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Humans are very unique - not only living in the natural world, but can also connect to the spiritual world. Jesus came to tell us about the Kingdom of God, which is full of light, peace and joy; but there is another Kingdom which we are all born into - the Kingdom of Darkness - which rules by tormenting people, and using sin to control them. Jesus came to set us free, by shedding his blood on the Cross. When we accept what Christ has done for us, we need to continue and allow the Holy Spirit to change our thinking, by the renewing of our mind - that we would be kind, tender hearted and loving to one another, and set free in our hearts.
Tonight we’re going to pray for people to be set free of tormenting spirits. I’m sure many of you have come, and that’s what you’re wanting - a breakthrough in your life. Breakthroughs can be dramatic and sudden, or we breakthrough progressively.
So at the end of the meeting, we’re going to have an opportunity to pray for people. At the end of the meeting, any person who wishes prayer can make their way up and we will pray for you. We want to bless you. We want to help you. That’s the heart of God. He loves you and desires you help you. We’ll also extend an invitation tonight. If you’ve come here and you’re not a Christian, at the end of the meeting we’ll extend an invitation; an invitation for you to receive Jesus Christ, to become a follower of Jesus. So we’re going to share tonight about God’s goodness. We’re going to pray and minister to people; and then give you an opportunity to make a decision if you would like to receive Jesus Christ.
When we’re born into this life, we’re born separate from God. Every person that’s born into this world is separated from God by sin. The problem is not God’s; the problem is ours. God loves people; His heart is to help us all the time. The nature of God is loving; His heart is always towards us. His heart is towards you; but sin blinds us to what is real. We become self-centred, and we want to live our life without God. We violate God’s laws, and troubles and problems come into our life. God always desires to come in and to help you.
So we’re going to share a story from the Bible tonight; and I’ll mix it with some real life stories. We want to show you how you can be set free tonight. God always desires to help us, we just have to open our heart and be willing to let Him. The first step towards God is to become aware of our need. So when we’re born into this world, we lack a sense of purpose; we wonder why we’re here, we long to find some meaning in our life, and we find ourselves with problems we can’t solve. This is called sin - living a life without God. Jesus Christ came into this world to address the area of sin, and to make it possible for us to receive new life.
At the end of the meeting, when we pray for people, we’ll be praying for the power of God to touch people. We’ll be praying a deliverance prayer. A deliverance prayer is a prayer to release you from evil spirits. It’s a prayer to break areas of your life that have been in bondage, to set you free. Jesus said: “I have come that you may have life, and have it more abundantly”; but He said: “The devil has come to steal, kill and destroy.” So there are very real evil spirits. They seek to enter people’s lives, and to bring destruction.
Tonight, we want to challenge those spirits. Tonight, we want to confront them. We want them to know Jesus Christ is stronger than every evil spirit. So evil spirits seek to enter people’s lives, and they always do it by deception. The majority of times, people don’t know they have an evil spirit; and it continues to work in their life, creating problems for them. Jesus came to: confront evil spirits; to deal with the issues of sin which allow the demons in; and to reconnect us with God, so that the Spirit of God could come in us. No person is made to live with evil spirits. We’re made for the presence of God. We’re designed to bring heaven to earth.
So at the end of the meeting, we’ll have an opportunity for people who are struggling and tormented by evil spirits to be set free. I will tonight, preach on one area; but I encourage you to be open if you have a problem to come forward. When the anointing or power of the Spirit of God begins to flow, there comes a sudden change in the atmosphere. We can’t see God, because He’s a spirit; but that doesn’t mean He doesn’t exist. His presence can be seen touching lives.
When the presence of God comes into a meeting, sometimes demonic spirits begin to manifest. When Jesus spoke in some meetings, demons began to cry out. So it’s possible that during the course of the meeting, before we get to the end, that demonic spirits may begin to manifest their presence. If they do, people may shake, cry, yell, or fall on the floor. Don’t be distracted by that. We will keep our focus on what God is doing.
So tonight, during the meeting, if you start to become agitated, it’s possibly an evil spirit. If you start to feel deep fear inside - it’s not you, it’s the spirit. It’s afraid, because it knows what’s happening. If you start to feel very angry inside - it’s not you, it’s the spirit, very angry, because it sees what’s happening. If you suddenly feel: “I don’t like that man, I want to kill him”- that’s definitely a spirit. We don’t worry about that. We believe that Jesus will set people free. So if you become agitated during the meeting, then you come up to the front; and we will minister and pray for you. Amen? Amen.
So Lord we welcome You to come tonight. We welcome You to come in power tonight. Holy Spirit we invite You to come into this meeting. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I speak to every evil spirit present here tonight: you are subject to my authority, in Jesus’ name. When I command you, you will manifest your presence, and come out of people. Lord we thank You tonight for Your presence to touch people. Amen.
Let’s just pray for a few people, and I want us to just enjoy the presence of God. Don’t put your hand up for me to pray for you. Just let me point you out and pray for you. I just want to listen to the Holy Spirit, and as I listen to the Holy Spirit, He will show me who or what to pray for. Ok?
Let’s have a look around and pray for someone. Can I just pray for this girl just here? Just come. Thank you Lord. God knows all about our lives, and His presence is here tonight. Praise the Lord. Thank you Lord. Lord touch her tonight. Just close your eyes. Now, God’s presence is very near, and when we open our heart to Him, even though we can’t see Him, His presence can just come on us. Just touch us like that. Presence of God is here.
So people just suddenly feel God’s presence come - it’s a good feeling. Sometimes people laugh, sometimes they weep. God touches people in different ways. “Come and touch her Lord. Release Your joy into her life. Don’t block it. Laughter is good for you. It’s good for all of us. What did you suddenly feel?” “She’s really happy.” “Did you really feel happy? You want more?” “Yeah.” “Spirit touch you.” “Come. Touch you even more.”
“You want what she had? Close your eyes, and it’s like you just open your heart. Presence of God just comes.” The spirit world is very easy for us to reach into. It’s very easy for us to connect with God. God is not a long way off. God is very close; and when we open our heart, His presence comes to touch us.
So, we can’t see God, but His presence is here. This is a great church. This is a church that worships, a church that prays, and the presence of God is here. The Bible says that the kingdom of heaven, that’s the realm where Jesus Christ is King, is a kingdom with peace and joy. A kingdom where there’s joy, where people are free. “
So, it’s wonderful to know that we have an open heaven where God can help us. Some of you tonight have very deep problems. You have some things that are really troubling you. God wants to help you tonight. He’s willing to help you. All we have to do is extend faith towards Him. Jesus said: according to what you believe, it will be done to you. So when you come for prayer, always come expecting God to touch you. Come expecting something to happen. Expect God to minister to you. Amen.
So when we pray for people, you’ll feel the power of God come on you, and if there’re spirits inside, they may manifest. They may stir. So, at the end of the evening when we pray for people, I’ll lead you in a corporate prayer to reach out to the Lord. Extend your faith for Jesus to touch you. It’s not about me, it’s about Jesus. When you extend your faith towards Him, He will reach out to touch you.
Now, there’s someone, a woman down here; and the Lord shows me that you have been having nightmares almost all of your life. You have these recurring nightmares that wake you up, and you feel fear when you wake up. In fact, many times you have a light on, because you don’t like it in the dark. Who’s that woman that has that problem? That’s a spirit causing that problem. There’s a woman somewhere in front of me here, and you have this problem. God bless. Just please come.
So you say – how could you know this? Well I don’t, but Jesus knows, and He wants to help her. So isn’t it wonderful? Jesus knows. He knows about you. It’s alright. He loves you. He wants to help you. You’ve been having these problems most of your life. It’s not your fault. It’s not your fault. It’s a family spirit, and God wants to set you free tonight. You don’t have to live with that fear. Jesus wants to help you. So, in just a moment, I will command the spirit to go. In just a moment, it will leave you, and you won’t be tormented anymore.
“In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I break generational curses of idolatry. I break them. I break them. I break them in Jesus’ name. I break the agreements with idols, I break sacrifices to idols, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I command this tormenting spirit: Come out of her now. Loose her now in Jesus’ name. I break words of dedication, where you were dedicated to the idol. I break that dedication now. I loose you from the words of dedication. I cut the soul ties to the idol and temple.
In Jesus’ name, loose her now! Loose! Loose! Come out of her now. Come on. Out. Out. In Jesus’ name, release her now. Release! Loose! The blood of Jesus has broken your power. You will loose her and come out of her now. Spirits of fear. Spirits of terror. Spirits of idolatry. Spirits of death. Spirit of witchcraft. Loose her now! Come out. Out. Let her go. Thank You Lord for Your anointing coming on her now. Thank You Jesus. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, come out of her. Come out. Come out. Just cough it out. Out! You will release her. You will release her now. Release! Let her go. Let her go. Out. Thank You Lord. Thank You Jesus.
“Lord just come upon her now. Thank You Lord. Peace. Peace. Father, we just thank You for Your presence. Look at me. Look at my eyes. Tell me what’s happening in you now. Tell me what you’re feeling. Just talk. Just tell me what you’re feeling. Some things left you.” “It’s hurting her.” “Where’s it hurting? In your stomach? Ok. Just put your hand on your stomach now. Church, I’d like you to reach your hands out to her now. Just pray in tongues now. Thank You Lord. Just touch her.
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I command you now to come out of her. Come out. That’s right. Cough. Out. Out. Out. Spirits of bitterness. Spirits of hate. Spirits of fear. Go. Go. Go. Go in Jesus’ name. I break generational witchcraft. I break generational agreements with evil spirits. I break it, I break it, I break it. In Jesus’ name, I command you now, spirits of divination, go. Spirits of witchcraft, go. In Jesus’ name, release her, release her. I break the generational curses over your life. I break them. I break them. Thank you Lord. Touch her. Touch. Touch. Holy Spirit come. Thank you Lord.
Alright then, just to help you explain what’s happened. The Lord gave me what’s called a “word of knowledge”. It’s a little bit of knowledge, about one person at one time. He showed me a problem she had all her life; and she showed courage. She came forward. It’s not always easy to do that. What happened is, as I began to speak and command the spirits, they began to manifest and come up out of her. First, there were screams. Then there were tears. Then she began to cough; and the spirits started to come out of her.
So, God has touched her very deeply. It’s quite traumatic to be tormented by spirits all your life. She was troubled with the nightmares from when she was very young. So we know the spirits came in through her family. Night after night she would be tormented by the spirits. It’s very hard to explain that to people. Usually people feel quite ashamed, and they don’t want to tell people they have such a problem. But these were tormenting spirits. Jesus said: the thief comes just to steal, kill and destroy; but He came to give us life.
So tonight, God has started the work of delivering. There’s been a huge degree of freedom, so there is of course grief with this; but she’ll be free from those nightmares. She won’t have to go to sleep with the light on. She won’t have to go to sleep afraid of the dark, because Jesus has conquered the darkness, and brought peace to her. Now, there are other areas that God wants to touch her. So we just allow God’s spirit to continue to work in her life.
There’ll be other people here tonight, also troubled with the same issue; and God wants to set you free as well. Some of you will be troubled with nightmares. Some of you troubled with, like you wake up, and someone’s grabbing you. This is a spirit. This is a demonic spirit. Some of you at night-time will feel like someone’s touching you or molesting you, but there’s no one there. That’s an evil spirit.
God wants to set you free of these things. That’s why Jesus came – to deal with the issue of sin, and then to set us free of tormenting spirits. He wants you to be filled with His spirit. Where His spirit is present, there is peace and joy. You notice when I was praying for some of the other people, that there was a joy came on them. There was a peace came on them, kind of happy. God’s spirit brings great things to our life.
The fruit of God’s spirit in us is: love and joy and peace. Demonic spirits bring turmoil and agitation. God wants us to be free of that. That’s what tonight’s about. It’s about people being set free of spirits. So later on tonight we’ll extend the invitation: that God will set you free also. Amen. Come on let’s give Lord a clap shall we?
[Teaching]
We’re going to have a look at a passage in the Old Testament. We’re going to go to the book of Exodus. We’re going to just look in a couple of places. We’ll first of all look in Exodus 1:13 – 14. Then we’ll look in the book of Exodus 15.
The Bible is a revelation of the unseen spirit world. The Bible helps us to understand there’s an invisible spirit world. That there was a real physical world; and human beings are quite unique. We can live in the physical world; and we can connect with the spiritual world. Jesus came to talk about the kingdom of God. Jesus came to bring the kingdom of heaven to earth.
In the kingdom of heaven, there are no evil spirits. The kingdom of heaven takes on the nature of the king. Jesus is King over the kingdom of heaven, and His kingdom is: full of light; full of life; full of creativity; full of peace; full of joy. It’s an amazing kingdom, and He wants to bring that kingdom to you.
The problem is, there is another kingdom - the kingdom of darkness. When Adam and Eve sinned and rebelled against God, demonic spirits began to manipulate, and govern, and rule over people’s lives; tormenting them with burdens, and problems, and pressures; bringing sickness and affliction to people.
Jesus came to set people free. He said: the Spirit of the Lord anointed Him, and He went about doing good, healing all who were oppressed of the devil. So Jesus ministered to people, and set them free of tormenting spirits, and introduced them to the kingdom of God. In the kingdom of God, there is no sickness, there’s no disease, no torments. Where Jesus rules, His life prevails.
Now we’re going to have a look at a story in the Old Testament. These stories in the Old Testament are pictures of the invisible spiritual world. We can learn from these stories, we can learn about Jesus Christ. We can learn about the hidden spirit world. So we’re going to look at a story of Israel, and we’re going to first of all, look in Egypt, where they were in bondage.
The people of Israel were held as slaves in the land of Egypt. They wanted freedom. They yearned for freedom, but they were dominated by a foreign military power. They were slaves that served taskmasters. They wanted to be free, but they could not be free. They needed someone to deliver them.
This is just like us. Before we come to Christ, we may think we’re free; but we are living in sin, manipulated by evil spirits, and our life is very hard. Our life is served with bondage. Look what it says in verse 13. “So the Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor. And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage—in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field. All their service, in which they made them serve, was with rigor.”
So we see a group of people who long to be free; but they are ruled over by cruel taskmasters; and they made every part of their life hard and difficult. It says: they made their lives bitter. In other words, the people were hurt. They were abused, they suffered; and they had no way to escape. They were literally slaves in a foreign country; and their heart became very bitter.
When people are in pain, when people suffer in life, and get hurt by others, often they hold resentment and anger and their heart becomes bitter. When our heart becomes bitter, it opens the door for evil spirits to enter, and to cause sickness and diseases.
I prayed for one young man, and he was deeply bitter against his father. He was angry. He was resentful; and he let it go down into his heart. So his life was bitter. He could not appreciate or enjoy the good things, because he had such bitterness in his heart. The result was, a spirit of infirmity came into him; and it began to steal his health. He developed pain in all his joints, his back began to stiffen, and his life gradually came under threat that he would be paralysed. The bitterness in his heart had opened a doorway for evil spirits.
Whenever people are involved in idolatry, or there’s bitterness in the heart, demonic spirits will enter. I have also found wherever there’s idolatry, people serve under those idols, serve under the demons, their lives become bitter. Idols do not offer us any solution. Rather, they make our life harsher. So these people were made very, very, bitter.
God heard their cries, and He sent Moses to them. Moses is a picture of Jesus Christ. A prophetic picture of a deliverer. Moses delivered the people of God out of Egypt. God sent plagues on the Egyptians. Each plague was an attack against the gods they worshipped. The last plague of all, the people of God shed the blood of a lamb; they put the blood on the doors of their house, and a destroyer went through the nation, and everywhere the blood had been applied, the people were spared.
This is a great prophetic picture, that one day Jesus Christ would shed His blood on the cross, would die and give up His life on a cross, that every person who would believe that Jesus shedding His blood was enough to break the power of sin. Every person who by faith receive Christ, the blood Jesus shed would break the power of the devil, break the power of sin, and set them free. So, there came a great day, when the people of Israel left Egypt. They were saved! The Egyptians had been destroyed; and the people of God journeyed full of hope. But God didn’t want to just save them. He wanted to bring them into a place of great blessing; but in order to go into that place of blessing, God needed to change them.
I want you to look with me in Exodus 15; and we’ll read from verse 22. “So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea; then they went out into the Wilderness of Shur, and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people complained against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” So he cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet.” Verse 27 – “Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees; so they camped there by the waters.”
So when we give our life to Jesus Christ, and we begin to follow Christ, not everything is easy. There are often challenges on the way. God is leading us in a journey to blessing; but He wants to change you. He wants to free you of bitterness in your heart. So God saw all of these people come out of Egypt; and they were rejoicing and celebrating; but God knew they still had a slave mentality. They still thought like slaves. They still fought like a victim. So God wanted to change them. He wanted to free them from slave thinking. He wanted them to become sons and children, and enter in an inheritance; but in order to enter their inheritance, they needed to change.
God has many things planned for you; but you need to grow. You need to let God work in your life. Sometimes there are hindrances in our hearts, hindrances in our life. Sometimes there are bondages in our life. We had them before we were saved; and after we got saved, God says: I want to change you. I want to free you. I want you to experience the kingdom of heaven now. So how am I going to do that?
Notice what happened here. The people just had a great experience, a victory. They’ve had 3 days with no water. It’s hard to walk in the desert with no water. They were thirsty. They suffered temporary lack. You see, God could see something they couldn’t see. God saw them come free, and God had planned the journey for them. God knew there were some sweet water, wells, and palm trees. God had already provided for them. It’s just they couldn’t see it. So when they experienced 3 days with no water, they became very distressed; and what was in their heart came up. The waters they drank were quite bitter, and so what did they do?
Difficulties are opportunities to grow. Notice what happened. It says: the people complained. They were bitter after years of slavery. So as soon as difficulty came, what was in their heart came up. God wanted to change their heart; but before you can change, you must see the need for change. Sometimes we experience some difficulties in life, and then an opportunity to see what is in our heart, an opportunity to grow and change. The people were bitter; they saw themselves as a victim. God wanted them to be healed; He wanted to release the bitterness they held.
When people come to know Jesus Christ, often they’ve had years of painful experiences, that have caused their heart to become bitter: Family experiences; broken marriages; broken relationships; disappointments. Now, if you ask a person: are you bitter? “Not me. Oh no. I go to church. I read the Bible. No, no, no. I wouldn’t be bitter. Why do you ask that?” So people can be bitter, and not be aware of it; but pressure and difficulties cause what’s in our heart to come up.
There are several ways you can recognise bitterness. The first one is seen here – complaining. If you hear someone complaining, they’re bitter. Do you know anyone that complains? “Oh, it’s that person next to you isn’t it? It’s not me! I would never complain.”
You notice the second thing they did is: they blamed. Bitter people want to blame someone. Bitter people are always looking for someone to blame. If I blame you, you are the reason that I’m so angry. You make me so angry! It’s all your fault, you know. It’s not my fault. Hello - it’s my anger! If you’re angry - it’s your anger. No one makes you angry - you get angry all by yourself!
You can tell when people are bitter - there are a number of evidences of bitterness. Let me just share with you what they are. You notice here, they complained against Moses. Let me share with you some of the evidence of bitterness. 1.) Complaining. 2.) Blaming others. 3.) Lack of joy.
Bitter people can’t laugh, you know. They’re very bitter and sour. It shows on their face. You look at the face, lots of frowns. Their lips, it looks like they’re sucking a lemon. As they get older, it gets worse. It shows on the face more. All that frowning, all that bitterness, lack of ability to laugh, to have joy.
Here’s another sign: a lack of gratitude. People who are bitter aren’t thankful. They focus on what they don’t have; rather than what they do have. A person who is free of bitterness, is thankful: “I’m so blessed. I have so many wonderful blessings.”
But these people couldn’t be joyful, and couldn’t be thankful. Instead of saying: “Oh, thank you for getting us out of Egypt. Thank You Jesus”; it was: “Hey, why no water? It’s all your fault. You led us here. How come you lead us here? I think you want to kill us. We should go back.” See - lack of gratitude. Here’s what happens: lack of gratitude; and often there’s judgements.
People who’re bitter make a lot of judgements. They’re very critical, finding fault. These are evidences of bitterness. Bitter people can’t enter and experience God’s blessing unless they deal with the bitterness.
Israel was bitter. Their bitterness caused them continued cycles of failure and defeat. When you’re bitter, you usually can’t see it, but the fruit shows up: blame; no joy, can’t celebrate; lack of gratitude; judging. Always wanting more; never satisfied.
There are sharp, cutting words. Oh yeah - when someone is bitter, there’s a sharpness in their words. You can feel the sword go through you. There’s an example in the Bible of a woman and a man, the man’s name was David. His wife’s name was Michal. Michal was Saul’s daughter. David was Saul’s son-in-law.
Both of them were deeply hurt by King Saul. So what King Saul did was this – King Saul was envious of David, so he chased him away. He put a reward on him – kill on sight; dangerous fugitive - shoot to kill; chased him through the land. If David made any friends, he’d kill the friends. He chased him right out of the country.
Then, he did something else: he took David’s wife, and gave her to another man. She’s still got a husband, she loves her husband, but he drags her away, gives her to another man. It breaks her heart - she’s forced to sleep with a man she doesn’t love. Forced to go through a marriage she should never have gone through.
So David went on that way, and she went on this way; but God had a destiny for them, that together they would rule Israel. Eventually, God brought them back together. Eventually, God made way for David to be restored and become king.
Now David has been badly treated. He’s been hurt very deeply. He’s been rejected. He’s been falsely accused. His friends have been killed. He’s been hunted down. But his heart was free of bitterness. How was his heart free of bitterness? He forgave. He reached out for the goodness of God. He said: God is good to me; I will show grace and forgive.
So when the opportunity came to kill Saul, he would not. He says: God can deal with Saul. I put my life in the Lord’s hand. Mostly when people are hurt, they want to get revenge. Someone was telling me, for the Chinese, ten years not too long to wait for revenge. So he had his ten years, but there’s no revenge in his heart. When the time comes for him to be king, he brings the ark of God, and he is full of joy. He’s celebrating, he’s rejoicing, his heart is free; and he wants to bless King Saul’s family. He’s grateful to God for blessing. There’s no bitterness in him - his spirit is free.
But his wife was very bitter. She did not reach out to God and bring grace into her situation. So the Bible says in 2 Samuel 6: She looked out the window. What’s this? She was unable to experience the blessing of God. The greatest revival in Israel’s history, and she is looking through the window, not being part of it. Bitterness will keep you out of the presence of God. Bitterness will leave you tormented.
Second thing, she looked, and she sees her husband; and she despised him in her heart. She looked down on him, because bitterness is in her heart. When David came home, he’s full of joy, full of gratitude, full of thankfulness to the Lord. He came home to bless his household; but his wife says: “Oh, you’re the king, and you carry on like this! Why you do this? You make a fool of yourself.” Bitter! “Geh geh geh” like that. You know what I’m talking about? You heard someone do that? Sometimes I’ll hear people do that. “Geh geh geh!” It’s like a sword. Stab. Stab. Stab. Words have power of life and death.
So one is sweet; one is bitter. One is enjoying God’s blessing; one is outside God’s blessing. Each had a choice as to how they would respond to difficulties. One forgave, and came into blessing. The other, it says of Michal, because she was so bitter, she remained barren all her life. She was never able to produce any fruit in her life. Bitterness will leave you unfruitful, and