Stop Accepting Every Gift From People (Some Gifts Are Curses!)

foreign [Music] with a group of friends and during the course of that trip they met a local man who gave each of them souvenirs now this particular guy took those souvenirs without knowing that those items were part of a ceremonial practice that was evil and occultic in nature when he got back from his travels he placed these ornaments in his home that very nine things started to change and things started to happen he had opened a spiritual door wide open for the devil to walk straight into his home he started to experience unusual things there was unrest in his heart he felt weighted down oppressed even like there was a massive weight on his shoulders the sleepless nights and Nightmares started he became a man filled with fear he became fearful of everything and anything he started to experience all sorts of things that were not from the Lord simply because of a lack of knowledge and a lack of vigilance a combination that left him spiritually open so he confided in his father who brought the pastor around to his home during the conversation with this pastor and his father the ornaments caught the pastor's eye where'd those come from he explained they were a gift from a local while he was on his travels did you ask what those items were he shook his head do you know anything about the man who gave you these he shook his head again the pastor now took the items and said we need to burn these things this is the cause of all the unrest you've been experiencing you my son have been under spiritual attack so they started to Fire and threw the items in ten minutes passed 20 minutes passed and these items were not burning they added a bit more fuel and gave in another 10 minutes nothing no sign of those things burning so both the pastor and father began to pray and praise the name of the Lord they started to call on the name of Jesus they started to speak the blood they started to speak the word of God and those things began to melt and burn the lesson here is that the Bible says my people perish because a lack of knowledge do not be in the category of people who perish because of a lack of knowledge a lack of knowledge that if you give the devil an inch he will take a mile a lack of knowledge that the devil will dress himself up as something harmless it couldn't possibly be anything wrong with a souvenir there's nothing wrong with me accepting a gift from someone while I'm traveling the world be vigilant man of God be vigilant woman of God do you know where that object that souvenir has really come from do you know what Spirit What atmosphere or what you're inviting into your home when you're watching that film Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 6 to 9 says these Commandments I give you today are to be on your hearts impress them on your children talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road when you lie down and when you get up tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads write them on the door frames of your houses and on your Gates In this passage God instructs the children of Israel to keep the word of God in a prominent role in the household now the home plays an integral part in the life of the believer as Christians our home should be they should be the homes where the name of God the presence of God is always resonant the home should be a sanctuary a holy place it should be a place of Peace Serenity and joy it should be a place where God's word is elevated and lived out now that's all good and well for me to say but in a practical sense if the home is indeed a sanctuary if our home is a place where God's presence should abide then we should just not allow certain activities practices and forms of entertainment in the home I submit to you that we should be more Vigilant about the things we allow in our homes we need to be aware that just as we close and lock the physical doors in our homes we need to do the same thing spiritually be sober be well balanced and be self-disciplined be alert and cautious at all times that enemy of yours the devil prowls around like a roaring lion fiercely hungry seeking someone to devour that's the word of God according to First Peter chapter 5 verse 8. there's an old saying when it rains it pours have you ever felt like that have you ever felt like there's something going on in your life and it's deeper than what your eyes can see have you ever felt like there's something going on in your family or in your household that doesn't seem natural like this some other Force at work because it's one thing after another it's attack after attack it's battle after battle from another perspective have you ever felt like when things are going wrong at home they tend to carry over in other areas of life it's like when something is going on with your kids at home and it affects your work or when something is going on in your marriage and it affects your interaction with your kids or if something is going on at work and it affects all of the above it quickly becomes apparent that all of these things are interconnected and it also reminds us that if the devil can get a foothold in one area then he has gained a foothold in all of these areas the devil is trying in an unprecedented way to destroy families today he wants to disrupt the family system and Order Satan knows that if the Christian family is intact if the Christian family is working in one Accord then it's one of the strongest weapons against his deceptions from the day that Satan spewed his lies to Eve he was in the process of disruption in order to maximize his deception he approached Eve when she was alone he approached her when she was separated from the family unit and he did this because a divided family is easier to conquer the devil is in the business of sowing Discord and Division in our homes he's in the business of causing senseless fights and conflicts the devil is in the business of causing husbands Hearts to stray away from their wives and vice versa he wants the hearts of wives to stray from their husbands the enemy is in the business of causing children to be rebellious and to have a complaining spirit Satan wants to destroy our households because he knows that a spiritually weak home is the easiest way to take us away from God he's not new at this he's been at it for a long long time the strategy of Satan is to attempt to divide and conquer the family immediately after that he instigates destruction between the same family members and the Bible is full of stories of dysfunctional families that fell to the disruption of the enemy if Satan was able to disrupt the families of giants of Faith such as Abraham Jacob David and Solomon then we should be aware of the enemy's schemes and prepare to defend our homes now when it comes to guarding ourselves and our families against the deceptions and invasions of the enemy the first question is how does the devil gain access to our homes and Minds how does he try to gain access to disrupt our families a