David Diga Hernandez - Demonic Attacks - Part 2

I want to get right into this. We’re talking today about three attacks of the enemy: namely, depression, discouragement, anxiety, and distraction. But before we get into those specifically, I want to read to you this verse. Romans chapter 14:17 says, «For the kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.» Some translations say «righteousness, peace, and joy,» and so I believe that the kingdom of God, though it does impact us and gives us an opportunity to influence the places and positions of this world, ultimately is an eternal kingdom. Ultimately, the kingdom of God is about peace, joy, and the reign of God’s righteousness in us and through us in the earth. To stop that kingdom at work in your life and to prevent God from having His full reign in your sphere of influence, the enemy will attack you. Not just, as we found out in the last edition of Spirit Church, through accusation and temptation, but also in these areas of attack. But remember, the enemy’s attacks are completely 100% based on deception. The enemy can only speak things to you that cause you to believe things that make you feel and act in a certain way. The deception of the enemy has no power over you if you refuse to believe his lies. But what good does it do to combat the enemy or seek to combat him against his deception if you do not recognize that deception? We have to fill our minds with the word, and when our minds are filled with the word, we understand what the truth is. Jesus said, «You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.» So instead of doing it the difficult way, the complex way, and addressing every single lie of the enemy, it’s best to know the truth and what the Bible says in general about you, so that when a lie comes your way, you can simply compare it to that truth. If it contradicts that truth, you reject that lie from your mind. The scripture says in 2 Corinthians chapter 10:5, «Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.» Your thoughts are the actions of your mind, and just as you can obey God’s word with your actions, you can also obey God’s words with your thoughts. Proverbs 23:7 says, «For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.» Philippians chapter 4:8 says, «And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing: Fix your thoughts on what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.» So the battle against the enemy’s deception—the battle against the demonic attacks of deception—is all based in the mind. As you think, so are you. Now, number one, let’s look at this first attack of the enemy: distraction. Ephesians chapter 6:12 tells us that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, and while we recognize that truth, we so often fail to apply it in our everyday thinking and action. We become so distracted by the attacks of the enemy that have nothing to do with our call or the big picture. You see, the enemy will come at you, and rather than cause you to completely disobey God, he instead looks to delay that obedience or cause you to be veered off track, just very subtly. In other words, if the enemy can’t stop you with temptation, he will delay you with distraction. He throws things at you, not just in your everyday life, not just entertainment, and not just pleasures of this world, but primarily, to distract you, he will throw at you battles that you don’t need to fight. The enemy is very deceptive; he seeks to distract you with battles that have nothing to do with the call of God or your Christianity, veering you off track. It absorbs all of your energy and effort, and when you invest all your energy and effort into things that you shouldn’t be fighting in the first place, you lose the other battles because you’ve wasted all the energy that you have. For example, we think that demonic attack looks like a séance, a ritual, or perhaps a demonic movie that we’ve deemed as such. But while the enemy can sometimes work through those things, he more often works through the mundane or the seemingly dull. While we look to find the enemy in a séance or an obvious manifestation, it’s true that demonic attack looks more like gossip than it does like ritual. It looks more like slander than it does like an exorcism you would see in a movie. The enemy wants to assault you through distraction, and that distraction can sometimes be the battles we fight with each other. Why does the enemy need to discourage any of us if we’re busy doing it to each other? Often, we do the enemy’s job for him by slandering, discouraging, and speaking evil of our brothers and sisters, and this should not be so. There was an army called the Ghost Army during World War II. This army consisted of Hollywood actors, film producers, Broadway stars, Broadway producers, radio specialists, and special effects people who had worked in the entertainment industry. What they would do is create the illusion…