Defeating the Spirit of Fear through our Authority in Christ

The Invisible War 4: ‘The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear’ Psalm 27:1-3 KJV

Fear is one of the most effective fiery darts the enemy uses to render many of us ineffective in this invisible war. You see you cannot walk in fear and overcome Satan. This is why the Bible contains more than 365 exhortations to ‘Fear not’. This is an important command from Jesus Christ, our Commander-in-Chief – ‘Fear not.’

Our eyes must be opened to see fear as an enemy. The devil is using his spirit of fear these days, to cause many to be weak and ineffective. Fear brings bondage (Hebrew 2:15). Some are walking in the fear of death or some other phobia. Others are just generally fearful and they think this is normal. No, the righteous are called to be as bold as a lion (Proverbs 28:1). There is no reason why we should walk in fear.

‘For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.’ Romans 8:15 (KJV)

We can walk in boldness and freedom from fear because we know that we belong to God and he has promised never to leave us nor forsake us. We must resist fear because it opens us up to the attack of the enemy. In the story of my friend who was attacked by the witch (in part 3 of this series), it was fear that opened the door. Indeed, there is no witch or demon who has authority over a believer unless we give it to them. When we are controlled by this spirit of fear, we open up ourselves to the enemy’s attacks. We must resist fear because it is a weapon of the enemy and does not come from our Father:

‘For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind’ 2 Timothy 1:7 (KJV)

To be effective in spiritual warfare we need to understand and be convinced of our authority in Christ. To walk in fear is to demonstrate that we do not understand our authority. If you are born-again, Christ has given you his authority over all the works of Satan and his demons. Through his glorious victory at Calvary, Jesus has authority over all the powers of hell:

‘… and having spoiled principalities and powers, he (Jesus) made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.’ Colossians 2: 15 (KJV)

Through the cross, our Lord defeated the devil and all his cohorts and took the keys of hell and death from them. That is why it is written:

‘….God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name that is above every other name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:9-11 (NLT)

It is based on this victorious authority that Jesus commissions every believer to go and win the world for him:

‘And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore…and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.’ Matthew 28:18-20 (KJV)

When we are born into God’s family, Christ by his Spirit lives in us and gives us his authority to be sons of God (John 1:12). This is why Romans 8:15 says we have received the Spirit of adoption. When you are adopted into a family you receive the name of that family, and with that name you have whatever authority it carries. We too have been given the authority in the mighty name of Jesus. So when we come against the devil in spiritual warfare we do not come in our own power but in our delegated authority from Jesus Christ. This is what makes the enemy tremble.

When Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you’ (Luke 10:19 KJV), he was also talking to every believer. Our authority is derived from the authority that Jesus (who lives in us) has over the devil. That is why it is written:

‘Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world (Satan)’. 1 John 4:4

We do not go against the devil in our own name but in the name of Jesus. When we resist the enemy in that name they have no choice but to obey. It has nothing to do with how strong we think we are, it has to do with the authority of him in whose name we come. In Togo, where I used to be, we had traffic wardens. Now if that same man were to attempt to control the traffic without his uniform, he would be run down by some vehicle. A man is no match for a vehicle in motion. But in his uniform he represents the entire power of the state of Togo. And because of this delegated authority, drivers obey him, for to mess with him would be to mess with the Togolese authority. This is the same with us.

So arise and shake off fear and begin to resist the devil in the mighty name of Jesus until you have enforced the Lordship of Jesus over every area of your life. You can no longer afford to throw up your hands in helplessness. You have been given authority. Use it! If you do not use your authority angels will not resist Satan for you. God is calling you to resist him and he will flee. Can’t you see the enemy’s works in you and around you? Stand up now and fight for your life, for your loved ones, for your nation and for all the nations around you. This is war!

Let us pray: Father, we thank you that all authority in heaven and on earth belongs to our Captain, Jesus Christ. And we thank you for giving us this authority by which we can tread upon every work of darkness and prevail. We refuse to walk in fear. We refuse to give place to the spirit of fear. You have given us a Spirit of power that makes us bold to confront and defeat the enemy. We are fearless because we know that you are always with us. Lord, cause these revelations to percolate into our spirit man. Teach our hands to war and our fingers to fight in Jesus’ Name!

FOR FURTHER MEDITATION: Please go through all the references in the article and also 1 John 4: 14-18; Isaiah 43:1-3; John 14:27; 2 Corinthians 10:3-5; Eph. 1:20-23; 1 John 2:14; 3:8; 5:4-5

Resisting the Enemy

The Invisible War (3) – ”Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7

Previously we saw that the most important aspect of spiritual warfare is submitting to God. But spiritual warfare does not end there. We must go on and resist the devil.

To resist means to ‘stand against’, ‘oppose’, or ‘refuse to give place to’. To effectively oppose or resist a thing you must locate it first. The first thing then is to discern when and where the enemy is at work in your environment in order to resist him.

Many times it is obvious when the enemy is at work. So we resist him. But there are also instances when it is difficult to know. It is not every mishap that is an attack from the devil.

How can one discern the enemy’s work? My answer is – ‘Ask the Lord.’ When we ask sincerely and in faith, God will let us know one way or the other what is happening. Some years ago during a time of serious financial difficulty I sought the Lord, and he showed me that it was he himself and not the devil, putting me through a season of testing.

But there are times when it is obviously the enemy at work. A friend of mine had been suffering from a strange ailment for 2 years after an encounter he had had with a witch who had scared him so much that he was overwhelmed with fear, and soon after this, the ailment had begun. When we prayed and resisted the devil together the ailment stopped.

There is a principle in 2 Samuel 21:1 that I find useful for discerning the enemy’s activities:

‘Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David inquired of the Lord. And the Lord answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites’ (KJV).

Note the word ‘year after year’. When you find a mishap repeating itself with apparent consistency in your life then it is important to inquire of God what is behind it like David did. There are families, for example where everyone seems to die as soon as they turn 30. Or there are others who every business they start seems to collapse. It is important not to overlook such a circle but to set aside time to inquire of God what is happening. And God will show you.

Finally, after discerning the enemy’s activities how do we resist him? Simple, just talk to him out loud as you would to someone standing before you and command him to stop what he is doing in the Name of Jesus. I would say for example, something like this: “You demon who is causing discord in this relationship, I command you to stop right now in Jesus’ Name!’ And that’s it. If said in faith, it is very powerful because of the authority we have in Christ. Next time we shall look at this authority.

Let us pray: Father, we thank you that you are our Captain who leads us into battle. We thank you that through your help we can discern the activities of the enemy and resist him. Help us to grow in discernment so that we might not give any foothold to the enemy. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.

FOR FURTHER MEDITATION: 1 Peter 5: 8 – 9; Eph. 6:13 (NLT); Matt. 17:14-21; James 4:7

The Essentials of Spiritual Warfare

The Invisible War (2) “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7 (NIV)

I do not know of any other verse in scripture that so beautifully summarises all that is involved in effective spiritual warfare like the above scripture does.

The first and most important step in winning the invisible war is not in addressing the devil but in submitting to God. I have seen many people who claim to be involved in spiritual warfare but whose lives are not submitted to God. They know how to fast and they say they pray but they are still gossips, unforgiving and rebellious. Such “intercessors” may walk around with an air of spirituality but their prayers are not doing anything to push back the darkness or establish God’s kingdom.

You see the whole essence of spiritual warfare is that we are enforcing the authority of Jesus by taking ground from the enemy and thereby establishing God’s kingdom. But it is only those in whose lives the rule of God has been established – those who have submitted their lives to him and are living in obedience to him, that can enforce and establish his rule elsewhere.

Spiritual warfare is not so much in how we shout or jump or know the right words to say, as much as it has to do with our walk with the Lord. A right walk with the Lord is the first step to effective warfare. Remember those seven sons of Sceva? (Acts 19:14-16). They tried casting out devils using the right words but it carried no weight with the spirits because their lives were not submitted to God.

Before we rush off to bind and loose, let us submit all our sins, and fears (it is counter-productive to try resisting the enemy out of fear), and cares, and let us receive God’s holiness and grace. Let us submit to God in repentance, and in praise and adoration. And then from that point we can resist the devil.

It is when we submit our lives to God that we will be effective as we resist the devil. There is nothing that the devil fears like the prayer of a holy man or woman. It’s like coals of fire being poured out on him, so he flees.

Let us pray: Father it’s useless attempting to subdue the enemy if I am not submitted to you. Lord, I come to yield my life to you. Lord is there any part of my life that is not yet submitted to you? Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to you. Reign in me Lord so that I may be able to enforce your reign in Jesus’ Name!

FOR FURTHER MEDITATION: Matthew 5: 23-26; 6:16-18; 2 Corinthians 10: 3-6 (consider the implication of verse 6, ‘once your obedience is complete’); Joshua 7: 10-12; Acts 19:14-16; James 4:7; 1 Peter 5: 6-9