The Secret to Surrendering - Part 2

-------> To read Part 1 of the "Secret to Surrendering" click here. <-------

So, what do we do about this? How do we fight this?

We use what God has given us: His word.

If you keep reading in Ephesians 6 Paul goes on to talk about the armour of God. Ever piece of the armour serves a purpose defensively, except for one piece: The Sword of the Spirit, which Paul tells us point blank is the Word of God. It's an offensive weapon.

So, how do we use this Sword? Easy. Learn the Word of God & believe it. Apply your faith to it.

When fear tells you that you're always going to be alone, know what God's Word says about that. And instead of attaching your faith to fear's words, attach it to the Word of God & watch as fear's influences begins to get cut off!

Fear tells you that you're always going to be alone. God's Word says in Genesis that it is not good for man to be alone. God's Word tells us that He is ever present. Jesus said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." "My God shall supply all of your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." The list can go on & on!! :-)

Back to II Corinthians 10:4. He says, "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds..."

Strong holds are like a fortress. It's all those lies that you've believed about yourself. You see yourself as being unwanted & ugly. Someone tells you that you look pretty. That compliment cannot get through that wall. In otherwords you cannot accept it as truth.

Paul tells us that the weapons of our warfare are mighty to the pulling down of strong holds. The word that Paul uses there in the Greek for the words "pulling down" is the word "kathairesis," which speaks of demolition. In other words when you pull down strong holds by simply appling your faith to God's Word instead of fear it's like blowing the thing up!

Fear doesn't want you to give access to God's Word. That's why it builds up strong holds.

The word "strong hold" in the Greek is "ochyrōma" and it means, "a castle, stronghold, fortress" But it also speaks to "of the arguments and reasonings by which a disputant endeavours to fortify his opinion and defend it against his opponent."

See, the disputant is fear. Fear disputes with you what is truth so that you can believe it's lies.

You are fear's opponent. It's not Jesus. It's not God. It's you! God has given you His Word to use as a weapon against fear, worry, depression, anxiety, lust, greed, etc. Those are the disputants. We oppose them with the Word of God. We're the ones who have to do the fighting to tear down those strong holds that these spirits have built & fortified.

Moving on to II Corinthians 10:5. Paul tells us that the Word of God is mighty unto "casting down imaginations..."

Isn't it funny that when these evil spirits start prophecying to us that we let our imaginations run wild, acting out scenes in our mind of what's going to happen or how something's going to happen. It often plays out like a movie.

The Greek word for "imaginations" here is the word, "logismos", which speaks of reasoning or thought process. It's how we put our thoughts together, like a chain. This is how these evil spirits get us to apply our faith to their words. They simply make the suggestion & then we let our minds run wild until we see things from the point of view that it wants us to see it from.

He also tells us that the Word of God is might unto casting down "every high thing." The word Paul uses here for "high thing" is the Greek word, "hypsōma," which speaks of "elevated structure i.e. barrier, rampart, bulwark." You can look at it as sort of high-minded thoughts, meaning that we can become arrogant or haughty in our thinking when it comes to these issues. In other words: "I'm ugly. I'm unloveable. I'm too picky. This is the way that I'm always going to be. I can't change. Nobody can tell me different."

See the arrogance in that? We're the expert on our own condition & we don't want to believe that anyone or anything can help our condition change for the better.

The Bible says that these "imaginations" & these "high things" exalts themselves against the knowledge of God. Where do we find the knowledge of God? We find the knowledge of God in His Word (aka The Bible.)

In other words these "imaginations" & these "high things" try to make themselves look bigger, badder, & more powerful that God's Word. It plays out like this: "I know God's word says that I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me. And I know that God hasn't given me a spirit of fear, but of power, love, & a sound mind. I believe it, but....this is me we're talking about. This sort of thing happens to me everytime. This time won't be any different, so why even bother?!"

You've got the knowledge of God, but you've just let these things that you've imagined or these high minded thoughts exalt themselves against the Word of God! There's only one thing to do from here. Paul says right there at the end of II Corinthians 10:5 - we have to bring into captivity every thought.

Here's where the surrendering comes in.

Surrendering is allowing something to be taken captive by something else with greater power & authority. You have to surrender in order to be captured. Likewise you have to surrender your thoughts in order to bring them into captivity.

What do you surrender them to? You surrender them to the Lord. He's the One who has greater power & greater authority.

Fear tells you one thing. God's word tells you another. Who's the greater authority on the subject? Fear or God? God is. Trust God.

Fear tells you to go left. God tells you to go right. Which way do you go? Sure, it's not easy. Fear paints a picture of what's around the corner if you go right. He doesn't want you to go that way. Your emotions agree with fear. Your emotions "feel" like you should go left.

You take those thoughts captive by making yourself go right anyways. You surrender by no longer fighting, but by giving in to God & His Word. After all, He's given you His word. You can trust Him.

But not only has He given you His word, He's also given you something else. It's another weapon of our warfare, and it's found in Luke 10:19. It's there that Jesus says, "Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you."

Now here's the crazy thing: Jesus uses the word "power" twice in this verse, but he's actually using two different words there that mean two different things.

He says, "Behold, I give unto you power..." That word, "power" in the Greek is the word "exousia," which in short means "authority."

The next time Jesus uses the word power he's talking about the enemy's power or in the Greek "dynamis," which means "power, influence, strength, ability."

So in other words Jesus has given us exousia (authority) over the enemy's dynamis (power)! The enemy's power is not greater than the authority in which Jesus has given to us! So, I can take those thoughts captive. They do have to surrender to the authority in which Jesus has given to me. At that point I can attack these strong holds, imaginations, & every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God with the Word of God, pulling them down, destroying them so that the enemy can't use them again to gain a foot hold in my life.

WOW! What good news!

So, fear - you have to go in the name of Jesus!
Depression - you have to go in the name of Jesus!
Jealousy - you have to go in the name of Jesus!
Addiction - you have to go in the name of Jesus!
Dispair - you have to go in the name of Jesus!
Hopelessness - you have to go in the name of Jesus!
Lust - you have to go in the name of Jesus!

Rage - you have to go in the name of Jesus!
Hatred - you have to go in the name of Jesus!

What troubles you? Call it out by name! Use your authority given to you by Christ! MAKE WAR!!!!



Matthew 11:12 - "...the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force."

Speaking to the Storm

It's funny. The last blog I posted was about Jesus speaking to the storm.

This blog isn't so much a teaching, as much as it is a testimony of God's awesome power.

August 21st, 2011, I was doing a show in Louisville, Ohio called Rock the Park. I was hired to be the host/MC for the event featuring Oh Tear the Veil, Chasing Chariots, Shine Bright Baby, & Hawk Nelson.

It was a picture perfect day, weather wise. I mean you could not have asked for a more beautiful day for the month of August. Not too hot, blue skies, sunshine. It was nice!


Shine Bright Baby performing at
Rock the Park 2011 - Louisville, Ohio
©2011 Taylor Nervo / TVN Photography
www.wix.com/tnervo12/tvnphotography

 The concert started at 6pm. It was looking like it was going to be a beautiful night for a show, and it was! Everything was going well until Shine Bright Baby's set. That's when the clouds quickly started coming in & things started getting dark.

After Shine Bright Baby finished up their set, Pastor Jeff Bogue took to the stage to deliver an evangelistic message. As he was up there speaking, the clouds kept getting darker & darker. You could feel the winds start picking up. There were even a few sprinkles.

Backstage, I think anyone who had a smartphone had a radar up on their phone, watching the situation closely.

Hawk Nelson was scheduled to go on stage promptly at 8pm, followed by fireworks at 9pm, but with the weather situation quickly changing & the severity of it uncertain, a decision was made to delay Hawk Nelson.


So, I took to the stage to announce to the crowd that due to the storm Hawk Nelson would not be out for another 10 to 15 minutes. After that I did my best to keep the crowd pumped up & focused.

As I started into one of my jokes, something just hit me deep down inside: Speak to the storm. I knew it was God. I had to do this.

So, with mic in hand I told the crowd, "I want to do something here. In the Bible Jesus spoke to the storm & it worked. I know it will work here. I want to ask every single one of you to turn around and look up at the clouds. And on the count of three I want you speak to the storm & say with me 'No Rain in Jesus Name!'"

Here's a picture of me speaking to the crowd of 4,000 at Rock the Park 2011.

©2011 Taylor Nervo / TVN Photography
www.wix.com/tnervo12/tvnphotography

 I looked out across the crowd as people quickly turned around. Some even pointed up at the sky. I counted "1-2-3" and all at the same time over 4,000 people spoke to that storm & said with me, "No Rain in Jesus Name!"

I immediately went back into comedian/host mode, telling jokes & trying to keep the crowd pumped up for Hawk Nelson. I assured them that the show would go on, that Hawk Nelson would be out in a couple of minutes, and that we would be having fireworks tonight.

As I was talking an amazing thing started to happen: the clouds started breaking up!

A few minutes later one of the backstage volunteers came out onto the stage and tapped me on the shoulder. I stopped talking, & turned to listen to what the man had to tell me.

You should have seen the smile on this guys face! It was PRICELESS!! He was obviously pumped up about something!

Rainbow! A true sign from God!

©2011 Taylor Nervo / TVN Photography
www.wix.com/tnervo12/tvnphotography

After he told me what it was that he had to tell me, I quickly moved the microphone up to my mouth & proudly announced to the crowd that if you looked off to the side of the stage up in the sky you will see a rainbow!

It was so cool, because everyone was pointing up at the sky! You could hear them say, "Ooo LOOK! It's a rainbow!" They were absolutely amazed!

I said, "In the Bible the rainbow is a sign of God's covenant with Noah. Today 4,000 people spoke to that storm & God heard you! He placed that rainbow in sky so that you would know that He heard you!"

"Guys, remember this day, and never forget! Speak to your storms! God hears you!"

Jesus & the Storm

Have you ever found yourself caught up in one of life's many storms?

Do you feel trapped? Are you begining to panic? And you find yourself

desperately looking for a way out?

If so then this message is for you.