Rabbi Schneider - How Do We Drive Demons from Our Lives

David. Why did Jesus compare himself with David more so than anybody else in the entire Old Testament? Why does Jesus use David as a foreshadow of himself? Well we know that the Bible says that David was a man after God's own heart, but there's something else about David that I want you to know. David was not only a singer and a musician and the King of Israel, but he was also a warrior. And if Jesus is the offspring of David, that must mean that Jesus is also a warrior.

You see, sometimes beloved ones, when we thing of King Jesus, we think of the one as the Babe in the Manager; we think of the picture of Leonardo da Vinci at the Last Supper, you know Jesus with all the people around him at the Last Supper. You probably noticed that all those people have blond hair and blue eyes; it looks like they were Swedes, rather than Jews, right? But that's the image that some people have of Jesus. Some people, when they think of Jesus, they just see him on the cross, and all these, ya know, examples ya know, may have meaning for, for many of us, especially obviously Jesus on the cross, that has meaning for me, all completely 100%.

But you know, sometimes we don't realize that Jesus is also a warrior. The Bible says he's coming back with the armies of heaven. And I want you to begin to think of yourself as a warrior, just like Jesus, because unless you learn how to fight, beloved; you're not gonna achieve in your life the spiritual victory that Jesus wants you walking in. So what I'm gonna do know is I'm gonna give you some examples in the life of David, who's a foreshadow of Jesus, how David was a man that got trained to do battle.

And the reason that I'm sharing this with you beloved one, is to get your heart in a posture where you can realize that God wants you to get trained for battle. Hear the Word of God; the Bible says, concerning David, that God trained his hands for battle, and his fingers, hallelujah for war. And so we read in 2nd Samuel chapter 22 verse 35, David said: He trains my hands for battle so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. And listen to Psalm 144:1: Blessed be the Lord, my Rock, David said, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle. David was a man after God's own heart and he was also beloved, a man that was trained for battle. And David praised Father God for this, because David knew that in order to survive and thrive, he had to know how to defend himself.

And do you know that Jesus taught the same thing? Jesus in the Book of Matthew, chapter 11 verse 12, that violent men, get this now, take the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven by force. Here's what Jesus said: From the days of John the Baptist until now; the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and violent men taketh by force. There's actually two different dynamics going on here. The first dynamic it said: from the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, that's the first dynamic. Jesus is referring there to people like Herod that was assaulting the Kingdom of God, who had John the Baptist executed. But then the second example that Jesus is using here is an example of holy violence or spiritual violence.

Jesus said, violent men, Jesus said, take the Kingdom of Heaven or the Kingdom of God by force. What did Jesus mean by that, is he talking about violence in the way that we oftentimes think of violence? We hear about violent acts on the news; no, it's nothing like that. Jesus is talking about a holy resolve to drive out the devil and to not compromise with him or with God. We see this illustrated for example, in the Hebrew Bible in the Book of Numbers, chapter number 33 verses number 51-53, this is an example of the spiritual violence that Jesus is saying that we need to have in our lives to fully take hold of the kingdom. We can't always be Mr. Nice Guy. Jesus wasn't a Mr. Nice Guy all the time, he was a confrontational revolutionary. When Peter said: Lord, you'll never go to the cross, no never. Jesus said: get behind me Satan. Jesus drove the money changers out of the temple with the whip.

Listen: Jesus is multidimensional and sometimes we miss some of the dimensions, but in order to walk in his fullness, we need to be aware of the fullness of who Jesus is. Listen to this violent nature that is described of who God is in the Hebrew Bible. Remember Jesus said: if you've seen me, you've seen the Father; he said I and the Father are one. So listen to what the Father told the children of Israel in Numbers, chapter 33 beginning in verse 51: the Lord said, speak to the sons of Israel and say to them: when you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you, get this now, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images, and demolish all their high places; and you shall take possession of the land and live in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it.

So the Lord was telling them to go in there and destroy everything that was in the way. Listen to this as it continues in the Book of Deuteronomy, chapter number 9 verse 3. I want you to know the Bible tells us that the Old Testament was written for our instruction, so don't discount this; don't say oh, I'm not gonna receive this because I don't believe in a God like that. Either the Word of God is the Word of God or it's not the Word of God. You see the thing that defines us as Christians is we believe the Word of God, we believe that Jesus and the Father are who the Scriptures say that they are, so let's not deceive ourselves into thinking that we can take just portions of the Word of God that we like, and then dismiss the rest of it and think that we're Christians, because Jesus taught that the Old Testament was his Father's revelation.

So listen what we read of the Father's revelation as we continue on this theme of the necessity of having spiritual violence to take a hold of the kingdom. I'm reading now from the Book of Deuteronomy, chapter 9 verse 3, hear the Word of God: Know therefore today, that the Lord your God who was crossing over before you as a consuming fire, he will destroy them and he will subdue them before you so that they may drive out and destroy them quickly. The Lord your God has spoken to you.

And other places in the Scripture, beloved ones, when we read about this same thing, the Lord told them to wipe out every man, woman and child that was living in the land. And the Lord said, if you don't do this, they're going to continue to be pricks in your eyes. I know it sounds hard beloved, but that's the point. The point is: there are times that we can't show mercy, we can't show mercy to the devil, because the devil doesn't understand mercy, he doesn't understand compassion. The devil only understands two things: authority and power.

I want you to think of it this way; a police officer, if he arrests somebody, he'll put the sirens on, he'll put the lights on, may have the person pull over. And then the police officer will cautiously, and gently, and politely walk over to that car whom he just pulled over, and will begin to address the individual that he pulled over, respectfully. Ya know he'll say: Ma'am, Sir, may I see your license please. And if the person cooperates, than the officer will continue to treat them with that type of gentleness and respect.

However, sometimes when a police officer pulls over somebody; the person doesn't respond to, may I see your license please. Sometimes what happens is, the person that's pulls over begins to become aggressive with that police officer. And in that instance, what the police officer is trained to do is to become one level more aggressive than their subject. In other words, if the subjects level of aggression rises to this level, than the police officer must now bring their level of aggression up to this level. And there are some people that won't submit to the police officer just because of his authority.

You see the police officer is invested with authority and most people will cooperate with the police officers authority. As soon as that police officer gets out of his vehicle and walks over to the car, and the person in the car sees the badge on the police officer, that symbol of authority, that subject in the car will cooperative because of the authority. But some criminals, beloved ones, and some of the rebellious ones don't respect that authority. And the only thing that, that person will respect, that will rebellious one, is power. So that police officer has to exercise both authority and power to get some people to submit and to subdue some of those rebellious ones.

And the reason that I tell you that story and use that analogy is beloved, the devil does not respect authority alone; sometimes we have to back up the authority beloved, with power. You see we read in the Book of Acts, that when, there was a group of Jewish exorcists that didn't have a relationship with Jesus, and they saw some of Jesus' disciples exorcising demons, and so these Jewish exorcists said we're gonna try to do that. And so they went and tried to exorcise some demons in Jesus' name, but the demons said: we know this one, and we know this one that have a relationship with Jesus, but you we don't know. Even though those Jewish exorcise, they tried to exorcise the demon in Jesus' name; because they didn't have power, the Bible says in the Book of Acts, those demons turned on them and tore their clothes off of them.

And so we need authority and we have that authority in Jesus' name, but we also need to back up the authority with power. You see when Jesus' disciples couldn't cast a demon out of somebody, the man's, the boy's father brought the boy to Jesus and said: I tried to have your disciples cast out the spirit, but they couldn't do it. Jesus said to the disciples: you couldn't do it, because this kind doesn't come out except by fasting and prayer. You see, they needed power behind the authority. And I'm here to say to you as we've come now to the end of this series, that the way that we drive demons from our lives beloved one, is by exercising authority and power. We have authority in Jesus' name. Jesus said: all authority in heaven and earth has been given unto me. And he gave us, as his church beloved ones, the authority to use his name. But not only do we exercise authority in the name of Jesus, but we back up the authority that we use in Jesus name, with faith and with power.

In the Book of Ephesians, chapter number 1 verse 18-21, we hear this: Paul was praying, says I pray that the eyes of your heart might be enlightened so that you might know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and get this now, and what is the surpassing greatness, hear it now, of his power toward you who believe. And then he continues on by talking about his authority. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of his might, which he brought about in Christ when he raised him from the dead, and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above; get it now, all rule, and authority, and dominion and power. And Jesus has been given to the church as the church's had. So that means the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, is at work and operating in your life. And the same authority that is on Jesus, that name that is above every name right now is upon your life, and Jesus has given you the power of attorney to use his name.

And so, when you and I depend on Jesus, and depend on his authority, and develop our relationship with God, so that we increase in power; remember this kind comes out by fasting and prayer. That's a development of power; powers developed through prayer, powers developed through fasting, powers developed when we depend on God through times of weakness; weak men are made strong. Power is developed as we become obedient. As we begin to move in the authority and the power of Jesus, we then begin to exercise that authority and power in our lives, and what happens is demonic forces begin to dissipate, they begin to clear away. And it doesn't happen all at once, generally speaking, it happens little by little.

Listen to the Book of Exodus, 23 verse 30; remember, Paul told us in 1st Corinthians, 10:11, now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction upon whom the end of the ages have come. In other words, the things that are written about in the Hebrew Bible: not only are they true and accurate historically, but they're also shadows and types of what we're going through today and their spiritual enlightenment that comes from us from understanding. Paul said they're written, not only to keep track of what God did for the Jewish people, and for their benefit, but for us upon the image of the ages has come, the Church.

And so listen to what Paul told us is important for us as we read from the Book of Exodus, 23:30: The Lord said here, I will drive them out, speaking of the enemy, which was a figure of demonic power: the Amorites, the Hittites, the Jebusites, Goliath. These are all symbolic figures, they're real and historical, but they're also shadows beloved, of the demons that we must displace. God said drive them out, have no mercy on them; if you do have mercy, they're gonna continue to be a prick in your eyes. You got a drive them out completely, just like Jesus did the money changers in the temple, and listen what the Lord said in Exodus 23:30: And as you do this, I'm gonna cooperate with you, and I will drive them out before you, little by little, until you become fruitful and take possession of the land. And so the point is, is that this victory that were ascending into out of the darkness and into the light beloved, it happens, get it now, as a process.

Now I'm gonna share with you something that is very important and very critical right now and I really want you to hear this. As I indicated in some of my previous broadcasts; demons primarily operate through our thoughts. Paul said take ever thought captive, they're in the air. Our fight is against principalities and forces of darkness that are in the air. So demons primarily operate through our thought life. And so we need to begin to recognize that when a thought of worry comes, a thought of fear comes, a thought of lust comes, a thought of hatred comes, a thought of accusation comes; we need to instantly respond to that thought. We don't want to be passive; we don't wanna let the thing land in our head and stay there. We wanna react to it, we wanna get activated. When a thought comes into our mind that we realize is ungodly, we wanna react. Paul said take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

I'm wanna tell you a secret now and something that has worked for me and many, many, many other people; hears what you do: when you recognize that a thought is coming to your head that you know it's not from God; you say this out loud or in your heart, but say it. Say I reject you Satan, get out of my head. You see, the Bible says in Matthew chapter 8, that Jesus drove out the spirits, get it now, hear me, with a word. Jesus said: say to that fig tree, say to that mountain; Jesus said if you believe and speak, nothing will be impossible for you. That's how we were saved, we believed and we spoke and confessed that Jesus is Lord.

See there's something supernatural that is released into our lives and into the atmosphere when we believe and when we speak. Jesus said if you believe in your heart and do not doubt, and say to that mountain be moved and cast to the sea; it will obey and nothing will be impossible for you. We need to speak; God created you by his spoken word. Jesus cast out the demons by his spoken word and the same is true for you and I. When a thought enters your head that you know is not from the Lord: hatred, fear, worry again, all the things, accusation, whatever you know is not coming from above, you speak to it immediately, say I reject you Satan, get out of my head. You keep doing it, you keep doing it, you get activated, you deliver yourself by the Spirit of God.

Out of passivity, you stand up, you begin to fight and you keep pressing on, you keep pressing on, because this is not something you try to see if it works; I'm here to tell you, it works. You just have to work it and it will work. Speak to the thoughts, don't own em, recognize that many of em are not coming from you and speak at those thoughts. Jesus spoke at the demons, he commanded the demons to leave, and when he commanded them to leave by his words, they left.

I want you to begin beloved, to deliver yourself by speaking to those things in your life that are not from God and wanna encourage you beloved, to get the series and resource that I've made available at the end of the broadcast, cause I want you to get trained on this. I want you to know how much this has helped me and so many other people. You can deliver yourself by the Spirit of God, by applying the principles that I'm teaching you in today's broadcast. Jesus said: if the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. But Jesus doesn't do this without our cooperation; he does it with our cooperation. Paul says we're co-laborers with Christ.

So as we close today, I wanna encourage you beloved, stand up in Jesus name. Begin to fight, put on the full armor of God; don't let Satan have a hay day with you. Wake up, deliver yourself out of passivity. Stand up to the devil. If there's something going on in your life that you believe is from the enemy, whether it's in your head or in your body; speak to it, say Satan, I take authority over you and I break your power off of my life. Get behind me Satan, you're a liar. Satan, I reject you, get out of my head. I break your curse off me in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the power of the blood of the Lamb. Satan I crush you under my feet; you have no power in me. Hallelujah, mighty is the matchless name of King Jesus and he's given his name beloved one, to you. I love you, God bless you and Shalom.