Stronger Than The Adversary...


I just got back from London; it was a too short visit with my sister and her kids. My niece Stephy turned eleven while I was there (happy birthday sweetheart, I love you, you are a star. She’s taller than I am and sometimes finds her way to this blog, but tells me it was a mistake. So I have to give a birthday shout out just incase she mistakenly reads this)

I’m not short… I’m about 1.67m or thereabout and the eleven-year-old sweetheart is as tall as I am.  I remember carrying her around and holding her to sleep on my chest as a baby, that’s one of the glaring proves that I really am older than she is. Now I may need her to carry me if there has to be any carrying in our love language.
Before: Pardon my dreads :)
The known fact that she’s an inch taller than me, makes her (and me) forget the truth that I’m older than her, thus she bullies me, and I run and scream and plead with her to stop as I cower like a lost puppy, but she keeps going on and on with the tickling. 

One day as she harassed me, it suddenly dawned on me, that the fact that we were walking head to head didn’t mean I couldn’t or didn’t have authority over her. So with my new-found knowledge, I took charge. I ordered her to stop in between my shrieks for mercy, and I guess she sensed I had come to my senses, but she wasn’t sure if I was joking or not, so she tried tickling me some more, I was almost resigning myself to fate but I forced my voice to be as firm as I could muster and asked her to stop and spiced up the order by ordering her to kneel down and put her hands up, proper naija style punishment. 

She was shocked, but something in my voice must have told her the joke was over and I was serious. She knelt down and I did a victory dance and laugh around her… reminding her I had authority over her and showing her who the true boss was. It was fun watching her squirm as the amused smile at kneeling turned into pain when she realized kneeling with your hands up isn’t really a fun type of punishment, it hurts. (She’s never had to do that punishment, lucky her) I was the boss again… no more running away from my subordinate.
After

 
That’s the kind of game the devil plays with us and we forget we really are more than conquerors; we have the authority to talk him down when he comes with his bullying and harassments. (Sweetheart, you aren’t the devil… I just used it as an illustration ok? Don’t question your salvation :))

No weapon formed against you shall succeed and every tongue which rises against YOU in judgmentYou shall condemn.…(Isaiah 54:17) not angels… but you, the condemning is all in your hands or you just keep right on being a victim when you really are a conqueror.

Here's a rather long excerpt from a story Hagen told on Authority (Yeah it’s long, I know, but I feel we ought to read this) “In 1952, the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to me in a vision* and talked to me for about an hour and a half about the devil, demons, and demon possession. At the end of that vision, an evil spirit that looked like a little monkey or elf ran between Jesus and me and spread something like a smoke screen or dark cloud. Then this demon began jumping up and down, crying in a shrill voice, "Yakety-yak, yakety-yak, yakety-yak." I couldn't see Jesus or understand what He was saying.

(Through this entire experience, Jesus was teaching me something. And if you'll be attentive, you'll find the answer here to many things that have troubled you.) I couldn't understand why Jesus allowed the demon to make such a racket. I wondered why Jesus didn't rebuke the demon so I could hear what He was saying. I waited a few moments, but Jesus didn't take any action against the demon. Jesus was still talking, but I couldn't understand a word He was saying—and I needed to, because He was giving instructions concerning the devil, demons, and how to exercise authority.

I thought to myself, Doesn't the Lord know I'm not hearing what He wanted me to? I need to hear that. I'm missing it! I almost panicked. I became so desperate I cried out, "In the Name of Jesus, you foul spirit, I command you to stop!" The minute I said that, the little demon hit the floor like a sack of salt, and the black cloud disappeared. The demon lay there trembling, whimpering, and whining like a whipped pup. He wouldn't look at me. "Not only shut up, but get out of here in Jesus' Name!" I commanded. He ran off.

The Lord knew exactly what was in my mind. I was thinking, Why didn't He do something about that? Why did He permit it? Jesus looked at me and said, "If you hadn't done something about that, I couldn't have." That came as a real shock to me—it astounded me. I replied, "Lord, I know I didn't hear You right! You said You wouldn't, didn't You?"
He replied, "No, if you hadn't done something about that, I couldn't have." I went through this four times with Him. He was emphatic about it, saying, "No, I didn't say I would not, I said I could not." I said, "Now, dear Lord, I just can't accept that. I never heard or preached anything like that in my life!"

Jesus replied, "Son, there is a lot in there you don't know." He continued, "Not one single time in the New Testament is the Church ever told to pray that God the Father or Jesus would do anything against the devil. In fact, to do so is to waste your time. The believer is told to do something about the devil. The reason is because you have the authority to do it. The Church is not to pray to God the Father about the devil; the Church is to exercise the authority that belongs to it.

"The New Testament tells believers themselves to do something about the devil. The least member of the Body of Christ has just as much power over the devil as anyone else, and unless believers do something about the devil, nothing will be done in a lot of areas."
 We believe that certain people have power. No, Jesus said the least member of the Body of Christ has just as much power over the devil as anyone else; and when we start believing that, that's when we're going to get the job done.

Jesus continued, "I've done all I'm going to do about the devil until the angel comes down from heaven, takes the chain and binds him, and puts him into the bottomless pit [Rev. 20:1-3]."

That came as a real shock to me. "Now," He said, "I'll give you the four references that prove that. First of all, when I arose from the dead, I said, 'All power [authority] is given unto me in heaven and in earth' (Matt. 28:18). The word 'power' means 'authority.' But I immediately delegated my authority on earth to the Church, and I can work only through the Church, for I am the Head of the Church." (Your head cannot exercise any authority anywhere except through your body.)

The second reference Jesus gave me was Mark 16:15-18: 15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. 17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

He said, "The very first sign mentioned as following any believer—not any pastor or any evangelist—is that they shall cast out devils. That means that in my Name they shall exercise authority over the devil, because I have delegated my authority over the devil to the Church."

The next reference Jesus gave me was James 4:7: ".. .Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (the understood subject of this sentence is "you"
.

After that vision, and after Jesus gave me that verse from James, my spirit told me the word "flee" was significant. I looked it up in the dictionary and found one of the shades of meanings was "to run from as if in terror." The devil will run from you in terror! Then I knew why the demon in my vision had begun to whimper and cry—he was terrified.

Since then I have seen other demons quake and quiver in fear as I exercised my God-given authority over them. They were not afraid of me, but of Jesus, whom I represent.

In the vision Jesus gave me another Scripture that tells us to do something about the devil. This third reference was from First Peter. Peter wrote, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Peter 5:
. Your adversary means your opponent. Notice what it says as we go on reading. The next verse reads, "Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions [tests and trials] are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world." The American Standard Version says "your faith" instead of "the faith." I like that better.

Jesus said to me in this vision, "Peter did not write this letter and tell Christians, 'Now, word has come to me that God's using our beloved Brother Paul in casting out devils, and he's sending handkerchiefs or cloths, and the diseases are departing from people, and evil spirits are going out of them, so I would suggest that you write to Paul and get a handkerchief.' "

No, instead of that, he told them to do something about the devil. Why? Because they've got authority over him. The Spirit of God through the Apostle Peter wouldn't tell you to do something you couldn't do.

Jesus, James, and Peter tell us to do something about the devil. Paul says in Ephesians 4:27, "Neither give place to the devil." This was the fourth Scripture Jesus gave me. He explained, "This means you are not to give the devil any place in you. He cannot take any place unless you give him permission to do so. And you would have to have authority over him or this wouldn't be true."

Jesus added, "Here are your four witnesses. I am the first, James is the second, Peter is the third, and Paul is the fourth. This establishes the fact that the believer has authority on earth, for I have delegated my authority over the devil to you on the earth. If you don't do anything about it, nothing will be done. And that is why many times nothing is done." Now you can understand why things have happened as they have. We've permitted them to happen! Not knowing our authority—not knowing what we could do—we have done nothing, and we actually have permitted the devil to keep on doing whatever he wanted to do.

We need to realize this. Let's wake up. We may have to change our way of praying and get after the devil. I did. It won't hurt you to change; it's good for you. We have authority to do this. We're sitting at the right hand of the Father, far above principalities and powers. If we're far above them, then we have authority over them. (Kenneth E. Hagin)

I’ve let so many things happen and hoped that if God willed He would do something about it… I’ve realized that the victory has already been given to me, thus all I have to do is walk in that victory through exercising my authority, in prayer and pronouncements over my life… say a thing and it shall come to pass.
He’s given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the powers of the enemy, nothing shall in anyway hurt you(Luke 10:19). Don’t sit back and let oppression continue in your life… don’t wait for Jesus to reprimand the devil when He’s given you the power to crush Him. Use the authority you’ve got today! You're stronger than your adversary.

Comments

  1. Things have happened because we permitted them to happen. That's serious. The vision you described ... I can't get that image out of my head. Thanks for sharing this. Oh, and 'Go Aunty, Inyamu!' Your niece will thank you when she's older :-)

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  2. Hmmmm quite an enlightening post. Thanks for sharing. However, sometimes, one cant help but wonder why some bad things still happen. Sometimes even when we practice exercising this authority you have described here. Well, we prayed and prayed when mummy was sick. She died anyway. Yet we prayed using every authority we have been given. Me sha I taya for the matter. Unless there is another way to-do it that we were not aware of. I don't know... I don't know knowIng you understand my point.. I don't know.

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    1. I'm so sorry about your mum.

      I totally understand your point. I wish I have answers to such questions. I have read about great healing revivalist who healed thousands (with outstanding testimonies from cancer to legs growing out etc) die young of one illness or the other... somethings we really can't understand. We can only look at God and raise our brows at Him in question... even as we continue to trust Him through life, knowing that He alone knows what's best and what the big picture is.

      And as we keep living, even when it feels like our prayers are not being heard and our authority is being thrown back in our face, we keep praying and we keep exercising that authority in faith, because the word of God says so and we believe even when we don't see results... We let our faith lead us. Sounds like a foolish thing to do, but God uses the foolish things of the world...

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  3. Wow, this is great... Many times I've asked God to help me with my thoughts that are not of Him; not knowing that all I have to do is to command the thoughts to get out in Jesus name... Thanks for sharing..

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  4. Hi Joy,

    Which of Kenneth Hagin's book is this...I think it's "The Believer's Authority" or something like that? Please confirm the exact name...

    My sympathies to the commenter that lost their mum even after praying and believing so much. Remember the Bible records that even Jesus couldn't perform much or any miracle in his town...and there was reason given for that. At times when things go this kind of way, I lean on the knowledge that God is perfectly good and just, and so is His perfect will which can never be faltered, so we must continue to trust, seek Him and grow. If before this or in the process your mum became saved, then please rejoice in the fact that she is eternally with Jesus! ... Shalom

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    1. Hi, yeah, it's 'the believers authority'. In all these, salvation is the ultimate!!!

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  5. And also Joy...

    Revelatory from this post and Hagin's account:

    'But I immediately delegated my authority on earth to the Church, and I can work only through the Church, for I am the Head of the Church." (Your head cannot exercise any authority anywhere except through your body.)'

    So if the church does nothing or does not exercise it's authority ot step out in faith as regards all the things we pray on and complain about in society, music & entertainment, the church itself, etc, nothing will be done.

    ...The church is you and I!

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  6. We don't fight "for" victory,we "fight" from victory- someone said.

    Great post!

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