1In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a thing was revealed unto Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar; and the thing was true, but the time appointed was long: and he understood the thing, and had understanding of the vision. 2In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks. 3I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled…..
12Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. 13But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia……
20Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come. 21But I will show thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince.
Daniel 10:1-3,12-13,20-21
The book of Daniel outlines a spiritual battleground that exists beyond the normal plane of existence. One of the biggest coups of the kingdom of darkness has won, is to have convinced many in this world that either Satan and his demon horde does not exist at all except in the fancy of the imagination, or that they are more powerful than they really are. I heard a woman state the other day that most sicknesses are caused by spiritual problems and demons.
I believe that is an misstatement or a misunderstanding of the facts.
The biblical fact is that while Adam and Eve were in the garden sickness did not exist. They did not get the flu, cancer, aids, heart disease or any of the other sicknesses and diseases we have today. It was because of sin that sickness and disease and death was introduced into Adamic society.
All sickness is a result of sin, but not our sin
All disease is a result of sin, but not our sin
All death is a result of sin, but not our sin
Sickness disease and death are a natural occurrence because of the curse that was brought upon mankind because of the sin of Adam and Eve.
30For this reason many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.
1 Corinthians 11:30
1 Corinthians 11:30 speaks of many being sickly and dying, but the reason here was the judgment brought on because they dishonored the Lord Supper or Communion.
Some sickness, disease, and death are brought on by personal or group spiritual issues but as far as I see in the New Testament it is an existing but small issue. And by attributing more than is reality to demons and spiritual issues we find things happening like happened just a little while back.
An 8 year old autistic boy died at the hands of a pastor in Detroit trying to exorcise the demons that caused him to be sick, yet never really existed. Sick because of the introduction of sin in the fall, YES!
Sick because of demon forces that needed to be cast out. NO!
This sadly falls under the category of Satan being more powerful than he really is!
Can children be possessed by Demons and need to be cast out? YES!
38Suddenly a man from the multitude cried out, saying, “Teacher, I implore You, look on my son, for he is my only child. 39And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out; it convulses him so that he foams at the mouth; and it departs from him with great difficulty, bruising him. 40So I implored Your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.”
41Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.” 42And as he was still coming, the demon threw him down and convulsed him. Then Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the child, and gave him back to his father.
Luke 9:38-42
Children were demon possessed and in need of deliverance during Jesus earthly ministry, and all Jesus did was rebuke the spirit, because he had authority over spirits
He didn’t have to work up a sweat
He didn’t have to say Jesus 47x real fast
He had true discernment and spiritual authority
As a result of this disaster in Detroit, there could be people that will never come to God because of the misapplication of spiritual warfare.
I knew a young couple who had a small boy, they had tremendous problems with him, always full of anger, striking out, doing dumb stuff. they used to joke he was demon possessed when he was 3. But he was not demon possessed just full of the nature of man, and today is an aspiring man of God who was never demon possessed but just needed God to work in his life. Never had a demon cast out of him because there was never one there.
The majority of the spiritual opposition we face is unseen in nature but still very real.
You need to be careful of people that spiritualize everything, I have seen so many go off the deep end chasing demons that do not exist and they themselves being caught up in a battle that’s not where they thought it was all the time allowing seducing spirits to deceive them, and today are not serving the same Lord we serve, are not preaching the same salvation we preach because they allowed themselves to be deceived by the unseen while all the time looking for ever greater signs and wonders.
Our spiritual gifts, healing, miracles, faith are so very real.
But they will not be trivialized by men and woman seeking personal fame and glory through the operation of the gifts of the spirit!
These men and woman seeking personal fame and glory find that when they go to move in the spirit they begin to move without God, because God is sovereign
11But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.
1 Cor 12:11
The “ as He wills” portion of this scripture is the Greek
G1014
âïýëïìáé
boulomai
Middle voice of a primary verb; to “will”, that is, (reflexively) be willing:—
be disposed, minded, intend, list (be, of own) will (-ing). Compare G2309.
This word is used 26x in the NT and is translated in
James 1:18 as “Of His own will”
Every example has to do with will, and mind and intention
The Gifts of the Spirit are not used by our will but by Gods will
34For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure.
John 3:34
John 3:34 speaks of Christ who was given the spirit w/o measure
And when you try to use the Gifts out of Gods will than when abuses take place
The conflict in the Spirit World is spiritual and unseen and deceptive in nature, using the unseen to deceive the seen.
1Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith,
giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,
1st Timothy 4:1
That word seducing means:
G4108
ÐëÜíïò planos
Of uncertain affinity; roving (as a tramp), that is, (by implication) an
impostor or misleader:—deceiver, seducing.
An impostor or a misleader
12For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 6:12
We wrestle against principalities or
G746
Pñ÷Þ
arche
From G756; (properly abstract) a commencement, or (concrete) chief(in
various applications of order, time, place or rank):—beginning, corner,(at the, the) first (estate), magistrate, power, principality, principle,rule.
We wrestle against powers or
G1849
Dîïõóßá exousia
From G1832 (in the sense of ability); privilege, that is, (subjectively)force, capacity, competency, freedom, or (objectively) mastery (concretely magistrate, superhuman, potentate, token of control), delegated influence:—authority, jurisdiction, liberty, power, right, strength.
Powers are delegated influences and jurisdictions we do not see
We wrestle against rulers of the darkness of this world – Satan and his delegated authorities
Spiritual wickedness or non-carnal depravity and plots
G4152 – Spiritual pneumatikos
ðíåõìáôéêüò
From G4151; non-carnal, that is, (humanly) ethereal (as opposed to gross),
or (daemoniacally) a spirit (concretely), or (divinely) supernatural, regenerate,
religious:—spiritual. Compare G5591.
G4189 – Wickedness poneria
ðïíçñßá
From G4190; depravity, that is, (specifically) malice; plural (concretely)
plots, sins:—iniquity, wickedness.
The text scripture we read in Daniel gives us a glimpse of what we face
vs 12 – From the 1st day God heard Daniel and dispatched an Angel to him
But in the unseen, in the unknown realm, science fiction writers refer to other dimensions, in this case they are partially right, there are unseen realms in our dealings with the spirit world.
But in that unseen realm the scripture says:
“the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days”
But Daniel did not give up, He stood in prayer and fasting 21 days until his answer came
I do not understand it, I cannot explain it, but our prayers and our fasting are seemingly turned into power when God sends angels they come against unseen spirits in unseen places.
When principalities and powers fight against the angels that God has sent on our behalf, It seems that our determination to touch God tips the balance against the enemy.
In Daniels case it did not come in one day or seven days or 14 days, but for 21 days he determined to touch God until his prayers were answered
And there came a time of breaking demonic barriers that hindered his prayers in that unseen realm
In book of the prophet Ezekiel
30And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. 31Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD.
Ezekiel 22:30-31
The prophet spoke of a time when a man could not be found to stand in the gap for the land.
I want you to know we are here for such a time as this
I feel we are at a juncture in our existence as a church
The direction of The Living Word of God Church is going to be determined over the course of the next few weeks
The battles are many in the establishing of a new church, and this will be one of many battles, but by the grace of God we are going to break some barriers in the unseen realm, some principalities and some powers are going to be broken.
If you are willing to make up that hedge and stand in that gap for the land of Barbour County Alabama I want to join me.
If you are sick or infirm in any way do not feel obligated but I am inviting those that feel you have a warrior spirit, whether it is at home praying or fasting or in the leadership of the church. You may not look like a warrior but that’s ok, God doesn’t go by the appearance he goes by the heart…
I want you to join with me as we begin to fast and pray to break down the barriers of the enemy
We need an outpouring of his spirit in a greater way than we have experienced as of yet
For the next 21 days I am going to ask those of you who are feeling the warrior spirit to join with me in 5 day increments of prayer and fasting
The fasting will consist of 1 hour or 1 meal a day when you are allowed to eat that hour or that meal taken at a time which is best for you, taking the time to pray, and believe me after 3 days you will feel like praying, and putting away carnal things and consecrating yourself to God for those 5 days.
As you are able we will continue weekly for 3 weeks, if you feel like you want to do all 21 days that’s up to you and your warrior spirit that your feeling. I will not condemn anyone who cannot or does not feel they are able but I will go on alone if I have to because the Pastor must be the 1st partaker.
Is there anybody today you feel the warrior spirit, maybe you need till next week to condition your mind but you want to break those barriers…..
