Mike Bickle emphasizes the significance of the prayer of faith and the authority of the believer, urging believers to actively engage in faith rather than merely understanding it as a concept. He highlights that Jesus is the ultimate teacher of faith, encouraging believers to verbalize their requests and maintain confidence in God's promises. Bickle discusses the importance of perseverance in prayer, reminding listeners that faith is not just a one-time act but a continuous engagement with God. He reassures that believers have been given authority over darkness through Christ, and they must actively resist the enemy using that authority. Ultimately, Bickle calls for a deeper relationship with God through prayer, faith, and understanding one's authority as a believer.

I want to talk about the prayer of faith and the authority of the believer. Now, this is a topic that's been talked about quite a bit over the years, but I'm not sure how much we really engage in this in a practical way. I know that as I prepare these notes, and I've taught these a bit over the last few months, my heart is constantly challenged, not by the concepts, but by the need to engage in the reality of these in a day-by-day way. Because we take this teaching from the words of Jesus. I mean, He's the one, He's the ultimate faith teacher. And there's a lot of people that teach on faith, but we sometimes get caught up in who says it right, who says it wrong, who over-emphasizes what, and we forget that Jesus is the one that emphasizes the necessity to believe. That the things that we say, that we will receive them. And of course, He has all the qualifiers in that, but it's necessary that we engage in faith in an active way, not just a theological concept that we give mental assent to. Well, we start off with David's zeal. He wanted to experience everything that God had for him. He said, Lord, that I would forget not all of His benefits. I bless the Lord. I want to remember everything You made available to me in the grace of God. So that's the beginning point. We want to walk in the fullness of the forgiveness and all the implications related to that. The fullness of healing, physical and emotional. The fullness of God redeeming our life from the devil's attack and redeeming our life from our own sinful mistakes and errors and our own decisions. Now the tension is how much is all? There's a lot of tension over the years in the body of Christ. How much is all the healing that God made available? Well, it's clear to me from the Bible that the fullness of our covenant blessings come in the resurrection. No matter how healed you get today, it will be far below a resurrected body that will live forever. That's the ultimate expression of healing is a resurrected body. Though we are excited and filled with hope by the fullness of our covenantal blessings in the resurrection, but we don't want to draw back from all that God ordained in this age. We don't want to exaggerate it, but we don't want to draw back. That's not always easy to know. How much healing is ordained for everyone in this age that calls on the name of Jesus? Paragraph B, we don't always know the measure. How much blessing and favor, the anointing of God touching our emotions, inspiring our mind, touching our circumstances. How much victory is victory in this age? I don't really know that there's a clear answer to what the measure actually is. All I know is this, whatever measure I'm walking in today, I want a double portion. And if I get a double portion of that, I want a double portion again. And so whatever measure, I want more. And so we don't have to go into the theological hypothetical debates about how much is all. Let's just keep believing the Lord for a greater measure all of our days. Paragraph C, we're to pray in faith so that our prayers actually have results. That was actually the subject of our last session, session 3, on effective prayer, effectual prayer. Prayer is more than communion with God in the sense that our heart is touched in love. But there's another dimension of our communion with God is that we encounter the Father's desire to partner with us in releasing His resource to the earth. He actually, it's His idea, He actually wants us encountering Him in this. And that's part of intimacy with God. My point being, prayer is more than I love you. Let's end it there. Prayer is I love you. I want to enter into everything that you're invested in, Lord, in terms of my life. Everything. And that's part of intimacy with God. And the reason I say that, some folks think intimacy with God, I love you. And they, I don't want to mess with all the other stuff. And the Lord says, but all that other stuff, it came from my heart. I want to release my resource into the earth. A resource is more than money. It's wisdom. It's inspiration. It's unity. It's motivation for righteousness. It's favor. There's many, many dimensions of the anointing of God operating in the life of a believer. Paragraph D, James 5. Well, James was the man in the Scripture that used the phrase, the prayer of faith. That faith is used, I mean that phrase is quoted quite a bit these days, and that's good. We want to pray the prayer of faith because it has results. It releases the power of God according to God's will. It's what God wants to release. So the prayer of faith. What does that involve? Well, the prayer of faith involves our confidence in the authority of Jesus over every opposing power. The prayer of faith is the man who rose from the dead and seated at the right hand of the Father has all authority. We believe that when we pray. There's no obstacle too big that can stop the will of God. Well, it's more than confidence in the authority of Jesus. It's confidence in the blood of Jesus that weak and broken people like us can be qualified, fully qualified to stand in his presence and to be vessels of his glory. But it's more than the fact that we're qualified. It's confidence that it's God's desire. The Father desires to manifest his glory, his resource, his ways through his people. He desires it more than we desire it. Sometimes we think we're convincing God, and God's the one convincing us. Paragraph E. Well, there's a lot of strange teachings over the years under the banner of the prayer of faith. But don't be tripped by the negative stuff. Remember, Jesus is the one that taught more on faith than any other teacher in the Bible. And he taught faith as a foundational kingdom principle. Now, I want to grow mighty in faith. Whatever measure I'm walking in now, I want to double that measure of maturity of my faith. Jesus says, as you believe, it will be done. It will be released in your life according to the measure that you actually have confidence in what I say. This is not a casual thing. We develop that confidence in an intentional way. It's not something we just automatically grow in that confidence. The mustard seed is a very small seed. It doesn't automatically grow is the idea when it's compared to our faith. But there's an intentional developing of our faith. We'll experience more if our faith grows. We'll experience more. Jesus spoke about unbelief a number of times. Unbelief is not neutral. Some people, they approach unbelief, well, I just, you know, I'm into unbelief as though it's kind of a casual thing. Jesus, that's one of the primary things He rebuked in the life of His believers, of sincere believers. He said, no, unbelief's not good. It's not cool. It's important. It has consequences. Unbelief leaves us coming up short of what God desires in our life. Jesus talked about there were mighty works He couldn't do because of unbelief. Well, there's quite a few verses on unbelief. Paragraph F, Romans 10. We must intentionally want to grow in faith. Intentionally cultivate it. We cultivate it by hearing the Word and by speaking the Word. We don't just hear the Word. Faith comes by hearing. We don't just hear the Word from the mouth of somebody else, a Bible teacher. We hear the Word out of our own mouth when we speak the Word of God over our heart, our circumstances against the attack of the enemy. So the two big extremes we want to avoid that are obvious, the humanistic positive thinking camp. That's just positive thinking, mind over matter. Really, it's faith in human ability. That's not what we're into. We're into confidence in our relationship with Jesus, really believing what He said. That covenant relationship with covenant benefits in that relationship. So it's more than mind over matter. That's what we're talking about. We're talking about believing a real man who's fully God and fully man. Believing the eternal Word of God. Well, the other extreme is to just settle down into unbelief and live in the consequences of unbelief, which are really devastating. They really are. Romans chapter 11. Faith is the substance of the things you hope for. And what that's talking about, faith is the title deed of God's will in your life. Faith is the title deed of the things that you hope will be manifest in your natural life or in your everyday life on the earth. That's what I mean. We hope for things, a greater breakthrough of the power of God. We hope for things, a greater encounter with God. We hope to live in the resurrection forever on this earth. We hope for many things to be released in our earthly life in this age and our earthly life in the age to come. When we're living on earth in all the dimensions of heaven coming down to earth. Well, faith is the title deed of those things we're hoping will be manifest in our natural lives in this age and the age to come. We have the title deed ahead of time. Because it's the title deed to God's will in our life, to His promises in our life. Every biblical promise read in its proper context, I mean. Some biblical promises are meant for an individual and that's the focus of it. Some of those we can take and apply to our own life. But every biblical promise when read in context that applies to our life is a title deed of what we already possess in the spirit. And Jesus, He mandates that we believe the things we possess in the spirit. We engage in faith in an active way with the things that He's already given us in the spirit. This is not mind over matter. This is the fact that the spirit realm is far superior to the natural realm. And He releases things in the realm of the spirit before they show up in a way that our five senses can discern. Paragraph H, 1 John 5. We could quote this verse over and over and not hear it too much. This is the confidence. Instead of the word confidence put the word faith. This is the faith we have. If we ask anything according to His will or according to His word. You could put according to His word, according to His will. He hears us. Now the idea is that if you ask something that's according to the word and it seems impossible. That's the idea. The anything is, John is linking this to that which seems outside of human possibility. He goes, fits in the will of God. No matter how impossible it seems. How out of reach. How long you've waited. You can have confidence of this. God hears you. God hears you. You can have confidence no matter how long it takes. How big the request is. How difficult it is. You can be sure He hears you. When the New Testament talks about or the Old or New Testament. God hears us. In context of prayer it means He approves of the request. Doesn't mean He just technically has the information. It means when God hears in the biblical sense related to prayer. He hears with approval. We can have confidence. Whatever He has said it's going to show up sooner or later as we engage in faith and confidence with it. Let's turn to the top of page 2. Well I've been sharing this a bit on the weekends. But it's so critical on a series in prayer that to grow in prayer without growing in faith. Is to get excited about prayer but to fizzle out pretty quick. Because without faith attached to prayer. Prayer will get worn out in prayer in a short amount of time. If we don't have confidence we're actually speaking things that matter to God. That's one of the great problems of people who want to grow in prayer. They don't understand the value of faith. So their prayer, their motivation and zeal for prayer fizzles out. Because they don't have the confidence that it actually matters to God in reality. And they think well you know maybe I'll just let it go for now. And grow in prayer some other season of my life. Well here in Mark chapter 11 verse 23 and 24. This is the passage of scripture where Jesus gives more teaching on the details of faith. Than any other passage in the whole of the Bible. There's no other passage where the way of faith operates is broken down. In the kind of detail as here in Mark 11 verse 23 and 24. So this is must, must do passage, must read. This is a passage we have to be anchored in as a prayer movement. And I'm talking about not just this little place in our world here. I'm talking about the end time global prayer movement. And it has to be anchored in Mark 11 verse 23 and 24. Again we got guys down the way that teach it this way or that way. And they say it right or say it wrong. Or over do it or under do it. Our concern isn't how some other guy teaches this passage. Our concern is what did Jesus mean at face value in Mark 11 verse 23 and 24. Jesus described how faith operates. He indicated we receive our prayers in two ways. We receive our prayers two times. We receive it first in the spirit. And then we have it or it's released in the natural where our five senses can discern it. Let's read this passage ever so brief. Again I'm spending a little bit more time on it on the weekends over the last month or two. Jesus says whoever says to this mountain be removed, be cast into the sea, does not doubt in his heart but believes that those things he says will be done. If he believes it he will have whatever he says. Now the obvious context whatever that's in the will of God. Therefore verse 24 he's going to develop a bit more. Verse 24 he's going to explain more details. He's going to elaborate on what he said in verse 23. He says therefore whatever things you ask when you pray. He's in essence in verse 24 saying in verse 23 I'm talking about your prayer life. Not just any random thing you say. I'm talking about your prayer life before the Father. Whatever things you ask when you pray. Believe that you receive them and you will receive them. You will have them. Let's look at this again. Verse 23. Now notice how many times Jesus mentions the phrase he says. The believer who says. I mean they verbalize these things. They don't just think them they actually say them with their mouth. What we say with our mouth is deeply linked with the way faith grows in our heart. Some folks say try to grow strong in faith without linking their mouth their words to the measure of faith that's in their heart. What we say with our mouth is dynamically connected with the measure that faith grows in our heart. Whoever says to the mountain. Now the mountain is the obstacle. The mountain is the impossible situation. But the context of Jesus' teaching on prayer is always when you're praying in the will of God. Now some people they omit that context because it doesn't say the will of God right here. But you can't read the teaching of Jesus without understanding that he's zealous for the will of God. It's the will of God. It's God's will on earth like it is in heaven. The Lord's prayer which is the primary context of a framework of Jesus' teaching on prayer. It's on earth like it is in heaven. It's the will of God. The kingdom come. Thy will be done is the spirit of Jesus' teaching on prayer. So these different ones that divorce this promise in Mark 11. This teaching from the will of God in Matthew chapter 6. They'll end up getting into air and all kinds of confusion. You get into positive thinking. Mind over matter. Say whatever you want. Then it doesn't happen. Then you get mad at God. Then you're trying to figure out why it really did happen. But it didn't happen. It gets all confusing and muddled. Whoever says to the mountain. Now notice again the believer speaking. And be removed, cast into the sea. I mean this is an impossible situation. Jesus went to an extreme. But he doesn't doubt in his heart. And the reason that man doesn't doubt in his heart because he has evidence from the Holy Spirit that it's the will of God to move that mountain. That's the point. That's the underlying idea. The only way you can believe in your heart something big like that is if you have evidence from the Spirit. From the Word and the Spirit that this is the will of God. Apart from that you're not going to be able to not doubt in your heart. But if he believes. Now this is an ongoing engagement of faith. This isn't a one time momentary surge of confidence. This is believing in that present continuous. That active believing and keep on believing is the idea. It's an ongoing engagement of confidence in the Word of God. In what God promised you. But if he believes in that ongoing way that the things that he says. Again that are in the will of God. And he has confidence they're in the will of God. But he doesn't see them yet. He's only said them. They're invisible to his natural eye. He will have. It will show up in the natural. Whatever he says that he sticks with. And it's something he says in prayer that's in the will of God. He will have it in due time. In God's timing. It will show up. It has to be in the will of God and he has to stay with it. I believe many people get a promise from God. And they just lose interest in the dialogue. That engagement of faith. And I believe that the Lord would say, you know, I had more. I had more. But I wanted you to stay in the dialogue. I wanted you to stay engaged with me related to that. Lord, it took so long. And the Lord says, well, I love the conversation. The reason the Lord wants faith isn't because he's putting us through spiritual gymnastics. He wants us in the conversation with him. I mean he told Abraham, you're going to have a son. It was 25 years later. I mean, come on. Romans 4.20 says Abraham didn't waver. He stayed with it 25 years. Well, he had a few little times where, you know, but anyway, verse 24. Therefore, Jesus said, whatever you ask. When you pray. He goes, when I mean the things that you speak when you speak to the mountain. I'm talking about in a prayer context. I'm talking about in an engagement with the heavenly father. In his will. You believe. You stay in that ongoing faith engagement. You will receive them in the spirit. You believe you've received them in the spirit. They will show up in God's timing in the natural. So that continual believing, verse 23. And that continual believing in verse 24. It's mentioned twice. Is the condition of it moving from a spiritual title deed promise to a natural reality. And it's, Jesus wasn't, he was not exaggerating here. This is real to him. He says, I want you, verse 23 and verse 24, to stay engaged with me. Even if it's Abraham 25 years believing for the thing to be manifest. Stay with it. If I said it, you believe it, you say it, you will see it in God's time. God says it, you believe it, then you say it, and then you will see it in God's time. Maybe 25 years. Maybe 25 minutes. You don't know. But if he said it, it's going to show up if you stay connected in the ongoing faith conversation with the Lord. Roman numeral three. Five principles. These are very, quite simple. I've already all but said them all. So they're really straightforward. So we're not going to spend much time on this. Paragraph A, I identify five principles that are related to having a biblical perspective for praying with faith. Now there's no place in the scripture that puts step one, step two, step three, step four, step five. There's no one, two, three guide to prayer in one passage. But I present these five steps, these five principles, and I don't like the word steps, but I'm just throwing it out there. I don't know of a better word. It's just a biblical framework, and here's the point. You want to understand the tension of faith. Confidence, but perseverance, endurance. You want to have confidence, but you want to have endurance. And after a while you think, I don't know if I have the confidence, because the endurance is wearing me out. It's the Hebrew 612, where the writer of Hebrews says, you inherit the promise, Hebrew 612, by faith and patience. Or faith and perseverance. And sometimes we get confused. Well what is it, confidence for now? Or is it that confidence that has perseverance that doesn't let go? Step one, verbalize the request. That seems obvious, but it's not always obvious. James says, you have not because you ask not. You don't actually say it. Many people think through prayer, they don't actually verbalize it to the Lord. Say it to the Lord. Why does the Lord want us to say it to Him? I mean, you might whisper to Him. He already knows your need. He's not asking you. He doesn't require this for information. He doesn't need information from you. He's got more information about you and me than we have about ourselves. He has all the information. But He wants us to say it. Because when we say it, it causes us to connect with His heart. And when the answer comes, we relate the answer to the request. He says, I want you to say it. I want it to get documented in your own heart. I want it documented in our relationship. You actually said it. I've asked the Lord for things, and He's answered in such specific ways. I go, oh my goodness, it's that oh my goodness, it's that wow factor. Because it's documented in the relationship because I said it. He goes, that's what I want. I want you to connect with the idea that it wasn't a fleeting thought. That your words move me. Your words matter to me. I listen to you. Step one, say it. Step two, believe you receive it in the realm of the Spirit. Now again, any prayer that God hears us, that's the moment you receive it. I mean, that's when you have assurance you've received it in the Spirit. When He hears us, He approves of the request. Paragraph one, now Paul said we've already received every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. You've received every blessing, every spiritual blessing, meaning you already have 100% forgiveness in your life. You already have the authority of the name of Jesus. You already have the indwelling Spirit. You don't ask the Lord to give you the indwelling Spirit. We ask Him for a greater measure of His manifest presence, but we already have these blessings. We don't ask Him for that which He's already given in the Spirit. We ask for a greater manifestation of it in the natural, but we give thanksgiving that we already possess it in the Spirit. He says, well, that just sounds like spiritual gymnastics. It's not. There is a spiritual realm, a supernatural realm, a heavenly realm that is far more powerful and has been around a lot longer than the natural realm has. Hebrews 11 verse 3 tells us the things which were made, the physical things, were made by things which were unseen, the supernatural realm. The things that were made came out of the resource of the heavenly realm. It's not a spiritual gymnastics. Well, the spirit realm, not really. The Lord says, yeah, you can get so accustomed to only living by the natural that we miss out. There's a whole realm of reality that's even more powerful than the natural realm, and that's the kingdom of God is releasing the presence and resource of God into this earth realm, and all that resource is at the throne of God. That's the source of all of that resource. Now, paragraph 2 is important. We often pray for things that are not specifically in the Word. They're not against the Word, but they're not in the Word. You know, the guy or gal prays that it won't rain on their wedding day. They're having an outdoor wedding. There's nothing in the Bible about that. The only thing that's in the Bible is you pray for rain, so you're going opposite of that verse. You know, the Lord, I want to be accepted to that prestigious university. I want to be on the worship team. I want to get the job I'm applying for. There's nothing guaranteed about those details. But the Holy Spirit can give us evidence. He can strengthen us with a confidence. Now, when we have that confidence, then we can enter into this, okay, we've received it in the Spirit, because we have an indication from the Lord that He said yes to that. But here's where I've seen a lot of problem. People take this teaching of Matthew, of Mark 11, of Jesus saying, believe what you say that you've received it and you will receive it. And they go, it won't rain on my wedding day because I don't want it to. And Jesus said, well, that's not exactly the context of that verse. Now, if He gives you a promise, an indication by the Spirit, then you've got the title deed. But a lot of folks skip that step. They decide who it is they want to marry, whether that person wants to marry them or not. Seen a lot of that over the years. They want this job, whether the job comes. They want that position in ministry. They want this kind of anointing in their life. And it's a desire. It's not a wrong desire, meaning it's not an issue of it being right or wrong. It's the issue is it God's will. And they go, but I'm saying it and I'm believing it. But you can say, but by what evidence do you have from the Holy Spirit this is a promise? Well, I really like that girl. That's the evidence. Well, that's cool. That's a good thing if you're going to get married. But you're going to need a little bit more than that if you're going to claim Mark 11 23. And the reason this matters, because when these prayer requests don't happen, I've seen many believers over 40 years, they get very offended at the Lord. Lord, you said anything I said. He goes, anything you said in the will of God, in the timing of God. Oh, yeah, I forgot that point. And they get offended at the Lord. I mean, they really get offended because it looked like the Bible wasn't true. And the truth is they took a desire, which is okay to have those desires. There's nothing wrong with those desires and those prayers. But don't assume because we want it God has given evidence by the Spirit that it's promised. And we have the title, therefore, God's a liar if it doesn't show up. To take it to that level, and I mean that sounds insane. But I've seen many people do that on many areas. And they get really angry at the Lord. So let's keep this thing in the spirit of how Jesus taught it. Top of page 3. Step 3, we stay in the faith engagement. That's the condition. Remember verse 23 says if you believe the things you say. Verse 24 says if you believe that you've received them, you will receive them. So verse 23 and verse 24 talks about that ongoing engaging of faith. It even has words. Remember in verse 23 and verse 24, Jesus mentions a number of times. He that says to the mountain. He that believes what he says. He will have what he says. There is not just an engagement of the heart. But it's part of the conversation. It gets into our conversation with the Lord. Step 4. There's the element of the perseverance. The Hebrew 6.12. Faith and perseverance. We inherit the promises. Well, Jesus talked about perseverance. He gave the parable on prayer in Luke 11. Pray with perseverance. Pray with perseverance. How does that work? Here in Isaiah 62, remind the Lord day and night. Well, wait a second. If I already have it in the spirit, what am I reminding you of? The reminding the Lord is a reminding with thanksgiving. It's a, I thank you, Lord, that it's mine. And I'm asking you with perseverance for a greater measure of it to be manifest in my natural life. So one guy prays. And he reminds the Lord, Father, I thank you, I remind you. You've already given me this. This is your promise. I declare it with thanksgiving. I remind you of what you promised. It is already mine. It is done in the spirit. That's the mode of their praying. That's completely legitimate. The other guy prays the same prayer but a different way. They're in the asking mode. They're not asking God to release it to them in the spirit because God's already approved of it because it's in his word. But they're saying, Lord, I'm asking for a greater measure of it to be released in my natural life. So that's where the tension, it doesn't have to be a tension, between perseverance and asking. We stay with it. I want a greater measure. Whatever measure I have, I want a double measure of it in my natural experience because I know I've been promised it already in the spirit. It's already mine. So therefore, I'm going to stay engaged until a greater measure of it is manifest in my life. Let's look at paragraph 3 here. Jesus emphasized the value of perseverance. You can read through that a little bit. Perseverance is not a contradiction to confidence that it's ours in the spirit. It's perseverance that a greater measure of that blessing that's already ours in the spirit would be released in our natural life. Paragraph 5. Paul called it praying with all perseverance. Paul and Jesus talk about praying with all perseverance. Isaiah called it reminding God day and night. God, I remind you of what you promised me. I thank you that you've already approved it. You've already nodded in approval. You've heard my prayer. Thank you. Now, Lord, release the fullness of that glory you've promised over this city, over that family, over that situation. Release the full thing that you've promised. Now, we don't earn anything by persevering prayer. Persevering prayer is the Lord's way of saying, hey, I want you to stay in the dialogue because I like you so much. You're not earning anything. He's saying, stay in the conversation with me. Then step 5, it shows up in the natural realm. The healing comes. The greater release of the grace of God comes. The greater favor comes. The wisdom you're crying out for comes. The financial breakthrough comes. The relational reconciliation comes. I mean, there's many, many categories. Beloved, anything you're praying in the will of God, no matter how hard it is, no matter how long it takes, it will show up in due time. Don't get offended by waiting and don't give up. Don't lose confidence in his leadership. Stay with it. This is the teaching of Jesus from Luke chapter 11, top of page 4. Now we're going to go to one practical area of faith. And I've covered this a number of times, again, the last number of months. But it's really practical faith. I call it, well, it's commonly called the authority of the believer. Do you realize that as a believer connected to Jesus by the Holy Spirit, you have his authority delegated to you? And we can use that authority to stop the works of darkness and to release the works of God. But we have to engage in it. We have to engage in it. Some folks think, you know, we'll just kind of whisper a prayer one time and it all happens. There's an ongoing engagement with confidence of the authority we have in Christ. Paragraph B. On the cross, Jesus gained victory over Satan for us. He removed Satan's legal right to have dominion over us. He removed his right to torment us in the sense of without being challenged. To torment us and have dominion, to have the final word over our life. Jesus' death on the cross. It says here in Colossians 2.15, Jesus disarmed the demonic principalities. He triumphed over the whole demonic realm. He triumphed over it by his death and resurrection. He paid the debt and he broke the power of death and he manifest his victory and authority over Satan's authority. He did this for the human race. For the whole human race in as much as they will come to him, look to him as their source, as their salvation, that benefit then is theirs under his headship and covenant relationship with him. He triumphed over Satan. Satan can still come, knock on the door of my life and try to torment me, but I have an answer now. I'm not under his dominion. He didn't have the final word. I have a word now back to him in the name of Jesus. I have his authority. Flee in Jesus' name. And demons really will flee if you will engage in your authority. Because they know the authority of that name. The problem is believers don't know that authority. The demons know it, but many believers don't. 1 John 3.8, for this purpose, Jesus was manifest, meaning as a man on the earth. He came to the earth, took upon human nature, became a man, came to the earth. He did that one reason, not the only reason, but one reason was to destroy the dominion of Satan. To destroy his works in the lives of the people of God. That was one of the reasons. Colossians 1, verse 13. Jesus rescued us from this domain. In other words, this dominion. We were in Satan's kingdom. We were under his authority. We were transferred out. We were given citizenship in the kingdom of God as a free gift. We were given the family name, the family inheritance. We have the right to use the family name, the name of Jesus, against the dominion of darkness. He transferred us. A new name, a new resource, a new family, a new citizenship, a new spirit. That was the Holy Spirit working in us. We didn't have the Holy Spirit before. Luke 10. Jesus said, I give you authority over all the power of the enemy. I give you authority over the power of the enemy. Doesn't mean the enemy won't attack you, but it means the enemy doesn't have the final word. Now we have delegated authority. The authority is the Lord's. He delegates it to us. The analogy I've used over the years, heard it from others for years before, is the police officer. The police officer stops the traffic by delegated authority. That's how the police officer stops the traffic. The police officer doesn't go out in the traffic and say, he doesn't use power, his own power. Saying, okay, Mack truck, it's you and me, one on one. Come on, give me your best shot, and he tackles the truck. That would be him stopping the truck by power. He doesn't have power. He has authority. Meaning he has the whole military of the nation behind his badge and his uniform. When he raises his hand, the whole power of the government is behind his badge and his uniform. That's delegated authority. And if taken to an extreme, the whole army would show up taken to an extreme. To back up what he says if he's maintaining the law. Well, that's how we stop Satan. It's not our power. It's not if we're in a good mood today and have a lot of energy and we really feel like shouting at the devil. And we're going to shout him down and we'll, we really mean it this time, devil. The devil goes, whoa, in that case, I better get out of here. No, it's nothing like that. It's not about the police officer tackling the truck. It has nothing to do with his physical power against the physical power of the truck. It has to do with the power of the government behind that badge and behind that uniform. We have an entire authority, a power behind us. It's the power of the kingdom, the power of Jesus' person, the power of his throne is behind our words. Paragraph E. Jesus said, I'll give you the keys. And we use those keys in prayer. You bind the negative and you lose the positive. You bind the works of Satan. In the name of Jesus, I bind these works. In the name of Jesus, I release the blessing or the activity of God. We have the keys to bind and lose according to the will of God. Not according to our will. According to the will of the Father. According to the covenant that the kingdom of God is based on this covenant relationship. Paragraph F. James 4. Now it's important we resist the devil. He will flee. Resist the devil, he will flee. A lot of folks want the devil to flee. They want God to resist the devil and the devil to flee. Like, Lord, here I am. Lord, make him flee. And the Lord says, use the authority I gave you. You resist him and he'll flee. God, do it for me. Now I've already provided it for you. I want you in the relationship. I want you in the partnership. I've given you the authority. I've already triumphed over him, Jesus could say. The authority is all there. Now use it. You resist him. No, Lord, you resist him. No, you resist him and use the position in the relationship that I have together with you. And he'll flee. Doesn't mean you say it once and he's gone forever. He'll come back again. In the name of Jesus, I'm holding my ground. The enemy is coming to steal, to torment. He comes with the spirit of oppression. He comes as a thief to steal from our families, our finances, our health. I don't mean everything negative is a demonic attack. But many things negative are demonic attacks. And often it's a mixture of an attack of the enemy and there's natural sources to it as well. But there's a demonic energy often behind things that take place. And we use the authority in the name of Jesus. We don't just leave it to the sovereignty of God. Like, Lord, if it be thy will. He says, it is my will. My son came and died and rose from the dead. He gave you his authority. What do you mean? It is my will. Now exercise the will of God now on the earth. Again, under his authority but taking our stand. 1 Peter 5 says the same thing. Resist him. Resist the devil. He'll flee. Final verse here. We're going to take a break in a moment. But we're going to have just a five-minute small group time of just a minute. Just kind of get your mind around that. We're going to take one point that's challenged you or one point that's inspired you. One verse, phrase and say, this is something I'm going to lock into. And we're going to have just a minute just in a small group time before we take our break. Because I want you to actually say with your mouth in just a moment even one thing that's in your heart. Because I so believe in speaking it. But here in James, I mean Ephesians 6, paragraph G, Paul says we don't wrestle against flesh and blood. He goes, there is a human struggle. Flesh and blood means a human struggle. He goes, the struggle isn't entirely human. That's the point. The struggle isn't only that guy is troubling you. The struggle isn't only your physical body isn't lining up with what you think should be happening. Now again, there's other factors involved many times. But he goes, there is a struggle that's beyond just the human components. That's the point. He says, but our struggle, we wrestle against principalities and powers. And he means demonic spirits. That's what principalities and powers are. Now the wrestle has this idea is that we're, look like we're winning. And then it looks like he's winning. It looks like we're winning. There's this tug of war. There's this wrestle going back and forth. We're employing the name of Jesus. We're taking our stand. The enemy strikes. But he doesn't back away right away because we tell him to. But he does flee. That is the ultimate consequence of what happens. He flees. He comes back and attacks again. We use the authority of the name of Jesus. And he leaves. There's a wrestling match. There's a give and take. The ground we take from the enemy we have here in Mark 12. You have to maintain the ground. Because you take the ground, the devil comes back with seven more demons to test you. To try to take that ground back from you. You use the name of Jesus. Know who you are in Christ. The enemy comes with these flaming missiles. This heightened feelings. It's more than human. There's this heightened energy of fear or lust or oppression or anxiety. Or these kinds of things. Anger. It's more than human anger. More than just normal lust. More than just normal oppression. There are times where there's a heightened demonic energy. And the Lord says, I mean there are human elements to these that we repent of. And there's other ways for healing and to deal with it. But there's often a demonic energy heightening the problem as well. And we take authority over that demonic spirit. And then we can do the human components far more successfully. Amen and amen. Let's stand. So Jesus said it right. I'm going to give you one more verse as you're standing. Luke 18.1. He said, men ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said it right. Straight from the lips of Jesus. Luke 18.1. Men ought always to stay in the prayer engagement with the Lord and not lose heart. Father, I ask you even now by the Holy Spirit. I ask you to stir our faith. I ask you to stir our faith even now. God, we want to be people of faith. Not just people of prayer. People with confidence in your word, in your heart, in your character. We ask you in Jesus' name strengthen us. Amen and amen. I'm going to ask you to get in groups of three.