One of the greatest discoveries you can make in your life is that you've been created by God
to rule and conquer on this earth.
From the very beginning in Genesis 1, 26 through 28, the command given to man was to have
rulership over the earth, to have authority over the earth, to have power over the earth.
And as Jesus followers, those that have put their faith in Christ, we have the authority
of Christ in us. And this was the point of Jesus' ministry from day one, was Him
raising up disciples that will learn how to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit,
know their authority in Christ, know their power from God, and deal with the darkness
and deal with the demonic in their lives. Here's Jesus' first commands to the disciples who've
been following Him for a period of time. They've been watching Him cast out demons. They've been
watching Him heal the sick. And in Luke, excuse me, in Matthew 10, He says,
and when He had called His 12 disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits
to cast them out and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.
Then He's going to go to 70. He's going to give them the same power and authority.
Matter of fact, the disciples come back shocked that they have authority and power over the
demonic. Men and women, that's the same power and authority that we've also been given. In Luke
10, Jesus says this. He says, behold, I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions
and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
So the authority and power of Jesus has been given to us to press back, push back darkness.
And I remember fasting and praying for 21 days in Japan one time, and I was fasting and praying,
saying, God, would you come and deal with the demonic world over this island? And during that
time, we saw over 50 Japanese come to Christ. Another time I fasted and prayed for 10 days,
and we saw over 150 people get saved and come to Christ. When we fast and we pray and we know our
authority and our power in Christ, God does amazing things. That power and authority has
been given to us over the enemy. In Romans 8, Paul talks about that we are more than conquerors,
that we can conquer the enemy through believing and trusting in him. One of the passages that
really powerfully worked in my life so many years ago, and I come back to it again and again,
is John 14, 12 through 14. Jesus says, most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in me,
the works that I do, he will do also. And greater works than these he will do, because I go to my
Father. And whatever you ask in my name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the
Son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. Jesus is giving us this power and authority
to come to him in prayer, to ask him to do great and mighty things through us, to push back
the enemy through healing, through signs and wonders. We've seen hundreds of people healed
through the power of the Spirit and knowing that authority. You have that authority in your life
through the Holy Spirit. One of the great passages about the church and the power of the church is
Matthew 16. Jesus says this, I say to you, Peter, you're on this rock. I will build my church and
the gates of hell or the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys
of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth, we bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on
earth will be loose in heaven. So Jesus has given his operable work of the kingdom to the church.
That's us. We are the church and he's building a church. A church that he's building should be
pushing back the gates of hell. The gates of hell are defensive position. God wants us attacking
the gates of hell. That's what a kingdom of God revolution is, is us attacking the gates of hell
in our community, in our cities by coming with power and authority from the Holy Spirit.
Best illustration I can think of is D-Day and V-E-Day in World War II. So in World War II,
when the allied forces hit the beaches of Normandy, it was called D-Day. And then over the
next few weeks as we moved across France and then into Germany, the back of the Germans had been
broken. But the war wasn't over until V-E-Day, which was Victor in Europe Day, when the allied
forces actually finally signed with the Axis forces surrender. They were surrendered at that point.
That's our life right now. V-E-Day.
Christ has won the victory but we're in a battle right now it's a pitch battle
we we've hit the beaches at the cross and that's D-Day D-Day is the cross of
Christ but now there's a battle until the coming second coming of Christ and
that's the battle that we're in right now so it's the battle of the already
but then not yet but we have authority and power and this authority and power
is through the taking down of strongholds and that's the battle of the
believer 2nd Corinthians 10 4 through 6 for the weapons of our warfare are not
carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds casting down arguments
and every high thing that exhausts itself against the knowledge of God
bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ and being ready
to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled so the battle
that every believer has are these strongholds in our life where we have
allowed the enemy through arguments and through knowledge that's demonic to
build up a belief system within us that opposes God we've been given the weapons
weapons of our warfare to take down and pull down those strongholds and that is
largely through renewing our mind it's through the renewing of our mind with
the Word of God that we pull down strongholds there's the most powerful
thing you can do in in having power over the enemy is learning to pull down
strongholds through reading God's Word we call it here PB&J and in some of
the other messages I've talked about what that is but that's prayer Bible and
journal that we learn to pray through praying through spending time with God
and giving and surrendering our lives to Him and having an intimate relationship
with Him prayer is communication with God but prayer also is focused on the
Word that's why when I wake up in the morning the first thing I do is I mean I
give God the day but that's not really my prayer time I go to God's Word and I
read God's Word because truth is what sets me free so I set truth into my
heart by reading God's Word believing God's Word and then I go into prayer and
so I usually use a journal or something I write down what God's saying to me the
bottom line is that this is where the victory lies is believing and hanging on
to truth the other is putting on the armor of God so in Ephesians 6 we read
finally my brethren be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might put
on the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand that so that you
can stand against the wiles or another word for that is the strategies of the
devil for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against
principalities against powers against the rulers of darkness of this age
against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places therefore take up
the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and
having done all to stand verse 14 stand therefore having girded your waist with
truth having put on the breastplate of righteousness having shod your feet with
the preparation of the gospel of peace above all taking the shield of faith
with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one
take the helmet of salvation the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God
praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit being watchful
to the sin with all perseverance and supplication for all the Saints amen
okay what do I what does this mean well for me I have a very practical thing
that I've done through the years that has really really helped me and that is
literally physically putting on the armor so what I do is I put on the
helmet of salvation and say Lord I just right now put on the helmet of salvation
today would you renew my mind would you renew my mind with things that are true
good wholesome and pure I'm gonna believe truth today using my mind I
reject falsehood I reject worry I reject deception that comes through the media
deception that comes through maybe the TV or the Internet I'm gonna believe and
act on truth so renew my mind that's putting on men and women the helmet of
salvation then I put on the breastplate of righteousness
Well, what's what's the breastplate of righteousness protecting? It's your heart
So I asked God I would did I be wholehearted today that the motivations of my heart is that I would be fired up for you
So God fire me up with your spirit. I'm asked for your protection of
Righteousness, I'm gonna live and have a heart for
Righteousness in my life. Then I take the shield of faith the shield of faith is
That belief that
God's good that he's going to do good things today that he's in control that he can heal
So I take that shield of faith and what the scriptures say is it extinguishes the fiery darts of the enemy?
So what that means is that the darts of the enemy the belief systems of the enemy?
I want him to hit that shield of faith. So how do I pick up my faith?
Well faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God and I've been given the sword of the Spirit
Which is the Word of God. So I say Lord. I just pray right now
Strengthen my faith with the Word of God
God
give me a
Sharp two-edged sword from the Word of God as I'm reading your word. I'm gonna believe it
I'm gonna be empowered by it
I'm gonna renew my mind with it with the Word of God then I put on the belt of truth. I'm gonna believe truth a
belt in
Medieval armor held everything together it held the leggings of the lower part of the of the night
together along with the breastplate of righteousness and so
Truth holds my life together. So I'm not gonna believe lies from the enemy. I'm not gonna believe falsehood
I'm gonna walk in truth. I put on the belt of truth. I shod my feet with the gospel of peace
That means that wherever I walk
whoever I meet
Whoever I'm talking to you. I pray Lord. I could be a peacemaker
no, I
Would that I would do everything possible in my power through that relationship to bring peace and folks
I'll tell you right now
You know people are at war in their own lives or at war with other people and God wants us to be
Peacemakers and to be his peacemakers when we come now
It's kind of crazy in that sometimes we come as peacemakers. It actually creates havoc because we're a Jesus follower
But that's up to God to do that. I believe we're called to be peacemakers. So helmet of salvation
Renewing my mind breastplate of righteousness being wholehearted
Shield of faith being able to extinguish all the fiery darts the enemy sword of the Spirit word of God
belt of truth
Rejecting lies believing truth and also shodding my feet with the gospel of peace which makes me a peacemaker
So I challenge you today, that's that's how we overcome the enemy
That's how we pull down strongholds in our lives and start practicing that put on the armor every day
Go to Matthew 16 8 3 18 through 19 and realize that we as the church
We prevail against the enemy that we'd be pushing forward be missionaries wherever we go
Whatever vocation we're in whatever we're doing in our marriage and our family
Walk in that kind of power and you're gonna see strongholds pulled down in my next message. I'm going to talk about
How we overcome?
Individually in our lives in some new and different ways that I think will be helpful to you
So God bless you pull down strongholds know that you are created to rule and to conquer