Glorious Way Church
Glorious Way Church equips believers for the work of the ministry and stands for God’s truth in our culture. We serve as a regional center, where people from all backgrounds find refreshing worship and true communion of the saints.
Glorious Way Church
Breaking Demonic Opposition
Equip yourself with the spiritual armor you need to face life's unseen battles. Discover how embracing our identity in Christ and accessing divine power shields us from demonic opposition. We'll guide you through the essential elements of truth, righteousness, faith, salvation, and the Word of God that fortify us against spiritual challenges. Learn how continuous prayer and supplication empower believers to claim victory in these perilous times.
which is our custom around here, and wave them around and make Jesus glad and the devil mad. Let's say this together Say Heavenly Father, I'm grateful for Wednesday night. I've tuned in because I'm hungry for the Word. I'm hungry for more, more of the Word of God, more of the Holy Ghost, more of God's presence in my life. And as I give attention to the word of God and the Holy Ghost, I'll bring forth victory in every situation, in Jesus' name, amen.
Speaker 1:All right, let's look in our Bibles to Ephesians, turn there to Ephesians, chapter six, and we'll start reading with verse 10. And this is Paul writing to the Ephesian church and to us, verse 10. 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, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world and against spiritual wickednesses in high places. Wherefore, take upon you the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and, having done all to stand. Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, having on the breastplate of righteousness and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace and, above all, taking the shield of faith wherewith you're able to quench all of the fiery darts of the wicked and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit which is the word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.
Speaker 1:So tonight I wanted to share a message entitled Breaking Demonic Opposition. Breaking Demonic Opposition. You know, paul told Timothy that in the last days perilous times should come, and perilousous, certainly dangerous times, violent times. We're living in those times right now. And uh, you know, the devil is angry because he knows his time is short, and uh, he has been loosed upon the church to see if he can wear out the saints according to the prophecy of Daniel, and he's someone who tries to oppose and hinder every move we make. But we will not be intimidated or defeated. We're believers with God's own authority.
Speaker 1:So here in Ephesians six notice we started off in verse 10. It says finally, my brethren. So essentially, these next verses are a wrap up of everything that was in Ephesians one. Through this point I mean it's, it's some, it's a summation of the points that he's making. And you know, the book of Ephesians is just filled with the advantages that we have when we have the revelation of being in Christ. You know, we're told, we're challenged, to be strong in the Lord, not in our own strength, not in our own mind, but in the Lord. We're in Christ.
Speaker 1:And of course, ephesians, chapter one and two, those great prayers that I call them the Ephesian prayers, where Paul prayed for the church at Ephesus, and he, he talks about our seating, which is far above all principality, power, might and dominion. Why? Because we're in Christ. We're seated with Christ in heavenly places, at the right hand of the father, and uh.
Speaker 1:And then it goes on to say in verse 22, that all things are under our feet. What does that mean? It means we have full authority, the church has authority on the earth. And you know, if you've been around here very long, I teach on the authority of the believer on a frequent basis. But I'd just like to give us a little encouragement tonight. It's not that it's new, perhaps it might be new to you, but you know, God told me years ago just start teaching the things that you take for granted. When I look around the body of Christ, I see revival is beginning to spring up, I see God is moving in many hearts, but there's a lot of lack of knowledge about the believer's authority, and so I like to touch on that subject on a regular basis. Besides that, those of us that know it, we need to be refreshed in it and we need to have our faith built up in it.
Speaker 1:So, you know, in Mark 16, 17, he says these signs shall follow them that believe. And first on the list of the signs is they shall cast out demons. To cast out means to eject, to expel, to thrust out, and it has a note of violence. I mean, you know these demons are not. You know, notice, I didn't say the devil, I'm talking about Satan's hierarchy. You know we, the devil himself is not who we fight, because he's just one entity, but he does have an army, he does have a hierarchy, and it lists those here in Ephesians.
Speaker 1:It talks about the principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, spiritual wickedness in high places, and of course, under them are the demon powers that roam the earth, that attempt to. These powers are in the heavenlies, in the area above just the atmosphere, and they're the ruling spirits, but we still. You know, the difficulties that we have are not with people. We wrestle, not with people with flesh and blood, but against these spirits. And so, you know, we need to be able to know how and and to have faith in the fact that we can break all demonic opposition to us. And so, and how do we do that? Well, we use the name of Jesus, because at the name of Jesus every knee must bow.
Speaker 1:And so, you know, in Acts 1.8, so all through the book of Ephesians, he's teaching us about our authority. He's talking to us about what we've been delivered from the power and authority of jurisdiction and control of darkness. He's talking about how we be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. In Acts 1.8, jesus said you'll receive power after the Holy Ghost comes upon you. That word power is not authority, but it's dunamis, it's that violence. You know, it's one thing to have authority, but then with our authority, we have a supernatural power called dunamis. That goes with it, and I like to picture myself when I speak and break demonic opposition, it's not only with my authority, but it's also with dunamis, it's with supernatural power that's greater than the power that has attacked me. I'm just wired that way. I mean, if somebody hits me, I'm going to hit them back harder. No, I'm not talking about flesh and blood, but I'm talking about the devil. Let's answer every attack of the enemy with equal or greater power back toward him, and that's what we have to believe. It's a thing you know. We can't see it with our eyes, we can't feel it with our flesh, but we believe it in our heart because the word says so.
Speaker 1:How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with a Holy Ghost and power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him. See, there's that the anointing he had, the anointing to break people out from under sickness and disease. It calls sickness oppression of the devil. You know, sickness is either directly or indirectly caused by demon powers, and it's good, you know, when you're believing for your healing, you know sometimes you've got to break demonic powers that have attacked you. In Colossians 1.12, it says we've been made meat to become partakers of the inheritance of the saints. In light that word, it means we've been given the ability to become partakers of the inheritance. Well, what does that mean exactly? It means that we've got power to break demonic opposition.
Speaker 1:Because if there's any entity that wants us not to be able to walk in our inheritance is the devil and demon powers, his hierarchy, these principalities and powers and rulers of darkness, spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places. They hold sway over demonic powers on the earth. And so sometimes we've got to, you know, instead of just hitting some low level demons, sometimes we've got to get up a little higher and rebuke those controlling powers. You can do that, you can know that when you pray, god can show you how to pray about these things. And in Colossians 13, 14, it talks about the blood of Jesus gives us power over demonic opposition to our inheritance. I mean, he's given us his blood. The blood has purchased us and bought us out from under bondage to the demon powers and we've been set free from all authority, jurisdiction and control of these powers. And so we have to confront and thrust out demons who hinder our receiving our inheritance.
Speaker 1:I'm going to tell you, the devil's not going to let you walk in health. He's going to oppose you. He's not going to let you walk in prosperity. He's going to oppose you. He's not going to let you walk in prosperity. He's going to oppose you. He's not going to let you be promoted on your job, he's not going to allow you to enjoy your children. I mean, you know there's opposition to almost every thing that God has provided for us, and we need to know that we can confront it and we can break that opposition, hallelujah. And we need to know that we can confront it and we can break that opposition, hallelujah.
Speaker 1:And so, getting back here to Ephesians, chapter 6, finally, see I'm summing it all up. I'm summing up what I've been teaching you all through these chapters Be strong in the Lord. See he gets back to in Christ. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. See we're in him, lord, and the power of his might. See we're in him and we have his entire armor. He goes on to talk about the entire armor of God.
Speaker 1:Whenever I think about the armor of God, I think about the sons of Sceva, who were Jewish exorcists in Acts, chapter 19. And they watched Paul. You know he was having all kinds of amazing miracles. God wrought special miracles for that by the hands of Paul, so that from his body, handkerchiefs or aprons were laid on sick people and they were healed. And demon powers left people that were demonically oppressed. And so they, they got impressed with that and they thought, well, we can do what he does, we're going to start trying to cast out devils by the name of Paul preaches. And so that's what they did. They tried that on a young man that had demon powers and they said, well, you know, the young man said to them, when they said, we cast you out of the name of Jesus that Paul preaches, he said, well, you know Jesus, I know, and Paul I know. But who are? You See, they didn't have the armor of God on. See, they didn't belong to Jesus. They were. They were not born again.
Speaker 1:And so, you know, we've got to know that we've got this armor, when, when we put this armor on, it's the armor that makes us look exactly like Jesus. I mean, you know, you're known in the spirit realm not because of you, but because of who you are in. He can't tell the difference. He can't tell the difference when you and Jesus, when you have the whole armor of God on, and so it's not all about you being strong and yourself and being determined. Yeah, that's a little tiny element of it, but really we've got to stir our faith to know that in the spirit realm, when we're confronting these powers, we look just like Jesus, we sound just like Jesus and we have his name, hallelujah.
Speaker 1:And so then you go through this armor and you look at it and the only part of the armor that is offensive is the sword of the spirit. And that word sword there is not really like a sword big, long blade, it's really a dagger and it's meant for hand-to-hand combat. It was a kind of personal weapon that Roman soldiers carried on them and they didn't have room for a big, old, long sword. It was a shorter knife, it was two-edged and it cut both directions and it was for personal, one-on-one combat. And so that's the part of the armor that we have. That's the only offensive part of the armor that we have. That's the only offensive part of the armor. All the rest of it, you know the helmet, the shield, the, you know the breastplate, our loins girt about, our feet shod with, you know, with armor like uh, shoes, I mean you know they all protect.
Speaker 1:But then the sword of the spirit is for the offensive. That's what, that's what we use to move the devil aside. I mean you know he feels that sword of the spirit and what is it. It's the Rhema of God, the word word. There is Rhema word, and when you speak the Rhema word in faith, I'm telling you, the devil feels some power, he feels dunamis, he there's a power and a vigor, a vigor that hits him and that is irresistible, that's greater than any power he has. And so, uh, we need to speak the word of God against demons and they will move. Uh, you know, while I'm talking about confronting these spirits, uh, you, spirits, you know, let's get out of the habit of fighting flesh battles. You know, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, and so included in that is things like you know, I've seen people, when they get a hold of this, they start binding the devil about a flat tire or about a dead battery In their car, about a broken air.
Speaker 1:Listen, this is just You're wasting time. The devil didn't give you the flat tire, the demon didn't give you the flat Tire. You ran over a nail or, you know, you hit the tire and tore a hole in it. Whatever it was, it's just life, you know. And so let's not glorify the devil by Giving him all this power.
Speaker 1:That really is just living regular life. I mean, we live in a finite world. Everything's got a lifespan. Cars got a lifespan. I mean, the devil didn't steal your car, you just wore it out. I've worn out so many cars. Really, what happened was God extended the life of my cars. It wasn't, it wasn't the devil robbing me, he just extended the life I've had. I've had one car was over 300,000. The other was 280,000. I mean I've, uh, you know, 160 on the third one. I mean, man, you know I've I've put a lot of miles on cars and I just credit the Lord for extending their lives. But I'm not going to waste time buying the devil over something that's going to wear out.
Speaker 1:And so, you know, I like the Charles Capps years ago. You know Charles Capps from England, arkansas. He's in heaven now, but he was a great Word of Faith preacher that really gave me a lot of wonderful teachings and he was telling the story. He was a pilot, he had a single-engine airplane that he would fly to meetings in. After he started getting invitations to go, he graduated out of a car into a plane and he would fly himself to meetings.
Speaker 1:And he said one time I went out to the airstrip near my house in Arkansas and I'm flying to my next place and I got everything all buttoned up and got in there and went through the checklist and I went down the runway and I was about to lift off and rotate and take off and all of a sudden the passenger side door blew open. I mean, it's really unnerving. And of course he shut everything down. He had plenty of room to shut everything down and put the brakes on and throttle back and he was rebuking the devil, you know, and everything. And he gets out of the plane and goes back around and the Holy Ghost said well, the devil didn't do that, you just forgot to lock the door. And that door is a Cessna and you had to rotate the handle all the way around on the inside to shut it. And he just forgot to rotate the handle. It sounded like it latched, but it wasn't locked and so it blew open.
Speaker 1:So you know, listen when you pray, god can show you what you're facing and he can show you whether there's demonic opposition in some of the things that you're facing and when you know that there is demonic opposition. I just want to give you a number of things. I've got five things. Five is the number of God's grace, and so I'll give you five things tonight that you need to remember and to know. You need to know some things. You need to know them down in your knower and be persuaded of them. So the first one is you've got to know that you have absolute mastery over the devil and demon powers, in Jesus' name. It's not something you try to do, it's something you do and see. You know you? Just, you have to meditate.
Speaker 1:In Ephesians, chapter one, verse 22. I mean, it says all things, put all things under the feet. Where are the feet? The feet are in the body. Where are the? Where's the body? The body's on the earth. We're the feet and so if he put all things under our feet, he's given us authority over all authority of the devil. So you've got to get fully vested in that knowledge. You've got to get it down in your heart so strong that you never doubt that, you never look for someone else to take authority for you. I mean, when you're first starting out, yeah, you need agreement. Yeah, you need people to help you to. You know, possess your promises. But let's grow in the idea that we have authority. God loves you. Your prayers avail much. Your authority means as much as anybody else's when you speak by faith and you bind the devil and demon powers when you cast out demons.
Speaker 1:Remember what it means to cast out demons. I'm not talking about casting demons out of people, really. I mean, a lot of people take this to mean casting demons out of people. Well, that's a little bit overstated, you know it doesn't happen. Yes, it does happen, but but honestly, what it, what it really means, is the context of preaching the gospel. You're going out into all the world and the devil's going to try to get in your way.
Speaker 1:That's the context of those verses, and so it just means that when you cast him out, you're rejecting him, you're expelling him, you're thrusting him out of the way with violence. See, there's that dunamis again. See, you're moving him out of the way, you're breaking opposition. So that's what we're talking about and you've got to know it. You've got to know that you can do it and really I heard Brother Hagen teach this many years ago and he said nothing. The devil will never oppose you until you get into the fullness of this right here, when you start using your authority against him, he will really double down on you. Get ready for a bigger battle, because he's not going to just go quietly, he's going to do everything he can to move you out of your place of authority, and you've got to be more determined than he is. All right, so know that you have absolute mastery over every demonic power.
Speaker 1:Number two, uh, is found in verse 13 and 14. When you've done everything you can do, then stand. See, stand. What does it mean to stand? Well, it doesn't mean to wilt, it doesn't mean back up, it doesn't mean bow. It means to stand up with your shoulders square and you're looking straight in the face of the enemy. And you know that you've exercised your authority. And if you don't see anything, move, you just keep confessing. Well, I hold the blood of Jesus against you. The blood of Jesus has been shed. My authority is true and you must move. There's no choice in it.
Speaker 1:And sometimes you know these things are long, deep seated, uh that we're praying over that we're using our authority, over that we're confronting these demonic oppositions have had time to to array in a battle so that it's a little harder to move. It's not just instant, you know. Yes, we have an effect instantly, but as far as seeing the effects of our authority, sometimes it takes a while. That's when you have to stand. You have to stand and you went by standing. That means you've got to hold onto your confession. You can't say, well, I guess this doesn't work, well, I guess I'm just not uh strong enough. Well, I guess I can see. That's that you're. You're undoing what you just did. So you've got to stay strong.
Speaker 1:In your confession it says having done all stand, having on the whole armor. So when you read the armor, the armor has something to do with your mind. You've got to guard your mind. You've got to guard your heart. Don't be offended. You've got to guard your pathway. Your feet have got to be on the pathway of righteousness. You can't be walking over here in fellowship with sin.
Speaker 1:You know you've got some things that you've got to do while you're standing and of course you've used the sword of the spirit and really, after you've used that sword, you remind him. Well, I use the sword of the spirit against you, devil I. I jabbed you with. You know, no weapon formed against me shall prosper. Isaiah 54, 17. No weapon formed against me, devil, is prospering. Jab and so forth. So we're going to stand and you've got that offensive weapon sticking him and then now you can laugh at the devil. You really can. You can laugh at all that he's trying to do, because you know he's on the run, you know he's on the way out. So there's some things that you've got to know, you've got to settle. And then, number three we find in 1 John 4, for greater is he that's in us and he that's in the world.
Speaker 1:Rely on the Holy Ghost as your helper. Rely on the Holy Ghost. See, you're not in this battle by yourself. You've got the Holy Ghost helping you. And in your prayer life, in Romans 8, 26,. For we know not what to pray for, as we ought, but the Spirit himself maketh intercession for us. Which groanings which cannot be uttered. He helps our infirmities. The Bible says it helps. He takes hold together with us against.
Speaker 1:So when we confront demon powers, the Holy Ghost confronts them. When we speak to demon powers, the Holy Ghost is behind us, he's helping us. He supplies the power, he supplies the dunamis, you see. So it's not us, it's the Holy Ghost in us. Oh, praise God. I mean you've got to know that. You've got to rely on the fact the Holy Ghost is helping. You're not in any battle by yourself. What I've seen in my own life I'm tempted.
Speaker 1:Sometimes Battles can be long-lived. I mean, you know, I've already taken my place of authority, I've exercised my faith, but perhaps the circumstances are not changing yet. You know, it takes time, and so it's during that time when these things you've got to know, you've got to rely on the fact. Well, you know, the Holy Ghost is helping me. When I go to sleep tonight, the Holy Ghost is still carrying forward all my words. He's carrying forward that that sort of spirit is being propelled by the Holy Ghost. He's cutting the devil up. My faith is working when I'm asleep. You know, it's just wonderful. You know we don't have to stay up all night long whining and crying, having a pity party. In fact, that's a lack of faith there. No, let's train ourselves to stand and to rely on the Holy Ghost as our helper. All right, and then, of course, I've already mentioned at verse 17,.
Speaker 1:Stick the devil with the rhema word. Don't forget the word. Always use the word when you're addressing demon powers. Get a rhema, you know. Ask God. You know, god, what's a good word for me to use in this situation?
Speaker 1:You know, sometimes you're dealing with spirits that are afflicting your health. I've had that happen many times. You know. Sometimes you know, whether it's directly or indirectly our health, any kind of disease, any kind of infirmity, the devil is either directly behind it or he's indirectly behind it. God is never behind it. God has never sent it, god never did it, god didn't allow it. Get, allow out of your vocabulary. It's always the devil, or I should say demon powers, not the devil. I say the devil sometimes loosely, but I really mean his hierarchy. And so he has these groups of infirmities that will try to attack you, to try to get you by into less than better health. So sometimes you've just got to stand your ground and use the word of God, no devil. By the stripes of Jesus I was healed. You know, stick him with the word, stick him with the word and he will flee from you.
Speaker 1:And then, finally, in the last one, 1 John 5, 4, and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Give God all the glory for the victory, because it's not really our victory. It's the victory that Jesus provided for us on the cross, and he's the one that provides the faith that we have. You know, he dealt to every man the measure of faith. Romans 12, 3 says so. We can't even take credit for the faith we have because Jesus gave it to us, and God gave it to us in Romans 12, 3. The minute we got saved, god dealt with us the measure of faith to get saved. And so since then, we've grown in faith and we're operating by faith, and so when we have victory, he gets all the credit, he gets all the glory.
Speaker 1:And that's what I like to do. I like to praise God before I see any change. I like to give him the credit for the victory before I can even see any victory. Why? Because faith is the victory. Faith is the victory. When you have faith and you've spoken in faith and you've done all to stand, I'm telling you you already have the victory. You are already on shouting ground and you are already defeating demonic opposition. So be encouraged tonight. I know we're going to be facing more and more of it as the day gets closer that Jesus comes back and we'll be more than equal to any demonic opposition. We'll know how to break it. So let's lift our hands and receive the word of God. Hallelujah, father, thank you tonight. Thank you for the good word of God, and we're putting it to work. In Jesus name.