Exercising Spiritual Authority

Mike Connell

Training Manual & 6 supplementary videos

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2012 Mike Connell Ministries

http://mikeconnellministries.com

Introduction

The original mandate given to man in Genesis 1v28 was to "subdue and have dominion". Unfortunately when Adam & Eve sinned against god, they lost their connection with God, and lost their spiritual authority.

Jesus came to give us back our relationship with God,and our assignment of dominion again. Jesus demonstrated the message, He lived out the message of bring heaven to earth where ever he was. He first called 12, then 70, and finally entrusted all believers with the assignment to go, as ambassadors of the Kingdom, to proclaim the gospel, to make disciples, to heal the sick, to cast out demons, raise the dead - to minister in power and signs and wonders.

Gods purpose in creating man has never changed, He has something for us to accomplish, to bring our lives and community into harmony with heaven. We need to understand our mission in life, and learn how to fulfil it, how to exercise spiritual authority over all spiritual resistance.

Training Manual

Contents of the Training Manual include:

1. The Apostolic Mandate

2. Understanding your Spiritual 'Metron'

3. How you Exercise Spiritual Authority

4. Exercising Authority in your Personal Life

5. Your Authority to Minister to People

6. Strengthening your Spirit Man

Appendix

A. Keys to Ministering in the Spirit

B. Practical Guidelines

C. House Cleaning

Transcripts

The Apostolic Mandate (1 of 6) Jesus authority to do miracles came from the Father, who SENT him. We are also 'apostolic' because we are SENT, as as ambassadors of heaven, to fulfil our task with kingly authority. It is important we discover for ourselves what God has called us to do, and passionately pursue the mission that God has wired into our heart. It requires we take ownership of it; see people as God sees them, and execute on earth the judgements of heaven.

Identifying Your Spiritual Territory (2 of 6) This session begins with some activations to develop spiritual strength & sensitivity. Every believer has a spiritual territory (or 'metron') entrusted to us, a sphere of influence which is ours to govern - some permanent, some temporary. Adam (in Gen. 2:15) was instructed to 'tend', cultivate, develop his territory and to 'keep' or protect it from the enemy. Learn valuable keys to on how to govern, what to govern, and the consequences of failure to govern.

How to Exercise Spiritual Authority (3 of 6) Further activations to stir and awaken you inner man quickly, give voice to faith decrees, and release a spirit flow. Understand the real meaning of 'authority', 'power', 'legal rights', and what Jesus accomplished at the cross to disarm spiritual powers. Know what we have delegated power to do, and foundations which have to be built in our life to ensure success. Finally, how to forbid troubling spirits and release blessing. Plenty of practical examples in workplace, marriage, family life etc.

Exercising Authority in your Personal Life (4 of 6) The first place to gain dominion is with yourself. Eph. 4:27 shows us we can give the devil a foothold, or legal doorway to access our life, creating negative energies. This session gives a check-list of common doorways, and practical steps on how we can take responsibility for our life and close down these gateways. There is clear instruction on how to recognise and deal with spiritual attacks - spiritual problems need spiritual solutions. We can identify our own 'personal enemies' and deal with them ourselves. "deliver ourself from the had of the hunter". Many Q&A in this session cover a large range of situations.

Strengthening Your Spiritual Life (5 of 6) This session starts off with clear instructions on how to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and the Gift of Tongues. Mike then describes the functions of our spirit - our life source, able to energise and illuminate our whole body, illuminate our mind, release creativity, bring insights, commune with God, and flow out to others. Learn how to cultivate and strengthen your spirit dimensions, including meditating on scripture to encounter God.

House-Cleansing - Ministering to one another (6 of 6) Find out how to go about cleansing a house/building (or object) from demonic manifestation, and shift atmospheres. You've only truly learnt when you can do, so be led as a group or individual in exercises showing you how to release the spirit of God within you into another - power, spirit, joy, healing. What you think and what you say is important, and we all need to practise.

Supplementary Content

YouTube

- YouTube Playlist »

- The Apostolic Mandate (1 of 6).mp4

- Identifying Your Spiritual Territory (2 of 6).mp4

- How to Exercise Spiritual Authority (3 of 6).mp4

- Exercising Authority in your Personal Life (4 of 6).mp4

- Strengthening Your Spiritual Life (5 of 6).mp4

- House-Cleansing - Ministering to one another (6 of 6).mp4

Vimeo

- Vimeo Channel »

- The Apostolic Mandate (1 of 6).mp4

- Identifying Your Spiritual Territory (2 of 6).mp4

- How to Exercise Spiritual Authority (3 of 6).mp4

- Exercising Authority in your Personal Life (4 of 6).mp4

- Strengthening Your Spiritual Life (5 of 6).mp4

- House-Cleansing - Ministering to one another (6 of 6).mp4

Audio

- The Apostolic Mandate (1 of 6).mp3

- Identifying Your Spiritual Territory (2 of 6).mp3

- How to Exercise Spiritual Authority (3 of 6).mp3

- Exercising Authority in your Personal Life (4 of 6).mp3

- Strengthening Your Spiritual Life (5 of 6).mp3

- House-Cleansing - Ministering to one another (6 of 6).mp3

Paperback

- Createspace

- via Amazon

Training Manual: Exercising Your Spiritual Authority

NB. All scripture quotes are taken from the New King James Version (NKJV) unless otherwise indicated

1. The Apostolic Mandate

1.1 Understanding the Apostolic Mandate

Key Verse: Luke 10:1

“After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go”

Insights:

- Jesus commissioned seventy disciples in addition to the twelve apostles that he had sent out

- ‘Appointed’ - NT:322 - to lift something up to a new level, so as to disclose something that had previously been hidden

- These men were not apostles, they were disciples of Jesus

- ‘Sent’ - NT:649 – Apostello (Greek): to send forth on a mission

- These believers received an apostolic commission to enter new places to prepare people to encounter Jesus

- Apostle - NT:652 - a delegate, an ambassador, one who has been sent on a military mission as a representative of a Kingdom, literally ‘a sent one’

- Apostolic - to be sent forth from a New Testament local church, anointed with supernatural power

- A believer may not be an apostle, but can be sent and equipped with supernatural power just as an apostle

- All believers are to be ‘apostello’: set free, set apart and sent out on a mission into the community with authority and power

- Mandate (Webster’s Dictionary)

- a command or authorization to act

- an assignment entrusted to us by a higher authority

- an authorization to act as a representative or ambassador

- Jesus has given an apostolic mandate to believers to go into the entire world to:

- Proclaim the Gospel

- Make disciples

- Do this with signs, wonders and miracles (Mark 16:17-20)

1.2 The First Apostolic Mandate

Key Verse: Gen 1:28

“Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the sea, the birds of the air and everything that moves on earth”

Insights:

- Male and female were given the same mandate

1. ‘Be fruitful’ - to bear fruit, grow, increase, be productive

2. ‘Multiply’ - become numerous, reproduce

3. ‘Fill the earth’ - cause the earth to flourish and fulfill the purpose for which it was put in place

4. ‘Subdue’ - to rule and reign over the earth as an ambassador of heaven, a delegated authority

- Adam and Eve were jointly commissioned, and sent by God into the earth to exercise spiritual authority and power, and to govern it as His representatives

1.3 Jesus’ Apostolic Commission

Key Verses: Matt 9:35-10:1

“Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest truly is plentiful but the labourers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of harvest to send out labourers into His harvest .’ And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.”

Insights:

- Jesus demonstrated His authority by healing sickness and disease (Matt 9:35)

- When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they lost the authority and mandate they had received

- Satan usurped their authority and uses it against people (Luke 4:6)

- Jesus came to restore man and woman to relationship with God and empower them to fulfill God’s purpose

- Jesus identified the great need for Holy Spirit empowered labourers (v 37)

- Jesus gave an apostolic commission to His disciples (Matt 10:1, 7-8)

- ‘Power’ - NT:1849 - ‘Exousia’ (Greek) authority to speak and act on His behalf

- Jesus is still looking for men and women who will arise, go forth and exercise dominion on His behalf

1.4 You Are Designed for Dominion

Key Verse: Ps 8:5-6

“For You have made him (man) a little lower than the angels* and You have crowned him with glory and honour . You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet”

Insights:

- In the original Hebrew language, the word translated as ‘angels’ is the word ‘Elohim’ - God

- Man was designed to rule over angels (1Cor 6:3)

- Man was designed for dominion over all God’s creation

- ‘Crown’ - OT:5849 – the ornamental headgear worn by a sovereign head of state, symbolizing his right to rule

- You were born again by the Holy Spirit into the Family of God – a Royal Family (1Pet2:9)

- You are designed by God to exercise dominion on His behalf

- You are designed by God to subdue opposition to His purpose

Key Verse: Ps 149:5-9

“Let the saints be joyful in glory; let them sing aloud on their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance on the nations, and punishment on the peoples; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute on them the written judgment - this honour have all His saints”

Insights:

- ‘kings and nobles’ are evil spiritual powers that oppress, and have dominion over, people

- You are called to confront and subdue them

- This is an honor (privilege, majesty, ornament) that God gives to all His people

- The basic weapon of this warfare is ‘words’, spoken by God’s authorized representative

- To take dominion is to rule where God has assigned you, and release His Kingdom in the earth

1.5 You Have been Commissioned

Key Verse: Matt 28:18

“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in Heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen

Insights:

- Jesus declared He is the one with all the authority in Heaven and earth

- He gave the church a commission; a command, not a suggestion

- The Great Commission is to “disciple all nations” - this includes, but is not limited, to people

- The Great Commission includes government, business, media, sport, arts, science, education, and families

- The Great Commission is a mandate to influence and change the culture of all nations

- This does not take place in church meetings!

- This does take place when believers identify the ‘metron’ God has entrusted to them in the world, and set about advancing the Kingdom of God in it

- Spiritual authority must be understood, embraced, and exercised

1.6 You Are Anointed by The Holy Spirit

Key Verse: Acts 1:8

“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth”

Insights:

- Jesus promised to ‘anoint’ us with the Holy Spirit

- The anointing is an empowering to accomplish the apostolic mandate

- The power of the Holy Spirit enables you to fulfill the assignment God has given you

- Go!

- Preach!

- Heal the sick!

- Cast out demons!

- You must receive instruction from the Father the same way Jesus did, and exercise authority and dominion over the things the Holy Spirit instructs you to

2. Identifying Your Spiritual Territory

2.1 Every Believer can Move Supernaturally

Key Verse: 1Cor 12:7

“But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all”

Insights:

- Every believer has been given something that will advance the Kingdom of God

- Every believer is given opportunity to manifest the life and power of the Spirit of God

- Every believer is called to be an ambassador of heaven (2Cor 5:20)

- Every believer needs to be equipped and prepared for apostolic ministry (Eph 4:11-12)

2.2 Every Believer Has a Spiritual Territory

Key Verse: 2Cor 10:13

“We, however, will not boast beyond measure, but within the limits of the sphere which God appointed us — a sphere which especially includes you. 14 For we are not overextending ourselves (as though our authority did not extend to you), for it was to you that we came with the gospel of Christ; 15 not boasting of things beyond measure, that is, in other men's labors, but having hope, that as your faith is increased, we shall be greatly enlarged by you in our sphere, 16 to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man's sphere of accomplishment NKJV

Insights:

- ‘Metron’ - NT:3358 - a portioned-off measure, a determined extent, a measure or limit

- ‘Kanon’ - NT:3583 - one’s sphere of activity; a definitely bounded or fixed space within the limits of which one’s authority or influence is confined; a province or region assigned to a person

- Every believer has a ministry assignment entrusted to them by the Holy Spirit

- Your ‘metron’ is a territory that God has measured out and given you responsibility for

- Your ‘metron’ is your ministry assignment and responsibility, your sphere of spiritual influence

- Your metron is a specific location where you have a physical presence and spiritual authority. It could be a physical place, or a position of responsibility, or a group of people

- The Lord measures out to you a specific territory in which you can move in power and make the Kingdom of God known

2.3 How to Identify Your Territory ( ‘Metron’)

Key Verse: 2 Cor. 10:15

“Not boasting of things beyond measure that is in other men’s labours but having hope, that as your faith is increased, we shall be greatly enlarged by you in our sphere.”

Insights:

- Paul clearly recognized his territory, the area of assignment and responsibility measured out by God to him

- Paul was careful not to go beyond his territory

- Going beyond your territory can empower evil spirits to operate (witchcraft)

- Every person has a ‘metron’, a spiritual territory.

- It is your responsibility to identify your territory and to govern it

- Your territory includes everything over which God wants you to take responsibility

- Your territory includes:

- Yourself……...spirit, mind, will, emotions, imagination, body, skills

- Your spouse…your relationship

- Your Family…..values, culture, training, discipline, boundaries

- Your money…the management and growth of your finances

- Your home…. maintenance, management, hospitality

- Your possessions……….maintenance, management

- Your job – workplace…spiritual atmosphere, influence

- Your ministry…………….development and growth

- Your community……….relationships, spiritual atmosphere, evangelism, justice (Wherever you are – you are a walking embassy of heaven!)

NOTE A mature believer develops a strong sense of personal boundaries…constantly aware of what he is responsible for and what he is not.

2.4 Your Key Responsibilities

Key Verse: Gen 2:15

“Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and keep it” NKJV

Insights:

- Adam and Eve were entrusted by God with a territory to govern. They were given two primary responsibilities

“Tend” = OT 5647 = to serve, to work as an act of worship, to cultivate or develop,

“Keep” = OT 8104 = to guard, to watch over, to protect from an enemy

- Adam was given responsibility to cultivate his territory as a representative of God and to bring a flow of the life and creativity of heaven to earth

- Adam was also required to protect his territory from destruction and invasion by an enemy

- Adam failed in governing…he became silent and passive in the presence of a spiritual enemy Gen.3:6

2.5 The Consequence for Failure to Govern

Adams failure to govern and to exercise spiritual authority had devastating consequences:

- Broken Relationships

He damaged his relationship with God and with his wife. Gen3:7-12

- Loss of Spiritual Authority

He lost his spiritual authority and yielded it to Satan. Luke4:6

- Oppression and Sickness

He became oppressed by Satan using the authority he had usurped. Eph.2:1-2

- Generational Problems and Curses

The negative consequences of his failure had generational impact. Rom.5:12

Key Verse: Luke 19:12-17, 26

“12 Therefore He said: “A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. 13 So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business till I come.’ 14 But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We will not have this man reign over us.’ 15 And so it was that when he returned, having received the kingdom, he then commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. 16 Then came the first, saying ‘Master, your mina has earned ten minas.’ 17 And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.’

(v26) “For I say to you that to everyone who has will be given; and from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him”

Insights:

- The nobleman going into a far country (v12) is Jesus Christ Himself

- The servants of the nobleman are believers in Christ

- Every believer is a servant of the Lord, entrusted to advance the Kingdom of God

- God expects every believer to be productive (v13)

- It is your responsibility to use your talents and abilities to establish order and become productive within your territory

- At the coming of the Lord, every believer is called to give an account to Him of how productive they have been (v15)

- Servants who have been productive will be commended, and rewarded with increased responsibility and authority (v17)

- Servants who have failed to be productive will be rebuked and experience loss of opportunity, and authority(v26)

- Notice that God takes pleasure in, and rewards, faith, initiative, and perseverance

2.6 Governing Your Spiritual Territory

i) Hold Your Territory in Your Heart in Prayer (Phil.1:6-7)

- Paul held the Philippians in his heart in prayer.

- He was confident that the Spirit of God would continue to move upon them because he held them in his heart in prayer

- To hold someone or something in your heart you must welcome and embrace them in prayer, and assume responsibility to do what God has entrusted you do

- Hurts, difficulties, disappointments, distractions and passivity can cause us to let people and responsibilities go out of our heart.

- When we then draw back and fail to engage, spiritual forces enter and operate.

ii) Seek Direction from the Holy Spirit (Jn.16:13)

- It is the work of the Holy Spirit to give direction and guidance

- Ask for His help. Ask for wisdom. Ask for understanding. Expect a response

iii) Develop a Clear Vision – a Picture of what is possible (Prov.29:18)

- Use your imagination to see the possibilities for your territory

- Be original and creative…your territory is unique, so are you

- Search the Word of God for promises to take hold of (Exod.23:30)

- Write down some specific goals that focus your attention and give vision substance

iv) Arise in your Spirit and use your voice to: (Heb.11:3)

- Subdue opposing spirits ….Decree they are subject to you, forbid their operation.

- Speak the Word of God…..Decree God’s Word and promises over your territory.

v) Become Physically present and Actively Engaged

- In order to have dominion within your territory, you have to demonstrate you presence.

- Your territory must know you are there! You cannot be hidden and exert authority.

- Actively and continually engage in cultivating and developing your territory.

- When working with people you have to build their trust before you can have access into their lives.

- Expect God to work and be proactive to all opportunities that arise.

- Persevere! Don’t yield when unexpected difficulties or resistance arise (Heb.10:36)

3. How You Exercise Spiritual Authority

3.1 The Example of Jesus

Key Verse: Luke 4:36

“They were all amazed and spoke among themselves, saying, ‘What a word this is!’ For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits and they come out”

Insights:

- Jesus had just cast out an unclean spirit from a man, by exercising His spiritual authority

- ‘Authority’ - NT:1849 - ‘Exousia’ (Greek): the power of rule or government; the delegated legal right to speak and act on behalf of a King

- Authority is a delegated and legal right to speak or initiate action

- Example: a policeman in uniform has a delegated right to speak and act on behalf of the Government

- ‘Power’ - NT:1849 - ‘Dunamis’ (Greek): the supernatural strength and ability to carry out a task

- Jesus received His authority from His Heavenly Father, as part of His commission

- Through intimacy and obedience He maintained His authority and power (John 5:19)

- Jesus exercised His authority by strong forceful verbal command (v 35)

- The power Jesus demonstrated was the Holy Spirit flowing through Him (Matt 12:28)

3.2 What Jesus Accomplished on Our Behalf

Key Verses: Col 2:12-15

“ And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. NKJV

Insights:

- All through Jesus life He walked in obedience and overcame every assault of Satan against Him.

- Jesus acted as the representative of all mankind and disarmed all spiritual principalities and powers by His death and resurrection

- “Disarmed” = NT 554 =to strip off all clothes or weapons, to totally put off

- “Triumphed” = NT = to celebrate a complete and decisive victory over ones enemies

- Jesus victory at the cross caused a complete transfer of spiritual authority to take place from those defeated to the triumphant conqueror.

- Satan lost all “legal rights” over humanity that Adam had surrendered to him in the garden.

- All authority in heaven and earth now legally belongs to him as the triumphant victor and the champion of humanity Mt.28:18

- At the Cross Jesus has legally broken the power of:

- Sin Col.2:14

- Curses Gal.3:13

- Griefs and trauma Is.53:4

- Sicknesses Is.53:5

- Iniquity Is.53:5

- Followers of Christ, joined to His Spirit and abiding in Him, are raised to a new level to share with Him in His victory and authority

- Followers of Jesus have been delegated authority to speak and act on His behalf to advance His Kingdom

- In spite of the cross the majority of people still give the Devil legal rights to enter and manipulate their lives

3.3 You Have Been Given Spiritual Authority

Key Verse: Luke 10:19

“Behold, I give you the authority (exousia) to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power (dunamis) of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you”

Insights:

- Jesus was responding to testimonies given by the seventy disciples of their dominion over demonss

- ‘Authority’ - NT:1849 - the power or right to give a command or to exercise force

- ‘Serpents and scorpions’ - symbols of evil spirits and demonic powers

- Jesus identifies them as our enemy, ones that hate and desire to hurt us

- God gives every believer spiritual authority

- Spiritual Authority flows out of:

1. Our status (standing ) with God (Rom 5:1-2)

2. Our continuing relationship with God (John 15:5)

3. Our yielding to the power of the Holy Spirit, by faith (Matt 12:28)

3.4 Insights on the Believer’s Authority

- We do not own it – it is an entrustment from God (John 6:38)

- We must use it rightly – for the purpose it was given (2 Cor 13:10)

- We must not presume – do not act out of pride or independence (Matt 7:21 -23)

- We are accountable – to the One who gave us authority (Rom 14:12)

3.5 What You have Authority to Do

Key Verse: John 14:12

“Most assuredly I say unto you, he who believes in me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to My Father’

Insights:

- Jesus has entrusted you (a believer) with His authority and power

- You are called to do the supernatural works that Jesus did

- You must choose to exercise the authority entrusted you as a member of God’s family

Examples:

You have been given authority to act as a representative of Jesus and to:

- Preach the Gospel Mt.28:18-19

- Make Disciples Mt.28:18-19

- Bless (Speak empowered words) Mt.10:12-13

- Break Bondages Is.10:27

- Break Curses Mt.16:19

- Cast Out Demons Mt.10:8 - Authority to Heal the Sick Mt.10:8

- Raise from the Dead Mt.10:8

- Bind and Loose Mt.16:19

- Forgive Jn.20:23

3.6 Keys to Exercising Spiritual Authority

i. Faith: Know Who You Are – Your Standing With God

Key Verse: Rom 8:15-16“

For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear; but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father”. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God”

Insights:

- Your authority flows out of the position (status) that God has given you

- Spiritual authority is part of who you are….who God says you are

- You carry authority in the spirit realm because you are a child of God, a member of a royal family

- To exercise spiritual authority you must be confident who you are – an ambassador!

ii. Humility: Position Yourself Under Authority

Key Verse: James 4:7

“Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you” NKJ

Insights:

- ‘Submit’ – NT:5293 – to place yourself under the authority of a superior officer so as to work together to gain a military victory

- Submission is an attitude of humility that recognizes and yields to the authority of God and to those He has delegated authority to

- Positioning yourself under the authority and direction of the Holy Spirit enables you to move in authority

- e.g. The Centurion in Matt 8: 8-10 – submission to the Word of God= great faith

- ‘Resist”=NT:436=to stand against, oppose, withstand

iii. Revelation : Listen to The Voice of God

Key Verse: John 5:19-20

“ Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever he does, the Son also does in like manner. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.”

Insights:

- Jesus’ authority flowed out of His position as a Son, and also out of personal intimacy

- Jesus never presumed or acted independently

- He was submitted to the Father to do the things that pleased Him

- As you have fellowship and develop intimacy with God, your authority grows

- To exercise authority on behalf of God, you must know what He wants to accomplish

iv. Use Your Voice: Speak Forth Strong Verbal Commands

Key Verse: Mark 11:22-23

“So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.”

Insights:

- The entire invisible spirit world is listening when we direct words toward it

- To assert authority you must do it vocally, by issuing a command

- Command (Webster’s Dictionary) - to issue an order with expectation that it will be carried out

- The spirit world cannot turn a deaf ear to the commands of God’s anointed servants who are speaking and acting on His behalf

- Jesus commanded:

- Sickness (Luke 4:39)

- Demons (Mark 9:25)

- Winds (Luke 8:24)

- Trees (Mark 11:14)

- Dead people (Luke 7:14)

v. Boldness: Speak as Jesus Representative

Key Verse: Acts 16:18

“And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, ‘I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.’ And he came out that very hour”

Insights:

- ‘In the Name of Jesus’ means you are acting as Jesus’ personal representative upon the earth

- It means you are acting directly under His authority

- It means that you are doing what He requires to be done

- You are Jesus’ ambassador bringing Heaven to earth

- It is not some ‘magic formula’ for power to flow

- It means you speak as the representative of Jesus as He would speak, forcefully

vi. Active Faith: Expect a Response to Your Command

Key Verse: Mark 11: 22-24

“Have faith in God. 23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. 24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. NKJV

Insights:

- Commanding must be forceful, strong, and must flow from within your spirit man

- Spiritual kingdoms are enforced by spirits that ride upon, or are activated by, words spoken by someone with authority to do so

- ‘Not doubt in your heart’ - there must be confident expectation that the words you speak carry weight i.e. will be heard and responded to!

- God’s Word is more than sounds and sentences. It describes reality.

- The words you speak must be empowered by faith from your heart or it is simply sounds and noises

Examples:

- - Peter: “In the Name of Jesus Christ rise up and walk” (Acts 3:6)

- Paul: “... said with a loud voice ‘stand up straight on your feet’ ...” (Acts 14:10)

- Paul: “Said to the spirit ‘I command you in the Name of Jesus Christ come out of him” (Acts 16:18)

- Peter: “… turning to the body and said, ‘Tabitha, arise!’ And she opened her eyes”(Acts 9:40)

Note The Pattern:

Revelation + Words Spoken + Active Faith = Manifestation of Holy Spirit

4. Exercising Authority in Your Personal Life

4.1 The First Place to Gain Dominion – Yourself

Key Verse: Eph 4:27

“Nor give place to the devil”

Insights:

- This is written to believers

- ‘Place’ - NT:5117 - opportunity, foothold, legal ground or right

- The first place to gain victory is over your own life

- You must recognize strategies that evil spirits use to manipulate and control your life

- You must close these ‘gates’ or doors or legal rights of entrance

- Jesus gave the devil no place in His life (John 14:30) i.e. no legal right

4.2 Wicked Spirits Seek to Make You Ineffective

Key Verse: 2 Cor. 2:11

“Lest Satan should take advantage of us for we are not ignorant of his devices” NKJV

Insights:

- ‘Advantage’ - NT:4122 - to defraud, to take what belongs to another by deceit

- ‘Ignorant’ - NT:50 - to lack knowledge or information, or to ignore as irrelevant or requiring effort

Key Verse: Eph.2:2

“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience” NKJV

- Works=NT:1754=to be operative, to put forth power, to energize

- Demonic spirits use legal rights to enter people and to work constantly using spiritual power or energy to oppress and destroy. People experience the negative pressure or energy and think it is just themselves

- Demonic spirits “hold down “ people without them realizing the source of the bondage or oppression Act10:38

4.3 Common Personal Area Spirits Attack

Evil spirits pressure or attack people in the following ways:

1. Body – addictions, sickness, weakness, weariness

2. Soul – conflict, emotional turmoil, accusation, temptation

3. Spirit – heaviness, oppression, passivity

4. Finances – unexplained damage, loss, accidents, theft

5. Relationships – confusion, offense, misunderstandings

6. Circumstances – setbacks, blockages, irritations, accidents

You must learn how to arise, exercise dominion over these areas and break free of any limitation caused by demonic spirits

4.4 Close the Spiritual Gates of Your Past

Key Verse: Matt 16:18

“And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, 19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." NKJV

Insights:

- ‘Gate’ - a portal through which spirits pass from the spirit world into the natural world to destroy. They are legal rights that empower demons to operate

- Legal rights that exist for evil spirits to access your life must be identified and closed

- You have authority to shut down these gates Mt.16:19

- God has promised you the victory James 4:7

4.5 Common Legal Rights (Gates) That Evil Spirits Exploit

Key Verse: Acts 10:38

“God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him”. NKJV

- ‘Oppressed’=NT: 2616= to exercise dominion against, to hold down by the exercise of spiritual power

- Everywhere a legal right exists, evil spirits will exploit it to enter and bring spiritual pressure on your life that restricts and limits your freedom and steals from you the rights and benefits that Jesus won for us on the Cross.

- There are several common “gates” that evil spirits exploit.

i) Generational Sins and Curses Exod.20:4-6

- Some of the gateways began in your ancestral line and the consequences were passed down from generation to generation.

- Some curses can be passed down from the 3rd or 4th generation

- Sexual sins can have an ongoing impact for 10 generations Dt.23:2

- Sometimes family lines are weakened and infected with recurring patterns of sin

- Examine your family tree and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal patterns of sin and failure that appear in other members of your family. Are you under pressure and struggle with these issues too?

- You have authority to renounce and cancel all generational curses

ii) Dedications - Ps 106:37

- ‘Dedicate’ (Webster’s Dictionary) - to set apart, or devote to a god, or for a special purpose

- People from Asian, African, or American Indian ancestry may have been dedicated to false gods and evil spirits as an infant

- These ungodly dedications provide a legal right for evil spirits to enter and oppress

- You have authority to renounce and to cancel any such dedication

iii) Ungodly Soul Ties-Gen.34:3

- A soul tie is a bonding or close attachment formed between two people.

- Soul ties can be godly and have a positive effect on relationships

E.g. husband and wife, parent and child.

- Soul ties can be ungodly and have a negative impact on your life

E.g. Sexual partners….The two become one.

- There are several common sources of ungodly soul ties that provide a gate for evil spirits to operate against you.

- People can be soul tied to…..sexual partners, sexual images, controlling or enabling people, idols, traumas, abusive people, dead people, or through blood pacts, tattoos, and possibly blood transfusions and heart transplants

- You have authority to renounce and break all ungodly soul ties

iv) Ungodly or Negative Beliefs Mt.9:29

- The things that you believe in your heart influence the course of your life Prov.23:7

- “Think”=OT8176: to act as a gatekeeper, put a value upon, split open

- Negative beliefs are usually in the form of judgments or negative expectations made often as a result of painful or bitter experiences

- These ungodly beliefs create legal rights for demonic spirits to operate Jn.8:44

- Judgments also activate a law of sowing and reaping Mt.7:1-2

- You have authority to renounce and cancel all ungodly beliefs and judgments

v) Vows – Ecc. 5:2,6

- A vow is a solemn promise, pledge, or personal commitment, made verbally

- Ancestral vows are commitments made by members of your ancestral line that open the door for demonic oppression e.g. spiritualism, idolatry, freemasonry

- Personal vows are words spoken into your life that open the door for demonic oppression. They are “Inner Vows”

- They are formed in a time of pain and take the form “ I will NEVER….” or “I will….”..

- You have authority to cancel all such vows or agreements

vi) Word Curses – Prov. 26:2

- A curse is words spoken that release evil spirits to destroy

- The power behind a curse is an evil spirit

- Common word curses may originate from:

- Parents or close relatives

- Teachers or authority figures

- Self-cursing….speaking negatively over your own life

- A common form of self cursing is a “death wish”…”I just wish I was dead”

- You have authority to break all such curses

vii) Sin Habits- Eph 4:27

- Sinful actions of ancestors, or your own personal sin, can open the door to oppressive evil spirits

- Habits or patterns of repeated sin can create legal rights for evil spirits to enter and to energize these problems in your life

- E.g. bitterness, unforgiveness, anger, rebellion, lust, envy

- You have authority to break any power evil spirits may have gained in your family or personal life through sin

4.6 Keys to Closing the Gates

1. Pray strongly in tongues - energize your spirit

2. Listen for direction of the Holy Spirit – Revelation

3. Speak words strongly from your spirit to:

- Repent of any personal sin and confess it. 1Jn.1:9

- Release forgiveness to those who have hurt you

- Renounce any curse/dedication /soul tie/inner vow/word curse/ungodly belief

- Break any demonic claims, cancel their right of access, command them to go

- Decree blessing over your life

4.7 How to Recognize Spiritual Attacks

Key Verse: Rev 12:10-11

“Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, ‘Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcome him (the Accuser) by the Blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death”

Insights:

- Demonic pressure against the life of a believer is unrelenting - “day and night” (v10)

- Spiritual attacks are primarily aimed at undermining your standing before God so that your spiritual authority is lost

- Spiritual attacks come in the form of

- Accusations

- Heaviness

- Temptations

- Confusion

- Oppression

- “Overcome” =NT3528 =subdue, conquer, come off victoriously

- “Blood”=The work that Jesus did legally on our behalf at the cross

- “Word”=Spoken declaration and affirmation of the truth

- “Loved not their lives”=perseverance in doing the will of God in the face of resistance and opposition

- You have authority to arise and defeat all such spiritual attacks

4.8 How to Deal with Spiritual Attacks

Key Verse: James 4:7

“Submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you”

Insights:

- ‘Submit’ - NT:5293 - to position yourself under the leadership and authority of Jesus Christ

- ‘Resist’ - NT:436 - to stand against, to reply by speaking aloud

- ‘Flee’ - NT:5343 - to seek safety by running away, to run away from danger

Keys to Overcoming:

- Identify what you are feeling, experiencing

- What triggered that feeling? What actions? events? reactions? thoughts?

- Pray strongly in tongues - energize your spirit

- Listen for any promptings of the Holy Spirit e.g. insights or directions

- Is there something you need to acknowledge? repent of? release? renounce?

- Speak directly into the invisible spirit world

- Forbid the operation of that spirit in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ - assert your authority

- Speak the Word of God over your life/situation

- Praise the Lord (Ps 8:2)

- Redirect your attention (Mt.6:22)

4.9 Self-Deliverance

Key Verse: Prov. 6: 4-5

“Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids. 5 Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, and like a bird from the hand of the fowler.”

Insights:

- Satan is called the “fowler”, one who hunts, traps and destroys wild birds

- Wild animals trapped in a snare struggle violently to break free

- God commands His people (us) to “Deliver yourself” – to seek our own deliverance (v5)

- God puts responsibility in our hands to seek and find freedom from Satan’s snares

- Deliverance is a matter of urgency (v4)

- Deliverance requires co-operation with God (Ps 91:3)

Steps to Self-Deliverance

Key Verse: James 4:7

“Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you”

i. Preparation

- Prayer and fasting  (Matt 17:21)

- Repentance of known sin (Prov. 28:13; 2 Tim 2:24-26)

- Forgiveness of others and self (Mark 11:25-26)

ii. Direct Confrontation

- Energize your spirit by strongly praying in tongues (1 Cor. 14:14)

- Listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit as to exactly what issues you need to confront

- Strongly declare your personal faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour (Rom 10:9-10)

- Repent of any sin and confess it 1Jn.1:9

- Release forgiveness and blessing to people who have hurt you Mk.11:25

- Speak strongly and break any soul ties or curses, in Jesus’ name

- Speak strongly from within your spirit to any spirits inhabiting your soul or body

- Speak directly to the spirit

- Speak to it by name, or activity

- Command it to go!

- Insist that it leaves

- Cough as a faith action to expel the spirit [spirit ‘pneuma’ (Greek): breathe]

Note #1: There may be manifestations, for example:

- Headaches

- Nausea

- Weakness

- Shaking

- Crying

- Strong coughing

Note #2: Often spirits leave through the respiratory tract i.e. mouth and nose, for example:

- yawning

- coughing

- belching

- vomiting

As the deliverance progresses, you may feel a release of pressure or relived of a burden, and instead feel light and clean inside

Persist until you feel there is total release!

iii. Follow Through

- Spend time daily in praise and worship

- Discipline your life – stop sinning

- Daily be filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues

- Are there any further issues to resolve?

5. Your Authority to Minister to People

5.1 You are Authorized to do the Works of Jesus

Key Verse: John 14:12

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he shall do also; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to my Father”

Insights:

- “The works that I do” - miracles, signs and wonders

- Jesus was sent by the Father and authorized to speak and act on His behalf

- Believers are sent by Jesus Christ (John 20:21) and authorized to speak and act on His behalf

5.2 You Are Anointed to Minister

Key verse: Luke 4:18-19

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord”

Insights:

- Jesus was sent (authorized) to speak and act on behalf of the Father in heaven

- Jesus was anointed (empowered) by the Holy Spirit to do miracles, and minister to the needs of people

- You are sent (authorized) and anointed (empowered) by the Holy Spirit to minister to people

5.3 You Have Authority To:

i) Lead People to Christ

“… He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor …” Luke 4:18

- Every believer is authorized to share the Gospel

- Every believer is authorized to lead people to Christ

- You need to be confident in how to do this by preparing a simple Gospel Message

- Only the Holy Spirit can convict a person of their need for Christ and regenerate them (Acts 8:35-38)

- Your part is to connect with people, and be sensitive to opportunities to share

ii) Invite The Holy Spirit

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me …” Luke 4:18

- The Holy Spirit empowers you to minister

- Listen to His promptings and directions

- You are authorized to pray for people to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 19:6)

- Prayer makes room for the Spirit of God to move powerfully (Acts 4:31)

iii) Minister Inner Healing

“… He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted...” Luke 4:18

- When people are hurt in relationships they may become ‘broken hearted’

- Negative emotions such as fear, grief, anger, bitterness may prevail

- People often form defensive inner reactions as a coping mechanism

- Demons use pain, stress, and trauma to enter people’s lives

- You are authorized to minister healing to the broken hearted (Mark 1:41)

iv) Cast Out Evil Spirits

“… to proclaim liberty to the captives …” Luke 4:18

- ‘Captive’ - NT:164 - prisoner of war, held at spear-point

- Jesus’ ministry constantly involved casting out spirits (Matt 12:28)

- You are authorized to cast spirits out of people - You are authorized to continue this work of Jesus (Acts 16:16)

v) Heal The Sick

“… and recovery of sight to the blind…” Luke 4:18

- Sickness is not the plan of God for man

- Sickness originates from the devil

- Healing the sick demonstrates the authority of Jesus Christ over all the devil’s powers (Matt 8:16)

- You are authorized to continue this work of Jesus (Acts 3:6-8)

vi) Break Bondages

“… to set at liberty those who are oppressed…” Luke 4:18

- ‘Bondage’ (Webster’s Dictionary) - being subjected to some external power or control, being chained or restricted

- Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 4:8)

- Examples of Bondages

- Inner Vows

- Bitter-Root Judgments

- Death Wishes

- Soul Ties

- Word curses

- Ungodly Burdens e.g. secrecy

- You are authorized to break bondages and set people free

vii) Bless and Impart

" to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord” Luke 4:19

- This refers to the Jewish year of Jubilee (Lev 25)

- In this year debts were forgiven and people came into the blessing of their inheritance

- You are authorized to forgive and release (John 20:23)

- You are authorized to bless

- ‘Bless’ - NT:2127 –to speak well of, to speak words that impart encouragement and spiritual life (Luke 24:50)

- You are authorized to impart the Life of God, the anointing of the Holy Spirit

- ‘Impart’ – NT:3330 – to share, to release into the life of another the spiritual empowerment that you possess (Rom 1:1)

5.4 Practical Considerations

Key Verses: Mark 11:22-24

“So Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

Insights:

- Listen to the Holy Spirit - don’t presume

- Ask the person for permission to minister

- Explain what will happen

- What their part is

- What your part is

- Ask permission before laying hands on the person

- Spiritual authority must be exercised by speaking words into the spirit world, and directly to the issue

The Key Pattern

Revelation + Words Spoken + Active Faith = Manifestation of the Power of the Holy Spirit

6. Strengthening Your Spirit Man

6.1 Divine Design

Key Verse: Gen. 2:7

“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living soul”

Insights:

- Man is made in the image of God – He is a spirit being

- You are a Spirit being, with a soul, dwelling in a body

- Your Spirit does not function according to the natural laws which govern this world

- Your Spirit is not limited in shape or size

- Your Spirit provides energy and life force to your body and soul

- Spiritual authority flows out from within Your spirit (Prov 4:23)

6.2 Some Functions of Your Spirit

i) Your Spirit Sustains Your Life

Key Verse: James 2:26

“For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also”

Insights:

- Your Spirit provides energy and life to your soul and body

- If the Spirit of a person is withdrawn, that person dies

- Your Spirit can be broken (Prov 17:22)

- Your Spirit can be wounded (Prov 18:14)

- When your Spirit is broken or wounded you have less resistance to disease

ii) Your Spirit Energizes and Inspires Your Thoughts

Key Verse: Prov. 20:27

“The spirit of a man is the lamp of the LORD, searching all the inner depths of his heart”

1 Cor 2:11

“For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God”

Insights:

- Your spirit provides life and energy that flows (Prov. 4:23)

- When your spirit flows, you are able to think clearly

- As you speak and your spirit flows forth, your mind is ‘quickened’ with thoughts

- Your spirit is like a flashlight, lighting up your soul and revealing your thoughts

- The life of your spirit can manifest on your face

- When people are full of life there is a spiritual brightness or ‘glow’ on their face (Ps 34:5)

iii) Your Spirit Flows Out To Impact People

Key Verse: Prov. 4:23

“Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it flows the issues of life”

John 7:38

He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water”

Insights:

- The influence of your spirit can ‘flow’ out beyond your body and impact the world around you eg

- You ‘feel’ a person sneaking up behind you

- You ‘feel’ a person staring at you

- You ‘feel’ the presence of a person with authority

- The influence of a person’s spirit can be ‘felt’ eg

- A very angry person - people ‘feel’ the anger

- A peaceful person - people ‘feel’ the peace

- A person full of self-pity - people ‘feel’ the drain

- An arrogant person - people ‘feel’ put down

- Speaking words is one way in which your spirit is released to flow out and impact people (John 6:63)

6.3 Your Spirit can be Strengthened

Key Verse: Eph 3:16

“that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man”

Insights:

- The “inner man” refers to your spirit, which is joined to the Holy Spirit

- ‘Strengthened’ - NT:2901 - to be empowered, made strong, increase in dominion and might

- ‘Might’ - NT:1411 - supernatural ability, force, militant ability

- The source of this Strengthening of your spirit is the Holy Spirit Himself

- Believers must take responsibility to develop and strengthen their spirit

- Your spirit can be strengthened - “and the child (Jesus) grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom. And the grace of God was upon Him” (Luke 2:40)

6.4 Keys to Strengthening Your Spirit

i. Praying Strongly in Tongues

Key Verses: 1 Cor. 14:14, 4

“for if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prays but my understanding is unfruitful” (v 14)

“He who speaks in an unknown tongue edifies himself” (v 4)

Insights:

- Praying in Tongues exercises your spirit

- Praying in Tongues gives expression to words inspired by the Holy Spirit

- Praying in Tongues strongly and fluently, strengthens and builds your spirit

- As you speak, spirit, soul, and body are energized with life

- ‘Edifies’ - NT:3618 - to build or construct a house

- Pray in the spirit strongly and fluently keeping your mind focused on God

ii. Confession of The Word of God

Key Verse: John 6:63

“The words that I speak to you are spirit and they are life”

Heb 3:1

“consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus” Insights:

- Spoken words release spiritual substance, spirit life

- God’s Words spoken from our spirit and wholeheartedly embraced impart spiritual strength and life

- ‘Confession’ - NT:3671 - to speak the same thing, or to speak and embrace with confidence

- Confessing the Word of God activates the High Priest ministry of Jesus to open heaven’s resources to us

- Strong, personalized confession of the Word of God embraced fully, strengthens your spirit e.g. “I am strong in the Lord and in the Power of His Might” (Eph 6:10)

- Your spirit is nourished by the Word of God, so read it, write it, memorize it, pray it aloud, meditate in it

iii. Worship – Intimacy with God

Key Verse: 2 Cor. 3:18

“But we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord”

Insights:

- As we engage God in Worship there is a flow of life imparted from His Spirit to ours There is an impartation of His Glory - His Nature and goodness to us

- Strong praise enables our spirit to rise and to encounter and experience the presence of God

- Our spirit easily engages the presence of God. It is our souls and bodies that need training to allow our spirit to flow

- Train your body to yield and to be expressive in worship. Focus your soul by training your thoughts to stay fixed on Jesus until you feel your spirit arise and flow freely

- ‘Transformed’ - NT:3339 - metamorphosis, inner and outer transformation

iv. Exercising Your Spiritual Imagination

Key Verse: 1 Tim 4:15

“Meditate on these things; give yourself entirely to them, that your progress might be evident to all”

Insights:

- ‘Meditate’ - NT:3191 - to revolve in the mind, focus your interest upon, give repeated attention to, constantly picture in your mind

- Whatever you focus your attention upon you will open your heart up to

- Repeated use of your spiritual imagination to picture and agree with the realities of God’s Word opens your spirit to receive revelation and impartation

- Allow yourself to ‘feel’ the reality of your thoughts

- Repetition of an experience forms ‘pathways’ in your mind, making it easier to experience God again

v. Yielding To Obey The Holy Spirit

Key Verse: Heb 5:14

“who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil”

Insights:

- Spiritual sensitivity is developed by practice

- ‘Use’ - NT:1838 - something developed by regular practice so it is part of your life

- ‘Exercise’ - NT:1128 - to practice for the Olympics by casting off every hindrance

- Practice constantly identifying spiritual impressions and sensations

- Practice speaking forth and exercising your God-given authority over your body, soul and circumstances

- Each time you obey the Holy Spirit your spirit becomes stronger

- Each time you resist the Devil your spirit becomes stronger

- “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the lord and in the power of His might” (Eph 6:10)

***************

Appendix

A. Keys to Ministering in the Spirit

1. Identity

- God has made you a Minister of The Spirit (2 Cor. 3:6)

- You are joined to the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:17)

- You are not there to pray ‘nice’ empty prayers, but to release the Kingdom of God into the earth to bring about a miracle

- That Kingdom is outside you - it is also within you

- “Look on us…such as I have I give to you.” (Acts 3:4-6)

2. Connection

- Connect with the person

- Don’t withdraw because of feelings of inadequacy

- Take hold of the person’s hand (Mark 1:31; 8:23; 9:27)

- Relax - Don’t try to “make something happen”

- Look them in the eye - connect with your heart (Mark 1: 41)

- Direct them to “look up” to Jesus the source (Mark 6:41)

- Meditate…become conscious of the presence of God by focusing your thoughts on Him and on His abundant love and power

- Notice what you are feeling? Thinking? Conscious of?

- Keep your mind directed towards God - your Source (Luke 9:16)

- Be aware of the presence of God within you - and the presence of God coming upon the person

3. Attitude

- Your spirit responds to your thoughts and attitude

- Whatever you direct your mind to, your spirit opens up to

- Fear and self consciousness will close up your spirit

- As you minister, keep directing your thoughts toward the Lord in expectation

- Have an attitude of expectation for the Holy Spirit to move and listen actively

- Be yourself - don’t try to ‘perform’ or be ‘spiritual’

4. Verbal Command

- Power is released by Command

- Assert spiritual authority by verbal command (Luke 10:19)

- You must put your inner man into the words you speak (Mark 11.23)

- Command demons to go (Acts 16:18)

- Command sickness to leave (Acts 3: 6)

- Break bondages by verbal command (Mark 11:23)

- Speak words of life (Acts 9:40)

5. Impartation

- Power is released by Impartation

- Paul desired to impart spiritual Gifts (Rom 1:11)

- ‘Impart’ (Webster’s Dictionary) - to share something you possess (2 Tim 1:6)

- Impartation occurs as a flow from within you (Luke 6:19)

- You must give from within your spirit (1 Cor 6:17)

- Lay hands on their head and release what you have e.g. by speaking and/or by breathing on them (John 20:22)

B. Practical Ministry Guidelines

1. Personal

- Personal hygiene:

- Make sure to use deodorant!

- Keep your breath fresh - use Breath Fresheners

- Wear light, loose, modest clothing

2. Connect and Relate

- Be honest with them

- Be willing to take time

- Keep confidences shared (unless you need to refer their situation on)

- Treat people with respect

- Where possible, woman prays with women, and men with men.

- Otherwise have a person of the opposite sex preferably your spouse working with you

3. Prepare People to Receive

- Encourage people with words

- Explain their part in co-operating with ministry

- Be willing to confront root sin issues

- Build expectation that God will move

- Ask permission to minister to people - don’t presume

- Ask permission to lay hands upon them - don’t presume

- Keep your hands in view and ensure touch is appropriate

- Be cautious about where you lay hands eg head, shoulders

4. Possible Experiences as You Minister

The person you are praying for may experience some of the following sensations

- Shaking

- Body or hands stiffen

- Eyelids flutter

- Sensation of heat

- Tears /Grief

- Falling:

- make sure a catcher is positioned to catch the person safely

- place one hand behind the person’s neck to help prevent them suddenly falling backwards, and possibly hurting themselves

- Demons manifest

- Don’t focus on, or require, manifestations

5. Be Aware of ‘Blocks’ to Ministry

a) Personal Blocks

- Fear - focus attention on the Lord - ‘see’ Him blessing

- Self Consciousness - focus attention on the Lord

- Pressure to perform - relax and stop ‘trying’

- Unresolved issues - deal with these quickly

- Lack of Prayer - expect His Grace - and change!

b) Ministry Blocks

- Unforgiveness - lead them to forgive

- Lack of repentance - lead them to repent

- Unbelief - rebuke demonic spirits

- Control - rebuke demonic spirits

6. Stay sensitive to the Holy Spirit

- Don’t lean on methods or experience

- Lean on The Holy Spirit to direct you

- Listen for Holy Spirit promptings

- Respond to impressions the Holy Spirit gives you eg a word, a picture, or a sensation

- Ensure a ‘Catcher’ is standing behind them, and is alert

- Avoid ‘pushing’ or ‘rocking’ them, as you minister

- Speak and release the Power of God

7. Get Feedback

- Where possible get feedback from the person you ministered to

- Ask what they have experienced, or what they thought took place

- Be willing to pray again

- Never instruct anyone to stop taking any prescribed medicine - the occurrence of a miracle should be verified by their doctor, who is responsible to determine whether medication should be stopped or not

C. House Cleansing

1. The Clean House

Key Verse: Deut 7:25-26

“You shall burn the carved images of their gods with fire; you shall not covet the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be snared by it; for it is an abomination to the Lord your God. Nor shall you bring an abomination into your house, lest you be doomed to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest it and utterly abhor it, for it is an accursed thing.”

Insights:

- ‘Snared’ - OT:3369 - to set a trap, lay a snare, to catch using a baited trap

- Evil spirits are able to enter and inhabit objects used for idolatry and occult practices

- Sometimes occult practitioners invoke spirits into objects before selling them to others

- These objects then become spiritual gates or portals through which evil spirits can gain access to homes and oppress people

- Evil spirits are able to enter and inhabit dwellings whenever people invite them or open the spiritual door to them

- Idolatry, spiritism, occult practices, sexual abuse and violent crime can open the door for evil spirits to enter a home and remain there

- God warned Israel not to bring defiled objects into their houses (v26)

- God commanded Israel to “utterly detest” such objects and destroy them even if they had financial value (v25)

- Houses need to be cleansed of demonic defilement and become a place full of the presence of God

2. Common Indications That a House Needs Cleansing

- Unexplained noises or sounds at night

- Objects move spontaneously

- Doors open and close without people moving

- Spirit beings appear at night

- Unexplained areas of ‘coldness’

- Constant sickness

- Constant oppression or heaviness

- Recurring nightmares

- Constant relational turmoil or conflict in relationships

- Young children terrified of unseen beings

Note: If these symptoms occurred for the first time after entering a new dwelling place, the problem is most likely demonic infestation of the building

3. Key Areas to Deal With In House Cleansing

Key Verse: Deut 7:2

“and when the Lord your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them.”

Insights:

- God delivered the enemy over into the hands of Israel as His authorized representative

- God required Israel to conquer and utterly destroy the defiled inhabitants of Canaan

- God called Israel to adopt a policy of no compromise

- You cannot compromise with demonic spirits

Principal Sources of Defilement

1. Defilement caused by the presence of ungodly objects in the building

2. Defilement caused by the activities of previous inhabitants

3. Defilement caused by curses on the building or land

4. Objects That Cause Defilement

Some common objects that act as spiritual gates for evil spirits are:

i) Pagan objects of art

- Certain statues

- Pictures that glorify false gods, or sex

ii)Idols or occult objects

- Objects used in spiritism

- Occult jewellery

- Masonic regalia or items

- Occult books

- Ouija boards

- Occult toys

- Some music items

- Some video games

iii)Pornography

- Pictures

- Magazines

- DVDs/Video Clips/Movies

iv) Illegal drugs

Note:

- You have responsibility/authority only over your own possessions

- Parents have responsibility over the whole home

- Wisdom is needed in handling objects owned by children/teens

- Some objects are neutral, some are clearly occultic or defiled

- Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you concerning the different objects

5. Practical Steps in House Cleansing

a) Seek Revelation and Wisdom

- - Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal what legal rights need to be addressed, what physical objects need to be dealt with (Revelation)

- - Ask Him to guide you in the process (Wisdom)

b) Destroy Defiling Objects

- Identify obviously defiling objects in the house and remove them to be destroyed (Acts 19:19)

- Pray over objects that you are less certain about

- Let the Holy Spirit guide you as to whether to just pray over the object, or get rid of it altogether

c) Displace Defiling Spirits

- Pray strongly in tongues and exalt Jesus Christ

- Vocally affirm the Lordship of Jesus Christ

- Speak strongly into the spirit atmosphere, and directly to any spirit that is present

- Break/cancel all agreements made by previous tenants, with evil spirits

- Break all curses that have opened the door for evil spirits to enter and inhabit

- Command the spirits to go from your house – be insistent!

- Welcome the Holy Spirit to come and fill the place with His Presence and Power

- You may decide to move from room to room, repeating the process

- Apply oil to anoint the room if you feel led to do so by the Holy Spirit

The Apostolic Mandate (1 of 6)

Mon 11 Feb 2013  « Back to Top

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Jesus authority to do miracles came from the Father, who SENT him. We are also 'apostolic' because we are SENT, as as ambassadors of heaven, to fulfil our task with kingly authority. It is important we discover for ourselves what God has called us to do, and passionately pursue the mission that God has wired into our heart. It requires we take ownership of it; see people as God sees them, and execute on earth the judgements of heaven.

As in the other seminar we'll have some activations for you to do, and the activations are to develop and to build your inner life, so let's start with Session One. You see the sessions, we've outlined there various things, one of them I'll break into two. Number one is on the apostolic mandate; number two is on spiritual territory and number three, on how you exercise spiritual authority, then four, how you exercise it in your own life. Then we want to speak about your authority to minister to people, and then give you some practical things on how to build your spirit man, build the inner man, because everything you do that flows in the realm of the spirit, requires you strengthen your inner man. If we have some time we'll share with you some practical things just on ministering the spirit and how to flow with the Holy Ghost.

We will have some activations, things for you to do, because that will help you just get your spirit alive, and we'll give you some practical things of what you can do to raise the spiritual energy in your life, and also how you actually go about releasing spiritual authority. Okay then, so let's look on 1.1 and everything's got pages to it, so they're all numbered so we can find them very easily. So firstly the apostolic mandate, and let me ask you this question: if you knew that where you live in the community, God had sent you there, because He had something for you to accomplish, how would that affect the way you relate to the people and how you lived your life? If you believe that the workplace that you are working in, God actually sent you there with an assignment, how would that affect the way you relate to all the other workers, and the way you treat people, and the way you respond to problems and difficulties?

If you believe that wherever you go, you are a person on assignment, how would that affect the way you would relate to people, and to struggles and pressures and difficulties that come? I believe that if we thought that way it would change totally how we live our life. It's just we don't see we're on assignment, we don't see that at all. We just get busy with our life and so what I want to do in this first session is just look at the area of the apostolic mandate. We have a tendency to think that to become a Christian means that you come to Jesus, you're connected to Him, the spirit of God is in you, and then you're going to go to heaven. This is only a half of the story, and if you've only got a half of the story, then you haven't really got it all at all, so the full story is this: that when we receive Jesus into our life, the spirit of God comes in, we are connected to the spirit of God. We're connected to heaven, but we are given a mandate to restore the community we live in, or to change and bring what is around us into harmony with heaven. We're called to bring heaven into the earth.

Now this is the missional aspect of the church that is every believer's calling. We tend to think well missionaries are just people you send out overseas but no, the reality is the church is called to be missional in mind. In other words every person is a missionary, a sent person. Every person is called to embrace the missional aspect of what God has called them to do, so notice what it says here. Just have a look in first of all understanding the apostolic mandate. After these things - after what things? After Jesus had sent 12 disciples out, and the ministered in the power of the Holy Ghost and delivered people and healed people, it says He appointed another 70 and sent them out two by two before His face into every city and place He Himself was about to go, Luke 10:1. So Jesus had already deployed 12 apostles, but the Bible says He looked and He saw the harvest was so great, so He then got another 70 and launched them out in two by two. So He commissioned them, and they had the same commissioning that the apostles had. They were called to do exactly the same, bring the gospel, heal the sick, cast out demons, raise the dead, bring heaven to earth wherever they went. It says they weren't apostles, they were just followers of Christ, but they had the same mission that the apostles had.

Now that word meant - it's He sent them, means literally it's the word apostello in Greek and it means something like this. The word apostello we kind of thing apostolic and you wonder what it means, but if we were to go back to what it meant in the day it was written, then you understand it. So the word apostolic - we call it apostolic now - is a Greek word apostello. What it means literally is this: if the Romans wanted to send a general into an area to overcome resistance and occupy it and bring it into the kingdom of Rome or under the dominion of Rome, they would say apostello. They sent him on a mission to do this. That's the word they'd use. If they wanted to in the Hebrew culture, if they wanted to plant another synagogue in another place, in other words to go to another area, an unknown area and plant a synagogue or we'd call it a church plant now, the word that was used was the word apostello or apostolic. They were sent on a mission.

So we tend to sort of get unusual ideas around these words and we kind of don't find them easy to take, but if you would just take that the word apostolic means, you're sent on a mission to advance the kingdom of God wherever you've been assigned, so notice that all 70 are apostolic. They're all sent on a mission, and wherever they were sent they were called to advance the kingdom of God. We want to look at practically how that might take place - so an apostle in the early language, they understood it, it was someone who was an ambassador sent on a military mission to conquer an area, and bring it in line, or bring it under the kingdom. So we think then that the church right at its origins is apostolic, not pastoral. The church tends to want to be pastoral. People want to have their needs met, they want to have someone to care for them, someone to teach them, look after them, and this is a valid part of the ministry of Christ, part of His pastoral ministry. But His primary ministry was apostolic.

Hebrews 3:1 He's called the apostle and high priest of our calling, so one of the primary identifiers of Jesus was His apostolic - He was sent. He said the Father sent Me, and He said as Father sent Me, I send you, so around Jesus' thinking all the time was this aspect of sending, so a believer may not be an apostle but they can be sent, they can be apostolic. So I believe that we're living in an hour when God is wanting every believer to be apostolic. Now that doesn't mean a title, it means I'm missional in nature. What that means is: I'm a person with a mission, I'm an ambassador for heaven. I've got a work that is unique to me, only I can do it. How would your life be different if you believed that you are quite unique, and that you have something unique to give to the people who meet you? That would change how you related to people. It's all in the paradigm and in the thinking, so if we think of church as the gathering where we come and sing songs and worship God, and we don't think of it as a missional body, people sent to do something, we totally reduce Jesus' thinking and His planning and His dreams towards the church.

So all believers are sent. Notice Jesus has given a mandate, and the mandate's very clear. It is a command. It's an authorisation to do something; proclaim the gospel, make disciples, and minister in power and signs and wonders. So let's have a look at the first apostolic mandate, and then I want to just show you just a couple of things related to this, but I want you to understand that you are designed to have dominion spiritually. You're actually wired for that. Let's have a look at the first apostolic mandate in Genesis 1:28. God blessed them, and said to them: be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the sea, the birds of the air, and everything that moves on the earth. Now notice that man and woman were both given the same mandate. Man and woman are equal in this, we're equally mandated by God to be fruitful, to multiply or increase, to fill the earth, or subdue and have dominion. That means that there must be something you've got to conquer.

If you're called to subdue, there must be some thing you have to subdue or - and it's not a person, it's usually a spiritual issue. So we see that the first - here's the interesting thing. Which came first, the people or the assignment? See, think about that one. Which came first, the people or the assignment? I believe the assignment came, because man was created to fulfil the assignment. Think about that. See, in Ephesians 2:10 it tells us that we are His workmanship, created in Jesus Christ for good works, which God foreordained we would walk in them. In other words before we turned up on the earth and were born, God had prepared something for us to accomplish with our life. That means the assignment came before the people did.

Notice which came first, the garden or the people? The garden, so the assignment came first. Now it doesn't mean that the assignment is more important. What I'm saying is, that God produced people to fulfil a purpose, so think about this. If you are a manufacturer and you design a toaster, now which came first, the toaster or the purpose? The purpose. You started to think, I need to create a machine that you can put slices of bread in and it'll heat them up and make them nice and we can put jam and marmalade and stuff on it - so you have a thing in mind to which you design the machine, and then the machine fulfils the purpose. So you think about how God created us; He created us with something for us to do. If you can get this in your heart, you realise how important it is to discover what you're uniquely wired and called to do. Most people unfortunately live their life from someone else's script. In other words, we're acting out what someone else said was what we should do, rather than discovering for ourself what God called us to do, and passionately pursuing the mission that God has wired into our heart. Quite challenging isn't it?

I was talking to one young man recently and he'd been seeking direction from me, and I actually refused to give him the direction he should go. What I directed him to do was to find what he was wired in his heart to do, and he said well I don't know. I said well actually I know you know. The thing that's blocking you is you're trying to please everyone. You've lived under control for so much of your life, you've not actually taken ownership of what God put in your own heart. I said if I tell you what to do, I'll always be the one who told you what to do. You actually have to own your life yourself, and own your future yourself, and discover what God wired in you for you to fulfil. I showed him how to do that, starting to begin to journal and to write down and discover the dreams of his heart. Recently he came to me and he said: this is what I believe I should do. I said great, you've got it, I'll help you do it. Do you understand? If I'd told him, which is what he wanted me to do, it would have taken away from him the journey of discovering, and taking ownership of his own assignment, that God wrote into his heart.

Unfortunately many people live and they've been in abusive situations and strongholds and things form around the mind and what happens is we live out of what someone else said we should do, rather than discovering what God called us to do. How many are thinking about that one, see? So God had an assignment for us, and he created you to fulfil an assignment, so where you were born, the circumstances of your birth, the kind of nation you were born in, the locality you were born in, the education you had, the background you had, all contributes to forming who you are. Even if some of it was bad, when God redeems it, what is redeemed then becomes the powerful testimony that God can use to touch people's lives, so you are a person with a mission. Even if you don't know what your mission is, it doesn't change. You were sent, you didn't just arrive.

Now that changes our thinking. See evolution will teach: we just arrived and it was by chance. It is a horrendous thing because it takes away the truth of divine destiny and purpose. You didn't just arrive. No matter how you came into this world, whether people wanted you or not, you didn't just arrive. God preordained you would come. He knew you were coming, and had an assignment for you to complete. The part you have to play is to connect with God, and discover what you're called to do, and arise and break free of the things that tell you you can't do it. That is where learning to stand up, take responsibility and assert spiritual authority starts to have its first place in your own life, so you'll see getting free in your own life as a crucial part to being able to actually then have influence beyond yourself. Okay, we getting it? You're all getting quiet now. [Laughs] How many are starting to feel already that's starting to affect your thinking? How many could feel your thinking starting to shake on that? It's powerful isn't it aye?

It's changing, and it changes our concept because we tend to live out of paradigms and ways of thinking, and we need our way of thinking changed, so for example, we tend to talk about all the problems that are around rather than actually - problems? We're here to solve problems. We're not to complain about them. Complaining about problems make us part of the problem. We're called to actually go to our assignment, and change it. Isn't that great? Isn't that a great thing? I want to share with you how to actually bring about some of that change, so that you start to realise you're not a victim; you are a person who has power to bring difference, but there's always going to be a fight for that. [Laughs] Freedom always costs you something.

Okay, so the apostolic commission: in Matthew, Chapter 9, Verse 35 to 10:1. Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in all their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom. So He preached, and His message was: the kingdom of heaven with it's blessings in life is really close. What is required is you repent, or change how you think. That was His message and He demonstrated the kingdom, healing every sickness, every disease among the people. When He saw the multitudes He was moved with compassion, because they were weary and scattered like sheep having no shepherd. So He said to His disciples: the harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few. Pray the Lord of the harvest to send labourers into His harvest. And when He called His 12 disciples, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness, all kinds of disease.

So we see that Jesus came to restore the original mandate. The original mandate was to subdue and have dominion, so in other words, there was something that was going to oppose them, that they had to arise and overcome. We know, we've read the story how Adam and Eve sinned against God, and the Bible tells us the authority they had they yielded up, they lost their spiritual authority, they lost their garments of glory, they lost their connection with God. They lost relationship and dominion, so when Jesus came back, He came to give us back relationship and an assignment or dominion again, so notice He demonstrated He actually had authority when He healed sickness, disease, commanded nature, cast out demons. All of these He demonstrated that He lived out the message. Notice then that He came to actually restore us, so we have again this ability to bring heaven to earth. We just need to learn some of the practical ways of going about doing doing that.

Jesus identified that the greatest need, the greatest need He saw, was for labourers, for people who would give themselves to fulfilling their mission. When Jesus looked He saw the multitudes. He didn't just see a crowd of people. He was actually deeply moved, because they needed help. One of the things that is a practical thing that you could do very easily, is to walk through the streets or walk through a crowd of people and just praying in your spirit, and then begin to look into them. Just as you walk through people just look at people and smile at them - otherwise you stare at them, and they start to get what's up with you! But look at people and smile at them, and as you look at them look into their eyes and look into their countenance. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you to see them, as He sees them. Now you know what will happen if you start to do that for a while? You're not going to try and gauge anyone, you're just starting to open your eyes to see people like Jesus does.

We tend to see people as problems. We tend to see people as divided into those who we need their help for something, or we don't really want to be too connected with them, or they're an interruption to our life. When I first came here, I found one of the things that really helped me was I began to walk through the street looking at people, until I began to feel tremendous compassion, and you could see the problems written on their faces. You could see the burden on them. You become awakened to see people like God can see them. Even at church on a Sunday you can go in and you just get into a routine, but if you go in there and realise listen, I'm here not because I'm come to church. I'm here because God sent me here. I'm here to be a blessing, and there's someone here needs what I have to do today - so you go in, you start to look around and talk with people and if you will start to look differently, you will see the needs. It doesn't take you very long. That's the first phase is to get the heart for people; ask Jesus to give you a heart to have compassion, because your mission is always to people.

Now we may be a technical person, we may be this or may be that, but the bottom line is whatever our mission is, it will always ultimately involve people, so we need to get the heart of God for people. I encourage you, it's just such a simple thing. The first exercise you can write down that you could do, is just to begin to walk through crowds of people, and as you walk through them smile at them, look into their eyes, look into their face and just reach out towards them from your heart. Ask God to show you how He sees them. You will be amazed how your view changes.

The second thing you can do, is make a decision that you're going to start to engage people, and ask them about themselves, just take an interest in them. Ask questions. Don't try and talk about yourself in any way, don't try and convert them. Just ask questions, and show kindness and an interest in the person. Now you will find a second thing. The first thing you'll find is, how you begin to feel and see people - you feel about people and see people as Jesus sees them; second thing, when you start to ask questions and listen, what you'll find is you'll begin to discover what's really going on in people's lives. I'm amazed how people will open up and talk. If you just begin to ask questions, don't get defensive, just reflect back what you think you've heard, and they will begin - if they find you'll listen to them, they'll tell you stuff, and they'll tell you things that you never would have realised. You begin to realise this person's opened their life because they're lonely and disconnected. They want to find someone who will listen to them. Then we'll share with you some other things you can do about how to bring the presence of God.

So you are called. So notice He gave them an apostolic commission, so first He gave it to the 12, now He's given it to the 70, and as we'll see shortly in Mark, Chapter 16, He gives it to everyone. Everyone has got the apostolic commission. Everyone is a missionary, everyone is sent, so turn to someone and say well, hello missionary! Come on. [Laughter] See, it's a funny thing isn't it, that you're - it's a sort of a word you use for someone else, you don't think of it as related to yourself, but you're a person on a mission. The moment you walk out of this building, you're on a mission. Okay then, so let's go to 1.4, you're designed for dominion. In Psalm 8, Verses 5 and 6, notice the psalmist is speaking and acknowledging: you have made him a little lower than the angels. You've made man a little lower than the angels. Now that word angels is literally the original word, the word elohim, meaning God, so You have made man just a little beneath God. You have created him in Your own image and likeness. Notice, You have crowned him with glory and honour. You've made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands. You've put all things, all things, under his feet.

Now of course we don't see that. We see the consequences of sin, but this is the original design, so notice now that God designed us for dominion over His creation. That word crowned means: an ornamental headgear that a sovereign state would wear, so notice he said: You have made man just a little lower in rank than God, and You have crowned him or put a sovereign headgear over him of glory and honour, given him glory and honour, and you've made him for the purpose of having dominion over the works of Your hands, and put everything under his feet. Now you can't get it clearer. That's one of the best verses in the Bible to describe that you are royalty, called on assignment to represent Jesus in the earth. You're called to represent the King. Now many times when we speak and pray, we don't see ourselves that way, we don't think of ourselves that way. We tend to think about ourself out of what our old self esteem is.

Imagine if you were to wake up every day and think: I am royalty. I am crowned with glory and honour. I am called to represent the king of kings today, everywhere I go, I will give my very best. It gives you a different perspective on your day, totally different. It's a truth to get into your heart, that is who you are. You're called for this, and now notice in the next verse we'll look at there, around dominion, Psalm 149, Verses 5 through to 9, it says this: Let the saints be joyful in glory; Let them sing aloud on their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth - so it's talking about the whole area of opening our life to engage with God. So when its saying be joyful, singing aloud, high praises, what it's really talking about is us opening up the realm of heaven for God to move. That's how you open heaven for yourself; you exalt the Lord. He says He inhabits the praises of His people, so when I give myself to vocal and expressive praise, I am opening up the realms of heaven for the presence of God to flow through me into the earth.

Now notice what it says next. It says: and a two-edged sword in their hand, to execute vengeance on the nations, and punishments on the peoples; To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; To execute on them the judgement written - This honour have all His saints. Now that word all His saints, God has placed a tremendous honour on you. He could just wipe the devil out just like that. In fact there'll come a day when He'll send some angels, and they'll assign them all into hell, and they'll be there for 1,000 years. He can do it today, could do it tomorrow, He could have done it already, but the Bible says He's given us a particular honour, and this is what the honour is. He's given us an honour of dealing the judgements of heaven, the judgements of the word of God against evil spirits. He's given us the honour of executing that in the earth. He's given us the honour of addressing and dealing with evil spirits in the earth. It's an honour, it's not an unusual ministry. It's actually a privilege to represent God, and get rid of the ravening wolves out of people's lives. It's an honour and a privilege. Have you thought of that?

See a lot of people use the word deliverance or spiritual warfare. They think it's some weird thing and it's just for a few people... They don't realise actually this honour of bringing judgement against evil spirits, is actually an honour given to all the saints, and it requires that we worshippers knowing how to access God, and that we know how to use the word of God quite simply, and we'll show you how to do that a little bit later in one of the sessions. What a great privilege for you to bring the presence of God to wherever you are, and to change the spiritual atmosphere. I was talking to one man, and he was complaining to me about a situation at work, and I said to him well, what's the problem? He told me, well all the language and the cursing and the atmosphere, it was a horrendous place. I said is that right, what are you going to do about it? He said, well I'm going to leave. I said really? Tell me that one again - I said how many other Christians are there? He said no one. I said so - let me say this again, you're the only Christian there, and because it's all so bad, you're about to leave and resign your post? He said, well I hadn't thought of it like that but yeah, [laughter] that's it, you know? I said why don't you do something about it? He said: what on earth could I do?

I said: well the people there are under the influence of wicked spirits. They have access to their lives because their lives are unsurrendered and they run independently, but you on the contrary, you have access to heaven, to bring heaven into the earth. You could change that whole environment. I said you're thinking of it as a problem and you're wanting to get away so you can have an easier life. You're not thinking of yourself as a missionary, in a workplace, called to shift the spiritual atmosphere - and he wasn't thinking that way at all. He was thinking how can I get out where it'll be nicer - but we're not called to retreat to where it's nicer. We're called to advance, and change what's there. Can you see it's a different thinking isn't it? So what I did then was I said I'll go down with you, so we went down into his workplace, and I said I can feel it's pretty oppressive here. There's obviously spirits here. Our business is to drive them out, because God has given us authority. I said you don't have to be the boss to do that. He doesn't get to drive demons out because he's the boss. You get to drive them out because Jesus is your boss, and you represent him.

So what we did was we prayed strongly in tongues, then we began to walk around the workplace and began to address the spirits that were there. We named these particular manifestations that were happening, the various difficulties that they were facing over and over and over again; we began to speak to the spirits behind them, commanded them to go, forbade them to operate, commanded them to go out of the place, and invited the Holy Spirit to come in, and increase the productivity, and change the atmosphere in that workplace. About a week later he came back and he ran up, he was really excited, and he said we've had the best week we've ever had. I have never enjoyed work so much as I have this week. I said wow, isn't that wonderful, I wonder why [laughter], because often people don't connect the blessing and the flow of what they're experiencing, back with the things that brought it about. I said about a week ago you were about to leave this place because it was so bad; now you're saying how much you like it. I said you have had to change, in the way you approach this whole thing, you have had to deal with the spirits in the atmosphere.

I had another young man and he was complaining about his workplace and it was very, very difficult and the place he was working in, they were having breakdowns, there were all kinds and there was bad morale, there were a whole number of things there, and I said what are you going to do about it? He said well I can't do anything about it, I'm not the boss. I said hey listen, how many other Christians there? He said - would you believe it - none. I said well there you go, don't you realise that the problems are not just outward things, they actually have got a spiritual root, and a spiritual source. I said you are a believer, you can do something about that. I said now tell me, when did the problem start? He said when the new supervisor came on our line, that's when the problems started. I said what do you know about that man? He said well he's a pretty dark heavy person. I said do you think he might have been involved in the occult? He said probably is, I think he might be actually. I said really, is that right? Well we can deal with that, can't we, and so I showed him what to do.

I showed him to stand up every day, begin to pray in tongues, and to stand as an ambassador of heaven, speak into the spiritual atmosphere, take dominion and subdue every spirit that was using that man as a gateway into the workplace, and to subdue them, forbid their operation, and to release blessing into that place. I said you'll find it'll be a little challenging for you for the next few days, but if you'll just keep it up, things will change. About 10 days later he came to me, and he said I want to tell you what's happened. He said the guy's been taken off the role, and he said I've been promoted into the role [laughter], and actually the whole of the work environment has changed, the problems have decreased, and productivity has started to increase.

I could continually tell you stories just like that. We don't seem to realise just how much spiritual forces impact what goes on, and how we as believers have authority to shut them down. If we don't, who is going to? I'll tell you what happens. Most believers just forget that there is a real spiritual world, they just forget it, so we're trying to, in this series, help you understand it. It's very real, it is very present, and when you step up to engage it, then you will find that there is a real fight goes on, and if you'll persist and learn how to walk and win the battle, you'll change things immensely. Okay then, so there we go. Section 1.5, you've been commissioned, in Matthew 28, Verse 18, Jesus spoke to them saying: all authority has been given to Me in heaven and earth. So therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things I've commanded you; and lo, I am with you even to the end of the age.

So Jesus has given us a command, and it involves nations. Now nations involves government, it involves business, it involves media, it involves sports, arts, science, education. Now one of the things is, we tend to forget that the Great Commission means transformation within the community, transformation one soul at a time, and in this particular hour God is emphasising ordinary believers arising in the different areas of the community, and starting to make the presence of God, and their presence, felt. In Taiwan where we have the privilege to minister they're making tremendous inroads into the media, and in one church alone that we've been to there are now over 100 people from the media, from the arts and entertainment and TV industry are in just one church - over 100 that have been saved in the last four years. They are using their gifts to bring the gospel into the nation.

Now there are about three significant churches in Taiwan that are having an influence, and between them they have something between 200 and 250 celebrities covering the pop area, the high class quality entertainment area, and then various areas of media and television. I have prayed for them, in fact I had the privilege of praying for and prophesying over the leading actor and singer in Asia, the one who's the most famous of them all, who when he turns out the crowds just come screaming. These people are responding; the gospel is going into these areas, and we need to arise and believe it's possible to do that. So the whole church has got a commission, a mandate, not just to go and win souls, but actually get them aligned and start to shift the whole culture. It's a most exciting possibility, and so we saw how the original commission was given to Adam and Adam lost it, Jesus came to restore it. He commissioned the 12, He commissioned the 70, and then He's commissioned the whole church, and then before they started He said, Acts 1:8, wait until you receive the power of the Holy Ghost to do the work. You have to be anointed and filled with the spirit to be able to do this kind of work.

You can't engage in the realm of the spirit significantly unless you're baptised in the Holy Ghost, and released in the Holy Ghost. Jesus promised that we'd be anointed with the Holy Ghost, and this was necessary for the completion of our assignment. That's why just giftings are not enough, talent is not enough, we need to be filled with the Holy Ghost, need to be filled with the spirit of God. He told us go fulfil the assignment, make Christ known, make disciples, heal the sick, cast out demons, bring the presence of God wherever you go - and we want to help you in these next sessions to understand your assignment, and then how to arise and begin to assert authority. Amen.

Identifying Your Spiritual Territory (2 of 6)

Tue 12 Feb 2013  « Back to Top

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This session begins with some activations to develop spiritual strength & sensitivity. Every believer has a spiritual territory (or 'metron') entrusted to us, a sphere of influence which is ours to govern - some permanent, some temporary. Adam (in Gen. 2:15) was instructed to 'tend', cultivate, develop his territory and to 'keep' or protect it from the enemy. Learn valuable keys to on how to govern, what to govern, and the consequences of failure to govern.

I'm going to get you to do something in a moment. It's really quite important that we actually activate and stir our spirit because it's no use just having information. In the end the only knowledge you really have is what comes experiential, and so you're going to need to experience things before these things start to come alive inside you. So I will lay out some very simple, clear teaching around these areas, but we also need to experience the life of the spirit, the life of the spirit, and the flow of the spirit as well. If you don't experience anything much, then you just have a lot of theory and knowledge.

I remember I taught one man how to stand up in his spiritual leadership in the home, and I showed him how to pray, and he stood up and prayed. The next day he rang me, he said I'm sick today. I said, don't be surprised. I've called you to stand up, and to your place that God positioned you, to speak and govern the spiritual atmosphere of your marriage and home, so clearly there's been a problem there, and it was only when you stepped up that you found it. So I said persevere, and he persevered, then the problems flushed to the surface, and then there was able to be ministry, deliverance and a whole shift in the dynamic of that relationship. So people don't know it's real until they start to operate in it, so we do have to experience the things of the spirit.

I'll show you just quite simply how you do this as we go, but what I want us to do is I want us to constantly over the whole of this seminar, I want us to be strengthening and developing internally in our spirit dimension, because if we don't do that, we don't have the strength. We need both the spirit of God, and the word of God, and we need to let God help us to grow. There's a great scripture where Paul prays in Ephesians 3, that you would be strengthened with might, or dunamis - the power of God in your inner man. I'll show you in one of the last sessions some simple things you can do, that will help build your spirit man, and change the whole atmosphere which you carry around your life.

Most people live under what's around them. Most people live under the spiritual prevailing environment, which in New Zealand is passivity, and apathy, and rejection, and passive rebellion, so those are the common things that you find in the Kiwi culture. Wherever you're in it, you'll feel that, and so what happens is, until we learn how to stand up and alter the spiritual atmosphere around us, we don't even realise what we've accepted as normal. So I can tell you now, most people accept as normal something that actually is a place of bondage and lack of freedom, so if you would just accept the challenge to experiment over tonight and tomorrow, and see what happens as you do certain things to unlock and free up your spirit and the flow of your spirit; I would expect by the end of tomorrow, that you're flowing and the spirit of God is moving freely through you touching lives. It doesn't mean it's the end of the journey, but what it does mean is that you're starting to explore what it is to flow in the spirit.

When you got baptised in the spirit it was an entrance to the realm of the spirit. It was just a gateway experience, but we have to learn to go on in those areas. Amen - okay, so what we're going to do is this. In a moment we'll get people praying in tongues, and I'm going to just get you to do it in different ways. I want you to explore some various aspects of praying in tongues. The Bible says: when a man prays in tongues - 1 Corinthians 14, Verse 14 - when I pray in tongues, my spirit is praying. In other words, when you're praying in tongues, your spirit is now being stirred, being active and giving expression in the earth. Not only that, you are praying in a language the Holy Spirit is giving you, so when you're praying in tongues, the spirit of God enjoined to your spirit, is expressing His life through you. So there is always an outworking of that, so one of the most powerful gifts entering us into the realm of the spirit is the gift of tongues - one of the most neglected gifts, and I have to keep stirring believers all the time, and continually to arise, and begin to explore what that gift can do, so we want to do some of that while we're here over the weekend.

Okay, so the first thing we'll do, and I'm not going to get anything more than about a minute, so what we're going to get you to do is just stand up, and I want you to pray in tongues for 30 seconds, see what it feels like and see what it feels like in the atmosphere. So let's just do that - are you ready? On the count of three, one, two, three, let's begin to pray in tongues. [Prays in tongues] Okay, just stop now. Okay, just stop. That's our start point. You've got to have a start point, so that's just the start point. Now what I feel when I'm in an atmosphere where people are praying, I open my heart to feel what is present there, and what I feel is people are expressing but it's relatively - it's measured. It's just measured. You can feel it, like it's measured. You just give it so much, but that's it. I want us to actually break out of that, because your spirit must find expression through your soul and your body, and it's your body resists, and your soul resists, so we want to just get you to shift your body.

This time what we're going to do is, we're going to pray again, and I want you to pray as loudly as you can, give voice to your tongues, and I want you just to shake your body, make your body be obedient, because our body just wants to sleep and it wants to eat, and it doesn't want to do stuff. Our spirit always wants to pray. Our flesh, which is our body and our soul, just resists it. So what I want you to do, I want you to shake your body as if you were making your body just come into alignment, because inside your spirit is rising up to pray, and speak out in this heavenly language! So let's do it now, and I want you to as strongly as you can, and notice what happens in terms of the flow of energy in the room and in your personal body as you do this. Ready? About 30 seconds - one, two, three. [Prays in tongues]

Okay, just stop now. Alright, now what change did you notice that time? How many noticed a change, you just - okay, what did you notice? More vibrations, yeah, you're right, yeah, okay. Yeah? More freedom? More freedom, you found freedom. Now isn't it interesting, how many found more freedom that time as you were praying? Now all I got you to do, it's the silliest of things really, was just shake your body, to get your body to do what your spirit wants to do, express strongly. We have to understand that our body resists our spirit, and so you have to take dominion. One of the first places to get dominion is over just your own body, and you need to learn how to discipline your body. So I've found one of the simplest things is just shake your body, and make it wake up, just make it WAKE UP! Learn to command your body. Just speak to your body from your spirit.

So you'll find, that if you will arise in your spirit and develop your spirit life, your body and your soul will respond, and then you'll find there's a lot of energy inside you. It's spiritual energy. It's not just a natural thing. What I was doing with getting the shaking, was to get you just to make your body do what it needs to do, just to yield up, and be involved and engaged in praying, okay? Now the other thing to do is get your soul involved in that as well, so we're going to get body and stuff. So what we're going to do is first of all we'll just get your body involved again. The Bible says: clap your hands all you people, shout unto God with a voice of? [Triumph.] Triumph all you people, so I want you just for a moment now, just close your eyes and get your soul, start to get your soul - now the way you get your soul in line, you see your soul is connected to your spirit, and your soul is connected to your body.

So your soul and body form the flesh; your soul and spirit form the inner man, and our soul has to be renewed, so what I want you to do is just to focus your mind and your thoughts on this. We're going to focus our thoughts. We're going to go back in 2000 years of history, going to go right back to the day that Jesus rose from the grave, and there it is, I can stand, I can see with my imagination, I can see that mighty rock that's in front of the tomb. I see the Roman soldiers there, but there's something is happening in that tomb. The spirit of God has entered into Jesus, and the rock rolls away, and Jesus rises victorious! Come on, let's clap and shout to him [Shouts and applause] and give him the shout of victory! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Halleluiah! [Prays in tongues] Wonderful Jesus! Thank You Lord.

Now what did you find that time? [Joy.] Tremendous joy isn't it? So how was that time different to the time before? It came from something that rose up from inside as we actually engaged our mind with spiritual truth, and your spirit - if you'll engage your mind with spiritual truth and picture it, imagine it and give yourself to it, your spirit will immediately arise inside. So your spirit will respond to your body; your spirit will respond to your soul, so we've got to bring our body and our soul into agreement with where we want to go, otherwise they resist the flow of the spirit. So it's quite simple, I just learn to shake my body, make it wake up, and did you realise that Samson shook himself to activate the anointing? How about that? He just physically shook himself, and the power of God would come on him. Isn't that something? Elijah used some music, and we get the gift of... tongues. See, we activate the anointing and the flow of the Holy Spirit just praying in tongues, isn't that right? Okay then.

Now I want you to find a bit of space, and this is what I'd like you to do. I'd like you to just walk up and down and start to move, just pace a little. Just pace, pace in a bit of an area, and begin to focus on praying in tongues strongly. Come on, let's just do it. [Prays in tongues] Okay, let's just stop. Alright, now first of all what did you experience, what happened? See, some things may be positive, some things may be negative. You may find that your mind and your soul argues with you - I don't want to do it, why do you make me do it, I don't want to do this, just sit down, teach some more. You get into an argument going on inside of yourself. That is all the flesh coming against the spirit, so when you walked, how many found that the energy flowed more easily, just as you were walking as you prayed? It is, because if you sit down too long your spirit begins to shut down, because your body's inactive, so you'll find if you get your body moving it will actually free yourself up, and your spirit flows more easily. It's a very, very simple thing, but people just overlook the simple things.

Hence that's why in worship, the first songs we sing are strong clapping ones, and why are they doing that? They're to get our body awake, but you know, I can tell you this: you don't have to sing three of those songs. If everyone for 30 seconds would clap and shout for all they're worth, you'd have the same effect. That's the thing, isn't it interesting? Yet we can take so long, because it takes a wholehearted engagement to break the apathy and the heaviness off you, and all it takes is 30 seconds of wholehearted and it breaks. But people go for a long time heavy and passive and shut down, because they just didn't give themselves to something. Okay, here's another one you can try now, and that is by speaking scripture aloud.

Now I'm going to give you a scripture out of one of the Psalms, Psalm 103 and it goes like this. I'll quote it to you, but it's something you can all pray, and I want you to pray it. If you don't know where it is, you can look it up in Psalm 103, Verse 1. Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, heals all your diseases and so on. Okay, now let me ask you this: what part is he speaking to? [Soul.] He's speaking to his soul, so where's he speaking from? His spirit, so you see his spirit is speaking to his soul, and what is he telling his soul to do? Bless the Lord! In other words, he's saying wake up! Bless the Lord, O my soul and all that is within me, bless His holy name!

See he's stirring himself, and he didn't have tongues, but he did find that by speaking to his soul he could command his soul, to what? To bless the Lord, so why did he have to do that? Because he didn't feel like doing that. You read through the psalms and you find how often David was miserable. He said I began to think and I pondered, and as I pondered on my distress my soul became overwhelmed, then I meditated on the works of the Lord. I remembered the great and mighty works He did, and then everything changes you see, so you read Psalm 77, first half of the psalm he's in depression as he thinks about all his problems. Then immediately he makes a change, and he starts to meditate on the works of God, and his whole spirit comes back up again, and faith arises - so why don't we just try that aye?

Now remember, don't just say empty words. Speak to your soul, like you're telling something that's rebellious in you to come into line. Now you know what it's like when the kids are rebellious - don't want to do that. Straighten up boy, you know! [Laughter] See, so this is kind of military warfare, so you've got to speak into your own soul, so if you haven't got it you can get the Bible and open it up, bless the Lord o my soul. Bless the Lord o my soul and forget not, and all that is within me bless His holy name. Aye? Bless the Lord, O my soul. You know, come on, let's hear it on the count of three, just get your Bible out, open it up. It's a great one. I pray this, it wakes me up immensely. I love it - then you find there's other things you can do, and we'll talk about that, taking authority over your day, commanding your day to come into order.

Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul and forget not all His benefits - so we'll just do that part. Are we ready? [Laughs] Okay, on the count of three: one, two, three. Bless the Lord, O my soul; all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul and forget not all His benefits. Halleluiah, okay - no, you can carry on - forgives all your iniquities, heals all your diseases. Amen - redeems my life and so on, come on. Okay, try it again from the top. Bless the Lord, O my soul; all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, hey, come on, there we go - your diseases, yes, exactly. Redeems your life, Halleluiah, glory to God! Okay, now just stop for a moment.

Now what I want you to do is to identify what you felt as you started to do that, what happens inside you when you spoke to your soul. How many felt yourself arising on the inside? How many felt a change on the inside? What did you feel? [There was a change in the atmosphere.] The change in the atmosphere here wasn't there, when we gave voice to the word of God the whole atmosphere began to shift - so let's have a look what we've noticed. We've noticed that the spirit of God inside us can be awakened and aroused and stirred. The one that causes that is me, by my choice. I can pray in tongues any time I want, so the second thing we saw was, our body tends to resist the flow of the spirit. We can make our body be subdued by just shaking it, and once you've learned how to stir your spirit you could just shake yourself like that and be alive, just like that, once you've learned to have dominion over your body and what it does to you.

The next thing we learnt was that we could stir our soul and we stirred our soul by meditating and focussing and we stirred our soul by confessing the word of God and speaking directly to our soul. Now I want you to remember that experience, that you woke up your body, woke up your soul and stirred up the anointing within you and it only took you a few minutes - and you did it. You can do that every time and any time, wherever you are and the more you practice the quicker and easier it is to slip into that. You break out of passivity, you break out of heaviness and you notice that we found not only did the energy begin to flow in us, but the atmosphere around us shifted as well. So what happened? Suddenly there's something different there. How many can feel there's a presence of God here now? See, quite different.

Now you have to shift what's around, in order to be able to bring the presence of God in, so it's like this. It's like if my spirit is already connected to heaven, the problem with heaven coming to earth is in my soul and my body - so if I just take dominion over my soul and body, and in my heart believe the spirit of God will flow, I can give voice and God comes into the room. We're not having to wait for anything to happen. We actually bring God into the place, otherwise you're thinking like here I am on earth trying to make my way up into heaven to get near to God, rather than say I'm already connected to God; I've just got to let what is within me find expression in the earth, so the spirit of God can flow - not trying to break through to God, I'm trying to break through the resistance in my body and soul, and the spiritual atmosphere, to express what I already have.

We are already seated in heavenly places. We are already joined to the Lord, one spirit to the Lord. We're already connected into heaven. You don't have to fight your way to get there. Jesus got you there. What you've got to do is find a way to break the resistance for that truth expressing through your life. How many found that helpful? Remember, it's about your thinking, so when you stand to think, if you think oh here I am - you see when your spirit gets shut down by your body and soul, you become very self-conscious and not God-conscious. Your soul and body are causing it. Now if I would just change my thinking and set it on the word of God, set it on the truth, I'm actually in heavenly - I'm in the spirit world already, I'm already connected to God, I'm already ONE SPIRIT WITH THE LORD! [Prays in tongues] Bless the Lord, O my soul - now you see immediately it comes alive. But you have to practice until it becomes natural and normal and it's easy, see? Shall we do it one more time?

So we're just going to quote that verse again - you can go on quoting if you like, then we'll pray in tongues for a bit and let's notice what we find in the atmosphere and around. Then I'll show you something else you can do in tongues straight after that and you'll find it'll be quite different again. Ready? Okay then, so what are we going to do? We'll just quote the verse - ready, Psalm 103, Verse 1 - Bless the Lord, O my soul; all that is within me, bless His Holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all my diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with glory and honour, oh Halleluiah. [Prays in tongues] Thank You Lord. Okay, just stop now.

Now I want you to just do something a little bit different now. Now we know when we pray in tongues the spirit of God is praying through us. What I want you to do now is, just use your language in tongues as a language of devotion and adoration. Now we're not going to pray strongly, assertively, forcefully. We're going to pray tenderly, and fix your mind that Jesus Christ is right there before you, you're in His presence, and so you're just flowing from your heart to just love Him. Feel as you do that what happens, and what happens in the atmosphere. Let's just pray for about 30 seconds and just give yourself to loving Him, and expressing through this heavenly language how precious, how special, how wonderful He is for all He has done, the privilege of walking with Him, the privilege of being His representative, the privilege of serving Him. Let's just honour Him just as we speak in our language now. [Prays in tongues] Yes Lord, oh we love You Lord. We love You Lord. We love You Lord. We honour You Lord. We worship You Lord, yes, halleluiah.

Alright, just stop right now. Okay, now how do you sense the atmosphere now? What are you experiencing now? What are you finding has happened? How many feel a real sense of God being very close to you? How many can feel that right now? How many felt like you'd like to break into song? [Laughs] Great isn't it? You just feel like there's a song is rising up, He is Lord, you know? You just want to honour Him. See, now that's a different flow again isn't it? That's just worshipping, so we enjoy His presence. Now you notice we deliberately didn't have musicians here. Musicians are wonderful. They're a great help, but what I've wanted to do is to get you to see what's possible for you to do because most of the time you don't have a musician, it's just you. But you can do things, you can make your body, command your body. You can command your body to wake up and stop being so resistant and stubborn and tired. You can command your soul, and focus your soul, where your soul begins to engage God instead of feeling sorry for himself, and your spirit can arise and we feel the presence of God very quickly.

As you feel His presence you reach out and just love on Him, reaching out to just enjoy Him, find natural language and find the language of the spirit, just to honour Him and value Him or speak tenderly to Him. You can feel His presence here very strongly - so this is about the first person, the first realm you have to assert your authority is over yourself, over your body which plays hard and difficult at times, over your soul which is very self-centred and sorry for itself and self-directed. If we can take dominion and begin to cause our soul to flow towards God and cause our body to respond and yield and co-operate, we can begin to enjoy the presence of God. We feel His presence very easily. Of course when you feel His presence then the anointing begins to flow, so it's not hard now. I just need a catcher around me now - if I was just to lay hands now, just hold her, oh! Presence of God just touch her Lord, let Your anointing fall upon her right now. There's a presence here, the presence of God.

Now you and I are called to bring this presence wherever we go, but you've got to practice it on your own first of all, until it's natural for you to be able to just engage and feel the presence of God. Now some of us may have blocks. For some it'll be a lot easier than others; some may have blocks. Those blocks - we'll touch on those tomorrow and we'll look at how to deal with some of those things and how to break through some of those things. Amen. Give someone a hug and we'll go into Session Two.

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I want you to open up then on Page 4, and second session, and we're looking at identifying your spiritual territory. This is very important for you because it's important to know what God has entrusted me with, and what's my territory is mine, and we'll look at some things in this. So the first one, 2.1, every believer has the privilege of moving supernaturally. Not all do, but we do have the privilege. Notice what it says in 1 Corinthians 12, Verse 7: But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man, or each one, for the profit of all. So how many people is God willing to give a manifestation of His spirit to? Every person. So notice - is given to every person. So it's written as a reality. This is a spiritual reality: the presence of God, or the manifestation of the spirit of God, is given to every man, so no one is left outside.

So notice it's not something I have to do to work up, it's something that's given to me. I just need to learn how to receive, so every believer is given the privilege of bringing the supernatural dimension of God into the earth. Every believer, not just some - so is that for me? Well your experience may not be that, but why don't we start with what the word of God says, and see if we can believe that our experience would come up, rather than dropping the word of God down to our experience. So every believer is given something to advance the kingdom of God. Every believer is called to bring the life of God to other people, everyone, everyone. It's our opportunity to do that, and so to do that we need to learn how to. We'll perhaps touch on some of that tomorrow, how to just flow with the Holy Spirit and release the anointing of the spirit of God to touch people.

But the first thing we want to establish is, every believer has the potential to flow in the supernatural, and bring the realm of the spirit of God or the realm of heaven into the earth, every believer. Imagine if every believer in every church, when they went into the community, wherever they live, started to pray and act in a way that brought the presence of God there. That would have to make a difference. It would have to make a difference. The trouble is that we just don't do it, we just get busy and overlook it. So the first thing then is every believer can bring something of heaven into the earth. We can bring the reality of God into wherever we are - that's every believer's privilege. Second thing is that every believer has a spiritual territory. I'll use the word territory, but we will look at the original language and see there's particular words they use, but we'll just call it territory because it's something that's easy to remember.

You have a spiritual territory. It would be good if you were to consider this: what is that territory? What specifically is my territory? What does God require of me to do in that territory? And if I don't do it, what happens? Those are good questions to ask aren't they? What is my territory, what am I supposed to do in that territory, and if I don't do it, what are some of the things that happen as a result of that? Those are good kinds of questions to ask isn't it aye? Alright then, so the first thing is we'll read in 2 Corinthians 10, Verse 13 and Paul is writing. He says we, however, will not boast beyond measure, but within the limits of the sphere God has appointed to us - a sphere which especially includes you. For we are not overextending ourselves, as though our authority did not extend to you, for it was to you that we came with the gospel, not boasting of things beyond what God gave to us or our measure, not boasting of other men's labours, but having hope that as your faith is increased, we shall be enlarged by you in our sphere, to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and we not boast in another man's sphere of accomplishment.

Now it's not easy language to get to understand, so we're just going to identify a couple of words that he uses there, and then explain what he's saying. Now he uses the word measure, will not boast beyond our measure. That word measure is a word in the original language called metron, from which we get the word metre, a metre rule. The word metron is like a measure, it's like if you want to measure our something to someone, you would just stick the cup in and you'd measure it up, and then you had an idea this is the bit that I measure out to you. So you can imagine I might have several different cups, so there's a glass over there and this glass can hold a measure of water - but if I had a jug, a-ha, now I've got a bigger measure of water. So the measure then - what he's saying, the word metron there means a measure, something that's apportioned by God to a person.

So God measures out to you, something for you, so your measure is different to mine. It's unique to each person, and he says we won't boast beyond our measure, but within the limits of the sphere God has appointed to us. That word sphere is the word canon, and it means a bounded area that God has measured out for you to operate in - so Paul's saying something like this: I have been given by God an area or territory. It's been measured to me by God, for me to operate in. That's my responsibility. He says: so my measure reaches and includes you, but he says I won't go beyond what God has given me. I'll stay within the sphere God has given me. Getting the idea? So he's saying God has measured to me an area of influence, and that territory or area of influence includes you, and we've brought you the gospel. We're praying that your faith will grow, and if your faith grows then the influence will grow, and my territory will increase.

So he's saying: I didn't go into anyone else's territory. I've actually pioneered, and this is my own territory, so he's identifying I have a territory God measured out for me to minister in, and bring God's life into, and I don't go past that. Jesus Himself, you notice when the woman, the Phoenician woman came to Him and said, could you heal my daughter, and He said I'm not sent to the Gentiles, I'm sent to the house of Israel. So in other words He's saying my sphere of operation in this period of history is for Israel, but her faith was so strong she literally pulled Him out, and He ministered anyway, and she got the miracle because of her faith. So faith was what enabled her to pull a miracle out of the sphere of influence into where she was, but Jesus defined His sphere of influence: it was Israel. Now after He rose from the dead, He's now sent the gospel to go everywhere through every believer, so you have a territory, a sphere of influence.

So you have a particular territory God has measured to you. Now this would help Christians stop being competitive with one another, if they recognised actually I have my own territory that God's given me, I have my own area I'm responsible for, I should mind my business and not be worried about someone else's business, or even envious of what God has given them. So what God has measured to Bryan, He's measured to Bryan, not to me, so why should I be envious of that? Am I going to get angry with God because God did that? No, God knows what Bryan is capable of, and God has given him giftings and a sphere of influence and that's his to operate in. I should rejoice in it and encourage him in it, see? Otherwise we look at what others have, their giftings and their influence, and we get jealous of it - oh, how come they've got that and blah blah blah. We get into that negative thinking.

Why don't we say, actually God has given me giftings, He's given me the capacity to move supernaturally, and He has given me a territory to operate in. It's my job to discover what He's given me, and the territory He's given me, and to learn how to do what He wants me to do in that area. This would save a lot of frustration, because a lot of people sit in church and they're waiting for some ministry, waiting for some great thing and the most of the rest of their life is in the community. They haven't recognised that is their sphere of influence, that is their territory - for example, just using Bryan, there's no one I know in our church lives where Bryan lives - yeah, apart from you, yeah, that's right. [Laughter] Well the two are one, so I've just got to do it like that. In the workplace of course he works in a partnership, but there are people that he connects with that probably Bill doesn't connect with, the clients he has.

So he gets to meet people that I don't get to meet most of the time, and he gets to meet some people I do meet, so our territories overlap, so where they overlap is what's the church, the rest of it is his territory which is unique to him. So your job is to discover your territory, and find what God gave you to do in your territory, and then do it. Now that releases everyone to ministry, and most people are waiting for someone to get them going into some thing, in other words set it up for me so I can do it. That's okay when you're younger, but as you grow, you should actually start to say well God, what have you gifted me and what territory have you given me? How can I do something in that area? Okay, so let's have a look at our territory.

So your metron is your territory God measured you, gave you responsibility for. Your metron is your ministry assignment, so whatever your ministry assignment is, that's your responsibility, that's where you are, that's where you have an influence, and it's usually a specific location or a group of people, or a position of responsibility. It's usually a specific place, location; it involves people, and it involves a responsibility - place, people, responsibility. So my metron is not just here, it goes right up into Asia, primarily into Asia. That's where I have huge influence, far more influence there than here, so I've a stronger metron and a bigger metron in Asia than I have here. Here it's a few hundred, there it's multi-thousands. You say how did you get to do that? I don't know. Someone invited me just to go there, and then God told me to connect with someone, and then it's just gone from there.

It grows as you actually fill out and fulfil what God gave you to do, so if you realise that you have a territory that God has given you, and you discover it and then begin to think what can I do to fill that out, and bring forth fruit, and subdue whatever's in it that's negative and against the kingdom of God, you're busy all the rest of your life. It wouldn't matter if you had no position, you still have a territory. You still have something that God's called you to do, so you see whether I'm the Pastor of this church or not, I still have a territory God's given me, and so I want to try and identify that. So how would you identify your territory?

Notice what Paul says in Verse 15 of 2 Corinthians 10. I don't boast of things beyond measure or another man's labours, but have hope that as your faith is increased we shall be greatly enlarged in our own sphere. So he's talking about his own labours and someone else's labours, so he recognised his own territory that God had given to him. He said: I'm called to the Gentiles. That's an amazing thing. He's full of the gospel, he's full of the Bible, and he's sent to the Gentiles, so Paul was very careful not to go beyond his territory. Now it is important that you don't invade someone else's responsibility. When you do that, it becomes controlling, and it becomes witchcraft.

I was counselling one person, and it was about direction for this person's life, and the biggest challenge that they faced was that everyone in their life had told them what to do. What they needed to be encouraged was to identify what God had wired in them and then to step up and own it, then start to fulfil that assignment, you understand? Your territory's not what someone told you it was, it's something God put in your heart to do. That's why all ministry must flow out of our heart. Our heart has to be in it, or we're just fulfilling a duty and it's a dead thing. So Paul was careful not to go beyond his territory because there are two problems; one, if you go beyond your territory, you're into someone else's area that you're not responsible for, and meddling with their business, then you open the door for spirits of witchcraft to operate. Likewise if you don't occupy and take responsibility for your area, then again spirits come in and invade, as we'll see in a moment.

So your territory includes everything that God wants you to be responsible for. I'll say it again: your territory is everything God has given you specific responsibility for, so let's try and identify it really simply. The first thing is yourself, you're responsible for yourself. Now that seems sort of an obvious thing, but actually people forget it. You're responsible for your body, to have dominion over your body and to care for your body. If your body breaks down because of ill health you cannot fulfil your other parts of your assignment, so you need to bring your body and discipline your body and learn how to keep your body healthy so you can fulfil your assignment. Your soul is your territory. Your soul includes your mind, your thought life, your imagination. It includes your emotions, it includes your will. They are all your territory. You must govern that territory, so if you've got an anger problem your territory is out of control. Your territory's been invaded by something, so your soul is a vital part of your territory.

Your skills, the skills you have are part of your territory. You're responsible for them, and so if God has given you say a musical ability, develop it and cultivate it and grow it and have dominion over that area until it becomes productive and fruitful. Do training. A lot of people get this thing that you've come to the Lord now, and so everything natural is lost. No, actually God uses all your natural skills. They're not just natural, they're part of you, and you're a spirit being. They're spiritual. No, don't sort of try to minimise natural abilities we have, because that's what God gave you to earn a living, it's what God gave you to make a mark with your life. He just enhances it by the power of His spirit so it's more productive, but you need to develop it. So your metron firstly then is your own spirit, mind, your body and so on.

Another area is your relationship with your spouse, now that is your metron, that is your territory where the two become one. Now that doesn't mean you have the right to command, or boss, or have dominion over your spouse. What it does mean is that what's happening in your spouse's life is part of the territory God wants you to care for, so therefore you are responsible for that whole realm, the realm of what's going on in that relationship. Another area is your family. Now we're not responsible for the choices our children make, that's their territory, but we are responsible for the culture, the values, the training that goes on in the home. That's our territory. You can't delegate that to the church. You may let the church do a little bit on Sunday, but actually the primary training is in the home. You can't let the schools take over that - the primary place of training is the home. Your children are your children, not the church's children or the school's children. They are your children.

Now once you see that, you'll make it your business to know what's going on, and if something's going wrong you'll speak up, because it's your territory, and you're going to have a voice in your territory. Often in the education system it can be intimidating to parents. My experience over many years, both as a teacher and a parent, is the parents know what's going on in their kids, and then they should speak up if they're not happy about what's happening. We need to have a voice into those areas. Sometimes people in education can treat you as though you don't know anything, but I've found parents do know a lot, and they know a lot about what's going on in their kids, and what's right for their kids, and what isn't right for them. So you understand, these are your areas?

Now we're going to talk a little bit about what it means to take ownership, and so let's keep going on - so your finances are your territory. It's not just a matter of something casual. Your finances need to be cultivated and grown and developed and managed and so on. Your home is your territory, so your home has an atmosphere in it. The atmosphere's created by how you develop your relationships, what you permit in the home. There's a whole realm there where your home can be a place where the presence and peace of God is, and where people can come, and it's a ministry centre. So your home is your territory, and God gave you a home. We've always believed and bought houses that could be a place where people could come and find hospitality and ministry. Sometimes it gets a bit busy and I have to get a break, but on the other hand it is a place of ministry. It is our territory, within which we are called to use what God gave us to advance His kingdom.

Can you see we haven't even talked about anything in the church yet? We're just identifying aspects of your territory. Imagine if you were to identify each one, and begin to think what you could do to build, cultivate, develop this area. Be amazing wouldn't it? Okay then, your possessions, your possessions need maintenance and management and they're part of your territory. Your job and your workplace, now you have a great responsibility in the workplace. Why? Because if you're a believer, you are responsible to do something about the spiritual atmosphere of the place. If there is demonic activity there, you do have authority to address it, and deal with it as a representative of the kingdom of heaven. You can speak in it. We'll show you how to do that tomorrow. You can address it and change it and I've proven it. I proved it when I was a very young Christian. It's not difficult to shift a spiritual atmosphere in a place, because you have the right and the authority, and you are delegated authority to do it. Getting the idea?

Okay, what else? Your ministry, well that's an area of serving in the church or gifting and skill that God gives you that takes you outside the church, so your ministry - let's get away from the spiritualising too much - your ministry, another word, a better way to say it would be your service for the kingdom, your service for the kingdom. When you use the word ministry it sounds very important and special, but actually the word minister means servant. Actually if I can make it even clearer, it's the one who comes around and does something like this: it says I see your cup, it's just empty. Can I just - excuse me a minute - can I just help you and there you go, there you go. I'm sure that'll be much better now - see? Now that's what ministry is. People get the wrong idea, but ministry means - it's the word daikano, to wait on the tables, to meet the needs of people.

When you're waiting on the table, who's important, you or them? The person who's sitting at the table's, the important one. [Laughs] You're just the one waiting on the table. They're the one having the feed, they're the one that's being looked after.

So ministry, the word used to describe ministry is to wait on tables. It's to have a servant, or heart of a servant, to look after the needs of other people. It's nothing to do about how important you are. Insecure people with no identity get a big head about having some big ministry - I'm a this, I'm a that. Oh great, ministry means wait on tables you know, and Jesus modelled it. He washed people's feet. That's ministry, so you can do miracles and wash feet, you can do them all. No one's too important, so your ministry, what God called you to do is the territory that God wants you to grow and develop, and this is your metron, so for example with Graham and Jessie, God's put it in their heart to go out on the streets and to meet people in the streets, so God has given them a whole territory to begin to invade and to go into. That requires they do certain things.

Now everyone here can have a ministry. Within the church of course there's some areas of serving that we need to fulfil in order just to keep the family functioning properly, basics of children and youth and young adults, and sound and technical gear, and serving in the kitchen - all these serving areas, but they're all part of just keeping the household going. But beyond that we also have service within the community, and where God called you to serve, whether it's a place in the house, or a place in the community or both, that is your territory. You're responsible then to govern your territory. You say well, I'm not in charge of the ministry - but that doesn't mean to say you don't actually have a sense of responsibility for it. You see you're called to be a king, not a slave. A slave waits to be told what to do, a king designs how things could be better. See their whole attitude around this area? So you have a territory.

So you start to identify your territory, and then of course the reality is that you also have a territory or an engagement in the community. I've discovered wherever I am, God has an assignment for me there. Now that's a hard one to keep in mind because you just get busy doing stuff, but if you can imagine - have you ever seen an embassy, like the American Embassy or the French Embassy? If you go to an embassy it's an interesting thing, but the piece of land actually is foreign territory, so you can't go in there without permission because you're going into another country essentially. You're going to the embassy, the representation or the representatives of the Government of the United States, so when you go in there that's actually foreign territory. Now have a think about this. You have the spirit of God in you, and you are an ambassador, a representative of the kingdom of heaven, so wherever you are - think about this - wherever you are, then this is my territory.

So therefore I can minister and have influence wherever I go. I'm authorised, wherever I am is part of my territory, so I may be just here and then there's a group, so this is my territory, a temporary assignment. So you'll have permanent assignments which we've talked about - your own body, soul and spirit, your home, your family, your marriage. Then you have temporary ones wherever you are, so you go to a certain place, meet some people and for a short time you're on assignment; God, what do you want me to do? Have a think about this. Jesus stopped at the well, but His assignment hadn't stopped. He stopped at the well, a woman came by, and the disciples had walked past her because they were caught up with what they were doing. He saw someone in need, and in a few moments had a conversation with her that turned her into an evangelist, changed her life. Why is that? Because He had a sense of being on assignment all the time.

We tend to divide our life up, church life, rest of life, rather than saying actually, kingdom life 24/7, wherever I am I'm called to actually bring God there. I'm called to engage with it, and this is my territory for the moment, and so you'll have some assignments are permanent ones, but the majority are temporary. Some last only a little while. I meet a group of people and I have an opportunity to produce something that will bring blessing to them, or I may have a group of people and I'm with them for a longer period of time. Getting the idea? Once you start to see that you think what have you called me to do Lord? What do you want me to do here, what's my assignment here? And Jesus said I do all the things I see the Father doing. It's great isn't it aye?

So now what are your key responsibilities in your assignment? So you have a territory, so the first place to look is to go back into the Garden of Eden, and we'll have a look at what God told Adam to do. Let's get it here at Genesis 2:15. Got it? Then the Lord God took the man, put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and to keep it. So they were given a territory. It's a garden. They were given two primary responsibilities: number one, tend it. Now here's what that means. That means literally to serve. It means to work as an act of worship, so work - there's no such thing as spiritual work and other work, it's all service to God. So when you consider you have a career, or whatever job you're doing, that's an act of worship to God when you give it to Him, and keep Him involved with it - that's your active worship. It means to cultivate or develop, so you have the idea of a piece of land that needs some turning over and some seeds planted in it and watering and it'll produce something.

The second thing he was called to keep it, to guard or watch over it or protect it from an enemy, so that implies that the territory, even the territory Adam had, one, it needed cultivating and developing, and required his creativity; two, there was an enemy which was real and present, and he had to protect his area or his territory from what that enemy could do. So have a think about that. He was given responsibility to cultivate, he's given responsibility to protect, so he failed in his governing when he did these things: he became silent and passive. That's how he failed, and then he eventually disobeyed, listened to the wrong voice - but he was silent. When the devil was doing all the talking to Eve he remained silent, so one of the big problems men have is, they remain silent and passive in the face of the enemy, and end up with huge problems in their lives and their families.

So what were the consequences of a failure to govern his territory? Number one, broken relationship. He damaged his relationship with God, and with his wife; secondly, loss of spiritual authority. The authority he did have that God gave him was now lost, it was yielded up to the devil who claimed and wielded it against Jesus later on. Now here's the thing you need to understand about it: if you give up your spiritual authority, the devil will use it against you, and so a person who does not stand up and lead in the area God called them to lead, will be oppressed in the area he's called to lead. There's never neutral. You arise and stand up in it, or it works and pushes down on you. You have to learn how to stand up, and to govern that area - and so he lost his spiritual authority, it become used against him.

The third thing was oppression and sickness, so once Satan had usurped the authority, then the next thing he used it too and so death entered in, sickness entered in and so on, and finally generational problems. Now we're looking at Adam. Now how about thinking about this; what would you think if I said this: that in your territory you are called to do two primary things - cultivate it to be fruitful; and guard it from demonic invasion? If you fail to guard it from demonic invasion then the consequences are, in your territory, there will exist broken and damaged relationships. You will have a loss of authority and a sense of powerlessness and oppression in that situation, and the problems that come could be generational. In other words your children for generations could be affected by your failure to govern.

This is an incredible responsibility on men, in terms of spiritual leadership in the home, to govern the home environment, the spiritual environment, and not to let their wife take up the responsibility because they gave it up. Men need to actually learn how to lead their homes, and it's the failure to lead creates the problems that we see in our culture now - so think about that. And of course Jesus reinforced this. I won't read the whole story there, but you're aware of the parable of the pounds, where the nobleman went to a far country and he entrusted his goods to his servants, and when he came back he called them to account. We saw in that parable how the servants that had been productive were given more; the servant which just only conserved, actually lost what he had. Jesus reinforced again, if you don't become productive and govern your area of responsibility, it does go away from you. You lose and diminish your authority and capacity to serve and minister, so He reinforced the same kind of principle.

So putting it again this way: if you don't guard and govern your territory, there will be damage in it. There will be oppression in it. The consequences could be generational, and they could result in heaviness, oppression and sickness. Think about this. If you don't govern your body you'll suffer ill health, then your life with be shortened. If you don't govern your soul, you'll end up with torments and troubles and pressures and anxieties and fears and all kinds of things going on in your soul. If you don't govern your finances and protect it from the enemy that'll come against you, you'll have financial problems that can affect all other areas of your life. So each one of these areas, if you fail in your metron to govern it and cultivate it, the consequences spread, but if you arise in that area, then blessing comes and great positive impact comes.

So let's go through here. What does it take then to govern your spiritual territory? Governing your spiritual territory - I want to give you about five keys. They may not apply in each and every one situation, but these are what I'd call important keys. Now the first one is probably one of the most important, although people wouldn't know this. The first one is you need to hold your territory in your heart in prayer. I want to read you something in Philippians 1, Verse 3. Paul's writing the Philippians, he said this: I thank my God in every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you with all joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now - now look at this - being confident of this very thing, that he who begun a good work in you - that's God, that's the Holy Spirit - will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Now why could he be so confident that the work that he had begun would continue? Look what he says in the next one: It is right for me to think this way because I hold you in my heart, inasmuch in my chains and defence of the gospel, you are all partakers of my grace. For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you with all affection in Christ. Now what he's saying is this. He said: I came to you. You were the territory God sent me into. He said I sowed the gospel, and the spirit of God moved and touched your life, and I'm confident God will keep working in you. Why is this? He said because I am holding you in my heart in prayer, and you receive the grace that's on my life flows to you. Now he's writing as an apostle with apostolic grace and he's saying because I hold you in my heart, I can be confident that my prayer will release something in your life.

Now what does it mean to hold in your heart? Well you can see it through the language he uses. He says I hold you in my heart with affection. He says I hold you in my heart with great joy as I think about you, I pray for you. So what does it mean to hold in your heart? To hold in your heart means that from within your heart you welcome, embrace and love that person, that responsibility you have. Let me just explain to you what that would mean if you didn't do that. It's very easy for a parent to get offended with one of their teenagers, and if you get an offence, you build a wall, and you wall the person out of your heart, then you expose your teenager - they're now no longer under your governing and protection. They're now exposed to spiritual oppression.

The moment you let go of someone out of your heart, what happens is, the spiritual dynamic in the relationship changes. If I hold you in my heart with love and affection and bless you, the grace on my life will be released to you. If I get offended or distracted or refocused somewhere else, and let you go out of my heart, then you feel let go. You actually feel it. I'll give you another example of it. How many of you have had the experience of a father coming home, and he's arrived home from work, but for about an hour he's not emotionally present in the house? He's there, but preoccupied - you know what that's like? Now what do you experience when someone is there with you, but they're preoccupied? You do not feel their heart, you don't feel the flow of their spirit. They are disconnected from you. There's no flow from them to you.

Now why is it a man would come home to his wife and children, and then not be really there? Very simply he's focussed his heart somewhere else; spent hours and hours and hours focussed on work, comes home, he's still engaged in work. It's not hard to shift it. Ever heard the words of that song: I've Left My Heart in San Francisco? It means I've shifted, but my heart is still back there, because I now have not really let go of where I was. My heart is still there.

So what you focus your heart on, that's what your heart will open to, so I just taught men very simply, on your way home, instead of rushing home drive home slowly, consciously let go every worry, every care, everything you've got going on in your life, and begin to then picture your wife, picture your children and begin to hold that in your heart and thank God for them. Begin to imagine what it'll be like to go into the home and be with them all. Your heart will redirect and engage, so our heart turns. It quite moves, and we can embrace or we can let go. A woman who's got an unsaved husband, very easy to let your husband go out of your heart because you see what's wrong, and it constantly becomes a source of irritation, so instead of your heart embracing him and holding him in your heart and releasing the grace of God, instead of that there's a wall which he can feel, and there's no flow into your territory of the grace of God.

The biggest things that cause these blocks in relationships are offences, and then distractions. The life just gets re-focussed somewhere else - oh, we're getting real quiet now. [Laughter] Because it's very true, so I'll give you another example. When you pray for an unsaved husband or family member or whatever, if you are angry with them and disturbed about them and only see what's wrong with them, when you pray for them you won't be holding them in your heart. You'll be holding an offence and judgement in your heart. There'll be no grace released into that territory. You have to actually see them saved, see them before God, see them with the hand of God on their life, see them by faith, and then you can release the life of God into the territory.

So this is a big problem for many people, because offences and judgements call the heart to block out, and then when you pray you're just going through the motions, because your heart is not there loving and embracing them. You can feel it when it's like that. You feel the wall, you feel the block, so what he's saying is very simply - so the thing about your territory is take ownership of it, and welcome it, and welcome it like a friend, not reluctantly I've got to do this. I was talking to one person, and they were having major troubles with their money, and we couldn't work out why because the person knew finances, knew how to manage finances but just couldn't manage his own finances. Then we found out what the real reason was. Now here's the real reason. I could not believe this, and almost it was just amazing, and the person trained in finance and yet when we came to deal with the issue of finances this is what they said, this is what they came out with: my father put all his life into making money, and we never had time with him. I came to the conclusion money is evil, and creates problems for you - and so what he did then, he had no heart to actually operate money, and had no power over it.

So money just went from him like that, until the day he recognised what he'd believed in his heart, he came to a judgement. The problem was not the money, the problem was his father's preoccupation with the money at the expense of the family, and his judgement of his father. When he dealt with that, he was able to get a grip around money, and start to manage and start to have dominion over his money. You have to have it in your heart. You've got to celebrate and welcome the responsibility, before you can do anything much to change it. So think about it; until you actually take responsibility and celebrate whatever is your territory into your heart, you won't do the other things needed. You won't have the power to do it. It's got to be in your heart.

It's the same thing with reaching unsaved people. If they don't get in our heart, then we won't have any effect with them. You've actually got to have your territory in your heart. Jesus held His disciples in His heart. He still holds us in His heart. I've written you on my hand, how can I forget you? God has us in His heart, and so one of the first things is to get something in your heart. Now to get something in your heart, sometimes you've actually got to face that you've got resistance or reaction or judgements or offences, and repent of them and say God, forgive me for not taking responsibility. I repent of that. I come now, I put my arms around and just welcome that responsibility into my life. I thank You, it's something You've given me to cultivate and to govern and I purpose now to do it. I have been irresponsible, I repent and I decide to do it.

I remember counselling one man, and there was a major control and witchcraft operating in his marriage, and this was the thing that I counselled him. I said, whatever is in your marriage, you have allowed to be there, and so it's not whether there's something operating in your wife that's the problem. The real problem is you have not stood up and embraced what God called you to take responsibility for. You need to repent of your failure, step up inside, take responsibility, embrace your wife and the responsible leadership in your heart, then begin to pray as if you are in a role of leadership, and it will produce some results. Whew - very quiet now isn't it aye? [Laughter] So if you've absconded or given up responsibility or abdicated, then your territory will be over run, and you have only yourself - you can pray all you like. Until you own up and take responsibility for what God called you to be responsible for, that's why you've got to know what you're responsible for. I'm not responsible for other's decisions, but I am responsible for how I deal with them and interact with them.

Here's the second thing is, we need to ask the Holy Spirit to help us. See, whatever territory God has given you, He can give you the ideas of what you need to do. Jesus said: I'm doing all the things I see the Father do, Holy Spirit constantly spoke with Him, so ask the Holy Ghost for wisdom what to do: Holy Ghost, I don't know what to do, help me. Just show me, drop it in my heart something that I can do to help in this situation. Thirdly, develop a vision. Look and work out a picture of what's possible in that area. I think without any kind of imagination about what it could be, or envisaging what it could be, we won't properly cultivate that territory, so begin to picture what it could be. Get ideas, write some things down. Your territory's unique to you, your neighbourhood's unique to you, wherever you are is unique to you. Ask the Holy Ghost to give you some ideas about what you could do, start to write them down, start to think of the things that you could do. The goals will focus your attention and give your prayers substance, and your faith something to work with.

A fourth thing you can do is to learn - and we'll show you more of this - is arise in your spirit, and begin to use your voice to speak into the spirit world. Now there's two areas we need to speak; one is whatever spirits occupy your territory that oppose you, just speak and subdue them, and we'll show you how to do it. The second thing is, we need to learn how to release the word of God over the territory we're in. Now this is one of the most powerful things. I don't want us to get focussed on demons, although we were going to touch on them quite a lot more tomorrow. What you need to do is, suppose this is all my territory here, and I've got this ground to cultivate, and God opens my eyes and I see: oh my goodness, the whole of my territory is full of wicked spirits. Look at that, everywhere. They're just all looking and glaring at me. Okay then, now there's two things I need to do.

I should not be focussed on the spirits. I just need to dispossess them, and put into this territory what God wants me to put in, so it always has two things to it. One is, I need to address the spirits and drive them out and two, I need to declare God's word over my situation, and this is what's called building in the spirit, taking the word of God. Remember that God created this whole world by speaking. Christians continually forget the power of speaking the word of God, but tonight when I got you all to speak strongly: bless the Lord, O my soul, everything within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Don't forget any of His benefits. See - something happens in the atmosphere. We release the word of God. Now you'll find all the miracles in the Bible someone spoke, just over and over and over and over again we'll see. I'll show you the pattern. There's revelation comes, in other words you get the mind of God. You speak out with faith in your heart, and things begin to happen.

Now one of the most neglected areas in our Christian or spiritual walk is this area of arising with authority and commanding our day, commanding demonic assignments to be diminished, and commanding or release the word of God into our circumstances and environment. It is the most powerful way to shift things. I guarantee if you start to do it, things will shift around your life. It's like most Christians pray and hope that somehow their prayers will be answered, hope that somehow God will come through, instead of standing up and saying: I'm seeded in heavenly places in Christ, and I speak now and drive every spirit out of that place, and I release the word of God into my situation! You have to do that day by day, start to take dominion over your day, and I'll show you how to pray, and we'll give you some keys on how you would pray, and what you would do. I tell you, things will change around you. It won't always be pleasant at the beginning. Demons don't always leave easily, and they often create a fuss before they depart, but they will depart.

You notice in the Old Testament they had to possess the land, so God said: I've given it to you. You have to enter it, and drive out what's already in there, and then plant and sow and reap the land. So tomorrow we'll share with you some aspects of that, look at areas where there is resistance, what to do about it, and get you some more activations in the spirit to get you going. Amen. [Amen.]

This is one of the greatest privileges we've got. I tell you, God showed me this stuff when I was a very young Christian, and I saw my whole career just go up like that, and everything around me just become incredibly blessed. I know it works, and I know if you'll engage, it will work, and don't be like one of the guys I told him how to pray, and came back a week later and he said it didn't work. I said really, it didn't work? Okay, well why didn't it work? He said well, after I started praying things got really worse. [Laughter] I said really? I said don't you realise you stepped up, and started to engage the battle, and at the first blow on the nose you retreated and gave up. I said that's all that's happened. Just stay the battle, you must win. You will win. God's decreed you will win, you've just got to step up into it. Amen. [Amen.]

Father, we just thank You for tonight, thank You for Your presence here. Thank You for these mighty men and women who will arise and learn how to assert authority in the spirit world and see things change, in Jesus' mighty name. Everyone said [Amen!] Amen. Come on, let's give the Lord a clap shall we? [Applause] Thank You Lord.

How to Exercise Spiritual Authority (3 of 6)

Wed 13 Feb 2013  « Back to Top

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Further activations to stir and awaken you inner man quickly, give voice to faith decrees, and release a spirit flow. Understand the real meaning of 'authority', 'power', 'legal rights', and what Jesus accomplished at the cross to disarm spiritual powers. Know what we have delegated power to do, and foundations which have to be built in our life to ensure success. Finally, how to forbid troubling spirits and release blessing. Plenty of practical examples in workplace, marriage, family life etc.

Come on, let's come on out, we're going to begin to start off with an activation. That's right, we want to start with an activation. Alright, I wonder how many noticed what happened, what change took place, when I just got you up to go around and hug people. [Yeah!] Did you notice actually the whole atmosphere shifts, because people - the walls that disconnect us, just break down as you start to connect like that? You find that the things of the spirit are very, very simple. There's nothing really complex about it, and we find that often there's things that we have to do just naturally and practically, things which you can do which involve your soul, and things which involve of course your rising in your spirit.

So we want to get our spirit to arise today, so why don't we make our body move, and let's begin to pray strongly in the spirit, strongly in the language God has given us. [Prays in tongues] Okay, let's do one more: Bless the Lord, O my soul and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits. Okay, now this time we do it, ready, from the beginning, on the count of three. Now as you're doing it, don't just repeat something and speak something. One of the things that you'll find, if we're engaging in a conversation but in my mind I disconnect, the person that I'm relating with will feel the disconnection. Have you ever been talking with someone, and suddenly you just felt something change, their eyes have got that glazed look, their mind has gone somewhere else? What happens in the flow of your spirit is there's a disconnected, and you actually feel it.

I remember talking to my daughter and it was going fine, then I thought hello, we're disconnected. I turned around and she'd zipped off in some shop and she'd gone. [Laughter] I was actually just talking to myself, but I could feel the difference, and you feel the difference if you're talking to someone and their mind goes somewhere else, they disconnect. So one of the things when you're praying in tongues is to engage your mind as well and engage your soul. So when we're speaking - now we're going to just speak. I want you to be speaking arising in your spirit, see yourself rising up, and you're speaking to your soul, and you're telling your soul to come into line and bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! Let your body and soul respond see to the voice of your spirit. Your spirit always wants to praise God - let's do it. Okay then, ready? One, two, three: Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities and heals all your diseases, halleluiah! Oh halleluiah. Come on, let's give Him a clap right now. [Applause]. [Prays in tongues] Thank You Lord.

Okay, while we're on it, we'll give you one more exercise to do, because your spirit will respond to you giving voice to the word of God, see so I want you to just declare: I am strong in the Lord and the power of His might. See, now that's a declaration from the word of God but it's personalised, so we take scripture and make it personal: I am strong in the Lord and the power of His might. Now of course what happens is, you may not feel that way. Actually today you might be feeling incredibly frail, and you've got all kinds of issues going on, so you think I can't say that because that's not true. But actually if you were to arise by faith and say in the spirit, this is where I stand, that I am strong in the Lord and the power of His might, and I will declare what I believe in my heart; then you'll find everything around you and in you will start to shift to align with what your spirit is saying, when you declare the word of God.

So I want you to do it. We're going to just - I am strong in the Lord and the power of His might. We'll say it three or four times and I want you to see what happens when you make it a declaration, you're declaring it to your spirit, to your soul, your body and you're declaring it into the atmosphere around you. I want you to see what happens when you speak, and give voice to the word of God like that. Ready? I'm strong in the Lord and the power of His might. Ready? One, two, three. I am strong in the Lord, and the power of His might. I am strong in the Lord, and the power of His might. I am strong in the Lord, and the power of His might. I am strong in the Lord, and the power of His might. Okay, that'll do. Right, okay, now the more you do it, the more your inner man begins to agree with the truth. Initially there's a wrestling, because a lot of you doesn't really agree with that, but as you learn to speak the word of God, and you make it a strong declaration from inside, you'll find your spirit will arise very quickly, and everything in you starts to shift, because you're declaring what God says is true about you.

See, the spirit of God is in you. Isn't that the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead? How can you be weak if the spirit of God is joined to you? Are you not joined and seeded with Christ in the realm of eternity, and seeded in heaven itself in your spirit - is that not true? How can you be weak? I cannot be weak. It's not true that I'm weak. My circumstances and things around me may press in, and cause me to feel weak, but He says that when I'm weak then the grace even more abounds see? So I'm even stronger when I'm weak, because I lean in and depend on the Lord - so let's do it one more time, three or four times, I'm strong in the Lord and the power of His might. Ready? One, two, three. I am strong in the Lord, and the power of His might. I am strong in the Lord, and the power of His might. I am strong in the Lord, and the power of His might. I am strong in the Lord, and the power of His might.

Now how many of you found something shifted inside you just doing that? How many felt something? Okay, what did you feel? [Different thinking, a different atmosphere, just the way you - the more you say it the more you start to believe it.] That's exactly right, so we can believe and speak or we can speak to believe. ] Whatever you are feeling begins to shift as you declare the word of God, exactly. So we have the word and the spirit. We've got to learn to take what God has given us, and work with it, see? The word of God is a sword of the spirit, it actually is a sword, so this stuff starts to sweep away. So you can sweep the air right around you real quick, it doesn't take you long. Ready? So once again we'll get praying in tongues. Now this time as you're praying in tongues, the Bible says a person who prays in tongues their spirit is praying, they're praying as the Holy Ghost gives them utterance, and it says also that you build up yourself.

So what I want you to do as you're praying in tongues, begin to speak, and just see that your whole spirit, your inner man, is starting to arise and become full of the life of God. Let your focus just be on that. Sometimes it helps to just put your hand on your belly, and as you're praying in tongues you're praying consciously to build your spirit man, so your spirit man arises. We'll see later your spirit can flow right outside your body, or it fills an atmosphere beyond you. Your spirit flows, so let's begin to arise, just filling the room with our presence in the spirit of God. Amen - you ready? One, two, three. [Prays in tongues] Okay, stop.

Alright, what did you experience as you prayed that way? How many of you felt something flowing in your life? Release, release inside, that's good. So we can stir and awaken our spirit man and we do it, we have to use our voice. You have to use your voice and your mind; use your voice to give utterance to the words of God, whether it be speaking in tongues or the written word of God, and to use your mind to meditate and to embrace and welcome the truth, so that there's no part of you is not holding on to that - and it works just very quickly. You'll be quite surprised. Now the more you practice it, the easier it is for your spirit to arise. You train your spirit to arise quickly, and you train your body and your soul to surrender quickly. Most people don't know how to do that, so they live with their spirit flat and under a heaviness, and don't realise that it's actually something you can break out of real quick. So we gave you that thing to shake your body, gave you the things of just speaking the word of God, speaking in tongues.

Here's another confession you could make: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. See? I can, I can, yes I can. Yes, I can - that's a good thing, yes, yes! Come on, why don't you just say it now? Yes! [Yes! Yes! Yes!] [Laughs] See? Now when you start to do that, you start to strengthen your will, because growing in your spirit, you've got to learn to develop the power to say yes! Okay and the other word you've got to learn to say is no. [Laughter] Some people can't say no, but you see in the realm of the spirit, I've got to be saying yes to some things, and no to other things. That's the binding and the loosing, yes to some, no to others. Okay? I just wanted you to begin to say that, then we're just speaking now, why don't you just begin to make declarations and you're saying no to the devil, and no to sin, so begin to speak it like you really mean it. Are you ready? We'll do it half a dozen times, ready, one, two, three. No! [No! No! No! No! No! No!] See - okay, now see isn't it interesting what happens inside you? How many found suddenly you feel - [ooh!] Yeah, you lift up inside, even just saying no, isn't that right? But a lot of people can't say no, and a lot of people say yes to things they should be saying no to, so learning to say strong yes's, strong no's!

In the spirit I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me - ready? One, two, three. [I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me! I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me! I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me! I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!] That's quite a good statement to make, everything God has called you to do, you can do it, you can do it, yes, I can, yes I can - see? Can. Can. Can - it's a good word can. [Laughs] Okay then, I wonder if we've got another one there, okay, here's a good one. This is one I use quite regularly: The same spirit that raised Christ from the dead, dwells within me and quickens my mortal body. Now have a think about that. The same spirit that raised Christ from the dead - that's the resurrection power of God, where is it? It's within you, and it says He will what? Quicken or make alive your body. Now you think about that, so as we're just going to speak it over, I'll say it again - The same spirit that raised Christ from the dead, see? Same spirit that raised Christ from the dead, dwells in me, and shall quicken my mortal body.

Now begin to as you declare it, make it your declaration that your body shall arise with life as you decree the word of God, and what you'll find is you'll come alive in your body. Then I'll often follow that by just yielding different parts of my body, firstly my spirit man, my mind, imagination, your hearing, seeing, mouth, heart and affections, will, hands and works, and feet, my walk before God, consciously yielding. Then what happens as you do that, is you begin to develop awareness of your body and your soul and what's going on in it, because you consciously learn to present each part to the Lord, then you become aware, more aware when things are going on in those different parts of you, and you can quickly shake them up, see? See, the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells in me, and quickens my mortal body. [The same spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells within me, and quickens my mortal body. The same spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells within me, and quickens my mortal body. The same spirit that raised Christ from the dead dwells within me and quickens my mortal body.]

Now you'll begin to find - how many found your body started to get stronger as you started to say it? You come alive with energy. Now you'll notice it's very simple, it's the spirit and the word, and being willing to actually use what God has given me, and I've got to give voice to it. You'll find everything in the spirit you have to give voice, you have to give voice to things, and if you listen to people giving voice, you'll tell whether their spirit is shut down and overwhelmed by their mind, or you'll tell whether their spirit arises and is in their words. You've just got to listen. Listen when people pray, and listen to yourself as you're speaking; am I really fully in those words, or am I just sort of saying it because this is what we have to do in this class? You'll feel the difference see, and so again, doing it wholeheartedly will get the results; half-heartedly, no results. No matter how long you do it, half-heartedly no results. What you're looking for is the release in your spirit to arise, so you start to then be free to flow from within, instead of just getting stuck in your head or your emotions or soul. Getting the idea?

Okay, why don't we just pray again, we'll just pray for a couple more minutes and just pray. As we pray let's begin to lift our hands and our hearts, we're exalting God with His heavenly language which enables us oh! to thank Him and bless Him! [Prays in tongues] - come on, let your voice rise! [Prays in tongues] Holy Ghost, we love You! We welcome You today. We honour You today. [Prays in tongues] Halleluiah. Whoa, let's give the Lord a clap. [Applause] At all times you can develop your inner man. As you do that, you'll find you'll feel another presence - you'll feel the presence of God start to manifest over your life. There's an anointing arising from within, and there's another one comes upon, and so it's very important to understand the difference. We can always activate what's within us, but we don't have control or power over God coming upon us. That's something He does when we connect properly, see?

So Jill, would you like to just come, just stand up here and just - there we are. I need someone behind her. Now I just shared with you about learning to give voice, so - I need someone to stand behind her, that's right. Okay, ready Jill? Now I want you to just lift your eyes up to the Lord, let your heart be on the Lord, and you see now that we're full of the Holy Ghost, power! And just in the release of the word, power flows and it's quite simple, see? We'll do that a little bit more later, just wanting you to get to see it and get used to it. So now we've arisen in spirit and something comes from within us that can be released, and we can release it with words. I'm wanting you to really get the understanding that your words, when they are full of faith, actually bring about some results, and so we'll see how to get them full of faith a little bit later. Okay, so if I in my heart am completely convinced that God is in me, same spirit that raised Christ from the dead is within me, oh the anointing of the Holy Ghost flows like a mighty river, power! And I can believe that the power of God will just flow through her and touch her there. There we go - isn't that nice to be caught by your husband like that? [Laughter] Ready, just come - and of course now that we're starting to move that way, if you'll just open your heart to the Lord, you'll feel His presence start to come on you. It's like a [blows once gently] like something just comes down from heaven, just like that.

Now you notice we haven't done a lot. What we have done is just stirred what we do have. We have the word, we have the Holy Spirit, we must deploy what God has given us. Just open your eyes and heart to the Lord and just [blows once gently] receive from Him right now - and so we're in a place you could just pray for - why don't you pray for one another? That'd be a great thing to do right now, just pray for one another right now. Just pray. Just release the blessing of God, okay but make sure you've got someone to catch. Just try that right now. That's right. [Background chat] No catcher? Put a chair right behind her and she can sit in the chair. [Background chat] [Blows once gently] Spirit of God come, Holy Ghost come. Alright. [Laughs] Wonderful. [Background chat] Alright then, do you want to just - just come here, just take his hand. Are you ready? Okay, now close your eyes, and I want you just to begin to imagine that God is as close to me, as I am to you right now. The presence of God is here, so don't try and make something happen, just become aware God is here. Now we're going to release what God has given you - [Blows once gently] there we are, just like that. See and he begins to feel the presence of God, see? It's not empty words. It's words that are full of a heart, so you get your heart focussed first, otherwise you'll try to say something and do something and nothing happens. Alright then?

Okay then, let's just take a seat now. We'll come back to that one later on. Great stuff. How many feel wide awake now? [Laughs] You do, you get wide awake. You just become wide awake. Remember, you can pray any time, that's the gift God's given you. You can speak the word of God any time, and you can develop your heart, your meditation in the word of God, any time you wish. These are great. They're simple, we can do it any time. So here's the thing - you determine how much you grow and develop your inner man. Okay, we want to look on how to exercise spiritual authority. We went yesterday and we looked at spiritual authority and what it was, and we saw also about God has called us to go on a mission, everyone's got assignment from God. We saw also how we have a territory that we're responsible for. We saw about governing our territory; if we fail to govern then what happens is something else sits in there, and that's why many people are oppressed, because they've failed to govern their territory.

Okay then, so what we want to do this time - and we finished up with how governing your spiritual territory meant you had to hold it in your heart. I can't overemphasise how important it is to hold what God has given you in your heart. If anything takes it out of your heart, your ability to spiritually assert authority over it seems to diminish, so we need to hold in our heart what God has given us. We saw also we needed to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit and seek direction, how and what He wants us to do. Thirdly, we saw in our metron, or our area of territory, we needed to begin to get vision, or get some kind of direction, and layout some kind of steps for what we wanted to build, then use our voice to speak. This is the area that I want to focus a bit more on this time, is learning how to arise in your spirit, and to speak into your territory. This is a very, very important part - and then finally of course, things are not just spiritual, they're also natural. Whatever territory God has given you, you've got to be engaged in and active in it, so for example - we'll go into this session this time, and we want to look at how you exercise spiritual authority. Then I'll give you some examples of it at the end, firstly from personal testimony, and then just some ways that you could do this.

The problem of writing down prayers is they tend to become mechanical. They can help, but they tend to become mechanical. I've always felt if you can get the dynamics sorted out, it's not hard to get a flow, which you grow in your own life. We'll give you some practical keys. Alright then, so we read in Luke, Chapter 4, Jesus was in a synagogue, and a man manifested an evil spirit. Of course everyone was astonished because the evil spirit was yelling out through the man. We've got to imagine in a nice quiet church service how disruptive that is; someone's yelling out LEAVE US ALONE! You know, you can imagine all the people looking around, and all eyes are on this man, and he's crazy in that sense. He's sort of doing something unpredictable, but a demon is manifesting, and so the Bible says he yelled out: What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? We know who You are. You're the Holy one of God - so this guy's yelling and ranting. He's manifesting a spirit, and what happened was - and I've seen this kind of thing happen on many different times. I was in a meeting in Singapore and I just started talking and a lady cleaner came into the room at the top and started yelling, holding a broom up and waving a broom, yelling why you come here? Why you do this to me? I'm thinking - and everyone's sort of looking, what's going on here? But actually it was just a spirit manifesting.

So this is what Jesus did. He directly confronted the spirit. He said: be quiet, come out of him. The demon struggled violently, threw the man on the ground, and came out of him. Now you can imagine that's actually quite a dramatic thing to happen in a normally quiet church service, very dramatic. So of course the atmosphere is just electric with the presence and power of God. This was an example of Jesus' deliverance, and the people commented, and they said they were amazed, and spoke among themselves, saying: what a word is this, for with authority and power He commands the spirits and they come out. Now this was astonishing. In a country like Israel, the problem of demonisation is widespread. You go through Asia, Africa, through South America, you go through many countries, the problem of demonisation is widespread, well-known, and they don't know what to do, so they seek out all kinds of remedies for it. But we have the answer. We have been given authority to address them.

The church must arise in this area. Now in the west, the problems are still there, it's just they're covered over, they're a little more hidden than you would expect, but the same problems are essentially in people in the west as well. It's just they think it's just me, and so in the west we tend to rationalise spiritual things, and to say it's just me, or try and find a natural cause for it, and don't realise it could be demonic. Now you notice here what they said: He said with authority and with power. The word authority means the rule of government, it's the rule of government. The word is in the original language is the word exousía, so when you read your Bible, sometimes it'll mis-translate it, and it'll use the word power, but they're actually two different words. I want to explain them so you understand completely what they are. The word exousía means a right has been delegated to you, to speak and act on behalf of someone else - exousía a right, a legal right has been delegated to you, to speak and act on behalf of someone else, in this case Jesus Christ.

So if you have authority you have a legal right. It's a legal right. It's got nothing to do with how you feel. It is a legal right, so for example if a family - if the parents die, and there's only one son, unless there is a legal Will that gives the property elsewhere, he has the legal right as the only heir to inherit the property. If you've purchased a building, you have the legal right to own and occupy the building, so if someone else is there, they are a squatter. They have no legal right to be there. You are the person who has the legal right. So in the case of spiritual authority, spiritual authority God delegates to you a legal right which is recognised in the spirit world, to speak and to act on His behalf. Now when the Bible says that the husband is the head of the wife, there many emotional things that go through people's mind thinking about that, but I want to just make it really simple and clear. From the point of view of the spirit world, God has made a declaration that the husband legally has authority in the spirit world, to speak and act on behalf of Jesus Christ in relationship to his marriage and family. It's a delegated right given to him.

Now it's nothing to do with whether the wife is of more value or more spiritual than the husband, it's just an order God has set in place. The demonic world will recognise the order, and do all it can to sabotage it, so a husband may not be as good a prayer as his wife. He may not know the Bible as well as his wife, but nevertheless, from a spiritual perspective, God has delegated to him a positioning in the spirit world. It's not a positioning of ruling over his wife, because the Bible says actually spiritual authority is exercised through loving service, but in terms of the spiritual world, he has a right to speak and to give directions and act, and he can address spirit powers. Now this is something people don't really understand. I'll give you an example of when I saw it most vividly. I had a couple who formerly had been Pastors, and his wife had been deeply involved as a young woman in the occult. She was trapped into it, and I won't go into the details of it, but it was a very horrendous experience, both as a young girl about six, and then again as a teenager about 16. The things she described were horrendous. I had trouble believing it all, because it was so horrendous what happened.

Anyway, she moved out of that whole thing, moved on with her life, married. They got called into ministry and later on it was very clear there were problems that were going on, and there was a strong control sat around his wife, so I got him as the husband to stand up, and I'll show you how to do that a little later - how to stand up and to pray and address the spirit world, and exercise his authority as husband, to position himself as the husband, to make a declaration I am her lawful husband, and to speak into the spirit world. He did it, and what happened was some of the issues around her life came up to the surface, but what I didn't realise was, he kept praying that way. So he kept praying day after day, asserting his authority in the spirit world, and commanding all controlling spirits to release his wife, and what happened was initially the first problems came up, then this whole layer of all this occult surfaced. We had some massive difficulties because of all of these issues.

We had all kinds of accidents started to happen; the occult group made connection with her again. It was quite a messy thing, for quite a while, and so I was puzzled as how to deal with it, and the Lord spoke to me. He said: I want you to stand as the Pastor, and I want you to speak and take authority in the spirit world, and totally forbid the operation of this occult group against this woman. He said: I want you to bring judgement against it. So I said oh okay, how do I do that? So I just rose up and prayed and decreed that no weapon formed against us would prosper, that every tongue that rose against us speaking judgement and curses, we totally cancel it's power, and defeat it in Jesus' name. I asked the Lord, called on the Lord, to act on our behalf and to deal with it.

Now what happened was within the space of a week, two people in that covenant had motor accidents and died, just like that, and all contact with that coven and this woman stopped just like that. Now we still had the problem within her, so we began to pray, and I tried to get her delivered. It was very hard, very difficult to get her delivered, and then the Lord spoke to me. He said: I want you to get the husband involved, and she was a little reluctant about that because of issues in her heart about men, so what I did was, I said to her husband: I wonder if you just pray in the other room, and I'll call you in. When I call you in, when the demon's in full manifestation, I want you to do - and I described to him what I wanted him to do. So anyway we prayed. Now what happened was the woman had fallen down on the floor. Her feet were facing the door so there's no way she could see anything that was happening, she was face down. Another woman was with her, praying for her, and I just left the room quickly, went in and her husband came in, and together we laid hands.

He put his hand on his wife's head, I put my hand on his, and he spoke these words. He said as her lawful husband, I break all covenants formed with this spirit, and command you to go now. Now as he walked in - now she can't see him - she yells out: what's he doing here? The demon recognised the authority the husband carried, and that he was determined to assert it in the spirit. He put his hand on and prayed as the husband, I put my hand on him and prayed as the Pastor, and immediately the spirit was gone, just like that. That was one of the most vivid examples I ever had in all my ministry life, of how the spirit world recognises the authority that's delegated to the people of God, and specifically in the situation of marriage; if God has called the husband the head, he is what God calls him. Now he may not be doing a good job at it, but it doesn't change who he is. The spirit world recognises it.

So when a husband stands up as the head of the home in the role he's got, and addresses the spirit world, it will respond to him, because he is the legal representative of God, authorised to speak on behalf of his family. Now it doesn't minimise in any way the prayers of his wife. What I'm trying to establish here is the recognition the spirit world has on lawful authority. Now just take it another step further. You and I are children of God. We've been raised into a realm where we are positioned, we are seated with Him, far above every principality and power. Now you as a child of God also are authorised, if you will arise and stand within that role. Father, I come before you today in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I arise and I come boldly to the throne of Your grace. The Bible tells us to do that. So you see yourself, there you are standing, you're worshipping God. Now you can speak from that position of victory and authority; as a representative of Jesus Christ I speak now to that demonic spirit. I forbid your operation. I break your assignment.

Now demons will respond to that, because they recognise you are lawfully and rightfully delegated that kind of authority, but it's all to do with your positioning in your heart and faith. You've got to believe what God says about you. Ooh, you're getting quiet now. [Laughter] So authority means it's the legal right delegated to you, to speak and act on behalf of Jesus Christ, and we'll show you exactly what you're authorised to do. I've given you hints on it already right now - so you have the right to speak and to act. Now because you've been given that right, it is a responsibility to dismiss demons, and to speak and ordain and speak the word of God. You've actually got a responsibility to do this, so we may neglect our responsibility. If we neglect our responsibility, then as we saw, the territory becomes invaded, problems start to come relationally and oppression-wise and all sorts of things.

Okay, the other word is the word power. Now the word power is the word dunamis; you shall receive power from on high. That's a different word altogether. That is the anointing. That is the presence of God to enable you to get this to happen, so Jesus received authority as part of His commission, but it's intimacy and obedience that maintains the flow of anointing. So what we were doing today was getting you to arise inside in your spirit, and as you arose and built your spirit life and developed the flow from within, you can feel the anointing flowing. So to describe the difference between authority and power we use an illustration. If a person trains to become a policeman, he eventually comes to a point after his training where he makes an oath of allegiance to the Government. That means I will act on behalf of the Government to fulfil its mandate, okay? Then they give him a uniform and they give him a gun - if you're in some of the countries they give him a gun, even in our country they give him a gun.

Now the authority is seen in the uniform, because when you meet that person, you're not meeting the man, you're meeting the authority of the Government. If you saw him on the road and he put his hand up you probably wouldn't say a thing, but you see him in his uniform and suddenly, if you're speeding, fear grips your heart [laughter] because you become aware of authority, and the call to account for your life. There's nothing like an exposure with authority to suddenly show what's in your heart. If you're speeding down the road, and you see a policeman step out in a black uniform, hold his hand up, suddenly you'll have all kinds of emotional things go on inside you. Now if you try to push past him, you are now up against the whole of the Government. He's not acting on his own behalf. When he's fulfilling his assignment, he's acting as a representative of Government; you take him on, you're taking the Government on.

The second thing is they have a gun, so if you don't stop, they can force you to stop - start shooting. They don't have so much of that here, but it's common overseas, and so we need authority, and to know what our authority is, and we also need power, the flow of the spirit that accomplishes what we want. These are two separate and quite distinct things. Got the idea? Okay then, now so what I want to do is, I want to look at the authority that we've been given, and to just briefly look at what Jesus accomplished on the cross. In Colossians 2, Verses 12 through to 15, is a very important verse. Demons hate this verse, because it describes something very important that Jesus did. Now you being dead in your trespasses and sins and uncircumcision of your flesh, he has made alive together with Him. So when Jesus died, we died with Him. When He was buried, we were buried with Him, and when He rose, we rose with Him, see? So we are risen, and he says notice, having forgiven you, some of your trespasses. Hmm? All. All. This is a crucial thing - all of your trespasses, having absolutely wiped away the handwriting of requirements that was against us, that was contrary to us, He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross; having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

Now in Jesus' walk on the earth, He was obedient in every aspect of His life, but when He went to the cross and died on the cross, He acted as our representative, and accomplished something for us at the cross. The Bible says He disarmed spirit powers, stripped off their clothes and weapons, totally took away from them the weapon, or the power of the weapons they had, and He triumphed. He completely won a great and mighty victory over them. Now what happened is this. The original Adam was given authority in the earth. He was created to have dominion. The Bible tells us that when Adam disobeyed and sinned, there was a transference. He lost his right to rule. It was taken over by the devil, so realms of the spirit that Adam and his descendants were supposed to occupy, then became occupied by demonic spirits, as far as I can understand.

So the devil, when he came to Jesus, said: all of this power has been delivered or surrendered to me, so he said: I've got a legal right to rule the earth. I conquered your ruler. Got the idea? That's how it works. We understand that, you know, you go in and conquer someone, you rule their territory. It's as simple as that. The old rules of war - so the devil conquered Adam, and as a result of conquering Adam, then he now had authority and rights, legal rights. So when Jesus came, He came as a representative, totally obedient to the Father all His life, obedient right to the point of death on the cross. But when He died on the cross, what He did was He legally broke the power of the devil to hold people in bondage. He broke the power of death, and so this is a legal thing that has happened. Now what does the devil use primarily against you? He uses sin, iniquity, trespasses. He uses the breaking of the laws of God.

Now if you were to think of your past life, and think every thing that you had ever done wrong, and the things that were right that you should have done and failed to do, to know what to do and not do it, to know to do good and not do it is sin; so if you took a list of that, that is going to be one big list. If we put it on the computer we'd probably fill up the memory, have to stick in another card and put more in. [Laughter] Okay, now imagine all of that, and then take that all the way through the rest of your life, so we've got the whole of your life from when you're born right through to when you die, we've got the lot. Those are all your sins - that's the list that is contrary to you. That is what the devil manipulates to give legal right to your life. So for example, in a person's background if there's been idolatry or freemasonry in the background, there is now a legal right established for demonic spirits to use that as an entrance point to the successive generations.

So in order to deal with the demonic realm, the legal rights issue has to be resolved, and so when Jesus died on the cross He literally paid full price to cancel everything against us. It's the most amazing truth. Now what that means very simply is this: the word redeem means to pay the full price, to get back the person who's in prison and can't free themselves. It's to go to the kidnapper and to pay the price and to get the person kidnapped free, so what Jesus accomplished at the cross was to deal with the legal right. So when He rose from the dead, He was able to say all authority in heaven in earth is now given to Me. Now get this - when He came from heaven, He left all authority behind. He now gained all authority because of this act of obedience in His life, even to the point of death, so legally everything belongs to Jesus. Nothing belongs to the devil.

The nations belong to Him, the earth belongs to Him, all of creation belongs to Him. He has redeemed it, paid the full price to now legally be entitled to rule it. So the Bible tells us one day He'll come back, and He'll assert that with great power. In the meantime we are delegated as representatives of Him, and whenever the devil has a legal right to something, we can go to the cross and say that's the place it was cancelled. So every sin that you bring to the cross, its power to hold you in bondage and create a legal right for demons is broken, so the issue of legal rights is an incredibly important one in the spirit world. That is how the whole thing operates, under law. If we walk in the laws of God, the devil can't touch us. If we break the laws of God, he has legal rights to access us. It's as simple as that, so there's a remedy for the broken law, and that is to bring sin to the cross. That's why you cannot operate successfully in the spirit world without a revelation of the cross, and the blood, and the authority given to us as a believer, to represent the Lord. Okay, so there we are.

So at the cross Jesus legally broke the power of a number of things; the power of sin, the power of curses. Galatians 3:13, He has redeemed us from the curse of the law, becoming a curse for us, that the blessing of Abraham might come upon us. Redeemed, paid the full price. Griefs and trauma, Isaiah 53 and Verse 4, He carried our sorrows, He carried our griefs. In Isaiah 53, Verse 5, by His stripes we are healed, so sicknesses He dealt with; Isaiah 53, Verse 5 and He took away our our iniquities - so everything the devil could use as a weapon, at the cross Jesus legally broke its power. However it's one thing to have something legally done, it's another thing to have the reality of it in your life, and so we need to understand what Jesus has done, so we can bring it into reality here. So this issue of the law, and of sin, and dealing with sin is a crucial one in addressing the spirit world. That's why any person who works in the realm of deliverance has a great awareness of what sin does in terms of establishing legal rights for demons to operate, and it is incredibly difficult to get any person free, or any demonic spirit to shift, if you don't address the legal rights it has to be there.

In fact many times a demon will actually argue with you that it owns this place; I've been here a long time, I have a right to be here. So they'll actually argue with you. When Jesus taught about deliverance, He said that the demon, after it's cast out, will go back, and says: I will return to my house. See, it claims legal right to live in the person's life, so demons look for every legal ground. They are great manipulators to try and use any legal ground to access your life, so removing legal rights is a crucial part of freedom, and we need to understand that if I have broken the law, I don't have much authority, because I'm a transgressor, to be able to set others free. I need to actually bring my own life into alignment.

So Jesus has done a tremendous work on the cross, but there's one thing to know what He's done, it's another thing to bring it into reality in our life, and that is where we have to grow and develop our faith. It's by faith these things come into being, so for example God has given every one of you legal right to deal with demons, but probably the majority of you either don't do it, or are not very successful at it. Now that doesn't mean the legal right to do it isn't there, it just means you have to grow into, and obtain possession of, what Jesus won for you. In the Old Testament Joshua had to - God said: I've given you the land, and I've given the people until you. Now arise and go in and battle, so you have to possess what Jesus has made available for you, and that's the work of faith. So Jesus done these things on our behalf, and He has now given us authority.

Notice what it says in Luke 10, Verse 19: Behold, I give you the authority - that's exousia - delegated right, to tread serpents and scorpions under foot, and to tread over all the power of the enemy. Now that's an amazing thing that Jesus said. Do you realise as a believer, that you can tread demons under foot, that you have no need to fear them? Now it's not that they don't have power. They do have real power, and they do exert that real power, and in some places it's quite terrifying. However, if you will stay in the realm God's called you to operate in, you have the right to deal with the things. You can tread them under foot, and you have authority over all their power. You don't need to be alarmed at the kind of power they have.

I was in a meeting in Indonesia and it was one of my first meetings there in Indonesia, had a very big meeting and three witch doctors came because they heard that the power of God would be there to deal with demons. So they came to the meeting to disrupt the meeting. In other words they wanted to work together to hurl curses against me, so that they could take away whatever power I had, and it would become their power. To tell the truth I didn't even actually see - I didn't even know what happened, because there was a big crowd there, two thousand and they stood up to do their stuff and they'd no sooner stood up than the power of God hit them. They fell on the ground just like that and they were thrown, they were literally hurled to the ground, and they could not get up. They crawled out. They literally had to crawl out on their faces out of the meeting. Now I wish I could claim something for it - I couldn't. Actually I never even saw it happen. I only heard about it afterwards.

Dave was with me, and they called to Dave; hey, something's happening. He went around the back and he dealt with one face to face, and got them totally delivered, and the guy came up and got saved afterwards. He recognised the power of God was greater than the power they operated. He understood spiritual power. He said this power is greater than that. We were in another meeting, Pastor Kong Hee's church in City Harvest, and some demons were starting to yell and to scream. Pastor Kong Hees mother and father were there, and she sort of got concerned with all this screaming and yelling going on, but the father was an interesting person, because they were involved in idolatry. He said I see that there is a greater power here than the power these spirits have, and they came up and got saved because of that. They recognised the greater power see - so I give you authority.

Now this is a personal verse for you; I give you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. So you could make it your declaration, today I have authority over serpents and scorpions and all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall in any way hurt me. It'd be good to build the truth of that into your heart, so Jesus was responding to the testimonies of believers that He'd sent out - this is the 70. He said they have authority, I give you authority to tread over demons. So our spiritual authority, you have authority, it's just whether you use it and develop it or not. It comes one, out of our standing with God. We've got to know where we stand. That's why when you come to minister, the first thing that you'll be aware of is where you stand with God, whether you're conscious that I am in right standing with God, I have access to Him, I can live and be in His presence right now. If you are conscious of that in your heart, then it's very easy to assert authority.

The second thing, it depends on your on-going relationship. I need to keep listening to God, so it's all very well to say I have authority, but actually it's for a purpose, so I need to know what God wants me to do. Finally, we need to yield to the Holy Spirit. So here's the thing. The authority Jesus gives you, and I'll list some areas He's given you authority in - we don't own it. It's actually, we're acting on behalf of someone else - so all authority that Jesus gives you, spiritual authority, you're acting on behalf of Him. You're representing Him, and so that means you don't own it, you've got to use it rightly or it creates many problems, and not presume or make any presumptions about just because I have all this authority, I can do what I want. No, we need to listen to the Holy Ghost, and learn to be led by the spirit of God - not a very hard thing to do.

So what do you have authority to do? What has Jesus entrusted to you some authority to do? He's given you a whole number of things, for example we'll just take this first one here. He's given us authority to preach the gospel. We think well that's a pretty obvious one. Actually it's not so, because there's many countries where, if you preach the gospel they'll throw you in jail. Think of the conflict here; I read in the Bible go and preach the gospel, and yet the authorities say: if you preach the gospel we'll put you in jail. What will I do? There's two authorities in conflict here; one is the authority of God, who says to do this, and that's the highest authority; two, there's the authority of the Government, which says don't do it, or we'll put you jail - so how do I address that? How do I address this apparent conflict in authorities? Very simply.

Firstly, all authority comes from God, so therefore is subject to Him ultimately. Secondly, I should give way and yield to the ultimate authority, the authority of God who's given a clear mandate in scripture, preach the gospel; thirdly, I need to show respect for civil authorities who are His representatives, but nevertheless I can be submitted to them, but not obedient to them, so I can have a right attitude to local authorities, but not do what they tell me to do. A classic example is in the Book of Acts, where the authorities gathered the disciples together, and they threatened them that you must not preach the gospel. If you preach the gospel then we'll have you thrown into prison and beaten up, and they said we must listen to God and do what God has said, so they went out and preached the gospel. Then - notice this - they got thrown into prison and beaten up, and they just rejoiced. They didn't make a big deal of it, they just accepted they had gone contrary to the authorities, and this was what was going to happen, they said for the honour of God. So they had a good attitude, but they were disobedient.

Now you have to understand that, so for example a person who is in a work situation, and in the work situation they tell you to do something which is quite clearly contrary to the law, and to your conscience. You can have a submitted heart, but still say no, I can't do that, because you have to live out of the authority of God, not just what people tell you to do. So these are some of the interesting things. Anyway let's just carry on through the list here: Giving you an authority to act as a representative of Jesus, to preach the gospel, make disciples - Matthew 20:8. He's told us to go do it, so we're authorised to do it. If someone says: why are you doing this, or who do you think you are, very simply, Jesus told me to do it, make disciples. We're also authorised to bless. In Matthew, Chapter 10, He says whatever house you go into, say peace be unto the house. Now what a stupid thing to say. That's an unusual thing to say - go into a house and say peace. Now we don't do that kind of thing do we, because we don't understand what He was saying to them. He was saying: you have power to speak, and release blessing into a house. You can actually release the peace of God in a tangible way into the house, and you are authorised when you go into a home that makes you welcome, to speak and release the blessing of God.

So just extending that out now, wherever you go, God has authorised you to speak words that release blessing over people, to speak and call upon the Holy Ghost to touch their life, to call upon the presence of God to come into that place, to call upon or invite the Holy Spirit to come. You are authorised to do that. We don't have to ask whether this is what God wants, He always wants that. You're also authorised to break bondages. Isaiah 10:27, the yoke is broken because of the anointing, so we're authorised to break bondages, and I'll describe that a little bit further. To break curses - Matthew 16:19 - curses are words spoken, that activate demonic powers. You are authorised to break curses. God has given you authority to break them. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. So to break curses means to loose something that is holding a person in bondage.

You're authorised to cast out demons, you're authorised to heal the sick, you're authorised to raise the dead. Now here's the interesting thing. We're authorised to raise the dead, we just don't see so much of it here, but in other countries, particularly Pastor Anwar, his ministry, they have raised a number of people from the dead; David Hogan, I think overall I think they've raised nearly 300 people from the dead in their ministry. So it is authorised, it just doesn't always happen, and I've tried once but it didn't work. I just need to grow in my faith. [Laughter] Okay, we're authorised to bind and loose, that means to restrain spirits or things operating, or to release things to happen. We're also authorised to forgive, to speak and release forgiveness. So here's authority that you're given to do some things.

Now the key thing is, it's great to know what they are, but how do I actually go about this? How do you operate or exercise spiritual authority, and there's several things that are a part of it, so I want to just identify what they are, because some people speak and there's nothing happens at all. Others speak and something really happens - what's the difference? The difference inevitably is in the heart. Now let me give you some simple foundations on this exercise of authority. The first thing is, you need to know your standing with God. You need to be quite convinced of where you stand with God, because if you're not sure where you stand or your righteousness before God, if you're not sure of that when you speak, you'll doubt that anything's going to happen. You've got to not doubt in your heart, when you speak something will happen, so first of all I need to know the authority or the standing that God has given me, for example in ministering right now, if I could just use an example here. Could I just use you for an example?

So just come, I'll just take your hand, alright, just take your hand. I need someone to stand behind her just in case something happens. So now suppose I've come to minister, and I need to release the power of God or something like that. Now the first thing, she's come forward for prayer, for some reason and I'm needing to minister or to bring God to her, so ministering is not praying little prayers. It's about bringing God to the person. Now the first thing that you become conscious of, is where your standing is with God, so she's looking to me to give her some answer, so I tell her well, why don't you just close your eyes, and look up to the Lord, so I direct her attention away from me and onto the Lord. It's always good to get people to look to the Lord. Why? Because it stops the operation of witchcraft around you, to try and manipulate you to do something they want. You get them looking to God rather than looking to you. He is the source. Keep Jesus being honoured all the time.

Then the second thing that I become aware of is, my goodness, what am I going to do, and what will happen, and what if nothing happens? All that sort of stuff goes on inside. Now that is all to do with your standing with God, so if - oh man, I didn't pray, oh no. Now you see that's all to do with your standing with God, it's about accusations coming to erode you, so if you're going to move in authority, and move with power, you must be completely convinced in your heart that you are deeply connected to God, and I've taken a lot of time to practice that. We use the word righteousness, but for most people it doesn't mean anything. They don't know how does this work in my life. It just means that I am able to stand innocent before God, and be welcomed and embraced by Him, absolutely free of any charges against me.

So if I was just to meditate now and to allow my mind and heart to just become fixed, that God, I am near to Him right now. I can stand near to Him. I can honour Him and love Him and His presence is here and because of that I can release the power of God, because of positioning, because of being conscious of the presence of God. Many people are conscious of sin, conscious of being alone, conscious of being not good enough. That is a spiritual pressure around you that stops you flowing with authority. You have to silence all of that, and you silence it by the truth, that my sins are all forgiven, every one of them. I can boldly come into the presence of God. I took quite a bit of time to meditate until in a moment I can meditate and become just aware of God. It just took time for that truth to be built in, but once it's built in it makes it very easy to work with the Holy Spirit. If it's not built in to your life, your standing with God, then flowing with the Holy Spirit is immediately you get full of condemnation and full of wrestles and accusations and struggles. All sorts of doubts go on in your mind, so you have to recognise that's just what they are, attacks on your mind.

We are to have the breastplate of righteousness that protects our heart from being condemned, so to operate in authority, the first foundation of that is that I am clearly established in my standing with God. If I'm not, how will I know whether He's going to back me up?

If I'm not sure He's with me, and that we're working together, if I've got doubts about my standing because of being accused or condemned, how will I move competently and boldly? Very difficult, very difficult. So the first thing, foundational thing is, faith righteousness: I am connected to God, and I am favoured by Him. I am blessed by Him. I am blessed today. I am blessed by His love and presence. See, you build these things into your life, and your authority grows as this becomes established, so all things in the spirit, you have to know exactly where you stand with God. Now I'm not saying have it as a head knowledge. It needs to be more than just a head knowledge. In your heart, you need to know I'm completely innocent in His sight, see? Now that is what gives you boldness then to speak on His behalf, but if you are not convinced in your heart, if there are doubts in your heart about your standing with God, there will be doubts that will undermine your authority to minister.

So this is the most important thing to establish is faith righteousness, I am right with God by faith in the work of another, not in my works, not whether I prayed, not whether I did well or didn't do well. I am right by faith in the work of Christ, so you become conscious of a fault quickly repent of it: I am right now with God by faith in what Jesus Christ did. This is the foundation for all faith ministry, is the righteousness that Jesus gave to me, by my believing in Him. Getting the idea? So if your heart condemns you, God is bigger than your heart, so there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, except their heart on the spirit. This is foundational to all operation in the things of the spirit. You must know I'm established, and I can boldly, quickly come into the presence of God without being condemned. Have I done something wrong? That's okay, because He's made provision. Lord, I'm so sorry, I put it right really quickly, it's over, it's out of His mind, and it needs to be out of mine. This is so foundational to all faith operation, is that I'm right by trusting what Jesus did, and that needs to be established in your life. If you've lived under condemnation all your life, and blame, there maybe a stronghold to break, so that the truth gets established in your heart. Okay, getting the idea? Rightio, alright, so that's number one.

Thank you very much. How did you do? What did you feel happen? Immediately felt the presence of God. About the time when I actually just set my heart to meditate and be in the presence of God, the moment I set my heart on that, and started to connect with Him, immediately she felt the presence of God. I'll do it one more time, you'll just see it happen. It'll just be like that. I'll describe what's happening in me, and then you watch what happens to her, alright? So just again look up to the Lord, so you direct your attention to Him. I'm holding her hands, so whatever's going on in me will be an impartation. So if I was to just begin to meditate, and to see myself standing right before the throne of God, begin to meditate and fix my heart on Jesus, and as I set my heart - there He is, and I can feel His presence right now, see? And so does she.

See, so faith righteousness. It's not just a heady word. It's a spiritual reality, and when it's established in your life, the flow of God is never ending, and you know what? Every attack of the devil on you, will be to get that off you. It'll be to get you out of that place of confidence, and to get you into a place of doubt, about where God is in relationship to you. This is foundational to all moving in the spirit. To get it, you need to establish this in your life [laughs] okay? Alright then.

So the second one is humility. If I'm going to move in authority, I must develop humility. God gives grace to the humble, and in James 4:7, submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. The word submit means to place yourself under, or align yourself with someone who is over you, so together you can get a great result. So it has the idea of a military victory, of being properly positioned, so humility is a crucial part, and submission is an attitude of humility that recognises the authority of God, and those that God has delegated authority to, so that's - we're on now Page 10 in our notes. So submit is a crucial issue. I have found many people, because of pride, have a trouble of submitting to anyone. I have learned as soon as I meet anyone with authority, I immediately adopt an attitude of recognising and aligning properly with an attitude of honour to that person, because this is how I can walk in the spirit, and stay in the spirit. Getting the idea?

You notice the centurion, the moment when he saw Jesus Christ, he said: you don't need to go to my house, I understand authority. Just say a command, and my child will be healed, if you just say be healed. Jesus said whoa, that's real faith. The understanding of spiritual authority requires faith, because we have got defiled in our thinking about authority by bad experiences.

The fifth thing is revelation. We do need to listen to the Holy Ghost. Jesus said in John, Chapter 5, Verse 19, He said the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; He does, the Son does the same, for the Father loves the Son, and shows Him everything He Himself does; and will show Him greater works than these. So Jesus' authority flowed not just out of knowing who He was, but out of also listening for direction. So many times He could have prayed, but He didn't, so that's interesting. He could have delivered, but He didn't, so why is that? Because personal sensitivity to what God was doing was more important than legal rights to Him, so although He legally could have prayed for everyone and healed them, prayed for everyone and delivered them, He placed listening to the Father, and listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit, the highest thing in His life. So sometimes people said: why don't You pray for him, why don't You go and see Lazarus, what's wrong, he's sick. Why don't You go and see him? He said no, there's something greater God has in mind, let's wait and we'll see something greater. So you see, we have to just constantly be sensitive to the Holy Spirit, and get revelation on what to do.

And finally, the last two things are, you have to use your voice, so you'll notice whenever you read in the Bible of people exercising spiritual authority there were always strong verbal commands: rise up! See, He didn't speak to the dead man in a soft voice: Lazarus, come forth! Spoke to the wind, spoke to the waves. He spoke strongly to sicknesses and demons, He spoke to the winds, spoke to trees, spoke to dead people. He spoke and gave a command, expecting something to happen, see?

You notice in the way He spoke, He spoke with great boldness. Now one of the things you'll find when you're moving in the spirit, you've got to speak with boldness. Now that's not loud, it just is confidence that God is going to do something. So you think well, I don't feel confident. Boldness has got nothing to do with what you feel - you speak that way: In Jesus' name come out! I speak to that sickness, be gone in Jesus' name! You've got to speak strongly as a representative of God, and the last part is act of faith. I must expect that when I speak, something will happen. Now you'd be amazed how many times when you pray, nothing happens initially. You have to expect something to happen, and so in Mark 11:24, Jesus said: have the faith of God, for I tell you truthfully, whoever speaks to this mountain - be removed, be cast into the sea, does not doubt in his heart, but believes the things will come to pass, he will have whatever he says. So I say to you, when you pray, believe you receive them, and you'll have them.

So you notice that spiritual kingdoms are enforced by spirits that ride on them, so the kingdom of God, it's the Holy Spirit that advances that; demonic kingdoms, it's demonic spirits, and I must believe when I speak that something will happen, not doubt in my heart. Now if I have no confident expectation of God doing something, there will be a difficulty. There'll be nothing much happen. I have noticed when you start to pray for deliverance, many times nothing happens. You've just got to be persevering and persistent. I've found in praying to alter spiritual atmospheres, nothing seems to shift initially, so I keep my voice speaking into that situation, and eventually it yields. You've got to believe that your voice, and what you say, will come about. Notice what He says, how many times it says what you say, whoever says and doesn't doubt in his heart, whatever he says will happen, he will have what he says. So I've got to speak words, believing that this is the will of God, I insist that this command be carried out, and it's a challenge, because I've observed in working in deliverance, that demons resist people, and the tendency is when nothing happens the first time you do something is, to quit and give up, so in operating in the spirit, perseverance is a must.

Okay then, so summing it up then. In exercising spiritual authority, it has to do with positioning, knowing where I am in God, listening, having revelation, and then giving voice or speaking. This is what I want to share with you, some things I've done that have been a big help, and then show you what you could do, perhaps to be like that. God spoke to me when I was a young Christian. I had a classroom, a physics classroom. It was a very old classroom, and everything was a bit tatty in it, and the Lord spoke to me. He said every child that comes in here is under spiritual pressure, they're unsaved. He said what you can do is, you can go through the classroom every day, praying in tongues and lay hands on every seat. I want you to do this, I want you to forbid the operation of demonic spirits over every child, and I want you to decree blessing over them. See, resist the devil, and call forth the things of God.

Now that was a pretty unusual thing to get to do because, you know, it didn't make any sense to me, but I was in the early days of just listening and learning and doing. So day after day, I would walk into the classroom, and I would just speak, [prays in tongues] I stand in charge of this classroom. I stand as one responsible for every student who comes in here today. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I forbid the operation of demons against every student that'll sit in this seat - because the classes flow through the day. So I'd go around, and I didn't pray the same prayer all the time. I'd pray it once, and then just lay hands - in Jesus' name I bind every spirit operating, I release blessing, I release learning, I release understanding. I release a great atmosphere in to this classroom. I release the presence of God into this place.

Now I spoke as one believing totally it would happen. Now I wasn't sure, because I'd never seen anything like this happen before, but I did it anyway, and it took about - I wasn't sure, or didn't feel initial changes of it, but others noticed it. Now what happened was this, there were several things happened. The first thing that happened was, one of the teachers noticed the difference, and she came and spoke to me, she said: what's up with your room? I said: what do you mean? She said: well I noticed every time I have a study class in your room, it's very quiet, and they're peaceful, and I get a lot of work done too, because they're so quiet. I said: is that so? She said yes, it's the only room in the school it's like this. What's different about your room? I said: I don't think you'll want to know the answer [laughter] and she said no, tell me. I said: I'm sure you won't want to know the answer, and she said: no, tell me.

I said: well you tell me again what is it like in there? She said well, it's very peaceful, and the students really work, and I get a lot done. I said well here's what I do - I take authority over the spirits that trouble children, and release peace and the blessing of God to learn into this classroom. I could tell she didn't want to hear, but [laughter] - that wasn't the answer she wanted to hear. Nevertheless here's the thing: I didn't feel any change, but someone coming in did. The next thing I saw two girls that lined up outside and they said sir, something's weird about your classroom. I said what's weird? She said every time I come by we shake. I said well that sounds interesting, I've never seen - come in and show me shaking. So they came in and [laughter] their shaking got worse in the classroom. I'm thinking wow, this is amazing! I'm only six months, eight months a Christian - this is great to see something like this, and sure enough they're shaking.

So I realised then that they were involved in the occult, they were involved in the spirit world, and what was in them was reacting to the classroom. I enquired and sure, that's what was happening. We prayed, and immediately it went, it just stopped, and so I was aware then that without me knowing that something had happened, the whole atmosphere had begun to change. So then I began to pray, not only for the demons to be still and quiet, and prayed for the presence of God to come, I prayed then for the productivity, for the work to grow and increase. In the course of a period of time, probably about three or four years, my classes just went like that in terms of numbers, and in terms of outcomes of people passing exams.

I asked the Lord to give me creativity, because remember what I said? You have to be present, and you have to engage in a creative way in whatever you're doing, so you can't just leave it all up to God. We shift the spiritual atmosphere, then you front up, and you look for whatever creative ways you can do things. God gave me some creative ideas for the teaching, and so just to give you an idea, when I started I had 10 Form 7 students - 10, that was it in the whole school - and I had 20 Form 6 students. After we'd got into this flow of praying and releasing the presence of God and bringing creativity into the school, by the time I had left I had two 7th Form classes of 20-plus, say 25 each, which was almost the entire upper school, and I had four 6th Form classes of 25-plus each, nearly the whole of the upper school. I had nearly the whole upper school in my physics classes, and almost all of them had high accomplishment in their results. I think out of 100 university entrants, I got all but four through, year after year, and they were only because they were put in, and they didn't have the maths from 5th Form level to cope with the work. It was just an administrative muck up.

So I saw the reality of it. I taught people how to pray in their workplace, the same thing; to speak, take authority over troubling spirits, command the spirit to go, command peace to come into the place, productivity to increase, relationships to change, and the atmosphere has shifted. Now remember you can't just sort of do it by remote. This has got to be your metron, not someone else's. You have the right to do it. I've got many to pray into their workplace, and things have shifted in their workplace; one, because they started to arise in their spirit, and stop acting like a victim, and release the presence of God and subdue demons; secondly, they turned up with a different attitude, and the combination brought a tremendous shift and a change. We have to understand, this is really important stuff. We are called for dominion like this. We're called to bring the kingdom of heaven into the earth, and to do that you've got to confront the spirits that are there, and then release by words of faith blessing, specific blessing into your household, into your family, into your workplace, into your neighbourhood, into wherever you go.

We can do that. We're authorised to do that, and so you can pray over your marriage. I had one man, and I coached him how to pray. He stood up and he stood as the head of his home, repented for his failure to lead, and asked God to forgive him, and re-establish him in his positioning as the head of the home. Day after day he spoke in the spirit, broke the power of control that was operating, and within a very short time issues in the marriage came right out into the open. They had to work on it. There was deliverance and healing, and there was a shift took place in the dynamics in the marriage. His wife became much more secure and the whole marriage started to shift and change. These are realities. I could give you story after story after story where people have done it. Now is it easy? No, it isn't, because the moment you step up and start to push back the spirit world, it fights back at you, and your initial response may be it gets worse rather than better.

If it gets worse, then you can say yay - we're into the scrap! [Laughter] I've only got to hang on and it'll get better. That's the thing, you've got to be able to do that. You've got to hold your ground, and not give ground. In other words, perseverance is a crucial part of shifting spiritual atmosphere. Now sometimes it shifts really quickly, sometimes it doesn't. If it doesn't shift very quickly, it's because something's been established for a long time, and you've just got to hold your ground and be a bit gutsy and not quit. If you just stick with it, you'll find stuff will happen, it'll shift and change. We're authorised to do this you realise. Wherever you go, you're authorised to bring the presence of God, but most of us think only in terms of talking to people, and don't consider the possibility that I could just stand and just in a few moments of time, thank You Lord, I just invite Your presence to come into this room right now. Lord, just begin to fill this room with Your presence, let Your anointing just come over everyone right now - begin to feel the peace of God.

I just begin to put my spirit right over the whole room, and the peace of God will start to come, see? Feel it. He can fill a whole room. This is amazing stuff isn't it? [Laughter] [Yes.] See, I mean I need to actually get more proactive at this, because I often find that even though I know it, I'm not always diligent in holding it out and continuing to operate in this. So in other words, can you pray from another place and have a result, alright? [Yes.] We'll give you a couple of examples. The first obvious example is found in the Bible where the woman came to Jesus, and immediately after she reached out to Him, her daughter in another place was delivered, same with the centurions. Say only the word and be fixed. okay, now I have gone in prayer at one particular time, and someone over the other side of the world got healed right at that exact time, so I do not believe in the realm of the spirit there is any such thing as - there's no limitations of the physical world.

What you do then is this: first you begin to pray and stir your spirit, so get your spirit wound up and stirred up and energised so you're alive on the inside and your mind becomes clear, so you can hear the voice of God. Then you stand in your positioning before the Lord, looking for how to pray or ask Him to - just look for Him. He may give you directions, He may not. If He does, then follow them, if He doesn't, then you know what to do. So then what I would do from that place being near Him, I'd just begin to imagine the person, the situation and I'd speak as if I was standing right in that room - in Jesus' name right now, in Jesus' name I take authority, I forbid the operation of those spirits. I release the presence of God into that place. I release this, this, this, this, this - and now what happens is eventually you'll have some things happen. There will be things happen. You can do this, but you've got to be persistent in it.

Remember if this is say, a family member, and it's in their home, and they are responsible for their own lives, you cannot overrule them or override their free will. What you can do, is contain spiritual operations, and release or lawfully invite the spirit of God into that place, to do the work. They still have to respond, and usually I've found from the moment when you start praying until when you get something shifting, it can vary, but it'll often take time for God to set up the changes in their life that are needed, so we are called to intercede. We're called also to assert dominion, so just because I speak doesn't bring it all about. What I'm doing is I'm acting as a representative of heaven, to allow something to happen. Now because you are family, and connected to family, you can speak into family, because you can stand and put the cross of Christ between you and your family, hereditary background. You can command demons to shut down, to stop operating. You can release God's presence to work, and it does have effect on people.

I remember praying for one person. Apparently - I went through a hard time, because it felt like I was just getting nowhere, and then [laughs] they just - about three weeks later, they came up to me, and they just [laughs] said: I've been tormented for three weeks, I have to come and talk, and I didn't know from the day I started, it shifted. I just wasn't aware of it, because I saw nothing outward initially, so you have to persist, you know? Yeah, but you certainly can pray from a distance. But mostly the places we would want to operate is where we are physically present, where it's obviously where we have room to move.

Yes, sorry, yes? [Question] If you're a widow, you're the head of the home. [Yes, so that does mean...] In fact actually husband and wife, because they're one, God sees them as one, however God gives a status, or a standing in the spirit world to the husband, so when they stand together as a couple of course that's the best place to be. But I was only really trying to make the point about the particular role - but for a widow, well a widow, you have everything that is your home, is your realm, so now - it's the same for a single person of course. A single person, it's their realm. If a child is living in the home of parents, then the parents are the head of the home, so therefore they've got limited authority what they can do there. You've got to then know what God said you could do.

I know one girl, and she had been delivered from a demonic spirit, went home to her home. She said what do I do? We've got a big altar in our home. I said: well that's your parent's decision, not yours. Don't go in there and speak against them, or criticise them. Go into the home as a carrier of heaven to that home, so I said: first start with your own room. Dedicate your own room to the Lord, invite the presence of God into your own room. Then as you walk through the house, every time you see the idol, just speak to it, and make a decree. I said to her: pray in tongues, speak to it. Jesus shall increase, Sai-Baba shall decrease. Just say it - so she did that, and within a year when I came back Sai-Baba had decreased. They'd shifted out of their flat, they got a smaller flat, and they couldn't have the big altar, so the altar was gone, there was just a picture. She did it - I told her again, said how's Sai-Baba? Not doing to good. So I said well, keep doing it, so she did it next year. The picture had fallen down, they now had a little wee picture. [Laughter] He was diminishing. He was just diminishing. [Laughter]

You have to understand the power of decrees, tremendous power to speak as a representative of heaven, and to declare things, and to call things into being. Now when it involves other people, you've got to give them free will to make their decisions, and let God work this out in His own timing and rate. Our role is just to speak as His representative.

Exercising Authority in your Personal Life (4 of 6)

Thu 14 Feb 2013  « Back to Top

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The first place to gain dominion is with yourself. Eph. 4:27 shows us we can give the devil a foothold, or legal doorway to access our life, creating negative energies. This session gives a check-list of common doorways, and practical steps on how we can take responsibility for our life and close down these gateways. There is clear instruction on how to recognise and deal with spiritual attacks - spiritual problems need spiritual solutions. We can identify our own 'personal enemies' and deal with them ourselves. "deliver ourself from the had of the hunter". Many Q&A in this session cover a large range of situations.

So let's have a look now in Section Four on exercising authority in your personal life, and there's quite a lot to be said around this area, so I've focussed on some aspects of it, but let's look at it. The first place to gain dominion is yourself. In Ephesians 4, Verse 27, it says in Verse 26: be angry, but don't sin. Don't let the sun go down on your anger, neither give place to the devil. So it's talking firstly to believers, and it's clearly possible for believers to get angry, and sinfully angry, just as well it's also possible for a believer to give place to the devil. Now the word place is a Greek word, topos meaning an opportunity, a foothold or a legal ground or right. So He's saying to believers, don't give the devil legal footholds into your life, don't give them a ground on which they can access your life.

So the first place, you've got to get the victories in your own life, and it helps if you can recognise some of the strategies that demonic spirits use to manipulate and close your life, and to identify any gates or doors. Now some of this material starts to move towards the area of deliverance, and I don't want to make this a ministry session on deliverance, or a whole major teaching around deliverance, but I have observed in the past that when you start to stand up and speak into the spirit world, if there are footholds in your life, they quickly begin to manifest. [Laughs] So I have noticed that if you have legal areas or doorways open in your life, where spirits are operative, that when you start to engage speaking into the spirit world it pushes back on you temporarily, just temporarily, to see whether you really actually will stand up or not.

So I have observed at times, so for example I got up, and for a season there I was regularly, every day, beginning to command my day. So I'd rise and speak in the spirit, and begin to speak, now I command every aspect of my day to come into alignment with God's will for my life. I speak over every aspect of my day, to fully align with what God has purposed for me. I take authority over every assignment - I'd begin to speak and break things, and I found when I did that for about three days, and then I had a lot of trouble. I found that there was a lot of pressure around my mind and emotions, and it was like a discouragement to stop praying that way. So I've observed with working in exercising your spiritual authority, that the most common experiences people have initially are that there's a little bit of turmoil, pressure comes around you, or conflicts come in that area you're praying into.

So because this was a personal area, the pressure came around me personally in prayer, and I kind of felt like quitting. After three days at it, I felt like giving up, and I thought whoa, this is getting hard - but it was actually just a spiritual pressure I had to keep working against, and I had to look to see if there were any grounds or reasons that that pressure had a right to stay there, and put that right. I have found when people have prayed into marriages, sometimes the initial thing that happens is turmoil takes place, but then problems come out to the open, and you can then talk things through. Healing, resolution, and new ways of living together can take place. In the workplace, sometimes the initial outcome of praying is greater turmoil than ever, but again if you'll just keep up the pressure, it shifts and aligns with the word of God.

Remember it says: by faith we understand the world that we see was framed, or set in place, or ordered and created by the words that God spoke, so we have power to speak and frame up our world to align with what God wants. It doesn't absolve us from engaging and doing things, but this is an incredible important part, is speaking the word of God - so in 4.2, spirits try to make you ineffective. In 2 Corinthians 2, Verse 11, Paul said: lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices. So although at the cross Jesus legally or took the legal rights of Satan away, for practical operating purposes, he still operates unhindered, because people don't know that. Once you know what Jesus has accomplished, and believe and stand on it, then the devil loses ground immediately before you.

But he does have his devices, he does have his ways, and he does work on people's lives. It's when you start to pray, you start to see it. He said: lest Satan should take advantage - the word advantage means to defraud, take what belongs to another by deceit. So he's saying demonic spirits will try to take what God has planned for you, by manipulating your thoughts, your mind, your emotions, so you don't realise what's going on. That's why we do need relationships, so people can talk into our life, and say hey listen, I'm a bit concerned about what's happening, I can see this. We all need that and not go it alone.

We're not ignorant, or without any kind of knowledge or information about the devices of the devil, so here's an interesting verse here in Ephesians, Chapter 2, Verse 2. Jesus says: He made you alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, who once walked in the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, that spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience. So He's saying: this is what your life was, and He's saying that when we were in the world and lived without Christ, it said evil spirits could work in our life. The word work there is the word energayo, from which we get energetic or energy, and it means to be operative, to energise, or put it this way: the way spirits operate is they creative negative spiritual energy in your life. They energise things that are already there, so they become difficult to overcome, or they bring pressure on you, and it's a very real pressure, a very real energy.

In Acts 10:38 it tells us that Jesus was anointed with the Holy Ghost, and it says to heal all who were oppressed, or held down by the devil. So if evil spirits are operating, you feel pressure, or you feel strong energy inside, trying to move you or manipulate you, so for example if you're in the grip of temptation, it's like your whole inner being is energised. It's like your mind and thoughts get captured by this thing. If anger is starting to flood your soul, it's like a huge amount of energy inside you that rises up, and demons manipulate that. So the word that's commonly used to describe the activity of demons, is that they energise problems in your life, or they bring to life and give power to things inside you. Likewise it tells us that God also does that. He energises, but He energises us to do good, and the Bible also tells us the word of God works mightily in you who believe, so God's word energises us.

The spirit of God energises us, but also demons energise us, so we see that our inner life can be energised, either negatively by demonic spirits, or positively by the spirit and word of God, so there are common areas that demons attack. It helps if you're just aware of it; in the body with addictions and sicknesses or weaknesses or weariness, in the soul with conflicts and emotional turmoil, feelings that rage out of control, accusations or condemnation in the mind, pressures of temptation that seem so real and powerful, and when you're in the grip of temptation God seems so far away, and the temptation seems so very real. But once you've resisted it, the energy of it dies down, so some of you may have - can you remember a time when you were going through an immense spiritual conflict, how much energy it took inside to overcome it? It's like it's real energy that's there, and then after it's subsided, it's like you're back at peace and at rest again, so there was a real energy almost took over, and took all your thinking and emotional and spiritual effort to get over it.

Spirits can come around and bring heaviness, and bring oppression, passivity. These are common sorts of things that spirits bring, so if you notice some of those things happening, you can identify perhaps there is a spiritual pressure around me. They come on finances. There was a season when we were establishing the church here where we had accident after accident after accident. We had financial difficulties and pressures and setbacks one after the other, and it become really distressing, until God spoke to me what it was about, and I was able to stand up and assert spiritual authority against it. From that point on it changed, and then it just subsided. We went without any insurance claim for years, but prior to that I'd been turned down from a company because we had so many. It was just in the season when there was spiritual conflict I had all of these problems happen.

Difficulties in your circumstances - Sargin was sharing with you last night how just even trying to get the notes out, the machine violently resisted printing. You put anything else in it prints it; you put this in, it won't print it. Last time we were [laughs] last seminar we did I remembered after we'd talked, he put it in and we got the notes out, and it's printed only the odd pages, every even page had not printed. Now it's never done that before, it just did that on that seminar. It's never done it before, never done it since. It just did it for that seminar - so these are the kinds of things. You get setbacks, and they create irritations. You've got to learn how to rest in God, and just find a place of peace in the middle of it, and assert your authority.

So demonic spirits can bring these pressures around. When I go to Asia I have all kinds of things happen over there. One of the churches tries to look after me very well, but they know from experience that things tend to go wrong when I go there [laughter] and so they had a car. [Laughs] They put this lovely car outside to pick me up from the hotel. When we got to the car it wouldn't start, so they've got this nice car, and it's just shut down and won't work outside - and we're talking about nice hotel, and it's on the main street of Singapore, and the church car is broken down right there at the gates. That was really embarrassing for them, they really got so embarrassed so they rang up for the spare car - the spare car's got a flat tyre. [Laughter] So it's like they were oh, so sorry, so sorry.

So next year they remembered the experience, going to really do this right, so they got an Audi, and they had it all serviced the week before I went there. I get there and their head's hanging down [laughter] and they said we're so sorry about the air con. I said what about the air con? He said well something happened with the window of the car, it's just dropped down. We've never seen it, we've no idea why [laughter] and now there's no air con. They took it to the firm, and the firm says we've never ever in all our cars in all the world had that trouble. They said it doesn't happen to this kind of car, so they fixed it for nothing. But it's just we had lots of things like that, all kinds of stuff, so the spirit world is very real, and if you start to come alive in spiritual things, you will experience things that you had not perhaps experienced before, which are not so explainable by natural means, but they can be explained if there's energy, and something reacting from the spirit world against you.

So you've got to learn to step up against it and halleluiah, [prays in tongues] you know? I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, and arise inside, and let us speak the word of God over your circumstances! Make it back down, see? Got to learn to do that, get some toughness inside you. [Laughs] However it also helps if you close down some of the gates of your past and again, this is not a deliverance conference but it doesn't hurt that we talk about these things, because we will teach on deliverance at a later time in the year at another seminar. So to close the spiritual gates, very simply a gate is a portal through which something goes. A gate gives you entrance from one place to another, one room to another, and there are spiritual gates, places where demons can move from the spirit world and manifest in the natural world. So we can have gates - I don't know whether you realise it, but you are a gate.

You're a gate for God to enter this world. Think about that. The first revelation that Jacob had was: this is the house of God, this is the gate to heaven, so the house of God is a gate, so you are a gate through which the blessing of God can reach people.

But also there can be gates in our life through which demonic spirits enter and access, and of course you wouldn't necessarily be aware of it. You would just think that this is me, I've always been like this, and when you get into fellowship with spirit-filled people, then pretty soon you start to become aware of those areas that you've got some problems. So there are a number of them, I'm not going to teach on all of them. I just want to just highlight them, but there are a number of common gates that spirits use to come in and to oppress people. Wherever there's a legal ground or right exists, spirits can come in and operate against you, and bring pressure on your life. Here are some of the common gates that spirits deploy or use. Now remember, it's a legal ground, so it's something that someone has said or done, that created a right or an opportunity for a spirit to use it, to come in and out. Jesus taught that demons come in and out of people because they have a right or an access to do so.

So here they are, some of you will be very aware of these, some of you these may be some new things, but they're listed there with a little bit of explanation. They're not entirely a full list, but there are some major ones; number one, generational sins and curses. Some of the gateways to spirits and problems in our life began in our family with our parents or grandparents, great-grandparents or beyond that, and this is a major source of problems. So you can be born into this life already with demonic access points into your life, and they may start from very young, or they may manifest as you grow or come into adulthood. Some curses can be passed down three to four generations; some can be passed down - sexual sins - over 10 generations, so every one of us is connected in our DNA to the generation that went before, and spiritually we're also connected to the generation that went before. Anything that gained access say through idolatry, or spiritism, or sexual sin, or various things that people have done, if it's gained access into the family line, it will come down generation after generation.

Some family lines are terribly weakened because of a pattern of sin that's been there over years, patterns of alcoholism or gambling or lust or sexual perversion. These things, once they get into a family can affect - one of the most dramatic cases that - and I've seen lots of them over the years, but I'll just tell you this one. I prayed for a lady in a city in New Zealand, and she's a Christian worker. She said I am tormented with these problems of unclean images and pictures. I'm tormented in my mind all the time. I said how long has it been like that, and she said all my life. I said to her well have you been molested or exposed to anything that would have created a trauma in your life? No, she said none of those. So I thought well it has to be generational, so I said what's in your life has come obviously from the previous generation, so I asked about the background.

Her grandparents were missionaries in China in the '30s and they had a son and a daughter and they'd taken their family to live in China. They were missionaries in a particular province of China, and the son and the daughter went to school in another province of China. The girl and the boy were somewhere around about 10, 11, 12, about that age group as far as I remember, but the Japanese invaded China, that part of China and took over and conquered that province, and took the kids into custody. Over a period of time the girl was quite badly sexually abused by Japanese soldiers. Eventually the kids were released and went back to their parents, but already the damage had been done, and so the family I think maybe returned back to New Zealand. The young girl and her brother grew up; the girl married, and the girl who married was this woman's mother, and the marriage didn't last. The marriage broke up, and so eventually this girl who'd been born, grew up and served the Lord, and she'd come to me for this help.

So what we did was we just acknowledged that it's most likely that the reason she was tormented was because of a generational curse into the family through this sexual abuse, so we got her on behalf of her family to forgive the Japanese soldiers for what they had done, to hold the cross of Christ between her and the family line, and just to cancel all the things that had taken place. We did that and prayed, she had a massive deliverance, and she was completely freed. She to this day, as far as I'm aware, has never had a problem with those tormenting things coming into her mind. They were of a spiritual nature, and by asserting authority and dealing with the legal rights, she was able to be set free of this tormenting spirit - very, very powerful. Very powerful, and so there are lots of stories like that.

So you have authority to renounce and to cancel every generational curse operating around your life. You have the authority to act as a representative of the family, and to stop those things happening. Sometimes we need ministry from others, but there's an amazing amount you can do yourself, and so this seminar is about you being empowered rather than being dependent. However there are issues in our life sometimes we just need to open up to someone else and have them pray for us, so dealing with a generational sin really does involve acting as a representative of the family. Father, I come to You in Jesus' name, I confess the sins of my family. We have been involved in this, and this, and this, and also I have done these things too, so we bring it to the cross. You've got to come to the cross, and when we bring it to the cross, now Lord I ask for Your forgiveness, and I receive that forgiveness - so has to be addressed.

We've got to bring it the cross through confession. We confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us, it's quite simply done. Now in Jesus' name, I renounce every generational curse. I break the power of all agreements and attachments that have been formed in my family line. I hold the cross of Christ between me and my family line. I forgive those who have been involved in these things, and now I claim freedom. I'll show you just simply, in a later part of this study, just how you can simply deliver yourself - not very hard, might like to try it some time. Quite convenient, quite easy to be able to deliver yourself. Just a matter of rising in your spirit, take authority, and deal with the sin and command the things to go - so another area related to generational sins and curses is the issue of dedications. Baby dedications are very common in cultures which have idolatry, so they'll dedicate the child to an idol, dedicate the child to a temple, and when doing so, the parents because they have authority over the child, give authority to a demon to enter their child. So that right, that legal right has to be broken and cancelled; in Jesus' name, I renounce every word spoken over me that dedicated my life to an idol or a temple. I cancel that dedication. I break the agreement with that idol and temple, I break the soul tie attaching me. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I command you Satan go from my life.

So these things are not very hard. It's actually quite a simple thing to break them, but you just need to be aware that they're there. I was in one meeting one night in Singapore. A lady came in and she had a massive deliverance, and she came up afterwards and told Joy I was prayed for and dedicated to a temple when I was a little girl, and I've been tormented all my life. She said: I've been crying out to God to set me free, and the Lord spoke to her and said: go to this particular church, City Harvest; go to this particular meeting, because there'll be someone there who can help you, and she came in, and we were teaching on this stuff. She came and got set free that night, so she spoke to Joy, and Joy I think might have prayed for her and got her set free. So dedications give a legal right for spirits to enter, ungodly soul ties - a soul tie is an attachment or bonding between people. People can be bonded together, and it can be a very positive thing.

God decreed that Adam and Eve through sexual intercourse, two would become one. So soul ties can be formed through sexual relationship, and bringing the two so they become one, they become one in flesh. In this particular scripture here, it says in Genesis 34:3, it says that the daughter of Jacob, Dinah, she was raped by this guy, and his soul tie - he was bonded or became bonded to this girl, so a soul tie is a bonding. It can be very good, it can be a husband and wife, a bonding in marriage, parents and children, very good. It can be also in church, but they can also be quite negative, so when a person has sexual sin, they're bonded to each sexual partner. A person involved in idolatry is soul tied to the idol; a person who's had a traumatic experience, often they're soul tied to the trauma. A person is in a controlling relationship, often they're soul tied to the controller; someone abuses them, violently, physically or verbally or emotionally, often the person becomes soul tied and bonded to the controller, the abusive person.

So soul ties, also these bonding create a ground through which spirits come in and manipulate. We have had many people become free of terrible tormenting unclean thoughts when soul ties to sexual partners were broken. The power of the thing seemed to dissipate and yes, they could remember, but it's not the driving energy tormenting their mind and emotions, so demonic spirits use these. They also use ungodly beliefs. What you believe the Bible says: as man thinks in his heart, or believes in his heart, that's how he is. If you believe a lie, you are in agreement with the demon already, if you believe a lie. The Bible says: the devil's the father of lies, so if I believe a lie, for example I believe a lie that I'm a failure, everything I do will fail, then now I have got an expectation in my heart that whatever I do is not going to work out. The more I fail, the more hurt I get and bitter I get, until my whole life is surrounded by an atmosphere of expectation, I will fail or be rejected.

Let me give you an example of that. Have you ever had an experience where someone's talked with you, and there's something about them you just can't wait to get away? You just don't want to be there, and you just kind of want to get away. It can even be a small child, and there's something about them, they're so demanding or something, and it's almost like you just want to get away from the child. Usually what's happening there is there's a spirit around the child's life of rejection, and a deep expectation they'll be rejected, and it's almost like they project it out. You feel, you get defiled by that thing, and so ungodly beliefs or lies in our heart create a great platform for spirits to affect our relationships immensely. Okay, another one is vows, whether they be external or inner vows. A vow, you make a commitment or a pledge or a promise, it can be ancestral vows of course that people make. Personal vows open up the door for demons. Many times they take the form of an inner vow.

Inner vows are vows formed in the times of pain or very difficult experiences, like a person who's abused by a man, she may say: well I'll never let any man near me, or I'll never let any person or any male get near me and have access to me like that. So an inner vow creates - it's a vow rooted in bitterness and judgement. Now that creates a legal ground for a spirit to enter. I prayed for one woman who continually miscarried baby boys, and she had made an inner vow I'll never carry a male child, and it outworked in her body, and her body rejected every child that she had that was a male. So inner vows are very, very powerful things, and people form them when they're hurt, or a person who goes through for example their family is very financially hard up, so they perhaps are having to wear second hand clothes, and they don't have the things at school that everyone else has. They go through a humiliating experience at school. They can often make a different kind of inner vow: well when I grow up I'll always have enough money. So their life becomes driven by this bitterness inside, and this inner vow, and it's driven, but there's never enough, because at the same time they believe in their heart there's never enough for me.

So they're driven by the believe there's never enough for me, and driven by an inner vow, I'll make sure I've got enough, and their whole life gets into a pressure to get money, and it can never be solved because no matter what they've got, it's never enough. I can remember one particular couple now, eventually their marriage broke up, but he was worth millions, but he was still driven, totally driven. His heart was shut down, and it went right back to his childhood where he'd suffered a great loss and made these inner vows, well I'll never lack, and I will do this. Of course those inner vows become demonically energised, and the person becomes driven. A rational person will look and say: you've got everything you need, why are you still working like that 24/7? Why are you doing that? They can't explain it, and their explanation's not rational, it's spiritual. A spirit has gained access, and has authority in their life, and is driving the behaviour, so you need to be aware of this in your own life as well as in the area of ministering to others. These things, in order for the person to be healed, they've got to actually go back and remember, and let the Holy Spirit show them where these vows were formed, and renounce the vow, because it will control your life through demonic empowerment.

Another area that is common for demonic spirits to afflict people are word curses. A curse is words spoken over a person's life, for example words spoken by a father have great potential to empower a child, or to curse them. I can remember one girl we prayed for - it was heartbreaking. I got so upset when I heard it - but her father, she was a teenager, and she was just experimenting with dress, and trying to get attention and stuff, so she'd dress a little bit promiscuously. Her father called her a slut, and he literally labelled her that more than once, and she thought well if that's what I am, I'll go be that. Now she had actually no intention of being promiscuous whatsoever, but the father's words over her became like a cursing on her, when she accepted them, and then she acted out or lived out what had been spoken over her. So I have found many people have had curses put over them, either cursed themselves: I'm a failure, I'll never get anywhere in life, those kinds of things, or a common kind of cursing is a death wish: I just wish I was dead. I just hate my life, I wish I was dead. Those kinds of things can be spoken out in an emotional time as a teenager, and then open the way for a spirit to come in and bring bondage.

Then finally, the last one there is the area of sin habits, where people just get locked into patterns of repeated sin, so it could be anger, it could be unforgiveness or bitterness, it could be hatred, jealousy. People get locked into patterns of sin, and spirits then will enter and energise it, so it becomes quite a problem to get free of. Now here's the deal: you've got authority to break any of those bondages. You can do it. You can minister to others and set them free. You can minister even in your own life to set yourself free, which we'll share in just a moment. So how do you need to deal with these gates? How do we shut the gates down? Now suppose these are gates in your own life; be open to the possibility you may need someone to help you. It's not always just about praying for yourself. Sometimes we need to submit, and just let someone else pray for us - but here it is.

Pray strongly in tongues. The first thing is get energised, let the life of God begin to flow in you like a river. This is a big start. Now listen for the Holy Ghost to show you what you need to be praying for, and then you need to speak words from your spirit, so these are the kinds of things. Now speaking strongly doesn't mean speaking loud. See, I can speak strongly from my spirit because I'm purposefully speaking strong words. I command you in Jesus' name - and speak strongly. It doesn't have to be loud, so people think, and what they do is they substitute speaking from your heart with authority, for speaking loudly. They make a lot of noise, but it's like empty words with no substance in them, so speaking with authority in Jesus' name. So here's some things that you could do that would break the power of holds over your life. One would be just to repent: Lord, forgive me, I just confess to You Lord that I have done this, I have said this, I've acted in this way. Always we need to just confess sin and deal with sin. We've got to get it to the cross.

If there are people have hurt us, or we have unforgiveness, we have to let that go. Unforgiveness locks our life up. It's a doorway for demons, Jesus said in Matthew 18: then renounce, or speak, or cancel any curses. So if I wanted to cancel a curse over my life generationally: Father in heaven, I come to You in Jesus' name, I confess Jesus Christ is my saviour and Lord, I'm redeemed by His blood. I'm redeemed body, soul and spirit. I belong to You. Now that's positioning yourself. I've found in all moving in authority, just get positioned right: Father, I come to You, and I stand before You. Standing before God, and opening the heart, and declaring who we are, is a great way to start. Then well Father, I just confess to You the sin of our family. We have been involved in freemasonry, we've made agreements and covenants with idols and demons, and grieved Your heart. Lord, I renounce this curse, and all agreements made with freemasonry, at every level of freemasonry. I renounce the curses made, my father's side of the family and my mother's side of the family. I cancel them now, and I hold the cross of Christ between my family line and those things. I refuse them today.

Now - in fact, actually in my family line there has been freemasonry. I had to get rid of some of the regalia, and discover some of the effects of freemasonry, emotional difficulties, difficulties in loving women, all kinds of difficulties that were in the freemasonry background, spiritual turmoils, and conflicts, and sickness. So renouncing those things now in Jesus' name, I release forgiveness to every family member who has opened the doorway for these things, now in Jesus' name, I command you to go from my life. So some things I've had to just deliver myself - wasn't that hard, just pray and energise your spirit, go through the step by step process of dealing with the legal right, and commanding the spirit to go. Then just cough and begin to just allow the thing to come out. You'll be quite surprised when you do it, all sorts of things begin to happen. [Laughs] It can start off with a little cough by faith, and end up with a coughing fit. [Laughter] Whoa! What just left? I don't care, just it's gone, that's the main thing, begin to worship God. [Laughs]

So you can deliver yourself. It's not so hard, and I've got a section there, just a little bit on the whole area of self-deliverance. We'll touch that in a moment, so why don't we just stop at that point, and perhaps some of you may want to ask some things just about where we're at on that point. Then we'll go on and just look at two sections in this, the final two sections in this part, which are on recognising spiritual attacks, and just how to deliver yourself. So why don't we just stop for a moment, and some of you may just have a few questions you wanted to ask, either about the last session on spiritual authority, or on this session just related to just some of these gateways and doorways.

Yes, okay? [I was just wondering is it possible to break dedications that were made to evil spirits, like if you're aware that they were maybe dedicated, a parent or someone in the family line was dedicated?] Well we are responsible, can do something for our own life, then those who are after us. We have no rights over our parents and see, we have no rights there. All we can do is pray, and stand against the influence, and pray and rebuke that whole spiritual area, and ask the Holy Ghost to release light into them, so open their eyes to see. So if you have been dedicated, or your children have been dedicated, you have rights there to be able to exercise authority. When it comes to your parents, the relationship is one of parents to child, so you have no authority over their life, except one of influence, so you can speak and command the dis-empowering of generational spirits, but you've also got to pray that God will open their eyes to see. They have to choose for themselves to do that. I think we can stand as an ambassador on behalf, and speak into those things, but let the Holy Spirit help you in that.

Okay, someone else, yes? [Can we place the cross between us for our children and the generational influences without actually knowing that particular generational sin?] Sure, yes. I think the more specific we can be, the better that is, and so to locate the generational sin, have a look at patterns that appear in the family. So you would ask first of all, you just begin to pray in the spirit, and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the thing to you, have a look at patterns in your family. One of the first places you see is patterns in the family, but sometimes it only comes by revelation, and the Holy Spirit can reveal the thing to us. Some people pray and command the demons to reveal it, and thoughts come up to the mind, but it's better that there be specific prayer, rather than general prayer. Specific prayer has specific results. General prayer often is ineffective, so I think it's a good place to start, but I think it's better that we actually ask the Holy Ghost to help us identify what the specific issue is. That would be better, okay?

Yes? [What about in your workplace, if you're not allowed to talk about God or Jesus and it's quite tempting to defy that, and there are times when I know Jesus is the solution, but you cannot speak about it.] Right. [So how do you reconcile that, what do you do, because you know you can help by talking about God, but you're not allowed to.] [Laughs] Okay, so that's the classic thing that we said before, you know, that you have to - we know Jesus calls us to reveal Himself, so we're called to preach the gospel, yet you have an employment situation where, if not explicitly, then at least implicitly, you're not to speak about Jesus. It's to be secular education, so you would break the employment contract if you start to preach the gospel in your classroom, so that's the dilemma.

God says to do this, the authorities say to do this: where do I stand? I think number one is, your heart attitude is not to be in rebellion against authorities, but to be co-operative with the intention of it all. I think number two, you can speak, and take authority over the spiritual atmosphere in the classroom, and release things. I had many kids come to Christ in my classroom, but I didn't necessarily talk to them about Jesus in the classroom - but many came. We had many kids come to Christ, a whole heap of them, because the Holy Ghost so shifted the atmosphere they just wanted to come and talk, wanted to connect, wanted to hang out. Then hanging out, they wanted to ask things, so you'd talk about stuff then, and you can talk - so I don't think often I spoke openly about Jesus in the classroom. But what I did do, when it came to the area of teaching around sexuality, I was quite blunt about the Christian perspective on it, and that was quite an interesting thing for them all.

I thought well, they're getting junk. I'm going to give another point of view because this is education, and at least they should be exposed to another point of view which is biblical, and Christian, and gets results - so I did, unashamedly, you wouldn't have worried about that. But I think today the environment's become much more difficult, so therefore I think great wisdom is needed, or you lose your credibility, and then eventually lose your job, and lose your ability to influence. But if someone comes and inquires, or someone comes and asks, I think there's a lot we can do without speaking the name of Jesus. You can talk biblical values, you can talk about values, you can talk about the conflict of values, you can talk about the values which are specific for you. I think there's much we can do, and I determined I would do as much as I could, because everyone else was blatant about what they were doing [laughter] so I thought if someone comes and says: you can't do that, I'm sorry, I didn't realise that, thank you very much for pointing that out. Then I'd be a little wiser in the future. [Laughter]

You know, I think you don't want to live under fear and intimidation, and if someone makes a complaint, you've got to say: well I'm so sorry, we were talking about values - I think to blatantly preach Jesus is a misuse of your authority as a teacher. People understand they're coming to a secular classroom to receive education; they're not expecting the teacher to talk their own personal views. However the reality is that the life of the teacher shows up in their teaching, so whatever the person is living will show up in how they teach. So I've got no shame in saying well, this is who I am actually, I'm a Christian, I do this, and I believe these things. I've found the kids would ask questions. Well if they ask questions, I'll answer the questions. [and pray] Yes, exactly, yeah, so we prayed at home.

So I used to take the line this is my room, everything that comes in here is coming into my territory, and the presence of God is in my territory. That's how I took it and released the presence, prayed for the presence of God to fill the place, and for them all to be successful, because for a parent to come to - they want their kids to succeed. They don't necessarily want religion, they want to succeed, they just don't know how to get success, so I worked: one, creatively to create an environment where learning was very relational, and they got success; two, to work the spiritual atmosphere, so it was quite open and accepting in there. Yeah, seemed to get good results. We just went like that, and they were very sorry to see me go. [Laughter] And I got the same results when I started up a school, same thing happened, again spiritual environment, and also enabling them and empowering them to learn properly.

Yes? [Can I just ask, in my marriage were my prayers ineffective because I was not actually - even though he wasn't walking in the authority that God's given him, my prayers weren't effective because he was not a christian] Alright, okay, that's a good question, so there's a struggle in a marriage that eventually broke down, and so the question is, were my prayers ineffective? I think that God is the only one who can answer whether prayers are effective or not. I think we tend to look at them all as being effective only in terms of getting what we expect or hope. The reality in relationships, God gives everyone a free will, and if people continually resist God there are devastating consequences that take place, no matter how faithful the Christian or the believer can be. So the Bible says that the unsaved spouse, whether it be husband or wife, is sanctified by the faith of the saved person, so I believe God looks at them, and sees them as being one.

Now how do you then deal with the situation with the unsaved or the back-slidden husband? I believe you stand in their place, since they have failed in spiritual headship, you step up, and without usurping their role, step up in prayer, praying to break those things around them, release the blessing of God. But we have no guarantee what the outcome will be, because the outcome rests on a person's decision, and so all we can do is make the chances of it happening far greater. In other words, by removing some of the spiritual pressure and releasing the atmosphere of God, but people still reject God, so Adam and Eve walked in the most perfect environment, but still made their own choice, which had consequences. God let them make the choice, but made them accountable for the consequences, so in a marriage situation, I believe the first thing is your own heart attitude; secondly is that you stay faithful in prayer, and do the part that you can, but then sometimes marriages break down because someone just is resistant, and they make decisions and choices that lead to destruction.

You're not responsible for those decisions or choices, and if you have prayed faithfully, and stood in the gap and believed God, and done the best you could, then you've done the best you could. You know, you read the men of faith, it said some got great victories, and others died in faith, you know? So we forget the last group. We just want the great heroes stories of seeing it all work out, but there are many people, and they just stood in faith, they didn't see the answer, but they refused to doubt. They held on to the very end, even at the loss of their life, and God calls them men of faith, so I believe if you stay in a place of faith, believing, trusting God and do all that you can, then however the outcome is, at least you can walk away honourably, saying I did all that I could. Yeah and that's how you would feel of course, yeah. Sometimes when you engage in this kind of prayer, issues surface which actually the whole foundations of the marriage become bare. Then the challenge is, will we work to sort this out and build a better relationship, or will we not? So prayer, like I was sharing of opening up the spirit world, can expose stuff that formerly was hidden. People still make their decisions though, and sometimes they make bad decisions, you know?

Yes? [When you have a Christian marriage, and one of the partners is oppressed by the enemy, and no matter how much ministry is offered they resist it and the marriage breaks up, is that affecting their salvation?] I think that's a totally separate issue. A person's salvation rests on the work Christ did, and their trust in it, and it should have an outworking, that their life begins to show it, so true faith actually has some outworking of a walk with God of some kind.

If a person's oppressed, it means a part of their life is under the control of the enemy, which is usually in this case the soul, so the mind and emotions, and what you don't know is, what trauma the person has gone through, that gave access to the spirits into their life. [I know the trauma, but they would not bow to any ministry. They were...] I understand that. [...it meant that they were burdened, but they were convinced there was nothing wrong.] Of course and that happens, so I think the issue of a person's salvation lies ultimately in the hands of God, and God alone. I don't think we could ever know where people stand, and just because a person refuses to acknowledge a problem, and won't receive ministry, I don't think that means they're not saved. I think it just means they're refusing to acknowledge a problem, and there are many reasons people refuse to acknowledge a problem.

Some, they actually intuitively know that to acknowledge it, I'm going to have to go through some terribly painful stuff to deal with it, I'd rather not acknowledge it. Some people have actually built - it's almost like they dissociate inside, and put the pain in a box, and carry on just like nothing has ever happened. But the pain is still there, and they don't want to go there because of the pain, what it would mean to them. In such a situation, when a person stays in that kind of denial, you can't do anything until they come out of the denial, so sometimes - my experience with working with people has led me to conclude that even if you can see what's wrong, until they recognise a need, they don't make a change. So the first aspects of prayer is that God would awaken their heart to see their need.

Usually we try to tell a person what their need is, and they just vehemently resist, so I've sometimes changed the praying: God, open their eyes so they can see. Whatever it is that's holding them back, we just stand against that - and it can be just immense grief, because the first phase of grief is shock, and the inability to come to grips with what it is. So no one really knows all of those things, but trauma and grief, denial, and just sometimes just stubborn resistance: I won't admit I've got a need, that can come out of inner vows. I think that prayer can increase the opportunity and the likelihood they would open up, but it doesn't guarantee it. We still have - everyone is given a free will, so you can't override someone's free will. When we override... [Can God?] Well can God - that's a good question. Firstly, he can. Well Paul's determined to go down the road and kill Christians. and He just goes pow, and zaps him off, but He never overrode his will. He just gave an encounter that opened his eyes up, and he suddenly realised he was making a big mistake.

God has given man a free will. If He takes it away by overriding it, the core of being human is taken away, so God - it seldom overrides a person's free will. Free will is what makes me a human being. If I don't have free will, or my free will is taken away, I'm a slave, so that's one of the dilemmas. God has created man for dominion and given him free will, but not choice over consequences, so God doesn't override free will, and He has set in place consequences. That's how He has set up the world to operate, so only by faith can we access something coming in from heaven to earth, but God doesn't override free will. So I think it's extraordinary that you are given free will to the extent you can choose a destiny that's eternally lost, it's incredible that God would give so much, but taking it away would so enslave you, you wouldn't be human. So it's the dilemma God faced; He gave man free will, but with it the potential he could just misuse it, or use it to rebel, and therefore all this destruction.

So we have to be very careful we do not override the will of another person who's an adult, and a responsible adult. To do that involves witchcraft, because witchcraft is the usurping the authority that someone else legally has, which is what their response - so responsibility and authority go together, so what you're responsible for, you have authority over to do certain things. If I move and take up your responsibility, and minimise your authority and take over, I'm now operating outside what God has called me to do, and I've taken over. I'm operating in witchcraft, which is an unlawful authority, so I didn't put a section but I'm thinking about it, that perhaps I should put a section in related to this, because unlawful spiritual authority, or unlawful authority, is a problem everywhere, where someone has taken over and controls another person's life, and the person lets them do it, because it's easier for them to give up responsibility and let someone else run it. This creates a spiritual dynamic where witchcraft operates, and sits over the whole marriage or relationship, and it creates huge problems. Sickness, infirmities, all kinds of things come in.

Many families and marriages and churches are full of this, so when you arise and start to operate in spiritual authority, the one thing you become intensely aware of, is the issue of witchcraft and the whole Jezebellic operation. I haven't included it in this, but that's a whole sort of area of its own. It's got major issues around it. It can never operate unless someone gave permission for it to operate, so for example God held Ahab responsible for the corruption in the nation, and He judged Ahab because Ahab gave up responsibility, and allowed him to be usurped by his wife. So we tend to get into this anti-woman thing and blame Jezebel for this and that, which is actually totally unfair, because men and women are both capable of controlling behaviours, and the spirit is totally impartial who it works through. The issue is whether we take up responsibility, or abscond or abdicate. Everywhere you abdicate something will come in and take over. That's just the reality.

So that's why I have discovered in this area, if you have abdicated responsibility over an area of your life or responsibility, something will sit in there, and when you arise, repent, ask God to forgive you, take up your responsibility, start to pray, you will engage and have some conflict. You'll find then something sitting there. Most people aren't aware something's sitting there until you step up and try actually change your life. Then you find it's there, and then you find it pushes back against you, and you have some problems.

I want to have a look at Section 4.7, how to recognise and deal with spiritual attacks, and then just the issue of self-deliverance. I think these are quite - everyone is going to go through issues of spiritual attack at some point. Now we don't want to over-dramatise it, and kind of be looking for demons everywhere, but there are times when pressure comes on you. It's helpful if you know what it is, and know what to do about it. If you don't, you'll just try to push on. Spiritual problems need a spiritual solution, but don't spiritualise everything. Some things are very natural, very practical, so the dilemma you have is, where people look for a devil everywhere. You'll see what you want to see, so let the focus of our eyes be on God and His goodness, not on the problems. But having said that, we do recognise there are times when you come under immense spiritual pressure, and it is very real, and it can be stressing if you don't know what to do with it.

So we'll just read a verse in Revelations 12:10-11. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying: now salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives unto death. So notice here it says: the pressure against believers is unrelenting, day and night. Isn't that interesting? So notice that they are accusations, so one of the things the devil wishes to do is to accuse you continually of lacks, failures, faults, flaws, to heighten your awareness of what's wrong, rather than your awareness of what God has done for you, and where you stand.

Essentially he wants to erode your standing, so you don't feel near to God. You feel just not good enough, feel bad: I'm not good enough, nothing's good enough. So spiritual attacks come in the form of accusations or condemnation, where you feel pressured in your mind, that you're not good enough. Now the devil doesn't say you're not good enough, he'll fill your mind with: I'm not good enough, I'll never be good enough, nothing I do is good enough, there's something wrong with me. Now when there's a flow of thoughts like that, they will energise any strongholds you have in your heart, but they are a flow of spiritual energy that comes in. It can be just heaviness, it can be feelings of dread, particularly when you're facing situations where there's a lot of control in those relationships. You can come under tremendous spiritual pressure, and feel almost like fear and anxiety, and it's totally out of proportion to what you're facing.

Temptations, confusion, oppression, so some people just have a heaviness come. Now I've shown you how to lift the heaviness off quite easy, but we must actually conquer these things. So you are always responsible for the state of your life. Don't go blaming anyone else, don't be the victim. We're responsible, so if something's not right, we've let it not be right, or we're on the journey of sorting it out. So to overcome means to conquer, subdue and come out victoriously, so the first place you've got to conquer and subdue is around your own life. Notice it says: they overcame the accuser, they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. That's what Jesus did on our behalf; the word of their testimony, confessing to what Jesus has done, and then persevering and holding on to it, and backing up the devil on it. So whatever comes against you, you've got authority to defeat it. You can defeat it, and it will back up. I've learned this with demons: they will always back up, once you've determined that you know what you're doing, and you're going to keep on resisting them. They back up, and then the atmosphere changes, and you're free again.

So how can you deal with it? In James 4:7, notice these wonderful scriptures: Submit to God. Resist the devil and he will? [Flee from you.] Flee from you, and that word means to seek safety, by running away from the danger that you present. Now that's a good word to know, that the devil will flee. Of course the devil's not interested in you personally. He's got really low level evil spirits interested in you. They just do his work, so you're dealing now with just low level spirits, and here's the deal. If you will align yourself with God, and make a stand to resist, he will flee away in panic and terror, because you've really got to him, so that's the promise. So the outcome of the demons fleeing away is a result of two things; one, of you're actually aligning yourself with God, and two, making a stand against the devil. The two words are quite interesting words. One is the word hupotasso, hupo to be beneath, and to stand or position yourself beneath, meaning literally position yourself right with God, and then the other one is anti-tasso, position yourself anti whatever the devil's doing.

So it's all about positioning yourself in your attitude, your thinking and in your words. So how would you go about dealing with a spiritual attack? It's helpful if you ask these kinds of questions: What am I feeling? If you can put a name on what you're feeling, you bring it out to the light. Many times we have lots of feelings swirl on, and then we think some new thoughts. Then there's more feelings, and then there's more thoughts, and before you know it, you're in a swirl of thoughts and feelings and turmoil, and all in emotion. If you get like that, get up and pray in tongues! [Prays in tongues] Shake the thing back, and then stop and evaluate what you're feeling; what is it I am feeling? Try to get a name on it. Is it fear? Is it anger, is it irritation of some kind? Anxiety? What am I feeling?

Then ask the question, well what triggered that? Was something said, something someone did, or didn't do? What triggered this? I wasn't feeling like that when I got up - why am I feeling like that now? When did that change? Now if you can just get your spirit free first of all, and just go through this little process of asking these questions, what am I feeling? What emotions or feelings or things are going on inside me? Then what happened that has triggered that off? Then evaluate, well what happened, what actually happened that caused that to take place? Have I made some assumption, had some expectation that wasn't met? Try to evaluate what's happened. You'll find the most common reason people get in a mess, is they made an assumption: oh, I thought you were going to do that. You didn't [mutter mutter], and now you're in a turmoil about it all, and it's all building up inside, and the devil's just having a hey day in your life.

Just stop! Well what is it that's gone on, and try to evaluate what happened, because if you can evaluate, then you'll look at what your part was in it, and you can deal with your part in it. Then here's things you can easily do: pray in tongues very strongly, because praying in tongues as we've already found energises your spirit. I understand there are a couple of people not free to pray in tongues. We'd like to pray for you after lunch, and just activate that part in your life - so listen. Listen for promptings of the Holy Ghost, because He may show you things to pray for, and then learn to speak directly. I can remember there was a time in my life, I remember I was teaching Christian school. I was having these problems, these unclean thoughts coming into my mind, and I was thinking oh, I was feeling down, because I was struggling with these thoughts. I was thinking well, what am I teaching in a Christian school, and I'm struggling with these thoughts, what's going on.

The Lord dropped in, and He said: it's a spirit invading your mind, just rebuke it. Oh really? I never thought of that - and so I did. I just got praying in tongues, and just spoke directly: in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I take authority over that unclean spirit. I forbid you to come around my life now. I thank You Lord for Your presence here inside me, the spirit of holiness inside me. I began to pray and focus my mind on the Lord. Immediately the whole thing all just left, and it stopped - it was so quickly it stopped, I couldn't believe it. I thought I've been putting up with that stuff around my head for half the morning, and here it is now, just suddenly went, when I knew what to do. It was a spiritual attack which comes, sometimes in the way of heaviness. Often heaviness is an indication something's about to happen, or is happening around you, but also invading thoughts, invading emotions, and so learn to speak.

Speak God's word over your situation. Speak and reject the operation of that spirit, and then begin to declare God's word over your situation, quite easy. Then re-engage and do something else. It's not hard. What am I feeling? What triggered off that feeling? Have I done anything or has anything happened, were there assumptions I made, or someone's disappointed me? Try to get an evaluation what's happened. Is there anything I need to put right with God? Okay, get it right and now in Jesus' name, so we pray in tongues [Prays in tongues] stir up your spirit. In Jesus' name I speak to that spirit. Now here's one of the things I've found, and I found this by experience. If you'd like to both just stand up, just come and stand up near me. When we tend to think of these things - just stand here just like that - when we tend to think of the spirit world, because we live so much in the physical world, we tend to just not be very aware or conscious how it might work.

So what would happen was, I would have these thoughts coming in around me, and bombarding me you see? For a season I had these terrible thoughts of rejection, I just don't belong, I'm not loved, and all that kind of stuff. Then it took me a little while to realise they were my thoughts, and I had an issue in the heart, but actually it was a spirit of rejection was pushing against me. Just hold your hands out like that, just push against me, see? So I couldn't see the spirit, but I was overloaded in my mind and emotions with thoughts. Then I'd start to feel sorry for myself, and so there's another spirit - so put your hands up, both of you keep your hands up there - so now I'm not even aware or conscious that there are spirits at that stage. All I know is that all the time I've got this pressure pushing on me, feeling sorry for myself, and this pressure, putting on a feeling I'm not good, not valuable, not acceptable. I couldn't work out what it was, I just struggled with it.

It was so common I just thought it was me, and when it would come it would come every now and then, I'd have an event, and these demons would just immediately just trigger off, come in and start pushing on me, and I'd go down sometimes for three days into a heaviness, into a dark hole. I had no idea what it was. It never occurred to me it might be a spirit. It never occurred to me that I actually might have personal enemies. I never thought of that. [Laughter] It just never occurred to me. You know, the devil's sort of out there somewhere kind of thing, you know? It wasn't reality. You read in the Bible, you know, submit to God, resist the devil. It's all sort of out there, too far for me, and then I realised - keep your hands up, hold your hands up - [laughter] I realised that I'd go through life, and next thing boom, I'd run into these things, and I'm in depression for two or three days. I didn't realise there was something there.

I had no idea there was a spirit that was involved, none whatsoever - until the day the Lord showed me, you need to stand up and take dominion of this part of your life. If you'll get the victory, then all your life will change, so what I did was, I would start off by beginning to pray really strongly in tongues, get fired up in the spirit, energised in the spirit, and then in my imagination I'd picture and see there's a spirit there, the name - self-pity. I'd see that there was another one there, the name - rejection. I would speak to them: in Jesus' name I take dominion over you. I decree your power is broken over my life. I reject you, and refuse to yield to you - and same with the spirit of rejection: I hold the blood of Jesus over you right now. I had no idea what the blood of Jesus did to the demons, but it seemed a good idea to do it. [Laughter] It turns out they really don't like it. [Laughter] I didn't know that. I found that out since.

The other thing they don't like, is you praying in tongues. They absolutely hate it. I've heard them scream at me when I've prayed in tongues, and so now get this. I'd pray in the spirit, get energised in the spirit, turn to this one, push against it, push against it, and then turn around and then just begin to meditate on the truth, and open my heart to embrace the truth, and reject the lies. Now what I found was, now this was the first stage of doing this, and I did this for something like three weeks; I'd get up, begin to pray in the spirit, turn to the spirit go in Jesus' name, I have authority over you in Jesus' name. Now of course they would think the next day hey, we've been around a long time, we're not going that easy. So I'd wake up the next day, they're still there, and I never felt any change. I just did it by faith, and then I would meditate that God is with me. I declare the truth, I'm accepted in the beloved, meditate in the truth, and I'd search my heart for any experience of rejection, so I could forgive and release blessing to those people.

I'd meditate, primarily meditate in the truth. Then one day I stood up, got into praying [Prays in tongues] just like every other day. [Prays in tongues] Prayed in tongues, and I pushed [whoosh] like that, and I pushed [whoosh] like that against them in the spirit using words. Suddenly I felt the atmosphere change. I thought I've actually just hit these things, and engaged. I've actually got the victory over them, they've gone. They've backed up finally, and then when I began to meditate in God's presence and love for me, I just fell over, because I was just so touched by God - but for three weeks it had been just a journey of faith, and then the actual experience of recognising I could feel these spirits back up, because after three weeks they realised I was not quitting. They backed up, and they were gone, and I had a great space of freedom in my life for a long time - until the next stuff came up. [Laughter] Getting the idea? It's not so hard to do.

Now if I was to ask you now, to identify what are the things that most commonly press in on you, and trouble your thoughts and emotions, so that you would say actually, these are besetting things. They seem to sit around me all the time, and push against me. If you could write them down, what would they be? There's usually not many. I wrote down these ones; I wrote down rejection, because I felt that I always felt not good enough, then self-rejection, because I actually rejected myself. Then fear of rejection, because I actually did fear that this would happen to me, then unbelief, because I realised unbelief was under-girding all of those, and finally self-pity, because I'd get in a pity party, down, depressed. So I realised there was a cluster of them, just like that, and I just pushed against them and pushed against them, stood and decreed they were subject to me, their powers broken, and I'd turn, meditate in the word of God, and arise in my spirit, and it shifted. I wonder what sits around your life, that you could say: I refuse to tolerate this any more.

Now there may be root systems in your heart, but I'm sure if you'll identify first of all what the problem is, and you start to pray and resist it, and declare the truth over your life, that many things will shift pretty quickly. Other things you may need to actually identify when it first started, how it got in there, and be willing to acknowledge sin, or acknowledge unforgiveness, and let it go. That'd be great. It'd be easy to get rid of these things now. Every time they come around, oh, that's just you, in Jesus' name be gone! This is who I am. Now you'd be surprised how effective it is, because we declare, we make confession of what God says. How about that?

Okay, now suppose there was some stuff there, so that's how you deal with some spiritual attacks, and you just end up praising the Lord and redirect your attention, and there you are. Now I learned that if I didn't rise and fight, I could go down into a pit quite quickly, and stay there for quite some time, and be quite depressed. You know sometimes all it takes, is for someone to just say: come on, you're not yourself, stand up again. Okay [Prays in tongues] and suddenly it's all gone, it's all gone away. You've just stood up inside and pushed the stuff back, so spiritual pressure comes and goes. It'll try and lock in where there are strongholds in your heart. Jesus said: the devil comes, he's got nothing in me, got no hold in me. So let's just have a look if you needed to get delivered, and I want to teach just a little bit on how you could deliver yourself, so then I don't have to do it all. [Laughter] It gives you empowerment to deliver yourself, and many of us, rather than wait a whole week in torment, it would be better if you just rose up in prayer, and pushed the stuff away from you.

So in Proverbs 6, Verses 4 and 5: give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids. In other words, this is a very important matter - deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, and like a bird from the hand of the fowler. So of course the fowler is a reference to Satan who hunts and traps and destroys wild birds, captures us, and wild animals of course in a snare struggle violently to get free. So God says - notice the command - deliver yourself. In other words, He says: seek your own deliverance. I've found I'm surprised how many people want someone to do it all for them, but actually this is your life, and you have authority over it, you do something for yourself. So what would I do? The Bible tells us that freedom is my responsibility, not someone else's. Your freedom is your freedom, it's about you. It's about what you have in your life, so I have to co-operate with God, and here's the key verse. Submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you, so how can I deal with some of these things, and get myself free?

So I have found sometimes prayer and fasting is an important part of it, so if you've got an area of your life that's resistant, then - it's in Page 16 - why don't you just have a season of fasting to break through? Have a season of prayer and fasting, and become aware of the presence of God. If there's sin in your life, or there's something you've done that's wrong, you do have to confess it, because that's the legal ground, and so you may find there's a pressure around a sexual area, because you've yielded in your mind and emotions, or embraced, or allowed your mind to wander, and in your heart there's a sin taken place, even if nothing externally has taken place. So repent it; Lord, forgive me, cleanse my heart of all of these things, and if there's areas where you need to forgive; sometimes we're feeling rejected because someone hurt us, and instead of forgiving we sat on it, stewed on it, had actually unforgiveness sitting in our heart, and the rejection just got deeper and deeper. So whatever it is, you need to repent of it. Then here's how you actually get the demons to go, quite simply, and I've done it a number of times myself, because I've found being in the role I am, and doing what I do, spirits come around and harass me from time to time. I go through conflicts of various kinds, and it affects me emotionally and spiritually, and I need to be set free sometimes.

So I have people that I can just go to, and when we get together we'll pray, and they'll pray, if they see anything they'll pray for me, and I'll pray for them. But other times. and I don't have to do it, often these days, but I would actually deliver myself. So how would you go about delivering yourself? Well the first part is just to recognise you've got a problem, there's something sitting there that may be not right. Then you've got to actually address the issue of sin, so I begin to pray in tongues. [Prays in tongues] Now if you can imagine spirit, soul and body - perhaps I'll just get three people up here. It'll just help me if I get three people, just the first three here. It'll just help you visualise this alright? Okay then, come on up, just stand forward here, alright, then there. Just have to stand, just stand there. You don't have to do anything - come and stand here in the middle, that's right, okay, there we go and here we are, spirits.

So spirit, soul, body, just got you like that, spirit, soul and body. Now demonic oppression is always through the body and the soul. Here's the gateway here. The life of God always comes through the spirit, and here is where the place of conflict is, right there at the centre of your will. Whose will will prevail? So this part of you here, the soul and the spirit, is called the inner man, the hidden man of the heart, so sometimes when the Bible's talking about your inner man, it's talking about your spirit, or it's talking about your soul and spirit. When you die, your soul and spirit together go into glory. Okay then, now the flesh refers to your body, and also aspects of your soul that are unredeemed, and so when the Bible talks about your flesh, demon spirits access your flesh, your soul, your mind, thoughts and emotions and your body. So when you're doing self-deliverance, what you must do is arise in your spirit. You have to arise in your spirit. You have to arise inside and flow in your spirit, no matter what you're feeling.

Now you understand now, if she arises in her spirit by praying in tongues and energising her spirit, and makes a decision inside in the deepest part of her being, I am going to resist, and I'm going to take authority over this thing, then what she can do is just speak into her soul, to any demon there, or into her body, to any demon there, and command it to be expelled. It just requires a decision on the inside, so what you do then is very simply stir yourself up praying in tongues. Father, I come to You, and I stand in Your very presence right now. I repent of the sin that's allowed that demon to come into my life. I thank You for forgiveness, I receive Your forgiveness right now. Now spirit, I speak to you now - GO in Jesus' name. Just command it just to go like that. What you can do then is just breathe out [Coughs] and what you may find is, as you start to cough, it becomes a major thing, and you're now in a manifestation mode, and something's going out, or it can be they just go simply like that.

But I know that two important foundational parts of it are: any sin is repented of; and two, you arise in your spirit, and command the thing to go. You might be very surprised when you arise inside, and command things to go, just what happens. You may have manifestations in your body, you may find yourself coughing, you may find yourself heaving. I've even known people when they've done this to actually just immediately start to throw up. I'm not into all of that kind of stuff. I think that the demons can go real quickly, real easy, but I have noticed sometimes with me, when I've prayed that way, there's been quite a coughing take place. I think oh, that's a lot of coughing. [Laughter] A lot of coughing. I don't worry about it. I'm not going to be condemned by it. I'm just taking authority and cleaning out the system, just very simply. Sometimes just because of the trials of life, stuff sits on you, and it weighs you down, and you can arise in your spirit, and command those things to go, and they will go. Then as soon as you've done that, just begin to praise God, thank Him for your liberty again, just worship Him, get your mind redirected.

Alright, so it's not such a hard thing to do. Now there are some things that you would need perhaps to get ministry for. If you can't get yourself free, certainly go see someone, and ask them to help you get set free - so there it is, self-deliverance. You can deliver yourself, and you can push away spirits that come against you. Now not everything is a spirit. They just exploit what's already there, so if you've got thoughts and patterns of thinking, beliefs in the heart, you've got issues of sin, they will just exploit them. Put your heart right with God, resist the devil, the demons will flee. Amen.

Alright, perhaps we'll just finish there. In the afternoon we want to have a look at a session, and talk to you about how to build your spirit man and develop that inner life and secondly, we want to look at just ministering to other people, how to go about ministering, and it's quite a simple process. Remember that in all of the situations of ministering where you're exercising spiritual authority, it always has these ingredients: one, you are arising to be in the position God's calling you to be; two, you stir your spirit, so you're alive in your spirit; three, you speak with expectation that something's going to happen. So I'll give you some things to do a little later this afternoon, and you can have a try and see what happens when you do it, and see how things go. This is something you grow into. You grow from level to level to level, so we'll get you doing some activations and do two, maybe three sessions in the afternoon, and I'm sure you'll go away mightily empowered for new things that God has for you.

Horowai, you had one question, perhaps we've got time for that. You mentioned before in the break - would you like to just raise that question again now? It was a very good question. [Horowai] [Had to do with last time you talked about how territories, we cross over into each other's metron...

[Pastor Mike] Right, okay.

[Horowai] ...and you also brought up that question about witchcraft...

[Pastor Mike] Okay and your question was making that clear, how to make that clear? Alright then, in working relationships, whether it be at work, whether it be in a church ministry, or whether it be in family, or wherever you are, the issue of boundaries defines what I'm responsible for, what you're responsible for, and in all work situations and relational situations, boundaries come up to one another like that, and often overlap. In other words, people start to move into someone else's area of responsibility. Now when there is good communication, and when there's a loving serving heart, it's very easy to flow like that, and we help one another, and we work with one another, and there's a natural flow. But it can become ungodly, and it becomes ungodly when this happens: when someone deliberately picks up the responsibilities of others, and they consciously let them go, so you get someone who's got a great heart - they're an enabler. They actually find their identity in doing things to help everyone: oh I can do that, let me do that, I'll do that.

Basically they're driven by this need to do things to get approval, so what'll happen is, they'll take it all on, then they'll get angry and react because they're doing so much, and you've got a conflict because boundaries got blurred, and the person's operating outside their area. But this is normal. This happens in life all the time, so when one person yields up their responsibility, and someone takes it up, this is called blurred boundaries, and when that happens conflicts will happen inevitably, because now the territories are not being properly governed. Now it's a very simple way around it. You just talk to one another, and just clarify who's responsible for what, and how you're going to talk and work together, it's so simple. But if people fail to do that, then one can feel resentful, because they feel they're losing power and someone else is taking over, and that is definitely unlawful, and they've actually got to step up, and there's a confrontation needed to bring out to the open what is happening.

It doesn't need to be angry, but it can be. It doesn't need to turn that way, but it sometimes does, so if you have yielded up responsibility, someone's taken it over, you've got to talk and say hey, we need to talk about our boundaries again, they've become blurred. I need to be clear what I'm responsible for, what you're responsible for, and how we're going to communicate together over those areas. It also happens if someone deliberately invades someone else's area. That becomes a problem as well, so you've got to talk and negotiate that stuff, but what happens is spirits use the blurred boundaries to invade and oppress. That's where the problem comes. Remember, don't blame the spirits on everything. They know where they had work. It's actually human beings that create the problems. We create the environment within which they seize an advantage to come in to oppress. Okay, someone else had a hand up, yes?

[Female participant] [What happens if boundaries that are blurred because of incompetence, and so other people will come to you, to try and get things done?

[Pastor Mike] Okay, so you've got two people working side by side; one person's skills or attitude or whatever means they're not capable of functioning properly in the job, and so now the other person, everyone's bypassing them and coming to this one. Now that's a problem.

[Female participant] If you don't do it, everything will collapse, so someone has to do it or it all goes to pieces.

[Pastor Mike] Now you see therein lies the problem. The person who thinks they've got to do it, is the one who's now become the problem. They weren't the problem originally, but they've become the problem, because they are empowering the incompetence of the other. What needs to be addressed is the incompetence of the other person. It has to be addressed, so it requires love and truth, talking, and an outworking of a better way of working the responsibilities. Once you bypass the system, then what you do is create problems, so if we've got two people, and one's incompetent, the other's highly competent, and people bypass and come to the competent one, then that creates a malfunction, and a discretion in the whole flow of the relationship. And of course don't think that the one who's incompetent doesn't know what's going on either, and they will be going through all kinds of stuff. They will feel something shift, they may not know what.

They'll feel resentful and angry, they will feel they're being eroded, they'll go through all kinds of things, and it's not sometimes because they're incompetent. It can be because they're difficult people to deal with relationally, and that also causes the transfer; people bypass them to go to where they can work relationally, and that creates problems as well. So the only way to deal with it is, you've actually got to talk face to face about what is happening, bring it to the light. It doesn't need to be an angry thing, you'd just be simply hey, I noticed this is something that people are bypassing and going here. The effect is to undermine the situation and overload this situation. We need to have a talk about why this is happening, and we need to come up with a strategy we agree on, to sort it out. If this is a skill lacking, let's talk about what skills: can we upgrade the skills? Can we talk about it and work it out? If this is a relationship thing, can we talk about it and work it out?

Now the easier thing is for the person who's competent to stay silent, and fill in, and take it all over. Now they have become a participant in the whole deal. Before they were just willing. Now they're actually empowering. It stays and works because they're doing that, and there's many situations like that. Usually I've found no one is happy in it, no one. No one is happy. Everyone knows what's going on, and no one is happy, and they're not happy because it's not out in the open, in the light. There's nothing like having things in the light. It's so freeing to have everything in the light, even if it's terribly painful: listen, the job you're doing, you're not doing well, you're missing this and this and this, and this is creating these problems. It's better to have it out in the open, than it is to have it hidden away. When it's hidden away, that's when spirits work, that's when you have your mind tormented, that's when all kinds of stuff goes on in the spirit world, because of the blurring of boundaries.

Remember that these invasions of territories make room for demonic spirits to operate, so where there is a situation where say, a family will collapse because one person is not doing their job, or something in an organisation will collapse because someone's not doing their job, it's better to face it. Long term, it's better to face it, and better to do it more quickly than keep a long time, so we're better to face the situations rather than continue in an unhappy situation, because the one who keeps doing everything will feel burdened eventually. They will become resentful about that, and the one who's not doing it will feel rejected in some kind of way, and they will in the end react at some point.

[Female participant] Oh yeah, I've seen it.

[Pastor Mike] So you find that marriages, where the man retreats and the woman takes - because she's got a great sense of heart for the home and responsibility, she'll rise up and take responsibility. Then she's burdened, and he's guilty because he's not doing anything, and feels she's taken over - but actually he was to blame. He was responsible. He should have actually initiated and worked these things out, so sometimes there are conflicts come around blurred boundaries and you can fix them easily or the hard way. [Laughs]

Okay, well praise the Lord. Father, we thank You for what You're teaching us, help us to learn how to walk in the spirit, move in the spirit, keep everything in the light and to disempower demons. Help us to learn how to bring Your presence in Jesus' name. Amen.

Strengthening Your Spiritual Life (5 of 6)

Fri 15 Feb 2013  « Back to Top

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This session starts off with clear instructions on how to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and the Gift of Tongues. Mike then describes the functions of our spirit - our life source, able to energise and illuminate our whole body, illuminate our mind, release creativity, bring insights, commune with God, and flow out to others. Learn how to cultivate and strengthen your spirit dimensions, including meditating on scripture to encounter God.

How many have been challenged in your thinking during the morning, just starting to think - that's great, wonderful. It takes a little time for these concepts to get in, because they shift how you view your life, and your responsibilities, and how you interact with them. I had some very good feedback in between times, very good. Okay, so before we go any further, I just want to, just for the sake of several who are not baptised in the spirit, or not released in tongues, I want to just speak about being filled with the Holy Ghost, speaking in tongues, so I want to speak about it a little bit, just so faith lifts up. I want to show you how you can receive, and then what we'll do is get those who don't speak in tongues, we'll get you to come towards the front. We'll get everyone else to gather around, one big crowd, and then we'll just pray all together, and that takes it away from being sort of self-conscious, that maybe you just haven't got the breakthrough yet.

So let me just give several scriptures related to being filled with the Holy Ghost. Firstly, very clear Jesus' ministry, He began His ministry with an encounter with the Holy Spirit. The Bible says the spirit of God came on Him, and the heavens opened up, and He heard the voice of God. From that point on in His life, He encountered an open heaven, an open spirit world. He encountered His Father's voice, and the leading of the spirit of God, so before He left, in Luke 24 He says this, in Verse 49: He says behold, I send the Promise of My Father on you; wait in the city of Jerusalem until you be clothed with power from on high. Now He's not talking here about being born again. He's talking about an empowerment, or a clothing.

In John, Chapter 20, He talks about sending them, so in John 20 He says this, Verse 21: As the Father sent Me, so I send you. So He's commissioning them again, and He said when He had done this, He breathed on them, and said: receive the Holy Spirit. So what happened was, He imparted to them the Holy Spirit. They were born again at that point in time. The parallel of course, when God created man, He breathed into him the breath of life, and man become a living soul. Now Jesus the last Adam, breathes into His followers, and they are born again, and He imparted through breathing the flow of the spirit of God. But He did say again, Acts 1 and Verse 4, He said being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the Promise of the Father, for He said: John baptised you in water, but you will be baptised in the Holy Spirit.

So now He's saying, even though they're born again, before they begin their ministry assignment, He wants them one, to be clothed with power - He uses different language to describe the same thing. He calls it the Promise of the Father; He calls it being clothed, or being endued from on high with power. He also calls it being baptised, or immersed into the spirit realm, and so what He's referring to when He uses the word baptised in the spirit, He's referring to us being immersed into the realm of the spirit. So the baptism in the spirit, being baptised in the spirit, is an entry experience into engaging the spiritual world, but it's only an entry experience. It's a great entry experience, it's a powerful entry experience, but the expectation is there'd be other things happen once we'd had that experience.

Then we read of course in Acts, Chapter 2, how the Holy Ghost came upon them, and suddenly the sound came from heaven like a rushing mighty wind. It filled the whole house were they were sitting. There appeared to them divided tongues like fire, set on every one of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost - and they began to speak in tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. So we see here in Acts 2, the first experience of being baptised in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost came on them. The power of God literally broke out of heaven upon them, and the first consequence of being filled was to overflow vocally. It says they spoke as the Holy Spirit gave them, so you have to speak. It's the Holy Spirit who gives the language, so the language of tongues is not a language that we learn. It's an imparted flow of the Holy Spirit into our spirit, so the spirit of God clothes our spirit and we choose to speak, so you can't expect God to open your mouth and talk. You've actually got to speak, you've got to actually do the speaking.

They spoke as the Holy Ghost gave them utterance, and it says people could understand some of them speaking. They spoke in our tongues the wonderful works of God, so clearly it was a dramatic experience, because people said hey, it looks like they've been drinking wine. Oh, they're full of joy and laughing, and filled with the Holy Ghost. There are other examples in the Bible of the same thing. Acts, Chapter 10, the Holy Ghost falls upon the Gentiles, first sign, they began to speak in tongues. Acts, Chapter 19, Paul goes to a group of believers that have been baptised in the Holy Spirit, haven't even heard. So he taught them, laid hands on them, they were filled with the spirit, began to speak in tongues, and to move in the gifts of the spirit - so clearly in scripture we see this encounter with the Holy Spirit, the filling up, the overflow with tongues.

So what about the gift of tongues? Let me give you a couple of things on it, then we'll talk about receiving quickly, and get you a chance to receive. So in reading in 1 Corinthians, Chapter 14, Verse 14: If I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit is praying, my understanding is unfruitful, but my spirit is praying. So there is a part of you, your spirit man that can feel, sense, smell, experience, see, hear, also speak. Your spirit is speaking, and you're speaking the language that God gives you, so it's not coming from your mind, where you're thinking what you're saying. It's a flow from inside. It says when we speak in tongues, it says that we are speaking, and it builds up our spirit man - so I don't want to go into a long teaching on tongues. It's a whole teaching around itself, but the gift of tongues primarily is a communication flow with the Holy Spirit, to enable you to pray, to praise, to pray when you don't know what to pray, and it builds your spirit man.

Have a think about this. When I went to Asia, whenever I go to Asia I'm in a totally new culture, and one of the things about the culture, it has it's own language. If I don't know the language of the culture, it's difficult to operate in that culture. Everything is unfamiliar, so one of the first things they give me when I get there is an interpreter, someone to help me with the language. The language is important to living and experiencing the culture properly. In fact if I've got no one who helps with the language, I can't even do anything there, so just taking it from a natural level, flowing in another culture is highly difficult and ineffective if you have no one to help you with the language. So the same thing, the realm of the spirit is not the same as the natural realm. The real of the spirit is much more intense, and so we need a language to express in that realm.

When God speaks to you - most of you know computers I suppose - when God speaks to you, it's like if you've ever in your computer received a zip file. A zip file, you just download it, there it is, you've got a zip file. Now when you unzip it, there's just all this information in the zip file, so when you receive from God you can receive a download really quickly, but as it takes time, and when it opens up there's so much in it. Praying in tongues is a vital part of helping us engage in the realm of the spirit, so how do we receive? We receive very, very simply. The Bible says in Mark 11, when you stand praying for whatever you desire, you must really want to be filled with the Holy Ghost. Number two, when you desire, when you pray, you've got to ask God - we've got to come specifically saying God, this is what I want. Three, we must believe that we receive it: whatsoever things you desire, when you pray, believe you receive it, and then following that, you will have it.

So when you pray, there has to be the believing I will receive it. If I come saying well let's just give it a go and see what it'll do, that's not believing. That's waiting until you see, then you believe. So I need to know from the Bible, and from hunger in my heart, this is for me, and I come to Him saying: God, I just want to be filled with the Holy Ghost. I'm yielding and surrendering to you. Now what would stop you flowing in the spirit, and flowing in that expression of tongues? There's probably several things. One would be if you're locked up in the occult, or if there are occult bondages that have never been freed. That is a problem and a block for flowing in the things of the spirit. We assume that that is not true for most of you here today if not all, so then there are two other things that come to mind immediately.

One of them is, if you've ever had teaching that was anti the Holy Spirit. That creates a blockage around your life from receiving, because the words that have come sit in your life, and the moment you come to receive, they come back to life and they actually stop you. So it's important if we've ever been exposed to teaching where people taught against the baptism in the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues, that you actually renounce that, because it creates a barrier to receiving. Getting the idea? So I know that people that have been in those situations, they often have a block, because the moment they come to pray their old teaching comes up and argues against receiving, so there's no flow from their spirit to respond to faith.

Another or a third common factor that people have in not letting go to flow into the language of tongues is strong cognitive control over their life. So when a person has shut down the emotional dimension of their life, and shut down that right-brain aspect, the creative aspect, and just lives out of logic, and lives out of reasoning, and lives in their mind and thoughts and is disconnected from the heart, then this often is a major block to flowing with the spirit, because the moment you come to pray, you're back in your brain trying to work out what to say, and analysing everything that's happening, instead of actually letting go control, which is effectively what's happening, and just saying: God, I just surrender. I let my heart, my inner man just express it's love for You through this new language. It's literally the control of your mind has to let go, and allow the flow from your heart and spirit to just emerge.

I've found for me it was a little bit of a difficulty. I got filled with the spirit dramatically and quickly, but then my mind would actually consciously argue. It would reason. I'd be praying in tongues, and I could feel the joy rising up, and then the mind arguing, arguing, arguing. It's like a lawyer [laughter] argues, reasons everything away. So strong cognitive control in your life, or blocks to the emotional area, can stop the flow from within your heart, because the language of the tongues is a flow of the Holy Spirit, in your spirit, flowing up outwards through your life. So if you can just surrender control and let go of that area and relax - sometimes people find that when they're in the shower they relax more, and they're able to get going into flow in the gift of tongues, but everyone's got his own way I guess.

But we want to just pray for people to be filled with the spirit and just get a breakthrough today. We'll just see what the Lord will do, but if you could just approach it really simply in harmony, God, I don't want to be held back any longer. I don't want any blocks. I'm just coming to You right now and I'm letting go what any wrong teaching, any control over my thoughts, I'm just letting it go to You. I'm just going to worship You in all Your beauty, and I'm going to let my mouth speak this new language which You give me. Amen - so we'll do that then. So what we'll do is we'll just make it a little easier for everyone, rather than everyone being conscious of themselves, so we'll get those who would like to be specially released in this area, why don't you come and just stand around me just in the front. The rest of us all come around and stand around you, so just firstly those who haven't got a breakthrough in their life, if you'd like to just quickly come, just come up to the front here.

So if you just make room for people to come through, just come and stand facing me. You're not facing the camera, that's the one, there we go. [Laughs] Okay, there we go, good stuff. Okay, come on now, that's right. We got everyone here? Righto then, now what I want is for everyone else to come around, surround them. We're going to just love them, and be together and believing God for this release today. Okay, just bring everyone else up, that's right, that's the way. Close your eyes and make everyone vanish. That's the simplest thing, make everyone vanish. If you're thinking about other people, or about yourself, you won't let go. Alright then, now Lord, I'm just asking right now that You would just help. We need Your help. Some Lord have been prayed for before, and they haven't had a breakthrough, and we don't know why, so we ask Lord if there's any reason for there being a blockage, that almost immediately You will bring it to their mind right now.

If there's any form of blockage that would stop the flow of Your spirit, I'm asking that just right now You would bring the thoughts to their minds, they would begin to see just in a moment what the blockage really is. Lord, if it's pride, unwillingness to let go, well just make it just be clear so they can see that. Lord, if it's a block in the emotions, Lord just help identify what that is. Lord, if it's wrong teaching, or teaching that's been contrary to the Holy Spirit, Lord I ask You to bring that up to the surface. Whatever it is that may have caused a block, let it go, whether it's disappointments and then fear that I'm not good enough to receive anything from God. That's another thing that would stop people, I'm not good enough, and my life is such a mess. That would stop you, that would stop you receiving, but there's no reason. See, God has already made you good enough. You are totally acceptable to Him. He loves you very deeply, very dearly. You're very precious. Jesus said these words: if someone asked the Holy Spirit, will God give him a stone, you know? The Father, if a child asks for bread you know, will He give him a stone or will He give him a serpent. I mean how much more will the Father give you, the Holy Ghost.

So this is what we're going to do, we're going to just lead you through a prayer. We're going to come and gather around you if you're comfortable with that, and just lay hands on you to pray for you. Every one of us is just going to worship God together. What I'd like us to do is in a moment after we've prayed through the prayer together, I'd like all of us to begin to speak in their language, and speak and honour God together. Amen. Do that together, and the thing is just relax. Don't try and make something happen. Just say God, I know You're there. I know the Holy Spirit, I know You're there inside me. Rise up inside me. I just yield my tongue to speak right now. Are we ready? Okay, I'll lead you in a simple prayer.

[Repeated by congregation] Jesus, I open my heart to You now. I so much want to be filled with Your spirit. I want to have the language of tongues to worship You, to pray effectively, so by faith now, I receive the Holy Ghost. I receive the gift of tongues. I thank You for giving this to me, and I open my heart to honour You now, and to speak in this new language, in Jesus' name.

Let's take a deep breath in, let's all pray together. [All pray in tongues] Holy Spirit, come and fall upon him right now. Let the power of God just come around his life today. Father, in Jesus' name just break the controls around his mind and emotions. I release Your anointing to flow right now. Let it go, that's right, let go. [Prays in tongues] I break every spirit of fear, not being good enough. I break it off your life now. I release the flow of the Holy Ghost. Lord, touch Steve right now. [Prays in tongues] Let the power of God just come around his life right now. [Prays in tongues] That's right, proactively speak and pray, that's right. [Prays in tongues] Holy Spirit, come upon him, that's right. Let's hear it now, speak those words. [Prays in tongues] That's right, you've got it, that's right, you've got it, flow - that's right, thank You Lord. [Prays in tongues] Thank You Lord for Your power coming on him right now. [Prays in tongues] Loose him right now in Jesus' name. Thank You Lord. Holy Ghost come. Thank You Lord.

That's right, now just relax. Just relax. Don't try too hard, just relax. Inside you just now begin to just see Jesus, and you love Him so much. You love Him so much, He's been so good to you, so faithful to you, and everything in you wants to just love on Him with this new language now. [Prays in tongues] Thank You Lord. Let Your anointing flow right now over her life. Thank You Lord. [Prays in tongues] Father, in Jesus' name I come against control. I break the power of controlling words, controlling spirits that have crushed and broken her heart. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I release you from those things right now. Father, pour Your spirit into her life today, in Jesus' mighty name. [Prays in tongues] Thank You Lord, thank You for filling her right now. Thank You Lord for the overflow of Your love. Thank You Lord for the overflow of Your Love. Thank You Lord for Your anointing just flowing right now. Come on, Holy Spirit we thank You.

We thank You for Your presence. [Prays in tongues] That's right, let that language rise up now. Thank You spirit of God. [Prays in tongues] I break every lie that I'm not good enough. I break words spoken over you that wounded and broke your spirit. I break those words right now. Thank You Lord for Your anointing just flowing. That's right, now just begin to allow your spirit to rise up and just express love. [Prays in tongues] Let's all pray together a little stronger now. [All pray in tongues] Thank You Lord. Thank You Holy Ghost, fill him right now. Thank You Lord, we break control. I come against all control. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I break it's hold over your life right now. Thank You Lord. Loose him right now. Father, release Your anointing into his life right now. Thank You Lord. [Prays in tongues] Holy Spirit come over him right now, thank You Lord. [Prays in tongues]

How are we doing?[Laughter] Holy Ghost, fill him! Fill him Lord! [Laughter] Long overdue. [Lots of laughter] Holy Ghost, fill him! [Laughter, praying in tongues] Holy Ghost, fill him right now with the power of God. Thank You Lord, fill him. [Prays in tongues] That's right, that's right. Thank You Lord. Holy Ghost, come on him right now Lord. Thank You Lord, thank You for Your love flowing around his life right now. [Prays in tongues] Holy Ghost, come. Thank You Lord, pour Your anointing into his life right now, fill him oh God, fill him. [Prays in tongues] Thank You Lord. Father, right now just speak, take authority over grief and disappointment. In the name of the Lord Jesus' Christ, I come against the spirit of grief and disappointment. I break it's power in your life right now. I command you to release him in Jesus' name. Thank You Lord, thank You Jesus. Thank You Lord, thank You Lord. Son, I love you. God loves you very deeply. Thank You Lord. [Prays in tongues] Thank You Lord. Thank You Lord. Holy Ghost come, praise the Lord, hallelujah. Thank You Lord. Praise the Lord.

Okay, hallelujah. [Laughs] Give me more Lord! [Laughter] Holy Ghost, praise the Lord. Amen, amen. Amen, praise the Lord. Come on, let's give the Lord a great clap shall we. [Applause, laughter] Holy Ghost, fill her Lord, fill her. [Laughter] Joy of the Lord, let it come around her life. [Laughter] Wow, we've had some really good results. Any got a freedom, got a release? That's fantastic. Did you get released today? That's awesome, that's [laughter] - don't even go there. [Laughter] Okay, how are we doing? How are you doing? [Laughter] How are you doing? Well, interesting when you come to that kind of point, suddenly all the stuff you've got in your heart starts to choke up aye? [That's true, yeah.] Now you see you'll have had a lot of pain and grief and stuff you've pushed right down and when you push it down - it's just there near the surface now. [Laughs] Holy Ghost. Well it's great fun. Can we just get the air con on a bit? It's really hot in here. Man I got hot suddenly. It's off? Maybe you could cool the place a little, just getting so warm. Wow, got hot all of a sudden here.

[Laughs] Well that's great. Don't you love the Holy Ghost? [Yes! Yeah!] [Applause] I just love the Holy Ghost. He is so wonderful. He is so wonderful. Man, we better keep going so we can get things finished. [Laughs] There's a great presence of God here now. Thank You Lord. Well there we go. Okay, we're just going to look at strengthening your spirit man or building your inner man. I want to share with you a few keys on that, then we'll look at ministering to people. So we're looking at Page 19 in the notes and we're just going to jump one section and we'll come back in a moment, just strengthening or building your spirit man. First of all I want you - we'll just have a look at divine design and see how God has designed us to function, because many times we kind of - spiritual things have an appearance as though they're very difficult, whereas in fact they're not difficult. It's just when you don't understand it, it seems like it's just another world or something, but in Genesis 2:7 God formed man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.

So man is made in the image of God. God is a spirit; we have a spirit dimension to us, so we are a spirit being. You're a human being, you live in a body but you are more than just your body. Your body's called the house you live in, so we have a body we live in. We have a soul where our personality, will, mind, emotions and memories exist. We also have a spirit, and the spirit part of us enables us to communicate and connect with the whole realm of the spirit, so living and operating as a believer is about living and operating from the flow within our spirit. When man sinned and fell, he lost the spiritual connection and had to live out of his mind and soul, so your spirit has a number of functions. Let me just identify for you some of the functions of your spirit, so we can understand them. Number one, your spirit sustains your life. That's something people don't really understand. We kind of think of life as being a fairly natural sort of thing, but notice what it says: the body without the spirit is dead, even so faith without works is dead also.

So very clearly the body without the spirit is dead, so your spirit is what provides the energy that sustains your body. I'm sure there's also biochemical processes and so on, biological processes which are in place as well - but the Bible's very clear. Without your spirit, your body dies. Your spirit is therefore essential to the functioning of your body. If I chopped off a finger I could continue to live; chopped off a couple of legs, still continue to live. So there's a lot you could lose and still live, but you can't live without your spirit, so your spirit is vital to the life that you live on the earth, so if the person's spirit is withdrawn they die. Now the Bible tells us your spirit can be broken. It can be crushed, it can be wounded, so your spirit is quite vulnerable. Your spirit can sense and respond and be affected by what goes on around it, so a person's spirit can be crushed, and when your spirit is broken it affects your health, for example the Bible says that a broken spirit dries the bones. In other words, when your spirit is damaged through trauma, through words, through control, through abuse, then what happens is it doesn't generate the energy that would allow you to live a very vibrant life.

Similarly, if your life is dominated by demonic spirits, your spirit is restricted from flowing, and so again, you don't live the free life and the abundant life that God has intended for us to have. So the second thing we notice is that your spirit energises and inspires your thoughts. Now here's something - remember we got everyone praying in tongues, and we asked you what was the effect of strong praying in tongues, what did you feel happen to you? We come up with actually your body came alive, you felt quite energised. How many felt that? Some of you said this, an interesting thing; you said that your mind cleared. How many had that experience, your mind cleared? Very good. Now notice this scripture here. It says in Proverbs 20, Verse 27, the spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord. Now that's an interesting thing. The lamp is something that illuminates, so the spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord; it illuminates, or it searches all the deep places of his heart.

Here's another scripture, 1 Corinthians 2:11. What man knows the things of man, save the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God, except the Spirit of God. Now your spirit, we try to describe it in different ways, but your spirit is like an energy source inside you. Your spirit fits into your body like a hand fits inside a glove, so if I was to look at a person, I see through their eyes into the soul and spirit, you're seeing the living person. If the spirit leaves, you look into those same eyes; they're dead and lifeless. Now your spirit provides life on the inside. It also illuminates your mind, so if God wants to drop things into your mind, He will do it through your spirit. The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, so when your spirit is flowing you think clearly. You notice when we got our spirits moving, our heads started to clear? You sit down for a long time, become passive and your body's inactive, your spirit will start to shut down as well. Stand up, shake your body, move, speak in tongues, and your head clears just like that. It's just a very simple thing to understand.

So how many have known this experience, that you had a problem you faced, and you didn't know what to do about it, so we went to bed on it, and in the morning woke up, and you knew what to do? What part of you was figuring out that problem? It was your spirit, so even though your body is at rest, your spirit through the evening or night is not at rest. It's just alive, it doesn't sleep, so your spirit can commune with God while you're asleep. Your spirit can illuminate your mind with ideas, so imagine your spirit being like a lamp that can just flash an idea into your mind. Where does creativity come? It comes up out of the spirit of a man, so when a person's under control they can't release creative thoughts, because their spirit is crushed down. So the spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, so your spirit's like a flash-light. It will light things up, and it will give insights to yourself, so if you're going to gain insight to your own life, you have to be able to reach into your spirit, into the deep parts of you, and draw from within and tune in to the flow from your spirit. We'll identify that in a moment.

You notice when someone's spirit is alive and energised, their whole countenance seems full of life. Ever seen singers on a stage, we say they have what's called charisma. Actually charisma is just the life of their spirit flowing unhindered through them, and you notice the freedom is incredibly attractive? When someone's really free, you can see it on their - it's like their face is lit up. Have you ever noticed when you've seen people in say, the Indian culture, who got saved, and you see them standing alongside people who are unsaved, they look like they're lit up on the inside. It shows on the countenance. If someone is under oppression of an evil spirit they look black or dark, so clearly the activity of the human spirit, and the spirit of God, illuminates and brings life, and it brings ideas to us. The Holy Spirit can give you many ideas, but He always does it by illuminating your spirit.

The third thing about your spirit is this, is your spirit flows out. Your spirit can flow to touch people. In Proverbs 4:23, keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it shall flow the issues of your life - so your spirits movement is a flowing movement like water, like a river, like some form of energy. Jesus said in John 7:38, He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. Now notice again the flowing nature of your spirit, so your spirit flows from you, and your spirit actually can fill a whole room, so for example, I'll give you a few examples. How many of you have closed your eyes, but as you've walked near a wall, you can suddenly be aware there is a wall there? As yourself I wonder what part of me knew there was a wall there? Now of course if you've moving too quick and don't take notice you just bump straight into it [laughter] but if you were in a perfectly black room and you started to walk, and just walked quietly towards it, knowing there's a wall there, it's almost certain you'll feel the presence of the wall before you actually hit it, especially if your spirit is energised and alive.

Have you ever had the experience of someone sneaking up behind you, and you suddenly become aware someone is there? How do you become aware? Your spirit is aware. Have you ever been in a room, and someone extremely important came into the room, or with a lot of authority came in the room, you feel the whole room change. See, so authority is actually tangibly felt. When you get in the person, someone with immense authority, you feel it engage the whole room, the atmosphere changes. It's the spirit dimension around people's life, okay. So for example a person who is showing up emotions in a very strong way, the influence actually affects the atmosphere; for example if a person is very angry, you can feel the anger, even if they're not saying anything. Ever meet someone who's seething with anger? You can feel it. How do you fee it? Something is emanating out from them.

A person who's peaceful - have you ever met someone who's incredibly peaceful, they carry a spirit of peace. When you come near them, you become very calm. It's actually quite nice being in their presence, because you feel the peace. Have you ever met someone who had self-pity governing their life? You can literally feel the emanating self-pity, and you feel like it's drawing you in, and you have to do something or say something and help them in some kind of way. Have you ever been near an arrogant person? An arrogant person, they put out into the atmosphere that they are superior to you, so you feel put down, even if nothing much is said - so whatever's inside us flows out of us, and the spiritual part of you can pick it up. It's helpful for you to be aware of that dynamic flow. I'll just give an example here - don't mind using you as an example again? Can I use you as an example? There we go.

Just come and stand there. I need someone to stand behind her. Now, so we know that the Holy Spirit lives within us, and so He fills us up. So we pray in tongues, [prays in tongues] then our whole spirit can become filled, until the whole atmosphere around me starts to be filled with the presence of God. Now if I was to lay hands on her, then there can be a release of what's in me, just through the contact of laying on of hands, so I could just go: power of God, and the power of God starts to touch her. But the power of God can touch her also without me connecting. If I was just to allow my heart to be filled with the presence of God, just release the power of God touch you now - now she'll start to feel the power of God just come around her life touching her. Now see I didn't touch her that time, but something flowed. Your spirit substance flows. The things of the spirit flow beyond you. It's helpful to realise that, so therefore, just your presence in a place can affect what's going on around you.

If you're conscious that God is inside you, you're filled with the presence of God, you begin to release the peace of God. We saw it come into the meeting just before, so your spirit is vital to your life. Your spirit can affect the quality of your life. Your spirit can gain thoughts and ideas, your spirit can flow out of you. That's the most wonderful thing, to think that something can flow out of you through your words, or just being there, that touches people. Healing can flow, life can flow, so we want to minister to one another shortly. We want to get that flow going, want to give you an exercise to try. So those are some of the things our spirit can do. Here's another vital thing, and that is your spirit can be strengthened. In other words you can become really strong in your spirit - or you can be very weak.

So Ephesians 3, Verse 16, I pray that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man - so the inner man is your spirit being, joined to the Holy Ghost. Strengthen means increased in dominion, and with might, supernatural ability, dunamis see? So here's the thing, that the Holy Ghost can strengthen you. Now how is that going to happen? Well I'm glad you asked that [laughter] because we want to see exactly how that happens. I always ask the question, how does that happen? If I don't know how it happens - well it's wonderful, it sounds very, very good but how does that happen? I still feel weak like I was yesterday. See, we need to know what we can do that will engage the Holy Spirit working with us. How can I become strong on the inside?

Now if I wanted to gain physical strength like my son-in-law [laughter], then I'd have to do a number of things, but the most important - I could eat the right food, drink the right drink, but here's the most important thing of all: you'd have to exercise. All exercise involves the same kind of thing, various forms of it but essentially, you have to exert your muscles against something that is resisting. You have to actually overcome the resistance, and in overcoming the resistance, you begin to build strength inside yourself. So we can pray that we'll be physically strong, and you know it doesn't work. You can pray you'll be physically fit - you know it doesn't work. You actually have to do something to get physically fit. You can pray that God will strengthen you, and there's nothing wrong with doing that. We should pray that God would strengthen us, but there are ways you can co-operate with the Holy Ghost for that to happen, so let's have a look at some.

Here are some keys to growing your spirit, or strengthening your spirit. One of them we've already seen. Number one, probably the first one everyone could do is praying in tongues. He that speaks in an unknown tongue - 1 Corinthians 14, Verse 4 - strengthens himself, builds himself. So when you speak in the Holy Ghost, your own spirit can start to rise and become very strong. See, that's one of the ways you strengthen your spirit, so that's why praying fluently, praying forcefully, praying strongly, strengthens and builds your spirit. It's not the only way, but you could do that any time you want - pray in tongues [prays in tongues] and as you pray in tongues let your spirit rise up inside you. Allow yourself to be aware I am growing and increasing in my spirit, and you come alive very, very quickly, so that's one important way. You can pray that way all the time, so we'll get you to do a few of these things in a moment.

The second thing you can do, one of the most important things that your spirit responds to, is the word of God. I can't emphasise enough how the word of God will strengthen your spirit, but it doesn't strengthen your spirit just by reading it. You've got to get it in you, so one way that the word of God can strengthen our spirit, is when we learn to speak God's word, pray God's word, declare God's word. This is a way - Jesus said: the words I speak, they are spirit, and they are life, and so notice in Hebrews 3, Verse 1, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, or profession - so spoken words have power. They can release something, see? So if the word of God, spoken with a heart that believes it, releases power, I can release power and strength into my own spirit by speaking to myself. Now one of the things secular people understand is the importance of self-talk, of what you say to yourself. Most people are talking to themselves all the time: oh, I couldn't do that, it'd be hard, I don't know what's going to happen next, that's not going to work out. You've got a lot of endless, relentless, negative chatter going on.

But if you were to start speaking the word of God over your life, speaking the word of God into your heart wholeheartedly, it would have an effect on you: I am strong in the Lord, and the power of His might! Your soul says no you're not, you're just a sissy boy. I am strong in the Lord and the power of His might! Begin to confess the word of God, let the word of God grow in your life. Speak it upon your life. Say what God says about you: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Everything God called me to do, I can do it through Christ who strengthens me! Now see these are strong affirmations of God's word over your life, so praying the word of God, speaking the word of God over your life, will strengthen your spirit. Try it a few times. We've already done a few exercises on it. It affects you. It affects you.

Here's another thing. Worship is another way of strengthening your spirit man. Your spirit responds to the presence of God in worship. Now in 2 Corinthians 3:18 it says we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed or totally changed. So what it's saying then is worship, when I engage God properly, changes me. You say well I don't feel changed, I just sung some songs and lifted my hands up, didn't feel changed one little bit. Well it's because worship is not just about singing songs and lifting your hands. It's about your heart engaging with God and experiencing God, so I have to actually do more than the externals. It's about my heart, and the focus of my heart, and as we allow our heart - see your spirit will easily engage God. It's your body and soul that are the resistant parts, so that's why I encourage you to do this. I encourage you to clap your hands [All clap hands] make your body wake up: WAKE UP BODY! I know it's after lunch - WAKE UP and come alive just like that. Pray in tongues. [Prays in tongues]

Now I can get my spirit alive very quickly. I've learnt to do that very easily, but then the next part is actually the worshipping part. Now worshipping is much more tender, and I have found it most helpful, the problem you find as you worship is your mind wanders, starts to think oh, that'd be nice, sit down and watch television - [prays in tongues] - [laughter] yes, that'd be lovely. I wonder what match is on right now - [prays in tongues]. You see? We're not going to engage in worship much that way, see? So worship is consciously and intentionally letting your heart reach out, and affirm the love and value you have for Him, so if I just get my mind distracted I'm not really worshipping. I'm going through the motions. They draw near with the lips, but the heart is not there, because the mind has gone somewhere else, but if I was to just ponder that Jesus is with me and I just begin to say oh, I love You. Thank You Lord for Your goodness to me. I just worship You, I just give You everything. I just love You Lord and thank You for Your presence - and I can start to begin to feel and become conscious that He's there, feel the atmosphere starting to change.

Now that took a moment or two - but you say well, that doesn't happen for me. Well it didn't happen for me either until I practised. I practised worshipping. I practised giving myself to Him, lift my hands up and dance and praise the Lord and just give - I learnt to just give myself to Him. I found sometimes for me initially I was so hung up, I found it helpful just to just give myself physically, and dance before the Lord, celebrate His presence and just give myself, then yield to Him and say: I love You Lord, just come and fill me and overflow and just crash on the bed and let Him just come all over me. I learnt to explore what it is to just stand in the presence of God and enjoy Him. Sometimes it can be just so delightful, you just want to just stay there admiring Him. Worship engages Him, and you just begin to feel His presence. Other things just seem to change. You come out of a time of worship, where you've engaged the presence of God, other things seem to not have so much importance any more. The difficult part is getting rid of the baggage so you can engage Him personally.

So it's helpful to picture, to use your mind - that brings us to the next one of growing in our spirit man, is to develop our spiritual imagination. Now people sometimes get trouble with this, and notice what Paul says in 1 Timothy 4:15; Meditate on these things; give yourself totally to them, so that your progress or profiting might appear to all. To meditate means to revolve around in your mind, to picture, to use your imagination to see spiritual truth. It's true that whatever you set your heart on, your heart will open up to, so you set your heart on problems you'll open up to problems. Set your heart on the Lord and meditate, so you may not feel anything much about the presence of God, you may not feel that He's there at all. You may think He's a long way off. I lived with God a long way off for a long part of my life, but then I learnt that if I would meditate and picture truth, just imagine the truth, in other words use your imagination. The Bible says: love the Lord with all your heart and soul and mind and strength - that would include my imagination.

So if I was to just imagine what it is to stand in the presence of God who loves me, and hold the picture that Bible says of what He's like, His countenance, His eyes, His face, His beauty, all that He is, and just meditate: now what does that feel like to be welcomed by Him like that? Just imagine seeing the scripture. I have found an interesting thing happens, that as you do that, you begin to write into your heart the truth. If I was to say: what is the sum of this multiplication problem, three times four? Three fours are? [Twelve.] Now you didn't have to stop and think about it because you'd learnt it by heart. How did you learn it by heart? By repetition, so repetition of seeing the same thing, welcoming the same thing, affirming the same thing, it begins to grow in our heart as a spiritual reality, and so it doesn't really take long. Once you've started to meditate and hold your mind, fixed - I've meditated in Psalm 23 on Jesus being my shepherd. I've meditated in Revelations about Him being the great and glorious coming king, and each time you meditate, you begin to see Him differently.

Initially you have to allow your mind - then I just read the scripture, try to get the picture, and then I imagine what that would be like and just stay there imagining it, trying to feel it and then the Holy Spirit takes over and a flow comes. I'll just show you again - you can be my helper again Mary, that'll be a great idea. Come and be my helper again. We'll pray for lots of people shortly, but I want you to just help me in this one. Now I want you just to close your eyes, and I want you just to be open for how God might touch you. I'm not going to try to minister to you, or pray for you in any way. What I want to do instead is just holding your hand just to stay joined to you. What I want to do is to just meditate that Jesus is my friend, my wonderful friend, my shepherd. Thank You Lord, You're my shepherd and friend. So I begin to meditate and see Him there, standing just in front of me. I begin to see everything, see His eyes so full of love and life, countenance so joyful, just reach out to receive His love.

You see the moment I locked in, she started to feel the overflow. Meditation enables you to open your spirit and heart to the truth of the Bible. That's why we're to not only read the Bible, write the Bible, memorise the Bible, but meditate, allow our mind to reflect on it. There's at least three different ways of meditating I'm aware of now, but one way of meditating is to meditate into encounter with God. You don't hear much about that. You can meditate over a truth of scripture, and begin to look at it, and begin to gain insights and see how it might apply to your life. That's one way of looking at scripture. You can meditate on scripture also to enter in and experience God, that's another way of meditating. You can meditate on scripture just to build it into your heart, by repeating it over and over, so there's at least three things I'm aware that we could do with scripture: one for insight, one for impartation, and the other to open up the realm where God is.

So Mary, could you come up and describe for us what you experienced? Well [laughs] that's pretty quick, so I'll just take this off so you've got access to talk - here we go. There we go, just talk into that.

[Mary] I just felt just overwhelmed by His love, by His presence. It just - I couldn't stand, yeah...

[Pastor Mike] Still can hardly stand.

[Mary] ...I can still feel it, just... [laughter] yeah. I can't stop it.

[Pastor Mike] Now you see where it's - yeah, you can't stop, yeah. [Laughter]

[Mary] I can't. It's just overwhelming, His presence.

[Pastor Mike] Yeah, so see how it got opened, meditation opened the way for that to happen. There's a strong presence of God.

[Mary] Yeah.

[Pastor Mike] There it is - oh! Holy Ghost, come now. Praise the Lord. She's feeling the presence now. [Laughter] Be really good for us to just do a couple of things then shall we? Why don't we just do that? We'll just put into practice at least a couple of the exercises we've learnt now shall we? Now, you're going to need a help for this, so what you're going to need is you're going to need a chair to fall back on so - we can't catch everyone, and so we're not going to catch anyone. [Laughter] You have to catch yourself [laughter] so I'll give you three things that we're going to do. We're going to do the three things that we just learnt which strengthen your spirit man. One of them was that we would speak strongly in tongues; two, we'll confess the word of God, and each time we do something, again notice what it does for you. Then the third thing we'll do is we'll meditate, and I'll just help you with the meditating in just focussing your mind.

Now some people their mind doesn't focus easily. It's like a butterfly, it goes everywhere. That's just a matter of reigning in your mind, training your mind to stay in one place and not go everywhere else. Once you've trained your mind you can stay there, and you can lock in and stay there a long, long time. Now we realise then our mind can be trained to serve our spirit. Now initially you may find it a little bit difficult. Everyone's experience will be a bit different, but just see what God does anyway aye? Why not try, okay? Come on then, stand up then where you are, and then position yourself so you've got a seat, so should you fall over unexpectedly you don't fall on anyone else. [Laughter] If you are a very, very big person you may want your chair backed up to the wall so you don't just go clean head over heels, straight over into someone else. There we go Tim, straight up against the wall. [Laughter]

Okay, are we ready? So why don't you just shake your body, just loosen your body up. We've just had lunch and so we're a little bit all getting tired and no energy, ha ha! Holy Ghost! Alright then, now let's begin to pray in tongues as strongly as we can, and let's stir our spirit up! [Prays in tongues] Praise the Lord. Okay, next one. We're going to make this declaration: I am strong in the Lord and the power of His might. [I am strong in the Lord and the power of His might! I am strong in the Lord and the power of His might. I am strong in the Lord and the power of His might. I am strong in the Lord and the power of His might. I am strong in the Lord and the power of His might.] Well that's good. How many felt - some falling over already. [Laughs] Okay then, now you should find that the energy level has shifted considerably in you, and as you meditate on those scriptures and decree them more and more, they start to become alive, lift your spirit the moment you speak them.

Now I want you just to meditate, just reach your hands out just in front of you like that, just like your hands are upturned and open. Have your eyes closed and your legs resting just against the seat, see because if you fall over you'll just want to sit down. Otherwise you'll tumble and take three or four people with you and we try to avoid that if we can. Okay, now we're going to meditate, so just pray quietly in tongues for a little, just let your spirit flow. [Prays in tongues] Now to meditate means I'll fix my mind and begin to focus my attention on scripture, on the Lord, so just stop praying now. I want you with your eyes closed, I want you to take this scripture. The Lord is my shepherd, the Lord is my shepherd see? Now that means He is my friend, so use your imagination to extend out and see Jesus standing just before you, about one foot away and He's your friend.

Try to imagine what a friend would be like - eyes glazing, full of glory and purity, and full of joy to see you. That's what a friend is, they're always happy to see you. See Him like that, His countenance, very happy to see you. Friends are always happy to see one another. They smile and their face lights up - see Him like that. The Lord is my friend. Look at Him a little harder - there it is. He is the Lord God Almighty, just full of life, full of light and amazing love. Meditate on that, just think about that. His hands are reaching out to you. That's what friends do, they open their hands wide, oh, it's so good to see you. Now as you reach out to Him - just reach out. He does love you. Imagine what that love would feel like, if He just reached out and hugged you, and His love just flowed into your life, and you just received it now. Just receive it [exhales once quickly] just receive it right now. [Exhales once strongly] Receive the love of God right now - its come. Thank You Lord. Oh whoa, hard to stand up if you stay meditating on that.

Now just stay relaxed so you can receive. Some people are not used to receiving, they're used to doing. You've got to give up doing and just Lord, I just receive. [Exhales once strongly] Holy Spirit come, make Jesus real right now. Whoa! See, keep your mind just fixed on Him. Now begin to worship Him; oh Jesus, I surrender to You. I give myself to You. I just receive Your love now, receive Your goodness into my life. He is overwhelming. Imagine that God of heaven and He's your friend, how amazing - so love on Him. Allow your heart and spirit to just reach around, Jesus, I just so love You. I receive Your love into my heart. [Exhales once strongly] Come on, touch people. Touch people who are watching, let them experience Your love and Your presence flowing. Now as you're reaching out to Him, what do you think He would want to say to you? Listen for Him. Let His thoughts just rise in your mind. They'll be quite personal - I love you. Let Him talk with you. Enjoy Him.

Your spirit is made for encounters with God. Your spirit is made to experience Him. We can have many levels of encounter, but we can always pray in tongues and meditate, and always become conscious of His presence. Sometimes it can really overwhelm, and you can have visions and hear things or see things. It can begin to open up, and it's like you enter into heaven itself - come on. So it does our spirit good to be in the presence of God like this. It builds your spirit when you pray in tongues, it builds your spirit when you confess the word of God and meditate in the word of God. These things build your spirit. You worship Him, it builds your spirit. Wonderful Jesus, we just thank You for Your presence here right now, touching lives. [Exhales once strongly] Come Lord upon people right now. Thank You Lord.

Now some of you will be very, very engaging in the presence of God, and others, your mind will be going all over and thinking oh my, what am I supposed to feel? What's supposed to happen? This will take you away from where you need to be. Don't try and analyse things. Just Jesus is my friend, I believe the scripture He's my shepherd and friend, so what does that look like, and what does that feel like? Just dwell in that, and just embrace that truth into your heart. There are many truths in the Bible we can meditate in that will bring us near Him. This one's my favourite. We can meditate on the cross, become deeply aware of what He's done for us, so meditation will help you in your spirit man. It'll help you grow and become sensitive, help you become conscious of God. It's just so few people really do it, but once you've learned how to do this and engage God, then your life begins to change. Alright then, so let's just - well everyone wants to stay meditating. [Silence]

Alright then, so we'll just open our eyes again, and just come back out. You can go there anytime of course. How many people just really felt God connect with them, or they connected with God, who really felt the presence of God? Wow, look at that, so many people. Isn't it wonderful? Isn't that wonderful, so these are keys you can build your spirit man, and of course the last one I've put down there is obedience. We've got to learn to obey what God speaks to us about, and so using - your spiritual senses are developed as you exercise, so every time you say yes to God, your spirit strengthens. Every time you say no to the devil, your spirit strengthens. When you are slow and resist responding to God, your spirit is weakened, so we want to be strong in our spirit man. How many found that helped you, you've kind of got touched by God? Some of you are quite weepy because you've experienced God. Like to tell us about your experience? Can you? Some people may not be able to, that's right.

[Female speaker] I felt it in here and here and I was bending over, but I started looking up but then I felt it in here and I just wanted to bend over and then yeah...

[Pastor Mike] Wow.

[Female speaker] ...I just - God's love for me I guess, just...

[Pastor Mike] God's love for you.

[Female speaker] Yeah, just makes me cry.

[Pastor Mike] Exactly. Yes, very good, very good. So you started by lifting up, because your consciousness is God is up there, and that's okay, lift up your hands and so on, but then as the weight of His presence started to come around you, that's what caused you to bend over. It's called the weight of glory, yeah. What happened to you Mary, what did you experience?

[Mary] Similar.

[Pastor Mike] A similar kind of thing?

[Mary] Yes, similar, just experiencing a wave of His love...

[Pastor Mike] Very good.

[Mary] ...and peace and just overwhelming, I just...

[Pastor Mike] Wow.

[Mary] ...couldn't stand and that.

[Pastor Mike] Wasn't so hard either?

[Mary] No.

[Pastor Mike] Anyone else like to tell what they experienced? Yes?

[Female speaker 2] He said to just to hear what the Lord says to us, and He didn't tell me He loved me or anything, just said we should do this more often [Laughter]

[Pastor Mike] Nice one! [Laughter] We meaning you and Him. [Laughter] Awesome, that's great. Bryan, what about you?

[Bryan] I actually felt there was something in there, its unexplainable, but you want to cough from the anointing [Laughter]

[Pastor Mike] You needed to get delivered. That was supposed to be the last session. [Laughter] So you felt like you wanted to cough like something in you obstructing you?

[Bryan] It's kind of like breathlessness...

[Pastor Mike] Right.

[Bryan] Manifests

[Pastor Mike] Right, to gain breath.

[Bryan] But I think the thing is that the physical presence was absolutely tangible

[Pastor Mike] Tangible presence you really strongly felt, okay. Someone else felt something like that, yes Jill?

[Jill] Yeah, I felt it was like a warmth...

[Pastor Mike] Like a warmth.

[Jill] ...like a blanket around me - not a blanket but something with life, like arms around me

[Pastor Mike] Wow, feel His arms around you, isn't that wonderful. Yes?

[Jill] I just felt Him cuddling me.

[Pastor Mike] Ah wonderful, that's good, we all want that, yeah. Anyone else had a different experience, yes?

[Male speaker] I felt the amazingness of Him giving ministry to just me

[Pastor Mike] Just you, isn't that good?

[Male speaker] Giving ministry

[Pastor Mike] Isn't that great? And that's accessible all the time. Yes, what did you experience?

[Female speaker 3] I was here and enjoying that part of the service, but then there was all this really deep deep stuff [unclear]

[Pastor Mike] So you gained perspective on your life when you come into the presence of God, it refocuses you, your life. Oh, that's wonderful. Anyone, one other want to share? Well it was a great time together wasn't it aye, just enjoying the presence of God and so moving in authority, it's not just about all strength and shouts and ra. It's actually about the substance of your connection with God, and expressing that through words and actions in the earth, and this is the thing; we can grow in these areas, and our whole life in ministry, everything changes. Amen.

House-Cleansing - Ministering to one another (6 of 6)

Sat 16 Feb 2013  « Back to Top

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Find out how to go about cleansing a house/building (or object) from demonic manifestation, and shift atmospheres. You've only truly learnt when you can do, so be led as a group or individual in exercises showing you how to release the spirit of God within you into another - power, spirit, joy, healing. What you think and what you say is important, and we all need to practise.

In this session I want to just speak on house cleansing. I haven't done this one before, and I want to put this one in and speak on it, because this is a problem for many, many people. If you just look in your notes, Page 24, I want to just talk about house cleansing. Now increasingly we're finding that not only people coming to us who are troubled with evil spirits in their personal life, but many of them have troubles in their house. Some of the problems they have are in the house. I had someone ring me up in a panic a while ago, can you please come urgently to our house, there's a ghost in the house?

Anyway I couldn't come immediately, I did come as soon as I could, went there and sure enough there were some problems, and this particular woman had gone back to her mother's house. When I sat there talking with them, sure enough, you could hear the noises in the house and they said whoa, can you hear it? Can you hear it? You could hear banging and noises going on in the other part of the house, so I thought ooh, this is interesting. They were absolutely freaked out to say the least and I said look, its okay. We can deal with this very quickly, it's only a spirit and it will go. Shortly I'll command it to leave, but I really do want to know how it got here, so let's just talk a little bit about the house. They said who was actually renting this apartment, and it was the girl's mother. I said were there troubles in here when you first arrived? No, there weren't.

That's interesting - when did the problems begin? She said well when my daughter and her friend came to stay. Now we've narrowed it down, they came in with these new people, and so I spoke to the daughter and friend. I said well when did you first have these problems? Oh, they had it in the previous place they were in. I said well, what we're trying to do is isolate and work out whether the problem was in the house, and you've come into the house and now you have the problem, or whether you brought the problem into the house, and now people in the house have the problem. So I asked again and the girl said - I said well it's either the young man or the young woman; one of you has been responsible for this happening and I said were either of you involved in the occult? They said no. I said well was one of you involved in a sexual relationship with someone in the occult, and the girl said yes.

I said did it end in a bad way? She said yes. I said did he curse you? She said yes. I said well it's not surprising you've got these problems with spirits; you're not connected to God, you've opened your life through this relationship for two to become one, he's spoken cursing over you - you now have a spirit that's going to follow you wherever you go. I said you need help to deal with it, and the first place to find help, you need to come to the one who can help you, which is Jesus Christ. They're looking for a simple answer, I'm wanting to get them to the foundational answer, which is the Lord Himself. So we prayed, led them to Christ and then commanded the spirits to go, and the place just went calm, and peace came into the place.

So it's quite common these days for people to report that there are problems and difficulties in their house, and you have authority to deal with it. You have authority to minister to people in various ways and areas, we've looked at that, but you also have authority to deal with issues related to houses and properties where there are problems, where people are being spooked by spirits. So just for your equipping, we'll share with you just how you go about doing it. It's not very hard at all, but let's just look at a verse on this. Deuteronomy 7, Verses 25 to 26: You will burn the carved images of their gods with fire; you shall not covet the silver or gold that's on them for yourselves, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be snared by it; for it is an abomination to the Lord your God. Nor shall you bring an abomination into your house, lest you be doomed to destruction like it, or be cursed. You shall utterly detest it, and utterly hate it or abhor it, for it is an accursed thing.

Notice here he's saying specifically to the Hebrews, when they go into the Promised Land, not to bring into their home objects which have been used in idolatry. The reason they would bring them into their home was because often these things were quite valuable, they were carved with silver and gold or porcelain, and they were quite expensive objects. I prayed for a businessman in Taiwan not so long ago, and he had over a million dollars worth of objects. When he became a Christian he destroyed all of them, the whole lot. That's a lot of money isn't it - because he didn't want to have hooks into these things. So you notice it said: lest you be snared, or be caught in a trap. Now let me just give you a couple of examples, just from our own ministry experience.

When we first went to Dannevirke, I'd got filled with the Holy Ghost, we went and stayed in a school house, and we'd been there only a matter of a week I think it was. I'd gone and we'd talked with the Pastor of the local church, made a great connection there. We now felt like we had a home to go to, to talk about spiritual things. That night Joy went to bed and went to sleep, and I just stayed and watched a bit of television and went back to bed, and no sooner lay down in the bed, I was just lying there, just thinking about things, and this tall, about seven foot tall dark figure walked into the room, and freaked me out is the only way I can describe it. I could not speak. I was frozen in fear. I was absolutely terrified - it was a spirit being, a demonic spirit. So this thing absolutely terrified me. I felt every hair on every part of me just rise up - aaah! I felt like I couldn't even breathe, the fear was that much.

Then Joy woke up praying, and the thing seemed to divert it's attention onto what she was doing, and I felt free, and I could get up, so I got up, turned the light on, got the Bible out. Oh! [Laughter] Where do we start! I'm too young a Christian to know what to do so one, I got the light on. That was a big help! [Laughter] I'm a bit scared of the dark. [Laughter] And then I read Psalm 23: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures... I was pretty - didn't know much to do then, but anyway that was enough for the night, and we were okay for that. [Laughter] But we had to actually realise there was a spirit in the house, and we needed to cleanse the house, and get the spirit out of it. I then discovered that there were heaps of them in the school as well, and so once I'd learned what to do, then I began to go over - sometimes I'd go over at night to the school, and I'd walk through it in the dark [Oooh!], and pray in tongues, and decree the authority I had over all of those demons, and I overcame totally all fear of the things of the dark. [Laughter]

I used to be terrified to go and put the things out at night, and want to run back to the house. [Laughter] It was bad - so anyway we had that spirit in that house, and that was a bit of problem later on. One of our babysitters, we came home and she was weeping because she was absolutely petrified, because she'd heard footsteps walk up and down in the hall. Anyway we prayed, and got rid of this thing out of the house.

When I came first to Hastings we had some neighbours not far from us, and they said can you come and help us, we've got major problems of oppression and sickness in our house? I said I'll come over tomorrow. I prayed and I felt the Lord say to me: they've got some masks from Fiji, so I went over and I said: have you got any masks from Fiji? They said yeah, we have, we brought some back. I said don't you realise they pray over those things, and impart spirits into them? Your problems began when you got the masks in the house, so we prayed. I told them to destroy the masks, but then he came over the next day, he said: I tried. I poured petrol on them but they would not burn - and they were wooden. Isn't that interesting? I said okay, well next time put some petrol on them, and I said that's a good start, then pray and bind the spirits, and decree destruction on that object. Well he came back the next day, and he said whoa! [Laughter] It went off with such a big bang we nearly all got burnt [laughter], and they just burnt to cinders, just burnt right out like that.

So those were early experiences we had, just related to these things. We had another experience at one time where we had a whole group of young people, and they brought some of the music that they were listening to, really heavy bad stuff, and when a couple in our church burnt them, they took a photo of the fire burning, and you could literally see faces in the fire, a quite extraordinary picture. You can see things in the fire as they burnt these things - so demonic spirits get access to buildings, to objects and to people, occasionally to animals. We need to just know what to do. It's not hard, it's really easy. Any person could do it, you just need to know what to do, that's all. So sometimes evil spirits will get into an object because it's been invoked, someone laid hands on it, they carved the idol, laid hands on it, so any object which has been used in idolatry almost certainly will have a spirit attached to it.

If something's been hand carved and is the representation of some God, almost certainly it'll have a spirit has been imparted to it, through the laying on of hands. You've just got to be aware of that. Now wherever a person brings such an object into the house, the demonic spirit can then come and operate against the people in the house. Sometimes people have been involved in the occult in the house, or there's been a trauma, or maybe a murder in the house. Have you ever noticed if there's a murder, often people will just go and burn the house down? Have you ever wondered why on earth would you do that? I mean why would you do that? It's a waste of money, but it's because of an old superstitious fear, that if there's something like that has happened the place is demonised, and the only way to deal with it is to burn it to the ground, put it to judgement by fire. Isn't that an interesting thing?

Now we don't need to do that. We can actually pray and see the house cleansed quite easily, so God warned them not to bring things into the house that were of an occult nature, and He said: if you do it, you'll bring a snare on yourself, so we need to look at how to deal with the house. Common indications that a house needs cleansing are these kinds of things. Here's a few of them. There may be others, but these are the most obvious ones: unexplained noises at night, or sounds at night, voices, someone walking, doors opening and shutting, objects moving, rattling of chains - I haven't heard that one, but I understand that's another one, yeah. Objects moving spontaneously without anyone touching them, spirit beings appearing at night, unexplained areas of coldness in a house, and we're not talking about lack of insulation. We're talking in an area that should be warm, and it's actually quite funny cold, strange atmosphere. I've seen that in some houses.

Constant sickness in a house, once they moved in the house they became constantly sick; constant oppression or heaviness, or even strife and conflicts in the relationships that began when they moved into the house; recurring nightmares, constant turmoil in relationships or children terrified of unseen beings. When we first came here we had major spiritual warfare to break through and see God move, and on more than one occasion our youngest daughter woke up absolutely terrified and obviously seeing spirits, so they would come, and they would enter the house and try and torment the family, and try to wreak havoc in the home. I remember one night I could tell, you hear the sound of her cry. After a while you know your children's cry, and this one, this was a terrified cry. Got out of the bed, straight around in there, grabbed her and put her in bed with us and she was in the bed, and she would look out, then she would suddenly bury herself down, so she could see the spirit. I couldn't see it, but I became immensely aware that the thing was there.

So this was a demonic defilement as a result of engaging in the work of God, and there probably being occult curses directed against us, who knows. Whatever it was, there was a spirit in the house, needed to get him out, and so we had to learn how to pray and how to deal with it. Let's have a look then at how you can deal with it, and I'll show you some things which are obvious things, then some things which are perhaps not so obvious. Deuteronomy 7, Verse 2: When the Lord your God delivers them into your hand, you shall conquer them, utterly destroy them, make no covenant with them nor show mercy. So God delivered His enemies into the hands of Israel, and He required they totally conquer them, so if you ever encounter this, it's your responsibility to totally conquer it, and deal with any defilement. Now the principle causes of defilement are - as far as I'm aware - ungodly objects inside the building; defilement that's been caused by previous occupants of the building, so they were involved in idolatry, had a little altar there or spiritism of some kind; or there's been curses put on the building or the land, often by indigenous people.

Sometimes the land may have been built on, that had a lot of blood shed on it, so there's all these kinds of issues in the land. We had a neighbour of ours and he came over and said you're a minister aren't you? I said yes. He said can you help me? I said why? He said I'm having tormenting spirits in my house, so we went over and prayed through the house, and he had temporary relief, but they were back the next day. I said that's interesting, and so we had a talk with him about it. I went and prayed around the land, and when we prayed around the land, then they left completely. He was completely at peace, so clearly whatever it was, there was something on the land, associated with the land. Sometimes it could be just occult things, sometimes it could be a murder. Have you ever noticed that some areas of highway, which are straight, have unusually high accidents, and no one can explain it? Possibly it would be explained if people could look into the history of it, and see if there was blood shed or fights or battles, or occult practices in that area. That would give explanation for why, on a straight stretch of road, there's an unduly high number of accidents that cause death.

In fact some parts of New Zealand they say are high accident areas, slow right down. They drop the speed level down, but still they have the accidents. We had one area that we prayed - there was a whole section of a road, and the people that lived there said look, could you help us do something about this? We're having accidents here all the time. We went into that area and prayed, and that was the end of it, they didn't have accidents after that. So there's a spiritual reality here, that actions of people on the earth open gateways for spirits to come and create problems, so objects, there can be some specific objects that cause defilement. Obviously pagan objects of art, where there's statues or false Gods, they're the most obvious ones. Many objects are obvious; any objects used in spiritism, occult jewellery, Masonic regalia items, occult books, Ouija boards, occult toys, some music items, some video games, some pornography can create that problems, pictures and magazines and drugs. All of these can create it. You've got to let the Holy Ghost show you what the problem is, and we'll show you the simple steps.

Now here's an important practical point. You have to exercise wisdom about destroying the property that's in the house [laughs], particularly if it belongs to someone else. You have responsibility over your own possessions, but someone else's possessions are theirs, so that creates a difficulty. You need wisdom in handling objects that have been owned by a child, or by teens. You can totally destroy your relationship with a teen, or any hope of them coming to Christ, by going in and taking some object in a religious fervour and crusade, burn it because it's "of the devil", you know? Now this is not going to help build relationship and help that child come to the Lord. They will alienate you completely.

So some objects are obvious occultic and defiled, get rid of them. Some objects are completely not, don't worry about them. Some objects, you just may not be sure about. The ones you're not sure about, just ask the Lord, what do you say? Maybe all you need to do is just bless them, so for example, you buy some jewellery second hand. Now you have no idea what on earth went on behind that piece of jewellery, so it helps, it just pays to take the jewellery, lay hands on it, say Father, whatever has been on this before, we just break it now, and we dedicate this to You, and wear it in Your honour and glory - just a simple little prayer just like that. It just helps to do that - so how do you go about doing the house cleansing? It's not very hard. We just go into a house, just begin to pray in tongues, speak in the spirit, start to worship God and open our heart to the Holy Ghost. You need revelation from the Holy Ghost.

I'll enquire of the people in the home, try and find out what is the problem, which room is it in, when did it first start, because when it first started gives you a clue many times to what the source of the problem is. So listen to the Holy Spirit; Lord, show us are there any legal things that we need to address? Are there any issues we need to renounce or speak over? Ask Him to guide you, so if we discover some objects, we say well you need to destroy those, and so we pray over them if we're not certain about them. So what we do is just exalt Jesus and confess His Lordship; Father, we just come to You in Jesus' name, we confess Jesus Christ is Lord and saviour today. There's nothing like acknowledging and standing strong in the spirit. Then the second thing we do is, we break all agreements that were made to invite evil spirits in; Father, in Jesus' name I speak in this room now, I break every invocation, invitation, every covenant made with an evil spirit, inviting it into this place. I break those invitations. We cancel their power now.

If there was a trauma; Father, in Jesus' name, we come against every spirit associated with traumatic accident or death. We break the power of that cursing on this building, in this room, now in Jesus' name. So speak quite simply to break agreements, break curses, and command the spirits then to go from the house; In Jesus' name, I command each spirit, go now. You'd be quite surprised. We were in one building, and actually the [laughs] team that was with us got freaked out, because they felt this whoosh! Something just flew past them like that, and they got such a shock - woohoo! What was that? You know, but it was something had been there really in the room, they just sent it out - so we have authority to deal with this, you see? The person who's asked you into their house is a Christian, this is their house now. There's no right for demons there, got to get the demons out, and then just invite the Holy Spirit; Holy Spirit, we welcome You to come. We dedicate this room, we dedicate this part of the house completely to You. We invite You to come, and to bring peace, and to bring Your presence as we make You welcome today - very, very simple.

Sometimes we've anointed places with oil where there are real major issues, but only if the Holy Ghost led. You'd be quite surprised then what happens. We have been in some places, and you could feel the whole atmosphere just shift like that. Now I'll give you an example. This is a really good one. I was called to do a funeral, take a funeral. It was a tragic funeral, because a woman had committed suicide, gone into the bathroom, filled up a bath and cut her wrists and died. That's tragic, absolutely tragic, and so I was asked to take the funeral. The funeral was down the road here, just down Orchard Road. It was at the crematorium, and they've got a little chapel there. So we went in there, and I went in there with two musicians from our church to set up a keyboard there, and to just create a bit of atmosphere for worship. As I got in there - now the Holy Ghost must be just on me over this one, and I came in there. As I walked in, the oppression was immense. You could feel heaviness and death, and grief and despair. It was horrific.

I could feel it, and I just walk in there praying in tongues, and suddenly I said: in Jesus' name, every spirit of grief, death and despair, out now! I did it just about that quick. I caught the two others by surprise, and they nearly fell over because they suddenly felt this rush out of the room, and the peace of God just came in like that. It just descended into the place just like that. Now when it came to the funeral, the presence of God was so strong there, that people - now this is a suicide. You'd expect everyone to be overwhelmed with grief, but the presence of God came so strongly, that people just sat there, just enjoying His presence. It was amazing. It was like a total turnaround, and we were able to preach the gospel and share, bring a message of hope, and open the way for people to come to respond to Christ. It was amazing - but that is taking authority over the spiritual atmosphere. There's something there that causes the problem - take authority over it.

So if you're ever in some atmosphere, or some place where it's clear there are spirits there, now it may not be appropriate to do what I just did then. What you can do is just get in a corner, just away from everyone, and when you get in the corner and just out of sight, just out of obvious connection with everyone, just begin to pray in tongues. [Prays in tongues] Now I just speak in the spirit now. I speak to every spirit here. I command you to go now in Jesus' name, just be gone out of this place right now. I assert my authority over you in Jesus' name. I just release Your peace and presence Lord, let Your peace just come into this room right now, begin to fill it, invade it. We invite Your Holy Ghost to come, and bring peace just now - and you can change an atmosphere just like that, if you know your authority. Otherwise you'll look at it, and it'll overwhelm you, and you'll back up, so that's why practicing praying and practicing speaking and practicing in this area, you become more familiar with it, and it becomes nothing for you to just oh, there's something here. Alright, we'll just speak into it now: In Jesus' name, go. I've done that in a number of situations and you feel a change straight away. People don't know what - they haven't got a clue what you did because they weren't seeing, and you didn't make a big noise of it. You just brought the presence of God with you into that place, and isn't that what we're supposed to do, bring the presence of God? Heaven to earth. Isn't that fantastic?

Okay then, now let's just talk a little about ministering to one another. How many would know what to do now? If someone's got a haunted house you could go to it and pray right now, wouldn't that be great? So ask God to give you some opportunities and keep your ears open, anyone's got a haunted house say great, I'll come and help you! [Laughter] Remember, if there's a demon in there, it's not a ghost, it's not a person, it's not Uncle Fred. They're long gone you know. It isn't one of them. It's actually a demonic spirit, and there's always a reason it got there. Ask a few questions. Ask the Holy Ghost to help you, but ask the questions: find out, was it in the house before they came, or did they bring it into the house with them. That'll give you the clue.

If it's in the house before they came, someone else has brought it in. You can address it quite easily by breaking the covenants, agreements, whatever traumas been there and just releasing the presence of God to come, or if it came in with them, you've got to talk to the person and say hey, let's work out how come this thing is here. Was this in the last house you were in? Oh, it was, then you have brought it with you, which makes an interesting thing. How keen are you to get rid of it? You know, most people are really keen to get rid of. Then you can talk and say well, the spirit world is very, very real, and what you're experiencing is an evil spirit, but there's also a spirit called the Spirit of God who's a very good spirit, very kind and loving spirit. He comes to us when we receive Jesus Christ - and you can just quickly, easily share the gospel, lead people to the Lord, and then pray and bring peace to the home. It's quite simple, and there's a lot of people have got this problem right now.

They pay exorcists and people to come in and pray prayers and do stuff, but we've got the answers. We can make it happen, quite simply, quite easy, and if you pray in the house and there's no lasting freedom, consider praying around the grounds as well, just inside and outside the house. Sometimes it's both, and if there's still no freedom then it's in one of the people, and they're inviting them back in. Now this guy over the road said could you come back, my house has got spirits again? I said well I cleaned them out, how come they come back in? [Laughter] He said oh, I had a friend over here, and he's a psychic guy, and he downloaded in the house. [Ooh!] I said well, what are you thinking, you know? You've got to stop him doing that kind of stuff. You've got to protect your house from this happening. I said this guy has brought the spirits in. He's not a friend, he's actually brought problems to your house. Consider that next time you invite him in, and tell him not to do it. So we prayed and again the house got cleared out. Amen.

Okay, alrighty then, well we could spend a lot more time but I think - I've written out quite a few things just on ministering, but what I want to do is, I want to give you a chance to pray and minister to one another. So we're going to give you just two or three exercises for you to do, okay, so the first one, I want you to get used to speaking with power, speaking with authority. So we've got a very simple exercise that we can do, and we'll just need a couple of volunteers. I'll show you exactly what I want to do - two of you will do fine, here we go, come on up, right in front of me. [Laughter] Then I'll try some others as well. Okay then, so we'll get one third person - like to come on up? That's the way. There we are, okay then, come and stand behind her, that's right. Now you are the catcher, okay and you are the receiver and you're the one who's going to minister the power of God. Isn't that right? What did you say, oh no? Why did you say oh no? [Laughter] Tell me what you're thinking when you said oh no?

[Female speaker 1] Oh, I don't have the confidence.

[Pastor Mike] You don't have the confidence?

[Female speaker 1] Yeah.

[Pastor Mike] What if I showed you step by step?

[Female speaker 1] Okay, I'll give it a go.

[Pastor Mike] Okay, alright, so first of all I want to just get a couple of things. Do you have the Holy Spirit inside you?

[Female speaker 1] I hope so.

[Pastor Mike] You hope so, you're not sure? [Laughter] Okay, alright then. Well these are what's called foundational for ministering to people, is to know where I am, and what I have inside me, you see? So when we get born again we receive the Holy Ghost, so what I'll do is I'll just approach it a little differently, and I'll help you with it, there we go. Here we are, alright then, so the first thing you can just ask is, can I practice on you?

[Female speaker 1] Can I practice on you?

[Pastor Mike] Awesome! Great! Great, positive response. That's the way. Okay then, so you just keep your eyes open, you're the catcher, and if she falls over, going to need to make sure you've got your eyes open to catch her, alright? She has a tendency to fall. [Laughter] Okay then, now just lift your hands up, that's right and look towards the Lord, that's right. Now what I want you to do is put your hand on her shoulder, that's right, okay then. Now we're going to pray in tongues together. Now I'm with you here to help, you see, and this is how close God is, He's even closer than I am to you, and so let's pray in tongues together shall we? Come on, let's pray in tongues. [Prays in tongues] Now as you're praying in tongues, the Holy Spirit's inside you, see? He's arising and flowing through you. That's right, rise up a little more strongly, [prays in tongues]. Alright then, now this is what we're going to do next.

I want you to, with your eyes closed, to just begin to meditate that God is in me. His spirit is filling me up. I'm being filled with the spirit of God. Just set your mind, not on trying to do something, but on God being in you. Then on the count of three I want you to just speak the words strongly and release power, speak the word 'power' okay? Ready, power, so we meditate, just consciously be aware God is in you. Thank You Lord, Your presence is here...

[Female speaker 1] Power.

[Pastor Mike] No, one more time - one, two, three, POWER! (whispered)

[Female speaker 1] POWER!

[Pastor Mike] There you go, that was a bit better now you see? She's been touched by the - you've been touched by the presence of God. [Laughter] Okay, that's alright. Thank You Lord. Just release Your anointing, touch her right now, just minister and flow, there it is, it's the presence of God. Okay, now so when you started to speak out, what did you feel inside yourself? See it helps to reflect, and to think what you experience. Whether it was good or bad, whether there was struggles or not, all of it is a learning opportunity, so when you were first asked to do something your first feelings were what, I can't do this?

[Female speaker 1] Mm.

[Pastor Mike] Okay, alright then. Now you can either reject that, or you can embrace that. If you embrace it, you will have trouble. If you reject it and say no, I refuse that, God is in me, God can work through me, then you'll be ready to start to minister. If you let the thought stand, it will hold you captive, see? So we reject that thought. Now when you come to actually speak out to her, what did you feel happen as you spoke?

[Female speaker 1] Don't remember

[Pastor Mike] You can't recall? That's okay, that's alright because most people - you're probably caught up with being in front of everyone and it's overwhelming. That's alright. It's okay, don't worry about that. I'd be overwhelmed if I was there too. [Laughter] Okay then, we ready? Just one more time now, we'll just quietly pray in tongues. Thank You Lord, [prays in tongues] Now what we're going to do is, just going to together, on the count of three - I'll go one, two, three - then we'll just speak and release the power of the God with the word power. [Prays in tongues] Now become conscious, God is with us, we're working as a team, hand in hand with the Holy Ghost, who's going to release His power - three, two, one - POWER! Now that's more like it. Now you've got it see? Okay, now that was great, that was great.

Now you see, between you doing it the first time, and that time, something changed inside you, and it's what changed in you that enabled you to release power into her, so what changed in you was your confidence shifted, from being overwhelmed by perhaps being self-conscious initially, and I can't do this. You moved progressively to where actually you arose - in the way you responded, I felt you stood up and went for it, and that's what got the result. [Laughs] Come on, good on you, let's give her a clap. That was fantastic. [Applause] So remember, everything we can learn from. Whether it works or doesn't work, we can still learn, and the key to learning, is evaluating what was going on in your thoughts, and in the feelings that you had, as you sought to minister. So I just asked the questions, just asked the questions to try and work out what's going on. If you have doubts, remember doubts and unbelief stop the flow of power. Bryan, come on over here, let me just pray for you. Can I practice on you?

[Bryan] Sure can.

[Pastor Mike] Wonderful, that's good. Close your eyes and look up the Lord. Now this is what I want to do [laughter] I want to just pray in tongues. Got someone there behind him, he's - okay. Okay [laughs] he's used to this, so he'll be [laughter], so I begin to just pray. Father, I just thank You for Your presence here right now. I become conscious of God. Thank You Lord, that You are wanting to impart to him right now, in Jesus' name, the POWER of God release into him now. [Laughter] I tried a bit hard. [Laughter] Okay then, now you remember it's about being God conscious, and releasing what God has given. Amen - so why don't we get into groups of three, and practice on one another. Remember, you get into a group of three; one has eyes open, and is the catcher, one has their eyes closed, looking up to God to touch them, one of them is the one who's ministering. The one who's ministering say, can I practice on you? Say yeah! Come on, give us your best shot! Come on, be open and then we work through it together. Are we ready? Come on, let's try it. Let's all try it.

We're releasing the power, with the word 'power', so get into groups of three. Come on up the front, there's room up here. There's room up here. Okay, room up here. Find someone that's got - are we ready? Who's catching Lyn? I want to know who's catching Lyn? Steve, I'm relying on you to do a good job. No dropping her. Okay, are we all ready? Now to do this exercise, what I'd like you to do is this. You'll all be lined up in a row of three. One is the catcher, make sure the catcher knows they're catching. Who is catching? Okay, tap the person you're going to catch on their shoulder, so they know you're there, okay, alright then - and keep your eyes open. Alright then, person receiving, who are the people receiving, put hands up? Oh glory to God! Okay, who's the person praying? Awesome. Now ask the person receiving can I practice on you? [Can I practice on you?] Yes, great. Okay then, tell them now look up to the Lord, He's going to minister to you.

Now let's do it together, okay? Put one hand on the top of their shoulder, now begin to pray in tongues. [All pray in tongues] Thank You Lord, Your presence is inside me. Thank You Lord. Thank You Lord. Okay, now on the count of three we will release the power of God, by speaking the word 'power' - three, two, one - [POWER!] Oh, look at that, wow, whoa! Goodness me. We'll do it again, we'll practice together. Thank You Lord. Holy Ghost, come upon her and touch her. We thank You Lord for Your anointing here now - three, two, one - POWER of God! You just held back. [Oh, okay.] You held back inside. You need to give yourself. [Oh okay.] Yeah, okay, awesome. Change over. [Laughs] Okay, alright, are we ready? Okay then, the person who's catching, wave your hands, let's find out who's catching - great. Tap the person so they know you're catching them, okay. Alright then, person receiving, wave your hands. Okay, good on you. Alright then, and the person who's praying? Okay, good stuff. Okay, ask them can I practice on you? [Can I practice on you?] Yes, do your best.

Okay then, the person receiving prayer, lift your hands up, turn your eyes towards the Lord just to receive from Him. It's not important who's ministering to you, it is important your heart is open to the Lord to receive from Him. Now the person doing the praying, remember what Jesus said: if you will say to the mountain, be removed, and not doubt in your heart that what you say will come about, you will have what you say. You are going to say 'power'. You are going to speak a word of power into this person's life, so I want you just to pray quietly in tongues. [All pray in tongues] Let your mind settle that God is inside you, the mighty God that created heaven and earth lives inside you. [Prays in tongues] On the count of three - three, two, one - [POWER!] Whoa! That was a good idea, a chair, well done! Good thinking. [Laughter] Well done. Need to do that more - do it at home with the bed. [Laughter] Whoa - over you go! [Laughter]

Okay, change around. Change over. [Laughter] Okay, whoa, glory to God! [Laughter] Yes, indeed. [Laughs] Alright, now remember, when you're doing this, you're extending your faith to believe that God will flow through you, like a mighty river. Are we ready? So person catching, put your hands up and wave, tap the person on the shoulder so they know you're catching, okay. Person receiving prayer, lift your hands up and wave - good on you. Look up and close your eyes - whoa, you be careful with Leon - His sister will be on to you. [Laughter] Okay, are we ready? So those who are ministering, put your hand lightly on them or touch them somewhere, begin to pray in tongues, and you are believing that as I speak the word, this power of God will flow through me. They will be touched. They will be touched, because the power of God will flow. I have confidence God will work through me. Thank You Lord. [All pray in tongues] Three, two, one - [POWER!] [Laughter]

Awesome, well done! Woops - how are you doing? [Laughs] Careful with these fellas. [Laughter] Okay, wonderful.

[Female speaker 1] I was just going to say that it's - what I thought was, it's not really hard believing that Christ is in me, and realising that the words are what releases it. You know what I mean?

[Pastor Mike] Yes, it's Jesus' words, yes.

[Female speaker 1] So forget about you...

[Pastor Mike] Yes.

[Female speaker 1] ...and just realise that the power...

[Pastor Mike] Is of God.

[Female speaker 1] ...is of God.

[Pastor Mike] Okay, great, you've got it. You've got it. Alright then, we'll stop for a moment. Okay, remember we have this treasure, Christ in an earthen vessel, that the excellency of the power may be of Him, and not of us, so you've got to remember, it's not about you trying to make something happen. The moment you think I've got to make something happen, you now are trying in your own strength. There's no flow of anointing. You have to realise, I'm just a channel of the Holy Spirit; it's the glory, it's the goodness of God flowing through me, and He comes through me, one, when I believe; two, when I speak. It's Him, and His power. It's not you, and your words. That's just an expression externally for it to happen, but He won't work except He works through you, so your part is crucial. I hope you would see, even from our examples before, how even just the thinking in your mind going off just a little bit can shut the power down.

The moment you think I'm not good enough, it's over, there's no power going to flow, because see that thought, if you hold it and agree with it, means I'm not connected to God. It's all about me. Do you see what I mean when I said that the devil will try to get you disconnected, so you're out of positioning? That's why taking scriptures, meditate on my positioning with God, is crucial for moving in the spirit. I've got to know where I stand, and the moment it comes up as a problem is when you try to pray for someone, because you think it's about you, you centre on you, and your spirit closes down, and the anointing stops. Alright then, we're going to try it one more time. I want you just to listen again. We're going to do it a little bit differently this time, and I want you this time, instead of saying the word 'power' - I was just getting you used to speaking strongly. This time I want you to realise, it isn't actually about your words. Your words are one way of expressing.

It's actually releasing by faith, so this time we'll try it, and this time I want you to do it, and do it quite simply, just by breathing, blowing [exhales gently once] releasing the spirit of God, releasing the anointing. [Laughter] Of course if you've been eating pickled onions or garlic then don't do this at all. [Laughter] They will wither and fall, but not because of the Holy Ghost. [Laughter] Okay, so ask: can I practice on you - get in threes again. Hands up who's catching. Okay, hands up who's receiving - okay, close your eyes, look up. Hands up who's ministering. Okay, now this is what I want you to do, just listen carefully now. Listen carefully. I want you just to put your hand on them now, just one hand on their hand, or on their shoulder. I want you just to quietly pray in tongues, and I want you just to meditate, to picture in your mind, that Almighty God Himself is inside you. The word spirit is the word breath, so it's not about me just blowing or breathing out. It's actually about me letting go my heart to this person. It's releasing all that God is in me, I'm letting God flow through me.

You are joined to the spirit of the Lord, one spirit, so if you let your heart flow to them, the spirit of God will flow with you - so pray in tongues now quietly, become just mentally aware God is inside me, amazing, great, Almighty God is inside me, and I'm just going to release what He has given me into this person - three, two, one - [Exhales gently once] release. Look at that, see? Oops! Adden, last man falling. Catchers aren't supposed to fall. [Laughter] Adden's greedy for the Holy Ghost, he wants everything everyone can give him. [Laughter] Aah, too much! [Laughter] Awesome. Okay, how many got something happen? There was a flow of power? That's wonderful, that's some, not as many as this time, okay. Alright then, now just stop and listen again. It was easier, when I said speak a strong word, for you to believe something would happen, than just breathing, because you're depending on what you do, rather than depending on the Holy Spirit.

In a moment I'll show you how to do it, and you're not even going to say anything or do anything much. We're going to believe that God will come on them as we pray, okay? Alright, so this time we're going to try it again - oh that's great, that's really a help, so it'll make you look good when you blow. [Laughter] Okay, are we ready? Can I practice on you? Begin to pray in tongues. Pray in tongues. Pray in tongues. [Prays in tongues] Now begin to meditate that God is in me. Focus on the source, not on what you've got called to do. Thank You Holy Ghost, thank You Lord You are in me, dwelling inside me. I just see Your presence, Your power filling me right now, and Lord, I thank You. We love this person, we're going to release You to them. Now ready? Three, two, one - [Exhales gently once]. Wow, there we go, look at that. Awesome. You caught him that time, that's good. I was getting a bit worried, he's falling over all the time, don't want him to break anything. [Laughter] Praise the Lord, he's quite touched. Feeling warm? Yeah, that's very good.

Okay, how are we getting on? [Laughter] Now remember, it's all just practicing, so it doesn't matter if it doesn't come off 100 percent every time, we're just all practicing. We're just practicing. Are we ready - woops! Someone practiced very hard, they fell over. Who was that? Was that Gary? That was Sargin behind the camera. [Laughter] He was giving a bit of a help. Okay, are we ready this time? Can I practice on you? Thank you, do your best. Okay then, put your hand on them lightly, begin to pray in tongues. [All pray in tongues Begin to meditate God is inside me, thank You Lord. Holy Ghost come, spirit of the Lord come - three, two, one - [Exhales once quickly] Very good, very good. Very good. Okay - hey! And of course some people are like the Rock of Gibraltar. Tom, it's okay, he's never fallen over for me either. [Laughter] We could try together some time.

Alright then, okay, don't give up. Alright, are we ready? We'll do one more. Like to come over? Just come over, yeah, come over. Okay, this time just watch this way. Bryan, I need you to catch your wife. [Laughter] You can come and catch him. Alright then, okay, now I want you to listen. Now we are called Ministers of the Spirit, okay? Ministers of the Spirit, and so we are called to minister what God has, and bring what God has to people, so I will just begin to meditate that - you know the Bible says the kingdom of heaven is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost? Okay then, I'm just going to meditate on how joyful God is, and I'm just going to release - through the word 'joy' I'm going to release the joy of the Lord, see?

Ready? Okay, so I just begin to meditate, and when you meditate, don't be all serious, you know? I'm meditating in the joy! Let the joy rise up, thank You Lord, You are so full of joy. Thank You Lord for Your wonderful joy - three, two, [laughs] one - JOY! [Laughter] It's a great thing to be able to laugh and enjoy God. Jill, just come and stand over here. Yeah, just if you can, just come and just stand - just be where people can see. Need someone - Bryan, need someone strong who can help her. Oh, Bryan's not stable, that's right. Just take a step. [Laughs] Just get you up there, that's right, just because - the camera can see you, otherwise it can't see you see? [I don't care.] Just focus on the top of the head. [Laughter]

So I just begin to meditate again, just in the joy of the Lord. Thank You Lord, I just see His abundant joy. I just allow it to affect me, and JOY! [Laughter] We are ministering God to people. You're bringing who God is to people. It's not about trying to do some big thing; it's actually about being a gateway for God to flow, and how that happens, see? [Laughter] Alright then, so you got that? Want to do another one? [Yeah!] One more, okay. [Laughter] Jill's sort of had it. She's out to it now. [Laughter] Kath, come on over here. There we are - get to the stage you need all the joy you can, isn't that right? [Laughter] Okay, just relax and look up to the Lord. Again I just begin to meditate the joy that God has. He is full of joy. [Laughs] I begin to see it, and let it just come and affect me, and if I'm yielding to that joy I can [laughs] release it - three, two, one - JOY! [Laughter]

Ministers of the spirit, ministers of God. There's many ways and aspects we can minister, so why don't we try that. That'd be great fun. Some of you look like you could do with a laugh. [Laughter] So let's just try. Now the person who's receiving, now what you're receiving is, you're going to receive an impartation of joy. Now joy is not to be contained deep inside me, so deep it can't be seen. When you're receiving joy, just laugh, just let go, yield to it. [Laughter] Oops, put her on a chair. Okay, find some people to connect with. Start with a reasonably happy person, it'll be a little easier. [Laughter] We may need you to give them a help Sargin. [Laughter] Okay, can I practice on you? Hands up those who are catching - good, tap them on the shoulder. Okay, ready? Those who are receiving? Great, okay. Those who are ministering the joy?

Now if you're ministering joy, allow yourself to feel a bit of it before you give it away. [Laughter] There you are, just pray quietly in tongues and begin to fix your mind that Jesus is there, full of joy. He's the most joyful person. The Bible says He's anointed Him with the oil of joy above everyone, so He's a very [laughs] happy person. Three, two, one - [JOY!] [Lots of laughter] Hey, good one. Okay, come on then, change over and try it with someone else. There you go. Okay, who's catching? Okay, great, touch them on the shoulder. Who's receiving? That's it, good on you. Okay, get ready for a good laugh. Who's praying? [Laughter] Okay, put your hand on them, begin to pray in tongues. Now just begin to give yourself to the joy. Thank You Lord, You are so full of joy. [Laughs] Thank You Lord for your joy, filling my soul, filling my spirit - three, two, one - [JOY!] [Lots of laughter] Joy! Holy Ghost come! [Laughter] Joy of the Lord touch her right now. [Laughter] Joy in the Holy Ghost! [Lots of laughter] More! More! [Laughter] Holy Ghost come on her! [Laughter] Thank You Lord. Fill her Lord, fill her right now. Thank You Lord. Come Holy Spirit, thank You Lord. That's right, just let go like you're relaxing, letting everything go just to receive.

[Laughter] Holy Spirit, come on her right now. [Laughter] Ooh, what's happening over here? Did he not catch him right? Did you not catch him? [Still working on Peter.] Oh Peter, okay, good, good, good. Okay, great, great. Alrighty then, that's good. [Laughter] Holy Ghost come on her right now and fill her! Touch her Lord, fill her, fill her. [Laughter] Fill, fill, fill, fill, fill, get her drunk Lord, drunk in the Holy Ghost! Totally drunk and full of the spirit, thank You Lord. Alright then. Now while you're in groups of three just combine with another group of three. Just get with another group of three, so you've got now groups of six, five or six. Five or six - or two. [Laughs] Okay, you're in a group of five, somewhere round about that, okay then. Now this is what I want you to do.

I want you to enquire in the group, is there anyone with a physical sickness in their body, they're in pain in their body, and if there is, one by one, bring them into the centre and pray for them. So I want you to pray for them to be healed. Now to pray for them to be healed, what we're going to do is we'll pray in tongues, then we'll speak and command the infirmity to go, speak directly to the infirmity, exert your authority, command it to go, and release healing: in Jesus' name I command this infirmity to go! [Laughter] The spirit of insanity has finally left. [Laughter] Okay, so just check out if anyone in the group has a physical sickness, and if they have - put your hand up if you've got a physical sickness in your body. Right, look at that, there's heaps of people around, okay, that's good. Alright then, so put one in the centre, gather around them and pray for them. After you've been prayed for, check and move your body, see if anything's happened.

[Female speaker] Should we check her heart out?

[Pastor Mike] I don't know. Listen, if it goes boompity-boompity-boomp you know. [Laughter] Just pray now, just go for it, pray now.

Don't pray long prayers. Command the infirmity to go, release the power of God. Then move around, pray for the next person. Find out what the problem is, lay hands, pray in tongues, command the infirmity to go, release the power of God. When you've finished praying, move on to the next one.

Alright then, thank You Lord. Thank You for Your healing presence, healing power coming right now. Dot, you look like you've been wasted. [Laughter] [Exhales once quickly] More, more. [Laughs] Thank You Lord.

Okay, let's just draw into a close now. How many people experienced the healing, something happened in your body, you were healed? Over here - who else? How many experienced the healing of your body - God bless, over there, there - two, three. Anyone else? You've just got to move and check. Sometimes it takes a little time to check whether it's free, but check straight away on how you are. Okay, I think we should just finish up now, we're on a great note and let's just - half past four, it's quite late enough I think, but why don't we just thank the Lord for what He's done, and for the things we've learned today.

Father in heaven, we just give You the honour and the glory. We thank You Lord we've learnt so much. Lord, help us to take in what we've learned and to apply it into our life, and to begin to arise. Father, we pray for an arising, and a whole new level of authority and power, and an ability to see things in the spirit world shift and displaced around us. Lord, we give You all the honour and all the glory, in Jesus' name. Everyone said [Amen.] Praise the Lord.

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Table of Contents

Introduction

Training Manual

Transcripts

Supplementary Content

YouTube

Vimeo

Audio

Paperback

Training Manual: Exercising Your Spiritual Authority

1. The Apostolic Mandate

1.1 Understanding the Apostolic Mandate

1.2 The First Apostolic Mandate

1.3 Jesus’ Apostolic Commission

1.4 You Are Designed for Dominion

1.5 You Have been Commissioned

1.6 You Are Anointed by The Holy Spirit

2. Identifying Your Spiritual Territory

2.1 Every Believer can Move Supernaturally

2.2 Every Believer Has a Spiritual Territory

2.4 Your Key Responsibilities

2.5 The Consequence for Failure to Govern

2.6 Governing Your Spiritual Territory

3. How You Exercise Spiritual Authority

3.1 The Example of Jesus

3.2 What Jesus Accomplished on Our Behalf

3.3 You Have Been Given Spiritual Authority

3.4 Insights on the Believer’s Authority

3.5 What You have Authority to Do

3.6 Keys to Exercising Spiritual Authority

4. Exercising Authority in Your Personal Life

4.1 The First Place to Gain Dominion – Yourself

4.2 Wicked Spirits Seek to Make You Ineffective

4.3 Common Personal Area Spirits Attack

4.4 Close the Spiritual Gates of Your Past

4.5 Common Legal Rights (Gates) That Evil Spirits Exploit

4.6 Keys to Closing the Gates

4.7 How to Recognize Spiritual Attacks

4.8 How to Deal with Spiritual Attacks

4.9 Self-Deliverance

5. Your Authority to Minister to People

5.1 You are Authorized to do the Works of Jesus

5.2 You Are Anointed to Minister

5.3 You Have Authority To:

5.4 Practical Considerations

6. Strengthening Your Spirit Man

6.1 Divine Design

6.2 Some Functions of Your Spirit

6.3 Your Spirit can be Strengthened

6.4 Keys to Strengthening Your Spirit

A. Keys to Ministering in the Spirit

1. Identity

2. Connection

3. Attitude

4. Verbal Command

5. Impartation

B. Practical Ministry Guidelines

1. Personal

2. Connect and Relate

3. Prepare People to Receive

4. Possible Experiences as You Minister

5. Be Aware of ‘Blocks’ to Ministry

6. Stay sensitive to the Holy Spirit

7. Get Feedback

C. House Cleansing

1. The Clean House

2. Common Indications That a House Needs Cleansing

3. Key Areas to Deal With In House Cleansing

4. Objects That Cause Defilement

5. Practical Steps in House Cleansing

The Apostolic Mandate (1 of 6)

Mon 11 Feb 2013 « Back to Top

Identifying Your Spiritual Territory (2 of 6)

Tue 12 Feb 2013 « Back to Top

How to Exercise Spiritual Authority (3 of 6)

Wed 13 Feb 2013 « Back to Top

Exercising Authority in your Personal Life (4 of 6)

Thu 14 Feb 2013 « Back to Top

Strengthening Your Spiritual Life (5 of 6)

Fri 15 Feb 2013 « Back to Top

House-Cleansing - Ministering to one another (6 of 6)

Sat 16 Feb 2013 « Back to Top