The War Against the Soul

This program is brought to you in part by the partners and friends of Creflo Dollar Ministries. Coming up next on Changing Your World. Something's getting ready [clears throat] to happen. And the warning is clear. Keep away from the seduction of worldly desires. Why? They're going to start a war in your soul and make it even more confusing.

It's so great to have Dr. Dollar here, the Spirit & Grace Tour and the Grace Gang in town. Just about everybody that gave their testimony ((music playing)) and asked them questions and getting answers. I was getting some of the answers I needed. >> It was like an atmosphere of freedom.

I would ((music playing)) encourage people to come. The Spirit & Grace Tour with Creflo Dollar is coming to a city near you. Only 500 seats and they are going fast. Register now at spiritandgracetour.com. ((music playing)) This is your world. So, let's vow to make it ((music playing)) a better place. Let every heart that [singing] needs to know your love is here to stay.

It's time we live a new life. Let his love shine bright in you. We're saved by his grace, so we embrace your love today. We are changed. If you have your Bibles, go with me to the book of 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 11. I'm going to read it out of the NLT, 1 Peter 2:11, the NLT.

And then we'll come back and examine it in the mirror. 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse 11. And here's what he says. He says, "Dear friends, I warn you as temporary residents and foreigners. I warn you and I'm talking to temporary residents and foreigners." And I'm like, "Who you talking to?"

He says, "You. You who are born again. You who are saved. You who are followers of Christ." He says, "Let me reveal something to you. You are temporary residents and temporary foreigners. And here's the warning I want to give you as those who are temporary residents and foreigners.

Here's the warning. Keep away from worldly desires. Why, Lord? That That wage war against your very soul. Wow. It It It So, he's talking to people who are visiting. Someone says, "What do you mean visiting? I'm a human." No, no, no. You're You're You're You're born again. You You You possess the spirit of God.

God lives in your skin. And he is saying for those of you who have received Christ into your life, you are now foreigners and temporary You have temporary residence here. So, I'm looking at this and I'm like, "Whoa, God is trying to show us something about who we are.

He's calling me a foreigner." And he says my residence here is temporary. Glory be to God. Now, I thought, well, when did you say that to anybody in the Old Testament? Because, you know, when did Where else did you Am Are you saying I'm an alien? See, this is not our home.

We're just passing through. Well, let's Let's go. Let's look at something. Look at 1 Chronicles uh in the King James. 1 Chronicles chapter 29 and 15. 1 Chronicles 29 and 15. We'll be back in 1 Peter here. Y'all mind? I just want to take my time. I want to I'm going to juice this thing.

He says, "For we are strangers." There it is again. We are strangers before thee and sojourners as were all our fathers. Our days on the earth are as a shadow. I mean, in comparison to to to to real eternal life, this is like a shadow. And there is none abiding.

You're strangers and sojourners. Let's look at one more scripture. Hebrews 11 and 13. Hebrews 11 and 13. These all died in faith and not having received the promise, but having seen them afar off and were and persuaded of them and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

Another translation says aliens. Strangers and pilgrims on the earth. So, get that in your in your head because my search has over the last several months has been, "Who am I? What am I doing here? And what is God's plan with a born-again vessel that possesses him? He has a cold connection with me on the inside.

Wow. Now, go back to 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter 2 and 11. He warns us here in 1 Peter 2 and 11. In the NLT, he warns us, "I warn you because you are strangers, because you are sojourners, because you have temporary residence, I want to I want to warn you of something that you can't give way to while you're here.

It's going to be temporary and you are a stranger, but warning warning, stay away from worldly desires because that will wage a war against your soul." So, it says, "Stay away from this because it's going to cause a war or battle in your soul." Your soul is your mind, your will, and emotion.

You are a spirit being. All right, you don't have a spirit, you are a spirit being. When you pass from this physical body to your eternal state, you That's your spirit. The real you is a spirit being. Say it aloud, "I am a spirit." I possess a soul.

I live in a earth suit. That's your body, right? You are a spirit being. You possess a soul. Your soul Let's get clear on this. The soul and the spirit are not You know, somebody said the same. You are a spirit. You have a soul. But the religions use the word spirit and soul interchangeably as if they are the same.

They are not the same. You are a spirit. You possess a soul. Your soul is your mind. Your will. Your emotions. Let's simplify it. Your soul is your thinker. Your feeler. Your chooser. That's in your soul. So, what he says is, "If you don't learn how to distance yourself from worldly sinful desires, he says the results will be a war that that creates in your soul."

A WAR IN YOUR SOUL. EVERYBODY IN HERE has or maybe even having a war in your soul, but nobody's talking about it. Nobody's revealing to the sojourners and the aliens and the strangers of this of this temporary visit. Warning, here's what's going on with you. All of the stuff you go through, all of the problems you're having, all of the issues you're facing, you have been PLACED IN THE GREAT experiment called life.

AND IT IS LIFE'S JOB TO THROW EVERYTHING AT YOU. IT'S LIFE'S JOB. THAT'S WHAT LIFE DOES. LIFE has some happy stuff and then it has some crazy stuff. And most of THE STUFF THAT LIFE THROWS AT YOU IS PROCESSED through your soul. AND IF YOU DON'T HAVE A WAR GOING ON IN YOUR SOUL, BUT YOU JUST RECOGNIZE THAT'S ALL THE STUFF THAT LIFE processed me and as a as a follower of Jesus, I know how to process this through my soul and and it's just life doing what it does and you process it through your soul.

Life throws hardship, you you process it through us a renewed mind. Oh, praise the Lord, I have peace even in this. Oh, praise the Lord, I live in the finish. You maintain your peace. You maintain your stance. You You don't freak out because you You You know something about who you are and you know who God has made you.

BUT A GUY WHO DOESN'T SPEND TIME AND THEY JUST THINK that everything it is what it is and and they don't process what's happening here, you are you are you are YOU ARE A FOLLOWER OF CHRIST. He says the first thing I want you to do is renew your mind cuz your soul is really the only reactionary part of you that responds to life's negative stuff.

NOW YOU HAVE A HAPPY TIME WHEN LIFE GOT SOME GOOD STUFF HAPPENING, BUT YOU DON'T QUITE KNOW HOW TO DEAL WITH LIFE'S crazy that comes your way. AND SO WITHOUT THE WORD, YOU DON'T PROCESS IT PROPERLY. WITHOUT THE WORD, you process it as depression. You process it as rejection.

You process it as devaluing yourself. You process it as condemnation. And you process it as shame. And you process it as I'm going to die and ain't nothing I can do about it. And you process it as I'll always be this way. And it it it your processor it is what's making LIFE SO TERRIBLE FOR YOU BECAUSE YOU ARE ALLOWING LIFE TO HAPPEN TO YOU CUZ YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO TO HOW TO HOW TO HAPPEN TO LIFE. >> [sighs] >> Are y'all understand what I'm what I'm what I'm And so he warns us, stay away from worldly sinful desire.

And Satan says, "I'm going to make that very difficult for them." I'm going to put it on every song. I'm going to put it on every TV show. I'm going to put it on a whole bunch of people. I'm going to I'm going to put it in your physical body.

I'm I'm going to I'm going to make you want to feel it. I And and and I'm going to make you try it one time and you ain't going to never forget how that felt. It's like a guy who got high for the first time. He he's running after that first time high.

It's the same thing. The pleasure you had for the first time because Bible says sin has pleasure, but for a season. But for a human, you think even if it's short pleasure, I'm still going for it. WE WE'RE BEING DEFEATED UP HERE. AND TODAY WE DON'T KNOW WHAT TO LISTEN TO.

WE DON'T KNOW WHO TO LISTEN TO. YOU GOT THOUSANDS OF INFLUENCES, THOUSANDS OF PODCASTS, THOUSANDS OF PREACHERS. WHAT DO YOU LISTEN TO? THE HOLY GHOST. >> ((applause)) >> OH, BUT WAIT A MINUTE. YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO HEAR HIM. HE TALKING ALL THE TIME. HE TELLING YOU STUFF ALL THE TIME.

YOU JUST HAVING A HARD TIME deciphering between all of those other voices AND THE ONE TRUE VOICE THAT CAN ESCORT YOU THIS THROUGH THIS LIFE piece of cake. But somebody's deceived you, misled you, duped you, and you don't know the difference because you keep trying to put in regular gas when it requires supreme premium unleaded. >> ((applause)) >> And your car ain't running right and it's shaking and rattling and rolling.

And so THE ENEMY'S EVEN SAID THROUGH THE INFLUENCES, "DON'T GO TO CHURCH. DON'T READ THE BIBLE." THEY QUESTION YOUR SPEAKING in tongues. THEY DO STUFF LIKE, "WELL, YOU KNOW, THAT THAT THAT THAT AIN'T RIGHT speaking in tongues. You supposed to speak another language." How do you HOW WELL, HOW DO YOU KNOW I ain't SPEAKING ANOTHER LANGUAGE?

REBOSHA KALALABA, YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT I JUST said if you don't know that language, but I trust that God said when I speak in another tongue that I'm praying in the spirit and my SPIRIT PRAYED, BUT MY UNDERSTANDING IS UNFRUITFUL. YOU AIN'T GOING TO TALK ME OUT OF TALKING IN TONGUES.

I DON'T CARE HOW MANY posts you and reels you put up. I'M GOING TO TALK IN TONGUES. THAT'S THE ONLY THING I GOT. THAT'S THE ONLY SURE THING THAT I KNOW THAT WHEN I PRAY IN THE HOLY GHOST, HE HEARS ME AND SOMETHING HAPPENS. YOU CAN'T HAVE MY TONGUES.

YOU CAN HAVE MY TIE. YOU CAN HAVE MY SNAKESKIN SHOES. You can have my three-piece suit. I DON'T CARE ABOUT THAT, BUT you ain't getting my tongue. REBOSHA KALALABA, MAKE FUN OF IT. HALLELUJAH. TALK ABOUT IT. HALLELUJAH. CALL ME HOLY ROLLERS AND WHAT YOU SAY is true, BUT IF YOU KNEW WHAT I WAS ROLLING ABOUT, YOU'D BE ROLLING TOO.

YOU'RE NOT GOING TO HAVE MY TONGUE. >> [screaming] >> REBOSHA KALALABA >> ((cheering)) >> THE world's talked us out of stuff that we know. And as aliens, they trying to make you feel like you belong here. Trying to make you feel like this is your home. I know this ain't my home.

Yeah, kashala. This ain't my home. I'm just passing by. Hallelujah. I got a I got a house somewhere else. And it's a mansion. It ain't no it ain't no government house. It's a mansion. It's Belaba, y'all understand? I'm passing through. I'm an alien. I'M A FOREIGN FOREIGNER. I'M A SOJOURNER.

I AM A TEMPORARY RESIDENT. But you you you you not hearing that. That's that's tomfoolery to you. You not hearing that. What kind of sense that make? What what Of course we are. We were born here. >> [laughter] >> No. I took a trip here. I hopped in an earth suit.

Just like God did. God took the God took the same trip. Hopped in an earth suit. He was going to be father, so he didn't need no sperm from a man. Hopped in an earth suit. Hopped in in in in in in the womb of of Mary. Showed up as a temporary visitor.

For 30 some years, that was it. And he left. And he went home. >> ((applause)) >> One day you going home, church. One day you going home, church. >> ((applause)) >> Our elders knew about this before. They used to say, "I'm going home on a morning train." And then somebody came in the next generation and said, "If you miss the morning train, you going to have to be there when he swings low, a sweet chariot."

And if you miss the chariot, >> [laughter] >> huh? Morning train, chariot, what else we got? The old ship of Zion. But there was always an indication that this wasn't home. And it is sin that made death so so fearful for a lot of people. Something's coming. Something's getting ready to happen.

And the warning is clear. Keep away from the seduction of worldly desires. Why? They going to start a war in your soul and make it even more confusing. War in your soul. Beating yourself up. Walking in shame. Walking in condemnation. Walking as a lowlife. Devaluing yourself. Struggling with somebody to care for you and somebody to make you feel like you matter.

Somebody that want to be with you. Somebody. All of those struggles. And now we going to find out the bottom line to it. Probably won't get to it today, but the bottom line. So I want to I'm going to teach on this lesson the war against the soul.

The war against your thinker. So it's going to be something to challenge your thinking. A war against your feeler. Something's going to be challenging how you feel. How you feel. How you feel because we know whatever you expose yourself to, whatever you expose yourself to, is going to determine how you think.

All right. All right. So somebody says, "All right. Why do you think the way you think?" Because you've exposed yourself to the influence that caused that way of thinking. What you've been exposing yourself to? That determines your way of thinking. Now the way you think going to determine how you feel.

So if you feel depressed today, think think go back and see what you've been thinking about. Cuz how you feel was the source of how you feel is what you've been thinking about. What you've been thinking about? I don't know how many years ago, but I I I wrote a book on the anatomy of life.

I wanted to figure out why we act like we act. And it starts off with your exposure. Who you hanging around? What are you exposing your eyes and your ears that's going to come out of your mouth later? What you hanging around? It don't matter what music you listen to.

What you hanging around? What you watching? The two or three people you will hang around the most going to determine YOUR YOUR DESTINATION. WHAT YOU HANGING AROUND? YOU AIN'T LISTENING. WE GOT A GENERATION OF KIDS THEY AIN'T LISTENING NO MORE. SO, what do you expose yourself to? What's your influence, dude?

Who's influencing you? Who is it that you thought was okay to be the manufacturer of your thoughts? God wanted to be the manufacturer of your thoughts, but you didn't know nothing know enough about him because the preachers would not spend time studying. And when you don't have a burden to study a burden to get in the word.

Huh? And all all you want to do is perform, but not study. See. I want to perform, but not study. So, who manufactured your thoughts? Who's manufacturing your thoughts? What's your influence? Your influence or your influencer determines your thinking. You're thinking about everything. You're thinking about everything. You ever sat and listened to them people and you want to like, "Where did you get that from?"

Where did that come from? TikTok? They got TikTok counselors. Where did that come from? Facebook? Where did that come from? Bro, you better not trust just anybody that sound like they know what they talking about. Cuz you can take all the wrong words and put them into a sentence and make you say, "Ooh."

And it's deception. So, the way you think determines how you feel. I mean, that's easy. It's like if I'm depressed, that's that's that's easy. That's easy for a therapist. Let's talk right let's talk about what's heavy on your mind. Let's talk about what you're thinking about, all right?

All right, so let's talk about where that came from. Okay, so let's do a process of elimination. Let's quit going to that influence. That's going to change the way you think. It's going to change the way you feel because the influences determine how you think, how you think determine how you feel, how you feel determines the decisions you going to make.

And you look at what kind of you how you feel to and you're making emotional decision decisions? You're making emotional decision. Well, then I'm just going to quit my job. But you didn't think, you still need that check to pay that gas bill. You still need that check to eat.

You you ain't you ain't That was an emotional decision. Wow. Are you are you seeing what I'm saying? And decisions are important. I'm going to stop there with those four right there because this is an important thing for you to understand. A decision is an open door into reality.

It doesn't It won't be real until you make a decision for it to be real. And life is a series of decisions. And everything we do is a series of decisions. You make a decision to get up in the morning. You making a decision to brush your teeth.

You make a decision to to bathe or not bathe. You make a decision to put the odorant on or not pee odor. You make a decision. You make a decision. Our life is a series It's a series of decisions. No, I'm going to let the Holy Ghost LEAD YOU.

YOU STILL GOT TO DECIDE WHETHER OR NOT YOU GOING TO DO WHAT THE HOLY Ghost tell you to do with your little foot. >> [laughter] >> Are you seeing what I'm saying? But we don't do it. And then we walk around after knowing that saying I hear what you're saying, but I still think it's this.

And you want to just do like mama them do. You You want to slap them, but you can't do that cuz they going to call the po-po on you and you going to It seem like every parent I'm talking to going through the exact same thing with their children.

You know why? Cuz that's the exact same influence. He's warning us. Keep away from worldly desires that will ((music playing)) wage a war in your soul. Have you ever wondered why living out grace feels complicated when God designed it to be simple? The Practical Steps Bundle gives you practical ((music playing)) tools to help you walk confidently in your God-given identity every day.

This special offer includes Creflo Dollar's newest book, The Practical Side of Grace, the powerful ((music playing)) resource, The Authentic Man, and an exclusive Grace Gang t-shirt. You fight thoughts with words. You got to open your mouth up and you got to speak contrary to what you're thinking about. You begin to operate from the perspective of what the word says you are and how the word tells you to operate.

Your ((music playing)) identity makes you safe, it makes you steady, it makes you strong. Everything's changing about what you do because of who you are. For your love gift ((music playing)) of 60 US dollars or more, this bundle can be yours today. Call the number ((music playing)) on your screen, scan the QR code, or visit ggeStore.org.

Get your bundle today and start living confidently in who God created you to be. You can interact with Creflo Dollar Ministries anytime, anywhere. All of this is at your fingertips ((music playing)) with our state-of-the-art custom-designed app. With the broadcast feature, you can access your favorite messages, sermon series, >> ((music playing)) >> and more.

Add events to your calendar, set reminders, get directions, share with friends, and even give securely through this platform. ((music playing)) Visit creflodollarministries.org/app or text app to 51555 today. Who influences your thought life? The answer to this question is more important than you may realize. The enemy constantly wages war against the ((music playing)) soul of believers, but our Father has guaranteed us a way to win this battle.

In this ((music playing)) four-message series, Creflo Dollar digs deep to revealing winning strategies in the war against the soul. Order your series today for ((music playing)) a love gift of just 25 US dollars or more. Scan the QR code, call the number on your screen, ((music playing)) or visit creflodollar.org and request your copy.

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Be the movement. Use the information on your screen or visit creflodollarministries.org/partnership to join the Grace Gang today. We never want ((music playing)) to assume that all of you are born again Christians. Being born again is the key ((music playing)) to experiencing God's promises in your life. It's the most important decision you can make.

I want to say a prayer of >> ((music playing)) >> of salvation with any of you who would like to receive it >> ((music playing)) >> right now. Receive the gift of salvation. Pray with me and just repeat after me. Heavenly Father, I believe that ((music playing)) Jesus died for my sins. I believe that Jesus was the payment for my sins.

That he was ((music playing)) the sin offering. And I receive him as my peace ((music playing)) offering. Jesus, come into my heart. Save me. And today by ((music playing)) faith, I receive you and declare that I ((music playing)) am saved in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, if you prayed that prayer ((music playing)) with me, I want to welcome you to the kingdom of God. >> ((music playing)) >> Because of you, Creflo Dollar Ministries is providing a new understanding of grace and empowering change in the lives of millions of people every day.

Thank you, partners and friends. Your love and financial support ((music playing)) makes it possible to bring this message into millions of homes all across the globe. The preceding program was brought to you in ((music playing)) part by the partners and friends of Creflo Dollar Ministries.