Graham Cooke -- Messing With the Enemy's Head
The enemy knows that when dealing with a human being, he can stir up the desires of the mind, desires of the flesh, the desires of life, and we are like puppets on a string. He can snare us with our own ego, with our own appetites, with our needs, with our hurts, with our feelings. I have a plan for woundedness...I plan to get healed really quickly, because I can't be bothered being wounded. There's too much happiness in God to be bothered about being wounded. The devil believes skin for skin he can control mankind as long as mankind is governed by the need to meet it's own desires. The moment you step into self-denial he has no power to predict what you are going to do next...because he can only forecast selfishness. He has no capacity to understand or predict people moving in love and faith...he's helpless against that. He can only predict the course of events if we are moving in the lust of the flesh......when you decide that the Word of God is it for me and I'm gonna believe that implicitly, you are messing with the enemy's head. When you rejoice in times of trouble, you are messing with the enemy's head, because worship counter-attacks all the negetivity in our minds and emotions that the devil is using to try and control us. Worship is focus on God that enables us to take our thoughts captive because we see God's perspective. We are now out of control as far as the enemy is concerned, and he hates that. We're so used to the enemy playing with our head, we maybe never thought that we could mess with his. Every time you obey God you're messing with the enemy's head, every time you walk by faith you're messing with the enemy's head, do a good day's work... you're messing with the enemy's head. Do what is right, you're missing with the enemy's head. When we move in self-denial we put ourselves firmly in the path of the Holy Spirit. And we need to learn to exercise the supreme power of the cross in self-denial. You can't afford the luxury of self-pity, you can't afford the luxury of blaming other people for your circumstances -- get over your bad self. You can't afford the luxury of being frustrated...any idiot can be frustrated...you don't even have to have a brain cell in and working. You can't afford the luxury of blaming God. Where is He? We never ask the why question...it'll never get answered on earth. It's the wrong question. Learn to let go of your failure. Stop identifying with problems. Start identifying with the enthusiasm the Holy Spirit has for you. We're not a victim, but we are being provoked by the Holy Spirit into a counter-attack that could ultimately take more from the enemy than he could ever take from you. The enemy's not used to believers overcoming when they've been defeated. He's used to believers blaming God and thinking God is trying to teach them something. Self denial goes hand-in-hand with self-discipline. Self-denial denies the enemy, self-discipline attracts the Holy Spirit. The enemy hates you with a malignant, malevolent hatred. But he's not stupid, he won't chase you into the Holy of Holies, because when he knocks on that door, it won't be you that opens it. So, here's some keys to personal breakthrough: if you want to annoy the enemy and confuse him, you have to learn to turn all of his attacks to your advantage, there's a battle for the mind here...you turn every attack into an opportunity to cleanse your thoughts and renew your thinking. Take on the mind of the Lord...that's why worship is so important. Every time a negative thought comes, attack it in prayer, take it captive and release the opposite thought back down the same channel. So, you take an anxious thought into a prayer expressing thanksgiving... eventually he will stop attacking you if the attack against you only makes you better. That is confusion. He's not going to attack you if every time he attacks you you only get better and stronger. You turn a lustful thought into a prayer for purity...at some point he's going to break off the attack because he will not do anything that serves to make you better. Confusion to the enemy. Moving in the opposite spirit to what's coming against you...that's what the mind of Christ is all about...that's what it means to be spiritually minded. Life and peace. Turn a fearful thought into thanksgiving, because of the perfect love of God...you turn selfishness into a desire to give...every time you feel that desire to withhold, you get your cash out. Move in the opposite spirit. Take up the symbol of an overcoming life. Take up the symbol of your greatest freedom and love it. Turn any bitterness or hate into desire to forgive and forget. Forgive everybody who's ever done anything. And those who've wounded you big time, write them an anonymous letter with a really brilliant prophecy in it. It'll do you the power of good. Turn worry into trust. 'Lord, I trust You. Just want You to know I trust You. Father I really trust You...You're so trustworthy'. Just go over the top though -- make the enemy pay. Turn anger into compassion. Someone says something that makes you angry, think 'how can I bless this person? What are they struggling with?'...move in the opposite spirit, and confuse the devil in the process...