The Plot Against Your Life Part 2

Hello, welcome to Self Talk. I'm your host, Dr. Ray Self. This is the show that gives you real answers for tough issues, full of spirit and truth. It's been my heart for many years just to set captives free, to give people the answers but with love and compassion, and the leading of the Holy Spirit to overcome obstacles in their life, things that keep them from their promised land, that is the purpose of the show. Thank you for listening. Be sure and check out our website, icmcollege.org/seflt talk. That's where you can subscribe, you can follow us, you can give us a great review. Thank you for listening to today’s show.

[Music]

Hello welcome to Self Talk. I'm your host, Dr. Ray Self. Thank you for joining me today. Today I'm going to do part two about this evil plot against you called demonic schemes. And, I want to get in a little bit more detail and give you a few more answers and more information because this is such an important topic. Let's have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you for each person listening to me. Holy Spirit, you are invited here. I ask you to speak through me. Just let my mouth be your words, Father. Father, open up our ears, open up our hearts to learn and let us know what you would have us know, Father, and be that you have us to be. In Jesus’ name, amen. 

Again, thank you for listening. Um, you know the one that uh, the organization that makes this show possible is the International College of Ministry. It’s an online, Holy Spirit-filled seminary that I founded, you know, some years ago. You can check it out at icmcollege.org. Icmcollege.org,  and if you'd like to donate which would help me to do this ministry that'd be great, icmcollege.org/donate. And if you want to subscribe and rate, go to the show, go to icmcollege.org/selftalk. 

Anyway, that's all the promo. So we've been talking about schemes of the enemy and we know that the Apostle Paul said in Corinthians we should not be ignorant of Satan's schemes. And also in Ephesisans, Paul told us put on the full armor of God so we can battle against the schemes of the enemy, Ephesians chapter 6. So, one of the biggest schemes against Christians is a scheme of illegitimacy. Illegitimacy is a scheme that makes you question your worth and your value. And I’m gonna give you some symptoms of this scheme to help you understand it. Now remember, a scheme is a plot against you to keep you from being all God's called you to be. Remember, Satan does not fight God directly, he fights God indirectly by attacking God's people, especially God’s plan for those people. So God's got a plan in a purpose for all of us- a call that we need to be answering, you know, this is what we were created to do. That’s a whole nother topic which has been talked about a lot. 

So, (coughs) excuse me,  we have to be aware of this. Paul said do not be ignorant of these schemes, okay? Do not be ignorant of these schemes. So, illegitimacy is the number one scheme I see attacking the body of Christ. There’s other schemes I’m going to talk about.

What is a scheme? A systematic plan of destruction. It’s a pattern, some people call it a negative core belief, but it's a pattern or a message in your life that continually gets repeated. And you can see this from childhood all the way through your current day. And the message keeps coming to you from various methods, various circumstances, every time you turn around, there’s this same feeling, this same message. It will come through well-meaning friends, it will come through parents, spouses, teachers, coaches, just unknown people out in the world. 

So, one of the- but the illegitimacy is a huge scheme. Now, the number one source of the spirit of illegitimacy, it’s not just the devil, but it is a lack of the father’s affirmation. Now, you remember Jesus was baptized, he comes out of the water, and, as he comes out of the water, a voice from heaven says, you know, the Spirit of the Lord descended upon him like a dove, then a voice from heaven says this is my son in whom I am well pleased. Now that’s God affirming Jesus. Perhaps God knew Jesus was about to be tempted in the desert by the devil, and the devil was going to attack Jesus's identity. Remember in the desert, again, the devil begins to question Jesus. If you be the Son of God, the key word is if. If you be the Son of God, turn these stones into bread. If you be the Son of God, throw yourself down from this temple. But Jesus had the Father’s affirmation. He knew who he was. 

Every child. Every son, every daughter, needs a Christian father who will literally put his hand upon their shoulder and affirm that you are my child. You are my daughter, you are my son, and I am proud of you. The father's affirmation is critical to defeat the spirit of illegitimacy. and without the father’s affirmation, people will do all kinds of to prove their worth their entire life. Now, the cool thing is, if you did not get the affirmation of the father from your parents, you can still get it from God, your heavenly father, who created you. He's offering that affirmation all the time, 24 hours a day. 

Okay. So, if you are struggling under the spirit of illegitimacy, what are the symptoms? I wanna, I wana just go through the symptoms of the spirit of illegitimacy. Feeling incomplete. Like I'm just- the job’s just not finished, I'm just incomplete. I'm incomplete in everything I do. There's a feeling of not measuring up. I'm not as good as, I'm not, I'm not there, you know. I'm not complete, I'm not measuring up. There's also a feeling of never being satisfied. There's always something that feels undone, incomplete, no… you know the satisfaction you get from a job well done? Well people struggling with the spirit of illegitimacy struggle ever having that feeling. Also another symptom is endless searching for happiness but never finding it. Always looking for that peace, joy, happiness but never seem- never being able to get a hold of it. Feeling a need to prove yourself is a really big one. People with the spirit of illegitimacy will constantly try to prove themself. I see this a lot. Now I love sports, I’ve played sports growing up, and I see this in sports, competition. Many men, and, and women, who are super competitive, underneath it all, have a spirit of illegitimacy. And I feel like I'm legitimate if I can prove myself by being a winner at whatever sport you're playing, you know, softball, baseball, basketball, golf, whatever, whatever it is. You have to win to be valuable and if you lose, you’re a loser. And that’s a trap. It’s a horrible trap. I watch today, just modern games. You’ll see a, a professional athlete such as an NFL football player. You'll watch them lose the game. Maybe it's an important game on Sunday afternoon and this is the game is over, the camera pans over to the bench and you see this 250-pound linebacker with his head down and he's crying. He’s crying ‘cause he lost a game. It's a game! It's a game. It's a sport. But his identity is so wrapped up in that sport and winning a sport, that to lose is destructive. To lose means you're a loser. To lose means you don’t measure up. It feeds the spirit of illegitimacy. Now listen, sports are fun, winning is fun, but you can lose and have fun. It's still a sport, it’s still a game. But people literally get their identity and their worth through competitiveness. 

Um, also, another symptom of the spirit of illegitimacy is feelings of inadequacy and low self-esteem. You just, underneath it all you, your self-esteem is low but I have found out for years is many people who seem to be overachievers, high-performance people, are actually, underneath it all feeling inadequate. Also, I’ll say this very bluntly, many of these super confident, um, you know, egotistical- what we call egotistical people, underneath it all, they're feeling illegitimate. So they cope with that by putting on this super confident and prideful exterior. Remember, super confident egotistical people, many times are insecure underneath it all. Uh, they’ll have- people suffering from the spirit of illegitimacy will have false methods of coping, a lot of defense methods, uh, defense mechanisms in place, ways that we cope. And I'll tell you something about coping mechanisms, folks. A coping mechanism usually is developed at a young age, and you carry it through the twent-  your twenties, and what I have seen and observed over my years of counseling, is most coping mechanisms begin to fail at about age 35. Now that's not a scientific study, that's Ray Self speaking, but most people about mid-thirties- I have some other counselor friends who agree with this- realize that what they, how they've been coping and making it through, is beginning to fail. They have to come up with other methods.

Uh, many people suffering from the spirit of illegitimacy, they um, develop a false self or identity. I’ve seen this a lot of times with people with affected selves. You know what I'm talking about, personas that people develop, masks that people wear. You see it a lot, you know, on TV. And there's a, a false identity, uh, that people portray. Sometimes church leaders will do that, you know. You’ll ask the church leader how are you doing? “I’m fine, I’m blessed, highly favored man of God.” This false… self or false identity, underneath it all it can be a symptom of a spirit of illegitimacy. There’s also, this is a big topic I can’t get into it completely right now, another symptom of this is the constant conflict between the ideal self and the real self. Since my name is Self, I can talk about this, right? I can be self-aware, self-assured…have you seen my businesses, my self-storage units? Okay, enough corniness. There is the person we think we should be, and the person that we are. And what that does so many times is it creates a conflict within. A conflict between the person we expect ourselves to be as Christians or businessmen or whatever, and then, the reality is we’re a person with all kinds of issues and symptoms and flaws and all kinds of stuff. So, we have this conflict and almost a self-hatred between this is what I should be doing and this is what I am doing. This is how I should act, this is how I do act, and the truth is, s your real self is the one God loves and the one God works with.

Another symptom, and there's sometimes people suffering with the spirit of illegitimacy, they have a constant sadness just underneath the outer skin, just, uh, I, I suffered that so long. It’s just, I could be smiling on the outside, doing ministry, speaking at conferences, um, but underneath it all, I was just sad. I just, I couldn't escape it. And I suffered with that for years. Most people were completely unaware of it because I learned how to function with my sadness. Also, with the spirit of illegitimacy, some people develop escape methods such as drugs, alcohol, sexual addictions, overspending, becoming a work-a-holic, religious addiction- yes you can be addicted to a lot of things, including religion- fantasies, false personalities, addicted to anything that- food, shopping, anything or any method that gives you temporary relief. Now, this is demonic because Satan, number one, does never, ever, ever does he want you to fulfill the purpose of God in your life, and, he doesn’t want you to know who you really are. If you know who you are, you'll step on his head and if you know who you are in Christ, you will fulfill your purpose.

You see, we're born again, you know, this we receive a new identity as a child of God, we're recreated, we're adopted, okay. Now, we've been adopted by God, okay? John 1:12. But as many as perceived him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believed in his name, okay? We’ve been adopted, alright? Uh, Galatians 4:6-7 be- because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into our hearts crying Abba Father. Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son and if a son, an heir through God. Romans 8:15, for you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear, again, but you have received a spirit of adoption. As sons we cry out Abba, Father. These scriptures, these truths, these promises, say that we are legitimate. We are legitimate. We're- been adopted by God, joint heirs with Jesus Christ. It doesn't get any more legitimate than that. I don't have to prove myself. I don't have to prove myself to anything. God sent his son to die for me on the cross. This is my worth, this is my value. Now out of that worth and value, I can perform, I can achieve, but my achievements and my performance do not give me value, I’m invaluable. And because I’m valuable, I can achieve, and I can perform. Do you understand it? 

So, but the spirit, it is a scheme, and illegitimacy is maybe the most common demonic scheme but knowing who you are in Christ, and as I talked about in the last show, spiritual warfare. Spiritual warfare is the key to this, okay? It is the key. And I love this uh, one scripture again, Romans 8:17. And if children, then heirs of God. Joint heirs with Christ. If it’s so that we suffer with him that we might also be glorified together. In one scripture, one scripture we are called children of God, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ. I love first Peter 2:9 where it says we've actually been called a chosen generation. Royal priests, part of a holy nation. In other words, all this truth combats, this combats the spirit of illegitimacy. There’s over 200 what I call identity scriptures in the New Testament, telling us who we are. Priest, chosen, uh, redeemed, justified, heirs. Over and over and over, God’s trying to make it clear that we are his children and that we are not illegitimate in any way, but if I was the devil, I work really hard to make sure that all the children of God felt illegitimate, wouldn't you? What a great plan! “Let's make,” I’m, I'm speaking for the devil “or give me, let's make sure none of the children of God know they've been affirmed and know who they are” ‘cause the devil knows if you know who they are, if you know who you are, he's in big, big, big trouble, amen? Amen.

So, other schemes that we talked- that’s the scheme of illegitimacy, I think we’ve covered that pretty well. Here's some other schemes that uh, studies have shown and I've seen operating in people. Hopelessness, um, despair, grief, depression and, now sometimes you can have several schemes, but this is a scheme again that will repeat itself. It- how do you know it’s a scheme? Let me make this clear one more time. Look back at your life. It’s a message you have felt or heard or experienced repeatedly. So much so that it drives you crazy, alright? Another common scheme is abandonment, fear, rejection.

I like to tell this story and I don’t think she’ll mind, my friend minds, there’s a lady I know, actually she's a very, um, highly educated counselor. But, her scheme was abandonment. Abandonment. How did this happen? Wh- what went on? Well, she was raised as a military child, and her father was in the, in the Army, okay? And her father would get deployed on a fairly regular basis and the father did not like goodbyes. So what the father would do when she was a young girl, when he got deployed, he would leave in the middle of the night so he would not upset her. So her fa- she would just wake up the next day, and her father was gone. She was abandoned, she may not see him again for six months, and that was his pattern. So she grows up and there's other principles here like unfinished business. She grows up and marries a guy who, very quickly, abandons her. He leaves her. So, what does she do? She divorces him. And because the unfinished business, wanting somebody to love her who has the tendency to abandon her like her father, she marries again. Guess what? Second husband abandoned her. And, she’s now been married four times. Guess what? Every single person, every husband, abandon her. 

Now this is horrible, it’s evil, it, it’s depressing, but it’s a demonic scheme. It’s abandonment. What does she- what he’s doing is, because this is the scheme he wants to use against this person who’s called to do great things, and she is an amazing Holy Spirit-filled counselor, is that he would use the spirit of abandonment against her in every, which way that he could. Her father abandon her, and she had four husbands abandon her. Now, unfortunately, because of unfinished business, we can become attracted to people who will reinforce this scheme. You see there’s a, it’s a whole nother podcast I could do, but unfinished business is when there’s something missing in your childhood that you never could complete, you try to complete it in adulthood. So in her childhood, she had a job and that was to get her father not to abandon her, and love her. So growing up, she’s going to be attracted to the same type of person so she can complete that work. But it was also a scheme. 

Other schemes are worthlessness and um, low self-esteem. Usually they were- a lot of negative words were spoken over them, and I'll call another scheme, it kind of ties into the scheme that I suffered with, uh, I don't matter, you do not matter. Other people count but you do not count and that's the message that you deal with. Uh, another scheme could be immorality or a person just struggles with immoral behavior their entire life, they can’t seem to escape it. And fear I talked about in the last show, that was my mother’s scheme. Fear. Uh, fear of dark, fear of demons, fear of death, fear of confrontation, fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear of inadequacy, fear of the supernatural, stress, anxiety, all kinds of fear. And again, a scheme repeats itself over and over and over and over. Idolatry, and that can be a scheme where you place things such as your vocation, ministry, money or people above God in your life. Schemes can also be ways to cope. Unhealthy ways to cope. Another scheme is rebellion, that's pride, arrogance, occultic practices, disobedience, issues with authority, and then there’s the religious spirit, which can be a scheme. That’s the, like the pharisee. Um, self-righteousness. I've known people with the religious spirit, they're so hard and so harsh,  even though they seem like they were, you know, Christians, and maybe they were but they were so legalistic that they had no mercy, no grace. Everything is rules, rules, rules, rules. And, it’s actually a very mean spirit.

So, these are common schemes. But again…I’m a compassionate guy, I’m a loving guy. I want you to be free, I don’t want you to suffer a scheme. And, my experience has been that most every Christian I've ever dealt, has suffered some form of a demonic scheme, which created a destructive pattern their entire life. Their entire life. The purpose of the scheme is to keep you from realizing who you are in Christ and fulfilling your call, your purpose, finding your promised land, doing the thing God created you to do, being the person God created you to be, do you understand that? So we do not have to accept these schemes. 

Now remember, we’ve been given authority over snakes and scorpions and all the works of the enemy, okay? These signs, in Mark 16, will follow those who believe. We will cast out demons. Book of James, submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. So as I talked in the last show, we have authority. We have authority. We have authority, and God expects us to use it. We do not have to accept these schemes. I know with me, this game of Ray you don't matter, Ray you do not count, even though I've rebuked it, renounced it, cast it out multiple times, it'll keep trying to come back. But I know what it is, and I know it's of the devil, and I know I have the Holy Spirit in me, which is 1000 times greater than any demonic force. And so, with the power and authority vested in me, which is- I have the name above all names, Jesus Christ, and I can invoke that name, and I do not, have to ever, ever have to receive that scheme in my life. But, I need to be aware of it. I need to know when it's in operation, therefore, I can cast it out, rebuke it, renounce it, and not accept that garbage anymore, okay? Anymore. 

The book of Hosea, chapter 4 verse 6, my people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. And we’re in a spiritual battle, we need knowledge. And I hope maybe, with this show, I’ve given you a little bit of knowledge about schemes. I'm not here to give a whole lot of attention to the devil, I'm just saying, when Paul said we should not be ignorant of his schemes. We should not. We just simply should not be ignorant of what Satan is trying to do. And this is a pattern, I’ve seen him do this with thousands of Christians and even in my life, and it's just- no more. I mean, I just do not want it anymore for you, I don't want it for me, I don't want to ever operate in my children, or my wife, amen. So I want to pray over you. Now remember, it's important for you, listen to me, recognize when one is operating. Look back. What is the pattern in your life? What’s this negative thing that’s been hitting you your whole life? Maybe there's been several. But know that it is a scheme, which is kind of good news, because schemes can be defeated and cast out. You can't cast out your flesh too well, but you can definitely cast out an assignment.

So Heavenly Father, I thank you for each person listening to this podcast. I thank you for the technology that allows us to reach this many people. Heavenly Father, you said no weapon formed against us will prosper, so Father, for every person listening to me, Father make us aware of what Satan’s schemes are. Make us aware of what the devil's been trying to do to us. And Father, we recognize the schemes of the enemy according to your word. And Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we rebuke, we renounce, and Father, we even ask forgiveness for cooperating with those schemes. Lord, we are your children, we’re bought by the blood of Jesus Christ. We died on the cross with Christ, we rose with Christ, Father. It’s no longer us who lives, Father, we are joint heirs now, Father, we are your children, Father. And Lord Jesus in the name, that name, in the name of Jesus Christ, we take authority. And we renounce, we rebuke, and we forbid a scheme, this scheme, whate- you can name this scheme, whatever you can name this scheme, whatever this scheme is. We renounce it and it will no longer operate in my life. We also speak the same over our children and our spouses and our families in Jesus’ name. Father, we’re not ignorant of schemes, and we take authority. We take authority, the authority given to us by the name of Jesus Christ, with the power of the Holy Spirit. Father, I thank you that these schemes are broken, every person listening this podcast, schemes are broken in your life now, in Jesus’ name. And you have authority, never to allow these schemes to come back, in the name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen. Amen.

Thank you so much for listening to me. This is Dr. Ray Self. Um, you know, check out our website that has all my podcasts on it, icmcollege.org/selftalk. If you’d like to help, you know, donate to help this ministry, which really help us continue this, I appreciate that very much, go to icmcollege.org/donate. I love you much, um, you know, one book I wrote, Redeeming Your Past, Finding Your Promised Land, it’s on Amazon, that book will help you a lot. It talks about schemes, it talks about fulfilling your call, it talks about how to overcome, and uh, I know, I hope that will help you. God bless you.

[Music] Thanks again for listening to Self Talk. It's been my honor and privilege to be able to be with you today through the wonderful world of the internet. Be sure and check out my resources, there's many resources that can help you out at my website, icmcollege.org. That's the college, International College of Ministry. There are free lessons, you can get a free evaluation, there’s a lot of things you can do on that website. Also check out our podcast website, which is icmcollege.org/selftalk. Be sure and, maybe consider purchasing one of my books, Hear His Voice, Be His Voice, or Redeeming Your Past, Finding Your Promised Land on amazon.org. Thanks again for listening, we appreciate you.