Sid Roth - Next Level Spiritual Warfare Strategies
Could your answers to prayer be blocked by invisible demonic structures? Have you given up on some of your prayers for healing, or for family salvation, or finances, or even a ministry? My guest has been given supernatural tools and strategies to win. She calls it, "Next Level". And now, it's your time to win, win, win!
Sid Roth: You know, I have led many people to know the Messiah. Many, many, many. But I never heard someone coming to know the Messiah the way you did, Venner. Tell me about it.
Venner J. Alston: I was in a home, and we were getting ready for an event that night. And the phone rang.
Sid Roth: How old were you?
Venner J. Alston: I was 17.
Sid Roth: Okay.
Venner J. Alston: And phone duty wasn't my job, but no one answered the phone, so,
Sid Roth: Were there many people in the house?
Venner J. Alston: Yes, there were about 10, 15 people in the house.
Sid Roth: Wow.
Venner J. Alston: But no one answered the phone. It was as though they didn't hear the phone. And I walked over, and I picked up the phone, and the gentleman on the other end asked for someone. And I said, "He does not live here". And I hung the phone up and walked away from the phone. Within a minute, that phone rang the second time. No one moved. It's as though they did not hear the phone ringing. So, I walked back to the phone the second time. Immediately when I heard his voice, I said, "I told you, he doesn't live here". And I hung the phone up. Well, what I didn't know is, he had a resolve in his heart, that whoever answered that phone, he was going to share the love of Jesus with them. And wouldn't God have it that that phone rang the third time. No one moved. And I walked back to the phone.
Sid Roth: Wait, whoa, whoa. Were you getting angry about this person calling back?
Venner J. Alston: Yes, I was. I was! I was. I picked up the phone, and he started talking. And I said, "Look, I told you," and he said, "Wait, wait". And he started talking to me about the love of God. He shared the message of the gospel with me. And it felt like I had been in a dark room, and all of a sudden, my world was flooded with light. I prayed and received Christ that moment, right then.
Sid Roth: And guess what? That guy on the phone, she wound up marrying him! You told me you had a close relative that was quite a prophet. And all of a sudden, you started knowing things, but you were going to a church that didn't know a whole lot about the supernatural, so you had no grid on this. And that's pretty tough. I guess that's one reason God raised you up as a teacher like you are, to help people not to have to not know what's going on.
Venner J. Alston: I do. I agree with that. I had a great, great, great uncle that was a prophetic voice in his time, and he was a slave. But they would come and ask him, "What did you hear today? What did you dream today"? And he didn't have prophetic language. He would just tell them what he dreamed. And he would just tell them what he sensed. And what we began to notice is that, after I became a believer, I started noticing that because I had a cycle of prayer, I'd pray two days, I'd fast two days, and then I'd eat. And then I'd fast two days, and then I'd eat. Well, what I discovered was that sometimes when people would walk up to me, I knew what they were going to say before they said it. And I didn't know how, I didn't have a language grid, so I didn't know how I knew that. So, I kind of sort of kept that quiet. But as I began to emerge and God began to restore prophetic language back to the Body of Christ, I then had language that was the scripter of what it was I was experiencing. Then I could just continue to hear the voice of God, and declare what I heard Him say in the Spirit, just like I know that there is someone in our audience today that you are listening, and there are some of you in our physical audience here, you came and you're listening not just because the program is called "It's Supernatural," you have been believing God for a supernatural miracle. What I felt like I sensed is that you have a diagnosis of cancer in your body, and you have done everything that you felt like you could do, and you said, "I am going to go to this show. I am going to watch this show because I need a supernatural miracle in my body". I speak over you right now, and I declare healing over you. I command the process of death in your life to stop. Now I decree that you're in the midst of a supernatural turnaround. And I decree that even when you go to the doctor the next time, there will be a different report that will come from the doctor, and you will find that your... I hear the scripture, "Rise and shine, for your light has come". Your health is turning in this moment. And I decree that even the voice of the enemy that would say that you would not heal, that she was just talking, I say tonight Heaven is going to open over the place where you are sleeping, and you're going to have a dream about Heaven. And that's how you're going to know. It's going to be your confirmation that you've been healed, you've been delivered. I command you to rise right now, take up your sick bed and walk. Jesus, the Messiah, has heard your cry and He has healed your body!
Sid Roth: You know Venner, I just could feel, I didn't see it. I'm not a seer, yet! I always put the "yet" up there, by the way, I'm not a seer yet. If I could have seen, I saw it going out of you into that person.
Venner J. Alston: Yeah.
Sid Roth: You have such an amazing gift of prophecy. Tell me about the prophecy in Jamaica.
Venner J. Alston: I was in Jamaica in 2018. I had been going for a couple of years. It was supernatural, even the way that I got there. But this particular year, it was 2018, and I had gone to minister. I was part of a conference there. And I was just, it was my turn to speak. And when I stood up on the platform, I didn't turn to the scripture. The prophetic anointing just began to rise up in me, and,
Sid Roth: Like we just saw.
Venner J. Alston: Like you just saw. And I began to prophesy. I said, "There is coming the discovery of oil on this island". And I said, "Within the next three to four months, you're going to discover oil". And then I began to say that there would be hidden treasures that would be revealed in the land. And I said, "And then God wants you to know, you're going to have to watch and guard for the spirit of piracy". I spoke that at the end of January. One month later, at the end of February, I received an email of an article of a story that had been printed in the newspaper. And they were talking about the discovery of oil on the island.
Sid Roth: I know, years ago, I used to do a seminar, and in this seminar, I would say, "God answers prayers three ways. It's either yes, no, or wait". It sounded good. Is it true, Venner?
Venner J. Alston: I do believe that God answers, "Yes," "No," and "Not yet". And we have to know which is God's answer. So sometimes it's, "Not yet," and that's where I began to talk in the book about the difference between "wait" and "delay". So, God always responds to prayer, but we just have to know what that answer is.
Sid Roth: So, what's the difference between "wait" and "delay"?
Venner J. Alston: The difference between "wait" and "delay" is the "yes," that God has for you. There are other people connected to that "yes". There are other people that God is aligning. There are circumstances that God is aligning. Sometimes God is building patience in you. He's developing the fruit of the spirit of patience on the inside of you. And you have to know,
Sid Roth: Is that what's been going on with all of us?
Venner J. Alston: Sometimes we're just learning how to wait. But that comes to an end. There is a moment in time where the process of God is done. And so, from that moment after God's timing of wait, and you're not seeing the manifestation of what God said, that's called "delay," and delay is illegal. Anytime you are experiencing delay, it is always illegal. "Wait," is God's time, and it's legal. And it happens in all of our lives, because He's a good, good father, and He's developing us. But "delay" is what the enemy brings against us, so that we will walk away discouraged, believing that God did not answer.
Sid Roth: I want you to pray to break the spirit of delay.
Venner J. Alston: I speak over you right now. I know by the Spirit of God that there is a group of leaders, that you have been pressing in. It feels like a group of pastors. And something has happened in your city, and your church hasn't grown, your ministry hasn't grown. And there's a businessman, something horrific just happened to your business in the last seven days. And you said, "I can't wait another day for this to turn around". I speak over you now, and I say, businessman, this is not your first time, your first cycle of delay. You've been caught in this like a revolving door. I speak over that now, and I command the spirit of delay to loose your business and let you go. I speak over ministries, I speak over ministries that you've been waiting, and you've been waiting, you would get three people in the front door and ten would walk out the back door. I speak over that spirit of delay in your growth. And I command now, and I activate a supernatural cycle of evangelism and growth, and manifestation in your ministry right now. I command the powers of delay to break in the Name of Jesus, as a woman of God, as an apostolic voice, to the Body of Christ. You must obey me, and I command you to break now in the Name of Jesus!
Sid Roth: All right, that prayer just begs a question. Tell me about the demonic carpenters.
Venner J. Alston: Demonic carpenters is a construction of evil that, what they do, it's like a demonic blacksmith. And they construct circumstances in your life that are designed to keep you in, like, a maze, because that's what I see in the Spirit realm. I see like a maze. And I see men and women of God trying to navigate through all of this, and never being able to exit on the other side to manifestation. Demonic carpenters construct these circumstances in our lives, that are really designed to thwart us in the plan and the operation of God. And literally what happens is, when you're there, it's like you're in a holding pattern. A holding pattern. You're not going forward, you're not going backward, but you are not seeing the manifestation of what God has said to you. And you don't know how to break through. Well, God has given you tools. God has given you everything that you need to fight, to war, and to win. You just need to know how to use your weapons. Next Level teaches you how to use your weapons.
Sid Roth: What do you mean by the term "retribution"?
Venner J. Alston: Retribution is different than restoration. Over the years, I've heard this term in the Body of Christ, over and over and over and over. It's time for restoration. Well, when I looked up the word "restoration," it simply means I get back what was taken from me. And I said, well, now, the Bible says that if you catch the thief, the thief has to repay up to seven-fold. So, in the way that I understand these two terms, there's a difference between restoration and retribution. Retribution is part of restoration, and it is not fully manifested until you not only receive what was taken from you, but you receive interest on your loss.
Sid Roth: You know, you've got so much wonderful teaching. But most people that are watching us don't know about how complex this evil network has been set up, this web has been set up to prevent us from getting what God wants. Explain that, that demonic structure.
Venner J. Alston: You can see this operating. Demonic principalities operate from that place of the second heavens. And so, you can see what's operating from region to region, you can go into some region, and maybe what happens there is a lot of gambling. Maybe a lot of those kinds of things. You go into other regions, and there's something else that's operating there. And so, what we find is that a part of the foundation of a ministry is healthy families. So, if the families are dysfunctional, if they're divided one from another, then that, in turn, impacts the ministry that they're connected to, and everybody that they're connected to. So, God's order and God's heart is restoration of families. And so, if you look at Daniel, Chapter 9, I love this passage of scripture. Daniel recognizes that a 70-year season has come to an end, and he says, you know, 70 years has ended. That's done, something else is to start. He begins to fast and pray. The Bible says he didn't put on his usual garment. He began to fast; he began to pray. He didn't eat his, his diet changed, and he began to press in and seek the face of the Lord. Well, when the angel shows up, he says to Daniel, "Don't be afraid". Because, see, when the angel comes in the room, there's a manifestation. He's shaking, he falls on his face. And the angel sets him up on his knees and says, "Daniel, don't be afraid, because from the day that you began to pray, from the day that you set your heart to seek the Lord, that God responded. I came because of your words, but on my way, there was a war in the second heaven. Michael had to come and gauge and break through so that I could bring you this response now". Sometimes in our prayer, in our waiting, there is warfare in the heavens, and we have to know how to use the tools of fasting, prayer, worship, declaring the Word of the Lord, and having a resolve in our heart that I am not backing away until I see everything that God has promised me.
Sid Roth: I believe you. I believe you. You know, you have to share this, very briefly. Comment on the finishing anointing.
Venner J. Alston: God has anointed us to finish. Paul said at the end of his life, he said, "I have fought a good fight. I have kept the faith. I have finished my course". Jesus said it when He was on the cross, He said, "It is finished". So, there's an anointing upon us. Not just to start, and not just to maintain the status quo. There's an anointing on us to finish, and not finish poorly. There's an anointing on us to finish, to finish well, and to finish strong. And I believe when we learn how to use the weapons of our warfare accurately, we then are not just engaged. We're moving toward a finish. See, God had something in mind when He created Sid Roth. He said, "I need a television program that focuses on the supernatural, that will not veer to the left or to the right, that will begin to press in and believe me for the impossible. So, I'm going to create a Sid Roth".
Sid Roth: You know what? You, you are wonderfully and fearfully made. There has never been another you on the face of this earth. Be right back.
Sid Roth: Venner, you also talk about distraction. Tell me about that.
Venner J. Alston: This is what happens when you're distracted. When you're distracted, He fills our minds sometimes with good things. It's what I call "busyness". And in that place of busyness, we get pulled away from what is really important, and so we lose focus on our warfare, because of something else that came in. Something in life. Life happens, doesn't it, on the earth?
Sid Roth: Sure.
Venner J. Alston: And so, we have to pay attention to what we are paying attention to, and we must keep first things first. So, when I'm distracted, I lose focus. When I lose focus, I lose energy. I lose strength. I lose momentum. And when those things happen, I lose.
Sid Roth: What if you're in a really big challenge, and nothing's happening? What is your advice?
Venner J. Alston: If you're in a big challenge and nothing is happening, and I know this by the Spirit of God, I begin to hear this word for families, that you have children that got up and walked away from home. And the anguish of your heart as a parent, I see, parents, you've been up for several nights, you've been praying. And you've just been saying to the Lord, "Even if they don't come home, I want to hear from my child". I decree right now, and I send a word to your child wherever they are, and I decree that in the next seven days, you will hear from your child. I decree that they're going to pick up the phone and they're going to call you. And I even speak now, and I activate a cycle of reconciliation between you and your children. And I decree that even that place of bitterness that has come in and it has divided the family in certain ways, I decree now that there's a healing coming into your family. For there has been a longing in your heart to be reunited with your child. And I decree by the Spirit of God, I activate this now. And I send a word to your child, it feels like a son. I send a word to your son, and I say right now, tonight you're going to begin to dream about your mother and your father. And there's an awakening happening in your life. And you're going to get up and you're going to make your way, because you're in another city. You're going to make your way back home. There's going to be a time of reconciliation. There's coming, I can feel the love of God that is going to just drop when all of you meet in the same space and place. So, I just say to you now that your prayer has been heard, no matter how long you've been praying, no matter how long you have been waiting. I want you to always know that God is a good, good father. He said, "I watch over my Word to perform it". He said, "I am not a man that I would lie, neither am I the son of man that I would repent. If I have said it, I will surely bring it into manifestation". And I decree that this is your season of manifestation now. God spoke a word to me. He said, "My church has been in a cycle of manifestation, movement without manifestation". And I decree that right now, that's what I saw in the Spirit was a revolving door, and we had been going around the same issues over and over and over again. And God says that cycle of movement without manifestation is over. It is a season of manifestation. I activate miracles in your life. I activate the supernatural in your life. And I decree that your ears are open in a greater way to hear the voice of the Lord, even those of you that have a Seer's anointing, and because you saw in the Spirit. And people didn't understand what you were seeing. You retreated into the cave, and you said, "I'm just not going to share my experiences with anybody else". I call you from the place of hiddenness. And I said, it's now time. Prophets, come out of the cave. Prophets, come out of the cave now in Jesus' Name.
Sid Roth: Now, you may not get a supernatural phone call like Venner did, to know the Messiah. But consider this your phone call. Do you want to know God as much as He wants to know you? Yes, He wants to know you more than you want to know Him. I don't mean religion. I mean relationship. I mean intimacy. I mean your best friend. Repeat this prayer after me and mean it to the best of your ability. Out loud. Dear God. I'm a sinner. And I'm so sorry. I believe, the precious blood of Jesus washes away all of my sins. And I'm clean, And now that I'm clean Jesus, come into my heart. Live inside of me. I want to know you. I boldly proclaim, Jesus, You're my Lord. Amen.