Unmasking an Evil Scheme

Hey, welcome to Self Talk. I'm your host, Dr. Ray Self. In today's talk I want to talk about schemes some more and uncovering them and discovering them, but please remember to go to the website for this podcast which is icmcollege.org/selftalk. icmcollege.org/selftalk, and there you can subscribe, give some comments and also if you could help us financially to continue this podcast, it would be great. We're going in the hole every month with this podcast and it's okay, I don't mind it, I really want to try to help as many people as possible. But to be able to continue, we really need some partners to help us with this and you can do that on the podcast website. I appreciate that very much, but today it's a very serious topic and we're gonna hopefully give you some clarity that'll help you get free. Some uh, some very uh, interesting or deadly or destructive patterns in your life; so stay tuned to Self Talk with Dr. Ray Self.

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Okay, folks, this is Dr Ray Self. Here we go, unmasking an evil scheme. When I say unmasked, that means remove the cover so you can see what it is. In the bible, several times the Apostle Paul asked us to be aware of schemes. Let's look at scripture here. So in Second Corinthians 2:11, the Apostle Paul says “...that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, but we are not ignorant of his schemes.” So in other words, we're not to be ignorant of a plan of the devil. We should know what he's up to. And then in Ephesians 6:11, scripture says “Put on the full armor of God so you'll be able to stand firm against these schemes of the devil.”

So what I have taught on and experienced and done conferences about for years, is the subject of schemes. A scheme is a systematic plan for destruction in your life. What the devil does is he customizes a plan against your life and he uses it over and over and over again. And I've said this many times, but deliverance is an important thing, and casting out demons is a very important thing and we should do our spiritual warfare, but if you're unaware of the scheme of the enemy against your life and against your family, you've got a problem because the plan is going to continue. It's one of the basic elements of warfare. You need to know what the enemy is up to, you know what is he doing. And let me just be transparent. As you guys– if you listen to me, you know that I'm just real, and in my life, there was a problem that I had that just kept reoccurring and reoccurring and reoccurring. It used to just– literally, I feel like I was almost going crazy with it and the problem I had was this feeling that I didn't matter. It was so strong that it seemed like everywhere I turned, I was hit with it. It– I was ignored, uh, overlooked, um, put down, or maybe made to feel invisible, and that was probably the worst thing. And I was not really aware of the scheme but looking back, I know it was a scheme. In other words, I felt growing up that I really didn't matter. My thoughts didn't matter, my feelings didn't matter, my wants and desires didn't matter. Now, I had thoughts, I had feelings, I had wants, I had desires, but I always felt that other people's - what other people needed or wanted or desired or had or thought - was more important than mine. I valued other people more than I did myself. I did not have self-worth. Back in the old days, we used to call it inferiority complex, and I really did feel infor– inferior and that I didn't matter.

Now, it made me sad, it made me frustrated, but it also kind of controlled my life because this feeling of I didn't matter really kept me from stepping out and, and trying a lot of things. There's a lot of things I did not do because I did not have the self-confidence to do it, and I remember in, in high school, I did not do a lot of activities that I could have done because I did not have the confidence or the feeling that I was worthy of, of doing that. You know for instance, um, I was very athletic in high school and I was big and I was strong. I think I could have been an excellent football player but did I play football? No. I didn't have the confidence to do that even though I was stronger and more athletic than a lot of guys on the team. It was… the feeling was well, this was something they could do. I mean, because that, that was them and you know, and I'm just Ray. And so it, it looked like, and maybe when you become a Christian it seems like it's a humility, but it is a false humility. But this feeling of I didn't matter or I didn't measure up was reinforced over and over throughout my life. It could be a teacher who ignored me, a coach who ignored me, or a salesperson who ignored me. It was almost like I was invisible. There was some weird, I mean, it got to the point where it was just kind of weird. I remember many, many times I could be walking right behind someone in a crowd and they would stop and I run into them they had no realization that I was there or I'd be standing somewhere and somebody walk into me like they didn't see me standing there. Or it could be just being overlooked or ignored or not listening, not listened to, or not valued. It was a terrible feeling. It was so strong in my life that ultimately, when I got out of high school, I started going into drugs and I wanted to escape. I didn't know what I wanted to escape, I didn't know I was escaping a scheme of the enemy, but I was escaping the pain of feeling worthless and that I didn't matter and I didn't measure up.

Now, knowing what I know is that was a scheme of the enemy; because what Satan was trying to do to me was he was trying to keep this feeling this message, and this belief internalized in me that I was not important and I did not matter therefore, I was not going to accomplish anything for the kingdom of God and I would not threaten his dark kingdom at all. I became aware of this scheme. This scheme has been broken. I know the truth, it'll set me free. I know who I am in Christ and I'm free from this scheme, although sometimes I still have to battle it. I have noticed people battling schemes for years - and I've taught this for years. I've got notes on this I could even share with you. If you want to email me about it um, you can email me at drayself@gmail.com. I can send you some notes on this.

Some of the schemes that people suffer with are rejection, like I said, worthlessness. The big one is illegitimacy, the feeling of never quite measuring up, not feeling worthy therefore you have to prove yourself. There's a scheme of fear, the scheme of abandonment, the scheme of rebellion, and all these schemes. Oppression, depression, all these schemes repeat themselves over and over and over. And what Satan does is he uses all kinds of methods and tools and ways and means to reinforce the scheme. The scheme will be reinforced by your boss, by your parents, by your spouse, by your children, by some stranger at Walmart, but the message is– he's, Satan's going to work hard to get the message to you with the scheme he has designed for you. So a scheme is a custom plan. It is a plan that has been designed for you. Paul said again, “Do not be ignorant of Satan’s schemes.” “Put on the full armor of God so we can stand against the schemes of the enemy.” He comes to lie, steal, and kill and destroy. This is what he wants to do. And he plots against you. Not to be aware of the spirit realm is foolish. We live in a natural realm and we also live in a spirit realm, and the spirit realm is affecting our life every single day and we need to be aware of it. When you become aware of Satan's schemes, you can take authority in the name of Jesus Christ. You can rebuke the scheme, renounce the scheme, forbid the scheme, battle against the scheme with a powerful Name above all names, the name of Jesus Christ, and this game will stop and you can get free.

So how do you know if there's a scheme operating against you? Well, to me it's pretty evident because this message or this struggle has been repeated in your life as long as you can remember. My struggle with worthlessness or I don't matter was a feeling or a mindset or internal belief that I struggled with as long as I could remember; over and over and over. Illegitimacy. I talked about the spirit of illegitimacy. That spirit is explained in the bible very clearly. When Jesus was baptized and the Father– the Spirit of the Lord descended upon Jesus like a dove and then the Lord says “This is My Son in Whom I'm well pleased.” Now that was a great moment for Jesus. Jesus is baptized, comes out of the water, here comes the Holy Spirit, and then here comes his Father's affirmation. God said, “This is My Son….” You can just picture God putting His hand on the shoulder of Jesus, confirming and affirming His Son. Immediately after that, Jesus goes into the wilderness. In the wilderness, the devil began to question him and that's a big thing I want you to remember. Question. He questioned Him “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 mount.” “If you be the Son of God…” So the attack of illegitimacy is simply a question mark. Satan tried to get Jesus to question His worth, His identity. “Are you sure you're the Son of God? Prove you're the Son of God.” That is a spirit of illegitimacy attacking Jesus.

And that same spirit attacks Christians all the time, especially leaders - and pastors, listen to me, “Are you really a good pastor? Are you really anointed? Are you really a good preacher? Are you really a good teacher? Are you a good parent? Are you a good spouse or are you… are you worthy to this?” And you, you can see some of the most confident successful pastors in America who will confess to me - many of them have - um, have confessed to me that they have this underlying fear or insecurity, a question mark that hits them from time to time where I actually sometimes often, of their legitimacy. It's just a little voice that tries to get them to doubt they're worth, their worthiness, their anointing, their salvation, their gifting. And it can be somebody who's highly gifted, highly anointed, highly - I mean, just an amazing man or woman of God - and here comes the spirit of illegitimacy. So, what- the way people respond to this scheme is people start looking for ways to legitimize themselves, and when you start trying to legitimize yourself, you're falling into the trap of illegitimacy. 

What is self-legitimacy? What is- it's, it's a form of self-righteousness. It's people who seek titles and position and power and victory to prove your self-worth. Its performance-based identity. It's where a person tries to prove themself by their performance or by their looks or by their achievement and their identity is based on that. You'll see this many times with athletes whose identity is totally caught up in winning. They win the game, their self-esteem, their self-worth is high. They lose a game, your self-worth is low. Performance-based identity is living, is like living life on a roller coaster. You're up, you're down, you're good, you're bad, and it's a constant struggle looking for worth and value.

But you see, when you're a child of God you have value. You are, you are a member of the royal priesthood, you have become a joint heir with Jesus Christ. You a seated– you're sitting— seated in heavenly places, according to the book of Ephesians, with Christ Jesus. It doesn't get any better than that. A title does not give you legitimacy. And people want that, and we see this in the body of Christ. People wanting the title of Pastor or Apostle or Prophet. And there's nothing wrong with having a title except when you use the title to legitimize yourself. You see, that's, that's, that's self-legitimacy and it's illegitimate because it's not, it's not accepting who you are in Christ. It's trying to prove yourself through an illegitimate way. Now, there's nothing wrong with being a prophet or apostle or pastor or evangelist or manager or whatever title you want to have, there's nothing wrong with that but that's not your value; that's not your worth. Your worth is your identity in Christ. You're so valuable that the Lord Jesus Christ was willing to give his life for you and die on the cross for you.

So illegitimacy is a question of your value or your worth or your success. And people cope with that in so many different ways, um, trying t,o trying to win, trying to have the most money, trying to have the most success, trying to have the biggest title, the nicest car, the nicest clothes, all that is a response to the spirit of illegitimacy forcing people to legitimize himself outside of God's value. And God has valued us, God has given us legitimacy, God has given us value, God has given us worth, God has given us the life of his son Jesus living within us in the form of the Holy Spirit. We are valuable, we are legitimate people and we do not have to fall into the trap of illegitimacy, trying to prove ourselves. I know people that suffer other schemes of fear. My mother had a spirit of fear that she suffered her whole life, the scheme of fear, and it controlled her. And these, these schemes will control your life. This scheme of I don't matter controlled me, fear can control you, illegitimacy can control you, rejection can control you. But when you become aware that this is a demonic plan and you know who you are in Christ and you know the authority that Jesus has given you - He said in Luke, “Behold, I've given you authority over snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy.” okay? Mark 16, “These signs shall follow those that believe: In My name they will cast out demons;” You have authority, you have the Holy Spirit, you have the authority of the blood of Christ to rebuke these schemes.

And so how do you, how do you get free? First off, recognize it. Recognize it. And if you have, excuse my cough, if you have any sin or rebellion that you need to confess, well, the bible says “If we confess our faults confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.” So if you have a sin that you need to get rid of, go ahead and confess it because see, sin can be an open door and gives, gives Satan more of a chance to operate. So confess your sins and know that God's forgiven you and He cleanses you, amen. So renounce the scheme. Recognize it, ask forgiveness, and renounce the scheme. Just renounce it. “I renounce this scheme of illegitimacy, I renounce the scheme of worthlessness, I renounce this scheme of fear. I will not accept this anymore. I am a child of God. Perfect love casts out fear. I have God's perfect love residing in me.” You renounce the scheme, you rebuke the scheme, you command the scheme to stop in the name of Jesus Christ, by that Authority. And then you praise God that the scheme is broken. And if the scheme tries to attack you again, you rebuke it again and again and again and again. Sometimes spiritual warfare is like a boxing match, you have to hit the devil over and over again before you knock him out and that's okay.

But Paul said again, do not be ignorant of Satan's schemes. In other words, we should be aware of the schemes of the enemy. I love to study history. I'm a history buff and I've studied some military history, and some of the greatest victories in military history have been when one side becomes aware of the schemes of the other side and the side that has becomes aware of the schemes of their enemy is usually able to prevail on the battlefield. But when a military commander is unaware of the plans of his enemy, he is very subject to be defeated. So you do not want to be unaware of Satan's plan. So you know he wants to hurt you. But you know he wants to hurt you because of your value. Because before you're in your mother's womb, God knew you and He called you. He wants to hurt you because you can hurt him, but you do not have to allow that. You have been given authority, you've been given the Holy Spirit living in you. You have the blood of Christ. The- you're in the New Covenant with the blood of Christ covering you and protecting you. You've been forgiven and sanctified and justified and redeemed. You have the Holy Spirit. You are powerful, you are anointed, you are amazing, you are incredible.

And so do not accept these schemes. Be aware, unmask them, recognize them, and say no more, no more, no more. You know, it's been going on too long. It's time to say “I will not accept this scheme against me” And you'll see this scheme operating against your spouse, against your children, against your family, start praying for them. There's two, two things you do in prayer. There's a prayer of petition when you ask God to do something for you, and then there’s a prayer or proclamation when you start doing what God has given you the authority to do. So it's okay to petition God to break the scheme but at some point, since God has given you authority, you need to proclaim that authority and rebuke that scheme in the name of Jesus Christ yourself. In other words, God's not going to do for you something He's told you to do and He's told you to resist the devil and He's told you to cast out demons and He's told you do not be ignorant of Satan's schemes. He also told you to put on the full armor of God and stand firm against the schemes of the enemy. 

I want you to be free, that's the purpose of this podcast. I want you to be free. I appreciate you very much. This is Dr. Ray Self and I- I’ll pray. Heavenly Father, I thank You for each person listening to this show. Father, make us aware of Satan's schemes, and Father, give us the boldness and the courage and let us be aware of the anointing of the Holy Spirit to rebuke and renounce every scheme of the enemy operating against our life, Father, that we’ll walk in freedom. We will no longer accept these, these schemes. We call these schemes null and void. We command these schemes to stop now, in the powerful, wonderful, amazing name of Jesus Christ. And we thank You, Father. We thank You, Father, according to Your word, Father, that when we resist the devil by submitting to You and resisting the devil, he will flee. And so Father, we command the devil to flee now in Jesus' name. Amen, amen. Well, thank you again for listening to Self Talk. This is Dr.  Ray Self himself. Amen.

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Well, thank you for listening to another episode of Self Talk with Dr. Ray Self. This is Ray Self himself. I'm very self-aware and self-controlled. And I'll do enough– no more self puns, I promise. So thank you for, again, for listening. Uh, again uh, the show is sponsored by the International College of Ministry. That's at icmcollege.org. You ought to check it out. Do you know that you can study now and enroll later? We have a program where you can actually take some very exciting courses, see if you like it, try it out, test drive it. icmcollege.org. Degrees in theology and ministry, Christian counseling, and prophetic. Check it out. Also, now a new concentration in praise and worship. You've got to call a God on your life, it's time to get equipped with a Holy Spirit-filled, accredited online, affordable school. That's at icmcollege.org. Thank you so much. Don't forget to subscribe, like, follow, and all that good stuff. That helps us continue. If you'd like to support us and partner with us to help me continue this show, I'd appreciate that. An easy way is to go to icmcollege.org/donate and it'll put money into our scholarship fund which helps us in so many ways and also helps us continue this podcast. Thank you so much for listening to Self Talk. This is your host himself, Dr. Ray Self. God bless you.