Like it or not, every one of us is in a spiritual war. God is for us, and the devil is against us. The one we cooperate with is the one who will control us. You can’t be discharged from the service in this war, and ignorance of its extent only aids the enemy. The enemy loves to work covertly, using his only weapon, deception. In this teaching, Andrew exposes this war and the enemy for what he is.

welcome to gospel truth with Andrew

Wommack a teaching ministry that

emphasizes God’s unconditional love and

grace and now here’s Andrew welcome to

our Wednesday’s broadcast of the gospel

truth today I am continuing a series

that I’m entitled the believers

Authority and this is something I’ve

taught on for many many years but I do

have a brand new book out we just turned

this into a book I’m really excited

about this because this is a teaching

that is different than what you’ve heard

in church matter of fact it it’s the

title is the believers Authority and

then the subtitle is what you didn’t

learn in church this is radically

different than the way most people

approach taking authority over the devil

we’re going to be explaining some things

about Satan where he came from where he

got his authority from that is just

going to rattle a lot of people’s cage

because that makes a big difference in

when you understand where your enemy got

his power from and what authority and

power he has and when you understand

that yours is infinitely superior it

makes a big difference in the way you

relate to him we’re going to be exposing

what I consider to be much of the

foolishness I don’t know any better way

to say it than just foolishness that is

in the intercession movement spiritual

warfare movement and I guarantee you

this is going to be different but that

doesn’t mean it’s wrong it’s definitely

working in my life and I’m seeing good

results from it so for the first couple

of days this week what I’ve been trying

to do is just stress the fact that we

are in a spiritual war that not

everything we’re dealing with is

physical there are demonic powers

operating behind the scenes that are

inspiring people I’ve used Ephesians

chapter 2 verse 2 where it says that

every person not some but every person

prior to being born again has the Prince

of the power of the air the spirit that

now works in the children of

disobedience every non-believer is under

the

influence and again I’m not making a

distinction between possessed oppressed

deep breaths this Greek only says that

they are demonized at times everyone of

us have had Satan influence us and we’ve

said and done things contrary Ephesians

chapter 6 verse 12 says that you wrestle

not against flesh and blood but against

principalities against powers against

rulers of the darkness of this world

against spiritual wickedness in high

places that’s specifically saying it is

not physical the the strife the

criticism the variance between people

often is demonic and its origin and if

you don’t recognize that and if you’re

only trying to solve situations with

physical power well then you aren’t

going to be successful you need to

recognize that there is a demonic power

operating that causes this division we

took the examples in Matthew chapter 16

where Jesus complimented Peter and said

blessed are You Simon bar Jonah for

flesh and blood hath not revealed this

unto you you were inspired by the holy

spirit you were speaking under the power

and the direction of the Holy Spirit and

then in just a couple of verses Jesus

turns around and says get behind me

Satan for you savor not the things that

be of God Jesus complimented Peter for

being inspired by God under the control

of God and then in just verses turned

around and rebuked him for being under

the control of the devil so in one

person you can see on the same day or

certainly within a very short period of

time the same person was under the power

and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit

and in just a few verses was under the

control of the devil you can go back and

forth you aren’t either all being led by

the Holy Spirit or all being led by the

devil there can be a combination and we

can go back and forth between these two

we have the Spirit of God working on us

constantly to bring us unto God to

inspire us to forgive and operate

goodness and kindness towards people and

we have the spirit of the devil through

demons constantly trying to get us into

selfishness pride unfor

bitterness and a lot of people don’t

recognize they just think everything is

on a natural level let me use this verse

out of James chapter 3 and verse 16 and

you know in my estimation I think this

is one of the most critical scriptures

in the Bible in a negative way it says

in James 3:16 it says for wherein v-nand

strife is there is confusion and every

evil work you know confusion it says

over in 1st Corinthians chapter 14 that

God is not the author of confusion but

of peace as in all of the churches of

the Lord so if God isn’t the author of

confusion guess who is Satan is so in

James 3:16 again where it says where

envy and strife is there is confusion

you could say there is the devil the

author of confusion and every evil work

it didn’t say some evil works it didn’t

say this is a big in wrote of the devil

this is saying this is one of the most

sweeping scriptures in the Bible that

when you get into envy and strife you

open up the door to the devil and

everything he wants to do in your life

boy that is one strong powerful

scripture and again most Christians they

don’t like this terminology about being

humanists we think about as being people

who are non-believers who don’t

acknowledge God any spiritual realm

everything is just all physical natural

there is a physical explanation for

everything and we criticize that but

there are a lot of Christians who don’t

recognize that envy and strife opened up

a door to the devil and allow him to do

whatever he wants to and so they think

that there’s only physical natural

reasons that all of these things are

happening and they don’t even make the

connection they don’t connect these dots

about that it’s this envy and strife

that is causing this problem I’m sure

that there’s people watching this

program right now that you have

unforgiveness bitterness in your heart

there’s probably been hurts and pains I

mean we live in a fallen world and

bad things to happen to all of us and I

can guarantee you there’s lots of people

probably millions of people watching

this program who have unforgiveness they

have people that they have bad feelings

towards you talk about them you say

things you are critical of them and

you’re thinking but they deserve it and

you’re just thinking on a human level

I’m saying through this verse that

whether you realize it or not we’re in

Ving and strife is there is the devil

confusion the author of confusion is the

devil and every evil work you are

throwing open the door to your life and

just allowing Satan free access to you

by harboring unforgiveness there are

some of you that think well no I’m

hurting this person I just can’t let

them go and you know what the person let

me just say this in love I know there’s

going to shock some of you and it’s not

going to be a blessing at first but

sometimes you got to be terrified before

you get edified some of you think you’re

hurting the other person by holding

things against them and saying I’ll

never forgive them and let them go and

you know what the other person could

care less they have forgotten you they

are not being bothered by this your

bitterness and your unforgiveness isn’t

holding them and hurting them but you

know what it’s doing it’s allowing Satan

to bind you your life is in a mess and

you are having all kinds of problems and

you can’t understand why do these things

happen and you just feel like nothing

ever works for me and you’ve never made

this connection

I’m helping you don’t understand that

you are in a spiritual war and when you

get into unforgiveness bitterness and

strife you aren’t hurting the other

person you’re hurting yourself you are

allowing Satan a direct inroad into your

life where he’s going to eat your lunch

and pop the bag and then you just can’t

understand how did the devil how was he

able to do this envy and strife is a

direct in wrote of Satan into your life

that allows anything he wants to do you

know I had an instance many years ago

this has been nearly 30 years ago where

I went to a church I won’t mention what

church or what town so that I won’t be

critical of any individual

but this church was just coming from a

denominational mindset to where they

believe God could do miracles but they

didn’t believe that we had any authority

we couldn’t control them and so it was

just kind of like God could do a miracle

and you just pray and ask and if it be

your will well they were coming into the

place under the leadership of the pastor

to believe that it was God’s will for us

to be well and so they had started

taking this standing believing God wants

us well and before I got there two days

before I arrived to hold a meeting in

this church they had buried I think it

was a 16 year old boy and the whole

church he had been in the hospital and

in a coma and the whole church had

fasted and prayed and they had believed

God they had Prayer around the clock and

they had tried to see this boy healed

and yet he wasn’t healed he died they

had his funeral two days before I got

there so when I got there of course this

was on the minds of everyone they were

brand-new at really believing that it

was God’s will to heal every single time

and their faith was shaken and so I just

had to start dealing with this and for

the first three days after I got through

with the morning services every day I’d

go out and I’d eat with the parents of

this boy who had died because they were

asking questions why how could this

happen

everybody prayed we had hundreds of

people pray and we had people fasting we

had around the clock Prayer if it’s

really God’s will how could this happen

and at first I didn’t know what to tell

him I just told him I said look it is

God’s will that’s what the Bible clearly

teaches but I said there’s things that

you know can happen to keep God’s will

from coming to pass and I said I don’t

know what the problem is so that’s the

reason I was going out to eat with him

and I was asking them questions and I

was trying to help them in fact figure

out what went on

well anyway to make this story short

there was so much strife in the home the

husband and wife had already planned on

getting a divorce they were in the

process of separating and there was

tremendous amount of strife and this not

only was between the husband and the

wife but of course the children were

affected by this and there was just high

levels of strife in the home and the

very day that this tragedy happened the

mother had a fight with her son and got

so mad that she says get out of this

house and never come back I never want

to see you again and you know she

probably didn’t mean that she probably

just got into the heat of the emotion

and like we were teaching from mark

chapter 16 she allowed the devil to

speak through her she probably didn’t

mean that towards her son but

nonetheless he got hurt by this he went

to school and because of all of this

stuff going on he broke the school

policy he left the school grounds he

went over to a friend’s house during

lunch and they were eating lunch at his

house and as they were eating they found

the father’s gun and they got this gun

and were playing with it and the boy

accidentally shot himself in the head

and that’s the reason that he had been

in a coma and that’s why everybody was

praying for him and when I found out all

of this stuff you know what I did I

turned over to James 3:16 and said we’re

in Ving and strife is there is confusion

Satan the author of confusion and every

evil work they were saying how could

this have happened how could our son

have died well the reason all of this

happened was because they tolerated

strife they were saying things and

hurting each other and this allowed the

devil to come in and Satan I got this

boy to a place where he was doing things

that were foolish and childish and he

violated the laws you shoot yourself in

the head with the gun and I guarantee

it’s going to cause brain damage and if

it’s severe enough it will kill him and

that’s exactly what happened and they

just couldn’t understand how this had

happened after I learned all of these

things I said I know exactly how it

happened you can’t allow strife in like

this you can’t just sit there and live

in strife and think that it has no power

I know that I’m speaking to a lot of

people right now that man this is

shocking you because you live in a lot

of strife and you just think well this

is the way my family is we were raised

this way this is the way some people

just interact with their family you know

there’s a lot of people that are raised

with a double standard you treat

strangers better than you treat your own

family when you’re at home boy you say

things that you would never say to

anybody else you do things that you

would never do you let your hair down

you just expose all of your carnal

necessity if you’re going to treat

anybody good it ought to be the people

that you are committed to living with

the rest of your life you ought to treat

them better than you treat anybody else

you know my brother right after he first

got married of course they got all of

these gifts at their wedding that

everybody does and they had all of this

China and the sterling silver and the

Cristal and all of these kind of things

but they were using these other plates

and these other utensils anyway he came

home one day after work and his wife was

fixing supper and she had all of the

China out the crystal the sterling

silver and he says so what does all this

for and says well we got friends coming

over for supper tonight and so I put out

our best you know what my brother did he

grabbed all at China and the crystal and

the sterling silver and put it up and

put out the other stuff and he says from

now on our family will use the China and

the crystal and the sterling silver and

we’ll use the other stuff for other

people now that’s symbolic as much as

anything but you know what it really

does say something about that my brother

put a priority on his family and because

I would he had a great family not his

wife died a few years ago in a car wreck

he’s remarried but I mean they had a

great relationship because he honored

his family and he put his family first

but most of us were raised with a double

standard to where around family you may

say things you may scream and yell at

each other but when you’re out in public

you don’t treat each other that way you

act like everything’s fine and you try

and present this image and you treat

strangers better than you would treat

your own family some of you that’s just

kind of the rules that you grew up with

and you never thought about it and so

you tolerate strife in the home as well

this is family we just this is the way

we treat each other the Bible says we’re

envy and strife is there’s confusion and

every evil work you are opening up a

door to the devil and there’s some of

you that are praying the Word of God and

you pay your tithes and you pray and

believe God for Prosperity and you are

trying to prosper and yet it seems like

every time you take one step forward you

take two steps backwards you’re

struggling financially and you just

can’t understand it

because you are giving and you’re

believing all of the scriptures and

speaking the word and you just can’t

understand how is it that the devils

enter in you do you have strife in your

heart are you at variance with the

people in your family are you

criticizing people are you mad at people

do you have unforgiveness if you have

any of those things there’s no reason to

look any further than that because that

just opens up the door to every evil

work you give Satan free shots at you

every time you get into strife and

bitterness and I know some of you right

now are just being overwhelmed like oh

man if this was true I’m in big trouble

you are I tell you Satan takes advantage

of strife and most people just don’t

connect these dots and they don’t

understand how is it that I was a been

sick and then all of a sudden this

terrible thing happened and man I’m

trying to eat right and I’m healthy and

I do this and I just can’t understand

why I’m sick well are you operating in

strife you know I’ve actually been in a

home one time where the woman was

talking about her son and there was just

a tremendous amount of strife between

her and her son and she was just I just

can’t understand why this is I pray for

him I’m trying to do all of the right

things but I stayed in her home I saw

her interact with her son and one of the

things that happened her son came down

and I mean she just yelled at him about

get up there and make your bed you lazy

kid you’re never going to amount to

anything unless you do better and she

just railed on him and she had already

asked me the day before about what is it

that’s caught why can’t we get along and

you know what I did I just walked into

her and I said why don’t you tell me I

hadn’t made my bed yet I said why don’t

you talk to me the way you talked to

your son and tell me and yell at me and

say you lousy thing you’re never going

to amount to anything I said you would

never speak to me that way and yet this

the way you speak to your son and you

wonder why you’re having problems where

in viña and strife is there is confusion

and every evil work when you think that

you can talk to your mate or your child

like a dog and treat them like that

because their family members then I you

know what something is seriously wrong

with the way you think you need to treat

everybody good but if you are going to

have double standards you ought to treat

the people that you live with and love

the most the best and yet it’s not that

way you know I’ve pastored churches and

I had a lot of people come in for

counseling and I remember often that

people you know in a counseling session

they try and be on their best behavior

and they had try and say well honey and

they would say these things and they

would say they would try and restrain

themselves and I knew that when they

were at home if they would have been

talking about this that had been

screaming and yelling but see they were

on their best behavior in front of me

and I remember one time a man who is

just treating his wife terribly and the

man I mean it is usually there’s two

people that have a problem it’s not all

one-sided but the man seemed to be the

majority of this problem and anyway I

just unloaded on this guy I mean I

talked to him and I said you are a

first-class jerk you treat your wife

terrible and I blasted this guy and I

said unless you change unless you do

some things man you’ll never see her

love you and respect you the way that

you want and I just blasted this guy

because it was all true

and you know what this guy did you could

tell that he was upset he did not like

what I said but he honored me and he

respected me and he controlled himself

and he says well you’re probably right

and he tried to be polite and he

received the criticism he didn’t like it

but he received it and you know what I

did I took that and I said I know that

you don’t like what I’ve said but

because I’m a stranger you are treating

me with respect and being nice and doing

things I said if your wife would have

said to you what I just said it would

have been World War three

you would have let her have it and I

said this is one of the big problems in

your life is that you’d think that

because she’s your mate that you just

have freedom and right to say all of

these things and you express yourself

and you don’t hold anything in and you

just VIN it and you spew out all of this

venom and then you wonder why you’re

having these problems I said if you

would treat your wife with as much

respect as you just treated me with you

would have a good marriage and I know

that there’s people watching this

program all around the world that it

right now is just like a lights going on

some of you this is the first time this

has ever dawned on you that you mean I

just don’t say everything that I feel of

course you don’t say it to your boss of

course you don’t say it to a judge or

somebody who has the ability to you know

punish you for it

of course you don’t say it maybe the

friends and stuff you reserved yourself

but at home there is some of you that

you there is no filter between your

brain and your mouth you say things and

you let this strife out and then you

wonder why is it that we’re having

problems how come we’re having financial

problems how come people are sick how

come things aren’t working better and

you just never connect the dots you

don’t have to be not tithing and not

giving to have financial problems you

could be doing everything the word says

but just get into strife and start doing

that and every evil work that means even

financial ruin can come at you through

this strife that you allow into your

life you could be eating healthy and

exercising and trying to do things right

but just be an angry bitter person have

unforgiveness in your heart and I

guarantee you Satan will come in and put

sickness and disease on you and destroy

your life I don’t know how to make this

any clearer but we are in a spiritual

war and whether the person that you’re

angry at it it doesn’t matter if it’s a

family member it doesn’t matter if it’s

somebody else it doesn’t matter if it’s

a person that cut you off in traffic and

you think well they don’t know what I’ve

said they didn’t hear me it doesn’t hurt

anything it doesn’t matter whether the

person you’re angry at and critical

about is being hurt or not that

bitterness that strife is

opening up a door into your life and

allowing the devil to come in and just

shoot his best shot and there’s not a

person watching this program that is so

far ahead and so strong in the Lord that

you can just give the devil free reign

in your life the shoot is best shot to

bring his his best disaster into your

life and overcome it no you can’t do

that you need to close this door to the

devil you need to recognize you’re in a

spiritual battle in your actions even

your emotions are direct inroads of

Satan into your life and if you don’t

understand that it doesn’t mean it’s not

happening it just means that you don’t

have a clue why it’s happening you’re

one of these that feel like everything

is out of control and now I have no

control and who knows why things happen

there’s very good reasons why things

happen and I tell you a lot of it’s

because people don’t realize we’re in a

spiritual war they indulge their flesh

they do things that they shouldn’t be

doing and they are giving Satan place in

their life you need to recognize we’re

in a spiritual war now I’m out of time

today but I am going to continue to

teach on this on our program tomorrow I

encourage you to listen in and also I’d

like to encourage you to get the

materials we’ve got this brand-new book

study guide a DVD and CD of this

teaching on the believers Authority and

it could make a big difference in your

life listen as our announcer gives you

that information and call or write today

the believers Authority is available for

the very first time in book form you can

receive your copy for seven pounds

request book T 327 when you write or

call or when you go to our website a

Spanish version is also available

request book T 735 the believers

Authority companion study guide is

available for 17 pounds 50 request study

guide T for 27 when you contact the

ministry this teaching is also available

in a six part CD album or it’s available

in a DVD album made from Andrews daily

TV broadcast each is offered for 19

pounds request CD album T 1045 C or DVD

album t 1045 d the first teaching in the

audio CD album titled we’re in a

spiritual war is also available for

three pounds but if you’re simply unable

to afford it Andrew and his partners

will provide this first CD free of

charge request teaching number TL 18

when you write or call and will be

pleased to send it to you let me

emphasize once again that this is a

brand new teaching that I have out I

have this brand new book this is the

very first time we’ve offered this book

and it’s companion study guide and I

think that this book on the believers

Authority what you didn’t learn in

church it’s going to make a huge

difference this is one of the

foundational things that God has taught

me and I tell you it makes a big

difference in my life I believe that

this is really going to help you so we

have a lot of information on this you’ve

got this book you’ve got the study guide

we’ve got a DVD that was made live from

a gospel truth seminar where I taught on

this subject we’ve got our television

programs that you can get and a CD set

so a lot of different ways that you can

take advantage of this teaching please

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number is zero one nine two two four

seven three three hundred we’d like to

point out Andrews upcoming speaking

schedule he’ll be an Amsterdam for the

Euro spirit conference May 21st through

the 23rd Colorado Springs Colorado for

the annual summer family Bible

conference June 29th through July 3rd

and in South Africa for a gospel truth

seminar July 21st through the 23rd for

more details on Andrews next meeting in

your area call our helpline or visit our

website at aw mi dotnet this is Andrew

Wommack and I’d like to invite you to

join me on May the 21st through the 23rd

in Amsterdam I’m going to be speaking at

the Euro spirit 2009 and we’re going to

have a number of different speakers I’ll

be ministering to each day the 21st

through the 23rd of May we’re going to

be holding this at the Victory Outreach

in Amsterdam it’s going to be a great

time and so all of you watching over god

TV I’d encourage you to come and be a

part of this May the 21st through the

23rd Victory Outreach in Amsterdam

if you just know what God told me to do

then it’s not a challenge it’s an

adventure I wasn’t ready to make a

commitment until I really knew that this

was God so we decided that okay from

this point on we’re not gonna speak to

each other we’re not gonna write we’re

not gonna be in contact I gave up

marriage and I thought all right that’s

it I need to read the Bible I need to

find out what what it says I need to

find out who God is we could be dropped

from a helicopter anywhere on the

subcontinent of India and somehow God

was could direct us

God has given us a plan and we’re seeing

people change forever and it’s not just

surface it is inner spirit

be sure to tune in tomorrow for more

gospel truth