If you keep your spiritual eyes open during certain seasons, you’ll see the Lord directing his messengers to remind his Bride of certain spiritual truths. I believe we’re in one of those seasons, and the message the Lord wants to remind us of is that we have spiritual authority through him.
In Part 1, we discussed Jesus’ authority. In Part 2, we discussed the authority of spiritual powers in the Kingdom of Darkness. In Part 3 I mentioned this section would be broken into several parts. The first was:
– How Spiritual Forces fight against us and our authority over them.
Today, we’re discussing how spiritual forces can inhabit those under the dominion of the Kingdom of Darkness (Luke 8:26, Acts 16:18)
Then, to wrap things up, in the last part, we’ll deal with the following:
– How spiritual forces can have dominion over a country, state, city, town, or household (Daniel 10:13-21, Rev. 2:13, 3:9)
Today’s primary verse is:
Colossians 1:13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,
Who has he delivered?
“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,” John 1:12
As you recall from earlier teachings, the Apostle Paul said, “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against the rulers, authorities, cosmic powers over this present darkness, the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
Eph. 2:2-3 says, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins, in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
The Bible tells us there are two kingdoms: the Kingdom of Light and the Kingdom of Darkness. Those under the Kingdom of Darkness are called “the sons of disobedience.”
Satan works through those under his dominion by playing upon the wrongful passions that reside within our flesh. He attempts the same tricks with us, but we who the Father has delivered from the Kingdom of Darkness through his Son are no longer subject to the will of Satan, albeit that does not keep him from tempting us and doesn’t strictly prevent us from submitting to his temptations.
Consider Ro. 6:14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
So, generally speaking, the way that Satan “inhabits” or works in and through those in the Kingdom of Darkness is by taking advantage of their spiritual blindness. He lies and deceives, tempts, binds, and destroys.
Not only does Satan afflict those in spiritual darkness, but he’ll sometimes use the sons and daughters of disobedience to provide a temptation to a Christian.
I had this happen to me back in the late 90’s. I had started following Jesus, and our youth group was on fire. Then, one day, a 17 y/o female and her friend showed up to class and immediately showed an interest in me. She had a car, and I got caught up with her. It didn’t take long for her to pull me from GOD, and I spent several years in a downward spiral afterward.
This scheme and trick happens more often than you might believe in our “churches,” not only to young men but also to those who are married and those in ministry. We have to be on guard against the schemes of Satan as he’ll often use men and women under his dominion, who are still in slavery to their fallen nature, to attack the Saints.
Sometimes, people open themselves up to Satanic influence more than others. We have several examples of this in the Bible.
Luke 8:27 When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs.
Acts 16:16 As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. V18 And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.
Acts 19:11 And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, v12 so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.
Verse 13-16 tells of a demon-possessed person who attacked a group of 7 Jewish exorcists and overpowered them.
I have a testimony that might challenge your faith but could also encourage you.
Some years ago, I was on the phone attempting to speak to someone about some business dealings with had together. Although we’d previously discussed the arrangement, this phone call with the person was very contentious. They disagreed with nearly everything we’d already agreed upon, and it was difficult for me even to get a complete sentence out. During the call, the Lord said, “That’s a spirit speaking through them. Take authority over it and command it to be silent.” That’s what I did, and instantly, the entire conversation changed from one of chaos and contention to peace. We quickly resolved our business, and I learned a valuable lesson.
In conclusion, Satan can work through people, not only to their detriment but also to attack or tempt us in various ways. Sometimes, they seem to hate us for no reason and make it their agenda to make our lives miserable. Other times, they seem to a friend but stab us in the back. Other times, they come as an attractive person who appears at “just the right time.” In all of these cases and many others I have not mentioned, we must be on guard about who we allow into our lives.
Many young, foolish people have married for lust, mistaking it for love. Others thought they were getting mister or misses right and lived in misery after the person revealed their true nature.
It’s essential to have people in our corner who will watch out for us and speak the truth over us from God’s word. Satan is prowling about, looking for someone to devour, but when we have true friends in our corner, he’ll have a much harder time overtaking everyone. Even if he does manage to knock one down, there will be others to pick us back up.