When we fight to defeat the enemy, we are revealing our disbelief in what Jesus has already accomplished. We don’t fight him; we resist him with all the authority of heaven, and he flees in utter fear.
“…we have such a high priest, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens…” (Hebrews 8:1, NASB)1
Our posture is Jesus’s posture: seated, resting, trusting, so that when evil voices speak words of doubt and fear, we declare that we are in Christ and every enemy has already been defeated and is under our feet. No matter what our circumstances are screaming at us, we declare the FINISHED work. We’re not trying to defeat the devil by “warring” against him. The adversary has been disarmed of the weapon of the law, and he’s nothing more than a public spectacle hoping to convince us that we deserve whatever is coming our way, and we have no power over him.
These principles of spiritual authority work because they are based on the incorruptible word of God. We don’t have to ask God for authority because we already have it in Jesus – in fact, it’s HIS authority given to us. Jesus demonstrated this authority when He told the demons to leave the Gadarene demoniac: “Come out of the man, unclean spirit!”2 They left and went into the swine. With the woman bowed down with the spirit of infirmity He didn’t even speak to the spirit. He spoke to the woman: “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.”3 She was immediately made straight. Often He cast out spirits with a single word!
In Acts 16, Paul became greatly annoyed with a girl possessed by a demon who was following him around for days. He turned to her and said,
“‘I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!’ And it came out at that very moment.” (Acts 16:18, NASB)
I can tell you after being in ministry for years, I have seen all sorts of “deliverance” sessions that didn’t even resemble biblical authority. Once I attended a meeting where the leader, a very respected older man who had led this particular ministry for decades, along with a team of about five other people, attempted for an hour to cast a demon out of a twelve-year-old little girl, sadly with no success. They were hovering over this child, laying their hands on her and praying loudly. The girl writhed on the ground making terrible sounds. I was shocked to find that the parents had brought this little girl to this meeting several times in the past, and the scene was the same each time. I call that insanity: doing the same thing over and over, but expecting a different result. This should not be!
The devil is Christ’s footstool. We are in Him, therefore, the devil is our footstool. The work is finished and our job is to enforce the victory with the authority of heaven given to us.
(from pages 316-317 of Unveiling Jesus)
Want more from Tricia Gunn? Check out excerpts from the Unveiling Jesus 20-part series!
Unveiling Jesus, by Tricia Gunn, is a verse by verse study of the pure gospel of grace. It’s an amazing journey of love, identity, and freedom in Christ.
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1Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®,Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
2Mark 5:8
3Luke 13:12
