Thought cannot exist apart from intellect. I want you to think about that for a moment… thought cannot exist apart from intellect. In other words, thoughts do not “appear” out of thin air. They are the product, or process of a thinking being (whether visible or invisible). If you yield to a thought, it can express itself through you. The reason I mention this is to point out that sin is really an “entity.” If I get into agreement with sin, then sin (or the spirit being behind it) has authority to operate through me.
Let me give you a simple example of this… … Have you ever sat in on an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting? As each participant shares, they always begin by identifying themselves as an alcoholic. “Hi, my name is Bob and I’m an alcoholic.” What is Bob really saying? “My identity is bound to alcohol. I’ve lived with my issue for so long that I can no longer separate it from who I am.” Now, I realize some would argue against what I’m saying. I’m not against AA. I believe they help people. But deliverance is about letting that “old man” die, completely! The person who is in Christ is a new creature. The old nature has passed away.
READ Romans 7:19-20 — For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Keep in mind, Paul has been an Apostle for 20 years when he penned this text. What is Paul saying? It is possible to yield to (or get into agreement with) the entity behind sin and allow it to have the authority to operate through me.
Paul wasn’t the only one who taught this…Jesus did also. (READ Mark 7:15-23) One of the best examples of this yielding in the spirit is found in Matthew 16 when Peter at Cesarea Phillipi speaks once for God and once for the devil all in the same conversation.
READ James 1:13-15 James does a good job of laying out the road map for us…
1.) Temptation — God is not the tempter. Temptation is merely the intelligent thought of an unseen entity expressing itself. All sin starts with a thought. The thought in itself is not sin. If I reject the thought it’s over. What happens if I entertain the thought?
2.) Drawn Away — If I entertain the thought of sin, I am lured from the safety of self-restraint by strong imagination. There is something in the thought that is appealing to me.
3.) Lust — If the thought is appealing to me, it is because find some form of delight or craving in the thought. Lust can be different things to different people, but it often has to do with exalting ourselves (or our desires) over our love for others and God.
4.) Enticed — Enticed means to lure, or to catch by bait. Just like a mouse is not capable of understanding the purpose of the trap when he goes for the cheese, we don’t really know what the devil has purposed against us when we are enticed by the bait. By the time we are enticed, the “thought” has reached the conception point.
5.) Lust Conceived — If we yield our will and come into agreement with the thought, it’s like being in labor. The birthing process of the sin has started.
6.) Sin — We give authority to “the thought” to manifest through us, and willfully commit the act of sin.
7.) Death — Death is the separation from the purpose in which you were created. The ultimate result of sin is death.
READ Proverbs 25:28 — He that [hath] no rule over his own spirit [is like] a city [that is] broken down, [and] without walls.
If I do not take control over things that can access me in the spirit realm, then just like a city without walls, I will take hit after hit after hit. I need to create fortification in the spirit. This allows me to separate myself from sin (break my agreement and take back my authority). For example, I may need to say something like: “I am not cancer… I am not doubt and unbelief… I am not slothfulness and procrastination… I am not addiction… my identity is not in any of these sins…” If I can see sin as a separate entity, then I can break my agreement with it. If I can break agreement with it, I have locked sin out. The sin is NOT you. You are NOT the sin. You are not the sickness. You are not the circumstance. Separate the “good you” from the “bad sin.”
Once I begin to gain understanding within my own life and situations, there are bigger applications. Like what? Well, for starters, I will be able to operate under the discerning of spirits when I deal with others. (Discerning of spirits is one of the gifts listed in 1 Cor. 12:10.) The amplified bible describes discerning of spirits this way: “it is the ability to discern and distinguish between the utterances of the spirits of truth and the false ones.”
READ Ephesians 6:12 — For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places].
The devil uses sin as a method to manifest through people. When this happens, I do not need to wrestle with the person (flesh & blood), I merely need to identify that an entity is messing with the person, and subsequently trying to mess with me. The devil is trying to create a conflict. Understanding this will save me a lot of time, a lot of heartbreak, a lot of pain, show me how to pray effectively, give me opportunities to lead people to deliverance, and allow me to minister to people with great effectiveness. As God continues to develop me in this discernment, there are even bigger and broader applications.
In the Moment: I feel compelled to focus on the area of rejection. I believe a lot of people are dealing with rejection, and they have not really identified it as sin. If someone rejects me, that is his or her sin. But, if I take on that rejection and accept it, then I am also in sin. By agreeing with rejection, I have created a doorway (or we could call it “trauma point”) for the enemy to pierce my life.
I believe many people have struggled with a spirit of rejection and that it has held some people back from building true godly relationships and from moving in the power & authority that God has intended them to move in. For some, it has moved from general rejection to self-rejection or self-conflict. I need to tell you that this is a form of idolatry. Why? Because you have taken another person’s opinion and placed it above God’s word and God’s opinion of you. When I wallow in rejection, I have allowed someone’s opinion to become an idol.
Rejection will keep you out of truly experiencing the body of Christ. Rejection will cheat you of fellowship. Rejection is a “being.” Your agreement with rejection has created a blockage between you and your brothers and sisters. For some, you may come to church as some sort of ritual, but don’t really feel the love and acceptance of the family of God. At the same time, rejection can lock you into bad relationships, damaging situations and abusive scenarios, because it has deceived (enticed, trapped) you into agreeing with it.Possible doorpoints or entry ways for rejection
- conflict with parents
- absent father (physically or emotionally)
- divorce
- hurt inside the church
- abandon/ adopted
- loss of employment
- learning disabilities/school conflicts…
Some ways that rejection can manifest:
- Depression
- Chronic Fatigue
- workaholic
- perfectionist, performance-driven
- issues with anger or bitterness
- issues with fear
- broken-hearted
- fear of failure
- isolation
- issues with rebellion
- repeat engagement in abusive relationships
- cancer
- chronic physical pain
- fabricated personality
- low self-esteem
- addictions (or anything to numb the pain)
Am I talking to you? Do you recognize a need for the Father’s cleansing touch to clear sin out of the way? Here is a sample prayer you might want to use:
Father, I come to you in the name of Jesus and recognize the work of sin in my life. I repent for agreeing and participating with rejection (or any sin). I want the work of rejection to be broken in my life. I ask Your forgiveness for allowing rejection to manifest through me. I renounce rejection. I release myself from rejection both in thought and in behavior. I uproot the fruit of rejection from my life. By the authority of the Father and by Jesus Christ, I rebuke any spirit associated with rejection. Leave me now, and go to dry places, in Jesus name. Thank You Father for Your forgiveness, deliverance and restoration in the name of Jesus, Amen.
