Power over the Enemy: Breaking Free from Spiritual Strongholds (5 page)

Your family is on
the devil’s hit list!

In Ephesians 1:18–19, the apostle Paul prayed for the believers in Ephesus: “the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power.” Now what is that power? “Which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places” (v. 20). Jesus was raised up in the heavenly places far above these same enemies that are enumerated in Ephesians 6. “Far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all” (vv. 21–23).

Jesus defeated the devil for us. In our name! He didn’t have to come to earth and prove in a human body that He was greater than the devil. He’s always been greater than the devil. He came to earth to defeat Satan as a human being in our place—our Redeemer! The Bible says the strong man keeps his armor until a stronger one comes upon him and overcomes him and takes from him all of his armor and divides the spoil with the strong (Luke 11:20–22). That is exactly what Jesus did! That strong man, the devil, was in his palace keeping everything safe, but a stronger one, Jesus, came upon him, overcame him, took all of his armor, and gave us the victory!

Jesus said in a prophetic utterance to the seventy disciples whom He was sending out to preach the kingdom of God, “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:19–20). They came back rejoicing and said, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name” (v. 17).

That means you can declare to the devil and all of his princes and powers and wicked spirits that you have all power over them and nothing is going to hurt you. It is a happy day when you know you can chase the enemy away. T. L. Osborn said, “I used to be afraid of demons until I found out they were afraid of me.” That’s what Jesus said. He gained the victory for us! He rose again from the dead and appeared to His disciples and said,
“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.… And these signs will follow those who believe” (Mark 16:15, 17). And what was the first sign? “In My name they will cast out demons” (v. 17)—they would demonstrate to the world that Jesus has defeated the devil and his demonic forces! That’s what God wants you to know.

Jesus not only conquered Satan and overcame him, but He did it in our names. Satan is a defeated foe! He has been brought to nothing—zero. The Bible says that “the terrible one is brought to nothing” (Isaiah 29:20). When Jesus got through with him, He brought him down from 100 to 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0! The enemy has no power over us. The only thing he can do is deceive you and lie to you and steal from you, and only if you allow it to happen. You’ve got to know who you are! You’ve got to rise up in the Name of Jesus and drive the devil off! The Bible says about believers: “Submit yourself to God; resist the devil”—not just demons, but the devil himself. There’s one Name that will drive them out, and that is the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In Ephesians 3, it says that God’s intention is “that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord” (vv. 10–11). God wants His church to know redemptive realities. He doesn’t want a church that’s a social club. We’re not playing church here. This is about your name being written on the Lamb’s Book of Life and not in a social register. The church is not a place to be used to make business contacts. The church is a place to learn about God, to rescue young people, to save broken homes, to break the power of drugs, to draw people out of gangs and set them free!

The Bible says, “ ‘Be angry, and do not sin’: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil” (Ephesians 4:26–27). One translation says, “Give no such foothold to the devil.” God has delivered every believer. “Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:12–14). We’re in His Son now! We’re in the kingdom of light now! We’ve been delivered from the power of darkness now! And the only way the devil can have any power over you is for you to give it to him!

So how do we give place to the devil? In the context, Paul is talking about anger. Be angry, and do not sin. Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath. Don’t hold any grudges. Don’t nurse that grudge. Don’t hold something in your heart against people. If the devil can find anything in you like that, he can grab hold of you. For instance, some people sit in front of the computer and watch pornography, and then wonder why the devil’s taking over
their home. Some read the horoscope and try to find out what their future is by the stars. Let me tell you something: we’re born under the star of Bethlehem, under the sign of the cross, and need to reject any other message.

After a service many years ago in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, we ministered to a totally deaf woman. I commanded the spirit of deafness to come out of her in the Name of Jesus and that her ears would be opened. Instantly, those spirits left her and she could hear perfectly. However, the next night she returned to the service just as deaf as before. Again we ministered to her, and she was delivered, but on the third night she returned again totally deaf. The pastor told me that she was living in open adultery, and that despite the fact that the Lord has dealing with her on renouncing this relationship, she would not. The moment she reentered her house, the deafness would return. She could not receive the power of God to stay free because she kept giving the devil a place in her life.

Realize that we are the ones who by anger, jealousy, envy, pride, unforgiveness, immorality, and other sins give place to the devil to grab hold of us. Give no place to the devil. Refuse to budge; be immovable; stand your ground. And if you’ve done that, all you have to do is ask God to forgive you and slam the door shut in the devil’s face.

God’s armor as described in Ephesians 6 doesn’t just fall on you; you’ve got to put it on. It says, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (vv. 10–11). Another translation says, “Be strong in the Lord and the power of His irresistible might. That you may be able to stand against all the strategies of the devil.” Those are military terms. We are in warfare, and there is a place in God that you can stand against all the military tactics of the devil. And then it says, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore,” Paul said, “take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” (vv. 12–13). You can withstand, but you need to put on God’s armor.

The pieces of armor indicate the way the devil is going to attack you.
“Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth”
(v. 14). Stop believing the lies of the devil. The devil is going to try to keep you ignorant of what Jesus really did when He died for you and rose again. Make sure that redemptive realities are yours. Study the Word and know what it says and get it into your spirit.

“Having put on the breastplate of righteousness”
(v. 14). That tells me that the devil is going come against you with condemnation. He’ll say, “You are worthless. Look what you did. Look at your past. Look how many times you have failed to obey what you read in your Bible.” Condemnation will cause you to wilt like wet spaghetti. Put on the breastplate of righteousness to guard your heart. Know that you have been made righteous in Jesus Christ! You’re not going to heaven because you live a perfect life. You’re going to heaven because Jesus died to make you righteous! And your spirit man has the righteousness of God. So put that on, and when the devil comes around, say, “Devil, who are you talking to?” If he says, “You have skeletons in your closet,” remind him that all your closets have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus! Destroy your rear view mirror of life. Quit looking back at what you used to do. Look forward and serve Jesus.

“Having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace”
(v. 15). Another translation says, “Put on shoes that will give you firm footing.” See, when you’re going to fight, you’ve got to get your feet firmly planted in the truths of the Gospel. But it has another meaning. One translation says, “Wear shoes that will speed you on when you spread the Gospel.” One thing the devil will try to do is to keep you uninvolved with any evangelism or missionary program. This is where our time and what our money should be used to support. Wear shoes that will speed the Gospel onward.

“Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one”
(v. 16). Another translation says, “Lift up above all the covering shield of faith whereby you’ll quench all, put out all, those flaming missiles.” That’s faith that says God will keep His Word. We need to act like God is alive and that He told us the truth!

“And take the helmet of salvation”
(v. 17). That tells me that the devil would like to have a heyday in your mind. Your mind is the devil’s battleground. That’s why you need to keep your mind renewed in the Word of God and the truths of what Jesus accomplished on the cross. The helmet of salvation is your cover on the day of battle.