Stephanie Ike Okafor - Steps to Self-Deliverance

Hey, everyone, Welcome to the final part of the eight part series on the modernization of witchcraft. I'm Steph the Ako Kawfor and I am so excited. This has been such an amazing journey and I just want to encourage you to continue to send your testimonies and what God is doing in and through your life just from the impact of these teachings, Like literally some of the things I've been reading have just been mind blowing and just the evidence of the work of the Holy Spirit. So today we're going to wrap up with this conversation and teaching on self deliverance. We've gone through, you know, just so much from understanding witchcraft in the context of rebellion against God to the activity of demonic spirits, talking about the kingdom and culture and just so many things right, and it really brought to the surface. I remember so many some of the testimonies I've been reading, people started sharing with me how they never realized that what they were dealing with was actually a demonic spirit. And so if you are watching this, because you are, you do you believe that maybe what you're dealing with is you know, connected to like a demonic spirit, or maybe you are just curious about this teaching now you want to share with someone you know. First of all, I would encourage you if you've not watched the series, you have to watch it. But most importantly, you have to watch the series intro the activity of demonic spirits and is it temptation or a demon? Right, because sometimes we confuse what is natural to us and we think it is a you know, the works of a demonic spirit, but it might just be temptation. So if you watch these key teachers, I believe that it really will set you up to receive what we're going to discuss about today. So before we get into it, a few key things I want to as it relates to self deliverance. You know, First of all, we've talked about how demonic possession is not about a demon having ownership of you, right. That has been one of the key issues when it comes to Christians having this whole conversation about can a Christian have a demon? It's not about a demon having possession or ownership of you, but it's really more about a demon having influence or mastery over an area in your life. Right, in the same way that if you have a home and you know, maybe your home was is not secured enough, and someone breaks into that home. It doesn't mean that the thief is the owner of the home, but the thief has accessed your home, and in order for that thief to get out, you have to drive them out. Right. Another thing we talked about is just how many issues that people are facing and just wrong way of thinking. You know, sometimes people hold on or identify with this whole victim mentality or they're thinking is so toxic, right, and they don't know how to kind of like get out of that. You know, these are activities of demonic spirits. We talked about several ways that demons can gain access, right. One of them is familiar spirits, or you can refer to this as generational spirits. And this is when spirits are passed down through generations. And now, what does this look like or what does this mean? When you see a pattern in a family, Right, grandfather had this issue, father had this issue, the child is going through this issue. Addiction, you know, you see patterns of addiction, patterns of abuse, patterns of rape in a family, just different things that all of a sudden you realize, wait, great great grandfather, great grandmother, it started there, and it just kept getting passed down, passed down, passed down. Wherever there is a pattern, there's a site, and cycles are empowered by a spiritual transaction. It's not random, right, It's not just something that is like, ooh, what a coincidence, because you will be surprised that the very thing that you're dealing with, the moment you opened up to someone in the family, they're like, oh, that happened to me too, and that happened to our mom, and that happened to this person. Right. So when a cycle is established, it means that there is something that keeps spinning the wheel, and that is the result of a spiritual transaction. Sometimes, unfortunately, we are casualties to the sins of those before us. You know. Exitus twenty five talks about how children being punished because of the sins of the fathers, and it's not the you know. One of the challenges with scriptures like this is that we're like, but wait, like, you know, I'm under the blood, Like how could this be happening. It's not that God, God, you know, is like executing judgment on the children because of the sins of the fathers. It's the language of spiritual realities that somebody has to shut that door. When you notice a pattern in your family, someone has to rise up in prayer and say it ends with me and not be a casualty to a covenant that you had no clue about that came long before you. Right. And so when you watch the series, we've talked about this. We also talked about consistency and sin. Right. You know, sometimes when you're indulging in sin, you start off and you're just like, oh, I got this, and you think you're in control. But that's also pride because you feel like, oh, yeah, I love Jesus, but I could just struggle in this area. And when you are consistent in that thing, that you attract the spiritual component behind it, right, And so that's how demon could also have access. We talked about trauma experience as children. One of the reasons why Satan loves to find a way to attack us as children is that we have no security. We have no spiritual security. We are not evolved emotionally, right, and so when we experience trauma to whatever degree, there is no way we don't know how to process that. So we are left with confusion of emotion. So fear, anger, been in a shame, guilt, and these things open doors. When you're older, you're more equipped to know how to process your emotions. You're more equipped to know how to you know, maybe you see a therapist and different things like that. But for children, there's no security in that, and so that already opens the door. And that's why we shared that it's so important to all parents have conversation with your kids. Don't just think that they're safe and they're doing their things. No, talk to them. Explain to them things that are good behavior, bad behavior, things that should be alarming, you know, ask them how is their day going, help them process their emotions right, because trauma experience as children could open the door. We talked about unforgiveness, right because the spirit of God is the spirit of love. And so the moment there's an area in your life that you have made an agreement to hate, that is an area that automatically you are saying is not submitted to God, and that opens the door. Right then idolatry, you know, the whole practices, new Age practices, saging crystals, all those things. And I remember getting a question in the teaching about is Jesus enough, and someone had asked, like, you know, is it bad if I have a crystal just because I like it? There's nothing wrong with crystals by itself. There's nothing wrong with sage by itself. When you cook with it, I mean you can make a real meal. Okay. The issue is idolatry when an object you put power in, an object for spiritual purposes that is void of Jesus, that is void of the power of the Holy Spirit. And how do you know this? Can you do without it? Without that object? Do you believe that the same spiritual possibilities or the same spiritual realities are possible if you got rid of your sage? Do you believe that just by prayer that your home could be cleansed? Right, that if there's anything going on in your home, that by prayer that you'll be good if you got rid of that crystal? Do you believe that whatever God has you know, purposed or promised in your life will come at its appointed time? This is for everything, even for what is accept but within Christian community, right the anoints in oil. If I got rid of that anointing oil, do I believe that when I pray over myself that I am covered. Right, So wherever there's idolatry, you don't want to open up idolatry into practices. Right that you need this object or this item in order to step into some type of spiritual possibility outside of the power and the nature of Jesus Christ. That is when it becomes a problem. Right. So going deeper into self deliverance, you know another thing is is self deliverance biblical? Right now? And I'm setting the foundation here so that when we really go into the steps for self deliverance, you would be confident and equipped to know that this is possible right where you are. Right. So in Luke ten, from verse nineteen to twenty, we learn about how Jesus gave his disciples authority right over the powers of the enemy. So his disciples had authority to cast out demonic spirits. And so for many people there is this general concept that deliverance is about one person who moves in the authority of Christ that is able to cast out the demonic spirit from somebody else. Right, and all of that, I mean, we see Jesus doing that, we see his disciples doing that. Do we see any biblical example of self deliverance? No, not really. But here is what we do see, right, we learn about how the Holy Spirit did on usual miracles through the life of the apostle Paul. I want to read to your scripture in Acts nineteen, from verse eleven to twelve. The scripture tells us, now God worked on usual miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them. Now this was unusual, right, because we had never seen it this way. We had never seen that without any engagement, any interaction, you know, of someone telling command in the demonic spirit to come out, that the evil spirits left. These were handkerchiefs and aprons. But here's the beauty of it, because what took place as twofold. On one hand, we see the Holy Spirit doing unusual things, but also think about the people who brought whatever they had in their home, handkerchiefs, aprons. These were people that were marked by hunger and desperation. It gives us this picture that Paul, you know, perhaps there were so many people in that moment seeking Paul for healing, for deliverance, for maybe a word, whatever the case might be. And these were people. This reminds me of the woman with the issue of blood. Right, Jesus is surrounded by a crowd. She's not even like, Look, I don't even know if I might get a one on one moment, but I believe that just by touching the hem of his garment, I will be made whole. And the moment she did, power left Jesus because the power responded to her faith. And this is what we're seeing happening with Paul because these people were hungry and desperate for deliverance. Some of them were hungry and desperate to see their loved ones set free that they said, look, we might not get a one on one with Paul, but we are going to grab what we have in our home, and we are believing that if it touches his body, that God will use it and set people free. So it was the Holy Spirit doing unusual things through Paul. But it was also unusual hunger and desperation and faith that activated this beautiful testimonies that were able to read today. So yes, you know, you might say, so is it biblical? And I will tell you it is because it's not about looking for the example of self deliverance is looking for what releases power, hunger and desperation. Wherever you are, God can meet you there. If you're hungry and you are desperate for the power of God to move in your life, and you have faith for it, you in your home can literally walk through self deliverance. And this has been the common thread with a lot of testimonies that I can verify firsthand of people that literally underwent self deliverance because they were hungry for it. They were desperate for their freedom, and God's power met them right there. So in the case of Paul, we see the use of handkerchiefs, we see the use of aprons. But in this moment right where you are, what we are going to utilize is the teachings of the Lord. We're going to utilize the word of God that you're going to take the word of God and you're going to apply that to your life and you're going to believe in it for your freedom. Right look at Ephesians four eight. It says when he ascended on high, this is talking about Jesus. He led captivity captive and gave gifts to men. You see, this gives us this picture that when Jesus was on the cross right, the enemy did not even know. The enemy thought that he was put in Jesus on the cross. No, Jesus was bringing captivity on the cross. He led captivity captive, so as he was ascending. Literally, it is showing us. You know, Jesus dies, he resurrects all this beautiful stuff, but it is showing us the image of victory. That everything that was supposed to keep you bound, everything that literally could even have the rights, could even have the legal rights to keep you bound. Jesus said, he took captivity captive. This is the promise of God. These are the scriptures, these are the words that we build on. Lord, you took captivity captive. So I don't have to be bound as I come out of agreement with whatever has kept me in this position. I don't have to live like this. This is our hope, this is our confidence. Right. And another thing that is so pivotal is to rect recognized the power in the name of Jesus. You know, one of the things that is so critical about self deliverance that we must understand is in whose name we are asking, whose name we are commanding demons to leave. Now, I'm so fast. I'm always fascinated by everything Jesus did when he walked the earth. Right, and when you study the miracles of Jesus, with the exception of one category, and every thing he did to some degree, prophets of Oh did it. This is why they confused him as a prophet, right, because when you think about it, Jesus raised the dead, the prophet Elijah. We see how God also through him, raised the dead. Jesus walked on water, Moses parted the ocean, right, Moses parted the Red sea, all of which is you know, by the workings of the Holy Spirit. You know, Jesus turned Walter her into wine child, Moses turned water into blood. So we see this. You know, this kind of like a pattern of they kind of moved and things that were very similar. Right, Jesus will feed five thousand plus people. Elijah, when you study about Elijah and the widow, you know, supernatural resources, right, she was supernaturally taken care of. So we see that there were a lot of similarities in what Jesus did that Prophets of old did that. Prophets we read about in the Old Testament did as well. But there is one category of miracles and signs and wonders that never happened, and that was deliverance. There was no there was no talks, there was no sign, there was no authority to cast out demonic spirits until Jesus showed up on this saying. You see many times we talk about David, right when David will play his musical instrument and the Bible will say, and the evil spirit left Saul. But when you study it, it came back. It only gave Saul relief. It wasn't cast out of salt. It's just that That's why he kept David there, because anytime David played, he would have relief. But then the spirit came back because there was no other name, and there was no other authority that could cast out evil spirits except the authority in the Lord Jesus. That's why he would always talk about the kingdom is here. The kingdom has come. The authority of the Kingdom is now being established. Right, And so we see, and that's why Jesus could give could tell his disciples, I have given you authority over the powers of the enemy. We have to recognize that when you call on the name of Jesus. We have to get back to the place of reverence for his name, that you're not just calling a name, you're calling the office. You're calling the person, the presence of the king. Right, the Bible tells us that he has a name that is far is above every other name. There is no authority that can be compared to the authority of Jesus. And so when you're calling on his name, you're not begging. We don't beg demonic spirits, we don't inquire of them, we're not petitioning with them. We command them. Right. That's why you would notice even in Jesus, there in different scenarios how he approached It was very different when Jesus was calling Lazarus out of the tomb, for example. You know he starts off by saying, Father, I know that you hear me, right, He's like, given thanks, and then he tells Lazarus come forth. But when Jesus is dealing with demonic spirits, he is it's a command. It's not even we're not negotiating. He's not asking the Father if you are willing set this person free. No, this is the language of authority, right, because there are other scenarios where he's like father, you know, we give you things and then he breaks bread. Father this Father that right. But in this case, there is no petition. It is a command. And so I want you to take on that posture that when we go into the steps of self deliverance and we talk about commanding the spirits to come out, I'm not asking you to pray. I'm not asking you the petition God, please set me free. No, no, no, no, no prayer. You see prayer. You have to understand there's a language of prayer depending on what you're targeting. Right, this is not about asking the Lord to please sets you free, because His authority is what sets you free, and you have the rights to that authority as a child of God. Right, this is not a time to cry and say God, please have mercy on me. No, no, no, no, it's a language of authority. You have to know that this is not about you. Where we cry and where we say God, have mercy and forgive me is when we recognize our own sin, we recognize where we need to repent, and we're gonna go we're gonna talk about that. But when it comes to releasing yourself from agreements, from demonic covenants and demonic agreements. This is not a time of negotiation. This is not a time of you know, weeping. No, this is a time of authority, because this is when you are calling on the office of Christ Jesus to step into the moment, to step into the situation, and you are commanding that evil spirit to leave. Someone does not break in your house and you start begging them, right, they don't break in your house, and you do you ever call the cops and you're like, please, if you could just get them out of this house. No, you call with authority. There is an intruder in my home. Right, So you have to exercise that. You have to know the name of Jesus is a name of authority. The office of Jesus sets you free. So when we get to that portion, I just want to lay that foundation because you have to recognize there are different levels of prayer. There is prayer as a conversation, There is prayer as a petition, There is prayer as thanksgiving, But there is also prayer as a decree. That you are making certain decrees, you're making declarations, and you are commanding things because of the authority in whose name you do it. So let's talk about steps to self deliverance. Right. One of the teachers who I love so much as it relates to deliverance is this teacher named Vlad And I'm actually gonna put his YouTube channel in the description because I just believe that he is someone the way God is working through him and flows through him, I believe he's someone that many people should be exposed to. And so even when we talk about the steps to self deliverance, some of this was actually inspired by his teachings because I just love the way he broke things down. And you know what I love so much about the Body of Christ is that we are one. We are all after the same mission. We're all after glorifying Christ. And so I want you guys to get exposed to this, this incredible teacher. But in Steps to self Deliverance, there are seven key things that I've highlighted today, and number one is you have to recognize the demonic problem. You see, pride and freedom don't go hand in hand. If there you have to first acknowledge first of all, this is the one self delivery your home, you buy yourself right, There's no one around you to judge or anything like that. But you have to recognize the problem. It doesn't make you any less than it just means that there was a there was an opening in your life and a spirit got in. And sometimes it could be a spirit. We've talked about this, even in the activity of demons. Sometimes you are so one with that spirit that you confuse it as your personality and as how you think and how you move. Because it came in your life when you were a child, so you have been one with it for years. But as and this series is bringing conviction, as the Holy Spirit is revealing to you what was never you, As he's showing you the things that had no connection to who God truly called you to be, you also have to recognize this is a demonic problem. This is not my personality. This is not my depression, This is not my anxiety. We live in a culture right now that personalizes issues. They call it my my depression. No, well, who know, if it's your depression, how are you supposed to how are you gonna separate yourself from it? If it's your anxiety, you've already labeled yourself as someone who would always have anxiety. That is not the word of God. The Word of God talks about you having a peace that goes beyond all understanding. Anxiety and peace or they don't go hand in hand. Right, So it's coming to the place of wow, I've been deceived for a long time, right, and here's the beauty. James for Six says this, God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. When you can acknowledge God, I've been deceived. Lord, I've accepted how culture defines things and not how your word defines it. You see, sometimes when we just want to live in rebellion to the word of God, then we make it that this is just who I am. That becomes the stamp of well, it's just what it is. But you know the problem with that is, first of all, it doesn't even make room for true intimacy with God because it's like you're telling the Lord you made a mistake on this one. There's a mystery I need to understand. There's no mystery. It was an activity of a demonic spirit to make you believe that you are not who God says you are, right, and there's no shame in that. But if you have humility to say God, I need help, right, God, this, I want to know who you really called me to be. The beauty of deliverance is that it gets the beauty of you to come forth, shee. Deliverance is about freedom. Sometimes deliverance the word sounds, you know, it seems so like ooh, deliverance, you know, But it's really about freedom. It's about the real you being set free to shine, to come forth. Many of us have not even met you. Your loved ones have not really met you because they're waiting for you to be set free from that cage, from that bondage. Right. So number one, recognize the demonic problem. Number two repent. Now, when I talk about repent, first of all, repent from known sense. If there was a door that you opened from your own ignorance, from your pride, there was something you started indulging in and then all of a sudden you could not stop it. Right, there are things that you got yourself caught up in, you know, when you're dealing with spirits of addiction, spirits of lust, you know, spirit of anger and things like that. There are actions that you have engaged with and you have to make the commitment in your heart to say, God, I am walking away from this type of lifestyle. I am walking away because repentance it's really about turning. It's turning away from what has kept you bound to turn into Jesus. And this takes like, this takes authenticity. It has to come from the depths of you. Because sometimes we get confused with the idea that we like our bondage. But when you recognize that this thing is actually keeping me bound, then you start by making the commitment in your heart. God, I'm turning the other way. I'm not going to make excuses for this that Lord, because you see, we start off by God gives grace to the humble. What is grace empowerment? Divine empowerment when we acknowledge God, I don't know what doors may have been opened. Maybe they were open knowingly or knowingly. But God, I'm coming before you. I recognize that there is a problem here. I recognize that there is a demonic influence over this area of my life. And I'm gonna start with my agreement. I no longer agree with the ways that it has led me into. I'm gonna repent. I'm gonna turn the other way. And in repentance there is removal. Right because sometimes when you know, in the activity of demons, it likes. It's about environment. Demons like to create an environment that sustains them. So, if you're dealing with the spirit of lust, right, there are things in your environment that sustains the spirit of lust. Their friendships you have, their relationships you have that sustains that spirit. You're dealing with the spirit of addiction. Their habits you have that sustains it. That like clockwise eight am, you already know what you're about to do. It's in your house. But when you recognize no, no, no, this is a problem. Don't keep alcohol in the home and says for guests, no, they can drink water. You can get them some apple juice. So anything in your home or in your life that was sustaining the presence of that demonic spirit, remove it. If there are objects in your home, right, maybe connected to New Age practices, remove it because you're, first of all, you're coming out of something that has kept you for so long. Do you ever see someone who comes out of jail and it's sentimental about prison clothes. No, right, you don't see someone like man. I wish I could keep that shoelace. No, everything that reminds them of prison. They want nothing to do with it. So remove, And I'm talking about people that want to be set free right, people that are like, look, I want to change my life. I want to go after I don't want this lifestyle. I'm not not repeat the offenders. People that are like, look, I have been through this and I don't want to come back. They're not sentimental about anything jail, and so the things that are reminders of that bondage remove it. Number three is to renounce. So when we talk about repentance, we can repent from known since renouncing you also renounce from things known. So I'm gonna read Second Corinthians four two. It says we have renounced secret and shameful ways. I love that so much because shame in itself is a cage when there is shame connected. And it's so crazy how this happens, because we will carry shame about something someone else did to us, not even just the things that we did, what somebody else did, we will carry the shame for it. Can you imagine that? And so to renounce is to come out of agreement with whatever the things you did, the things that were done to you. I am not that person. I am no longer that victim. I am no longer the person who opened this door if you opened the door to witchcraft. You know, we talked about the you know, African spirituality. I had many people reach out to me about saying, I'm walking away from this. I was deceived and I thought that serving the gods that my ancestors served will bring me closer, and they realized, no, this this is witchcraft. And so I'm renouncing from things I know. I'm renouncing from secret ways, things I hid from people that I was involved in for such a long time. But you're literally in your in your home right where you are that you would pray and you say God, I renounce and mention each and every of those things, confessing your sins onto God right. And I would even add another layer because even though this is self deliverance, the freedom connected to renouncing is to also share those things with someone trusted in your life, because shame keeps us silent. So it's not just renouncing it before God. So a loved one share those things that you renounced before God with right, and then also renouncing unknown things because sometimes, just like I said earlier, we can become a casualty of things we had no clue of. During this teaching series, I talked about how there was a time that the Lord literally woke me up in the middle of the night and began to tell me to commit my family name before the Lord. And I was so confused by that I said commit my family name. I was like, Lord, I'm a believer. We are all believers. You know what's going on here. But he showed me because from my father's side there was a lot of witchcraft, right, There was a lot of weird demonic covenants going on, you know, in that lineage, and so we were coming out of agreement with things we don't even know. There are things that they're encounters I had from the demonic side with things I had no knowledge of. But these were things that were in my bloodline, and so they felt like, oh, this is familiars. That's what we call it familiar spirits because they were familiar to my generation and they're trying to have access in my life. So when the Lord woke me up and say, now renounce and commit your family name to the Lord, and I prayed as the Lord lent me so you can renounce even in your prayer, just say, Lord, Lord, I renounce the following things that you know, the secret things and the shameful things that you've been trying to keep hidden. And then also say Lord, and any demonic covenant that I, by you know, by the means of my lineage have been a part of, I renounce my bloodline from it in the name of Jesus. Right, So we renounce. Number four is that we release ourselves. What do I mean? This is when we talk about commanding, we release ourselves from the function and activity of those demons. Right in this moment, before you even go into this step, I would encourage you to take a moment in prayer and say, Holy Spirit, whatever function and activity that I have been operating under that is not of you, reveal it to me, and you will start and the Holy Spirit will bring things to mind pride control. Right, it could be things that has to do with your sexual identity. Right, whatever it is, then you bring it up before the Lord. Because we focus on the activity of the spirit. That's why if you've ever been, you know, exposed to where deliverance is happening, they will call it by you spirit of pride, you spirit of death. If you're If you're dealing with suicidal thoughts, then you call it by the function, because what that spirit wants to do is to kill you. So then you say, you know what, you spirit of death, I release myself from you. I command you to get out. And this is where we pray from that place of authority, and we call out every function. Don't just say I'm you know, I'm just stressed and I am dealing with the you know, just suicidal thoughts that didn't come from you, that did not come from you, that came that is a because you see something I want to share with you. I need to find this scripture. You have to understand that spiritual warfare also operates in the realm of your thoughts. The realm of your thoughts is one of the key places for spiritual warfare. And that is why you know Romans not even before we go to that second Corinthians ten five says casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Your thoughts are spiritual things. So you can just think that, no, I'm just dealing you know with I am dealing with you know, societal thoughts. No, you're not dealing with it. It was planted, there was a seat, son, because God did not create you to be divided within yourself. That didn't come from God, and that is not coming from you. And so you release yourself from agreement with the activity and the function of that spirit. You recognize this is a spirit, this is a demonic spirit that is after my life. And then you begin to pray over yourself and command it. This is how we resist the enemy. You can't just let everything be yours. No, no, no, no, no, right. And so as you pray, first of all, pray to the Holy pray to the Lord, asking the Lord for the Holy Spirit to reveal to you, what are the functions and activities in my life that did not come from you? What are things that are actually the activities of demonic spirits? And you call that spirit by its function, right, and you cast it out, You command it to leave you. Now. Sometimes you might feel like yawning, throwing up, spitting, you know, your body might you might start, you know, shaking in your body. It's I love. My pastor says, this a reorientation, right, that spirit, you you feel that way because literally that spirit has been such a part of you that when it's leaving, you know even there are signs in your body that's reorienting you to your true self. And there are times that you may not feel any of that. Sometimes you might just feel like using the restroom because there's something that just needs to be released from you. Right, so we will settled that, you know, releasing yourself from the function of the activity, and that has to do with commanding number five is to replace what the Lord delivered you from. This is how you set boundaries. Right. You have to be diligent when if someone broke into your house because they knew the cold to your home, you will change the colde If you don't change the cold, then you should expect another break in. Right. Check out what happened with Jesus and Satan. In look four thirteen. It says when the devil had finished all his tempting, this is when you know Satan had tempted You know Jesus. After Jesus was in the wilderness fastest for forty days. This is Jesus right when the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time. This is Jesus what more of us? The enemy is always looking for an opportune time, and so you have to replace what the Lord has delivered you from. And what do I mean by this? Now this might not apply to in you know, to all scenarios, right, but what I mean by this is, if you have a habit, maybe you know every day at eight am, there was something you were doing that was connected to the activity of a demonic spirit, or maybe you were dealing with the spirit of lust. And so every weekend you and your girls or your boys, you already knew where you're gonna go and things like that. Replace that, right, get connected, whether it's to a church, get connected to get a hobby, you know, get involved in some sports, do something else that replaces it that you don't get idoling those moments, because the enemy will definitely try to come back. He would look for an opportune time to see when you are vulnerable, to see if he can get you back into that cage. Right. And so even in prayer, this is now you coming before the Lord in prayer for wisdom and strategy. Lord, this was something I dealt with. Show me how to replace this activity with something else, Right, so that's and then you know, we'll go on to number six. Renew in your mind. And sometimes replacing the activity is connected to the renewal of your mind because why you indulged in it? Maybe, you know, for in cases where the demon, what opened the door for the demon was activities you were already indulging in and then all of a sudden you lost control and the spirit took over. And now you couldn't stop what you felt like. You could start and stop whenever you like. But where did that mentality come from from? How you think? There was something about your thought pattern that made it okay. There was something about your your thought pattern that made you believe this is not harming anyone. I could live like this. I could do this as long as it's in the dark, right, as long as I keep this hidden. There was something about how you are thinking that before the presence of a demonic spirit that came in agreement with the ways of the enemy. So you have to renew your mind. And how do we do this? Romans twelve two says, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the good? What is that good? An acceptable and perfect will of God. We do this by feeding on the word, that we become lovers of the word. We meditate on the word. You see. For example, one of the most imbalanced teachings that I think I have been exposed to is this is this whole concept and it's true, But it's not balanced that Jesus loves the sinner but hates the sin. Is that true? Yes? Why do I say it's not balanced? Because when we only fixate on Jesus loves the sinner but hates the sin, then we believe, well, even though he hates the sin, I'm the sinner he loves, so I could keep sinning. But here's the crazy thing about that. It's not balanced because it would always keep your possibilities in God small. There's no room for growth. There's certain things that a child would do. We may not like what they're doing. We love the child, but we're like, okay, it's a child, all right. Cool. If the child keeps spilling stuff on the floor, it's a child, right. My nephew, there was a time that he loved to draw, you know, on the walls. Kids love to do all the things they're not supposed to do. And my brother was just he loved it because he would even lift him up and to draw on walls that he did not he couldn't reach, you know, on parts of the walls he couldn't reach. Because my brother recognized he's a child, He's gonna grow out of this phase. And when he does, we'll paint over it. Right, But what does that do? It keeps him, It keeps his perspective of him as a child. If twenty years later, my nephew is still acting like a child, which he would not, right, what does even though time has passed, even though he looks older, But the perspective would be, you are still a child. There are only so much I can entrust in your hands. This is where the deception is because we just think that as long as Jesus love, you are loved for a purpose. You are not loved to just stay the same. You are loved so that the fullness of who you are can come forth. So this is one of the things. And I'm sharing this because I've heard this so many times as the excuse for sin, as the excuse for bad behavior. And I'm not talking I'm talking about people willful sin, things that they are willingly participating in because they're like, look, you know, Jesus loves me no matter what I'm like. He does. But this will keep you small. There is only so much that God will be able to entrust into your hands, and that's what the enemy wants. The enemy w never want you to realize the fullness of your destiny, the fullness of your potential, the fullness of your calling in God. And so he gives you this understanding. Enough, It's okay if you keep messing up because loves the sinner, But what does that do for you and the version of you that God has called? What can God in trust to that person? It keeps you small? Right, So we have to renew our minds. We have to renew how we think. You can just believe that because your ways are not pleasing to God and it still looks like everything is working for you, that you are in God's good graces. God is so merciful. He is so merciful that he can allow things to continue and his presence is not even there. He is so merciful that he chose another king. Literally, God rejected the king Saul, chose King David but Saul was still ruling in power. From the outside world, you would think God is with Saul because Saul is still kink. So never confuse what looks. You know, sometimes what you think is fruit, it might be fruit to you, but it actually might be what the enemy is calling his harvest because he's waiting for it to grow so that he can actually come and collect and steal from it. So you want to always know that you are connected to the source. Outside of being connected to the source, there's no life there. So you got to renew your mind. Right. And this is how we resist the devil. When Sayan tempted Jesus in the wilderness the way Jesus. If you study the words of Jesus, he talked about the word. This is what the word says. You resist the enemy when you are equipped in revelation of God's word right. And lastly, get rooted in the house of God. In the house of God, there's community, there's accountability, there's vulnerability. If as long as you're willing to be open, get rooted, get plugged into a church home. You are not called to do life by yourself. Do you know when a lion wants to attack he's not looking for prey that is in the midst of many. He tries to isolate the prey and then he attacks. That's when he gets you know that. That's like you know, he's locked in. He's gonna get that prey right. So don't isolate yourself. You may have church hurt, you may have experienced things in your past, but they're not the representation of Christ. Find a church home and get plugged in. Look at what the Bible says about community Proverbs twenty seven seventeen. As I sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. Do you have iron sharpening you or do you have wood? Right? Who is around you? You see? One of the hardest things when you're coming out of a false life to who God has truly called you to be, is that there's some relationships that can move forward with you because those relationships were actually connected to your life to sustain the presence of demonic activities. There's some relationships that can go forward with you. You have to know where you are. If you're vulnerable to certain things, you cannot keep those the same people around you. Who is around you? Do you have iron around you to sharpen the iron in you. This is why you need community. Right. Look at Ecclesiastis four, from verse nine to ten. It says two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him, and him is just all of us male female, right. Woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up. You don't want to be alone, and you don't want to think too highly of yourself that the enemy will not try you again. He will try again. He tried with Jesus, but Jesus literally is like, look the sayan comes and he found nothing in me. What was Jesus saying? There is no strings in me to pull? And even Jesus, being Jesus, had he hadn't in a circle of three. He had community around him, being Jesus right, And sometime that in a circle like Peter, he even had to rebuke. But he had an inner circle, right. And so you got to get plugged in, get people that you can be accountable to and accountable with people that you can be vulnerable to open up about the things. Look, we're not here, we're not on earth. You know to walk in perfection. We are walking out perfection by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. But it's not a finish line. We are after something when we're empowered by God or we need community. You're human. The presence of this flesh means that there are things that you're gonna have, you're gonna be tempted by. Well, you need community, right, and so get rooted, get plugged into the House of God. I want to pray with you, and I'm excited, and again I encourage you share the testimony, share what God does in your life as a result of this. Right, there's been I know there's been almost like I would even call it warfare. I think it was all intentional to get to this point of releasing this video. But it was all intentional because it's also me recognizing the weight of what I have to give in prayer for you. Right, So let us pray Heavenly Father. I just thank you so much Lord, for everyone your sons and daughters on the other side of this. I thank you, Lord Jesus that just as you know, handkerchiefs and aprons were used to even cause demonic spirits to come out of your people, that the teaching of your word as it is applied though God, that they would be set free. I thank you, Heavenly Father, that they will know their authority in you, that every shame is broken off in the name of Jesus, that they would know. It's just a sense this so strong that one of the greatest bondages that many people are struggling with is the cage of shame, and that has invited so many other things into your life. But when you break out of that cage, for many, I just see this so clearly, shame has been the chief demon. And I'm seeing this image. You know, in movies when there is war happening, you're not just after the foot soldiers. If the king is killed, everyone else surrenders the moment, and I'm seeing this. It's literally the image of a person holding the head like holding a head that has been caught off, and everyone else in his army bows down in surrender. And for so many, Shame has been that king that has ruled over your life, that has kept you bound and invited in so many other demonic spirits to express themselves through your life. And Heavenly Father, I pray that right now that you will begin to set your sons and daughters free, because shame does not come from you. You don't look at us. You never look at us from a perspective of shame. Even when Adam and Eve were hiding because they were afraid and they felt shame, you were the one Lord that helped them to use fig trees because you met them where they were. Heavenly Father, I thank you that your children will know that they are loved by you, and they're loved by you for a reason. They're loved by you so that they may come forth. They are loved by you because you know the real version of who they are, and we are calling that version to come forth. That they are being set free, O God, from every bondage, every lie, every deception of the enemy, every stronghold of the enemy, fortified thoughts and arguments, things that they have believed to just be their way of thinking because it has been there for so long. Heavenly Father, I pray that you would begin to tear it down and by the authority of the Lord Jesus, set them free. Lord, as they apply these teachings, Oh God, that a new version, not even new, the true version of who they are, would emerge, and so we thank you Lord Jesus. We thank you that holy spirit you are going to glorify Jesus in each and every one of their lives. In Jesus' name. Amen. I just want to encourage you. I felt this so heavy, just praying right now concerning shame. If there's something that has that literally kept you bound for so long, reach out to someone and share that with them. Show the enemy that he will not have you silent one day longer, one minute longer. Literally, for so many of you, the chief demon has been shame, and when that has dealt with everything else, it will be so easy for that to be cast out. But when you're trying to cover up and cover up and cover up, there's some of you right now you're listening to this. Shame was what introduced the spirit of pride. Shame introduced the spirit of addiction. Shame introduced the spirit of sexual immorality. Because these were the things that you were using as layers to numb yourself. But if you deal with that spirit, everything else will not be an issue in your life. And that right there, I don't know if you guys heard the honk. I think that was just like bam, the seal on it right. But I love you guys. You know, if you're new to this channel and subscribe, you know, get plugged in, connected me on social media. I'll have like my social media handles in the description. But I love you all and excited for you know what else we're gonna do on this channel