Our Lord has already defeated the enemy through His death, crucifixion, burial, and Resurrection! Hallelujah! We now have the opportunity to live victoriously, now and for all eternity. Christ has enabled us to live our earthly lives focused heavenward, and at the end of our earthly lives – forevermore delighting in His Presence.
Due to the fact that we are the Lord’s; we have an enemy. Our present reality is that there is an earthly battle now raging.
The great news is not just our salvation, but to those who have chosen to receive Jesus (John 1:12) and dedicate their lives to Him, we can live a God empowered life now and for all eternity.
- Have you made this choice: to make Jesus your Lord & Savior? If not, do so now! Turn your life over to Him completely!
As a result of Jesus’ sinless life, God raising Him from the dead, and Jesus ascending to heaven; we have been given the Holy Spirit to dwell within us with His power.
Acts 1:8
But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has comes upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me…
Our Lord reaffirms this in:
1 John 4:4
You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He Who is in you is greater
than he who is in the world.
“Them” is speaking of those who are not of God—whether someone in human form or satanic/demonic. God has made us greater than the fallen world, satan has fallen!
Luke 10:18-20
And He (Jesus) said to them, I saw satan fall like lightening from heaven. Behold, I give you authority to trample on serpents & scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy,
and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
Satan is the leader of all the demons, principalities, powers & rulers, spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. We are empowered and have authority to trample all these enemies of God; as we exercise that authority, we are protected by God! Satan & his cohorts have been thrown from heaven; this doesn’t mean they are powerless. They do desire to harass, defeat, & seduce us to be all about sin. (John 10:10) The enemy has come to kill & destroy us. The followers of satan, (originally angels of God), fell from God’s Presence; 1/3 of them joined satan’s rebellion. This means that we have 2/3’s of the angels as ministering spirits to assist us (Heb. 1:14). Jesus made it clear:
Matt. 28:18
Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, all authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
Jesus was saying this to His disciples & us as well. By extension: as authority was given to the original disciples, this power has been given to us…all authority has been given to us. This is the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit will enable us to heal people, bless, and lead people to be disciples of Jesus.
We are also empowered to take authority over the enemy. Why are we told we have this authority? We are told to give us peace, to have victory now in and through our lives, and to assure us of this victory for all eternity. We can be confident that the enemy is defeated!!
How is this authority exercised in our lives? If we live lives deluged with the cares of the world; we will not recognize the work of the enemy around us. He is continually at work. Luke recorded it in his gospel: the dark world is mentioned 26 x’s. These occurrences happened as a result of Jesus & His disciples walking through life together. The enemy is just as active today! On a daily basis, you are being tempted, distracted, & encouraged to live for the world. We have authority to deal with how the enemy is distracting us.
- Do we live free of the enemy?
- Do we exercise the authority given us in our relationships, our homes, & all our initiatives?
We are called to deal with the enemy.
James 4:7
Therefore, submit to God. Resist (stand firm against) the devil and he will flee from you.
Resisting is denying the enemy (the dark world), access to our life; being without the pursuit of the world, temptations, sin, because we stood firm against them! If the enemy has no access to us, he cannot influence us. The enemy will then flee! Always remember, anything of the enemy can not stand up against Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit!! The enemy & his cohorts can not dwell around us when we have the fullness of God within us (Eph 3:19). Just as Jesus spoke against the enemy, He would have us do the same—deny satan & his followers. It is not complex, it is simple: when you recognize the enemy around you, you can declare “enemy be gone in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, you have no authority here! Jesus is Lord here!” Continue with that attitude, speak it many times if the harassment does not leave you. You have this mighty power within you, especially when you are walking in the Spirit on a daily basis. (Gal. 5:16) When you are walking in the Spirit, you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. This is living victoriously; one day at a time and one moment at a time. Please, do not fall into the trap that everything is of satan. Have a discerning spirit, which indwells us: the Holy Spirit!
How do we bring this authority & power to the forefront daily? Our Lord tells us in
Eph 6:10-20
10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the [a]wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of [b]the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— 19 and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
The Lord tells us to put on the full armor of God. Putting on the armor is not just praying words on a daily basis; it is a life that has been purified by our Lord, daily. As we move to confess, repent, & forgive; we must ask for forgiveness, then request that God’s Presence be with us, He is Almighty God! Now we have all HIs tools at our access! (Eph. 6) With these tools, we recognize that our battle is not against flesh and blood but with the dark world, who is trying to influence us & everyone around us. To deal with this enemy, we must use God’s tools.
What a travesty in each of our lives: having this God given authority & His tools available, then not using them. Our Lord has empowered us with divine power. We can deal with the enemy, no matter the circumstance. There is no reason to fear because Almighty God is living in us and through us; because we are inviting Him into each step along our way. In these end times, the enemy is becoming bolder & more aggressive. God has empowered us to conquer & have victory, especially in a spiritual sense, and this affects our world!
We all must be operate with spiritual warfare principles, especially in our Churches. We are prepared to do this when we DAILY put on the full armor of God! Charles Kraft, in his book “I Give You Authority”, speaks of garbage and rats. Rats love to hang out around garbage! The rats are the dark world. When we do not put on the full armor of God, we are living with garbage in our lives. The garbage attracts the rats! The garbage dilutes the authority because we do not have on the full armor of God! If we choose to live with garbage in our life; we are giving access to the enemy within our life. Garbage includes not only our obvious sinfulness but also the less obvious wrong desires/loves & distractions of the world. When we are not living for our Lord & His Kingdom, we are living for something else; therefore, garbage and rats are attracted!
To exercise this authority & have victory; we must first deal with the garbage & get it out of our life; then the dark world is not attracted & not empowered!
Rom. 8:37
Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him Who loved us.
Therefore, when we put on the full armor of God; when we are walking in the fullness of the Spirit, we are more than conquerors! This does not mean that we will not be tested or suffer at times. Our Lord wants to make us strong, spiritually healthy & powerful. He wants us to exhibit the fruit of the Spirit all the time. When we are living with the full armor of God, we get to experience His fruit plus being empowered to live out the Kingdom of God in and through our life.
God bless you! Live victoriously!!