Week 4 - The Four Giants

"You’re not good enough. You always mess everything up. You’ll never amount to anything. How could anyone love someone like you? Why would God want to use you after what you have done?"

These are horrible things to say. Horrible things to hear, too.

How do you respond when you hear things like this?
I think if you heard it once or twice, it might not have that big of an effect on you. But what it you heard it all the time? Sticks and stones will break my bones but words will never hurt me. Is that accurate?

How would it affect you if from the time you were a kid, you heard things like this in your mind?

When someone says something that is hurtful like these phrases I’ve mentioned, the tend to do more than play once and then they’re done. These phrases seem to play on repeat. As they play on repeat, they drill into us the narrative that we actually are the things those phrases are saying to us. They become self-fulfilling prophecies.

And what happens is that we find ourselves in situations in our every day life where that narrative seems to be reinforced, where it seems to be proven. And this doesn’t just happen in our failures.

We can be in a great season of our lives and then you’ll begin to hear this voice again that tells you: You’re gonna mess it all up like you always do. They say they love you but they’ll leave you just like everyone else.

I talk a lot about narratives in Killing the Orphan Spirit. That narrative is a lie the enemy has whispered into your ear as long as you can remember that is designed to keep you in orphanhood and never embrace sonship/daughterhood. God wants us to destroy that narrative and for us to be who he created us to be.

Truth is, that narrative, those hurtful phrases that play in your mind, have a purpose. The enemy isn’t trying to hurt your feelings. He is trying to keep you in a cycle of self-defeating behavior that keeps you from ever experiencing the life God wants for you. I am not talking about health, wealth, and prosperity. I am talking about purpose, fulfillment, and the relationship with God and his people you’ve only dreamed of.

The enemy uses those thoughts and phrases to taunt you, to torment you.

A taunting, tormenting spirit. What is that?
Taunt: to provoke or challenge in a mocking or insulting manner, to jeer at, a bitter invective (abusive speech). From the Latin “to tempt, try, or provoke”
Torment: severe physical or mental suffering. Latin “to twist”

Let’s look at an example of this in the Bible.

Luke 22:54-62
54 Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest's house, and Peter was following at a distance. 55 And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. 56 Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, “This man also was with him.” 57 But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.” 58 And a little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not.” 59 And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, “Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean.” 60 But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. 61 And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the saying of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.” 62 And he went out and wept bitterly.

We see the aftermath, but what is the lead up to this moment? The Last Supper Luke 22. Jesus foretells his crucifixion, his resurrection, and his betrayal by Judas, and by Peter.

Luke 22:31-34
31 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, 32 but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” 33 Peter said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.” 34 Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me.”

What do you think that sifting looked like? Taunting? Torment?

Consider the timeline:
Luke 24:10-12
10 Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, 11 but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. 12 But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened.

In John 20, we see that Peter, having raced John to the tomb, went in and saw the grave cloths lying there, including the face covering, then went back home, perplexed.

This chapter records two other times Jesus appeared. What was going through Peter’s mind? Have you ever done something to someone and you were terrified to face them again? Have you ever done something horrible to someone, and then when you did see them again, they acted like nothing happened? There’s a word for that TORMENT!

We can’t know for certain what was going through Peter’s mind in these moments, but we can get an idea in John 21.

John 21:2-3
2 Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. 3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

I’ve mentioned here at Freedom before how huge the words “I’m going fishing” were in that moment. It was less about busy work, and more about returning to a life that he had abandoned three years before to follow Jesus. “I’m going fishing” was Peter’s way of processing what had happened. He’d denied Jesus. The one person who meant the most to him, he’d betrayed.

What do you think he thought about during that gap between the betrayal and this moment back in the boat?

"You’re not good enough. You always mess everything up. You’ll never amount to anything. How could anyone love someone like you? Why would God want to use you after what you have done?"

Torment.

We see this at work in Liberty County. There is a giant of a taunting, tormenting spirit, and you can see the evidence of it all around.

If we use Peter’s situation as the model, we can clearly see that Satan, in his sifting of Peter, was bent on stopping the work of God in Peter’s life.
The goal was to stop Peter’s purpose in its tracks, and satan put all his money on one moment of weakness in Peter’s life, and then began sifting, not with physical torture, but with mental and emotional harassment.

Had his plan worked, we would not know the Peter of Acts 2, 3, and 4.
We would have never heard the verse 2 Peter 1:3-4
3 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. 4 And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.

This isn’t just a happy verse that came to Peter in a prayerful moment. HE LIVED THIS! “I allowed the world and the enemy to corrupt me, and I couldn’t possibly have been anything of value without Jesus, but through his precious promises and his divine power, he called us to himself, inspire of ourselves!”

This spirit wants to stop the work of God in your life. In this area, too.

This spirit is bent on taunting and tormenting you because of your past mistakes and current failures to keep you in a pattern of believing that you will never reach the potential God created in you. This spirit wants you to walk in unforgiveness, believe lies, embrace hopelessness, and die broken.

So what do we do about this?

1. Walk in forgiveness
Sometimes there are Bible verses that are hard to understand.
1 Samuel 16:14
Now the Spirit of the Lord had left Saul, and an evil spirit sent from the Lord began to torment him

What? Why would a tormenting spirit come from God? Saul had rejected God, and because of this, God removed his Spirit from him. In Matthew 12 Jesus tells us that when a house is unoccupied, a spirit will bring with it 7 more worse than itself. “Sent from” is the same verb used when God punished with fire and brimstone, plagues, etc. When there is sin, there is death and destruction.

Truth is, Peter DID betray Jesus. Peter REJECTED him. That actually happened. Satan wanted to sift Peter, but he needed a reason. Peter’s sin gave satan the right to sift him.

How is your sin helping satan torment you?

Romans 3:23
For all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory.

Yes, Peter sinned, but only satan wants you to wallow in your sin.
God wants you walking in forgiveness.

Our sin gives satan the option to torment us.
God’s grace and mercy gives us the option to be forgiven.

Some of the torment you are enduring is not because you sinned, but because you refuse to forgive and be forgiven.

In John 21, Jesus asks Peter 3 times if Peter loves him. Three loves for three failures. Peter, grieved for his actions, responded each time, “I love you.” We like to think Peter’s forgiveness came in that moment. I think it was a few verses earlier.

John 21:7
7 That disciple whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw himself into the sea.

When his sin would rather Peter stay away from Jesus, grace and mercy threw him into the water to swim to the feet of Jesus. Peter couldn’t wait for the boat to row in. He had to swim.

Some of us, our sin has made us feel like we aren’t even in the boat, but that we are treading water trying to stay afloat in the midst of the torment over the sin and brokenness in our lives. Let me lovingly encourage you:
Stop treading water. Start swimming to Jesus.

If you want forgiveness, this is how easy it is:
1 John 1:9
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
And remember:
Psalm 51:17
17 …a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Your sin can be an opportunity to experience God’s forgiveness instead of satan’s torment. Ask for - and walk in - forgiveness.

2. Reject lies
Truth trumps torment.
John 8:32
32 you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

Satan is the father of lies. You’re not good enough. You always mess everything up. You’ll never amount to anything. How could anyone love someone like you? Why would God want to use you after all you have done? These are all lies!

George Costanza
“It isn’t a lie if you believe it.”
While this is funny in the context of a Seinfeld episode, this is precisely where some of us are living today.

We so aggressively cling to these statements because, to us, the ARE true. We’ve chosen to believe and embrace them, lock, stock, and barrel! Even to the point where satan doesn’t have to work nearly as hard to torment us because, in believing the lie, we torment ourselves! Don’t give the enemy a hand in your destruction!
- If I believe I am worthless, I will be.
- If I believe I am damaged goods, I will be.
- If I believe I am a victim, I will be.

This works with anything! This explains the delusion we see in our culture today. We believe lies about ourselves, our pasts, our sexuality, our mental state, our spirituality, about church, about family, even about God, and in the believing, we embrace the spirit of torment in our lives.

We tend to become what we are confessing! This is why embracing the Word of God and what he says about you is so essential! You are either who God says you are, or else you are believing a lie!

It is true, you may have sinned. You may have had a belief or action that a was counter to God’s best for you. But your identity is in who God says you are, not in what satan said you did.

If you sinned, ask for forgiveness, but then begin to believe a better word, that you are not the sum total of your sins, but you are the sum total of God’s thoughts towards you.

If you re going to reject the lie, you have to know the truth. God’s word is truth.

3. Embrace hope
Psalm 27:13
I would have given up hope had I not seen the goodness of God in the land of the living.

Why is hope such a big deal? Because when you are hopeless, you give up trying.

I see this so much in Liberty County. There is a culture of “just enough” in this area. Bare minimum. I wondered if this was a result of just not knowing a different way, but how can that be in this informationally overloaded world we live in? Could it be generation after generation of status quo? Perhaps.

But as I began leaning into what God thinks about it, I saw some patterns that point to this spirit rather than a blunt refusal to go over and above.

A taunting, tormenting spirit:
Always speaks condemnation.
Conviction from the Holy Spirit says, “You shouldn’t have done that but let’s change your heart.” Condemnation from the enemy says, “I can’t believe you would do something like that.” Are you always feeling condemned no matter what you do or how hard you try?

Uses history to ruin your future
A pattern of failure can make someone believe that not failing is not possible. Do you feel like no matter what you do, it will fail anyway?

Wants you to live in your failures
Beyond just remembering a failure, the enemy wants you wallowing in them, so as often as possible, this spirit will remind you of your past failure by using current situations as evidence. Are your current thoughts consumed by your past mistakes?

Fosters the notion of good enough, not excellence
Because you are being tormented by what has happened in the past, you lose hope for the future. So rather than giving it your best (excellence), you give it just enough because you will probably fail anyway.
Do you look at your future as the same struggle you find in your past?

All of these will drive you to stop trying.

The interesting thing about sifting wheat is that when it is tossed into the air, the wheat and chaff separate.The spirit of torment says look at how much worthless stuff was in you. The Spirit of God says look at how much worth was in you.

If you are going to slay this giant, you need to put your faith in something other than your failures.

Hebrews 11:1
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Faith is the realization of that for which you have hoped and the confidence that what you cannot see is truly there. When you have more faith your failures than in your Father, torment is the result. Trust God with your past and be filled with hope today for tomorrow.

4. Live whole and complete
Torment wants you to die broken, but God wants you to be perfect, complete, lacking nothing.

James 1:2-4
2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.

Peter went through a trial, don’t you think? But what happened after?
He was filled with the Spirit in Acts 2:4 and then gave the message of his life in the following verses. All of the cowardice of that fateful night of betrayal was replaced with miraculous courage in the face of the very people who had just crucified Jesus. Peter went on to fulfill his purpose, leading the church, moving forward the Kingdom that we are a part of even today. Peter didn’t allow the torment of his failure eliminate his purpose.

Let me just let Peter tell you himself:
1 Peter 1:3-9
3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, 4 and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. 5 And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.
6 So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. 7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.
8 You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. 9 The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls.

This guy was changed!
Even in terms of his own impetuous lack of self-control:

1 Peter 1:13-15
13 So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. 14 So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. 15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy.

1 Peter 1:18-23
18 For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. 19 It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. 20 God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days he has been revealed for your sake.
21 Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because he raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory.
22 You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart.
23 For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God.

How was Peter able to live whole and complete?
He walked in forgiveness, rejected lies, and embraced hope.

He didn’t let a taunting, tormenting spirit destroy his life. You don’t either.

This county has been influenced by this spirit long enough. As we’ve done every week, let’s make a confession today and tear down this giant not only in Liberty County, but in our lives as well.

“Father, I confess now that a taunting, tormenting spirit has affected how I think, believe, and act. I acknowledge that I have allowed this spirit to operate in my life in many ways. I repent before you, Lord, for my involvement with the spirit of torment and come out of agreement with the spirit of torment in the name of Jesus. By the power of Your blood and Your Holy Spirit in me, Lord, I dismantle it, bind it from attaching itself to me or my dependents, and command it to flee and never return.

I confess Father that I have allowed sin and unforgiveness, lies and unbelief, hopelessness and brokenness, to keep me in a cycle of torment in my life. I have wallowed in my mistakes and failures and refused to walk in forgiveness, truth, and hope. I confess this as sin and receive your forgiveness.

In the name of Jesus, I confess I have allowed torment to use my past failures to stifle my relationship with you. Thank you for forgiving me, for speaking truth over me, for giving me a hope and a future, and I ask that by your Spirit you restore to us the relationship torment has tried to ruin.

From this moment on, I refuse to allow this taunting, tormenting spirit to have any impact in my life. I command taunting and torment to flee and never return, not just in my life, not just in my family, but in this church and this area in the name of Jesus. I speak life over myself and this area in Jesus name.

I am a new creation, and all things are made new in you Jesus. Fill every space emptied by this evil spirit with your Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ mighty name. Amen.”

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you through this message?

How does he want you to respond?