Barriers to Blessing — Alan Bartley

Thank you so much. It's lovely to be with you here tonight in Lurgan and to share in this service. It's a real privilege to be here, and I want to thank those who made it possible for us to come. I want to turn with you this evening in the scriptures.

The Armor of God and the Christian’s Spiritual Battle

If you would turn with me please to the book of Ephesians. And what we're going to do is by way of reference, we're going to introduce a subject. So if you turn with me to the book of Ephesians and chapter 6.

Ephesians in chapter 6 and from verse 11. Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 11. Paul the Apostle is writing to the church that is at Ephesus. And he says to them in verse 11, put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against all the wiles of the devil.

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high or in heavenly places. Amen, and God will bless this reading.

We're going to turn to some other scriptures throughout the message. But let's bow together in prayer again and ask the Lord for specific help for our gathering. Heavenly Father, we thank you that we are able to come boldly to the throne of grace.

And Lord, we're able to approach thee because of what Jesus has done. And I ask Lord that that you would draw near to us by the power of the Holy Spirit and Lord that you would speak to our hearts. We pray Lord that you would open our minds and our spirits to your word.

I realize Lord that I am completely helpless. So afresh I give myself to you. I claim your cleansing and sanctifying power on my spirit, soul and body. Lord, for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the extension of your kingdom and for the fulfillment of divine promises, I now take the promised Holy Ghost, that blessed power of Pentecost.

To fill me to the uttermost I take and I thank thee that he the Holy Spirit will undertake. I pray Lord that you would put a wall of fire round about this meeting tonight and grant that thy glory and presence be in the midst.

In Jesus name, I take authority over every power of darkness and every influence of evil and I pray Lord that you will sanctify this place by your own divine presence in Jesus name. Amen. I'd like to speak to you this evening on barriers to blessing, barriers to blessing.

Growth, Spiritual Conflict, and Barriers to Blessing

I had no idea when I became a Christian over 30 years ago that there were going to be so many obstacles and difficulties to face in the Christian life. I literally came in and truly as a child I came having that knowledge of sins forgiven, knowing that I was a child of God, that I had passed from death unto life and I really felt that I kind of understood everything.

But you know the Bible says that when we come to Christ we're babes, as newborn babes we're to desire the sincere milk of the word that we might grow thereby. Now I had many deep-seated problems in my life whenever I came to the Lord, although I had come from a good home and there was no abuse, there was nothing that could be regarded as bad, it was a good home.

But nevertheless there were many issues in my life that still needed resolved and foolishly I thought when I got saved that you know God forgave our sin, but I thought that all the issues would be resolved, but they weren't.

There are many obstacles and difficulties that we meet as we progress in the Christian walk. Paul here when he was writing to the church at Ephesus he said to them that they were engaging as believers, they were engaging in a battle and he said that the battle was not flesh and blood.

Now so often especially when we're young in the faith we feel that people are the problem, and maybe you're a bit like that, you feel that people are my problem. And if I could get rid of certain people out of my life that that would you know solve my problems.

But that's not true. Paul says we do not wrestle with flesh and blood, that means other humans. The battle that we have as Christians is not on a level with human beings. He said we're wrestling against some entities that are superior, that are on a different realm, a different battlefield.

He said we wrestle against spiritual beings in the heavenly places. And so it took me a long time as a Christian to really begin to recognize that and to start to realize that I had to deal with that if I was going to progress in my Christian walk.

The devil whenever a person comes to the Lord they are forgiven, they are given eternal life, they become a child of God, God will protect them. But nevertheless the Bible says that we have to work out our salvation, and that means it's like a it's like a mathematical term, working out.

It means to compute, to work out. And the Bible says that we have to work out our own salvation and what he means is you don't have to be saved, save yourself, but you have to work out God's plan in your life.

You have to work it out with fear and with trembling. And so when we come to the Lord we have problems to be worked out, we have an enemy to face, we have difficulties within and without that have to be addressed.

Spiritual Discernment and Understanding the Enemy

Now in the Second World War there was a great military strategic leader called Rommel. He was one of Adolf Hitler's best commanders in North Africa and he really had advanced rapidly in defeating the English and the Allies till they were almost humiliated.

But in the mercy of God there was a man called Montgomery who was raised up, he became the Allied commander and he won the battle. It was the first battle of the Second World War that the British ever won.

And he defeated Rommel at El Alamein and Rommel we're told was very intelligent, very gifted and strategic in his method of defeating his enemies. So for Montgomery to beat him was very unusual. But when asked how he defeated him, obviously the Lord had his part to play in it.

But Montgomery said that he spent a lot of his time studying Rommel. He studied his opponent and there has been a day in the past whenever the church, the believers, the older saints did have an opinion and I can understand it where they said you know we shouldn't give any place to the devil, we shouldn't talk about him, we shouldn't debate about him, we should just talk about the Lord.

I think in a past day there was a measure of acceptability with that, but today that would no longer be good advice. Because we are living now in what is regarded in mainstream society as post-christian era.

We're living in a day whenever the church is being surrounded by militant paganism. We are living in a day when the church is sidelined, isolated and not regarded by society. So we don't live in the day that our parents and grandparents lived in.

And if you notice, I'm sure you have, you're all relatively young people, you notice on the television, if you have access to it, and I'm sure most of you do, that there's a lot of material now to do with the whole area of the occult, to do with spirits, to do with communication with the dead.

All these things are commonplace now on television and media. And one of the grave problems for Christians is that if they are not aware of the dangers, if they're not aware of the enemy, then they will be deceived by the enemy and that will further hinder them in proceeding in the Christian walk.

Now before I get into some details regarding the devil's activities, I want to speak generally first regarding barriers or obstacles to blessing in our lives. The first one that I want to draw your attention to is that of ignorance.

Ignorance. In the Word of God, it says in Hosea chapter 4, my people are destroyed through lack of knowledge. Okay? That's the Lord speaking about his own people. Not talking about the unsaved, talking about his own people.

He said my people are destroyed. Now that tells us that if there is a lack of truth and communication of divine knowledge into our lives, then we will be handicapped in that particular area. If we don't recognize what the enemy has ability to do, then as a result we will be ignorant of his devices.

And the Apostle Paul said when writing that he said he was not ignorant of Satan's devices. He understood Satan. He had learned to foresee the activity, deceptions and lies of the enemy. Ignorance was the result of the fall.

When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, they immediately lost the knowledge that they had of God. That practical working knowledge of communion with God was lost. Because they had succumbed to sin.

They had ultimately come under then the authority and under the power of death and condemnation. And ever since that, man has been and is a fallen and a falling creature. And one of the areas where Satan has manipulated man most is by the whole area of ignorance.

Ignorance. Now down through the years in my Christian walk, I have discovered that God has sometimes thrown me into, literally thrown me into experiences that I didn't have a clue what was going on. And it was quite frightening some of them.

Because they were to do with this whole area of the demonic, of the devil. And I did find it very frightening. But nevertheless, through being thrown in at the deep end, I had a choice. And God by his grace given me the ability to swim.

And when you're under pressure, you learn the best. Whenever you have nothing else to think about, only one thing, and you're forced to consider that thing, then you learn best about that thing. And so I have a considerable amount of experience in what I'm sharing with you tonight.

This is not theory from books. This is very much practical and real experience. So ignorance is one that is very much before the people of God. Something that you and I should repent of before the Lord.

That we should bring it to him. Lord, I desire to learn. I repent of ignorance. Now one of the ways that the enemy works in us, even as Christians, is when we have truth that he says to us, well now you know everything.

And pride sets in. And it's very easy to become proud. And the problem with becoming proud, even as a Christian, proud of maybe doctrines, or proud of your understanding, proud of your gift, or whatever, is that pride then puts a restraint on spiritual growth.

Because God always resists the proud. Even you're a Christian and have pride in your life, God will resist you. It's a divine law that cannot be violated. God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.

So if I want grace in my life, I must take the attitude and the spirit of the humble. I must acknowledge my ignorance. I must acknowledge Lord, despite what I do know, there is so much that I do not know, and I'm in your school Lord.

Now after 30 years of being a Christian, and many unique experiences for which I'm grateful to God, nevertheless, I find myself after 30 years, and 25 years in ministry, I find myself saying to God, I feel more ignorant now than I did 25 years ago.

Because I've come to understand that the spirit world that we fight with, these principalities and powers, that they are very real. They are very real, and we interact with them every day, every one of us.

That's why Paul said, we wrestle. Now that word wrestle means close combat. It means it's a struggle just beside you. You might not be aware of the reality of that battle that goes on in the sense of the demonic, but what you will be able to identify with is that there are things come into your mind.

There are thoughts, there are experiences that you have had that are very perturbing and troubling, and you have maybe tried to come to terms with where did that come from, and why is that in my mind?

Because the large, the largest aspect of the battle spiritually, certainly in Western Europe at the moment, is the battle of the mind. The mind is the area where Satan attacks, and the mind, when we think of thoughts, there are three sources of thoughts to us, and I trust this will help you, because I know many people who have struggled immensely regarding their thought life.

Your thoughts can be first of all your own. Now your own thoughts are the thoughts that you want, those ones that you endorse. For example, if I get a thought that I have three children, I'm happy about that, for that's true, they're my thoughts.

But if I have a thought comes into my mind that I want to, you know, kill somebody, I mean, I, hold on a moment, I want that one. Where some people make the mistake is they assume no matter what thoughts come into their mind, it's my thought.

No, it's not. Thoughts have three sources. First of all, your own thoughts are the ones that you want. You accept them as your own. The ones that come in and you don't want them, that is an indicator that they're a foreign thought that has been injected.

The devil has amazing capabilities of injecting his thoughts into our mind in such a way that we believe them to be our own. Then there's a third source of thought, and that is God. When God speaks to us through his word or by his spirit.

Three sources of thought, and you have to discern those, and if you discern by God's help those three sources, it helps you immensely regarding certain areas in your life where you are taking the blame for things that you're not responsible for.

And the devil is merciless, so he is. If he has you on a hook, let me tell you, he's not going to let you off. If he sees you feeling condemned for something that he has accused you of, don't be thinking he's sitting back crying.

He said put the pressure on until this mind's broken, until this life's wrecked. But the Bible says the devil comes not for to kill, to steal, and destroy. The Bible says he goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, whom resists steadfast in the faith.

So there's a whole area of ignorance that's compounded by pride. Let me give you an illustration. A few years ago, I conducted a mission in Abbots Cross Church in Belfast. The first night of the mission was extremely difficult as I got up to preach, and there's a good crowd in and all, but I just felt, Lord, there's something so wrong in this meeting.

Just in the atmosphere, nothing to do with the people, just the atmosphere. There was just something not right, and I tried to preach for a period, and eventually I had to stop. I said, I mean, please forgive me, but we're going to stop here.

There's something not right in this service, and I would like to pray. So we prayed and asked the Lord to come and help and to just cleanse the atmosphere of the church from whatever was going on, whatever kind of a battle was going on in the atmosphere of the church, that the Lord would just cleanse it.

And after a little time, it began to lift, and the meeting went on fine. The following evening, there was a young man who had come to the Lord about maybe three or four years before that, maybe not as long as that.

Fine young Christian, really zealous to follow the Lord, and he really was open to God, and he was seeking God in his own personal life, him and his wife both, and he came into the minister's room the following night, and he said, I need to speak to you, and so we sat down together, and he said, I want to tell you something.

He said, I think you might think I'm mad. He says, I don't know what you'll think, but he says, I feel a need to tell you, and I said, well, go ahead. He said, you lifted a little book. There's a little tape that a brother, Paul Johnson, sells, a fellow that I know, and he sells tapes, some of you know of him, and one of them's called The Danger of Freemasonry.

It's just a little cassette, and I just happened to get up and say, you know, there's a tape of Freemasonry, The Dangers of Freemasonry, just be careful if you want to have it. He said, when you got up and mentioned the word Freemasonry, he said, something went mad inside me, and he said, it was terrible.

He said, I never experienced anything like it. And he said, I was shaking, and I was afraid I was going to pass out, and he said, I closed my eyes, and I'm only quoting to you what he said. He said, when I closed my eyes, I could see two red eyes inside me, and he said, you're going to think I'm mad.

I said, no, no, I don't think you're mad at all. Just go on, just keep talking. And he said, well, he said, it was a real struggle, and he said, I couldn't explain what was going on inside, but he said, you stopped the meeting, and he said, you prayed, and he said, something happened.

Something happened in me, and he said, when I left the meeting that night, he said, as I was leaving, I was driving, going up the road in the car, and he said, I began to just praise the Lord for who he was, and somehow God had did something in me.

I didn't know what, but God done something in me, and he said, I literally felt something leaving me. Going right out of me, and he says, leaving, and leaving the car. I said, have you any idea what it was?

He said, yes. He said, it was Freemasonry. He said, I was a Freemason. He said, not only was I a Freemason, but he said, I had traveled up the ranks of Masonry, and he said, I actually used to help with other Freemason lodges, and he said, when you mentioned the dangers of Freemasonry, he said, that spirit that I had got, he says, that thing rose up in me.

I didn't know anything about these things. You see, just on that, that's just by way of illustration. He's a lovely fellow. Now, he's much, he's advancing much better spiritually now, because he was, I mean, he was going after the Lord, but that was in earlier, where he was being held back.

It was a barrier. But the Lord, in his mercy, the Lord brought that thing to the surface in that guy's life, and took it right out of him, and took it away from him, and that fellow is wonderfully serving the Lord today.

He didn't know. He said, I just couldn't believe it. I didn't know, and that's why I say, we need to be careful, that we're not proud, but that we humble ourselves before God, and say, God, I mean, there may be something that the enemy's holding me back on.

Unbelief as a Barrier to Spiritual Blessing

Maybe there's not, but it's always good to be open to God. Now, another area where the enemy seeks, and becomes a major barrier to blessing in our lives, is that of unbelief. Unbelief. Now, so often in church today, when people get saved, we say, oh, well, he doesn't drink anymore.

He's not a social drinker. He doesn't drink. He doesn't smoke. He doesn't go to the pubs or clubs anymore. So, he goes to the prayer meeting, and the assumption is that everything's fine. Now, thank God, when somebody gives up the drinking, and the smoking, and they go along to the house of God.

I mean, thank God for that. Nobody's as glad as I am, but that doesn't mean that that person is free. That doesn't mean that there are still areas that don't need broken in their lives, that are hindering them.

You see, the children of Israel came to a place called Kadesh Barnea. And, the ten spies were sent by Moses. They went into the land, and they come back, and they said, it's a great land. And, they said, if you just enter into it, God will go before us, and God will make it possible for us to take this land that God freely offers.

And, it's a picture of the fullness of the Holy Spirit. They said, you'll be able to get into that land, and he says, you'll enjoy it. But, the Bible says that they couldn't. When they got there, the ten spies said, listen, it's too hard.

There's too many obstacles. There's giants. And so, they raised all the difficulties, and the children of Israel said, we can't go in. Joshua and Caleb came forward and said, of course you can. Get right into it.

But, they couldn't get in. Unbelief. And, they never got in. And, one thing I have learned in the Christian life, and I'm learning, is this. That the Christian life is a life of faith. The Bible says, that just shall live by faith.

It is by daily, constant, dependence on the Lord. Faith. Faith is something that God gives to us. But, unbelief is something to be repented of. Now, unbelief is a sin. To have unbelief is a sin. But, it can also be a spirit.

Now, again, let me give you an illustration. I remember a fine young man came for prayer. And, what had happened was, he had a few issues. Some of them of a sexual nature. And, he repented before the Lord over those issues.

And, God began to really set that young man free. And, it was quite a bizarre. It was a very unusual thing. But, nevertheless, it was there. And, he knew that it was something that he needed help. And, you see friend, you'll know in yourself, if there's things in your life that are not right.

You'll know. The Holy Spirit will bring it to your attention. And, he brings it to your attention in order that you deal with it, so that the Lord can set you free. For, the Bible says, whom the Son sets free, is free indeed.

And, Jesus wants to set you free. Jesus wants every area of your life to be under control. He wants you to know his blessing. He wants you to know that he loves you. And, that his arms are outstretched to you.

And, he also wants you to know that sin in your life will destroy you. And so, he calls you to repentance and confidence in him. And, to learn to trust in him. The Bible says about a man called Stephen, that was chosen as the first deacon of the New Testament, that he was a man who was honest.

Now, Leonard Ravenhill said on one occasion, that to find an honest Christian was a rare enough thing, just to find somebody honest. He was an honest man, full of faith, and the Holy Ghost. Faith comes with the Holy Ghost.

Unbelief is to be repented of. Let me get back to my friend. He came for prayer. And, while we were praying with him, the Lord wonderfully set him free from various things in his life. And, when we felt the time of prayer was over, we said to him, do you sense there's anything else in your life?

And, immediately, without any assistance from anybody else, he said, yes, unbelief. He said, the Holy Spirit is showing me, in my mind, unbelief. Now, this fellow was not from any kind of Elam, or any background.

In fact, he was a Baptist. He just happened to be a Baptist. So, he wasn't familiar with anything. He just said that, in my mind, as you're talking, he said, the word unbelief is very clear. And, we prayed, and immediately, that man experienced freedom from a spirit of unbelief.

He was there. I witnessed it happening. He was held back by unbelief. Because, what unbelief does is, unbelief states, in the presence of God, I don't believe you. That's what it does. And, unbelief will give you difficulties, constantly challenge you concerning areas like the existence of God.

Challenge you in areas as to, maybe, maybe evolution is right. You can actually be experiencing the conflict of a spirit of unbelief. And, these things are very real. Very real. It's something that you need to repent of, unbelief.

You need to repent of. Sometimes, I get down before the Lord. I'm in an issue where I have to trust God concerning an area of my life. And, I remember, a number of years ago, my wife and I, we were actually living in Lurgan, at the time.

And, the Lord put us through a real severe trial, financially. And, it was so bad that, you know, we were getting to the stage where the oil had almost run out. And, there was just enough food for the next day.

And, the electric bill was, it couldn't be paid. And, we had very, very, very enough food to get the children driven to school. And, we were just trusting the Lord, because he had been faithful to us for many years, in meeting all our needs.

And, you know, during that period, because it occurred over a period, where God just let us go into this really deep place of need. My wife and I, we got, eventually, to our shame. To our shame. We used to sit down at the table for a meal.

And, we dare not mention God, because the two of us would take into him. And, we would say, Oh, God's written. This is really hard. This is really tough. And, it was tough. And, it was tough. And, yet, the amazing thing was, after the trial, the Lord came.

And, in a most amazing way, a man rang me out of the blue, that had never known any of my circumstances. And, he rang me. And, he said, one morning, Do you need money? And, the previous night, my wife had just said to me, Well, there's only enough for the children tomorrow morning.

That's it. There's no money to do nothing. And, the next morning, this man rang and said, Do you need money? And, I thought it was nearly a joke, because I was, I had got into such unbelief. I just thought, The circumstances are so difficult.

God, I've prayed about it till I'm tired praying about it. So, obviously, you're not going to help me. And, I just went into unbelief. The Lord was still faithful. But, the problem with the unbelief was, that it separated me from having fellowship with God.

I was under immense stress. I was full of fear. When, all the time, I could have just trusted God and enjoyed. And, sometimes, since that, I have been in dire straits. And, you know, I'm learning just to rest in God.

Just to rest. Because, He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. And, He says, The silver and the gold, they belong to me. So, unbelief is something the enemy wants to hold you back. It's something to be confessed and repented of.

Unconfessed Sin and the Need for Repentance

Another one is, unconfessed sin. Unconfessed sin. The Bible says, If I regard inequity, or in Psalm 66, If I regard inequity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. Young people, when there is sin in our lives, that we're not repenting of, and not dealing with, God won't hear or answer any of our prayers.

His word is clear. If I regard, or hold to, keep, suppress, hide sin in my life, God will not hear me. And, the word of God says, in Proverbs 20 at 13, He or she that covereth or concealeth their sin, God says, they'll not prosper.

Now, you could conceal your sin, and still prosper financially, but God's not talking about finances. God's talking about you, yourself. God says, if you cover or conceal sin in your life, He said, you're not going to prosper.

He said, you're going to suffer. He that covereth his sin shall not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them, shall obtain mercy. So, we have to bring sin to God. And, if we have sinned against others, we must bring that to them.

If I sin against God, I must repent of it before God, and God will forgive me. But, if I sin against another person, if I steal from them, I not only have to repent before God for stealing, but I have to repent before them and give them back the money.

Forgiveness and Freedom from Spiritual Bondage

That's the law of righteousness. And, that brings us on to the next point. One of the most powerful tools that Satan uses in order to prevent Christians growing is unforgiveness. Now, I couldn't exaggerate, or I couldn't lay this heavily enough upon you.

If you turn to your newspapers, you'll find that most of the newspaper material or news material is taken up with conflict. Conflict. Personality conflict. National conflict. There are powers that are unseen that work to maintain and keep conflict going.

They're called the powers of the devil. He comes to kill, to steal, and destroy. You see, when you're in conflict with another person, that will have an impact into your life. When you have issues of unforgiveness with a person, no matter who they are, even if they're living or dead, is immaterial, when you have unforgiveness, then you are personally before God, and in the spirit realm, you are committing spiritual suicide.

You cannot grow spiritually. Now, you can still come to church. You can read the Bible. You can say your prayers. You can go to meetings. You can do all those things, the means of grace as they are, but you before God will not grow.

You can't. Because the Lord Jesus told an amazing parable story, and what he said was this. There was a great king, and the king was owed by a particular man, let's put it in today's language, a million pounds.

The man couldn't pay it, so he came to the king, and the king was merciful, and he said, listen, you don't owe me anything. Couldn't believe it. Million pound of debt wiped out like that, just on the grounds of the mercy of the king.

This man who had been forgiven for a million pounds, he was owed some money by another man, but he was owed a pound. Now, rather than learning from his master, and learning the generosity that his master had shown, what he decided to do was to forget about that, and he decided, I'm going to get my pound, and so he went after that man.

The man couldn't pay it. So what did he do? He put him in prison. That's the illustration. And the picture is, the Lord Jesus said, I forgive you for millions of sins. A vast degree of sin. I wiped it out.

But somebody has done something on you, and in comparison to what you did on me, Jesus said, it's nothing. But you're holding it against them. Now, then Jesus says something very interesting. He says, as a result of that, that man who wouldn't forgive the man a pound, he was brought before the king, and the king said, you're a wicked, a wicked servant.

And he said, I'm going to send you into a place of imprisonment, and he said, you're going to be handed over to the tormentors. Now, when you read that, most commentators agree, and I have no doubt whatever from both personal experience of people that have carried on forgiveness, because as you carry on forgiveness, it causes a rottenness that goes right into your bones.

It'll affect you physically, mentally, spiritually, psychologically, every way it affects you. Because those tormentors, Jesus said, are spirits, they're demons. And Jesus said, if you do not forgive, he said, what will happen is, he said, because legally you have chosen not to do what I say, for the Lord Jesus said, if ye forgive not your trespasses against others, he said, my father's not going to forgive you.

Jesus said that. So what happens is, when you carry a spirit of unforgiveness to somebody, God takes you, and because of the spirit world being as legal as it is, and it is a legal world, God then knows that you can't be set free, because you won't let go of the unforgiveness.

You won't repent of it. So God says, right, the legal world is, you've got to take the consequences of carrying on forgiveness. And what happens is, tormentors are released on you. They're evil spirits.

And they come and do exactly what Jesus said, they'll torment you. I have seen people who carried on forgiveness for years. Some of them, mental wrecks. Some of them physically deformed, because of unforgiveness.

It is spiritual suicide. What do I do with unforgiveness? Well, if somebody has done you something wrong, you have to have the spirit of forgiveness. Now, they might not repent. You say, well, I have no right.

I don't, I don't have to forgive them. No, you do. Because that unforgiveness in you, that bitterness and resentment that will build up in you, will become the destruction of your own soul. Regardless of them, what you have to say to God is, God, I forgive them, whether they get right with me or not, or whether they get right with God or not, that's another question.

But Lord, as far as I'm concerned, I'm letting go of this unforgiveness. And how you do it, is you bring it to God, and you ask God to forgive you for unforgiveness, and you let that person go into the hands of the Lord.

You say, but I, I did that. A man told me one time, he says, I prayed about that once last night, and he says, I still feel the same. I said, you might pray it for a month, and you'll still feel the same.

Because you can't help how you feel. If they've done you wrong, you're still going to feel angry. God doesn't read feelings. Feelings go up and down. God never reads your emotions. God reads your will.

It's the decision you make that God reads. And if you make the decision before God, no matter how you feel, say, Lord, I forgive this person, God will register that, and God will set you free from tormentors.

Unforgiveness. Unforgiveness. I have known of people who have been held by maybe a father who abused them as a child, done terrible things upon them, and they were crippled, and the father was dead. And now, not, as I say, not that this was, there's any, any merit in doing it, but, but some of them actually felt they had to go to the grave of that person who had abused or hurt them.

Not that there's anything in the grave, from the grave, from the person, but that was their way of coming to terms with it, and letting it go. Letting it go, and getting release from it. The enemy will use it.

Occult Involvement and Spiritual Discernment

It's another barrier to blessing. Now, the ones that I want to draw your attention to, before we come to the conclusion, deals more, especially at this time of Halloween, to do with the whole area of occult involvement.