Battles You Should Not Be Fighting

Cleaned from the live recording. Lightly edited for reading.

Who you join yourself to

Those who are in house, we're going to have a great time this morning. One of the things I want to share this morning is in relation to partnership. Who we join ourselves to. Who we commit ourselves to. It's necessary, even as part of a church, where you fellowship is very important. It's important because you may be fighting an unnecessary fight, as I get into the scripture.

Reading from Joshua 11, verse one. But in Joshua chapter 10 we learn about the Gibeonites. God spoke to Joshua, he spoke to Israel, and he told them to go out and conquer the land.

Tell your neighbour, "Conquer." I'm going to conquer. Wherever God has placed me, I'm going to rule. I'm going to reign. I'm going to exercise dominion. Whether it's in my business, whether it's in education, wherever you are, just declare, "I'm going to exercise dominion. I'm going to rule. I'm going to conquer." I'm going to be the head and not the tail. Some of you are not too sure. Let me say it for you. You are the head and not the tail. You are above and not beneath (Deuteronomy 28:13). You are more than a conqueror (Romans 8:37). The battle is the Lord's (1 Samuel 17:47).

The Gibeonites decided to be smart

So God told them to conquer. And as they conquered some other lands, this particular people group decided to be smart. Go home and read it (Joshua 9:3-27). They decided, "We're going to trick the Israelites. We're going to trick them into forming an alliance with us, into forming a covenant with us."

So they decided they were going to put on some tattered clothes. They were going to get some old, stale, mouldy bread. Everything that's worn. They looked in the kingdom and found the oldest, most tattered garments to put on, and they sent envoys to the leaders of Israel. They had heard about the surrounding communities and how God decimated them through Israel. "So we've come to form an alliance."

It's like a military pact. You have that in Europe. We saw Ukraine trying to get into NATO, into that military alliance, and before they could get in, Russia decided they were going to step in. Why? Because if Ukraine got into NATO, it means Russia would be flanked, surrounded by military threats on all sides of the border. So they decided to do something about it before. You have a little impasse there. Ukraine wants to get into NATO because they want to come under the umbrella of NATO and get security and protection from them. But NATO, on the other hand, can't at this time allow them into that military organization, or have that type of military cooperation with them, because it would be as though they were declaring war against Russia. Russia is already saying that they're fighting a war with the US and the Europeans because they're helping Ukraine.

So these Gibeonites understood warfare. They understood diplomacy. They understood military pacts and military lines. So they decided, "We're going to trick the Israelites. We're going to let them think we're from a far place, because God told them to destroy us."

When they went there, the leaders asked them clearly, "Are you part of the surrounding nations?" They said, "No. Look at our clothes. Look at our bread. Look at our supplies. When we left our house, the bread was warm. By the time we reached you, look, the bread is mouldy. It's crumbling. It's old. We've travelled a long way. When we left, we were neatly dressed, washed. But now that we've got here, through thick and thin, through the storms, through the journey, look how our clothes are tattered."

And the word of the Lord says Joshua and the leaders did not inquire of the Lord (Joshua 9:14). They just heard what the Gibeonites said and went into a military pact, a military alliance.

When they discovered it, after they went out to fight and started fighting other nations, they came upon the Gibeonites and said to them, "You've deceived us. You told us you were from a far distance. Why did you do this thing?" And they explained why. They were afraid of the Israelites. So they tricked them (Joshua 9:22-24).

Some people just practised for you

I just want to set that up for us to understand some things. Some of us need to make sure, before we get into some relationships, that we find out from God. Some of you are not too sure. Like Joshua and the leaders of Israel, you can find yourself in some trouble because people come and tell you nice words. They offer you a nice package. They dress nice, they smell nice, they talk nice. When you're speaking to them, you hear really lovely language. But when you get close, you realize they just practised for you. They practised for Joshua and the leaders of Israel, and some people just practise for you. It's deception. It's warfare. They want what you have, and they want it by any means necessary.

Some of you are not too sure. Let me tell you. Any young men in this house, or those who were once young? You ever try hustling a young woman? You practise at home to get just the right words to tell her, just what she needs to hear, just what she needs to believe. You might borrow somebody's vehicle. You might borrow somebody's top, somebody's shoes or boots. You want to look good. You borrow somebody's cologne. Sometimes you borrow. When you're young, you don't borrow. You just take it. If you grew up with brothers or sisters, you understand what I'm saying. Sometimes you realize something is missing from the wardrobe and you don't know where it went. Then you're watching a photo on Facebook or TikTok and there it is. "I've been missing that for a few weeks now. Now I see it surface on social media."

I'm just saying, you try to put on the best show.

The job that looked good

For some of us it can be a job. You get into the interview, and the interviewers tell you all the nice things about the company, all the nice things about the position. But you did not take time to find out for yourself, to inquire anything about the company or the position you're applying for. You didn't even ask the Lord. And when you get into the company, into the office you applied for, you understand why there's a constant vacancy for this position.

You've never had a job like that? You just got the job, and one week in you want to leave. You're already working on your exit strategy because it's a terrible organization to work in.

One of the things you can know sometimes: look at the ad they put out. Say you're applying for a marketing position. But when you look at the ad, you notice they have sales in there. They have something about checking vehicles, or they want a driver. "You must have a driver's licence." You say, "That's okay. Marketing." But when you get to the fine details in the interview, you understand that if you're in an accident with this vehicle, it comes out of your salary. When you get into the fine details, you understand this is not only marketing. I'm also part of the sales team. I'm part of the distribution team. I'm part of this and part of that. And there are no clear SOPs. You're not too clear what you're supposed to do in this organization. And then they top it off with the last clause: "any other business."

But you're so excited because you saw a nice figure. Before you came to the job, they fired the driver. Before you came, they downsized the sales department. Before you came, the distribution director left, and now they're looking to fill all of those positions with one person. And you're so excited because they're offering you fifty thousand above the competitors. But when you get in there, you realize the couple hundred thousand the distribution manager was getting, the company is keeping that. Half of the salary that was going to the sales team, they're keeping that.

They tell you that you leave at 4:30. "And of course, you know how to manage your position. You may need to work extra time. Not every day you'll be able to leave on time." But you find that eleven in the night, twelve, you can't finish your task. Every day it's piling up and you're getting frustrated. They're giving you maybe a little overtime and a little perks. But they lied to you. Or you did not inquire of the Lord. "Should I take the job?"

The little perks, the little money, fooled your eye. They showed you a nice vehicle you'll be driving, a nice SUV, but they didn't tell you that you'll be driving here, there and everywhere. And by the way, you need to know a little bit of mechanics, because if it breaks down you need to know what to do.

It sounds like a joke, but I'm saying many times we get into different types of relationships, different types of agreements, with good intentions. Your heart is good. You're a person of integrity. But the person you're dealing with is not the same.

I have passed through that

I'm saying this because I have passed through that many times. I remember when we were building the house, the electrician was all good and nice. It seemed as though he was doing his job, and he asked, "Can I have a little more advance?" I think it was fifty thousand or something like that. My wife was saying, "No, don't give him. Let him do a third of the job." And I was saying, "He seems to be a good person." But when he got the money, he never returned.

My wife wanted a particular job done a few years ago. I said, "I can't do it now. Maybe when I get paid, fortnightly, we can look at that." Here comes a man walking around looking for work as a mason. He came and asked about the job. My wife said to him, "We're not ready, because we don't have the finances at this time to pay for it. But if you're willing to do it, you'll get the money within a week." He said, "Of course, I could do that." He said all kinds of things, what he can do and what he would do, and my wife took him on. He started work.

Then one Saturday morning we heard a noise at our front gate. When we peeped out, here is this contractor with his wife and her basket. He is there to collect his payment because his wife needs to go to the market. I don't know what he told the woman, but he created a scene in front of the yard, because he worked and did not get paid and his wife needs to go to market. So I found the money again and gave him. My wife said, "No, don't give him." But you know, when he got the money and his wife went to market, we never saw him again.

You can have a good heart. But if we don't understand that we're living in a world of evil, with evil people, and we need to be diligent, we need to be smart, we need to inquire of the Lord, we need to check things out, we'll find ourselves in problems.

Don't come back as another person

How many young women? How many young men? Many times young men want to run into marriage because every time they see the young woman she looks all lovely, all dolled up.

I'm looking for your daughter, but I'm not seeing her this morning to tease her. I was teasing her last night. She showed up at the crusade, and I said to myself, "We have another visitor at the crusade." So there's a young woman. You want to be careful, so I just pass and say hi. She said good night. But then I saw my wife go and hug the person. "How you doing?" I said, "My wife knows the person." So after, I said, "You know her? It's the first time I'm seeing her at the crusade." My wife said, "No, that's 's daughter." I said, "My God. That's a whole different person."

Let me stop here. My wife knows I love her natural. I have no problem with her using makeup. But let me put it this way. Don't come back as another person. I don't want that type of confusion in my home.

I remember running through social media and looking at some profiles, and I said, "Sarah, who's this? Is it a sister? A family member? Some relative?" And she said, "No, they went to a wedding."

That's why I said I'm not buying any belly-shaping vest. Let me stay with my one-pack. If I can't exercise and throw it off, don't let me fool nobody.

Let us strike Gibeon

Let me read the scripture. Joshua chapter 11, verse one. "When Jabin king of Hazor heard of this, he sent to Jobab king of Madon, and to the king of Shimron, and to the king of Achshaph, and to the kings who were in the northern hill country, and in the Arabah south of Chinneroth, and in the lowland, and in Naphoth-dor on the west, to the Canaanites in the east and the west, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, and the Jebusites in the hill country, and the Hivites under Hermon. And they came out with all their troops, a great horde, in number like the sand that is on the seashore, with very many horses and chariots. And all these kings joined their forces and came and encamped together at the waters of Merom to fight against Israel" (Joshua 11:1-5).

Just give me one minute. I think I'm running ahead of my story. Sorry, I jumped straight into chapter 11. Let's go back to chapter 10.

"As soon as Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem, heard how Joshua had captured Ai and had devoted it to destruction, doing to Ai and its king as he had done to Jericho and its king, and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them, he feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city" (Joshua 10:1-2).

You understand this? When Gibeon came and made a league, a pact, with Israel, it caused shivers. It caused a geopolitical storm, an earthquake, among the nations. And they said, "We cannot beat Israel by ourselves. We need to form a military alliance." So he sent for the various kings. "Let us go to war." But I want you to pay attention to what's going on here.

"So Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem sent to Hoham king of Hebron, to Piram king of Jarmuth, to Japhia king of Lachish, and to Debir king of Eglon, saying, Come up to me and help me, and let us strike..." whom? "...Gibeon" (Joshua 10:3-4).

When I read this, I said to myself, it wasn't Gibeon that was fighting them. It was Israel that was fighting them. But when they heard that this great city, this great kingdom of great warriors, had made a military pact, an alliance, they decided they were going to attack this city.

Wars you should not be fighting

When I read this, I said, let me share with you. Sometimes the battle you're facing is a result of whom you've partnered with. You could find yourself fighting wars you should not be fighting, all because you've joined forces with the wrong people. Some persons join forces with the wrong person, and you end up fighting demons that have been fighting that family for years.

You see the older folks. My wife will tell me some stories about her father. I won't get into them. But if you had certain lesions or certain marks or certain patterns on your skin, he would not allow you to marry into his family. The older folks checked out the family. They wanted to know who they were bringing into their bloodline. They wanted to know how it would affect the family tree, the family lineage. What war will my daughter or my son be fighting as a result of the partner they've married?

Many times when you do counselling, you realize that people are fighting things that did not start with them.

We went to a home. Don't ask where. You won't know who. No member of this church, and it's not recent, so don't try to trace it back. Not in this city. We went to a home because somebody put us on to do deliverance. A member of the home, at a certain time on a certain day, would just lose consciousness and fall. When they fell, they would bust up their face, their lips. They would injure themselves. After a while, when they came to themselves, they were in pain, but they did not know why or how it happened.

As we got into discussion and deliverance, we discovered that they were contending with demons from altars their partner had ministered to in the past. They were contending with demonic spirits that were destroying their life, spirits that had nothing to do with them. Because they belonged to a denomination that doesn't understand deliverance, they couldn't get help, and they weren't at a spiritual place where they could oppose or contend with these powers. They were under attack every week. Not because they went to a particular altar when they were younger to offer things to a snake. They were contending, couldn't fight, didn't even understand what was happening, because the hospital, the doctors, couldn't help them. The doctors didn't know what was wrong. They married someone, came into covenant with someone, who at one time was in covenant with something else.

The people you're in covenant with, the people you're working for, the people you're married to, the friends you keep: who are they in covenant with? What are they in covenant with? Because you may be fighting a war like the Gibeonites. They came under tremendous attack.

They were fighting the gods of those nations

If you understand where these guys were coming from, one entire nation was named after, a god of fertility. They weren't only coming after kings. They were coming after the gods of those nations. The gods are the demonic entities that empower those kings.

We just passed it. When you read why they were afraid, it's because Ai and its king were destroyed. And Og was a giant (Deuteronomy 3:11). History says his beard was at least fourteen feet in length, and that's trying to be conservative. They killed him.

When you talk about Bashan and all those things, I can't get into them now. But when you do your studies, you understand that this particular geographic location is where they believed the two hundred fallen angels of Genesis 6 descended (Genesis 6:1-4). It was a portal city, a gateway. So when you read about Og, and I tell you his size, you should put two and two together: he was an offspring of these fallen angels. Nephilim. There was a mixture. Those types of people, like Goliath of Gath (1 Samuel 17:4).

The war wasn't about God being cruel when he told them to wipe out these cities. God was saying to them, "There has been a mixing of the bloodline on the earth, and you need to eradicate the seed of these fallen angels." And if you notice, there were specific cities, not all the cities, that were devoted to destruction, total annihilation, because of what had transpired in the past.

Just as God sent his Son into the world, these fallen creatures, these fallen angels, wanted to reproduce after their kind. If you look at Genesis chapter 6, it resulted in the flood, because of the wickedness of mankind, what these beings did, what they taught mankind, and how they corrupted the earth (Genesis 6:5-7). In this case it seems as though this bloodline crept in somewhere, and the flood did not annihilate it altogether (Numbers 13:33). All that is in your Bible.

So the Gibeonites now find themselves fighting with giants. They find themselves fighting a people ruled and controlled by different gods. They weren't just fighting people. They were fighting the gods of those nations. When you read Exodus, you see the same thing with the plagues on Egypt. It wasn't just about plagues on the land. Each plague was dedicated to dethroning a particular god in the land of Egypt (Exodus 12:12).

So you need to ask yourself a question. The battles I'm going through, are they battles designed and determined by God for me to go through? Or are they the result of me not inquiring of the Lord, not following the Lord, and now I find myself fighting battles and entities that should not be part of my journey?

Somebody omitted that part

Sometimes people lie. They don't tell you that certain sicknesses run through their family. You marry them, and then you end up fighting a battle with a child who is always sick. You always have to be running to a hospital. Your salary, your savings, everything is going down the drain because somebody lied to you. Or let me say, they omitted that part. Certain sicknesses are hereditary. It runs in the family, and you're fighting something you should not be fighting. It's depleting your finances. It's depleting your health. It's affecting your sanity, because you cannot rest. You can't find peace. Because you did not inquire.

The scripture says we should not be unequally yoked. What fellowship has light with darkness? (2 Corinthians 6:14)

And then you see believers say, "I can change them. I'll witness to them. I'll teach them the Bible." Let me tell you, you can't teach demons Bible. I'm not calling the people demons. I'm saying many times those persons have not accepted Jesus Christ. They've not gone through deliverance. And there can be spirits at work through their bloodline, familiar spirits, that they're contending with in the family. You've joined yourself to them, and now you're fighting them, and the demon is working through them. Then you come for counselling. "Pastor, can you counsel us? I'm having a difficult time. I've prayed for him. I've talked with him. I've cried. I've tried this and I've tried that." But I don't want to tell you, you've been sleeping with the enemy. I can't tell you that. My wife usually helps me with that. I try to counsel and give some advice, and pray God will have mercy upon them, and that person gets saved, or mercy comes in some other way.

Sometimes mercy looks expensive

You hear me always talking about a woman . She came, and there was a word of knowledge about pain in the ear. We prayed for her. She went away, and we didn't see her for a few weeks. When I saw her, I said, "What happened to you? We were looking for you." She said, "Pastor, I was in the lockup." I said, "What happened?" She said, "Pastor, they held me for murder." For real.

She was in an abusive relationship, being beaten. One day the husband came home drunk, trying to beat her again. She locked the door and hid inside. And he got so angry he punched the glass window trying to get in and slit his wrist. But what saved her? His relatives lived very close by and saw the commotion, and they were able to say to the police, "She didn't do him anything. He slit his own wrist trying to get into the house to abuse her."

She was delivered. Mercy was extended in one way. We may not understand it. Sometimes it's an expensive way for you to experience mercy, but God uses different means. Not all the time will mercy look like that. Some persons actually get saved. Some persons just decide to move and go their way. And when you cry and you bawl, I look at you and I don't want to tell you, "God has been good to you. Thank God they left you." Sometimes it doesn't look like mercy, but many times it's mercy. Thank God they went their way.

Sometimes you just need them to let you go. God sees you're fighting a battle you cannot win. And you've been praying, "Lord, change them. Change them." "Oh Lord, change the boss. Lord, let them pay me more. Give me this." We don't understand these things.

God had to harden somebody's heart

The children of Israel were in Egypt. God promised Abraham he would bring them out of Egypt (Genesis 15:13-14). God raised up a deliverer and sent him to Egypt. But you know God had to harden Pharaoh's heart (Exodus 14:4).

Sometimes God allows your enemy to pursue you, to let you know that you would have died there. Sometimes the licks you get, God allowed, because the Bible says God hardened Pharaoh's heart. But still, in the wilderness they were crying out, "We were better off in Egypt. We had garlic and we had this" (Numbers 11:5). And those people had them in bondage.

I'm speaking to somebody this morning. You're out of a relationship, or out of something, and you're wondering, "If I was still there, I would have had this and had that." God had to harden somebody's heart and drive you from where you were, because you would never have left.

Sometimes the things we're in, God doesn't want us to be there. But sometimes we become comfortable in suffering. They beat you every day to make mortar and bricks, an amount you cannot make naturally (Exodus 5:6-19). But you're happy because you're getting garlic and meat.

Some of you are on a job you should have left years now, but you're getting a little money and you say, "This is better than nothing." Oh, that God will help you. The help sometimes looks difficult, because you want to know how these people you were good to, this job you gave everything to, now get difficult and give you a hard time. And you're praying at home, "Lord, I bind the devil. I bind every spirit of opposition. I bind every spirit of frustration." And God is saying, "Look at this foolishness. What are you binding? You need to get out."

Gibeon fought a war and came under attack because of the nation it aligned itself with.

Check your company

If you don't remember anything else this morning, you need to check your company. The older folks said, "Show me your company and I'll tell you who you are." Birds of a feather flock together. Imagine you're an eagle, but you've got a set of chickens for friends.

I was sharing a photo with my wife that I saw on Facebook, and I laughed. Five vultures. One was in a hospital bed, sick, with instruments attached to him, and the other four vultures were family who came to visit him. He looked at them and said, "I don't like how you're looking at me."

Some of you catch the story, right? Vultures eat dead meat. He understood what was happening. They weren't there to wish him back to health. They were there waiting for the next meal, waiting for him to die. And sometimes we look at those pictures and laugh, but sometimes relationships are like that. People are not there to celebrate with you.

They've never visited you at any time at all. But now you're in hospital, they're cooking for you, bringing things to you, being all nice to you. It's the property they want. Now you might say, "Pastor, it's not so." But if you have relatives who never visit you, who always say something bad about you, and suddenly you're sick and they find so much time to visit you in the hospital, wouldn't you be wondering? I'd be shocked if you're eating anything from them. Suddenly they want to know if you have any transaction to complete, any document to sign. "I know a very good lawyer. You know, the last time somebody died they didn't put things in place, and this happened and that happened. That should not happen to you." They're not there to help you. They're there to help themselves.

And sometimes we have relationships like that. I see young women saying, "He is my bestie, my best friend." You know, it's another group of vultures waiting together on you. Leave that right there.

Some persons, from the time your parents see them, they say to you, "Watch this person." "Mommy, you always... Daddy, you always... This is my best friend. They did this for me and that for me." And the parents just go home praying for you, because you can't see what's happening.

Just leave out a few words

I remember Prophet Paul telling a story. He had just finished preaching a sermon, and in the audience there was a man sitting. He said this man was dressed lovely. When you looked at him, he was handsome, like you could fall down and worship him. When the message finished, the man said, "Can I see you in your office?" He said, "Sure."

The man sat with him and said, "I have an offer for you. I can give you a big ministry. I can let people from Hollywood and various places come to your church, and you'll have a big church, a big ministry. You'll be famous, in the limelight. All I want from you is to leave out a few words when you're preaching. Things like the blood, repentance, and a few other words. Preach the sermon, preach from the Bible, but when you're preaching, don't mention these words in your message."

He did not take the offer. When the man left, he came out and watched the man get on a bus. As the bus moved off, the man was not there anymore. Disappeared. When he went back in the office, his mother said to him, "You finished talking with the devil?" He said, "How you know?" She said, "From the time I saw the man, I knew it was Satan." Satan came in the form of a man to negotiate with him. A big church, a big ministry, finances. He just needed to leave a few things out of his messages.

When last did Satan visit you?

The package

When Satan visited Jesus (Matthew 4:1-11), he said, in a sense, "You're doing a lot of fasting, guy. Great job. You fasted for forty days. God is pleased with you." I'm paraphrasing. "It's time to break the fast. Here are some stones. Just turn them into bread." Jesus said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4).

He said, "I can see you're a righteous person, and God will not allow anything to happen to you. Let me show you how much God loves you. Throw yourself down from this place, and God will give his angels charge over you." "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God" (Matthew 4:7).

Then he took him up to a high place to show him all the kingdoms of the world, the glory, the power, the might, the influence, all that he could have. "I know you know how to worship. I've been watching you worship God in this desert. It's just a pity you have to go through all of this. Right now you don't have anything. You're hungry. And I know the plans. I know you're going to the cross. I've listened to you talk to the boys. Remember Peter talked to you. Peter doesn't want you to die. John doesn't want you to die. All these people love you. You don't have to do all of that. Just bow down and worship me and I'll give you all of it." And he said, "Get thee hence, Satan" (Matthew 4:10).

Have you chased Satan, or have you taken the package?

What I'm saying to you, like with the Gibeonites, many times Satan doesn't come to you looking like an angel of darkness. He comes looking like an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). He comes looking like the man Prophet Paul spoke about. Handsome, with a good package. Money, fame, prestige. Imagine in your church you have people from Hollywood sitting, you have government officials sitting. And as a pastor you get excited. "Maybe I'll get a role in a movie. I'll be invited to parliament. Maybe I'll be on some government board." And the package looks nice.

What's the last thing a young man or a young woman said to you that sounded very nice? I'm talking about an unbeliever. And I'm not only talking to young men or young women. Even married men and women, people come and offer some nice things.

The package can look right. It can look nice. Everything that you need. There's a shortcut.

And it's not just young girls. What about a more mature one who lets you know she has her own house, her own vehicle? "You don't have to want for anything. I'll take care of you." And your mind comes telling you, yes, she may be a few years older than you, but the package is nice. She looks good. She takes care of herself. But some of us never ask, "Why is she single? Why does she have her own house?" Because they show you photos. "Why does she have a good job and vehicles?" Right away they shorten the process for you. You don't have to go to the bank, take out a mortgage for a house, take a loan for a vehicle. They shorten the process for you. But why you? Why not somebody else? Why are they singling you out? Why are they coming at you in different ways?

When last have you sat with the devil?

"I won't stop you from going to church"

Let's go to Zechariah 3. I'll close here.

When I ask, "When last have you sat with the devil?" some of you are looking at me. But it can come real nicely packaged. Just what you're looking for. You know, when life was hard, you had to work hard, and then somebody comes and shows you an easy way out. It's tempting.

Some will tell you, if you say you're a Christian but they're unsaved, "I don't have a problem with you going to church. I won't stop you from going to church." That's one big trap. Any of you ever heard that before? Yes, my daughter. They will tell you those things. "I don't have a problem with you going to church. You can continue to go to church." It's just like what Satan said to that prophet. "You don't have to stop preaching the gospel. Just leave out a few words."

So you'll notice you can't come to church on Easter Sunday because they planned a picnic for you. You notice you can't go to church this day because they planned a cross-country tour for you. Then you can't go to church this day because they've invited mommy or daddy over and they expect you to be there. Then the next two Sundays they plan a visit to Berbice with family and you're expected to be there. Then you're in, and Sunday after Sunday, by the time you catch yourself, you're out of church.

They never said to you, "Don't go to church." But they planned activities in such a way that you could never be in the house of God. And they're all good activities. From the time you say you can't come: "Imagine mommy made time off and planned to see you, and now you don't want to go see my mother. You hate my mother." And they start playing all kinds of games on you. "This is important to my job, to my career. I need to go to this place." "It's the same money, the same salary, that caused me to buy this car for you, and now you don't want to come there with me." And they trap you over time.

Filthy garments

Zechariah chapter 3, verse 1. "And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him" (Zechariah 3:1).

Imagine you are in partnership with Joshua. You're coming under some fire from the enemy, and you don't know why.

Verse 2. "And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel" (Zechariah 3:2-3).

I want to ask the question: how many persons are you standing with who have filthy garments? A filthy lifestyle. Things you may not be able to see in the natural, but in the spirit realm they're filthy. In the spirit realm they're unhealthy. In the spirit realm they're vile. And because of their lifestyle, they've attracted demonic entities to them. But you are in league with them. You're in a relationship with them.

How many organizations are you part of? You're working hard, you're getting the money. But these organizations pledge their affiliation to particular gods, to particular demons, and usually carry out yearly sacrifices to them. How many persons are you helping? How many persons have you invited into your home because you thought they were your friends?

What had opened that door

Let me share this with you. I remember being at university a number of years ago, and a young woman wanted to put powder on me because it was Diwali. She used to be in a group with us. But I told her no. She explained to me that nothing was wrong with it, this and that. That night I went home, went to bed, slept, turned around, and there was a demon at my bedside.

I didn't participate in the activities. But I tried to be nice, and I knew what had opened that door. At that time in my spiritual life I had confidence in God. So I spoke in tongues, turned my back and went back to sleep. In my mind: if you try it, you're robbing me of my sleep. When you're finished, you go along your way. And I had a good sleep.

Sometimes you go into communities to share the gospel, and the presiding principality over that place engages you in your dreams. Some of the things affecting the believers in the churches come from there.

Just look at your neighbour. Don't ask them anything. What are you fighting? Who have you been entertaining?

I've spoken to people who say they have a few demons or spirits that help them. Sometimes you ask where they are, and they say, "They're right here." When you invite them into your home, who are you inviting into your home? Sometimes you say, "They're my nice friend. They're a different religion, but they're nice." Hear me. I'm not saying shun people. I'm saying be aware of what you're doing, because you can be fighting battles you should not be fighting.

Like Joshua here. If Joshua is your friend, and Joshua comes to your home, Satan shows up with Joshua. Some of you understand what I'm saying now. Some of you started fighting battles, seeing things in your home, things moving in your house, having terrible dreams, and you could trace it back to the last person you brought in and entertained. But you just put it behind your mind, because maybe that's not true. You never knew how to map these things back.

Who lays hands on your head

Let us stand.

Sometimes my wife thinks I'm trying to save a few dollars by shaving myself. But I am very careful who lays hands on my head.

Some Christians feel a little pain in their back, a little stiffness there, and they let people rub them down. Massage, some people call it. You go to get a good rub down. And after you finish getting a good rub down, sometimes you're alone in the night and you're still getting rubbed down. Y'all think it's a joke. From rubbing down it goes to scratching and biting, and then to other things. When you hear some people's stories, you'd realize how serious these things are.

Every oath, most of them, biblical and spiritual oaths, are ratified by blood. Some persons looking to have sex with you are just looking to ratify some oaths.

She was an assignment

I'll share this in closing. I remember a particular apostle telling me about a situation. He went to a place and met a known bishop, one who at one time was a popular minister, but no more. After they started to talk, the minister felt comfortable to share his experience. You may have heard this before, but it's necessary for this message.

He wasn't a powerful minister anymore because he fell into sexual sin with a woman. But that's not it. This was somebody who was close to him and used to serve him. After she finished sleeping with him, she got up, got dressed, and said, "Look at you. A big man of God like you. Look how I've brought you to nothing." She was an assignment. She got into the church, got into his team, fed him something, and then.

I'm saying this to you: if these are ministers who have had their conscience and spirit exercised, who have had various experiences in God and should be strong, you need to say to yourself, "I'm not exempt from the onslaught of the enemy, and I need to be careful."

Apostle Johnson shared this one, and I think I heard Prophet Uebert Angel sharing the apostle's experience too. For a week or two they didn't see a particular sister in the church. She was one of the biggest givers. So he decided to go and check on her, to see what was happening with her. He went with another brother. When they got to the apartment where she was staying, football had just come on the TV, and this brother liked football so badly that he forgot about his pastor and was glued to the TV.

The apostle went in, and there was this woman, naked, waiting on him. She said, "I know you're a man of God. If I told you what I wanted from you, you would not do it. But I knew if I stayed home and you didn't see me in church, you would come to see what's happening. You'd do visitation like a good pastor. So I was waiting on you." I think he said when he stepped in, the door closed behind him. There was an entity at work. There was an open window he had to jump through, or else he would have been trapped.

I'm saying this to ask you: who are you in partnership with? You may think they have good intentions for you. Sometimes on the job they're paying you nice, treating you nice, doing this and that. But every season, or very often, they go and offer sacrifices. You're wondering if they're fattening you for slaughter. You may be in a company, going good all the time, and suddenly you're taken with sickness. The doctors can't figure it out. The hospital can't help. It's spiritual.

Like clockwork

It's time for us to sever some relationships, some agreements. It's time for us to step out of some places we've been a part of. It's time for us to really have a talk with some of our partners. Sometimes they don't bring sickness alone. They bring demons back to the home, and then you're fighting a battle and you don't know why you're going through this.

Many times you can tell, because the sickness you're fighting is seasonal. Like clockwork, like a woman on her monthly, the sickness comes around a certain time. You sprain your foot, like clockwork around a certain time. The accident, like clockwork. Your TV always going out. You have to get a new TV, a new fridge. Something in your house is always breaking down, like clockwork. You can see it in the patterns.

If you can identify with something like that in your life and you want to break free, please come to the altar quickly. It's not time to look around. Remember what I said about that young man. Every week, on a particular day, he would be attacked.

For some of you, it's this way. You've given money to the wrong person, and it seems like you're always in financial ruin. You're getting the money, but something always comes up and puts you in debt. You're always in financial problems. It's not as though you're not working for money. You're working. But as soon as it comes into your hand, there's some chaos.

For some of you it's relational. Sister divorced, brother divorced, mommy divorced, this person divorced. And as soon as you get into a relationship and it looks like it's getting serious, boom, problems.

We pray for you today. Some of you have to make some decisions. Those with finances, come to this side.

I believe a song is coming into my spirit right now. "I got to break free." It's not a spirit, but it's a determination within your heart. That's what I'm hearing today. People saying, "I want to break free. I got to break free."

(Worship team sings "Freedom Reigns" (2 Corinthians 3:17). Leaders and pastors come forward.)

Ministry at the altar

It's not about a song. Even though I love that song and I think it's appropriate for now. But as you lift your hands, the power of God is going to move in this place. Things that troubled you are going to trouble you no more. The cycles are coming to an end now. Spiritual connections, demonic cords, are going to be severed.

If you ate anything, soaked with anything, splashed with anything, anointed with anything contrary to his anointing, to his Spirit, it's going to leave you right now. Every demonic oil, every demonic anointing, is evaporating now. Those who have gone to places, sometimes houses that may look like houses of worship but are powered by other entities, their hold and assignment over you is broken now.

Some of you are going to feel a violent shaking in your body. The Lord is shaking things out of you. Some of you are going to feel as though it's fire. I hear the Spirit of the Lord saying this morning, "I'm burning up unholy anointings." Things you considered an anointing in the past, in various places, that had negative effects upon you, he's burning them up right now.

I break the hands of the enemy off of you. Every demonic connection to your life, I dismantle now in Jesus' name. Every unclean spirit that has entered you, I drive them out now. Every demonic implantation, be destroyed now. Every demonic spirit that has been robbing you of your health, through sickness, confusion in the mind, pain in the body, atrophy or degradation of organs and body parts, loose them now. Be free.

Every curse, every work that was done against people here, whoever named them on demonic altars, be free by fire now. I command those altars to be demolished now in Jesus' name. Whatever was taken from here, hair, nails, whatever it is, I command it to be dissolved now, burned by fire.

There are persons who are living off of your destiny, your wealth, your health, through some form of exchange. I end it now. We take back what belongs to you now in Jesus' name. Whatever they used to bind you, to exchange destiny, we sever it now. They will no longer get rich off of you. They will no longer enjoy health at your expense. Right now we break that agreement in Jesus' name.

I don't know who this is for, but I repent on your behalf, and I access the mercies and grace of God on your behalf. You're standing at the altar and you're feeling guilty. You're free now in Jesus' name. And because you're free now, the enemy has no hold on you. So take your freedom now.

(Prayer for those with pain in the chest and breathing issues, with Pastor Sarah and the ministers laying hands. Pain reported gone.)

We rebuke that pain right now. If there are demonic spirits associated with that pain, we command them to leave. And I command that organ, that tissue, that body part, to be made whole, like new, right now in Jesus' name.

(Prayer over those with financial issues, with the elders.)

Lord, we thank you. We break the cycle of poverty off of these people right now. We break the cycle of calamity, of robbery, of catastrophe off their lives right now in Jesus' name. Lord, we use what they've given as a point of contact concerning their finances. Go before them. Clear the way. Open the doors. Shut the mouth of the enemy. In the mighty name of Jesus, I declare favour. I declare the favour of this house upon them. I declare the joy of this house upon them. Let what they've given come up before you as a memorial (Acts 10:4).

Say it with me: "I command the angels that God has assigned to me, go before me. Open the doors. Bring me the resources. Bring me prosperity. Bring me blessings. Bring me money, in Jesus' name." Amen.