Hope, Healing & Freedom Podcast : Ep 06
TRANSCRIPT
“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.
2 Corinthians 10:3
Bert and Cathy came to us for RTF Thorough Format ministry. They were in their early 30’s at the time and had been married for 11 years. To say it mildly, their marriage was a mess. In fact when they came for ministry they told us that they had divorce papers on the kitchen table at home and if RTF didn’t work, they would sign the papers and call it quits. Their marriage was a mess because they had each brought so much dysfunction and hurt into the marriage from their childhood. The only thing they really did well together as a couple was fight.
During their week of RTF ministry the Holy Spirit did an amazing healing in both of their lives. They were individually set free from the terrible things they inherited from their families. They received amazing new Godly Beliefs to replace some very ugly lies. They both had intimate encounters with Jesus Who brought healing to some very broken places in their hearts. Then the week ended with a celebration of their marriage covenant as if for the first time. It was a life changing week of ministry.
Six months later they got a divorce. Why? Because they did not walk out what God did during that time of ministry. There are two battles we must fight. The first battle is to get free. That is what the ministry of RTF is all about. RTF applies the victory that Jesus purchased for us on the Cross to our lives. We appropriate what He did for us by His death, burial, and resurrection to the generational sins and curses, we apply the power of the Cross to break the lies we believe, by allowing Jesus to heal our broken hearts, then we use the authority Jesus gave us to get rid of the enemies oppression. That is the first battle. The battle to get free.
The second battle is the battle to stay free. The first battle is appropriating what Jesus has already done for us. For the second battle, staying free, the ball is in our court so to speak. Bert and Cathy did not fight this battle. They went home and did not walk-out their newfound freedom. In the process they lost their healing by reopening the doors to the enemy. They put the welcome mat out to the enemy.
Today’s verse is 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, which says:
“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but 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.”
2 Corinthians 10:3-5
In this passage Paul describes that we are in a spiritual battle which is fought much differently than a physical war. We don’t use man made weapons to fight this battle. Instead we use divinely powerful spiritual weapons.
How do we reopen the doors to the enemy? This verse says that we are to “bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” One of the easiest ways to open a door to the enemy is through our thoughts and words. Our self-talk is very important. It is also one of the places the enemy can attack us very easily. Why is it so easy for him to attack us in our thought life? I don’t really have a good answer as to why, I just know that according to this verse it is true. Why would God tell us to take every thought captive if all of our thoughts were already under control?
The enemy somehow has the ability to trigger or place thoughts in our minds that are not our own thoughts. Most of us have had something like this happen. You are minding your own business, not thinking about anything in particular, when all of a sudden a thought comes into your mind that causes you to experience fear or doubt or anxiety, or something even worse.. Was that your own thought, or could it be a thought placed there by the enemy to cause a negative reaction?
When we entertain a lie we open the door for the enemy to bring his oppression into our life. When you believe a lie, you empower the liar. One lie that Bert entertained was that he would be happier with someone other than Cathy. We broke that lie during the ministry time, but Bert did not take his thoughts captive, and he allowed the lie to return. With the lie came the empowering of the liar and it gave the enemy access back into Bert’s life.
A major area of the enemies attack on our thoughts is in the area of our self-talk. What is self-talk? It is the chatter going on in your mind on an almost constant basis. And for most people, much of our self-talk is negative. Why is it that most of our self-talk is negative? Because much of our self-talk is about the “what if’s” of life. This self-talk is so normal that God addresses it in 2 Corinthians 10 by saying we are “casting down arguments.” Another translation says we are “destroying speculations.” Those are the what if’s of life. What if my friend thinks my outfit is ugly? What if the economy gets worse? What if I get cancer? What if my spouse dies? Have you noticed that your self-talk is hardly ever positive? We usually don’t think, What if I get a raise at work? What if my child marries a wonderful person and gives me fantastic grandchildren? What if nothing ever goes wrong? No usually the what if’s are negative. Could it be that we have someone who is helping us with those negative thoughts?
Often much of this hidden self-talk are negative things we think about ourselves. These are things you may never say out loud to anyone, but they are used to tear you down. Things like, “I could never do something great.” “I am not talented enough to …….” “I am not as smart as …….” “God can’t use me mightily, I am just a …….” “I am not special.” Those thoughts are a form of warfare aimed at keeping you from fulfilling your God given purpose and destiny.
I believe that if Bert would have taken that thought about his wife captive when it first returned into his mind, and gone back to what God had told him during our ministry time, he and Cathy would still be married today. One seemingly small compromise in our thought life can open the floodgates for even greater deception. Why do you think so many spiritual leaders fall into sexual temptation? I don’t think they started with the thoughts of having a full on affair. It more than likely started with a small compromise of thought which when unchecked, opened the door for greater and greater temptation.
Another part of this verse talks about “casting down …. every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God”. Another area of spiritual warfare is about your concept of God and everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. It used to be that things that exalted themselves against the knowledge of God were “out there” somewhere in the dark corners of society. These ungodly ideas and concepts were not mainstream. Today, God is being challenged on mainstreet. These concepts and ideas now come into your home every day through the various forms of media. The worst challenges against the things of God come through your television. Long gone are the days of My Three Sons, and Leave it to Beaver. I realize that I’m dating myself and some of you listening have no idea what I just said. Many mainstream television shows today are based on the occult and these shows bring the occult into your home on a nightly basis. Many video games are based on the supernatural realm of the occult. The power of the occult has become mainstream.
Another source of challenging our concept of God comes from our churches. There are vast differences on what churches believe about a broad array of biblical topics. Tongues, miracles, healing, the rapture, and even baptism to name just a few. There are even some that do not believe the teachings of RTF, if you can believe that! You can quickly see that our concept of God is also an avenue of spiritual warfare. We have an enemy that has successfully divided the church according to our knowledge of God.
So it is no wonder that our knowledge of God will also be a place the enemy attacks us individually. If he can deceive you into believing that God is not who He says He is, then it is much easier to deceive you about what God says. For example, it is very common for people who have experienced deep hurt in their life to believe that God has let them down before, He might do it again, therefore He can’t be trusted. Their interpretation of the hurtful event in their life has exalted itself against the knowledge of God. Instead of determining their concept of God based on the inerrant Word of God, they are interpreting the Word of God based on their experience.
I have hearing loss that causes me to wear hearing aids. Over the years I have received prayer for healing of my hearing loss on 40 or 50 occasions. My hearing is no better. So the enemy comes to me and says things like, “God does not love you because He heals other people but not you”. Or, “God does not heal today. It is no use praying for the sick.” Both of these are direct lies raised up against the knowledge of God. My hearing loss or the fact that I am yet to be healed cannot be used to prove anything about God.
Let me venture into some deep water while I am here. One of the main sources of these things that are raised up against the knowledge of God comes when we try to figure God out. I have heard it said that God made man in His own image and man has been trying to return the favor ever since. Mankind has been gifted by God with the desire and the ability to figure out how things work. Through science and medicine and technology to name a few, mankind has made great strides in understanding the wonderful world that God has created.
We make a mistake however when we try to figure God out. He is far greater than our ability to comprehend or understand. His ways are far greater and different than our ways. Humans have finite thinking ability. In other words, our thinking capacity has a limit. And with our finite thinking capacity we have a need to figure things out and put them in a box of our understanding. God is infinite. His ability and power have no limits. God can not be put in a box of our understanding and every time we try to put Him in a box, we make a serious mistake. He can be experienced and loved by His children, but He can never be figured out or completely understood.
Many of our judgements against God come because of this vast difference in the way we think. We want God to explain to us why something happened so we can understand it from our finite perspective. We want to know why terrible things happen in this life. God, why did my child die? Why did I get sexually abused? We hope that by God explaining Himself to us, we will have understanding, and it will take the pain away. What happens instead is that we are allowing the enemy to use our desire for understanding to raise something up against the knowledge of God. It is part of this form of warfare that has been very effective to move mankind away from experiencing God as a good Father. God is to be known intimately, not intellectually.
When we allow God to heal our hurts and wounds, and we break the agreements with the lies we believe about God, it clears the way for us to experience the love of God. Ephesians 3:19 says “and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge”. The word here for know is the same word used of the sexual union. It is more than just an intellectual understanding. God wants us to have more than just the intellectual knowledge, or dare I say the theological understanding of Him. He wants us to have an experiential knowledge of His love for us.
