(Teaching)Spiritual Warfare and Deliverance

So today we're going to get into a very important and serious topic that doesn't get recognized enough through out the body, and that is the topic of Deliverance and Spiritual warfare. There are many believers in the body that have very little understanding of the war that is going on in the spirit realm. Many don't recognize that they have an enemy that comes against them on a daily basis and we all must be equipped and ready to battle. Now I’m not saying these things will all come easily to us, because truthfully we all start off immature, we all start off with a lack of knowledge but the key to this is to not allow yourself to remain in that state. We are all meant to grow and deepen our relationship and faith with the Lord and we all start off immature to become developed and fully matured. It is important as believers to be firmly founded in the Word of God, believing in the Work of the cross, knowing who they are in Christ and Offering fragrant sacrifices of Thanksgiving and Praise to Our Beloved Abba Father because if not then that can leave us lacking in the battlefield. We often run into many believers that are drained and overwhelmed with these relentless and endless attacks that they are receiving in their lives. They openly express how they are on the brink of just giving up because they can’t handle the attacks. When we hear this it saddens us, because it is heartbreaking to hear that our brother or sister is struggling in their walk and it is important that we come together as a body to help others through the Love of Christ. What we find exciting through this journey is that we now get to reveal the pathway of hope that is in Our amazing Lord and savior and we know there is a new chapter in their walk with God that they are going to walk into. There is nothing better than coming into the knowledge and truth of the Lord and thanks be to him there is a way to come against the enemy. We are extremely privileged having access to the word of God and as believers it's important to take advantage of that weapon as much as we can as it is meant to help tear down these attacks and these strongholds that the enemy sends our way. So many people are struggling to stay afloat in this fight because they are trying to fight it off by their own strength, wisdom and knowledge. Truth is, these battles can never be won off of our own strength because we don’t have the power to tear down the enemy without God and His son Yeshua. Although we have gotten ourselves into such a mess with sin Our Heavenly Father is so amazing he has made a way out of every single situation and mess we created, such an awesome Yah he is! It is truly a blessing to be able to come into the saving power of the Lord. His Truth is something so precious and as disciples we need to hold closely onto God's word and his truth and remain steadfast on the promises and victory of Yeshua.

What I've come to learn through much deep intimate time with Yahweh is that Deliverance is always an issue with the heart. Believers can be on their faith walk for years and years and still be stuck in stagnation. A lot of the time we wait in what feels like agony wondering when God is going to deliver us from these strongholds? We sit there and allow our thoughts to fester and here comes doubt creeping in and we begin to question if God can really do this for us? Then we can find ourselves embittered and begin to question God what is taking so long? You see, the issue isn't about whether God is capable of doing it or not because we know that he is. The real question is what are we doing? What are we feeding ourselves while waiting for the deliverance we are asking for? Are we allowing Jesus to truly purge us and tear down these deep hidden pains? Is there a sincere surrenderance? Are we allowing him to give us the strength to acknowledge and confront the things that are in our hearts? The is a lot of effort we need to put when it comes to growing and deepening our relationship with Yhwh and with Yeshua, there is so much to learn about God every day. Our work can really never be done, deliverance from strongholds, deliverance from old hidden pains or traumas are going to be constantly being worked out of us; we will not reach perfection until we are completely transfigured with Yeshua on the day of his return. We know confronting these things aren’t easy but they are life changing, so instead of avoiding the change and asking God how much longer do I have to wait? Let us ask him how much more of my heart do you need today Father? Remember you can do all things through Christ and him alone. A true and lasting deliverance and rebirth comes from the lasting practice of faith and intimacy with Yeshua, that creates an everlasting fruit. Surrender to him and just allow him to do the work that he needs to do inside of you.

This lesson is going to be a very long one but I promise you it is filled with the meat, the praise and the goodness of the Lord and you will truly be captivated by his wisdom. Enter this journey with us and learn how to become equipped for the battlefield against the kingdom of darkness.

Let us begin by taking a personal and deep reflection into our pasts. Self accountability and acknowledgement are two very important things we must come in agreement with in our walks with Yeshua/Jesus. We know that God is faithful and that when we confess our sins to him he is there to forgive us. Repentance is when there is a physical change of one's mind, meaning you came into the acknowledgement of the truth of God and are holding yourself accountable for all of the things you’ve done. This now causes you to no longer want to live in a sinful way, you acknowledge God as your Master and begin the journey to cut off all ties with the devil and that is a process. While, Yes, God absolutely forgives us of our sins, what he doesn’t do is take away the seeds of our sins and the consequences they produce. Two examples of this in scripture are Genesis 3 and 2 Samuel 12.

The Fall

Genesis 3:6-24 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise,[b] she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”14 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.16 (Eve’s Consequence)To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children.Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.”17 (Adam’s consequence) And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field 19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.20 The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

Notice:

Not only did this sin cause individual consequences for man and woman but it also caused them both to lose out on the privilege of being able to remain living in Eden. They broke the promise and did not hold themselves accountable at first. This also reveals the enemy’s goal was to make Eve forget her identity in God therefore that action allowed sin to enter into the world through an agreement that was made between mankind and the devil. Thankfully God made a redemptive plan for mankind to be able to inherit the promise once again through obedience to him, through His Son Yeshua. Another good example of how the consequences of sin can interfere with your life is in the book of 2 Samuel chapter 12.

Nathan Rebukes David

2 Samuel 12:1-15 And the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had very many flocks and herds, 3 but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him. 4 Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” 5 Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, 6 and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.” 7 Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. 8 And I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. 9 Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ 11(David’s Consequence) Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.’” 13 David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. 14 Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child who is born to you shall die.” 15 Then Nathan went to his house.

You see King David, was rich in every way. The Lord blessed him with more than enough of everything. But it shows how our flesh is weak and wicked, it shows how we struggle with contentment. It reveals that even when we have been blessed beyond what we deserve we are still capable of falling and forgetting who we are in Christ. It shows the importance of why we should not be living by the flesh but by the spirit. These books truly are gems that the Lord has preserved for us, so that we may study and learn from these mistakes, to equip us against the tactics of the enemy, and to grow us a individuals.

Remember if you accept Yeshua as Lord and Savior, and you Repent and turn away from your sinful way of living, you are forgiven, but it doesn’t take away the consequences of the sins you have committed in your life. Yes we are saved from hell which is amazing Praise God, but we do have a long road of purging, consecration and resisting the devil ahead of us.

REFLECTION TIME:

How can you relate with these two examples in scripture? What are the sins you have committed in your life? The seeds/consequences of these sins will be evident (If you are ready to confront them). This helps expose a lot about the types of demons that are going to be attempting to make spots in your life. Even looking back at your family lineage can help expose that as well as it will show up as repetitive cycles or patterns of things happening in your family lineage each generation. For example, say someone was sexually abused as a child, it is important to examine if it has happened to anyone else in the family and how many generations it happened to. That will not only reveal it is a generational curse that needs to be broken, but it also reveals the spirits of lust/lewdness, perversion, pedophilia, rape, trauma, neglect, and abuse. These spirits will work against you in a series of different ways but a main one is causing us to fall into other sinful covenants that include, sexual addiction, porn addiciton, homosexuality, beastiality, and can branch off into many, many other addictions, patterns and behaviors. The enemy's goal is to make us completely ignorant of these things so we can never come into the complete acknowledgment of our authority in Yeshua Hamashiach/Jesus Christ. Don’t allow yourself to be held captive to anything unclean and demonic when Yehsua gives us the tools we need to be FREE through him and his purifying blood. There is NOTHING in this world Yeshua cannot break!

This is why it is so important to remain in a deep and intimate relationship with Yeshua when we accept him into our lives because once we receive deliverance from these things and we break agreements and covenants they will try to return and if you are not properly equipped with the word of God and fully believing in who you are in Christ you will end up falling and end up worse off then how you started.

Scripture supports this in Matthew 12: 43-45.

Return of the Unclean Spirit.

Matthew 12:43-45 43 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.”

**Remember the devil doesn’t want us coming into the True Saving power of God and the major key to that is remaining firm and steadfast. Fully believing and trusting all that Christ has done for you on the cross of cavalry, and knowing your identity in Christ, resisting the devil, and being in full submission to God and his will for your life.**

Submitting to the Will of God in your life is something you have to do daily, you must die to self and put on the Light of Christ. Truly believing that you need God to do all the work in your life because you’ve done nothing but destroy it on your own, that takes a lot of humbling because it means giving up full control over your heart, mind, thoughts and actions. The purging process is a hard one but it is completely worth it, as it changes you and separates you from who you once were before Christ into who you are NOW in Christ. In Mark 7:15 it shows us how important it really is to allow God into our hearts and minds to purify and renew us because everything that we think, speak and feel all stem from the things that are hidden within our hearts.

What Defiles a Person?

Mark 7:15-22 “There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him. 16 And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. 17 And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 18 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled? (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 19 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 20 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 21 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 22 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

These Only go out through Prayer and Fasting

Matthew 17:21 “But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

This now brings us into the need of prayer and fasting, the more you pray and seek guidance from the Father about yolks that need to be broken, the more he will reveal the inner hidden defilements within your heart. IF and when you are ready to release those inner burdens and defilments Yah will show you which yolks can be broken easily and which ones will require intense warfare, prayer and fasting. These must all be spirit led fasts and must be something the Lord has prepared you for. In order to have a successful and long lasting deliverance there must be true repentance, and full surrenderance to Yeshua.

This next segment I will break this lesson into Five Key points I believe we must practice to have a lasting revival and fruitfulness. (Philipians 1:6) I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ. How can one achieve lasting fruit and revival? Simple, it’s all the Work of the Father being done within you. Your part is submitting to him and being obedient.

Continual Repentance

There is a difference between sincere repentance and insincere repentance. Sincere repentance ALWAYS leads to a changing of one's mind and a turn away of one's sins.(This is not saying that a new believer will not have any strongholds) Insincere repentance is when there is no change of mind or heart, the person is habitually sinning, making it a lifestyle. Scripture supports this in Matthew 3:8 John tells us “Therefore, bear fruit worthy of repentance.” Repentance isn't just a one time deal thing, we are to be in continual repentance as we have all fallen short of the glory of God. True lasting repentance takes a lot of accountability and humility. There is a process of intense pressure and molding that will lead us into mature disciples of Christ, we are all called to be refined and consecrated unto the Lord(Set Apart). John 15:2 “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”

As soon as we begin our walk with Christ we are no longer who we once were, and begin the cleansing process.

Continual Purging of Sin/Stronghold

1 Corinthians 5:7 “Therefore, purge out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” There is an endless outpouring of strength, steadfastness, courage, love and faith Christ is continuously pouring into us in order to purge our hearts, minds and flesh. We have access to all of this if we are not being stubborn, this all comes with willful surrenderance. Once we begin our walk in the wilderness, the Lord quickly pulls us out of comfortability and requires a testing of our faith, trust, and belief in him. Willful Surrenderance is something we must do everyday, because when we try to take control or take matters into our own hands we can easily feel as if we are in a constant battle of tug a war with Jesus and then comes the burn out cuz there's no way you're winning after contending with the Lord. It’s a funny thing we humans do, sometimes we find ourselves in desperate situations like in Psalm 79:9 “Help Us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us and purge away our sins for your name sake.” It’s like here we are begging God for a way out, for a solution to problems in our lives that we can’t seem to get out of, and the Lord begins to do his work within us and in our lives. We notice that we start wrestling with him the minute he begins to pull certain things away from us. It can seem as if our lives are completely falling apart, the very things we are asking him to remove begin to disintegrate in front of our eyes and we start to panic and try to use our hands to catch the thing that is turning to dust. We try holding onto the things that we want to let go of so badly. Now this phase can either go on for years and years depending on the posture of your heart and the amount of stubbornness within you, but if you are broken and hungry for change and the Father’s will to begin to take place in you and in your life, you will come to see and appreciate all the Lord has for you. If your heart is willing to allow God to tear down the strongholds and walls made of stone that have been built up you will experience the true saving and transforming power of Yah.

What is a stronghold?

A stronghold is a defensive structure: which can be negative or positive. An example of that is in Psalms 9:9 “The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.” Just as there is a positive stronghold which is Yeshua, the enemy’s goal is to create “defensive structures” or strongholds that are demonic and can be difficult to tear down without the renewal and rebuilding of one's heart and mind, which can only be done by the blood of the Lamb. Note that not every defensive structure that exists within us is demonic but they do happen because of sin, trauma, betrayal and our own mistakes. So pretty much anything that impacts us in a negative way throughout our life journey, we build up many negative defensive structures in our hearts and minds and God’s goal is to tear them down so he can begin rebuilding new and better structures which are made of Him. He wants Us to be aware that HE is our stronghold in all times, good and bad and this is exactly why he purges us and remolds us.

What is purging?

Purging means to clear of guilt and to be free from defilement. It is the process of taking away in order to become clean. When God is purging us he is purifying and cleansing us from inside out. In Psalm 50:17 it says “Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean, wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.” the Lord wants us to be constantly casting our fears, worries, anxieties, traumas and burdens up to him because we are not meant to carry the things Yeshua destroyed on the cross alone. He did those things to provide freedom for us and continues to do so each day. Psalm 55:22 says “Cast your burden on the Lord and He will sustain you he will never permit the righteous to be moved.” If we are truly casting our burdens to the Lord and trusting that he will take care of us despite circumstances that may be in front of us, He will sustain us and will not allow us to be moved in spirit nor heart, nor mind, Nor body. Why? Because He is our defensive structure, our stronghold; He will not allow us to be moved or defeated. This now brings us into setting and creating strong boundaries which is known as spiritual discipline.

Spiritual discipline

Spiritual discipline which are habits, practices and experiences that are designed to develop, grow and strengthen our spirits. Before having Yeshua we built negative postures, responses, behaviors and habits toward the things that would happen in life. Whereas now that we have Yeshua and have gone through the process of repentance and purging it is time to go deeper and allow the father to renew you with spiritual discipline and boundaries based on his character and his word. These will consist of new habits that include deep and intimate prayer and the continual study of his word. A few scriptures that show proof of this are (Matthew 8:34, 26:36, Luke 10:30, Luke 11:1) which shows that Yeshua practiced this daily. We should be putting aside specific times every day that are strictly being dedicated to spending alone time with the Father in prayer and in his word. Doing this will help rebuild our way of thinking in all situations. It will help us in learning how to respond and react to situations that we may find ourselves in. This happens because the Lord will come into our thoughts with his word and it will teach us and show us how to act as individuals, as a body, and as examples to the unsaved. According to Philippians 4:8-9 we are here to be walking examples of the life-saving life changing and transfiguring grace of God.

The more mature we become in our walk with Yeshua we begin to realize a lot of work Abba has done in us. This truly helps us trust and surrender easier each season. These things will follow once you grow deeper in your relationship with Jesus. Now i'm not saying every season will grow easier and easier because it wont, but they will become more and more possible to overcome because of Our Beloved King. This journey of life will include a lot of challenges and some may even seem impossible to overcome, but if you remain in deep communication, spiritually disciplined with the Father his strength in you shall remain. “As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it remains in the vine, neither can you, unless you remain in Me.” John 15:4

How to use Praise and the Word of Yah in Warfare

We’ve noticed that so many ministries and churches fail when it comes to teaching and equipping believers with the Word of Yah. There are people oppressed for years having received multiple deliverances but none were ever permanent and that is because no one taught them how to find their identity in Christ through the Word of God and no one taught them how God’s word is a literal live and active weapon. In the word God tells us that our tongues are weapons because we have the power of speaking life and death upon ourselves and others. Well these very rules should be applied to our spiritual life as well. When the enemy is coming against you whether it be through lust, pride,vanity, gossip, bitterness, anger, whatever it may be, stand firm and know God. Know that He may not always stop a weapon from forming against you but when you know who you are in him and you know it is He who fights for you, nothing formed against you can truly prosper. The enemy doesn’t want us to understand that we are not fighting to receive victory, we are fighting having already won the victory and we must gird up our loins and FIGHT! We are not in the times to be sitting down not taking action, were we born to fight! Yah has equipped all of us to BREAKTHROUGH! If God is for us, tell me who can be against us? Truly take the time to study and soak in the word of God, reading in the spirit, asking Yah to give you understanding and discernment. You truly don’t need to rely on others to teach you the word of God because we all have the greatest teacher of all which is God Our Father, he gives us the Ruach Hakodesh to help us with every battle, crisis, and situation we may find ourselves in. Now i'm not saying not to listen to teachers of the word at all, what i am saying is to refrain from doing so in the beginning stages of your walk, don't allow man to mold scripture for you or mold your mind. Christ is more than capable of doing that for you, as believers we can easily fall prey to false teachers because we don't think we are capable of understanding God’s word on our own but that is far from the truth. The old testament which is very neglected helps us a lot as it reveals so much hidden treasure, it shows how God is the same today, tomorrow, forever and always. It shows how he handled situations back then and those same rules and tactics can be applied to our Spiritual lives now. There are scriptures to help take captive every power, stronghold, demon, and devil in the kingdom of darkness and it allows us to find our identity and authority in Christ. Now that we have established and received an understanding of how we can use God's word to guard us and protect our Spirits, Hearts, and Minds; let's dig deeper to a very powerful and very overlooked method we as Believers must include in our method of attack against the enemy. This dangerous weapon is PRAISE! I know you're probably thinking how does praise help me defeat the enemy? So many times when we are being attacked the enemy’s goal is to get us to overlook God's goodness. The devil tries to get us to become consumed with ourselves and the Injustice that we go through so that we can avoid thinking about God and what he's actually doing in our lives. Yah never told us our lives or faith walks would be easy but what we can cling onto and believe is that we have already received the victory if we can just grasp that truth and praise God for the victory that we have inherited through his son it will become much easier to remain focused on the Father and the Son through all circumstances. It doesn't matter if life presents to be good or bad, give God the glory and the thanks either way because he is good; not only is he good all the time but he is constantly fighting for us. He is faithful. God neither Slumbers nor sleeps. We are constantly being looked after and protected. Rejoice! in the Lord for all he has done and for all he continues to do each and every single day for all of us. The Lord has created us to Praise like the tribe of Judah, and to destroy the strongholds of the enemy like the valiant fighters of Benjamin. We are the Royal Priesthood for a reason.

-Natasha Gutierrez