Shane Idleman emphasizes the dangers of allowing strongholds and addictions to take root in our lives, using a poignant poem from a girl who succumbed to heroin addiction as a sobering reminder of the consequences of sin. He passionately asserts that despite these struggles, it is never too late to turn to God, who offers redemption and the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome life's challenges. Idleman encourages believers to engage in fervent prayer and fasting as essential tools for spiritual warfare and to maintain intimacy in their relationships, particularly in marriage. He highlights the importance of being filled with the Holy Spirit, which empowers believers to live victoriously and resist the enemy's attacks. Ultimately, he calls for a return to holiness and a deeper commitment to prayer as the means to experience God's transformative power in our lives.

I think sometimes we need to get sober about what the Bible talks about as warnings. What I'm about to read to you, it's pretty sobering, it's pretty intense, but I think we need to hear this sometimes. It was actually written by a girl who had an overdose of heroin and she died, but this is something she wrote before then, and it actually pertains to a lot of areas of our lives if we're not careful. When we allow strongholds to come in, when we allow addictions to come in, when we allow pornography and other areas to come into our lives, this is what she wrote. I destroy homes and tear families apart. Take your children and that's just a start. I'm more costly than diamonds, more costly than gold. The sorrow I bring is a sight to behold. Just try me once and I might let you go, but try me twice and I will own your soul. I take kids from parents and parents from kids. I turn people from God and separate from friends. I'll take everything from you, your looks and your pride. I'll be with you always, right by your side. I'll take and I'll take till you have nothing more to give. When I'm finished with you, you'll be lucky to live. You knew this would happen. Many times you were told, but you challenged my power and and chose to be bold. You could have said no and just walked away. If you could live that day over, now what would you say? I'll be your master. You will be my slave. I'll even go with you when you go to your grave. Now that you have met me, what will you do? Will you try me or not? It's all up to you. I can bring you more misery than words can tell. Come take my hand. Let me lead you to hell. That's addiction at its core, but that's also pornography. That's also Delilah, the assassins that come against our homes. However, if I had one chance to talk to this girl again, I would tell her this, you forgot one line. You forgot one line, but God. But God. With God it's never too late. I believe if you can hear the sound of my voice, if you have breath in your lungs, if you're here this morning, with God it's never too late. Yes, this is how it plays out when the enemy comes at you as a roaring lion. This is what he's seeking to do. This is how he devours. This is how he walks you down one step at a time. This is how he says, grab my hand, let me lead you to hell. But then God steps in and says, when you cry out to me it's never too late. If you repent, repentance is a beautiful word. I've seen a lot of repentance this week where people, they've shed tears and they've cried out to God and they said, oh God, kill this in my life. Eradicate this in my marriage. I don't want this to be passed down to my children. I don't want this anger to continue. I don't want to be passed down in the future generations. I'm eradicating it now. I'm identifying the stronghold. I'm bringing light to it and I'm killing the assassin in my life because God, you are greater than the world that's out there. But it does beg the question this morning, who or what is trying to kill your marriage? Or if you're a young adult, you're single, what is trying to kill your marriage? What is trying to take you out, spiritually speaking? Because as sure as the sun is coming up tomorrow, you have an enemy. I've told people that and people said, I don't like that. And I say, I don't either. But the fact that I don't like it doesn't change it. So you might as well get on God's side and fight him on our turf, not on his grounds. That's why I love that song. There's so much truth that this is how I fight my battles. Some of you know that song. We do it sometimes. This is how I fight my battles. How? On your face. See, it's hard to fall when you're already on your knees. It's hard for the enemy to trip you up when you're already on your face. Of course, I'm speaking metaphorically, but also there's nothing wrong with doing that physically. Many times I found myself up here in the morning, right there, or in my house, or in my office, and go, God, and crying and pulling down heaven and asking God to break our prideful and arrogant hearts. And then verse 5, he says, do not deprive one another except with consent for a time. Meaning don't deprive one another. I don't need to you know, you can fill in the blank. You know what that means? That you may give yourself over to what? Netflix? And gorging? McDonald's? That you may give yourself over to fasting and prayer. Oh, where's Paul going with this? He's going right to the heart of the matter. That's where the power is. You want to see our nation change? It's because of fasting and prayer and getting out and making a difference. So many people come into the church and they don't go out and do anything. Fasting and prayer, and then come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. So he's saying the longer you stay, and I've noticed this before, now there's exceptions to this rule as people get older maybe, but I've noticed the longer people begin, or the more they begin to fight, the longer they stay distant, the longer they're not getting along, the longer Satan is in their marriages and causing problems and there's no intimacy and they're growing farther apart, there's Satan's opening. That's why he said so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. The more we, the farther we draw apart, the more Satan has grounds and openings to get in. But it's when a marriage stays close together, the intimacy stays close together, the communication stays close together, that they pray. Did you know that some people pray and read the Bible together? Or at least they'll pray together if their schedule is different? There's a focus on the family statistics that came out 20 years ago, I think, that said the divorce rate. Are you ready for this? What is the divorce rate right now usually? 50%? Depends in the church or among, you know, unbelievers or different people, but the divorce rate among those who pray and read the Word of God together is 1 in 1,500. Want me to repeat that? 1 in 1,500. So that's how you, that's how you affair-proof your marriage, is praying and fasting. Now it's interesting, this is interesting he mentioned fasting, but this is point number four. I would suggest to you, fast often as a way of disciplining the body. That's all fasting is doing. It's one thing, it's disciplining the body, but it's also denying the body of a fleshly appetite, so you don't have two competing appetites. I'm competing for God, I want more of God, but I'm also, I'm also following King's stomach. I'm filling King's stomach. Don't try this at home, but take my word for it. If you stop by McDonald's, get two Quarter Pounders or whatever they call them, sit down and watch Netflix with the big slurpee, you're not gonna feel like praying. You're gonna feel like staying on the couch for more hours. Why? Because you're feeding that fleshly desire. So that's what fasting does. Fasting kills the bodily appetites for a season. So Paul says, and also that's why he said refrain from intimacy, because refraining from intimacy, refraining from bodily appetites, food, all of that helps to build you up spiritually. I don't like it any more than you do. It doesn't say eat a lot of chocolate, it just says fast to get spiritual power. Is there something you've been dealing with in your own life? Is there something, is there a stronghold you've been dealing with? The Bible also says this, let me move this away a little bit, Matthew 17 21, this kind, this kind does not go out except by prayer and what? Fasting. Now do you believe Jesus's words? Here's the context. The disciples are casting out demons. They get to one person and they can't do anything. And Jesus says this kind does not come out except by prayer and fasting. Though I like what the pulpit commentary says. This kind can only mean this kind of evil spirit or demons in general. The Apostles had already exercised successfully their power over devils without prayer and fasting. But these words point to a truth in the spiritual world that there are different degrees and satanic hierarchy. So Jesus said this kind cannot come out except by prayer and fasting. Maybe this kind, could it be that this type of demon that is harassing your children, that is harassing your marriage, that is harassing you, that this kind does not come out except by prayer and fasting. Fasting is the right hook to the enemy. It's starving the flesh to be filled with the Spirit of God. So if you're interested in some tips on that, take it to prayer. Ask God for confirmation in Scripture. Take it to prayer. And if you're wanting to fast for something, let me give you a tip right up front. Get your diet clean first. This is why it's so difficult when people, oh Shane I tried to fast all day, I can't do it. Right, because you're addicted to caffeine, you're addicted to sugar, you're addicted to processed foods and the chemicals in them. You're not, you're not, fasting's not hard. You're withdrawing from chemicals and drugs and different things. That's why it's so difficult. Boy, this part of fasting is going over like a keg of beer at an AA party. Man, you guys aren't, I'm gonna get you into fasting though at some point. I'm gonna teach again on it. Number three, the power of the made-up mind. Set up a time frame. Set up a time frame. Say, okay Lord, I'm gonna go all day and I'm gonna pray and I'm gonna fast and I'm gonna seek you. As you begin to starve those natural bodily appetites, the Spirit of God begins to fill you with His Spirit. As you make a denying of the flesh, you begin to be filled with the Spirit of God. That's a biblical principle. Deny the flesh, be filled with the Spirit of God. Now you don't go around starving yourself. Fasting really isn't starving. Do you know what it is? It's kicking into a different energy source. Does anyone have any little extra here? Do you know what the extra is for? Seasons of fasting. How God created us. We didn't have a McDonald's on every corner. It was difficult. You'd have seasons of feasting and fasting. So the body knew to store fat as energy for later. That's why everybody hears about the big ketogenic diet. Keto diet. Eat keto. Eat keto. What are they doing? They're tapping into the fat as the fuel source instead of carbohydrates. Instead of food. So if you stop eating, you're not gonna die. Get your diet clean. You're not gonna die. You have about 1,600 calories just in carbohydrates and glucose stored in your liver and in your muscle. And then after that is used up, it goes right into your fat as ketone bodies are being used for fuel. And actually you feel pretty good after three or four days. Your body starts burning that clean energy. Even now I probably have 50,000 stored calories. I could go at 2,000 calories a day. You could go 10-15 days. Somebody I read in the Bible went 40 days. Couple people. Now of course I wouldn't recommend that without some serious medical supervision and knowing what you're doing. But it's interesting. You have to plan for difficulties. There's difficult seasons. But we don't know how Jesus felt during his 40-day fast. But this I do know. For the Bible tells me so. After Jesus came out of the wilderness, after fasting, fighting the enemy, the Bible records something very interesting. He came out full of the Spirit of God. The Spirit of the God. He came out full of the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit descended upon him at this baptism. He came out in the, out after his fasting and the Spirit of God was upon him. That's very, the Bible is very clear. Because see you can have the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit not be upon you in a powerful way. Many believers have the Holy Spirit. There's no way around that. You have the Holy Spirit conversion. But because of quenching and grieving and not submitting to the work of the Spirit, he is not doing anything in your life. You are, the Holy Spirit has not come upon you in a powerful way. There's a difference. There's a distinction. You see the disciples. Jesus breathed on them the Holy Spirit, received the Holy Spirit. Well you think they're good? Nope. They still to wait in an upper room. And the Bible says the Holy Spirit came upon them. That word is epi, E-P-I. An overpowering, overshadowing experience of the Holy Spirit of God where everything changes. And I think that would be the second only to salvation. That is my favorite topic to talk about. The empowerment, the endowment, the anointing, the infilling, the baptism, whatever you want to call it. I'm not, I'm not real concerned with what you call it. I want to know do you have it? Well how do I know if I have it? Is the Holy Spirit bubbling out from within you? You, you have to testify. You have to be bold. You're full of love and you're full of grace and you're full of mercy. You want to come to prayer meetings. You want to get on your face before God. You want to put on worship. Oh God I just love more of you. If you have that, you're full of the Spirit of God. If you're like saying Shane, I don't know what that is. You're full of the world. And I don't say it to be mean-spirited. I say it to challenge you. I didn't say any of this in the first service. So I'm hoping that this applies to some of you. That's the greatest need in the church today. If anybody asks me what is the greatest need in the church today, it's what? To be filled mightily with the Holy Spirit. How many people, how many people do you know or even yourself, you go through life without any spiritual power? You don't lead anyone to the Lord. The Bible is boring or dusty. Get to church when you can. That's not the abundant life that Christ spoke of. Think about what Jesus said. If you believe on me, as the scriptures say, out of your innermost parts, another translation says out of your belly, basically who you are out of your innermost parts will flow rivers of dead stale water. If you believe on me, as the scriptures say, it will be boring but you'll get through. Wait till eternity. That's where all the fun happens. If you believe on me, it's gonna be just la-di-da. You know, you won't really feel much. Just persevere. If you believe on me, as the scriptures say, out of your belly will flow rivers of living water. Abundant life. Living water. I want to make you so uncomfortable that you seek this tonight. I want you to say, I need that. And everybody gets concerned with this word baptized in the Holy Spirit. Oh, do you know that John the Baptist said that that's what Jesus would do? I baptize you with water but there's one coming greater than me. I'm not even worthy to unloose his sandal straps. He's going to baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire. Is that powerful? I mean, there's nothing on earth more powerful than fire. And John the Baptist said he will baptize you. What does that mean? He will overwhelm you with the Spirit of God. He will overwhelm you with the presence of Christ. And that's why some people, that's why you see such a stark difference between worshipers and those who are bored. Like, what's wrong? One has been baptized by the power and the presence of God. They have the Holy Spirit bubbling out of them. They might get a little loud. They might raise their hands. They might begin to weep when Chris sang that song. Oh, you've been good to me. You've been so good to me. You've never let me down. You've been faithful all of my life. And then you sing the one that Jamie did. Oh, heaven, the atmosphere is changing. Heaven is here because we're calling on the name of Christ wherever the demons flee. And you read the Word of God and it's like gold to you. It's food to you. It's your necessary meat. It means it's your nourishment. Everything changes. The world and the system is just gross to you. I couldn't think of a stronger word. But you know what I mean. And there's a difference. You're filled with the Spirit of God. Doesn't mean you're perfect. Doesn't make mistakes. Doesn't mean you'll go back to your old ways. Just like a gardener has to keep that garden fresh and clean because weeds are growing in. You have to keep your life clean and holy and set apart for God. Do you remember when the church used to talk about holiness and purity? I have to go back and listen to sermons 30 years ago to hear this stuff from David Wilkerson and Leonard Ravenhill and A.W. Tozer and the old saints of God that used to talk about the holiness of God and the purity of God. Now, you got all these slick guys up there. They want 200,000 views and they're just going to talk about your best life now and how you can just overcome these little obstacles and seven steps to financial success and four ways to conquer this certain thing and things that never get deep into the Word of God. You want to prevail in the Christian faith? You want to fight this battle? You want to win? Seek holiness and purity and the righteousness of God and be filled with the Spirit of God. That's how you fight this battle. And it's hard because one of the number one prayer requests that people have is, I want that. I just don't know how to get it. I want more of God, but I don't. Is that ironic? I want more of God, but I really don't because I'm satisfied. I'm happy and they're never challenged and that's why sometimes I think God brings us to a low point, a breaking point. He brings us to a breaking point just like the olives that are broken to get that olive oil and He'll break us and break us, but sometimes when life is going good and there's no real need for God. So I don't know who this is for this morning, but just begin to continue to seek Him. He doesn't give bad gifts. He gives good gifts. If you being evil know how to give good gifts, how much more will your Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask? And it's an interesting topic. I'll give you that much. I don't know exactly how it works. I just know when I feel the Spirit and I know when I'm not. I know when my sermons are void of spiritual power and I know when they are are filled with spiritual power. I know in my 20s I was embarrassed to say I was a Christian. I might if you if you ask me, but it was embarrassing to be a Christian. The Bible is boring. I don't read books, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and then the Holy Spirit comes upon me. Everything changes. I mean everything changes. Here's how much everything changes. You wonder if you're even saved to begin with. The change is that dramatic. So if that disturbs you, that's okay. Seek God this evening. Say, I want that. I need that. For some reason I just think I need to go into this this last point. If you're single here, try to try to go to the live feed and watch the first service because I talked a lot a lot of more about singleness, but there's just a just a burden, a burden for this last point to pray. Pray as if your marriage depends on it. Did you catch that? Pray as if your marriage depends upon it because it does. Pray as if your spiritual wholeness and health depends upon it because it does. Everything depends upon our prayer life. Is your marriage difficult or dying? Is your family falling apart? Are you confused? Are you depressed? Then begin to pray. Get back. I mean real prayer. I should clarify this. I should clarify this. Not the five-minute prayer. I'm talking about soul-searching, heart-wrenching prayer that where you wait on God. Interesting, I looked up that word waiting on God. It actually means entrenched. To be entrenched, in other words, is to adhere to the Lord like glue. Have you ever accidentally glued something with superglue? That's waiting on God. I'm entrenched in God. I'm waiting on God. I'm glued to God. I'm not gonna move until you move. I'm gonna sit here. I'm gonna listen to you, Father. I'm gonna put other distractions away. Those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up wings, what? Like eagles. They shall run and not grow weary. They shall walk and not faint. Those who wait upon the Lord and stand still and watch Him work. Oh God, we give you all the glory this morning. All that you have brought us through. Something I just recently got, God really put this on my heart, I believe it was last night. We forget that prayer is warfare. Did you know that? You will never see in the Bible prayer identified with things like a dove or a feather or soft quilt or those little bunny rabbits are cute, right? Prayer is warfare. Moses went to prayer. David went to prayer. Hezekiah went to prayer. Elijah went to prayer. Elisha went to prayer. Ezekiel went to prayer. You see all these prayer warriors throughout the Bible. Prayer is warfare. Here's what it is. It's the trumpet call to battle. It's the battering ram that knocks down strongholds. It's the hammer that crushes Satan. It's the fire that ignites the infilling of the Holy Spirit. You want to be filled with the Spirit of God, get your face on the ground before God at home. Put on worship and just say God I'm not gonna move here until you fill me with your spirit. Prayer is also the sword that strikes down fear. It's the weapon that decimates demonic activity. Prayer is what covers your family. It saves your children. It restores your marriage. When God's people cry out an agonizing prayer, that's when revival starts. That's when the hammer of God drops and says no longer the satanic activities are you're going to have dominion in this household, in this church. I'm gonna break those demonic strongholds through prayer and fasting. And God begins to hear that. Think about this. What can defeat armies? What can overcome kingdoms? What can make the seas part? What can close the mouth of lions? What calms the wind and waves? What seizes God's attention? What calls down heaven? What? Prayer. Bible study? Please do it. I do it. Listening to sermons? No. What you'll see is worship and prayer. That combination. That calls down heaven. When a person begins to cry out, oh God hear my prayers. God says is that the voice of my child? Remember I told you that story before. Every time I hear my kids crying. The cry. You know the cry. It's not a normal cry. It's the cry I'm hurt and I'm coming. I'm breaking down the door. I'm climbing. I haven't climbed a block wall in 25 years. I'm climbing a block wall. If I hear the cry of my children, that's the cry I understand. But if they're all prideful and arrogant arguing out in the backyard, oh you stay that way. I'm not gonna do anything. But if they're broken and they're crying, oh daddy, oh father restore my marriage. Restore my heart. I don't even know you. How many in this room are listening don't even know Christ? He hears that cry. Revelation says those who cry, God will hear. Those who call out to the name of the Lord, they will be saved. Just call upon the name of the Lord and you will be saved. Unbeliever and believer cry out to God and you will be saved and delivered and set free.