The final casting down of Satan is described in the Book of Revelation. Our role as overcomers is also explained. The two-fold basis for our victory over the devil is of great interest:

“Then I heard a loud voice shouting across the heavens. ‘It has happened at last! God’s salvation and the power, rule and authority of his Christ are finally here.

“The accuser of our brothers has been thrown down. He accused them day and night before our God.

“And our brothers overcome him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony – the spoken word of truth..”‘ (Rev 12:10,11 smf).

1. Two Keys to Victory

The two keys to being an over-comer are these:

a)     The Blood of the Lamb – which has washed away our sins so we are accepted by God (just (as) if I’ d never sinned.)

b)    The Word Of Their Testimony – which is our speaking forth words which agree with what God has said in the Bible.

2. Using The Keys

By The Blood Of The Lamb. How do we overcome by the “Blood of the Lamb”? I am sure you understand that “the Lamb,” as used in this scripture, refers to Jesus.

You remember that when John the Baptist saw Jesus coming to be baptized, John said:

“Behold THE LAMB OF GOD who bears away the sin of the world” (John 1:29,36)

When John’s disciples heard Jesus referred to as “the Lamb of God,” they left John and followed Jesus.

As Israelites, they well understood the significance of this. The Israelites experienced forgiveness and atonement through the following process.

God had prescribed that a lamb be brought as a sin offering to the brazen altar in the temple. The sinner would then lay his hands on the head of the lamb as it lay on the altar and confess his sins. Through this process, the sins of the confessor would be transferred to the lamb.

Because the penalty for sin was death, the lamb then had to die on the altar. The lamb didn’t die because it sinned. The lamb was slain in place of the sinner (the one who really deserved to die). The lamb became a substitute sacrifice for the sinner – dying in his place.

1) Jesus Shed His Blood for Us. This illustrates what Jesus was doing on the cross for you and me. We were the ones who deserved to die for our sins. But Jesus (the Lamb) died as our substitute -in our place. I should have been hanging there on the cross – but Jesus took my place (and yours). thus I can be “at-one” with God. I am forgiven and enjoy a standing before God “just as if I’d” never sinned.

Our sins are “forgiven and forgotten” because Jesus shed His blood on the cross for us (as the Lamb). Therefore, the devil hates the blood of Jesus.

2) Jesus’ Blood Is Powerful Against The Enemy. That cross and the blood Jesus shed there for us defeated the devil and the demons, so they hate the blood of Jesus.

My first attempt at casting out a demon was in 1948. I was a young Christian who had more zeal than knowledge or wisdom. In trying to cast the unclean spirit out of this man, I was attempting something far beyond my spiritual development and experience.

However, in the attempt, I learned something that has stayed with me all my life. When I spoke to the demon and told him to come out of the man, the demon screamed out, “The blood of Jesus is swine’s (pig’s) blood!” The demon repeated this terrible profanity over and over. It made chills run up and down my back.

From this, I realized how powerful the blood of Jesus is against the designs and devices of Satan and his demon followers.

The “Blood of the Lamb” kept Satan (the destroyer) out of the Israelites’ homes on Passover night in Egypt (see Chapter I of this section).

The blood of the sacrificial lambs of the Old Testament kept Satan from claiming the believing righteous. In death, those who are “saved by the blood” went to paradise – out of Satan’s reach and claim (see Luke 16:19-26).

The blood has frustrated the devil’s plans all through the centuries. No wonder the New Testament writers spoke so enthusiastically about the blood of Jesus.

“…You were redeemed… with the precious blood of Christ… He [Jesus] loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood… He redeemed us to God by his blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation…” (1 Pet 1:18,19; Rev 1:5; 5:9 smf).

3) Plead The Blood. A good friend named David told me the story of his father. His father had been an Anglican who ws soundly converted and filled with the Spirit and became a Pentecostal preacher in England.

He had his funny ways – one of which was to go around all of the time humming and whispering. “Under the blood, Lord! Under the blood!”

David asked his father one day, “Why do you do that, Dad?” With a very loud voice his father responded, “Well, do you know anything else that it would be better for an old man to mutter about?”

David didn’t answer, but in his mind he thought, “No! I guess not, old man. I can’t think of better words than that to fill my surroundings.” So David decided to pick up the habit and frequently walks around muttering the same thing. What about you” What do you mutter?

“And our brothers overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony – the spoken word of truth..” (Rev 12:10,11 smf).

When you come up against the enemy in prayer, say these words: “Powers of darkness, I plead the blood of Jesus against you – I command you to release this person in the Name of Jesus. Jesus’ blood purchased this person’s freedom, and I command you to come out, to release your grip on this life right now.”

This kind of praying and confession of faith will cause the demons to tremble and flee. Use the blood of Jesus in prayer. It is a strong spiritual weapon.

b. By The Word Of Their Testimony

Our Salvation. There is power in what we say – our testimony or confession. We know that man’s part in salvation is to:

1. believe in our heart, and
2. confess with our mouth.

“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Rom 10:9 smf).

When we both believe and confess that Jesus died – shed His blood – for our sins, and confess that God then raised Him up from the dead, we are saved and enter into the victorious Christian life.

Our Confession. It is one thing to enter into the victory of Christ’s life, but how do we keep on walking in victory over Satan? Well, we get the victory and keep the victory the same way – by the confession of our mouth.

Many of us consider our problems, thinking thoughts of doubt, fear and despair. We should resist the enemy by speaking forth words of faith, hope and love. The words of faith, hope and love. The word confession means “to say the same as ” or “to agree with.”

When we confess our sins, we are agreeing with God that they are wrong. They are harmful to us, and grievous to Him. We don’t deny or excuse our sins, but we say the same thing that God say about them.

We not only confess our sins, but we also confess what God says in His Word (the Bible) about our salvation, financial provision, healing and blessing.

For example, when we are sick we confess:

• “I am the Lord thy God who healeth thee…”
• “…He healeth all my diseases…”
• “By his stripes I am healed…” (Exo 15:26; Ps 103:3; Isa 53.5 smf).

This is God’s Word and we agree with Him that it is right and true – for us!

3. Victory In the Court Of Heaven

The Bible says that Jesus is “the High Priest of our confession” (Heb 3:1). That means He works with what we say to enforce victory for us. ” He lives to make intercession for us” (Heb 7;25 smf).

There is a legal side to our salvation which is related to our confession. Jesus is our advocate (attorney, lawyer, barrister). If He is to be successful as our lawyer, it will depend largely on our confession (what we say).

Satan visits Heaven regularly to accuse the brethren (see Job 1 and 2 and Revelation 10:10). When he does, how is Jesus going to answer and refute Satan’s accusations? By your testimony - by what you say.

a. Three Things Said. A famous American evangelist explained it this way. When the devil is accusing you before God, there are three things said:

1. What the devil says;
2. What the Bible (God’s Word) says;
3. What you say?

If you agree with God’s Word, and say what God’s Word says, your testimony will be used by Jesus to refute the devil’s accusations.

b. Four Roles Played. Capture this picture of the court of Heaven. There is God’s great bar of justice. Four different roles can be seen in such a scene:

1. There is the “Judge” Who   decides who is guilty and what the penalty will be.
2. There is the “prosecutor” who will try to prove that the one who is accused is guilty as charged.
3. There is the “Defender” who will seek to prove that his client is not guilty as accused.

c. Who Are the Players? Who plays these various roles in the court of Heaven? They are as follows:

1. The Judge is God Himself who is altogether wise and just.
2. The prosecutor is the devil, also known as the “accuser of the brethren.”
3. The defendant is the Christian believer (you or me) who has come under the condemnation of the devil.
4. The Defender is Jesus Christ, our lawyer (advocate) and intercessor (1 Jn 2:1).

d. The Trial. The prosecutor speaks first, pressing his charges against us before the Judge. Some of his accusations are true and some of them are false. His case is so convincing we may feel mixed up and afraid. If we do, we will likely stand there with our heads bowed and say nothing. Or worse yet, we may try to defend ourselves and even deny the charges that are true. This could lead to our loss, for our Defender must present our case on the basis of what we confess.

Jesus plainly but powerfully put it in these words: “You will have whatsoever you say!” (Mark 11:23) smf).

How much wiser to agree with our adversary – the prosecutor – where we may have been wrong. But also to state that the penalty for our wrong doing has already been paid by our Defender – with His own blood.

We then turn our defense over to Jesus. He will take our confession of sin and salvation, and plead before His Father, and our Judge. His own death upon the cross.

On the basis of the cross and His shed blood, justice has been satisfied. The Judge declares us pardoned and we are set free without penalty. The prosecutor has been defeated. He has no further grounds for his charges. He was overcome by the blood of the Lamb AND the word of our testimony!

Moreover, once we have been cleared of all of his accusations, we are in a position to charge him for every lie he used in trying to bring about our defeat.

By confessing the truth, not only are we set free, but eventually he will be put in the very prison (Hell) which he had planned for us.

E. REVIEW THE PRINCIPLES

We have linked together five basic principles in the study of the victorious Christian life. They are worthy of our review:

1. Reject Condemnation – Accept Conviction
2. Turn to Jesus as your refuge;
3. Agree with God that you have fallen short of his expectations;
4. Use The Sword Of The Spirit – The Word Of God
5. Give Jesus A Good Confession Of Faith To Defend You With

May these truths be set in our hearts and fixed in our minds. With them we can be winners every time. They are a sure and strong defense against the attacks of the devil. No longer can he use his weapons of accusation and condemnation to weaken our faith and our prayers.

We will stand up, speak forth, and deliver ourselves and others with the sure Word of the Lord.

VICTORY IS OURS NOW AND FOREVER.

C. OUR DEFENSE AGAINST THE DEVIL

1. Three Basic Principles

How do we deal with this problem of condemnation? How can we face the lies and accusations of our deceiver, the devil? The answer involves three basic truths or principles:

1. Turn to Jesus as your refuge;
2. Agree with God that you have fallen short of his expectations;
3. The “Yes – But!” response.

2. The Principles In Detail

Let us study these three truths in more detail. Together they form a strong defense against the attacks of our adversary (enemy), the devil.

1. Turn To Jesus. What do we do when the enemy seeks to make us retreat by firing at us his big guns of accusation and condemnation? We turn at once to Jesus for our refuge. He is our fortress for safety. Kenneth Copeland once said the Lord spoke to him and said: “Son, if you sin, run to me and not away from me”
   When we try to face the enemy on the basis of our holiness or self righteousness, we are being led away from our refuge in Christ. The moment we do, we will be defeated.
   Outside of Jesus we have no defense. In Christ Jesus, however, we are not only safe and secure, but also sure of perfect victory
2. Agree with God that you have fallen short of his expectations. Sometimes we do sin and come short of God’s holy purpose for our lives in Christ. All we have to do is acknowledge or confess that before God. This is not done to inform God of what we did or failed to do, but to let God know that you agree with him that you’ve wrong against him and that that you have repented.
   In Psalm 51:4, David cried out “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done evil in your sight” John the apostle tells us that “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
   Jesus never argued or agreed with the devil. Sometimes the devil confronts us with the truth of our shortcoming. We are not called to argue or agree, but stand on the word of God.
   How does it work? Let us consider a possible example.
3. “Yes – But!” The devil has just accused you of having a dark, evil thought. You respond by saying, “I was wrong in that. BUT…” Now comes the response which will leave the devil totally defeated. “BUT the blood of Jesus Christ has cleansed me from all sin.”
   You can’t stand on the ground of your own righteousness by trying to deny your failure. You know you have failed, and so does the devil. If you try to argue with him on that point you have lost before you start. No, in this example, the ground for our faith is not our goodness, but the righteousness of Christ with which we are clothed.

No Condemnation In Christ. Yes, condemnation is a powerful weapon in the hands of Satan. He is very clever in his use of it. He may even come to us as an “angle of light” (2 Cor 11:14). When he does, he will seek to deceive us into thinking that our feeling of condemnation is from God.

As we said above, God does convict us of sin. The purpose, however, is to bring us to repentance and forgiveness. After we’ve repented and made restitution (if our sin was against someone else), any leftover feelings of guilt are not from God – they are the condemnation of the devil.

God will never condemn us when we sin or fail, if we repent and confess our sin to Jesus (1Jn 1:9).

He will firmly reprove and correct our lives, but always in love. Never will His correction carry even a hint of rejection. Correct us, YES. Reject us, NO! We have been forever accepted in the righteousness of Christ.

“Who dare accuse us, when God has chosen us for his own? Will God? No! He is the one who has forgiven us and given us right standing with himself.

“Who then will condemn us? will Christ? No! He is the very one who died for us, and was raised to the right hand of God where he pleads for us…

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!” (Rom 8:33,34; Rom 8:1 smf).

Satan is the source of our condemnation. He will find a weak area in our life and bring it before us over and over again. He will use it to hammer into our hearts feelings of guilt, fear, doubt and despair.

Through his lies he will seek to draw us away from our refuge in Christ – our righteousness in Him. If he succeeds, he knows we will not resist or oppose him in faith.

This is the reason we must know what has been taught above. Otherwise we will not be victorious, happy Christians.

Righteous Standing In Christ. Through Christ’s death on the cross we have been saved from the guilt and penalty of our sins. We stand before God JUSTIFIED. (Which means just (as) if I’ d never sinned.)

More than that, we have also been “sanctified” - made holy and righteous in Christ. When God looks upon us, He doesn’t see our sins, weakness or failures, but the righteousness of His son. We are accepted in Him, and have been given the goodness of His life!

We not only stand in Christ before a holy God without fear, but we can also stand up to every evil spirit without fear. Our righteous standing in Christ is the ground of our victory over the devil.

3. A Threefold Defense

Satan knows this, but he doesn’t want us to know it – or live in the power of it. For him, it means defeat.

Therefore, he will seek to destroy our faith and our will to resist him – by using the heavy club of condemnation. No wonder Paul tells us that “we are to be aware of his clever and tricky tactics” (2 Cor 2:11 smf).

We see, therefore, that our defense against the condemnation of the devil is three-fold:

1. Turn to Jesus as your refuge;
2. Agree with God that you have fallen short of his expectations;
3. The “Yes – But!” response.

Now we are ready to press on into victory.

4. The Sword Of The Spirit

The word of God is the Sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17). Jesus is our example for the victorious life. His victory over the devil and demon powers was won by using the Word of God. During His temptations and testings in the wilderness, Jesus refuted and defeated the devil with Scripture. To every temptation He responded, “It is written.”

To “refute” means to prove someone’s word is wrong by speaking the truth. Jesus refuted the words of the devil by speaking the word of God. Jesus won with the Word, and we can too.

The word of God on Condemnation

• “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1
• “He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” Psalm 103:10, 12
• “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17
• “God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:17
• “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.” John 5:24
• “For I will be merciful to their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more.” Hebrews 8:12
• “I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins.” Isaiah 43:25
• “Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the LORD, and He will have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. Isaiah 55:7
• “I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide; I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD’; and You forgave the guilt of my sin.” Psalm 32:5
• “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9
• “How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered!” Psalm 32:1
• “Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, ‘Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.’” Revelation 12:10, 11
• “Straightening up, Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?’ She said, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said, ‘I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.’” John 8:10, 11
• “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, ‘for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.’” Jeremiah 31:34
• “Let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” Hebrews 10:22
• “For if you return to the LORD, your brothers and your sons will find compassion before those who led them captive and will return to this land. For the LORD your God is gracious and compassionate, and will not turn His face away from you if you return to Him.” 2 Chronicles 30:9

B. DECEPTION: THE DEVIL’S WEAPON

If the devil and his demons have been stripped of their authority by Christ’s victory on the cross, why are there so many defeated Christians? The answer is in one word: deception. The devil tricks or deceives us into believing that a lie is the truth, that something is real when it isn’t; that wrong is right, and right is wrong.

If we believe his lies, he has gained a foothold in our lives. He will then take as much room as we will give to him. He has no legal right to do this, but he will if we allow him to.

Jesus said that the purpose of a thief is to kill, steal and destroy (John 10:10). Satan is a thief. He seeks to steal and destroy that which is not legally his.

We have the power and authority to stop him every time. However, he will try to make us think that we do not. He will seek to look and act as if he is in command.

He wants us to think and feel like we are weak, helpless victims under his power and control. If he can deceive us, the devil knows we will fall back in fear and not resist him in faith.

If the devil can’t deceive us in large ways, he will try to deceive us in smaller things. Sometime ago a pastor was dealing with a demon-possessed man. As he sought to cast the devil out in the Name of Jesus, the devil boldly rebuked him. “You can’t cast me out, because you haven’t fasted!”

What would you do if a demon accused you of not fasting? would you feel you weren’t ready for such a situation?

This, of course, was an attempt of the devil to get this pastor to put his faith in his fasting rather than the Lord.

At first the pastor was dismayed because he realized that he hadn’t fasted beforehand. He was almost tricked into backing down and leaving the man as he was.

Then he realized what the devil was doing. Therefore, he firmly replied, “You lying devil, I haven’t fasted, but Jesus has. Now you come out in Jesus’ Name!” and the devil did – at once!

1. Accusation And Condemnation

The Scriptures tell us that we are to be aware of the deceptive tricks and tactics of the devil (2 Cor 2:11). What, therefore, are the methods by which the enemy seeks to weaken our faith through fear? Two important ways are through accusation and condemnation.

Satan first accuses – charges or blames – a christian for some fault, failure or weakness in his life. The charge may be true or false. In either case, if we accept it, we will feel guilty and unfit. We have been brought under the fear of judgment or condemnation.

a. Conviction Versus Condemnation. We need to be able to discern or know the difference between:

1. the “conviction” of the Holy Spirit and
2. the “condemnation” of the devil.

The Holy Spirit will “convict” us of sin by clearly pointing it out to us. Once we see our guilt, we repent (turn from our sin). True repentance causes us to be sorry that we have sinned against the law and love of our heavenly Father.

The Spirit will then move us to confess our sin and receive God’s forgiveness. In this we are restored to the joy of our salvation.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness – wrong thoughts, words and actions” (1 Jn 1:9 smf).

“Against you and you only have I sinned and done evil in your sight… wash me and I will be whiter than snow… Hide your face from my sins, erase them from your sight… Create in me a clean heart, O God and renew a strong, right spirit within me… Restore to me the joy of your salvation and give me a willing spirit that wants to do your will” (Ps 51:4,7,9,10,12 smf).

Satan, however, will “accuse and condemn” us for both our sins and our weaknesses. Sometimes we are not even guilty of the things for which we are charged.

In either case, however, his purpose is to bring us into feelings of both doom and despair. He wants us to think that God has cut us off and that we have little hope for the future. If he can’t take us this far, he will seek to keep us under an uneasy cloud of divine disapproval. His desire is to so weaken our faith, that we will feel we aren’t strong enough spiritually to face him in warfare.

This is what the Apostle John teaches us: “If our hearts condemn us not, then we have faith towards God” (1 Jn 3:21). If our heart is heavy with condemnation, our faith will be weak or we will be without any faith. Without faith, we will not fight! That is what the devil wants – a Christian who will not fight or resist.

b. False Accusations. The name “devil” means one who accuses or falsely blames another. More Christians are defeated by accusation and condemnation than anything else.

Satan’s method of attack is well known to most of us, although we may not be aware who is behind it. In fact, we will be the victim of a double deception if we cannot recognize either the liar or his lies!

For example, we all at one time or another have spoken to someone more harshly or sharply than we should have. Even though we may have quickly confessed our fault to the Lord, the devil will still seek to drag us under a cloud of condemnation. He will remind and accuse us again and again of our un-Christ like conduct.

We repent over the same sin repeatedly, but can’t seem to get free from our feeling of guilt. It spoils our prayer life and hinders our worship. It robs us of our peace and joy and weakens our faith.

We are afraid to engage in spiritual warfare for ourselves or on behalf of others. Satan will be very quick to tell us that we are at his mercy because we have failed in our Christian walk. Sound familiar?

2. Evil And Lying Thoughts

Another way the devil attacks us is to shoot evil thoughts as “fiery darts” into our minds. They may even come at some special time, as during prayer, worship or even holy communion.

If the enemy can tempt us into developing the thought into evil words or actions, he will. If, however, we are quick to resist that temptation, he will try another tactic – that of condemnation. He will accuse us of having an evil mind and an unholy heart. He will tell us that other Christians never have such thoughts.

He may even go so far as to say we are in danger of losing out with God altogether. He will take his work of condemnation as far down the line of our life as he possibly can.

If we accept these lies of the devil, we will be left helpless, hopeless and faithless. the devil’s fiery darts have produced the faith-consuming flames of doubts and fear.

Then when we come up against a spiritual problem, we don’t have the faith to come to God or resist the devil. So, we give in, give way and give up. No wonder Peter says:

“Be awake, and on guard, because your adversary, the devil, prowls around as a roaring lion looking for someone to eat and destroy” (1 Pet 5:8 smf).

Next week

C. OUR DEFENSE AGAINST THE DEVIL

1. Three Basic Principles
2. The Principles In Detail
3. A Threefold Defense
4. The Sword Of The Spirit

Table of Contents

Introduction

A. A DIVINE AUTHORITY

1. Relationship Gives Authority
2. Names Written In Heaven
3. Childlike Faith

B. DECEPTION: THE DEVIL’S WEAPON

1. Accusation And Condemnation
2. Evil And Lying Thoughts

C. OUR DEFENSE AGAINST THE DEVIL

1. Three Basic Principles
2. The Principles In Detail
3. A Threefold Defense
4. The Sword Of The Spirit

D. OVER-COMERS ARE VICTORIOUS

1. Two Keys to Victory
2. Using The Keys
3. Victory In the Court Of Heaven

E. REVIEW OF THE PRINCIPLES

Introduction

Jesus Christ has given us perfect victory over the devil and his demon powers. That was His part. Our part is to enforce and keep the victory and live our lives as victorious Christians. The purpose of this teaching is to help us do this.

We have seen how important it is that we know who we are in christ Jesus. When we received the Lord Jesus into our hearts, we were born into the beloved family of God. Our names were written in the records of heaven.

Because of this, we have a divine authority which we may exercise to control our enemy (the devil and demons) here on earth. This is an exciting and  important truth which we will now study in more detail.

A. A DIVINE AUTHORITY

Do you recall the story in Luke 10, of the seventy disciples whom Jesus sent out to preach the good news of the Kingdom? They were very excited when they returned. They joyfully reported how even the demons had to obey them when they spoke in the Name of Jesus.

The Lord responded to their report with these unusual but very important words: “It is not just your power over demons which should bring you joy, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20 smf).

1. Relationship Gives Authority

The source of their authority was not merely by speaking Jesus’ Name, but in their relationship with Him (as their Lord).

We dare not put our faith in a “magical formula” of words. It takes more than right words to face and fight the devil; it takes a right relationship with Almighty God.

When we confess Jesus as our Lord and Savior, our names are recorded in Heaven. We are given the authority which belongs to royal sons and daughters of God. This relationship with Christ is the source of our authority over the enemy.

The firstborn son of Queen Elizabeth of England has a great deal of influence and authority in the kingdom of Great Britain. When the queen sends him to represent her, his relationship with her would cause this son’s words to carry great authority.

Why?

Not just because he says, “I come in the name of Queen Elizabeth?” His authority would be the result of his relationship (heir apparent to the throne) – not just the words he said.

If I stood in the British House of Parliament and said, “I speak to you in the name of Queen Elizabeth,” I would be scorned and laughed at. Why? Because I have no right to speak in her name. I am not related.

For these same reasons, our words spoken to the devil or demons have power only if we are rightly related to Jesus – Who triumphed over all the powers of death and Hell. Even the demons know whether you are related to Jesus.

There is a dramatic story in the Book of Acts which confirms and supports this concept. The Apostle Paul had great success in releasing people from demonic powers.

Seven Sons Of Seeva. A Jewish man by the name of Seeva had seven sons. They decided to try Paul’s method” of casting out demons using the Name of the Lord Jesus. Coming across a demon-possessed man, they spoke these words, “In the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out!”

The evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know and Paul I know, but who are you?” The demons were angry at this false claim to Jesus’ Name because these boys had no relationship with Jesus.

The demons then empowered the possessed man with great strength. He attacked all seven boys. He severely beat them and drove them out of the house naked and bleeding (Acts 19:13-16).

They used right words, but they didn’t have right relationship with Jesus. Their names weren’t written in Heaven.

2. Names Written In Heaven

It is interesting to note that the names of Jesus and Paul were known by the demons. It seems God has a bulletin board in Heaven. On it are posted the names of all who are His children. Demon powers check this record. They know who is there and who is not.

If your name is there, and you are walking in faith and obedience, you have the authority and power to resist the devil and make him flee.

If your name is written in Heaven, it will be known in Hell!

Yes, the names of the righteous are written in Heaven. But the names of the wicked are also recorded somewhere:

“O Lord, the Hope of Israel, all that turn away from you will be disgraced and put to shame. Those who leave you will be written in the earth. They have turned away from the Lord, the Spring of Living Water” (Jer 17:13 smf).

Our name is recorded in one place or the other. It is possible to have a name on earth and be unknown in Heaven. Like writing in the sand, our lives then will be as a brief memory which soon fades with time. Earthly power and position are but for a moment when compared to eternity.

As Christians we can rejoice, for our names are written forever in the Lamb’s Book of Life. We are a part of God’s eternal purpose, and He has given us the power to evangelize this earth.

Our names written in Heaven gives us authority here on earth. The devils know, believe this and tremble. We should know, believe this and rejoice!

3. Childlike Faith

Then Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said: ‘I thank you Father, Lord of heaven and earth that you have hidden these things from those who are wise in the eyes of the world. Instead you have shown them to the little children – those who have a simple childlike faith. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure”‘ (Luke 10:21 smf).

Jesus also said in another place, “Who ever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, shall not enter in at all” (Mark 10:15 smf),

In other words, the key to Kingdom power and authority is simple childlike faith. As children of the King, we have dominion over the devil and his demons. Not because we are somebody great – but because we are related to somebody great. We are children of God! Because of this, we are not to be a people of fear, but of faith.

God delights in using His children to defeat the enemy. He chose a young shepherd boy to slay the great giant, Goliath. Paul tells us that God has chosen what the world calls poor, weak and foolish to shame the rich, mighty and wise (1 Cor 1:25-30).

This means God can defeat the devil through any of His children, if they know who they are in Christ and act in the authority of His Name. Indeed our heavenly Father finds great joy and delight in seeing His sons and daughters put the devil in his place.

Next Week.

B. DECEPTION: THE DEVIL’S WEAPON

1. Accusation And Condemnation
2. Evil And Lying Thoughts