A Nugget from New Life Network
Scripture for the Day (January 17, 2017)
Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. (James 2:19)
After that vision, and after Jesus gave me that verse from James, my spirit told me the word “flee” was significant. I looked it up in the dictionary and found one of the shades of meanings was “to run from as if in terror.” The devil will run from you in terror! Then I knew why the demon in my vision had begun to whimper and cry—he was terrified. Since then I have seen other demons quake and quiver in fear as I exercised my God-given authority over them. They were not afraid of me, but of Jesus, whom I represent.
In the vision Jesus gave me another Scripture that tells us to do something about the devil. This third reference was from I Peter. Peter wrote, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (I Peter 5:8). Your adversary means your opponent. This is as far as a lot of people read. They say, “Oh, the devil’s after me!” They ask for prayer so the devil won’t get them —but the devil’s already got them if they talk that way. It’s too late to pray then.
What are we going to do about him: Roll over and play dead? Hide our head in the sand and hope he’ll disappear? No, thank God, notice what it says as we go on reading. The next verse reads, “Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions [tests and trials] are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.” The American Standard Version says “your faith” instead of “the faith.” I like that better.
Jesus said to me in this vision, “Peter did not write this letter and tell Christians, ‘Now, word has come to me that God’s using our beloved Brother Paul in casting out devils, and he’s sending handkerchiefs or cloths, and the diseases are departing from people, and evil spirits are going out of them, so I would suggest that you write to Paul and get a handkerchief.’ No, instead of that, he told them to do something about the devil. Why? Because they have authority over him. The Spirit of God through the Apostle Peter wouldn’t tell you to do something you couldn’t do. The reason you can do it is because every believer has the same authority Paul had in Jesus Christ. Peter didn’t tell us that only Paul could cast out devils or that Paul would resist the devil for us. (Why get Paul to do it when you can do it for yourself?)
Jesus, James, and Peter all tell us to do something about the devil. Paul says in Ephesians 4:27, “Neither give place to the devil.” This was the fourth Scripture Jesus gave me. He explained, “This means you are not to give the devil any place in you. He cannot take any place unless you give him permission to do so. And you would have to have authority over him or this wouldn’t be true.”
Jesus added, “Here are your four witnesses. I am the first, James is the second, Peter is the third, and Paul is the fourth. This establishes the fact that the believer has authority on earth, for I have delegated my authority over the devil to you on the earth. If you don’t do anything about it, nothing will be done. And that is why many times nothing is done.”
Now you can understand why things have happened as they have. We’ve permitted them to happen! Not knowing our authority—not knowing what we could do—we have done nothing, and we actually have permitted the devil to keep on doing whatever he wanted to do. We need to realize this. Let’s wake up. We may have to change our way of praying and get after the devil. I did. It won’t hurt you to change; it’s good for you. We have authority to do this. We’re sitting at the right hand of the Father, far above principalities and powers. If we’re far above them, then we have authority over
them.
