Demonic Oppression, Addiction, and Freedom Purity 928

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo of a green ghostly entity floating through the night sky is not the disembodied soul of a long-lost loved one, a demonic spirit, or an intergalactic cruise ship. No, today's photo, uh, photos are of the Northern Lights, and it comes to us from my sister-in-law who is on a post-Christmas vacation with my brother in Iceland. Well, it is the last, the last Friday of 2022, and very soon, just like those Northern Lights this year, uh, those Northern Lights this year will slowly fade away as tomorrow evening the countdown will begin and 2022 2 will come to an end. Well, I talked about some, uh, I talked about how some are mourning the bad fortunes of the year that is ending and looking to the new year with fear. I talked about that yesterday. I guess I, since coming to Christ, I would be considered an optimist, what some would call a glass-half-full person. But I would have to disagree because I know who I am in Christ and have experienced and continue to walk in my freedom in Christ. If we use the glass analogy, I would insist that you would— you call me a glass-full guy. Uh, for what we, uh, for, for what we would see as a glass filled to the halfway point with some liquid, I would insist that because God is omnipresent ever— everywhere at once, the empty portion of that glass is actually full with the unseen presence of the Lord. So because there is a God who lives, there is never a real or conceptual glass that is half full or half empty of liquid, good things, blessings, or hope. God fills the empty spaces. God gives us good things, blessings, and hope, uh, that not only fills the glass but who whose presence and love spill over to fill the entire universe. Uh, God is all around us. If you put your faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit indwells you. And the word of God encourages us to be filled with the Spirit continually. And this indicates that God's presence is also yet another paradox of our faith. He is omnipresent, everywhere at once. All the time. But if you've ever experienced the manifest presence of the Lord or the refilling of the Holy Spirit in your life, you can understand experientially how God can be more present at particular times depending on the circumstances and according to his purposes. Anyone who has said, "And God showed up," as part of their testimony knows what I'm talking about. Uh, don't talk, uh, you know, don't take the word of me and other ultra-Christian Hollyanna Optimist for it. Scripture tells us repeatedly all about how the Lord makes his presence immediate and powerfully experienced. In the Old Testament, the patriarchs and the prophets demonstrated the presence of the Lord by speaking for him with a "Thus saith the Lord," and to prove they were legit, the Lord backed up his words with miraculous signs and wonders and magnificent victories over impossible odds to show everyone that God was with them. He was present in a major way. In the New Testament, God came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ. God wanted to demonstrate that he was with us in such an extreme way that people could physically reach out and touch him, and sometimes with miraculous results. When Christ ascended to heaven, he sent the Holy Spirit to be God in us. And the book of Acts documents how the Holy Spirit was poured out not only on the faithful Jews who believed that Jesus was the Messiah, but also upon the Gentiles, demonstrating that God would be, be with and dwell within everyone who put their faith in Jesus. God is not just in a church building in the Bible or somewhere out there. He is everywhere, and his presence, love, and power can be experienced by us when we call on him and when we follow him. Sometimes when we have a bad year or things go wrong, people ask, where is God in all this? To them, I would marvel and say, right here, right now. Don't you see him? Things aren't worse because of him. The good things— heck, all the things we experienced before this latest calamity— were because of him. This is his created universe, and he shapes its history. And although this world is broken by sin and death, he has a plan for that. His word tells us that if we put our faith in Jesus Christ, we will have power over sin and and we will never die. In Christ, we receive a new life of freedom that never ends. So if you ask me where God is in all of this, I have to ask you, where are you? The joy of the Lord is our strength. But if you are not with him, if you are not in Christ, you won't know his joy, his love, his peace, or his strength. If you are focused on this world and in this present moment only, you don't know the future hope that trumps everything. God is with us, but are you with God? Do you seek the truth in his word? Did you put your faith in Jesus? Are you walking and talking with him? I hate to sound trite, but when we understand the Lord's kingdom, there are no tragedies. The dead go where they have chosen to go, and our sufferings on this planet are temporary. This is true for all of us, but for those in Christ, there is hope as our futures are guaranteed, and we will one day experience the reality that God was working— was working all things together for our good because we love him for loving us, and we have been called for his purposes. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 encourages us: Therefore we do not lose heart, Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. So start walking by faith. Believe what the word of God tells us and start living according to the reality of what you already have received by the power of the Holy Spirit who lives in you. Uh, but as someone who struggles with just about everything in life, you may be like I was. I was afflicted with doubts, disbelief, low self-esteem, the sins of the world, or just about or just plain old selfishness. But just as I have found my freedom, you can find yours by abandoning the course of your life that has led you to question where God is, and to instead seek him and commit yourself to finding him and receiving all those good things that the word of God promises you. If you have believed on the Lord Jesus, you are already there. If you put your faith in Jesus, you just need to follow him by and by agreeing with his word and living according to it. If you haven't put your faith in Christ, you can do that right now with an act of faith. Say a prayer and ask for the Lord to forgive you and to make Jesus your Lord and Savior. For the both of you, now you have to renew your mind and resist the devil. Oh yeah, this might not just be a matter of memorizing some Bible verses and deciding to be a good boy or girl now. The difficulties that we have in believing, obeying, repenting can be the result of a combination of things, including the world, bad examples, corrupted environment, worldly influence and influences and philosophies. Uh, the world taught us some bad ways to think, believe, and live, and we need to reject those lies and commit ourselves to believe and live by the word of God's truth. Uh, the flesh is another thing. Our individual biological makes— makeups may give us certain advantages or disadvantages, talents or predispositions that have either made us weak towards the sins of the flesh or strong in the sin of pride. Both are bondages that teach us to live independent of God but can be retrained. With the power God gives us, our weaknesses can be overcome and our strengths can be used for good. And then there's the spiritual forces of darkness—demons—who accuse, condemn, tempt, and deceive us, whose sole mission is to lead us away from the Lord and who uses the world and the flesh to lead us astray. By Christ's authority, we can cast out demons. I was reading Carl Payne's book Christians, Demonization and Deliverance yesterday, and his work provided me with food for thought, weapons for spiritual warfare, and the following insight. Payne suggests a deviation from the common possession-oppression paradigm. This paradigm suggests that only non-Christians could be possessed, completely controlled by demons, and that Christians could be oppressed, tempted, accused, deceived by the spiritual forces of darkness. The remedy for both of these situations is faith in Christ and putting on the whole armor of God, and using the Word of God as an offensive weapon, like Jesus did in the wilderness, rebuking the devil when he shows up with some timely Bible verses, and either fleeing from sin or standing firm to deny the lies and temptations that the enemy brings. Christians the world over have used these tactics of spiritual warfare with great success. However, Payne's book documents the fact that some Christians, some Christians' battles with the enemy are unrelenting. Thus his suggestion for a third category of demonic involvement called demonization, where people who have put their faith in Christ, Christians, have unwittingly given a foothold to the enemy and have unknowingly given the spiritual forces of darkness a place in their lives where they are free to remain and to wage a war of unrelenting torment. Demonization would be characterized by Christians who never maintain freedom from besetting sins, or who never mature in their faith because of demonic interference and continuous interior dialogues of condemnation. Payne asked us to wonder, why is it that some Christians can have victory over addictions and other sins of the flesh while others can't? Why is it that some Christians have a rich relationship with the Lord while others continuously remain unsure of their place in his kingdom? Why is it that some Christians can pray with confidence and others don't think their prayers go anywhere? Why is it that some Christians love to read the Bible and others find no joy in it at all? And why is it— why? So that— those are the questions. Um, While it is certainly is possible— while it is certainly possible that these differences can be explained by individual biological or volitional differences, Payne suggests that we should also consider the demonic as a contributing cause in these struggles. But there is good news to this dilemma as well. As stated above, Christ has given us the power to overcome the spiritual forces of darkness. So even in this troubling worst-case scenario, we can have hope. Ask me how I know. In the 38 years prior to coming to Christ, I was inundated with the sins of the flesh, a rebel spirit, addictions, anxiety, low self-esteem, suicidal thoughts, hopelessness, and depression. While I was saved in 2010, I still struggled mightily, uh, in this with the sins of the flesh, doubts, and those negative mind states. Despite having a strong commitment to learn all I could about my faith and was actively attending and serving in my local church, as I continued to seek the Lord and his will for my life, I made some progress. But it wasn't until I trusted the Lord with my addictions by going to a Christian recovery group did the real work of repentance and spiritual warfare begin. I don't remember where in my journey that I read Dr. Neil Anderson's The Bondage Breaker. It was probably after I had a year of sobriety, but I refer to those days as the white-knuckling days, where I had to constantly be on guard against temptation and feared an eventual relapse. But in Anderson's book, I discovered the Steps to Freedom in Christ, which is a series of prayers, proclamations, and renunciations that guides you through a repentance process where you commit yourself to Christ and where you renounce the spiritual forces of darkness and resolve any conflicts of unconfessed sins, pride, rebellion, ancestral baggage, and the bitterness of unforgiveness. While I can't say I ever thought I was demonized before going through the Steps to Freedom in Christ, I admit that I was at least oppressed by the enemy afterwards, because the condemning, blasphemous, tempting dialogue of mental chatter that seemed to be a part of me was gone. Anderson states that many of the Christians that he leads through the Steps to Freedom in Christ are amazed at the peace and the silence they experience afterwards. And that was me. To this day, I can stop what I am doing and just listen to the silence of no thoughts, no condemnation, and no noise. And I know that I'm still free. The Lord has not only led me out of the darkness of the flesh, but he has put a stop to the mental torment that I was— what that I always thought was just, just me beating myself up. Since then, I have become trained to lead others through the steps to freedom in Christ. I have seen the enemy face to face in others and have seen people get set free when they came to know who they are in Christ. And when they use the authority that Christ gave them to walk out of the darkness. So if you had a bad year or a bad life, if you just can't believe like others do, or if you are filled with fear or depression, let me encourage you that the glass is full when you make Christ your Lord and Savior, and when you choose to follow him into the abundant life of freedom and victory that he has for you. It's going to be a new year, so why not make it one where, where you overcome the struggles? With God, you are never alone, but we also need others to help us along the way. So while I would first recommend becoming a part of a Bible-believing church where you can worship and serve, I would also encourage your encourage you to seek your freedom by pursuing the wisdom and methods that have helped me at Freedom in Christ Ministries. You can go to ficm.org to see that. There you can find a free book, Restored, that you can download that can tell you about the steps to freedom in Christ, or you can even join an online course that will guide you through the process with a trained encourager. The biggest lie that the enemy ever told us is that some things are just impossible and that some things will never change. But with God, you can find your freedom and discover all the impossible things you can accomplish with your new life in Christ. Well, I'm short on time, uh, this morning because I think I wrote too much and I had to find a new resource to share. So I'm taking a vacation from sharing a Bible verse of the day, but I do encourage you to read the Bible every day for yourself. Um, I am, as I did yesterday, I'm including a link to Ligonier Ministries Bible reading plans for 2023 as an encouragement to read the word this year, to have a plan if you need one to draw close to God through his word, to experience the power that he wants you to unleash in your life. As always, I do invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we begin sharing from A.W. Pink's The Sovereignty of God. And as always, we share this information for educational purposes, encourage all, all to purchase A.W. Pink's books for your own private study and to support his work. Although he's no longer with us, um, the— this resource is available on many websites for less than $20. I saw a Kindle version of it for 75 cents. So if you want The Sovereignty of God, you can certainly purchase it for yourself. We'd encourage you to do that. But if you want to read a little bit at a time, I'm sharing it, uh, the beginning of the introduction of it today on mt4christ.org. And that's just to encourage you and help you in your walk. If you want to read something from a Christian theologian from the early 20th century, it's there for your taking. Why do I share these things? Because I find it helpful. The Sovereignty of God is a great book to tell you about, you know, the fact that God is in control. It's a great comfort, and A.W. Pink's book was awesome, you know. It was a part of my journey, and so I'm sharing it. So don't tell anybody, but there it is. Anyway, I also— obviously, at the end of today's blog post, you'll also find encouragements to join our Victory Over the Darkness class, the Bondage Breaker class, or the Freedom in Christ class that we've recorded previously at our Community Freedom Ministry at our local church back in 2021. We provide the audio to those teachings both on our podcast M.t. Clark 247 and our YouTube channel of the same name. So if you want to, you know, start the year off by doing one of these courses, you know, or reading one of those books We encourage you because within those books are great teachings about who you are in Christ and how you establish and maintain— establish your freedom in Christ, maintaining it's a life of discipleship. So it's not a one and done, you know, we're in this thing forever, so let's keep going. Thus the call to continually follow the Lord and remain faithful. We also encourage Bible study, and we have Bible studies with us and Arthur and Susanna Cinquatti that we do once a week. And we'll be doing our first on the first of the year in just a couple, a couple— well, 48 hours from now, um, we'll be in the midst of Bible study. So, um, not sure what Arthur's going to bring to the table, but I look forward to it, as I do with all the things of God. You know, this life is very compelling. There's many wonderful things in this world that we can enjoy, but if we're not, we're not pursuing the Lord and the things that, you know, tell us about Him, you know, I think we're missing something. And, you know, we are missing the biggest thing, the meaning and purpose of our lives. So we encourage a life of Christian discipleship. And so let's keep walking and talking with God as we let— walk through this last Friday. I am on vacation, so I'm not sure what the day holds, but, uh, it's not work. So, you know, there's something to be thankful for on this Friday. Thank God. And, uh, so let's pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, we just thank you for all that you do, um, and that even in the worst of times It could have been worse, but your mercy and grace prevented it from being worse, and we'll take it, and we'll keep going, and we'll keep believing. And Lord, we just thank you for that, and we thank you for all the amazing things you've done and will do, uh, in our lives as we seek to do your will here on the earth. Lord, we pray for anyone who might be listening or reading this message Lord, that they be blessed, um, that, that you would come alongside their prayer request and come alongside them in their walk. Um, Lord, as always, we pray for you to go before us today, open our eyes to the things you want us to see, and lead us into the things you would have us do. Uh, Lord, we thank you, we praise you, and we love you. And we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.