PERSONAL EXPERIENCES WITH TERRITORIAL SPIRITS – 3
(Thirty plus years ago God put Don Rogers in my life. He trained and mentored me in spiritual ministry. When he was no longer able to minister, I had the privilege of taking over his “Spiritual Warfare Ministries”. He wrote the following articles in 1999. I have edited and added to his work for this blog.)
In Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, we notice that Lucifer is the power behind both the king of Babylon and the king of Tyre. Their domains were really his domains. It brings to mind the offer that the devil made to Jesus when he tempted him in the desert (Lk 4). “The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, ‘I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So if you worship me, it will all be yours.’ ” (Luke 4:5-7) Jesus did not challenge that statement, because it was true. Jesus even called him the “prince of this world” in John 12:31. He rules over the kingdoms and countries working through the rulers and governments.
Remember when I said there is great responsibility when you have knowledge concerning such powerful activity? We become accountable to do something about what the Lord is showing us. God revealed to our church four territorial spirits that were attacking churches in the northeastern part of the United States. We began to pray against their activity in order to frustrate and bring down their work. We witnessed some very encouraging changes occur. But after a period of time, we began to slack off in our warfare against this enemy. Maybe we were getting weary of the same old routine. Americans are spoiled – we like variety and change. After slacking off a while, things began to go wrong in our church. Problem after problem began to develop. Before we knew it, we were putting out one fire after another. We were so busy putting out fires that we did not realize that we had stopped our campaign against these territorial rulers altogether. We had given them a chance to reorganize and retaliate against us and wreak havoc. They kept us so busy and off balance, that we forgot all about our mission. We had not persevered in that which the Lord had called us to do.
This is often the way that it happens. We do not persevere in the mission which God commissions us. The Israelites did not persevere when they entered the Promised Land. They should have driven out all the inhabitants so that the Hebrews would not be corrupted by their presence. Instead, they failed to obey God completely and paid the price as a nation after that.
Territorially, Satan is the “prince of this world.” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11) He has organized his kingdom on many levels with his princes serving him to keep the world in bondage. We cannot allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by the magnitude of the problem.
We must keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and be obedient to the calling He gives to each of us. The Kingdom of God is increasing its presence in the world and one day, the Son of God will usher in the Kingdom in its completeness. The battle is the Lord’s and we are his warriors who await His command.
COMMENT BY JERRY: Is there anything God is showing you to pray for? Are you faithfully bringing it before Him in prayer until He releases you from the burden? Is there anything in the past you stopped praying for without His approval? Pray for it again.
Please let me know if there are topics you would like to see addressed in a blog. I really welcome your suggestions! jerry@schmoyer.net
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