Creflo Dollar - Victory Over Satan And Demons - Part 2
Well, we've been talking about victory over Satan and demons, and I really want you to listen to this. There's something just really got a hold. It's the simplicity of the gospel invaded my heart today as I was looking over this. We're not talking about trying to defeat the devil. The devil's already been defeated. We're not talking about trying to figure out a way to defeat demons. They've already been defeated. They've been stripped of their authority. The keys of death, hell, and the grave have been obtained. Jesus shamed them, so the victory has already been obtained. But what happens in our lives when we encounter certain things, it just seems like it hadn't. So, we're not going from defeat to victory. We're going from victory to victory, all right?
And so this is about showing you how to receive victory that's already been gotten, showing you how to operate in victory that has already been achieved by what Jesus did, so that you'll know how to respond. And let me say this, I'm not talking about you fighting and being successful in the middle of a warfare, but we will identify the place of the warfare tonight, and it is in your mind. And I wanted to get that in your thinking right now. It's in your mind, it's defeating stuff that happens up here. Remember Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane? He was in the garden battling the temptation and the stuff coming from the devil in his mind to the point, he resisted to the point of sweating blood out of his pores. And so listen to this very carefully. Satan's trying to trick folks. He's got the whole world set. When the antichrist come, a piece of cake to get people to follow him, because they're already following with deception. They get lied to every day, and they don't even realize they're being lied to.
So, if we're going to deal with this again tonight, we've got to deal with spiritual warfare. Spiritual warfare is not fighting the devil. Spiritual warfare is understanding the victory, maintaining the victory that has already been obtained by someone that's trying to deceive you and take it from you. So, Jesus has already obtained healing. My job is to maintain healing, and the enemy's job is to try to get me to step off of it. That's the spiritual warfare. We're not talking about, you know, mister wrestling number two knee lift. We're not talking about elbow smashes. We're talking about Jesus has died to obtain the victory. Our job is to maintain the victory. The devil's job is to try to get us to move off of the victory, okay? And all that's taking place right here. Now, I said to you before, we asked the question, how then do we engage Satan and demons in battle? There are three ways that Satan will try to use to try to get you not to follow God. Satan is real, first of all, and he will use, number one, demonic forces to try to get you to not follow God.
Now, demonic forces, the most powerful weapon of the devil or any demon is suggestion. So, demonic forces are going to use demonic influences to try to defeat you. Demonic influences, and there are lots of people that are under demonic influence, and they don't even know it. They just think there's an excuse and a reason why they act the way they act, and do the things they do. They never come to the place where they consider, "Man, I'm under a demonic influence. What's influencing me to be depressed? What's influencing me to want to be angry and hold on to unforgiveness? What's influencing me to do these things"? There's demonic influence that he will try to use to get you to not follow God. The second method that he'll use to try to get you to not follow God is your own sinful nature.
Now let me explain that to you, your sinful nature is composed of the areas of the unrenewed mind. Your spirit, you're born again. You have been saved. You have the new creation on the inside of you. Your spirit man is perfect. You are born again. And so what is that sinful nature? The sinful nature is the area of your mind that has not yet been renewed. There's some areas of your mind that have been renewed, and there's some areas of your mind that have not been renewed with the truth of God's Word. So, it's up to us to be honest with ourself and to recognize, "Wait a minute, I'm still angry, I'm still doing this". That's an area that needs to be renewed. Because if you don't renew that area with the Word of God, then that's going to be an area that he is going to use to try to get you to not follow God.
See, renewing the mind is exchanging your thoughts for God's thoughts, your opinions for God's opinions, and so forth and so on. But renewing your mind with the Word of God is crucial at this point in our lives because those areas that are not renewed... have you renewed your mind where, you know, walking in the Spirit is concerned? Have you renewed your mind where, you know, marriage is concerned, renewed your mind where forgiveness is concerned? The areas that you have failed to renew your mind in is the area that Satan is going to use to try to get you to not follow God, you understand that? And then the last area is he's going to use the structures of the world. So, he'll look at the world right now, look at how it operates, look at the structure, and the structure is, okay, whatever is right according to the Word is wrong according to the world.
Okay, so the world is calling the things that are right, wrong, and the things that are wrong, right. In today's society, what's right is now determined by the norms and values of society. In other words, what was obviously wrong 40 years ago in some of our lifestyle has completely changed, and it's become acceptable, because the norms and values of the world have thus decided that it is now okay, when before it was not okay at all. And so he will use that worldly structure to try to get you involved in that worldly structure to try to get you to not follow God, and it's amazing to me. How is it that something that was right 40 years, wrong 40 years ago, right now? Well, the fact of the matter, it's still wrong, except the mindsets have changed, and that's what the enemy wants to do. The arena of this war, spiritual warfare, the arena of this war is in the mind. The mind is the arena where this takes place.
So, in this series, what I want to show you are seven keys to go ahead and obtain that... well, not really obtain, but to maintain the victory that Jesus died and obtained for you to have. The first key we taught was to beware, be aware of the battle. Go to 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 8 through 9. Be aware of the battle. You know, some people don't even believe in the devil. Some people don't believe in Satan, and some people are not aware that a battle is even taking place. I mean, they're looking around like, "What battle are you talking about"? There is a battle taking place in the unseen world to destroy your life, okay? And Satan wants to continue to tell you, "There's no battle taking place, that's not happening". That's what he does. He deceives. Look what he says in 1 Peter 5:8. He said, "Be sober, be vigilant," why? "Because your adversary the devil," all right?
So, you have an enemy. The devil is not your friend. He ain't your partner. You wouldn't believe the amount of devil worship that's going on in our country today. It's really big on the West Coast. When I was doing the "Your World" show, I interviewed a guy who was second in authority in some type of demon church, and he said one of the number one things they were afraid of is when Christians got together and prayed in tongues. But he said that they would get together and strategize on how to send curses in neighborhoods, and Halloween was a great day. They said they took it, they loved that because he says you bought it. You took a demonic holiday and turned it into something and trying to treat it like it's Christmas. And he said they take advantage of that. They destroy families, they try to get people to kill themselves and put thoughts of suicide in and all that kind of stuff. I may do a rerun on that. But it was a pretty cool thing. And he says the devil knows who to mess with and who not to mess with.
Oh, y'all don't hear me. Say this out loud. "He know not to mess with me". So, the devil is an enemy, not someone that you're going to consult with. He's an enemy, "Because your adversary the devil, like a roaring lion," he's not a lion, but he'll roar like one. "He walketh about, seeking whom he may devour". So, check it out, the devil is trying to see who he can devour. I'll tell you who he can devour. He can devour ignorant people who don't have the light of God's Word. He majors on ignorance. He wants to keep you in the dark. He wants to devour people that don't know, people that don't know, people that don't understand.
You know, he's done everything over the years and centuries to keep people out of church. And then, you know, the influence of the pulpit. These guys start talking stuff that nobody understood, and he's applauding all of that because he wants to take advantage of that darkness. He will devour you if you remain ignorant. He devours the ignorant Christian. He devours the person that doesn't know. He depends on you to stay ignorant and not know and not listen, he wants you to say, "Well, I don't believe that, I don't believe this," because you're still mad at God because of something, and you're hanging around unforgiveness and all that kind of stuff. Yeah, he wants you to hang around that because he can continue to devour you. He don't like you. He ain't trying to do nothing good for you. He gonna pull your tail in hell and laugh at you and say, "I fooled you, you stupid thing". He's seeking whom he may devour.
Verse 9. I'm supposed to be reviewing. I think we're gonna end up in the same place. Verse 9, "Whom resist stedfast in faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethrens that are in the world". So, this is so important, be aware of him and recognize that he will seek to lead us astray. That's what he does. He seeks to lead you astray. Peter tells us, be sober minded, be watchful, as we know the devil is out there. Well, you've gotta believe that. Do you see the problem? You've got a generation of people who just thinks that's a joke. The devil? Ah, ain't no devil. I'm the devil, you know. Yeah, you right. Only when we are aware of him will we be able to resist him. You cannot resist what you are not aware of. You cannot resist if you're not aware of a devil trying to destroy you, if you're not aware of that spiritual unseen battle that's trying to ruin you. We must live with an awareness of not only Satan's existence and a battle, but we've got to live with the awareness of the victory that has been won in Christ.
Here's the second key of obtaining that victory. You've got to learn how to rebel against Satan. You've got to live a life of rebellion to Satan. Look at James chapter 4, 7 through 8. You've got to live a life of rebellion to Satan. Now, I don't have to explain to you what rebellion is because we've had plenty of practice rebelling against God, okay? So, just turn it around. He says, "Submit yourself therefore to God. Resist the devil", the word "resist" means to withstand, to fight against. It means to actively fight against the devil. And he says, "he will flee from you". Now, the word "flee" here means to run with fear. So, he says, when you start resisting the devil, he will flee from you or run with fear. Well, why will he run with fear? Verse 8, he says, "Draw nigh to God, he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, if you're sinners; purify your hearts, if you're a double-minded person".
The quickest, the best way to resist the devil is by getting closer to God. The best way to resist the devil is by drawing near to God. The more of God you've got, the more ability you will have to resist the devil, and he will run with fear because he sees that you are closer to God. We need to push ourselves away from the influences and the work of Satan, and the best way to do that is to run to God. The best way to push yourself away from the influences of Satan is to run to God, amen? And you get a lifestyle that is rebellion to Satan. And so, we do this by really attaching ourselves to God and not by attaching ourselves to things like anger and unforgiveness. Because when you attach yourself to anger and unforgiveness, you're attached to darkness. I said when you attach yourself to anger and unforgiveness, you are attached to darkness.
Let me show you something I put down in here. Let's say, "I don't care what you say. I'm gonna hang on to unforgiveness". You're gonna be under demonic influence. Unforgiveness is going to produce some other things, okay? And so, here's what happens, these are demonic influences that come because you hang on to unforgiveness. You will say, "Well, they think they got off easy, and they'll do it again. That's why I won't forgive". Or "They hurt me, so we can't forgive them". See how demonic that is? "What they did was horrible, and they shouldn't be let off the hook. It would be unjust to forgive them," see that? "They don't deserve it. They haven't even repented. They don't seem to care one way or another if they're forgiven. I was hurt too deeply, and I just can't let it go".
That's what happens when you hang around unforgiveness. You have to forgive, and you've got to do it quickly. Because the longer you hang around it, unforgiveness produces excuses for you to stay there. And people don't think about it. People just think, "Well, I'm in unforgiveness, and, you know, I've got a right to be in unforgiveness, and I'm not gonna forgive you". You're hurting yourself! You're drinking poison, thinking somebody else is gonna die, and, eventually, you're going to walk around with all the diseases and stuff. You're hanging around unforgiveness, you're hanging around the arena of darkness, you're hanging around the place and giving the open door for Satan to come in and do what he wants to do, and that is to get you out of the way.
Anger does the same thing. You've gotta realize, to hang onto anger, anger produces... well, actually, it's fear. Anger and fear is associated together. Anger is the reason why the guy pulls the gun out and shoots somebody. He's really afraid. See, you can't hang around that stuff. Fear is the faith of the devil. It'll produce anger, unforgiveness, all those things, all those things you think it's okay to maintain because the human part of you tells you to maintain that. It's dangerous, why? Because you give open access to the devil to come and wreak havoc in your life, that's what happens. Oh, you think you have the right to do that? Well, you have a right to do anything you want to do, including opening yourself up for the devil to come and destroy your life.
See, the deal about unforgiveness is you just can't seek revenge. You've gotta let it go, not to make them feel good or better, but for you to benefit out of it. They have power over your life, and so does Satan! You're giving him power over your life because you can't forgive. And it may have been horrible, horrific, egregious, all these kind of things, but you've gotta let it go. You've gotta decide, "I will not seek revenge. I'm not gonna do you bad like you did me. Now, we ain't gonna be no best buds, but, you know, we ain't going out to breakfast no more," amen.
Number three, get dressed in the armor of God. Ephesians chapter 6, let's start at verse 10. Get dressed in the armor of God. Now, the Apostle Paul tells us to put on the full armor of God, which really consists of the various truths of the gospel and things that Christ has accomplished for us. So, really, when you talk about the armor of God, you're talking about the truth of the gospel. You're talking about the Word of God. You're talking about putting on the Word of God. Now, we're not talking about dressing your physical body up in that. We're talking about dressing your mind with that. You've gotta dress yourself up in the Word. You've gotta get that Word. You've gotta get that Word. You've gotta dress yourself in the Word. And you dress yourself up in the Word every day. You don't dress yourself up in the Word just on Wednesdays and Sundays. And you walk around naked the rest of the week, and the devil is just shaming you and doing everything. You get dressed in the Word every day.
Look what he says in verse 10. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might". Verse 11, Put on the whole armor of God", or put on the truths of God's Word. Put on the light of God's Word 'cause the enemy's gonna be talking to you. He's gonna try to deceive you. He's gonna pump deceit and falsehood. You go throughout the day and you gonna hear one deceitful thing, another falsehood thing. And I'm not even talking about going to the world right now. I'm talking about.. that's why you've gotta be careful where you eat your food from, spiritually. I was so not gonna ever say that in my life until I realized in my life the stuff I heard was responsible for me just not realizing, "Dang, if I'd have known that, I could've done better as a father. I could've done better as a husband. I could've done better as a leader, but I heard this instead of that".
It's vital that you choose wisely where you gonna eat at. Would you go to a restaurant that has a score of 75? Mm-hm, there's a rat somewhere. "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the strategies of the devil". That word "wiles" means strategies of the devil. Now, isn't this interesting? He says, "This is why I want you to get clothed in the Word every day. This is why I want you to be enlightened with my Word every day. This is why I want you to read. So, when you hear something that contradicts my Word, you know not to let it lead you". He says, "Put the whole armor on, of God on. Put the truth of God's Word on, so you can be able to stand against the strategy of the devil".
Now, here's what I find interesting, that Satan would take time to build a strategy for everybody in the room. He has a strategy for me on a daily basis. He has a strategy for you on a daily basis, and that strategy is through falsehood and deceit, tell you something, show you something right up here, convince you right up here that you don't need God. And if that doesn't work, he'll just accuse you of your sins to make you feel what Jesus died and shed his blood so you should not feel. So, he'll just accuse you of your sin and say, you know, "I'll accuse you of your sin and tell you what you did over and over and over again, so I can put shame, guilt, condemnation there". And you don't have to have that 'cause Jesus took that away from you. And then he'll say, "No, he didn't. If he took it away from you, why are you feeling like this"? You've got to be ready for the strategies of the devil.
Now, he's always gonna pull up the file that will affect you the most, and that file, I mean, he's not trying to be unique. If the file got you the last time, he's gonna keep pulling that same file up until you stand against it and say that ain't working no more. And that comes when you continue to dress yourself up with the Word of God. My heart goes out to ignorant people, ignorant of the Word of God, ignorant of the Word of God. I'm not talking about educated people. I'm talking about folks who are ignorant of God's Word because that's the battle. It's gonna happen one day where you're gonna enter in that realm, and he will stand up, and the Bible says we'll look at him and say, "Is this the one that deceived the whole world"?
Think of that. He's the one that deceived the whole world? And I'm telling you the whole world is under a deception like I ain't never seen it before. They believe everything that come through the television, through the news. And I said, the antichrist ain't gonna have no problem with these people. Believe everything. No critical thinking at all no more. Nobody critical thinks, and they just repeat what they hear on the news. "Well, I follow the science". You don't understand. You just don't understand, but you'd better get an understanding because something's coming.