DESTINED TO OVERCOME - by Paul Billheimer
We must be aware that in this world there is mass activity behind the
scenes of a vast, well organized host of wicked spirits under the
control of their master prince, Lucifer or Satan. Any spiritual method or technique
which ignores the presence and activity of these occult forces cannot
possibly offer an adequate solution for the problems plaguing mankind.
In scripture, the victory is won by "the blood of the lamb and the word
of their testimony."
The blood of the Lamb: When man at the time of the fall transferred
his allegiance from God to Satan, he also transferred his dominion.
Because it was given to man, the rulership of this world was no longer
under God's direct control. It was under man's control until he gave
it to Satan. The only way God could legally recover it for man was
through man. A man must be found upon whom Satan had no claim or control
in order to head a movement for swinging the world back to the original
allegiance. He had to be without stain and taint of sin.
Through the thirty three years Jesus lived on earth, spiritual warfare
between Him and Satan continued with unabated intensity. Satan's object
in bringing Christ to the cross was to compel Him to rebel against the
will of the Father. His ultimate purpose in all of his cruel attacks
and pressure was to compel Jesus to fail just once in His submission
to God. But it came to naught when Jesus died without yielding to that
temptation. This canceled all of Satan's claims upon the earth and the
entire human race. When Jesus dismissed His Spirit without giving Satan
any claim upon Him, Satan became the murderer of an innocent victim
upon whom he had no claim; he therefore became subject, in the court
of universal justice, to the death penalty. He destroyed himself.
(Hebrews 2:14) Satan is now destroyed - not annihilated, but destroyed.
All of the legal claims which he secured upon the earth and man through
Adam's Fall are now completely canceled. Since the cross, he has
absolutely no right at all upon any one or any thing. All the power
which he exercises now he exercises solely by deception and bluff. If
Satan is actually destroyed, why is it that he continues to run things?
The answer is this: Legally, the Cross completely destroyed Satan.
But like any other legal transaction, Calvary's legal victory must be
enforced. Unless the executive enforces the law, it is completely
nullified. The enforcement of Calvary's victory was placed in the hands
of the Church. The authority to enforce Christ's victory over Satan
was delegated to the church (Matthew 16:18, 19; Matthew 18:18; Matthew
28:28,19)
All power (authority) was given unto Jesus by virtue of His triumph
which was consummated at Calvary. In turn, He has delegated that
authority to His disciples. If we realized what actually happened to
Satan at Calvary, if we understood the utterness of his defeat, if we
comprehended the power of the blood and the effectiveness of our
authority, our own experience and the world's history might have been
different. Actually he has no power at all. He has no legal standing,
no rights, no authority. He hopes God's people will stay in the dark.
God works only through prayer. Prayer gives us training for overcoming
in preparation for rulership. He has no other way of training us for
rulership except by our cooperation in prayer. He has tied all of his
activity and accomplishment to prayer. All that He does in this field
is limited to the prayers of His people.
The crucial factor in getting answers to prayer is not primarily spiritual
superiority but simply the boldness, courage and faith to pray regardless
of our sense of unworthiness. All prayer is heard and answered on the
basis of His worthiness, not ours. Satan uses your feeling of unworthiness
to prevent your praying. God does all His work through unworthy people.
You have been given authority over Satan, but this authority is totally
useless if you do not pray.
The word of our testimony: This testimony is a word spoken directly
to Satan and his demon spirits in the Name of Jesus and upon the basis
of His shed blood: a command to them, spoken in the first person.
Speak directly to him commanding him and his demons of depression,
oppression, affliction and bondage, in the Name of Jesus of Nazareth
and upon the basis of His shed blood, to "leave me" and "release me".
With the word of my testimony, I declare aloud that Satan's power has
been destroyed by Christ's death and that his claims were canceled.
It is important to be very literal and specific. You must first of
all recognize the source and origin of your difficulties. I believe
we shall discover that far more of our troubles than we have ever
dreamed are the result of demon personalities. Evil always has an
intelligent, self-conscious source. The only way we can be sure that
he knows we are resisting him is to speak aloud, to directly and
audibly confront him with the truth. He flees because of the power of
Jesus which is ours through prayer.
Speak to your fears: "Thou demon of fear, in the Name of Jesus I bind
you and command you to be removed and cast into the abyss." You may
find that speaking to your fears is more effective than much counseling
by others.
Satan is the ruler over an immense kingdom, a vast hierarchy of wicked
spirits through whom he carries on his work. But he is not omnipresent.
Nor is he omnipotent or omniscient; he has to carry on his work through
demons. They have power to interfere with bodily functions, to oppress
the mind and the spirit and, in general, to distort human personality.
When our trouble is the result of demonic oppression, the technique of
overcoming set forth in Revelation 12:11 will certainly bring relief.
Call them by name and command them in the Name of Jesus and upon the
basis of Calvary's victory to release you, to take their hands off and
go back to the abyss, and stay there. I have discovered a permanence
of relief and victory which I did not have until I followed these
demons clear through, and with the blood of Jesus, sealed them
permanently in the depths of the abyss. I cannot believe that God wants
anything less than permanent deliverance.
May it not be that Christ's final triumph over Satan and the incarceration
of the powers of evil awaits aggressive action by the Church, awakened
to its rightful authority? May it not be that God is waiting for His
people to seize and exercise the authority that He has delegated to
them before His plan can move into its final stages?
The centurion had insight into what goes on in the invisible world.
(Luke 7:6,8) All Jesus needs to do is to speak the word. The universe
was created not by thought but by speech. It was His word that was
creative. Evil spirits are intelligent, self-conscious personalities
who respond to the word of authority. It is necessary to be specific
in dealing with Satan and evil spirits. Authority is transmitted and
made effective only when you speak directly to them in the first person.
Satan will do all he can to frighten and prevent your using these
weapons.
The human race was created for one purpose: to provide an Eternal
Companion for the Son. Messiah came for one intent and only one: to
give birth to His Church and thus to obtain His Bride. The church is
the central object and goal not only of history but of all that God
has been doing in all realms from all eternity. The duties of the
saints are the administration of the great King's will and the
overseeing of all parts of His vast, eternal realm.
God ordained the plan of prayer. The sole reason for the method and
practice of prayer is that it is God's master plan to produce overcomers
for the throne. The Church is to occupy the highest position in the
universe short of the Godhead itself. God delegated to her the authority
to enforce His will right here on earth.
God planned in Jesus Christ to so completely bridge this gap that
redeemed humanity ends up as a full-blooded member of the
family of God, seated with Christ on the throne. He has bound Himself
to the Church's prayers in order to give the Church exercise in
overcoming. Our words release God's Spirit into action. They release
the Spirit of God to confront Satan. Only that which originates in
heaven has any power against Satan. "God shapes the world by prayer.
The prayers of God's saints are the capital stock of heaven by which
God carries on His great work upon earth."
If you are convinced that the object represented by your burden is
truly of God, since He is all powerful and since He answers all prayer
offered in His name, the answer to such a prayer is never in doubt.
The only question is your persistence in prayer. If you do not give
up, you may be assured that the answer is certain.
Satan can attack us only with God's permission, and God's purpose in
permitting it is to teach us authority. We know that victory is ours
no matter how long and desperate the conflict. God never goes "over
the head" of His Church to enforce His decisions. He will not take
things out of her hands. If she will not pray, God will not act. God
will do nothing apart from His church and her prayers. Prayer should
be the main business of our day. Heaven holds the key by which decisions
governing earthly affairs are made, but we hold the key by which these
decisions are implemented. Our business is "binding upon earth" that
which already has been bound in heaven. (Matt. 16:19)
Many of us are too busy watching television, following sports, hunting
and fishing, bathing and boating, engaging in farming or business,
moonlighting...busy with the cares and pleasures of this life that we
do not have time to pray. May not this drive toward materialism be one
reason why modern Christians have so little time to pray? Are we to
have nothing at all for ourselves? The answer is, no. Christ is to be
all and in all. You are not your own. You are bought with a price.
We have more leisure than ever before but less time to pray. We are
not only cheating God and the world, but we are cheating ourselves.
By our failure to pray, we are frustrating God's high purpose. "Pray
without ceasing" (I Thess.5:17). "Make prayer the main business of
your life." Through the centuries, the Church has never taken prayer
seriously enough.
Evil spirit personalities under the direction of their ruler, the god
of this world, swarm the earth in an attempt to foil God's government
and control earth's inhabitants. They are constantly inciting them to
rebellion against God, against His purposes, aims and plans. Human
events are only a reflection , a projection, of activities spawned and
propagated by satanic armies in the invisible realm. These evil spirit
personalities flood the earth, seeking to control.
Satan is called "the thief" who comes for one purpose and that is to
steal, to kill and destroy. This is the true reason and the only
explanation for the strife, disorder and chaos in the social, political
and governmental orders. The only power that controls these invisible
principalities and powers is the power of the Holy Spirit released by
the prayer and faith of God's holy people. Although all authority
belongs to Christ, he chooses to exercise that authority only and
exclusively through the prayer and faith of the Church. Praying people
are the body politic of the world, and the church holds the balance of
power in world affairs. The praying Church is actually deciding the
course of human events. Some day we shall discover that prayer is the
most important factor shaping the course of human history - in the
hidden and secluded prayer closets of the saints. The fate of the
world is in the hands of nameless saints. The least gifted person who
is born again has access to the most creative resource in the entire
universe, the resource of prayer. We do more for our people by our
praying than by our preaching. Don't initiate more than you can
saturate with prayer.
God's deepest secrets are reserved for those who take time to wait
upon the Lord. They are shared only in long hours of waiting upon God
in the secret place of prayer. In our devotional life, time is of the
essence.
In the warfare against evil spirit personalities with whom we are
engaged, one thing and one alone is effective - the supernatural
power of the Holy Spirit that is put into practice only by believing
prayer. We train and teach people to do everything but the one business
that will pay the most dividends - time alone with God in prevailing,
intercessory prayer.
If you are truly born again and have Christ dwelling within you, you
already have healing within you, for healing is in Christ. Although
the health is there, it will do you no good if you do not realize that
it is there. Your relief from all symptoms of illness only awaits your
full and complete realization of a fact which already exists. The whole
problem of the removal of symptoms is the problem of fully developing
the consciousness of this healing power which is already yours.
One least thing with which the Spirit of God has a controversy in one's
life is sufficient to dim the consciousness of His presence and delay
the blessing. Anything which hinders the purifying work in the moral
nature of man hinders the healing work in his physical body. Biblical
healing is intensely spiritual and ethical and emphasizes the necessity
of death to self, sin, and things of earth. Any known sin, any rejected
light, any lack of spiritual adjustment will dim the consciousness of
the presence of Christ within and hinder your deliverance. Build
conviction of the fact that healing is already yours.
(Heb. 11:1) Although the things spoken of are not seen, they nevertheless
do exist and faith is only becoming convinced that they do exist. Faith
is the acceptance of a fact which already exists but which has not yet
been manifested to the senses. Just as turning an electric switch sends
electric current, which is already within the building, flowing through
the light bulb and banishing darkness, so faith, sends resurrection
power, which is already within you, flowing into your body and banishing
symptoms of disease. In the realm of divine healing, it is necessary
to have a good contact. Very small, almost imperceptible acts of self-will
are often sufficient to break the spiritual circuit and stop the flow
of power. The slightest reservation or an unforgiving spirit may make
it impossible for you to develop the clear, vital conviction or unwavering
faith without which James tells us, we may expect nothing from the Lord.
The way to "switch on the power" is claiming or affirming that which
is already a fact. The order is: Fact, faith and then feeling. Realize
the fact first, increase your realization of the fact by speaking or
declaring it, and then you will feel it in your body. There is power
in the spoken word to clarify and strengthen faith. The moment your
faith is perfect, at that moment you will be completely delivered.
Not only does God have a blueprint and long-range plans for our lives,
but Satan and his hierarchy also have long-range plans which endeavor
to defeat God's plans. A fierce spiritual warfare results.
Faith must rest upon His Word alone. As soon as we return to that
solid foundation, the symptoms begin to disappear and restoration
continues.
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