“Nor give place to the devil.” Ephesians 4:27
If you observe through all the letters of Paul, you will see that he always spoke about what fighting the adversary is like in the spiritual realm. He addressed this to every single church he had a relationship with.So, it is so important to be aware. This is our calling towards the Body of Christ as apostolic leaders: keep removing those oppositions! My prayer is that this word will help you today, and everything that He intends to do with this Word will set us free!
Everything starts and will end in obedience. Obedience and disobedience are the door to continue to fight the devil in disobedience. So, we hear messages, and we feel good for a very short time, but never walk victoriously for a long time if we disobey Him. That is why we need to be fighting these things forever: fighting for faith, fighting against principalities, against wickedness, against lies, and against fear! Satan is the evil one; the Holy Spirit is the Holy one, and we, many times, stand in between both of them and become a double-minded man! Every day, we have the chance to fight the wicked one. The Bible says RESISTS the devil (James 4:7), but if we RESIST the Holy Spirit, we grieve Him, and then we will stay in bondage.
The armor of God is something that we can’t take off (Ephesians 6:10-18). Why do we keep putting it on and off all the time? Why do we keep giving place to the devil? When you take your helmet off, satan will come and plant thoughts in your mind! The devil knows your weakness. He would not use my weakness to tempt you. He knows every one of us from our past. Pride, lust, perversion, unforgiveness, anger, rejection, attention and affirmation hogs, all insecurities: all of these things the enemy uses as bait. When we give in to these things, we are giving place to the devil. And we start to isolate ourselves and disconnect ourselves from God and the Body of Christ, just like it happened in the garden with Adam and Eve. They hid themselves. They put fig leaves on right after they disobeyed God. This is exactly what we began to do: isolating ourselves away from the light and from the Body of Christ. It is what happens, and it is automatic! But it is a gift from God that we can check what we have done or are doing wrong. Thank God for grace because now we can truly repent and put Christ back on. He is the full armor!
People don’t want to go to a place where they can be exposed by the light and by the Truth. If you get the boots on, you are ready for battle. Nobody goes to the battle wearing flip-flops or sandals. And we have the shield of faith to put out every fiery dart of the enemy. Every lie, accusation, and negative thought. We need to have it up all the time. Like a gladiator, you need to use it!
When the devil comes and tries to tempt you, you must use the Word of God as the sword of the Spirit! You can cut off the head of the enemy and destroy the lies with the Truth.
But if you submit to God and resist the devil, he will be fleeing even before you have to fight him! How to do this? Casting down imaginations, ignoring the enemy, resisting, denying, not believing, not listening to him. Period. Give no place…
Who are your brothers, sisters, and mothers, your real relatives, your real family? Those who do the will of the Father. “Yes, yes, yes, I am doing this and that,” you think. But you are just doing it under the law. If you do anything under the law, there will be no peace, no joy, and no righteousness! Is your life your own? Is your dream your own? Have you been resisting the enemy? It is possible to live in peace and joy, not only with God but with your godly family. Let us see how much power we have as sons and daughters. There is a corporate anointing and a personal anointing! It is not about you alone anymore. Give no place (Ephesians 4:27-28). If Paul says that to the Church that clearly means that you and I have the power to give the devil a place in our lives! We cannot blame anything or anyone. This is such a great humbling weapon when we say, “It is all me, Lord.” What is the place you have been giving to him?
Now Paul will be talking to the church in Corinthians, in 2 Corinthians 10:1-6. We don’t fight in the flesh (verse 3); we need to fight the devil; we go pray, and this is how we fight: in the Spirit. Satan wants you to give in to the lust of your own flesh! “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds” (verse 4).
A stronghold is a place that the devil has. It may be money, perversion, religiosity, rebellion, anger, it might be anything. What you are allowing him to conquer in your life is going to be the things he will use to steal your peace, joy, and righteousness! Jesus Christ is the full armor of God! All we need to do is to follow Him! All the excuses are fig leaves. But when you give that place to the enemy, you have to take it back and give it back to Jesus. You will need to repent, and you will be free from this stronghold. All the arguments that we feed are the fruits of not letting things die! You want to look good; you want this and that. We must let the flesh die! The Gospel of the Kingdom is this: Let the King rule and take control of our lives. Our lives are no longer ours. Preach this Gospel! If our weapons were carnal, Jesus would not have put back the ears on the soldier. “Put that sword away” (Luke 22:49-51). He would not have said, “Is not this cup for me to drink?” (Matthew 26:42). Instead of saying these things, he would have said to Peter, “Yes, Peter, feed my flesh. I don’t want to go to the cross.”
Jesus would have given place to the enemy. But no, He did not have this mindset! When our flesh rises up, we need to kill it and not feed it! If you are rebellious to your heavenly Father then try to tell your children they need to obey you! Isn’t that just the same as the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and Sadducees? Is not that the leaven that Jesus warned us about (Matthew 16:6)? So, we need to obey and to fight, to be an example, not a tyrant, not a clanging cymbal. God will move in our families and lives. But also, it is written, God is not mocked; whatever you sow, you shall reap (Galatians 6:7)!
In the spiritual realm, parents who don’t obey the Word of God get payback by their own children. Because you reap what you sow. Then, later on, your children are walking on the path of rebellion because you are as well! Kids just don’t grow up good kids! When parents don’t bend to the Spirit and to the Truth, their children won’t either! And you just give glory to the spirit inside of you; resist the devil and give no place for that spirit! Pride is the enemy of the cross! That’s an antichrist spirit. If it’s anti-Word of God, you become an antichrist because Jesus is the Word. That is tough.
“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (verse 5). Casting down every high thing, meaning casting down anything that exalts your will, meaning putting yourself above anything else, against the Word of God, against the Spirit of God.
Verse 6, “And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.” You don’t need deliverance every week if you keep the devil where he belongs. If you listen to the enemy, you will do exactly the opposite of what the Father told you to. Judas was in full control until He wasn’t! That gives me the fear of the Lord! We listen to the devil when we want to do things our way! It was not until satan entered into him that he could not resist the devil anymore, but how long did he entertain the devil’s thoughts, plans, and temptations to come against the Word of God, Jesus Himself?
God gave us an amazing demonstration in the garden! Genesis 3:1-7: “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” Right then she should have resisted the devil. Thank God! Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness and many other times, and He never fell for it!
Stop communicating with the devil. Eve started having a conversation with the devil. She knew exactly what God had said: not to eat and not to touch!
She even repeated what she knew back to the devil. The devil will never tempt you with what you do not like. He will use the lust of the flesh, the pride of life, and the lust of the eyes. All of these are of the world. All of these come from the knowledge of good and evil. ”Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” 1 John 2:15-17
He will tempt you with lies and also with being like God. But guess what? When you obey, you are already like God. We are made in His image, but when you disobey, you become your own god. The enemy will say things like: “You don’t need to submit. Just do what you want.” The enemy will say that to you. The devil was calling God a liar. Eve did not know it was a spiritual death! She thought that God was capable of lying. God is too vast to figure Him out, but God never ever lies. She was trying to figure Him out by her own imagination and wisdom when all she needed was not to have to understand but just to obey! This is another struggle: trying to understand it. All we need to do is to obey! Keep it simple! Pride makes you think you must know everything.
“And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil”(verses 4-5). Plural - GODS! If satan could get through Eve, it would be easier to get through Adam. He is still using the same tactic to get to the bride, to get to the groom! Attacks the church to attack the head of the church.
Eve saw that tree was good for food, pleasant to the eye, making you wise…(verse 6). Wiser than who? God? Her own husband? Competition started rising. Eve was filled with the knowledge that brought death! And Adam wanted to become the same way! Both ate! When we are in rebellion, we want to hide from the Body of Christ. We don’t want fellowship, we don’t want to pray, we don’t want to gather! We don’t want to connect because we are a spiritual house. When there is an issue in our spirit, there is an issue in our relationships!
Something happened to Eve only when Adam ate because he was still her covering. “And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons” (verse 7).
Jesus addressed what Moses allowed (Matthew 19:3-9) – the bill of divorce - but Jesus, the Father, and the Holy Spirit brought that relationship back through Christ. Because of your rebellious heart, Moses allowed divorce, but from the beginning, it was not so. The two shall become one.
But now Paul was not talking about man and woman but about Christ and the Church (Ephesians 5:22-23)! He was talking about this submission (Mark 10:1-9), about this power and this glory! Jesus becoming the second Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45) and took back the keys that the first Adam lost to sin, and now He gave back to the Body of Christ! The only way you can get separated is when you are rebellious and disobedient against the Holy Spirit and His Word! But thank God for His grace, mercy, and the power of the cross to become sons of God!
“Behold the kingdom of God is at hand”…(Mark 1:15). It is Him, it is the Spirit, and it is the Life! I am the river, the Word, and the life! We need to continuously resist the devil and stand strong against the temptation in our heart! Come to Me, My yoke is easy…Matthew 11:28-30. The Word, HIS YOKE, means HIS WORD! His Word covers us and protects us, and when we submit to Him that means we submit to His Word!
Now we see this happening as the Bride of Christ, all of the lust of the flesh, things the enemy steals from you. Are you giving in to your own righteousness? This is not the kingdom! No matter how right you are, you are wrong! Both eyes were open! Are you giving the enemy place? Are you giving your joy, your peace, or your own righteousness away? Or are you ready to put on Christ and make no more other provisions that cause division?
Reminding you that now it is all about Christ and the church becoming one: bone of its bone, flesh of its flesh (Genesis 2:23-25). The minute you eat from rebellion, you feel ashamed. The only way you would not know about it is if you were given over to a reprobate mind. But you have not been given over, so follow the Word! Are you sick and tired of isolating yourself? The problem is your disobedience, since the garden until now!
Why do we isolate and hide? Because we are ashamed! But you will call it a trial or it’s the fire! Or we say it’s the devil! But really, it’s YOU! It is us! The devil is just being the devil. He is just messing with you as long as you let Him. You think you need deliverance! No, you need obedience and repentance! There is always consequence when we walk in the flesh! It does not mean God does not love you. It does not mean He forsakes you! It just means you are giving place to the devil! It is time to resist him.
Disobedience is the door!!!! If you want to live in the peace of God, then let’s do this: If your gift is giving, make that your fire to do, and you have joy and peace! If your gift is praying, make that your fire and have joy and peace! If your gift is the gift of helps, go above and beyond and make that your fire and have joy and peace! If your gift is encouragement, let encouraging others be your fire, and you have joy and peace! But everybody wants that high place, but just have joy and peace in whatever gift God has given you. Make this your fire! We all have gifts.
It’s our nature, but for some, it’s an office, a body function! Do what you were created to do. Every joint shall supply the Body. Stop trying to be someone or something that you’re not. That is when pride comes in…. when people bow to the sin of vain imagination which is the devil’s playground. The Body of Christ lives with the cross. Peace is at the cross, joy is at the cross, power is at the cross! Gift of helps has a specific anointing to get the job done. But people think to help in any aspect is for a low class of people in the Body. Jesus says to be the least is the greatest place. It is when He lifts us up!
Let’s read Romans 12: ”I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (verse 1). Laying down your life is your reasonable service! “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (verse 2).
There are not three wills, but one will which is GOOD, ACCEPTABLE, AND PERFECT. Religion told some of you a lie, saying God has three levels of His will for you. Lie! It is one will with those three characteristics! It is all about obeying His will; that is the only way for you to please Him!
“For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith” (verse 3). Think soberly (verse 3). Think with the mind of Christ! “Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good” (verse 9). If you want joy and peace? Obey the Word. If you want joy and peace? Follow His instructions. Always overcome evil with good. Bless those who curse you, love your enemies, and you will see the Kingdom of God!
“The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.” Romans 13:12-14
Stop giving excuses and make no provision for your flesh! Because we have the power to overcome it. Once you tell God I will obey, grace will be available for you to do so. We need to walk in Christ so we will stop walking with the devil. If you walk in Christ, we will walk in Obedience, Trust, Truth, and Love! How do we know we love God? Through obedience. How do we know they came from Him? By the way they love one another. Don’t tell me they can love parts of the Body if they cannot love the Body! “Don’t say you love God when you don’t love My Body,” says God.
Read Ephesians 4:12-27. We cannot walk in the vanity of our own mind. If you have learned Christ, you will do what Christ does. Put away the old man that gives place to their flesh, and put on the new man. Watch your tongue in your mouth! If you stop doing the works of the flesh, the devil can NOT TOUCH YOU! But he will take over when you are selfish and disobey. When pride is our god, we think we know more than anyone around us. We have to do what God told us to do! Until we do that, there is no peace! Some say I am wrestling with something! No, you’re playing with the devil. It is called your vain imagination. If God told you what to do, what are you wrestling about? It’s called the devil! You don’t want to do what God says, and you start playing with lies or trying to figure out how you can convince yourself why you are not doing what God said to do in the first place! Adam found excuses, Eve found excuses, we find excuses. There is nothing new under the sun, but there is peace and joy in the Son and under the shadow of the Most High!
In obedience, there is no confusion. Everything is so clean and pure. Temptations of disobedience will continue always until we obey! Jesus always obeyed right away! Obedience is the sweet spot. The Word is your sword! Walking in the flesh is without any armor, so you’re naked in the Spirit! When you are in obedience, it is like being in the Garden clothed in Glory, confident, secure, and not ashamed! Some are insecure in the Body because they are not obedient! When we are wrapped in light, obedience is our priority! There is no fire, no Glory, and no resurrection without sacrifice. Do you want love? Give it. Do you want freedom? Do you want to set yourself free? Do you want it? Do it! Do you want your children to be obedient and honor you and what you say? Start obeying and honor what your heavenly Father says…When we do it corporately, it is going to be glorious…see…joy, peace, and righteousness. If your kids are taking your joy and peace, maybe you are in disobedience. If you are in obedience, it will be impossible for them to get that out of you! Give God all of your heart. Don’t let another day go by in disobedience. Cast off anything that is not of God. If He is asking us to do something, to give something, just do it.
Repentance is when we go in that direction of obedience… Then the devil has no power over you. If you want to be free, we have an altar called obedience. And what we have at that altar is called grace, and the kingdom, and the Glory of God. There is no Glory if there is no sacrifice. Make us a sweet fragrance, Father! Make us a people that give no place to the devil. The only place we have to give is to you, to your Holy Spirit, and to Your Word!
Shane W Roessiger
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