Satan Aims for Your Mind: The Armour That Keeps Your Deliverance
Dr RJ Sing, 5 February 2014, 58 min
Originally preached as “Seven Steps for Retaining Your Deliverance, Part 1”
Sermon outline
Every Christian is in a spiritual war, so to keep what God has done for you, put on the whole armour of God, guard your heart and your mind, and drive the devil back the way Jesus did: 'It is written'.
Main text
- Ephesians 6:10-18
Opening
He explains that he usually teaches faith, but the Lord has shown him an invisible barrier around God's people that keeps blessings from manifesting, so his Wednesday theme is the basics of deliverance, subtitled 'Seven steps for retaining your deliverance'. To show how innocently anyone can bring the wrong things into a home, he holds up items the Holy Spirit pointed out on his own bookshelf that morning, among them a prayer book that presents prayer in every religion as the same, a set of martial-arts films he had bought for his grandsons, a self-help DVD and a CD of drumming, and has them packed away to be burnt. 'Your pastor makes mistakes too,' he says, 'so don't feel condemned.'
You are in a war: put on the whole armour of God
As soon as you become a Christian you are in warfare against invisible forces: not flesh and blood but principalities and powers. God gives us pieces of armour so that, having done all, we can stand.
“As soon as you become a Christian, you are in warfare.”
- Ephesians 6:10-18
The girdle of truth
Like the belt a Roman soldier tied around his tunic for mobility, the girdle of truth speaks of honesty, sincerity, openness and frankness. God wants you to admit when you have made a mistake, because that is where He forgives you and puts you back on the road to recovery.
Illustration: He says he was not ashamed to show the church the things he had bought that the Lord rebuked him about.
The breastplate of righteousness: faith and love
The breastplate protects your heart, and out of the heart flow the issues of life. Paul calls it the breastplate of faith and love, and you cannot live a victorious Christian life without both. Whatever hits you, keep your faith and keep walking in love and forgiveness, because God may be using that person to test you.
“You cannot really live a victorious Christian life if it is not by faith and love.”
- Proverbs 4:23
- 1 Thessalonians 5:8
Feet shod with the gospel of peace
The Roman soldier's strapped sandals speak of mobility, stability and availability to your commander-in-chief, Jesus Christ. They also speak of studying the Word, memorising Scripture and communicating the gospel intelligently, and of the peace that comes to heart and mind when you obey.
Illustration: That morning, when the Spirit pointed things out to him, he was able to put them right quickly.
- 2 Timothy 2:15
The shield of faith
Paul means the large door-sized shield that covered a soldier from head to toe, not the small round one. Satan always counterattacks: every time he wrote a book or the ministry went onto radio and television, attacks followed, because the airwaves belong to the prince of the power of the air. If Satan cannot get to you, he goes after the people you depend on: your spouse, staff, children or leaders. So pray for one another instead of criticising, come into agreement, cover your family, property and finances with the blood of Jesus, and speak out instead of keeping quiet.
Illustration: He and his wife keep detailed prayer lists for the business people, professionals, tithers, elderly, young people and children of the church, and he asks the church to pray for him too, because if Satan can bring the leader down he can bring the church down.
“Don't sit quiet and say tomorrow will be a better day. God wants you to speak.”
- 1 John 4:4
- 2 Corinthians 2:11
- Ephesians 2:2
- 1 Peter 4:12
- Deuteronomy 32:30
- Isaiah 54:17
- Deuteronomy 28:13
- Revelation 12:11
- James 3:16
- 2 Timothy 1:7
The helmet of salvation: the battlefield is the mind
A head injury is the worst injury, and Satan strikes the mind with thousands of negative thoughts: you're sick, you'll lose your job, something bad will happen. Nobody can protect your mind for you; cast those thoughts down, guard your eye and ear gates, and switch off fear-driven news. Entertained doubt becomes a stronghold and leads to depression, but the garment of praise lifts the spirit of heaviness. Faith lives in the heart, but hope is built in the mind: a quiet, steady expectation of good based on the promises of God.
Illustration: He once waited more than ten years for one particular answer to prayer while his wife kept asking 'but when?', and he kept saying God would come through; in the tenth year he was smiling. You don't give up on a child who brings home poor grades; you stick with it.
“Hope is a quiet, steady expectation of good based on the promises of God.”
- Romans 8:37
- John 17:16
- 2 Corinthians 10:4-5
- Isaiah 61:3
- 1 Thessalonians 5:8
- Hebrews 11:1
- James 5:7
- Galatians 6:9
- Numbers 23:19
The sword of the Spirit: it is written
The other five pieces are defensive, but the sword is an offensive weapon, and the Word of God alone drives the devil away. It pierces and penetrates. In the wilderness neither Jesus nor Satan questioned the authority of Scripture; every temptation is rooted in doubt; and Jesus never varied His method, answering each time 'It is written'. You don't need to spit, shake, sweat or run from prophet to prophet for a word: you have the Word.
Illustration: He warns against 'charismatic fortune tellers' who see black fowls and prophesy doom: if you want a word for your family, God has blessed you and your generations.
“He didn't shake, didn't spit, didn't jump, didn't perspire. He just said, it is written.”
- Ephesians 6:17
- Hebrews 4:12
- Matthew 4:1-11
- 2 Peter 1:19
- Romans 8:31
Putting it into practice
- Ask the Holy Spirit to show you anything in your home that does not belong there, and remove it.
- Be honest and quick to put things right when God points them out.
- Cover your spouse, children, work and finances in prayer and the blood of Jesus, and pray for your pastor.
- Guard your mind: cast down negative thoughts, watch what you hear and see, and praise your way out of heaviness.
- Answer every attack with the Word: 'It is written'.
Closing
He says that the rain that fell when he prayed that morning and again that evening was a sign: the curse of financial poverty is broken and there will be a shift in the atmosphere. He has the church stand and give God a praise offering, says the seven steps themselves will come next Wednesday, and says goodbye to the television audience from Faith Centre International in Durban.
Declarations he led
- Lord Jesus, I hold out the shield of faith for full protection and provision over my home, over my family, over my workplace, over my business, over my body. Now, Satan, take your filthy hands off me, in the name of Jesus.
- Satan, I rebuke you. I rebuke the power of confusion, and command peace and order to be restored in my life.
- In the name of Jesus, I claim protection of faith in the blood of Jesus over everything connected to me.
- You have another economy.
- Hope is a quiet, steady expectation of good based on the promises of God.
- Do not give up hope.
In his words
- “Your pastor makes mistakes too.”
- “The battlefield is the mind.”
- “I cannot protect your mind. You have to protect your own mind.”
- “We don't deal with facts. We deal with faith.”
- “Hope is continued optimism.”
Every scripture in this message
- Ephesians 6:10-18
- Proverbs 4:23
- 1 Thessalonians 5:8
- 2 Timothy 2:15
- 1 John 4:4
- 2 Corinthians 2:11
- Ephesians 2:2
- 1 Peter 4:12
- Deuteronomy 32:30
- Isaiah 54:17
- Deuteronomy 28:13
- Revelation 12:11
- James 3:16
- 2 Timothy 1:7
- Romans 8:37
- John 17:16
- 2 Corinthians 10:4-5
- Isaiah 61:3
- Hebrews 11:1
- James 5:7
- Galatians 6:9
- Numbers 23:19
- Hebrews 4:12
- Matthew 4:1-11
- 2 Peter 1:19
- Romans 8:31