WE HAVE THE POWER TO OVERCOME THE KINGDOM OF DARKNESS.

SERIES: WE SHALL OVERCOME.

TEXT: LUKE 10:17-20.

God has given every believer in Jesus Christ power and authority over the powers of darkness and satanic kingdom. As believers of Jesus Christ we have been given power and authority over serpents and scorpions and all the powers of the kingdom of darkness.

We need to understand who we are and what we have, to be able to operate and enjoy our authority over the kingdom of darkness. The enemy satan knows that his power is inferior to the power of Jesus and he does not have authority over any legal ground in the life of the believers, so as to be able to oppress them. Thus, satan has no authority over you and me as believers unless you give it to him.

When a believer is ignorant of the authority he has, satan can have power over that person. That is why we must have the knowledge of our empowerment and understand how to overcome the powers of darkness-2nd Cor. 2:11. Let us learn:-

UNCOVERING THE STRATEGIES OF THE SERPENT (SATAN).

• Satan is called the old serpent, and one of the ways of overcoming and overpowering him is to understand who he is and what his strategies are.
• We need to be aware that the area where we don’t have revelation and knowledge is the area where satan will establish a stronghold and take advantage of our ignorance-2nd Cor. 2:11.
• Advocates tell us all the time that ignorance of the law is not defense.
• There are two errors the believers usually make concerning satan:-

1. Under estimating satan.
2. Over estimating satan.

• Satan has power but we must remember that satan cannot use his power against us unless we give him the right.
• Always we must be aware of his devices because he will look for a place to take legal access and have authority in our lives.
• When we sin or make a mistake, our disobedience gives satan the right to attack our lives.
• The strength of satan is the ignorance of the believer.
• When we have the right kind of knowledge of who satan is, we will know how to prepare against him and we will not fall to his devices.
• Some of the devices of satan and strategies include:-

1. The strategy of deception.

• Satan uses deception to present himself as the angel of light and make the believers to relate to him in his deceptive identity-2nd Cor. 11:14-15.
• For instance everyone in Samaria thought the magician Simon had been born again. They thought he was of God and operating by the power of God, until Philip came with the light of the gospel-Acts 8:1-15.
• It was satan that spoke through the old prophet to deceive the man of God from Judah and made him to go against the word of God-1st Kings 13:1-16.

1. The strategy of enticement.

• Satan can present to you a common thing in an uncommon way to entice you to take the wrong step and sin against God.
• Satan made Eve to see the forbidden fruit in a special way to be desired despite the clear warning from God that they should not eat it-Gen. 3:1-6.
• This is the strategy satan uses to entice believers to be attracted with sinful things and then fall into the sin against the will of God-James 1:12-14.

1. The strategy of persistence.

• This is when satan visits you persistently so as to succeed in getting you out of several attempts.
• Jesus was tempted by satan three times, in a day in a bid to get Him down to worship him-Matt. 4:1-10.
• Similarly there were several attempts against Joseph by Potiphar’s wife until Joseph had to run away leaving his garments with her-Gen. 39:7-19.

1. The strategy of afflictions.

• Satan does come against the believers with afflictions with the aim of making them to deny God, or look for solutions outside God.
• Everything that happened to Job was from satan, all he was looking for was for Job to curse God and deny him before he died-Job 1:1-10; 42:10.
• Never deny God under any circumstance-Rom. 8:35-39.

1. The strategy of pride and arrogance.

• Satan can fill our hearts with pride and arrogance to think of ourselves more highly than we ought and to look down on other people because of our position or possession.
• Satan knows that God will always resist the proud, so he uses this strategy to gain authority over them-James 4:6-7.
• This is the strategy satan applied on Jesus when he demanded that Jesus should jump down from the top of the pinnacle with the arrogance of being the son of God.

UNFOLDING THE STORY OF OUR SAVIOR.

• Jesus recovered the authority that Adam gave the devil through sin.
• When Jesus Christ came into the world, He came as son of God and son of man, without sinful nature.
• Jesus was not born with the seed of a man and He did not commit any sin as a man.
• Because Jesus did not commit sin or inherit sin, He had authority to cast out demons and was able to rebuke and stop them.
• Jesus was the seed of the woman who was to break the head of satan and who in turn will bruise his heel-Gen. 3:15.
• No one else was able to do this because they were born with Adam’s fallen nature-Luke 4:34-35.
• There was a confrontation of two kingdoms, the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness.
• Jesus Christ is the manifestation of dominion and the demonstration of the power of the kingdom of God-Phil. 2:5-11.
• We cannot cast out the devil without taking dominion over spiritual territories.
• Every time we cast out the spirits and demons, we are taking that dominion and are demonstrating the power of the kingdom of God-Mark 16:17-18.
• Jesus Christ took away the enemy’s right and gave us the right to have dominion and power to overcome satan.
• In any war with satan, we must know our rights as children of God. We have been given power and authority-Hebrews 2:14-15.
• Therefore when we receive the free gift of salvation we are not only reconciled to God, we are empowered by Him as kingdom soldiers to destroy the works and activities of satan and his kingdom-Col. 1:13; 2nd Tim. 2:4.

UNRAVELLING THE STRENGTH OF THE SAINTS.

One major strength of the saints is to have understanding of the status of the devil and to put him where he belongs. We need to understand that:-

1. Satan is deceived.

• Satan was self-deceived by his own wisdom and craftiness, thinking that crucifying the king of glory is the destruction of the program of God.
• Satan did not know that the design of God to take over the authority satan high jacked from Adam and Eve through subtility-1st Cor. 2:7-8.

1. Satan is defeated.

• We must declare the defeat of satan all the time by reminding him of the victory of Jesus through the death on the cross and the resurrection on the third day-Phil. 2:5-11.

1. Satan dethroned.

• One of the significance of the resurrection of Jesus is the dethronement of satan and the recovery of authority he gained through the fall of Adam and Eve-Eph. 1:20-22.

1. Satan’s work is destroyed.

• The purpose of the manifestation of Jesus Christ was to destroy the works of satan.
• This purpose was accomplished on the cross of calvary and sealed by the resurrection of Jesus-1st John 3:8.
• The devil cannot do anything without the consent of men.
• We must be careful not to allow satan to regain the rights in our lives through:-

1. Disobedience to God.

• Never give the devil ground by grieving the Holy Spirit-1st Sam. 15:22-23.

1. Making negative confessions.

• We need to have active faith in our walk with the Lord and this should affect all areas of our lives including our confessions-Prov. 18:21.
• Any teaching that magnifies the devil and the work of satan must be avoided. Always magnify Christ and His accomplishments-1st Peter 5:8-9.

1. An unforgiving spirit.

• When we harbor bitterness and unforgiveness against anyone, we are operating outside the will of God.
• The devil can easily recognize this and take advantage of the situation-Matt. 6:14-15.

1. An unconfessed sin.

• Don’t cover your sin, instead confess it-Prov. 28:13.

1. An ungrateful heart-1st Thess. 5:16-18.

CONCLUSION

• When we discover that the devil is gaining victory, we must be sure that we have given him the opportunity.
• Always check if you have given the enemy any legal right in your life.
• Repentance always removes any legal rights of the enemy.
• Check your heart, check the things you say, your thoughts and actions.
• When you confess and repent of sin, Jesus Christ washes away your sins and removes any authority the enemy has over you-1st John 1:9.