The New And Living Way Church, Ikorodu
Meeting: Sunday Service
Date: 18th April, 2021
Ministers: Bro Niyi & Pastor Segun
Pastor Niyi
Not all attacks are demonic attacks. Today, we’d be looking at the origin of attacks.
Understanding Basic Attacks
(James 1:13-14/James 4:1-3) If we do not have something inside of us, nothing can tempt us. The issue really isn’t the tempter but more about us and the lusts in us.
When we give our life to Christ and are quickened in our spirit (Ephesians 2:1), our soul still has the old nature. When we give our life to Christ, there’s an ability to respond to light. We have a liberty to say no to sin but it doesn’t mean that sin or that unregenerated nature is no longer in the soul.
We must understand that evil spirits can influence us directly or indirectly but not all wrongdoing are activities of evil spirits. The thought that a spirit is at work might make us feel defeated but sometimes, the truth is, some of us actually have not learnt to bring our flesh under. It’s just flesh and not the influence of spirits. Many of our issues are our flesh and not responding to obedience. We leave our flesh to go on rampage. The truth is, flesh is pleasurable and many times we enjoy it. The Lord has to help us change the things that we have pleasure in.
We must understand that we have the power to say no. We are not under the bondage of darkness as believers. It is not an external influence but something we have to deny.
Crucify the Flesh
We cannot pray out the unregenerated nature or cast it out. We however must do obediences to undo this nature. For a thought to come to us, it’s because we have something in us that can respond to it.
(Colossians 3:5) The very nature inside of us are our members and we must mortify them. They are the things that make us. This scripture is speaking to believers and not unbelievers and we have a responsibility to kill them (e.g fornication, inordinate affection e.t.c). What we’re to do by the spirit is to mortify (Romans 8:13).
There is a law that must be written inside of us by obedience. This flesh is us and mortifying our flesh is not the Lord’s duty or our pastor’s, husband’s but ours. We must use every opportunity to mortify the flesh. Let’s not keep blaming everything on demons and start seeing ourselves as the problem.
Crucifying the flesh is not something that happens in one day, because, it took us years of practice. So also we must continuously practice crucifying the flesh by obedience to be totally free.
The thoughts or desires of the flesh will come but we are to take no such thoúghts (Matthew 6:31). We must learn to crucify the flesh even though doing so is not pleasurable. Satan allows some believers to think an evil spirit is directly influencing a habit they are used to in order to make them feel powerless about it. It makes some believers think an issue is beyond them, but what we’re to do is crucify the flesh. Sin isn’t supposed to have dominion over us because Jesus already gave us dominion over sin (Romans 6:13). We are therefore to yield our members to righteousness. Whatever we serve is our master and Jesus is our Master (Romans 6:16). We must therefore be dead to sin in order to keep our bodily members from serving sin because our body will want to keep serving sin if we let it. We must count our body and its members as dead to sin.
We can’t keep watching movies with sex scenes and with junks and expect to not deal with lusts e.t.c. What we feed our minds on can hinder us from bringing our flesh under.
If we keep practising sin over and over again, evil spirits can take hold of our fleshy nature.
Oppression
Oppression is harassment of the mind to take wrong thoughts. It could be fear, anxiety, worry. One thing we must learn about oppression is to rebuke that spirit. Oppression can drag for long depending on the strength of the spirit that brings it. They can stay for days, months, bullying and harassing the mind. We should not keep quiet in times like this.
Thoughts of condemnation have nothing to do with repentance and we must rebuke it.
Not all oppressions can be rebuked or commanded to leave. For some, we might need to stay on the Word to see what the Word says about the situation rather than just rebuke the spirit. Once oppression comes and we yield to it, we can become obsessed with those thoughts. We yield because of the barrage of thoughts. Deep down, we may even like these thoughts. We can see this in how people obsess over celebrities. It starts with oppression.
We must give no place to the devil in any regard (Ephesians 4:27).
The Holyspirit encourages us to do what is right, but we are not to wait on the spirit to do it for us (1 John 3:7). We are the ones to mortify our flesh. We ultimately make the choice to yield to the Holyspirit to do what is right.
Every evil done is usually a result of evil spirits. A man can learn to have lusts, it’s a program that keeps running even in their absence. Many times, it is our flesh and we can deal with it by bringing our flesh under. As we yield to God, we will not be oppressed or obsessed by evil spirits.
Conclusion
Pastor Laide
If we don’t understand what Hagin taught, we will be worldly and won’t understand the word of righteousness. We must endeavour to read The Triumphant Church for ourselves. God helped Rev. Hagin to find the balance in truth.
The reason why some higher thoughts or revelation might not sit well with us is because of the things we have believed wrongly. So what God does is trim it to size because of what He wants to build.
One thing we must know and accept as believers is that in us dwelleth no good thing (Romans 7:18). We must be persuaded by the scripture concerning this so we can know where to begin. If Apostle Paul can say this, then the same can be said for us.
These things that are not good are our members (Romans 8:13/Colossians 3:5). There are things that have become our nature and are the route by which Satan can traffic signals in us to respond to sin. We must destroy these things completely so we can stop responding to sin i.e sin can be destroyed completely.
The only way to kill these natures is by the Word, by obedience to revealed truth/doctrine. There are things inherent in these natures that even when evil spirits are not suggesting anything, those things will continually talk. Believers have the responsibility of putting the flesh under and addressing the issues of lusts by the Word.
One thing to note is that these things can’t be cast out. The principal essence of the leading of the spirit is to subdue these natures. It is for obedience (Romans 6:16-17/ Romans 8:13) and as we obey, we will kill these things.
If we don’t obey the laws of God, we can never be set free from these things. Obedience is not bargainable. Yielding to the spirit, living a spiritual life is not something we can bargain as believers, otherwise we’d be opening doors for Satan to harass, oppress and for greater satanic incursions in our life. We must always obey the promptings of the spirit. The Holy Ghost will lead us in the path of freedom (John 8:31-32).
Temptation comes when every man is drawn away by his own lust (James 1:14). We do not get angry, for example, because someone made us angry but because there is anger inside us and we responded. We yield because there are things still alive in us.
These things have to be dealt with by the word of God and this is where the real work is. Satan is obscuring the place of the Word for deliverance in the body (the church). To crumble the works of the devil is a process.
The bondage we find ourselves in is by the fear of death such that even though Satan has been destroyed, we are still bound (Hebrews 2:14-15). He has set structures in place to keep us bound. These structures are laws in motion in us and we need the wisdom to escape these snares/traps (Psalm 124:7). Our soul can escape and it is by learning because Satan’s snares are strong, his laws are hard to resist; they can weary the soul.
Oppression
There are natures within and spirits without. One can be oppressed with impurities, infirmities or with cares. If we don’t know that it’s a thought from Satan, we agree with it and open a door; a greater door for entrance.
Some people have believed thoughts like they are poor and can never amount to anything and Satan gave them evidence and they believed it. We must be taught to refute these lies and to know that not every thought like these are ours. There are some people, who for the love of attention or pity, crave for sickness to come. They have accepted it.
When the Bible says in my body dwelleth no good thing, it is not just an activity of an evil spirit but also beyond the influence of spirits. Some people have given themselves so much to worry that they perpetually worry even about the things that one wouldn’t naturally worry about. Same with lusts, some are just excessively lustful e.t.c.
We must be taught not to love these things, to hate and despise these things in our heart. Obsession is when a man has agreed with these thoughts from the heart such that when these thoughts don’t come they’re concerned. We can see this with a man who is predisposed to having his way with women and when he doesn’t have a way with a woman he gets worried.
Things we have come to love, we must come to hate them, if not, spirits will be comfortable to come around us.
Some of us love idleness in our hearts. They naturally expect other people to do the work until it becomes an air around them. We must hate from our heart slothfulness. We must have discontentment in our hearts when we are not serving or contributing or giving. Some of us even love free money and would not contribute commensurate value in our place of work. There’s something wrong with such a one.We must know these things so we will not be taken advantage of.
When it comes to oppression and satan is barraging us with thoughts, we must talk and not keep quiet. Don’t just say it with your heart, speak out. Refute and rebuke by the word of God. Our words must be louder and fiercer than the words of these spirits and not just empty words but by scriptures (2 Samuel 19: 43). We must speak so that the ears of our soul can hear something else other than what the spirits are saying. If we need to shout, shout.
If we don’t learn these things and are well-grounded and established, Satan will cheat us in the days to come. Let’s all ensure to read The Triumphant Church.