Tearing Down Stronholds

The Lexham English Bible Chapter 2

12 “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write:

“This is what the one who has the sharp double-edged sword says: 13 ‘I know where you live, where the throne of Satan is. And you hold fast to my name and did not deny your* faith in me, even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan lives. 14 But I have a few things against you: that you have there those who hold fast to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat food sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality. 15 So likewise you also have those who hold fast to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 Therefore repent! But if you do not, I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war with them with the sword from my mouth. 17 The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will give to him some of the hidden manna, and I will give to him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, that no one knows except the one who receives it.’

Balaam (Numbers 22-24/Nicolaitans- ok to live lives of immorality and sin which reflected the cultre and say that grace covers that.)

To the one who conquers I will give:

hidden manna

Abundance, God’s provision, Sufficient

White stone

white stone if you were acquitted in a trial. A symbol of your freedom, Amulet with the name of a god engraved in it, symbol of a covering of a god.

Theme in every book is Jesus teaching the churches about being aware of their dual citizenship of heaven and earth. Of being aware of the tactics of the enemy and how to overcome if they listen.

Today: Identify how the enemy works.

Tools of warfare

Romans 12:1, (LEB)

Therefore I exhort you, brothers, through the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, so that you may approve what is the good and well-pleasing and perfect will of God.

Intro: Pursuers of God means that you fearlessly pursue what it means to be a pursuer of God- (disciple),

“grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,” Eph 4:15.

otherwise what are we doing?

“To grow up” means to mature, to be complete in Christ.”

Transformation- we have not renewed our minds to God’s will.

Will. Last will and testament. (Jesus, death, names of God, blessing)

Will/ beneficiary function in that will.

Challenge- is necessary if you are going to grow up. (Pastors Appreciation/ trust/ to handle the pressure there was a refining that had to happen in the refining fires of purification- discipline, study, prayer, challenging character, forgiving, trusting God )- There is a level of growth we have done to get the honor of your friendship/ If there is no wrestling.

Great discipleship is founded on great questions- if you have never wrestled with your faith/ doubt/ uncertainty, you have never invested in your faith.

Why? It is the difference between Orphan/ Slave and Sonship.

Who is Satan and what are his tactics?

5 words- Devil, Wiles/ Schemes, Stronghold, Oppression, Deception

Dia-bolos:

name means “accuser or slanderer”

bolos- to throw something

dia- to penetrate all the way to the other side “Battering ram”

Wiles/ Schemes- Methodos- odos: “road, travel or entrance”

Only one trick the enemy uses- mind. His mode of attack is single- its to penetrate our belief system.

Cycles of your life? - Weapons for this.

Stronghold: You can find it in 2 Corinthians 10:4 where Paul talks about, “the weapons of our warfare are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.”

Prison- to enslave you/ or fortress- to keep the enemy out.

“For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.” 2 Corinthians 10:4-6

Belief systems that oppose the truth. - Lies that you believe- root behind it is spiritual.

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Eph 6:12.

Oppression-Acts 10:38, “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.”

Oppression is the word “Kata”, which is something that is subjugating or dominating.

The second part of the word is the word “Dunamis”, it’s where we get the word power, but when you compound the two words together, the Greek word for the word oppression describes a power that is subjugating, a power that is oppressive, or a power that is suppressing someone. It’s holding them down. And in fact, the word for oppression is the identical word for a tyrant or a wicked king, a tyrant or a wicked king.

When we have a stronghold, the enemy has a place of lordship in our minds and he keeps us in bondage by reminding us of that lie.

Deception

The word Devices is the word “Nous”. The word nous literally means the brain or the mind.

But in 2 Corinthians 2:11, “so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his devices.” the form changes and it becomes the word “Noymata”. When “Nous” becomes “Noymata”, it’s no longer just a brain, but I say it is scrambled brains. It is a brain that has been penetrated and hit from so many angles, it has heard so many voices, that it is deceived. It no longer has the ability to perceive what is right and what is wrong because it has been penetrated.- that is how the enemy works

Recognize the true Enemy of our souls first, then use the weapons of war. Some of us have been using the wrong, fleshy weapons and fighting the wrong war.

Romans 12:1–5 “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect...”

Romans 12:14 “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.” -Enemies can be in the form of family, friends, betrayed trust, etc. (hang out here)

“Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” 2 Ti 3:12.

Persecution means to oppose, to be cruel to, wish will will toward, reject

Comes as: To man through man

Blessing your enemy is being invited into the function of sonship. (slide)

function requires grace- Christ’s ability working through you.

Own strength vs grace.

Flesh vs spirit.

Matthew 5:43–48 ““You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? “If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

Perfect: to grow up/ mature

Slides of 2 viewpoints

Sonship meant a new Covenant needed to be established. Exile-God restored their humanity. Cross, God restored sonship.

Cursing means to punish, to leave to die, to withold the Lord’s favor, to curse someone is to say things like you are dead to me.

Blessing is a new weapon- to align with the will of God in someone’s life. - To speak blessing over someone in public and private, to release prosperity and favor, to honor thier identity. It is not performance driven, it’s itentity driven.

Love your neighbor and hate your enemy makes you human. Love the one who opposes you, align yourself with the will of God over them in spite of- that makes you a son.

Why is it important? Blessing your enemy is how we bring heaven to earth

Matt 6:10- on earth as it is in heaven. heaven and earth in the garden- we access heaven through the Son.

Hold out your hand- “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Mt 10:7.”- the spirit in you brings the kingdom to earth.

Heaven and earth comes together is the redemption plan.

Our lenses- how i got a kingdom lens. Our lens will determine how we function as sons. are we the kids who don’t know we are kids and live to keep short accounts with God? Are we the kids who filter everything on an end times view? Old covenant view?

Death came through the mouth, reconciliation comes through the mouth- power of life and death comes through the mouth. When we speak blessing, we align with reconciliation. When we curse, we unleash hell.

(And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.” Jas 3:6.

There is power in what we align with.

Heaven- freedom. Its for freedom Christ set us free. Wherever we are, when we align with blessing, we bring freedom.

If we have an opponent who is against us, we can align ourselves with God’s will for them. Then you can see what’s really at work behind it. It’s usually a spirit. (Story of my mom, letters)

When you can uproot rejection, you will find freedom.

Its not the person. Move the person out of the way and identify the spirit that is after you.

When you are kind to you those who oppose you, you create space for them to be released by the grip of the enemy that is at work in them.

(Story of how i have prayed for people and then wake up as if in a dream. When you are in an argument, stop and ask how you are partnering with the enemy/ break agreement with that and then partner with sonship. Free your spouse by speaking God’s will to free them and deal with the spiritual force behind that.)

Love pursues goodness/ not avoids pain.

Sonship is a position: Jesus said the devil is coming but he has no ground in me. If someone triggers us because we haven’t dealt with roots, we will not only fuel the lies that person believes, we will come under the oppression of the enemy. The enemy is defeated when he has no ground in us.

Navy seal: “Under pressure, you will not rise to the occasion, you will always sink to your level of training.Train well.”

“When you come up against opposition, you will not rise to the occasion (the word), you will always sink to your level of positioning.”

You must start identifying as a Son. Think like a son, behave like a son, know your Source. Know the Father, Son, Spirit. - Unveiling Jesus

Tools:

Take Inventory:

Are they your enemy or are you their enemy?

Your enemy is one who opposes you/ jealous of you/ wishes you harm/ slanders you/ don’t value the Jesus in you/ lens of a hurt

Or are YOU their enemy? You are accountable for you. “the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God;” Ro 8:7.

Learn to see in two realms:

Flesh and Spirit: Therefore from now on we recognize no one acccording to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer.” 2 Co 5:16.

(God calls us accountable for behavior- we are not called to roll over and be held hostage to someone’s toxic behavior. That’s why we must walk as Sons and get strategies of heaven.) (Pastor’s wife syndrom)

The Blood speaks a better word.

Your enemies are temporary. Paul was the church’s greatest enemies and he became the church’s greatest defender.

“For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” Ro 5:10.

Ministry- what is the cycle? Close eyes and release names in faith. Release names in faith. Names are ones God loves. As the names that are being released, God is restoring. God is offensively gracious. Don’t fight the place of tension- break off spirits of fear, depression, anxiety, offense, rejection, bitterness. Break off agreement with lies.

Bless

Choose to forgive, choose to love, choose sonship (talk about consequences of sin being far-reaching. The emotions that you thought you forgave may creep up- detach the emotion by blessing.