In this sermon, the preacher discusses the concept of an evil conscience and how it manifests in bitter thoughts. He shares a powerful testimony of a man who had harbored hatred towards the person responsible for his daughter's accident, but through prayer, he was able to release his bitterness and forgive. The preacher also mentions a woman who had been abused as a child and how God set her free from the guilt and shame that had plagued her. The sermon emphasizes the importance of choosing to live by faith and trusting in God's ability to heal and transform our hearts.

is the role of spiritual warfare in preparation for spiritual awakening. You know, things are not always the way they appear to be. Brother Don Curran and I were in a meeting together in Burlington, North Carolina. One night, the pastor rushed me out of the meeting to go down to the local television station. Don went one night, I went one night. And the reason we were going down is so we could be on a local Christian talk show. Well, the church got a 19-inch television and brought into our travel trailer, about half as wide as the travel trailer. They brought it right in to the travel trailer so my family could see the television program. Well, my wife rushed up the children, got home and said, we've got to go home and watch Dad on television. Well, they got over to the house and my oldest at that time was about three years old, two and a half. And when the television program came on and he saw me sitting there in the screen, he got rather upset and he said, Mom, how's Dad going to get out of there? Well, he didn't understand television. I don't either, frankly. But you know, things are not always the way they appear to be. Bible tells us that Jacob grieved, grieved for 20 years because he thought his son, Joseph, was dead. Joseph was not dead, but Jacob believed a lie. And because he believed a lie, he grieved and mourned, just as if his son were really dead. I'm of the firm persuasion there's a lot of unnecessary grieving and mourning among the people of God because we have believed lies. Now I want to talk to you today about this business of spiritual warfare. And first of all, I want to talk about the battle. I'm going to talk on two fronts, but I want to talk first of all, on the battle that gets you ready for the battle. There is a warfare that precedes spiritual warfare and you've got to win the first battle before you ever get to the battleground. It's a defensive battle. It's a battle within. I want you to take your Bible and turn to two Corinthians chapter 10 if you would. Second Corinthians chapter 10 and verse one or verse three, rather. We're very concerned in these days about environmental pollution, but even more staggering this morning is the problem of mind pollution. Second Corinthians chapter 10 and verse three, although we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Now a stronghold could be understood as a system of mental fortress of incorrect thought. A stronghold is a mental fortress, a mental system of incorrect thinking. And the Bible says we have weapons to pull down these mental beachheads. Look in verse five, casting down imagination. Now imaginations have to do with the mind have to do with the thinking apparatus. Notice what it says, casting down every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God. Note the word knowledge having to do with the mind and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Notice the word thought. My brethren this morning, there is a war on the saints. There is a battle for the mind and the war on the saints. It takes place largely between the ears, because if the enemy can get us to think wrong, believe wrong, then we will be wrong and will act wrong. And that's why we have to take the offensive and go in and take back the ground that we've given to the enemy, tearing down strongholds, bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ. Now I want you to take your Bible and turn over to Hebrews and chapter 10. If you would Hebrews chapter 10 in chapter nine, the, I started to say the apostle, but you might not think he wrote this epistle, but I do know who wrote the epistle. The Holy spirit wrote the epistle. Amen. Somebody out here already knew that. Amen. All right. Well, in chapter nine, the Holy spirit tells us that we can have our conscience purged, purged from dead works so that we might be able to serve the living God. Now look, if you would, in chapter 10, chapter 10, and due to time, I want us just to kind of capsule this and get to the text in verse two. It's talking about how that the under the law and had a shadow of good things to come, but under the law, a person could never become perfect. And notice in verse two and talks about these sacrifices for then they would have not ceased to be offered because that the worshipers once purged should have had no more conscience of sin. Now under the old covenant, you can offer sacrifices, but it can never take away, never take away the guilty conscience, the dead conscience, the violated, offended conscience. And the problem today in the church is many of God's people. And I'm talking about God's people save converted people are more aware of their sins than they are of the grace of God. Before you become a Christian, the devil doesn't want you to feel guilty about anything. Sleep with everybody in town. Take dope. Don't feel guilty about anything. But after you become a Christian, he wants you to feel guilty about everything. And there's a great, great ministry of condemnation that Satan carries out among the people of God. People are more sin conscious than God conscious. And on the old covenant, you'll never find relief, but notice some good news in verse 16. This is the covenant that I will make with them. After those days, say at the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts. Notice this. And in their minds, well, I write them and here's some good news, good news for bad people and their sins and iniquities. Well, I remember no more good news for people that have not been able to live up to their own expectation, much less God. He's not going to remember those sins and he's going to put his law in our minds. Look at me. What in verse 19, having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. Friend, if you want to get close to God, everywhere I go, people want to get close to God. They want to get nearer to God. You can't get any nearer to God than what the blood makes you near to God. You can't get any closer than this. And the way you get into the holiest is through the blood of Jesus. Then notice this. Notice this in verse, verse 21 and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. Now I want you to notice the terminology here with a tested heart. Let us draw near in full assurance of faith. No doubting whatsoever, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, having to do with the mind, having to do with the thinking apparatus sprinkled from an evil conscience. Now, men, women, I believe this morning that it is possible for a Christian, a child of God to accept thoughts that don't come from God and become a mouthpiece for the enemy. You recall the words of the Lord Jesus to his right-hand disciple, Peter. When Peter began to tell the Lord, far be it from thee, O Lord, that you're going to go to Calvary, our Lord turned to Peter and rebuked him and said, get thee behind me. He was not rebuking Peter as Peter, but he was rebuking the one controlling Peter's mind and controlling Peter's mouth. He had accepted thoughts from the enemy and become a mouthpiece for the devil. In the book of Acts, we read of Ananias and Sapphira, how they brought the money and lied about it. And Ananias came in first and pretended he'd given all when he'd kept half of it. He lied about it. And Peter looked at him and said, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? Satan filled his heart to lie. Now, we Christians believe that you can have your heart filled with the Holy Spirit. The Bible seems to indicate you can have your heart filled with the unholy spirit by accepting his suggestions and Luke chapter nine, the Lord and his disciples were going through Samaria and the Samaritans were not very hospitable. They wouldn't let them, uh, didn't give them good accommodation. And the disciples were pretty fired up. They'd been out and cast out a few demons, you know, done a few miracles. They got pretty cocky and these people weren't taking very good care of them. And they said, now, Lord, Lord, do you want us to call down fire on these people? Like Elijah did, Lord, you want us to take care of this one for you? You can set it out. And you know what Jesus said, Jesus looked at them and said, you know, not what spirit you're on. I didn't come to destroy men, but to save them. You know, not what spirit you were on. I believe if you're not under the control of the Holy spirit of God, you're under the control of the unholy spirit of the Prince of this world. Folks, our minds are like a guest room. Every visitor that comes into your life will come in through the Avenue of your mind. You know, you don't let everybody into your door, into your house that knocks on your door. I don't, I don't imagine that you do, but you know, some Christians let every thought that comes knocking, they allow it entrance into their mind. And when you receive thoughts that don't come from God, but they'd come from the unholy spirit and you allow these thoughts to settle into your mind, you entertain them. They drop down into your spirit. And before long they possess your whole being. I want to say this morning that what you believe is vitally important and nowhere in the word of God, when you find a downplay of doctrine for unity with unbelievers, nowhere in the word of God, you understand what I'm saying this war that we must maintain biblical purity and think correctly about God and correctly about his word and have compassion at the same time, only possible in the power of the Holy spirit. Amen. So it's important what we think. And, you know, I believe that Satan loves to implant thoughts in our mind. He's had thousands of years to study the human race and with expert timing, expert timing, he can shoot his fiery thought missiles. These fiery thought darts into our mind with such expert timing that if we're not very alert, we will not even be able to discern that they're not our own thoughts. We'll think that they're our own thoughts when in reality, they're not our thoughts at all. They're implants or insertions by the enemy himself. Now we Christians believe that the Holy spirit can bring things to our remembrance. Do we not? Many of us can testify. We've had the Holy spirit bring things to our remembrance probably even today, but friend at the Holy spirit can do that. Don't you imagine perhaps that the unholy spirit might be able to make suggestion to our mind. Psychologists tell us that over 12,000 thoughts will go through a man's mind on a given day, 12,000 thoughts. Many of these thoughts we drum up on our own. Many of these thoughts, perhaps God sends our way by the Holy spirit. But what about these other thoughts? God did not send them. We did not conjure them up. May I suggest today that these are, uh, fiery thought darts shot by the enemy of God to foil the people of God and to foil the plan of God and to pollute the minds and thinking apparatus of God's people. And brothers and sisters today, the Bible tells us that we had to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Nor in the word of God, will you find a, find a downplay on the mind of man. And what we need is a renewed mind. Oh, it's not all mental, but God works through the mind through the mind with truth and to get it in our spirit. Now I want to talk to you today very briefly. This is going to be condensed on the evidences of an evil conscience and then how to be delivered from an evil conscience. The Bible says here that we can have our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. What's it talking about? A violated conscience, a dirty conscience, an evil conscience. I'd like to suggest today that one of the meanings perhaps is that an evil conscience is a conscience, a mind that just has these continual besetting, gripping, plaguing, obsessive thoughts, uncontrollable thoughts. It's a mind literally out of control, kind of like a phonograph record that's got a little Nick in it. On each rotation, the needle will fall into the same groove and play the same tune over and over and over again. So it is with a man who is entertained thoughts from Satan and, and, and accepted these thoughts and they become such a part of his being that his mind just rehashes the same old garbage time and time and time again. Compelling thoughts, obsessive thoughts, preoccupying thoughts. You said, brother Harold, what are you talking about? What about in the area of thoughts of accusation? Thoughts of accusation, you know, praying high, the great prayer man of India was in a prayer meeting one time and he began to pray for a pastor friend that had gotten away from God. Get on his knees. And he said, Lord, Lord, you know, how cold Lord, you know, how cold. And he was going to proceed to give God a report of how bad off this guy was when he said that God put a stay on his lips and said, praying high, you know, better than the devil that accuses the brethren day and night before the throne of God here, praying high was accusing the brethren in prayer. God doesn't need to get caught up on the gossip column from us, accusing thoughts. I was in a church one time, met a man at the back, big husky guy, a little dab of real cream. Didn't do it for him. Half the tube is what he had on. And this guy met me at the back door, shook my hand. He looked me in the eye and boy, he was really, really proud. He said, brother, Harold, he said, I'm what you call a militant fundamentalist. I don't know if you know what that means, but I looked at him and I said, well, brother, God will probably give you victory over it. If you pray about it long enough, you know what he meant by that, brother, I'm a fundamentalist, but I'll tell you something. We ought not to be contentious with the people of God that a little different from ourselves, man. Amen. But thoughts of accusation, constant, constant attack, a critical spirit is an evidence of an evil, violated conscience. What about accusations against God? Do any of you at times just have a desire, have a thought in your heart that you would like to take God's name in vain and blaspheme God? Some of you can identify with what I'm saying. Have you ever thought that maybe that's not your thought at all, but maybe that's an insert by the enemy and persistent, persistent thoughts of accusation are an evidence of an evil conscience. Accusations against yourself. You know, you don't have any joy. You didn't get anything out of your Bible study this morning. Boy, you're a poor excuse for a Christian. You know, you're probably not even saved. Now, let me tell you something, friend. God might tell you some of that, but I'll tell you sometimes the devil will tell God's people that kind of stuff. Thoughts of accusation, beating self. Oh, friend, it's not the way. Another evidence of an evil conscience. Another train of thought is bitter thoughts. The Bible warns about uprooted bitterness and being in the gall of bitterness. I was in California and a man came to a prayer altar and wept his eyes out for 40 minutes. We wanted to hear about that trip to the altar. He stood before the people and he told how that his little girl had been run over by a drunk teenager in a coma for six months in the hospital for a year. They told him she would never be normal. And he told her how he had such hatred in his heart toward that teenage boy that had run over his little girl. And he shared how he poured out his bitterness and his hatred of God. And he said, you know, I think if that young man came in the back door, I could look him square in the eye and reach out my hand and shake his hand and say, son, I want to tell you that I love you. God set that man free from an evil conscience of bitterness and unforgiveness. And I want to tell you, it's still going on. I saw him four years later and that brother still had the victory God delivered him from an evil conscience. You can have evil conscience along any line. What about, what about enticing thoughts? Brother Curran shared with me the Dan Rava. I'm sure he enjoyed it reported on a pastor's convention. We're doing this pastor's convention. The motel reported that they sold more pornographic movies while the preachers were there than in the history of the motel than with any other conference they'd ever had. Or people don't run off and fall into adultery overnight. They've been committing mental adultery long before that ever, ever took place. Enticing thoughts. Some of us have given so much ground to the enemy in this area. It's like we have a one track mind and all we can think about on and on. And many of us put enough trash in our hearts years ago that we're still battling it today. But thank God, I believe there's power in the blood of Jesus to rid a man of an evil conscience of enticing fantasy thoughts. What about tormenting thoughts? Thoughts of guilt, an evil conscience of guilt. Or if I'd only never said that, or if I'd only never done that, thoughts of regret, Satan hurling into your imagination such thoughts of guilt and torment. Let me say something to you this morning. If you ever confess your sin to God one time, if you ever confess your sin to God one time and get reminded of it again, it's not God convicting you again, it's the devil trying to condemn you. And when you ask God to forgive you, you ought to thank him for it and get up and go on and believe it, whether you feel like it or not. We have got to get out of this subjective and believe God and go ahead and live by choice out of our will. A lady came in the prayer room one night, she left trouble. She came the second night, she left trouble. She came the third night, she left trouble, deep, deep trouble countenance. Fourth night she came and boy, she had the glory of God on her face in the afterglow. I said, sister, why don't you tell us what God has done for you? No detail, no detail. But she said, God has set me free from something that has plagued me for years. I got a note later, I found out that this dear lady, this dear woman had been abused, had been abused as a child in her own home. And she told how that it affected every area of her life, how she felt so guilty and so dirty, but God set her free. I saw her pastor too much later, I said, how's our sister doing? He said, brother, she's still got the victory. She testified in church, didn't go into detail, but she shared in church how God had set her free, came over to another church where I was at, gave a testimony. And brother, I want to tell you, God can deliver people from an evil conscience of guilt and tormenting thoughts. What about an evil conscience of unbelief, an evil conscience of unbelief. Now the opposite side of the positive thinking crowd and the positive imaging crowd, and you can get into the new age and there's nothing new about the new age. It's just the old, old tricks of the devil in a new mask. That's all that is. Don't study it too much. It doesn't pay to get too involved. Just understand it's a device of the devil and steer clear. And you don't need to go out around hugging crystals. Amen. Ridiculous, but an evil conscience of unbelief. You know, I think a lot of God's people have been programmed for failure. We don't expect anything kind of like an elephant. They tell me when they're born, when they're small, as small as they get, when they're born, they put a big rope around their leg, drive an iron pole in the ground. And the baby elephant will pull and tug and pull and tug and attempt to get away, but he can't get away. They're not very smart. So they do this for days, pull and tug and pull and tug and try to get away. And finally, at length, they figure out they can't get away. So they stopped trying. And when these elephants grow up, they don't think they can get away. So they don't even try. My little boy and I went to a circus and here was this great, great big elephant. And they had a little piece of twine around his foot and a wooden pig driven in the ground, a branch, a stick. And that big elephant didn't even try to get away. You know why? He didn't think he could get away. He had been programmed for failure. He had been programmed for defeat. And I think a lot of God's people have been programmed for failure. I mean, we don't expect anything from God. We're not looking for anything from God. I mean, we're just content with the commonplace and don't expect too much, Brother Harold, and all the rest of it programmed an evil conscience of unbelief. So what I like about these fellas, man, they're looking for God to do some things that they can't explain. Well, that's what I'm looking for. What about you? Oh, brethren, we've got to learn to believe God. And I'm not talking about going extreme on these things. I'm just talking about having the spirit of faith and the gift of faith and exercising it and believe God to do what we can't do. There's a million other things we could talk about, fearful thoughts, suspicious thoughts, discouraging thoughts, depressing thoughts. One pastor asked me, he said, he said, Harold, what's the difference between discouragement and depression? And I said, about three weeks. Now, where do you think these things originate from? Spirit of discouragement, spirit of depression. Brethren, God's not giving us that kind of a spirit. I wonder who did. Thoughts of apathy, any sort of routine of continual, perpetual, ongoing stronghold type thoughts are an evidence of an evil conscience. Now, someone has said that the conscience is like the deputy of the soul. It's like the sheriff of the soul, the policeman of the soul. And brethren, you're going to go nowhere in your Christian life if your deputy has you under arrest. That's the battle. You've got to get delivered from an evil conscience. Now, quickly, I want you to turn to the book of Exodus chapter 12, if you would. How do you deliver it from an evil conscience? Well, the Bible says we can have our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, sprinkled from an evil conscience. And Exodus chapter 12, the Lord is giving Moses direction for the Passover. Verse 22, he says, you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, strike the lentil in the two side posts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out the door of his house until the morning for the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians. And when he see it, the blood upon the lentil and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not suffer the destroyer to come into your houses to smite you. They took that blood, they dipped it, they put it on the side post, they put it on the lentil. And when the death angel passed through, when the Lord passed through and when he saw the blood, that destroyer couldn't get in. Now, brethren, if you're a Christian, the blood of Jesus has already been applied from God's side and judgment and wrath have passed over because it passed on him at Calvary. But yet, but yet there remains the responsibility with us to get our own minds under the blood, to have our own hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. And by faith, by faith, you've got to see the blood of Christ applied to the doorpost of your mind. When you get your heart sprinkled and get your mind under the blood, no demon of hell can penetrate the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. I used to pray all the time, Lord, help me not to have these evil thoughts. If you ever prayed that, how many of you have ever prayed that prayer, Lord, help me not to have these evil thoughts. Now look around every one of us. And how many of you found out that God didn't help you? You kept on having those thoughts anyway. Let's see those hands right there. Didn't work. You know why? You're talking to the wrong party. God didn't give them to you. And he told you to pull down the strongholds and cast down the imaginations and bring every thought captive with the weapons that he's given you to do it with. So it's futile for you to go around and say, Lord, help me not to have these wicked thoughts. This is the battleground friend to get you ready for the battle. It is to come. You've got to fight through it. Now, let me give you some points along these lines. First of all, first of all, you've got to recognize the enemy and recognize if you have strongholds, mental fortresses of wrong thought, it's because you have entertained thoughts that did not come from God. And there has been constructed in your mind, a whole system of incorrect thinking. Recognize the enemy. He is out to rob you of your joy. And the moment thoughts come into your mind, zero right in on them. And if you didn't try to come up with them and you're confident God didn't give them to you, go ahead and assume the enemy planted them there and go from that point to reject them and refuse them. Now, folks, I don't think there's any quick fix for this thing. And this deliverance stuff, a lot of this deliverance ministry could be taken care of by repentance. Watch, when he came and Christian came to him and said, I want somebody to cast the devil out of me. And he said, you let the devil in, you take care of it yourself. No, you're just getting too spooky. No, you're just getting too mystical, Fred. If we yield to Satan, we're responsible before God to repent. And that's how you get rid of it. You repent of it. Recognize it. Second of all, renounce it. Renounce it. Listen, if you're not taking ground from the devil, he's probably taking ground from you. Renounce. What are you talking about? Past sin? What are you talking about? Dirty music? What are you talking about? Drug taking? What are you talking about? Any involvement with the works of darkness? Renounce it. The Bible says we have renounced the hidden deeds of dishonesty. We turned our back on them. Burning every bridge, refusing every lie, closing off every connection with the old life of sin. We had a girl come to the meeting and she was a new Christian. She said she didn't have many Christian friends and she'd been smoking marijuana. She felt bad about it. You know Christians feel bad about it when they take dope. Amen? There's no such thing as a Christian drug addict or a Christian drunkard or a Christian sodomite. There is no such thing, Fred. You say, well, they're just carnal Christians. No, no, Fred. No drunkard, no whoremonger shall inherit the kingdom of God. And I know that a Christian can get away from God, but when a man is perpetually away from God without chastisement, he's not backslidden. He's not going to lose a few rewards. He's going to lose his soul. And we need to sound a bold message of renunciation and turning from sin and turning to God. Brethren, that's repentance. It's repentance. Renunciation. And when those thoughts come, refuse them and reject them. Point three, restitution. Listen, you don't get right with men in order to get right with God. If you go around chasing, trying to put things right with men before you put things right with God, you'll probably put more wrong than you put right. Only one thing will put you right with God, and that's the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you get right with God through the blood of Jesus, then you go and get right with men. You don't go in order to get right with God. You go because you already are right with God and you want to get your conscience void of offense toward God and toward man. And you know something? If you have an unclear conscience, the devil will beat you to death. You'll never amount to anything. Look what you did. Look at that lie you told. You know, you're never going to amount to anything. Look at what you stole. But you know something? If you go ahead and get it right with God by the blood and then go put it right with men, Satan's got nothing to throw in your face. Because you can say, yeah, I did that, but the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses me from all sin. It's already taken care of. It disarms the devil. Restitution. Point four, resist the devil and he will flee from you. Do you believe that? You know what it says first? Submit yourselves therefore to God. Don't try the second point until you get the first point taken care of. Resist the devil. Now, how do you resist the devil? How did Jesus resist the devil? He came to him and tempted him and Jesus resisted the devil, not physically, but with a verbal rebuke. Now it says in the book of Revelation that those tribulation saints, they overcame the accuser of the brethren by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony. They overcame by the blood and the word of their testimony. Listen, when Satan comes knocking at the doorpost of your mind, you want to resist him, do two things. Point to the blood, speak to the enemy. You say, well, we can't rebuke the devil because Michael the archangel didn't even bring a railing accusation against him. No. And Michael, the archangel was not in Christ. But if you say you are, well, I don't feel comfortable with that. We'll ask the Lord to do it. But I'm telling you, I think you can resist point five. Rejoice. I know we're rushing point five. Rejoice. This is the greatest weapon you've got, the weapon of rejoicing. God loves praise. It says in the psalm that God inhabits the praises of his people. One preacher said that praise is God's address. Well, if you want to find God, you'll find him in the midst of an unceasing stream of praise from pure hearts, by the way. That's the way it is in heaven. That's the way it is in revival. The Shang Tung revival had so many demon-possessed people, had nobody to deal with them. They just ushered these people into a room of cleansed saints singing hymns of praise to God. And Bertha Smith said no demon could stand his ground for more than an hour in the midst of unrestrained praise. What a weapon. You know, friend, when people come together and they're rejoicing, thanking God, repenting and believing God, there's an atmosphere about it. And when people come together, discouraged, murmuring, complaining, grumbling down in the dumps and no faith and all the rest, there's an atmosphere about it. Let me give you something quickly. In the book of Chronicles, the Bible mentions this word Judah. The word Judah means praise. Listen to this. It says that Judah praise, the tribe of praise prevailed above his brethren. It says in the book of Judges that Judah praise defeated his enemies. It says in the book of Numbers that Judah was first in battle. They didn't send out the bow and arrow squad. They sent out the choir. That's the way it is. And then it says in book of Revelation that Jesus is the lion of the tribe of, isn't that interesting? He loves praise. And I'll tell you something, Brad, Satan is allergic to praise. King standard, but buddy, he'll gravitate to a bunch of murmuring, grumbling, ungrateful, doubting souls. And brother, that's why this is the day the Lord hath made. And we said it this morning, when we prayed in our room, we will rejoice. It's an act of the wheel first and then an emotion sometime down the road for us. Amen. Some of you, after you get your caffeine, that's when you start in on that point of rejoicing. All right. But all right. Rejoice. Listen quickly. Renewal. Renewal. The inward man is to be renewed day by day. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. I'm not talking about a one time fix. I'm talking about a daily renewing. I'm not talking about a chapter a day to keep the Bible, keep the devil away. I'm talking about a versatility that the Holy Spirit breathes on and gives you some life rather than we've got to have our minds renewed day by day. We've got to walk in the light. Now that's the battle that gets you ready for the battle. It's an inward battle, getting your conscience cleansed. And then second of all is the battle of prayer. I mean, we can't even fight on the second front until we get the first front taken care of. And if you have a polluted, violated conscience today, by all means, get along with God. Get along with God. Get your mind's heart sprinkled from an evil conscience so you can get in on the warfare and be a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Now listen, prayer does not get you ready for the battle. Prayer is the battle. Prayer does not get you ready for the warfare. It is the warfare. It is the battleground. Let me give you three points. Number one, reckon on your authority. Christians have delegated authority. Jesus said, all power in heaven and earth is given unto me and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. My next door neighbor is a state trooper. He's a little guy, but when he puts on his badge and gets in his car and turns on his light, he can point his finger and semi-tractor trailers will pull over on the side of the road. He had two over the other day. Now I could get out there and put my hat on and cut all my flashers and point my finger and jump up and down and yell and scream and I couldn't get a Volkswagen to pull over on the side of the road, but he can get semis to pull over on the side of the road. Why? He has delegated authority. People don't respect him. They respect the power behind him, brother. The devil doesn't respect me or you, but I'll tell you something. If you belong to God, you've got delegated authority from God and he respects the power and authority of God because he is a defeated fall still on the loose, but he's defeated. He's got no power over you. Christians are not victims that'd be more than conquerors through him that love us. We've got advantage point of victory. The Bible says that, that, uh, we're seated with Jesus at the father's right hand. We're seated in the heavenlies. Listen, if you're in Christ, you are wherever he is. Our bodies are earthbound, but our spirit are in union with him in heaven where above every name that's ever been named. You don't have to fear these things. You respect the enemy, but friend, if you ever come to know who you are, you'll be in a state of revival. The vantage point of victory above every name that's ever been named. Second of all, reckon on your authority, reckon on your authority. I'm not talking about cocky arrogance. I'm just talking about believing God reckon on your authority. Second of all, get robed for battle because you're going to have it. You're not out for a picnic. And if spiritual, when a spiritual awakening comes, there'll still be a battle going on. Amen. And what you've got to do is you've got to get your mind braced with the truth, put on the breastplate of righteousness, get your feet shod. There's some things you've got to do. You've got to take the shield of faith. You've got to take the helmet of salvation. You've got to take the sword of the spirit of God. And when you get all of the armor on, do you know why you get the armor of God on? It's so you can pray. Read it in Ephesians chapter six. After he gets all the armor on, what does he do? What does it say? Praying always with all kinds of prayer and supplication in the spirit. This is the battleground. This is where we win or lose. In this point, in this point of union with God in the ministry of intercession, we get robed for battle. Thirdly, we restrain the enemy. We restrain the enemy. Now listen, our authority as believers is not over people, their minds or their will, but over the powers of the air. And it's not our job to fight the foe really. It's just our job to hold over him the victory that's already been won there on Calvary. And you know, God moved my heart this morning, how we need a burden of prayer, not only for the church, but for the lost. People come to your church. They are there week after week. They hear the preaching. You say they sit in the preaching, but they remain unconverted. You know why? It's because they never hear what you're saying. The foul of the air snatched the word out of their heart before it falls down into the fruitful place of understanding. And the reason lost people are lost is because Satan has blinded the minds of them that don't believe. And this warfare prayer is going against the powers of darkness and binding those powers from blinding the minds of people so that God's word can fall into the understanding and give them an opportunity to receive the truth of the gospel. I don't have a lot of life experience in it, but I've been practicing somewhat this kind of restraining the enemy, the enemy through prayer. James Stewart said is the supernatural spontaneous work of God, which commences in the place of intercession, because some believers dare to believe that God can fulfill his word even today. The secret place of intercession, we restrain the enemy so God can work. Brethren, there's a battle to get you ready for the battle. You get your mind under the blood. How do you do it? Recognize, renounce, restitution, resist, rejoice, and renewal. And when you get your conscience liberated from dead works and get full of the Holy Spirit of God, then you're ready to go to war again on a different front over the souls of men and women, but you can't battle for anybody else until you get your own soul in victory. And then the warfare, we've got to reckon on our authority, believe God, robed with the armor of God, and then through the ministry of prayer and cooperation with God in obedience to his commands, we restrain the enemy. And I trust today that some of these thoughts will be used of the Holy Spirit so that some of you could get your own heart sprinkled from an evil conscience and encourage every one of us, every one of us, to join in on the battle, the second battle, the battle for the souls of men that we might be able to experience revival and the move of God's Spirit in a greater, more broad way in these days. Let's bow together for a time of prayer. Everybody bowed before the Lord. Friend, if you've got a violated conscience, we're not going to take much time, but God's speaking to you. You've got a dirty conscience today, a violated conscience, dirty, preoccupying thoughts, an offended conscience. Why not slip out and get along with God and let him meet you right now? Heavenly Father, thank you today for who you are and who we are in you. Thank you, Lord. There's power in the blood of Jesus to cleanse our conscience from dead works so that we can joyfully serve the living God. And thank you, Lord, for our position of victory. Thank you, Lord, that you're with us always, even to the end. Thank you, Lord, that we're not victims, but we're more than conquerors. God, would you teach us, would you teach us daily, Lord, to get this battle within taken care of through the blood of Christ and then, Lord, on a daily basis, to get involved in the battle for the souls of men. Thank you for the weapons and thank you for the victory that's in Christ. God, may we learn to enforce it regularly, we pray, in Jesus' name. The following message was given at the Canadian Revival Fellowship Conference, held at the Bayview Glen Church in Thornhill, Ontario, February 1989. For additional copies of this message or for other messages available, please contact the Canadian Revival Fellowship, Box 584, Regina, Saskatchewan, S4P 3A3.