You Win the War Behind the Closed Door

Sermon outline

The stress, anxiety and accusation so many believers carry come from a proud, defeated accuser who wants us to take a back seat, but we win that war first in private prayer with God and rest in Christ's finished work.

1. An operation versus the laying on of hands

   Those who come forward first pray to forgive anyone they hold a grudge against and confess that the way they reacted was wrong, and the congregation stretches out its hands in agreement. The minister anoints and prays over each, then calls forward anyone in a crisis at work or at home, and prays for others standing in for family members who are not serving the Lord. One woman who had been booked for an operation is prayed for and tests the result at the microphone in front of the church, and now no longer needs it.

   “An operation versus laying hands on the sick. And if I can do it, you can do it.”

2. What was in nearly everyone

   Time has gone, so the prepared message on resisting the spirit of fear becomes a brief outline. While praying for people, one thing was prominent in almost everyone: stress, anxiety, depression, accusation and pressure. And the father of lies is the devil.

3. The sin was the pride of self

   Lucifer was blameless from the day he was created until evil was found in him; his heart was proud because of his beauty and his wisdom corrupted by his love of splendour. Listen to how often he says "I": I will ascend, I will set my throne, I will be like the Most High. God threw him down and stripped him of authority, and the finished work of Christ made sure of it.

   “The iniquity, the sin, was the pride of self.”

   • Ezekiel 28:15-17
   • Isaiah 14:12-15

4. The accuser wants you in the back seat

   Now he hinders God's people. A new believer is badgered on every side so that the decision is reversed. He works through people close to us, and in our minds, with accusations we know are untrue. When a marriage breaks up, a job is lost, a child is born with a difficulty or dies, he supplies the question: was it my fault, is God punishing me? His aim is to leave believers incapacitated, buried in busyness and difficulty, until they decide to take a back seat.

   Illustration: You ask for a promotion and they let you go instead: "But I gave them so many years of my life. Was I not a good employee? No, I must be good for nothing."

   “Satan is the accuser. He's the slanderer.”

5. From Eden to Job

   In the garden he did not talk about himself; he told Adam and Eve that if they ate they would be like God and everything hidden would be revealed. Before God he accused Job of serving Him only for what he got. Sometimes, when you are passed over for a promotion and told you need development and training, the truth is that the decision makers were threatened by who you are.

   “They were threatened by who you are.”

   • Genesis 3:4-5
   • Job 1:9-11

6. You win the war behind the closed door

   Greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. We fight accusation and slander with the word of God, and the battle is won first in the prayer time, in the mind and heart and spirit. Then you go out with a changed perspective, recognise who is at work, deal with what you must and leave the rest alone, because if you fight, God does not.

   “You can adjust the atmosphere. You win the war behind the closed door.”

   • 1 John 4:4

7. Stop beating yourself up

   Jesus was scourged with the cat-o'-nine-tails, one lash from death at every point, and paid the price in human form so that we do not have to. People love to remind us of our past, but Christ has already done the work. If you are beating yourself up over something you had no control over, it is time to stop.

   “We don't need to be who he is, but we need him to be who we are.”

In this message