The Power Of Sanctification Part 1

1. When you come together…

Before we go any further, just a reminder what’s different about our meetings.

1. We are accommodating a FLOW and a PRESENCE
2. We want everyone to be very free yet not to a point of grieving the Holy Spirit

1 Cor. 14:26 When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.

2. Spiritual defilement 

Now let’s talk about defilement first. Demons are also referred to as “unclean spirits”. Uncleanness or defilement has two sides:

• Sin and the culture of sin
• Unclean spirits

Spiritual defilement is never passive. As we have already seen, sin is referred to as something that almost has a personality of its own. This is not uncommon in the Scriptures.

Gen. 4:6 Then the Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.

• crouching: heb. rabats; a prim. root; stretch oneself out, lie down, lie stretched out: Sin is reaching out, it’s trying to take over.
• desire: h8669. heb. teshuqah; from an unused word; a longing: desire. Desire means also possessiveness.
• master: h4910. heb. mashal; a prim. root; to rule, have dominion, reign:–
• dominion (1), gain control (1), govern (1), had charge (1), have authority (1), master (1), obtain dominion (1), really going to rule (1), rule (27), ruled (5), ruler (18), ruler’s (2), rulers (6), rules (9), ruling (3), wielded (1).

3. Sanctification is intentional

2 Cor. 7:1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Heb. 2:11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren,

Sanctification is our response to the work of the Holy Spirit in us:

• repentance from sin, deliverance from demons, renunciation of sinful lifestyle and the culture of sin.
• Early believers went on to actually publicly BURN artifacts associated with sin & demons.

Acts 19:19 And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and began burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20 So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing.

In the next teaching we will go deeper into holiness and sanctification and what this involves.

Control

Upcoming teaching

On Friday, Nov. 2nd we will continue learning how to deal with the demonic. We’ll teach on the spirit of control.

At some point or another, we all come to the realization that control and the desire to control are very much part of the human experience. It’s seated deeply in our carnal nature. Unfortunately, it doesn’t remain only a carnal issue. The spirit of control is key factor in making this one of the most difficult parts of life.

Some of the teaching will touch on:

• What is control and what is perceived control?
• The difference between controlling personalities, habits, culture and the demonic.
• Getting free before you start helping others.

And more.

If you ended up at this blog post and you live in the Twin Cities area and would like to join us for this time of teaching and ministry, please comment on this blog or email me here.

Demonic Entry Points

1. Sin and demons are lying at the door

Gen 4:6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”

Demons don’t have the authority to just get into our lives, minds and bodies. They are lying at the door of our lives. A door represents authority, security and independence. Think about going to bed without a front door on your house. You, your family and your possessions would be at the mercy of any wicked person who passes by. How many houses have you seen without a door?

Why do you think nations need border patrol and customs? What would you think of a nation that hasn’t taken the time to secure it’s borders, build a military force that will resist invaders, etc. How long do you think a nation like this will exist in freedom and prosperity? Not very long.

Likewise, in the invisible world, we represent a “temple”, which simply means a “God’s house”. This is you, your body, your soul, your mind, your property, your family. Demons covet and desire what you have. They are lying at the door. Notice sin here doesn’t just mean “missing the mark”. Sin is described as a personality. It has desires, it crouches at the door, etc. That’s because for most actions we call “sin”, there is a demon behind that sin.

Let me explain: if you lie one time, that’s a sin and it doesn’t mean you have a lying demon. But if you lie all the time, you’re living under the power of that sin and a demon has obviously succeeded in embedding itself into your mind and mouth. You need to both repent and have the demon cast out. You can’t repent of demons and cast out sin.

2. The job description of demons is to harass

Luke 22:31

“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. 32But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail.

1 Pet. 5:8

Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

3. Demonic Assignments

Mat. 12:22

Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see.

Mat. 12:28

But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29“Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house.

Mat 12:43

“When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. 44Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. 45Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first.

4. Deliverance – Creating Openings And Evicting Demons

5. Holiness – Remaining Free

1. Rejection at the womb and in the state of infancy 

• Unwanted pregnancies
• Words spoken over the baby while in the womb
• Abandonment (adopted children)
• Difficult birth
• Lack of bonding (emotional dysfunction)
• Violence at the home or surroundings
• Witchcraft, Occult practices
• Rejection of gender by either parent
• Health condition or situation
• Medical intervention

2. Childhood Entry Points 

• Emotional Neglect
• Family Turmoil
• Verbal abuse
• Extreme control
• Accidents
• Witnessing Violence
• Sexual abuse by a family members or otherwise
• Drugs and other substance abuse
• Pornography
• Violence
• Inappropriate emotional (soul ties)
• Disapproval
  • Parental
  • Peer
  • Teacher
• Witchcraft, Occult practices
• Legalistic Religion
• False Religion
• Rejection of gender by either parent
• Divorce of the parents
• Lack of male/female figure
  • Lack of protection
  • Lack of affection
• Pride and Arrogance
  • Racism
  • Looking down on less fortunate
  • Looking down on more fortunate (bitterness against wealthy people)
• Animal Cruelty
• Criminal or Accidental Exposure To Death, Blood, Violence
• Rape
• Theft
• Lying
• Isolation
  • From other family
  • From peers
• Health condition or situation
• Medical intervention

3. Adulthood Entry Points

• Jealousy
• Envy
• Greed (Materialism)
• Competition
• Gambling
• Giving in to wrath and out of control behavior
• Satanism
• Occult
• Witchcraft
• False Religion
• False Christian Prophesy
• Fortunetelling
• Demonic Music Styles
• Sexual Encounters Before Marriage
• Sexual Perversion
• Sexual Molestation (either direction)
• False Accusations
• Homosexual Acts
• Bestiality (Sexual acts with animals)
• Abortion
• Paedophilia
• Intercourse with demons
• Addiction to TV
• National and cultural specific curses and practices

What’s broken – Christianity or the Church?

Liberals love to broadcast the bad news of how America is becoming more secular. A recent Pew Research Center study made the rounds internationally, aided by Soros backed media outlets around the world. Liberals can’t wait to pronounce Christianity dead. In fact they already have. Multiple times, over and over again.

But what’s really broken – Christianity or the Church as we’ve know her?

Are declining numbers of membership in mainline Protestant denominations the real metric against which America should be judged? This author doesn’t think so: http://spectator.org/archives/2012/10/10/a-secularizing-america

Mark Tooley boldly brings the whole issue back in focus and reminds us something that we’ve known for a while: Americans are rejecting religious structures without life but that doesn’t mean they are rejecting Christianity.

In fact, it can be argued that more than ever, Americans are longing for “the real thing”. More and more Christians are re-discovering the beauty of sharing life as a community of believers, something which the institutional church has failed to deliver.

Here’s 7 ways the Institutional Church has failed God’s people:

1) Compromise with the full counsel of God

Religious politics have sanitized America’s pulpits to a point of not being able to recognize whether the average “relevant” church is a gathering of believers seeking God’s Kingdom or a Dr. Phil program. (I actually like Dr. Phil, but that’s besides the point). Many “sensitive” parts have been removed from today’s preaching. White Papers from leading denominational headquarters have spoken against the gifts of the Spirit and the power dimension of being a believer. Years ago I was in this church and was told that a big-name preacher had been there recently and before he came to preach he asked no songs that mention spiritual warfare to be used in his services.

The compromise begins with controversial doctrines and practices such as deliverance and the gifts of the Spirit, but after a while it spreads, preaching against sin decreases and the church is left with a whole lot of psychologizing, while no one is getting really free. Now, I know restoration it’s complex and it’s never only about deliverance and confronting sin, but most churches today are flat out embarrassed or ignorant about these issues.

2) Intercession has been pushed out and marginalized

Whatever happened to prayer and intercession? It’s not uncommon to see churches that have thousands of members but no strategic intercession in place. No prayer targeting the city, no effort to “birth” things in prayer.

When the average pastor tells the church on Sunday “let’s pray”, I call this “the most dreaded spiritual experience in America today”. Why? Because what follows most of the time is…silence. Dreadful silence. The people haven’t been taught how to pray strong, as a result they are either ignorant or lazy. And the end result is weak, hollow spiritual climates in our meetings.

3) Eloquence has replaced anointed preaching, teaching and release of Heaven on earth

The ability to speak well in many cases has replaced Spirit-led, inspired, anointed preaching and teaching, all of which are some of our most important weapons of warfare against the enemy. The truth is – when we preach, we release spiritual nuclear missiles against satanic principalities and powers (Eph. 3:10). Preaching was never intended only to be a lecture, talk or an academic oriented discourse. It’s meant to shift spiritual climates, to challenge, to shake up, to deliver. When we preach, there should be people getting healed, delivered and yes, sometimes they will even manifest. But hey, this is what normal Christianity is all about. If and when Americans taste it, they love it, they won’t reject it.

4) Doom and gloom

The institutional Church has failed to give God’s people a vision and an understanding of the Kingdom. Jesus taught more on the Kingdom than anything else. The Kingdom is growing and it’s here. Our vision and message should be multi-generational, victorious and overcoming. For more on this point, I highly recommend Dr. Joseph Mattera’s book “Walk In Generational Blessings”. http://www.amazon.com/Walk-Generational-Blessings-Leaving-transformation/dp/0768440602/

5) Fragmented masses of people vs. communities of faith

Americans are rejecting the institutional experience, which allows for masses of people to come together at a church service, but fails to offer a way for communities of faith to be formed. Small groups are still operated like optional programs, rather sharing life in a small community to be understood as the main way God works in and through the Body of Christ.

6) Sacred and secular

The institutional Church sells a career in its ranks as the truly sacred and it looks down of success in “the world”. This fallacy is being challenged and more and more people are realizing that if we come to see ourselves as Kingdom of God citizens, we carry the Kingdom wherever we go and this includes our jobs and businesses. In fact, we realize that creating wealth can and should be just as much of a manifestation of God’s creative power, as creating music or other art forms.

7) Men, women and children

The Institutional Church has failed to impart the Spirit of God into men. As a result men don’t know what it is to be manly in a godly way, women have lost their way as a result and children have been the ultimate victim of this dysfunction. Many ministers aren’t even manly. Manliness is frowned upon and femininity has become the new “nice” in the way men carry themselves.

All this leads me to believe that Americans are actually quite ready for God’s Kingdom truth, power and wisdom. They’ve had enough of the false substitutes of dead, institutional Church. As the old structures continue to collapse (Babylon is falling), let’s be diligent to be found in a receiving and giving position, working with the Lord to restore the Body of Christ in the earth. What’s broken is not Christianity – it has never been. What’s broken is the institutional Church as we know it.

This is about to ch@nge!

 

Demonic entry points

Ever since God told Cain that sin lies at the door, there’s no secret to the fact that demons need an entry point. They can’t just “come in”.

“Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.” (Gen. 4:6-7)

This is important to understand for several reasons:

• Demons are limited in how they can enter into our lives.
• Entry points are often times also the exit points. One time I was praying for someone who had committed a certain sin and the spirit exited the same way it had entered, through the mouth. This person began to yawn, while we kept commanding the spirit to leave. It was a spirit of pride that had come in through the speaking of prideful things. However, this is not a formula. Spirits can exit in many different ways. It doesn’t matter how it happens. Some spirits come out through yawning, others through tears, some through yelling or throwing up. It’s messy but who cares, if people get free?
• Entry points are important to be aware of, so we don’t fall into the same trap later. Demonization is avoidable. Generally speaking, low level demons are evil but stupid. They are capable only of certain tricks and once you figure them out, you can stay out of trouble.

Rational or revelational?

When it comes to deliverance, there’s not much the rational can help us in dealing with demons. There are, of course number of common sense things we can be aware of, but the rational can’t be allowed to dominate our approach.

For example:

• Destructive Behavior – It’s completely irrational that demons would push people towards destructive behavior, but they do it all the time.
  • Here’s the description of destructive behavior in the Gospel of Mark: “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”Mark 9:22
  • Think about how much of the cultural fads are in essence a form of destructive behavior – drinking, drugs, immorality. All those are demonically inspired and proliferated in the culture. God is a God of Life and he does not want us to harm ourselves or others
• Cruelty – before you think about animal cruelty (and yes, that’s demonic as well), think about how cruel people are to other people. Cruelty is spoken of in the Bible in many places: Deliver me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of evil and cruel men.Psalm 71:4
  • Cruelty is defined as: “rude, unfeeling; cruel, hard-hearted,” related to crudus “rough, raw, bloody”
  • Demons of cruelty can manifest through words and through emotional torment.
  • Cruelty is rooted in deep seated rejection. It’s not enough to cast these demons out, it’s important the person to be filled with God’s love.
  • Cruelty is a form a revenge. People who are hurt, feel like they are the victim of injustice and in a perverse way feel like justice has been done, when they are cruel to someone and see them suffer.
  • Promiscuity – promiscuity is not rational. There’s nothing rational about people going around and ending up in bed with tens and sometimes hundreds of people. It’s a bondage that makes people hate themselves at the end of the day, but if they are bound by a promiscuous demon, they are under its power and they feel like they are missing out on “life” if they are not sleeping with a new partner every three months.

   

  There’s nothing rational about these three patterns of thinking and lifestyle, just like there’s nothing rational about any demonic patterns in our lives. Psychology attempts to explain everything, as if everything can be explained. Science, after hundreds of years, only recently explained how the humming bird manages to fly when it shouldn’t.

  When approaching the issue of deliverance from demons, we must learn by revelation and we must practice by revelation. The Holy Spirit reveals to us what bondages are in place and the complex structures of demons operating in our lives. That’s what can lead us to freedom, not endless psychologizing of everything.