In this episode, we will learn how we use Spiritual Weapons to defeat demonic attacks in our minds.
Kingdom Community TV Podcast
The Cure for Anxiety Part 5
(upbeat music) - Hello and welcome back to my channel, Freedom by Faith Ministries. I am Dr. Pamela Noel and I will be your host for today. So we are continuing our series on anxiety, fear, paranoia, depression. So we're going to be talking about what we consider emotions. And we're going to continue to talk about how do we overcome anxiety, depression and fear. And so as I mentioned many times now, that I have suffered for many years. And because God says all things work together for good, because I was able to overcome anxiety and fear in this paranoia and depression without any medications using only the words of God and walking along with him, obeying him, trying my best to obey these verses. God has given me the tools that I need to be able to now teach others who are suffering from what I suffered from for many years. And so I have not been depressed or anxious in over 10 years, basically practicing biblical principles and living my life to please God, right? So we're going to talk today about how to have joy in a horrible situation, right? So in the last video, we spoke about Paul, who I believe it was either the last video or the one before that. Paul was in prison in the book of Philippians, Philippians four, where he said to be always be full of joy in verse four, right? Again, I say again, rejoice. So we're going to talk about that. So last time we spoke about how to overcome fear and anxiety because it is a sin to confess it as a sin that we're not putting our faith in trust in God, which is sinful, right? Without faith, it is impossible to please God. And if you're a man or woman of God and you are in faith, there's no reason to be afraid because we believe that God is sovereign. He's in control and he allows things to happen according to his will and his purposes. So today we're going to talk about how do we have joy? So we've confessed it as a sin. We've repented of anxiety, fear when God says to be anxious for nothing and we're anxious about everything, right? So that is a direct violation of God's word. So we spoke about that the last time and we've confessed it as a sin, we've repented. So now how do you come to the other side and actually have joy? How do you rejoice in horrible situations? What's the motivation behind Paul being in prison, suffering and rejoicing? Why did Paul rejoice in prison? Why was he celebrating and worshiping God in prison? And so there's a couple of examples of that which we're not going to go into when Paul was in prison and he was praising God and doors were opened, chains were broken and you an angel basically broke him out of prison. I think that happened to Peter actually also when the church was praying for him and he was about to be persecuted the following day for preaching about Jesus. And while he was asleep his an angel came and broke him out of prison. And Paul also he worshipped and praised God and he was broken out of prison. So it's important to remember that God is sovereign, he's faithful and he's waiting on people who have faith in him who are not going to be anxious, who are going to trust him so that the miracles that we want to see happen will happen. So Heavenly Father thank you Lord for bringing us together. Today Lord we ask you Holy Spirit to take over this talk today, we're asking you by the blood of Jesus, let your will be done. Whatever you desire for your children to understand and know today, let that be the only message that comes out of my mouth. Not my opinion, my thoughts, my feelings, but only what you desire for your children to know today. Amen. So we're going to talk about some of the verses that I meditate on nearly every day. Literally at least five, six times a day I meditate on these verses. And that's one of the secret weapons of overcoming anxiety and fear is to meditate on verses day and night. So one of the verses that I meditate on is in Ephesians six where Paul is talking about spiritual warfare, right? So today we're going to talk about spiritual warfare. In my last video we're going to talk about joy. But today we're going to focus on how do you have joy we're going to talk about how to literally combat depression, anxiety and fear. And after you have literally destroyed these demonic spirits, okay? We talked about before that fear, anxiety, depression or demonic spirits, we saw that in the life of King Saul, right? So King Saul did not have any power to overcome the demons in his mind because of his pride, right? And God says humble yourself before the Lord resist the devil and he'll flee from you. So today we're going to talk about the spiritual warfare aspect of depression, anxiety and fear. And then after you have first repented of your sin, right? You have turned away, you have confessed it as a sin, right? You have got asked God to forgive you and you have forgiven yourself, okay? And now how do you actually combat and come against anxiety, fear, depression, paranoia, right? Suicide thoughts. How do you overcome that? And then how do you have joy, right? So we talked about how to confess, we've confessed that. So today we're going to specifically talk about overcoming fear and anxiety and to actually think of these thoughts as our enemies. And then the next time, the last video, we'll talk about joy. So the title of this passage from verse 10 to 19 is the whole armor of God, right? So when you're in a battlefield and think about that literally, one thing that God showed me several years ago, I don't remember now, that we also take the Bible literally, okay? So a lot of people have, you know, different ways at the interpret scripture and God told me, you know, we need to take the Bible literally, okay? 'Cause God means what he says and he says what he means. And a lot of people, they interpret the Bible, right? And we're not supposed to be interpreting the Bible, okay? So God speaks and we also take his words seriously and not make it mean something else 'cause we don't agree with what it actually says or that if we don't understand something, we just kind of make up something that makes sense to us, right? And so because the Bible says God's thoughts are higher than our thoughts, his ways are higher, there's no way that we as believers can have an understanding that God has because his thoughts and ways are so much higher than us. So we must rely on the Holy Spirit, who is the teacher to reveal things to us through the Word of God, right? And so something that reminded me years ago was we also take the Bible literally, okay? So we're gonna talk about spiritual warfare and when you're in a battlefield, literally in a battle, if you are in the army, for example, you're not going to go out there in your pajamas and think you're gonna win that battle, right? So when we are in spiritual war, we must think of it like an actual war, right? So when soldiers go off to battle, not only are they training for battle, when they are on the battlefield, they're completely dressed for the battle, right? From head to toe, you must have protection from head to toe and you must have weapons to attack your enemies, right? So your offensive weapons or the weapons that protect you from your enemy's attack and your defensive weapons, I apologize. Your defensive weapons or weapons that you have on you that protect you from your enemy's attacks against you and your offensive weapons, like if it's a machine gun or a grenade or a knife or whatever it may be, now those are the offensive weapons that you need for you to attack your enemy. So you have weapons to protect you from your enemy and you have weapons to attack your enemy, right? So God told me to take the Bible literally and so that's the vision that God gave me for spiritual battles, think of it like natural battles, right? You protect yourself and you have weapons to come against your enemy and it's the exact same thing in spiritual warfare. So our enemies are spirits, the demonic unclean spirits who work under the authority of Satan, right? And when we are confronted by these demons, God has given us weapons to overcome them. But most Christians don't even recognize you're in a spiritual war, number one. So how do you win a battle when you don't even know you're in a battle, right? And number two, they're completely ill-equipped for the battle, right? So it's the equivalence of going into a war against an enemy and you're completely naked. You have nothing on you, you have no weapons to protect you, you have no weapons to defeat your enemy, you have nothing, right? So God has given us the weapons that we need to overcome spiritual demons or spiritual enemies or real enemies, we must utilize them. So it says a final word, this is Ephesians six, verse 10 to 18. We're going to read every single piece of the armor of God and understand these are the pieces of the armor that we have in order to overcome depression, anxiety and fear, okay? Be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power, put on all of God's armor, let me stop here. It says, put on all of God's armor, which means that you cannot miss even one, right? So most Christians probably have maybe one or two of these weapons that we're going to talk about, right? But in order to overcome Satan, in order to overcome these demonic spirits in our minds that causes fear, anxiety, depression, we must have every single piece of the armor on. So he says in verse 11, put on all of God's armor so that you will be able to stay in firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen worlds, against mighty powers, these are spiritual powers, spiritual demons, okay, unclean spirits, spiritual against mighty powers in this dark world and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on every piece of God's armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. I'm going to stop there. So last time we spoke about when James 4, verse 7, where God says to humble yourself before the Lord, right? Humble yourself before God resist the devil and he'll flee. And now when you humble yourself before the Lord and we talked about that last time, we need to have every single piece of the armor of God in order to get the enemy to flee from us as well, right? So therefore, put on every piece of God's armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil, then after the battle, you'll still be standing firm. Stage your ground putting on the belt of truth and the body armor of God's righteousness. For shoes put on the peace that comes from the good news so that you will be fully prepared. In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil, put on salvation as your helmet and take the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. Verse 18, pray in the spirit at all times and on every occasion, stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. We can do a whole series, which I have done actually, on just this passage, right? And so if you have not done so, I would highly recommend that you take a close look at our previous videos on spiritual warfare, right? And so it's important to remember that Paul said to put on every piece of God's armor. We're gonna go through them one by one, but not in depth like I did in previous videos. I literally had a full video on each of these weapons, which I don't have the time to do in this video, but it's important to know that Paul says, "Every piece you cannot miss one." Okay, and think you're gonna win against evil. We must have every single piece. So the first piece, which I always think is interesting, he says to put on your belt of truth. So if you don't know the truth, right? If you think these demonic spirits you have are just emotions that I can't control, you don't know the truth. And you've already lost that battle just in that alone that you don't know the real source of the anxiety and fear and the depression and paranoia that we suffer are actually demonic principalities, demonic spirits that are in our minds that are causing us to feel this way, right? To feel suicidal and anxious. So number one, know the truth, right? So put that on you. You put that on you, right? So it's an action verb, right? Put on every piece. So it's not something that happens. Oh, I'm a Christian. So I automatically have all of God's armor on me. And a soldier must put on his armor. He must put on his attire, I should say, right? He must take the sword, he must take his gun, he must take his grenade, his bullet, so whatever it is, right? So that's an action where you have to take the truth, right? And put it on. And the body armor of the righteousness of God, right? So we know that Jesus is the righteousness of God. So we put him on, right? And notice that the most vital organ in our chest is the heart, because the heart is what pumps blood to every tissue in your body. And so there's, and I'm not gonna go into that, I went into that in our videos on spiritual warfare that Satan operates in the heart, right? He's the one who enters the heart of people to entice people to sin, to fall into temptation. And so the righteousness of Christ is what we put on in order to block Satan from attacking our heart, right? So he cannot manipulate your heart. We must have the righteousness of Christ on us, and which means, righteousness just means to be in right standing with the Lord, being obedient, humble towards the Lord. For shoes, put on the peace that comes from the good news so that you'll be fully prepared. So how many people know that peace is actually a spiritual weapon against the devil, right? So when we're anxious, that alone gives the enemy an upper hand and he wins, right? So when you're in any situation that causes you fear, anxiety, that means you don't have your shoes on in the middle of the battlefield, right? So we're going to take that these verses literally. So now you're imagining yourself in the middle of the battlefield, you don't have your breastplate of righteousness, you're not living according to the will of God, you're not in right standing with God. So now you're completely exposed in the middle of a battlefield when demons are coming at you, right? You're not in peace, you have no peace, you have no fear and anxiety and you're not wearing your shoes basically in the middle of a battlefield. Now your barefoot, right? And the next one says, in addition to all these, hold up your shield of faith, right? So now you have your shield, whatever fiery darts coming at you from the enemy, your faith in God is what blocks it from coming in, right? So think about that literally. So now you're in the middle of the battlefield, you don't know the truth, so you don't have your belt on, you don't have the righteousness of Christ, you're living according to your own will, what you think is right. So now you don't have a breastplate, your heart's completely exposed and you also are not in peace. Peace is a battle strategy against the devil. So when you're anxious worrying, who's out to get me, what bad things can happen to me today? So now you're in the middle of a battlefield without your shoes, your barefoot, right? How do you win a battlefield, barefoot in the middle of a battlefield, all kinds of fiery darts are coming at you and now you don't have your shield of faith, your shield to block the enemy's arsenal against you, right? He's throwing fiery darts at you, bullets at you, grenades at you and you're just standing there, right? So who's gonna win that battle, very obvious, right? So we assume, oh, because I'm a Christian, you know, I'm gonna win every battle, that's the line. We see people going to church every Sunday who are being defeated by the devil and I know people like that personally and it's very a sad scene to see that because people don't understand that they are literally in a battle with demonic spirits sent by Satan to destroy those of us who don't know we're even in a battle, right? So after you've held up your shield of faith, now you have faith in God, which is a weapon against the enemy, right? He says, "Put on salvation as your helmet "and take the sword of the Spirit," which is the word of God. So salvation, the fact that we're saved by the blood of Jesus, that is a weapon against the enemy as well. And then your only offensive weapon to now come against evil is the word of God, right? So that means if you don't know the word of God, you lose, right? So that's why it's so important to know the word of God, meditate on a day and night and do what it says because that is literally a weapon against evil. And when I was a teenager suffering through depression, anxiety, fear, paranoia, suicide thoughts, and on one side, and on the other side, I had a desire to know who God is, I didn't like the fact that I was going to a church that wasn't teaching the Bible, actually. And so I had this unexplainable desire all of a sudden to read the Bible for myself and to obey it, right? Little did I know that was actually a weapon against the demonic spirits of anxiety and fear and depression and suicide, right? And so sometimes you overcome something and you don't really understand why until years later when I started to put the pieces together and I realized now that I've overcome demonic spirits doing the real of God and that was actually the cure for my depression, right? So he's saying here to take the sword. Again, it's an action word. It's not something that happens passively because I'm a Christian. I go to church every Sunday and I listen to sermons that I'm not gonna obey, right? So that's not how it works, right? You must take action, right? You're taking the sword of the spirit which is the word of God, right? So when demons are coming at you, you must advance against them with the word of God, right? So we must speak the word of God against that situation but you can't do that unless you know the word of God, right? And the last piece of your armor is to pray in the spirit at all times in an every occasion, stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. So we're not gonna talk about praying for all believers everywhere 'cause that's something that we can talk about at later videos about how to be an intercessor, how can God use a person to intercede for others, to intercede for nations because if you think about it, soldiers don't go into battle for themselves, they go into battle to defend nations, right? So that is part of your job as a believer which is not really the message for today so I'm gonna leave that alone for a second. But in a battlefield, you're not just fighting for yourself but you're in a battlefield for your family, for your nation but that's really not the point of this message so we're gonna leave that alone but the first part of that verse is pray in the spirit, right? So a lot of Christians don't believe in praying in tongues or speaking in tongues but I know for me, when I pray in tongues, I feel so much stronger, so much more powerful, right? So that's something I would highly recommend that people go to God and ask God to give them that gift of speaking in tongues and praying in tongues because that is God's language and it's a very powerful one. So when we're emotional and we're anxious and worried, we pray of the flesh actually and that's not really what Paul is saying here, right? So praying, God, we're just kind of praying for our own problems and I'm not saying it's wrong to do that, we should pray about everything but in a battlefield, right? You want to pray God's words and when you're filled with the Holy Spirit and you're speaking in tongues and you're praying in tongues over that situation, that's a very powerful prayer. We don't know what we're saying really but because those are God's words, when you're speaking and praying in tongues over a situation, I mean, obviously it's okay to pray over that situation in your own natural language but if you have asked God to give you that gift of tongues, it's so much more powerful experience to overcome evil by speaking the words of God over that situation and also speaking the verses in scripture about that situation, right? So when I'm meditating on the word that says, you know, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power, put on every piece of God's armor on and on and on, I'm saying God's words, right? And also praying in tongues specifically for that situation even when you don't know what you're saying but it's the Holy Spirit that who's speaking and the Bible says greater is he who's in you than he who is in the world. So Satan is in the world, he's the king of this world but we have the Holy Spirit who's greater than him, right? So when the Holy Spirit is the one speaking to that situation, to that demon, God's words, you have guaranteed success because God's words are much more powerful than the evil that is coming against us. So those are the weapons, right? And Paul says to put on every piece of God's armor which means that if you don't have one of them, if you're not in peace, you lose the battle even if you have every other piece of the armor of God, right? If you don't have the righteousness of Christ on you at all times, being obedient, being right standing with God, you automatically lose that battle. You don't have faith, your faith is shaken and weak because of whatever situation is going on around you, you lost the battle already, right? So meditate on these verses and practice them making sure you know the truth, making sure you have the righteousness of Christ on, making sure that you're in peace, making sure that you're holding up that shield of faith. I'm gonna have faith in God no matter what it looks like, right? Praying in tongues, speaking in the spirit, speaking the words of God to that situation, right? So you don't let the lives of the enemy coming into your brain to be what you speak, but we speak what God says. Even if the situation doesn't look like what we're believing in, but the Bible says we walk by faith in that by sight, right? So we don't believe what we see if it doesn't line up with the word of God, we have faith in what God says and that's what we live by, right? We walk by faith which means that it's what God says that we believe and if what we see doesn't line up with it, I'm not gonna believe it, right? So we have to train our minds to literally think that way. So that is the whole armor of God in a nutshell. So we're going to move now to second Corinthians 10, verse four. So once you have put on all of the pieces of your armor, you have salvation, you have on the righteousness of Christ, you have your belt of truth, you have your shield of faith, you're walking in peace, you're holding up your shield of faith, and you have the sword. You know the word of God, you're speaking the word of God. So now we're gonna take a look specifically at spiritual war against the things in our minds, right? So second Corinthians chapter 10 gives us an idea of what that might look like. And remember, God told me many years ago that we ought to take the Bible literally, right? We don't just come up with an explanation that makes sense to us. That's why so many religions and cults exist today 'cause people are doing that, right? We are not to interpret God's words because we don't understand the way God understands, right? So his wisdom is infinite. He has infinite wisdom that we will never have. We don't have unlimited knowledge that God has. So we must not use our own way of thinking to interpret the word of God. Let the word of God speak for itself, right? So second Corinthians chapter 10, actually we're going to start on verse three and finish at verse five. So it says, we are human but we don't wage war as humans do. And remember, in Ephesians six, Paul says our battle's not with flesh and blood, right? So when human beings are coming against you and you're coming against them that you've already lost the battle because the battle's not with them is the demonic powers that is influencing a person who does not submit to God to come against you and harm you. So your job as a believer is to forgive them. And we're going to talk about that in our last video that we must forgive people who come against us but the battle that we have against them, it's really not them, it's the evil forces that is influencing them to harm you or to attempt to harm you, right? So we are human. So even though we're human, we don't wage war as humans. We use God's mighty weapons. Not worldly weapons to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning to destroy false arguments. We destroy proud obstacle that keeps people from knowing God. We capture rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ. So let's take a look at that real quick. So we know that our battle now is not with people, right? We don't wage war as humans do, right? So when human soldiers are in battle, they're going against humans, right? Humans against humans in a real battle. In our battle, the real battle is with us against the demonic spirits. We saw that, we just saw that in Ephesians 6. We are going against spiritual demons, right? Unclean spirits, evil spirits, spiritual powers of this world, which are the demonic spirits who govern this earth temporarily. So those are the real enemies that we have and we saw in our last videos that King Saul was overcome by tormenting spirit in his mind, right? God is because of his sin and rebellion and pride. God sent a demonic spirit to torment him and he was overcome and filled with fear and anxiety, right? A spirit was doing that to him. And we see here that Paul is saying that we use God's mighty weapons, which we just went through every single piece of the armor of God, all of the weapons that God has given us to overcome spiritual enemies, the demonic spirits that attack us in our minds. So he says now to use God's weapons, the same weapons we just learned about in Ephesians 6, Paul is now saying here to put, to use those weapons, not worldly weapons, we don't use natural weapons against natural enemies against humans, but we use spiritual weapons, right? Mighty weapons that we saw in Ephesians 6, and what we use these weapons against the strongholds of human reasoning, right? So the way we process information from a human perspective is an enemy of God, right? And we know in the Bible that the Bible says that the flesh is an enemy of God, right? So you're using your own brain to process information to reason your way out of a situation, and that's actually an enemy, right? And Paul is saying here that the same weapons that he described in Ephesians 6, now in 2 Corinthians 10, he's saying to use those weapons to knock down human reasoning, right? So the way we think as human beings should be looked at as an enemy, right? So when you're in a bad situation and you start thinking, you know, depression, you start to think anxiously, and you're, you know, looking behind your shoulders, what's gonna happen to me? We're worried and scared all the time, right? So those are human reasoning, and he says to destroy false arguments, right? So the way that you think about that situation is a false argument, it's not according to the will of God. The way you're thinking about that situation is wrong, it should be looked at as an enemy. If your thoughts don't line up with the word of God, that's a rebellious thought, right? And he says, and we teach them, right? Teach them to obey Christ. So you must first know the word of God, which is Christ, Jesus is the word of God. So when you make your thoughts obey the word of God, that's what he's saying here to teach them to obey Christ, right? So we must take in captivity, like we do in war, where we take enemies captive and imprison them, right? So we take our thoughts, which are enemies of God, right? So we know that demons operate in the mind and in the heart as well, but now we're talking about the mind. So anxiety, fear, depression, we've proven that these are demonic spirits that we saw in the life of King Saul, but the way to overcome them is to use the Ephesians 6 weapons of God, the armor of God, right? To destroy these demonic spirits that are manipulating our minds, causing us depression, fear, anxiety, paranoia. So that is one of the strategies that I used was to think of depression, anxiety, and fear as enemies of God in my mind. And I must literally take my weapons against those enemies and destroy them and to capture them, making my thoughts obey the word of God. But in order for your thoughts to obey God, you must know the word of God first, right? And so this is going to be the end of this talk today. But again, let's remember that when you are feeling depressed, side anxious, you feel very low, you have a little self-esteem, you hate yourself. I mean, I went through all of that. You can literally hate yourself and also be prideful because you're making your life about yourself. So now you have pride on top of it, which the Bible says that God opposes the proud, right? So we must surrender our lives to God and take these verses seriously and literally so that we can have the victory that Jesus Christ died for us to have. So Heavenly Father, we thank you again for today's teaching. We thank you for revealing it to us that our battle against depression, anxiety, and fear is a literal spiritual battle. So help us, Lord, by the blood of Jesus to overcome these evil, demonic forces of depression, anxiety, and fear, the thoughts of suicide, prideful thoughts, thoughts that are focused only on us when we are the only focus in our lives, help us to take these thought captives to destroy them and to make them obey the word of God. In the name of Jesus, we actually help us to know the truth, to have on our shoes of peace, to remain at peace in this battle, to also hold up our shield of faith. Let us have faith in you, Lord. So I pray that you give every person who was watching this video the gift of great faith in your life, that we withstand whatever obstacles that are coming against us, knowing that this battle has already been won on the cross, but we will demonstrate your victory over every demonic unclean spirit that is trying to attack us with the weapons that you have provided us, Lord. So we repent right now that we have ignored you, we have ignored your instructions to put on the full armor of God. In the name of Jesus, we have salvation in Christ Jesus to protect our head as our helmet. So we thank you for that, Lord. We thank you, Jesus, for the shield of faith, for the shoes of peace, for the belt of truth, and help us to put on the breastplate of Jesus is, Jesus is righteousness. Let us walk uprightly before the Lord in obedience and humility. In the name of Jesus, we pray, Lord, that we will know the word of God, we will meditate on the word of God, and that we will use God's words against the enemy. In the name of Jesus, we ask you, Lord, to give the people in this meeting right now, that everybody who's watching, who does not have the gift of tongues, that you will give it to them right now in the name of Jesus, that they will not be afraid to open up their mouth right now and allow the Holy Spirit to download His words into them and that His words will come out of their mouth. (speaking in foreign language) In the name of Jesus, I ask you, Holy Spirit, to fall down on your people right now. In the name of Jesus, and give them the gift of speaking in tongues, in the name of Jesus, let the Holy Spirit take over their bodies and their mouth, that He will speak against depression on their behalf. In the name of Jesus, that He will speak against anxiety, fear, in the name of Jesus. So we ask right now, Lord, that you will give your people the gift of tongues right now, so they can pray in the Spirit and destroy the demonic principalities of depression, anxiety, and fear that has overtaken them in the name of Jesus. So we thank you Father, we trust in the mighty name of Jesus. So thank you again for joining me. I hope to see you again the very next time. (upbeat music) - Are you ready to step into your calling and destroy fear, worry, doubt, and anxiety? In our victory, God's glory, author Pamela Noel describes the stop and do nothing else principle, that was used by some of the most powerful people in scripture, including David, Moses, Peter, and Daniel. This You Can't Help Yourself book reveals that success in every area of your life lies in one name. - Our victory, God's Glory, was written to support Haiti's elite medical team, a Haitian American-owned not-for-profit organization that provides healthcare services to the poor in Haiti. - Proceeds from the sale of this book will help support our efforts. The ultimate goal is to build a hospital and provide much-needed medical care services, currently unavailable to those with limited access to quality healthcare. - Available at Amazon, your local bookstore, or at trilogy.tv.