ARM YOURSELF FOR SPIRITUAL WARFARE: PART 8

In the previous posts we said to...
Part 1: BE STRONG in the Lord
Part 2: BE CLOTHED with the armor of God.
Part 3: BE  CLOTHED with the armor of God.
Part 4: BE AGGRESSIVE in prayer.
Part 5: BE FIRM against the enemy.
Part 6: BE INTENTIONAL about praying down strongholds.
Part 7: We are to...
            PULL DOWN ===> STRONG HOLDS
            CAST DOWN ===> IMAGINATIONS
            CAST DOWN ===> EVERY HIGH THING THAT EXALTS ITSELF AGAINST GOD.
            CAPTURE  =====> EVERY THOUGHT TO CHRIST

Praying With Authority:

When we refer to authority in prayer we do not mean authority to command God!  God is sovereign and we are his servants.   We can however command things, and the enemy!

COMMANDING THINGS:

Mark 11:23-25 ESV Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. (24) Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. (25) And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses."

Matthew 8:26-27 ESV And he said to them, "Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?" Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. (27) And the men marveled, saying, "What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?"

COMMANDING DISEASE:

Luke 4:38-39 ESV And he arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon's house. Now Simon's mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, and they appealed to him on her behalf. (39) And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them.

COMMANDING THE ENEMY:

James 4:7 ESV Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Mark 8:32-33 ESV And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. (33) But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man."

Matthew 17:16-18 ESV And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him." (17) And Jesus answered, "O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me." (18) And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly.

Mark 9:23-25 ESV And Jesus said to him, "'If you can'! All things are possible for one who believes." (24) Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, "I believe; help my unbelief!" (25) And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again."

The word REBUKE is often used of Jesus relation to the oppositions of Satan whether through people, nature, disease, or evil spirits.  The word REBUKE (epitimao) means to "put a weight upon", to "contradict."   So then Jesus was putting pressure on the enemy with His authority.

Jesus also made it clear that his disciples were given authority in His name over all the power of the enemy!  The stopping of Satan's pillage of the earth is the task and privilege of believers.   In fact Jesus said that we cannot make headway into territory of the enemy until we first "BIND THE STRONG MAN."

Matthew 12:29 ESV Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house.