By becoming bitter, by refusing to forgive those
that have wronged them and the enemy gets
a foothold in people's lives.
And you know, here's what happens.
Somebody offends us, somebody hurts us, somebody does
something to us that's wrong.
And the Holy Spirit reminds us that God
has forgiven us and he's been merciful to
us.
And the Holy Spirit then urges us to
treat them in the same way, that we're
to forgive, we're to let it go, we're
to leave it with the Lord.
But you know, the enemy comes in quickly
and he comes with a list of reasons
why we shouldn't do that.
And just like with these other things that
we're talking about, how they can become sometimes
sort of a plague upon our minds, the
enemy will come back with this stuff over
and over and over and over again.
You know, we talk today in our culture
about people who, they have OCD, obsessive compulsive
disorder.
And people talk about, you know, this condition
where there's an obsessive thought pattern, you just
think the same thing over and over and
over again.
You know, a lot of OCD is satanically
inspired.
Satan will come along and he will keep
pounding on that, he will keep putting that
thought in your mind.
He'll just drill it in there over and
over and over and over again.
And he'll wear you down and you'll start
to buy into it.
And you'll start to agree that, yes, that's
true, I have a reason for my bitterness.
I am justified in my hatred of that
person.
And through these kinds of things, the enemy
is destroying marriages, he's destroying families, he's wreaking
havoc in churches, and he's devastating people's lives.
And in some cases, it's directly against God.
Some people feel that, well, God has let
me down, he's disappointed me, he hasn't done
what I expected him to do, and now
I'm mad at God.
And I'm never going to church again, and
I hate Christians, and you know, this kind
of thing happens.
What are we talking about?
We're talking about a demonic stronghold that develops
in a person's life.
These are very real things, and many are
succumbing to these things today.
These are the devices of satan.
We've got to be aware that this is
what the enemy does, this is his work,
and we have got to resist it.
We've got to resist it.
You know, you might say, but you don't
know, I'm right.
They're wrong.
You might be right, but guess what?
You can be so right that you become
wrong.
And you know how you become wrong?
When you're so right that you take it
into your own hands and you don't let
God deal with it, that's when you become
wrong.
And there are people today who, their cause,
they started out right, it was legitimate, they
had a, you know, a genuine basis for
their perspective, their take, their feelings, or whatever,
but they came to a point of not
being able to let it go.
I often think of David's son Absalom.
David's son Absalom, if you read the story,
David's son Absalom, he had a lot of
reason.
In a lot of ways, he was right.
David had failed miserably.
He failed in his adulterous situation.
He failed when Absalom's sister Tamar was raped
by Amnon.
David did not properly deal with that situation.
He failed in so many ways.
And in a sense, Absalom was right, but
Absalom was so right that he became wrong
because he didn't let God deal with it.
He tried to take it into his own
hands, and it ended up destroying him.
And I see people today who are right,
but they're wrong.
They're wrong because they're not turning it over
to the Lord, and the enemy keeps getting
his claws deeper and deeper into their life
through these issues.
And so we don't want to let this
stuff happen to us.
We can't be ignorant of the enemy's schemes.
How do we deal with this?
Well, in the passage we read in Ephesians
6, what did we read there?
To take up the sword of the Spirit,
which is the Word of God.
We've got to combat all of these things
with the Word of God.
Whether it's condemnation, doubt, fear, the evil thoughts,
we need to come back with the Word.
That's why it's so important that we have
a strong foundation in God's Word.
That's why we teach it.
That's why we encourage you to study it,
to read it, to get to know it,
so when the enemy comes, you can hold
up that shield of faith.
But then Paul said, praying always.
And so we've got these weapons, the Word
of God in prayer.
In the 10th chapter of the 2nd epistle
to the Corinthians, Paul says that the weapons
of our warfare are not carnal.
They're not merely human, but they're mighty in
God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments,
and every high thing that exalts itself against
the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into
captivity to the obedience of Christ.
And he's telling us right there our weapons
are powerful, but they're spiritual weapons.
They're not carnal weapons.
We've got to bring the Word of God
to bear against all of these things, and
we've got to resist the devil, but we've
got to do so prayerfully.
We've got to pray.
Pray against these things.
And when these things bombard us, when these
temptations come our way, when these suggestions come
to be bitter, to hold on to that
hatred, we've got to say, no, I'm turning
it over to Jesus.
I'm trusting Him with the outcome.
I'm leaving it in His hands.
And so we prayerfully resist the enemy.
We stand on the Word of God.
And finally, remember this.
Here's the great news.
The God of peace will crush Satan under
our feet shortly.
That is great news right there.
Jesus already has dealt the death blow to
the enemy on the cross, and it's just
a matter of time before that becomes universally
apparent.
And so we follow the Lord.
And in this spiritual battle, we've got to
have spiritual strength.
We're no match for the enemy, but he's
no match for the Lord.
And that's why Paul said, finally, my brethren,
be strong in the Lord and in the
power of His might.
God will give us the strength.
We can't afford to be ignorant, lest the
enemy get an advantage over us.
But as we know his tactics, as we
know his strategy, as we know the way
he works, God will give us the grace
and the strength to have a victory over
those things.
Let's pray.
And Lord, how we thank you that we
have the victory through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
And Lord, that you have defeated the devil,
and you will publicly display that in the
future.
And so Lord, help us today as your
servants.
Help us, Lord, not to be ensnared.
Help us not to be caught in the
enemy's trap.
Help us, Lord, to be aware of his
wiles.
Help us, Lord, to take the sword of
the Spirit, the word of God, and help
us to pray always.
Strengthen us.
And Lord, I pray for any this morning
that are under any of these things that
we've mentioned, that you would just lift these
things from them.
Anyone that has allowed Satan to have a
foothold through unforgiveness or bitterness or anything like
that.
Lord, may they just be freed from that
today as they would turn it over to
you.
So work in our hearts, we pray, your
grace.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Let's stand together.
If you need some prayer this morning, maybe
a cord has been struck in your own
life with some of these things.
And you'd like to get some prayer, the
pastors are up front.
They would love to pray with you.
Come on up and give them the opportunity
to do that.
If you're here this morning, maybe for the
first time, and you've never heard any of
this before, you don't know Christ personally, come
on up to the front here and let
the pastors talk with you.
They can tell you more about the Lord
and how you can have a relationship with
him.
May God bless you and fill you with
his strength this week.
May we go forth in victory as we
serve our great, great God and Savior, Jesus
Christ.
And let's just close this morning.