Satan's Strongholds

I don't think so.

Brother, we live in a dangerous society.

And I remember when we were in South Africa, we had to teach our children to be alert about the environment. Because at that time there was a lot, what we used to call hijacking. I think it's called carjacking now, but anyway.

And they had to be watched, because, we remember one situation with one of my children, that somebody approached the car, and because she was alert, she looked at the person in the eyes, and the person then walked to the car in front, you know, in the traffic jam. So, they walked to the car in front, and broke in, and stole the handbag, and things like that. But, she was quite convinced he was going to do it to her, but to me, the fact that she was alert, she was not caught, or would have not been caught, unawares, they desisted. And I think it's an important lesson that the element of surprise is one of the, one of the, let's call it, the weapons of robbers and thieves. They want to catch you by surprise. If they realize that you are kind of waiting for them, and you kind of, you're not going to be caught by surprise, they're going to look for an easier target. And it is a lesson for us, spiritually as well, because our enemy wants to catch us by surprise. He wants to catch us by surprise. And therefore, if we think that he doesn't exist, or that he's not doing anything, well, or well, has he got really a lot of room to hit us by surprise? And because you and I are obeying God and trying our best to please God, we're even a bigger target. He is the one that he wants to go for.

And so, if we underestimate our enemies, and in this specific case, spiritually speaking, Satan and his cohorts, we are potentially putting ourselves in a dangerous position.

And he's got many tricks up his sleeves. I mean, he's got many tricks up his sleeves. Could be situations, could be somebody drives, does something, whatever it is. I mean, there's so many things, really. It will take me a long time to actually just say some of the things that he could come up. But there's one specific area that I want to focus on today, and that is one of Satan's strongholds.

Again, it's not the only one, but it's just one area that I want to focus today. So I want to make you aware today of Satan's attempts to have strongholds of his inside us in our minds and in our hearts. And these strongholds that he attempts to have in us can rob us, or potentially could rob us, of the eternal spiritual life in the Kingdom of God. And so, the question I have is, do we allow Satan to have a stronghold of his in our minds?

And what is our weapon to combat him? And if you and I think that, well, it's not that bad, if you've been in the Church for a little while, just look around. How many people were in the Church, and they're not in the Church today?

Figuratively speaking, it's like saying there's a lot of dead bodies around in that figuratively speaking.

Because they're not here anymore. So, he's got many tactics. One of them could be saying, well, you can't get deceived. You in the Church, you know the truth, you can't be deceived. And as we heard today in the Sumenet, we've got to have that love of the truth, because we can be deceived.

In fact, if you think you can't be deceived, you are deceived. It's kind of dichotomy. Another tactic is, like I said, to think that you're a paycheck, that you're safe. Because we're not thinking that he's lurking around like a lion, wanting to attack us. And when we're not being sensitized to this, we can easily become casual, a little careless in certain things we do, maybe not alert, as we should be. And then we're caught in a trap, and zap! There's no way out. That's it. That's it. So, let's look at a scripture in 2 Corinthians that Paul referred, I want to use as the starting point to this sermon, which is in 2 Corinthians chapter 10. 2 Corinthians chapter 10.

And we're going to start in verse 1.

Now I, Paul, myself, am pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am lowly among you, but being absent and bold towards you. I beg you, I beg you, but I beg you, that when I am present, I may not, in other words, have to be bold, may not be bold with you, with that confidence by which I intend to be bold against someone, who think of us as if we walk according to the flesh. For thou we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. In other words, even thou we are human beings, we flesh and blood, our real enemy is not physical. Yeah, we may think sometimes we may have an argument with somebody else, and we think, well, it's that person, but we've got to think it's beyond that person.

Because, says, for the weapons of our warfare, it's a war. There is a declared war. The moment you and I have become Christians, true Christians, there is a war. We have declared war, and it says, our warfare is not carnal, so our weapons are not carnal, but mighty in God, for what purpose? For pulling down strongholds. Satan has some strongholds in us, costing down arguments. Arguments, reasonings, human reasonings, way of looking at things, which might take carnal, that we've got to really analyze ourselves. And every I think, that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. And you know, when you get that, it's pride. Really, it's pride. It's like an intellectual pride that I know this thing, and I have the answers, and I need to teach you these things. There's an intellectual pride in them. And so we've got to bring every thought into captivity, to the obedience of Christ.

So, brethren, what is a stronghold? Now, if you maybe have gone to places like Portugal, where they've got those old castles, they're usually on top of a mountain, and they've got an area, there's like a stronghold. That's like where you hold on to the last moment, and you fight for the last moment. Usually, built with thick blocks of rock, really, that you can't just kind of punch it. I mean, this thing is solid, big blocks of rock. It's unbelievable. So, strongholds, in a sense, it's a metaphor. Yeah, it's a metaphor, showing, talking about human reasoning, talking about ways of thinking, talking about habitual thinking processes, which come from pride. And so Paul was referring to these unseen strongholds in our brain. They are, in a sense, our own fortresses that we have of thinking, human reasoning, which is basically carnal. And we've got to be aware of these things, where certain thoughts hide out and kind of duck and stay and hold on till the end. And this is where Satan as a fielder, with Satan and his demons hide in these, quote-unquote, plasters of darkness. The Book of Jude gives us three examples of the disobedience. But one of them is about Satan and the demons. So if you turn with me, please, to Jude 6. Jude 6. He's talking about the obedience here, but in this specific case, it's about the angels. And he says, then the angels would not keep the proper domain. They did not keep the proper place to stay in. Now, you and I, being physical human beings, we immediately think, oh well, it was a place. It's not a place. It's not a physical place like the way we think. But they did not keep their domain, but left their own abode. They left that area of spiritual habitation, let's call it, with a shudabini, which basically is to be in the light, to be in the truth. Because we're doing so many, you know? They did not love the truth. So they left their abode, which should be in the light. And so they went to darkness. And that's why he says, he says, left that abode, and he has reserved, he has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness. So they are now bound to stay in this spiritual darkness until the day of judgment. There's going to be a judgment of demons and Satan. It says you and I will judge them, right? So there is going to be a judgment for them.

So he is now, in the time being, using these everlasting chains, which means they can't be broken. It's not a physical region like normally we may think, but they are absent, in other words, of God's light and truth. That's where it is. You see, the angels had and have three moral agents. So do we. So do we. But these groups of angels, which chose of their own free volition to go the wrong way, that's where we have the demons and Satan, they made a free, by free choice, they made a choice to rebel without any temptation. They do not have the physical temptations that we have, the physical draws and the pulls. There was no coercion. All right, yes. Then once Satan decided he may be kind of negotiated with them and started conversing them, because it says about the trading that he did, which is basically trading is negotiating, is sit down and talk and converse people through their reasoning, but they did not have the pulls of their nature to pull them that way.

Whilst you and I are under those pulls. So we have to learn now to overcome. But Satan rules in this environment of darkness. And he cannot go with his light. He has absolutely freedom to roam in this environment of darkness. That's where he is. He's bounding them until the judgment. Look at Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5 verse 8.

It's talking about us, the animatators of God begins there, and we'll come to that a little later. Yeah, in verse 8 it says, for you were once darkness. We were once in this quote unquote, the kingdom of Satan, of darkness. But now your light in the Lord woke as children of light. We are now in the light.

And this is really the crux of my sermon today. That we've got to be in the light. We've got to be in the truth. And we must not allow thoughts of darkness to rule our actions. Be they human reasoning or anything like that. Look for instance at this situation in Matthew chapter 8. In Matthew chapter 8. And I just want to pay attention to verse 29. But yeah, in Matthew chapter 8 we have a situation where there was some man that were healed, which a demon possessed.

And just to read it in context, let's start reading from verse 28. And when we had come to the other side of the country of the Kyrgyzetims, there met him two demon possessed men coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no one could pass that way. And suddenly, verse 29, these men cried out, saying, What have we to do with you, Jesus, you son of God? So out of the blue, these people had not even known Jesus. So you can see it's demons talking through these men. Have you come here to torment us before the time of judgment? See, the time of judgment is when they're going to have their final decision upon them.

But have you come here before, hey, we've got some time still. You see, for the time being, they are allowed in this place of darkness. And in that individual, there was a lot of those individuals, there's a lot of darkness.

When you and I are cold, and we respond to that calling, and then we invite Christ into our life, we are starting a war. We are declaring a war. Jesus brings light into our minds, into our lives, and that light, think about a room that is dark, and you put on light, what happens to the darkness?

It goes. And so there's this war between light and darkness. But the question is, do you have a fortress, when it's still keeping some darkness in there? Or do I have a fortress? Do we have a fortress?

You see, this rain of darkness has no right or authority over the light. In fact, if you put a lamp, you can see darkness goes. Which one is more powerful? It's the light. God is far more powerful. The truth is far more powerful. And so Satan cannot intrude into the minds where the light of Christ is.

He cannot affect those under the jurisdiction of Christ, of the light, of the truth, as we are in the sermon, if we love the truth, and we remain in that love. But Satan is in areas of our minds that we allow darkness and sin even. And he is coercing and enticing and intruding and creating, be it emotions, be it attitudes, be it feelings.

Oh, he's against me, or they're against me. I have been hurt. And therefore, oh well, they're making these wrong decisions. It's them again, whoever them is. And then you become unhappy. And you walk around, maybe the passages of your office or your work environment, always kind of a little bit grouchy, you know? Otherwise you've seen people like that, I'm sure we have. And so you're unhappy. You're miserable. You're discouraged. Because you're allowing those emotions to fester.

You're allowing that fortress of darkness to stay there. And obviously, that is if and only if you and I allow that darkness. If we don't allow it there, then it goes away. Look at Colossians chapter 1 verse 13.

And he talks to you about Christ. He says, He has delivered us from the power of darkness. He has delivered us from the power of darkness. Sorry, that's the Father. He has delivered us from the power of darkness. And conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. You see, there is a power of darkness. In other words, there is a kingdom that can exist in our minds and in our hearts of darkness. And God, through His mercy and through His grace and through the washing of the blood of Christ, He has conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of God.

Well, that's why Christ said, well, the kingdom of God is at hand. Now, it does not mean the kingdom of God is reigning now on earth yet. That is still to come. But are we allowing that rule, that authority of the kingdom of God to reign inside us? In other words, are we submitting to the authority of God and to His ways and to His truth now? And with the help of God's Holy Spirit, the power of God, that power of that kingdom can be in us.

I'm not saying—please don't put the wrong words. I'm not saying, well, the kingdom of God is in our hearts. But what I'm saying is that power of that kingdom is in us. We are ambassadors of that kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of God is still to come, of course. But what I'm saying is that we're no longer under the power, under the power of darkness, as it says here. The reign of darkness has no more right to affect us, unless we allow it.

Look again at another scripture, YHWH, in Luke 13, Matthew, Mark, Luke 11, verse 35. We've got a lamp being a light. And then in verse 35 it says, Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness. Take heed that the light which is in you through Christ, through God's Holy Spirit in us, will not allow that light to flicker. You know, you see the lamp?

Sometimes it flickers, you know. And then allow some darkness in there. So therefore, verse 36, if then your whole body is full of light, every no part dark. Which means we could have a part that is dark, a little fortress in our brains, in our minds, somewhere in our hearts, somewhere that could be dark. But if the whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light.

So the question is, do we have any flickering in our lives, any nagging, any allowing of carnal thinking processes to sometimes take us up through the wrong path? Because Satan is allowed with his darkness, with his that wrong thinking process, allowing the force to pervert, to influence, to discourage, to create negative emotions. Oh well, they don't like us. Oh well, there they go again. They, they, they. And you get these feelings and this. Oh, I've been hurt. Oh, I've been hurt.

I don't agree with you. I have a right. Poor me. Nobody loves me. Poor me. And so we, we allow these negative thoughts of darkness to take a strong hold in us. And we're not submitting ourselves to the righteousness of Christ. And this is an area of danger, an area that can lead us to have a bad attitude. And it can become a strong hold of Satan in us. And that's what he talked about. These are strong holds.

These are arguments. These are things that, high things that exalt themselves against God. No matter who you are, no matter who I am, no matter who we are, we have the potential of having these dark areas. And if we do allow some of these things, it is as if we made an agreement or a pact with Satan to allow him into our thinking processes. And therefore, then he starts creating a beaten path.

You know, I don't know if you ever walk down in an area which is just grassland. And then after a while, you get, there's all the grassland, but it's like a beaten path. And you go to that beaten path because the other one's got a bit grassy and even, so you go to the beaten path. So you end up having a well-worn-out path in your mind, or in my mind, of habits, of thinking processes, of emotions, of jealousies, of hurts, or even lack of forgiveness. And we allow that.

Now, I'm not talking about demon possession, please. That's completely different. I'm just talking about a little coercion from this kingdom of darkness. I'm not talking about controlling our minds. I'm just this coercion that influences our thinking processes. Brethren, once we make a commitment to live a Christian life, sure, we need hobbies, we need relaxation, we need all that. We all do. But our Christian life is not a world of pleasures and a playground of this world.

Our Christian life is a battleground against Satan and his demons because we have Christ in us. It's a battleground between us, in God's way, that we want to follow and it's our desire. And there's this wall of Satan trying to converse this to go back to something wrong.

It's a war of natures. Human nature in our minds, the carnal minds, our old man that we've got to put off versus the divine nature that we've got to put on the new man. It's a war. And so, it begs the question, are we growing spiritually as we should? Or are we allowing these strongholds, these thought patterns, to stay there? And if we do, maybe we're just not growing as we should. And it's kind of becoming a sticking point in our growth process. You see, our Christian growth, in a way, is measured in God's way, thinking of how we are fighting this darkness and sticking to the light. Now, if there is a stronghold of Satan in your life, in my life, in our lives, you know what?

There is a defense mechanism. If you think about it, if you have a stronghold, think about it, militarily, if you have a stronghold, you're going to have some defense strategies to defend against attacks. So, if we have a stronghold of Satan, of darkness, in our minds, there's a defense mechanism.

So, part of our analysis must be, okay, what is my defense mechanism? Because we do have these beaten paths of logic, and it's so easy, the next thing you notice yourself, back to the spot, and say, Hey, what am I doing? Yeah, get out! But there is an interface mechanism. How do we fight this? And you see, we've got choices. Always, we are three moral agents we can choose.

There's nothing new, in the case of Adam and Eve, you've heard about it, you know about the two trees. We all have a choice. For God's sake, choose life.

We will always be beings of free choice.

When you and I make it into the kingdom of God, which is what we want to be and that's what God wants us to be, when we make it into the kingdom of God, we will still have free choice.

But, will we be able to sin? It says the sense of God will not sin. Why? Because we will not want to. Because we have now made the choice against the pools and we have demonstrated by our own actions against the pools that we don't want to do what's wrong. For we love the truth. And so, when we don't have those pools, would we sin? Of course not. A sense of God, sons and daughters, of course, will not sin. But we've proved it in this life. And God therefore knows and knows that we've made that strong commitment.

Look at Ephesians 6, please, brethren. Ephesians 6. We're going to start in verse 11. It says, put on the whole armor of God. We're going to put on the armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. He's got many treats. Now, I'm just, as I mentioned, he's got many other things up his sleeve. I'm just talking about one that gets into our minds and allows the wrong thoughts. Because he says, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, as we read elsewhere. It's not a physical war. It's not against this person or that person. It's against principalities, against powers, against rulers of darkness.

Of this age. Against spiritual house of wickedness in heavenly places.

And where there's wickedness, there's darkness. That's why we're going to need a new heaven and a new earth. Where there will be no darkness, wherein righteousness will dwell. So, brethren, we are in a war. A war.

The devil affects us in moods and in attitudes and certain thoughts, processes. It could be negative thoughts, it could be doubts and fears of the heart and of the mind.

And there, these thoughts become habits. They become beaten tracks, where we just kind of, if we're not paying attention, then I go again. And I've got to kind of whoop, get that thought out, get myself back on the right track. And as I mentioned before, if we don't think you're in a war, just look around. There's a lot of dead bodies around us. There's a lot of dead bodies around us.

Look at what Christ told Peter, just after the Passover ceremony, the night that was betrayed. Look in Luke, chapter 22. Look, chapter 22.

Look, chapter 22. Look in verse 15. To just see the context. Look, chapter 22, verse 15 through 19. You can see it was the Passover. It says, yeah, when the hour had come, and then he said today, we're further in desire. I've desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. And then he says, take this, divide amongst yourselves, for say to you, I'll not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes. It clearly is the context, the time setting of that Passover just before he was betrayed and killed. In God's way of looking at days, the same day he was killed. So, after sunset, before the next sunset. So, it's that same day, the way God looks at days.

So, in Yahweh we have that situation. Now, if we look a bit further, in verse 31, look at verse 31. What Christ tells Peter, Simon Peter, it says, and the Lord said, Simon, Simon, indeed, Satan has asked for you that he may sift you as wheat.

Doesn't that give you cold shoulders and gives you goose pimples?

Do you think he has not asked the same thing of us?

It is frightening when we think about it. It is frightening when we think about it.

It could be scary.

Satan has asked for us because we are God's people. He hates us. And look at verse 32. But I've prayed for you that your faith would not fail.

It doesn't say, I prayed for you that you would not be sifted. You were sifted. That is, I've prayed for you that your faith would not fail. It was when you go through that sifting that Satan will do that you would not fail. I prayed for you that you would overcome, overcome till the end.

And when you have returned to me, strengthen your brethren.

You know, we all sometimes fail, and then we've got to come back and say, God, help us to be on the right track. You see, Satan received permission to sift Peter because he's in the kingdom of darkness.

Because he has a legal right to be in our dark areas.

And Peter had dark areas. Well, how can I say that? Well, let's just go back to verse 24.

Now there was a dispute amongst them as to which of them would be the greatest. After the past over, there was a dispute, it was all of them. Who's the boss? Who's the big shot around? Yeah. I'm more important than you. After the past over, do you think that is darkness or light?

And then he said, and the kings of Gentiles exercised lordship over them. For those who exercise authority over them, they call them benefactors, but will not be so amongst you. You know that. I'm not going to read that. The point is, there was pride. Really? There's pride. The problem is pride to be in charge, to be the big one.

You know, when you have some attitude that says, I do not agree with them, that might be a bit of pride. Are we any different? I don't think so. We've got to look at ourselves. We've got to be honest. And Satan could be sifting us, because we are God's people. The good news, brethren, the good news is that he cannot destroy you and I.

He can sift us as wheat, but he can't destroy us. However, as Christ said to Peter, I pray that your faith would remain. In other words, if our faith is weak and does not remain, and we allow, and if our light flickers, and we allow it to shut down, that will lead us to our self-destruction. We will destroy ourselves. And that's the danger. Siker knows that. And that's why he wants to sift us, to weaken us, and then we get tired and we just give up. And what did Peter say? Look at verse 33. Lord, he said to him, I am ready to go, not me! I will stand up. I will go with you both to prison and to death. Ah, words are cheap, aren't they? Words are cheap sometimes. You've got to be careful. And Christ said, I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not grow this day before you will deny three times. You know, brethren, Peter had to learn a lesson. You know, he was the most outspoken. He walked on water. Yeah, he did! He walked on water. So he had this feeling of, I can do it. But you know, it says before fall, there's pride. Right? Pride before fall. Pride before fall, right? So pride caused Satan's fall.

And pride can keep us from admitting our mistakes.

Pride can keep us from repenting.

Think about the Beatitudes, right? There's lack of humility, which is pride. Then he got mourn, which is a principle of repentance. And then teachability, which is meekness. And then hunger and thirst for the righteousness of God. And then for the justice of God. And then you know that it is justice, mercy, and faith. So the next one is mercy. And then walk in faith with a clean heart. And then be a peacemaker. You know, look at the Beatitudes. But it starts with humility.

So what is our defense?

Because as I said, pride keeps us from admitting our mistakes. So our defense is actually to admit our mistakes. Look at Romans chapter 14 verse 11. Romans chapter 14 verse 11.

For it is written, As I love, says the Eternal, Every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. We have to confess to God. We have to admit our mistakes. We need a harness and open communication with God through prayer. And openly say, Yes, God. Not defending ourselves. Not justifying ourselves to God. Not another person. Or maybe you need to confess to somebody because you've sinned against that person. You need to level it with him. But first and foremost, we've got to confess to God.

If we say, I'm not that bad, we are basically good, which is the philosophical thinking of the world. Oh, well, everybody's good, basically good. We never see what's really wrong with us.

Brother, our only line of defense is confess. And then we have Jesus Christ as our defense advocate, our faithful high priest.

And then we have the accuser, the planter, the complaining party, the adversary, which is Satan. So there we are. And which one of us is righteous? Just need to look at Isaiah 64. Verse 6, it says, Our righteousness is like filthy rats. So we all have something to confess. But we have to confess to God. And then our high priest, our defense advocate, backs us up. Whilst the accuser of the brethren is there, day and night. Day and night, because, you know, it's got plenty of opportunities. We're giving plenty of opportunities. And so we've got to come back and confess. That is how we break down pride. And pride is this part of the stronghold that builds up in us. Because Satan's accusations always have some degree of truth. They always have a little more school of truth. They use some truth in them. But we have to hold on to Christ. And what it is, is we've got to confess. Start of confessing.

And brethren, we live in a society that has got its own ideas, its own continuous hammering of us, or to us, of its own thoughts and things like that. And whether the society is through our job, whether it's through our peers, whether it's through human organizations, whether it's through the community, whether it's through the press, and the media, or politics, or whatever it is, we are being bombarded with this wavelength. And it's very difficult for us to fight these ideas, these arguments that exalt themselves against God, which are all around us. They're there all the time. But the key we need to have is humility. And through that humility, we come to God and confess. And in Christ as our priest, we intervene for us. Look at James 4. James 4. James 4. Verse 7 and 8. Therefore, submit to God. Resist the devil. See, when we submit to God, and that means we break that pride and we confess, we are resisting the devil. Because now we're coming to God in humility with our defense advocate, which is the high priest, which is Christ. And his accusations have no value, because Christ says, well, my blood has paid for it. He's repentant. Or her, she's repentant. And so, the devil will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, your sinners, and purify your hearts, your double-minded. We've got to take these fortresses in our minds that cause us to be double-minded. You know, we actually want to follow God, but we allow in these little dark areas that we've got to combat. So what are we to do?

What are we to do?

Look at, we're going to look at a section here in Ephesians, very briefly, about what we're going to do. So we're going to start in Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. Look in verse 10.

It says, we, for we are His workmanship.

You know what? We are part of God's work. God is working in us. We are the clay in His hands, and He's working us. We are His workmanship. It's God's work in us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepares beforehand, then we should walk in there. And then that's what it says. It's not, it says, it's by grace, in verse 8, For you have been saved through faith, and that is not of ourselves, the gift of God. God has given us this, and God is working with us. God wants us to be there to make it. He is molding us, is shaping us. It's God's work. It's through the faith of Christ that makes this possible. It's not ours, it's not ours, it's Christ. But then look a little bit further in chapter 4. In chapter 4, look at verse 17 and 18. He goes, For this I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk, as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind. It gets back to those thoughts of vanity in the mind, those fortresses in the mind, those areas that are little dark areas in our mind. Look at verse 22, that you put off concerning the former conductor, all the man which grows corrupt, according to sinful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. We've got to look at our minds and renew that and change that. Put off that. And it says that you put on the new man which was created according to God, because we are his workmanship. We are his work, created by God, according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

Look a bit further in verse 26. Be your angry and do not serve.

What do you mean by that? In other words, yeah, things are wrong. Yes, be upset about the wrong thing. But don't allow that upset to make you angry, to lose your temper and to sin. Don't be upset against the person, but against the wrong thing.

You see, the problem is we allow ourselves to get into attitudes that make us angry, that lead us to sin. Wrong thinking patterns and processes. I didn't get what I should have gotten. Oh, he got a bigger reward than what I did.

Oh, they are perceiving me wrong. They don't understand me.

Oh, I'm hurt. The people are hurting me. The way they say it was deliberately intended to be against me. I know maybe sometimes it does happen, but we've got to be careful that we don't allow this to kind of start creating a defense mechanism, which is a justification, justifying yourself or myself, and therefore having these arguments, which is human reasoning, and to work that out. Look at this. Continue reading. Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. You see, because when we go wrong and we allow these wrong thoughts and the stockness we're giving place to the devil. Look at it further down in verse 29. Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, so out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, so that allow these things to come out. Because what we need to be doing is be changing. Get all that it says there a little later in verse 31. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and even speaking be put away from you with all malice. You know, it's interesting in this section that it's now talking here about things that we need to put off even after we become true Christians. See, this section here, it's talking about true Christians, and it's not necessarily saying...

Look for instance at verse 22. Look at verse 22. That you put off concerning the form of conduct. Those are things you dirt and you don't do anymore. That's a form of conduct. You see, so once you and I repent, you had that conduct, we changed, we've been baptized. Now we're going to be renewed with the spirit of our mind, with God's only spirit. And now we're going to wash our minds, putting away this lying and justifying yourself and then it says, and bitterness and wrath. So now it's like a deeper layer. It's like you go to some doctors and it says like you've got different layers, you take the first layer, then you've got a deeper layer.

Now this is a deeper layer right inside our minds and our hearts that we've got to work on. So this is a very important principle. We've got to grow in this. And then look at, for instance, at verse 11 through 13. We get the same chapter, chapter 4, Ephesians, it says, and he gave some to the apostles and, you know, he gave us the ministry.

Verse 12, for what reason? To help us for the work of service of ministry. The work of ministry means for us to serve others. For what reason? For the building, for the edifying, for the building of the body of Christ, which is the church of God. So God is given us ministry so that we all can work in service to one another. So the church of God may be edified.

So we all come to the unity to become like Christ. And he says, come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. So we've got to grow in that knowledge to become like Christ, that you no longer walk around. And then he says, and then grow and speaking the truth in love.

So yeah, it's not just speaking the truth, but speaking the truth in love. So we've got to grow in that stature, grow in that grace, grow in the knowledge of Christ. So brethren, when we commit ourselves to being a true Christian, we make that commitment at baptism and we count the cost. Sometimes we don't fully realize the cost. I mean, I don't think I fully realize the cost. I say, yes, I counted the cost.

But you know, as we go in the church years and years, we realize, well, I committed. And the cost is actually, we give our lives, our way of thinking away, because we want to do God's way of thinking. That means we have declared a war inside us. That's why Paul, and you go into Romans, and in Romans, he says, there's a war in my members. And he says, the carnal mind is enmity against God.

It goes into all those things, because we are at war. There is a war that we are fighting. Let's look, for instance, at Romans. Romans, chapter 7. Because I quote those areas. So look at Romans, chapter 7. I don't want to read this whole section. But you look at Romans 7, verse 23. It says, for I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind. You see, there's a war. And with my mind, with God's Holy Spirit, with my thinking, I want to follow God. But in my members, there's these little little corners of darkness that I've got to get and eliminate.

And he says, this is a rich man that I am, who can deliver me from this body of death. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So we confess, we come to him, and we get to help. And that's why, then, it says in chapter 8, look at verse 31. It says, what, then, shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

And quite often we think, carnal and flesh. And it says, oh, well, that person's against me, and that person's against me. But look at it in the context here, that it's talking about the war in our minds, that we need God's Holy Spirit, and who is against us is these powers of darkness. And it says, if God is for us, who can be against us? These powers of darkness have no power when the light is shining bright, because the darkness goes away.

Christ and God are a lot stronger than Satan. Satan has no power against God. Christ is our only armor. I read a little earlier the section about, put on the whole armor of God in Ephesians 4. And when you read that section, there's only one offensive weapon. And it says, put on the sword of the Spirit. There's only one offensive weapon, which is the sword of the Spirit. And then it says, which is the Word of God. And Christ is the Word. And that's the Bible. And that's Christ's spoken word, written down for us in the Bible, which is Christ in us, through God's Holy Spirit. So, let us allow Christ to come into our lives through the power of His Holy Spirit. And if we live according to His will, and according to what pleases Him, there's nothing to fear. Because it says, if God is for us, who can be against us? Nothing to fear, particularly in the spiritual war that you and I involved in.

Satan's armor, on the other side, it's Val's little attitudes and thoughts and opinions and that carnal mind that we're allowed to be in agreement with Satan. And the triggering there is pride.

So the devil is real, brethren. It's the real war. You know, it's like when there's hijacking and carjacking and saying, well, be aware, because when you're aware, half of the world is already one double thing, because you're not going to be caught by surprise. We are in a daily war in our minds. And you and I cannot overcome it by ourselves, because our weapon is the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. He cleanses our conscience. Versus the new and living way, as Paul says in Hebrews chapter 10. He is faithful. He will do it. We will overcome it, and Satan cannot destroy us unless we allow him. So, brethren, guard your hearts and your minds.