Stephanie Ike Okafor - Crystals, Sage, Somatic Release… Is Jesus Enough

Hey, everyone, It's Stephanie Akl Kaffer and we are on part six on the Modernization of Witchcraft series. Now, last week we talked about the truth behind African Spirituality and it was actually interesting to know that in my research just hearing from listening to interviews from people who practice African spirituality, where it was not just that there were people that left Christianity to African spirituality, but there are people who are practicing that while still going to church. Right. And so today we're gonna be speaking about this whole idea of Chrystal's sage somatic release is Jesus enough, right, And the goal of today is not really to go into like this nitty greedy about Christal's or say somatic release or terror card readings or ayahuasca. In the actually in the description I'm gonna share there are some videos I've done in the past and some videos trusted people that I want to share about, you know, individual topics as it relates to New Age, But there's so many things. Every moment you turn, there's something new, right. You know, right now their somatic release is trending, like a few years ago, I have never heard about this, right, But all of a sudden, you know, and it mimics this idea of deliverance with Christianity. Not many of you might be familiar with it, but there's just so many new things popping up every single day under this whole umbrella of New Age religion or New Age beliefs, this idea that there is access to supernatural healing or deliverance through means that have become you know, really just like popular in culture, right, and so we there's a lot of willful blindness to not recognize that what is the spirit behind these things, what is driving these things. But because it has also become corporate, right, you have people that have businesses, you know, their psychic shops. Everywhere down the street there are psychic shops. People have made this a business, and so it just seems like a transaction, right, Let me go to this healer, let me go to this whatever person and make a transaction to get what I need. But the goal rather is to really discuss what everything has taught that the root of everything, right, and it's really demonic intelligence. That's what it all boils down to. Whether it's terror card reading, whether it's saging crystals, all of this boils down to demonic intelligence, knowing how to almost again last week we talked about how and masquerade himself as an angel of light, right, knowing how to masquerade what serves his kingdom and present it in a way that seems fashionable. Right. And so you see Christians saging and it looks cool, right, So they they're not just doing it like in privacy there, they're putting it on social media like you know, you know, cleansing my space, right, like it looks trendy. And the funny part of it is even like Sagin, for example, when you actually study you know, the indigenous tribes that the practice or the culture, the religious practice of Sagin comes from. If you ever hear them in an interview talk about what they see in pop culture, they are actually disgusted because they're like, this is this is not how it's done, you know. So even I remember there was someone that was speaking was so offended that people will take the sage and put it on a candle fire and sage their homes. And what stood out to me about that is the fact that people are doing things that they're not even fully versed in, They're not fully knowledgeable, knowledgeable about They're doing it because it's trendy, and they just have made it to be that, yes, I'm cleansing my space, so I have my crystals, or I need to do ayahuasca whatever, And there's this willful blindness that wait, do I actually take a moment to ask myself where is this coming from? What is empowering the the the power? Like really, what what what is given power to the ability for these things to happen? How? How is a plant? How how does a plant have any power to you know, cleanse my home from evil spirits? A plant? Right? I mean, why can't I use you know, or like what's that other asparagus? Why don't I just put some asparagus and just swivel it around and stuff like that. But all of it boils down again to demonic intelligence. The enemy is very crafty, very wise. You know, you're you're dealing with beings that existed even before we came on the earth. Right, they've studied humanity, uh in such a great degree. And so I just want to speak to you again. The the the essence of this whole series is to bring you to this place of curiosity, knowledge and understanding. Uh. The heart of this series. One of the one of the key things that when the Lord encountered me and told me to do a series on this topic was for people to really understand that there is no in between. I will keep saying this in almost every episode, every part of this series, is that there is no in between. Right, there is a kingdom of light, there's the kingdom of darkness. And unfortunately, because of ignorance, because of hunger, on checked hunger, we are applying ourselves to things that are actually dangerous for us. Right, But I want to take you into this scripture Exitus seven eight to twelve. Now, this was when prior to this, God has encountered a man named Moses, and God is instructing him to go to Egypt and set the Israelites, who had been in slavery for about four hundred years. And it's like, you know what, it's time to deliver them, like to set them free. The Israelites had been crying out to the Lord to bring deliverance and the Word of God says, and God heard their cry, and so he raises up, you know, he encounters Moses and sends him as the answer that God will partner with him and bring deliverance to the people. And so you know, there's so much history there with Moses and the people of Egypt. You got us. If you haven't studied it, you have to study it in your own time. But Moses, you know, going to see the Pharaoh, you know, who's such a hard man, you know, and Moses is familiar with him. And this is a man who has no intention of releasing the Israelites. You know, he's had them in slavery for all these years. He's benefiting from them, just evil, right, he has no intention of releasing them. And so the Lord is like instructing Moses about certain signs that he should perform before Pharaoh. And it's really to you know, distinguish who the Lord is versus you know, what Pharaoh believes to be powerful. And there's many more things. There were plagues that happened and all kinds of things that led to the people. That's why the book is called Exodus, right, that led to the people being set free. But check out this scripture though, so it says the Lord set to Moses and Aaron when Pharaoh says to you perform a miracle, right, because Pharaoh is gonna try to downsize them, like who are you to talk to me in this way? You know? And who is your god? Because Pharaoh is surrounded by his perception of power. Right, he has sorcerers in his court, he has magicians in his court. He has people that can do all kinds of magic and all kinds of evil and could drum things up because they were being empowered by a demonic spirit. And so if you're gonna step up to Pharaoh, then you need to show him that, hey, look, this is not that you know. The God I serve is bigger and superior to whatever you have committed yourself to. Right, And so the Bible says the Lord says to Moses and Aaron, when Pharaoh says to you perform a miracle, then say to Aaron, take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, and it will become a snake. Right, this is a regular staff. And He's like, tell Aaron, you know, take like say to Erin to take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh and it will become a snake. I mean, can you just imagine. It's not like there was a special way, you know, throwing a wood that it turns through a snake, Right, This was because you see, when God gives an instruction and we carry out the instruction. You know, the Bible talks about the words that I give you, they are spirit and they are life. So when God gives a word and we follow it, the word also inhabits his power. And so when we follow out the instructions of God, his spirit empowers us in that thing. And so it was not that the staff, you know Moses had was something special. This was the staff He was using these things as a shepherd, you know, it was there was nothing special about it. But when you take even the thing that is not its ordinary, the thing that has no special ability, but you partner it with the with you know, the spirit of God, then God can do the supernatural through it. So when the Lord releases the instruction, the instruction is instruction comes with authority and power and the back end of the Holy Spirit, who executes the word of God. And so he says, take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, and it will become a snake. And so Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. You see that just as the Lord command it, because you follow the word of God, and maybe someone needs to take that as a personal a personal message. When you follow God's instructions, there is a power that backs you up right. When you follow, you might feel like, man, God, I don't know if I'm cut out for this, X, Y and Z, But when the Lord gives you an assignment, when the Lord gives you a word, he would back it up right. So anyway, let's get back to the focus here. So he says, Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials and it became a snake. Now check out what Pharaoh does. Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts. So they look, you know, Aaron comes with Moses. Aaron throws down, you know, Moses's staff. According to the Lord's instruction, the staff turns into a snake, and Pharaoh's not really that move. He said, well, I could you know, if this is what this is about, let me get my people, let me get my sorcerers, my magicians, because they gain this is spiritual intelligence, right. He's trying to look for people that can tap into the spiritual realm and try to discover the intelligence to recreate what it looks like on the surface. And so he gets his men, he gets his sorcerers and all that stuff, and they did the same things by their secret arts. Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But then check out what happens in the end. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs because in the end, what their little you know, tricks had to bow down to God, and Aaron's staff swallowed up their staff. You see, in God, there is victory. In God, the end result has victory written all over it. In Satan, he gives you the appearance of victory, but it's just the illusion to distract you. What do I mean by this? So, for example, you know, when we think about culture, right, when we think about this whole thing with saging, why sage? You know, why in particular do people feel like the incense they're burning? What? What what is it about incense that gives them this idea that something is being cleansed? You see, Satan is he's just so interesting that man. But biblically we see that there is also a use of incense, right, we see that incense in the Book of Revelation. It talks about how how the incense you know, can be mixed with the prayer of the saints that goes before the Lord. Right, there is this use of incense, but the use of incense has has a has an outcome that is for you, it's mixed up with your prayers that go before the Lord. Now the enemy comes and tries to recreate this idea that you know, the use of incense can also bring results when it's just the appearance of something, so you're just looking at it. You're you know, using your sage and your home and you have this feeling like ooh, my house feels lighter and X, Y and z. But you are still under his thumb. You're still in bondage to him. Nothing really changed, you see, just like for example, this whole thing with somatic release that I just discovered this and it mimics deliverance. Right when you see deliverance happening, you know, within Christianity, you see a person like shaking and you know there's all kinds of movement in their body. Maybe they might talk or things like that, because there is I love what my pastor, how my pastor says, there's the reorientation that is happening in a person's body, right, because that demonic spirit has been such a part of your you know, your your your physical like it has it controlled how you were thinking, how you're living, what you were doing. And so when the demon is coming, now there is this like shaking, but it doesn't end with a shaking. After the shaking, it comes out right. And so that's why we see that. You know, somebody could be shaken. Even in my experiences with deliverance, there are times where a person might have multiple spirits in them. And if you just see a person shaking and you think that's it, the shaking is that the demon is manifesting, right, It's coming to the surface. Something is causing it to come to the surface. And when it comes to the surface, it's the authority of Jesus that cast it out. But now, in this whole thing about somatic release, all it does is costic festation. So the demon is manifesting and that is believed to be deliverance, but it is the power of God that causes it to come out. So you have people just shaken. I've seen people shake, I mean, child, they could do the Harlem shake and all of that, but there were still spirits that were hiding inside them. They were still there were multiple spirits that were still hiding. And so then as you begin to call it out, and that's when it leaves the person, and then transformation is the result. Right. You see how they look different, They look lighter, they look bright. You know, you start to experience the gift of God that has been hiding in this person because of a tormenting spirit. But now you have these you know, demonic counterfeit options that give people the appearance of what books like God, but it's actually still keeping them in bondage. Right, same thing with crystals, all these things. I remember those the time this was happening in a church service and I had been I was preaching about crystals, sage, so many things that people were This was years ago before New Age even became like as big as it is right now, all like you know, dream catchers and all this stuff. And I was just bringing truth to what these things are all about. And I can never forget during the alto call. So an alto call experience is when you know, you call forth what people might be experiencing in the rooms. So for example, in the alto call. I was calling out people who have been practicing these things and want to renounce it, want to repent, want to turn away from living this lifestyle, want to you know, throw away their crystals, their sage and all of that, because then they're recognizing that these symbols are actually tethered to demonic spirits. It's given access to demonic spirits in a person's life. And there was this lady who was coming to the altar and just starts screaming. And so no screams in the church is normal because that person might be getting set free of something. But it was a different kind of scream and then I noticed, and then I also found out more details after she had a crystal, you know, on her neck that was connected to her necklace, and when she was you know, taking the step forth that hey, I don't I'm gonna take this off of me. As she tried to take it off, the crystal, I mean, this was something special, literally went all the way up to her neck by itself and started choking her. She this is something she put on, she takes off, she put on, she takes off. She just so, okay, it's a regular object. It's just you know, I'm just using it for whatever, you know, to attract whatever she was trying to attract in her life. Right, But the crystal, the moment she's like, I want to walk away from this, I want to renounce this. The crystal came alive and started choking her. So there are people that came and then ripped it off her neck, right, And so how is this thing that seems harmless, like, oh no, I just have my crystals, and some people are very particular about their crystals. Don't touch it, don't you know, charge it in the moonlight and all these things. Child, But how is it that an object? You have put so much power in what an object can do? There is something else. There is a spiritual component that is feeding that thing. There is something spiritual that has now become tethered to that thing. Because just like with Aaron and the you know, the Egyptian magicians, the staff was just the staff. It was just the staff. But because of what they are submitted to, when Aaron released the staff, the power of God showed up with it. When the magicians released the staff, demonic spirits showed up with it and they turned the you know, the essence of the staff into a living thing. It turned into a snake. These are stories in the Bible. The Bible, I mean it is the Bible is so supernatural. It blows my mind because the Bible is also teaching us how these things happen. That power. You don't you're not just attracted to something because it gives you this illusion of power. You have to know what is what spirit is behind this, because is this the spirit of God or is this the of Satan? And just like I said last week, nothing about Satan is for your good. Satan is wired for destruction. He is wired to see an end to you. So he can, you know, tease you with things that appear to be good. He can try to come off in such a beautiful way. I remember there was this a lady who had dabbled into some New Age practices because she was looking for love, you know, very simple. She was looking for love. And you know, there was a spirit that came to her literally, you know, spirit comes to her and presents itself to be something like beautiful, like something that she you know, that was for her, and all these things right, and she was thinking like oh my gosh, like oh this is nice, you know, but the route she was taking was a New Age route, was a demonic route. And so this spirit comes and is approaching her. And even as I'm telling you the story, you might feel like, wait, what, but these things are happening literally, it could be happening to your neighbor, happening to your friend who's not telling you. Maybe you're watching right now. And finally you feel seen. The spirit comes to her and it's acting all nice, it's acting all cool and dandy. You know, she's going to bed, it's cuddling her and all this stuff. She thought that, oh, this is great, and one day the spirit asked her, so she told me the story. After you know, we went through like her deliverance process and all of that, the spirit asked her if it could get permission to enter her. And I've never that was the first I've heard of like a spirit asking a person like, hey, you know, can I get permission to enter you? Apart from the only time I've heard something like that was like in the Bible when the spirits asks Jesus for permission to enter the pigs. But it did and when she agreed, then its real agenda started. It became torture. Literal torture. It will try to have her, it will try to cause her to have car accidents. It tried so many times to see how her life could be ended, right, and thank God, you know, the mercy of God that, in the power of God set her free. You know, But these stories I share them, and you know, I might be joking and laughing here and there, but it really breaks my heart because that could be anyone. That could have been me, that could have been a family member, that could be a loved one, that it could be anyone, because you know, I'll just even be honest with you. Growing up, my mom was a single mom, right. My father was murdered when I was eight months. At that age, there was no help that came from like my father's family. Matter of fact, my father was murdered by his cousin. Okay, his cousin planned the assassination. And as my mom being you know, a young single mother, she was desperate for answers, and not answers like what happened to my husband, No, like God answers like God, I need you to help me raise these children. I need your help, right, And I remember I think God he encountered me at nine years old. But even in that desperation, you know, we would go to like different churches, and unfortunately some of these churches were who were witches masqueraded as pastors. You know, that's a whole different story for another time. But I saw how easy it could be to fall into the deception of the enemy because you're driven by your need, right, You're driven by a need that can only be answered by the supernatural. You know, You're driven by a need that is like God, I need you, I'm looking for you. And we begin to make common or it begins to you know, make it okay, even when we have red flags about a thing, right, And so it was the mercy of God that you know, he would the Lord first like reveal things to me and show me like, hey, this church you guys are going to that I have no parts in it. This person does not belong to me. Even the Bible talks about this. Many will come to Jesus and say, Lord Lord, we did this in your name, We did that in your name, X, Y and Z, and he will say, depart from me. I never knew you. But this just hit me so hard right now. It could be anybody that falls in eggsance to the enemy's ways because right now, especially in culture, there is such a magnified desire for the supernatural, whether it's the supernatural in healing, whether it's the supernatural in deliverance. Because people are going through stuff, especially in the climate that we're living in. You turn your tea, I mean to watch the news. I don't know what it's worse, watching the news or a horror movie it because it gives you the same feeling. So people are going through stuff, and people are desperate for help. But in that desperation for help, they're running to some of the wrong sources. They're running to terror cards to find out about their future and their destiny. They're going to psychics. They're trying to do ayahuasca to be set free from, you know, from things that they're afraid of, their use, their running, they're looking in search, but they're running to all the wrong sources. And where you think you're getting help from is actually trying to keep you in a deeper level of bondage. You see. Let me read another story to you in the Bible, right acts eight, first verse nine to eleven. This was about a man named Simon. He was known as a sorcerer, and so the Bible literally the scripture says, now for some time or some time, right, check that out, a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great. You see, first of all, this is one of the sciens of false profits. This is one of the signs of demonic works and activities. The glory goes to self, not God, he boasted. Because here's the thing, right, And I will even share this with you another series that will be coming up after this, because there's so much I'm touching about, and there's something God puts so heavy on my heart just recently, honestly, was to really break down the how to discern between true and false prophets, how to discern between the true power of God and the false powers that come from Satan. Right, because look at this, he boasted that he was someone great. Why is it that anything connected to Satanism and demonic worship and all of this, it has to reveal its nature, no matter how Satan wants to pretend. The fruit always revealed the nature of the seed. And you see an apple tree, and that thing has apples. You will not be confused that someone sowed an orange seed. You will know that it was an apple seed that was planted in order to produce apples. Right, and here is the reason. As Christians, the Bible says that we were bought with a price. As a Christian, I don't belong to myself. I belong to God. Right, I didn't. His blood paid for me. I was bought with a price. There is always a transaction, and the one who makes the transaction has ownership. So Jesus paid with his blood for us. We were bought with a price. That's why we call him Lord. Right, Lord means owner. You own me. Right, this life is not mine. I lay it down for you. Now in the demonic you pay. So in Christianity, everything I do is to glorify Jesus. Everything about my life. It's not even just in what I say, it's it's in the essence. It's it's what you get when you're in my presence. If you're in my presence and all you see is me, that's a problem. If by if when you're listening to teachings and you're listening to messages and it doesn't cause you to desire God more. That's a problem if you feel that the breakthrough you would receive only comes you know, if I pray for you, if I do this for you, that is a problem because what we are, as you know, ministers of the Gospel, is to point you to Jesus. Can Jesus use us in powerful ways? Absolutely? I mean the of Peter healed people, So it's yes, there is there is a glory that people can you know, try to attribute to a person, but ultimately it's driving you to Jesus. You look at Peter's shadow because you recognize that Peter is a man who serves the Lord, right, but in the demonic realm, you're the one paying, and the cost is your soul. You're saying, hey, say, And first of all, you know, there's this whole lie that you know, how people sell their souls to the devil. It's another deception of the enemy because you can't even sell what is not yours technically, But on earth he can manipulate and he can use your vessel for his full agenda. And you know, then you talk about heaven hell, and that's a whole different topic. But you're the one paying the cost. You're the one pain with your blood. You're the one pain with your life for that power, for that influence, for the fame. And so even if you, even without recognizing, you draw the attention to yourself because the blood that is being shed is yours, because you're the one in bondage. You're the one who's you. See, the Bible says life is in the blood. It's your life that is draining. It's your life that is slowly passing away. You never get to discover who you really are because it's that person who has negotiated with the enemy for power, for fame, for influence. They have given themselves to be a vessel for demonic spirits and evil spirits, and so by nature, the glory goes to them. Look at this man, he both that he was someone great. Even Jesus will try to silence people from talking about his greatness. But this which doctor boasted that he was someone great. This is why you have psychics that will charge you to talk to you about your destiny. This is another sign of false prophets. They will charge you for a prayer for healing, for deliverance, for things that are freely giving you. See Simon, I mean there's so much in this and God is just having me go in different directions because I believe you need to hear this. Simon boasted that he was someone great because the cost is him. And so it says, and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, this man is rightly called the great power of God. Look at this because the people saw power. Because the people saw, you know, excitement and all these things. They believed that his power came from God. And they followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his sorcery. Now check this out when it says that and they gave him their attention and exclaimed, this man is rightly called the great power of God. Simon did not deny. He was not honest to say, hey, y'all, I do sorcery. This is witchcraft. But because the people are looking at him, this is the great power of God. He has their attention. Look look at what the Bible says that all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention. He had their focus, and they said, this man is rightly called the great power of God. There are many people today that are doing all kinds of practices, and they have believed that God is in it. They're the ones saying God is in this thing. They're the ones proclaiming that God is in this And why are they saying that? Because it has their attention, it has their focus. You're hearing many people talk about the benefits of crystal or ayahuasca and terra cat readers and all these things, and it has your attention, not recognizing what it really is at its source, at its roots. That this is literally lead demonic practice, it says, And they followed him because he had amazed them for such a long time with his sorcery. Now, when you continue reading about his story, the end of Simon the Sorcerer literally is known as Simon the Sorcerer. The end of his life was nothing to be glad about because when the true power of God showed up and Simon was like, oh, I can't they're doing something I know I can't do because they're laying hands on people, and people are receiving the Holy Spirit and Simon, you see, Satan always reveals his nature no matter how much he tries to hide it. You know, people are receiving the Holy Spirit, the true prophets of God show up and Simon is trying to have a private conversation with one of them. He says, look, can I pay you so you can give me this power? Do you see what I'm saying? The person who pays is he is familiar with transaction. He doesn't belong to the Lord, because when you belong to the Lord, you know that you were paid for. But Simon, and you have to read the book that acts chapter eight, right, Simon goes to the true man of God right, and he says, can I pay you to receive this power? And they said to him, may your wealth perish with you, May your money perish with you? Because these are men, These are people that recognize you cannot buy the things of God because we were bought to freely give. So when you see that there has to be a transaction. You have to pay for that crystal, you have to pay for you know that experience. You have to pay that false profit so that you can have freedom or deliverance or you can walk in a deeper intimacy with God. This is witchcraft because the one who pays reveals a lot. How can I pay God when he bought me? How can I pay the one who paid for me. It's almost like someone is giving you a gift. Have you on your birthday? Right, have you ever got a gift and you said, oh my gosh, thank you so much. How much do I owe you? No, the person went to the mall. Matter of fact, they'll give you a gift receipt, you know, just in case you want to exchange it for something else. But you will never see what someone took their time to buy you something and you say, oh my gosh, how much do I owe you? No, that's the whole essence of a gift, right, But when people start trying to make it transactional, it reveals so much without saying anything at all. When someone tells me, oh, yeah, you know you want this breakthrough, This pastor or this prophet is charging this for it, or this psychic. If you pay this psychic this amount of money, they can tell you your future. This is witchcraft. This is purely witchcraft, because the enemy does not give you anything for free. The enemy, what does the Bible say that he has come to steal, to kill, and to destroy. He has not come to give. Right who gives is Jesus? He says, I have come to give you life and life more abundantly. Do you see the difference one comes to give the other comes to steal. Nothing in the enemy is free nothing, nothing is free. And so when you're making all these transactions because you're you're hungry for healing or deliverance, I feel you, but I want you to know that, man, your answer is not there, no matter whatever new trendy thing comes up, no matter how attractive. Can you listen to this about Simon the sorcer? This this, I can shake this off. It says they followed him. They followed him because he had amazed them for not a short time, a long time, a long time with his sorcery. Right now, what has amazed you for a long time? And it's witchcraft? What has kept they did your attention for such a long time because it looks like the great power of God, But it's not. You have to study the fruits of a thing. As long as it has amazed you, has it set you free. There was a reason why the very same people that had followed Simon could easily walk away. When the true people showed up, you would not see Peter. There was a moment when Peter, you know, I mean, yes, Peter denied Christ. But it was you know, during them some times of turbulence, you know, and he came right back. But someone like Peter, there was a time that Peter literally said, you know where am I gonna go? In? Your words are the way of life? Right? When you have encountered what is true, you're not so easy to jump shift. But you don't you know that yet, because you have not encountered what is true. So even when they were walking with when Peter and the disciples were walking with Jesus, even after Jesus had died on the cross, resurrected and all these beautiful things, I mean, they moved with a boldness. You could shake those people off rather than you trying to come against them. They showed you who the great power is right. And so look at this this. People had followed Simon for a long time. But then when the true power of God show up, they shift. Why did they shift because they were never free. It was always the illusion. They knew that what they had been looking for, they never found it. The freedom they needed, the deliverance they needed, the peace of mind that they needed, right, they never found. But they were so distracted by performance. They were so distracted. Look look at this. It says Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed them. This was entertainment. It was not transformation. It was not true healing. It was entertainment. He had amazed them, and they're like, Wow, this man is the great power of God. No, he was a witch, but he led them astray for a very long time, well not very but a long time with his sorcery, right, And I just want you to really like men. You know, sometimes you have to just come before the Lord in humility and say, God, if there's any area in my life that I have been deceived, open my eyes. Don't leave anything off the table. God, if there's any area in my life, if there's any area that I have been deceived because of what I was longing after. If there's any area that I've been deceived, open my eyes. If you're not ready to get to that point, then that thing is an idol in your heart. If you're not ready to say, God, show me. If there's an era that I've been deceived, then it is a stronghold in your life. But you have to be open. You know, something I love about the disciples Before you know Jesus the whole was, you know, arrested and all that stuff. When he was having you know, lunch with his disciples, and Judas was there before the betrayal, Jesus literally said, one of you will betray me? Right? Jesus says that, And I mean, first of all, Jesus is such an embodiment of love that even though he knew it was Judas, you could tell that he never treated Judas any different because the disciples had no clue who he was talking about. And not only did they not have a clue who he was talking about, the Bible talks about how they began to almost like search themselves like they they literally said, like people are like wondering, like Lord, like is it I What I love about that is the humility in that moment some of these people, I mean, they like Judas was the one who literally had the mindset to betray Christ. He had he he already had, you know, had it going on in his head right. The rest of them had no They were not even thinking anything close to that. But they had the humility to examine themselves like, wait, could it be me? Is there something in my heart that I don't know about? That is one of such a powerful moment to me. And so as believers, we have to say, wait, God, is there anything in my life that is betraying your call on my life? Is there anything I have opened up myself to that I have become distracted because of its excitement. I have become distracted because it has amazed me. Right, I'm amazed by this thing, but it's actually keeping me from you because when we do this, it's almost like we're saying Jesus is not enough, that Jesus, I need more and I get it. Man, there's sometimes you might be in a city or a place where you feel like, you know, it's hard to encounter the true power of God, and so you're just looking. You're in your desperation, you're searching. But could it be that that desperation could actually cause you to become the vessel for the thing you have been searching for? That maybe it's not just for searching for a person or for a thing or for a medium, but using all that energy to search for God and to search for Christ that let him speak right. You see in your walk with God it is such a a because he paid the price. Right, So it's such a death to self for his glory to be made known. I remember when, you know, I just I was in a place where I truly wanted more of God, right, I just I wasn't comfortable with how things were or what was happening, and I just I wanted to go deeper in God. I wanted more of God. And I remember seeking the Lord about this and the Lord literally says to me, meet me every day at five am. And I was like, okay, okay, you know, first few weeks it was very boring. I will not lie to you, and and they just felt like you know when you hear an instruction the like you want to meet the Lord And he says, meet me every day at five am in prayer. And I would wake up with excitement, you know, and I start opening the Bible and I'm bored, okay, and you know, you want to feel goosebumps, like who the presence of God is here? Nothing? And that felt nothing, And I'm just like who child? Day after day, week after week, I was waking up of being prayer. I was reading my word and I'm like, God, where are you? This is so boring? But I kept doing it because what I didn't realize is that in the process of that, it was actually purifying my intention. Right that because you don't know your heart, you have no clue what's in your heart. You have no clue why you ask the things you ask for. But God sees the heart and he weighs it in a balance, and so sometimes you're thinking that your answer is taken a while, but God is trying to get the request from a place of purity and not pride, not to boast, not any of that. And so I didn't realize that all those weeks of boredom that God was purifying my intention. Because if I'm eager for more of God, I should be eager to study his word. I should be eager to learn more about him. I should be eager to worship. But in the beginning I was doing it as you know what, Okay, God, I'm doing what you said where you're at, I'm doing what you said where you are. I want more. I want more. I want more. But did I really want more? Because if I really wanted more, it would have shown through my actions. But I was just waking up and all that was in my mind was the end goal. But you see, when you study about the Lord, He's about process, not just the end goal. He's about who you become in the process of what you're searching for. And so all of a sudden turn, it goes from me being bored. I'm telling you it would be that when I'm praying, I'm thinking about my to do list for the day, and then I'm like, oh, okay, well, you know, while I'm worshiping, I'll bring on a notepad and start writing my top five things to do for the day, start thinking about what's for what do I want to cook today? You know, because I was, I was just doing it as a like task oriented you know. Okay, Lord, I'm here. You know, worship is playing, so let me MULTITASKI while this is going on, because I am bored. But all of a sudden it evolved and I'm like, actually, I just want to study. I want to study the Book of Romans, right, I want to study the Book of Acts. I want to study you know, Ecclesiastics. I just want to study God. I just want to worship you. I started meditating on the goodness of God. I started meditating on the ways of God. And even before he answered me, my heart had more capacity to love Jesus in a deeper way, and it was in the process of that. This was months after never forget it. One day I woke up and I fell to my face because the presence of God the room was so strong. The best way I could describe it, and this is the only way that it makes sense to me, It felt like the throne room of God was in my room, because it was not. I've experienced moments where you feel the love of God and you're overwhelmed by the love of God, but it was the fear of the Lord that came upon me. There was a reverence for God that I could not describe that came upon me that I just fell to the floor and laid down and I was like, God, you came, and then he showed me. Oh, I was always there every single morning. I was always there. And so why am I sharing this with you? Because God is concerned about how you get to the thing you desire. He's concerned about the person you become in receiving it. He's concerned about your experience. You cannot there's no you know, the route to freedom is not bondage. So what you're looking for to set you free cannot put you in bondage at the same time, and many of us are so distracted by what we want that we silence the discernment of the spirit that is signaling red flags, red flax, red flags. I remember I literally met this lady who told me, She's like, I do tearor card, but I know it's bad. I said, Okay, you know, but you do because you're so distracted by the idea of the results it's given you that you continue even though you know. And so we have to be so honest with ourselves to come to the recognition and that many times the pursuit of our heart for the thing that we're at, the pursuit for the things that we're after, is connected to a heart that is not pure, that it's not connected to a place of purity. Right, there's some things that you just have to be patient. You cannot try to use the back door to get to the front of your life, right, You cannot try to find shortcuts to get to the place that God has purposed and set before you. And so maybe that very thing that feels like a thorn in your flesh, that very affliction, that very thing that you're just like God, I need you what if it is the thing that draws you to the truth feet of Jesus and there is an encounter that you have that not only do you receive your he your breakthrough, your deliverance, but you become a vessel, a trusted vessel that God can use to share his good news. I want you to check your life, all the things you have done, all the practices you have done, all the new agism, the places you have gone that have deceived you to pay for things that you should not be paying for. What has been the true outcome in your life? Do you have peace when you go to bed? What types of dreams are you having? Are you? Are you going to bed and you're waking up and you're always trying to rebuke something? Right? Well, what is the outcome? What is going on with your family, with your loved doing? You have to search? Am I actually getting free? Or am I in bondage? And outside of all of that, I want you to ask the Lord, is there anything that I've exposed myself to? Is there anything that I am following? Is there anything that has captured my amazement that is actually betraying the call of God on my life? I'm not just here to tell you. I'm here to also lead you to Jesus. I want you to ask the Lord for yourself that at the end of this that you spend time in prayer and ask the Lord those very questions. God opened my eyes. If there's anything, don't leave anything on the table, even including me. That's how serious I am about this. Don't leave anything off the table. God. Is there anything that I'm exposing myself to that is putting me in bondage? When you do that with a sincere heart, When you do that with a genuine heart and you're seeking after God and you start studying your word, I've learned that there is a great deal of spiritual deception that is connected to the lack of people studying the Word of God for themselves. Right study the Word, find out what is speaking to you, what it's showing you about who God is, so that you do not fall into deception and call it God. This people saw Simon the Sorcerer and they literally said, Wow, what a great power of God. It was not right. And so I'm excited for you, ma'am. I'm excited for what is on the other side of your journey. I'm excited for what God is going to do and and through your life. And I'm confident that just as God told me to do the series and I've been obedient to do it, I know that the Spirit of God will back this up right and you're going to see some really amazing things. But I want you to share this. If this blessed you, if this touched you in any way, I want you to share this with a loved one, share this with a friend. If you're not subscribed to the channel, subscribe so that way you can get notified as we are getting to close out the series and for more things to come. But love you all,