Exposing Satan's Playbook The Perry Stone

Behind the bright eyes are sleepless nights and behind the smile is a frown of pain. Some people identify a believer who struggles between spiritual and carnal, faith and doubt, addictions and freedom a hypocrite , but the struggling believer who is reaching out for God’s help is not a hypocrite. In reality, there are many individuals who believe in God, have a love for Christ, have a knowledge of the Bible, and yet are battling private demons—personal and private conflicts including “fleshly lusts which war against the soul” (1 Pet. 2:11). Struggling believers could be identified as “weak in faith” (Rom. 14:1), or someone struggling with “infirmities of the weak” (Rom. 15:1, KJV ), or as a person who has a “weak conscience” (1 Cor. 8:7–12). However, the last thing a minister of the gospel should do is simply comfort the weak and aid them in their weaknesses by covering them in what I call sloppy agape , or a sloppy form of Christian love that comments, “God understand your situation, so don’t worry; it will all work out.” Try telling a drug addict or a person bound in the chains of alcohol that God loves them and it will all work out; when they are in torment and despair, such a statement does not comfort . It takes more than comforting words; it takes deliverance and freedom. It takes more than a pat on the back, a big smile, and charm to bring deliverance to the captives . You can’t pet your pet sin, and you must not accommodate private demons that are robbing you of freedom. One of the areas where we have lacked teaching in the body