Sid Roth - A Man Held a Knife to My Throat. Watch How I Responded with Mike Shreve
Sid Roth: Hello, Sid Roth here. Welcome to my world, where it's naturally supernatural! My guest was a teacher of New Age at 4 universities. He had the most amazing encounter with the Messiah of Israel, and was freed! But immediately, he was under the most ferocious attack, and God taught him a spiritual principle that has set him free, for over 40 years. Would you like to find out that principle?
Sid Roth: Mike, early on, you had an attack on the integrity of the Word of God eh, but God is so good, He gave you a dream I wish everyone would catch the revelation, right now, of this dream! What did He show you?
Mike Shreve: That was my biggest battle: Whether or not the Word of God was actually the Word of God. It was like all day long...
Sid Roth: Yeah.
Mike Shreve: ...every day I had this...
Sid Roth: Yeah.
Mike Shreve: ...pressure of hundreds of thoughts coming into my mind. And so I was in this war in my mind. And God did give a promise, Sid, that "in the Last Days", He would "pour out His Spirit on all flesh," and the result would be "dreams" and "visions" dreams and vision! And I asked God to resolve the issue, and He gave me this phenomenal dream, where shortly after I was saved, I I saw in this dream of the night, this night vision, the Lord Jesus Christ came to me! And He was standing before me in all His radiant Glory, and then all of a sudden, He disappeared, and in His place was the open book, with Hebrew printing. And I knew it was the Bible intuitively, and I knew that that was God's way of saying that "I and My Word" "are one" and the same, because it was the same space. But the thing that really attracted me the most about it is the book was pulsating, like it had a heartbeat. And every time it would pulsate, a river of light would pour off the pages, into me. And I woke up with this incredible feeling of this warm, heavenly light pouring into me. Well needless to say, I never doubted the Word of God again. I knew it was a living book!
Sid Roth: That was important. Mike, you have lived a life of victory for over 40 years now, uh based on one powerful truth. And it just seems so simple, yet it is so important. You pray the Promises and not the problems. Why is that so important?
Mike Shreve: Well when God gave me that vision about the Word of God,
Sid Roth: Um-hm.
Mike Shreve: I realized that I needed to find every positive application of the Word of God. And I began studying the Promises, and I found out eventually there are 7,487 Promises in God's Word and they're all mine, and they're all yours! They belong to every one of us.
Sid Roth: Now, what to you is a Promise from the Bible?
Mike Shreve: Well...
Sid Roth: What is that?
Mike Shreve: ...a Promise is a pledge, it's a firm and unwavering agreement. It's a commitment from the lips of God that He will do, or will not do, some specific thing. There are no problems you could ever face in life, where there isn't already in advance a Promise strong enough, powerful enough, to take you through the problem, to sure victory on the other side.
Sid Roth: Mm. That's...
Mike Shreve: Declare God's Promises, by faith, lay hold to them, seize them in the name of the Lord, and expect God to "watch over His Word, to fulfill it".
Sid Roth: You have a revelation of the Throne room, that you say once someone grasps this revelation of the Throne room, every life-threatening problem evaporates! I want to find out about it. Be right back!
Sid Roth: Mike, tell me about your revelation of the Throne room, and the authority!
Mike Shreve: The Bible first says that we're to "come boldly to the throne of grace", but then, that's not where it ends! The throne is the position of power, it's the position of authority, it's the position of, decree. It's the position of dominion, it's the position of rest when you're seated with Him. And that's not futuristic, because the Bible said, present tense, right now we are "seated with Christ in heavenly places". Then, we speak with authority, as if we're enthroned with God. We speak with the same kind of authority He will speak with.
Sid Roth: There was a time that it wasn't just theory for you.
Mike Shreve: Right.
Sid Roth: It saved your life! What happened?
Mike Shreve: Well many times, but this one specific...
Sid Roth: Well I know! I've read your book! Right. This one specific time...
Sid Roth: I mean do you I'll tell you what. If there wasn't integrity behind the Promises of God, I'd be interviewing someone else right now.
Mike Shreve: Oh and really, believe me, I look back, and I'm in awe at what God did! I should have been dead.
Sid Roth: Are you someone special? Do you do you have some special authority with God?
Mike Shreve: I'm very special! You're very special! All of you are very special!
Sid Roth: Um hmm!
Mike Shreve: Because the Bible calls us "children of Promise", uh which is Galatians 4:28! That means you are a product of the Promises of God. They all came to pass. They were like beams of light, coming down and striking one spot, and that was your repentant heart, where you believed, you trusted, you expected, you acted on the Word of God. "Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved". It happened, the Promises came to pass. But then Hebrews 6:17 says you are "heirs of Promise", so that's who you are, but it's also what you have. I have these Promises, now what am I what am I going to do with them? Well, you mentioned the Throne room Promise, wow. the time I was picked up hitchhiking, when I first got saved, I was hitchhiking, and this guy picks me up hitchhiking. He said, "Where are you going"? I said, "I'm going to Atlanta, Georgia". He said, "You are in luck! I'm going all the way there. You won't have to get another ride"! So I sank back in my seat and kind of whispered a premature "Hallelujah", and then before I knew what was happening, this guy had pulled off into a field and was going at a high rate of speed. The car was just bumping, and he went real fast out into the middle of the field, where there was a big bunch of trees. Now I'm very suspicious! I don't know what this guy is doing, you know! Well, my suspicions were confirmed. He pulls a knife out, he holds it to my neck. He tells me that he's going to rape me, then rob me, then kill me! I was only a couple of months old in the Lord, but I remembered one of my teachers had told me if you ever have a confrontation with a demon, either directly or in a human being, then take your authority, your Throneroom authority, and declare the Word of God, with the same authority God would in the same situation. So I started declaring the Word! I said, "Buddy, you'd better get right with God. One day you're going to stand before God on the day of Judgment, and give an account for every deed done in your body, and apparently, you're going to hear God say, 'Depart from me,' 'you worker of inequity', 'I know you not.'" I just kept preaching! I kept preaching. I didn't even take time to swallow my spit, I just sprayed saliva...
Sid Roth: Yeah but what...
Mike Shreve: all over everything!
Sid Roth: ...what's going, what is he doing with his knife?
Mike Shreve: Yeah!
Sid Roth: What's going on?
Mike Shreve: Yeah! And all of a sudden I should not have been surprised but all of a sudden, the guy starts crying, profusely! He handed me the knife, and he says, "You sound just like my mama"! I thought, "What am I going to do with this knife"? I threw the knife away as far as I could! And he turned around and knelt down on the floorboard and started repenting! Then I started casting devils out of him, and he got saved! He got saved! The devil sent him to destroy me, and God in Heaven smiled, and said, "I'm going to turn it totally around the other direction".
Sid Roth: Hm.
Mike Shreve: And in fact, before I got up here, God spoke to me that one of the 2 Promises that were especially for the audience here today, and for the audience around the world, God spoke to me that there's 2 Promises that God is speaking to you prophetically: Romans 16:20, that says, "The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly"! Yes! "The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly"! And the second Promise is Ephesians 3:20, where God said "He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above anything you ask or think", but, it's "according to the power that works in us," and that is the power of faith! The power of confession, the power of hope-filled expectation. Praise God! Believe it!
Sid Roth: What Promise would you use if you're looking for supernatural direction?
Mike Shreve: Oh, Psalm 37, I believe it's around verse 23 says, "the steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord", "the steps of a good man". And Proverbs chapter 3, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding," "in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct" not might, not could, not should but "He will direct your path".
Sid Roth: I want you to pray that prayer the way you would pray it if you were looking for divine direction. Right now.
Mike Shreve: Father, I thank You for leading me into Your perfect will. I make the declaration out of the Lord's prayer, "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done" in this earthen vessel, "even as it is in heaven". I am born again! And you said the wind blows where it wills, and I would hear the sound of it, but I wouldn't know where it's coming from or where it's going. Catch me up in the wind of Heaven, God, and guide me into my destiny, in Jesus' name!
Sid Roth: So, he has a problem, he prays such a prayer! He's in Bombay. What happened?
Mike Shreve: Oh wow! In Bombay, India, I had about a 12-hour layover with the airline I was with, and I didn't want to spend 12 hours in that airport. Thankfully the airline I was uh with had a policy, if you had over an 8-hour layover, they would put you up in a 5-star hotel! And I'd never stayed around luxury like that, it was quite amazing. And when I walked in, I was anticipating a break, after spending a month in the jungles, [chuckling] you know. And then my eyes were captivated by the sign, uh near the restaurants, very swanky restaurant, that said steak and lobster, was the special that night.
Sid Roth: Uh-oh!
Mike Shreve: I'd been eating rice for a month rice and beans. I thought, "This is God! Yes"! And I started walking toward the restaurant, and the thing I most feared came upon me: The voice of God changed my decision. Uh, God said. "Don't go in the restaurant! Go out on the street, I've got a job for you to do"! So I walked out on the street, and all of a sudden, all of a sudden this tiny little man runs up to me. Now, that's half the reason I love preaching in India, most of them are shorter than me. But this tiny little man ran up to me, and in a high pitch voice he said, "What is your name"? I said, "My name is Mike Shreve". He said, "That sounds like a Christian name! By any chance are you a Christian"? I said, "Well, by the way, I am a Christian"! He said, "By any chance are you a Pentecostal preacher"? I said, "I am a Pentecostal preacher"! He said, "Good. There's a man needs to get saved right now".
Sid Roth: If you had gone into that restaurant, you would have missed God!
Mike Shreve: Oh! I would have missed one of the greatest experiences of my life! It's one of those things where it looks like a coincidence, but it's really a God-incidence! That night his boss came into work and said, "I don't know why, but on my way to work, I decided what you've got is real, and I want it". He was intimidated praying for his own boss, so he runs out of the restaurant, hoping to find somebody to help him pray.
Sid Roth: Mm!
Mike Shreve: And, I just happened to be walking by halfway around the world from home. He gave his heart to the Lord. And we were out in the alley behind his restaurant, and then he said, "Let's go back to my restaurant". He said, "I've got 3 Hindus, I've got a Buddhist, I've got a Jainist, I've got a Catholic, I've got a Muslim". He mentioned about 6 or 7 world religions!
Mike Shreve: He brought them all out. He interpreted my message!
Sid Roth: Right.
Mike Shreve: He's only been saved 5 minutes! I gave an invitation, and every cook and every waiter in that restaurant got saved.
Sid Roth: You have no idea how much is in one Promise of God! You have no idea of the power and the destiny, and the purpose God has for your life! But sometimes there are strongholds that stop you! When we come back, they're going to stop you no more!
Mike Shreve: Praise God!
Sid Roth: Mike, you talk about strongholds in the mind, and there are 3 primary weapons to tear them down.
Mike Shreve: That's 2 Corinthians, chapter 10, verses 3-5. It says, "though we are in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh. But the weapons of our warfare" "are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds", now watch the wording, carefully. It says, "casting down", not demons, not principalities or powers, but "casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God". So there are certain mindsets...
Sid Roth: Uh excuse me. So you might be able to say, "everything that exalts itself" against a Promise of God...
Mike Shreve: Is a stronghold!
Sid Roth: I'm going to "cast down"!
Mike Shreve: Yes.
Sid Roth: I am not going to pay attention to that!
Mike Shreve: Yes! I love it! You demonstrated this in the most amazing fashion. Wait till you hear this. He went into an insane asylum, but it wasn't for himself.
Sid Roth: Tell me about it.
Mike Shreve: Well, I wasn't so sure what was happening first! I had driven to New York, upper state New York, to preach for a friend of mine who'd pastored a Church of God. When I got there from Tennessee, I knocked on his door. He came to the door very abruptly and said, "Oh, I'm glad you're here! Let's go"! I said, "Where are we going"? He said, "To the insane asylum"! I said, "The insane asylum"? I said, "Do you treat all your visiting evangelists this way"?
Sid Roth: What was the name of that church no!
Mike Shreve: I thought maybe the rooms were cheaper there than the motel, who knows, you know. But then he began to explain to me that one of his best members, a very godly woman, the leader of his intercessory group, had been married to an abusive man that constantly told her things like how stupid and ugly and worthless she was. A man is supposed to be a protector, not a predator, in his home. But anyway, she cracked, and she finally had a nervous breakdown. We went there, and they gave us 5 minutes with her. Only 5 minutes, and they said, "No religious stuff"! I didn't know how to respond to that! So I didn't say yea or nay, I just smiled, and I thought, "Let them interpret that smile any way they want to", because in my mind, I was thinking, "I'm here to do God's work"! And and so they led us back to the room, thankfully, they let us close the door. She did not acknowledge us being in the room. She acted like she was alone, just sitting on the bed, muttering. And the pastor said, "You go ahead", and so I walked over and I thought well even if she doesn't act like she hears me, I believe her spirit hears me, I believe her heart hears me. So I didn't want anybody outside to hear, so I got real close to her, and I thought I'm going to declare every Promise I can think of in the Word of God, for the next 4 to 5 minutes. And I thought Jesus when He faced off with the devil, He always said, "It is written,"...
Sid Roth: Right.
Mike Shreve: "It is written," "It is written", so I thought I'm going to use the same method. So I got down close to her, and I said, "It is written," "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.'" "It is written," "nothing can separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus". "It is written," "Behold, I give you power over all the power of the enemy". It is written, "God has not given you a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and of a sound mind". "It is written," that "If God, be for you, who can be against you"? And went on and on and on! I looked at my watch, and lo and behold we had 30 seconds left. I said, "Pastor, we gotta go for it"!, so we both laid hands on her, and without planning it in advance, we both burst out speaking in tongues, as loud as we could, very loud. So much so the door swung open, and 2 big bouncers came in, grabbed us by the arm, led us to the front door, threw us outside, and locked the door behind us.
Sid Roth: Hmm!
Mike Shreve: But we had already done sufficient damage to the devil's kingdom! Because after we left, that woman got up and bathed herself, she clothed herself. She went up to the front desk, she said, "Call my family. I don't need to be in here anymore. God gave me my mind back"! Whoo!
Sid Roth: If you could just grab hold of these Promises! There is a Promise for every need that you have! "He who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved"! Therefore, that's you! If you will pray this prayer, and mean it to the best of your ability, every rotten thing you've ever done will be eradicated! You'll have a new beginning.
Mike Shreve: That's right. And the life and love of God will enter you!
Mike Shreve: Yes!
Sid Roth: You haven't lived, till you've experienced the life and love of God!
Mike Shreve: Thank You, Jesus.
Sid Roth: Repeat after me, out loud: "Dear God, I'm a sinner, for which I'm so sorry. I believe that the blood of Jesus washes away all those sins. And in Your sight, I'm clean. It's a new beginning! And now that I am clean, Jesus, come and live inside of me! Become my Lord. Amen"!
Sid Roth: And the word "Amen" means "so be it"!