Charlie Rogers Ministry - Enforcing Satans Defeat!

Enforcing Satan's defeat

By Charlie Rogers ministries

Introduction

Have you ever asked yourself, "Is this all there is to being saved?" I once asked that same question. The answer is no! The same one who would convince you that there is nothing more to being a Christian is the same one who will convince you of other false things. It’s very obvious in the Word of God that life is not just about being saved. That’s not the perfect will of God. The perfect will of God is that you take your vengeance out on the devil, and through that you lay up fruit to your account in heaven.

7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight 9 He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him 10 with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him 11 also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will,

Eph 1:7-11 (NASB)

Did you know that He has a will for your life? Did you know that God has a perfect plan for each person reading this? You may not be called to the position that I am, but you’re called. He has a divine purpose for you. It’s up to you to fulfill it. You start by making the decision. Do I just want to be saved or do I want to go on with the perfect will of God?

Resisting the Enemy begins with you

I’ve found the further you move into God the more He tells you about the enemy. Be ready for this. When you move into God and into your calling, He tells you more about how Satan comes to neutralize you and keep you from proving the perfect will of God in your life.

Knowing Your Enemy

It is important that you understand your enemy’s tactics. Satan will come like a thief in the night seeking whom he may devour. He will use whatever he can to keep you from fulfilling your calling. His only weapons against you, however, are things inside you that are not of God. Satan can only use what is in you to turn you away from the perfect will of God. He manipulates you using the ungodly things in your life to lead you off the path God has chosen. It is not Satan that actually destroys you. In essence, you become your own destruction.

You will learn how Satan attacks a move of God. Satan has certain behaviors that are common to all attacks. For instance, you don’t see the enemy attack in the middle of a big move of God. Instead he’ll work along the outer fringes, anywhere that he can, seeking whom he may devour. The enemy comes in to see if he can lure one person away with some temptation or deception. He preys on people who don’t fully submit themselves. He is always around the outer fringes seeking anyone who he can influence and use. The more you move into God the more you will understand and identify when Satan attacks like this.

You can watch the enemy’s work manifest in a person’s behavior. Satan accentuates character flaws that cause people to lie and torment others. If there is a component of a person’s character that is ungodly, it is a weapon for Satan to use against them. The enemy will use these weapons to neutralize ministries, destroy people, and sometimes even steal their salvation.

There is a definite pattern that the enemy uses to keep people from fulfilling the perfect will of God. When a person starts to seek more of God through prayer and fasting, Satan brings his heaviest attacks. Fortunately, Satan cannot succeed unless he finds something inside of you to use. Many people have a hard time accepting this message. People don’t want to accept this level of accountability. If Satan devours you, he is victorious. The only way Satan can have a victory is if you give it to him. Everything you need to enforce the devil’s defeat was given to you through the grace of God. You cannot fail!

I’ve seen seemingly strong Christians come and go. Many of them started out trying to fulfill their calling and became neutralized, sitting in one spot, not doing anything for God and barely making it to church on Sunday.

Just as God has a plan, Satan has a plan over every country, every area, every city, every group, and every individual. It’s his war machine that Paul describes in Ephesians 6:12. Nothing happens by chance. Satan has a design. He has a plan of destruction. He would like to steal your salvation, kill you and take you to hell with him. How does he do this? He uses your cares against you. Don’t underestimate him.

Stopping The Thief From Devouring You

The War Machine

12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Eph 6:12 (NASB)

Satan doesn’t do anything. He has somebody that searches for Christians that can be devoured. He has a well-oiled machine. He has a war machine. He describes it in the previous verse. I will define it piece by piece. Powers are assignments against areas. Rulers of the darkness of this age are over cities. They are the strong men that make sure your church does not see revival. Rulers of the darkness of this age are devils that Satan sends in when good things are happening to try and divide a church. They try to steal the revival that was given to the church two thousand years ago.

Spiritual wickedness in heavenly places describes low-level devils like bitterness, envy, jealousy, strife, division, and unforgiveness. He’ll use those low-level devils to try and cause strife in the church. If that doesn’t work, the strong man is sent to prevent revival.

Some people are so close to God that if they quit right now, Satan would still try to destroy them. Some of you are too dangerous to him. There is always danger of you turning back towards the plan of God and begin to walk in it again.

Many times Satan doesn’t need to send the strong man throughout the churches. There’s enough spiritual wickedness already operating there. He doesn’t have to send the strong man when the whole church is being controlled by spiritual wickedness in high places. If that person or group of people begins to turn toward prayer and fasting, and wanting more of God, then he’s going to send an assignment of the strong man.

Spiritual wickedness can vary. For some it may be care, for others it may be lusts. For others it may be love of money and greed. People who are consumed with greed might be very rich and unwilling to serve the gospel. The deceitfulness of riches has taken them out. Also poverty can take them out when people think it’s godly or humble not to have lots of money. Satan is devouring them because they have something for him to use. Remember, he can only devour you if you’ve got something in your life that he can grab on to. He’s a defeated foe. We’re here to enforce the defeat of Satan. We can’t enforce the defeat of Satan if we can’t even enforce the defeat of the spiritual wickedness.

The book of Jude states there are ungodly people that have crept in to the body of Christ. Wouldn’t you agree that today some churches are allowing ungodly men to creep in? Just look at some of the people that are being ordained in some of today’s churches? Maybe the Book of Jude was written for today.

12 These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit,

Jude 1:12 (NASB)

You are holding communion with these ungodly people. You are ignoring the sin that they’ve committed. You are accepting their lifestyle by the grace of God. They’re self-serving, self-exalting and self-worshipping, They only think of themselves. They are clouds without water. In other words, when it comes time for the anointing to rain down, they are dry. They look good but they have no substance. They’re spots in your love feast, carried about by the winds, laid out on trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the root. They’ve accepted a lifestyle of getting out of the body of Christ, crawling back in, then falling back into flesh. They try to walk in both kingdoms, and convince themselves that it’s all right.

17 But you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, 18 that they were saying to you, ``In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.'' 19 These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid, of the Spirit.

Jude 1:17-19 (NASB)

Every movement, every decision, every reaction, and every word out of their mouths are ruled by the senses instead of their born again spirit. These people are ruled by circumstances. What their eyes see and what their natural mind perceives rule them.

20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,

Jude 1:20 (NASB)

In other words, you can’t keep yourselves in the grace of God unless you build yourself up on your most holy faith by praying in the spirit. It delivers you unto the love of God. It moves you. It changes your life. You leave behind the sense-ruled realm. You leave behind the things of the soul and of the flesh that dictate your actions. Those things no longer dominate you.

22 And have mercy on some, who are doubting; 23 save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh.

Jude 1:22-23 (NASB)

How can you serve God without the Holy Spirit? How can you even be a vessel of God unless you turn yourself over to the Holy Spirit? How will you keep from being deceived and devoured like these spots of the love feasts of the early days? Some have crept in and made a mockery of the grace of God. The same Holy Spirit that brought them up out of that sense ruled realm brings you out of it too.

The enemy’s job is to steal, to kill, and to destroy the works of God that could be done through you. He goes about seeking someone whom he may devour at some part of his or her life that he may devour. If he can find those spots in your life he’ll start devouring you. Then all of a sudden you become a grumbler and complainer. All of a sudden you start justifying and excusing things in your life that are not of God. You can become a spot upon the love feast of the body of Christ. This is what Jude is warning us about. People like this go back to the flesh and the law and the world. They sway back and forth between their flesh and Christ. They justify their behavior through the grace of God. When that evil day comes and you’ll have nothing to stand on. When your evil day comes, regardless of what it is, you won’t have the tools and the things in the word of God that are necessary overcome. You won’t have the faith in God necessary to withstand the evil day. That is Satan’s ultimate plan.

The Victory

God will also show you that you already have the victory. You’ll learn that all the necessary equipment has been given to you to enforce Satan’s defeat. There is only one way to stop the enemy from using you against yourself. You must submit yourself to God. Let him transform those things inside you that are not part of His image. When you let Him change those things, you are proving the perfect will of God in your life. By proving the perfect will of God, you are doing what you’re called to do. You are enforcing Satan’s defeat.

Don’t wait for the victory. He already gave the victory! Everyone is called to enforce Satan’s defeat. God has already given you the victory over him. If Satan devours you, you give him the victory. Resist the enemy steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. In other words your problems aren’t unique. Satan doesn’t have any new tricks. No matter what the problem is, somebody else has faced it before.

6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

Heb 11:6 (NASB)

Without faith it is impossible to please God. Do you want more faith? Seek the author and the finisher of your faith! His name is the Lord Jesus Christ! He’s a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him.

The devil has a plan for every angle. He has no new tricks, but don’t shortchange him. He’s been studying us for thousands of years. He knows what works against us. He’ll go after anything in your life that he can use to destroy you. Satan is good at what he does. You can’t rest in the fact that Satan is a defeated foe. That’s not what Jesus said.

10 The thief comes only, to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

John 10:10 (NASB)

Fortunately, He sent us the Holy Spirit. He’ll help you, comfort you and guide you into all truth. You don’t have to stay in deception. You don’t have to be deceived for the next thirty years like you were the last thirty years. You can walk out of it. But there’s just one problem. You must abide in Him to have that anointing; you cannot live how you have lived. You cannot abide in the world for 23 hours a day, and in Him 1 hour a day. You must live it.

Submitting To God

I can’t resist the devil alone. Only when I walk closer to God and submit myself to Him do I have what it takes to resist Satan.

Often people in healing lines will say, "I’m standing against this disease.

I ask, "You’re standing? What are you standing with?"

Usually they reply, "Well, I don’t know but I am standing." They are not standing. They are wishing. If you want to stand against the enemy, you must submit yourself to God. To submit yourself to God you must know Him. The best way to get to know God is through His Word.

Submitting yourself to God means striving to know Him and His will for you. The good news is He has given us everything we need to know when we submit ourselves in His Word. We have everything we need to resist Satan in any area in which he may attack. You must simply draw upon the things in His Word. If you aren’t happy with something in your character, submit to God’s image. Find God’s character in His Word. If you have the problem with your character of no one being able to trust you, get into the Word and find out what the image of Christ is concerning trust. The Word of God says that if you submit to God and resist the enemy he’ll flee. He has no choice.

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might

Eph 6:10 (NASB)

Notice that He divides this verse into two mandates. Be strong in the Lord and be strong in His power and His might. Just being saved isn’t enough. You must also have that power working in your life. You can be saved and cancer can come upon you and take you to heaven. You might get a trip to heaven, but you won’t finish the work God has planned for your life. You may get to heaven but at what cost? Is it worth going to heaven early if Satan’s defeat is not enforced and more souls are lost?

7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

James 4:7-8 (NASB)

This is just like God. He tells you exactly how to resist the enemy. Submit to God. When you submit to God and draw near to Him, you begin to operate in His grace. His grace is necessary to resist Satan and enforce his defeat.

Believers often say, "I resisted the devil and the torment was worse. I thought the torment was bad before I started. When I submitted to God the torment increased." This can be expected when you do not continually submit yourself. You need to submit to God for a little longer than 5 minutes. You need to submit to God more than 1 day. If you continually submit yourself, Satan has no choice but to flee. It is not good enough to know that the Word of God is true. It is not enough to know that Jesus gave you all authority over darkness. You must put the Word inside you and practice that authority. You need something to pull upon when the enemy comes to test your ground. You need to be able to discern that he is coming. Otherwise, you will walk in deception, trying to justify those ungodly things in your life. As long as you can justify ungodly things in your life you are not able to enforce Satan’s defeat. You are not able to do what you are called to do.

To take full advantage of God you must be humble. To be humble is to be teachable and yielding. God resists the proud. If you want to submit yourself to God you must surrender your pride and be humble. Humble yourself with the Word of God and to the principles that He’s given you to help you transform. Yield yourself to the hand of God that He may mold you, shape you and eventually exalt you to that position where He wants you to be.

5 You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.

1 Peter 5:5 (NASB)

You must say, "If there is any pride in my life I want it out." Then the Lord will begin shining the light on the pride. He will give you a chance to break it with His power. As long as you hate it and surrender to Him, He will walk through hell with you and shine the light on it every time it pops up, giving you the power to overcome. God resists the proud but He gives grace to the humble. This grace is a necessary component to resisting Satan.

The Lord desires for you to walk in all of the anointing He has for you. You determine how much anointing in which you walk. You determine it by how much you submit yourself to God for transformation. Your anointing is determined by how often you utilize the principles you are given in the Word of God such as prayer, fasting, worship, meditation and confession.

Pride will destroy you. The enemy will not need to do much because you will destroy yourself with pride. My desire is that every bit of the mind of Christ comes into my life and is manifested outwardly. The more of Christ that is manifested in my life, the more He can exalt Himself in me. Whenever you begin to take things into your own hands, you are not only making a false exaltation in your life, but you’re opening yourself up for the enemy to come in and devour you.

You must be humble as to not disturb God’s timing. The timing of the Lord is everything. You can have the mind of the Lord and have the will of God but it doesn’t stop there. If you will humble yourself under the hand of the Lord in due season He will exalt you.

6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, 7 casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

1 Peter 5:6-7 (NASB)

Casting Your Cares

Casting cares on God is when the peace of God comes in and begins to consume your life. Then all dependency in every situation, whether it is finances, family, health, or ministries is cast upon Him. There are several things you can do to begin casting your cares on Him. Prayer, fasting, worship, meditation and confession of the Word of God are different ways you can prepare yourself to cast your cares on Him. You must take advantage of these tools to cast your cares, submit to God, and resist the enemy.

How do you know what you have at your disposal if you haven’t read and meditated the Word of God? How can you resist Satan without confessing the Word of God? How can the Word become a part of you? How can you resist the enemy if you have nothing to resist him with? You cannot walk in the undevourable peace of God if you don’t strive to know God’s mind and God’s will.

Many ungodly things in your soul (such as character flaws) are cares. Self-exaltation is a care. Think about it. You are taking on the care of whether you’re going to advance or not. You’re pushing yourself into a position that isn’t for you. You’re pushing yourself into an area which you have not walked and in which God has not exalted you. You’re taking on that care. You are trying to be God by exalting yourself.

Whenever you cast your cares on Him you take the principles in the Word of God and begin to let Him change those areas of your life. Then that care that was in your soul (that ungodly thing that Satan uses to destroy you) is not there for the enemy to manipulate. When it is not there for him to manipulate, you begin to walk in the peace of God in that area. That peace of God is another way you resist the enemy and enforce his defeat.

When you have peace you can begin to receive His fullness. He wants you to be anointed so He can use you to flow through and touch others. You can become that apple tree for others to pick from. If you’ll just begin to turn yourselves over to Him, He’ll begin to change you and start producing the fruit that is necessary to touch others.

Things Don’t Just Happen

Learn to Forgive

Do you know that you cannot receive anything if you’re walking in unforgiveness? You cannot be blessed if you cannot forgive. You can’t ask God to give you something that was bought with the blood of Jesus unless you can forgive. He did not die just for you. He died for that person you are holding a grudge against too. He died for you even though you didn’t love Him. He loved you. Christ bought all of our forgiveness. No person has the right to withhold it from another.

When you ask God to touch your life, the Holy Spirit illuminates unforgiveness in your heart. Then we get to make a decision whether we can take that thing, surrender it to the cross and go on, or whether we are going to continue to justify it.

God cannot bless anything that you continue to justify. That’s why submitting yourself to God is so important. You can be walking in total unforgiveness, but if the Holy Spirit comes and lays it out, you must surrender.

Worship

Do you know that worship will carry you through the worst times? Worship also transforms you. If you are going through some bad times and you don’t even feel like praying you can worship.

15 Therefore be careful, how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, 16 making the most of your time, because the days are evil. 17 So, then, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; 20 always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father;

Eph 5:15-20 (NASB)

In this verse the Word of God tells that there will be evil days. It also tells how to survive and break through any attack of the enemy. Worship will help you break that onslaught of the enemy. It will carry you through to the point that you are back praying again. It can keep you from being neutralized. We are to saturate, submerse ourselves with the presence of God that we will not only survive Satan’s evil onslaught but come out victorious.

Fasting

Through the power of the Holy Spirit you can begin to put to death things in your life through fasting. Fasting helps us break off doubt and unbelief in our lives that we didn’t realize was there. Fasting brings us face to face with ourselves and puts to death those things that are holding us back.

Praying in Other Tongues

When you begin to pray in other tongues, you pray down the mysteries of God into your life. You are praying down the mind of Christ, everything Christ is to you and everything He can be through you. If you want to know the plan of God, let the Holy Spirit show you. Only the third person of the Godhead can take you into the perfect plan of God. His name is the Holy Spirit.

Offer yourself to Him and say, "I want your perfect plan in my life." Begin to pray in other tongues. Let the Holy Spirit come and reveal things time after time and exalt you above those things in your life that you don’t like. I am not talking about a one-time experience of speaking in tongues. I am talking about a way of life!

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, 16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

Eph 3:14-19 (NASB)

Pray this prayer in Ephesians. Meditate on it. Get all you can out of it through the Spirit of God. You will be strengthened through His spirit in the inner man. You don’t want your flesh to be strengthened. It is already strong enough. The flesh needs to be put in its place. The only way you can do that is by giving that place for your spirit man to rise. Strengthen your inner man by the Spirit of God, according to the power that works within. You want to become less devour able? Be filled with the fullness of God according to the power that works within. Do not settle for less when you could have more.

You can’t help, but begin to change, little by little, when you offer yourself over to the third person of the Godhead and let Him begin to do your praying for you. Let Him begin to build you up on your most Holy Faith, leaving behind the lust of the flesh. He’ll help you leave it behind and take you to a higher place. God will begin to do the exalting. You won’t have to exalt yourself any longer. All you have to do is submit yourself unto God; the devil will begin to flee in areas that he hadn’t fled before, because he could find nothing there to gain a foothold.

Meditation and Confession

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5 We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,

2 Cor 10:3-5 (NASB)

Not only do wrong thought patterns and arguments of the mind have to be torn down, but you have to have something to tear these patterns down with which is the word of God. They then have to be replaced with truth, how God thinks. This is how confession and meditation of God’s word plays a big role in enforcing Satan’s defeat. God’s word is truth; wrong thinking and false doctrine can all be replaced with His word. Our lives and thought patterns must be brought into captivity to obedience of the mind of Christ.

Jesus speaking in Mark 4: 14 "The sower sows the word."

20 ``And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.''

Mark 4:20 (NASB)

The word of God is the thing that produces fruit in our lives. We receive the word of God and it produces 30, 60 and 100 fold. It’s the Word that causes a harvest after it is sown in our life. We control this process by using meditation and confession of His word as part of the weapons of our warfare. We stop Satan by replacing the strongholds in our minds with the word of God.

The Grace of God

The grace of God is the power to get rid of things in you that are not of God. His grace is sufficient to walk with you and take you through to victory. His grace will be with you as long as you hate the ungodly things in your spirit and want them out of your life.

Every godly thing in our lives comes by His grace. All of these things (peace, wisdom, etc.) have been given to us freely. Everything that you could not earn, that was given to you as a gift, can be activated in your life if you submit yourself to God. Every time that you fall, the grace of God is going to lift you up and set you back on track. You cannot fail.

Have you ever said, "Everyone is going to have to accept me like I am?" When you say things like that, what you actually mean is, "Just because I’m self-exalting, make a fool of myself and I destroy other people’s lives, they’re going to have to accept me."

The grace of God is not with you. He said He gives grace to the humble. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time. Most believers have trouble with that concept. They want to be on top right away. Actually, if they make it to the top under their own hand, they’re opening themselves up for destruction by taking on that care. If God doesn’t do the exalting it can be taken away. He says if you’ll humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. He will lift you up.

You must also understand why the grace isn’t already activated in your life. No matter what your circumstances might be, if there is torment in your life, you have not activated His grace in that area. God is not to blame for this. God is not the one that has moved out of focus. He’s not the one that has stepped off the path and lost sight of your calling. We are the ones that step off the path. We must walk closer to Him first. If we move off the path and stop drawing near to God we are unable to resist the enemy. Consequently, Satan will not flee.

The problems start when you justify things, ungodly things, and use His grace like a pill that cures sin. His grace is not a little pill that allows you to go ahead and sin. As long as you hate your sin and you want it out of your life, He will walk through everything with you until you can walk out of sin. You must hate the sin as much as He does.

The Armor of God

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.

Eph 6:12-13 (NASB)

The phrase "evil day" might be different for you than it is for somebody else. A Pastor friend from Peru faced his evil day. And time after time, the devil sent guerrillas to try to destroy him and try to cause him to turn against Jesus. They would put a gun to his head and tell him to deny Jesus and spit on his Bible. He refused. That was his evil day. He ended up getting most of them saved.

Your evil day might be heart disease. It might be cancer. Your evil day might be the bankruptcy of your emotions, or bankruptcy of your finances. Paul said to put on the armor of God, that when that evil day comes you’d be able to stand. You’ll be able to withstand during that evil day.

11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the wiles of the devil.

Eph 6:11 (NASB)

The word "wiles" means constant penetration and pressure. It’s the kind of pressure that occurs when a waterfall hits a rock in the same place with a drop of water every second of the day. Eventually the rock will be penetrated by water. The biggest problem that we have is we wait until the enemy comes to see if we can be devoured, and then we decide it’s time to walk into the armor of God. But God said, "You’ll be able to withstand in this evil day having put on the armor." Do you know that the armor of God is not standing up in the morning, getting out of bed, and putting on the helmet of salvation?

Don’t wait for your evil day. Begin to walk into the armor of God right now. Begin to walk into that place in Him before your evil day comes. The word of God is not just something to get us out of a bind; it’s a way of life.

Putting on the armor of God facilitates a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. As long as you head toward a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, you will not fail. It doesn’t matter what your call is. It doesn’t matter what you need to be delivered from. As you keep the focus of a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, you can withstand your evil day. God’s grace has provided all that is necessary in the Word.

Many people teach that putting on the Armor of God is something you do before you leave the house in the morning. You gird your waste with truth, put on the helmet of salvation and go to work. This teaching takes away from what God is trying to tell us. The armor of God is something you always have at your disposal. It is a way of life; it’s a walk with God. If you want to survive the enemy’s war machine, you must always walk in the armor.

What is your evil day? Well, for one person it might be that when cancer comes for your life. For another, it might be when divorce comes to their life. Bankruptcy, a nervous breakdown or any other personal crisis that comes to challenge your ground can be your evil day. Before that evil day comes, take up this armor that will stop the wiles, the war machine of Satan.

14 Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS,

Eph 6:14 (NASB)

It’s interesting that he mentions girding your loins with truth before the rest. There is a reason for this. The reason soldiers gird their waist is to stop the penetration of a spear, or in modern days, a bullet. A spear in the stomach was guaranteed to bring a slow painful death. Nobody could do anything for you. He wants you to walk in truth. You don’t have to walk into a lie. You don’t have to be a part of a lie. It isn’t just standing up in the morning and girding my waist about with truth. It isn’t about going through those motions and then walking out of the house. He wants you to walk and live in truth.

Why would he make a correlation with girding your waist in truth? Because lies last a long time. A lie from five years ago can have a slow agonizing death. It might not come to fruitation until ten years later. To gird your waste with truth is to stop lying and begin to walk in truth in every aspect of your life.

Next he mentions the Breastplate of Righteousness. Having put on the breastplate of righteousness, begin to walk in the righteousness of God. Submit to God. Begin to seek the Kingdom of God and His right standing, meaning the right standing of God for you spirit, soul and body. His righteousness gives you the right to walk in health and peace of mind. His righteousness is that you have been given in the word of truth and how to get it inside you.

15 and having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE;

Eph 6:14-15 (NASB)

You can walk through anything that hell throws at you as long as you have the peace of God. When the devil comes, you will walk through it because of the peace. You are able to walk in peace, regardless of the circumstances, regardless of the devourer and his scheme. You won’t take on the care, but you’ll walk in the peace of God. You will withstand that evil day when the enemy comes to take your family or your life. The peace is undevourable. You might say, "I don’t have the peace of God", but you can start now attaining it in your life. I do not have all of the peace of God that I want, but I have more of it than I had ten years ago.

16 in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Eph 6:16 (NASB)

6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

Heb 11:6 (NASB)

Above all, take the shield of faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God.

God is a faith God. You must believe that He is who He says He is. Faith is KNOWING your God! If you worship Satan, then you’re going to have faith in Satan. If your god is cocaine, and it gets you through the day, you will have faith in your drugs. If you have faith in God and worship Him you will not be devoured.

To get ready before that evil day comes, BEFORE THAT EVIL DAY COMES, put on this armor. Take the shield of faith so you can quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. He cannot harm you if your faith is upon God. It says, submit under God, resist the devil, and he’ll flee. But first you have to submit to God. You must have faith in Him enough to submit. Without faith it’s impossible to believe God. Take up the shield of faith, begin to walk and turn yourself over to God, to the point that all your dependency is not upon men, on men’s traditions, but it’s upon God and His power.

He says, take the Helmet of Salvation. Begin walking into a renewing of the spirit and of your mind. Remember that you’re born again, that the new man is coming forth, and the old man is buried. Begin to walk in that salvation. Let the new man come forth, and be renewed. Let the Holy Spirit teach and train this born again spirit. You were spiritually dead before you were born again. You couldn’t receive anything from God. Now you can!!!

The Sword of the Spirit is the word of God. You cannot fight without a weapon. The enemy comes to see if you can be easily devoured. You can say, "No, I’m not easily devoured because I put all my cares upon Jesus. I put His yoke on; that born again experience, that I entered into. That Sabbath I entered into with my life. You must know this so you can use it. You have to have something to slice that defeated foe’s head off.

If the devil says, "You’re going to go under if you don’t have enough finances. Don’t write that check out for that offering." You can say, "My God shall meet all of my needs. By Him I’ll prosper. No weapon formed against me, Satan, that you have, will prosper against me. He took on my poverty and I took on His riches in heaven."

18 With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,

Eph 6:18 (NASB)

The first thing that he said was be attentive be sober and vigilant about your enemy that comes about seeking whom he may devour. How can you know if the enemy is coming to destroy your family or your finances if you’re not walking in the place where you can see it? You can’t expect to see the things of the Spirit if you are always walking in the natural. The only way to know the spiritual things is to be watchful, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. The enemy will not stop after one attack. First it’ll be money, then women or men, and then it’ll be both money and people. He has a plan, a methodical plan for your life. He’ll try to devour you constantly with spiritual wickedness in high places. He’ll send that little demon of doubt and unbelief, speaking in your ear. He couldn’t do those things in the natural. He has to try something else.

It’s your job, your call, to produce more fruit. We’re called to produce more fruit. You may not be called to this pulpit ministry like I am, but you are called to bear much fruit. You’re not called to sit in a pew and let somebody teach you false doctrine. That’s not God. He called you to bear much fruit. God wants you growing. God multiplies and produces. He believes that I’m going produce more of what’s in me. He believes that I’m going to produce more healing evangelists, miracle evangelists, and entrepreneurs for the gospel. God said go forth, be fruitful, and multiply. He didn’t say, go forth, stay small, and don’t grow.

The Choice Is Yours

If we want to resist the enemy the first step is to realize on whom your dependency falls. All dependency must be in God - in every area of your life. If you are facing financial difficulties, you might as well give them up. Put your dependency on God. The Word says He is a God that will supply all of your needs. The Word doesn’t say He will supply part, a few, half, or three quarters of your needs.

Let the Holy Spirit bring you into that new peace that you’ve never experienced before. Let Him give you peace that is everlasting and that will not leave at the end of the worship service. You determine how much peace and anointing in which you walk! God doesn’t determine it. I don’t determine it. The Pastor doesn’t determine it. You determine whether it carries on!

You may say, "I don’t know whether I want that responsibility."

It doesn’t matter. You determine it. You make the choice whether you’re going to apply those things and begin to walk into the peace of God. You determine whether or not the devil can manage you. Put the old man to death. Let the born again man come forth. You determine whether you are going to be devoured or not. You determine whether you are going to take what you read here and use it. You determine whether you find yourself on the outer fringes being devoured by the enemy while everyone else is in the flow of God. YOU DETERMINE.

8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

1 Peter 5:8 (NASB)

He didn’t say he was a roaring lion. He said your adversary is like a roaring lion. You determine whether he has the power to harm you. You determine whether he becomes that lion or not. If you are enforcing his defeat he cannot devour you.

But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. 10 after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establishes you.

1 Peter 5:9-10 (NASB)

You get to determine how fast you are able to resist the enemy. You get to determine whether you’re devourable or not. When did you start to decide that you’re going to become un-devourable? Just when did you make that decision? When did you make that decision to start applying the things in the Word of God? That will determine just how much you have to go through. When you make that decision that you’re not going to be devourable you’ll start applying the Word of God.

Take this into account with each decision that you make. "The devil is defeated, and I’m here to enforce his defeat. I am not here to become a casualty on the outer fringes. Because of the full redemptive plan of Christ I become born again, washed in His blood, filled with the Holy Spirit and became able to carry out the perfect will of God for my life. I will carry out His plan until the time of the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. "

It seems more often I am finding some men and women of God that I held in high esteem in the past may have stopped too soon and settled for too little. Even though it might seem on the surface and on T. V. that they have it all, I’m beginning to wonder if they’ve been neutralized a little bit. Perhaps they’ve stopped a little short of what God wanted. It isn’t that they aren’t doing good work for the kingdom, but perhaps He had just a little bit more for them. Maybe something came along and changed their minds and talked them out of having more of God.

I’m not going to settle for being stopped with just a portion of what God has. If He has called me as a healing evangelist, then I have my eyes on all of the wheelchairs being emptied. I’ll not leave Peru with someone in a wheelchair. That’s in my vision. Maybe it is different for you. If you’re an entrepreneur, maybe you don’t want to stop with just a hundred thousand dollars. Maybe you want to go just a little further. I believe that some in the body of Christ are settling for less. They are settling for what they have right now. They don’t want to submit.

Start seeking those things in the Word now. Stop making excuses. Decide that you’re not going to settle for what you have in the body of Christ right now. It starts with a decision from you. The decision can’t be forced on you. All I can do is present the truth.

You can’t make a decision for anybody. We as individuals must make the decision. It begins with you. Will you settle for what you have, or do you want more? Will you settle for that same old cycle in which you’ve been living? It has to begin somewhere with a quality decision. Then you begin to apply the things in the word of God. You can’t just make the decision. It takes more than that. You must apply the things that are being taught to you. It takes action.

Your spouse isn’t going to stand before Jesus with you and answer why you didn’t serve God. You have to stand before Him. I have to stand before Him. We each have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. We can take it to the extent that we want to take it. It’s our decision. You can have all of God or just a little bit of Him. The more things that you exalt above Him the more devourable you become by Satan.

All He wants to do is get you started in the right direction. He wants to increase the hunger in your heart so you can begin to apply more of the Word. God wants you to become such a machine that there is no stopping you. He wants you to have everything in your call, everything in your life and everything in your family’s life that He has for you. He doesn’t desire Christians that just start with a little bit and stop. That’s how denominations get started. They get a little bit of God, and then they stop at a certain place. They only get part of a message in the word of God. They only get a part of what God has for them because they don’t continue to apply the things in His Word. They give in to pressure; continue with programs and an arm of the flesh.

You beloved who decided that even one hour a day of praying in tongues was not enough will be built upon your most holy faith. When that evil day comes you will be delivered. The perfect plan of God will be delivered unto you and you will walk through it because of the redemptive plan of the Holy Spirit. You’ll find out when you get to heaven and that fire comes to test those fruits. That will be the proving day.

I think that there are people that do not want to hear His voice. Many preachers have talked themselves into being neutralized. They don’t walk in the power He has for them. They sound good on Sundays. They’ll give you a nice little sermon with no real power. The message has to do more than sound good. As preachers, we should be setting the example for all the believers. We should show everyone that there is something better out there that is attainable. We shouldn’t just preach the Word of God, but also be an example of how it works in a person’s life. Somewhere along the line you must stop and take a look at your life. Decide if what you are doing lines up with the Word. Ask God, "What is it that’s lacking in my life?" The message will come alive to more people when it is delivered by a living example of God’s power.

This power is not just for preachers either. This is the walk of believers. This is the plan of God for everyone’s life. If your pastor is not an example of God’s plan, you are not excused. You are also responsible for a personal relationship with God. Believers must walk in the power that is available to them if they want to fulfill the perfect will of God. The world is tired of seeing powerless preachers.

You say, "Well how do you know that?" Well why do people turn to psychics on television? They want to see the power. They want to see the manifestation of power. So if the church can’t provide it, they will go seeking it somewhere else. We talk about a powerful God but not many are ready to stop and let the power of God flow through them. I know of preachers, of pastors, who will not pray for somebody because they are waiting for God to move. They don’t know if the anointing will be there when they pray. They can’t be certain that God will heal someone when they lay hands on them.

There is a walk close to God where you don’t even question the availability of His power. You know it will be there every time, no matter what you need. There is that place in your walk where you know that it’s there and available every time. It’s called having faith in God. You can get to this place if you put all of your dependency on Him. That’s part of having a personal relationship.

1 And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined to know nothing, among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, 4 and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

1 Cor 2:1-5 (NASB)

Don’t fall victim to the wisdom of men. In the previous verse, Paul is warning us not to fall victim to intellect. You should depend only upon the power of God, for whatever you need. Don’t depend on humanity, or traditions, or organizations. Depend on God for what you need in any realm. This is how you resist the devil, steadfast in the faith. This is how you keep your feet firmly planted. You must know that God is who He says He is. All your dependency must be upon God instead of the wisdom of men.

6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, 7 casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

1 Peter 5:6-7 (NASB)

What is He exalting you over? He’ll exalt you over whatever you are suffering from. He will exalt you over whatever makes you devourable. Are you suffering from a lack of finances? There’ll come a time He will exalt you above it. First, you’ve got to humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.

Some people want to take part of the word of God, but not the rest of it. If He said believing upon the Lord Jesus Christ could save me, I’m going to be saved. If He said that I could be set free because of the blood that was shed on the Calvary I want to be free. If He says that by His stripes I was healed, I want to be healed. I want to walk in divine health. I want the perfect will of God. I love the second will of God, which is miracles and healings. I can have those things whenever I need them. I want the best that my Father in heaven has given.

Conclusion

Having said all these things I will say this, there are usually two groups of thought. One opinion is that the devil is defeated and there is no need in fighting him. The other opinion is that there is a devil behind every tree waiting to attack us and we need to be on the look out all the time. Both of these opinions are neither right nor wrong.

During the time Jesus walked here on earth He defeated Satan at every turn in all things. (John 16:15) Jesus then turned around and gave us every victory as our own. (Matt 4:3-11) When Jesus met Satan in the wilderness He defeated him at every turn, body, soul and spirit. There is three victories, one for each area. (John 19:30) At the cross He cried out, "It is finished," meaning every battle had been won, every positional standing was complete. Victory is ours. So we see that Satan is a defeated foe. However, if I were to ask any one person if they felt that they had been attacked by Satan lately, each would have to truthfully admit that they felt Satan’s forces to some degree. So he is defeated but yet we feel the effects of his attacks, sounds somewhat contradictory.

This is the key that draws it all together. Satan was defeated at every turn. Jesus died for us and not only gave us salvation but every victory with it. We are to be here on earth walking as Jesus walked Enforcing Satan’s Defeat, and keeping him in the place that Jesus declared him. That’s how you and I lay up fruit in heaven. By enforcing Satan’s defeat continually not allowing him to have an inroad in our lives to any degree. That is what you and I are to do. I do not battle a defeated foe, but I certainly enforce the defeat previously delivered to all believers.