When you are living in covenant with God, you can stand on the blessings of Deuteronomy 28. One of them deals specifically with spiritual warfare: “The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways” (Deuteronomy 28:7).
In past columns, I’ve explored how to discern demonic strategies against your life, how to break free from the enemy’s stranglehold,what Satan doesn’t want you to know about spiritual warfare, why we don’t really need to scream at the devil, one question every believer should ask before engaging in spiritual warfare, and why the devil sometimes seemingly won’t flee when you resist him.
But let’s go back to the covenant blessing. See, God has promised us that He will cause our enemies who rise against us to be defeated before our faces. He declared that they shall come out against us 1 way and flee before us 7 ways. But, as you’ll discover if you read any of my past columns, we can get in the way of our blessing and leave room for the enemy to stand in our faces rather than fleeing seven ways. With that in mind, here are 7 ways to make the devil flee 7 ways.
1. Diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God. In order to see this blessed promise come to pass in your life, you need to understand it in context. Deuteronomy 28:1 clearly states, “Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today…” This is your foundation. God doesn’t expect us to be perfect. We cannot keep the law, that’s why Jesus came to pay the price of our sin. But we should be seeking perfect obedience. We should diligently listen to God’s voice and obey what He tells us by His Spirit and in His Word. This alone would cause many devils to run for the hills.
2. Repent before you engage in battle. We have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God (see Romans 3:23). There are sins of commission and sins of omission. Many of us think wrong thoughts, say wrong words or take wrong actions over the course of the day. That means we are not fully obeying the voice of the Lord our God. When that’s the case, we need to repent so we aren’t standing on common ground with the enemy. It’s difficult to defeat an enemy that already has you in a corner. Repent for any known sin and run to the battle line!
3. Know that God is on your side. In Exodus 15:3, the children of Israel knew where they stood and where God stood. After the great deliverance from Egypt, they declared in song, “The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is His name.” They knew that, “The Lord shall go forth like a mighty man; He shall stir up His zeal like a man of war. He shall cry out, yes, shout aloud; He shall prevail against His enemies” (Isaiah 42:13). They knew that the battle belongs to the Lord (1 Sam. 17:47). They understood that they were God’s battle-ax and weapons of war (see Jer. 51:20).
4. War from a position of victory. When Goliath challenged the army of Israel, the soldiers were scared witless of the Philistine champion. But David was a covenant man and he understood that victory belonged to Him in God. As believers, we war from a position of victory, knowing that God always leads us in triumph in Christ (see 2 Cor. 2:14). We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us (see Rom. 8:37). And if God is for us, then who can be against us? (see Rom. 8:31)
5. Praise your way through. In the Song of Moses in Exodus 15:2, the children of Israel sang a song to the Lord that went something like this: “The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation; He is my God, and I will praise Him; My father’s God, and I will exalt Him.” Of course, that was after Israel’s deliverance from Egypt. If you want to make the devil flee, praise God before you engage in battle. Praise brought down the walls at Jericho (see Joshua 6) and praise gave Jehoshaphat victory in battle: “Now when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated” (2 Chron. 20:22).
6. Take up your armor. We all know God has given us His armor, as outlined in Ephesians 6. But how many of us actually put it on before running to the battle line? Get a revelation of the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the Sword of the spirit. Take some time to understand what this really means as part of your covenant with God. Satan cannot defeat the obedient soldier of God who is armored up and ready to fight. He’ll likely flee toward someone who is undressed, unrepentant, or uninformed about our covenant.
7. Pray always and be watchful. At least half the battle is being on the offense—and that demands discernment. There’s an oft-overlooked instruction in Ephesians 6 that allows your spiritual warfare to transcend space and time: “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints” (Eph. 6:18). The enemy is less likely to pounce on the one who is prayerful and watchful because that one is in communion with the Holy Spirit, a power which no foe can withstand.
So go forth, spiritual warrior, with praise in your heart and prayer on your lips, dressed for battle. The battle belongs to the Lord and the devil will flee seven ways.
