Enforcing the Enemy's Defeat - Pastor Philip Steele - Wednesday, April 1st 2026

Hi, my name is Michelle Steele.

Pastor Phillip and I want to thank you for listening to this message from Life of Faith Church.

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And we want to continue looking at this uh that we've been uh teaching on enforcing the enemy's defeat.

And um this actually this series is kind of something that uh I don't want to say it just came on me, but the Lord started talking to me about it and and then began to ask me to teach on it.

And I know that, you know, in in charismatic circles, spirit-filled circles, we've learned much about our authority, about uh the authority that we possess, about the authority that we've been given.

And uh, of course that's true, but the you know the Bible's expanding revelation.

And so um I'm not necessarily learning something new overall.

It may be new to me, but it's not new overall because the Bible says there's nothing new under the sun.

And so it's been in the mind and the heart of God, and he put it out, and somebody knew that revelation at some point.

Um but we want to look at it because as believers, we're called to enforce the defeat of the enemy.

The defeat of the devil.

We're called to enforce it.

And where the enemy is concerned, it's how we think.

All right?

How you think about anything determines what you're gonna receive from it or how you're gonna respond to it.

All right?

In uh in our Bible college, I used to do a teaching on uh the second coming of Christ, and and one of the questions I would always ask was, how do you think about Christ's second coming?

How do you think about the tribulation, the book of Revelation?

How do you think about it?

Because some people think of the book of Revelation as, ooh, and scary and oh, it's hard to understand.

And it's not hard to understand, but if you think it is, it is.

Hallelujah.

How do you think about the tribulation?

How do you think about these different things?

Well, how do you think about the defeat of the enemy?

I mean, how do we think about that?

Because it's my mindset about it that determines the effectiveness that I'm gonna operate in.

Hallelujah.

And uh in Matthew 28, verse 18, Jesus is talking to his, well, the eleven and some other folks.

Matthew 28:18

And it says, Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power, all authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

Go therefore.

Alright, so in in the in in our diction today, we would say, so go.

Right?

So go, and notice what he says, go and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things, whatever I've commanded you, and I'm with you always, even unto the end of the world.

So Jesus is saying, I've been given all authority in heaven and in earth.

Now you go in my authority.

You go in this authority that I've been given.

Now the key is in the two words in all authority in heaven and in earth.

If you have all authority in heaven and all authority in earth, there's no authority that you've not been given.

And there's nothing that you've not been given authority over.

All right?

Nothing.

Now the reason this is important is because the enemy works through the holes that people have in their understanding of authority.

Right?

He delights in pushing people to extremes.

He delights when people are ignorant of what belongs to them or what uh uh the authority that they can operate in.

So all authority in heaven and all authority in earth, Jesus said he was given that, and he said, now I'm giving it to you, and I want you to go and do these things.

Hallelujah.

Glory to God.

Let's look at Mark 16.

Because Mark 16 and Matthew 28 happened at the same time.

They just Matthew wrote some things down, Mark wrote some other things down.

Mark 16, verse 15.

Mark 16:15

And he said unto them, Go into all the world and preach, proclaim, declare the gospel, the good news to every creature.

He that believes and is baptized shall be saved, and he that does not believe will be condemned.

And these signs shall follow them that believe.

In my name they will cast out devils, they'll speak with new tongues, they'll take up serpents.

If they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them, they'll lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

So he said, These signs shall follow them that believe.

This will be an indication that they believe.

All right?

This is the indicator.

These signs will be an indicator that one has belief.

Notice, they'll cast out devils.

Cast out.

It means to lead one away somewhere with a force that he cannot resist.

To lead one away somewhere with a force that he cannot resist.

Now here's the problem is when people that have authority that cannot be resisted by the devil are always talking about how the devil's fighting.

And the struggle he's putting up and how hard he's making it for him.

Well, Pastor, don't you believe the devil fights?

Of course the devil fights, but he's fighting from a lost position, not a losing position, a lost position.

See, how you think about your authority and how you think about your adversary is key into how you exercise your authority.

The devil is not losing, he has lost.

He's not being defeated, he has been defeated.

Do you see this?

And so he said, when you deal with devils, that you uh confront them with a force that cannot be resisted.

Hallelujah.

Do you see that?

And so when when you speak to the devil, when you speak to the enemy, right?

What did James say?

Very familiar verse, resist the devil, and what will he do?

Might flee.

He'll think about it.

He'll slowly know, he'll flee.

Is that what it said?

Why will he flee?

You're exercising an authority that he can't resist.

He has nothing to resist it with.

Why?

Jesus said this.

He said, When a strong man is armed, he keeps his house and his possessions, but when a stronger than he comes, he takes away from him all the armor that he trusted in and spoils his house.

Jesus took all the armor the devil had away and spoiled his house.

He has no authority in the life of the believer.

He has no seat of authority in the life of the believer.

Hallelujah.

So they'll cast out devils.

So according to what Jesus said, the enemy cannot resist what the believer says.

Cannot.

Amen.

It seems like you're dealing with a liar.

He deals with words and thoughts.

Lying words and lying thoughts.

Amen.

See, it's how you think about him.

There's a reason the Bible calls the devil the God of this world.

The God of this world.

And people will say, well, you know, he does have power.

He's the God of this world.

Of this world.

Operative phrase.

Of this world.

Three times in John 17, we're told we're not of this world.

So if I'm not of this world, the God of this world has nothing to say about me.

Right?

That's what Jesus said.

He said, I want you to keep them because they are not of this world.

Now here's, hang on to this, because he said, they're not of this world, even as I am not of this world.

Well, Jesus, who said, we're not of this world, even as he's not of this world, made this statement.

He said, The prince of this world is coming, but he has nothing in me.

He has no foothold in me.

He has nothing to say about me.

The devil's out there.

He's roaming about as a roaring lion, but he has nothing in me.

Amen.

Yeah, but you know, Pastor Jesus said that, but you're not Jesus.

But Jesus said, I'm not of the world, just like he's not of the world.

How do you think?

If you think the Prince of this world, the God of this world, has a measure of authority over you, you're always operating from a disadvantage.

Hallelujah.

He's really turning your own authority against you.

Hallelujah.

He called him the prince of the power of the air.

But he's never called the God of the believer.

This is important.

Listen, the world is in darkness.

They can't do anything about the devil.

He's been utterly, thoroughly, completely defeated where the believer is concerned, and we've been given all authority over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt us.

Amen.

Hallelujah.

Do you see that?

Because we've taught on this for years.

You know, Isaiah says, no weapon formed against you will prosper.

If the Bible says no weapon formed against you will prosper, then why would we be acting like a weapon formed can prosper?

When the Bible says it won't.

I not you all, you you I got a good church.

But I I'll be preaching other places and they'll look at me cockeyed when I say the Bible said that the shield of faith quenches all the fiery darts of the wicked.

Did it say all or some?

What do we expect the shield of faith to catch you then?

All the fiery darts of the wicked.

Yeah, but I know so-and-so and a dart got through.

I'm not basing my experience or my faith on what happened to so-and-so.

My authority is just like my faith.

It is personal.

It is personal to me.

I operate my authority to the level of my understanding of my authority.

Your authority was given to you by Jesus to operate on a personal level.

And you take it personal.

It doesn't matter what happened to somebody else, it's what you believe that's going to determine what happens to you.

Amen.

Hallelujah.

Listen, I listen, I grew up Pentecost, and I'm grateful for my upbringing.

Lots of good people, wonderful people that love the Lord.

But dear Lord, we talked about the devil beating our brains out.

Amen.

There's one lady, she'd stand up, and it was just, y'all pray for me.

The devil's been kicking on me all day long.

Pray for you.

There's not one scripture in the Bible that says we're supposed to pray that the devil will leave us alone.

In the New Testament, we're told to speak to the devil and tell him what to do, to resist him.

Oh, hallelujah.

Do you see this?

And so, if the shield of faith is catching all the fiery darts of the wicked, if no weapon formed against us will prosper, if we resist the devil and he flees from us every time, we should think different about our authority.

You know, Charles Caps one time he said, he said, uh he was praying.

He said, At least I thought I was praying.

And he said, I told the Lord, he said, I've resisted the devil.

But he didn't flee.

And the Lord said, Yes, he did.

Because if you did what my word said, he did what my word said he would do.

Right?

Listen, the devil's a liar.

Did he see that?

Is this truth?

So when you resisted him, what happened?

He left.

Right?

I remember Brother Hagin.

He was uh, and and I won't go into all of this, but uh when he had a uh a vision, Jesus appeared to him in a vision.

And uh we don't preach people for gospel, but when their experiences line up with the word, that's what we we do.

And he said, Jesus spoke to him, and he said, when you're praying for people, he said, from now on, what is called in my word, the discerning of spirits, is gonna be operating in your ministry.

And he said, when you stand before people, they're there uh for prayer.

He said uh for sickness and disease.

He said, when when you put your hands on either side of their body, he said, if that anointing bounces back and forth, he said, that's a spirit and not just a sickness.

And he said, you gotta deal with it that way.

Hallelujah.

And so he was uh in a meeting and he was praying for people, and he got to this uh certain individual that was uh all bent over, and he put his hand on either side of him, he felt that fire jumping back and forth.

Hallelujah.

And he said, uh, now in the name of Jesus, you gotta come out of this man and quit hindering him.

And then he backed up and he said, Now, brother, bend over see if you can bend over.

See if you can.

And the man said, I can't.

So boy, he went up again, fire bouncing back and forth.

And he did the same thing.

He backed up and said, Now, brother, see if you can bend over.

And he couldn't.

And so he said, I just went on to the next person.

And he said, I turned around out of the corner of my eye, and I saw Jesus standing there on the platform.

And he said, Jesus looked at me and he said, He said, He had fire in his eyes.

And he said, I told you that if you told it to go, it would go.

And he said, Lord, I I did what you told me and it didn't go.

He said, Jesus said, I told you that if you told it to go, it would go.

Right?

And so he thought, now I'm I I gotta be missing it here somewhere.

Because I told it to go.

And he's he's arguing with Jesus.

I told it, and then it hit him.

Every time he backed off from that man, he said, now brother, see if you can.

See if you can.

See, when you exercise your authority, it's not let's see if it works.

I'm exercising my authority, it's absolutely gonna work.

We're not seeing if this works.

Hallelujah.

Amen.

See, that's just as bad as praying if it be your will.

Or, Father, if you want to, or Father, if you can.

I was praying beside a preacher one time, and God bless him.

I finally had to get up and walk on the other side of the room because I couldn't pray for all the unbelief.

He's praying, we are praying together, and and and I love praying with preachers, but he was just praying, oh God, come down and touch us, God, somehow, someway, God.

Oh, God, if you see fit, oh God, help us if you can.

I thought, dear Lord, we're not getting anything accomplished.

Go on the other side of the church and pray in the Holy Ghost.

Did you see this?

He said, according to Jesus, it would be a power the enemy could not resist.

Look at Luke chapter 10.

Luke 10 · chapter mention

Oh, glory to God.

And so the the enemy's gotta take his hands off some things for you.

He's gotta quit doing some things.

Why?

Because you're telling him to.

Amen.

Hallelujah.

Luke 10, verse 17.

Luke 10:17

And the seventy return with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils, the demons, are subject to us through your name.

And he said, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.

I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

Oh, praise God.

So the seventy came back, and they said, Even the demons are subject to us through your name.

In other words, the sick are being healed, and even the demons are subject to us.

So not only sickness, demons too.

Hallelujah.

They're rejoicing over a demon being cast out.

See, here's the revelation that Jesus is trying to get across here.

Jesus, notice, he said, I beheld Satan fall as lightning from heaven.

When?

Now, obviously, Jesus saw that when Satan was cast out of heaven, but he's talking specifically here about as the disciples were going about.

He's seeing things in the spirit.

And notice what he says: he says, I saw him fall like lightning from heaven.

In other words, Jesus is seeing the destruction of the entire kingdom of evil.

You're rejoicing over one devil being cast out.

I've seen this in the spirit.

The whole thing's been defeated.

Hallelujah.

Listen, for you to cast out one devil means the whole kingdom is defeated.

Because if the whole kingdom is not defeated, you can't cast out one devil.

But because the whole kingdom has been defeated, no devil, no demon has any authority in our life.

None.

Hallelujah.

Do you see that?

Don't put up with that.

Don't put up with fear in your home.

Don't put up with anxiety in your home.

Don't put up with feelings of the devil in your house.

Take authority over it.

Get rid of them in the name of Jesus.

Oh, hallelujah.

Amen.

They're rejoicing over a demon being cast out, and he's seeing the destruction of the entire kingdom of evil.

So we not only have authority over the demons, but over all the power of the enemy.

Say it out loud: I have authority over all the power of the enemy.

Amen.

And here's the thing.

I want to say this correctly.

I don't want you to misunderstand me.

Even if the devil's fighting, quit giving him the credit.

He's just running his mouth.

You know, we got to.

We got a uh a watchdog at our house that weighs seven pounds.

And uh she thinks her job throughout the day is to run off the delivery men and women.

And you'll hear her all day through the ring doorbell.

You'll see the UPS.

Sometimes you'll see the UPS, they're like, heh, he know, kind of laughing at the dog.

Hallelujah.

Well, you know, in reality, she has no ability to run them off.

She's seven pounds.

Right?

There's nothing she can do.

But yap.

All the devil can do is yap.

I'm gonna do this.

I'm gonna do that.

I'm gonna do this.

You're gonna fail.

You're not gonna make it.

And now now listen, if if you don't agree, he has no ability to get that done.

Zero.

Zero.

I have to agree.

Because I have to lay down my authority and not exercise it for his to work.

Because for the believer, again, he has zero.

He has none.

None.

Hallelujah.

Tell your neighbor the devil has no authority in my life.

Amen.

Listen, there's a reason that I don't go to Brandon and Miss Sarah's house and spank their kids.

I don't have the authority.

Is that right?

Amen.

There's a reason you don't come to my house and spank my child.

You don't have the authority.

Amen.

I don't.

The devil does not have the authority to finish anything in my life.

Hallelujah.

Look at John chapter 12.

John 12 · chapter mention

See, it's how you think.

When I was growing up in church, we used to sing a song, and it went, it went, me and the devil, we had a battle, but I won.

Well, I mean, okay, I understand, but Jesus is the one that won.

And I've been walking in his authority and his victory ever since.

The church has been walking in the victory and the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ for over 2,000 years.

Hallelujah.

John 12, verse 30.

John 12:30

It says, Jesus answered and said, This voice did not come because of me, but for your sakes.

Now is the judgment of the world.

Now shall the prince of the world be cast out.

And if I be lifted up from the earth, I'll draw all men to me.

This he said, signifying what death he should die.

Hallelujah.

So at the cross, Satan was cast out of his seat of power over everybody that believes.

When you read through the Word of God, you find the devil being cast out five times.

Satan being cast down, cast out five times.

Five different times.

It specifically says he's the most cast down fellow you ever met in your life.

I mean, he just can't catch a break.

He decided he'd ascend up above God's throne.

God cast him down.

He decided he'd try to lord it over Jesus and the church, and he got cast down.

Hallelujah.

Revelation says there was war in heaven, and Michael and his angels fought against the devil and his angels, and they did not prevail, and Michael and his angels prevailed, and he was cast out.

Hallelujah.

And the Bible says there's coming a day when when the Lord Jesus Christ will take him and cast him into the lake of fire forever and ever and ever and ever.

But hear me, that's not when his defeat will be.

His defeat was at the cross.

There are going to be people that look at the devil when he's about to be cast into the lake of fire.

And the Bible says they're going to say this is this the man?

They're going to be shocked that that's who they were concerned about.

This is important.

Well, we can't just act like the devil has no power.

No, we we should not lie, act like the devil has no power, but we have to act like he has none over me.

Because he doesn't.

See, you have authority.

You have power in your house.

You don't have power in my house.

So you have power, but you don't have power over me.

The devil has power, but not over me.

Say it out loud.

He has power, but not over me.

Amen.

The Weast Bible says the ruler of this world will be thrown out, clean out.

So it's a total and complete defeat.

He was not, he was not just ushered to the side, he was thrown clean out.

No authority over you and I.

See, how do you think about it?

How do you think about the devil's authority?

To enforce his defeat, you got to think right about your authority.

And you got to think right about his authority.

Amen.

Hallelujah.

Say it out loud.

When I tell it to go, it goes.

When I tell it to come, it comes.

Amen.

That's it.

That's how it works.

Oh, hallelujah.

Look at Colossians 2.

You know, this is not just a uh, how do I say this, not just a uh hype.

It's how we have to operate.

Uh Colossians 2 verse 13, and you being dead in your sins, the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, contrary to us, took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross.

Colossians 2:13

And notice, having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

Hallelujah.

So it says he spoiled principalities and powers.

That word spoiled means to disarm and throw away the weapons.

So he disarmed them and threw away their weapons.

Now, Hebrews 2.14 says that because the children were partakers of flesh and blood, that Jesus Christ partook of flesh and blood, that so through death he might destroy him that had the power of death.

That is the devil.

Now, this may sound like an elementary question, but did Jesus die?

He did.

Then through death, he destroyed the devil.

Not in the sense of annihilation.

That's not the destruction.

It means to paralyze, to disarm, to uh de-armor.

Hallelujah.

So the devil has so little authority in the life of the believer, it's like he's paralyzed with no armor at all.

Amen.

Here's my question: how much of a threat is an entirely paralyzed individual?

None.

He's there.

But the only thing he can do is run his mouth.

Can't move.

I'm gonna get you.

I'm gonna defeat you.

You're gonna lose everything.

Your children never gonna be saved.

Your finances are never gonna recover.

Your body's never gonna get healed.

Can't do anything about it, cannot enforce a word he's saying.

And here's what believers with all authority in heaven and earth do.

They listen to a paralyzed entity and run and duck for cover.

And he can't even move.

Hallelujah.

We say things sometimes and it's it seems elementary.

Jesus said, uh the word says God cannot lie, and it says all the devil does is lie.

And he makes it up out of his own lying nature.

So if he's a liar and we know he is, I don't believe anything he says.

But here's the thing: he's been disarmed and his weapons have been thrown away.

Then it said he spoiled principalities, high-ranking demons, high-ranking spirits, and powers, officers.

So the lower ranking and the higher ranking have been disarmed and their weapons thrown away.

And then it says he triumphed over them in it.

The it is his cross.

The triumph came at the cross, leading a triumphal procession.

And we've heard a lot of teaching on that.

But this is so powerful to me because Paul, who had great insight and revelation of this, leads us to understand that those principalities and powers were not just defeated by Jesus, that he led them in a triumphal procession, and that he showed all of the universe and every spiritual entity that there is, that the devil had been defeated at the cross of Calvary.

Hallelujah.

Glory to God.

And people say, well, why is he still loose in the earth?

He's still loose in the earth because of Adam's lease, because of Adam's transgression.

God is a just legal God.

There are things that he cannot do where the devil is concerned.

So he gave you and I all authority over all the power of the devil.

And he said, Because of what Jesus did, I placed you in the earth.

And if you are a believer, all of Adam's dominion and all of Adam's authority has been brought back to you by the last Adam, and you operate in the earth like Adam didn't, with complete and total authority over the enemy.

Oh, hallelujah.

Glory to God.

But I'll hear Christians say, oh, what a day! What a day when there's no more devil.

Well, dear God.

There will be a day when there's no more devil.

But by then it won't matter.

I'm not going to live a miserable life here at the hands of the devil waiting on that day.

Oh, hallelujah.

One translation says he made a public spectacle of them and led them as captives in his triumphal procession.

This is what happened on the cross.

Amen.

Some say one day the enemy will be completely defeated.

He's completely defeated right now, as far as the believers concerned.

Right now.

Hallelujah.

Amen.

And if I can say this, this is just by the Spirit.

Quit giving the devil credit for what are just the challenges of life.

You know, life will just throw challenges at you.

Sometimes you'll just meet people that don't like you for whatever reason.

Or the devil.

It's not the devil, it's just a rude person.

I was working with a guy one time and we were roofing a house.

And uh if if if you've ever roofed in Kansas City, Missouri in the middle of summer, it's like three blocks from the gate of hell.

It is hot.

Warm.

And man, you know, we were we were hustling to get this house done, and and we had worked on, it was an old house, and and we'd worked on the the the main roof the day before and got it finished, and then we had to work on it, had a big porch, like you know, the big porches they used to have in front of the houses back in the you know 30s and 40s.

It was huge, huge porch.

We had to roof that.

And so, but uh, you know, we had to come down off the the first uh layer, and so we had a uh uh uh ladder set up, and we had a bungee cord run around it to the gutter, and then we had shingles around the bottom so it wouldn't slide while we were going up down the ladder.

Well, we came down the ladder and he came down last and he unhooked the bungee cord, and then we got down on the bottom level and had to use the shingles we had, and he had forgotten something up top.

And so he threw that ladder back up there, and I'm over here working, and he didn't tell me what was going on, and he didn't put you know any shingles back around it.

So he got up there and and he came around, and just as he swung his leg over and he and he turned around this way, the bottom of that ladder went out from under him.

And boy, he came down hard.

Whoop! I mean, he hit hard.

Now I'm not making fun of him, but he hit hard, broke or broke a rib.

But watch, he jumped up.

Stupid devil! Sorry, it wasn't the devil.

It wasn't the devil that didn't hook that bungee cord back up, it wasn't the devil that didn't put those shingles back up.

Don't you think the devil was trying to get him?

No.

He didn't have to.

His own lack of diligence got him.

There are people the devil, listen, there are people the devil doesn't have to try to mess with, they mess with themselves.

There are people the devil doesn't have to lie to because they lie to themselves.

They tell themselves all the time they're not gonna make it.

They tell themselves all the time it's gonna end up that way.

It goes good for about six months, but every six months, you know, something happens.

See, the devil doesn't have to tell them that.

They're telling them themselves.

And the devil just sits back and says, say on, brother, say on.

He don't even have to mess with them.

But right, but it's it's the person that knows their authority, that understands what they've been given, that they they don't talk about the devil all the time.

They don't give the devil credit for all these little events that are just life.

Amen.

Tell you what, the devil wanted me to be late to church.

The traffic was crazy, or you should have left earlier.

Tell you what, the devil wants me to lose my job.

I'm running late every day.

You need to set your alarm earlier.

That's all it is.

Get up before the devil.

That's a joke, but oh, this is important.

Why?

Because because you can aid, you can aid defeat, and it's not the devil.

I my my authority will work against me.

Because I'll have what I say.

Hallelujah.

For the believer, our job is to keep the enemy in subjection under our feet.

Look at Ephesians 1.

I'm almost done.

Ephesians 1 and verse 21.

Speaking of Jesus, he's been raised from the dead and set at his own at the right hand of the Father in the heavenly places.

Far above all principalities.

There's that word again.

So far above all high-ranking demons, spirits, and dominion, and every name the same, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.

So all things are placed under his feet now, and he's the head over all things to the church now.

The church is his body now.

Hallelujah.

Well, if the church is his body, and we're talking about the church as in the people in the church, the ecclesia, those called-out ones, those ones that have believed, if the church is his body and all things are under his feet, and he is the head, and the church is the body, then all things are under the church's feet.

Because we're the body.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

The church is the body of Christ now.

So the same authority in the head resides in the body through the name of Jesus.

All authority has been given to Jesus.

Jesus gave all authority to us, and we're to take that authority and enforce the defeat of the enemy every day.

Oh, hallelujah.

Every day.

You know, the interesting thing is, and I got five minutes, you don't hear Jesus talking about the devil except in terms of defeat.

You don't see Paul talking about the devil except in terms of defeat.

You don't see Peter talking about the devil in terms of anything but defeat.

There's not one reference by any writer in the entire New Testament or the Pauline epistles.

There's not one reference about praying to God to help you with the devil, uh asking God to deal with the devil, asking God to run the devil off.

He says, you take authority, you resist the devil, you tell him what to do.

Why?

That authority's been given to us.

Hallelujah.

See, how do you how do you think about that?

I say, how do you think about that?

Because if I think about it right, right, and and and and and he's very quick to tell us we're in this face-to-face confrontation.

He said in Ephesians 6, we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

They're always in fours.

And we talked about this uh uh, I think it was Sunday morning.

We we uh we uh he always deals with fours.

Fours is the number of this world, four is the number of created beings.

And whenever you see the spirits mentioned in the New Testament, the Pauline epistles, they're always in rankings of four.

All right, we we have another the the four right here in Ephesians 1.

All principality, power, might, dominion, every name that is named.

Always in fours.

Why?

They're created beings.

And if they're created beings, we've been given authority over them.

Hallelujah.

And he says it's against principalities, against powers, against spiritual wickedness in high places, against these things.

And that means a face-to-face confrontation.

So we're eyeball to eyeball.

We're that's who we're against.

But we're not against them trying to win, we're against them with all authority, and we're against a defeated foe.

We're an occupying force.

Hallelujah.

Brother Hagan wrote a book called The Triumphant Church.

And uh I highly recommend it if you haven't read it.

Uh my wife and I try to read it every year.

And uh, but in any event, uh he deals in there with the the different concepts of the church that people have, especially in that day it was written in the 80s, late 80s, early 90s.

And he said, you know, there are people that have this idea of the defeated church.

And then he he mentioned this, he said, and the militant church.

Well, you know, in in the late 80s, the early 90s, uh, 92, 93, right around there, the that this this big thing about the militant church was going around.

The militant church, we're the militant church.

In other words, we're an army, we're the militant church.

And I mean, you'd have preachers, you'd have preachers come out in battle fatigues, and and I knew.

I knew one minister, he was an evangelist, and that was his theme, all the militant church.

And he had a uniform made up, you know, had never even seen a rifle, let alone the army, you know.

And but anyway, he's he's gonna go out there and be a captain and be a colonel and lead people in the militant church.

Hallelujah.

You'd have whole congregations come in there in their fatigues, and they'd stomp with their boots and scream, ah, and you'd yell and all this ridiculousness.

We're the militant church.

We're gonna take authority.

We're gonna rent, we're gonna, we're gonna rent the highest room in town, and we're gonna go up there and we're gonna bring the strong man down, and we're gonna cast them down, and right?

They had people renting planes and flying around their city because they're going up to the high places.

That's fallacy.

I say, that's fallacy.

I can sit in my recliner with my iced tea in my hand and tell the devil what to do.

Do I have any less authority in my recliner with my iced tea?

Do I have any more authority at the highest spot in Little Rock?

Nope.

I do not.

This is important.

Because he said, according to the word of God, we are the triumphant church.

Yeah, we're an army, an occupying army.

Our commander in chief left us with the victory and said, now you occupy till I return.

You do business till I show back up.

Remember what Hebrews says?

It says, He is sitting, he is relaxing, he is at rest at the right hand of the Father.

And what is he henceforth expecting?

That his enemies be made his footstool.

Well, who's making his enemies his footstool?

Us.

We're bringing them into subjection every day.

Let me close with this.

That's what's so important about what the Lord is showing us about spirits that try to stand behind poverty and these things.

Remember, I told you the story Brother Hagin was talking about.

He told the Lord, he said, uh, I did what you told me to do, and he said, everything has gone south, and I don't have money, my kids are not properly taken care of.

And the Lord made the statement to him.

He after after he corrected his thinking about that, he said, I don't want you to pray about money like you've been praying about it.

And he said, because all the money you need is in the earth.

It's not in heaven, it's in the earth.

And and he told him what to do.

He said, Claim the amount you need.

Right?

Tell the devil to take his hands off your money and then loose the ministering spirits to go get it.

Now, obviously, I mean there's sowing and reaping and and and things of that nature, but that's where it starts.

Hallelujah! You know, I don't know what you need.

I I don't know what you're in need of, but here's what I know is that whatever it is, if you tell the devil to take his hands off your money according to scripture, he's got to take his hands off your money.

God's not the withholder.

Amen.

And and learn to look at this, learn to think this way.

I'm not living in sin.

I'm the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

I've been made holy.

Right?

He has nothing in me.

So I can tell him, take your hands off my money.

Try it out right now.

Say, Satan, take your hands off my money.

In the name of Jesus.

Hallelujah.

And that's how it'll be.

Glory to God.

Glory to God.

How do you think about your authority?

Well, let's stand up tonight, shall we?

Praise God.