Spiritual Warfare Through the Word of God

Friends, I have opened the chat back up so that we can communicate more freely — through whatever the Lord may be showing you, or whatever questions or concerns you may have. Please feel free to put those into the chat. I wanted this to be as intimate as possible, even over the internet. I hope the prayer through the Courts of Heaven has helped people. I hope you feel the Holy Spirit's movement, and I hope it is a good thing — that you are encouraged to go through this process. If anything has been broken off of you, praise the Lord, because it can happen just like that. If not, that is okay. Let us go on this purification journey with him, as he identifies what we need to cleanse, and as he gives us the right conviction along the way.

I really appreciate everybody joining us. I usually do this in person, and without the internet and YouTube, this is a newer format for me — but the power of the Holy Spirit can cover everything, as we all know.

If you have any comments, questions, or concerns, please feel free to share them, and we will fellowship for a little while before we depart. We will be meeting again on October 3rd for the first devotional on the Hebrew letter aleph, so I hope you stay tuned and join us then. October 4th at sundown begins Yom Kippur, and we will hold the Yom Kippur service that evening so that everyone can then spend the day of Yom Kippur with the Lord on their own. Just follow the table of contents and, as long as I have the order of dates correct, we should be on the same page. I will also be posting the dates on YouTube in advance — if you have not subscribed, please do so that you receive the notification.

You can download the book at faithfulperformance.com. If you have had trouble downloading it, email me and I will send it directly to you. I also placed a link in the video's comment section pointing to another video I made two years ago that explains the Courts of Heaven concept and includes the prayer — you can view that one or this one, whichever you prefer.

Shalom, everybody. I know I disabled the chat at the start, but I wanted the prayer time to be very intimate. Thank you so much for joining us. I hope you felt something moving during that time. I would encourage you to do this on your own as well. When I first started, I was simply lying in my bed, praying it without speaking aloud, and things began to occur. There is no rigid template with the word of God. You can do this anytime, anywhere — on your sofa, in your bed, in your car. Stay in the Courts of Heaven, and I promise you, as the journey continues, you will see God open up your spiritual gifts, your revelation, and so much more. He has done that for all of us who have committed to this path.

And again — none of us are anything special. We still have things we need to get right. None of us are glorified yet, so we are all trying to ascend. This is simply what has worked for me, my family, and my friends over the last four years. We are now in our fifth year, and we know what it can do for someone who is willing. But it ultimately comes down to that individual's relationship with the Lord.

If the gates are not closed, you will not see results. If there is unforgiveness in you, you will not receive the righteous verdicts. We must make sure the gates are closed. If I have a problem with alcohol, I need to quit drinking — close the gate. If I have a problem with drugs, close the gate. Whatever it may be, we must close the gate, repent, and once we do, we will begin to receive from those righteous verdicts. I have been in prayer sessions where someone had not closed their gates, and we could tell through the spiritual gifts that the prayer partners were using — there was something unclean, something open, and there was a great deal of negative spiritual warfare. We knew we were not getting anywhere with the intercession.

To break off bondage — to break off the things that have attached themselves to us — we must sever those connections, and it is never easy. As I wrote in the book, freedom is never easy. Satan does not want you to be free. He wants you in captivity, whatever form that takes: anger, lust, pornography, whatever your struggle may be. It is okay — just close the gate, repent, and then you will begin to receive the revelation and the purification we are talking about. You must break off the bondage by closing the gate and repenting. If there is unforgiveness in your heart, you must forgive. You must circumcise the heart. All of us must pay close attention to this. Freedom is never easy. This is spiritual warfare, and we must use the word of God to break off these things.

I want to make sure this makes sense: there is a difference between praying, "Lord, protect me, guide me, direct me, lead me today" — which is beautiful and a wonderful way to start the day — and what is required when I have a specific bondage I need to close the gate on. In that case, I need to use the scriptures. I need to use the two-edged sword, the sword of the Spirit. That is the only thing that will knock this bondage off of us. It will not be my prayer alone — it will be God's word. The word of God will cut it. The word of God will sever that attachment, that umbilical cord that needs to be severed, whatever we are struggling with.

There is nothing wrong with regular prayer. But when it comes to intercession, spiritual warfare, and breaking off bondage, there is only one way: the power of the Holy Spirit and the word of God, applied petition by petition. That is the only way. This is why we see so many people rehabbed but not delivered. We need both — to be rehabbed and delivered. Deliverance only comes through the word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit.

To those of you who have been with us for three or four nights in a row — thank you. I know these have been three- to four-and-a-half-hour videos. I could hardly see straight after four hours under these lights, but it is all about God. It is all about communion with God, the Feast of Trumpets, and all of you.

Cynthia, yes — the Courts of Heaven prayer is in the book. There is a section that explains the concept, and then the prayer itself is included right before you get to the Feast of Trumpets and the New Moon Festival in the journey. I placed it there so we could all go through the Courts of Heaven to get the year started in the correct manner, in my opinion — with the anointing of the Feast of Trumpets and Yom Kippur, with the opening and closing of the books.

Patricia Rodriguez asked about timing: we are going to aim for 8:00 PM Eastern for every video. My schedule in real estate can get interesting, but that is our goal, and I believe we will be able to maintain it during this season. All videos will be at 8:00 PM Eastern Standard Time.

A.D. French — I am so glad you felt peace during the prayer. I know the format is a little different since we are not in person, but if you do this by yourself or with a prayer partner, it is amazing. Especially with a prayer partner, because remember: "where two or more are gathered." If you have a trusted prayer partner, get into a room, get quiet, and let the Holy Spirit lead you in whatever way fits you both. Make this your own template. You do not have to use the same scriptures I use. I personally love Psalms 113–118 and Psalm 100. King David wrote the Hallel — Psalms 113–118 — and I am partial to those. But make this your own, personalize it, and get intimate with the Lord. I was simply giving you an example of what has worked for us. Use whatever scriptures the Holy Spirit leads you to, and I promise you — whether alone or with another believer, especially one with spiritual gifts — you are going to go on a great journey together.

Dana, email me directly. Depending on how you are trying to download it, I know some people have had issues. Just send me an email and I will get the book to you. I have also asked my IT person to look into the download problem, so he is reviewing that now.

Thank you all for joining us. We are going to continue doing these things throughout the year. We will do another Courts of Heaven prayer for Yom Kippur as the verdicts are sealed, so feel free to join us for that.

Just to give you an example of the journey — when I first started, my prayer partner and I would go to the Courts every week. It was totally amazing as the Lord continued to layer on instructions and strategies. I knew from the beginning that this was not going to be some quick fix. I had a lot of things that needed to be resolved, and to write the book, I had to go through the full process — four full years, now entering the fifth. I had to come to understand the months, the new moons, the festivals, the calendar, and how it all worked together.

Quite frankly, I originally thought the book was going to begin on Passover, and the Lord corrected me on that. He directed me to begin it on the civil calendar, because that is where the books are opened. We must first come before the Lord at the opening of the books, and then journey through the year from there. That is why I wrote it — or felt led to write it — that way. And as we go through the year together, whoever joins us on this journey will begin to understand why.

You're going to see this journey unfold throughout the year, and when we return next year we'll see what kind of instructions, strategies, and direction the Lord has given each of us. I'm excited about that.

I want to be transparent — I'm going through a journey as well. There are a couple of things I'm personally petitioning. None of us has arrived. I'm trying to ascend higher, and there are things the Lord has brought to my attention that I need to get better at, things I need to cleanse and move forward from. One of them is the tongue. I think all of us can receive revelation from that — not that I curse, but sometimes the tongue goes wayward. We all have things to work on, and I certainly do. I'm looking forward to this year's journey and taking that next step higher, just as we all are.

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