Sexual Spirits – Temptation and Satanic Spiritual Attacks in the Dead of Night Purity 1368

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.com or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo of a rugged forest trail leading into the midst of an unknown adventures of a new day come to us from Fred Dimmick, who shared this scene from his recent morning hike to Blood Mountain, which is the highest of the, highest of the highest peak on this Georgia section of the Appalachian Trail, where Fred reported encountering a couple of good rain showers, having breakfast, meeting a couple of cool people, and watching the clouds opening up to reveal some awesome views. Well, it's Thursday, and I'm sharing Fred's pathway photo as a visual encouragement to get on or to stay on the path of Christian discipleship, but I do so with a warning: that when you make a decision to follow Christ, the world, the flesh, and the devil will come against you to test your determination and to make you doubt who you are in Christ. This morning I woke up late and had to skip my morning workout routine because in my strength-depleted, semi-conscious state, I made the decision to ignore my alarm, my alarm's call to get out of bed and to go and to go back to sleep. While I am not going to beat myself up over choosing to get extra rest in a moment of weakness, I have to tell you that the enemy used that one simple decision to attack me, to lead me into temptation, to leave me shaken and disturbed through the use of sexual spirits. I normally get up at the time when demonic spiritual activity is just about to kick into high gear, around 3 AM. My simple decision to go back to sleep was taken by the enemy as permission to come into my dreams and to attempt and afflict me with a pair of naked sexual spiritual seductresses as I quite suddenly found myself in a dream state ménage à trois that was a mix of the erotic, sinister, and bizarre. What do you do when you find yourself between two naked women inviting you to ravish them in a dream? Well, if you're caught off guard like I was, you might indicate your consent, which I did. And that is when the enemy tipped his hand, because by taking what could have been some normal sexual desires and, uh, he distorted them into evidence for the supernatural feat that, that, that was beyond the physically possible. In my checkered past, I've had my share of sexual exploits, but What happened in this dream wasn't physically possible. You don't normally sexually penetrate someone to have your member re-emerge from another orifice for the third party to consume. Yeah, this is my— why my YouTube videos are not made for kids. We deal with pretty disturbing matters of an adult nature with the recovery and spiritual warfare, and although my descriptions are never intended to give glory to darkness I think I owe it to those who listen to expose the way the enemy can lead us into temptation and cause us to doubt who we are in Christ. With desires and dreams like this, I must be truly twisted and thus not a real Christian, right? Wrong! We have to remember that temptation is not sin and dreams are not reality. We are not guilty of sin when we are tempted, or if we dream we sin. However, I must admit that I asked for God's forgiveness for my part in this sexual spiritual attack. I said yes and directed some of the action before I knew what was happening. And as much as I know the devil made me do it, I still took responsibility for my part this morning by asking the Lord to forgive me for my part. I renounced those sexual spirits as counterfeits, canceled the permission that they had gained in my life through my consent, and cast them out in the name of Jesus. And I committed myself to sexual purity and all of my sexual activity to be in the bounds of my marriage to Tammy Lynn. To paraphrase from a line from Reservoir— the movie Reservoir Dogs, if I sin in a dream, I'm gonna wake up and apologize. And cast out the enemy. So why did this happen to me, who has a relatively tight relationship with the Lord? That's exactly why. The enemy is not going to bother with afflicting people who are spiritually dead too much, although he does, because he already owns them. The unsaved are not safe because their choices to reject the Lord Jesus and to indulge in their selfish or sinful desires has made Satan the dark lord of their lives, usually quite without their express knowledge or consent. But when you choose to not follow Jesus into the kingdom of light, you are consigning yourself to the kingdom of darkness. I've been there and done that, and I ain't going back. And so I will report otherwise shocking and embarrassing things about my life to expose how the enemy will use any means necessary to tempt us and to destroy our confidence in our faith. If I wasn't well informed about the matters of spiritual warfare, I could easily believe that this bizarre sexual dream was a product of latent sexual desires or was evidence of a wicked heart. But that's not the case. I don't dwell on sexual thoughts normally. I don't put my eyes where they shouldn't look. I don't secretly desire a sexual union with multiple partners. That's not my heart. And when something contrary to who we want to be in God's kingdom comes up in our experience, we have to realize this isn't me and see that the spiritual forces of darkness are attacking us. If I didn't know better, this weird sexual dream could have caused me to entertain thoughts about seeking a ménage à trois or caused me to doubt my salvation. And that's just what the enemy wants us to do. When we entertain sinful thoughts or doubt our identity in Christ, the enemy is setting us up to fall into sin and to lure us out of the lifestyle of our Christian faith. While I believe that a true Christian cannot be lost, I also believe that a true Christian can be demonically afflicted and can be deceived into sin and into an ineffective lifestyle of guilt, shame, and condemnation. And I also believe that false converts of Christianity are exposed as bogus through their returning to their preceding sins and ultimately rejecting the faith that they once professed to have. I am, I am currently fasting to overcome some fleshly indulgences with food and, and am drawing closer to God to receive his strength. I also have been pressing in to further honor my marriage to Tammy Lynn through a marriage study we're doing at our local church, and I've been diving into a variety of Christian resources and the word of God over the last few days and have been truly blessed, encouraged, and empowered. Last night, I unexpectedly was called to co-lead the Celebrate Freedom support group at Starpoint Church and was delighted to boldly affirm our commitment to minister to one another and to commit ourselves to serving the Lord and helping others overcome their hurts, habits, and hangups. It's been an awesome week for affirming my faith and feeling the Lord's presence in my life. And so the enemy comes when you least expect it, the dead of night, to assail you with a quick temptation in your sleep when you are tired and physically depleted, to disturb you and to make you think that you are the same old sinful person you always were. But that's a lie, and the evidence of my faith life, my relationship with the Lord, and my commitment to follow and serve Him speak against it. We are new creations in Christ, and we should never doubt who we are in Christ, even if the enemy momentarily tempts us or even causes us to sin. We have been forgiven of all our sins and have a new life and a new heart in Christ. If we stumble, we get back up and we go to God in prayer to seek his forgiveness, to cast out the enemy, and to recommit ourselves to following Jesus in spirit and in truth. So don't let temptations or weird dreams make you doubt who you are in Christ. If you put your faith in Jesus, you are his, and you can know that to be— know that to be true as long as you keep on walking. And talking with God. As always, well, today, well, as always, today's Bible verses come to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on depression, and today's verses are from 2 Corinthians 4, chapter 4, verses 8 and 9, from the NIV. The word of God says, we are hard-pressed pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not, not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. Today's verses are the first of two passages of scripture that fall into the seventh point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on depression. And that seventh point is: we may experience some tough situations, but we can avoid deep depression. Today's verses speak of the harsh reality that may come to us as part of our Christian life. We may be hard pressed, crushed, perplexed, and persecuted by the world, the flesh, and the devil, but we are never abandoned by God. And even though we may be struck down occasionally, we need not despair because in Christ we are never destroyed. We said it yesterday and we will say it again: Hope in God. That's what we have and that's what we should do. No matter what negative circumstances you may be facing, from the normal struggles of trying to make it through this life to spiritual attacks from the pit of hell, the Lord protects and sustains us. As long as we continue to follow Him, we can avoid depression and despair and paradoxically find peace and joy even in the deepest trials of our lives. So hope in God and be encouraged that we are never destroyed when Christ— when Jesus is our Lord and Savior. As always, I invite all to go to mtforchrist.com, where I always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing from According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New New Testament by Stephen F. Alford. And in Alford's devotional, he prompts us to read a chapter of scripture from the New Testament. Today's chapter is Romans 11, and from Romans 11 he shares a portion of verse 36, which says, "For of him and through him and to him are all things." And Stephen Alford writes, "Of him"—he is the creator of all things— All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was not, that was made. John 1:3. Through him he is mediator of all things. He who did not spare his own Son, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Romans 8:32. There is only one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. To him. He is the object for which all things have been created and mediated. All things were created through him and for him, Colossians 1:16. It is for his glory alone that all things exist. And Alfred ends his sharing by praying, Lord, I owe my very existence to you, my sustenance to you, and therefore I will live for you. Amen, amen. Yeah, all things are of God, through God, and to God. You know, of him, through him, and to him. You know, so, um, you know, he's, he's called us out of the darkness. And, um, even the— even these weird things that happen to us, these temptations and, and, uh, you know, these testings can be used for God. Now, I could have been ashamed of this sexual dream and just kept it to myself and then worried about my own salvation and, you know, my own purity. But instead, I report on it. I expose it because I know it's not me. You know, I don't— you know, honestly, I've been walking in sexual purity since 2018. And have committed my sexual life just to my wife. You know, I was celibate before getting married, and since my second marriage has happened, I've had all my sexual activity within the bounds of that marriage between me and my wife. There's no masturbation, no porn, no, you know, daydreaming about sexual exploits with other people. It just doesn't go there anymore. You know, the Lord has strengthened me, and, you know, I've learned to direct my thoughts, to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ in that realm. And sexual temptation is not a part of it, because as soon as, you know, something comes up in my— you know, if you see something, you look away. If a thought comes in, you turn it away. And when you commit your body to be an instrument of righteousness for God's kingdom, he blesses that commitment, you know. Now, it does mean you have to go to the Lord in prayer, um, you know, daily, to thank him and to, you know, establish your identity every day, um, and your commitment to walk and follow the Lord every day. But when you make that commitment, the Lord will give you the strength to live it out. Um, that's how we overcome our addictions, um, you know, and that's how we, we live a life for Christ. We simply agree with the truth of what he's done in our lives through faith in him. You know, he's made us new creations. All we have to do is say, yep, I believe that, now I'm going to live it out. Um, and we resist the enemy. We submit to God and we resist the enemy, and he will flee from you. And so as soon as I was afflicted with temptation in this dream and I woke up, I realized, you know, wow, I not only overslept and missed the opportunity to physically exercise my body this morning, I had to get— you know, there's a problem there. You know, even in a dream state, if we consent to sinful behavior, we should confess it. You know, we're not guilty of the sin, but, you know, just to break any permissions or, you know, any ground that the enemy has in our life. We want to make sure we submit to God and resist the enemy, right? So I asked for God for forgiveness for my part in it, and then I cast out the enemy and committed myself to following the Lord again with my sexual life, even in my dream state. You know, so no, I'm not beating myself up about it, but I wanted to make myself right with God in whatever way I can. And that's when we have that intention, that's when we can walk in freedom and victory in Christ. So I apologize for sharing this disturbing situation, maybe TMI, you didn't want to know this, but that's what we do. You know, we're only as sick as our secrets, as they say in recovery, and so we expose the darkness to the light. When something happens to you. I mean, um, that's how— I mean, any scandal or secret sin starts with a decision not to expose the temptation to the light, you know. Oh, I had this idea or this thought, I better keep that to myself. And then the enemy comes in and says, yeah, let's, let's keep this secret just between us, and hey, let's look at it every once in a while. That's pretty crazy, right? That's pretty— hey, that's pretty alluring, right? You know, I wonder if we could actually do that, you know. Is it wrong? I mean, these are, you know, natural feelings. Maybe we can, uh, if no one finds out, maybe we can just indulge in it and, uh, you know, no one needs to get hurt, uh, everything will be fine. Or maybe if I just keep it to myself and, you know, dwell on these things and, you know, given to sexual temptation with just myself, maybe that's okay. No, that's the enemy's game, and that's what he wants to do. Just a little bit of compromise. We don't cast out the temptation and leave it immediately, that's when he comes in. And even though it was a full frontal, you know, attack, um, and I didn't mean to, um, give in, I gave my consent and directed some of the action, as I said, and that's all it takes. You know, an immediate temptation like that is not going to happen in the real world too often. But in a dream state, bam, suddenly you're there, right? One minute you're asleep, next minute you're in a dream state reality that, you know, weird things can happen. You can go flashing from one place to another, you know, one situation to another. And, you know, in that, it's very easy, easy to give into temptation. Luckily, we don't experience that, you know, shifting reality in real life, that things are pretty much continuous. And as long as we avoid the people and places and things that'll lead us into temptation, we're not going to suddenly be assaulted like that. But even the good thing about, you know, our faith is even if something bizarre like that would happen, like some pizza guy delivery thing, sexual thing happened, you know, or, you know, you know, those weird situations that are shown in pornographic movies, um, where suddenly, you know, suddenly there's a sexual invitation made and it's on. Um, even if that should happen to us and we should fall into temptation and sin, in Christ we're forgiven. So after the fact, after our fall You know, after our shame, we would go to the Lord, ask for forgiveness, and commit ourselves to, to, to walk with him again. We're never defeated or destroyed even if we give into sin. That's the thing. We don't lose our salvation. We just have to, you know, affirm it and walk in it. And we'll never be perfect, but we can say no to that gross sin, um, if we're prepared for it. And if we don't You know, there's a way out. We have an advocate in Christ. We're never to live in guilt and shame, but we're also never to release ourselves to a lifestyle of sin. And in this month of Pride— the Pride Month— that's what people have done. They've surrendered themselves to the flesh and their sinful desires. The Word of God clearly speaks that all sexual activity is supposed to be kept in the bounds of a marriage between a man and a woman, and, and anything solo, um, hetero or homosexual activity that's outside of that is sin. And so God's made us a way to, to have a sexual expression in our lives, or to choose celibacy. You know, those are the two choices that are within God's will, and if we want to call ourselves Christians, we have to choose those two one of those two options and live with it. And that's how we'll have harmony with God. It may not seem possible or might seem outdated with the world's sin, but that's the way of the Lord. And I've discovered that that's the way you walk. You choose celibacy or you choose sexual, sexual, sexual congress in the bounds of a marriage. Those are the two choices left to Christians. Anything outside of that is sin, and if you believe otherwise, um, that's— you're being, you're being, you're being deceived and you're denying the word of God. So I say that in love. Um, you know, the same verse that would convict people of sexual immorality, which is 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, is the same verse that convicted me of my drunkenness, and that led me to repentance. And that led me to— and that eventually led me to sexual purity. So I'm nothing special. I'm just someone who was convicted by the Word of God, agreed with the Lord, and had followed him into sobriety and sexual purity. And if I can do it, who's not the sharpest tool in the shed, I know that the Lord can empower anyone to do do it. It simply requires a commitment to following him, you know, faith in Jesus and, you know, efforts to follow him, you know, through prayer, ministry, repentance. And you might have to go to recovery, make yourself accountable. But when you surrender to the Lord, um, he'll lead you into freedom. So that's today's encouraging word. And, um, you know, that's the path of Christian discipleship. That's just how we overcome. And that's why I'm a Christian life coach to show, because I know it's not easy, and you might need someone to direct you and help you and guide you. And that's why I offer my services as a Christian life coach. That's why I do recovery ministry, and that's why I seek the Lord to stay in this thing, to live in my freedom and victory in Christ and help other people to experience it. So that's what the blog, the podcast, all of it's all about. It's my life surrendered to the Lord's will. And me living in the peace and joy that's found in walking in the Spirit. So there we go. Um, but with all that stuff, we still have a day job, so we have to, uh, go to that. And we're going to pray. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for your forgiveness. Thank you for the life that you've given us in Christ, the new heart that tells me that these aberrant, aberrant desires were not me. My heart's been made new by you, and the old ways have faded away. But the enemy will be there to tempt us and to guide us into temptation and sin if we don't, you know, reject that old man and, you know, agree with the fact that he's been crucified and killed and that we've risen to life with you through Christ's resurrection. Lord, so we pray for anyone who's listening listening today, that they would know this to be true about themselves as well, and that they would— that you would come alongside them and their prayer requests and their walk of faith to help them and empower them in their walk, Lord. And while you're at it, we're praying for you to help us today. We know we're not— we're not completely safe from the enemy's schemes, and we know we can be deceived and lead into sin, and we just pray for you to help us today. To not do that. And we pray for you to open our eyes to the things you want us to see and lead us in the way we should go, because all we want to do is represent you in your kingdom. And we're definitely going to need your help with that. We thank you, we praise you, we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.