After all, when it came to the work, I was no longer just a practitioner, but since I was now personally benefiting from this gift, I had also become a patron. I knew as a patron of the work, I had certain responsibilities in caring for my blessing and my deliverance from evil. I certainly did not want to experience the same fate as those that had become complacent concerning this great blessing. I also continued to ponder upon the darkness that had pestered my family for so many decades, perhaps generations. In addition to the need to face our demons;  was there anything else we had missed? Now that I had been freed from much of my own spiritual burden, I sensed there was much more to learn. I began praying for greater understanding as to how I could further protect myself and my new little family from the future advances of evil.

 

The connection between facing the demon Cain and other dark spirits that had been tormenting me throughout my life, and the increase in blessings was undeniable. It had become clear to me that there was real power in this process, power of which I had been previously unaware. I was raised in a religious environment that placed an emphasis on obedience, and reverence, and if something was lacking in my life or I needed help overcoming a problem, I was taught to turn to God in humble, petitionary prayer. If my prayers weren't answered, I was taught to be patient and endure to the end. Unfortunately, at times, enduring to the end literally meant the end for some of those closest to me.

 

Why weren't our prayers answered, when we needed them answered the most? If Satan was responsible for all of this death and destruction, how did he accomplish it, and why didn't God stop it. In the case of my dad's death, I must say that my parents were some of the finest people I've ever known. They were honest, decent, faithful, church going Christians. When my dad became ill, we prayed and prayed and fasted. We had never prayed so hard in our lives. Hundreds of people were praying for him. We pleaded with God for a miraculous healing; we begged God to deliver my dad from the cancer and yet to no avail. Time and time again, as loved one's became suddenly and inexplicably terminal at a young age, we would begin again the exact same process and again, it was always to no avail. How was this possible?

 

I knew that in Luke 10:19, Jesus promised that as His disciples, we have been given power over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt us. And then it hit me like a load of bricks, He gave me the power over all the power of the enemy.  We had been taking a passive approach to our problems and the healing of our loved ones, when all along we should have been taking a more direct approach. We had been praying for something we already had. A gift in our possession that we clearly did not know how to use. Jesus had already defeated Satan and taken the keys of death and Hell from him, and He had given us that authority, and sent us here to enforce His law on a spiritual level. Jesus had armed me with great power and yet I was begging Father for deliverance.

 

As I searched for greater understanding of this gift and how to access it, another scripture was brought to my attention. Many are familiar with the passage found in Mark 11:23 in which Jesus appears to speak of the power of great, even unimaginable faith:

 

For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

 

While as a child I had struggled to comprehend anyone who might possess enough faith to supernaturally move a mountain, with maturity I came to believe that Jesus was referring within this passage, to great obstacles or challenges in our lives. In other words, if you have enough faith, you can overcome anything through God's power. That's about where my understanding of this scripture ended. A challenge like cancer had to be one of the biggest mountains a person could face in life, but again, how might one access that level of faith. It was at this point something in the scripture stood out to me. He did not say "whosoever shall pray that this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea... it shall come to pass. No, He said, "whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith." He did not say pray, He said "say". He did not say pray-ith, He said "saith".

 

Again there is no bigger mountain or obstacle than a life threatening disease. If Satan is behind such destruction in our lives, was Jesus asking us to take him on directly, or to use the power that He had already given us, to personally rebuke him and the evil mountain of death and illness that he had placed before us? If so, how would one go about it? Again I looked to Jesus for the answer.

 

While Jesus was approached by Satan multiple times, probably the most notable occasion can be found in the 4th chapter of the book of Matthew just prior to the beginning of His ministry, where a very vivid interaction between Satan and Himself is chronicled. In the very beginning of this account, you get the sense that God had a purpose in this encounter when we are told: 

 

Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

 

So Jesus was sent to be tempted or rather tested. It appears He was asked or perhaps required by God to face his adversary. We are told that Jesus had fasted for 40 days and nights and when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

 

It is recorded that Satan then took Him into the holy city to one of the highest points on the temple and said to Him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. To this Jesus responded Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

 

Finally we are told that Satan took Him up to a very high mountain and showed Him all of the kingdoms of the world, and tempted Him saying All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. To this Jesus responded saying, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

 

By way of these interactions something quite remarkable happened, as we are taught that:

 

Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

 

Could this example demonstrate that we must stand up to darkness when it approaches? Here we see that Jesus didn't just sit by idly listening to Satan's proposals. He didn't ignore him in the hope that he would go away. He didn't converse with him or consider his temptations, and He certainly did not beg and plead in prayer for Father to deliver Him from this frightening encounter. No, He rebuked him. He countered every proposition in a definitive and authoritative manner, after which He told Satan to take a hike. We also learn that Jesus had to not only endure, but actively counter multiple approaches by the enemy before he was finally and successfully sent away.

 

We also see the great power within this equation, in that after it had ended, angels came and ministered unto Jesus. Is it possible that if we will lead the charge and verbally rebuke the dark spiritual presences in our lives, and if we will stay after it, and not give up even after multiple approaches, we will be literally calling upon the powers of heaven, and angels will rush in to assist us in every area of our lives, just as they did Jesus.

 

As I considered this information, I noticed one more interesting thing. Jesus recited scripture when countering each and every one of Satan's temptations. He quoted Deuteronomy 8:3 as well as Deuteronomy 6:16 and finally Deuteronomy 6:13. Was it possible that there was power in scripture or in God's word, power that could rebuke, disarm or even in time, defeat the enemy of our souls?

 

In 2nd Timothy 3:16 the apostle Paul teaches us that:

 

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,

 

So all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is God's word. We also learn that it is profitable for reproof. A synonym of reproof is to rebuke.

 

In Hebrews 4:12, Paul gives us further confirmation of the great offensive spiritual power of God's word:

 

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit

 

If there ever was a passage that illustrated the actual power of the scriptural word of God as a weapon of attack, this had to be it. After all, what other purpose would you have for a sword? This sounded like just what our family could have used over the years to divide this evil spirit of death and disease from our collective souls.

 

So I learned from Jesus' encounter with Satan that:

• Jesus was required to face His adversary before His ministry could begin.

• It was necessary that He fight against multiple approaches before His blessing of angelic ministration could occur.

• He directly countered every temptation.

• He used the power of the scriptural word of God to drive Satan away.

 

So if we are looking to God for a resolution to our problems or for a healing, perhaps just like Jesus:

• We are required to face our spiritual adversary before that heavenly process can begin.

• It may be necessary to fight against multiple approaches before our blessing of angelic ministration can occur.

• We must directly counter every approach and every attempt at weakening our resolve.

• We should use the power of the promises of God found in scripture whenever possible to drive away the dark spirit of disease, disorder and destruction.

 

 

So as we faced life's challenges, even the life-threatening ones, we prayed and we prayed, and we were patient. We tried to be obedient and faithful, and yet we never appeared able to tap into the fullness of God's love and the greatest of his blessings. We never knew the consistent relief of his everlasting peace in our lives, and now I knew why.

 

We had neglected to use, on a regular basis, the power and authority that Jesus Christ gave us, to stay in charge of our lives and our blessings.

 

We were acting like victims in need of saving, instead of warriors that had come to overcome. The truth is, we operated more like security guards, calling the police for help every time we encountered a major problem. Ironically, the reality is that we had been sent to be the police, and we didn't need saving, because we had already been saved. We just needed to pickup the sword of truth that God had given us and use it.

 

We were doing a lot of praying when we should have been doing just as much saying, if we truly wished to move the mountains and obstacles that darkness had been constantly placing in our path. During my upbringing, I witnessed those around me giving an occasional blessing if someone were sick or really struggling in life and out of those instances, occasionally results would be seen, even miraculous results. But I never  witnessed powerful, direct confrontations against the influence of Satan, nor did I hear the power of God's word used regularly, not only as a weapon but to bless our lives daily.

 

I've realized that just like Jesus on the mountain, the years of attacks by Satan were tests; tests that I was required to face before my life and the greatest of God's blessings could begin in earnest; tests that I failed over and over again until that one fall day I faced my accuser and tormentor, and began to fight back.

 

The day I came to these conclusions, was the day I decided to change my role in this life. In my previous life I had been given the position of a forbearing and resigned endurer, but no more. No more victim. No more survivor. No more suffering, subsisting, sorry, sop. 

 

I would pick up God's sword of truth and become the warrior that he had sent me to be. I would break my chains, stand up and finally take the fight to my captors.

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The Next Step: The Power of the Rebuke

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In the next section "The Power of the Rebuke", we will explore a weapon of our warfare that was used by Jesus himself, a weapon that empowers Christians to take the fight directly to the devil each and every day of their lives. Please click here to continue, or click on the link below to return to the "Weapons of Warfare" index.