We Won't Be Silent

There’s little doubt that the world is becoming increasingly anti-Christ. As hatred toward God intensifies, so will hatred toward His Church. Mark my words: more pressure will come against the Church. 

This is why it’s so important for every believer, every pastor, every Christian, to be grounded in the Word of God and in the Holy Spirit. We can advance and impact the world, even in the face of opposition, but we must be willing to stay faithful to the preaching of the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ. 

Let he who has eyes to see, see. Let he who has ears to hear, hear. There is a demonic agenda at work. The enemy’s goal is to confuse, intimidate, divide, isolate, and silence the Church. Many in this world do not want to hear the message of repentance, the truth about the blood of Jesus, or the reality of the cross. 

So there will be a pressure for us to conform, to be silent. They will threaten us with reputation-destroying labels. They will attempt to manipulate us with guilt. They will work tirelessly to silence us, to silence the preaching of the gospel. Like the religious leaders who were tormented by the preaching of Stephen the martyr, so today’s culture covers its ears and cries for us to be silent. The systems of the world are no doubt working against the Church.

This hour calls for bold, righteous, Spirit-filled believers.

Remember that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were pressured to bow to the statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had created. Society bowed. Some of God’s people bowed. Everyone bowed. Everyone except the faithful three. 

The young men were threatened with death - they were to be thrown in a fiery furnace. When faced with this threat, the young men gave a courageous response: 

“If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.” (Daniel 3:17-18, NLT)

We too must have the courage to obey God; whatever happens to us as a result of our obedience is up to Him. We’ve laid down our lives anyway. 

Like in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, a statue has been created, and the system calls for all to bow: that statue is conformity to the ways and ideologies of the world. Conformity is exalted. Dissent is aggressively stifled. Society bows. Sadly, some pastors even bow. You must not bow.

When we stop preaching to truth, when we alter God’s Word to better suit the preferences of this generation, we’re bowing to conformity. When we stop declaring repentance from sin and salvation alone through Jesus, we’ve been bullied into conformity. 

Don’t conform to culture; confront it. Confront it by preaching Christ and Him crucified.

Preachers especially, we must stop weighing our words against what might offend the world. No, the goal isn’t to offend anyone, but if our preaching of Jesus becomes offensive, preach Him anyway. We need to be more concerned about souls than about our reputations, more attentive to the voice of the Holy Spirit than to our marketing strategies. We’re not celebrities; we’re servants of God. We’re preachers, not puppets. Too many are being consulted by culture instead of by the Word of God. God didn’t give you a platform to play it safe. He raised you to spread His Word - that souls might be saved. 

Cry aloud. Spare not. Sound the alarm. This is a spiritual war for the soul of a generation. 

You may be pressured into silence. Preach the gospel anyway.

You may be threatened by the social media mob. Preach the gospel anyway. 

Let them mock you, threaten you, accuse you, and cancel you. The world needs to hear the message of salvation. 

Stay on message. Focus on the mission. Jesus is still the answer. The gospel is still the mission. How we go down is history is of no importance compared to how we go down in eternity. 

ENJOY DAVID'S WEEKLY BLOG? CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP TO RECEIVE IT VIA EMAIL.

How to Speak with Power and Authority

I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, 'May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. (Mark 11:23, NLT)

What incredible power the Lord has given to us. There is power in your words. When you, by faith, declare a thing, it is so. But from where does that power come? Are we able to simply will anything we desire into existence? Concerning what we speak in prayer, this is what the Scripture says:

And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: (1 John 5:14, KJV)

As we should, we celebrate the reality of our ability to “ask anything”, but we mustn’t forget “according to his will.”

We have the tendency to stray into superstition. Indeed, many believers live under the bondage of superstition. Perhaps you have heard the threatening phrases: “Don’t speak that! There’s power in your words. Be careful what you say; you might speak death upon yourself.”

And while I am fully committed to speaking life over myself and those around me, I don’t live ruled by the paranoia of unintentional curses.

Is there power in our words? Yes. Can we declare things to be so? Certainly. Do our words affect us and our situations in profound ways? Absolutely. But you can thank God for the limitations that He has placed within the power of our Words.

When God speaks, He speaks with unquestionable, unlimited authority. When we speak, we have the authority “according to his will.” When God speaks, He creates. When we speak, we shape. And aren’t you glad that not everything you declare manifests as reality? God speaks as the Creator. You and I speak as influencers, shapers of the creation. We cannot will worlds into existence, but we can will worlds into alignment with God’s Word.

For example, a police officer cannot legally come to your house and rob you of your valuable possessions. If he attempted to even enter the premises, he would legally need a warrant. If for some unfortunate reason he decided to step outside of the law and rob you, he would legally need to return whatever was taken, even if he wore a badge and claimed authority while robbing you. You see, the police officer has been given the power to enforce the law, not his own will. The law limits his authority. He can only make demands, as far as the law allows.

In the same sense, we are given power in our words according to God’s will and Word. We can declare healing, deliverance, salvation, and blessing. Why? Because that’s God’s will. You cannot expect your words to have power if they contradict God’s Word or if they are born of your own will. We cannot simply will anything we desire into existence, because the power is not in human will. We can speak, but God must first will.

When we obey God, we position ourselves in a place of authority and our words become as certain as the will of God itself. Our authority comes from submission to God’s authority. When we submit to that authority, we align ourselves with the power of Heaven. The power in our words comes from our obedience to His Word. Therefore, speaking in faith does not obligate God, it positions us.

You’ve heard it said, “We can speak things into existence.” However, perhaps it might be more helpful, more accurate even, to say, “We speak things into order.” If something contradicts the Word or will of God, we can speak it into order. We can command all things to bend to the will of God.

The power of your words is directly proportional to the depth of your surrender.

ENJOY DAVID'S WEEKLY BLOG? CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP TO RECEIVE IT VIA EMAIL.

The Anointing

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” (Luke 4:18-19, NLT)

It is the anointing that makes the difference. Without the anointing, preaching is just motivation, churches are just gatherings, ministry is just charity, and people are powerless. If you truly want to walk in power, you need the anointing.

It was the anointing upon Jesus that empowered Him to preach the good news, proclaim freedom to the captives, and heal the sick. When it comes to operating at that level of ministry, there are no gimmicks or techniques that can be applied, no methods to manufacture results. It really is just the anointing. There are no substitutes or counterfeits for the anointing; either you walk in it or you don’t.

We need the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Methods cannot replace miracles. The systematic cannot replace the spiritual. Programs cannot replace power. Don’t try to do it in your own strength. Cry out for a fresh anointing. Abandon the cares of this world and enter into the deepest places of prayer. There, in the presence of God, you will find the power of the Spirit - the anointing.

ENJOY DAVID'S WEEKLY BLOG? CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP TO RECEIVE IT VIA EMAIL.

Rejecting Superstition

In order to become a real threat to hell and a real help to others, we must be loosed from the distracting nature of superstition and learn how to engage in true spiritual warfare. In the introduction to this book, I presented a caution about our approach to spiritual warfare and warned against the extremes of both skepticism and superstition. I now want to focus on avoiding superstitious thinking that can keep you from overcoming the enemy.

Before I go any further, I want to be clear. It is not my intent to be dismissive of demonic activity. My goal is to keep you from becoming bound to superstitious thinking that can make you fearful of casting out or confronting demons. If you can understand the liberating truth I seek to present here, you will approach spiritual warfare with the peace of God and not become inordinately concerned about demonic activity.

This is about becoming a threat to the enemy—defeating him. To become that threat, we must consciously avoid superstitions that make us paranoid about being influenced by demons.

What kinds of superstitions am I talking about? While doing my research for this book, I read a lot of material, carefully studied the Scriptures, and spoke with several people. Through those conversations and materials, I discovered many people were living in fear of demons despite their vast “knowledge” of Scripture. They were fixated on “rules” to keep demons from “attaching” themselves to them.

They had been told that they should pray when walking into buildings so demons wouldn’t latch onto them and then to pray when leaving so no demons would follow them home. In a few extreme instances some even came to believe that they should pray before loading every web page they visited lest a demon jump off the page and into their lives. They even feared rebuking demonic spirits lest they jump onto them.

They were constantly on guard. If they got angry, they’d pray against the demon of anger that may have entered their lives. If they came into contact with a drug addict, they believed that if they didn’t rebuke the demon they might become its next victim. If they accidentally touched a trinket from the occult, they’d think they had opened a door for an evil spirit to torment them.

Instead of living in the light of Christ, these believers were tediously working to counter every possible assault that could arise from almost any possible scenario. Though they were trying to remain vigilant against demonic attack, they were actually giving demons too much of their time and living in bondage to fear instead of in the freedom Jesus purchased for us on the cross.

This isn’t how we are supposed to live as followers of Christ. Of course, the Bible tells us to “be sober and watchful, because your adversary the devil walks around like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8). So we should guard against temptation and opening doors that would give the devil legal access to influence our lives. For many of us, this means there are certain places we should not go. And obviously we should not participate in occult rituals. But greater is He who is in us than He who is in the world (1 John 4:4)! There is a difference between vigilance and paranoia. Vigilance in spiritual warfare is rooted in confidence in God and His Word and the authority we have in Him. Paranoia is rooted in fear. Vigilance is offensive; paranoia is defensive.

If you allow yourself to become paranoid about demons, you’ll constantly be looking around for demonic stalkers. We don’t see Jesus worrying about demons, and we don’t see the disciples living in that kind of fear. In fact, the apostle Paul allowed a demon-possessed girl to follow him around for several days before finally casting the demon out of her. And when he did cast it out, he took only an instant to do so.

“On one occasion, as we went to the place of prayer, a servant girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling. She followed Paul and us, shouting, ‘These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.’ She did this for many days. But becoming greatly troubled, Paul turned to the spirit and said, ‘I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.’ And it came out at that moment“ - Acts 16:16–18, MEV

Whenever you form a belief or embrace a concept, ask yourself this: Does this idea help me better live the lifestyle of Christ that we see reflected in Scripture? If it doesn’t, don’t embrace it. I want to see you operate in the authority that has been given to you through Christ.

ENJOY DAVID'S WEEKLY BLOG? CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP TO RECEIVE IT VIA EMAIL.

Dominion Over Demons

Just as I was preparing for a much-needed night’s sleep, I received an unexpected (and somewhat unwelcome) phone call. Tempted to ignore the relentless ringing of my cell phone, I glanced at my phone to assess the call’s importance. Despite my lack of enthusiasm, I reached out, perhaps by impulse, and answered the call. I immediately recognized the caller’s voice. He was a friend and fellow Christian leader. I could tell by his tone that he knew his call was an imposition. He was sincerely apologetic but frantic and panicky.

“Hey can I tell you something please?” he asked timidly. Still trying to commit my mind to conversation, I answered, “Yes, sure.”

He explained, “Well, I’m here at the home of a friend. I was ministering to the family who lives here, and this lady started acting very strange. She appears to have a manifesting demon. I think she is demon-possessed.”

“What makes you say that?” I asked.

“Well, when I started to pray for her, she started screaming, saying weird things, and shaking. And she—or maybe the demon—is mocking me. What should I do?”

I pulled the phone away from my face so I could sigh without the caller hearing me. I was frustrated that he was calling me because he was a Spirit-filled believer. Had it been a new convert or an inexperienced believer who asked me that question, I would have been more understanding of his nervousness. Internally I was praying for the Lord to give me patience. I mustered all the kindness I could in that late hour of the night, and I gently said, “Well, brother, you should cast the demon out of her.”

He paused for a moment. “I can do that? Are you sure you don’t want to do it? We’d rather have you do it. Can you come over? Am I allowed to do that? I don’t need a special anointing for that or something? Won’t the demon get on me? What about everyone else here?”

His frantic questions didn’t leave me even a second’s opportunity to respond. I waited for him to calm down. “My brother,” I replied, “you can cast the demon out yourself. The same Holy Spirit who lives in me lives in you.”

There was another moment of pause. His tone was one of both excitement and concern as he replied, “OK. Thank you. … but are you sure?”

My tone tipped slightly toward irritated. “Yes, my friend. You can cast the demon out.”

After reiterating that point for about a minute more, I ended the call with my friend. Then I began to think about what had just occurred. I thought to myself: How is it possible that a fellow Christian leader doesn’t know how to cast out a demon?

Say what you will about my frustration, but Jesus Himself expressed this sort of aggravation toward His disciples when they were unable to cast out a demon of a little boy (Mark 9:19). I know that some demonic beings rank higher in power and are more difficult to deal with. But I was astonished that my friend didn’t even attempt to cast out that demon.

Most believers have the same state of mind my late-night caller had. He was living righteously. He was filled with the Holy Spirit. He was walking with the Lord. Yet he hesitated to confront the powers of darkness.

If one is living a spiritually compromised life, then hesitancy in the face of demonic activity is expected. But just as the compromising Christian can be too confident, so the battle-ready believer can be too doubtful. I don’t care what anyone says; the Bible tells us that “those who believe” the gospel message will be endued with the power to drive away demonic forces from enslaved souls.

“He said to them, “Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved. But he who does not believe will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues” - Mark 16:15–17, MEV

Who will the signs follow? He who believes! He who believes what? He who believes the gospel message preached by the disciples of Christ. The moment you believed is the very moment you received authority over demonic forces.

Dear reader, you don’t need to be a “demon expert” to be a threat to hell. Should you know the dynamics of spiritual warfare and demonic activity? Absolutely. But how much more do you really think you need to learn before you begin to exercise your authority over them? The ability to cast out demons and destroy the works of hell is not necessarily about how much you know about demons; it’s about how much demons know about Christ in you.

While the “inexperienced” believer may not always be able to discern the difference between a genuine demonic manifestation and emotional hype, that individual still has the ability to cast out demons. Might the one who is unfamiliar with casting out demons do some foolish things? Of course. But his ability to cast out demons is still there.

For example, I’ve heard of some believers who, while trying to perform deliverance, smack the demon-possessed individual in the face with a Bible. The enthusiasm is good, but the actual act of hitting a person in the face is not. We know that while there is power in the Word of God, there is no actual power in a book’s leather, paper or ink. We also know that we “wrestle not” against the flesh or against people themselves. So smacking the flesh with a leather-bound book serves no actual spiritual purpose. You may even be able to expel a demon while using such silly methods, but the exorcism would have to succeed despite the foolishness, not because of it.

As believers grow, they will move beyond hype, bizarre methods, unhealthy fear of demons and superstitious thinking. But regardless of any need for growth, every Spirit-filled believer has the power to cast out demons. How effectively they exercise that authority depends upon their spiritual maturity.

My caution here would be to tell you that if you are compromising in sin, demonic beings will be able to resist your commands. They may even retaliate against your attempts to expel them. However, I am compelled to remind you that there are limitations to a demon’s attacks on a believer.

 The Believer’s State of Being

Authority flows from the top down, so you need to be positioned under authority in order to exercise authority. For example, a police officer has authority to enforce certain laws. He can command you to do many things, but the moment he commands something outside the scope of what the law allows, he loses legal authority to give orders. An employer has the authority to make demands of his employees, but if that employer steps into the home of one of his employees, he loses the right to make certain demands.

Government leaders have the authority to enact laws upon their citizens, but the moment those leaders step foot outside sovereign soil, they lack the authority to command the people of that different country. If you want spiritual authority, then you need to remain in your spiritual place of authority. Once you step out of the Spirit, you step outside your jurisdiction.

Speaking analogously, a police officer with a California badge can’t enforce the laws of Florida. A police officer with a U.S. badge cannot enforce American laws in the country of Japan. It doesn’t matter if you have a badge if that badge isn’t used in your place of influence. Jurisdiction is the key to having authority.

In the spiritual realm for the believer jurisdiction isn’t found in a physical place—it’s found in a state of being. The believer has jurisdiction in the state of righteousness, in the state of peace, in the state of faith and so on. When you live a lifestyle of compromise (the state of unrighteousness), you step out of the state in which you have dominion. You don’t lose your badge (your authority), but you do leave the state where that badge works.

How can you command a spirit of perversion to leave when you’re in the state of perversion? How can you rebuke a spirit of fear when you live in the state of fear? When you leave your jurisdiction, it’s not that you don’t have authority; it’s that you’re walking in the wrong state.

When you walk in holiness, everywhere you go is God’s dominion—and when you live in dominion, your authority works to its fullest. Simply put, this dominion, this full realization of authority, is found in the state of submission to the Lord. Our authority is fully realized in submission to God. And that submission to God precedes our ability to resist the enemy.

”Therefore submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” - James 4:7, MEV

God’s authority upon you will always work when you’re living in the right state of being. This is why you can have authority everywhere you go: Dominion goes with you! Your authority over fear works in the jurisdiction of faith. Your authority over demonic beings works in the jurisdiction of righteous living, and so on. The key is in remaining in the right jurisdiction.

ENJOY DAVID'S WEEKLY BLOG? CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP TO RECEIVE IT VIA EMAIL.