Pray to Find the Me God Made to Conquer Satan and Break Down the Forces of Darkness Every Day (Gal. 3:22)
Hello! It’s always so awkward in the beginning. I’m going to talk to you guys about the answers I received this week, and they come from the pulpit message and the gospel. We read Galatians 3:22 and it says that everyone is a prisoner of sin and God promised us something, and we’re going to spread that to the whole world. That’s going to be the whole outline of my talk today.
But first I want to talk about humans and what we should be like. It’s from Genesis 1:27, and you guys have all heard this verse before, but for those who may not have, it says God created humans in His image.
Genesis 1:27 God’s Image
We are the only creation that has God’s image, that’s what sets us apart from animals.
Genesis 2:7
It’s an elaboration on that point. Let’s read it together, Genesis 2:7. When God created the world, He created it with His Word. He said, “Let there be light,” and there was light, but when God created humans, He created us out of dust and He breathed into their nostrils the breath of life, and then the man became a living being. That means, without God’s breath of life within us, we’re dead. That’s what it means to be in the image of God, we need His Spirit within us.
When that happens, we’re blessed. That’s the next verse, Genesis 1:28. If you want to read it together with me. “God blessed them and said to them, be fruitful and increase in number, fill the earth and subdue it, rule over the fish in the sea and the bird in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” This is the way we were created to live, we rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creation, and this happens naturally when God is with us. When we’re with God spiritually, he brings the work to us and helps it go naturally and fruitfully, so it’s wherever you are.
Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, but we’re in Los Angeles. We should be ruling over and subduing everything here, how? By the power of God, by the guidance of God, so you know, if you have a little sibling, you should love them and take care of them. If we have animals, we’re nice to animals, and nature, why? Because God created it for us.
In Genesis 2:18, God created the family, so even everything in life, our schoolwork, our professional work, our marriages, our children, all of this should happen very naturally and beautifully with God. In Genesis 2:16-17, the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it, you will certainly die,” so God is saying, “You can have anything you want in the world, just don’t try to be like God; follow God’s guidance.” We don’t know what’s good or bad; all we know is that we follow God’s Word and when we do that, God gives us everything in the world. So, this is such a blessed, easy, and peaceful life we were given.
Genesis 2:16-17
But something happened! Life is really hard, school is hard, family is hard, people are hard, look at the school shooting that happened this week. What’s the solution to that? Some people say gun control is the answer, some people say mental health is the problem and we need that answer, some people say people must be punished and this needs to be in education, but that’s because they don’t know the real problem. The real problem started in Genesis 3:5
All Problem Genesis 3:5
This is the beginning of every problem in the world, it is when Satan said to humans, “you can be like God, knowing good and evil.” That’s the problem. We start to believe, “I know what’s right,” and I fell into this trap this week all the time. Pretty much, every time I get mad, it’s because I think I know what should be happening but it’s not happening like that.
Satan, Sin, “Be Like God”
Satan tells us we can be like God, but because of that, we start not believing in God, and we believe in our own thoughts instead. I’ll give you an example of what happened. You guys know my sister is getting married and you guys know I’m always busy and stressed. So, my sister has also been very busy and stressed, planning for the wedding. Her work is also very busy as well. She and I both have very intense bosses and we’re both very busy, planning her wedding. Just kidding.
We have family problems too, and because of that, she’s been doing a lot of wedding planning with Tim. But now because of that, I don’t get to see her very often. So, I’ve been getting really, really hurt because I feel like she’s leaving me behind. I only get to see her one hour a week. I’m spilling everything. I sleep at midnight talking to her because I never get to talk to her anymore .
In my thoughts, I’m thinking, “That’s not right, she shouldn’t be ignoring the family, she shouldn’t be ignoring me. I know she’s going through a very hard time but I still think that’s not right.” That’s me thinking from my perspective, my thoughts, what I think and what I want, but have I ever thought about what God wants? What if that’s exactly what God wants? What if God wants me to be alone so I can rely only on Jesus Christ? That was exactly what God said during the Wednesday message, and what if God wants Tim and Esther to be spending this time together so they can build a foundation for a covenantal family in worship? Then, should be happy for them, and pray for them, and bless them. But instead, I was so lost in my me-centered thoughts and because of that, even when God is giving me His Word, I don’t want it. That’s how Satan separates us from God with our disbelief.
Separates
Me thinking I can be like God, knowing right and wrong, separates me from God. Me thinking I can be like God knowing what’s right or wrong separates me from people, because I show it in my face. When I see Tim, I’m like, >=[. This separates us from people. This is the beginning of all of our problems. When we start thinking we can be like God, we start seeing things physically, and then I start to only care about myself and physical things and I don’t care about spiritual things.
That’s the cause of division, loneliness, depression, and maybe you get nervous that you’re going to be embarrassed at school. You want to be like God so you want to be the coolest, most loved person. Some people bully other people in school because they’re afraid of being bullied. The shooter in Texas was also his own god. He was seized by Satan, telling him, “You can take other people’s lives, that’s yours to take,” and if you guys notice, there was a lot of hate after that, too. There’s someone who said he was transgender, but he’s not.
People take whatever they think and they just spread hate. They blame one another because they don’t know the problem or the answer. That’s exactly what happened to Adam and Eve. The moment they were separated from God, their spiritual eyes closed and their physical eyes opened. They felt naked and afraid. They felt ashamed and embarrassed and they started hating and blaming each other. This is the beginning of all problems and it’s natural. Every human has it. Even the animals and the land were cursed because of our sin. So yeah.
I kept this inside, I knew the Word and so I was trying to pray my emotions away but I couldn’t because my thoughts were a lot stronger than my faith at the time. That’s okay because I’m still in the process of, you know, healing and discipleship. I talked to my sister about it last night, and she was like, “I know you’ve been upset, but I’ve been so stressed out, I have no time to care about you,” which is the exact same thing I was doing.
I was so upset, I didn’t care how busy and stressed out she was, I just wanted her to spend time with me, to be there for me. It’s the same for my sister, she was so upset and stressed that she couldn’t be there for me, so being nice to one another has limitations. It’s nto the solution to mental rpoblems, suicide, or anything. Neither is only living for yourself because that’s even more division, loneliness, and mental problems.
My sister is in law, she knows the law isn’t the answer because she knows the law is governed by people trapped by Satan in sin, separated from God. I build weapons for a living, and that’s not the answer, either. Look at Ukraine, there’s no solution with weapons and war. So, this is the problem and all humans fall into this trap. Yeah. Those were pretty intense examples, huh?
But on a smaller, more personal scale, I’ll give you more examples of how I felt this week. When I first started driving, I really felt cool and I would listen to music and roll down the windows and be like ^.^ and I started looking at shoes I wanted to buy and that got me really excited, and I think there are some guys at work who have a crush on me. I don’t even like them, but it still gets me excited. This just shows how much more we are physical than we are spiritual.
How many times have we got excited about praying? I felt it a few times, you know, I’ve been crying and stuff because I love praying and I love God’s grace so much, but that’s a very small percentage compared to all the excitement I feel about physical things. This is just Satan telling us we know what we want and it takes us further away from God. So, this is the only problem that causes every problem, small to big.
Now, remember Glaatians 3:22. It says everyone is stuck in sin, so teachers and pastors are no exception. However, we have been given a promise, and that promise is in Genesis 3:15.
Genesis 3:15 Just Believe Jesus Christ
God promises us Jesus Christ. All we have to do is believe in Jesus Christ. What does that mean to “believe in Jesus Christ?” You have to know Who the Christ is. You have to know that Jesus Christ takes away and forgives your sin. So we make mistakes, like I’ve done all my life and this past week, but even when I make a mistake, I can enjoy this promise.
X Sin
That Jesus Christ forgave my sins, but not only does He forgive my sins, He takes away my sins. As I hold onto Jesus Christ, He heals me of my sins, and it happens naturally as I enjoy being with Jesus Christ. So I don’t even have two worry about it; I just believe in Jesus Christ. The next thing Jesus does is overcome Satan’s authority
X Satan
So, whenever Satan is tempting me or deceiving me, I don’t have to worry, even if I fall for it. It means nothing because I’m still a child of God, Jesus is still the Christ, and Jesus Christ’s plan is still being fulfilled. There’s nothing Satan nor I can do to block that. So, actually, when I’m deceived by Satan, that’s when I celebrate Jesus Christ the most because that’s when I realize I cannot do it and I don’t have to do it because Jesus Christ already did it; I just have to believe, and little by little, He allows me to believe as He takes away my sin. That’s why Jesus Christ is the beginning and the end. We have the grace to believe in Jesus Christ and He takes our faith until the very end.
O With God
And he restores our blessings of being with God. So this image of God, where we can rule over the world, that blessing is already ours, even as we make mistakes. You don’t have to be perfect and we didn’t have to be perfect here, either. The only difference is that we were with God and we’re with God now. The only thing is, we have to believe it. Then, you can enjoy it.
Enjoy
Matthew 12:28
You can enjoy this 24 hours a day. God is with us no matter what, forever. He is with us through the Holy Spirit. Matthew 12:28, let’s read that together. But if it is by the spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you. This is our new life. Remember how I said you’re meant to conquer the world? This is exactly what that means. It means that the Holy Spirit is with you, and when you pray in the name of Jesus Christ, demons are cast out and God’s kingdom is established. What does that mean?
Remember how I said my sister and I were fighting this week? It wasn’t really a fight; it was more like a cry, but even before we talked, I was still very deceived by Satan, I was very attacked by Satan, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, I’m glad he was attacking me because that’s Satan exposing himself. How stupid is that? I have the weapon to destroy him, and he is showing himself to me. If I just believe this and pray, that’s my opportunity to break down Satan’s kingdom, and not only will that help me right now, but that blocks disasters for the future.
This whole week, I was praying the prayer to break down Satan’s kingdom. Does that mean I was feeling happy, peaceful, and lovey all week? No, it doesn’t, but it does mean that as I pray, Satan’s Kingdom is being broken down, then that fruit will be visible later on. That Satan was dividing me and my sister, the Satan who was dividing me and my family, the Satan who was divinding me from TIm and his family, that Satan is being broken down right now.
Why is this important? Because our mission is to establish God’s kingdom and God’s Kingdom is love, joy, peace, that’s what I want, not only for me, but for everyone to whom we’re connected, including TIm and his family. We are a church now, we are one body, and through this body, we save other people and bring them into the body of Christ. As we do that, divisions turn into peace, problems become a blessing, and instead of competing to be cooler than everyone I meet, I can save them, they’ll like me, and I’ll automatically be cooler. It’s a win-win.
When you fight for yourself, it’s a lose-lose, because you might think you’re cool right now, but you’re going to be embarrassed later on. I used to be a bully in sixth grade, this is my story. I am embarrassed of how I acted. But now I save everyone, not because I’m good, and I definitely don’t, but it’s because of Christ in me. Even when they attack me, I don’t try to embarass them, I try to help them and I pray for them. That gives me more peace.
I have really bad road rage. So there was one person who cut me off on the freeway, and I honked at him for 30 seconds. I was just driving, “Ehhhh” and after that, I felt so bad, so, doing what you think you want to do will only make you feel worse. It makes you feel so dark just by yourself. But when you establish God’s kingdom, even bead things become an opportunity to bless them. I am so much more peaceful and happy, then I will be happy with and bless the next person I meet. Are you getting where I’m getting at right now? These are cycles, if you bless then you get more blessings, it’s a cycle of blessing. But if you’re in curses, then you spread more and more curses everywhere we go.
So when we look at the way of salvation, we see the six states of the unbeliever, but it’s more than that, it repeats and gets worse and worse and worse. But if you enjoy prayer and hold onto those blessings, then the blessings multiply, and that’s what I want you guys to taste, and for myself as well. Your prayers are so powerful, they work every single time because God never takes a break and He is always with you. So, whenever you pray, He is working. He is waiting for you to pray. He is excited for you to pray.
When you pray for others, He’s even more excited, “Okay cool, angels, go!” That’s why having this spiritual time is so important because it saves us. Just take five minutes, think about the power you have, then you don’t have to live such a life of slavery and depression and anger. Even when everyone around you is super dark, you can be saving them, breaking down the forces of darkness.
Have those five minutes. I’ve actually been trying to do this, I set a timer for five minutes, and I don’t pray more than that. I don’t go after that, but what I do is I do this every night, because in the morning, I can’t wake up. I’m going to pray 5 minutes every night until I can wake up in the morning. Then I’m going to start doing that in the morning.
The reason I stop it at five minutes is because I want to do more, but sometimes I pray too long and that makes me wake up later and that’s not what Go dwants. Five minutes is enough, your prayers are so powerful, God could work in one minute. Even if you think about this one minute or one second, that’s breaking down the forces of darkness inside of you and your field. That’s the only thing that gives me hope nowadays.
When I see shootings, when I see wars, when I see people getting upset because of racism or a lot of social issues, I used to get really angry and fight, but now it’s an opportunity to pray, and now, I look to other people fighting and I feel bad for them because I remember how much that hurt me. Yes.
Matthew 28:18-20
Speaking of praying for other people, those five minutes align you with God’s heart. God’s heart is always this, make disciples of all nations. Jesus Christ will be with you always, with all power in heaven and on earth. Nothing will harm you. Don’t be afraid, only help others because Satan can hurt them. Believe in this. Believe there are 70 disciples who are actually prepared for you.
70 Disciples
Remember the original blessings with which we were created? Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, but we’re in LA, we’re in your school, I’m at Honeywell, and that’s where God wants me to rule. That’s where God prepared people who need to know this. They want to know this. All we have to do is believe that, because God is the One bringing them to us. They can be right in front of us, but if we’re thinking physically, we’re only going to talk to them physically. But if you take just five minutes and just align yourself with God’s spirit, then in God’s perfect time schedule, He will reveal them, like hidden jewels. Life is super exciting and simple, it’s like a scavenger hunt where these gems are popping out from the ground. Yeah. Let’s pray.
Prayer
Heavenly Father God, thank You so much for solving all of our problems and giving us the faith to believe in Jesus Christ. Thank you for giving us Your grace to be able to pray and break down Satan’s power and to establish God’s Kingdom. Help us to overcome all of our problems and save everyone we know, and people we don’t even know in faith. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray, amen.
First, let’s hold onto the message and pray for all the remnants who are in this church and who are with the youth Saturday trainings. Let’s also pray for all the remnants who are out of state or who are in our missions fields, and let’s really all pray that we can all restore this blessing of being with God that we were created to be. Let us pray.
The second thing we are going to pray for right now is the remnant message we are going to receive tomorrow, the remnant day message isn’t something we do just because everyone is doing it, but through the Remnant Day message God is showing us what worship is like together, what the flow of the Word is like, together. He is giving us the Word together so that we can go towards His direction together in prayer together. So let’s pray to break down the forces of darkness for Remnant Day tomorrow and let’s pray for the Sunday message. Let’s pray for Pastor Park who is going to deliver the pulpit message.
The last prayer topic for our remnants is Temple Construction and missions and evangelism. I don’t know what the remnants think about when you hear the adults talk about temple construction, missions, and evangelism, and I don’t know if you think, ”Oh, that’s not something we need to pray about, the adults will take care of it,” however, the message God has been giving us, finding the 70 disciples in the field, is a message He’s giving to you, too.
The message of going out into the 70 nations and 70 tribes, that’s a message He’s giving to you, too. You guys all have your schools, your friends, your fields, that’s your mission field. So, if we can put up the slide show with all the mission fields we have, and also remnants, let’s really pray for Temple Construction because this life-giving Word of Jesus Christ has to keep going out, right? So if you don’t know the importance or if you don’t have faith in this, then ask for faith. Let us pray and then we will sing Find the Me God Made.
Benediction
Father God we thank You. May You work upon the Mizpah movement every time the remnants gather together and hold onto the covenant. May You be with all the workers and lay leaders working with them. Tomorrow during Remnant Day while everyone is gathering, holding to the Word and gathering as one, may all the forces of darkness in this region in America be bound.
Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the unending love of God, and the indwelling, working, guidance, and communion of the Holy Spirit, be upon all the remnants, and the church leaders who want to go only into Jesus Christ, the Kingdom of God, and only the Holy Spirit, with us from now until forevermore always, amen.