GOING ON THE ATTACK
“When Jesus had called the Twelve together, He gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases” (Luke 9:1). “After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of Him to every town and place where He was about to go. … The seventy-two returned with joy and said, ‘Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.’ He replied, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you’” (Luke 10:1,17-19).
Jesus sent the disciples out. He didn’t order them into a defensive protective framework but told them to take the fight to the enemy – and they did. Still today the command is to go!
LESSON FOR TODAY: Another important lesson from this is that Jesus sent the disciples out to minister (Luke 10:1). The way we learn is by doing, not by waiting, by letting someone else do it, or by trying to learn everything there is to know. We will never know it all, never feel competent, never be on top of everything – we must keep depending on God which is how He wants it (2 Corinthians 12:9). All you need to know to begin your own spiritual warfare is that Jesus is greater than Satan (I John 4:4). That is enough to start. God will be with you, honor your attempts and help you learn. God knows when we start this work we will not be experts but will learn as we go. Read worthwhile books, talk with others who do this in a Biblical way and do whatever it takes to learn more about spiritual warfare. Fight wisely, or the demons will not leave, or if they do they will come back even stronger (Matthew 12:44-45; Luke 11:25-26). Do your best with God’s strength and keep growing in wisdom and skill.
LESSON FOR TODAY: Not only did Jesus send them out, but He sent them out by twos. As much as possible have someone with you to pray for you, to help you and encourage you, for extra wisdom, and so you can train them (or learn from them) so that they can then go on their own and train someone else. Especially when getting started, try to have someone else with you when you confront the demons realm.
Jesus’ power over demons was from God, but those who didn’t want to recognize this needed to find a different way to explain His power because clearly it was super human. The only other power source in the universe besides God is Satan, and so they were forced to say that what Jesus did was by demonic powers (John 7:20; 8:48-52; 10:20-25). They said Jesus was an imposter, a deceiver (Matthew 27:63; John 7:12, 47). When Herod heard about Jesus’ miracles he thought it was some kind of supernatural ‘magic’, somehow John came back to life (Matthew 6:14-16). (August 7, 2023 Doylestown, PA)
cto Rev. Dr. JERRY SCHMOYER
Christian Training Organization
Jerry@ChristianTrainingOrganization.org
(India Outreach, Spiritual Warfare, Family Ministries, Counseling, World View)
Copyright © 2023