Hindering Spirits (1)
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The Hidden Enemies Of The Flow And Presence of God!
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, The holy dwelling places of the Most High.
“He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’ ”
There the ships move along, And Leviathan, which You have formed to sport in it.
The Psalmist speaks symbolically of “streams” and “rivers” as being places where the Spirit of God flows powerfully!
Jesus also spoke of the place the rivers of living waters flow!
I. The EXTERNAL enemies of the flow and Presence of God!
A. LEVIATHAN desires to TWIST you!
In that day the Lord will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, With His fierce and great and mighty sword, Even Leviathan the twisted serpent; And He will kill the dragon who lives in the sea.
B. JEZEBEL desires to CONTROL you!
It came about, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went to serve Baal and worshiped him.
C. PYTHON desires to HINDER you!
It happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave-girl having a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling.
D. APSINTHOS desires to EMBITTER you!
The name of the star is called Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter.
We will have more to say about these external demons in future sermons, but now let’s discuss the biggest enemy of the flow and Presence of God in your life!
II. The INTERNAL enemy of the flow and Presence of God!
Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
A. The IDENTIFICATION of this enemy of the flow and Presence of God in your life!
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
What is the flesh and how do you identify it? The flesh is the part of the Believer that disagrees with the Spirit!
For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.
B. The RECOGNITION of this enemy of the flow and Presence of God in your life!
For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.
How do we know when we are operating in the flesh?
For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.
What does it mean when we are practicing the very evil that we do not want to do?
But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me.
What principle do we find when the part of us that disagrees with the Holy Spirit is controlling our behavior?
I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good.
Do you realize that it does not take an external enemy to stop the flow and Presence of God?
According to Romans 7:21-22 any Believer can have SIN dwelling IN them and any Believer can have EVIL present in them without having a demon in them!
What’s the solution for defeating the Internal enemy from grieving the Holy Spirit in our lives?
C. The CRUCIFIXION of this enemy of the flow and Presence of God!
for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
We must introduce the part of us that disagrees with the Holy Spirit to the Redemptive work of Christ!
We must willfully surrender our body, soul and spirit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ!
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.
This is something we must do daily and transform our brain-washed mind from being fed and led by the flesh into being fed and led by the spirit!
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
D. The RESURRECTION of this enemy of the flow and Presence of God!
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.
We must put on the Lordship of Christ every day and every moment through the day! If we don’t the fleshly lust will begin to be resurrected!
For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
Whenever we stop serving one another through love, we begin to lose our true freedom!
When we lose our true freedom to walk by the Spirit, we have given permission to our flesh to be resurrected.
King David was a man after God’s own heart, but he knew he had to invite God to search him and reveal his heart condition to him regularly!
Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.
Today, I invite you to ask God to search your heart and reveal to you any sinful, evil ways operating inside of you!