Just stop! Well what is it that's gone on, and try to evaluate what happened, because if you can evaluate, then you'll look at what your part was in it, and you can deal with your part in it. Then here's things you can easily do: pray in tongues very strongly, because praying in tongues as we've already found energises your spirit. I understand there are a couple of people not free to pray in tongues. We'd like to pray for you after lunch, and just activate that part in your life - so listen. Listen for promptings of the Holy Ghost, because He may show you things to pray for, and then learn to speak directly. I can remember there was a time in my life, I remember I was teaching Christian school. I was having these problems, these unclean thoughts coming into my mind, and I was thinking oh, I was feeling down, because I was struggling with these thoughts. I was thinking well, what am I teaching in a Christian school, and I'm struggling with these thoughts, what's going on.
The Lord dropped in, and He said: it's a spirit invading your mind, just rebuke it. Oh really? I never thought of that - and so I did. I just got praying in tongues, and just spoke directly: in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I take authority over that unclean spirit. I forbid you to come around my life now. I thank You Lord for Your presence here inside me, the spirit of holiness inside me. I began to pray and focus my mind on the Lord. Immediately the whole thing all just left, and it stopped - it was so quickly it stopped, I couldn't believe it. I thought I've been putting up with that stuff around my head for half the morning, and here it is now, just suddenly went, when I knew what to do. It was a spiritual attack which comes, sometimes in the way of heaviness. Often heaviness is an indication something's about to happen, or is happening around you, but also invading thoughts, invading emotions, and so learn to speak.
Speak God's word over your situation. Speak and reject the operation of that spirit, and then begin to declare God's word over your situation, quite easy. Then re-engage and do something else. It's not hard. What am I feeling? What triggered off that feeling? Have I done anything or has anything happened, were there assumptions I made, or someone's disappointed me? Try to get an evaluation what's happened. Is there anything I need to put right with God? Okay, get it right and now in Jesus' name, so we pray in tongues [Prays in tongues] stir up your spirit. In Jesus' name I speak to that spirit. Now here's one of the things I've found, and I found this by experience. If you'd like to both just stand up, just come and stand up near me. When we tend to think of these things - just stand here just like that - when we tend to think of the spirit world, because we live so much in the physical world, we tend to just not be very aware or conscious how it might work.
So what would happen was, I would have these thoughts coming in around me, and bombarding me you see? For a season I had these terrible thoughts of rejection, I just don't belong, I'm not loved, and all that kind of stuff. Then it took me a little while to realise they were my thoughts, and I had an issue in the heart, but actually it was a spirit of rejection was pushing against me. Just hold your hands out like that, just push against me, see? So I couldn't see the spirit, but I was overloaded in my mind and emotions with thoughts. Then I'd start to feel sorry for myself, and so there's another spirit - so put your hands up, both of you keep your hands up there - so now I'm not even aware or conscious that there are spirits at that stage. All I know is that all the time I've got this pressure pushing on me, feeling sorry for myself, and this pressure, putting on a feeling I'm not good, not valuable, not acceptable. I couldn't work out what it was, I just struggled with it.
It was so common I just thought it was me, and when it would come it would come every now and then, I'd have an event, and these demons would just immediately just trigger off, come in and start pushing on me, and I'd go down sometimes for three days into a heaviness, into a dark hole. I had no idea what it was. It never occurred to me it might be a spirit. It never occurred to me that I actually might have personal enemies. I never thought of that. [Laughter] It just never occurred to me. You know, the devil's sort of out there somewhere kind of thing, you know? It wasn't reality. You read in the Bible, you know, submit to God, resist the devil. It's all sort of out there, too far for me, and then I realised - keep your hands up, hold your hands up - [laughter] I realised that I'd go through life, and next thing boom, I'd run into these things, and I'm in depression for two or three days. I didn't realise there was something there.
I had no idea there was a spirit that was involved, none whatsoever - until the day the Lord showed me, you need to stand up and take dominion of this part of your life. If you'll get the victory, then all your life will change, so what I did was, I would start off by beginning to pray really strongly in tongues, get fired up in the spirit, energised in the spirit, and then in my imagination I'd picture and see there's a spirit there, the name - self-pity. I'd see that there was another one there, the name - rejection. I would speak to them: in Jesus' name I take dominion over you. I decree your power is broken over my life. I reject you, and refuse to yield to you - and same with the spirit of rejection: I hold the blood of Jesus over you right now. I had no idea what the blood of Jesus did to the demons, but it seemed a good idea to do it. [Laughter] It turns out they really don't like it. [Laughter] I didn't know that. I found that out since.