The enemy really designs his deception based upon his knowledge of us.  The secret desires of our hearts  and our assumptions provide religious demons with  both the blueprint and the building blocks of the grand deception that fuels  the enemy’s overall  plan.  The plan begins as a kind of conspiracy theory which answers the questions , “what makes him or her tick? And if I do THIS,  then will he or she do THAT?”  What the religious demon has to do is to find a way to “guide our steps.”  There is no greater thrill than for a religious demon to manipulate and control a child of God and cause that person to become both his prey and his captive.

So I believe that we overcome by first knowing ourselves.  When you know yourself better than the enemy knows YOU, then you are on your way to victory.  For example, if you are an achiever, your desire to succeed CAN BE a key contact point on the blueprint and the religious demon will begin to “build the plan.”

Consider the movie “the Devil’s Advocate.” An advocate is a lawyer, and Keanu Reeves, “the advocate” was a lawyer in the movie, as was the devil, played by Al Pacino.  The  devil’s plan to guide the steps of   his advocate began with setting Reeves up  to win every case as a defense attorney.  By doing so, Pacino
said to himself, if I  cause Reeves to win every case, will he  to literally do “anything” to win when it appears that he may lose his first case? Will he neglect a sick wife?  Will he ignore his mother’s warnings?  Will he even cheat to win? Will he hide evidence?

In the movie,  the devil had been watching the advocate from the time he was born, and he wanted to see if he knew  Reeves better than the advocate  knew himself.  Just in case the advocate had any surprises in his back pocket, the devil  had a back up plan.  His first plan was to cause Reeves to risk
everything in order NOT TO LOSE A CASE.  And when that didn’t work, Pacino’s final plan was even better.  What was the foundation of the entire devil’s conspiracy?  It was the vanity of the advocate relative to his desire to always succeed and excell.

Vanity was the advocate’s Achilles heal. Where Reeves went wrong was in his assumptions. He assumed that he was winning each and every case because of his skill, when in reality, the devil was helping him to win.

So point number one in trying the spirits is this: When you go wrong in your assumptions, you have given place to the devil.

What is an assumption?

An assumption is taking for granted that a particular supposition, fact or circumstance is true. It is prematurely accepting as truth, what is merely an hypothesis or a guess.   For example, when I reflect upon my very first assumption as a Christian, I “assumed” that because I had power in my hands to heal, that:

1.  the healing power was from God;

2.  that God was calling me to minister healing.

It took about 25 years for me to find out that “the healing power that I had was NOT from God.”  So logically speaking, if the the power was not from God, and if it was not from ME, then it must have come from the enemy.  If the power came from the enemy, then what was his agenda in giving me the power?

When I “tried the spirits” on this matter, I realized that I had first manifested healing power while I was a new age occultist.  When I became a Christian and I saw in the bible that Jesus is a Healer, I just “assumed” that since I was now “born again,” I could simply transition occult healing into my
Christian work for God.   WRONG!!!  Along this same train of thought, we “assume” that because what we are doing is similar to what the early apostles did, that we are doing “the same thing.”  It ain’t necessarily so.

With every Christian, the enemy assigned to you is going to “set you up” to be disappointed in God, so that eventually, you will be so frustrated with failure, that you will throw your spiritual hands up in the air and declare, “I’m done with this.”  This was the intent of the healing power I operated in.  The religious devil’s  motive was to frustrate me when those I laid hands on did not “keep” their healing.  This works also in the opposite direction.  If the sick keeps the healing, then “the healer” will assume that he is operating off of divine power, when he is not.

Consequently, the devil remains in control and can exercise authority in the healer’s life whenever he sees fit.

Assumptions are constantly made by Christians who believe that  “the 3 witnesses rule”  is an indication
that a sign, wonder, message or circumstance is  “a confirmation” from God.Confirmation!  Its a twelve letter dirty word that covers a wide field of consideration! In fact,  Satan and his crew get many chuckles out of this one.

There are so many varieties of “confirmations” that it is hard to present one representative example, so I’ll have to  make one up.  You had a dream that you should move to Georgia. Or perhaps someone from your church prophesied over you—“God has called you to minister in Georgia.”   The same day, you heard Ray Charles sing, “Georgia on my mind.”  Then  someone called you on the telephone from Georgia, but it was a wrong number. In the afternoon, a friend stopped by and gave you some peaches.  Georgia peaches.

“So there it is” you say to yourself.  I got 3 signs or witnesses that provide “confirmation” to my dream or prophetic word.  God wants me to move to Georgia.

I use  such a ridiculous example to highlight what foolish believers do constantly.

The”confirmation” thing is nothing but an assumption, not based on fact, not based on truth. When God sends a message, He does not have to confirm it. He may, or He may not. Here is an instance in my life where God supernaturally “showed and proved.”

I had recently divorced my last husband because his drug addiction became unbearable.  However, I still loved him very much so I was vulnerable to him  if he attempted to reconcile. I thought, “since he had not cheated on me since we were married, perhaps I should not have divorced him.”

One morning, I dreamt I saw a mudslide.  My husband jumped into it.  When he got up, a woman was hidden underneath him—in the mud.

As I lay there, considering the meaning of the dream, the phone rang.  It was my ex.  He wanted to reconcile.  I listened but I was quiet, remembering the dream I had just 5 minutes before the call.

I got up out of my bed, and walked into a room that had once been his den.  Laying in the middle of the floor, in a room that I had cleaned several times was an application for credit, made out by my ex.  What I noticed was that he used a different address and phone number on the application.  So I dialed the number. A woman answered.  I asked “Can I speak to Rich?”  She replied, “He is not here right now.  Who is this?”  I said “his wife..”

The woman went berserk.  She screamed “you are not his wife.  You have divorced him.  I have been his woman for the last 3 years.  So you need to go about your business and leave him alone because Rich is MINE!!!”

So when I try the spirits, this was rather supernatural.  It all occurred within the space of 20 minutes. Something appeared on my floor that was not there for two months!!!!  I dreamed about the hidden woman, “under the mud” of my ex’s secret life 5 minutes before his call.

Was this the devil trying to get me to go over there and shoot somebody and end up in jail? For I also had her address.

Not THIS time! lol. Both God and the devil know that I am too wise and too much in control of my emotions to fall for THAT one. The Lord simply provided me with the hidden information that I needed to stop punishing myself for divorcing an adulterer and for NOT TAKING HIM BACK!!!!  I had every
right to divorce him.

At times, God WILL confirm.  When he does, it will not be an assumption.  IT WILL BE FACT AND TRUTH THAT SETS YOU FREE.