ADeeperWalk

Ok these verses seem to have all the principles gathered in one place. We need to be in a place of right standing before God the Father. We need to be in a place where he can even look on us for he cannot look on sin. This is known as our justification. In the past we could only be justified by the law. Keep the law and you provide the justification needed for right standing with God. However we could not keep the law so we could never be justified. This is where God the Father stepped in. He set in place another way by which we could be justified where he makes provision for the fulfillment of the law for us so that we can be justified before him by his righteousness instead of ours. This is known as GRACE. The legalities and mechanics that allow its operation all comes under the redemption package. All we have to do is accept this by faith and then operate under its principles as an act of faith so that God the Father can justify us himself, for us using the mechanism of Grace.

"For by grace ye are saved through faith: and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9" Grace is the Father's part of salvation. It is his favor upon us when we put our faith in his son for our salvation. It is giving us something that we do not deserve. A gift best describes it. Grace can also be seen in the forgiveness of our ongoing tendency to sin. When we sin after we put our faith in Jesus as our Savior, and we repent, the Father forgives us. Grace is also seen in the gift of the Holy Spirit. God grants us the use of his power to do his work. It is His empowering that enables us to do the things he calls us to do for him. Also: AW Tozer had some good things to say about grace: here in "The Knowledge of the Holy" http://www.mtzionnashville.org/2009/minist...geOfTheHoly.pdf

When it comes right down to it, damo1, it matters not what the skeptics say. We know what our Lord can and will do through a willing servant. Be blessed in the ministry He has called you to, brother.

It is indeed interesting that I came across this subject. I was delivered from witchcraft and satanism 20 yrs ago. Just recently a met a friend that was able to put into words the spiritual warfare that I have been engaged in since that time. Here is what my friend put together: The first thing that I feel I must point out is that there is a difference between spiritual oppression and demonic possession. Oppression is where there is a spiritual influence coming against you to try and break you down and drive you to destructive behavior. Everyone is subject to this especially if they are considered operational for the kingdom. It can come in the form of building up of pride all the way to a series of hardships and disasters that start to overwhelm you. Possession on the other hand requires that the person actually opened the door to this in some form either knowingly where they engaged in an occult ritual to become empowered or they unknowingly opened the door by playing with some of the devils toys like the wedgie board or consulted mediums that had real familiar spirits operating on their behalf. Employing any form of occult practice for the benefit of self is considered permission for a demonic entity to enter the recipient host. It can also be an inherited demon as in family curse passed from one generation to another. Now the oppression is dealt with by the binding and losing as this is just a part of the normal spiritual warfare that we all have to engage in at some point but the possession carries a warning and should not be dealt with until the right time. Quote: Mat 12:43 When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he walks through dry places seeking rest, and finds none. Mat 12:44 Then he said, I will return into my house from where I came out. And when he has come, he finds it empty, swept, and decorated. Mat 12:45 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter in and live there. And the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so it also shall be to this evil generation. You can cast a demon out the person, yes! But unless they come under the protection of the Blood of Jesus as in repentance and accepting the Lord as savior they remain unprotected and open to repossession which is worse than the former state. Unless the person has been brought to the state where they want to actually let go of their demons do not cast them out. You can however bind those demons and prevent them form giving their benefits to the individual as a stop gap measure. Now as far as oppression goes lets look at the Apostle Paul who just happened to write a whole lot of the New testament and should know what he is talking about. Quote: 2Co 1:7 And our hope of you is certain, knowing that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also of the consolation. 2Co 1:8 For, brothers, we would not have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength; so much so that we despaired even of life. 2Co 1:9 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, so that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; 2Co 1:10 who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver; in whom we trust that He will yet deliver us, 2Co 1:11 with you also helping together by prayer for us, so that the gracious gift by many persons be the cause of thanksgiving through many for us. Now Jesus told us that just as the world persecuted him so it will persecute us as well. As we are not greater that our master. Now think of this, What causes persecution. This does not just drop out of thin air, it has a cause. Demonic oppression is the cause of persecution. It is the powers and principalities of the air mounting an attack to break the spirits of the faithful. You do not pray against the people that are persecuting you but the spiritual powers behind the people. That is what you bind. But as can be seen from the above passage of scripture these attacks can be very determined and even Paul was brought to the point where he even despaired for his life. In fact Pauls personal testimony was far from what the western church proclaims as the victorious lifestyle. Quote: 2Co 11:23 Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as beside myself,) I am more! I have been in labors more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in prisons more, in deaths many times. 2Co 11:24 Five times from the Jews I received forty stripes minus one. 2Co 11:25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. I have spent a night and a day in the deep. 2Co 11:26 I have been in travels often; in dangers from waters; in dangers from robbers; in dangers from my race; in dangers from the heathen; in dangers in the city; in dangers in the wilderness; in dangers on the sea; in dangers among false brothers. 2Co 11:27 I have been in hardship and toil; often in watchings; in hunger and thirst; often in fastings; in cold and nakedness; 2Co 11:28 besides the things outside conspiring against me daily, the care of all the churches. 2Co 11:29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is caused to stumble, and I do not burn? 2Co 11:30 If it is right to boast, I will boast of the things of my weakness. 2Co 11:31 The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that I do not lie. 2Co 11:32 In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king guarded the city of the Damascenes, desiring to lay hold of me. 2Co 11:33 And I was let down in a basket through a window through the wall, and escaped their hands. Now the powers of this world knew that Paul was establishing the church and they knew that they had to find a way to get rid of him with the result that they kept hammering at him from every angle they could find. If Paul was continually subject to spiritual oppression and persecution then you can rest assured that you will be as well if you aspire to serve the kingdom of Christ as well. The message I am trying to get home here is that when the fiery trials and persecutions come upon you and when you find yourself under oppression it does not mean that you are out of favor with the Lord. It means that you have probably started to do something right and attracted the attention of the devil himself. Also any spiritual attack will always come from your weakest quarter and for many that means that it will probably come from the church itself or close family members. It is easy to recognize an attack coming from an evil source and resist it but if a religious demon can have a go at you from a trusted source then it will prove far more effective at breaking you down. This is where you learn patience and humility and how to turn the other cheek. Remember you bind the influence behind the person not the person. When I was a baby Christian that was a hard lesson for me to learn. You do not engage in any form of spiritual warfare without preparation just as you do not go into a court case without preparation or the judge will think you are without a case. Now the verses below describe a situation where the disciples were not able to cast a demon out even though they were well practiced at this by this time. So the Father of the victim went to Christ direct for help. Quote: Mat 17:14 And when they came to the crowd, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, Mat 17:15 Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic and grievously vexed; for oftentimes he falls into the fire, and often into the water. Mat 17:16 And I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not cure him. Mat 17:17 Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him here to Me. Mat 17:18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and he departed out of him. And the child was cured from that very hour. Mat 17:19 Then the disciples came to Jesus apart, and said, Why could we not cast him out? Mat 17:20 And Jesus said to them, Because of your unbelief. For truly I say to you, If you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, Move from here to there. And it shall move. And nothing shall be impossible to you. Mat 17:21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting. Now the verse to note here is the last one. Quote: Mat 17:21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting. Paul knew exactly what he was talking about when he said that we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against powers and principalities in heavenly places. A wrestling match is not a slam dunk affair. It is a fight that can go on for hours until the opponent is beaten. It once took me three days to cast a demon out and I had to do it alone because the people I called on to help were not up to the task and ran a mile when things got difficult. Cast it out and it would go straight back in, cast it out and it would go straight back in and repeat over and over. It was really determined to hold that victim. Long story. The victim was just caught up in the cross fire and had not actually done anything wrong her self. If you are going to come against spiritual strongholds then you prepare. Prayer and fasting where you come before God the Father, tell him what you plan to do and first ask for his protection. Then you start to pray against the strongholds behind the people and bind them, then and only then do you approach the people. One other thing that I have found is that the real move of the Holy Spirit is very gentle and quiet. There is none of this getting slayed in the spirit as far as healings are concerned. The pain is there, you anoint with oil and you pray over the person, the pain just lifts and disipitates quietly. There is no such thing as faith being too small. Either you have faith or you do not. Your faith is not what does the healing. Christ does the healing . You put your faith in Christ that he will do for you what you ask of him. Once you can grasp that principle you are on your way to effective intercession.