ABUNDANT LIFE MINISTRIES

(From March 8, 2010)
The Power of the Protest
It’s time to expose how discouragement and depression works and the tactics it uses!

You must understand that Satan uses discouragement to prevent your progress by expressing disapproval or raising objections, discouragement persuades (a person) not to do something

The first thing the enemy is going to do is “Express”: Send forth his words to manifest and communicate, his feelings and opinions on the matter.

The next tactic he uses is Disapproval: He manifests and clearly communicates his disapproval of you, he uses condemnation and harsh criticism. He severely criticizes you, blames you, and finds fault with you

The third thing Satan does to discourage you is he Raises Objections: He literally protest against you!!! Satan brings up opposing arguments to declare you dishonorable for God’s love, use, and purpose. Satan even tries to refuse you access to what’s yours. He expresses Strong opposition, often by argument.

Discouragement is no small weapon it’s very effective and tends to leave its victim in hopelessness and despair, beaten down by depression and all it’s symptoms.

Let’s look at the power of this protest!

Protest can alter a society’s inner balance and can undermine, overthrow, and completely destroy and ruin the sticking together and the strong sense of enthusiasm and dedication to a common goal that unites a group of authority figures. Protest target and achieve a specific shift in policy by creating pressure for reforms and remedies to the changing standards. Protest can manipulate public opinion and achieve extra-constitutional regime change.

Examples of just a few successful protests in America:

The various protests against racial segregation, taking various forms, are well known — the Montgomery bus boycott, the sit-ins, the various demonstrations in the South — and all led to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and various Supreme Court decisions that effectively ended legal racial segregation in the South.

Protests in the 1960’s and 1970s undoubtedly led to affirmative action for women, moving more women into better positions in the economy.

Through protests 6 States now grant same sex marriages and 3 more doesn’t grant them but they do recognize them as a civil union.

Law’s and policies, some good and some bad, are changed or written because of the power of protests...

I know of an innocent man who had never committed any wrong, no crimes, no sin who, because of the protests of people, many of who use to support him, was beaten, crucified, and put to death, even though the governor did not want to do it, but he succumb under the Power of the Protest...”Crucify Him, Crucify Him, Crucify Him!”

So how does Satan utilize the Power of the Protest against you?

It starts with the words of the enemy entering in through thoughts, feelings, emotions, or possibly through the words of others...
“You can’t do this”
“You’re a failure”
“You’re not smart enough”
“You should be scared”
“You’ve made too many mistakes”
When you fail to take authority over them, the protests begin to build. You have to literally see the enemy surrounding you with poster boards chanting their statements just like you’ve seen protestors do on street corners throughout the cities of America. In the same way these protestors make the city, county, and state officials change their policies and laws because of the agitation and pressure of the protests, the same thing happens to individuals. You soon begin to believe what the protesters are saying and begin to confess these feelings and thoughts over yourself.

At this point the “spirit of heaviness” comes and depresses you. The spirit of heaviness is defined as:
Lacking in strength as to be barely audible
Not Strong...Ineffective
Deficient in brightness
Make dim your understanding
Unable to see a clear picture

So what now? What can we do about this?

Philippians 4:6-7 (NIV) –“ Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

We must combat the protest with prayer and thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is your “actively grateful language.” You must constantly thank God for the promises of His Word. For every protest satan is raising against you there are many promises of God in the Word that tells you the opposite. Thank God for His promises.



As you do this, “peace” surrounds you to literally guard your heart and mind from the lies of the enemy. Peace will push back the protestors and require them to be silenced!!!

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 (NIV) –“ The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

The way to combat the protest of discouragement and depression is not through a pill or a natural means, but in order to fight protests you must change your garment!

The Bible says, “God has given us a garment of Praise for the spirit of heaviness...”

So when you praise God, adore God, give Him thanksgiving, and worship Him, your praise makes a garment that, according to the greek definition, means:

To cover
To envelop
To conceal
To cut you off from the sight of your enemy.

Heaviness can’t find you anymore...reaching for you but can’t touch you...trying to depress you but can’t get near you.


Take the power away from the protest!!!