Overcoming the Schemes of
the Devil
Part #2
I Casting out the enemy
through our Devotion and Martyrdom
Rev
12:11 And they overcame him by the
blood of the Lamb, and by the word
of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
·
The true
Greek interpretation; we have overcome Satan by means of the blood of
the lamb and by means of the
word of our martyrdom.
·
The word for
testimony in our New Testament is repeatedly found to be our English word,
“martyrdom.”
·
Indeed,
Christians through out the ages have suffered physical death on account of
their faith. I would like to say that
for most of us living in modern day year 2000, our occasions for martyrdom is a
spiritual/ emotional one. The cross of
Christ, through our obedience to the Lord, is activated to put or sinful
self-life to death.
·
Satan and
his minions will forever grasp, cling, torment, and torture us as long as he
finds unrepented of sin, and lingering bondages and hurts from our past. Only the cross of Christ, through the death
of our sinful self, will free us from all of this. This in turn will cause Satan to lose his deceptive hold upon us.
·
The activity
of the cross works in direct proportion to our obedience to the voice of God,
and the Word of God.
·
The word of
our testimony is not a simple spewing out of scriptural verses upon the
enemy. It is a confession of what the
cross has done and doing in our lives.
Only then, will our words be backed up with the authority of a
resurrected life that emerged from martyrdom. The devil cannot touch
resurrection life and will back away from us.
Rom
6:9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no
more; death hath no
more dominion over
him.
10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once:
but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
·
In our
American churches, we tread upon a very treacherous course. We have stopped preaching on, and have
little value or grasp for the cross of Christ.
·
We do not posses the authoritative word of
our testimony/martyrdom, as part of our warfare against the enemy.
·
On the other
hand, we are preaching a message of blessings, prosperity and comfort without
having our lives purified by the cross of Christ. We want resurrection without death and the enemy laughs at us.
·
Because we
are not experiencing resurrection life the works of death continue to have dominion over us.
·
I guarantee you that enemy observes this
with keenness and great satisfaction.
·
He is no way obligated to back away from
us. It was the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus, which defeated him. Hence the
weak state of the American church at large.
·
“and they loved not their lives unto the death”. For we do not love or cling to our
lives even when faced with death.” We
must hold our lives cheap before the Lord.
Mat
4:10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get
thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
The word
for worship is defined as.
1) To
reverently kiss the hands of one
2) To fall
upon the knees and touch the ground with the forehead, as an expression of
intense respect.
3) To
become prostrate before some one, and pay homage to.
·
It is only a
believer who worships no one else, or nothing else, than the Lord Himself, whom
will have the authority to cast out the enemy from his or her life.
1 John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
o
First John
2: 15 is a verse which contains a reciprocal principle. This can be defined as: To the very degree or proportion that we
have the love of the world in us, is to the exact degree or proportion that we
are void of the love of the Father, and visa versa.
·
The devil
knows this, and will continue to harrass us.
Why? The devil is well aware,
that it is only the presence of Christ Jesus, and His power, that can cast him
out.
Mat 8:29 And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?
·
Therefore
Satan will always tempt and incite us with a host of varied loves for the world
and the flesh and so forth. These
various loves will cancel out our devotion to God, and keep our sinful and
selfish self-life very much alive.
·
If our
self-life is not effectively put to death, the presence of Christ will not be
revealed in us, and the devil will not be cast out from our lives. .
·
The word
that Jesus uses for “serve”
in Mat 4:10 is a very interesting one.
It is literally defined as, to render religious service to the Lord but
in the form of one who has been hired..
This vocabulary for “serve,” was used interchangeably of service
rendered by those who were free, as well as those whom were slaves. There was no distinction! There is no dignity, glory, or ministry, in
this type of service to God. It is the
simple act of serving or working for some one else, God included.
·
Only those
then who can serve God with a mindset of humbling himself or herself to utterly
obey Him at the expense of death to self, will become a real threat to the enemy
·
At every
point that there remains uncrucified flesh in us, there remains an automatic
stronghold for Satan.
Mat 4:11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and
ministered unto him.
·
Verse 11 of Matthew four, is the final reward
for the faithful servant of the Lord found resisting the enemy in Matthew
4:10. This man or woman of God will not
only experience the final fleeing of the devil.
·
They will
also enjoy the ministry of the angels whom are summoned by the Lord to minister
salvation to those who whom are heirs of salvation.
·
The word for
“ministered” found in verse 11, has a different meaning to the word for serve
in verse 10. The service and ministry
that is rendered in Mathew 4:10 is based on our relationship to our position
before the Lord. The ministry of the
angels in verse 11 is in relationship to the giftings and callings of the Lord.
·
Thusly the angels in verse 11, serve in the
same capacity as pastor as he shepherds, the prophet as he prophesies, and the
one who operates in a healing ministry, as he receives a word of knowledge.
·
What
tremendous blessings await those that shun the world, to humbly serve their
God!
Hebrews
1:14 Are they not all ministering
spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?
Casting out the Enemy by the Sunrays of a Pure Life
1 Cor 5:8 Therefore
let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice
and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
2Cor 1:12 ¶ For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our
conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace
of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to
you-ward.
2 Cor 2:17 For we are not as many, which corrupt the
word of God: but as of
sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ
·
In the above-mentioned three
verses, we see that the word sincerity
contains within its root the word for “sun” in the Greek . Only a life of purity before the Lord will
make us into a clear windowpane by which the rays of the sun or “The Son” can
shine through. An impure life will make
us into a dirty piece of glass through which the image of the Lord can hardly
be seen.
·
If the enemy cannot see the
sunlight of the Son of God, he shall not leave us alone until the day and the
time that he does, and if he does.
Remember our enemy, the devil, is the greatest legal lawyer that this
universe will ever see, apart from God Himself. He will claw and cleave for every inch of us that has not pass by
death into resurrection.
·
Secondly, part of our
responsibility for generating purity before God, is found in our
consciences. Our conscience contains
one of the most powerful manifestations of the voice of the Holy Spirit. Its purpose is to either defend or reprove
each, and every action of our lives.
I Tim 3:9 Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.
2
Tim 1:3 I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with
pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my
prayers night and day;
·
To effectively serve God, we
must serve Him through our conscience.
The subject matter of the conscience is extensive and we do not have
time and space to study it here.
·
Yes, we must serve God through
our conscience, but first of all our consciences must likewise be taken through
the cross. A guilty, condemned,
performance oriented conscience found in many a believer, will be a poor
barometer of the voice of God.
·
This type of conscience produces
dead works, which in turn forces us to serve God in our flesh. I encourage you to re read Romans six, seven
and eight as found on the web site.
·
Once that we learn to serve
God in the Spirit, and have become a son and daughter of God, our conscience
will become an excellent barometer of our ministry unto God. Our conscience must be purged of all the
dead works consisting of condemnation, guilt, duty and so forth. Once that the cross has accomplished, we
will serve God simply by His voice in our spirit and conscience; No more and no less. This is true sonship.
Hebrews
9:14 How much more shall the blood of
Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead
works to serve the living God?
Roman
16:19 For your obedience is come abroad
unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet I would have you wise
unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.
20
And
the God of peace shall bruise
Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be
with you. Amen.
·
Simple
concerning evil, is
our being harmless, and being matured into a Christian life that eventually
becomes unmixed with evil. It is as the
purity of a wine that has no sediment in it, and of a fine metal that has no
admixture of alloys and so forth. The simple person concerning evil
is one whom is free from guile, deceit and lives in innocence before
the Lord.
·
What is the
promise of God for this type of a believer?
God Himself will bruise
Satan underneath such a person’s feet.
·
The promise
of God is greater in the Greek than in our English. To bruise Satan, is to shatter and crush him to
pieces underneath our feet. What an
encouragement for us to continue to purify ourselves before our God!
2
Corinthians 7:1 Having therefore these
promises, dearly beloved, let
us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit,
perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
·
Notwithstanding,
it is the Lord who purifies out.
However, we must work out our salvation with fear and trembling.
·
The “let us cleanse ourselves”
is in the subjunctive mood. This fancy
grammatical word structure simply tells us this. Our failure, or success, in purifying ourselves through
obedience, and the work of the Holy Spirit, is strictly tied up to the action
of our will. The subjunctive always
warns us that the action is not automatic, but conditional upon something else.
·
God will not automatically purify us. Through our own volition and will, we shall
obey God and become free, or disobey Him and continue in bondage for the rest
of our lives.
Mark
8:33 But when he had turned about and
looked on his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou
savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.
Luke
4:8 And Jesus answered and said unto
him, Get thee behind me,
Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him
only shalt thou serve.
·
Oh, how I
love the Greek New Testament. It gives
to us so much more a powerful and accurate translation of the Word of God. I encourage all of you to take it up!
·
What Jesus
here commands Satan and his minions is the following? “Get so far behind my back that I wont be able to see
you anymore!”. Out of sight, out of
mind!!
·
We have this authority my dear friends. Let us begin to “meet it out” upon the devil
through a pure and obedient life.
·
Many of us
mistakenly believe that to cast out the enemy simply requires us to hurl a
bunch of words at the devil in admonition of his departure.
·
To
effectively cast out the enemy, our self-lives must be dead, and the presence
of the Lord must permeate our being. An
authentic casting out of the enemy is only completely executed when he finds no
more places within, or without us, to touch us, or to afflict us.
·
Please
observe below that Jesus claimed that the devil had nothing in Him. This is an authentic situation where the
devil has been cast out!
John
14:30 Hereafter I will not talk much
with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.
·
Binding the
enemy is very similar in nature.
·
Once again we err in part, when we think
that our binding of the enemy has to do solely with hurling scriptural phrases
at him.
·
Yes, there
is power in this, but the enemy is never completely bound. Absolute binding of the enemy can only
occur,when each and every part of our lives have come into conformity with the
will of the Lord, and the enemy is forbidden a place or space where he can
afflict us
Matthew
16:19 And I will give unto thee the
keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be
bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in
heaven.
·
Let us look
at Matthew 16:19.
·
In actuality Jesus tells us the
following. The word for bind is “is
to forbid”. The word for
loose is “to permit” . What ever we forbid or bind upon the earth
shall come to pass, if it is of the Lord.
This is because God will honor our obedience and count it as forbidden
in the heavenly realm. He will then
execute His righteousness to cause us to successfully carry out the binding on
earth, which He decreed in the heavenly realm through our obedience.
·
The same is
true of our loosing, or our permitting.
God will bless our obedience and will loose or permit in the heavenly
realm, when we loose upon the earth. He
then sends forth His power to cause us to execute the act of loosing as was
decreed in the heavenlies.
·
Please
remember, that anything, which God does on earth, must first be executed in the
heavenlies.
John
3:27 John answered and said, A man can
receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.
·
It goes
without saying then, that for us to effectively bind the enemy to the point
where he is no longer permitted into our lives; our actions must be more than
simple words.
·
Our whole
lives must come to a point where the enemy is forbidden from touching us any
longer.
Matthew
22:13 Then said the king to the
servants, Bind him hand
and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be
weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Acts
27:38 And when they had eaten enough,
they lightened the ship, and
cast out the wheat into the sea.
Acts
13:50 But the Jews stirred up the
devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised
persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts.
Acts
7:58 And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and
the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul.
Ephesians
6:10 ¶ Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
·
Ephesians
6:10 tells us “ Be
empowered in the Lord and in the outward strength or dominion, of His inner
strength.
·
Do you older
folks remember the episodes of Popeye and Olive Oil? This scripture is a perfect representation of what always
happened to Popeye. Popeye in himself
was a fairly weak guy. When he ate the
can of spinach however, he became inwardly strong; his external arm muscles
popped out, he then rang Bluto’s neck, and took the lovely Olive Oil as his
priced possession. Right?
·
God’s might
is His inner strength. Because God is
inwardly strong, His strength is then exercised outwardly in what is called dominion. God exercises dominion over His creation
because of this inward strength! Let us
say that for the matter of simplicity, that the inner effect of the spinach on
Popeye is the same as the inward strength that God possesses. Popeye’s bulging muscles, by which he
clobbered Bluto, is God’s outward and bulging dominion over all of His
creation.
·
So what is
Paul commanding us to us? His
exhortation is for us to be empowered with this powerful combo of God’s inward
strength and outward dominion. What for?
The following scripture tells us.
Eph
6:11 Put on the whole armour of God,
that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
·
Paul knew,
that only in our being filled with the Lord, could we overcome the wiles or
methodologies of the enemy.
·
The full
armor of God automatically becomes our reality through our infilling with the
Spirit of God, and our obedience to Him.
The armor is assimilated by revelation, as well as put on through our
obedience.
Eph
1:19 And what is the exceeding greatness
of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power
·
“In accordance to the energy that is
galvanized through the outward strength or dominion of his inner strength.” This is how God wants us to operate. There is no other way for us to be energized
with the life of Lord Jesus, than for us to experience the cycle of death and
resurrection through the cross of Christ.
·
The cross in
turn can only function (the law of the cross) through, and by, our explicit
obedience to the Lord.
I
John 2:14 I have written unto you,
fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written
unto you, young men, because
ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome
the wicked one.
1
Peter 4:11 If any man speak, let him
speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God
giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom
be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
·
“The ability which.” For a third time we run into this word, “inner strength”.
·
We were
never supposed to minister out of our own strength!
·
The enemy has absolutely no respect for our
programs, and our agendas if they are done in our own power. He laughs at us, knowing that our mind and
flesh outside of the voice of the Holy Spirit, is simply no match for him.
·
The devil through his methodologies, will
continue to incite us to create more committees, spend more money, plan out
more church growth programs, and build bigger and more luxurious church
structures and so forth. Anything that
he can to do to keep us as believers dancing in the flesh he shall do.
·
Instead of
being on our knees and beneath the shadow of the cross, we run to and fro laden
with Christian activities. It is just a
matter of time that the devil will attack.
Luke
11:20 But if I with the finger of God
cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you.
21 When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are
in peace:
21
But
when a stronger
than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his
armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.
·
Casting out
a demon can only be affected through the “finger or power of God”. The finger of God can also be defined as the
rhema word of God .
·
Verses
twenty-one and twenty-two use the word strong man and stronger than.
·
For a fourth
time then we find ourselves observing the very same word, “inward strength.”
·
Only the man
or woman of God that possesses more inner strength than the devil, through by
the infilling of the Spirit, can be used in deliverance, by and through the
finger of God.
1 Peter 3:22 Who is gone into heaven,
and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.
·
Made subject unto Him: This phrase is a
military term, defined as “being arranged under”. By the victory that Jesus obtained over all
of his enemies, they have now been all arranged in a military hierarchy of
subordination unto Him.
·
It is
important for us to comprehend that authorities and powers are simply not demonic entities.
·
For example,
let us examine the word powers.
·
The word for
power, is translated in the Greek as dunamis. Dunamis is the inherent or
resident power particular to every thing created in the universe. When the Lord created all beings, He gave
them each a power or dunamis, which is specific and influential to their
wellness and the promotion of their activities.
·
Animals, therefore, have an inherent power or
dunamis, which differ vastly from the dunamis of the oceans. The dunamis or inherent power of the ocean
is vastly different to that of the air.
Disease and sicknesses likewise have a dunamis of their own, and so
forth.
·
Thus in
accordance with 1 Peter 3:22, we see that all inherent powers residing in all
of God’s creation coexist in military subordination to the Lord Jesus.
·
This
includes the name of demons, diseases sicknesses and all circumstances. Can you see the awesome victory wielded by our
Lord Jesus?
Eph
1:21 Far above all principality, and
power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this
world, but also in that which is to come:
22 And hath put all things under his feet, and
gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
·
More
impressive is what the Apostle Paul has to tell us in Ephesians 1:21-22.
·
Please
notice the host of hierarchy of names, which he lists.
·
Once again
we can observe demonic principalities, dominions, inherent powers, and every
name that is named, in all the worlds, and in all ages present, and those to
come.
·
The
significance of these scriptures is several fold.
·
The demonic
realm resides in absolute military subordination to the Lord.
·
Lordships
and kingships whether human, angelic, or demonic are in likewise subordination.
·
Every being
and circumstance, whether physical, angelic or demonic, is subordinated to the
Lord, in that their inherent makeup or dunamis powers lie subordinated to the
Lord.
·
All
dominions, or forces that rule by external force to bring bondage or servitude,
are also subordinated to the Lord.
·
The most
amazing fact is, that this Lord Jesus has been given as a gift by God the
Father, (“to be the head, and the head of all things”), to the
church!
·
As Christ
becomes revealed in our personal lives, and or within our churches, we
automatically enter into this reality, through our spiritual assimilation of
His very being in our spirits.
Remember, all victories, blessings and wisdom are hid in Him. They have been deposited with His very being.
·
The Christ
that is “the head over all things,” resides within the person of
Christ Himself. Christ lives within
us. Therefore, what resides in Him,
resides in us. We obtain it, and assimilate it, through revelation!
·
His reality
in subordinating all things becomes our reality through death and resurrection.
·
This is why
I have always stressed, and will always continue to stress, that the capstone
and foundation of Christianity, lies in not in our asking God for things, but
in our obtaining the revelation of the person of Christ who lies hid within us.
·
Probably the
greatest deception to ever plague our churches is to have most of our
congregations as pew sitters, and have a few ministers controlling the whole
show.
·
. It
takes every person to reveal the fullness of the Lord Jesus Christ
through the active use and development of his or her spiritual gifts.
·
The more
then, that the Person of Christ is revealed within a local body, the more that such
a congregation will experience the manifestation of Christ as “head over
all things.” in their midst.
·
Our present day church system has been for
the most part set up wrong. The
revelation of the person of Christ is meager at best, and the awesome spiritual
reality of Christ as the head over all things is
hardly ever seen. Ministers are trained to control, and the congregation
accepts the comfortable role of being a pew sitter. The fullness of the person of the Lord Jesus is very incomplete
at best, being displayed by just a few parishoners.
Col
2:10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all
principality and power:
The phrase to be complete in Him, in reality is the word to fill something
up full. As we have been discussing
above, upon our becoming filled up with Christ, we assimilate the reality of
the one who is head over all principality and power.
God Bless You!