want
to look now at demons and spiritual forces of darkness, who are opposed to all
that is of God. The Scriptures indicate that there are three different groups
of demon forces that occur in the earth. Paul describes it in Ephesians 6:12
when he says, Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood,
but against principalities, against authorities, against the rulers of the
darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places]. (GMR)
Four groups of demonic powers are described
there. The first three refer to powers of darkness that are functioning and
operating in the earth. The fourth operates in the spirit realm Satan
functions and lives in. It is his counterfeit to the realm of God.
Principality and Power Demons
Principalities are small insignificant
irritating little demons. They are the kind of demons that put thoughts of
temptation in the minds of man and cause irritations. They do not have much
power and there are millions of them. They are the peasants of Satan’s
kingdom if you please. They are the Privates in his army and the ones that do
all his grunt work. In the Spirit I normally see them pictured as little
monkeys.
Power demons are somewhat stronger. These
are demons that latch themselves on and attack, causing sickness and disease
and such things as drug addiction, bad habits, and bondage in the lives of
people. I usually see those in the Spirit as baboons or chimpanzees, slightly
larger and more powerful.
Rulers of Darkness
The next level are the rulers of the
darkness of this world, indicating that they are the highest level of demonic
power in this world. Ruler demons are those that control the principality and
power demons. The ruler demon is the kind of demon that enters into a person
and takes possession of them. When Jesus spoke to the demon in the man that
was possessed by the legion, He spoke to the man and the demon answered
through the man’s voice.
He said to the demon, "What is your
name?"
The demon answered, "My name is legion
for we are many."
This was one demon that was speaking to
Jesus, taking control of the man’s lips and speaking through his vocal
cords. It was one demon power possessing that man. He was a ruler demon, and
he had under him millions of power demons and principality demons, a whole
legion full.
Jesus began to come against that demon
force, that ruler demon with all his little demons, and all the demons began
to speak to Jesus. They did not speak to Him through the lips of the man,
because only the ruler demon speaks through the lips of a man when a person is
possessed by a demon and that demon takes manifestation. But Jesus, in the
Spirit, saw and spoke to those demon powers. It says, "They all began to
beg Him and say, ‘Please can we go into the swine.’ "
As Jesus cast out that demon, the ruler came
out with all his principality and power demons, and they all went into the
pigs. The pigs then went mad and ran over the hill and fell into the sea and
drowned.
These are the demon forces that are at work
in the world. If you come into confrontation with evil powers, they are the
evil powers that you will be dealing with.
Deliverance Ministry
Many have become majored on deliverance
ministry, casting out demons of lies and lust and every other form of sin.
They will sometimes spend hours, days and weeks casting out demons one after
the other. They identify each little demon, casting them out one at a time.
After each session the person is exhausted, tired and sore, and the person who
has been casting out the demons is exhausted. They are probably hoarse from
shouting at the demons and all they succeeded in doing was getting rid of a
few principality and power demons. The ruler demon is still sitting pretty.
I am not going to go into a lot of detail on
deliverance here, because that is another subject that we will teach
elsewhere. I just want to point out that you have to deal with the ruler demon
before you can get rid of the principality and power demons. You need to go to
the top. You need to deal with the 'guy in charge' and then you can deal with
the other demon powers.
Watch Your Words
These forces are at work in the earth and
will oppose everything that you try to do for God. They will try to counteract
the Word that you have spoken forth by inspiration of the Holy Spirit; the
decree that you have sent forth into the earth. They will try and stop it;
they will try and block it. Do you know how they will try to do this? They
will do it firstly by attacking you and getting you to shut your mouth and
change your words, and then by getting you to start licensing them instead of
the angels of God.
They try to get you confessing negative
things like, "This is not going to come right. I don’t know what we are
going to do. We are in trouble. I just can’t see us getting out of
this."
Change your words. Your angel was working
feverishly there getting things done and suddenly the words stopped, and he
has to start coming home again. Now the demon power is going to start to work.
What do you suppose he is going to work on? He is going to work on destroying
what the angel was setting up.
Be very careful to keep your words in line
with the Word of God. Keep your words in line with the decree that has been
sent forth. Keep your words in line so that the angels of God continue to work
on your behalf, and arrange and create in the earth what you have decreed and
spoken. Because the moment you stop, they stop.
The moment you authorize Satan he breaks
down what has been built up so far. You need to come against the forces of
darkness on a daily basis. You need to daily commission the angels of God to
go forth and to do what has been decreed in the earth.
Daily Stand To
When I did my National Service a long time
ago I found out something that was very interesting concerning warfare. They
had found out that there were two times of day when it was most likely that
the enemy would attack. These were first thing in the morning just as the sun
was coming up, and last thing in the evening just as the sun was going down.
They explained that if the enemy was going to attack the camp, then those were
the times he would do it.
They had a procedure that we used to follow
when we were out in the bush camps. It was carried out every day, first thing
in the morning at dawn, and last thing at night at dusk. The procedure was
called 'Stand-To' and every soldier in the camp had a place where he would go,
forming a circle around the camp. Each one would have a little place that was
dug out where he could go and lie looking outwards, so that the whole camp was
covered all around.
When you heard the call and the whistle
blowing saying, "Stand To," you ran immediately to your allocated
spot. You climbed in there with your rifle and you loaded and cocked your
weapon so that it was ready to be fired. From your hiding place you then
looked ahead carefully as the sun came up, and the light began to show. You
kept your eyes peeled for any movement whatsoever that would indicate that the
enemy was about to attack.
You stayed that way until the sun came up,
and until the whistle blew again and said, "Okay, stand down. The enemy
is not attacking today." The same procedure was repeated in the evening
just before the sun went down. Everybody would be there, rifle loaded, ready
and watching in case the enemy attacked.
The Lord spoke to me a while back and said,
"My children need to learn to have a spiritual stand to. They need to
stand against the enemy on a daily basis. They need to stand ready, with their
'rifle' cocked, with the Word in their hearts, with their mouths poised to
speak forth My Word; ready for any movement from the spirit of darkness; ready
for any attack from Satan."
First thing in the morning, before your day
begins, and last thing in the evening, before your day ends, stand ready. He
will attack during your sleep if you are not careful. Stand ready. Hit him
before he hits you. Stand ready, stand against him. Paul said we must, ‘put
on the whole armor of God … and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore,’
he says. Stand against the wiles of the enemy.
Jesus said, "The Devil goes around
as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, whom resist steadfast in the
faith." James 4:7 says, James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to
God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (GMR)
This is a spiritual stand to and you should
do it on a daily basis. If you do not do it, the enemy starts to get into the
camp without you knowing he is there. You begin to wonder why your spiritual
life is dying. You wonder why your provision is not coming. You wonder why
your health is growing worse instead of better. You did not stand against him!
You say, "Well I prayed. Somebody laid
hands on me and spoke forth healing. God promised me. I saw the manifestation
of my provision. My prayer was answered." Then you sit back and say,
"Okay, it’s done. I can take it easy now. We can party tonight. I don’t
need to pray." Be very careful. Don't ever let down your guard where the
enemy is concerned.
Spiritual Wickedness
There is also a group of forces that operate
largely in the heavenly realm, which Paul referred to as spiritual wickedness
in high places. In Daniel 10:12 we read that Daniel had been praying and
fasting and waiting on God, and he had waited 21 days.
After that an angel appeared to him and
said, Daniel 10:12 Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that you set
your heart to understand, and to chasten yourself before your God, your words
were heard, and I have come because of your words. 13 But the prince of the
kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty one days: but, look, Michael, one of the
chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.
(GMR)
The prince of the kingdom of Persia was a
demonic prince that was in charge of the whole kingdom that Daniel was in.
Before that angel could come and get through to him, he was opposed by this
high level demonic power in the heavenlies, a demonic prince of darkness.
Satan has set up his system over this world,
and he has princes of darkness over every single area. There are princes of
darkness in charge of your country. There are princes of darkness in charge of
your city. There are princes of darkness in charge of your community. They
have all been allocated responsibility to oversee the principalities, powers
and rulers of darkness that are in that area.
The Council of Wickedness
It goes up like a pyramid until it gets
right to the top. When it reaches the top we have Satan, but not just Satan
alone. Satan tries to counterfeit the trinity. He always wanted to be like
God. He wanted to take God’s place. He tried to rise up and take the throne
of heaven until he was cast out. So he has set up a system that copies the
system that God has set up.
He has tried to counterfeit the Father, the
Son and the Holy Spirit. The Scripture speaks of God as being Father, Son and
Holy Spirit, three in one. Satan has put together three as a governing council
to control the realm of darkness, his kingdom.
This is something that is not immediately
obvious in Scripture unless you look for it. The evidence is there, but what I
will share with you now is something that God first showed me in the Spirit,
and as I saw it in the Spirit, I had to get back into the Word to see if I
could find evidence. If I am to see something in the Spirit, I have to have
proof in the Word that it is true, otherwise it is difficult for me to receive
it.
Much of what I have shared here, are things
that God has showed me in the Spirit, and I cannot always give you a clear
chapter and verse that says distinctly exactly what I have told you. But I
want you to pray about it and look into the Word, and you will find that the
Word does not contradict what I have shared. It is there, but sometimes you
have to read between the lines to understand exactly what is taking place.
Personal Confrontation With The Council
The first time I ever had confrontation with
the three members of what I like to call the Council of Wickedness was at a
time when I had been going through intense intercession in the Spirit. I had
been waiting on God on a daily basis to pray and to intercede in the Spirit. I
would spend hours on end praying in tongues, doing warfare in the Spirit,
coming into confrontation in the Spirit with the powers of darkness.
I remember the day that I had been praying
earnestly, praying in the Spirit and fighting and doing warfare, when I
suddenly saw myself appearing in a room that seemed to be an official council
room of some kind. It was like a round table where people were sitting in
council, in discussion, like a room where plans were made and issued. As I
rose up and stood in that room in my vision I saw three people sitting at the
table.
I said, "Lord, what am I seeing
now?"
Then my flesh went cold, because I realized
that I had come into the very council room, the very throne room of the Prince
of Darkness, and I was standing in the midst of his council. I had appeared in
the middle of their discussions. They looked at me in anger. They were mad.
How dare I come up and appear in their council, their secret council that
nobody else was supposed to know about? But the Spirit of God took me into
their council, and He showed me that there are three demons, three princes of
darkness in the Council of Wickedness.
The leader of the Council is of course
Lucifer. The second one reminded me of a character I once saw on TV in a
horror movie. He was big, strong, bald and ugly.
I looked at him and said, "Lord, who is
this?"
The Lord said, "It’s Pharaoh."
"Pharaoh? But Pharaoh was the king of
Egypt."
The Lord said, "Yes, but there is a
spiritual Pharaoh."
He is the one who poses as the god of this
world, because Egypt in the Scriptures is a picture of the world. Pharaoh is
usually typified as Satan, the leader and the god of this world, but the Lord
showed me in the Spirit, that Satan has set up one who poses as the god of
this world and is in charge of the World System. He has put him in charge of
the economies and monetary systems of the world. All administrative and
political functions of the world are controlled by this prince of darkness,
who is a spiritual Pharaoh.
Confrontation With Lucifer
I had seen Lucifer before so I knew what he
looked like. He appeared to me shortly after God had led me through my
prophetic training and He began to take me into the spiritual realm. God had
led us to move to a coastal city to wait on Him and we were staying in a
trailer park just near the sea, waiting on God and looking to Him concerning
direction for our ministry.
One day as I was praying and interceding in
the Spirit, a man appeared before me. He was a typical picture of what you
would call tall, dark and handsome, a charming good looking guy. I had seen
angels in the Spirit before, but I looked at him and thought, "Well he
doesn’t look like an angel. Angels are normally dressed in white." This
guy was dressed more in a kind of khaki looking clothing and he had dark hair.
I said, "Lord, who is this?" and then suddenly I realized who it
was. It was the Prince of Darkness himself, Lucifer.
He smiled at me. He was charming. He was
handsome and friendly. He smiled as he said to me, "What is all this
nonsense about ministry and all these big ideas that you have? Don’t you see
that you don’t have the capability of doing these? But listen, what is it
that you want? Do you want money? Do you want women? Do you want fame and
popularity? What is it that you want? I’ll give it to you by all means. Just
drop this silly idea of yours. Stop all this praying. Just let it go. Forget
it, you’re wasting your time."
I tell you, it was not a pleasant
experience. My flesh went cold and I began to cringe. I had dealt with demon
forces before. I had cast demons out of people before and been in
confrontation in intercession with evil powers. But now I stood before the
Prince of Darkness himself and who was I to stand against the one that has the
greatest power in the Kingdom of Darkness.
I was filled with fear. I did not know what
to do. I thought, "Lord, I don’t know how to handle this. I had better
not upset this guy. He has power. He could destroy me. What must I do?"
Then the Word of God rose up within me. "At
the name of Jesus every knee shall bow." Every knee shall bow!
That was the key!
I turned to him and I said, "Satan, at
the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, and that includes you. Of things in
heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth. That includes you,
Satan, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Satan, that
includes you. You will bow! You will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. You
will do it now. In the Name of Jesus I stand against you."
The power of God rose up in me. The Spirit
of God came on me and I felt His authority rising up in me. His face began to
change as his smile turned to a scowl and he became angry. He was seething
mad. I did not know what he was going to do, but I just laid it on him, and
kept laying it on him. I kept giving it to him.
"Bow! Bow in the name of Jesus!"
He stood there squirming like a snake and
then he went down and began to bow. Then he turned around and vanished, and he
left me.
I know what Lucifer looks like and I have
seen him in the Spirit many times. I have seen someone that looks a lot like
him, but I cannot mention names here. But I want to tell you that the name of
Jesus is greater than the name of Satan. Satan was conquered and defeated on
the cross of Calvary. If you are a child of God, and you have the Spirit of
God living in you, you have authority and power in the name of Jesus.
In Satan’s Camp
You might say, "Well, what made you so
special that Lucifer would appear to you? Why were you such a big
threat?" I have pondered that question many times myself. I said,
"Lord why me? Why would he appear to me?" Then I read one day in a
Christian magazine that the particular city that I was in at that time was
actually the Satanic headquarters of the country. I was in the Devil’s
domain.
I dare say the chances are that the trailer
park where we were staying was probably right in the vicinity of where the
main Satanists were operating. I was right in his camp. I was right there in
the middle of his grounds. I can imagine the demons got together and the
Satanists gathered together to do their devilish things, and they heard this
big noise. They probably heard my big mouth coming forth in the Spirit in
prayer.
I can imagine they were just doing their
thing and they heard somebody say, "In the name of Jesus…" They
probably said, "What’s that? Where’s that coming from? Who is that?
Somebody go sort it out. We can’t stand the noise!" Lucifer must have
gotten really upset and the demons figured that if anybody could sort it out
he certainly could. But he could not because God had taught me my authority
and my position in Christ, and I knew the power and authority that there was
in the name of Jesus.
Satan's Chief of Staff
That day as I stood in the middle of the
Council of Wickedness, I saw another character that did not look so human. He
was a scaly looking creature.
I said, "Lord, who is this?"
He said, "Go look in Revelation, and
you will find him described. His name is Apollyon and he is the leader of
Satan’s armies. He is the Devil’s Chief of Staff. He is the General in
charge of all the demon forces that attack in the earth.
The Lord had shown me in vision that there
are these three creatures in control of this world. There is Pharaoh in charge
of the World System, of the economies of the world, and the administrative and
political functions. There is Lucifer, who is in charge of the religious
systems of this world and the master of deception. And there is Apollyon who
is in charge of the demon forces that attack the people that live in this
world. He attacks them with fear and doubts and evil thoughts, makes them
commit suicide, attacks them with sickness and disease and makes their lives a
misery. This council is Satan’s counterfeit of the trinity.
Attack From Apollyon
If you start trusting God for healing, you
will be challenged by the forces that are under Apollyon, because those demon
forces will attack your body. They will cause pain and suffering and symptoms
in your body and will question every stand that you have taken to trust God
for divine health, and for entering into the promise that, "By His
stripes we were healed." We will look at that in the next chapter
shortly when we deal the subject of healing.
Attack From Pharaoh
If you start trusting God for financial
provision, you will be challenged by Pharaoh, and the World System is going to
squeeze you. The economic system is going to squeeze you, and he is going to
try to steal everything you have. He is going to put financial pressure on
you. He is going to cause temporal things to go wrong. He is going to cause
everything in the natural world to go against you, to block and to stop any
possibility of God providing for you financially. He will try to prevent God
meeting your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
When you start to transmute from the
heavenly realm as we saw previously, it has to be authorized by Pharaoh
because he is in control of the finances of the world. Remember that Satan was
given authority in this earth by Adam. That authority was regained in Christ
and we now have greater authority as believers. But as far as the world and
unbelievers are concerned, they are still under the control of Satan and his
demon forces.
The Council of Wickedness is in control of
this World System. If you are looking to the Lord for financial provision it
is going to come through the World System. The finance that you receive will
not come flying out of heaven. The Lord is not going to counterfeit the bank
notes and make them rain down. They will come to you from this world.
If you examine the finances of this world,
where will you find them? Where is most of the money in this world? It is
locked up in the underworld. It is locked up in the big crime syndicates. It
is locked up in evil men who own and control, and use their money to
manipulate this world. Let anybody dare to go against their system, rise up
and get rich and become a challenge and a threat to them, and you will see
them begin to apply pressure.
Let any politician dare to stand up and go
against the conspiracy. Let him dare stand up and go against the system. Let
him dare to disobey the financial leaders at the top that are pulling the
strings and he is in trouble. They will crunch him. They will squash him. They
will remove him. They will put their foot on him and squeeze him into the
ground until he disappears.
You cannot fight the system unless you are a
believer! If you are child of God you have greater authority. God sent Moses
of old to go to the Pharaoh of Egypt with the word, "Let My people go,
that they may go and serve me. Let them go into the wilderness to sacrifice.
Let them take their wives, their children and their animals and herds, and
everything that they own, and all their riches and possessions. Let them go
and worship Me." But Pharaoh said, "No. Not under any
circumstances."
Dealing With Pharaoh
Again and again Moses had to come against
him with plague after plague, attack after attack by the power of God, to
crumble and break down that resistance from Pharaoh. Eventually God had to
take drastic action before that power was broken, and Pharaoh finally gave in.
But even after he had given in he changed his mind and came back, and God had
to work again to destroy and remove his power.
Do not think for one moment that if you
attempt to exercise the authority and power of God to bring financial
provision into the earth, that you will obtain it easily? You will not be
fighting only simple little principalities and powers or even rulers of the
darkness of this world. You will be coming against the god of this world
himself, the Pharaoh of this world, who will resist you. He does not want you
to get your hands on money that you would use to extend the Kingdom of God in
the earth. He will not let you get a cent if he can help it.
You will have to lay it on him. You will
have to release the angels of God to do warfare with him on your behalf. You
will have to come against him in the Spirit and by the Name that is above
every other Name. You will have to use the authority and power that is given
to you as a child of God.
There are a lot of things that you can do in
this world that Satan will become upset about and he will not hit you too
hard. But you dare to exercise faith for financial prosperity, and you have
declared war on the Council of Wickedness. Let anyone dare to preach that
believers can be wealthy. Let anyone dare to believe that Christians can be
prospered financially and have the audacity to exercise their faith for
financial provision and they will be found fighting much higher forces than
the average believer fights.
You have likely heard preachers proclaim the
word of faith. They teach and encourage people to take the Word of God and the
power of God, and by faith to reach out and receive from the Lord the
financial provision that they need. Why should we be doing this? So that we
can extend the Kingdom of God in the earth. So that God’s people can rise up
in power and authority and have their needs met. So that they can be enabled
to go forth and spread the gospel.
But usually what happens is very different.
If someone has a genuine ministry they often have to beg and plead. They have
to coerce the money out of people. They have to work hard to scrape together a
few dollars to be able to do the work that God has called them to do. They
desire to rescue people from darkness and bring their souls into the light,
but there is no money available.
Most ministries have to continually make
financial appeals. This is because it is easier to do this than it is to
exercise faith and authority. Doing battle with the Princes of Darkness is
hard work, but without it no success is possible. Until the spiritual Pharaoh
is forced to give in as it happened with the Pharaoh of old, God's people will
continue in slavery to the World System.
Prophetic Intercessors
God is raising up those who are prepared to
take the load of intercession. The prophets of God are rising up. They are not
to be seen in the visible church making a name for themselves. Mostly they are
in the background, very often unseen, and they rise up and speak the Word of
God in the earth. They send forth the decree of God into the earth.
They do battle in the heavenly realm with
the demons of darkness. They commission the angels of God to go forth and to
release the finances that are needed. They release what is needed for the
Kingdom of God to be extended. They release ministries to go forth and do what
God has called them to do. It is time that the prophets of God rise up and use
the key of authority that God has given them. They are able to unlock the door
of God’s blessing and also lock the doors that Satan is using to come in.
It is time that the prophets of God rise up
and do what God called them to do, instead of preaching hell-fire and
damnation to believers. They often try to be Old Testament prophets speaking
judgement on God's people. Instead they should be speaking the Word of God and
the authority of God into the earth, which is what He has called them to do.
Oh, that God would raise up intercessors and
watchmen on the walls, that would see the enemy coming and remain on stand-to
24 hours a day, so that Satan cannot attack at any time. It is time that God
raises up ministries that would set up intercession 24 hours a day around the
clock, to seek the face of God, to speak forth His Word into the earth, and to
break the bonds of wickedness.
It burns in me. There is such a crying need
for God’s people to rise up. Unless the warfare and the battle are carried
out continuously, we will go under. We will fall and end up resorting to the
worldly way of obtaining money. We will end up with the pittance that the
world is going to dish up. Yet the Lord speaks about the unjust that shall lay
up treasures, that the just may inherit them. It is time that the just start
inheriting what the unjust have laid up. It is the time that the Body of
Christ gets their hands on the wealth that has been stashed up by the Princes
of Darkness of this world.
Go to the Top
This will only going take place as we do
battle in the heavenlies. We must speak forth the Word of God into the earth.
We must come against, not the little demon powers down on this earth, but the
princes of wickedness in the high places.
You should be coming against the prince of
darkness that is over your city. You should be coming against the prince of
darkness that is over your country. You should be going right to the top and
doing warfare with the Council of Wickedness. You should be coming against the
councils on high and frustrating those councils, by the power of the Spirit,
by the authority of the Word of God, by the power and authority that there is
in the name of Jesus.
It is time God’s people rise up and go to
the top. I do warfare with them all the time, and when I have a problem with
finance I do not battle with the prince of my city. I have occasionally done
battle with the prince of the country, but he is too small. I go to his
superiors. I go to the top.
I come against Pharaoh and I say,
"Pharaoh, in the name of Jesus you will authorize what is mine. Sign the
document! Release it now, in Jesus’ name. Apollyon, sign the document.
Lucifer sign the document. God has given this to me. It is mine. I put my foot
on it. Now get off my land and let it go. You take your hands off my
provision. It is mine! God has given it to me, and you cannot stop it. You
have no right to stop it. You have no authority because Jesus has taken your
power away, and I stand in Him and in His Name.
"I come to you in the name of Jesus and
you must bow, because the authority I have in Him is greater than the
authority that you have in the world. He has given me the name to use that is
above every other name. You will bow to that name!"
It is a heavy warfare. It is a heavy battle,
and if you wish to enter into this kind of ministry, let me tell you, you are
not going to be able to play church anymore. You are not going to be able to
play being a Christian anymore.
You are not going to be able to say,
"Well, I go to the meetings, I go to the Bible study. I go to church on
Sunday, and we serve the Lord there. I’ll be a Christian during the week and
witness to a couple of people. But Friday night is our night to go out and
have fun." The Lord does not have place in that. "Once a year we
have to go on vacation somewhere, and while we are on holiday enjoying
ourselves, the Lord can take a break."
Listen, you are in war. When you became a
child of God you declared war. You went across to the other side. Do you think
that your original master is going to take it lightly? Do you think that he is
going to allow you to become a threat to him? No, he is going to throw against
you everything that he has.
The State of Satan's Kingdom
I want to tell you one more thing about the
Kingdom of Darkness that will encourage you. If you go into the World System
you just need to go into a business that has a lot of employees to see it. You
need only to go into an open office where a lot of people work together in
close communication, and listen to how they talk about each other.
Listen to how they speak about somebody that
is rising up in authority and is probably next in command to become boss if
the boss should leave. Let that person take one day’s leave and you will
find out what everybody thinks about him.
"Huh, he thinks he’s something
special. Yeah, all he does is visit the boss all the time and say the right
things and do the right things. He’s the boss’s pet. No wonder he’s next
in line to be promoted over us."
Have you seen it? Have you seen the
bickering and fighting that goes on? The selfishness, the strife and vainglory
that goes on in the world? Where do you suppose that comes from? I'll tell you
where it comes from. It comes from Satan’s kingdom. Satan may sound like he
has an organized kingdom. It looks like it is pretty well organized there with
the Privates and Sergeants and the Officers going on up the ranks like an
army.
But every single one hates the other. They
detest each other. There is no harmony there. It is an enforced harmony. They
dominate with fear and terror and control one another. That is how they work.
That is how Satan works, and you will see it in the World System.
Satan cannot keep it together without
working at it all the time. That is why he has to set so many levels of
authority to make to sure that each level of authority is controlling the
other, because they are vying with each other all the time. Why? They got it
from their master didn’t they? He was in heaven, one of the archangels, and
he said, "I’m not satisfied with this. I want to be better. I want to
be the boss here."
His spirit and attitude have been
communicated to the whole of his kingdom. They bicker and fight amongst each
other all the time. When Satan launches a special attack against you, it costs
him dearly. He has to mobilize a special group of demons and organize them
together with special instructions to, "Go get him!" They only have
a limited time. They only have certain resources available to them, and if
they do not come right in that time they are in trouble.
His Resources Are Limited
Satan has limited resources. He is not
unlimited and does not have the power of the Spirit of God. He has to work
through the demon forces, and the demon forces can only work through men that
will give them permission and authority to work. All we need to do is release
the angels of God against them, to keep scattering them. All we need to do is
bind or restrict them.
The Scripture says, "Whatever you
bind on earth will be bound in heaven." If we bind the forces of
evil, we interfere with them. "Whatever you loose on earth will be
loosed in heaven." As we loose the angels of God to go forth on our
behalf, they are liberated to work. Satan can only maintain his attack for a
limited time.
You might be able to do nothing more than
grit your teeth, and hang on, not giving up hope, but biting like the bulldog.
If you refuse to be shaken and moved from your commitment, or to change the
words of your mouth, it is just a matter of time before he has to give up. He
cannot keep it up. He does not have the resources.
We tend to credit the Devil with more power
than he really has. I have learned in dealing from the top to the bottom, that
Jesus has given us power and authority over all of them. We have within us,
the very Spirit of God, the One who created the universe. We have with us the
One that has the name above every other name. Oh if we would just realize what
we are in Christ. If we would take our stand against these things, then all we
would need to do is to keep speaking forth the blessing.
Loosing the Provision
Very often after you have spoken forth your
word into the earth and God begins to move you see it come forth like Lazarus
when he came out of the tomb. When Jesus said, "Lazarus come forth,"
he came out alive, but he was still bound in the grave clothes. It is so
important that you stand firm after you have sent out God’s Word into the
earth. You have spoken forth the rhema word of creation, and now as the
creation manifests you must command your Lazarus to be loosed until he comes
free into your possession.
Do not assume that because you saw the
manifestation of what you asked for, that it has arrived. Do not assume that
because hands were laid on you and you felt the power of God go through you,
and you felt the pain leave your body that it is over. Even if you could see
that you were healed do not assume that it will never attempt to come back.
You must keep standing on it, because you will be challenged.
Do not assume that because you have trusted
God for finance and somebody writes and says, "I’m sending you a
check," that you can sit back now. Do not let up until you get that check
in your hands and you have cashed it and have the money in your hands. Satan
will try to block it and steal it. If they had not loosed Lazarus he would
have stood there and suffocated to death. He would have died again.
Do not ever assume anything. We are in
warfare. Do not sit back and say, "Well I won the battle." Maybe you
did win the battle, but the war continues. The war continues until the end
when Jesus finally conquers and locks him up in the bottomless pit until the
consummation of all things, spoken about in Revelation.
The war continues. We continue to wrestle
against these forces. Do not assume that because you got him down this time
that he is not going to get up again. He is going to get up and come at you
again and again. You have to stay on it. Yes, there will be times of intense
warfare, but there will be times of peace and times of rest. There will be
times of celebration.
God does not want us to walk around
miserable all the time. God wants us to have fun. He wants us to have
holidays. He wants us to enjoy ourselves. But always in His presence, always
walking with Him. Always maintaining our walk, and always keeping our mouth
speaking His Words.
God said to Joshua, "This word shall
not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night."
As you continue to do that you are like an army that has conquered a city and
all they need to do is to keep it. They do not need to keep re-capturing it.
All they need to do is prevent the enemy from stealing it from them and taking
it back.
That is why Paul says, "Having put on
all the armor, stand." Stand on the ground that has been won for you.
Stand on it. All you need to do is stand, and when the enemy attacks, you ward
him off immediately. Stand to on a daily basis, continually standing against
the evil, and the angels of God will continue to go forth and work on your
behalf, causing your provision to come.
