Ways to Stop Revival Message
Good Morning,
I’ve been meditating these last couple weeks about the spirit of revival. You may remember the last time I taught that we looked at the Biblical history of revival. We discovered that it wasn’t a church thing but rather a God thing.
We are fortunate that this is a Holy Spirit church. The Holy Spirit is welcome here. He often enters during our worship, during teaching, during prayer and during revival. We have seen his hand at work as people are healed, set free, and delivered. He shows up on Wednesday nights before prayer in testimony times, during prayer in thanksgiving, during confession and supplication.
My meditation time has led me to wonder, why he doesn’t stay? Why does he show up for short periods of time? How do we move from a place of visitation to a place of habitation of the Holy Spirit? And I’m not just limiting that habitation to this building either.
This week I’d like to look at nine ways the enemy attempts to prevent not only revival but habitation of the Holy Spirit. Nine tools the enemy uses to rob and destroy God’s people. Nine ways he hampers or even prevents the habitation of the Holy Spirit.
Wait a minute Lisa, are you telling me that the devil can prevent God from doing something? No, I am saying that God will not force himself on any one. He will not go where he is not invited. If we want God’s presence in this place, we need to invite him in.
Are you with me? Then let me say one more thing before we get started, this lesson is not about the enemy. It is my prayer that by the time this hour is over you will be able to identify nine tricks that the enemy uses to keep you from growing more intimate in your relationship with God.
I don’t necessarily want you to memorize the list; I want you to recognize the tactic, so that when he tries to use this to destroy you (and he will try) you will instantly be aware of it and use your authority, as a child of God, to stop him.
Remember, his job is to kill to steal and to destroy. If he prevents you from giving the Holy Spirit permission to move in your life, he accomplishes his goal.
1. I believe the oldest trick the enemy uses is deception. We know that the serpent deceived Eve in the garden. He misquoted God, and deceived Eve into throwing away the life of habitation with God for a taste of forbidden fruit.
Let me let you in on a little secret. The Enemy uses the same tricks over and over and over again. He figures if it worked before, it will work again. Let’s look at another time he used deception to lead his children away from fellowship with God.
Turn with me to Exodus 32
We’re in the desert with the children of Israel. Moses has gone up Mt Sinai to meet with God. We all have that image in our mind of Charlton Heston shielding his eyes as fires moves across the sky and burns the Ten Commandments into rock. Now imagine halfway through the writing that God stops. Can you picture Moses scratching his head? “But lord, you told me there were Ten Commandments and yet you only written five? Why did you stop?” Now that might sound impertinent to us, but remember Moses was God’s friend. What could be so distracting, that God would stop doing what he was doing?
Exodus 32:7
7 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. 8 They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your Gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
Where’s the deception? Jump up to verse 1
When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us Gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”
These are the same people who crossed the Red Sea, the same people who can see a cloud atop the mountain, the same people who had heard the voice of God, and being so frightened by it that they send Moses up to represent them. What would lead them to believe that God wasn’t there or that Moses wasn’t coming back? Deception.
Notice it says, “They saw”, and “ they gathered”, “let us”. The enemy used the same track he used against Eve. He whispered the same deception into the ears of a number of people which led them to question whether God would do what he said.
People, he uses the same trick today. He whispers into our ears, or the ears of people around us. He deceives us into questioning whether God will do what he says he will do! Did the prophet really hear from God? Or was he making up that prophecy? Did he just tell me what I wanted to hear so I would open up my checkbook?
Scripture tells us, let God be true and everyman a liar.
God will do what he says he’s going to do.
Scripture also tells us (Num 23:17)
19 God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Hear me, God WILL do what he says He will do! So when you hear otherwise, it is the enemy trying to deceive you
One more thing I want to point out before we go on,
Who made the calf? Aaron.
What job did Aaron have? He was the high priest.
There’s a warning in this passage. Satan not only deceives individuals, or groups of people, he can deceive the church as well.
In Mark 13:22 Jesus says,
22 For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform signs and miracles to deceive the elect—if that were possible
That’s why it is important for us to pray for our pastor, to pray for the guest prophets, evangelists, and apostles who visit this house. Pray for the Sunday school teachers. Pray that we all remain humble, alert, obedient and wise so as not to be deceived.
2. Deception leads to rebellion. First the Israelites were deceived and then they coerced Aaron into building them a golden calf. But rebellion is more than an action. Rebellion is a spirit. Rebellion can even enter during a move of God. God said that he would take care of his children in the wilderness.
How did he provide for them every morning? It rained manna, thin Honey tasting wafer appeared every morning as the dew dried.
How much did God provide every morning? Enough for each person’s daily needs, and twice as much on the day before Sabbath so that the Israelites would not have to work on that day. Not too much, not too little, but just enough.
After a number of days of this new breakfast treat, the Israelites became bored with manna. This boredom leads to murmuring and complaining which angered God. They didn’t ask God for meat, they demanded meat. Rebellion is so insidious that even during a miraculous outpouring of God’s provision the enemy was able to incite people to rebel against God.
God is good. He’s a loving father who wants to take care of his children. So he sent them quail. Rebellion is a strong spirit. The children of Israel did not receive their quail with gratitude. In fact the murmuring in complaining escalated to the point that the people began to question Moses leadership. We’ve studied this before, when we looked at Korah’s rebellion. And how did God deal with this rebellion? Three families were permanently removed from Israel when the ground opened up and swallowed them whole. God he had no choice. He had to deal with the rebellion of these families so that it would not pollute the entire camp.
The warning we can take from this example is that ungratefulness and rebellion go hand in hand. When you recognize one, look for the other.
Now you cannot control and other person’s actions – that would be witchcraft –but you do have authority over the spirit that prompts them to act in rebellion.
3. Rebellion leads to evil speaking. After the Israelites rebelled against God they began to speak bad things about Moses. I hate to say this, but this is one of those things that has plagued the church for years and years and years. This is probably why we have so many denominations. The pastor says something, or does something, or doesn't do something and someone takes offense. This becomes an open door for the enemy to pounce onto the scene. He plants rebellion in the heart of the offended, and they begin to talk down the pastor.
They will do it among their families and friends, inside the church, and outside the church. People who have never paid any attention to the church will suddenly have opinions about the pastor, the membership, the ministries and programs. And I were a gambling person, I would put money on it that none of it would be good opinion.
Evil speak is infectious. We must be careful not to give into gossip. We have to take authority and silence people who spread lies and rumors. We are called to be peacemakers. You can’t say anything bad about my husband. He and I are one, you insult him a new insult me. You can’t say anything bad about my son. You can’t say anything bad about my pastor. She and my family are in covenant relationship. We are in covenant relationship with her because we are in covenant relationship with God. We are part of the same body.
Scripture tells us in Proverbs 18:
21 The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
If you hear someone or yourself for that matter speaking critically or condemningly about anyone else, that is a fruit of the Devil’s handiwork and warning sign of separation from God.
4. I know that sin is sin and there really are no degrees of sin with one being worse than the other. But let’s face it, in this world different infractions of the law net different punishments. On a scale of 1-10 with 1 being innocent and 10 being very bad, where do you think evil speak would be? Probably a 2 or 3.
The problem with small sins is that they often lead to bigger sins. Evil speak is like that. Evil speak plants the seed of lust in your heart. The enemy’s fourth trick is lust.
We’re all old enough to remember when Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Baker had extramarital affairs that cost them their integrity in the public eye.
I remember at the time that PTL was one of the most popular Christian television programs of the day. Jim and Tammy were busy building Heritage USA, a Christian theme park and resort. They had just introduced the concept of ministry partnership to America. Christians jumped on the bandwagon with their checkbooks. There was much criticism from the secular world. Lots of evil speak against PTL, the ministry, the Christian broadcasting network, and anyone associated with it. You can imagine how hard it would be for the minister who feels that they are carrying out what God had called them to do and be criticized daily in the media.
I can picture both men seated in their offices and their assistants or perhaps network executives coming in with the morning news releases. I’m sure they both dismissed the criticism at first but as their notoriety grew they began paying more attention to their critics, the more they read and watch the news, the more they allowed that evil speak into their hearts.
The natural man wants to defend himself. He wants to compare himself to those around him. He wants to prove that he’s better. But in doing so, the focus detours away from God and onto self. When your eyes are on yourself they are off of God. How many of you know that when you take your eyes off of God you are ripe for picking at the enemy’s hand?
Lust will put you in a vulnerable place. And I’m not just talking about lusts of the flesh here. Lust of the eye can lead to jealousy. How often does our pastor have us declare that we will be happy about what our neighbor receives?
Lust can lead you into credit card debt.
Lust can lead to gluttony.
The warning here is invest your time wisely.
Be careful about what you watch on television.
Be careful about the books to read.
Be careful about who you spend your time with.
The enemy wants nothing more to get your eyes off of God.
5. Lust also opens the door to a controlling spirit.
In the church we identify that controlling spirit with Jezebel. Jezebel was Ahab’s queen. She was the one who was responsible for persecuting the prophets of Israel. It was her religious leaders that Elijah defeated at Mount Carmel.
Turn to 1 Kings 19
Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, “May the Gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them.”
Don’t miss the point here. Jezebel is not just threatening the life of the prophet, she is saying that her Gods are stronger than God Almighty.
How does Elijah react?
3 Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, 4 while he himself went a day’s journey into the desert. He came to a broom tree, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.”
The spirit of Jezebel is not something to be played with. It can attack a person and render him or her useless. Look what it did to the greatest Old Testament prophet. It sent him running, hiding, and so depressed that he wanted to die.
The Jezebel spirit leads to hopelessness and depression. You could say it’s like a curse that renders you useless and ineffective.
The good news is Jezebel only has authority over that which you give up. The warning here is that if you’re not conscious of your authority, if you don’t protect your anointing the enemy will take it.
That’s why Ephesians 6 says,
11 Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
6. I’ll let you in a piece of Lisa wisdom here. I have observed that when people are hurt they react in one of two ways. Either they hurt back in the same or they go out of their way to make sure that they never treat another person the way they were treated. When someone like jezebel usurps your authority or schemes to get that job or promotion that should’ve been yours you will react in one of two ways. You can take the high road and trust God to work all things out for your good or you can give in to the spirit of discouragement and harassment.
Number 6 is the spirit of discouragement and harassment. It is a behind-the-scenes move of the enemy. Often he will use those closest to you to undermined God’s plan or your life. Is it easy to ignore criticism from someone you don’t know. But criticism from a friend or loved one can you to question whether or not you can accomplish that purpose.
Of the two discouragement or harassment, discouragement affects the heart, while harassment affects the head. Together they can stop you in your tracks. They will make you doubt that only your abilities but God’s ability.
Again the warning here is to be careful with whom you associate. Be careful who you confide in. be careful who you give the authority to speak into your life. The Bible warns us in 1 Tim 5
22 Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, and do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.
And in 1 John 4
1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
7. The evil twin, so to speak, of the spirit of discouragement and harassment is man worship. It happens when we put people on a pedestal. We forget that they’re human. This happens often and the church. We’re in the habit of identifying a church by its pastor and not its name. Are there great men and women of God? Of course there are, truly great man or woman of God reflects his Glory and points you back to him and not themselves. There is only one King of Kings and his name is Jesus Christ.
When pastor lays hands on someone and they are healed, or Peter brings forth a prophecy and it comes to pass, or Dave gives a word of encouragement and someone gets a free, or Mike or Genie leads one of the children to Christ it wasn’t there doing. It came from the Holy Spirit. He and he alone deserves the Glory.
8. Man worship also has a partner in crime. As someone gains notoriety there will come those who want a piece of the action, will attempt to use the gifts of the spirit for his own personal gain. Number 8 in the enemy’s bag of tricks is covetousness.
Turn to Acts 8
9 Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, 10 and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is the divine power known as the Great Power.” 11 They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his magic.
That’s the spirit of man worship.
12 But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. 13 Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.
Did Phillip call attention to himself?
Did he encourage people to follow him?
14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. 15 When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16 because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
18 When Simon saw that the Spirit was given at the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money 19 and said, “Give me also this ability so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”
Simon may have been baptized, but his old nature still wanted attention and fame.
20 Peter answered: “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money! 21 You have no part or share in this ministry, because your heart is not right before God.
Now I’d like to say that this only happens to those who don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus but the spirit of covetous can plague anyone. I mentioned Jim & Tammy Baker earlier. They were charged with improper use of ministry funds after 60 Minutes took a tour of their home and they pointed out their gold bathroom fixtures.
It is not uncommon for ministers today to have a minimum speaking fee requirement. If you cannot guarantee that amount they will not come to your church. And when they arrive they demand rock star treatment -- special foods, specific hotel accommodations and limo service, and that’s not only for them, but their entourages as well.
While that may offend some of you, I also know of a church that negotiated its speaker honorarium, and when the pastor took up an offering for the speaker, the funds went over that amount and the church kept the overage!
Bottom line, the devil will tempt you with money. He will either attempt to get you busy making more money to divert your attention from the things of God. Or he will try to get you to focus on other people's money and what they should be doing with it. If there is covetousness in your heart, it will come out.
9. The last ploy of the enemy we will look at today is probably the most deadly of all.
When you are lustful, you can feel the desire.
When you are covetous, you are driven to get more. Depression is often accompanied by physical symptoms.
But this ploy of the enemy you rarely feel or readily recognize. I’m talking about passivity.
The spirit of passivity will lull you into doing nothing, trusting the wrong people, or thinking you have all the answers. Passivity opens the door to pride. And pride will blind you to the truth.
1 Peter 5 warns
8 Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
In Revelations 3 the church of Laodicea has the spirit of passivity.
15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.
The warning against passivity is found in Mark 13: Jesus is addressing his apostles
32 “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. 34 It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch.
35 “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. 36 If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. 37 What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’”
Quick recap: 9 tricks the enemy uses to keep us from being vessels for the habitation of the Holy Spirit.
1. Deception
2. Rebellion
3. Evil speaking
4. Lust
5. Controlling or Jezebel spirit
6. Discouragement & harassment
7. Man worship
8. Covetousness
9. Passivity
