DEFEATING THE WEB OF LIES

                During the last several years, our nation, our world, and our communities have suffered under an increasing fire storm of terror threats, terror acts, political cover ups, racial unrest, financial crisis, slanders, accusations, and character assassinations. Even in our small communities our news media, social media and our mouths are full of these things as we repeat what we hear and read. FEAR seems to be ruling everywhere and everything and those who have risen above the fear are still surrounded by those who are caught up in it, so that the wisdom and peace that could be had is rendered almost useless because the fearful are unable to comprehend it.

While in prayer, I perceived that the Lord was saying to me, 

          “I want you to declare My Goodness into the heart of My people so that they would have eyes to see and hearts to believe that My Goodness and Lovingkindness is powerful – a mighty weapon against the schemes of the devil, a silencer of falsehoods and a destroyer of violence. My perfect love casts out all fear.  Fear is a breeding ground for lies to grow; reproducing like flies on a dung heap – lies are birthed and launched into the atmosphere through the hearts of the fearful as they give voice to the lies.”

When I heard the word flies, I was reminded of the title Beelzebub – Lord of the Flies

As I continued to seek the Lord regarding his instruction, a picture began to develop in my spirit.

The Carcass, the Flies and the Works of the Flesh

          The dung heap had transformed into a carcass of rotting flesh and I knew in my spirit that the Lord was beginning to show me the correlation between a dung heap and the FLESH that works under the sway of the prince of the power of the air. The carcass was labeled FEAR and out of the carcass flies were reproducing and flying – swarming through the air. Again I understood that the flies represented the lies, falsehood, and arguments that were being raised up against the knowledge of the God of all peace [who will] crush Satan under your feet shortly,” Rom 16:20. The carcass was the FLESH that was empowered by FEAR to launch the FLIES of BEELZEBUB, the Lord of the Flies and Father of Lies.

          Now the works of the FLESH that are being empowered by this demonic activity are found in Gal 5:19-21 The works of the flesh: … idolatry (stubbornness)**, sorcery (witchcraft), hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders. Earlier in that same chapter (Gal 5:15-16), Paul warns the Galatians, “But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another! I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.”

          So then, through FEAR, the enemy of our soul is exposing our weakness, that we have not allowed the Spirit of God, who has been given to us, to perfect us in love (2 Tim 1:7  “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind.”  1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.”) Therefore we have succumbed to torment and have tried to defend ourselves in our own strength moving us from walking in the spirit to striving in the FLESH against people, rather than standing in the Spirit of Love and adoption, power and soundness of mind.

Leviathan, Children of Pride and the Tongue

          Next I saw a huge crocodile like creature labeled Leviathan. Leviathan is described in Job 41 in detail. But these are the scriptures that came to mind as I looked upon the image in my head.

Job 41:14 Who can open the doors of his face, with his terrible teeth all around?
     Gal 5:15 But if you bite and devour one another...

Job 41:19,21 Out of his mouth go burning lights: Sparks of fire shoot out... His breath kindles coals, And a flame goes out of his mouth.
     James 3:5-6 Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell.

Job 41:24 His heart is as hard as stone...
     Heb 3:15 & 11 ...Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion...So I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest.
     Heb 4:11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.

Job 41:33 On earth there is nothing like him which is made without fear.
     Rom 3:10, 11, 18 There is none righteous, no not one...there is none who seeks after God. There is no fear of God before their eyes.

Job 41:34 He beholds every high thing; He is king over all the children of pride.
     1 Tim 6:3-5 If anyone...does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.

          This Leviathan represents another demonic entity that is empowering the FLESH and the lies by setting the lies on fire, backing the proud into corners and keeping them from humbling themselves before God, hardening their hearts and lifting the opinions of man above the knowledge of God. Baiting all to enter into the fray through disputes and arguments over words; where there is no rest, no peace, no solution; just strife, envy, evil suspicions and useless wranglings. Does this not describe our situation?

The Spider’s Webs

          The next image I saw was of spiders’ webs. As the flies swarmed, they were caught in the web and eaten by the spiders. The spiders were then empowered to expand their webs of lies, vain imaginings and arguments of falsehood. As the webs expanded, the minds of the people were trapped by the webs and minds were captured by chaos and confusion created by the webs of lies. 

Job 8:13-15 … the paths of all who forget God;

And the hope of the hypocrite shall perish,

Whose confidence shall be cut off,

And whose trust is a spider’s web.

He leans on his house, but it does not stand.

He holds it fast, but it does not endure.

Is 59: 3 …Your lips have spoken lies, Your tongue has muttered perversity.

         4 …No one calls for justice, Nor does any plead for truth, they trust in empty words and speak lies

         5 They hatch vipers’ eggs and weave the spider’s web

       13 In transgressing and lying against the LORD, And departing from our God, Speaking oppression and revolt, Conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.

       14 Justice is turned back, And righteousness stands afar off; For truth is fallen in the street, And equity cannot enter.

       15 So truth fails, And he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.

                 

          This chaos and confusion can be seen in the opposing cries for justice seen in our social media. i.e. A call for all to pray for France and the dismissal of a coach for praying after a football game; A cry against child hunger and abuse, while supporting an organization that makes money off the murder of babies still in the womb; A cry against human trafficking while excusing the sale of infant body parts; The belief that disagreement is an act of hate. The world seems to have gone crazy, we find ourselves at odds with our own family and members of our communities because a lie has been believed and there is no room to reason things out, because the lie, is woven into a web of many lies each strengthening the other and we are left with a sense of hopelessness and amazement at how quickly justice is turned back, truth has fallen and equity has no place to enter.

The Devour-er of Souls

          As I looked upon these images, each image having been added to the scene before me, the last image appeared above all the others. This was an image of a monstrous octopus, each of the eight arms empowering the above images, pulling strings, increasing the noise of the web of lies and encouraging pride and stirring up strife. There I also saw the political spirit that brought more fear and beckoned people to take sides, draw their swords and prepare to defend their opinions that were fashioned under the web of lies that had become like veils over their heads.  The word witchcraft came to mind, another work of the flesh listed in Gal 5 and 1 Sam 15:23 “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. “

Ezekiel 14: 18-23 “and say, “Thus says the Lord GOD; “Woe to the women who sew magic charms on their sleeves and make veils for the heads of people of every height to hunt souls!...killing people who should not die, and keeping people alive who should not live, by your lying to My people who listen to lies? …I am against your magic charms by which you hunt souls there like birds…Because with lies you have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and you have strengthened the hands of the wicked, so that he does not turn from his wicked way to save his life. … Therefore you shall no longer envision futility nor practice divination; for I will deliver My people out of your hand and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

Remember the Goodness of our God

Remember the words that God spoke in the beginning…

“I want you to declare My Goodness into the heart of My people so that they would have eyes to see and hearts to believe that My Goodness and Lovingkindness is powerful – a mighty weapon against the schemes of the devil, a silencer of falsehoods and a destroyer of violence. My perfect love casts out all fear.

Col 3:3 “… your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

Col 3:12-16 “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering, bearing with one another, and forgiving one another…even as Christ forgave you…But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts…Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”

Know Your Position In Christ

Eph 1:15-23 “ ….my prayers…that you may know…(19)…what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His might power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.”

Eph 2:1-6  “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air … But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us…made us alive together with Christ … And raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

          How then do we take a stand against such a great multitude of foes? This is the only important question and before the Lord began to show me these things, he gave us the answer

          “I want you to declare My Goodness into the heart of My people so that they would have eyes to see and hearts to believe that My Goodness and Lovingkindness is powerful – a mighty weapon against the schemes of the devil, a silencer of falsehoods and a destroyer of violence. My perfect love casts out all fear".

1.       Overcome unbelief in our own hearts. (Mark 9:24 Lord, I believe, help my unbelief; Heb 3&4; Rom 10:17)

2.       Declare, preach, teach and demonstrate the LORDS Goodness and His lovingkindness. 

3.       Remind one another that we sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus and it is from this heavenly realm that we proclaim the character of our God and release the truth of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

4.       What must be released upon the earth and into the heart of every believer?

a.       The Spirit of Adoption (Rom 8:15, 23; Gal 4:5; Eph 1:5) That we might receive the adoption as sons.

b.      Purity (1 John 3:1-3 …we are children of God…we shall be like Him…Everyone who has this hope purifies himself, just as He is pure.)

c.       The Spirit of the Lord (Is 11:2 “The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.”)

d.      The Spirit of Truth (John 15:26; John 13 The Comforter, the Spirit of truth shall testify of Jesus and He shall guide us into all truth)

e.      The Fire of God (Zech 2:5 The LORD shall be a wall of fire around us and the Glory in our midst. Col 1:27 Christ in you, the hope of glory)

f.        The Light of the World and the Light of Life and Light of the Gospel (Matt 5:14; John 8:12; 2 Cor 4:4)

g.       The Wisdom from above (James 3:17)

My Prayer and Declaration:

Holy Father,

                I confess that fear and unbelief reside in my heart. Forgive me and help me.  Lord, I surrender myself to you and lay down the walls of self-defense. I open my heart to Your perfect Love that fear may be driven out and in its place I might receive Your power, love and sound mind.

                Fill me with Your gift of faith, that I might have ears to hear what Your Spirit is saying. Let Your faith stir up in me the gift of prophecy that I might proclaim Your Goodness and Lovingkindness with all power and authority that is found in the name of Jesus.

In Faith, believing, I turn toward Your Bride and declare,

“Awake! Awake! O’ Bride of Christ, Your Father has given You ears to hear the Spirit of Adoption. Listen and hear the voice of Your Father and receive the hope of His calling. Arise! And Shine! Receive His perfect Love and hear the Spirit of Truth. Let Him sing over you and wash the web of lies away, let Him lead you out of darkness and return you to the light. Open your eyes and see His goodness and know the power of His lovingkindness. He has overcome the world and He has seated you in heavenly places that you might have victory over the prince of the power of the air. Do not despair for Your LORD has imparted to you His power and He has given you authority to tread upon the scorpion and the snake. He has declared to you the written judgments against the enemy of our soul and He has given you authority to execute them. Do not be afraid, but humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and He will lift you up.

Arise! And declare this day the gospel of His Kingdom and the hope of His calling and His goodness to the nations.

Hear O Coastlands, be not afraid, for I the LORD your God am in the midst of you. I shall free your souls from the web of lies, from the snares of witches’ spells that have hunted your souls and have tried to steal, kill and destroy you. I have overcome them and I have crushed them.  Believe me and stand in My Holy presence for I am a fire that surrounds you and I am the glory in your midst.

Hear Me, my children, do not be afraid, for though rejection has roared and abandonment has threatened, I have not left you. I am always with you and I alone sustain you. Arise and meet Me in the secret place, let Me love you as you have never been loved. In My zeal for you, I have fashioned you and you are radiant – I cannot turn away.  Look I am preparing you and adorning you with My glory, preparing you for My Son. Come into our Holy Place, sit with us and be transformed into the Glorious Bride of Christ.

Enter into My rest, crucify the flesh that keeps you from believing My love for you. Let go of your fear, let go of your strife, let go of the offenses that have weighed you down and come up higher, come into My heart, explore the mysteries of heaven and release them upon the earth from on high.”