Of course, when we face demonic opposition, or demonic spirits, or demonic resistance in advancing the kingdom, we find it usually comes in the form of accusations, of pressures and difficulties, or of overwhelming accusing spirits, that tell you you're not good enough, and who do you think you are anyway. So if you have those voices going through you're head it'd be lovely, we'd love to pray for you later - time to break your agreement with the voices from hell, and learn to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit. He says: you can do it, I'm with you, you've got what it takes, we're on a great journey together. God is a great encourager. The Holy Spirit is a great encouraging spirit, and when you are sent on a journey, remember, the one who sent you is with you always. So if God has sent you to do something, He said I'm with you, we're going to do this together. I didn't send you there to do it on your own. You can't do it without me, and I'm not going to do it without you, we're on a journey together, so don't be agitated or surprised or frightened if any difficulties come.
So what about Philippi? Well there also was opposition came at Philippi. Let's have a look at it in Acts, Chapter 16. So the point we're trying to make, is that if you seek to advance the kingdom of God, you will experience, at times, seasons of pressure. Now you think oh, well it's alright for you, you're the Pastor. Let me tell you - and if you go and ask Pastor Lyn afterwards, ask my wife Joy, have you faced struggles and difficulties with demons, and pressure from the spirit world, and the answer is: regularly! And does it affect you? Yes! But we always rise above it and win. It's just you've got to watch that you don't come under anything and allow it to dominate your life. Okay, let's move on a little further, so let's have a look what happened in Philippi.
Now they went out and they went to prayer, and a certain young woman who was possessed or controlled with the spirit of divination, a python spirit, met us, and she brought her masters much profit by fortune telling. The girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying: these men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation. But she's got a demon, and this is false flattery. What she's saying is true, but the spirit motivating it was a demonic spirit, trying to gain attention, and gain the credit, for the work of ministry of Paul and Silas. So she did this many days and Paul, greatly annoyed or greatly irritated, or feeling under pressure from the spirit, finally turned around, spoke to the spirit, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ: come out, and it came out that very hour. So here we have another example of the apostles encountering spiritual resistance as they seek to advance the kingdom.
If you're in the business world, you will face spiritual resistance. If you're in education you'll face spirit resistance. Wherever you seek to advance the kingdom, there will be spiritual resistance. It will come in the form of reactions of people to you, of frustrations, of misunderstandings, communication breakdowns. It will come in the form of accusations, false accusations. There are many ways it comes, and it all has this in common; it's designed to intimidate you, and get you to draw back, and be contained, or overcome. You just have to be able to stand up, and this is why in our last one, we talked about building a strong spirit man, so when pressure comes on you, you've got what it takes to stand up. You're drawing on the Holy Ghost.