Essential Points of Deliverance

I want to speak to you today in a continuation of the series that pastor started a few weeks ago. I want to call this, the four points of deliverance. I had five but when I was looking at the clock I cut one out so Victor thank you for taking one point from me. Four points of deliverance.

I'm gonna take the story of Esther and if you would like you can open the book of Esther. I'm gonna go through pretty much the whole book in this message and talk about deliverance from the point of Esther. Four points of deliverance.

The background story. Esther and Mordecai are in Babylonian captivity. The Bible says that Mordecai was a descendant of Kish. Somebody say Kish. Now Kish, if you know anything about the Bible, you know that Kish was the father of King Saul. God anoints King Saul to attack the Amalekites. Amalekites were the descendants of Esau who were attacking Israelites and God declared a war against the Amalekites in every generation. Seven times it's mentioned, I will utterly destroy Amalekites. So Saul gets sent on a mission to wipe out Amalekites. Saul, the son of Kish, doesn't destroy Amalekites. He spares the King of Agag and something begins to happen. Hundreds of years later Haman, who the Bible says is a descendant of Agag, shows up in Babylon and Mordecai descendant of Kish, Saul's relative, is facing the same enemy his great, great, great, great grandfather failed to conquer.

See there are things that run in the family until they ran to you. Some battles you face didn't start with you, but you are anointed for them to end with you. There are cancers that run in a family until they ran into you. Some people have mental disorders. It runs in the family but I have a word from God for you today. You are the Mordecai in your family, if it ran in your family, until it ran into you. Maybe your battle did not start with you but God anointed you to end with you. So you will not pass to the next generation, generational curses but you will pass generational blessings. And the Bible says that Esther and Mordecai, they're descendants of this family of Kish. They're battling with an enemy that started way before them. Some demons we fight, they didn't start with us, it's been generations before us that didn't destroy these enemies and therefore it got passed on.

Now I understand it's extremely controversial, generational curses and all this stuff and I want to take the controversy out. In a simple focus, when you go to the doctor, your doctor believes in generational curses because one of his questions is this, does this run in the family? Your like, excuse me doctor, this is not a theological question, we're asking about me right now. He says, I don't care about you for now, what I care about, does diabetes running in the family? Does cancer running in the family? So the doctors, they're not theologically sound but they know one thing, there are things that go through the blood. Not just our color of skin, not just the color of our eyes but there are character characteristics, there are genes, there are things that run, there are traits that are characteristics. Abraham lied, Isaac lied, Jacob lied, his children lied. It goes through the family, Abraham's wife was barren, Isaac's wife was barren, Jacob's wife was barren. It goes through the family. That's why Paul says to Timothy, he says, the faith that is in you, was in your mama and then it was in your grandma. It runs in the family. There are some of you, you are believers today because it runs in the family. We all believe in generational blessings but sometimes there are things that we are battling with, that did not start with us. My goal is not to convince you, you got a curse over your life, my goal is to convince you, that if something has been going in the family, it has to stop with you, in Jesus name.

So let's talk about that today. How to experience that deliverance, how to walk in the deliverance and I'm going to try to make it as practical as we can. Write this down, number one, the authority of the believer is greater than the access of the enemy. The authority of the believer is greater than the access of the enemy. Haman had operation in the palace where Esther lived. Watch this Haman, the enemy of Esther was operating, working in the palace where she lived. He had access. She had authority. She lived, where he operated until a particular time.

Another debated question. Can a Christian be tormented or demonized or attacked or have a demon and while that's not the focus, the focus today is this, you have an authority. The enemy can have access. Access may be through previous generations, access through rejections in the mother's womb, access through participating in abortion, access through having ouija boards, dream catchers, zodiac signs, participating in witchcraft and occult, access through talking to witches, talking to the dead. Access maybe by participating in sexual immorality, access perhaps by holding on to unforgiveess and bitterness. Maybe access through other means. And the enemy can have access but you must understand, when he gets access, he operates in the palace, you live, he doesn't live where he has access. In a sense it's not something he owns, it's something he rents and leases but you're the owner, Jesus is the owner and you can always revoke the access.

Me and my wife always had people live with us for nine years of our marriage. Sometimes two, three, sometimes up to four people lived in the house. Half of the times I felt like my house was a motel. (Chuckles) I walked in, I didn't know who was there and one thing about people that are living in your house, is they don't own your house. They don't own your master bedroom. They own, they particularly use, one area of your place, they have the keys that you have given to them and they can come and live there but they don't own everything else. And at any point, when they break the rule, you begin to revoke the access, change the lock and throw them out. See that's exactly what happens when a demon torments a Christian. You must understand, they don't own you, they don't live in your spirit but if they could lease, they can torment a particular area of your life, like the area of your emotions. When you are weak they come in.They don't live all the time, they come and they go, but they can have an access to an area of your life like anger, like pornography, like depression, like nightmares or sexual dreams or other things and maybe there's been an access given to the enemy but today what I want to encourage you with is that the master bedroom is owned by the Holy Spirit, it's owned by Jesus Christ and you have the authority. Somebody shout authority! Come on, somebody on youtube drop the word right now, authority. Somebody shout authority! The enemy might have access but you got authority.

You see, one thing that Haman got wrong is that though he had an access key to work in the palace, he messed with the wrong woman, he messed with a woman who was married to a King. He messed with this woman, this was her house, he plotted against her in her house but he got to the wrong woman because this woman rose up and she revoked his access! She drove him out of the palace and she hung him on the gallows and then she revoked his plan and his strategy. And I believe this is what happens if you've been tormented, if you've been under attack, if you open the door or somebody else open the door, through repentance, through renouncing and through resisting today you can get back what God has promised you. You can possess what's been promised to you in Jesus name. Somebody say authority.

The Bible says that she had this authority because she was married to the king and she was the queen but he operated in that palace. What I love about this story is not only we must understand one thing, this opposition that came against Esther was spiritual in nature, even though its fruits were political. This was a political physical problem but Esther being a queen does not rely on political strength and connections to deal with political problem. She doesn't create a protest, Esther does not look for signatures, Esther does not text other buddies in the palace and say, can we find some dirt on Haman and put it on CNN so we can destroy his reputation. Esther being a beautiful queen, she gets a prayer group going, she entices a generation to fast and pray because she understands, my physical problem has spiritual roots and if I deal with this problem spiritually I will conquer it physically.

Some of you in this room, your physical problem has spiritual roots. You went to the doctor, you're taking medicine, you went to a psychiatrist, you went to a psychologist and the problem persists. You installed the software to manage your computer so you don't look at porn but the problem still persists. If your problem still persists when you apply the physical strength, your problem is spiritual in nature, but my God, the Bible tells us that we have weapons to deal with spiritual problems. Our weapons this, the name of Jesus, our weapons is the blood of Jesus, our weapons is prayer, our weapons is fasting, our weapons is the word of our testimony, our weapons are mighty in God to pull down roots from the spiritual world to break down strongholds in the realm of the spirit. You got weapons my friend. You might not have a gun. You might not know how to use a gun. You might not care about your second amendment but your first amendment as a believer is your weapon. It's your weapon, it's called the Word of God, it's called the name of Jesus, it's called the blood of the Lamb and when you plead the blood, when you take a stand against the demons of infirmity, against the spirit of fear, it has to go. Give me some juice please. Come on somebody. Somebody say, I got weapons.

I know in America today we fight more for our physical weapons than we fight with our spiritual weapons. I'm not against guns. I don't have one but if you have it God bless you but what I believe every Christian has is the weapons of their warfare. Some of you may say, but I don't know how to use these weapons. That's why you're more dangerous than anybody else because if a guy comes against me and he's not equipped to use his gun, I'm scared. Yeah! If a kid holds his gun and you don't know, you know he knows how not to use it, you're scared. He's dangerous. Christians, if you think that you are not dangerous, you are dangerous if you don't know how to use this, in a sense if you're not professional in this, if you just grab a verse and you're like I don't know how to use it properly but devil will get behind me for you and not mindful of the things of God but of the things of man. I rebuke your spirit of fear, i rebuke your spirit of torment, I come against you, you devil of infirmity. I come against you, you spirit of perversion. My friend you are dangerous because this weapon is mighty in God, my God.

And so Esther. she used spiritual weapons to deal with spiritual enemies whose symptoms were physical. Some financial problems have spiritual roots. David had famine for three years. The problem was not with the weather, the problem was not with global warming, the problem was the Saul did some things to Gibeonites. It has spiritual roots. One guy was building a city. His one son died and the second died. The problem was not physical. The problem is the real estate he bought was cursed and he was completely oblivious to it. It has spiritual roots. Balaam's donkey started to go shhshhshh. The problem wasn't with the donkey. The problem there was a spiritual problem in the realm of the spirit. I'm not saying everything is spiritual but things are way more spiritual than we realize. Hollywood understands that and it's time for us to understand that as well and it's time for us to stop fighting spiritual problems with physical fists. It's time for us to stop. Your spouse is not your enemy, the real enemy is the snake. Your spouse is not the devil, the real enemy there is the devil and him is not your spouse and if you want to see victory in your marriage stop fighting your children, stop fighting your spouse, start fighting a spiritual battle with spiritual weapons and you will see changes in your life. Somebody give us some praise right now. The authority of the believer is greater than the access of the enemy.

When she wins the spiritual warfare through prayer and through fasting, I want you to notice that this victory did not change nothing in the physical realm. She prays and fast for three days, something shifts in the realm of the spirit but nothing yet changed in the physical realm. In fact in the things of the physical realm, things got worse. Never judge your spiritual state based on the symptoms. You got to be a spiritual person, that's why our warfare is not physical. We don't judge based on the physical, we judge based on our spiritual.

And the second truth that I want to share with you is this. Is you have to put on the royal garments after you win a spiritual battle. What is royal garments? You have to dress up in your royalty, not dress down in your rags. Meaning your mental dress code cannot reflect your symptoms, it cannot reflect the present problem it has to reflect the truth and the promise of God. The problem that happens with us is this, we are like Esther, we fight spiritually and we dress up like a homeless woman to go to the presence of the King. We put on rags and say until you kill Haman I won't change my dress code. Until God takes away the symptoms I will not change my confession. Until God saves my children I will not change my mental and emotional state. God has to kill Haman if he wants me to change my dress code but my Bible makes me to understand in Romans chapter 12 verse 2, do not be conformed to this world. Meaning don't put on the rags of your problem but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Meaning God says, I won't kill Haman until you change your dress code. Don't enter into My presence dressed up like a homeless person. You are My son, you are My daughter, you are My bride you are My body. In the spiritual realm things have shifted but then they have to shift in the mental realm. My God says that you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free. There are demons we fight but a lot of us, we also fight mental problems. When you break through in the realm of the spirit nothing will change in the physical realm until God breaks down strongholds. Let me say that again. When you break through in the realm of the spirit, nothing will change in the physical realm, until God breaks down mental strongholds.

Watch this, what it says about Esther. It says and Esther put on the royal garments Chapter 5 and verse 1 put on the royal robes and stood in the inner court. Esther's problem is still there but she's dressed up like royalty. Why? Because in the realm of the spirit things have shifted and her mind is changed now. Her attitude is changed now. If you wait until everything is changed before you change your mind, that day will never come. Once God gives you the truth, that truth changes your thinking and with the changed mind, the reality of our life begins to transform as well. There's deliverance where God removes the demons but there's also another deliverance where God breaks down the strongholds, the demonic operations that were build in our mind. Strongholds are harder to build than to cast out a demon. Strongholds are longer to build than it is for demon, demons enter quickly they exit quickly. Strongholds are built over time, it's a thought upon a thought, brick upon brick. It takes years to build and it will take years to destroy. That's why you can exit Egypt and still feel like a slave. That's why you can leave Egypt by the blood of the Lamb and still die like a slave in the wilderness, complain to God, why? Because that's called a stronghold, when you lived in Egypt for 20 years every day, not only God the devil was destroying your life, he was building within you a mindset that even if he leaves, you will still be in torment and that's why when you come to church, you need to be in church not so you experience deliverance, so God's Word can do cleansing like soap. Wash your mind, wash your attitude, wash your thinking stinking and renew your mind, renew your spiritual thing. So you will walk around dressed in the royal garments of your identity in Jesus Christ. The devil might still be looking at you funny and said, who do you think you are. He might be standing and accusing you but you walk in your royal garments in the presence of your King, why? Because you know who you are, you are a royal priesthood, a chosen generation, His own special people redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and you know who you are. Somebody give God some praise right now! Come on, if you know who you are, I know some of you people you came in today like, what the heck is happening at church today, what is wrong with this guy. Listen. If you can shout at guys wearing tight pants, running with this pig skin. I shout about God! We shout about identity in Christ. Come on somebody.

The Bible says you shall know the truth and the truth will set you free. It's not the presence of the truth that sets you free. It's the knowledge of the truth that sets you free. It's not the soap that makes you clean, it's applying the soap that makes you clean. Advil doesn't remove headaches as long as it's in a bottle, Advil removes headache when it goes from the bottle into your mouth. Bible doesn't change nobody as long as it's in the Bible, it needs to go from the Bible to your brain into your heart and into your thoughts. You shall know the truth, not you shall have the truth. You shall know the truth. Meaning you put on the royal garments of the truth. You put on the royal garments of what God says about you. You still feel crappy, you still feel fear, you still feel torment, you still feel the enemy coming and saying this and saying that but the question is not what you feel. The question is what you feed on. The question is what you put on. You have a choice and a lot of us, what we do with the spiritual armor of God. We keep it in the closet of our doctoral preferences but God wants you to take that armor and put it on. Don't hide it in your closet, put it on. One time I got a ticket for riding a moped without a helmet. I didn't get a ticket because I didn't have a helmet. I got a ticket because I didn't wear a helmet. Every Christian has a helmet of salvation but very few wear it. Every Christian has a breastplate of righteousness but very few wear it because when we show up to the presence of God we come homeless, broke, busted and disgusted. Yes we're praying, yes we're fasting, yes we're confessing the name of Jesus Christ but then when we show up, we still wear the rags of our problem but God wants you to put on royal garments of his promise. My God. Somebody shout royal garments! Come on, I can't hear you say, royal garments, of His promise! Meaning what he says about you, you put it on. But Vlad, the enemy is still there. That's the point. When the shift happens in the realm of the spirit then it has to happen in the realm of your mind. You put on the royal garments, not when Haman is dead, when he's still breathing and thinks he's still got everything but you're already positioned and the enemy gets scared because this is not right, they should be depressed, why is there a song in their mouth. Nothing is changing, the enemy is confused because you came dressed up in the royal garments of your identity.

I gotta go further, number three. Don't use God as a means to get your deliverance. Make God your goal. Now let me break this down. Don't use God to get deliverance, use deliverance to get to know God. I want you to notice what Esther does with the King when she comes dressed up with royal garments. I apologize my precious camera people. When she comes with royal garments she doesn't panic. All of her nation is about to be wiped out. She could have, she should have said heeelp! Make a scene. I mean this is a serious problem. She comes and you see composure. Her world is falling apart, she's dressed like a queen and her request is not deliverance, her request is a dinner. See you know you did something in the spiritual realm when you're no longer desperate. You're like a lion, you're waiting for the right time. Haman has no idea what's coming to him because this woman is totally composed. The world is falling literally, the bomb is ticking and her request is not, King help. She says, King would you be kind to come to dinner. She doesn't use the King to get deliverance. She loves the King and she wants to have a dinner with the King.

When you're tormented you tend to become too desperate with God and how I know that, because the moment God grants deliverance, the passion we had for Him evaporates and for some of us, it's pain that fuels our passion and that's bad. It might be the beginning stage of your relationship with God where you always need something to push you, hits you, for you to run after God but God wants us to grow up, where if there is no more pain I can make a decision to pursue my King. When you are tormented. When you are under attack. You will not feel being invited to the presence of the King like Esther wasn't, she had to overcome this thing, he has not asked for me to come into his presence, but I will go anyway. I don't feel led to pray pastor but I will pray anyway. I feel under spiritual attack, I don't feel like reading the Bible but I will read the Bible anyway. She goes to the King not invited. This is one of the ways you know you're under spiritual attack, when you don't feel the drawing to pray, when you don't feel the drawing too fast, when you don't feel the drawing to read the Bible but I have news for you. You have to wage a war in the spiritual realm, put on your royal garments and go anyway. He will stretch a scepter of His mercy, He will stretch the scepter of His love and His goodness but my friend please don't use God to get freedom, use freedom to get to know God. Israel used God to get out of Egypt and the moment He lingered for 40 days they switched religions but Moses used deliverance from Egypt as a way to know God more. He got lost in His presence for 40 days and forgot about 6 million Jews down the mountain. You may say what difference does it make? It makes a big difference because God can deliver you and then you will end up living for yourself or God can deliver you and you can end up being owned, possessed and filled with God.

Esther goes to the King and doesn't say deliver my people, she says, can I have a dinner with you? What does that look like? David says, in the presence of my enemies you build a table. See some of us can only eat if everybody's out of the table, nobody's staring, nobody watching, but God wants to teach us to eat in the presence of our enemies, in the presence of fear, in the presence of arthritis, in the presence of diabetes, in the presence of Haman that you come and not only you can invite the king you can eat, and Haman is sitting, and Haman is breathing and all you want to do is pow! Slap that fool. Slap that thing but you're eating, you're eating, you're holding yourself, you're eating, you're eating in the presence, you're worshiping but your kid is still on drugs, you're worshiping but you lost your business this week, you're worshiping but you got a diagnosis from the doctor, you're worshiping but your crypto went down this week, you're still worshiping in the presence of your enemy. God wants you to fall in love with Him not with deliverance. God wants you to fall in love with Him not with healing and He is testing you, He says listen my bride can we eat? I know Haman is watching, I know he's giving those dirty looks but keep on eating honey, keep on eating bride, keep on eating, why, because time is coming where this enemy will fall and beg you. Now he's all fun and games. There comes a point you get so far in God, this mighty Haman breaks and gets on his knees and pleads for life and King eats with his bride and he says Esther, what do you want, new pair of shoes? You want some jewelry? Some lotions? I mean you want to go shopping in the mall? You want another vacation? What do you want? I know you didn't just invite me, and this is the real test, (clears throat) yeah, I wanted to talk to you about this, we have a situation going on right now. Like it's not really about me but it's about Jewish people. But I want you to see what Esther does and this is huge for me, I'm looking at this, I'm like how could she do that? How could she not tell him her heart? She wanted to send a very clear message, I'm not after deliverance, I'm first and foremost after you. I am your wife, you are my husband. You're not a means to get my prayers answered, you are my goal. You, are my goal. God loves when we don't use Him for deliverance but we love Him as our deliverer, we love Him as our King and you know what, Esther says, King could you do me a big favor, could you come again tomorrow? My God, what a way to butter up the King. He said first to the half of my kingdom, I think the next day he's like, 100% of my kingdom, girl whatever you want. And the next day, see this part about deliverance we don't like to talk about because there's a part where like, well just deliver me, let the stuff come out but I'm talking about a process right now. Where God draws you so close to him while you still have a Haman breathing down your neck but you're still praying. And let me answer something for those of you in here in this room who say Vlad you don't understand how hard it is to be maybe addicted, struggling and doing this. It's not easy my friend, it's not easy to enjoy your steak knowing the guy that's killing you is across the table but your eyes have to be fixed on the King and the man with the legion of demons, the Bible says, Jesus came within his proximity. What did he do? He ran to Jesus and worshiped Him. Now people sometimes say, well demons ran to Jesus and worshiped Him. If you did any deliverance you will know one thing, there's two things demons do not do. Is help you to run to Jesus and they don't worship Jesus. So that tells me, a man had six thousand demons, totally mental, cutting himself, being in chains, living in a graveyard but when he saw Jesus six thousand demons could not stop him RUNNING to Jesus! He had this small window of opportunity. He gets on his knees and worships and then of course demons didn't like that. They come out, start coming out. Listen if the devil got 99% of you, the one percent of you he doesn't have is more powerful than the 99 he deserves. Stop giving devil more credit than he deserves. There is more in you, you are more powerful than you feel, you can eat in the presence of your enemies. You can read your Bible when you're sick, you can pray even when you don't feel like it. Listen give the devil a headache, a black eye and a slap in the face by still praising God when you don't feel like it, by still reading the Bible when you don't feel like it and listen, run after Jesus. Come on somebody, eat in the presence of your enemies.

Number four. Number four was, you have to remove your mask so God can remove the enemy. In other words you have to get real with God. Esther told him the truth that she wasn't just the queen, she was also an orphan and when you become honest with God. When I say honest with God, I also mean you get honest with somebody else. You don't just secretly pray for deliverance. You come and you confess to somebody, I'm battling with this, I've done this, confession opens the door for deliverance, amen and I'm gonna quickly go to last point. Point number five. So we did give another five points today, good.

Number five, whatever God doesn't remove He has empowered you to resist. Whatever God doesn't remove He has empowered you to resist. In Esther chapter 8 verse 3. Now Esther spoke again to the King, fell down at his feet and implored him with tears to counteract the evil of Haman the Agagite and the scheme which he had devised against the Jews and verse 11 of chapter 8 by these letters the King permitted the Jews who were in every city to gather together and protect their lives. Watch this, what they were permitted to do, to destroy, to kill and annihilate. Satan came to steal, kill and destroy. Jews were permitted by the King. Letters were written. The law of Haman couldn't be cancelled but another law was given where the victims were empowered to be victors. Haman is defeated but his plot remains and Esther comes and says, thank you King for getting Haman out of my way. On the cross Jesus defeated the devil but the plot of demons, the plot of evil is still real today in the life of believers but what the Lord does, is He comes in, and He empowers the believers, going from a victim to a victor, so that we will destroy, that we will destroy, that we will attack and we will annihilate the enemy who plan to destroy, steal and kill us. My God this is going to make a baptist shout, hallelujah. To destroy, kill and annihilate all the forces of any people or province that would assault them both little children and women, and to plunder their possessions and we can go on and I'm gonna leave it at that. You can re-read the story. Chapter nine, what it is, Jews do exactly that.

So, let's recap, the enemy was something that lingered from many, many generations ago. Esther becomes a queen, she doesn't blame Saul for why did he allow this to happen, why he was disobedient to God. She takes her position. She uses her authority in the palace to trump the access that the enemy has had which her forefathers have opened. She fights a spiritual war with the spiritual weapons through prayer and fasting. She goes into the King and dresses up like a queen when she doesn't feel like a King. She doesn't get invited to be with him and the things have not changed physically yet, but she doesn't wait for physical changes. Her mental shift already has taken place. When she goes to the King she doesn't go to the King to plead, beg. She goes to the King to have a dinner with the King, meaning she prioritizes intimacy above these issues that are facing and she lingers in that dinner. She has another dinner and then she removes the mask. She tells him the truth. I'm not just a queen, I'm also an orphan. When she removes the mask, she doesn't remove the crown. When you confess your sin, it doesn't mean you're renouncing your identity. When you confess your secrets, when you confess your struggles, it doesn't mean you lose your salvation. But when you confess this, something begins to be released. You bring that sin, you bring that demon, you bring that thing out of a closet into the light and sin cannot thrive in the light. It becomes crushed in the light, and the last thing that happens is that Haman is destroyed, praise be to God. Great victory but Esther she knows, she says, we need something else King, I want you to cancel the law that Haman wrote to destroy the Jews and the King says, we can't revoke that, it's already set in motion and that speaks of the evil plot that exists today in this world because of the work of satan but this is what we can do. The ones who were feared for their life, we can give him weapons. I'm not gonna remove everything Haman planned but i'm going to empower these people to fight back. I have a word from the Lord for somebody in this room, whatever God hasn't removed He has currently empowered you to resist. King did not destroy those enemies, Jews did. King destroyed Haman but he gave them the authority to do the rest.

You were not created for deliverance. God never created humanity for deliverance. He created us for dominion. In Genesis it says, He blessed them be fruitful and multiply, subdue the earth and have dominion. Deliverance came as a result because we failed to exercise dominion. Jesus came in Luke chapter 10 it says, I saw satan fall like lightning. I give you authority to trample upon snakes and scorpions. He didn't give us a warning with authorities but be very careful, those demons are dangerous, you go attacking them they're going to attack you back, they're going to attack your children, they're going to give you a flat tire, you're going to run off the road, be careful to do spiritual warfare. The lord Jesus Christ says, I give you authority and nothing, in Hebrew it says nothing, in Greek it says, nothing, by any means shall hurt you! Those of you walking around are afraid of spiritual warfare because the devil will retaliate, stop listening to your grandma, stop listening to your precious grandpa, stop listening to tradition, stop listening to some kind of a guy who casts out demons and said after I did deliverance a demons came and attacked me. The Lord Jesus Christ says nothing by no means shall hurt you. You were given authority. You were given dominion. The Bible says in Romans, through the gift of righteousness and the abundance of grace, you have power to reign in life. Not survive through life, not to make barely make it through, not to wait for antichrist to come and give us 666 but to reign. Somebody shout reign! Reign over sickness, reign over defeat, reign over your emotions, reign over your past, reign over demonic intrusive thoughts, reign over sexual dreams, reign over all kinds of demonic attacks in your life. Reign in life.

I battled with fear. It started probably because of my insecurity. We're about to pray and through this fear I was chronically scared of the dark. I was a kid, it's okay, you go quickly, I slept with my parents a lot of time. Then when I got older it was kind of embarrassing to go to sleep with my parents I became a youth pastor. It was very embarrassing to sleep with my parents so what i had to do is improvise. I turned down the lights, I always slept with my lights on. I would be the last person at the church at night. I would be so scared to get to my car I would run quickly to my car and I was afraid there's some kind of a jack the reaper or somebody who's gonna cut my throat, so I constantly check my back seat all the time and I ran, drove as fast as possible from the church, home. Fearing some kind of a thing is going to attack me. I lived like this for a long time. I prayed for God to deliver me. I prayed for God to set me free. I even had few people pray for me and I don't know it was a demon or spirit whatever it was it was not good. One year into our marriage, we're living in the apartment. It was one of those low income apartments. It didn't have light in the living room and so we're eating dinner with my wife and the living room is to this side, the dinner table is right here and I'm looking and I'm seeing a figure and I'm scared to death so I'm trying to grab my wife's hand and I'm looking at her like, like not normally you know. She's like. are you okay? I'm like no, I just love you. I'm scared. She's like, why are you holding my hand so tight? I'm like I just, I'm just, I just can't wait, I'm living with, I'm just, I can't believe I'm living with you. She's like, okay, all right. We finished eating and she's going to the sink to drop the dirty dishes and I'm following right after her with my dish. I'm 24 years of age and I'm scared. I'm in my own apartment and so we quickly go into the other room, turn off the lights and I'm literally following my wife like a tail of a dog. My wife is a painter. She's painting, I'm preparing a message. Crazy part, I'm preparing a message about victory over devil on Saturday night and I'm scared of the dark and my wife has this weird craving the women sometimes, get for absolutely no reason. She's like, I just want some water, could you go get me some water? Which means I have to leave the room, go into the hall that has no lights, go into the living room which has no lights and go into the kitchen. Do you know how many demons are there in that living room and I said babe, why? I was like, why would you want, I'm like we just, we just ate and I'm arguing with her and I said, why don't you go get water I'm studying for the sermon. And she's like, come on just go get some water. So I am devising a plan, I'm gonna quickly run to the kitchen, quickly turn on the light, get the water and leave the light on, so before we go to sleep my wife goes and turns it off. So I'm ready. I'm literally, this conversation is going on in my mind because I don't want to tell my wife I'm scared of going in our own house in the living room. I mean the man of God that I am, I mean she would be like, what are you studying today? Deliverance? And right as I'm about to go in I feel this, this prompting from the Holy Spirit. Still small voice, it says, don't turn on the light, you are the light. And He said, you've been running from this all your life. He says it's time to put up a fight and I was like, oh yeah, I can put up the fight but not in there. He says that's exactly what the battle is, you have to put up the fight there. He said, don't turn on the light. He said, you have to face it. I was like face it! That thing can kill me, that thing will kill me, I'm sure of it. He says, it won't kill you but you can kill it. I remember every motion that I felt. I was scared to death, every hair in my body was quickened and awakened. I went into the living room, it was not a spiritual prayer that I prayed, it was not even a prayer. I prayed, I said, whatever you are, whoever you are, this is my apartment. You have to go. And I waited for about three seconds and honestly something left and I never had those fears again.

There are people under the sound of my voice who feel like, but God hasn't removed everything. I'll give you a verse in Judges where the Bible says God left enemies in the promised land to teach children of Israel to fight. What if God left those things on purpose so you can learn how to use your sword? Remember that scene in Narnia movie where the lion, you know, did not kill that one wolf and he let Peter take his knife and Peter stood there, like scared to death you know and he finally killed that wolf. What if that is the scene in your situation right now? What if that thing that is happening, you're waiting for God to go and take care of everything, but God says I didn't just make you a son, I want to make you a soldier. In the Egypt I crushed pharaoh, in the promised land you will crush Philistines with my strength, carrying my ark, walking with my grace. What if God did not remove certain things because He's waiting for you to oppose and resist them? What if the freedom you got is enough for you to fight back because in the beginning God untied your hands? You have a fighting chance but you're asking God to take care of everything. God says, I gave you a fist. He trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle but since some of us, God trained our hands for war and our fingers for battle. He threw us in a ring and we say, God i'm scared. And God says, throw the punch. Open up your mouth and release the Word. In psalm 149 it says, a two-edged sword in their hand and high praises in their mouth to bind the princes with fetters, to execute punishment on the enemy, this honor have all his saints. You are God's saint. It's your honor to fight back. It's your honor to stand in your position and exercise your dominion. You were created in the image and likeness of God. God is not a hyena, he's not a mosquito, he is a lion of the tribe of Judah. You carry His DNA. You carry His characteristics. You carry his nature. You carry his grace upon your life. Fight back, open up your mouth and praise Him. Open up your mouth and fight that enemy. Open up your mouth and release the double edged sword. Put up a fight, put up a fight, give the devil a headache. Give the devil a nightmare. It's time for him to run from you. It's time for him to flee seven ways because of who you are in Christ. Everybody rise to your feet.