Shutting the Door on the devil (Episode 11) 9/7/23

Have you opened the door on accident to the enemy? See if you've been deceived!

I share in this podcast how I was starting to open the door to the enemy in my moment of weakness, busy-ness, distress, shock and hurt.
Consumed in my hurt I could not see the face of Jesus. I could not see beyond what I was feeling and experiencing.

It is so important to remember that the enemy, our true enemy, is a predator constantly seeking and waiting to devour us, his prey.

In the midst of this situation when I was sorting through my emotions and all the people and situation(s) involved one night I fell asleep and had a very vivid detailed dream.

There was a dark grey wolf with green eyes just watching me and waiting for me, stealthily moving about. It felt like the wolf was with me in my room.

The dream was a warning to me. This seed of offense and hurt from loved ones was startng to grow a root of bitterness. Bitterness, anger and despair are heavy and result in bondage which steals our freedom and connection with our creator.

The dream made me realize I needed to shut the door to the enemy and tp forgive. Forgiveness is not for the other person. The night I had this dream, before falling asleep I was reading my bible app and the commentary reminded me that even up until His death Jesus served, showed compassion and forgave. Lord give me that kind of heart because I don't have it on my own efforts.

I want to prove myself, justify myself, etc.

If we allow the enemy into our lives, heart, mind, etc he will allow this invite as an opportunity to destroy us and kick us off our God given path and destiny. He does not want us walking in joy, freedom and in authority with our Lord. He wants to suffocate and be in despair and in hopelessness. He wants us to die and be with him in eternal damnation. And he only has power when we give him our authority. By himself he is powerless.

This dream was a wake up call to NOT give him an invitation or an opportunity into my heart and mind.. An invite is requesting the presence of someone or something.

I was invitng him through hurt, anger, offense and unforgiveness. But there can be other ways we allow him to take root in our hearts or to have a foothold - what are areas you are allowing him to have acccess to you? Something you are listening to? Something you are watching? Because when we invite those things in we allow ourselves to come into agreement with them. An agreement is having the same opinion or decision arrangement to do something or to obey the same rules. You may think I am going off the deep end here but we are all coming into agreeent with something or someone. We are all a slave to something. We are a slave to righteous living or to unrighteous living. We are a slave to Jesus or a slave to satan. We have a choice. We make choices everyday.

So what are you agreeing with? What are you saying yes to?

When we say yes to something we are also saying no to something else. So in my case, if I am saying yes to bitterness I am saying no to forgiveness, no to living in freedom and no to living in harmony with Jesus. If I say yes to hatred I am saying no to love and living through love and from love.

Take a moment and ask the Lord. Lord, am I opening a door somehwere in my life to the enemy? to my adversary? Please reveal to me where I am allowing myself to be deceived?

Word Weapons to help you when you are resisting the enemy's tactics:
Matthew 5:43
Luke 6:27
Story of Joseph in the bible

Also a quote from Martin Luther King Jr -
Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies- or else? The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars - must be broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.

As the darkness gets darker we as children of God are to shine brighter for Jesus. Seeing the situation from a different and greater perspective and through a lens of compassion.
As Christ believers we operate in a totally different dimension from people who do not believe or follow Christ. So then how can we hold them to the saem standards?

Returning hate for hate muliplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot driveout darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. - Martin Luther King Jr.

Surely there is but one way in which to achieve what is not merely difficult but utterly against human nature to love those who hate us to repay their evil deeds with benefits to return blessings fortheir reproaches. It is the we remember not to consider men's evil intentions but to look upon the image of God in them which cancels and effaces their trangressions and with its beauty and dignity allures us to love and embrace them.

The Holy Spirit will help us have a higher perspective so we can love.

Shut the door to your adversay. Shut the door to your enemy. It is not about living perfectly as through our acceptance of Jesus we live in a covenant of grace with him but he yearns for us to grow deeper and higher with him. We don't have to do this on our own, the holy spirit is our helper.