Getting Out The Roadblocks Part III
Please watch the video introduction to our message here:
In this series, I feel in my spirit that we are dismantling and exposing the traps many of us have fallen into unknowingly. When a hunter seeks game, especially before rifles, they laid traps. It could be a pit that the animal would fall into or a trap that would clasp onto a leg. In our spiritual lives, these traps are real, and no amount of psychology, psychiatric help, or other resources can permanently remove them from us because they are spiritual.
2 Timothy 2:26
And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
1 Peter 5:8
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
These “traps” can be past conflicts, compromises we regret, or things done to us or things we have done, producing emotions of bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness, hatred, and the like, and these are only some of the tools in his bag. They adversely affect us, and though medication may help, it is like using a band-aid to stop the bleeding when stitches are needed.
Only God’s love and forgiveness can help us with guilt, depression (assuming our hormones are in balance), emptiness, loneliness, anger, feeling wronged, etc. These problems will not be resolved with just medication. We need instead to bring our concerns to the Lord, seeking His help and asking for forgiveness, or through Him, find the strength to forgive (forgiveness is not based on whether the person deserves it or not, but forgiveness is a necessity for me to gain freedom from the trap bitterness keeps me in. It only hurts me Luke 6:37 & Ephesians 4:31&32).
We need to find help and encouragement in His Word before it affects our relationship with Christ, who gave so much that I could be forgiven. Speak to a sister or brother who has been a believer for a while. They will pray with you and show you scriptures that will help. It’s super important.
Ultimately, it is knowing His love for us that heals us. Our souls are complex, and spiritual forces affect us from childhood. These are the hardest, the ones inflicted or experienced as a child. They become part of our souls. As mentioned before, I was blamed for my brother’s drowning. I was eight at the time. I carried that guilt into my forties before I could escape it. I needed to mature in my Christian walk to understand that since Christ died for my sins and I was completely forgiven, I had no right not to forgive myself. I did not have the right not to forgive myself. It took time and maturity to understand that.
It was like continually crucifying Christ again and again. He wanted me to live in His joy, not in my depression. So finally, I understood that I forgave myself and became free of a weight I had carried virtually my whole life, which is just one example. Many of us have experienced dramatic events as children, and that trauma goes deep and affects us to this day. For girls especially, it happens to boys as well. There is the concern of being molested, raped, or maybe even having an abortion (for older girls) that we regret.
It has affected your self-esteem. Once, you were happy and light-hearted and laughed, but now you are serious and feel like you are carrying a ton of bricks. To make matters worse, your friends do not understand, so often you are left alone. Even your judgment is impaired because of the guilt you carry. When things are terrible, you wish you were not here, and when good things come your way, you do not feel worthy of them, so you sabotage it so it does not happen. It could be a good job, a promotion, or even a nice man or woman to date.
Yet these actions that were done to you were not your fault, but as a child or young person, we are not mature enough to deal with them, so we blame ourselves. When dating now, instead of holding out for a Christian man or woman that truly loves Jesus, we go out with someone less because we do not feel worthy of someone better. We think, “who would want to date or marry me,” so out of desperation and insecurity, we settle for someone who dates us, provided we have sex with them, though we would prefer not to. We are too afraid they will leave us if we say no. Though if they loved you, as they say, they should be able to respect your feelings. This is a bad combination of low self-esteem and selfishness. With no respect for your feelings, the relationship is doomed to fail.
Do you want the correct answer from a man who raised two girls? Learn that Jesus loves you. Read the Bible, don’t date, don’t sleep around, go ahead and be weird; I give you permission. Instead of wondering who will call you, know that Christ is waiting for you. I know this sounds weird, but it is so true. Pray, talk to Him, ask Him to guide you, then read The Bible. Start with the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, but memorize Psalm 23. Accept Christ as your Lord, ask Him to forgive your sins, and now start growing in Christ. Tell the Lord that it is His job to pick the church, the guy or gal you are to date, and especially the person you would consider marrying. For now, put dating on the back burner till you are stronger in your faith. Here are two excellent Bible verses that speak of His love for you and the restoration that will begin as you read and pray.
Jeremiah 31:3-4
The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.
Again I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of Israel (put your name in place of Israel).’
: thou shalt again be adorned with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry.
John 3:15-17
That whosoever believeth in him (Jesus Christ) should not perish, but have eternal life.
For God so loved the world (again put your name instead of the world), that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (Any condemnation comes from us or satan. Conviction comes from God; conviction is meant to cause us to repent and turn to Him. Condemnation is meant to turn us away from God because we don’t feel worthy. The truth is that none of us are worthy, from the saint to the sinner; it is ALL GOD’S MERCY).
Now we must deal with obstacles to our growth. There is a saying that says sooner or later, you will deal with your parent’s demons. Just like emotional and physical characteristics come from the bloodline, so do spiritual liabilities from our parents. We do not like to talk about demons and their impact on us; that is precisely how they like it. When we do not acknowledge our enemy, he can hurt us, but when we bring him into the light, as we are doing, now we have a chance. Scripture does not shy away from this topic. It acknowledges satan and his demons.
1 Peter 5:8-10
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, — make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you.
1 John 4:1-5
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets (inhabited by demonic spirits) speaking lies are gone out into the world, Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: (God is salvation is what the name Jesus Christ means). And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is in the world.
Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater (mega) is he that is in you than he that is in the world (why? Because the Holy Spirit indwells all true believers).
If satan could quelch the fact that Jesus did come and die for our sins, he could effectively erase Jesus and Christianity from history. Praise God that that didn’t happen; now it’s up to us to carry the truth to the next generations.
1 Timothy 4:1-2
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times, some shall depart (desert, fall away) from the faith, giving heed (paying attention) to seducing spirits, (liars and impostors) and doctrines of devils (as opposed to God’s Word) Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
The conscience is our God-given fortress to protect us from being seduced into believing lies. Yet without the Holy Spirit to guide us, we do not stand a chance against such a formidable foe. To sear your conscience is like taking a hot iron to your fingertips and burning them until they no longer feel. The hot iron has deadened the nerves, and as the fingertips are the sentries to the hand, protecting them from grabbing or holding something of harm, so too the conscience is to the soul. Continued exposure to the anti-Christ, anti-Biblical culture, and soon you will have no conscience. No ability to discern good from evil and wrong will become good, and good will become evil.
Isaiah 5:20-24
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes and prudent in their own sight (have no need for God, for they have become their own god)!
… because they have cast away — the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised — the word of the Holy One of Israel.
Two popular lies taught and promoted as truth are “I am not a bad person,” and “do what makes you happy.” There is no such thing from God’s perspective as bad or good. It’s like saying I am 96% percent virgin. Well, you are or you’re not; righteousness is the same. You are either born again, made righteous by Christ’s blood, or not. Therefore bad or good is not what God sees; it’s forgiven and walking in a relationship with Him or not. Righteousness makes us right with God; good can never do that.
The Cross was not suffered to make us good but righteous. Now it is up to us to accept His gift, seek forgiveness and, with the help of the Holy Spirit, live righteous lives. To seek Him when we fail, repenting and asking for forgiveness, and to seek Him when we are getting it right. In both cases, we need Jesus. He is our advocate before the Father.
“Do what makes you happy,” goes against how we were made to enjoy a fulfilling life. The two greatest commandments Jesus gave us are to love the Lord your God with all your might, with all your strength, and with all your mind and heart, and the next is to love your neighbor as yourself (as if you are caring for your own needs). Focused on our happiness, we become self-absorbed. We are selfish by nature, and quite honestly, the carnal man does not know what they want; he thinks it does, but led by his passions, it becomes a road of disappointments and hard times. Look at movie stars or famous people; most are messed up. “Do as they will” is the motto for those pursuing the satanic agenda, which are not happy or peaceful.
We are way out of our league if we try to “be Christian” without the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit and the Word (The Bible). Also, belonging to a local Bible-teaching church body is essential. The saying, “there is strength in numbers,” is true when it comes to being connected to other believers corporately, but in a small group setting, e.g., a home Bible study group is the most important.
2 Corinthians 2:11
Lest — Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.
Satan’s agenda is no different than a pack of wolves. They chase the herd till one gets too tired to keep up or till one breaks from the pack – the end is soon as the pack descends on that one sheep or deer. Satan’s tactics are the same; he uses offenses to separate us from other believers or our ignorance of the importance of meeting together. Then, left on our own, it is so easy to fall into sin.
2 Corinthians 4:4
In whom the god of this world hath blinded their minds which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
We are in a war for our souls and our families’ souls. There are many verses on the demonic and how it seeks to influence us away from knowing Christ and the grievous harm it causes in our lives. Yet, at the same time, the devil doesn’t make us do anything. Flip Wilson coined the phrase, “the Devil made me do it.” In reality, satan knows our weaknesses, and all he has to do is present the carrot at the right time. We do the rest; we bite. We do not need much help from him. Our selfish nature is quite capable of messing up our lives. Why is this true? Scripture teaches us that we are born in sin or rebellion to God’s righteousness, and with iniquity, sinning brings forth spiritual death.
James 1:13-15
Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
The root meaning of iniquity is to be bent. Our sinful nature has the propensity to gravitate and bend toward specific sins. Some people struggle with gambling, some with telling the truth, others keeping pure thoughts and lust, others have a temper or jealousy or are challenged in being friendly and considerate to others, and others it’s just our pride; we feel pretty good about who we are.
Luke 18:9-14
And he spake — this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:
Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican.
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican (tax collector).
I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
So the value of humility in our Christian walk is paramount. We constantly compare ourselves to others. That is not God’s standard, Holiness is God’s standard, and we all fail there. We fail from the start. I sighted the two first commandments to love Him with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and who does that? Then we are to love our neighbor as ourselves, and who does that? So this is the true comparison, and we all fail, hence our need for forgiveness, faith in Christ’s atoning work, and the need to be in dwelt by the Holy Spirit.
It’s not easy following Christ; we need to develop some “spiritual muscle.” However, living life without Him is even harder. Living life as best as you can was my dad’s way. I saw the pain and emptiness in that. After two failed marriages and my brother (who rebelled), and my younger brother drowning, life only became one disappointment after another. Years later, he found pleasure in a job he had created but was let go. In tough times I learned that there has to be someone you can run to, someone greater than yourself. Otherwise, it’s hard not to become disillusioned, bitter, or apathetic. Being your own god is tough. I’ve been a believer for so long that I don’t know what it’s like not to have The Lord to run to. His peace, guidance, love in my life, and the assurance of Eternal Life for my loved ones and I are huge. I’m not saying that being a Christian is easy because it’s not, but it is much better than life without Him.
James 1:12
Enduring Tests
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried( and stands), he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised them that love him.
Proverbs 3:11-14
My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction:
For — whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father — the son in whom he delighteth.
Happy is the man that findeth wisdom and the man that getteth understanding.
For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold.
Throughout life, we deal with nurture, attitudes, and inherited dispositions, and we deal with “Nature,” things that happened to me as a child or youth or as an adult. As mentioned, being blamed for my brother’s death yoked me to an emotional harness of guilt and shame (and the earlier a negative event happens to us, the harder it is to get over, it goes deep into us and forms our views of self and life).
As a 14-year-old boy, I babysat for my neighbor, a single mom with an eight-year-old son and a live-in boyfriend hooked on porn. He had playboys all over the house, bathroom, living room, and kitchen. It was my first time being exposed to it. I only knew a little about them because my grandfather gave some to my dad. I went to see them, and my dad stopped me, but he stopped me in a different way; there was no love in it. I had no idea what was inside, but I soon learned what my dad was looking at.
It was an awful, dirty feeling. It was more than I could process. I felt like I ate a whole trash can of garbage. I had never felt like that before. I prayed and asked for forgiveness and felt God’s forgiveness, but from then on, I didn’t see girls with the same innocence; something was taken from me. As I matured, that sense of regret and guilt never left; only now, the weight was doubled. I read where David had sinned with Bathsheba and then read the Psalm he wrote, and that ministered to me so much that I committed it to memory.
Psalms 51:1-10
A Prayer for Spiritual Cleansing
Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightiest be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest.
Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part, thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
Purge me with hyssop (a specific plant dipped in lamb’s blood and sprinkled on the altar and on the person confessing), and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Make me hear joy and gladness; the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me (this became my strength, my hope, and my step forward).
Our iniquity seeks to bend us away from the Gospel of Truth and ultimately damn us while adversely affecting our life. It could be through porn, drugs, drinking, divorce, arguments, and the like, or just by an un-surrendered life. Living life on our terms, maybe going to church so we can believe we are a good person, but that only camouflages our need. We must humble ourselves before Christ, ask for forgiveness, and invite Him in. This is step one, but it’s a hard climb. Just as I accepted Him into my life but still had much guilt and shame to deal with. These are called strongholds. I believed lies as truth, and it takes much time, trial, and maturity to realize that the truth you believed was, in fact, lies, but then once realized, there is such freedom. We must find the Bible verse that counters the lie we believe and meditate upon it till freedom comes.
We must learn to gain our strength and sense of identity from an intimate relationship with The Lord via His Word. As we do, we can stand against our flesh and the demonic that seeks to control us. We must learn these verses…
1 John 4:4
Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.
Romans 16:25
Now to him that is of power to establish (to anchor) you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,
Romans 7:22-25
For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
The bottom line is that once we accept that our flesh, “body,” will continue to want to sin, it is only through renewing our mind through the Word and memorizing specific promises that speak to our struggle that we begin to start living free. And there is no guilt in feeling what the flesh feels, but we must counter it with God’s Truth. I spent years feeling guilty because I felt lust though I never gave into it. And then, once I understood that the flesh would not change, no matter how much scripture I knew, the battle became much easier. The thought would come in, but I had powerful guards that would quickly escort the thought out. Once I (we) learn this revolutionizing truth, we can “kick butt.” As a spirit-filled believer realizing this and the authority we have IN CHRIST, the one running will not be you or I. I address this comment to both men and women, specifically to men, the head of the home.
This is a command that God gives Joshua before entering the Promised Land, which is symbolic of the Promise Land in our hearts. God wants to bless us, but we need the take the “land” of our hearts back.
Matthew 22:37
— Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind (which none of us do, but it is with that passion that Jesus wants us to seek Him for it mirrors how He loves us, hence why He was willing to suffer the torture and belittling prior to the Crucifixion and then the Crucifixion). We are greatly loved.
Joshua 1:8-9
This book of the law (The Bible) shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make — thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
If you read Joshua in any way other than a direct command from God, you are reading it wrong. This is not an opinion survey; God is not asking us to vote, but to do!
Father God,
Thank you for these truths, help us to understand and stand in the freedom that You purchased for us. The road against the deceiver is not easy, he knows all our weaknesses. Yet if we keep our focus on You we will overcome, for greater are You that is IN US than he that is in the world. Amen
1 John 4:4
Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
We love You,
Amen/ Arthur
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Arthur Navarrette