Confronting Lies

In “Confronting Spiritual Opposition To The Message”  and “3 Ways An Anti-Christ Spirit Tries To Get The Focus Off Of Jesus,” I shared some of my experience with confronting spiritual opposition. Today we will look at opposition through disruptive prayers. Disruptive prayers are prayers that are prayed as if Jesus never came in the flesh and as if the gospel is not true. A spirit that denies Jesus has come in the flesh uses them to try to do all the talking.

All opposition that we face from the devil is basically in the form of lies that exalt themselves against the knowledge of God. God never gave authority on the earth to Satan, but to men. Satan needs to deceive men and get them to agree with him, in order to accomplish anything. God also works through men. Jesus came as a man, and His Spirit dwells in men who have been born-again.

In other articles, like Standing Against Fear And Breast Cancer Disappearing, I shared my experience with confronting the lies that the Devil spoke to me personally. Here, we are talking about confronting opposition that we face when other people are being influenced by the lies of an ungodly spirit.

They may be unable to hear the truth. They may become disruptive, or do anything possible to change the topic. In these situations, we must be assertive. We don’t take offense at the person, but we realize that this is the influence of a lying spirit. 

Dealing With Disruptive Prayers

I laid hands on a man after church one day. The pain left, and he was very excited after feeling God’s power. Another person needed to be healed as well, so I encouraged him and a few other people to minister to her. I taught them the importance of commanding the person’s body to healed, because we know God’s will and know that Christ in us is the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27)

The guy started to pray a long prayer, asking God “please heal this woman.” I stopped him and asked how she was doing. No difference. I encouraged him to do it again, but this time command “In Jesus’ name, pain go and back be healed.” Even then, he seemed unable to bring himself to speak to the condition with authority in Jesus’ name, as opposed to begging God to heal her.

Then the man’s wife came and joined the prayer. She started to go on and on, begging God to do something, saying “God, we know that you can heal this woman.” I’m sure that she didn’t realize how disruptive it was. She would have prayed all night if someone didn’t stop her.

I had to do something. I had to be assertive. If I didn’t interrupt, she would have gone on praying until everyone was anxious to leave as soon as they could get away. The lady sitting in the chair, who needed to be healed, would probably have gone home discouraged and in pain.

I interrupted the long, repetitive prayer and asked the lady receiving ministry if she felt any difference. She didn’t. She was discouraged, about to get up and leave. I said “Wait, don’t worry! You will be healed.” I said “In Jesus’ name, all pain get out. Be healed now.” I asked her how it was. Better. I did the same thing again, and all the pain was gone in about one minute.

What Was Happening?

1 John 4:1-4 (NIV) Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the anti-Christ, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

We recently made the case that we can be absolutely sure of God’s will because Jesus came in the flesh. Then last week we saw that Jesus coming as a man demonstrates God’s desire to partner with man. The fact that the spirit of Christ dwells in us individually and dwells in the church (the body of Christ), is an extension of the truth that Jesus came in the flesh. Jesus not only came in the flesh, but he is come in our flesh. His Spirit dwells in all who belong to him.

Praying seems like a “spiritual activity.” But a spirit that denies that Jesus has come in the flesh has influenced much of the church. When we pray as if God is far away and his will is mysterious, we are praying as if Jesus never came in the flesh. And that is a prayer of unbelief. When we act as if the spirit of Christ doesn’t dwell in us, as if everything is up to God and we have no part in it, we are acting as if Jesus never came in the flesh.

The prayer of faith is a prayer of thanksgiving. The prayer of faith is certain of the Father’s will. And the prayer of faith is combined with action. But if we are praying as if Jesus never came in the flesh, we will spend a lot of time in religious activity with few results. We will spiritualize everything so much that there is little tangible fruit to our faith.

I’m not into lots of religious activity with little to show for it. I’ve had too much of it, and I don’t have time for it. I remember when I used to go to a different church service almost every night. I went to seek the Lord, but little happened. I spent too many years acting and thinking as if God was far away. I want to see something happen. Now. I want to see Jesus glorified. I want everyone to know that he is not just a nice story. He is tangible. We can touch God, because Jesus came in the flesh.

We all have agreed with the lies of an anti-Christ spirit at some time. It’s not that we don’t acknowledge that Jesus came in the flesh. It’s just that we act and speak as if he didn’t. Even though I have broken free from so much of the anti-Christ mindset, I still often recognize when an anti-Christ spirit is lying to me and I need to tell it to shut up.

Next week, I will share a testimony about one of those times. When I realized that I was being lied to I said “shut up!” to Satan the liar, and a wonderful healing happened.

The King Is Here. He Lives In Me!

I recently made this related video on how to recognize prayers of unbelief and pray the prayer of faith. Two of the most common prayers of unbelief have to do with the statements “God is going to heal you” and “God is in control.”