Have you ever driven a car that needed a front end alignment? Somehow one front tire was no longer parallel to the other.  Tires usually get out of alignment by hitting curbs,  dropping into potholes, or experiencing a fender bender.  As you drive the front end begins to vibrate (sometimes intensely), the tires wear out quickly, and even breaking can be affected.  If it is severe enough, the car is practically undriveable. When you start to feel the front end shutter, it’s time to go to an alignment shop where they will make adjustments or replace parts so your front wheels are perfectly parallel again and going in the same direction.

As believers, we need to check our own spiritual alignment, from time to time, to see if we are going in the same direction as Jesus.  Misalignment with Jesus can wear us out and damage us.  Those places in our lives that are not parallel with Jesus, give Satan an opening in our lives to afflict and oppress. Sometimes when we have gone through a stretch of rough road in our lives or have hit a few speed bumps hard, our alignment can drift.  Let me suggest a couple of things we need to inspect to make sure we are still on track.

For most of us, our alignment begins to suffer in areas that are not what we think of as overt sins…adultery, pornography, excessive drinking, drug addiction, embezzlement, abuse, etc.  To be sure, faithful Christians can fall into the snare of the devil and find themselves in these deep weeds of sin wondering how they got there. If we were to examine ourselves we would quickly identify those areas as something that needed repentance and immediate realignment. The people in our lives who cared about us would also point those things out for our benefit.

In many cases, however, Satan prefers to be more subtle.  We just finished a Freedom Weekend where fifty or so people spent an entire afternoon getting free from demonic oppression of one form or another.  Some had entered in through trauma or seasons of sin in their lives.  They were very aware of the oppression that had been coming from those spirits. But others had been oppressed and afflicted for decades and had come to assume that their struggle was just the fabric of life about which nothing could be done…years of anxiety, depression, people pleasing, self-loathing, and so forth. So often we need to look at the not-so-apparent sin to see where we are out of alignment and where the enemy has established a subtle stronghold in our lives.

To begin, the great sin of Israel that God rebuked over and over was idolatry.  That is easy to identify if we are bowing down before graven images and going up to the temples of false Gods to offer sacrifices. But in America, our gods  – the things we put before the God of Heaven – are more difficult to identify because they are an accepted part of our culture.  An idol is anything that we give a greater priority to than God.  It is an alternate source of idenitfy, security, provision, and protection that we go to rather than looking to Jesus.

Many of these idols are even good things when kept in perspective.  We all need a job to provide for our families and to help others in need.  But how many have placed careers ahead of Jesus, ahead of spiritual family, and even our biological family.   No one seems concerned when we can’t worship together or serve in the kingdom because we have to work. Sometimes, we have no choice, but more often we choose it by choosing the career and we choose the career because we want more money, a bigger house, a boat, a fully decked out pickup, and everything our children want that we didn’t have. Our career and our possessions become our identity – our source of significance rather than God.

Nothing is wrong with any of those things by themselves, but when they take priority over God and the Bride of Christ (his church) month after month, they have become “acceptable idols.”  And yet, we always feel justified in our choice to put Jesus after our career, after our recreation, after our children’s activities, and so forth because the good people in our culture approve.  Yet Jesus was very clear that if we don’t put him above everything else in this life, we cannot be his disciple.  A good look at our time, our expenditures, and our involvements might reveal an idolatry we don’t really want to acknowledge.

A second area in which the enemy thrives is in our words. Remember Jesus said that on the Day of Judgment, we will have to give account for every careless word we have spoken. When we come into agreement with Satan through angry, cynical, unbelieving, and judgmental words, we open the door for him.  Ephesians 4:29 counsels us to let no unwholesome talk come out of our mouths but only words that are good for building others up.  We often justify our negative talk and judgments we place on others by assuming they deserve what we said. However,  there are no “unless they deserve it” clauses in God’s command to bless and not curse even our enemies. Gossip, constant criticism, angry outbursts, constant criticism, judgmental statements, etc. also constitute open doors.

Another open door I have become sensitive to lately is the door of non-submission. Scripture clearly commands that we are to be submitted to Jesus, to leaders, children to parents, wives to husbands, employee to employers, etc.  And yet, how many of us are unsubmitted…especially, in our hearts.  The core of Satan’s fall was rebellion…a refusal to submit.  When we rebel against God’s order of authority, we rebel against him.  Certainly, when we come into agreement with the devil on this matter, we provide a legal right for him to attack us.

Finally, I think another open door that few of us consider is a low level of holiness in our lives. On several occasions, scripture calls us to be holy even as He is holy.  We are commanded to avoid the unclean things in the world around us.  But certainly, many of us  compromise holiness with the things we watch, read, listen to, sometimes the people we spend time with, and the environments we frequent.  Remember Paul’s admonition, “Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.” And, I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty (2 Cor. 6:17-18).  We may want to take a holiness inventory, from time to time, to see how well we are aligned with the holiness of God.  Misalignment there, will also be an invitation to the enemy.

I’m not advocating a spiritual paranoia but I am encouraging us to take an inventory from time to time to see where carelessness, rationalizations, and idolatry may be subtle, but over time will allow the enemy entrance into our lives.  We will want to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal those areas to us and bring conviction where it is needed.  In the natural world, we keep our doors and windows locked, set up security systems and keep our homes well lit at night.  Perhaps, we (myself included) need to be as diligent in the spiritual realm where the stakes are even higher.

The first level of spiritual warfare is temptation. That will be our first encounter with the enemy.  It will not be a frontal assault but an invitation to find our comfort, our significance, or our provision in sources other than God.   Matthew records the showdown between Jesus and Satan in the 4^th chapter of his gospel.  The text says, “Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan” (Mt. 4:1).

In those temptations, Satan was simply trying to draw Jesus outside of God’s will.  The first temptation was about food. In essence, he was saying, “If you really are the Son of God, do your thing.  Don’t wait on God’s provision but turn these stones into bread.  Does he not care that you’re hungry? Take matters into your own hands and provide for yourself.” 

The second temptation was about calling out God to keep his promise of protection.  “Throw yourself off the temple wall and prove you are the Son of God and that he loves you.” In other words, make a demand on his goodness on your terms.  Again, Satan is tempting Jesus to take matters into his own hands rather than to be led by God.

Finally, Satan offered Jesus a shortcut to fulfill his life’s purpose. He took Jesus upon a high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world.  The destiny of Jesus is to rule over all the earth and Satan offered him that destiny without suffering.  All he had to do was bow down and worship Satan.  He offered him a crown without a cross. 

Satan tempts us all to take things into our own hands…to run ahead of God and decide what is best for us, rather than waiting on him. He tempts us to make demands on God by deciding how and when his promise should be answered in our lives.  If he doesn’t meet our expectations (demands), we take offense.  He tempts us to take shortcuts in fulfilling our destiny.  We enter into relationships without prayer and marriage without wisdom. We manipulate circumstances to get what we want before we are ready to steward the blessing or the promotion. 

In each of these temptations, Satan is whispering that God is taking too long or that he can’t be counted on. He tempts us to take control, manage things ourselves.  If God has promised it,  then grab it now…there is no need to wait. Yet the mark of Jesus’ ministry was to do only what he saw the Father doing and say only what he heard the Father saying. He waited on the Father’s provision and timing and trusted him in those decisions.

When we give in to the temptation, we are coming into agreement with Satan, just as Adam and Eve agreed in the garden.  To do so gives the enemy a legal right to afflict us, torment us, or oppress us because our actions accuse God.  We usually start our spiritual warfare when we feel the torment or oppression, but we should recognize it begins with the temptations and cut it off there.

Here is the thing.  Satan rarely offers us things that are clearly sinful.  Often they are good things, but the sin is in our choice to get those things apart from God, his direction, or his timing.  Adam and Eve saw that the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was a source of wisdom…which God wants us to seek.  But they sought wisdom from another source other than their creator. We sometimes become like children who know they have an inheritance waiting for them but choose to steal it from their father or demand it rather than waiting on his timing and his judgement about what is best for them.  The “Prodigal Son” comes to mind (Lk. 15).

Jesus cut off the temptation attack in two ways.  First of all, he was absolutely convinced of his Father’s love and that his Father’s directions were to be trusted at all times for the best possible outcomes.  In other words, he trusted God to be good to him and to do so at the right time.  Secondly, he had stored up the Father’s Word in his heart so that he could draw from that storehouse to inform his decisions when temptation came his way

The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit (Eph. 6:17). When we engage the enemy, we should do so with the sword.  Satan is always seeking a legal reason to afflict us.  Revelation calls him “the accuser of the brethren, who accuses us before our God day and night.”  When we declare the Word of God, obey it, and stand on it, we establish that we are law keepers rather than law breakers.  It disarms the enemy in the courts of heaven and keeps him at bay.  After Jesus invoked the Word of God three times, Satan abandoned his assault.  That does not mean he won’t come back, but he left Jesus for a season waiting for another time when he might find Jesus vulnerable.

We need to understand that resisting temptation is our first and foremost strategy in spiritual warfare. Renewing our mind daily by meditating on the Word is essential.  We cannot wield God’s sword if we do not have it in our heart and mind.   Being quick to acknowledge sin, confess it, and repent of it, is also essential.  It is persistent, unrepented sin that most often opens the door for Satan to get a foothold.  It is also imperative that we monitor our own thought life so that we may make every thought submit to Jesus.  It is our recurring thoughts and the enemy’s rationalizations for choosing to step outside of the will of God that we must diligently guard against. 

One other important strategy for proactively keeping the enemy outside the walls is to find out more about our family line.  It is amazing how many of us have little to no history on our parents, grandparents, and great grandparents.  Satan often gains access to believers through their bloodlines. Remember,  Exodus 20 declares that the sins of the fathers will be visited on the children to the third and fourth generation.  The guilt is not passed down but the consequences are passed down which may include curses that have been incurred due to unrepented sin in the bloodline.  Many bloodlines are stained with adultery, molestation, witchcraft, violence, racism, and so forth.  These issues need to be discovered, if possible, and then renounced and repented of on behalf of our ancestors to keep Satan from using them against us and our children.  The holidays might be a great time to ask about family history…the good, the bad and the ugly.

Again, many times we don’t engage in spiritual warfare until the enemy is pummelling us.  It is much better to realize we must always stay on a war footing with the enemy and detect when he us trying to draw us out of God’s will in our thoughts or actions. The man who taught me the most about deliverance always said, “It is better to realize that someone is trying to break into your house than to realize he is already inside.”  Proactive prevention is the best strategy for spiritual warfare.  We don’t need to be paranoid, but we do need to be wise.  Ask the Holy Spirit to alert you to Satan’s attempted intrusions and keep the doors locked and the lights on.

This is the political season. I say that with the knowledge that the political season seems to be twelve months long now.  Politicians seem to go from one campaign to the next and only govern from time to time if they get the chance.

For the most part, politics is a war of words.  The down side is that, in this day and age, everything a person has said seems to be recorded in one way or another…videos of speeches given years ago, copies of emails, text messages, I-phone recordings, and articles written in an obscure paper or journal but now easily accessed by search engines.  Some of these were public records while others were obtained by someone hacking into a personal database.

When confronted with their past words, the typical result is denial, embarrassment, spin, and every other deflection the man or woman can think of to avoid the consequences of their verbal declarations.  Some statements seem to represent a policy decision they say they no longer believe.  Others seem have the scent of racism or bigotry or hate toward a group or an individual. Then the person, confronted with their own words, claims they were taken out of context or they didn’t really mean it. Failing at that, they simply issue a general apology for their totally improper remarks (which typically means I am sorry I got caught).

The truth is, most of us speak with little thought for the consequences that might spring from what was spoken.  If we are angry or frustrated, we blurt out whatever comes to mind before thinking at all. We find those words are hard to take back when the result of our speaking is not in our favor.  When confronted, we are often offended that someone is trying to hold us accountable for what we thought we could say without repercussions. We seem to live as if our words don’t matter…like bubbles floating into the air and disappearing.  Occasionally, I need a reminder that my words do matter…very much.

The Word of God puts a great deal of weight on what we say and paints those who blurt out whatever comes to mind as foolish people.  Wise men and women weigh their words.  They think before they speak.  They assess the consequences, for themselves and others, of the words they are about to let slip out.  One of the most sobering passages about our words was spoken by Jesus himself. “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matt. 12:35-37).

First of all, Jesus taught that our words are indicators of the content of our hearts. “But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them (Matt. 18:15). After saying something that embarrasses us later, we often say, “I don’t know why I said that.  That is not who I am!”  We must admit, however, that is was part of who we are or it would not have come out of our mouth. I admit demonic spirits can prompt us to say things that are “not who we are” or who we want to be, but then we need to deal with that spirit.

Rather than denial, blaming, or deflecting, if we would own what we said and submit that patch of darkness in our heart to the Lord, the Holy Spirit could do some scrubbing.  David prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God” (Ps. 51).  I have had to offer that prayer on many occasions, and I think my heart is better aligned with the Fathers heart now than in was in the past.

Men will sometimes hold us accountable for our words, but the spirit realm will always hold us accountable.  Somewhere in the spirit realm, something or someone is recording every “careless word I have spoken.”  That phrase from Matthew 12, which is translated empty or careless is not just talking about bad language, cussing, or using the Lord’s name in vain.  It is talking about words we speak without thinking.  He is not saying our well thought our words expressing hate or lust will not be judged but he is saying that we will not be able to stand before the Lord and say, I couldn’t help it!” or “I didn’t mean it.” I am convinced Satan frequently gains a legal right to afflict us through our “careless words.”  A strong thread that runs through the book of Proverbs teaches over and over to be slow to speak, to hold our peace, and to carefully measure our words.  Just because we think something, we do not have to speak it. 

In addition to revealing our hearts, our words carry authority that releases power. The familiar proverb says, “The tongue has the power of life and death” (Prov. 18:21).  Your words have power…not just in the natural realm, but in the spiritual realm as well. The fruit of our lips can be sweet or bitter.  We can impart blessings or curses.  They can command healing or command destruction.  Our words are seeds sown in both the natural and spiritual realms around us.  One of God’s immutable laws is that we will reap what we have sown and harvest what we have planted.  Our words are seed that produce life, blessing, abundance, peace and success or that bring forth death, weakness, lack, failure, and torment…in the lives we have spoken over and in our own life as a harvest of what we have spoken over others.  

As we watch the pundits and politicians broadcast their words this political season and try to disown words they have already spoken, let it remind us that we are not to be careless with our words for we will have to give an accounting for them.  When our words tip us off that something dark is in our heart, take it to Jesus.  When we find ourselves popping off without thinking, ask the Holy Spirit to shut our mouths when we are about to speak careless words hurtful words, or offensive words. Pray that the Lord will make our mouths a fresh spring that extrudes life and blessings and not a spring full of salt that kills everything it touches.

God is serious about our words and we should be as well.  Our prayer should be, “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight” (Ps. 19:14).

Halloween is springing up everywhere…in stores, neighborhood decorations, people wearing costumes early, and, of course, all over the internet. When I was a kid, it was just about my favorite holiday and according to some researchers, it is America’s favorite holiday next to Christmas. I guess the draw was the idea that I could put on a costume and move unknown from door to door scoring candy.  There was also the scare factor of some houses going all out to make the environment creepy and then coming to the door in creepy character.  Of course, television rolled out all the scary movies associated with Halloween and so we all eagerly jumped in to participate.  I no longer participate.

Twenty plus years of helping people deal with demons and spiritual attack have informed me that there are very real forces in the spiritual realm looking for open doors and access to the lives and even bodies of people…even God’s people. The enemy is called the “accuser of the brethren” (Rev. 12:10) iand we see several instances in scripture were Satan is standing in the courts of heaven bringing accusations against God’s people.  He is constantly searching for a “legal right” to afflict those he is accusing.

When ministering deliverance, we first look for the “open doors” that have given Satan and his demonic representatives a right to afflict the person to whom we are ministering. Those open doors can be unrepented sin, unforgiveness, occult involvement, and sometimes generational curses that have opened a door.  Those must be removed before the spirit can be expelled.  Here is the thing…we often create an open door without even realizing we have done so.  

When I was a kid, Ouija boards became the rage at parties.  They were passed off as fun and games and if you had a spooky experience that was a bonus.  We had no intention of coming under the power of Satan but because we were actually connecting with the occult, an open door was created for Satan.  If you cross a boundary unaware and enter into enemy territory, you are still in danger, even if you did not intend to cross that line.  When I was young and even when I was older, I was quite unaware of the spiritual realm.  Of course, I saw all the horror shows but they tended to convince me that supernatural events and things that go bump in the night were imaginary and existed only in fiction.  The rational part of me rejected their reality so I was careless with things that might connect me to the demonic realm.

In his letter to the church at Corinth, Paul was writing to believers who once offered sacrifices and participated in special days dedicated to their pagan gods.  After becoming believers, they still had friends, relatives, and business associates who would invite them to participate in their celebrations.  However, Paul declared, “but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons” (1 Cor. 10:20-21).  Even if they were only pretending to honor the false god by their presence, their participation still aligned them with Satan because they were willingly sitting at the table of demons.  

According to many Satanists and former Satanists, Halloween is the highest day of the year witches, warlocks, and those who participate in the occult.  They prepare for it, celebrate it, and offer blood sacrifices on Halloween.  The day called Halloween was begun by Celts centuries ago as a day that spirits wandered the earth.  The Catholic church coopted the day and called it All Hallows Eve when the saints were to be celebrated.  However, it belonged to Satan first and the traditions of costumes, jack-o-lanterns, and so forth have continued.

My view now is that when we participate in Halloween rituals, we are sitting at the table of demons whether we understand that or intend that or not.  We risk crossing a boundary into enemy territory which gives the enemy the right to afflict or torment us.  We may think it is harmless fun, but many believe tarot cards, Ouija boards, and psychic readings are harmless fun as well.  But each of those leads us into enemy territory where demonic spirits are waiting to lay claim to us.

I’m not saying that participating in Halloween is the unforgivable sin, but I am saying it may well put you and your children at spiritual risk.  Anything that honors Satan, intended or unintended, invites demons. I have talked to and heard the testimony of numerous men and women who were once high-ranking Satanists, but have now come to Jesus.  Without exception, they all say any participation is Halloween creates an open door for the enemy to attack you, torment you, or oppress you and your children.  They are totally baffled by any Christian who would take part in Halloween.

I realize this seems foolish and “hyper-spiritual” to those who do not take the spirit realm seriously.  It all seems like harmless fun.  But Satan appears as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14) and traps are always baited with the things that seem delicious and harmless.  I don’t intend this to be a judgment on those who participate, but a CAUTION for every believer to consider.  I encourage you to think about and pray about it before jumping in this year, because participating could well be hazardous to your spiritual health. 

One of Satan’s great tools to handicap God’s people is the tool of condemnation. In fact, there are spirits of accusation and condemnation that are attached to many of God’s people with the sole assignment of making them feel unacceptable to God.

I have known faithful believers who knew the Word but never felt fully forgiven nor acceptable to the Father. In fact, they could read through such affirming books as Ephesians and Philippians and still walk away with a crippling sense of condemnation. Something in them filtered out every positive promise and every affirming word about their identity.  Even if they understood what they were reading, they believed those promises and affirmations were for other believers, but not for them.

Condemnation seems to carry the message that not only have you done some things that are wrong, but you are defective, you are rejected, you are not enough.  Of course, the good news of Jesus is that, by his death, he has taken away our defectiveness, taken away rejection, and he has made us enough in the eyes of God.  

The writer of Hebrews declares, “For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being madeholy” (Heb. 10:14).  Notice the fact that you have been made perfect in the eyes of God by that sacrifice.  The verb is past tense.  It is not something we can earn or strive for or beg for.  The blood of Christ has already given us a standing of perfection in heaven while we are yet imperfect.   

So, does God then simply ignore the sin in our lives, the failures, the imperfections.  In one sense, the answer is “Yes.”  He ignores it in the sense that he does not hold those things against us or even see us as being defined by those things.  We may define ourselves by those things but God does not. We are defined by who we are in Christ and those weaknesses and failures (past and present) no longer have any condemnation attached to them.

In addition, although those things bring no rejection or condemnation from God, he is faithfully working to make us holy.  This is the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit.  He isn’t doing this in order to make us acceptable, but simply to make us everything we can be in Jesus.

Satan’s ploy is to get us to focus on every past sin, every imperfection, and every failure.  The old axiom is, “We become what we behold.”  What we focus on defines us and we typically live up or down to the view we have of ourselves.  God’s strategy is to get us to focus on who we are in Christ…children of God loved and forgiven; citizens of heaven walking in power and authority, representatives of Christ on the earth with a destiny established by God; the forgiven, the cleansed, the perfected, saints of God on this earth with an unimaginable inheritance waiting for us in heaven.

As we consistently focus on those realities, we become them – those realities define us. Knowing that, Satan continually whispers condemnation in our ears, speaks it through the broken people in our lives, and keeps us in a constant state of self-rejection and insecurity.  

As a result, we never feel the love of God, never have faith that he will answer our prayers, and never step into significant roles in the kingdom that God has ordained.  As long as we are bound up by condemnation, Satan wins.

But Paul put condemnation to rest in his letter to the Romans.  He said, “So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!  So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 7:21-8:2, emphasis added). 

Notice, Paul still struggles with sin and often does what he doesn’t want to do and feels the frustration of living out that reality.  However, he stands on the truth that the blood of Christ covers those failures and weaknesses in the courts of heaven.  He boldly declares to us, to himself, and to Satan there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ.  That must be our answer to every condemning thought that trickles across our minds.  

Some of those thoughts are our own. In that case we need a renewed mind where God’s truth replaces our habitual thoughts that do not line-up with his thoughts.  We must constantly say what God says about us in Christ. Some of those thoughts are from broken people.  Maybe we need to distance ourselves from them, if possible. 

Some or most of those thoughts are from Satan. Because you are a child of God with power and authority, you need to call Satan out when those thoughts immerge in your mind.  Call him a liar, renounce the lie he has spoken to you, and then command him to be silent and depart. James tells us, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (Ja. 4:7).  We submit to his truth about us by giving his Word more authority than our feelings or thoughts. We them must actively resist the devil by declaring God’s truth and exercising the authority you have in Jesus.  Command Satan’s demonic representative – the spirit of condemnation to leave and he will.  

If you struggle with condemnation, stay in the Word, submit your mind to God’s truth, and constantly say only what God has said about you.  Jesus himself told us we will know the truth and the truth will set us free (Jn. 8:32).  When the enemy comes, pull out the Word of God which is the sword of the Spirit and contend for God’s truth about you!

This week we witnessed the widow of Charlie Kirk publicly forgive the man who assassinated  

her husband.  Forgiving one who has betrayed you, wounded you, taken life from you, stolen from you, slandered you, etc.  is one of the most defining aspects of our faith and, sometimes, one of the most difficult to live out.

However, for us, forgiveness is an imperative.  It is not optional.  Jesus clearly stated in several places that if we do not forgive those who sin against us, God will not forgive our sins against Him.  I am uncertain if you can cross the threshold of heaven if there are any sins on your ledger not blotted out by the blood of Christ, but I think not and the question highlights what a serious issue unforgiveness is.  I am certain that unforgiven sins give Satan access to believers because unforgiven sins give him a legal right to afflict us. As we have ministered deliverance through the years, we have often seen demons refuse to leave until the person to whom we were ministering had forgiven someone who had dealt them a great deal of pain.

So, in light of Ericka Kirk’s decision to forgive, I want to remind us of the necessity of us doing the same as needed.  One thing was clear when Ericka forgave her husband’s killer…it was a decision of the will not a decision of the heart.  That is always the first step.  In the same way that we don’t have to always like someone to love them, wd don’t have to feel warm and accepting of another person in order to forgive them.

Let’s explore that thought briefly.  First of all, we are commanded to forgive those who have wronged us.  We cannot command our emotions but we can command our will.  First of all, forgiveness is a decision to let Jesus be the judge of the other person.  We let him decide if they should be punished and how.  Biblical forgiveness, initially, is a decision to release the judgment to God and to no longer act in ways to make the other person pay for what they did. Jesus often framed the act of forgiveness as a willingness to release another person from a financial debt they owed.  The debt was real and sometimes extensive, but in his parables, they simply no longer required payment for the hurt that was done. 

In the human context, we usually try to make the one who wronged us pay through our angry outbursts, by withholding loving behaviors, by our constant reminders to them of their past failure, by our subtle slander of them as we try to undermine their relationships with other people, our silence and a cold shoulder, or simply by ending the relationship. In our own way, we decide to settle the score by making them pay for what they did.

Satan helps us justify our anger and our revenge.  We don’t forgive because they “don’t deserve it.”  We don’t forgive because they haven’t adequately repented and begged for our forgiveness. We don’t forgive because our anger makes us feel powerful and righteous or we believe it keeps us from being hurt again. But Jesus forgave when no one asked and forgave before he had seen repentance.

Forgiveness requires faith.  We must believe that God and wisdom will protect us from further hurt, that God will see justice done if that is needed, and that he will heal the hurts we believe only revenge can heal.  The first step then is to declare that our betrayer is forgiven and to choose to no longer act in any way designed to make them pay.

The second step is also an act of the will.  In Luke 6, Jesus tells us to love our enemies which consists of doing good to those who hate you, blessing those who curse you, and praying for those who mistreat you (Luke 6:27-28). You do it, even when your flesh pushes back.  The blessing comes to you because the act of forgiveness and the act of loving your enemies brings 
God’s blessing as you take the high road, even though your enemy takes the low road.  It keeps anger, bitterness and a victim mentality from taking root in your heart. It keeps the door of your life closed to the devil and anger and bitterness from sloshing over into the other relationships in your life.  The very act of praying for them eventually shifts your view and your emotions. You may have to ask God to soften your heart or give you strength to pray for things your flesh rebels against.  But keep it up.  Be obedient.  Your heart will change so you no longer want revenge but truly want the best for someone who once hurt you.  Then you will be truly free of that person.

Your forgiveness keeps those who wounded you from continuing to have power in your life.  To keep the anger fueled, you have to replay the wrong they did to you over and over…each time tearing the scab off the wound so it never heals.  You end up making decisions on the basis of how they will impact your enemy rather than on the basis of what is best for you.  You indirectly continue to give them power in your life. 

When God calls us to forgive, it is our response to the immense grace God gave us through the sacrifice of his own son.  We forgive, not because the perpetrator deserves it, but because Jesus deserves it.  It is also a call to bring us freedom, healing, and wholeness is our lives.  Jesus never asks us to do anything that does not bring a blessing through our obedience. 

Let me say, forgiveness does not require letting hurtful people continue to hurt us or to keep putting ourselves or our children in harm’ s way. We can love from a distance and forgive from a distance if needed and we can set healthy boundaries.  Forgiveness is required but reconciliation is conditional. 

So, at this time, in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s death we can hate or love, seek vengeance or forgive, slander all those across the aisle from us politically or we can live out a witness to the reality of Jesus and the grace he has brought to our lives.  

Let me encourage each of us to forgive every hurt and be blessed.

We have all heard the phrase “speaking truth to power.” Historically, we know that carries great risk.  John the Baptist was beheaded because he confronted Herod about his immoral lifestyle.  Jesus was crucified at the insistence of the Jewish Sanhedrin for speaking truth to them about their legalism and hypocrisy.  Charlie Kirk was assassinated for speaking conservative and biblical truth to our culture. 

Speaking to his own unbelieving brothers, Jesus declared. “The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil” (Jn. 7:7). He went on to tell his disciples, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you” (Jn. 15:18-19).

We cannot be surprised that there are many who apparently hated Charlie Kirk. Obviously, the man who killed Kirk hated him, but also those who celebrated his death on social media and other venues.  I read The Days of His Presence by Francis Frangipane several years ago about the end times.  He made a statement that has stuck with me.  I’m paraphrasing, but he said something to the effect that, in the end times, everyone on earth will be fully possessed…either by God or by Satan.  I think we are seeing that.

What we are witnessing is not just a political struggle, but a spiritual struggle for the soul of this nation and, in fact, the world.  If you have seen the irrational rage that seems to possess a number of people who hated Kirk and his message, you might automatically sense the demonic realm at work.  If you look beyond the United States, you will see that the number of Christians being killed world-wide now is the highest number in any period in history.  We should not be surprised if this continues.

This is not a statement of capitulation in which we simply accept the idea that Satan will win until Jesus comes.  Jesus said the gates of hell will not prevail against his church.  We still have our assignment to preach the gospel, make disciples, and redeem cultures.  And, in fact, we are seeing the pendulum swing in that direction in America.  We need to ride that wave as long as God sustains it…which could be for a generation or more.  I am saying, however, that as we take back territory that has been given to the enemy in this nation, while the church often sat on the side lines, we should expect fierce, irrational, and sometimes violent opposition from those that are enemies of the cross, of life, of this nation, and of God’s truth.

Charlie Kirk has become an inspiration to many and I am glad for that.  However, as we honor him, we need to remember that Jesus is our Savior and our ultimate inspiration.  If we make any man a cult hero of Christianity, we have missed the mark and altered the gospel that Charlie passionately preached.  On the other hand, martyrs for the faith have fueled the faith of others for centuries and encouraged them to stand and face the fury of the devil in their own lives…so we should honor all those who have suffered for the cross.

Satan wants to silence those who speak God’s truth and he wants to further divide this nation.  Our response must be to continue to speak God’s truth in love, love our enemies, pray for them, and overcome evil with good. We are to be salt and light in the world. Love, prayer and doing good, even to our enemies, will be our weapons and our testimony to the reality of Jesus.  We are not to withdraw from the public square because to do so prevents us from being the leaven for righteousness that is our assignment.  But our words must not only reflect the truth of Jesus, but also his Spirit. God will deal with those who persecute his people.

There has been a meme on Facebook that says a great deal.  It pictures the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s death with people in numerous circles standing arm in arm in prayer.  Below that picture is a picture of the aftermath of George Floyd’s death, which was burning neighborhoods to the ground and looting stores.  We want to be part of the top picture.

As we see the move of God across this nation, our prayers should fuel what heaven is doing.  The assassination of Charlie Kirk has added focus and energy to this move of God.  This is a window of opportunity to redeem this nation once again.  May we, along with many others, be bold and passionate as we stand for Jesus and confess him before men. 

It’s not unusual for believers to offer up a fervent prayer to the Lord outlining not only what we want from God but also how we want him to deliver our request.  By “faith” we ask for not only the what but the how.  There is a real risk in that type of prayer.The classic example is found in 2 Kings 5.  Naaman was the commander of the army of the King of Aram.  He was a great man and a valiant soldier who was highly esteemed by his king and his fellow soldiers.  However, we are told, he had leprosy.  In the original language, leprosy could refer to a number of health issues and not always the one we think of in which skin begins to rot and eventually takes the victim’s life.  Those with that kind of leprosy were usually quarantined from all those except other lepers. 

However, whatever Naaman suffered, it was concerning and affected his health, his social interactions, and, perhaps, his future.  We are told that Naaman had a servant girl, an Israelite who had been taken in a raid. She confidently told Naaman’s wife that if he would go to the prophet Elisha in Israel, he would be cured. Probably, out of desperation, Naaman gathered a few men and a significant amount of wealth with which to pay for his healing.  

Eventually, he found his way to Elisha the prophet and with his horses and chariots, and probably some fanfare, he stopped in front of Elisha’s door.  Elisha simply sent his servant out to Naaman with the message that if he would go dip in the Jordan River seven times he would be healed.  The text then says, “But Naamanwent away angry and said, ‘I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. ¹² Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?’ So he turned and went off in a rage” (2 Kings 5:11-12).

Naaman’s problem was a combination of pride and a preconceived notion of how he wanted to receive his healing. To a highly regarded general, simply the fact that Elisha himself did not go out to meet Naaman was galling. He undoubtedly felt disrespected and, on top of that, he was instructed to dip in the muddy Jordan of Israel rather than in the crystal-clear mountain streams of Damascus.  In his rage, he determined to leave and, would have also left his healing behind if his servant had not spoken up. His servant quieted Naaman’s rage and talked him into doing what the prophet had instructed.  Clearly, dipping in a muddy river without fanfare or an audience seemed an unlikely way to be cleansed of leprosy, but as he rose from the river the seventh time, his skin became like that of a young boy. 

Naaman came very close to missing the blessing he had longed for because God didn’t provide the blessing in the way Naaman envisioned it happening.   I was a Singles Minister for a number of years and, of course, many of the single women in our group had a great longing to be married. They frequently prayed for God to put a man in their life they could marry and then they attached a number of qualifications for the man…six feet tall, dark hair, nice looking, athletic, a good job, and spiritual, etc.  After a year or two of praying that prayer, they would come to me frustrated with God for not answering their pleas.  I would always ask, “So has no one even asked you out?”  They would inevitably answer, “Oh sure, but they were not what I am looking for!”  I knew many of the men these women turned down and the truth is they were good guys, committed to the Lord, with good character, and would probably have made excellent husbands and fathers.  What these women needed was a good, reliable car.  When God sent a Ford instead of a Lamborghini, they were offended.

To the still lonely ladies, the men who asked them out were the Jordan River, not the rivers of Damascus. It’s not that they dated these men and found there was something lacking, they simply refused to believe that God might answer the heart of their prayer in a way he felt was best –  rather than in a way they felt they deserved or, at least, romanticized about.  

When we pray for something, we may want to leave the “how” of the answer up to God more than demanding he deliver the answer on our terms.  If I’m not offered the promotion I wanted, but am offered something a little less, do I feel like God has stiffed me?  If I want instantaneous healing, but am only offered a long, arduous healing process through doctors, do I reject that or feel that God has failed in his promise to heal me? If I don’t get the miraculous check in the mail but have to discipline myself and pay off my debt over time, do I take offense at God because I didn’t get bailed out quickly and painlessly as I had hoped?

If you look at most of the miracles in scripture, God did not act in anticipated ways.  How does rubbing mud on blind eyes restore sight?  How do a few loaves and a few fish feed five thousand?  How does showing up four days after a friend has died give life? We could go on.  The point is, we should anticipate God answering our prayers, but be open to him answering our prayers in unexpected ways.  

When we sense how he might be answering our prayer, we will still need to pray for confirmation and discernment. The answer will not always be the first thing that happens or the first person who shows interest.  The greatest blessings in my life have been unexpected moves of God that I did not see immediately as his answers to my prayers or needs. In fact, initially, I saw his move as a rejection of my need for comfort, control, and predictability. However, they turned out to be incredible blessings when I went with what was happening.

Let me encourage you to pray without ceasing.  Ask God for what you need and even how, but be open to his answering in ways that do not match your preconceptions. Ask for eyes to see what he is doing and wisdom to walk through the process he has ordained.  God is a Father who is always multi-tasking…answering your prayer while developing your faith, skills or character so that you can steward well the answer to your prayer when it comes.  When you begin to feel as if God is not responding, remember Naaman.  Don’t refuse to open the present just because it isn’t wrapped in your favorite paper!

THE ENEMY WANTS TO DEFINE YOU BY YOUR SCARS.

JESUS WANTS TO DEFINE YOU WITH HIS.   

~LOUIE GIGLIO~


The quote from Louie Giglio is right on target.  I see this in my own life and I have seen it in nearly every believer who has come to my office for counseling for over four decades.  One of Satan’s primary strategies against us is the constant accusation that our past failures disqualify us from serving God and accomplishing great things in the kingdom.  He tries to persuade us that our past failures and present imperfections disqualify us from the blessings of God and even answered prayers. He tells us that God may tolerate us but he doesn’t delight in us.

Since the beginning, his blue print has been to tempt us to sin and then to plaster us with shame as a result.  In the Garden, once Satan had persuaded Adam and Eve that God was withholding the greatest blessings from them and once they took and ate…they were overcome with shame.  

We were clearly told that the two humans God had created were both naked and felt no shame.  Before they allowed Satan to draw them away, they walked with God in the Garden without being dressed and somehow felt totally loved and accepted.  The moment they sinned, they began to hide from God and blame others for their decisions. They were ashamed.

I like to differentiate between guilt and shame.  Guilt is the feeling I have done something wrong while shame is the feeling that there is something unacceptable about me.  I am defective.  I am beyond love.  I am beyond redemption or, at least, beyond God ever delighting in me.

Satan always draws our attention to our scars brought by rejection, abuse, abandonment, and our own sins from the past.  How often have we asked forgiveness over and over for some source of shame in our past?  When we do, we reveal a belief that the blood of Christ is not quite sufficient for our defectiveness, our sin.  We feel that we must be overwhelmed with remorse and self-loathing for God to forgive us.  So…we beat ourselves up and heap shame upon ourselves as some kind of penance that might eventually earn us true forgiveness…but our shame still remains.

The only escape from this hell of self-condemnation the enemy heaps on us is the cross.  His scars. The gospel is simple.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life” (Jn.3:16).  The sacrifice of Jesus was offered for our sins so that the record of those sins would be erased in the courts of heaven.  When we believe and trust God, he makes us righteous, he remembers our sins no more and removes them as far as the east is from the west.  No amount of penance, self-loathing, or self-imposed suffering will take away or sin or our shame. If it could, Jesus died for nothing.  Only the blood of the Lamb can do so.

Faith removes our sin and love removes our shame.  The problem with the gospel is it seems too good to be true. We sense that we must pay for our crimes and that no judge can simply say, ”Lets forget it.”  We are correct.  Sin and crimes must be paid for and they have been…by holy blood.  But because the gospel is so simple, we think there must be something more in the fine print.  But there is not.  There is only grace that comes by faith…not perfect faith, but faith enough to reach out to Jesus.

Satan’s tactic is to keep us focused on ourselves…our sin, our past, our failures, our current imperfections.  He magnifies them.  I know godly people who, while they read scripture, find every passage on judgment highlighted in their minds and who feel every passage on grace is not for them. Satan twists the word as they read it. So, they read and feel even more condemned than when they started.  Then they stop reading. But Christ’s sacrifice is greater than all of our sins.  His blood is sufficient.  He is our high priest that constantly intercedes for us and pleads his blood over our failings.

To receive his forgiveness and to take joy in that forgiveness gives him glory.  When the enemy tempted Jesus in the wilderness after forty days of fasting, Jesus countered his temptations by declaring the word of God.  We should do the same.  When the enemy whispers his reminders of our weakness and failures, we should declare our forgiveness and righteousness in Christ.

Never mind trying to convince yourself or God that you couldn’t help yourself or that circumstances forced you to sin. Never mind minimizing or rationalizing what you did. That simply keeps the focus on your scars rather than on His scars. No matter what you did or what happened to you, you are a new creation in Christ. Scripture tells us to fix our eyes on Jesus.  Keep being amazed at his love, his sacrifice, his mercy, his gentleness with sinners and the all-sufficiency of his blood.  

Do not let the enemy accuse you of something for which there is no record in heaven. When he whispers, “You are not worthy.” Respond with, “God has made me worthy.  Christ became sin for me, that I might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus!”  Faith is not about being perfect people, but a conviction that we really are who God says we are and he has truly removed our sin and our shame by the blood and the scars of Jesus.  Say it, claim it, and never let yourself say otherwise.

This message comes from Randy Clark, founder and president of Global Awakening.  I thought it was worth posting for those who read my blog.  So enjoy.  Tom Vermillion


If grace has no limits, how much is grace? 

Some of us have entered the Kingdom by faith, and we believe we have been forgiven. We understand we are sinners saved by grace. This is wonderful, but we will limit our victories if we camp here.

You see, grace that brings you out and causes you to be born again takes you to the door of what grace actually provides. Not only does Jesus save, but He takes the signet ring of the Father and gives it to you.

If we just come to the door and say, “I’m forgiven,” we’ll live like spiritual paupers. We need to understand that we are more than forgiven—and that is by God’s grace. Grace not only forgave us but put the ring back on our finger. Now, in the authority of the Father’s name, we can make decrees.

Jesus did not just die to forgive you but to welcome you into the Kingdom as children of the Most High with all authority and power to use on His behalf. He puts His own Spirit within you so you can walk right into the taverns now and begin to prophesy. You now have access to God as your beloved, your Father, and a best friend. More than that, He grants us the grace for impartation, spiritual gifts, and supernatural empowerment in our Kingdom callings. Healings, miracles, the five-fold ministry—these Kingdom works are the grace of God in our lives.

I really believe that if we could get a full understanding of grace, we would not need to go through most of the issues we face as Christians. If we could get grounded in throne life at the beginning of our Christian life, we could walk in victory a lot more. Too often, as Bill Johnson says, we’ve repented—changed the way we think—enough to get into the Kingdom but not enough to walk in its power. 

Don’t stop at the doorway. He loves you. We can’t comprehend how much He truly loves us. More than that—He has abundant grace for us. He wants us to rule and reign with Kingdom authority so we can go into all the world and disciple, heal, deliver, and walk in victory.