Transcription
How do you know the difference between a real spiritual attack of the enemy and just life itself? Because sometimes life can hit you hard, right?
Some people, what they do is they don't take responsibility for their own actions, and so they shift the blame on the devil. But the Bible also says that there are spiritual attacks. That's very clear. And there are millions of fallen angels around you, demons, right? Influencing people. Because remember, the Bible says that the angels, they are innumerable, right? You can't count them. And yet, when Satan rebelled against God, he took a third of the angels with him to earth. So they're here.
They can put thoughts into your head. So don't just assume that everything that you think always is from you. So you need to make a decision. If you choose to go with it, you will bring forth sin. So don't think Satan cannot deceive you. He can deceive even the most mature Christians. Even if you do not have any sin, you can also still experience a spiritual attack. Why?
Hey guys, have you ever gone through something so strange and intense that you think to yourself, man, this is not normal? This must be an attack of Satan or one of his demons. But how do you know the difference? How do you know the difference between a real spiritual attack of the enemy and just life itself? Because sometimes life can hit your heart, right? That is what we're going to talk about in this video today. And as always, we need to look at God's word, scripture, to know the truth. So, let's not waste any more time. Let's jump right into this.
James 1:14 says: "But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin. And sin when it is fully grown brings forth death." So this is the first thing that you need to realize, that not all evil or sin is from the devil and his demons. This verse is very clear that it comes from our sinful nature as well, because we are tempted and lured by our own desires. So you have that sinful nature in you, even as a Christian, right? And to deny that is not only living a lie, but it is extremely dangerous for you and those around you. You know, because some people, what they do is they don't take responsibility for their own actions, and so they shift the blame on the devil. And you can't do that.
But the Bible also says that there are spiritual attacks. That's very clear. And there are millions of fallen angels around you, demons, right? Influencing people. Because remember, the Bible says that the angels, they are innumerable, right? You can't count them. And yet, when Satan rebelled against God, he took a third of the angels with him to earth. So, they're here.
2 Corinthians 11:3 says: "But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ." This is the second Bible verse I want to talk about today that you need to fully understand. Here we clearly see that Satan, and when I say Satan, I mean fallen angels, demonic forces, all of them, right? The enemy, they can put thoughts into your head. So don't just assume that everything that you think always is from you. That's why you cannot trust your own thoughts, because you have your sinful flesh that lies to you. Then, then at times, you have those powerful, sudden thoughts that's just against God, and they're usually from the enemy. So there are two things here, right? You have your sinful nature, right? Those thoughts that can come from it, but also from the enemy. So you need to understand this truth, and it will help you moving forward with your spiritual journey with Christ.
Satan's primary battlefield is your mind. So he will use things like temptation, doubt, guilt, fear, confusion, envy, pride, anxiety, and not just lies, but also twisted half-truths. First, what they will do is they will put the thought into your mind. Right now, you need to choose. Am I going to go with this thought or not? So you need to make a decision. If you choose to go with it, you will bring forth sin, and that is what they ultimately want. Right? So when these thoughts are super strong, no matter what you do, you try to fight it, right? But they're so strong, you struggle with it for no reason. And then you allow it to influence your emotions, and you're led by your fickle emotions, right? That's very dangerous because it's not based on truth, the Word of God. And so it is probably the enemy, and you are allowing it to happen. It usually happens with people who are addicted to things, and that same addiction is so strong that you struggle to overcome it. Sometimes it's not just your sinful flesh, but the demons know about that addiction, and they work on it the whole time. For example, there's certain things that they can continually lie to people, and people believe it because of their emotions, and they allow it. "You are not really saved." Or they can lie and they can say, "God doesn't really love you." They love to do this with people who had a rough upbringing. Or they can say things like, "There's no purpose to your life." If you know that you've sincerely repented, that you've given your heart, your whole life to Jesus Christ, and now these thoughts come in, but you know the Word of God says that He has forgiven you, then these thoughts are not from God, but the evil whispers of Satan. You need to be able to discern that.
So don't think Satan cannot deceive you. He can deceive even the most mature Christians. You know, I know of a man from the Netherlands who doubted his salvation. And he, he was a reborn Christian, but he was so zealous. He was so on fire for God that when he did something wrong, he felt so bad. And he started to doubt his own salvation. And then the devil, the fallen angels or demons worked that lie. And he started to believe it. He couldn't sleep. There were dark circles under his eyes. We talked to him, not just me, but a few other reborn believers. And whatever we did, even though we spoke the truth, there was just this wall, and we couldn't break through. So he started to pray. And after months, suddenly, when he was on the airplane going, I think, back to the Netherlands, God broke through. And it went open to him not to focus on himself. That we are all sinners. And of course, even though we try our best, we can never 100% completely please God in this temporary world. But it is because of His grace, and His Word says that He forgives us when we ask Him. 1 John 1:9. And so he trusted God's Word instead of his own feelings. And suddenly he was changed. He wasn't depressed anymore. He was released of that.
We need to be so careful not to fall into the trap, into the snare of Satan. Jesus says in John 8:44 that the devil is a liar and he is the father of lies. If your thoughts pull you away from God's Word, His truth, and not toward it, then it means that you're acting not in the Spirit, but in the flesh, or you are under an attack. And you need to understand this. This is very important. You need to discern it the moment it happens.
And one of the biggest ways then that Satan attacks even the most mature Christians is with sound doctrine to make them believe something that is not accurate. And they can be so headstrong. And then one of the signs to see if this is really happening with someone is that when you talk with them, they're not humble at all. A believer can talk, a brother or sister can talk to this person in love with humbleness, but this person is just fighting, and they're so adamant that they are right, and they want to win the argument instead of keeping the love. Then it is a sign that this person is in the flesh or under a huge spiritual attack, especially if it happens for a very long time. And you see it on YouTube everywhere. When even with the video premieres that I do every week, there are some people who just want to quarrel. For example, 2 Timothy 2:4 says: "And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone, able to teach patiently, enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness." God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to knowledge of the truth. And they may come to their senses, an escape, listen to this, an escape from the snare of the devil, and after being captured by him to do his will. You see, these people are in the snare of the devil, captured by him to do his will, to do evil. So they fight about biblical issues with other Christians, thinking they're doing it for God, while they're actually doing it for the devil, and he's laughing. They're blind to the fact that they are in his snare and being used by him.
You know, I heard my dad, he talked to someone who was fighting about him. My dad was a preacher, for those of you who are here for the very first time on my channel. And he had a conversation with someone that just wanted to fight about baptism. And my dad, in love, tried to just talk to him normally as a brother. But this guy was just in the flesh, and the things that he was saying, you know, people can doubt, "Hey, are you a real Christian when you say these kind of things?" And even the way you say it. So my dad, you know, he paused, and he just looked at him in love, and he said, "You know, you're talking about baptism, but it looks like your tongue still needs to be baptized." So be careful, because you can think you're doing something for God, but when it's in the flesh or through a spiritual attack, you're actually doing it for the devil. You can look at the Pharisees. They thought they were very religious, and the devil used them to fight against Jesus time and time again. And there are many people like this in the church today. For them, their sin. They look at other people, and they might feel like, "I'm not an alcoholic, or I'm not someone who struggles with pornography, or I'm not as terrible as those people." Pride is their problem, and that is why they want to fight and always want to be right. It is very, very hard for them to let go of something because they want to win the argument. And those kind of people are blinded by their own pride. Jesus said in Matthew 23:15: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves." There are many Christians like this today, you know, even online, just watching sermons, looking for opportunities to fight and to share what they know and want to convince people of. And they quarrel. They judge instead of actually doing something for God. So they sit at home, and that's what they do. That's their thing. Instead of actually sharing the gospel, trying to understand where people are connecting at their level with them, and through the Spirit share the gospel in truth and love.
Now, here's something you probably might not have fully understood. Any person who is not a child of God, a reborn Christian with God's Spirit in them, is actually a child of the devil, even if they do not know it. Because as they continue to live in darkness, they do the devil's deeds. 1 John 3:10 says: "By this it is evident who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil. Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother." You see, the natural person without God's Spirit in them, they cannot understand the spiritual truths of God. It might be common sense to you as a reborn Christian, but not to them, because their minds are darkened by the evil one, by the devil. And so they are under under the power, the grip of Satan, meaning they're subject to his influence at any time, and also desire. So they are like a child of the devil and used by him to bring more pain and suffering into the world. You know, 2 Corinthians 4:4 says: "In their case the god of this world (this is Satan) has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." And here's another one for you. 1 John 5:19: "We know that we are from God and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one." Now we know that this is why the Bible also calls Satan the god of this world, or the lord of this world. He's the originator of sin. He causes the sin in this world. He works it in the sons of disobedience, and he wants more pain and suffering, and he's been doing it for thousands of years.
But with that in mind, now mostly the New Testament focus is not so much on the demonic influence on the believer's life, but on the sin that still remains in the believer and explaining that we need to overcome it. Right? But what we then read is that when a believer sins, they then give access to Satan to influence them. So you give him a legal right, a foothold into your life. Which is why you should continue to ask God for forgiveness every single time, right after you have sinned. This is extremely important. You need to stay clean, right, with your relationship with God. So as soon as possible, when you realize you've sinned, you need to ask God, "God, please forgive me." So that that foothold, that place you give to the devil, that it's not there anymore. Paul explains in Ephesians 4:26: "And do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil."
This message is especially for those men and women in marriage, for example. That you know you're angry at your partner and you don't want to resolve this. You want to go to bed and you want to stay angry at them so that they will suffer. You will stay angry for days until they come and say sorry, and they need to please you to work for that forgiveness, right? So unlike the Christian heart that we should have, and when it is a demonic attack, you can even kind of have joy in that. You want to be like that. You want to be angry. And that feeling feels on the fleshly nature. It feels nice in an evil, wicked way. And it's so strong that it doesn't want to go away. It might be a spiritual attack. So you need to be very, very careful, because it can be the devil that is amplifying that feeling. And so you're giving the devil a foothold to come into your life, into your marriage, and cause harm. The moment you ask God to forgive you, and you look at your partner through the Spirit with His eyes, with love, agape love, right? Which means it's an act of your will. You love even though you don't feel like it on your soul level, then suddenly that anger is gone. You humble, you come, and you say, "I'm sorry. Let's talk about this." And suddenly the whole atmosphere changed, and you can actually talk about it without anger, finger-pointing, with the presence of the Holy Spirit between you, then there will be peace.
Now listen to this. John 14:30: "For the ruler of this world is coming. (This is Jesus talking.) He has no claim on me." Why did Jesus say this? Because He is God. Yes, of course He is God, and the devil has no claim on Him. But I also think there's an example for us here as believers, because He had no sin as a human when He said this. So if He had no sin, that means also the devil, of course, does not have any claim on Him because of the sin. So the devil tried to tempt Him, right, to sin, but He didn't. Why do you think the devil tried that? So if you do not sin, the devil has no legal right on you. But if you sin, he does. And so he can influence your thoughts, and also the thoughts of those around you. And sometimes, especially those you love, right? Those family members of yours. And when that happens, sometimes it's irrational. Your wife can come and just blame you for things or talk about things, and you're like, man, where is this coming from all of the sudden? These attacks are not rational. Even the situation or the context here. Maybe, for example, you're on the way to Bible study or something, and the devil is trying to stop you, to to change or influence your mind. Then you need to realize what is going on here. Immediately, what you need to do is pray first. Ask God just to come protect you from spiritual forces in the air, and then focus a lot more on the agape love, and through the Spirit to then talk to your wife or to your husband if they are like this. This can happen especially to a lot of pastors, right, before they need to do the sermon, or even me. We had it in our household where something went wrong in a situation with dogs or even Nikita, and then, you know, when I needed to film, I was emotionally a little bit agitated, and I needed to come down and pray first to just to break that.
Now Jesus says in Matthew 10:16: "Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. So be wise as serpents and innocent as doves." You will be persecuted. As we get closer to the end times, all Christians will be persecuted. That is what the Word of God says. If you're not being persecuted in one way or form, then you're not really doing anything for God. But the moment you start to do things for God's kingdom as He leads you, man, oh man, the devil, his fallen angels, they will come for you. Further, in Verse 21, it says: "Brother will deliver brother over to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. And you will be hated by all for my name's sake."
Hey guys, I hope you're enjoying the message of today. I just quickly wanted to let you know that we actually have a free ebook for you. It is called "Living Through the Spirit, the Christian Lifestyle." It's over 60 pages, and I discuss in it things like the difference between body, soul, and spirit, our transformation, how do we live this new life in Jesus Christ, the spiritual battle, and then I end the book with the armor of God. Like I said, it's free. So you can get it in the video description down below, or you can also get it at our website at dlmchristianlifestyle. All right, so now you know. Let's get back to the video of today.
Now there's one more thing you need to know. Even if you do not have any sin, right? If you feel, man, I have a spiritual attack, and I do not understand why, because I did not do anything wrong. And you pray and you say, "Father, please, through the Holy Spirit, reveal to me if there's any sin between me and You, and there's nothing." Then there's no sin between you and God. But you can also still experience a spiritual attack. Why? Because sometimes God will test you. So the Bible is very clear. We will go through trials and tribulations. Is there an example of that in Scripture? Yes. We can look at the book of Job. We read in Job 1 and 2, Job was righteous. He did nothing wrong. And yet, Satan attacked him through sudden disasters. So he had family conflict, he lost family members, and also physical suffering, his health, all at once. So, not only does it show that you can be attacked even if you did nothing wrong, it shows us that you can have multiple attacks from the enemy at the same time. And usually, if that happens, and it is too strange, then it is usually, you need to understand and discern, it is a spiritual attack. And so these attacks came from all directions at the same time. But also, we learn that God limits what He can do, because He had to allow the devil to do certain things, right? And at the end, through this whole story, we can also learn that God had a plan that He wanted to work all of it together for good for Job. And so He will do for you as well. We read that promise in Romans 8:28: "For God will let all things work together for good to those who are called according to his purpose." And at the end, in Job 42:5, he said, "I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you." Then God blessed him even more than before.
So we can clearly see here that sometimes God will allow demonic forces to influence you with trials and tribulations. But we also learn from Scripture that even though you go through the valley of shadow of death, that God is with you. He will not let something happen to you that is not part of His will, because the outcome that He has planned for you is good. He will work all those things together for good. He let you go through it because He wants to build on your character and your faith. But while you do it, you need to put on the armor of God. Do not allow the devil to change the way you think about the Word of God. Trust God's Word and live according to it in those situations, always over your own thoughts or feelings, because they can lie to you. And then never allow the devil to steal your peace and joy in Jesus Christ. When that happens, you know something is wrong, and you are allowing it. So the moment you see that that is happening, you need to fight back. And how do you fight? You put on the armor of God. You fight and you pray. Spiritual warfare, the engine room of spiritual warfare needs to be prayer. You can pray and say, "Lord Jesus, I ask first of all that You protect me. And if there is any sin, please reveal that to me. And if the Holy Spirit does not reveal any sin to you, you pray that God will protect you. Lord Jesus, please protect me, my family. Guard my heart, my mind in Jesus Christ. And if there are any spiritual forces in the air, I rebuke you in the name of Jesus Christ. There is no place for you here, and you have no right over me."
James 4:7 says: "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." So the promise there again is, he will flee from you. You need to believe in Jesus Christ. You have power through Jesus Christ. You don't have power over your own, but His Spirit, the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead is in you. And God has given believers the power through Him and His Word to resist the devil. And you need to do it. You need to obey Him. So first, just very, very quickly again, make sure there's no sin between you and God. If there is not, then fight.
Now, if you want to learn more about the enemy, because we need to learn about the enemy, right? Because how else will you be able to fight the enemy? A lot of people say they don't want to hear or learn about the devil and his demons because they're afraid. But God's Word also tells us that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control, or a sound mind there in some translations, right? Same thing. So you can act through the Spirit and fight. They have no right over you when you walk in the Spirit. So you need to remember that. Put on the armor of God. Do not be afraid. If you want to know more facts about the devil, his demons, watch these videos here. I'll see you there. And never forget, God loves you, and I love you too. Bye.