Early this morning around 5am, the Holy Spirit awakened me with 2 Timothy 4:1-5 burning in my heart. During my devotional time, I meditated on it and felt a strong stirring in my heart to share with you. 2 Timothy 4:1-5 which reads “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.†With God, there’s always hope, so like a good doctor I’m going to expose the problem but I’m also going to offer the remedy which is biblical truth. Please read in its entirety and if you need prayer or would like further resources I’d be more than happy to help you. I’ve been at most of these stages at some point… I’m a testimony that there’s hope for you. My personal experiences and pastoral observations: As a follower of Christ and a Pastor, I have noticed some alarming trends in the past 5 years. While it’s true that there is nothing new under the sun, you’d have to be living under a rock if you haven’t noticed the rapidly declining morality in our culture. This should not catch us by surprise, it was all foretold in scripture. There is a reason why it’s happening. When a person first comes to Christ… their heart is so hungry, so humble, so pure… everything in them wants to know Jesus… they’ll make radical sacrifices to prioritize God’s will. The devil will allow this to zeal carry on, relatively unbothered for a period of 1-3 years, before aggressively attacking them. Sadly most people’s ignorance and fleshly appetites are what kill their zeal long before demons even bother. This “initial zeal†phase sometimes last shorter and sometimes longer depending on a few factors. With regard to spiritual warfare, eternity is what’s in view… so the enemy will simply wait until we are most vulnerable, which is usually during seasons of extreme blessing or extreme suffering… He then begins his 10 step plan of destruction.
Step 1. Capitalize on Offense: During this initial phase, a relatively minor situation gets exaggerated and slowly a root of bitterness begins to grow in your heart. The reasons for the offense may be legitimate, but it isn’t as much about the offense, but how we respond to it. Remedy: forgive quickly, have the tough conversation… the longer you wait, the harder hearts will become. (Read Ephesians 4:25-32)
Step 2. Create Distance from HEALTHY community: At this point you begin avoiding the spiritual people and or environments that bring conviction. Conveniently, you will find yourself surrounded by a cadre of wounded people who’s common offense is usually the basis for the bond shared among the group of “friendsâ€. I’ve seen this pattern no less than 685 times. The enemy knows the power of community, fellowship, and unity. He wars against it with all of his power. Remedy: don’t disconnect! We live in a hyper individualized culture, but the truth is, we need each other and once distance happens… our spiritual strength will undoubtedly begin to drain (Read Hebrews 10:25, Psalm 133, Acts 2:42)
Step 3. Distractions: These seem very harmless at first, in fact most of the time we end up giving God praise for them as blessings, which they often are. It becomes a distraction when it becomes more important to us than God. Usually it’s things like a dating relationship or a good paying job which causes your time with God and at church to be less and less. Distractions, easily become idols when not kept in their proper place. Remedy: ask God for wisdom and remember that nothing is more valuable than Jesus Christ… distractions usually become idols. (Read Exodus 20:23,Isaiah 42:8, Jeremiah 35:15)
Step 4. “The world hooks youâ€: usually the very things that bound you before Christ are reintroduced in your life. The spirit of the world is influencing everything around us. Media overwhelms us with other gospels all day long and it affects our conversations and thoughts. The world is seductive. It seems appealing at first, but the end thereof is death. Remedy: when the world begins enticing you, try fasting and prayer. Fasting often can serve as a spiritual oil change to refocus on the things that matter. When you’re fasting, feed yourself on God’s word. Don’t listen to music or consume media which glorified the very things Christ died to redeem (Read 1 John 2:15-17, Luke 9:23, Matthew 10:38)
Step 5. “The fallâ€: This typically begins as a singular act of sin which totally crosses the line but easily can become a new habit. The fall of man in the garden of Eden shows us the pattern of how deception creeps in. It begins with what is “pleasing to the eyes†and with a conversation. Much can be learned from the biblical account of Adam and Eve! Remedy: if you fall… confess it, go to your pastor or someone with biblical wisdom, and ask for prayer. DO NOT GET COUNSEL from people who do not reference the Bible… they are spiritual enablers! (Read Genesis 2-3) the whole book of proverbs
Step 6. “Condemnationâ€: this is when the devil starts attacking your value, identity, and purpose. He attempts to capitalize off of your personal failures and confusion. This is when people feel most vulnerable and are most susceptible to the lies of the enemy. Condemnation is a trick of satan that make us forget about the promise of God’s grace and mercy. Remedy: if you are battling condemnation, slowly but surely listen to gospel preaching/teaching about God’s Grace, there are so many incredible preachers who do a wonderful job balancing the need to live holy and yet rest in God’s grace, although, they are becoming more rare. “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God†(Read Romans 8)
Step 7. “Cynicismâ€: now the enemy is going for the kill… you’re emotionally drained, spiritually weak and feeling condemned… so now Satan begins to whisper lies in your ear “what if the Bible isn’t true, Christianity is a white man’s religion, Trump is the devil, Obama is the antichrist… holiness isn’t really needed, I just need to live for my own peace.. etc…†all of these cynical thoughts war daily against your faith and the more we entertain that inner dialogue and speak out those cynical thoughts, we create an atmosphere of unbelief that grieves the Holy Spirit. Once a person becomes a cynic, it will be nearly impossible for them to experience the presence of God, enjoy the word of God, or have any desire to be involved with the local church. They basically become a worshipper of their own opinions and refuse to be corrected about anything. Remedy: Because this is one of the final steps and one of the most deadly and because cynicism is not a demon it is a worldview… the only way to overcome it is by deconstruction of this world view. Ask God for His grace to believe like the disciples who said “Lord I believe but help my unbelief†and also utilize the tools God has given the body of Christ such as anointed teachers like Dr. Ravi Zacharias and others who specialize in teaching through the tough issues….
Step 8. “Full blown rebellionâ€: This is when you lose all restraint and essentially say “to hell with it all  you are 100% done with church and anybody from your old life who reminds you of the joy you once knew in Christ. At this point “sin†no longer is “sin†there’s absolutely little to no conviction and you pretty much just do whatever you want. The proper name for that is hedonism. (pursuit of pleasure) This is a very dangerous place, God will more than likely allow areas of your life to start falling apart to get your attention. Remedy: if you are at the point where you no longer care to honor God, I’m not sure if there’s much more that can be done… in God’s mercy, He will attempt to humble you, but you must be willing.
Step 9: “Delusionâ€: Once a person lingers in rebellion for a while they enter into delusion where not only have they lost most, if not all memory, honor, and tenderness to the presence of God, now they are entertaining demons and aren’t even aware of it. During delusion, a person often doubts the legitimacy of the many encounters they had with God in the past. The delusional stage is also the stage of revenge. The root of bitterness that formed in stage 1 of offense, has now matured to the point where a person is on a mission to destroy or damage the reputation or livelihood of anyone who they claim as responsible for their demise. During delusion it is not uncommon for people to switch entire religions, entertain astrology, horoscopes and other forms of paganism and witchcraft, burning sage, calling on ancestors etc…) Remedy: before step 10, what I’ve seen God do countless times with delusional people is to allow a major tragedy, near death experience, or something drastic as one last attempt at SHOCKING them back to life. Sometimes it works but sadly, many times it does not… which ultimately leads to….
Step 10. Spiritual and or literal death: At this point the power of God’s Grace has no effect on the outcome of their eternal condition. This was devil’s plan from day 1. According to 1 Peter 5:8 He roamed about like a lion, just waiting to pounce on you to destroy you. Because of God’s great love, He held back the plans of the enemy but because of your rebellion, lack of humility, poor decisions, and ungodly counsel, you have chosen death and rejected life. the Bible sums of your spiritual condition in this way… “For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.†Hebrews‬ â€6:4-6‬ â€
For a list of resources browse around here on HopeCity614.org or send us an email to info@hopecity614.org and I will gladly send you additional resources from anointed teachers and preachers in the body of Christ… with love, I leave you with this scripture..
Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. Isaiah 55:6-7
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