A Threefold Response
So how do we walk in righteousness? How do we not allow sin to enter our homes and give the enemy a foothold into our family? Since every living person is a spirit, soul and body, the attacks of the enemy will manifest against our spirit, soul and body. Yet God has provided a spiritual action that will impact each individual area of our tripartite temple. Let’s cover the three fundamental ones:
1) Repent and come to Christ. Just as Satan had nothing to hold Christ with in the garden, so repentance will shut the door on the access the enemy has in our spirits. To repent not only means to be regretful or sorry for your actions, but it also means to turn and to change your mind about your destination. We must teach our children—however old—not just to ask for forgiveness but to plan on a new lifestyle, new friends and an exciting journey free from the sins and bondages of their past.
2) Renew your mind from the world’s corruption. Scripture teaches that we must be “renewed in the spirit of your mind” (Eph. 4:23). W.E. Vines comments on Ephesians 4:23: “The renewal here mentioned is not that of the mind itself in its natural powers of memory, judgment and perception, but ‘the spirit of the mind,’ which under the controlling power of the indwelling Holy Spirit directs its bent and energies God-ward in the enjoyment of fellowship with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ, and of the fulfillment of the will of God.”
3) Resist the enemy, and he will flee. James encourages us to, “Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (4:7). The word resist is used nine times in the New Testament in the King James Version. The word means “to stand against and oppose.”
So how do we resist or oppose the enemy? It begins and ends with recognizing the blood we carry as believers.
Let me explain with a story.
In the early 1990s, while ministering in Peru, I was welcomed into the house of a man who was a wealthy architect and had recently become connected with a local Peruvian congregation. As I was sleeping in bed, lying on my stomach, suddenly I felt the pressure of a fully grown man lying on my back, with each part of his body pressing against me. He felt as though he weighed 200 pounds or more. Suddenly I heard this being speak Spanish in my ear. There was one weird fact: No man was in the room, and this was not a literal person or human—it was some type of a demonic presence that had manifested in the room!
I immediately rebuked the spirit in Christ’s name and felt it lift. I turned over in the bed, not knowing what to do next. The Holy Spirit impressed me to stand up and confess the authority of Christ’s blood over the wall, doors and windows of the bedroom. I did this boldly, saying, “I confess the protective power of Christ’s blood on this wall … then that wall … and I command the evil spirits not to enter this room again as long as I am sleeping here!” Then I lay back down and went to sleep.
Months later I learned that the owner of the house had been involved in the gay lifestyle and that many men had stayed in his home continually. I believe the spirit I encountered was familiar with certain local men and was making itself manifest to us during my stay. Regardless, the situation taught me about the power in pleading or confessing the Blood of Christ over a situation.
When a person receives the redemption covenant called salvation (Luke 1:77) and is born again (John 3:3) and redeemed (1 Pet. 1:18), that person enters into the covenant through the blood of Christ (v. 19). When a sinner is convicted by the Holy Spirit and repents and asks Christ into his or her life, that individual does not see or experience an angel of the Lord bringing the literal blood of Christ to repaint the heart and doorway. However, a real, very literal transformation occurs when you confess the Lord Jesus with your mouth.
This confession causes Christ to remove the guilt of sin and replace it with the peace of God (Rom. 8:1). Christ, who is our High Priest in the heavenly temple (Heb. 9:23-28), bears in His hands, feet and side the scars of His work of redemption for you (John 20:25-27).
The removal of the presence of sin is very real and literal. However, the Blood is applied through the confession of your faith. Many old-timers understood this and would resist the authority of the adversary by speaking in faith the name of Christ and confessing the blood of Christ over their children, homes and families.
We would do well to remember this. We do not oppose the devil in our natural strength; instead, we “submit to God,” as James says, claiming the authority and power He has given us through Jesus’ blood.
In the natural, the human immune system is designed to fight off germs and viruses that could weaken the body. When the immune system is weakened, the body is more susceptible to sickness. Yet what is the key to a healthy immune system? The blood.
As it is in the physical realm, so it is in the spiritual. We are only able to fight off the attacks of the enemy through Jesus’ blood, which restores us to right standing with God and presents us as righteous before Him.
There are people who raise dangerous and deadly reptiles, including snakes. Some have been bitten so many times that their blood has built up immunities to the poison. When the sins of the world were laid upon Christ, He experienced a bite from the serpent. However, the precious blood of Christ became immunized against the power of sin, and when we receive His Blood through faith and redemption, sin no longer has dominion in our body and spirit.
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