Healing and Cleansing Through Prayer: Finding Inner Peace with God

Understanding the three-part nature of man: body, soul, and spirit.

The importance of sanctification and cleansing through prayer.

Recognizing the role of the conscience in fellowship with God.

The process of healing and transformation through faith in Jesus Christ.

Music God's greatest desire for we as his people is to cleanse us and make us pure vessels who will minister back to himself in a reverent and obedient fear as priests in his kingdom. And this cleansing process is also known scripturally as sanctification. And this is God's way of producing in us the fruit of his spirit, his mind, and his will for our lives. Apostles Paul spoke of this in 1 Thessalonians 5.23. In 1 Thessalonians 5.23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. And may your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the day and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. In order to understand yourself, you must know first what God's word says. And this beautiful word is showing us that man is basically made up of three areas. And that is body, soul, and spirit. We call it the three-part nature of man. And the body is that part of you which deals with the physical realm. The body is the part of man that covers his or her soul and spirit. And we can liken it to as the heavens which are spread out over the earth like a tent in which we live. I'm reminded in the scripture in Isaiah 40, verse 21, which speaks this so well in verse 21. Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. Certainly, as God has spread out the heavens over the earth, It is the same type analogy whereby our bodies are a covering for our souls and our spirits. And this realm or part of your nature is dominated by the five senses, which are hearing, taste, smell, touch, and sight. And the body is the vehicle by which we communicate to the world around us. Your soul is that part of your nature which deals with the mental and emotional realm. Your soul is the dwelling place where your feelings and affections reside. And it is the seat of your personality, your intellect, your will, and your emotions. It is with your mind that you understand and you are able to reason. But it is with your spirit, called the spirit of man, which deals with the spiritual realm. And it is this part of man in which the spirit of God dwells. The spirit is where the redeemed person, that is a believer of Jesus Christ, has fellowship with God. This is also called or known as the seat of the conscience. And the conscience is the door of your spirit. And it is here that you know right from wrong. It is here, precious ones, that we will feel guilt. Sin makes the conscience dull and not sensitive to the spirit of God. It is like searing or burning it with a hot iron. It's something to ponder on, isn't it? When we think of sin that way as a burning or searing with a hot iron. Apostle Paul in the book of 1 Timothy 4.1 gives us a look at this kind of spiritual desensitizing when he writes in his epistle to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4.1 Now the Spirit expressively says that in latter times some will depart from the faith giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their own consciences seared with a hot iron. Can I tell you, precious church, this has been happening since the time Apostle Paul uttered these words in his letter to Timothy. Every generation since Paul's warning in this epistle has been experiencing this devastating tragedy. And Paul gives warning still in Colossians 3.1 about the issue of sin and the necessity of putting our new self and the instruction which we are required to follow. Colossians 3.1. Put on the new self. Therefore, if you've been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Verse 2, set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on the earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you will be revealed with him in glory. Verse 5, therefore consider the members or senses of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. idolatry. Verse 6, for it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience. And in them, you also once walked when you were living in them. Verse 8, but now you also put them all aside. Anger, wrath, malice, slander, abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices. Verse 10, and have put on the new self who is being renewed. Hear that? Who is being renewed. That means it's ongoing, precious ones. Who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the one who created him. Verse 11, a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek or Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, slave, and freed man. But Christ is all and in all. Verse 12, so as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Verse 13, bearing with one another and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone, just as the Lord forgave you, and also so should you. Verse 14, beyond all these things, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body, and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you. Hallelujah. Well, the conscience is the door by which we open our spirits to the spirit of God. And this is the knower by which you sense or perceive things or circumstances right or wrong. This fellowship area of your spirit is where you are meant to have beautiful and intimate fellowship with your God. It is impossible to fellowship with God without honesty or openness. And this is why God, through his instruction given us in the book of life, gives us his demands and ways in which he requires of us to come to him. in a submissive and humble, a respectful and reverential and obedient fear of who he is. It is in your spirit that you could even think of God and keep him set before you in thought. It is in your spirit that you have true fear of God and that you would love and respect him. It is in your spirit that you worship God and love his son, Jesus Christ. Before this love relationship and fellowship with God can ever take place, you must recognize first God exists and that he loves you. Today, there are many, many people who need healing in their souls and spirit in order to truly know God intimately. We all have come to Christ from a life of sin and we were filled with brokenness. Emotional scars and hurts and rejection. And we were bound and imprisoned to many habitual habits and thought patterns. And we were full of anxieties and worries and depression. Many people were badly crushed, wounded and numbed and mentally confused. They had no feeling. They were insensitive, asleep as though they were drugged. You see, when we came to Christ, he accepted us just the way we were. He didn't say to you or to me, come to me when you're perfect or holy. And when we come to Christ, all of our sin of rejecting him was forgiven. Even through all of our resistance and opposition of godliness, It was God's own spirit who was drawing us with his everlasting kindness and love. And he's virtually pried the devil's claws off of us in order to bring us into and under his umbrella of love, protection and nourishment. washing us with the water of his word and cleansing us with the blood of Jesus, making us new creatures in himself. This is God's way. This is the way of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, God the Father and the Holy Spirit given to each of us who has chosen God's own son. Holy Spirit lives in us, precious ones. 2 Corinthians 5.17 In 2 Corinthians 5.17, Paul declares, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. And the old is gone, and the new has come. Hallelujah! The new has come. Praise God, let that sink in. The new has come. You are being renewed, dear ones. Being renewed in our Lord Jesus Christ. You don't look today at what you see, what you feel, or what you hear. You do not walk by that method or way. But you walk by faith in what the Lord Jesus Christ is doing in your hearts. Jesus Christ, our Savior, made this new life possible for each one of us. We were born again, and we received a new life and a new heart, and are birthed into his kingdom of love. We are impregnated with the seed of life, the life of God, and will grow up and mature into full stature if we abide in Christ. This is why it's so necessary for every new babe in Christ to be planted in a fellowship where they will be nurtured in the word of God for their spiritual sustenance. There are many areas of our lives that have been destroyed by sin. And these areas are in need of healing, deliverance, restoration, and the transformation by the Spirit of God. Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 12, 2, to be transformed. Paul declares that to us. Be transformed. Well, he also tells us in Romans 12, 2, where this transformation will take place. In Romans 12, 2, do not be conformed to this world, this age, fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs. But be transformed, listen to this, changed by the entire renewal of your mind, by its new ideals and its new attitude. so that you may prove for yourself what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect in his sight for you. Hallelujah! Well, since it's in the mind where all things are conjured up and conceived, it will be here where the word of God will renew our minds. Yes, indeed, even after the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ dying on the cross for us, there is a process of sanctification in our body, soul, and spirit. Sanctification is the cleanup process in our body, soul, and spirit. Sanctification is a state of consecration to God. To sanctify is to set apart for holy use, to consecrate, to service to God. Let me just say it in this way. Sanctification is a separation from evil. God's word declares, you who love the Lord hate evil. This is not a choice for Christians, but it's a demand from God. We learn through the word of God that our Christian life of consecration involves two major areas. And that's God's part and our part. Our part is to respond by faith and obedience to do what God says according to his word. And God part in our cleansing process is to actually change us by the operation of his son blood his word and his Holy Spirit Dear one sanctification is rooted in humility Let me say it again. Sanctification is rooted in humility. And your success in your lifetime walk with the Lord in this process depends on you. You and I have a vital part in God's plan for inner healing and deliverance in our lives. And part of this plan is that you co-labor and cooperate with the Holy Spirit through the process of healing and deliverance. Yeah. It's God's way for us. God's process for us. We co-labor and cooperate with this Holy Spirit given us through this way. In 2 Corinthians 10.3. In 2 Corinthians 10.3. For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. Verse 4. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. And we take captivity every thought to make it obedient to Christ. You see, it is our thought life again where we must begin. Yes, we can see that we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. And we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. This is why this wonderful work of sanctification within our minds, our body, soul, and spirit is so necessary. because everything in us, when we first came to Christ, opposes God. And so this is God's work in us to demolish arguments and every pretension that fights against him in our minds and wars against the knowledge of God. God's word is true. Knowledge of God is the revelation of who God is. And it's in our minds, our thought life, where this wonderful work begins. and this transformation must take place. Our thought life was under the control and the influence of the devil. We thought we were wise in our own eyes until we learned the truth in God's holy word. In 1 Peter 1.13, in 1 Peter 1.13, listen to what Peter says. Therefore, prepare your minds for action. Isn't that interesting? Prepare your minds for action. Ah, be self-controlled. Okay, so prepare our minds to be self-controlled. And set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. Verse 14, as obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do. For it is written, be holy because I am holy. Hallelujah. You see, we have a part in this process. And Peter is telling us prepare our minds for action. And be obedient when we hear the truth of God to conform to what the word is speaking to us. because it will sanctify us, make us holy. Amen? This is God's preparation, God's process. Be holy because I'm holy. God is going to have a kingdom of priests who worship him in spirit and truth. In these scriptures you can see that you must, I must, be vitally involved in this process of cooperation with the Lord, dropping down to 1 Peter 1.22. Just drop down a few scriptures there. Now that you have been purified, you've been sanctified, you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply from the heart, not from the mind or the head in the old way, but from the heart. And if these scriptures have not spoken loud enough here of our personal involvement, and this is my point in these few scriptures, is to show our personal involvement, this process of cooperating with the Lord. Look at Philippians 2.12. Philippians 2.12. Continue to work out your salvation. Oh, continue to work out your salvation. Oh, it's so individual, so personal that you must do it yourself. Ah, well, how do we do this? With fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. So it's God at work in you as you are continuing to work out this wonderful, sanctifying work that God desires to do in you and me and all of his children. This renewing of our minds takes place in two ways. And the first is the washing of the water of the word. through having our minds bathed and saturated in the word of God daily. And the second is by the inner healing, the restoration of the soul and the deliverance from anything to which the believer is held captive. And God has provided ministry for this type of renewing by his spirit. And it's found written in the book of Isaiah. And it is from these scriptures that Jesus quoted when he began his own ministry. Isaiah 61, 1. The spirit of the sovereign Lord is on me because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. And he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners. to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn and to provide for those who grieve in Zion, to bestow upon them a crown of beauty instead of ashes and the oil of gladness instead of mourning and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. Well, not only did Jesus quote these words in his own ministry, But he left us with the promise that we as his disciples, if we believed in and had faith in him, we would do the same thing in our own ministries. In John 14, 11, John 14, 11. Believe me when I say that I'm in the father and the father is in me, or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth. Anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. And he will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. Verse 14, you may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it. It is in these ministries listed here that we have read, quoted in Isaiah 61, that the Spirit of God comes upon us to accomplish healing and deliverance, not only in our own lives, but the lives of others as we ourselves are set free. And it is for this reason that he has anointed us for his service. In 1 John 2.26, please. 1 John 2, 26. I write this to you with reference to those who would deceive you to seduce and lead you astray. Verse 27. But as for you, the anointing, the sacred appointment, the unction which you receive from him abides permanently in you. So then you have no need that anyone should instruct you. But just as his anointing teaches you concerning everything, it is true and is no falsehood so that you must abide in, live in, and never depart from him, being rooted in him, knitted to him, just as his anointing has taught you to do. It is in this passage of scriptures in Isaiah 61 that we find the basis for the ministry of inner healing and deliverance. My point before was to establish that this is the same reason that the Lord anoints us for service as a priest in his kingdom. To lead others in the same way that as God has healed, filled us with his word, and released us to teach and preach his word, to bring healing through his word and through the anointing of his spirit. We look carefully at these scriptures in Isaiah 61. As I said, we find that it is the basis of ministry for inner healing and deliverance for the body of Christ. We look carefully. We'll see that there's, say, two main areas that I wish to really point out and elaborate today. They are the ministry of the memories, binding up the brokenhearted, as we read in Isaiah 61. And Jesus quoted in Luke, came to bind up the brokenhearted, setting at liberty those who are bruised. That's inner healing of memories, those things which happened in our lives that cause great and terrible memories for all of us. We've all had those things happen to us. And the second is deliverance. Proclaiming deliverance, Jesus spoke to the captives. And opening the prison to those who are bound. Deliverance in the soul of the trespassers who have claimed the land. Yes, Jesus came to set the captives free. And Jesus provided all provision for this inner healing of broken hearts in the atonement. And yes, indeed, precious church. He bore our griefs. He carried our sorrows. And yes, Jesus died for the sins of the world. And now we as his disciples are to pick up our cross and follow him and appropriate by faith that which he did for us. Hallelujah. Each individual believer must appropriate that forgiveness and every other blessing provided by faith, or they cannot be saved. Yes, it is. It is by faith or they cannot be saved. The Lord has provided a ministry through which we may receive this inner healing and deliverance. And appropriate means, according to Webster's Dictionary, to take exclusive possession of, to take without permission, to usurp, to seize, and make something one's own. or converting to one's own use. We cannot bury our heads in the sand and say, well, now it's up to Jesus to take these tormenting spirits from me or these thoughts of lust that prevail in my mind or this lying spirit that I have dealt with all of my life and so on and so forth. Precious one Jesus has done it all And now it is up to you and me To appropriate what he has done for us Simply put or simply said Make it your own Take it by force Because as a child of God Freedom from the harassing spirits And the tormentors are to be your victory Many Christians do not realize that they can be oppressed by demons And because of their ignorance they leave themselves at the mercy of the devil And since Satan has no mercy, dear church During the normal course of life People are continually perplexed by seemingly unexplained problems With calamities and failures and losses and so on God wants us to come into maturity regarding the enemy and to enforce his son's victory over the kingdom of darkness in our lives. He wants us to know the truth because the truth will make us free. Hallelujah. You see, the trouble with the majority of believers is that their minds have never been renewed. Our minds will never be renewed until we begin to practice the truth in God's way, and that is to love one another. Yes, it begins there. People must practice and live this love life that Jesus introduced into all the world when he came and died upon the cross. for all whosoever would choose him and actually live in him by faith. It is in this place and during these times that the power of God touches our lives and we experience the grace and mercy of Almighty God. This makes us God hungry. This was God's plan and way for our lives. Now you begin the process of knowing and experiencing the love of the Father for you as his creation. And knowing that his love for all of his creation went to the very limit of the cross. You and I are experiencing the attributes of the Father's love because he lives in us. And the realization of what Jesus did for you on the cross brings you to your knees and your heart cries out. Jesus, my Savior, my Master, you died for me. Oh, what love, oh God, what love. Jesus, I live for you alone and not for myself anymore. I give up all my plans and agendas, and I willingly take up all your plans for my life, my Lord and Master. You see, you learn because of his great love for you that he brought you out of prison and put a new heart in you. You been learning what God the Father has to say who you are I am a new creature in Christ I am the righteousness of God in Christ I am in the beloved, Ephesians 1.6. I am seated together with the beloved at the right hand of the Father, Ephesians 2.6. It is the Spirit of God within me that gives me life. John 6, 63. I am a child of God. I am his workmanship. Ephesians 2, 10. I have the mind of Christ. This is the renewal, the work of God's Holy Spirit within you. You begin to believe what the truth in God's word declares to you and not what you once believed in the prison of your mind. For some dear Christians, the open door for oppression is so big that the thief can come in easily doing his killing and his stealing and his destroying. Genesis 4-7. Genesis 4-7 says, if you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door. It desires to have you, but you must master it. Huh? That's God's words, precious one. This is God's word to us. You must master it. You see, we've been given a helper, and that's what we're speaking about today. To stop Satan, the legal ground must be reclaimed. And then the trespassing of the enemy can be stopped. And this is by degrees in our spiritual rebirth. And it is here where we learn patience and the importance of obedience on our part to do this God's way. And it is a responsibility, I just want to say, of church leadership to teach God's children, according to the word, the importance of putting on the armor. God desires that we increase and possess our land. And God desires his church to walk in victory and respond with wisdom and passion, moving together in the same direction as his spirit leads us. He is desirous for his church to be perfected. And he is desirous for the church of Jesus Christ to arise and shine and teach the saints of God to stand in the time of trial. And as we grow in our Christian maturity, in our awareness of Satan, his schemes and his army, in our ability to wage a good warfare of faith, we are truly increasing and taking possession of the land. Hallelujah! You see, the land is ourselves, our hearts, and as holy vessels dedicated and sanctified unto the Lord. This is God's way for us. 1 Thessalonians 4.3 1 Thessalonians 4.3 It is God's will that you should be sanctified, that you should avoid sexual immorality, that each one of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable. I'd mentioned before that it is not uncommon to experience one victory over sin. You continue to feel one victory and another victory and another victory over sin, or just to say it's called deliverance. over the course of several years, and then to learn to live in that freedom. And you go on for a deeper work, going on and growing in maturity, taking and regaining more and more the renewal in the ground or the land of your heart. Today, we're going to look into scriptures to discover keys that will unlock and open the door for those who have been imprisoned due to ignorance. It is ignorance of the word of God that can keep a child of God bound in the dark and prisoner to saint and the devil. And knowledge of the word of God coupled with the supernatural revelation of the spirit of God will bring discernment of those forces of darkness which bind people and make their lives miserable. You see, God in the past would wink at our ignorance. He surfaces the truth of his word as we hear the truth. And we see in his word in the ways that God, let's just say, used the Israelites in the Old Testament as examples for us today. This is God's way of showing us in the natural, spiritually, how we do overcome in our lives today. And one example was to model in this God using the Israelites in the Old Testament, was to model how God brings deliverance to his people as he first gave them the promised land and then enabled them to fight and conquer it. In Exodus 23, 20, God lays out his plan, and we can see it here in these scriptures, and we can read in these scriptures with understanding of the references towards the demonic deliverance, that it's evident that God's heart and plan is to deliver his people and to bless them. So we're going to see that here in Exodus 23, verse 20. Behold, I am going to send an angel before you to guard you along the way and to bring you into the place which I've prepared. Verse 21. Be on your guard before him and obey his voice. Do not be rebellious towards him, for he will not pardon your transgression since my name is in him. Verse 22, but if you truly obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. Verse 23, for my angel will go before you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I will completely destroy them. You shall not worship their gods nor serve them, nor do according to their deeds. But you shall utterly overthrow them and break their sacred pillars in pieces. But you shall serve the Lord your God, and he will bless your bread and your water. And I will remove sickness from your midst. There shall be no one miscarrying or barren in your land. And I will fulfill the numbers of your days. I will send my terror ahead of you. and throw into confusion all the people among whom you come, and I will make all of your enemies turn their backs to you, and I will send hornets ahead of you, so that they will drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites before you. Verse 29, I will not drive them out before you in a single year, that the land may not become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. I will drive them out before you little by little. You become fruitful and take possession of the land. And I will fix your boundary from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines and from the wilderness up to the river Euphrates. For I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand and you will drive them out before you. You shall make no covenant with them or their gods. They will not live in your land because they will make you sin against me. For if you serve their gods, it will certainly be a snare to you. Now also, please, let's read again verses 29 through 30. I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate, and the wild beasts too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land. This plan is repeated in Deuteronomy 7.1. In Deuteronomy 7.1, with additional insights here that are well worth our reading. Additional scriptures. Deuteronomy 7.1. When the Lord your God brings you into the land, you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations, the Hittites, Gargashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Parasites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you. Verse 2, And when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you, and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy. Do not intermarry with them and do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons. They will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods. And the Lord's anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you. Verse 5. This is what you are to do with them. Break down their altars. Smash their sacred stones. Cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols in the fire. Verse 6. For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. One of the major things we see here is that God desires that we increase and possess the land. And there are several major truths revealed in these last scriptures here. One, God doesn't drive out the inhabitants of the land in one year or one counseling session. He does it over a period of time using the method until you be increased and inherit the land. This sounds like we will learn patience along this path, doesn't it? And as we grow in our Christian maturity and in our awareness of Satan and his schemes and his army, in our ability to wage a good warfare of faith, we are actually increasing and taking possession of the land. The land, as I said, is you. Holy vessels dedicated and sanctified to the Lord. As you gain back the ground and experience the victories, and also as you grow in the course of learning and applying biblical truths and principles to your life. After you experience these victories of deliverance from these sins, then it is up to you to begin to learn to live in these new freedoms. Each one of these victories enable you to grow in your Christian walk. And this is also called putting on Christ. Eventually, all the strongholds over your life are completely broken. And it becomes just a matter of resisting the periodic temptations to reopen a door to mainly fear and other strongholds that once plagued you. You see, this is a beautiful co-laboring process with our Lord Jesus Christ. And God delivers the inhabitants of the land into our hand and we drive them out. We learn to say, no, no, Satan, it is written, I shall serve the Lord my God. And to say no to sin and yes to his righteousness. As you fulfill God's requirements, his biblical precepts, concerning any legal rights that the inhabitants of the land think that they have, then their status changes from inhabitants to trespassers. In Israel's case, the inhabitants' iniquity became full. And God said, that is enough. You've lost your rights to the land. In our case, we have to use God's provision. That is Jesus Christ's death on the cross and his precious blood, which was spilled out for us. Our repentance and forgiveness and producing fruit in keeping with that initial repentance. to break any and all agreement with the demonic realm. You actually renounce them. God can deliver them into your hand and your part is to drive them out. This is the casting out process that Jesus did in his ministry. And now he tells us that we too must do as he has done in 1 John 3.8. 1 John 3.8 to break the devil's stronghold, the devil's work over our lives and over others. In 1 John 3, 8, he who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. And no one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him, and he cannot go on sinning because he has been born of God. Verse 10, this is how we know who are the children of God and who are the children of the devil. Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother. Jesus provided everything we need regarding this victory. And not only that, he left us the promise that as his disciples, if we believed him and had faith in him, he would do these things in our ministries as well. He requires that we do what is right and stop sinning. We just read that in 1 John 3.8. And he requires that we obey his word, not just a part of it, but all of it. And he requires that we love him with all of our hearts and all of our souls and all of our minds. Just as he brought the Israelites as needy people to whom he had pity on into the promised land with his almighty power, he will bring you through as well. God the Father delights in helping his people, but he does not delight in their self-sufficiency, dear church. God warned the people in taking the land of Canaan in Deuteronomy 8, 17. And he said, you may say to yourself, my power and the strength of my hands has produced this wealth for me. Verse 18, but remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your fathers as it is today. You and I as believers must learn to depend entirely upon God the Father and to trust in him not by power not by might but by my spirit says the Lord As we read or have read in the previous scriptures in the book of Exodus 23 and Deuteronomy 7, we saw that the promised land of Canaan was not a type of heaven, but a type of meeting our spiritual enemies and driving them out in order to live a victorious Christian life in Christ. It is a place where we consider ourselves to be dead to sin, but alive in God, in Christ. The ites spoken of in these chapters are the seven nations of Canaan, which Joshua was commissioned by God to go forth and cast out. This act of Joshua in his book is a likeness, a picture which shapes into a prophetic picture or type of our literally taking possession of our land through the help of precious Holy Spirit. But what do these ites represent really? In Deuteronomy 7.1. When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations, the Hittites, Gargashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Parasites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you. And when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. We are going to look to see what these ites really represent. And the first one, the Hittites, were a people according to Joshua 9.24 who tricked Joshua into a covenant. Joshua 9.24. They answered, Joshua, your servants were clearly told how the Lord your God has commanded his servant Moses to give you the whole land and to wipe out all of its inhabitants from before you. So we feared for our lives because of you. And that's why we did this. We are now in your hands. Do to us whatever seems good and right to you. Verse 26. So Joshua saved them from the Israelites and they did not kill them. Verse 27, that day he made the Gibeonites woodcutters and water carriers for the community and for the altar of the Lord at the place the Lord would choose. And that is what they are to this day. These Hittites signify the spirits of fear and discouragement. In Hebrew, this name Hittite means terror. And the scripture points out that these Hittites, which means tear, these kinds of spirits discourage the souls continually with false fear. They discourage our souls. And it's an ongoing kind of fear until we have this deliverance that they habitually will cause sudden and great fear or tear. And these spirits design or purpose is to keep the soul from a finishing work in Christ. And these Hittite spirits raise up what the Bible calls infidelity. This means, according to Webster's Dictionary, one who is not a Christian or who opposes Christianity. One who has no religious belief, an atheist. This spirit causes false reasoning through its earthly wisdom, disputing the faith and the power of God. And it will tell you that it is impossible to come to perfection, and you will never overcome sin and self and the temptations and the insults of the devil. this Hittite spirit will continue to try to discourage the soul keeping it from going on to perfection or maturity but please remember that the spirit of faith in the name of Jesus and the blood of Jesus does conquer and overcome these Hittites in your life when you obey his commands hallelujah Nehemiah writes The second one signify the bitter and fierce talking and judging spirit. And they all have no bounds in their judging, as they will leap from one thing to another without an ounce of compassion. And all their judging is from a root of bitterness. Their name, according to Hebrew dictionary, means warlike, lofty, and clatter. They descend from Ham's son, who was brilliant. But he had the greatest tendency to degeneracy because they were adverse to true religion. And these perverse spirits would rather cause the soul to practice revenge and eye for an eye. They're unforgiving and merciless. In their fierceness, they rage against the meek and the law of love and tenderheartedness and kind behavior. said clearly, this Amorite spirit of envy, jealousy, and rash judging is the reason Jesus came. And he came to make the way for our victorious living in him. The third nation are the Canaanites. And they mean, according to the Hebrew dictionary, trader or merchants. These people were famous as merchants in their artistic skill. Although they had many gods, the sun god was their god. These merchandising spirits would take up continual occupation in our minds, our will, our thoughts, our senses, imaginations, and yes, even our affections. And prop the soul into false concerns. and they will convince you and have you so preoccupied with false cares, maybe in the moment as you try to come close to the Lord, or they put deep wedges or valleys between your coming into deep fellowship with the lover of your soul who is Christ Jesus by disrupting the necessary silence and pure stillness you need to learn in order to truly know him. Their purpose is to keep you over-concerned with yourself and in all things that concern you. The fourth, the Perizzite nation, represent the careless, secure spirits that open the door to false freedoms. Their name means villagers. They didn't put walls up around their cities. They had unwalled towns. They entered marriage with their captors and seduced the Israelites into idolatry. These Perizzite spirits will try to seduce the soul into false freedoms before the crucifying work of the Holy Spirit is done in your life. And these spirits labor to take us off from our watchfulness and make us neglect the work of the cross that Jesus won for us. They come to oppress the life of Christ in us and desire to cause us to forsake our continual process and progress of circumcision of our hearts as we walk on this Christian path. Their purpose to get their toe in the door and to keep us from going on to perfection or maturity. King Solomon in the book of Judges captured and forced the Perizzites into forced labor. The fifth, the Hivites are talking spirits that move us to talk of vain and needless things. They were descendants of Ham. And the Hebrew dictionary says they were an impulsive, unsuspicious people who would always fall for gaining wealth rather than waging war to defend themselves. They would rather talk idly rather than fight. And many in this clan were murdered by Simeon and Levi after they assaulted their sister Diana. Joshua made them servants. And these spirits are designed to awaken vain thoughts and imaginations. and they press in to bring forth empty fantasies and romantic scenes which will go through your thought life and preoccupy your time. They love to cause many, many words and vain thinkings amongst intellectuals with long discourses and great speculations and unnecessary disputes. Many, many, many, many people are trapped by their snares. As a Christian, we are to exemplify a life of humility, innocence, simplicity. The Lord finds them more beautiful than all other gifts or knowledge. Innocence, simplicity, purity, humility. well the sixth nation called the Jebusites are the type of spirit signifying pride and self-elevation King David ran up against these people in the book of 2nd Samuel 5 they mocked him and said he would never get in their fortress they said even the blind and the lame can fight you off King David You are no match for us. Well, you see, the pride and disdain were the defeat of these people. And today, this fortress that King David took is called the city of David. God was with him. David's son Solomon put these bragging Jebusites to force labor by making them slaves. The name Jebusite signifies to trample upon and despise. They are designed to cause the soul to despise the meek and the way of the cross of Jesus Christ, elevating themselves above the heart of Jesus and the power of his love. These spirits desire to cause apostasy by puffing us up in spiritual pride, So pride making us think of ourselves as perfect. Pride is the opposite of humility. And humility is found in Christ alone. And we are told to become like the Lamb of God, casting out all pride and self-life. Well, the seven nation, Gurgashites, are according to Hebrew, meaning those who dwell in clay soil. These are earthy, dirty spirits that tempt and draw us into the earthly life and its vanities. These Gergashite spirits represent the animal nature of man, causing the soul excessive lusts and perversions, which is against God's law of purity and moderation in all things. And all of these ites that we have covered were conquered by Joshua in the Old Testament. Joshua represented the type of Jesus who was yet to come, and his name means Jehovah saves. The book of Joshua demonstrates God's faithfulness to his promise by leading Israel into the land of Canaan as he led them out of Egypt. Dear church, Jesus Christ has come And he's provided everything we need regarding the ites in our life Jesus has won the battle by taking the keys of death and Hades from Satan the devil And now he gives you and me the keys and he says Trust in me Cooperate with me Love me and together we will be victorious in kicking the ites out of your lives Hallelujah And through this process of time, you co-labor with the Lamb of God who loves you and says to you in the New Testament in the same words he spoke to Joshua on the day that he commissioned him in Ephesians 6.10. In Ephesians 6.10, finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes for our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers against authorities against the powers of this dark world and against spiritual forces in the heavenly realms therefore put on the full armor of God so that when the day of evil comes you may be able to stand your ground and after you've done everything to stand, stand firm then with the belt of truth buckled about your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place. Let us learn from the life of this young warrior, almost without blemish, who learned to obey the Lord with childlike faith, with devout and deep reverence and holy fear of his God. Take the words for yourself and apply them in your own life and trust God in what he says in Joshua 1.5. No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will never leave you nor forsake you. Verse 6. Be courageous and strong because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey the law of my servant Moses was given to you. And do not turn from it to the right or to the left so that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this book of the law depart from your mouth. Meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Verse 9. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified. Do not be discouraged. For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. Dear church, yours and my part is to trust God, to work in us, knowing he is the one who produces in us his character, the mind of Christ, and the fruit of his spirit. Praise be to the Lamb of God. Thank you.

Playlist coming soon.