Recognize and Defeat Your Scheme

Hey, welcome to my show, episode 187, can you believe it? I want to thank you so much for listening to Self Talk, I appreciate everybody who listens to this show. I pray that it is a blessing to you and if it does help you and bless you, please share this with your friends and neighbors and…you know the routine, make sure that you um tell people about it and subscribe to us, give us a review on our website, icmcollege.org/selftalk. I appreciate you. Today is going to be another message about schemes of the enemy– a very important message, I mean, a life-changing message. Please listen carefully because this will affect you. Thank you for listening to today's episode of Self Talk, this is Dr. Ray Self, many blessings.

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Okay, this is Dr. Ray, let's get going. Heavenly Father, I thank you for everyone listening to this episode. I pray, Father, that my words and my thoughts would be a blessing that would help us to understand what you need us to know. Holy Spirit, you are welcome in this podcast. I ask you to touch everyone; everyone listening to this show, and let it– let us hear what you want us to hear and know what you want us to know. We give you praise in the name of Jesus. Amen, amen. All right, so I want to talk more about schemes. You know, that's kind of the theme of this podcast but it's such an important topic because it affects you every day, it affects you every single day. 

So one of the key scriptures that I want to talk about, 2 Corinthians, verse– chapter 2, verse 11. Paul's saying that set– “so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.” Paul did not want us to be unaware of Satan's schemes. And then you go to the um, book of uh, of Ephesians and we “put on the full armor of God so we stand firm against the schemes of the enemy.” So again, what is a scheme and what does it have to do with you? It has a lot to do with you. A scheme is a plan. It's a systematic plan, an organized plan, a customized plan against you. And against your family and your friends. And…my ministry, my experience has been that every Christian struggles with schemes. Now, you may not know you're struggling with a scheme but you are. Now, it's good to do spiritual warfare and– resist the devil and, “Submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you,” as the Book of James says, that's all great stuff but it's critical that you are aware of the scheme or the plan against you. 

So let's just talk about some typical schemes that maybe, that will help you understand. Well, first off, a scheme repeats itself over and over and over again. It's like a broken record and it– usually you'll see it in your youth, uh, in your teenage years, your adult, in your young adult years, your older adult years, the same particular pattern or weapon that keeps coming over and over and over again. Um, there's a scheme of rejection for instance, and it…if, if this is the scheme against you, it seems like in your entire life every time you turn around you are feeling rejected and this rejection may have come from family or from friends or from a boss or from a teacher, uh, from a coworker, but it's just, it's just…over and over, you just get tired of it. Uh, a scheme that I talk about that I suffered with for many years and it– I didn't understand it but it...looking back, it just kept repeating itself. I struggled with the feeling of that I do not matter, I do not count. Other people matter, other people are important, that I wasn't important or I wasn't as important as other people. And this message hit me, every time I turned around I was getting this message and it would be from maybe my, my parents ignoring me or uh, a uh, a boss ignoring me or a coach ignoring me, or being overlooked or being like– it was a feeling like I was invisible all the time, like I just– I couldn't be seen. And this scheme, I bought into it. And I bought into it so much that I began to feel, and I had a, a core belief which was a destructive belief system that I really was not important, and I was definitely not as important or valuable as other people. I did not realize that I was a joint Heir with Jesus Christ and I was just as valuable as anybody in the world, I did not think that way. And so, I had very low self-esteem because I, because I bought into it and this struggle of I don't matter or I am invisible. And it was like a circumstance would reinforce this message, a, a person who would– somebody I cared about would ignore me or overlook me or, it could be something as simple as I couldn't even get a phone call returned or uh, it was like I was seen but not heard. And things would happen to me, people would ignore me, I'd be overlooked, I would be uh, neglected over and over and over again. And it got so strange that it began to trigger me and it began to hurt me. And now, the scheme against me was for a purpose. The purpose was to stop me from doing what I'm doing right now. From– stop me from being a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, that's a call on my life. But see, if, if I buy into this scheme, I don't matter, I'm not important, I don't measure up, I'll never fulfill my call. I'll never be a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Now, maybe your scheme is rejection. You, you, you– every time you turn around you, you feel like you're being rejected, or it's like, “Here I am, please reject me.” Uh, maybe your scheme is fear. You've struggled with fear as long as you can remember and different things - scary things - keep happening to you over and over again. Maybe it's abandonment. Every time you turn around somebody's leaving you, “why are people always leaving me?” Uh, maybe– a, a really– most common one that people suffer with scheme is the scheme of illegitimacy. 

Now, illegitimacy is a scheme that says…that makes you question your value, your worth. It's like you never quite measure up so you spend your life seeking to do things to prove your value. Um, I see this a lot. This is a very common scheme with, with pastors and church leaders. The scheme is a, is a question mark. It, it's always a question mark. Remember when Jesus, after He was baptized, He goes into the– He's led into the desert and immediately the scheme of illegitimacy attacked Him. Satan asked Him, “If you be the Son of God, turn these stones into bread…” “If you be the Son of God…” What was Satan trying to do, he was trying to get Jesus to question His legitimacy. Of course, Jesus didn't buy into it. “If you be the Son of God,” show– ”throw yourself down from this temple…” and, “If you be the Son of God…” If, if, if. Are you really the son of God? Are you sure you're the Son of God? If so, prove it. Well, are you sure to us? Are you sure you matter? Prove it. Are you sure that you're important? Prove it. Are, are you sure that you're valuable? Prove it.

With men so many times this plays out in competitiveness. We have to be competitive and prove our worth. It plays out in the church all the time. People compete for position and for titles and, and to be uh, a, uh, a…placed in a high place, um, you know, and people desire titles and positions to feel legitimate, to legitimize themselves. And it's, it's, it's a scheme of the enemy because you never win with this. You see, we're legitimate because we're children of God, because we're joint heirs with Jesus Christ, because Jesus loved us so much He died and gave His life for us. He exchanged His life for our life, that's our legitimacy. But the scheme of illegitimacy causes you to question your worth. I cannot tell you how many pastors will tell me - have told me - that sometimes this, this, this doubt comes in. Like that maybe they, they question their call or they, they question their anointing, they, they question their leadership ability. And sometimes it'll hit them right before they get up to preach. Um, and I've seen leaders, uh, get these little doubts and questioning about, about their ability, about, about whether they can really do this, whether they really matter. All these question marks are part of the scheme of illegitimacy. 

Now…and I like to, I want you to pay attention to questions. Our God is a God of absolute truth, He is the truth. He's the way the truth and the life, nobody comes to Father but through Jesus, you know, it's truth, it's not a question. See, question– a question is the opposite of faith. Without faith you cannot please Him so when you're questioning, you're getting into doubt which is the– which is not faith. And we know that God loves faith and He wants our faith, He doesn't want our doubt, that's why Satan likes to put doubt on us because he– that's the exact opposite of what God wants. And then if you doubt enough, you'll never become everything that God called you to be, okay? We all have a call of God on our life to be something incredible. You know, we're above and not beneath, we’re the head, not the tail, joint ears with Jesus Christ, that's the truth. So Satan tries to illegitimize that and he'll start when you're young and he'll keep repeating this over and over and over again until you say one day, “I'm not going to do this anymore, I'm going to break this in the name of Jesus Christ.” 

Other schemes, um, uh, re– uh, rebellion. Some people have struggled with rebellion their whole life and it is, you know, these schemes just repeat over and over and over again. The Bible says in, in Isaiah, “...no weapon formed against you shall prosper…” well, a scheme is a weapon formed against you. Now, it will not prosper if you take authority and you recognize it and you rebuke it, and renounce it. Remember Paul said do not be ignorant of Satan's schemes. The whole armor of God, the reason we put on the armor of God, the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the sword of the Spirit, the reason for the armor is to overcome schemes. So, we do fight the devil but, to be, be aware. What Paul wants us to know is be aware, have an understanding, have a comprehension of the scheme of the enemy. And it is a custom scheme. So how do you know? Well, how do you know what it is? It's– to me you just look back in your life and go, “what what ugly weapon keeps repeating itself in my life?” And, and, “What area of frustration have I been frustrated with my entire life?” That's a scheme of the enemy. So once you recognize this scheme, whatever it is– Now listen, I named a few of them but there's many, many, many schemes. Um, you know, anxiety, you know, fear, depression, uh, rebellion, uh, uh immorality, uh, these could all be schemes, you know. But to me, my scheme was worthlessness or I don't matter - and that's a big one, worthlessness, you know, I don't matter. And especially he'll put worthlessness or I don't matter upon you when you actually are incredibly valuable and you matter a lot. 

You see, if you don't feel you matter or you feel you're worthless, you really just don't ever quite measure up, and you'll, you'll try to prove yourself. You'll get into what I call performance identity. People who feel worthless or have the scheme of illegitimacy constantly work to prove their worth. They seek titles, they seek uh, prestige, they, they…sometimes they want to be upfront to prove their worth. Well, that never works because ultimately when you have a bad day, there goes your self-esteem. Competitiveness; you have to win, you want to win, you want to win because if you win, you're a winner, if you lose, you're a loser. Competitiveness is driven by the scheme of illegitimacy, trying to prove yourself. See, we're saved by grace, not by works. I don't have to prove myself to God. I don't need to prove myself, Jesus proved me. We don't need to prove ourself. Now, there's nothing wrong with having the title of a bishop or an apostle or prophet or pastor or whatever the title is, or uh, office manager, whatever your title is, there's nothing wrong with the title because it describes your job. It's your job description. But it's your title, it's not your identity. Your identity is in Christ, period. Now, your title and your position tells me, tells the world what you do, but what you do is not who you are. Your esteem, your value, your, your…what makes you worthy is Jesus - His death for you on the cross. The Son of God, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, exchanged His life for your life, that's legitimacy. But Satan will scheme to try to undo that in your life all the time. And so, a scheme is a plan. We need to understand and know what the enemy’s strategy is against us, against my spouse, against my family, maybe even against our church. I mean, there's some schemes against our nation which are, oh my gosh, horrible, horrible, horrible schemes. But do, do not be ignorant of Satan's schemes.

Now, what do we do once we become aware of the scheme? We can repent of anything we've done to contribute to it. Now, you know that we should repent of our sins, right? Ask forgiveness of our sins. If we've been in rebellion, we've done anything that was ungodly, the Holy Spirit will convict you and once you have that conviction, you just say, “I, I repent, I turn from that, Lord, forgive me,” it's cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. It's done. So we repent of anything that may have contributed or opened up a door for the schemes and you know, you, you, you know the doorways, you know if you've done stuff that you've never repented of and asked forgiveness for, well, do it. And you say, “I'm not sure,” ask the Holy Spirit, He'll show you, He'll show you. But once you've done your repentance and your forgiveness, you, you, you've canceled any, any claim that Satan may have toward you. Now, you become aware of the scheme and you say, “You know what? This fear thing has– this fear, evil scheme of fear, has tormented me my whole life. In the name of Jesus Christ, I rebuke the scheme of fear, I rebuke you, demon of fear, you demon of anxiety, you demon of depression. I rebuke– I renounce this scheme against my life and I command it to stop now in the name of Jesus Christ and I will never receive that again. I am redeemed from that curse.” You get, you get mad. You take authority, you recognize it, you repent, ask forgiveness for anything that, that you've done that, that may have contributed to it, opened up a door for it. You don't ever get condemned, no shame because there's no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, but we get convicted, we do our part. Repent, ask forgiveness, and then we do spiritual warfare and we rebuke and renounce the scheme. And when you do that, you're free.

Now, the enemy will test you, he'll try to put the scheme back on you. He'll try to, to see if you're really serious about what you've said. But we are serious about what we said, we're standing in faith with what we said. So what we do is we continue to stand firm against the schemes of the enemy. We never give up and we do not allow it to come back in our life. So recognize the plan of the enemy. Again, could be worthlessness, could be illegitimacy, could be fear, could be anxiety. I, I've seen a scheme of poverty, it means like every time you turn around you're losing all your money. Uh, there can be a scheme of disease, infirmity, um, there, there, like, it's like a curse that just you can't– it just, it just repeats itself over and over again. Whatever the scheme is, stand firm against the schemes of the enemy, put on the full armor of God, stand firm against that scheme, do not receive it, don't be ignorant of the scheme, First Corinthians. Stand firm, Ephesians chapter 6, that's what we do. We have a biblical commandment and I'm amazed at how many people are totally clueless about schemes attacking their lives. Don't be clueless. Don't make a movie called Clueless either, it was a really bad movie…Lisa Silverstone, whatever her name was, terrible movie. Anyway, don't be clueless, be aware. Know you have authority, know you have victory in Christ, and walk in that. Walk in your blessing, walk in the fullness God has for you, amen. We are not ignorant of Satan's schemes, we're not, anymore. And whatever it is, don't accept it. 

Let's pray. Heavenly Father for everyone listening to this podcast today, I thank you, Father, that we're not ignorant of Satan's schemes. Father, we recognize the plan of the enemy and we stand against it now. Father, for everyone listening, whatever they need to know, show them. Whatever we need to repent of, show us, Father. Father, we ask forgiveness for our sins. We thank you, Father, you– we confess our sins you cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So Father, thank you for cleansing us. Now, Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we submit to you, we resist the devil, and we resist those schemes. Father, we rebuke and renounce every scheme of the enemy against our life, I will not accept it anymore. Father, forgive me for even participating or believing this scheme. Father, we thank you who the Son sets free is free indeed and that we are free from every scheme of the enemy. And Satan I command that scheme against my life stopped, null, and void. You will not continue with this scheme, by the authority– I speak by the authority of the blood and the power in the name of Jesus Christ. I thank you, Father, that we are free from every plan, every scheme of the devil, and everyone listening to this podcast, we declare freedom in Jesus’ name. Amen, amen. Wow, heavy-duty show, an important show, share it with people, hope this is a blessing to you. Amen, amen. Thank you.

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Thank you again for listening to my show, this is Dr. Ray. The subject of schemes, uh, has been something I've taught on and uh, because I've experienced it, I've taught on it and ministered to it and ministered about it for many, many years. I pray that this show has been a blessing to you, that maybe you've recognized a scheme of the enemy against your life and now you know how to stop it. That, that's, that's my– that's my prayer. If this show has been a blessing to you, please don't forget to go to the website and subscribe, give us a review, it helps us– And don't forget to download and share this because we've got to– I need more downloads for this show, I really think this is a good show, I think this is a message from God, and I just want to reach more people. If you can do that, you know, I'd appreciate it. Don't forget to check out my new book, it's called The Call: God Answered, You Called, I mean, God Called, You Answered, This is What You Need to Know. It's called The Call on amazon.com. If the show has been a blessing to you and you can support us financially, that would be wonderful, icmcollege.org/donate. Um, you know, we really, really appreciate you uh, doing that. That helps us a lot just to continue this. The main thing is I just want to get the message out that Christ has set us free and how to walk in that freedom, that's what I want to do the most. But thank you very, very much, uh…oh yeah we're sponsored by International College of Ministry. Uh, don't forget, if you got a call on your life, it's time to get equipped through our college. We are an accredited, um, college online, so associate's, bachelor’s, master's, doctoral degrees in ministry, theology, Christian counseling…We give you life credit, we transfer in other credits from other colleges, uh, we're affordable, we even have scholarships available. Check it out at icmcollege.org. Love you so much, thanks again for listening to Self Talk, I'm Ray himself, myself, I'm self-aware but I'm not selfish. God bless you, thank you.