December 21, 2005

• Pastor Leon Forte’s Friday night teaching- “Seasons of satanic attack” follows,  hope you enjoy it. Let me state that he spoke so many truths that if there are any errors, it is my notetaking not the quality of his teaching.

  
  

  He started out by saying that we have to discern the sounds around us. Because we are gatekeepers in our region, there is an extreme spiritual authority that comes with being a gatekeeper.

  
  

  Jesus spoke and although many heard His words, they did not understand them.

  
  

  Ephesians 6:10-18 (10) Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. (11) Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. (12)For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (13) Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. (14) Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, (15)and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; (16) above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. (17)And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; (18)praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for the saints–

  
  

  Pastor Leon pointed out that often when we attend a Bible teaching class or sermon, when we start to hear a familiar passage, when we hear something we know, it is our tendency to turn our minds off, to think, “I already know this.” It is important not to do that because often the message is something that we need.

  
  

  Verse 10 is a covenant statement

  
  

  Verses 11-18 talk about the whole armor of God and how we can stand firm in the face of satanic attack. (In another teaching Pastor Don once pointed out that we need the WHOLE armor of God, and if you look at the pieces of the armor they basically cover our front, so we must constantly advance – if we retreat, we leave our backs vulnerable. Jesus has our backs when we advance.)

  
  

  We cannot fight what we don’t know. We must be knowledgeable about when the attacks of satan are prone to come.

  
  

  Notice in the above Ephesians passage, Paul calls us brethren – it is a plural word which implies that we need each other. It is not MY personal battle, but a corporate one.

  
  

  We are in a fight. God has drafted us into His army. He is known as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, carries a sword, and will cut down all that does not belong in His kingdom.

  
  

  Jesus said blessed are the PEACEMAKERS – he did not say truce makers. Sometimes we have to fight to keep the peace. In order to keep the peace, you must defeat the enemy. To do this you need to know how to fight and you need to put on the whole armor of God.

  
  

  Most people only wear the helmet of SALVATION, and go butt naked into the battle. This makes it incredibly easy for the enemy to defeat you with a well-placed poke of a stick.

  
  

  Paul said in in Ephesians that our battle is against principalities and powers, rulers of the darkness, and spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. In 2 Corinthians 10:4-6  For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for the pulling down of strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

  
  

  This warfare STARTS IN OURSELVES.

  
  

  The body of Christ is very good at petty warfare, of putting on our armor and sticking each other with the sword of the Spirit. It is far easier to find the faults in others, a lot harder to look at ourselves.

  
  

  We cannot be picky about what pieces of this armor we put on, we have to put on the WHOLE armor of God. Only in that way can we stand a chance against the wiles of satan. Satan has tactics to use against you, and he will even use them against you in church. Don’t be fooled, the devil goes to church. In fact he used to work in the church (he was God’s worship leader). He is familiar with church, and he will do anything to keep you from God’s will for your life. He knows your weaknesses and will attack there.

  
  

  1st season of satanic attack.

  
  

  When you are physically exhausted.

  
  

  It is preached that we should not worry about the flesh, that we should ignore the flesh. But the truth is, we can’t do anything on this earth without our fleshly suit. The condition of our body can hinder our spirit. Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, and He dwells in us. We must take care of our temples.

  
  

  The first thing to go when we are exhausted is our prayer life. Sometimes when we are tired every filthy, vile thought from hell can come into our minds – thoughts of depression, despair, defeat. The enemy has access to our mind, and learns about what we fear from what we speak. Even when we pray for our needs, satan is there to hear what it is we desire. God has given us tongues, so that we can speak in code to him, in a language that satan does not comprehend.

  
  

  As a gatekeeper we are responsible for what spirits come into our valley (or area where you live and worship). The enemy will try to get us to not pray. We will get up early to pray and our kids also get up early, our favorite TV show comes on at the time we set aside to pray, or we are too tired to pray.

  
  

  When we are physically exhausted, the next thing to go is the reading of the Word. Pastor Leon suggests getting a Bible written in an easy to understand format – that God did not speak in King Jame’s English, if you can’t get understanding reading the thee’s and thou’s then find a Bible that is more comprehensible to you.

  
  

  Reading the Word is downloading your hardrive (the Bible) into your Spirit. And if possible, read the Bible out loud, don’t just read it to yourself. When you put the words out into the atmosphere, you begin to change the atmosphere of your area.

  
  

  Our screen is the mind, and we must give the Holy Spirit the mouse.

  
  

  When we became filled with the Holy Spirit (saved) we banished the devil from us, and satan needs a body to function. If we keep our minds, and atmosphere filled with the Word of God there is no place for the devil to reside. And he will wait until we have a weakness and attack us at our weakest link.

  
  

  Also, when we are physically exhausted, the next thing to go is our Praise and Worship offering.

  
  

  When we first got saved we would attend church and stand and enthusiastically participate in praise and worship, now we sit down quicker, and our minds are elsewhere. We begin to see praise and worship as being about style, which praise team we choose to attend service during, whether or not they sing the songs you feel they ought to sing, or if we choose to arrive a bit later and skip the praise and worship altogether. It is during praise and worship that we begin to have the anointing break into our worship.

  
  

  It is important to remember that God will use anything to download something into our spirits that we need. Sometimes a song or music can download something into our being, and later in the week we find ourselves humming or singing a song and realize that God was telling us something through that worship song.

  
  

  When we are physically exhausted, often we find ourselves busy doing something else. We have to remember that our first priority is God.

  
  

  When we are exhausted, often we get STINGY. We won’t give. God wants us to sow seed.

  
  

  He talked about Elijah and the woman with her son. The woman was down to her last bit of grain and was going to feed her son the last bit, and then prepare to die. Elijah, came upon her, and requested that she give him some of this food, (and Pastor Leon pointed out that the famine was caused by Elijah’s prayer, Elijah had been fed by God and did not look hungry – that everything about him would have made the woman question this reasoning). He jokingly said that it was like being down to your last box of Jiffy Mix and a tiny piece of lard. Yet the woman gave Elijah a cake, and the end result was that she was overflowing in oil and grain. She did not starve, but had in abundance.

  
  

  Sometimes God will not send sustenance, He sends an opportunity to sow. 

  
  

  The devil hates what he sees here, the generosity of the saints.

  
  

  When we are physically exhausted, FASTING goes out of the window. We will not fast and pray, but we feast and play. If we are told by God to fast, He will show us what to do to break the bounds of wickedness.

  
  

  When we are exhausted, TRUST IN THE VISION OF THE HOUSE AND THE VISIONARY BEGINS TO WANE.

  
  

  Things irk us more easily, we have heard this over and over we tell ourselves, why doesn’t our pastor preach something NEW to us. Pastor Leon said that often our pastor would love to preach something new and different, but God won’t let him because we still haven’t heard and applied what our pastor is currently preaching, so our pastor can’t move on.

  
  

  All of the above have to do with the flesh and exhaustion. Tomorrow I will cover another season of satanic attack.

  
  

  Please have a blessed day, and especially at this time, don’t let the season make you exhausted.

  
  

  Heather

  • 9:09 am
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