Recently, my mom was having some problems with a friend. There was much strife between the two, and it had led to a week long silent treatment. My mother was hurt, but was also acting stubborn, as many of us do when there are quarrels among us. As each day went by the grief would grow stronger. She was also battling a headache that seemed to make things worse. I prayed for a solution and I felt the Lord say that she needed to have complete forgiveness for the friend. I told her to let go of all negative feelings, and to act in a way that Jesus would act.

Sometimes we can’t forgive someone, because we simply don’t feel like doing it. God knows that, but He also knows the importance of forgiveness (as He has demonstrated through Jesus Christ), and He knows the affect that it has on His children.

In 2 Corinthians 2:10-11 Paul says, “If you forgive anyone anything, I too forgive that one; and what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything,, has been for your sakes in the presence (and with the approval) of Christ. To keep Satan from getting the advantage over us: for we are not ignorant of his wiles and intentions.”

Unforgiveness gives the enemy permission to invade our lives, and he is more than willing to take advantage of that permission. It is for this reason that we must be in obedience to God when He says that we are to forgive.

I told my mom, “you might not feel like doing it, but you can tell God that you are forgiving your friend as an act of obedience.” Be honest with God and tell Him, “I don’t feel it Lord, but I’m doing it because You want me to.”

She said, “I just don’t know if I can do that.” Later on in the evening, she called me back and said, “well I listened to what you told me, and I did what you said to do.” After that they had joined together again in friendship, and the headache that tormented my mom had vanished.

The Canaanite woman walked right up to Him. She was an outsider, but she was desperate. Her daughter was possessed by a demon, and she knew Jesus could set her free. She begged Him, but His reply was not what was expected, “it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

She said, “yes Lord, but even the little pups eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Then He saw how great her faith was, and He set the girl free!

Deliverance is not for outsiders or unbelievers, it is for the children of God. Actually, it is what the children of God should be feeding on. Notice how Jesus refers to it as bread? Yet, there are many Christians that deny the importance of deliverance, and refuse to believe that they could benefit from it. A big part of my walk with the Lord has been deliverance and healing. I had a lot of demons when I came to the Lord. I have submitted to many deliverance’s, and I have been set free from a lot. The first step is submitting.

You must recognize that there are things that are in your personality (that God did NOT create) that are against His will for your life. Demons don’t possess our spirit (that is sealed by God), but they are free to affect our mind, will, and emotions. Did you wake up angry today? That’s alright, maybe you are just stressed, and you are letting your flesh get the best of you. Have you been angry for a few days, weeks, or months? You might have a spirit of anger!

Why not trust that the same Lord who cast demons out over 2,000 years ago, can do it today. In fact , He has commissioned Christians everywhere to continue on with His ministry. That’s right, He has given US the right to command these things to leave, in His name.

That’s a gift you can’t afford to ignore!

I was watching a video clip from Perry Stone, and he was talking about how he thinks that one of the most troubling sins in America is unbelief. I just started looking at his website, so I can’t say I agree with everything that he says, but I did enjoy this particular message.

I don’t think our sins look any different to God, but I know they look different to humans. For instance, murder does not have the same earthly punishment as lying. Now, he says that unbelief is a sin, but I’m going to take it farther and say that it is a spirit; the spirit of unbelief.

The spirit of unbelief penetrates the surface of our body in a very sneaky way. It usually comes in through the ears from others who are spewing words inspired by these little devils. Once in the body, it travels to the heart. It travels quickly, but what it does when it gets there is a slow process that can lead to death.

It begins to harden a persons heart by building little calluses over the surface. The calluses then grow roots and they take over the entire heart, pushing out Truth and replacing it with lies. The heart is then hardened and quite possibly might never recover.

Yes, I believe the spirit of unbelief is a great threat to America, and to Christians all over the world. Legalism, and discrediting the works of God is one way to let this spirit in. Sometimes, we know more when we know less.

This spirit actually came into me within the last few months, and I didn’t even realize the calluses it was building. For a Christian, we have one antidote, and it’s not penicillin. It’s only our Lord Jesus Christ that can rescue us. His Spirit pushes out the calluses and the demon and renews the mind.

Recently, I said to myself, “I heard from God more, and had more fruit when I had less knowledge.” Think about it! Why do people in third world countries have all the miracles happening? Because they don’t have science, media, and legalistic Christians to shut down the things of God. They simply believe. If someone in their tribe is raised from the dead by a man of God using the name of Jesus, they don’t sit around and debate whether it was a true or false miracle, and if it lines up with scriptures.

God opened the eyes of my heart, and I was able to see clearly how the spirit of unbelief had begun to do its dirty work. I put an end to it, and made some promises to myself (and God).

1. I will give no more of my time to blogs, websites, or people that discredit the works of God out of ignorance.
2. I will not judge any testimony, sign, wonder, or miracle that points to Jesus, but rather praise God for everything that is from Him.
3. I will seek the Spirit of Truth regarding all things, and trust that He who has started a good work will finish it!

So, did I rub some of your calluses the wrong way?

Deliverance should be a big part of a Christian’s life. Not only do we need it for ourselves, but we should also be ministering it to others as well. Considering the fact that the majority of Jesus’ ministry was healing and deliverance, I think it’s safe to say that this belief is justified. Jesus also said that we would do greater works than He did (John 14:12); that’s possible because He is living in us, and He intercedes on our behalf to our Father! Isn’t that exciting news?

Many have discussed whether or not demons can affect a Christian’s life or not, and I’m going to clarify this debate for you: they can and they do! Anytime you get near their territory (participation in the occult, sinning, unforgiveness, etc.) you are opening yourself up for them to take hold of your life. You actually give them legal rights to certain areas of your life!

They affect us in all different ways, but the main thing I have learned is that they are very deceitful. Many people assume that our personalities are the way they are, and whatever kind of behavior we display is just a result of that. For instance, I used to have a wicked sense of humor. A lot of the times, I would laugh at things that shouldn’t be laughed at. I used to turn everything into a joke! I thought that was just the way I was born, and that’s who I was. Well, during a deliverance one time, I started laughing uncontrollably. My friend was able to discern that it wasn’t me laughing, but that it was a spirit. She commanded it to reveal its name, and I said, “Joker”. She asked what right it had in my life, and I remembered when I was very young through the time I was in high school that people would tell me I looked like the joker when I laughed. I hadn’t thought about it in years, but it suddenly came to my mind. I told her what I was thinking, and she told me to renounce all of these spoken curses over my life, and then she commanded the spirit to leave in the name of Jesus. Immediately, the need to laugh was gone, and my sense of humor has never been the same. That’s a good thing!

As I said, demons are deceitful, and one of the challenges I have faced in deliverance is that they usually don’t want to go. In the case of the “joking spirit”, there was apart of me that was afraid people wouldn’t find me funny anymore, and I felt like that was a big part of my character that I was giving up. The important thing to remember is that if it’s a demon, it has to go! I still make people laugh, but it’s good-mannered humor, and it doesn’t come with a price. Don’t be afraid of letting something go that you know is bad. Trust me, that’s the demon talking!

Another thing to know about deliverance is that the demons can come back. Actually, they bring seven more demons with them (Matthew 12:45)! Many people say that this can be avoided by saying, “you can never come back” or “fill the empty space with the Holy Spirit”, but I believe there is much more to it than that. Obviously, we want the Holy Spirit to fill up the empty space, and I believe this is what Jesus means when He says, “it finds the place unoccupied”. However, just saying those words isn’t going to cut it. I believe it’s important to walk the deliverance through. Afterwards, there will be some tribulations, and you will feel the demon trying to return. It takes dying to self, and walking in the Spirit to make it past that stage. The Bible says “resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (James 4:7), and this is confirmed when Jesus resists the temptations during His 40 days in the desert, and the devil flees. However, the devil also decides that he will try and come back at a more opportune time (Luke 4:13).

It’s important to know that as long as we are on this earth, we are subjected to the demonic realm. Luckily we are seated with Jesus Christ, and have been given the power of His name to deal with these issues. I’m not encouraging demon chasing, but when you feel like there’s something in you that is going against God, you do have the right to kick it out!

I tried many times to break free. I knew I wanted to. I knew it wasn’t me. I knew it was killing me, but I couldn’t do it. I had so many unsuccessful attempts, and each time I’d be a little more weakened. Each time, I realized that I could never be free from this addiction, or so I was told…

I’m talking about my addiction to cigarettes. I was regularly smoking a pack a day, and I saw no end in sight. I would try to quit and I would be flooded with reasons not to. I believed it was enjoyable, and I would justify it in anyway that I could. I thought I deserved to have it as a crutch for the things that I have been through in my life. I thought it relieved anxiety, but now I know that it only caused the anxiety. The spirit of addiction feeds off of anxiety, rejection, depression, failure, and our sometimes helpless minds are the buffet.

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God has put it on my heart to share the testimony of my deliverance from homosexuality. It has been approximately six months (from the date of this entry) since I was freed, and I’m doing this now as an act of obedience to my Heavenly Father. I pray that whoever reads this testimony will gain wisdom and knowledge about the issue of homosexuality. To those who are still believing Satan’s greatest lie, I pray that you will receive freedom, not condemnation, from this story.

It is important to first know and understand that I never wanted to change my sexual orientation. I received Jesus as my Lord and Savior in 2005, and never believed that living the homosexual lifestyle was going to send me to hell. I knew what the bible said, but I had decided to only accept the parts of the bible that fit with the way I wanted to live my life. This is a common occurrence in “broken” Christianity. We do what makes us feel good. This is NOT the way it should be.
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How many people are aware of the spiritual battle that is going on? This is the battle that is taking place in the spiritual realm. It has nothing to do with us, for we are just caught in the middle.

Satan has plotted against us over and over again. As Christians, we are not helpless in this battle. Jesus Christ has the authority, and He gives us that authority with our salvation.

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