Mike Bickle emphasizes the authority that every believer receives in Christ upon being born again, highlighting that this authority is not earned but given to exercise dominion over the earth. He explains that God's mandate for humanity to have dominion is rooted in Genesis and continues eternally, inviting believers to actively participate in God's governance. Bickle stresses the importance of understanding this authority to combat evil and darkness, as well as the necessity of believers to resist the devil and not passively wait for God to intervene. He encourages believers to recognize their role in influencing their spheres of life and to use their authority in Christ to effect change.

Talk about the authority that every believer receives in Christ Jesus and we receive that authority automatically the day that we're born again. We don't earn it, but it's fully ours the day we're born again and the reason the Lord gives it to us because he's called us together to exercise dominion over the spheres of life on the earth. Let's look at Genesis chapter 1. Now in verse 26 to 28, this is the first statement that God speaks to Adam and Eve when they're there together and he gives them this remarkable declaration and this declaration affects our life even today. He says in verse 26, let us make man in our own image. So we see the Trinity there is God in the plural is talking. Let us make man in our own image according to our likeness and let them have dominion over all the earth. That's the statement that God has, God spoke over Adam and Eve that the human race was to have dominion. They were to participate in the governing of the earth under God's authority that the Lord wanted to invite them into partnership with what happens upon the earth and what they did would actually affect the earth in a very dynamic way and this is a mandate that God gave the human race to have dominion over the earth and this mandate actually is an eternal mandate. It's not something that just happens until Jesus returns. Even in the millennial kingdom and even in the age, the eternal age afterwards, God gave the dominion of the earth to humans and he will continue to govern the human, I mean the earth in partnership and through human beings. Remarkable declaration. He said in verse 28, God said to them, now the them plural is Adam and Eve. Again it's the first statement in the scripture from God to them and it gives them the mandate and the directives of what they're to do in their life and of course he's speaking to all of the offspring after them. Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth, subdue it. In other words, set it in order and bring it under God's leadership and have dominion over everything that moves upon the earth. Now the mandate to have dominion means bring the earth and all that's related to it to its full potential. When God created the heavens and the earth, he put so many things in place but only under the leadership of human beings would these things be brought to their full potential. I mean even now, the human race is inventing and putting things together, I mean in the realm of technology, all of those elements were always present. But as God gives creative wisdom, different dimensions of the creative order come together in combination and even greater potential is realized. Now that potential is going to continue throughout the millennium and even in the age to come we will be exercising dominion under God's leadership. Now when he gave us the dominion mandate, he was actually inviting the human race not just into governmental leadership but we are actually decision makers that though God continues in his role as leader over all, he manifests his leadership with our active participation. Now the reason the Lord did this, that he gave the earthly realm to the human race was not because he felt overworked, you know like I'll take the heavenly realm, you guys take the earthly realm, give me a break, it's really rough, no that's not what he's doing. But rather it's a relational commitment. He did not need humans to take that role but he wanted humans to and so the Lord by that mandate has actually limited the way that he would intervene upon the earth. He put boundaries on it by his own wisdom and his own sovereign decree that he would work through humans. And when human beings agree with him, then he releases more of his goodness. When human beings agree with darkness, then darkness increases. And though the Lord breaks in, in times and manifests his leadership unrelated to human beings, significant amount of his leadership is through human beings for good or negative or positive, what human beings do, it affects the earth. Well that mandate began back in the Garden of Eden and the creation of Adam and Eve and that mandate will continue forever. Let's look at Psalm 115 verse 16, the heavens are the earth, are the Lord's, but the earth realm he has given to man. And he's talking about human beings is what we're talking about in the generic sense. That God, the jurisdiction of the heavenly realm, we're talking about the angelic realm, the new Jerusalem, the Lord says, I will give, I will direct that, I will give leadership to that in a direct way. But the earth realm, the government of the earth, I'm going to work through people when I break in and release my power, I will do it in cooperation with the agreement of human beings. Again, to the measure they agree with me, that is, will affect the measure of what I will release. Now this is a very important principle because every single one of us, believers and unbelievers alike, have been given a sphere of responsibility, a sphere of government, so to speak. We have been entrusted with a certain impact and influence. It may be over one or two people, it may be over ten or twenty, it may be over a thousand or millions. And in as much as we agree with God, then God's goodness is released through into that sphere and affecting other spheres as well. Now many humans obviously use their place of influence and that sphere that was entrusted to them by just the very giftings that God gave them in their birth, they use that in a negative way and they cause, and the impact of it is the increase of darkness continues to increase in their sphere of influence. Now the reason this is important for us to understand is that we can't be passive about our sphere of influence, even if our sphere is very small, even if it's only one or two people because what we say and what we do will impact that sphere and that is a way that God governs the earth that he will not change. And another reason, not just so that we will be more diligent and attentive in our own sphere, and we know that our actions really do matter. What we do and what we say really does matter. We really can change the future. The future really can be better and our deeds and our words today impact the change of our future tomorrow. It's real. We really can have a better future in our individual lives, in our sphere of influence and even the earth itself. And what we do matters in changing it, it really does matter. And so that's one reason we want to know that, so that we are attentive and we're diligent, understanding the importance of our life day by day and what we do and what we say and how we use our resource and our time, it really does matter. Though often the impact's small, but it's real and it matters to God and it counts. But another reason that we want to understand this principle is because one of the common, a kind of perplexing statements that people in the earth, across the earth make is if God is a God of love, why does he let this happen? And it's perplexing and confusing because what they don't understand, God really did give the earth to the decisions of humans. And that is something that many humans don't understand. They think if God is God, he ought to override the free will of everyone and everything should be good if he's really God. And what God is saying, I am God and I have all authority, but in my sovereign wisdom and in my kindness and in my desire for relationship with my people, I did delegate real authority to people and what they really do matters. And even I will not step across certain boundary lines of what I've ordained in the government of the earth. I really gave it to man. And if men choose evil, evil will go forward. And if men choose good, good will go forward and it will contend with evil and good will triumph. Now we know the end of the story that the man Christ Jesus chose good and that good is increasing through his people across the earth and it will ultimately fill the whole earth. So we already know the storyline of where it's going, but we have a dynamic place in the drama. And again, our impact may be small, but it's real and it matters to God and it really affects the quality of life of people in our sphere of influence. It really does matter. It's not a practice game. It's real and it counts and understanding these, this, this dominion of the earth being given to the human race gives us a sober view about our life. And it's exciting too, because it gives a sense of importance, but it also helps us interpret evil that's in the world as well. Instead of putting it upon God's passive leadership, we actually understand that God in his great kindness and wisdom and his desire for partnership with people actually allowed for evil to increase because he so values relationship with people and he puts dignity upon their free will. So we're responsible to use that privileged position to the full benefit in the grace of God. Psalm chapter eight, David now touches on this theme. He says in Psalm eight, verse four, he goes, what is man that you are mindful of him? David is just awestruck at God's value of humans. He goes, how is it that you think so much about them? How is it that we are so important? You are so high and we are so low, but we matter so much to you. I mean, the most high God went so low in order, in the, in, in, in becoming man and the, and, and in the cross and bearing the penalty of our sin, the most high went so low to involve us because he wanted to bring us so near to him. Because we are so dear to him. And that's what David was captured in this reality and this truth. He says in verse five, for you've made man a little lower than angels in this age. We're a little lower than angels, but in the eternal drama of God, the eternal storyline humans redeemed are far higher than angels. Then he went on and he said in verse six, he said, you've made, you have made man or humans again, man in the, in the general sense to have dominion over the works of your hands. And in fact, you have put all things under the feet of human beings and that you break in related to how they relate to you. You break into the affairs of the earth related to how humans relate to you. And David was awestruck at the honor and the value and the glory that God gave humans and giving them that much ability to determine what happens on the earth. He says, you've crowned them with glory and honor. Look at that verse five, because they're crowned with this honor before you. Now, first Corinthians three, Paul talks about this same thing. And he says in chapter three, verse 21, for all things are yours. This is Paul talking to the church at Corinth. Now in context, the church of Corinth was in the midst of great strife. People were debating and fighting against each other and they were fighting for their own rights and to, to push forward their own position and, Hey, this is mine and this is my turf and my position and my rights. And the other guy in the church was stepping over this turf and Paul says, take a step back. He goes, take a step back, take a deep breath because do you understand the big picture? Everything is yours. You don't have to carry on this way in the short term. If you understood the big picture of how God has involved you, even in the leadership of the earth, even in the ownership of the earth, because this co-heirs with Christ, we are literally part of the ownership of the, of the earth and the whole future. He goes, why would you lose your way in the small picture? Because you couldn't, you can't see the big picture of the truth of what's happening. Verse 21, he says, all things are yours. Then he goes on in verse 22 and it begins to give some, some specifics for the world is yours. I mean, it belongs to you because of Christ Jesus, because it belongs to Jesus and Jesus has joined himself to us. Therefore it belongs to us. He says, life belongs to you. Death belongs to you. Now look at the next phrase, things present and things to come. So we know the age to come belongs to us. We know the dominion mandate that God gave the leadership of the earth to humans. We know that's eternal. It's for the age to come as well, not just for this age. But notice things present are ours as well. We have authority in Christ to affect things even now. Then he goes on to say, everything is yours, all are yours. And you belong to Jesus. The reason everything is ours is because we belong to Jesus and everything is his. And we're joined to him as his body and as his bride. We have a joining to him in a deep, in a dynamic way. Now, let's go to paragraph B. Well, what did Adam do with this, I mean, remarkable entrusting of authority and this invitation to partnership in the governing of the earth, in the affairs of the earth? I mean, what a high privilege that he was given the primary governing role in the earth. I mean, as a human. What did he do with this primary governing role that God gave him as a man? Well, he committed high treason. When Satan came to him, he gave his allegiance to Satan in that moment where he denied the Lord's leadership and gave himself to Satan's leadership when he sinned and he broke his alliance with God. And in doing that, something very, very important happened. He gave his primary governing role of the earth. He gave it to Satan. Now this is something that Satan brought up when he was tempting Jesus in the wilderness. In Luke chapter four, verse six, Satan says to Jesus during the temptation, he was trying to get Jesus to do what Adam did. He was tempting Jesus in the ways he tempted Adam. But the first Adam fell, the last Adam, the second man did not fall. Jesus resisted. And the same position at a critical moment in salvation history, the second Adam, the second man, he resisted and he overcame. Because it was the garden of Eden drama played out a second time. That's what Satan was doing. And Satan made a very important statement that gives us insight into the dynamics of what took place. He said this, this authority, and you read in context, he's talking about over the earth. It has been given, it has been delivered to me and I give it to whomever I wish. Now here's the principle. When God gave the authority of the earth to Adam, intrinsic to really having that authority, it was not a, it was not symbolic. It was real. It was really Adam's intrinsic to, to having that position. He could give it to whoever he wanted because it was his to give. That's how real it was. And then, and he gave it to Satan and Satan is using that same principle and offering it to Jesus. Now, Jesus did not interrupt him and say, you know what? You're lying about how that happened. You don't really have the right to give it to me. The truth is Satan could hand it to, of course, Satan's a liar and Jesus would never break his alliance with the father to get the government of the earth that way he did it in the legitimate way of righteousness. But the point is this, Satan really was given the leadership of the earth. That's why in second Corinthians four, verse four, Satan's called the God of this world and he became the God of this world in the moment when Adam abdicated his leadership, his primary governmental role, when he abdicated it to Satan, Satan really took it. But that was only the beginning of the story. Jesus fully God became man. He came down to the earth, became a human. And you know that when Jesus became a man, he became human forever now. It's not like when he was raised from the dead, he cast off the garments of humanity. Jesus will be human forever now in the future. It was a most radical decision. But the reason Jesus became human, he had to become human in order to win, to redeem humans and win the right of the earth back to the human race. He couldn't do that only as God. He is always God, forever God. Jesus is fully God in the past, fully God in the present and the future. But he came as a man to win the authority of the earth and the salvation of the human race to win it and to pay the price for the debt and to win it in a legal way. Paul talks about that, that on the cross, as a man, he defeated Satan and he made a public spectacle of Satan before all. It says here in Colossians 2 verse 15, having disarmed principalities and powers, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in his death and in his resurrection. Now he said he disarmed the principalities and powers. Who are the principalities and powers? They are the demonic hierarchy that has government over the earth. There are many different ranks of authority within the unseen demonic kingdom. Many different levels of authority, just like there's many levels of authority in the angelic hierarchy, just like in the human arena, there's many levels of authority in society. What Paul is declaring is a fact of history, that at the cross and resurrection, Jesus disarmed. He took the authority away from the powers and principalities, the demonic hierarchy, Satan and all the hosts under him. He won back, he triumphed over them by his death and resurrection. By his death, he paid the price so that justice was satisfied. By the resurrection, God raised this man from the dead and showed forth his victory over Satan's power. It says that he made a public spectacle of them. That's an interesting concept. That all the heavenly realm and all the demonic realm witnessed a man being raised from the dead with a physical body. By the favor of God and by the power of God, he was raised from the dead and all of hell saw it and all of heaven saw it and one point being that it was witnessed by the multitudes of the spirit realm. That this was a historic fact that was witnessed by multitudes. It was a public spectacle. Satan was defeated, he knew it. All in heaven and all in hell knew he was defeated then in that moment. But the challenge is, the people on the earth in whom Jesus won this authority back for, they don't necessarily know it. That's where the drama comes. That's where the war is. So as long as we don't know that Jesus has the authority and has delegated it to us, Satan can continue to operate in his puppet government, so to speak, to undermine that authority because if that, if Satan is not challenged, he will continue as is. When challenged, he has to submit. If not challenged, he can go forward as he always has. So the triumph of Jesus over Satan, the victory was won, but the people of God on the earth who are actually alive on the earth, they have to identify with that victory and they have to exert that victory and they have to enforce it in order for it to be manifest openly before all to see. So Satan's goal is to keep that from even the people of God. That's why many believers, they don't even know this, it's in the Bible, but they don't know it and therefore when Satan challenges them, they don't challenge Satan back using the authority of Jesus, but rather they submit to the attack of Satan and they just whimper around and they have self-pity and they moan and they tell their friends and they even pray about it, but they don't pray about it in the right spirit, with the spirit of faith. They pray about it and say, oh God, the devil's beating me up, do something. But I want to, it's very important to know this, God will not rebuke the devil for us. He won't do it. We can say, oh God, do something about the devil. God's already done something about the devil. He won't do our part and we can't do his part. There's a division of labor in the kingdom of God. God has a role and his people have a role. God will not do our part and we can't do his part. The analogy I've used over the years is the farmer. The farmer has to plant his seeds and he has to pull the weeds. And if he doesn't plant seeds and pull the weeds, there will be no harvest. Now that farmer can love God and pray and fast and worship and, oh God, plant the seeds and pull the weeds. I love you, I fast, I pray, I read my Bible, but if God says, I won't plant those seeds, I won't do it. And I won't pull the weeds. Not because it's beneath me, but because I want relationship with you and I've given that to you. And I will not do your part and you can't do my part. I will provide the sun, I will provide the rain, I will provide the processes of life in the plant, things that you can't do, but I won't do your part. And if the farmer prays, I mean with fervency and sincerity, 12 hours a day, and he doesn't plant the seeds and pull the weeds, his family will starve and God will not intervene to change that. And for the farmer to ask God to do the farmer's role is not faith, it's called presumption. Now one of the, two of the common errors that I see in the body of Christ today as Satan with his puppet government is, I mean, the government's already disarmed. It's already defeated. And for 2000 years, since the cross and resurrection, till the second coming, that 2000 year plus or minus period of time, Satan has room to continue to exert authority. And if he's not challenged, he'll continue to do it. But when challenged, he has to submit. He knows it. His goal is to make sure we don't know it, even though it's in the word. But many people don't read the word. So they live in ignorance of their authority and their rights. But two of the common errors in the body of Christ, error number one is that when God commands us to resist Satan, believers with all sincerity, they ask God to resist Satan. Oh God in Jesus, resist the devil, make him leave. And I want to tell you, I say this reverently, the Lord's answer is no, I won't do that. I won't plant the seeds and pull the weeds and I won't rebuke the devil for you. I've already defeated him. If you don't stand and resist him, he will not be resisted. Many people pray to God that God would do what God entrusted to us. And I want to say it clearly, God won't do it. He won't do it. The devil will continue to ravage and destroy lives of believers, though he had no right to after the cross and resurrection. But God won't stop it. But he will speak his word to his people. Now again, the reason the Lord won't do it, he says, no, I want a dynamic relationship with you. I have already given you the dominion of the earth. I have given you the authority of my son and I want you in relationship to me to exert that authority. If you don't, then that authority will be usurped by Satan. The second error by well-meaning believers is they put Satan's attack under the banner of God's sovereignty and they do it in a non-biblical way. They apply the sovereignty of God in a presumptuous way, meaning the devil knocks on their door and he brings a package to their house. Knock on the door. Here, I have a package for you. That package is full of snakes. And the biblical response is, get me behind me, go in the name of Jesus. But what some well-meaning believers who are untaught in their authority, they say, well, thank you, God. And they invite the devil and his package full of snakes and they just let the snakes loose in the house and they say, God, I trust you. I love you. I trust your leadership. And God says, if you trust my leadership, do what I say. Command the snakes to leave then. No, Lord, if you send the snakes, I didn't send the snakes. The devil did. I defeated the devil. I gave you authority and I commanded you to resist him. Don't appeal to my sovereignty when I've entrusted authority to you. Use my authority. Many sincere believers, I mean, when they worship and cry and love Jesus, but they don't have revelation of their authority in Christ and they put it in a presumptuous and a wrong way under the banner of sovereignty. It's a misapplication of the glorious doctrine of the sovereignty of God. Under the sovereignty of God, our actions matter. They really do. A lot of people under the banner of the sovereignty of God just take a big nap and go to sleep and they just live spiritually passive and it's presumptuous. It's not real. Where to say no to the enemy? Paragraph C. We have been given delegated authority. Authority is delegated power. The power is the brute force. That's what the power is. I mean, it's the raw strength of power and brute force. Authority is, well, let me give the analogy of the policeman. I've used this one over the years. The policeman stands in the road and puts his hand up and stops the traffic, stops the car. A policeman stops the car by authority, not by power. The power is in the national government and the national military. I mean, theoretically, the policeman's hand stops the car because the government, the power of the entire government is behind the hand of that policeman. When the car comes, the policeman doesn't bend over and just ram his shoulder into the car to stop the car by his power. He doesn't stop the car by power. The power is in the military. He stops the car by authority, knowing the power of the military is behind him. Jesus has the power. I mean, the raw strength. It's God's. We put our hand up and show our badge, and our badge is the name of Jesus. And if we use it, the car will stop. In the spiritual sense, the demon will stop. The demon is obligated to obey the name of Jesus. But here's the problem. The car comes, the believer says, Oh God, stop the car, stop the car. God says, raise your hand and stop the car. Oh God, please stop the car. Car runs them over. I'm talking about a demonic attack. Oh God, thank you. I just trust you. He says, don't trust me for that. Rise up, get healed in my name and kick that thing out of your life. John chapter 10, Jesus gives us the nature of the thief, Satan. He's talking about Satan in context. He gives us insight into his nature, but not only his nature, his tactics, his tactics. He says, let me tell you, when the thief comes, talk about Satan. When Satan is involved, he goes, you can be sure of three things. He wants to steal the blessing of God from your family, from your life, from your sphere of influence. Whenever Satan's involved, it's to steal. It is to murder you. It's to kill you and your family, and it is to destroy what God has given you. He says, have no question about it. That is his nature. That is his battle plan. That's his tactic. Whenever he's involved, it's always to kill, steal, and to destroy. And he must be stopped. And we can only stop him by, in the police analogy, showing our badge, putting our hand up, and invoking the name of the power that we represent. As the policeman invokes the name of the government that backs him up, we invoke the name of the government that backs us up, Jesus and the kingdom of God. But we must exert that authority. If we don't, the car will run us over. It really will. And it won't be God's doing, and it won't be something God allowed. And that kind of a strange sense, because God says, no, that's not what I wanted, but in my sovereignty, I have so much dignity of the human free will. I will let you decide to be run over if you want to be, but I would rather you obey my word and exert your authority. I mean, our free will is real. Again, it's not a practice game. He really gave the dominion of the earth to us, and in our individual sense, that's that little sphere of influence that we have, but collectively, it's a huge sphere of influence. But I want to use my authority in my individual sphere, and I want to use it in connection with the body of Christ, the covenant community, the body of Christ, and make a big impact together as we're connected to believers all across the land and across the planet. Well, Satan, when he comes, he comes to steal. He comes to kill. And I know you know this, but I wanted to say it clear. There's no ceasefire in the spirit realm. None. And what I mean by that, I've heard this, you know, I've been pastoring 35 years now, and over these 35 years of pastoring, I have heard this statement, I mean, so many times. Every pastor has. The guy comes, I'm so worn out, okay, heard that thousands of times. I can't go on anymore. I can't take this any longer, okay? Keep going. Where are we going? I quit, or something like that, as though because they are beat up and run over after three years, their money's ruined, their body's ruined, their relationships are ruined, their life is ruined, they're so worn out, they think that giving up, because they've been beat up three years, Satan will go, you know what? It's been a rough three years, I'm going to give you three months of a ceasefire, and then we'll get back to the war. No. There is no ceasefire. When you give up, or anybody that gives up, I'm not going to put that on you, when a believer gives up, all they're doing is laying their weapons down before the adversary who has weapons. The adversary's not laying their weapons down, and the adversary does not honor a ceasefire. The adversary says, we would rather destroy you without you fighting back. We would love you to quit. That's the point. Then we can destroy you with no challenge. Beloved, there is no option. This common to man idea, we all have the propensity to it. Get overwhelmed, get tired, want to quit, feel sorry for ourselves, but we're in a real war zone. It's real. The war is real. It's not a practice game. You put your weapons down and quit pressing into God, I assure you that the enemy will not put their weapons down, and they would much rather attack you without you exerting the name of Jesus to oppose them. They'd much rather you do that. Just kind of live in comfort, just kind of give up, check out, give up and give in, and just check out of walking with God in a passionate way, and you are a recipe for disaster in your life, because the enemy's real. The better option is to say, I am tired. What am I doing wrong that I need to do different? Let's get involved in the war. Let's find out what the word of God says. Let's get connected to unbelievers, and let's stand and resist according to what the word of God says, and let's win this war, because it's already been won. But we have to enforce that authority. Paragraph D, that's the very thing that Paul talks about here. In Ephesians 6, he says, don't give up, put the armor on. Put the armor on and go into the attack mode. Stand as well as attack, don't give up and give in. Tell your self-pity goodbye, break your agreement with your self-pity. And just so you know, the whole human race is tempted to quit on everything all the time. Just so you know, you're not the main guy that's tempted. All six billion want to quit what's in front of them. They think about it many times through their life, whatever that is, they think about it. So don't think that you're the one guy getting especially picked on. It is a temptation common to humanity. But there's no future in it, and there's no victory, and there's no life in it. Ephesians 6, Paul said, we don't wrestle against flesh and blood. But we wrestle against principalities and powers in heavenly places. Verse 13, and I just have this abbreviated, this passage here, you can read it on your own in full context. Take up the whole armor, and having done all, stand, don't yield, stand. Taking the shield of faith, you will be able to quench, you will be able to extinguish. It's what another translation says, you will be able to cut off the flaming missiles. These darts that come, you can cut them off, you can quench them. Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, and use it. Now there's a number of principles here, I'm just going to be real brief. What Paul is saying, again, he says, you don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but you wrestle against powers and principalities. Now again, the powers and principalities, he's talking about demonic powers that are invisible. You can't see them with your eyes. They are adversaries that are invisible, they're in the spirit realm, they're demonic. There's many levels in the demonic hierarchy, many different, some powerful ones and some far less powerful ones. There are the principalities and powers and all the different ranks. Paul is saying, we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but we actually wrestle mostly against these invisible enemies. Now to not wrestle with flesh and blood, what he means by that is that our problems are not primarily of human origin. Flesh and blood speaks of that which is of human origin. He says, you may have a conflict with somebody, and you may have oppression and resistance, but the primary problem and power is invisible, it's spiritual, it's not primarily human. Though our problems have human dimensions to them, but to assume that primarily, if we solve the human dilemma, that the supernatural invisible dilemmas will go, he says, don't do that. Your primary contest is against the demonic powers, the principalities and powers. He says, verse 13, take up the whole armor. Now in this passage, Paul takes the Roman armor that was so familiar to everyone in that day, the Roman soldier with his armor, and Paul outlines six different facets of the Roman soldier's attire and their equipment. And I'm not going to go through those six different facets, and different people have different opinions on what they symbolize, but here's one thing you can walk away with. What they mean is, all six of them together, they come down to one simple principle. That we are to agree with God in our thoughts, in our words, in our deeds. If you agree with God in your thoughts, words, and deeds, you have all six pieces of armor on. That's what they boil down to when it's all studied, and you summarize it, if we agree with God in our thinking, we agree with God in our words, when we speak against the enemy, when we speak the word of God, and we agree with God in our actions, if you do that, all six pieces of armor are in place in your life. So that's just to make it simple. Now he says we can quench all these flaming missiles, these darts. Now here's how it operates. The enemy comes like these darts that have fire on them. And they sting us, it's like a hornet stinging us. And they come and they make a temporary impact, it's negative, ouch! It's like a dart that hits you with fire on it, ouch! And you pull the dart off, and a little while later, like the pain goes away and the impact is done, you think, man, I didn't like that, that was not very pleasant. And he says, the enemy has just an arsenal of these darts he's shooting at you, these demons that are touching you, and they are heightening the intensity of the battle. He says, if you will use the sword of the Spirit, you can extinguish every single one of them when they come. All of them can be silenced and cut off, every single one of them. Now how do we use the sword of the Spirit? It's amazing. The sword of the Spirit is the word of God. We can swing the sword in the spirit realm by simply speaking the word about Jesus' authority and Jesus' victory. When we proclaim with our lips, this is how simple it is. It is so simple, everyone can do it, but it's so simple, most people don't. The way that we release the sword against these demonic forces is by simply, with our mouth, agreeing with the victory of Jesus. It's the police officer that holds his hand up. If he holds his hand up, the cars stop. If he doesn't hold his hand up, the cars keep going. It's very easy, hold your hand up, blow the whistle. The cars stop. There's nothing to it. Stop. Stop. Everybody can do that, because it's the power of the government behind the police, it's the power of Jesus behind us, speaking these words. We say, Jesus, by His death and resurrection, has victory over you. Satan, go in the name of Jesus. And you can use any phrases, there's no magical phrase. It's simply, with the words of your mouth, speaking against the enemy, declaring the name of Jesus, and demons are obligated to obey it, if you will stay with it. You must stay with it. It's not just a one-time deal, and it's over. We stay with it. That's how you swing the sword. Verse 12, notice, we wrestle against principalities and powers. That word, wrestle, is a very important word, meaning it's a process. Now, we wrestle by speaking the word against these flaming missiles that strike us. We speak the word of Jesus' victory. That's how we wrestle. The wrestling match, or the swinging of the sword, is mostly done by uttering the victory of Jesus to the demon. Now, we don't see the demon, but the demon sees us. We wrestle. So, number one, it's a process. Number two, when we wrestle, it's up close and personal. It's not, you know, two armies shooting arrows at each other across the valley. The wrestling match, it's up close and personal. A wrestling match, you get weary, you get tired, I mean, it's exerting energy. It's like, in a wrestling match, suddenly one guy's on top, a minute later the other guy's on top, but a minute later the first guy's on top, then the other guy. It looks like that the battle is shifting several times in the match. But, beloved, the victory's already secured. You don't get tired shooting arrows across the valley. It's not up close and personal. You don't have those sudden kind of reversals. Wrestling is such a perfect word for this. Now, what we would like is just one time we say it and it's over, and Paul says, no, no, it's wrestling. It really, really is wrestling. Go to the top of page two. We'll just go another moment or two later, further. We're not going to cover all the notes here. Paragraph E. Our problems often result in several factors working together. Meaning, I don't want to give a simplistic presentation of our struggles and say it's all demons. It's not all demons. There are human dimensions that are involved, but the demons are the unseen ones. And they have the greater power, but the others do have power as well. There are psychological issues, meaning we have mindsets and belief systems that are wrong that cause our problems. We have to change our mindset. There are physiological. There are sometimes chemical imbalances in our body. Sometimes it's what we put into our body, diet and chemicals and pills and all kinds of things, and if we change what we put into our body or we change some of the physiological dimensions of the warfare, some things could be better. Sometimes it's social. People really use their free will to come against you, and God honors their free will. Now, they only have a certain limit of what they can do, but wicked people really do decide to do wicked things, and they get to do a lot of the wickedness that's in their heart. Not fully. God does put a limit on it, but he allows them to exercise their free will. It's a real war zone down here. It's real. But then the fourth, there are demonic powers. There's these missiles, these darts. They sting us, and when they sting us, there's this heightened sense of the problem has this extra energy to it. That's the demonic. Now, Paul says you can observe the physiological, the psychological. You can study that just by human reasoning. You can observe it, but there's an invisible force you can't see with your eyes, and you need the revelation of the Word to know that they're there, and you need the revelation of the Word to know you have authority over them. And many believers, though they technically believe in the demonic realm, it's not a practical part of their everyday worldview. They don't really think about it much. When they run into problems, they go right to the psychological, the physiological, the sociological dimensions. They don't address the spiritual. Now, one guy heard me talk about this some years ago, and he said, well, when I hear you talk, it sounds like you think there's a demon behind every bush. I said, I don't think that. He goes, well, it sure sounds like it. I said, there's not a demon behind every bush. There's two demons behind every bush. And here's my point. If the veil between the spirit and the physical realm was lifted, this room is filled with angels and demons. And they are in conflict, and the angels move when we agree with God. Angels are dispatched. When we agree with God, and we call on the name of Jesus, angels move, and angels drive back demons, and demons only move back when we show our badge, so to speak, and that's when we speak the name of Jesus. They don't move back because we're hurt, or we're whimpering, or we're sincere, or we're sad, or we're fasting. Demons go, fine, just don't show your badge. You show your badge, we got to move. You can even tell God all day long, oh, God, show my badge to the devil. But God says, I'm not going to. You show your badge to the devil. Paragraph F. Now, when we use our authority in Christ, which we're going to do in just a moment here, what we are doing, we are removing the demonic heightened energy. We're removing it out of the equation in a temporary way. When we use our authority, the demonic dimension draws back, and the reason I say temporary, the demon will come right back again. Jesus said that in Matthew 12. He'll come back seeking for another place of entry, and he'll bring seven demons with him. So when we push the demon back, they really go back, but no, they are coming back again. It's a wrestling match throughout our entire life until we meet the Lord. But here's the reason we want the demon driven back out of the equation, because then, I have here in paragraph F, then the psychological, the physiological, and the social problems are far easier to deal with when the demonic missile, the flaming dart, when it's gone, then we can solve the human problems far easier. We still have to solve them. And getting rid of the demon doesn't make all the consequences go away, but it takes that heightened energy, that stinging missile that hits you, it takes that out of the equation in a temporary way. Again, the demon will come back, and he'll bring friends with him. Well, I wouldn't call them friends. Now, I'm going to give you an example, one or two examples, of how demons work in strife, and then share just another verse or two, and then I'm going to pray for you. I remember when I first learned this. I was about 23 years old. That's 32 years ago. I'm 55 now. So over 30 years ago, I was a young pastor, 23 years old. And I remember I was involved in our youth group. And we had this one gal, and she was right in the middle of everything, and she created more strife than any one person I've ever seen in my ministry, even since then. I mean, this gal, she talked incessantly, filled with bitterness, and twisted and turned stories with great skill. She had so many people against each other, and then having to meet to solve it, and then find out that it wasn't the truth, that nobody could figure it out. It was just a maze of confusion. In my 35 years of pastoring, I don't know very many that caused more trouble than that gal did in a community of believers. It was about six weeks. It was just like night and day, drama unstopped. Now, she wasn't mad at me, so I got to be a part of the negotiation. And nothing could answer or solve her problem. It was constant strife. I mean, it was so wearisome. I had so many meetings with her, and they seemed like we had a solution, and none. So I was at that time in my life. I'm 23 years old. I'm studying books on different authors on the authority we have in Christ. I remember I was 22, 23. I was just learning that subject. I was reading them from several different places. And I said, you know what? I've never really approached strife this way. I always looked at just the psychological, the social dimensions of strife. I never thought of a demon that was like a flaming missile that was heightening the problem, and it couldn't get fixed. So what I did is I said, I'm going to experiment. I didn't tell anybody. I didn't know if it worked. I said, in the name of Jesus, I address the spirit that's stirring that woman up. And I did that for about five minutes. And I did it probably five times a day for about five minutes. I didn't pray for like ten hours, just three, four, five minutes. I didn't time it. And in the name of Jesus, I take authority over that spirit that is stirring up that woman, that's agitating that woman, and I cut off the assignment, and I speak the name of Jesus, and I command that demon to go. I was resisting the devil. Did it about five minutes, four or five times a day for about three days. The most remarkable thing happened. The woman of her own accord came to me and repented. And she told everybody, I'm sorry, I don't know what happened. It just seemed so right what I was doing, and it now seems so wrong. And she was a part of that group for some time and was never caused trouble again. It was the strangest thing I'd ever seen. And I said, this is pretty cool. I said, this really works. Oh, my goodness. Now, I could have done it on day one. It was just in the season of my life I was just learning about this. And I've operated in that approach in many areas. Demons attack your finances. Even though we have bad financial management, there are demonic elements that can be rebuked. Demons attack our health, although there are physiological things that contribute to bad health, not just all demonic. Demons attack relationships. Demons attack ministry, even though there are other issues that cause ministries to get confused and off track, etc. So demons don't cause all the problems, but getting rid of that demonic element makes the landscape very different. Very different in solving the problem. Just some weeks ago in March, I was with my son Luke. And I was visiting with him, and he was saying, Dad, I've got the most bizarre situation. He goes, I have this man that is so hostile. This guy, I've never seen hostility, because I've been with him the last couple of times. I mean hostile at a level I've never seen before. And he said his face was red. I mean just this stream of vulgarity and anger and murder threats. He's a violent man. And he goes, I've never seen anything like it. It's fully demonic. He goes, and this guy is working in context to where I'm working. And it's out in an out of the way place, in an isolated place. And this man, really intense. So I'm hearing the story, and I said, let's address the spirit that's driving the man. The man will still have his bitterness and still have his ambition and still have his confusion, but let's bind the spirit that's driving him. He goes, okay, let's do it. So we took some time. We had a couple short prayer times. Again, it doesn't take hours. And we took authority over that spirit. And I bound that spirit and us together, and he did as well. Then I said, let's go visit him tomorrow. Luke said, well, it's in an isolated place, and this guy is dangerous, for real dangerous, not pretend dangerous. Because I've never seen anybody this hostile and this violent. I said, okay, just so I don't exaggerate the story. I said, I will if you will. So we kind of, you know, inched our way forward, a little male bonding in the process. So we went to meet this guy. And again, it's in an isolated place, and he's got a group of people with him that are really angry and hostile with him. And so Luke says, we drive over. He goes, we're going to do this. I go, are we? He goes, okay, let's do it. We agreed, yes, we're going to do it. So we get out of the car, and this guy walked up to me and him. And as he came, Luke said, wow, this is different. His countenance was entirely different. We talked for an hour, laughed a number of times, shook hands, no hostility at all. Luke said, this is a miracle of hugest proportion. And at the end, the guy actually gave me a sideway hug. I mean, not a full hug. But I mean, Luke said, this is inconceivable that he would do this. I said, well, the man will probably get stirred up again, because the demon's coming back. But we know we can address the demon that's stirring this man up. Again, the same thing works in finances, physical healing, relational conflict, all kinds of areas. And again, don't give all of the problem to the demon, but let's remove the flaming missile. Paragraph C, in the middle of page 2. Just very simply, James 4 says, resist the devil. I said those two principles, the two common mistakes. Don't ask God to resist the devil. You have to show the badge, so to speak. You have to resist the devil in the name of Jesus, by proclaiming the authority of Jesus. God won't resist the devil for you. Don't ask him to. He won't. Secondly, don't thank God for the devil's attack. God, I just love you. I trust your leadership, whatever you want. God says, well, I don't want that. Well, if you don't want to do something. No, I already did something. We got a dilemma. I don't want it, and I'm not going to do anything more. That's the dilemma. You use the authority. You speak the victory of Jesus. You use the name of Jesus. In other words, you show your badge persistently. Not for a moment. You stay with it. You wrestle with that principality, using the name of Jesus with your words. That's how you do it. You speak it. It's very simple. So simple, anyone can do it. So simple, so few do it. We'll end here with paragraph D. Just the sentence. 2 Timothy 1.7, because this is where I want to pray over you. Paul says, God has not given us a spirit of fear. God's given us a spirit of power. God's given us a spirit of love. He's given us a sound mind. In the place for sound mind, put the word peace. He's given us supernatural peace. That's what a sound mind is. That's a part of it. Now, here's what happens. There's natural fear. And there's fear that's stirred up by a spirit. There's a spirit of fear, which means a demon is involved. And sometimes, natural fears and a demon of fear, they go together. But natural fears aren't all bad. If you're walking in the middle of the street and you see a lion and you feel afraid, that's good. That's wisdom. Natural fears are not all bad. Some of them are protective. But, Satan is a spiritual lion. We don't have to be afraid of the spiritual lion. If there's a spirit, there's a demonic contribution to fear. So, let's separate the idea, though. Sometimes, natural and spiritual fears go together. Or, demonic fears, is what I mean. But, there's a spirit of fear. We rebuke a spirit of fear. We must rebuke it. Don't ask God to lift it from you. Rebuke it. Don't ask God to resist the devil and show your badge. You show the badge. Now, we're going to pray now. I'd like you all to stand, if you would. There's a number of you that are being assaulted with a spirit of fear. Now, this isn't because you're bad. This isn't because you have a propensity to something sinful and negative. That's not the point. It's a demon that has an assignment from hell to take you out. Just to demobilize you with fear. And, it's a supernatural fear. Here's how this fear feels like. Here's how it works. It's an irrational kind of surge of fear that comes for a few moments or a few hours. Beloved, it's a demon. It's a flaming missile. Sometimes, that fear will hit you in the night. You wake up in the middle of the night. Just like an evil presence in your room. Don't endure it. Rebuke it. Don't just sit there frozen, paralyzed for an hour. You don't even have to raise your voice. The authority is not in your voice or your personality. You don't have to hack and swing the sword. You don't have to do that stuff either. The authority isn't in any antics. It's not in your personality. It's not in the volume. The authority is in one man saying his name. The name of Jesus proclaiming his authority. All the authority is there. You can whisper it. You can be in a public place. You can be in a shopping mall or a school or a bus. You can whisper it and it works. You don't have to scream it. Like if you scream it, you really mean it. No, that's goofy thinking. It's not if you scream it, you really mean it. If you whisper it, you don't quite mean it. No. It's the name of Jesus that matters. You can be in a public place and use it all the time. No one even know it. Maybe some of you are having nightmares. You know, every few weeks or month or so, you have a nightmare. Maybe some of you just kind of turn the corner. And all of a sudden, this irrational fear is like, Ah, it hits you for three minutes or three hours. You go, That was such a weird emotion. What was that? Beloved, you don't have to endure that storm. We need to rebuke the storm. Not ask God to deliver you from fear. Rebuke the spirit of fear. And the reason you have it isn't because something is intrinsically wrong. It's because the enemy has an assignment to take you out because you are important to God. So don't get all down in the dumps. Say, Oh no, how come me? Everybody gets assaulted with fear in different ways throughout the course of their life. We have to take authority over it. So if you have these attacks, whether they come for a few moments or a few hours, and they seem irrational, but they come to you, I would like you to come forward if you would like prayer for them. Even now, if you'll just go ahead and come on up here. We're going to together take authority over this. Again, it doesn't mean your mind is weak. It means that demons are real. Some of you, you just have a sudden urge to commit suicide. You think, I'm not even depressed. I just get this urge to jump off the bridge or whatever. This crazy thought hits me. Beloved, that's a flaming missile. It doesn't mean you even want to do it. It's a flaming missile. Stop it. Exert the authority. We have dominion in this life. And we have to use it. So I'm going to lead you in prayer first. And then I'm going to have others come up, if they will, and lay hands on you. So we agree with you. First, I want you to say your own words. Again, you can whisper it. And don't say it word for word what I'm saying. I'm going to give you some words just to say them to Jesus. You're going to say to Jesus, I thank you for your death and resurrection. I thank you. You won. I thank you. You defeated Satan. Something like that. In other words, you're acknowledging the victory. The historical fact. You're agreeing with the word. Jesus, I thank you. You triumphed over him. That you have all authority. That he has no ability to resist you. None. I thank you. Beloved, something will start happening in your heart just whispering those phrases. You'll start already to feel a little bit different. I'm just going to give you another 60 seconds to say that to the Lord. Just Lord, thank you. I believe in your resurrection. I believe in your authority. I believe you gave me authority under you. Because I'm connected to you. Thank you. Now you're going to resist. You're going to talk to the demon that comes to you for 3 minutes or 3 hours, whatever. Again, you don't even have to lift your voice. You just whisper it. Go in the name of Jesus right now. The authority is in him. It's not in our style. It's in him. I command you to leave the spirit of fear. Cancel your assignment. There's a hundred ways you can say it. I'm just giving you 2 or 3 ways. It doesn't really matter how you say it. I cancel your assignment. I command you to leave. I resist you in the name of Jesus. I plead the blood of Jesus. Say it any way you want. It all works. It's the same thing. You're showing your badge is the point. You don't have to feel anything. Sometimes you feel when a demon leaves. Many times you don't feel when they come and you don't feel when they leave. You just feel when they manifest themselves to you. They're around all the time. Go right now in Jesus name. That's as simple as it is. It really is that simple. But remember it's wrestling. You may look like he's on top and the next moment you're on top. Oops! The next minute he looks like he's on top. Stay with the wrestling. Don't give up. Don't give in. Don't quit. Don't quit. Stay with it. Now I'm going to ask about 50 of you to come up here if you will. Just for 1 or 2 minutes. 3 minutes. And just stand with somebody. Just put your hand on their shoulder. Just say I agree with you. And then you rebuke the demon too. Say demon go in the name of Jesus. Again, you don't have to hack with the sword. You don't have to do a dance. Just say the name of Jesus. Jesus name go. Speak to the demon. You're not speaking to the person. We're speaking to a spirit being who's really here. Demon is counting on you not believing in the word of God. Because if you believe it, he has to go. Not go this minute, but he will go. Just give me 3 or 4 minutes here. Everybody needs somebody standing with them. Rebuke the spirit. Rebuke the spirit in Jesus name. Release your manifest glory right now. Jesus. That's the name. I take authority over this spirit. I command it to leave. I break the power of harassing thoughts. Harassing thoughts go. Peace. River, peace. I release peace. A sound mind. Peace. Speak peace over them. I want this missile, this stinging missile to leave their mind. Jesus. Jesus. We speak freedom over your mind. I command demonic spirits to leave right now. Leave now in Jesus name. I speak the victory of Jesus over your mind.