Avoid Being Double-Minded!

Being double-minded robs our faith and prevents us from focusing on that objective or target we need to believe for in faith! James tells us about this in James 1:6 But let him ask in faith without doubting,for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea tossed and driven by the wind.For let not that man suppose he will receive anything from the Lord;he is a double-minded man unstable in all his ways.

Here are 7 things to remember to stay single-minded:

1) Choose who you are serving! 1 Kings 18:21 -And Elijah came to all the people, and said, "How long will you falter between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him." But the people answered him not a word.

2) Cease all reasoning; don’t think too hard; Luke 5:22-23-But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, "Why are you reasoning in your hearts?

23 "Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Rise up and walk'?

Simply obey; 1 Peter 4:17-For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

3) Watch what you say! Drop all the Poor-Little-Old-Me-talk;

4) Fix your eyes on Jesus; Hebrews 12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

5) Don’t throw away your confidence; Hebrews 10:35 Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.

6) I AM NOT A VICTIM but a VICTOR; If you want to rule, then think and act like you have dominion like the Lord says you have!

7) Watch who you hang with. 2 Thessalonians 3:14-15 And if anyone does not obey our word in this epistle, note that person and do not keep company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.

Proverbs 13:20- He who walks with wise men will be wise, But the companion of fools will suffer harm.

The American Gospel

The American Gospel

2 Timothy 4:3-4 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

The Word of God is clear that days are coming (or are already here?) when men will not want to hear the Truth of the gospel but instead create an alternative gospel, even an American Gospel. Instead of having a love for and desiring the truth, believers will begin to want to hear only that which makes them feel good and does not confront their old nature. “Christian happy talk”, one leader calls it.

In thousands of American churches now it is no longer acceptable to preach about subjects like: Jesus is King and has a Kingdom, sin, hell, money or the power of the Holy Spirit. A friend of mine recently spoke at a very large church, which was part of what used to be a charismatic denomination, which banned mentioning the words, “Holy Spirit” on the platform! Why? Because it was too controversial! These areas are considered taboo as they might “scare away” people from attending this growing number of seeker-sensitive ,mile-wide, inch-deep churches springing up all over the land.

The American dream has morphed into something very different from what our founding fathers envisioned. Initially it was freedom to worship and pursue freedom from tyranny, the ability to be self-reliant and to stand on our own two feet.

But today as Americans we have been taught an American Dream that means to be free to be make money, have a home and live an excessive American life. Most of what is going on in America is not only not biblically normal, but excessive, perverse, unrestrained and allows an idolatry of that kind of lifestyle to flourish.

Many American parents now have an excessive idolatry of their children to the point of self indulgence and excess. This is revealed by the amount of debt  families get

in to service their children’s every little whim. This obsequious fawning over their children isn’t healthy and creates spoiled and demanding little “angels”. It is because these parents exposed their children to just one side of things rather than allowed to face the very real obstacles they will face in life. A consumerist mentality of parenting,where indulgence and saying "yes" means Love,is clearly unhealthy. Of course what one generation does in moderation the next does in excess. 
Overall when these believers go without hearing an authentic gospel message of self-denial and the cross, they end up with little capacity to function in"the real world" and when they face the very eventual setbacks and roadblocks of life,they may collapse. They have a great sense of God’s love for them until they are told “no” or they don’t get what they want. This is bitter pill to swallow but it is not heard in most churches.  That’s why it is crucial to preach and declare the truth ! 

Look at some of the differences between what many are being taught versus what the Word of God teaches:

American Gospel                                                                   Gospel of the Kingdom

God PLUS my options                                                             one choice-“Follow Me” 

comfortable                                                                               uncomfortable to our flesh

unoffensive                                                                                offends mind, reveals heart 

looks back                                                                                             goes forward 

convenience all-important                                                                     covenant 

ministry determined by people’s needs                               Holy Spirit directed ministry

the people(Lao) rule(dicea)                                                     apostles and elders rule

avoid conflict                                                                                   conflict of Kingdoms

people-pleasing                                                                                    God-pleasing 

seeker-friendly                                                                                 Holy Spirit friendly

get people “saved”                                                                             make disciples 

ministry done only by elite few                                                    ministry done by Body

program-oriented worship                                                        apostolic teaching,prayer

“inch deep and a mile wide”                                                    rooted &grounded inChrist

breeds spiritual babies                                                                        brings maturity

attendees easily offended                                                           unable to be offended 

go around the mountain                                                                        takes territory

fruit is proud & puffed up                                                              humble,meek people

allows foolishness                                                                                 loves wisdom 

By Marc Lawson

                                                                Mighty Warrior Ministries © www.ngca.org

The Razing & Resurrection of the American Church

On New Year’s Day 2000, I was laying on the couch all day fighting a sinus infection and watching the TV turned down low. I would doze off from time and to time all through the day. I was not fasting, seeking the Lord or even thinking about much but getting over the sinus infection. One of these times when I dozed off, I had a vision where I was taken to what looked like any large American city with skyscrapers and high buildings. Some were more visible than others some were just a few stories high (visible) but had a big footprint (made an impact) others took up less than a city block but were 40-50 stories and could be seen from miles away.

I noticed whole buildings were being razed or demolished, like those precisely timed demolitions where the entire 50 story building comes crashing down straight within a few feet of where it was standing with little effect on those buildings around. I saw several of these high-profile buildings coming down in this fashion and somehow I just knew this was happening in more than one city or area. It was like I was being allowed to see the wholesale demolition of many man-made structures. They all had signs warning people to “stay away" and were empty of ANY people so NO ONE would get injured. I also KNEW (revelation) that these buildings represented man-made religious structures or churches, even denominations. Some even had the name of the flamboyant or superstar Christian leader on the building. One was the LONG building, another FAME building, one even the MINE building. They all seemed to IM-plode not EX-plode. I even saw angels as part of the demolition team strategically placing explosives, like the Lord had angelic demolition angels who planted charges for a perfect implosion.

Then I realized this was an architectural illustration of the church. In scripture the church is illustrated three ways: architecturally, agriculturally and anatomically. Ephesians 2:21 is an architectural one.

All of a sudden I realized I was with the Lord and He was revealing things about this vision. I just somehow knew that this was a picture of what was going to transpire over the next 7, 12 &15 years (through 2015) and that it would be a progressive thing. I knew then that I was seeing the wholesale demolition of hundreds or even thousands of man-made "buildings" that probably began by the Spirit and ended up being idolatrous impediments to His people. Many hundred thousands, even millions of well-meaning Christians were at one time inside these buildings but the Lord was getting them out of these institutions.

I then had a flash of downtown "underground" and saw many people in these underground (not visible) gatherings some quite large of hidden, nameless groups of believers preparing themselves for a great awakening. They were learning about the authentic Jesus then staying for a while then going up above to bring what they learned to the lost and perishing. They were healing the sick, raising the dead, casting out demons and doing the gospel, without any trappings or fluff. You know, basic meat and potato Christianity, but with NOTHING left out (like the gifts of the HS). How can the church even exist without the HS? How can a leader say, "We are OPEN to the gifts of the HS"? He is rejecting God the HS when he does that. Anyway after this I woke up and two or three other times over the next couple years I returned to this vision or dreamed about it and got more details.

I am remembering it because we are seeing now in 2011, whole ministries, churches and even movements being imploded like this. Many mega churches have closed their doors in the city of Atlanta in the last 5 years and there will be MANY more as the covered-up sins, wickedness or corruption and abuse of the Body is exposed. When these hireling CEOS are exposed, many may be dismayed. The problem isn't the size but many became enterprises and businesses rather than expressions of the Body.

The GOOD NEWS is that Christians, though disillusioned for a little awhile, will begin to see their own idolatry of men, methods or movements which they put in the place of relationship with Jesus. And God is faithful and is raising up authentic shepherds, pastors, apostles with a spirit that wants to come under and serve the Body rather than stand at the top of the pyramid and rule it. The Pharaoh spirit is being removed from the church. Jesus is coming back for a spotless church without blemish. And it can't and won't happen with many of these Christian superstar sideshows in existence. Do not be dismayed. The razing of these ministries MUST happen so that the resurrection of a new form of church that looks like Jesus can arise! Isaiah 60 speaks of an arising. Ephesians and Romans say, “awake!”

These" rude awakenings" are signs of a new birthing which is already occurring of a true expression of the church arising! Rejoice!

NORTHGATE: Wednesday Night Intercession at 7pm in Cafe 166!

Our Emphasis every night in April-PRAY for AMERICA!!

We have seen recently and even in the last few weeks how one epic event can bring a nation to the brink of collapse! The earthquake in Haiti last year leveled Port Au Prince and it may never be completely rebuilt, There are a million displaced just by that earthquake alone. Japan ,once seen as a vibrant and prosperous nation, through a combination of bad financial choices governmentally and then the earthquake, tsunami and damage to its Fukushima nuclear plant is now fighting so many unimaginable problems, it may be years or never till it recovers.

Jesus revealed God's view of these tragedies:

“When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem; and He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for Him. But they did not receive Him, because He was traveling toward Jerusalem. When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" But He turned and rebuked them, [and said, "You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." And they went on to another village.” - Luke 9:51-56

God's desire for our nation and all nations is salvation, deliverance and revival, NOT destruction! We know it is God's will for "all men to be saved and come to repentance". But events are happening rapidly now with our economy and politically that escalate the risk of America experiencing this or another kind of event.

Every Christian should be busy doing one of two things:

Praying if they are not out preaching; and Preaching before or after they are done praying! Praying and Preaching-That's simple enough.

If you are not out preaching to win your neighbors come and pray for our country! America needs a spiritual awakening more than ever!! So every Wednesday in APRIL- 6th, 13th, 20th & 27th - the Emphasis is to pray for mercy and a spiritual awakening for America!

COME ON OUT!

TOP TEN Reasons Why Seeker & Emergent Churches Are Biblically Destined to FAIL

United States Treasury agents that track down and apprehend counterfeiters are taught to distinguish counterfeit money by first and foremost learning by sight and by feel what the authentic American currency in all of the denominations looks and feels like. Their main training is to first learn how to discern and identify the real as the way to best discern the fake. While counterfeiters might take many different approaches to copying money and be more expert in different aspects of the printing or the artwork, a person who knows and is well acquainted with the real can always spot the phony!

But with the proliferation of seeker churches, I now believe many will be deluded into thinking this form of godliness is real, when it fails by all biblical criteria to even be classified as a church. Consequently, America is growing a population of spiritual people who are simply not converted.

Vance Havner, in his book "Playing Marbles with Diamonds" offered the following insight that prophetically describes the present church message: “The devil is not fighting religion; he is too smart for that. He is producing a counterfeit Christianity so much like the real one that good Christians are afraid to speak out against it. We are plainly told in the Scriptures that in the last days men will not endure sound doctrine and will depart from the truth and heap to themselves teachers to tickle their ears. We live in an epidemic of this itch and popular preachers have developed ear-tickling to a fine art. Today, the angle is to avoid "negative" preaching and accentuate only the positive.”

Recently, key “Emergent” Church leaders have come out in favor of homosexual church membership; though the New Testament clearly forbids it; and the abolition of the doctrine of hell, even though Jesus Himself spoke with chilling detail about escaping it.

We must instead raise up the real and authentic expression of the apostolic church in the earth!

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TOP TEN Reasons Why Seeker & Emergent Churches Are Biblically Destined to FAIL:

1. They are led by motivational speakers, teachers, promoters and entertainers rather than fathers. (I Corinthians 4:14-15)

2. Outward appearances and externals are more valued than inward character and change. (I Samuel 16:7)

3. In the name of tolerance and love, they prohibit church discipline so invariably the body becomes toxic and rotten. (II Corinthians 6:17) False mercy leads to perversion.

4. To be inclusive, instead of “believer’s meetings”, gatherings are a mish-mash of lost and found, leading to compromise. (Acts 5:13)

5. In the name of a hyper-grace message, the lifestyles of the believers are the same as those in the “world”. To reach the world, they have become worse than it! (III John 1)

6. Websites, new media, events, worship or programs can’t bring about discipleship. (Matthew 21:6)

7. Non-Christian musicians on the “worship” teams violate God’s standards of righteousness for priests and remove the presence of the Lord. (I Samuel 3:14)

8. When "relevance" and assimilation of darkness is more important than confronting it, how can you even be the "light?" (Luke 11:35)

9. A culture where FEAR of man is more important than fear of hell leads to self-focus & people-pleasing rather than a fear of God. (Matthew 10:28)

10. This ALL leads to “the Blind leading the blind”. (Romans 2:19)

by Marc Lawson

Anointed Hanky Healing!

*This is a testimony that we just received over email.

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Hi,

I came down with symptoms of things crawling on my skin with bites on Easter Saturday, April 3. This persisted with manifestation of fibre-like substance on my skin. I knew it's demonic because of the strange symptom. I am a Christian and am in the process of being trained to be a prayer minister. However, I made a mistake of going to the internet to search for information which opened the door of fear to enter in. I isolated myself in the apartment because I was not sure if it's contagious.

I called my family doctor and he said he would call me back but he didn't. During this horrific trial, I went to Sid Roth's Supernatural website and watched many of the interviews because I wanted to receive the anointing and the Glory of God that many of his guests carry. It's there that I watched the interview of Pastor Marc Lawson.

I looked up Pastor Lawson on Google and found his Facebook page. I was desperate for healing prayers. I called the phone number not knowing what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised that Stephanie answered the phone and right away offered to pray for me and even offered to send me a prayer cloth. I was filled with hope after the call.

During this time of trial, there were days when I would lose hope. It was on such a day when Stephanie suddenly called me to tell me that she had been praying for me and gave me Proverbs 13:12 "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life." I held onto this Promise of the Lord and was able to go through that day and the days after.

The prayer cloth arrived in two weeks because I live in Toronto Canada. I put it on and it calmed the symptoms on my body. That was May 14. That evening, the Lord revealed the source of the attack. It's towards my mind and my body. I took hold of this revelation and counter-attack with prayers decreeing deliverance and healing for my mind and body.

It's a total of 44 days. I praise and give thanks to our Lord Jesus Christ for victory over the defeated foe. My body is almost 100% symptoms free. Hallelujah!

NorthGate Church is truly the Church of Jesus Christ that gives out God's love and power. My gratitude to you all especially Stephanie for her tender loving care.

Blessings,
Lilian

Healing 101

The Lord’s Heart for Healing

Unless we know and believe the Lord’s heart for us in the realms of healing, we will never beable to truly receive all the Lord desires for us. It’s not good enough for us to only know about what the Lord did in the Bible and for others, but we must each get a revelation of His astounding love, His great mercy and His overwhelming passion to see each of His children whole and well. Some excellent examples of this are found in the scripture:

Psalms 103:11-14For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His loving kindnesstoward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him. For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust.

Isaiah 30:18Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you, And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the LORD is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who long for Him.

Isaiah 4:13Shout for joy, O heavens! And rejoice, O earth! Break forth into joyful shouting, O mountains! For the LORD has comforted His people, And will have compassion on His afflicted.

Matthew 9:36And seeing the multitudes, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and downcast like sheep without a shepherd;

Matthew 14:14And when He went ashore, He saw a great multitude, and felt compassion for them, and healed their sick;

Matthew 20:34And moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they regained their sight and followed Him.

The scriptures reveal that the Father’s heart toward His children is revealed in His Son, Jesus Christ. John 5:19Jesus therefore answered and was saying to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.

From the scriptures we see the following things:

1) God desires to heal ANY who are sick. Luke 4:40 And while the sun was setting, all who had any sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and laying His hands on every one of them, He was healing them.

2) The Lord desires to heal ALL the sick, not just a special few. Luke6:19 And all the multitude were trying to touch Him, for power was coming from Him and healing them all.

3) God is no respecter of persons. What he’s done for others He can and will do for YOU! Acts 10:34 Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:

4) God NEVER kicks one of His kids when they’re down, but instead picks them up and helps them out of their “ditch”.
Luke 13:11-17 And behold, there was a woman who for eighteen years had had a sickness caused by a spirit; and she was bent double, and could not straighten up at all. And when Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, "Woman, you are freed from your sickness."And He laid His hands upon her; and immediately she was made erect again, and began glorifying God. And the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the multitude in response, "There are six days in which work should be done; therefore come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day." But the Lord answered him and said, "You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall, and lead him away to water him? "And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?"

God, the Father is absolutely committed to seeing us freed from our afflictions, addictions, bondages and sicknesses. While the religious spirit asks questions like, “how can God do that?” or “why would God do it that way?” or “ how can God do it to them? ”. Rather than rejoicing at what God is doing, religion questions the how, why and what for. The religious spirit always glorifies what God did in the past while bitterly opposing what God is now doing. While religion wants to analyze how we got in the ditch, the Kindness and mercy of God just wants to pull us out!

Isaiah 42:3A bruised reed He will not break and a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice.

5) God doesn’t resort to “making someone sick” or keeping someone suffering to “teach them” some kind of lesson. That violates everything God ever said or did in scripture. Many times Christians use their lack of faith or personal experience to rationalize and explain these things. They cite Job, for example. But Job is an example of persevering faith and trust rather than just suffering. At the end, Job was given back double everything he lost to Satan’s attacks and Job is listed in the Hebrews 11 “faith hall of fame” as one who still believed God when everything failed. Some people also evoke Hebrews 12:5 to explain why God supposedly likes making people sick. They use the passage about the discipline of the Lord to try to explain why they’re sick without realizing the Greek word for discipline is paidea, which means the same as “training a child”. How many parents do you know who train their child by inducing fear, sickness, giving them cancer, boils, meningitis or calamity? NONE, because parents don’t! No loving parent would resort to torture to train their children. Still, Many Christians think God uses torture and pain to “deal with us” or “show us things”. Even Pavlov’s dog was treated with more kindness! God is a loving FATHER, not THE GODFATHER. God never needs to resort to evil and calamity to say what He can say with a loving whisper.

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Four Ways God Uses to Bring Healing

1) Faith of the one sick - faith comes and a person is healed. Romans 10- The faith of the one who is sick is what is working here; Ex: Woman with issue of blood-Mark 5:25-36

2) The Prayer of Faith - James 5:15 – The prayer offered up in faith will save and heal the sick. This is offered up primarily on the faith of the elders or the one praying.

3) The Word of Knowledge - “I only do what I see the Father doing”. John 5:19 This is the release of the Spirit of Might or Power we see described in Isaiah 11. It’s all about the sovereign unveiling of the sickness or malady initiated by the Holy Spirit’s desire to heal! With this sovereign demonstration, the faith of each is activated and the person healed.

4) The Healing Anointing -“Presence Healing”- “The power of the Lord was present to heal….” This is a tangible anointing in that place/time to heal. Luke 6:19- “And all the multitude were trying to touch Him, for power was coming from Him and healing them all.” This is also descriptive of someone who was just worshiping or walked in to a place that anointing was manifesting and was healed. It involves simply being in His Presence. This is when a healing comes based on the immersing oneself in the Lord’s presence.

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4 Realms of Healing

There are at least four realms of our life God’s healing power can touch and effect:

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1) Physical Body - Where the power of God comes and touches and restores back to health the area(s) of the human body that are diseased, infected or invaded with tumors. God’s power removes, dries up, withers and either instantaneously or gradually eradicates the disease, restoring that person to health. In the occasion where the sickness is caused by a demonic spirit, once the spirit is cast out, the person is instantly or soon thereafter healed.

Mark 4:23-24- “And Jesus was going about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people. And the news about Him went out into all Syria; and they brought to Him all who were ill, taken with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics; and He healed them.”

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2) Demonic oppression, affliction, sicknesses and diseases Acts 10:38 - "You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good, and healing all who were oppressed by the devil; for God was with Him.”

Fully one-third of all Jesus’ ministry involved the casting out of demons, many causing diseases and afflictions as well as many mental/emotional conditions(see#3). The book of Mark chronicles many such occurrences.

Mark 9:17-29 – “And one of the crowd answered Him, "Teacher, I brought You my son, possessed with a spirit which makes him mute; and whenever it seizes him, it dashes him to the ground and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth, and stiffens out. And I told Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not do it." And He answered them and said, "O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me! " And they brought the boy to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion, and falling to the ground, he began rolling about and foaming at the mouth. And He asked his father, "How long has this been happening to him?" And he said, "From childhood. "And it has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!" And Jesus said to him, "'If You can!' All things are possible to him who believes." Immediately the boy's father cried out and began saying, "I do believe; help my unbelief." And when Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "You deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and do not enter him again." And after crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out; and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, "He is dead!" But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him; and he got up. And when He had come into the house, His disciples began questioning Him privately, "Why could we not cast it out?" And He said to them, "This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer."

A Note on: Those experiencing recurring calamity, chronic lack, poverty and maladies with no apparent cause. Contrary to much of American church teaching, none of us were ever promised in scripture a problem-free life if we chose to become believers in Jesus. Persecution, difficulty, hindrances and setbacks were part of the apostolic lifestyle.

II Corinthians 3:1-10 - giving no cause for offense in anything, in order that the ministry be not discredited, but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers and yet true; as unknown yet well-known, as dying yet behold, we live; as punished yet not put to death, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things.

Yet there is a clear difference between being persecuted for the faith versus experiencing calamity, trouble and a lifestyle of defeat due to a lack of knowledge of the truth. As believers, we have access to all the blessings and provision of the New Covenant in Jesus Christ which includes; an ability to hear God, healing, prosperity and the abundant life. It is not part of the Christians normal way of living to suffer chronic sickness, lack, calamity and defeat. These things may happen due to a battle or even war we are in. In Christ we have all the provision we need to win the victory and victory is assured! No weapon formed against us will prevail. We may have battles and even wars to fight, but in the long run, if we wage our war in faith, we will win! Too often we have “microwave faith” which brings us only “microwave victories”. Christianity has never been a faith for the impatient and the Lord is training us to have a long-term mentality.

Galatians 3:13-14:Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us-- for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE"-- in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

The only clear instance in the New Testament where we see believers living under a curse is here:

Galatians 4:15-17Where then is that sense of blessing you had? For I bear you witness, that if possible, you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me. Have I therefore become your enemy by telling you the truth? They eagerly seek you, not commendably, but they wish to shut you out, in order that you may seek them.

The reason we see this lack of victory and the loss of “the sense of blessing” among these Galatian believers is because “false brethren” came in among them and introduced false teaching that cut out from them their ability to walk in faith. The purpose of these false apostles was to “shut them out” of the Kingdom and then draw them to themselves so they would seek them, instead of Christ.

Luke 11:52 - Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered."

Greed, selfish ambition and jealousy were motivating the intentions of these false brethren and the acceptance of their teaching was at the root of the Galatians’ defeat. I say defeat because once thecGalatians left the arena of faith and grace and reverted back to law and works, the game was already over.

Then can we break curses over believers? Actually, when believers are in this ditch of defeat and difficulty they need to be pulled out and then empowered to press on into a walk of faith. We can pray to expel any deceiving or deluding religious spirits and then neutralize the effects by releasing faith. (Romans 12:3) Believers must stay out of this “arena of Law” the enemy cleverly lures us into sucessfully time and again!

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3) Mental and Emotional Bondages

Luke 4:18,19"The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD."

When Jesus read this passage in the synagogue that day He was describing not just His public ministry, which was just beginning, but gave a clear description of the gospel ministry, the good news! Healing the broken hearted is an essential part of the gospel because emotional pain and hurts are one of the prime causes of physical sicknesses and until this area is dealt with, many times there is no healing.

Psalms 34:17,18The righteous cry and the LORD hears, And delivers them out of all their troubles. The LORD is near to the brokenhearted, And saves those who are crushed in spirit.

It is absolutely the Lord’s heart to remove the pain that comes from the loss of a loved one; to remove the hurts caused by rejection, divorce, rape, abuse and neglect. Many times these traumatic events are doorways for the demonic to enter into a person’s thought-life. For example, Bob Jones feels that head trauma many times opens a door to allow fear to come in. Experiencing a crime or violence can make one fearful of others. Being attacked or accused verbally can have a chilling effect, causing the accused to distrust or become isolated. Only through forgiving those who attacked them and receiving the Lord’s healing can a person truly love and relate again.

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4) Relationships

Because we are living in the last days the potential for relationships to come under attack is at an all-time high. Matthew 24:12"And because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold. Today, more Christians are getting divorces than non-Christians! Church splits, division, discord and conflict is primarily caused because of the hardening of hearts due to the lawlessness in our land. But like God is no respecter of persons, His healing anointing is also no respecter of areas that need His healing and restoration. He’s more than able to repair any damaged relationships. God’s love is the most powerful force on this planet, melting cold hearts and repairing what man thinks is irreparable. God’s desire is to mend what is broken, heal what can be repaired and bring wholeness where there is a rift.

Matthew 6:14,15"For if you forgive men for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. "But if you do not forgive men, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.

Pride, offenses and bitterness are key reasons relationships break down. There has to be a choice both persons make to let things go and move on. Humility is key because there has to be a willingness to forgive, let go of our agendas and move on. Rick Joyner likes to say that when there were only 2 brothers on earth (Cain and Abel), they couldn’t get along. How true! The terrorism we fight today is rooted in Isaac and Ishmael’s feud that became the present-day war between Israel and the Arab world. We can’t expect to “all just get along”, without God’s love being poured out into us, releasing in us a humility, love and a desire to truly act like Christ.

_{Reproduced by permission © Copyright 2010 – Marc Lawson}