First Love

Guest (Male): Welcome to First Love with Dr. Robin Cassis and Dr. Nathan Cassis, where faith meets real life. In this weekly broadcast, you'll discover practical and spiritual keys to reclaim God's story in your life, deep in your relationship with Jesus, and encounter him as your first love, whether for the first time or all over again. No topic is off limits as we make Jesus real, relevant, and relational. Stay with us. Your journey back to First Love starts now.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Hello everybody and welcome to First Love on this beautiful Thursday. My name is Dr. Nathan Cassis, and I have

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Your name is Dr. Robin Cassis.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: There she is. She's ready to introduce herself and go straight in. Dr. Robin, we've been talking about the Valley Gate and its importance for every believer, and you've given us hope. We're going to go through one Valley Gate.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yeah. If we would get the holder of this, this would revolutionize our faith.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah. We believe the lie that there are many, many valleys, you know.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And that, of course, it brings down the truth, you see. Because once you you know, you bind something, it's bound. Otherwise, you don't believe that. You see. And once you cast something out, what it could come back, it only comes back with seven more deadlier, not it coming back. Just the seven deadlier come back.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah, because Yeah. Its assignment has been broken, but if you don't feel that house and leave it vacant,

Dr. Robyn Kassas: There'll be seven deadlier coming back.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Mm, wow. Which goes to an important thing before we dive into this next valley, the valley of Achor, because we're on the seven different valleys. We did Ela extensively with David, but Dr. Robin, Ephesians 6, we need to bring this out. You know, you talked about when we come against these demonic spirits and these strongholds. I'd like to quickly tie two things in here, right? The word stronghold, what is that? It's when something has a stronger hold on you than the spirit of God. So fear, rejection, abandonment, uh addiction, a cycle, behavior patterns. So we need to stop giving these things, you know, homage by saying, oh, that's stronghold.

A stronghold is really just something that has a stronger hold than what

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Well, that really explains it, doesn't it?

Dr. Nathan Kassas: The stronger hold that crush should have on me. So that's really powerful. The second thing

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Just swap over the hold.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Exactly. Just swap over who's holding you and who's gripping you and what's keeping you together. That helps somebody. And what is another thing I'd like to bring out? You talked about how we come in contact with these spirits and we're to take authority. And we always quote Ephesians 6, you know, put on the whole armor of Christ. And we talked about the armor.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: We talked about that in the the last episode the other session.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah. But what's important here that I think sometimes we forget as Christians the verbage. I love when Paul's writing. He's so specific. He says, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, rulers, spiritual wickedness in high places. Now, the keyword I want to pull out here is wrestle. That word wrestle in the Greek means hand to hand combat.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Combat.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Now, this goes to what you were saying. Sometimes we think we can bind and loose from a distance.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yeah.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: But to be in hand to hand contact

Dr. Robyn Kassas: You have to be right up in a person's face. You You can't hold a person's arm and do a wrestle like that just to use got the strength. If you're up on one table and that person's on another table, you have to be on the same table.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: This is it. And I believe that the Holy Spirit wants us in this platform to give people the right understanding of what Paul was saying. It's not a magic word. You know, this is not abracadabra. This is not what spiritual warfare is. You're going to have to wrestle, but then people say, well, the devil's already overcome. Yes, he is already overcome. And you have that potential in your life. But if you don't apply that authority and actuate it, then it's not going to work.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Well, look, I look at another word. Do you need to play it out if you believe it?

Dr. Nathan Kassas: That's good. Explain what you mean by that.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Well, let's look at it this way. He's overcome the world, the Lord. The Lord has done this.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Mm.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: But he plays it out in our lives

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yes.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: through our lives. Christ in us, the hope of glory. He plays it out, then why should we not allow him to play it out through us?

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yes.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: We can be available for his ability.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Wow.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: That's how you play it out.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: And Dr. Robin, because I want to present help to to the person that says, you know, well, I do do the warfare. Now, let's bring it into like a hypothetical of a real life situation.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yeah. Can Can I interfere up interrupt this and say let's think about this. It's not doing the warfare. It's realizing and you understanding of what the warfare does.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: And what the warfare is.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yes. Binding and loosing.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah. Because see like I'm going to speak to someone in a hypothetical, but it's probably more prophetic than we know. Someone who's been addicted to drugs, right? And they want to get free or addicted to alcohol and they want to get free. And so they take this scripture, right? We wrestle not against flesh and blood, and they go through, okay, well, I'm wrestling against a principality, right? And the powers and the rulers and the spiritual wickedness in high places, right? Now, hand to hand combat, that wrestle verbage, right? And the powers So if they go by this kind of false, but yet half true, there's a truth in it.

Yes, the devil is under your feet. Yes, Satan has been overcome. Yes, he has no authority because it was stripped from him at the cross. But you have to put that into actuation.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: But let 's go back and look at the statement. Now, let's go through this. Wrestle not against flesh and blood.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Now, principalities. What is a principality? And what ruling does that principality have?

Dr. Nathan Kassas: So come on. I am asking you.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: I believe a principality is something that rules over a a region.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: There we go.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Something in the spiritual realm.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: So there is a specific um activity here.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yeah.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: So you have to look at each one of those statements to see what authority there is over that area.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Principalities

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Rulers

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Powers

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yep.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Rulers

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Right. Power is got to be involved with government.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yes, and rulers on the ground.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And rulers that here we have and the what spiritual wickedness

Dr. Nathan Kassas: In high places.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Okay. Wickedness in high places is all to do with salvation.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Mm.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Taking away the opportunity

Dr. Nathan Kassas: For salvation.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: For salvation, keeping them in the darkness.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Mm.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Now, you have to go back to God and you have to speak to the Lord and you have to work with the Holy Spirit and he will show you how to pray, how to wrestle, how to intercede. Do you understand? How to proclaim

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: whatever it is. It's in that scripture.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah, and to connect with that person that says, well, I'm doing everything right, you know. I'm going to Alcoholics Anonymous. I'm cutting off the the bad friends that used to feed me the drugs, right? I'm changing my behavior, but this is not enough. See, your war is not against personality. It's against principality. And if you live via that Christianese false theology that says, well, the works already been done. There's nothing that you need to do. Yes, the work's been done through Christ on the cross.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: You got to apply it

Dr. Nathan Kassas: But you've got to put on the Why does Paul saying in Ephesians 6 right before this scripture, therefore put on the full armor of God. You don't put on armor to sit on a couch. You put on armor to go to war.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: That's right. It's been given to you as a gift, but you've got to take it and you've got to undo the parcel. And you've got to put it on and apply it.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah. A lot of Christians think I put on my armor and then I just sit down, you know, and God does the work. No, it's hand to hand combat. You're not going to fight for victory. You're fighting from victory.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And let's look quickly at the armor.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: What does it deal with?

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Go ahead.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Well, the helmet of salvation you put on because it deals with mindsets, schemers,

Dr. Robyn Kassas: There we go.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: stinking thinking.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: So every day put that on.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: It's the way to cut off the demonic negative thoughts.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Okay. Next one.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Breastplate of righteousness.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: That keeps you from being attacked in uh a temptation.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah, the righteousness of God becomes your new clothing.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: That's it.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: The belt of truth. It keeps you guarded. It keeps your pants up.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And yeah, and it's right around your waist so it keeps everything up.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: That's it. Shield of faith.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Well, that stops the fiery darts from coming near you.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: So we'll pause there and we'll come back and we'll keep putting on the armor right after this break.

Guest (Female): Looking for a real relationship with Jesus? Join Dr. Robin Cassis and Dr. Nathan Cassis every weekday for First Love, where prophetic insight meets real theology. Learn how God's voice activates your mind, body, soul, and spirit, helping you renew your mind, transform your life, and return to the one who loved you first. Catch First Love Monday through Friday 5 to 5:30 p.m. Learn more at torcc.org.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: The one who loved you first is still loving you best.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: is still loving you best.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Well, we're back, Dr. Robin. And I haven't got all my armor on, so you got to continue.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yes, let's continue.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: So we started with the helmet of salvation, and now we're at the shield of faith.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Sword of the Spirit.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: The Zayin.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: So here it is. You only strike once.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Mm.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: A sword with two sides.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Mm. Two blades.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Two blades needs to happen.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah. Slice twice.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: If you slice once, you might kill what's meant to be killed.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Mm.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: If you strike it again, you make sure you do the finished work.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: So that double-edged sword is the logos.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And the rhema.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: And the rhema. The double-edged sword is the defense and the offense.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: We never come with the offense.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: No. The double-edged sword is the put off and put on.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: But I need to hit this one. We're always defending. Jesus went down and didn't defend one single thing in hell. The offense took place. He kicked the gates open and he said, give me the keys.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Mm. Mm. And another thing that I want to mention about truth, the belt of truth, right? The way that the Roman soldiers would wear their belt is it was like a tool belt. It held the sword, right? And it actually kept everything in place.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: It to sheath.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: So truth keeps everything in place, but here's an important thing. You have to fasten truth to you like a belt before you use truth to challenge somebody else.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: But the truth the way they were speaking about it in the word of God when it was translated was to do with holding everything up, not just your pants. It held everything from falling apart.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yep. Yep. It fastened the truth. Paul saying, fasten the truth to you and it will hold all the armor in place.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And in that valley, you need the belt of truth.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yes. Because there's so many experiences that are going to arise that are going to try and present a different truth.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yeah.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: The next one, the shield of faith. We said this, but I think it's important. Paul is referencing here the Roman shields. And that particular Roman shield was the size of a man.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Oh yes, that's the wall.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yes, it's a wall of shields. And when they would go into war, the Romans would gather their shields together and it would stop the fiery darts that would being fired from the enemy.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And And what are these fiery darts? Because we have to get listeners to listen.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And they don't. So tell us what these fiery darts are.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Well, these fiery darts are the lies that come to set you ablaze.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And to hit your heart.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: From the inside out.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: What are they aiming at? Your heart.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Exactly.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: They're not aiming at your hit.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Nope.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Those thoughts uh covered by the helmet of salvation, but the hearts are what the devil wants. The fiery darts to hit the heart.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yes. Yes. And they they're aiming to hit the core. The lie never hits the surface. The lie always hits the core of who God says you are and who he said you're becoming.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yes, that's a lie, see. The lie, the fiery.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: They're on fire and they want to burn you.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Mm.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And so what have we got? We even could add

Dr. Nathan Kassas: The shoes of the gospel. We say shoes and socks.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Yep. Make sure we get them all.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Because this refers to your paths have to be strapped to what leads to kingdom purpose.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Well, look at what he said. He said, take off your shoes. You walking on holy ground. Shoes are important. If they're going to be worn, they need to be worn on holy grounds.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: This is it. So that Roman formation of shields, I wanted to get that Latin word so people can look it up. It 's called the testudo formation. And it's when the Romans would come together with these square type shields and they would form a wall of faith.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And they would touch

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Well, a wall of shields, but the shield of faith, if you join your faith with someone else's faith

Dr. Robyn Kassas: You'll make a wall

Dr. Nathan Kassas: that keeps out the fiery darts.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: That that shield of faith you were telling me went from the top of their head to the tips of their toes.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: All the way down. All the way down. And an important thing about the Roman's shoes, because see Paul is using the language of the day. He's using the armor of the day to teach, you know, the Corinthians, the Ephesians, the Galatians, all these people that see this every day. The Roman shoes had special grips, spikes underneath it.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: So that meant they really made touch with the earth.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: And they gripped. So the way of the gospel, the paths of the gospel, you don't have to worry about you turning to the left or the right because when you're entrenched and gripped by the gospel, it grips you to the right path.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And I think that it uh something that I use uh and that is bind people to their feet to the paths of righteousness.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: That's the one.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: That's a great way to pray about the shoes of the gospel. Bind them to the feet of the truth of the gospel.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: And the fullness of the gospel is the peace of the gospel. See, the gospel and the shoes and socks of the gospel, the gospel of peace. So peace grips you to righteousness. Peace grips you to faith. Peace grips you to truth. God does never anything out of panic.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And if people were to study this, they would understand what the armor of God really is in warfare.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: This is it.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And they would start to participate because it wouldn't be some some uh and I've got to say this. It's like some people believe it's a magic wand. And that's a terrible thing to say about the word of God, but they do believe this.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yes. Yeah.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: So there is practical application in this. Totally practical application. And you know, we add and the word says the glory of God

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Will be our God.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: is our God. And why do we need to have a God guided and governed by God's glory? Because they will stab in the back.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Mm.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And this is the one that works with betrayal.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yes. It protects what you cannot see.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: This is it.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: See, the enemy might have you, you know, you might have excuse me the enemy covered from the front, but he always knows the weakness that's uncovered from the back. And you need God's glory there because he can't go past God's glory. He can't use that. And when people try to betray you and attack you and turn on you, God's glory keeps your God covered.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: That's the key to betrayal. You see. Get thee behind me, Satan, where the glory of God is my rear guard.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Wow. So we didn't know we were going to go into the armor, but I think the Holy Spirit wanted us to do it.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: I think because it speaks about the valley we're coming into,

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: the valley of Achor.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yep.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And that valley is all about exposure.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yes. And just quickly as we begin to introduce this, we'll go into it quickly. Achor is tied to Aken, okay, in Joshua 7 where Aken takes the gold from the actual spoils and he hides it. And God said, you know, burn it all because I want no man to glory in this. This is my victory. He didn't do that, but in Hosea 2, okay, I just want to quickly read this to give people hope. It actually says there in Hosea 2, I will give her verse 15 the valley Sorry, the vineyards from there and the valley of Achor as a door of hope.

She shall sing there as in the days of her youth, in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt. So Dr. Robin, what does the significance of the valley of Achor represent? Ela is the threat.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: I'll I'll mention this. It's all about hidden sin.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Mm.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And guess what? We've just left the walls of Jericho.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: That's another one you only face once.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yep.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Go back and discern what God is trying to show you so you don't have to keep on staying in these positions and places and repeating and repeating. We can move out of these valleys if we get what the Holy Spirit is trying to reveal because this valley is exposure

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yes.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: and the where hidden sin. Now, what is the key to this? The key is that sin could not be hidden if they had gone back to God and got what God was saying about that. He wanted them to go back and get a new strategy

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Mm.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: because they couldn't live on the Jericho strategy. That was over.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: You see, that was a move of God.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Now, we have to see where men is sitting.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: And it's important because Achor is the valley where compromise is revealed. And God had to expose what was compromised before Israel could move on and in to their promise. So scientifically, I just want to tie one thing in here. Achor is where And you have to understand this as a psychiatrist, they would tell you this, okay? I'm a psychologist, but a psychiatrist would tell you this too. What remains unprocessed often remains active. And this is the key with the valley of Achor. God has to show you what has not yet been processed because it's still active.

Okay? What you don't actually work in or work on, you will work out. And so later on in Hosea, the Lord says, I'm going to take this exposure and I'm going to bring hope out of it. So the valley of Achor shows us that when we apply correction to what has been exposed, it can become redemption for the next step. It doesn't always have to be at exposure.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: No, but it also has to show us if we're going to go to the Lord, he is faithful to reveal what needs to be revealed and so that his love is there for us to hear from him. If we don't take it for granted and think we could just move on, we need to know what God is saying so that we have the strategies for Let's look over it this way, the wisdom.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: With the new strategy on the how to defeat this.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: And the valley shows us that when you don't go to the Lord for the next answer and for the next strategy, you will rely on what you know. And what you know is affected by trauma. And what you affect by trauma is still active. So the brain actually cannot update without ever being allowed to revisit.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: There we go.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: See, you have to revisit what was exposed. Go, why did I do that? Why did I think that way?

Dr. Robyn Kassas: So I would say instead of saying exposure, I like the word revisit.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Revealed.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Well, I like the word revisit.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Okay.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Revisit and find out what the Lord is saying about this valley in your life.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yeah. So Achor is the place where buried material, what's been buried alive, what has not been processed comes into the light so God can reveal the system can stop organizing around it.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: That's a pretty good statement.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: So what we've buried alive because out of fear or out of thinking we've had a part to play or out of thinking we might not get the land, so let's keep some just in case.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Or thinking I know how it works. I'll just do it this way.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yep. God allows to actually show us that's where the systems of our entire schemers have been based on.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: I'm just going to mention that's another schemer of the world.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: Yes.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: Another blueprint that the world would show you.

Dr. Nathan Kassas: So I want to bring it into a new row kind of, you know, counseling dynamic. Don't bury your feelings alive because they're still alive. Work them out and so God can process them. Throwing to you for your final words, Dr. Robin.

Dr. Robyn Kassas: And when you come to the battle of Achor AI, go back to God and ask him what strategies you're going to need for this.

Guest (Male): Thanks for spending time with us today on First Love. If today's message spoke to you, share it with someone. And if you're looking for more teachings, visit www.torcc.org. That's torcc.org for more. And as you go, don't forget the one who loved you first is still loving you best.