Battles & Breakthroughs | Part 3 |Breaking the Pattern of Worldly Strongholds

The world isn’t a playground,

it’s a battleground.

Ephesians 6:12 (NIV) For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

1 John 5:19 (NIV) We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.

James 4:4 (NIV) You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.

4 Signs You’re Losing the Battle

• Your capacity to is decreasing.

Matthew 5:44 (NIV) But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

Matthew 24:12 (NIV) Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.

Revelation 2:4-5 (NIV) Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first…

• You on .

1 John 2:15-17 (NIV) Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.

• You have a diminished .

1 Peter 2:11 (NIV) Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.

• You seek the before .

James 3:15 (NIV) Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.

Romans 12:2 (NIV) Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Matthew 5:19 (NIV) Whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 7:24 (NIV) Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

Jesus isn’t interested in us trying hard;

He’s calling us to train hard.

Breaking the Pattern

1. Replace with the practice of .

Matthew 5:38-39 (NIV) You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.

Matthew 6:14-15 (NIV) For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

2. Replace with the reward of .

Matthew 6:1-4 (NIV) Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do…they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

3. Replace with the practice of .

Matthew 6:31-33 (NIV) So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

4. Replace with the practice of .

Matthew 7:1-2 (NIV) Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

James 2:13 (NIV) Because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

5. Replace others with the practice of .

Matthew 7:3-5 (NIV) Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?

2 Corinthians 13:5 (NIV) Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.

6. Replace with the practice of .

Matthew 6:19-21 (NIV) Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven…

1 Timothy 6:18-19 (NIV) Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age…

7. Replace with the practice of .

Matthew 5:43-44 (NIV) You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…

Romans 12:20-21 (NIV) If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink…Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

James 1:27 (NIV) Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.