Above & Beyond Christian Counseling
Christian Counselors, Deliverance Ministry and Spiritual Warfare
Are you in a relationship with someone who causes you to question your sanity?
Does every argument wind up being your fault?
Do you live in denial of the red flags suggesting secrets are being kept from you?
The world calls it Narcissism. A catchy buzzword for a person tormented by demons that are wreaking havoc on relationships to kill, steal, and destroy the fruit of the Holy Spirit. [Read more…]
Anger is like a spider that creeps down your bloodline poisoning each generation. It artfully spins unique cobwebs of rejection to trap its victims.
Rejection is the birthing ground of strongholds. It was introduced in the Garden of Eden when the serpent convinced Eve she was left out of the fullness of God’s knowledge.
Rejection induced the original sin that caused Adam and Eve to hide in fear. They were disconnected from the Glory of God for the first time in their lives, and they felt abandoned.
The events in the Garden of Eden created the template of a stronghold built on rejection:
This stronghold will harden your heart, so anger becomes your bodyguard.
Where do you fall on the anger spectrum?
Bullied children become bullies.
The outward form of anger is easy to identify. Children abused with anger have a boiling point where the roles switch. I often hear clients say, “At thirteen, I decided I was no longer going to be abused by my father’s anger. The first time I yelled back at him, I recognized anger’s power. I embraced anger as a weapon that day, and I became my father.”
Children that cower and stuff their emotions. They say, “I’m not really angry; I am just hurt.”
Hurt is anger that grows in the dark because it lacks boundaries. It simmers until it explodes, making its victim look crazy. These people are marginalized because the root of their anger is hidden.
They view themselves as doormats and become passive/aggressive. They use sarcasm to indirectly get their point across.
This form of anger is linked to the perfection necessary to get parental approval. Clients tell me, “I had to be perfect to get my father’s attention. I can still hear his critical words, only now it’s my voice. I can never live up to my expectations. I feel unworthy and rejected if I am not perfect.”
I call spirits of perfection, legalism, and self-condemnation the unholy 3-ply cord.
Perfection sets the bar, legalism calls you a failure because you didn’t do it right, and self-condemnation follows to punish you. It’s all rooted in rejection that produces self-anger.
Righteous anger is rare.
It occurs when significant injustice exists but is always anger under control and directed at the condition and not at a person. Righteous anger is wrapped in love, never threatens or uses revenge. Anger is a warning sign that a boundary was crossed. Allowing broken boundaries breeds resentment that leads to bitterness.
“Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give [a]place to the devil. (Eph. 4:26-27 NKJV)
Don’t let generational rejection leave you trapped with anger. It’s time to see where you fall on this anger spectrum and get help. Deliverance is a critical element God gave us for freedom. Use the key to unlock it!
Have you ever felt like your mind won’t shut off?
Are you locked into a negative thought cycle that keeps repeating in your head?
Are you easily distracted by intrusive thoughts?
You are a victim of a mind-binding spirit that is purposed to destroy your peace! [Read more…]
“I feel so much guilt over all the time I’ve wasted.”
“I made a mistake years ago, and it cost me my dream.”
“It is too late for me. I am too old.”
A spirit of theft steals your time to steal your purpose.
Time belongs to God. Guilt over lost time belongs to the devil.
I was thinking about time and how uniquely God used it the other day. I was saved at 14 and had a plan at 17, but I didn’t see it manifest until I was 57. Instead, I wandered for 40 years allowing sinful distractions to steal my time. I always knew one day I would be on National Television.
However, when we filmed “Fighting Satan” for Lisa Ling under High Definition cameras, my 50 somethings were almost gone, and so was my youthful glow. I remember my daughter saying as we watched the premiere, “Mom, now is not a good time to meltdown over your wrinkles.”Children have a way of bringing you quickly back to reality! There is a roomful of people watching you.
It was then that I thought, God is no respecter of time. The plan he had was still waiting for me even after 40 years. So in 2014, I wrote out my vision complete with a bucket list that seemed impossible. (If you need help writing your vision, I would suggest the book by Myles Monroe called “The Power of Vision”) Within seven years, from age 58 to 65, I saw all but one thing accomplished.
It’s a big thing, and I now see it forming. God does not care if you are 22 or 65! It is never too late! He will rapidly move on your behalf when you surrender in obedience.
A demon of theft resides under the stronghold of lying and works closely with the spirit of fear. Theft relies on insecurity, inadequacy, and inferiority to keep you bound under the lie that you are not worthy of God’s call on your life.
God even encouraged Joshua to be strong and courageous, not terrified and discouraged. Joshua knew the giants were waiting for him on the other side of the Jordan. The facts were the facts. Taking back the land was not going to be easy. The enemy had extended their stay in the wilderness from 11 days to 40 years by using fear.
How long has that spirit of theft kept you on the wrong side of the river? Does the enemy have you convinced you are not worthy enough to take back what was stolen from you? God’s truth was revealed when Rahab said to one of the spies:
I know the Lord has given you this land,” she told them. “We are all afraid of you. Everyone in the land is living in terror. (Joshua 2:9 NLT)
The demons in the kingdom of darkness were melting in fear!
Once caught, the demon of theft must restore sevenfold all it has stolen (Prov. 6:31). When defeated, the weapons of their warfare were found, and those weapons were used for seven years of provision. (Ezekiel 39:9-10)
It is time to go retrieve the spoils of war!
My story aligns perfectly with this timing for plunder.
When I woke up with the Holy Spirit and recognized the spirit of theft, I immediately went through deliverance. Everything accelerated in my life. Deliverance can restore what was stolen and advance you to where you should be in time. Do not circle the mountain in the desert again this year. Cross over. The enemy is afraid of you! God is waiting for you. Together you can pursue, overtake and recover all!
“I am sick, and I will never get better. My life has no hope.”
“What if I die young and never get to see my children grow up?”
“I made a mistake, so now I am condemned to the consequences.”
The lie at the root of your fear is now an idol driving obsessive/compulsive thinking.
There is a lot to that statement, so let’s break it down.
At the root of obsessive/compulsive thinking is a lie. Something you have agreed to that does not line up with the truth of God’s word. The facts of your current circumstance are not the defining truth for your future. Demons use facts to magnify an anthill until it looks like a mountain. It is the nature of these devils to lie. Anything you let consume your thoughts obsessively is an idol keeping you from God. Let me give you an example
A client told me she had to go back to the doctor due to something seen on her mammogram. Her mother died of breast cancer. That reality was all the enemy needed to convince her she was under a generational curse, and she was dying. Thoughts of death swirled in her head daily until she came to my office saying, “It’s time for me to die. My life is over.”
That may seem like an extreme conclusion, but the “what if” worrier runs way ahead of God. Worry takes you out from your umbrella of grace given for today. Instead, it clobbers you with scary scenarios of your future. Grace is like manna; you only get enough for today.
Let’s go back to my original statement: the lie at the root of your fear is now an idol driving obsessive/compulsive thinking. People don’t think of infirmity as an idol, but it has a loud voice. Pain screams over the truth of your healing. Dread that accompanies sickness brings hopelessness and wants you to fall into apathy, so you give up like my client. Demons network to kill, steal and destroy.
A spirit of legalism is the golden child demons use to bring in self condemnation. They remind you this problem began with a mistake you made. They convince you it’s all your fault, and now you are condemned with no way out, but God is a deliverer. He never abandons his children. He knows the plans he has for you, and there is hope for your future. (Jer. 29:11)
Idols cause you to rehearse the lies until they become your truth. It is a process of deception that demons employ to get you to disagree with God’s word.
You can’t drink from the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You can’t feast at the table of the Lord and feast at the table of demons. (1 Cor. 10:21 TPT)
The word “feast” in this passage also means to participate, which is the Greek word metaecho, or to “echo with.” In other words, you can’t feast at the table of the Lord in Psalm 23 with your head anointed with oil and your cup of joy running over if you repeat the lies of the enemy.
That kind of repetition makes you the feast of demons who use sharp steak knives of anxiety, dread, and self-condemnation to chew on you.