth so the truth can make us free. The nature of the devil is he's a liar and the father of lies the great deceiver.
The Bible says that he roams around like a lion roaring in fierce hunger seeking whom he may devour. 1 Peter 5.8 He roams around like a lion roaring in fierce hunger seeking whom he may devour. You don't see him with your eyes but you can see his work and you can feel his influence.
Recognizing Satan's Influence in Strife
Let me tell you something. When you and a friend or you and one of your children are you and the person that you're married to when you get up and everything's going good and then you say something and then they say something and then you say something and they say something and you say something and they say something and you say something and they say something and now all of a sudden you feel this strife and everybody's lost their peace and everybody's mad and you go off and there's unforgiveness and there's bitterness and you have a stomach ache and a headache and a back ache and you think lousy thoughts all day.
Surely you don't think That's God. Because Jesus said, I came that you might have peace. I left you my peace. I came that you might have and enjoy your life. That you might walk in love. The greatest thing in the world is to walk in love.
So we have to be very careful of strife. We have to be very careful of unforgiveness. Anytime that you allow unforgiveness to stay in your heart, you're opening a door for the enemy. You're assisting him. Don't be the devil's assistant. Hmm.
Do you have any idea how many angry Christians there are? Oh my gosh. And I love you, but do you know how many people are in here tonight that are angry at somebody? Are people watching by TV? And you think you're justified in your anger. But you're not.
Yeah, you might have a reason to be angry, but you have no right to stay that way. There's a difference in reasons and rights. You say, well, what do you mean I don't have a right? Well, let me ask you a question. Does God have a right to stay angry at us? Come on, don't make me come down there.
I mean, does God have a... He has a right. He has a reason to stay angry at us, to put us out, to not receive us, to reject us. But He doesn't. He doesn't. And the Bible says that we are to love our enemies to show that we are the children of our Father who is in heaven.
Not because it's fun to do, but because we are assisting God in trying to bring salvation to the world. We are salt and light. Are you making anybody thirsty for what you've got? When you walk into a dark place, can people tell that there's something different about you?
It's not good enough just to go and plop your little bottom on a church pew every week and think you've got your Sunday morning check mark on your heavenly calendar. That's not good enough. We're all called to help reconcile the world unto God. Some are called to do it the way I'm doing it, but we're all called to do it with our life. We are all called to do it with our life.
Characteristics of Satan
Characteristics of Satan. He was created by God, but he's not equal to God. Proverbs 16. He has the audacity to defy God, and he despises truth. John 8. He was given limited power. The book of Job tells us that. God told him how far he could go, and no further.
That's why you have to... When you're having trouble that you don't understand, you don't need to be in fear. If you have your faith in God, and you're walking before God to the best of your ability, the Bible says that there is a protection on us, and that God allows nothing to come on us that is too great for us to bear.
But with every temptation, at the exact right time, he always, always provides the way out. He masquerades as an angel of light. 2 Corinthians. He commands a hierarchy of demons. Ephesians 6. He plans to steal, kill, and destroy. John 10.
He rules the masses that live outside God's protection, which is not us. Hallelujah. Ephesians 2. And I love this. Because he keeps seeking an opportune time to tempt us. Luke 4.13. After he finished all of his temptations with Jesus, then verse 13, after Jesus passed every one of those tests, then it says, and Satan went away to wait for a more opportune time. Come on. I think we need this.
He tries to hide the truth about God. He offers counterfeit promises that he can't fulfill. He twists Scripture to fit his own purposes. And my favorite one, Revelation 20.10, he will suffer the fate he deserves. Whoa. Man, have we got a party coming.
Then the devil, who had led them astray, deceiving and seducing them, was hurled into the fiery lake of burning brimstone, where the beast and false prophets were, and they will be tormented day and night, forever and ever through the ages of the ages. Amen. That is one enemy. Thank God we don't have to pray for.
We Must Actively Resist the Devil
All right, now. We are taught by Scripture to resist the devil. And you cannot be passive and inactive and do that. It's an act of our will to say, no, Satan, you are a liar. Or at the very least, to think that. That's just the enemy.
We need to know the Word of God well enough to recognize the lies of Satan. How many years did I let the devil tell me that I would never amount to anything and that I would always have an inferior life because I'd been sexually abused by my dad? And I believe that because I didn't know anything else.
But now I know, now I know that what happened to me as a child was not my fault and that I can not only not have an inferior life, but I can have a better life than I would have had before. And that God can use what happened to me to help other people. That He gives me double for my trouble. That He is our Redeemer and our Restorer.
But I had to fight for what I believe now. I mean, I had to stand my ground and I had to fight for it. My gosh, I lived under such a burden of condemnation and shame and blame. And it was one of the biggest problems that I had for years and years and years.
I don't even know how many times I said out loud, out of my mouth, according to Scripture, I am the righteousness of God in Christ. I have been made right with Him through the blood of Jesus Christ. And I will not live under condemnation.
You have to fight wrong feelings with the Word of God. Not let them rule you. You have to renew your mind with the Word of God. A lazy Christian is not going to have victory. And somebody else can't spoon-feed you everything you need to know. You need to study, study, study, study, study the Word for yourself. Amen.
We must resist the enemy. James 4, 7. Submit yourself to God. God, resist the enemy, and he will flee. Now, the easiest way to resist the devil is to submit to God. And we're going to talk more about that in one of the other messages.
It's amazing how powerful just simple obedience is. just do it. If that's what God says, then do it. Because he's not wrong, and he's not going to change his mind. And if God says, do this and be blessed, do this and be cursed, then you can pretty well be sure that's exactly what's going to happen.
You don't have to be a rocket scientist to get this. I set before you life and death, and in case you don't know which one to choose, choose life. Just in case you can't figure out which of those you'd want, choose life. That you and your descendants... Come on, you're not just making decisions for yourself.
That you and your descendants might live and have a great life. The decisions that I've made have affected my children. It's affecting my grandchildren. And hopefully and prayerfully affecting a lot of other people. And then those people affect other people. And that's the way the gospel has been preached from the beginning of time.
And the devil can't stop it. He's never been able to, and he never will. It's too powerful to stop. It started with one man.
Jesus' Example: Rebuking Satan Through Peter
Matthew chapter 16, verse 21. Jesus is our very best example. He rebuked the devil. He resisted the devil. And if he needed to, then why wouldn't we need to? He didn't need to in his divinity, but in his humanity, he came as an example to us and he resisted the enemy.
Jesus spent time here to show us how to live. To be a disciple means to discipline yourself to behave like someone else. Matthew 16, 23. Okay, now, starting in verse 21, it says, From that time forth, Jesus began clearly to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders and the high priests and the scribes and be killed.
And on the third day, be nailed to death. So, he's having a little conversation with his disciples. Sat down, had a little meeting. Now, guys, the time is here that I've been trying to tell you about. I'm going over to Jerusalem. They're going to beat me up really bad and kill me and hang me on a cross.
Now, you know, Peter, you would think that, well, pretty good response. Peter took him aside to speak to him privately and began to reprove and charge him sharply, saying, God forbid, Lord, this must never happen to you.
But Jesus turned away from Peter and said to him, get behind me, Satan. You are in my way, an offense and a hindrance and a snare to me, for you are minding what partakes not of the nature and the quality of God, but of men.
Jesus had the awareness that Satan was trying to use Peter to keep him from his destiny. And so, he immediately rebuked him and said, you're not going to keep me from doing what God wants me to do.
How many times have people, has Satan used a person to keep you from going all the way with God? Or used a person to drag you into compromise or into sin or into some kind of relationship that was hurtful to you? What would have happened if you would have had the courage to say, get thee behind me, Satan? You might have woke a few people up.
Or at the very least, if you don't want to say it to somebody's face, then turn your back and say, shut up, devil. I love 1 Peter 5, 9. It's a very favorite scripture of mine in the Amplified Bible. It says, resist the devil at his onset. I love that. That means we need to live ready. And we need to be sharp and awake.
The Bible says, wake up, sleepy Christians. Be alert. Be alive. You know how many times the Bible says, watch and pray? It's not talking about watching for everybody else's mistakes. Watch for the enemy trying to act in your life. Be sharp. Be awake. Be alert.
And the minute that you notice him trying to come against you or to hinder you in any way, you pray. You pray. Or you take authority. You resist. You rebuke.
Ways We Assist the Devil
What are a few of the ways that we can assist the devil? Well, just get mad and stay mad. That'll work. Ephesians 4, 26 and 27. When you're angry, do not sin. Now notice, it doesn't say never get angry. Anger is an emotion that we have and it's going to flare up from time to time when somebody doesn't treat us right.
or when we imagine they're not treating us right. But it says you can be angry and not sin. That means to resolve your anger. To manage it. Do not ever let your wrath, your exasperation, your fury, or your indignation last until the sun goes down.
That means if you're mad, you don't get to go to bed mad tonight. Uh-oh, you stepped into to the wrong building. You could have pleaded ignorance last night, but not tonight. Do not let the sun go down on your anger. Verse 27, leave no such room or foothold for the devil. Give no opportunity to him.
Are you assisting the devil or resisting the devil? Here's what you need to do with that anger when you get mad at somebody and you're having a terrible time getting over it. Maybe they really deserve. Maybe they did something that really was wrong. You go get somewhere and you pray.
I remember telling God one time, I'm not leaving this room until you help me get over this. I'm not coming out of here until you give me the grace to go back out there. I was mad at Dave and talked to Dave. I'm not going to do it.
Come on, you've got to get violent. There's a holy violence. I'm not... Come on, we all know how to get violent but let's turn it in the right direction. There's a holy violence that we need to have and it needs to be violence against these things that try to manipulate us and control us and steal the life that Jesus died to give us.
Unforgiveness Gives Satan Advantage
Unforgiveness. 2 Corinthians 2, 10 and 11. If you forgive anyone, Paul said, anything, I too forgive that one. And what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sakes in the presence and with the approval of Christ the Messiah.
Now watch verse 11. To keep Satan from getting the advantage over us. for we are not ignorant of his wiles and intentions. He said, we don't lack knowledge about the enemy. Well, I'm informing you tonight that if you have unforgiveness, you're giving the enemy an opportunity.
And it doesn't matter how justified you think you are. God is asking us not to do it, so we submit ourselves to God, and in that submission we automatically resist the enemy. It just makes me shudder when I think about all the Christians that are mad. And what an opportunity it's giving Satan.
And how it's hurting our witness and how the world is just so many people are so messed up and confused. What do you think would happen in the world if every one of us who calls ourselves a Christian just got out in the world and acted like it? Woo! Woo!
Complaining and Lack of Love Open Doors
Now here's one we can all hang on to. Complaining. Oh, well, that's not sin. 1 Corinthians 10, 9 and 10. You know, I hope you like this message, but I do if you don't, so. I think it's a word from God. Are you resisting the devil, are assisting the devil?
We should not tempt the Lord, try his patience, become a trial to him. I love that. We think we got trials, God's like, you should be me. And critically appraise him and exploit his goodness as some of them did and were killed by poisonous serpents.
Nor should we discontentedly complain as some of them did. He's talking about the Israelites who were put out of the way entirely by the destroyer, which was dead. There's an instance with the Israelites where because of their murmuring and complaining, a plague got into the camp and 23,000 of them fell dead in one day and then they got a revelation. And the Bible says, we have sinned. Brilliant. 23,000 lives destroyed and then we get it.
But we have God's word and we get the news ahead of time. Amen? I set before you life and death, good and evil. You have the opportunity to stay angry or to get over it. to have unforgiveness or to forgive, to be bitter or to let what happened to you make you better.
We have an opportunity to give thanks or murmur and complain about everything that doesn't go our way. Not walking in love. Oh my. Well, we got more about that in another message. Matthew 7 says, judge not lest you be judged with the same judgment you give out to others that will be dealt back to you again and then there's actually if you go on all the way through to verse 6, it says don't throw the holy things before hogs and I believe the holy thing that it's talking about is our God-given ability to love people.
Don't throw that holy thing before hogs lest they turn and trample upon them and tear you in pieces. Another clear scripture that when we don't walk in love and we're critical and judgmental that we're throwing before the enemy the thing that God has given us that is so precious and he tramples on it and it opens a door in our life for him to come in and harm us.
Wrong Words Open Doors – Jesus' Example
I know you've got to think about this. In one last scripture John 14 30 wrong words spoken at the wrong time open a door for the enemy. Jesus said to his disciples I will not talk with you much more for the prince the evil genius the ruler of the world is coming. he's talking about Satan and watch this and he has no claim on me he has nothing in common with me there is nothing in me that belongs to him and he has no power over me and he might as well if I just amplify that for you he's pretty much saying and I'm not going to open my mouth during this time of pressure and give him an opening into my life that he would like to have.
I love that scripture but Satan is coming verse 31 says and I do as the father has commanded me so that the world may know and be convinced that I love the father and that I do what the father has instructed me to do I act in full agreement with the father now Satan boasted in Luke 4 6 that all the kingdoms of the world had been handed over to him and he was talking about When Adam turned over what God had given him to manage to the enemy by listening to his lies.
Now, I just want to simply say this to you. God has given you a life and a certain realm of influence, and you have to manage it. It's your job to manage yourself, to manage your finances, to manage the things that belong to you. It's my job. God has not only given me a ministry to be in and enjoy, but he's given me one to manage and to take responsibility for.
You don't get authority without responsibility. Please hear me. You do not get authority without responsibility. We are not going to have this authority from God to exercise over the enemy and to have these great lives if we're not going to take the responsibility that goes along with the management of our lives. Amen?
I just want to say to you tonight, don't be opening a door for the enemy by simply not being responsible over your own lives and the things that God has given you. He's given you health. But you've got to be responsible to nurture yourself and take care of yourself. Amen?
You have authority as a believer in Jesus Christ. You know what? The only way you know what's really in fruit is when it's squeezed. You don't know how juicy an orange is or how sweet it is just because it looks pretty. There's a lot of Christians that look pretty. Praise the Lord. Thank you, Jesus. But you squeeze them and see what you get.
↓↓↓ PART 3 and 4 ↓↓↓
Recognize the Enemy and Our Authority Over Him
Eight ways to resist the devil. The devil is alive and well on the planet. So don't shrink back from hearing teaching about the devil. If you don't know that he's there, it's much easier for him to deceive you. If you don't know the truth of God's word, the devil can lie to you and you'll never even know that he's lying to you.
John 10:10, the thief, the devil, comes only for one purpose: to steal, to kill, to destroy. One purpose only. But Jesus said, I came. Aren't you glad he came? Every time I read that scripture, when I come to the I came part, I just have to stop. It's like I came. It's like when he came, he interrupted that whole mess. I came that you might have and enjoy your life and have it in abundance to the full until it overflows.
I set before you life and death, God said, good and evil. Choose life that you and your descendants may live. Every choice that you make for God affects everybody in your bloodline. Every choice that we make not for God also affects everybody in our bloodline.
We have authority over the devil. He has power, but we have power and authority, according to Luke 10:19. There is a difference. Luke 10:19: Behold, I give you power and authority over all the power the enemy possesses. He has power, but no authority unless we give it to him. And one of the ways we give him our authority is through inactivity and passivity because we don't even recognize that he is our real problem.
The Battle Starts in the Mind
Now, the number one place, the first line of defense for the enemy is always to attack our minds. He comes against your thoughts. He can put thoughts in our mind. That's why the Bible says if we want to live in the good plan of God, that we have to completely renew our mind, change our whole way of thinking according to the word of God. That's Romans 12:2.
God's got a good plan for your life. He got a good plan for my life. But I spent a lot of years even going to church on a regular basis. I love God. You know you can love God and still not know anything. Isn't that terrible? Or you can love God and be in the process of still being taught things that aren't accurate. That's why you always have to study for yourself and read for yourself and not just take somebody else's opinion of what they think.
And so, the first thing that we do is get our minds renewed by the word of God. Now, that means that I'll just tell you straight out, if you're not going to study, you're never going to be victorious. Now, maybe I don't need to tell you guys that because you took time from work to come and be here today. So, obviously, you kind of already know that. But I'm not just talking to the people in this room. I have the privilege of also talking to people all around the world.
And so, I'm just telling you that I'm grateful that you watch my program, but that's still not enough. I'm glad that you go to church on Sunday morning. I hope you do, but that's still not enough. Maybe you go to midweek service. That's still not enough. And you think, well, how much do I have to do? You need to get to know God for yourself. Don't have secondhand faith through somebody else.
I want to make sure you heard what I said. Don't be satisfied with a secondhand faith. It's not good enough to know somebody who knows God. You need to know God. Having a mama that knows God is not good enough. Having a preacher that knows God is not good enough. We need to know God.
Know God, Know Your Identity, Know Your Power
I love what Paul prayed in Ephesians for the church at Ephesus. Three distinct things, beginning in verse 17. It's in chapter 1. He said, I pray that you would know God, have revelation and insight into knowing God and understanding Him. Second thing in verse 18, that you would know and understand the hope of your calling of what your inheritance is among the saints. So, he's saying that you would know who you are in Christ.
And the third thing, that you would know the power that is available to those of you who believe. So, know God. Know who you are. Know that you have the power to not let the devil rule your life and walk all over you. And be active and not passive. Amen.
So, 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verses 4 and 5 are premier scriptures that teach us some things that we need to know about defeating the devil. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal. They're not physical weapons of flesh and blood. But they are mighty before God for the overthrow and the destruction of strongholds.
Now, let me just say that if our weapons are not physical weapons, then they must be spiritual weapons. So, the weapons that we have are not clubs and guns and knives and swords. You can't go after the devil with that. We go after him in a completely different way. For example, normally, you would think that if you've got a mean enemy, the best thing to do is go beat him up. But if you really want to defeat the enemy, the best way you defeat the devil is go love somebody else. We'll get there. That's okay.
Casting Down Strongholds in the Mind
For the weapons of our warfare. Everybody say, I have weapons. And say, I'm in a war. The weapons of our warfare are not physical weapons of flesh and blood, but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and the destruction of strongholds. Now, these strongholds you're going to see in the next verse are in our minds.
Inasmuch as we refute arguments, theories, reasonings, and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the true knowledge of God. And we lead every thought and purpose away captive unto the obedience of Christ the Messiah. I don't know how many thoughts we have every day, but I've already had a bunch this morning. And, you know, thankfully, because I've been at this a long time, my mind has been renewed.
You know, probably 98% of my thoughts this morning have been okay. But, boy, I caught a couple of stupid ones. I mean, while I'm putting on my makeup this morning, I had to say out loud, I rebuke you, Satan. That is a lie. You're like, well, I would feel funny doing that. Well, would you rather feel funny or would you rather be destroyed? Amen?
And so, and obviously, you don't even have to always speak out loud. I do it because I just, I don't think he can read my mind. And so I want to make sure he knows what I say. God can read my mind, but the devil can't. And so I'm not going to listen to his nonsense. But how many years did I listen because I didn't know any better?
Way #1: Renew Your Mind with God's Word
So he said, we have to know enough of the Word of God, come on now, to recognize immediately every lie from Satan that comes floating into our brains. And then we need to know the Word well enough to then tear down that stronghold with the Word of God.
So God has given us, I taught a message earlier this year about poisons and antidotes. And how, if you get bit by a certain kind of snake, there will be a certain antidote for that. If you get bitten by a spider, there will be a certain antidote for that. And so when you've been poisoned, the thing that you always want to do is quickly get somewhere where they know the right antidote for different poisons.
Well, God has got an antidote in here for every poison that Satan tries to afflict us with. Amen? For example, when he poisons you with bitterness, anger, unforgiveness, offense, there's an antidote called forgiveness. And so that's another whole message. But it's just, I mean, my gosh.
And don't give me that I can't understand the Word thing. That just, you know, there's too many translations of the Bible for us to say that now. And, I mean, there's study Bibles. I mean, my amplified study Bible called the Everyday Life Bible, I mean, you can understand it. It's full of, if you can't understand what you read, it's full of explanations about what you read.
I mean, it's a big dude. You're going to have to get a muscle to carry it. But it's, and if it's not the one you want to carry around with you all the time, it's great to use at home. I use it all the time at home. I would carry it up here, but I've already got a wrist problem from doing this for so many years. Yeah, I have... What do I call it? Bibleitis? Something. I mean, it's from all the years I've stood up here and done this.
So let me ask you a question. I want you to be honest with yourself. You don't have to answer me out loud. I'm not trying to make anybody feel bad. Do you know the Word of God well enough that you quickly recognize the lies of Satan and you know enough Scripture to come right back at him?
Now, that's... Good, you're being honest. Okay. So, that's great if you do. So, if you don't, thank God you can keep getting educated and every day you make progress. The path of the righteous goes brighter and brighter every day. Amen? Every day when you get out of bed and put your feet on the floor, the enemy needs to be afraid of what you're going to learn that day. And the progress that you're going to make.
And if you are one of the ones that said, yes, I know enough Scripture to do that, and you're not doing it, then that's just passivity, which we all can kind of fall off into that. So, I just want to say, going into this, that number one way to defeat the devil, to resist the devil, is to know the Word and recognize the attacks that come against your mind and cast down those thoughts.
In Ephesians 6, it talks about our armor, and one of those pieces of armor is the helmet of salvation, and that literally means think like somebody that is born again. Don't think like a heathen, don't think like an unbeliever, think like someone that is full of God and born again.
Way #2: Stay in Peace – Peace Is Power
Number two way to resist the devil, stay in peace at all times. Let me tell you something, peace is power. I mean, it just undoes the devil when he throws his very best at you, and you just trust God and remain peaceful. Now, I know that that's not always easy to do.
We think about when Jesus got into the boat, a story recorded in Mark chapter 4 with the disciples, and the first thing he said was, let us go over to the other side. Now, when God says something, he means it. And what he says will happen, but there may be a few storms during the trip.
And the Bible says, immediately, a storm of hurricane proportions. Not a little storm, an unexpected, bad, big storm. Right after Jesus said, let us go to the other side, right after they started their journey. Come on, is anybody with me this morning? Immediately after the good news, came the attack.
And the disciples became afraid, and they got frantic, and Jesus took a nap. In other words, they weren't hearing from God. They weren't feeling God's presence. They couldn't find him. They didn't know where he was at. He was hiding from them. Come on. Anybody there today?
You're not saying anything to me. You're not doing anything. I've felt your presence in a long time. And all God wants you to do is zip it. And just stay peaceful. And here's... I highly recommend this. I do this all the time when I don't feel anything. God is working. Amen. God is working.
When I pray for people that are fighting illness in their body, I pray for them on a regular basis. But then, during the day, if I think about them, I will just say, thank you, God, that your healing power is working in so-and-so. Thank you, God, that you're working in my children. Thank you, God, that you're working. Thank you that you're working. Just because we don't feel anything doesn't mean God's not doing anything.
And I love that story in Mark chapter 4 that ends up in Mark chapter 5 verse 1. And Jesus, they woke him up and he got up, rebuked the storm, rebuked them for being fearful. And then it says, and they arrived on the other side. And I like that. So here's the thing. He said we're going to the other side. Here came a storm. He took a nap. They had a miserable trip and they did arrive on the other side anyway.
So, you can either travel through life with God frantic, which is what I did a lot of the time. And old Dave, he just enjoyed life and was peaceful. And I would get upset with him because he wasn't getting upset with me. Come on, if you're one of those more like upset people, how many ladies do we have here that are kind of like I am and you're married to somebody like Dave?
And I know, you look at them and you go, what is your problem? How can you just act like nothing's happening? Why don't you do something? Come on. I would say, and Dave would say to me, what do you want me to do? We pray, we believe, we give our tithes and offerings. God's always taking care of us. He'll take care of this. Why don't you just cast your care? Well, you know what? Now I've learned how to do that. But it took me a lot of years.
And I'm just trying to say that while we're making the journey, we can either decide to enjoy the journey or we can just let God drag us through while we're miserable. I'd rather walk with God than get drugged through. Amen?
The God of Peace Crushes Satan
Romans 16:20. I love this. It says, The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The God of peace will crush him under your feet. Ephesians 6:15. One of the pieces of armor. And put on your shoes of peace. The words put on that we find very often in the Bible means take action and do this on purpose.
Make sure that you... It talks about shoes of peace because we walk in shoes. As you walk through the day, as you walk through life, as you walk through relationships, always walk through in peace. And let's not use the excuse, Well, I just can't help it if I get upset. You know, until we learn that we can do a lot about a lot of things that we don't do anything about, we never will.
Let me tell you something. I can throw a fit with the best of people. How many of you could do... You can... You're like an expert in fits, okay? Well, let me ask you a question. If you were having this major fit, ranting and raving at your kids, ranting and raving at your husband, saying all kinds of negative things, and I rang your doorbell, how fast would you stop and straighten up? Come on. Come on. Come on.
So, say, I can control myself if I want to. Ooh, didn't that feel good? Let's try it again. I can control myself if I want to. Amen. All right. Psalm 94:12 and 13. Blessed, happy, fortunate to be envied is the man whom you discipline and instruct, O Lord, and teach out of your law, that you may give him power to keep himself calm in the days of adversity until the inevitable pit of corruption is dug for the wicked.
Don't you love that? Let's look at this again. That you may... Blessed, happy, fortunate to be envied is the man whom you discipline. So, it means God keeps disciplining us and he keeps chastising us and chastisement is always an act of God's love. And so, he doesn't let us get by with bad behavior without dealing with us because he wants us to come to the place where Satan can't rattle us with every little thing that comes along.
You're blessed when you go through these teachings with God. Verse 13. That you may give him power. God says that I may give you power to keep himself calm in the days of adversity. We might as well say, while God is digging a pit for the enemy. Amen.
That's why it's important to say, okay, I feel like having a screaming fit, but I can control myself and that's not what I'm going to do because in the deepest part of me, I believe that God is working and God will deal with this because he is faithful and he has promised to take care of me. Amen.
Can I tell you something today? And I hope that this is, you'll just take this as God speaking through me. God will always take care of you. Did you hear me? God will always take care of you. He may not do it exactly the way you would like him to or when you would like him to. That's when we trust God that his ways are above our ways and that our times are always in his hands. Amen.
Hebrews 4:10 and 11 tell us to strive to enter, to strive zealously to enter the rest of God. So it's like he's saying, if you're going to work at anything, work at staying in rest. If you're going to really try to do anything, try to stay peaceful.
And you know, I spent a lifetime not being peaceful and when I decided I was going to have peace, I had to change a lot of things. Here's the thing, you have to make a decision to be peaceful. You can't wait for your circumstances to get peaceful. It's not about my circumstances.
And I screamed at the devil and screamed, I rebuke you, I rebuke you, I resist you, I rebuke you. Every time I had a problem and I still kept the problems. And I didn't realize that resisting the devil, oh, I hope you're ready for this. This is what the Lord said to me, resisting the devil is not getting rid of all your problems. It's you not acting like the devil while you got the problems. Come on.
It's for us to show the traits of God, the fruit of the Spirit, which is in us, love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, meekness. And you know what? The only way you know what's really in fruit is when it's squeezed. You don't know how juicy an orange is or how sweet it is just because it looks pretty.
There's a lot of Christians that look pretty. Praise the Lord. Thank you, Jesus. But you squeeze them and see what you get. Amen. And I tell you what, I could talk the talk and jump and shout as good as anybody in church. Man, I was in leadership. I had a seat on the front row. Oh, man, my name on a parking place in the parking lot. I mean, I had it happening. Oh, honey, you didn't want to squeeze my fruit.
It's really not the way we act in church that makes one bit of difference. It's what goes on at home behind closed doors. So I had to change a lot of things in order to learn to have peace. A lot of them were things with people. I had to learn not to have to have the last word. I had to learn that I didn't have to always talk back. I had to learn that I didn't have to always be right. I had to learn that I needed to keep my nose out of other people's business. Practical stuff. And the Bible talks about all of them, by the way.
Our job is to trust God, do good, stay peaceful, and trust that God is fighting for us. And He's dealing with our enemies.
Way #3: Spend Time in God's Presence – That's Warfare
The next thing, number three way to resist the devil, and this is so cool, is just spending time in the presence of God. Actual, your quiet time with God is spiritual warfare. Peace is spiritual warfare. What we put our time and money into is what's important to us.
If you say that you don't have time to spend with God, then the truth is it's just not important to you. If I have a friend and they never have time to call me, then bottom line is I'm not important to them. We put our time and money into what is important to us. If growing as a Christian is important to you, you will put money into Christian resources that will educate you. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it.
There's always people talking about us somewhere. And it's not always nice stuff. And the more people you're in front of, the more people that are likely to talk about you. Like, if you're just a regular employee, you might not get as much. You become the boss, and then more people are going to have something to say. Well, you ought to try something like what I'm doing. That's a whole lot of fun.
So I love this scripture in Psalm 31:20. Actually, somebody in ministry called me the other day, and they were going through something. Knew that a certain amount of people didn't like what they were doing, but they felt like they were being led by God. And I shared this scripture with them right away. Psalm 31:20. In the secret place of your presence, you hide them from the plots of men. You keep them secretly in your pavilion from the strife of tongues.
So that means, no matter who's talking about me in an unkind way, or what their opinions are about me, as I spend my time with God every day, and just sit in His presence and talk to Him, read a little word, or whatever I decide to do during that time, thank God, pray for other people. It's just my quiet time, my time with God.
And see, I'm aware that God is an ever-present reality. And, you know, if... Let's just say, okay, I've got perfume on today. It's a little bit of a strong smell. It smells a little bit like cinnamon. I wear it because it's the only one I can smell on me. But you know something? Now, if you hung out with me this afternoon and maybe gave me a hug or something, you'd probably get that on you. And you'd smell like it.
Well, guess what? When we hang out with Jesus, we get Him on us, too. Amen? And I remember one time I'd spent... I was going to do, like, one of the first speaking engagements I ever had, and it was one of the first large ones, and I was petrified, just petrified. I was actually in Jacksonville, Florida, and I spent so much time with God that morning, I was so scared.
Let me tell you something. And the more scared you are, the more you'll lean on God. And I'll never forget this. When I walked into the arena that morning, Dave had already gotten there, and he was over at our resource table, and I was walking down the hallway by myself, and a lady came up to me, and she said, I can tell that you've been with God. Well, that just meant so much to me.
And you know what? Let me tell you something. Listen, when you've been with God, people know that there's something about you. They may not know enough to know that you've been with God, but they... It's like you're peaceful, you're pleasant. You know what? I don't have to ask people really anymore, are you a Christian or not? All you've got to do is be around somebody for just a little bit of time, and it's not very long, and you can say, you're a believer, aren't you? At least that's the way it ought to be.
I mean, if you have to check my car to see if I've got a Christian bumper sticker to find out if I'm a believer or not, then I've got a problem. You should be able to tell by the way I act when you accidentally cut me off in traffic. Come on now, I'm preaching good.
Man, I wouldn't go out of my house without spending time with God. I'd be petrified to do that. The devil hates me, and I know it. And I've got defense against him, but one of the best ones is just to be smeared all over with God. Just get that... Just get that bottle. Matter of fact, I layered it up this morning. I put the lotion in, then I put the perfume on, because they told me... So, you know, we just need to layer ourselves in Father, Son, and Holy Ghost every morning. Amen?
And sad to say, there are people, you love God, and you go to church all the time, and you don't have a clue what I'm talking about. About just spending time with... You know, you maybe have your little list of things that you do. You pray your pre-prescribed prayers and read your one chapter a day, whether you need to or not. I'm talking about hanging with the king. I'm talking about getting with your friend and talking to him about everything that concerns you. I'm talking about being real.
Way #4: Resist with Words – Speak the Word of God
All right, now, number four, resist the devil with words. Know the Word of God. Words are powerful. Proverbs 18:21, the power of life and death is in the tongue. God teaches me a lot about words. I have spent a lot of time studying words. And it's not even always who you're talking to that is the important thing. It's the words that you speak.
So you can speak things out into the atmosphere, and they still affect your life. If you've got a spirit of strife in your home, you can rebuke that spirit of strife and declare, I'm not going to live in the midst of strife. I take authority over it in Jesus' name. Now, that doesn't mean that you want to make some changes in your home, but it does mean you're dealing with the spiritual oppression that's trying to rule the atmosphere in your home.
During worship this morning, I honestly, and I'm just trying not to be spooky, I mean, I felt a real freedom. I just, I felt a real freedom in here this morning. And I believe that praise and worship breaks through the darkness and ushers that in. You know, the people that we have for praise and worship are very important to me. I'm in all the praise and worship from the moment it starts because it is important to me. It helps prepare me. It helps prepare you.
We don't bring somebody to just sing a nice song. I want somebody that can get into worship, that can get the people's minds off of themselves and onto God. Know the Word of God and speak the Word. The Bible says that we can speak a word to the weary in due season. Isn't it amazing that you can change somebody's whole day with the right word at the right time? Think about that. Or you can ruin somebody's day with the wrong word at the wrong time.
Isaiah 53:7. This shows the power of words better than anything, I think. He was oppressed, talking about Jesus, but yet when he was afflicted, he was submissive and he opened not his mouth. Like a lamb led to the slaughter, as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.
Now, you know what? I didn't understand that. I mean, all the years I spent in church, we studied out of Isaiah 53. I didn't understand that. He didn't open his mouth. I mean, I didn't pay attention. He didn't open his mouth. But I understand it now.
Let's look at John 14:30. This is where we closed last night, but I'd like to just spend a few more minutes with this. You're going to see something powerful. Like a lamb led to the slaughter, he opened not his mouth. Now, Jesus, when he was getting ready to go into his greatest time of suffering, he said to his disciples, verse 30, I will not talk with you much more, for the prince, the evil genius, the ruler of this world is coming, and he has no claim on me. He has nothing in me, nothing in common with me. There is nothing in me that belongs to him, and he has no power over me.
And he might as well have said, and I'm going to be under great pressure. This is going to be a time of great pain and affliction for me, and I'm not going to talk much because I'm not going to take a chance on saying something out of pain or frustration and opening a door for the enemy. Like a lamb being led to the slaughter, he opened not his mouth.
And I'll tell you, one day last week, I was having kind of a rough day, and I just, the devil was inviting me to a pity party, and I came close to going. Actually, I think I did go for a little while. And, you know, when you're like that, for some reason, there's something in us that wants somebody to say, is everything okay? So then we can tell them how not okay everything is. Come on, are you with me?
And, of course, it's all foolishness. It's just flesh and emotion and stuff like that. And I already, I just made my mind up. If anybody notices that I'm having a little bit of a rough time, and they ask me what's going on, I'm going to say nothing that I say would be good. So I've decided to say nothing.
And I think we need to apply that in our lives. Sometimes when you know that you're in such a place that nothing you say is going to be worth hearing, or that you may open a door for the enemy, or you're going to be saying something you're going to be sorry for later, then just say, God, if nothing else, help me keep my mouth shut.
You know what we tell our kids? If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. Okay, so I'm going to pretend to be mama today. If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. And I talk to myself, too. If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.
Prophesy the Word – Bring Life to Dry Bones
Like a sheep led to the slaughter, he opened not his mouth. Now, let's talk about the other side of it. There's a time to keep your mouth shut, but there's a time to prophesy. Ezekiel 37, one of the best groups of Scripture that talks about the power of prophesying the Word of God, and that just means to speak it out. Every time the Bible talks about prophesying, it's not talking about the office of a prophet. I'm prophesying the Word today. I'm declaring it and speaking it out boldly under God's anointing. And it's piercing darkness and making a difference in people's lives.
Okay, now this is ten verses, but I want you to keep up with me. The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the midst of the valley, and set me down in the midst of the valley, and it was full of bones. And he caused me to pass round about and among the bones, and there were very many bones in the valley, and behold, they were very dry.
Now, do you ever feel like that everywhere you look, all you see is dead, dry bones? Come on. A mountain of debt, a pile of diapers, a sink full of dirty dishes, a car that don't run, a garage that hasn't been cleaned out in a hundred years, a husband that hasn't shaved in two weeks, you know, or a wife that hasn't combed her hair in a month, you know.
And he said to me, son of man, can these bones live? When we come into a relationship with Christ, we've all got a valley full of dead bones. And it's almost like we look at it and say, God, can you really do anything with this mess? And I answered, oh, Lord God, you know. In other words, if it can be fixed, you're the only one that's got the answer.
And so he said to me, prophesy to these bones. And say to them, oh, you dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Wow. You can prophesy over your past. And say, I am forgetting what lies behind, and I am pressing on to the good things that are ahead. You can prophesy the word of God over your past, over your future, over your mind, over your emotions, over your children, over your marriage, over everything in your life.
Come on, we know how to open our mouth and say stuff. We've just spent a lifetime saying stupid stuff. And now it's time to start spending time every day confessing the word of God out loud. Your mouth is dangerous to the kingdom of darkness when you get the word of God coming out of it.
In Revelation, Jesus is depicted coming in on a charging white horse with a sword going out of his mouth. The word of God is sharp and quick and powerful like a two-edged sword. Hebrews chapter 4, verse 12. This is our greatest weapon against the enemy. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they're mighty through God.
You can't see a word, but you can feel the effect of a word. Words have creative power. Destructive or creative power, it's up to us what we put in them. A word is a container, you can fill it with whatever you want to.
Anyway, verse 5. Thus says the Lord God to these bones. God talked to bones. Behold, I will cause breath and spirit to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinew upon you, and I will bring flesh upon you, and I will cover you with skin, and I will put breath and spirit in you. And you dry bones, you shall live. And you shall know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord, the sovereign ruler who calls forth loyalty and obedient service.
I don't know about you, but this excites me. So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a thundering noise. And behold, a shaking and a trembling and a rattling. And bone came together with its bone. And sometimes when you start prophesying the word of God over your life, first you get a rattling and a shaking and a trembling. Come on.
Sometimes things got to come apart really completely before they can ever be put back together. Sometimes we got a problem we can put up with, but not one bad enough to make us stop everything and do something about it. Oh, come on.
Verse 8, And I looked, and behold, there were sinews upon the bones, and flesh came upon them, and skin covered them over, but there was no breath or spirit in them. And then he said to me, Prophesy to the breath and the spirit, son of man, and say to the breath and the spirit, Thus says the Lord God, Come from the four winds, O breath and spirit, and breathe upon these slain that they may live.
So I prophesied as he commanded me. Let me just change it a little bit. So I spoke the word of God as he put it in my mouth, and the breath and the spirit came into my life, and I stood upon my feet, and I had a great life that Jesus promised me, and nothing from my past has affected me anymore.
I was a battered, a beaten, and a sexually abused child, abandoned by my mother. Now I am a preacher of the word of God, preaching the word of God around the globe in 75 languages. Come on, don't tell me it don't work. It's too late for me. Nobody can tell me the word don't work. This is all I've had, and I've used it, and I'm telling you, the word has power in it, but you've got to speak it. That's why I love my Bible. I love the word of God.
Way #5: Submit to God – Obey and the Devil Flees
Number five. James 4:7 says, submit yourself to God, resist the devil, and he will flee. The easiest way in the world to resist the devil is just do what God tells you to. Isn't that simple? Okay, well, let's see. How can I preach on that? Do it. Whatever he says to you, do it.
Psalm 91:11. For he will give his angels a special charge over you to accompany and defend and preserve you in all your ways of obedience and service. It doesn't say that I can just walk in known disobedience and get the help and the protection from God that I would if I was obeying him.
And I'm not talking about, you know, we all have things in our life that we don't do right. I'm not talking about making mistakes. I'm not talking about getting upset, getting in the flesh, repenting, getting up and going on with God. I make mistakes every single day. I'm talking about known, purposeful disobedience.
And there's, you know, that's another message, but there's just way, way, way, way, way too much compromise in the body of Christ today, way too much. I mean, things going on that are just like, you've got to be kidding. Now, extreme obedience sometimes requires death to self. What that means is if I'm really going to obey God, then I don't always get what I think I want.
But if I do obey God, I'll find out later that what I thought I wanted and it wasn't really what I wanted after all. Did you keep up with that or do I need to do it again? Amen. See, I think I want something and I don't want to give it up. And God's saying, no, you need to walk away from this. You need to get away from that. That's poisoning your life. You can't grow in me if you do that.
And it's hard for me to give it up. I have to die to self to give it up. I cry when I give it up. I feel like God's mean when I give it up. Then later I found out that what I thought I wanted it wasn't really what I wanted after all. If I would have got what I wanted, I would have been miserable. Now I'm happy and God was right after all. Amen.
Wow. So many great scriptures about just obeying God. I love Romans 5:19. Through one man's disobedience, we all became sinners. Talking about Adam. And through one man's obedience, Jesus Christ, the many were made righteous. Jesus Christ. Look what happened through Adam, and look what happened through Jesus. Two different choices. One said no to God, one said yes to God. One said yes to the devil, the other said no to the devil.
The devil is alive and well on the planet. He hates God. He hates anything good. He hates us. But he's a defeated foe. He's already been defeated. We just need to know it.
Way #6: Overcome Evil with Good – Win with Love
Number six. Win the war with love. Uh-oh, you overcome evil with good. Let me tell you something. When you've got the biggest problem of your life, that's the greatest time to go be good to somebody else. Now that went over really good. Okay, we're going to rewind and act like I didn't say that. When you have the greatest problem in your life, the best thing in the world that you can do is go be good to somebody else.
All right, Matthew 24. This is a serious chapter. This is actually about end times, and boy, it lays it out. Be careful, verse 4 says, that no one misleads you, deceiving you and leading you into error. For many will come in and on the strength of my name, appropriating the name which belongs only to me, saying, I'm the Christ. And they'll lead many astray.
And you'll hear of wars and rumors of wars. Don't be frightened or troubled. For this must take place, but the end is not yet. For a nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in place after place. Well, but it says, but don't be frightened.
Let me tell you something. As children of God, we have nothing to be afraid of. We have nothing to be afraid of. We don't have to be afraid of Ebola. We don't have to be afraid of terrorists. We don't have to be afraid of financial, economic collapse. We don't have to be afraid of anything. You know why? Because we know where we're going. And I don't know about you, but I'm ready to go whenever He wants me. I'm going to a better place. Amen.
I think we need to hear more about heaven and more about eternity. We need to stop getting our minds so fixed on everything here. And all this is but the beginning and the early pains and the birth pains of an intolerable anguish.
Verse 9, and they will hand you over to suffer affliction and tribulation and put you to death and you'll be hated by all nations for my name's sake. Now, you know, we haven't experienced much of that here, but this is going on in the world. And here it comes, verse 10, and then many will be offended. So in these times that we're living in today, now what happens? Many will be offended.
I've never seen a time when people get angry so quick as they do today. Road rage? Really? And many will be offended and repelled and will begin to distrust and desert him whom they ought to trust and obey. And they'll stumble and fall away and betray one another and pursue one another with hatred.
And many false prophets will rise up and deceive and lead many into error. And here's the verse that I'm after. And the love of the great body of people will grow cold because of the wickedness and the lawlessness in the land. The great body of people is the church. And one of the signs of end times is that love among believers will grow cold.
And Jesus' word says that we need to be red hot on fire stirred up in love. The agape of God I just read it this morning I was reading a footnote in a different translation of a Bible that I've been reading just for some variety and it had a footnote about love agape which is the God kind of love and it said the agape of God has little or nothing to do with emotion and everything to do with will and choice.
And so the kind of love we're talking about is not I don't love you because I feel like it I love because I'm committed to love. There's two things that I want to say about love. Love is all involved in how you treat people it's not a gooey feeling it's how you decide to treat people.
And I think that love manifests basically in two ways it gives and it forgives. It gives and it forgives. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him might not perish from their sins because they can be forgiven and be made whole.
So the two things that I see God giving us every single day of our lives is forgiveness and then He just gives and gives He takes care of us He meets our needs He gives us mercy He gives us compassion and that's really all we need to do get up go out in the world and say I'm committed to love people today devil go hang yourself I'm walking in love I'm going to walk in peace I'm going to spend time with God I'm going to laugh a lot because I know you want me sad and depressed come on we're in a war stop assisting the devil and start resisting the devil.