IMÁGENES DEL SISTEMA

In the vision, Jesus explained to me that a person doesn't have to operate in the gift of discerning of spirits in order to deal with the evil when the devil is harassing, intimidating, or deterring a member of the Body of Christ. We have authority in those situations to command the devil to stop in his maneuvers against a believer.

It doesn't take a gift of the Spirit in those situations in order to take your stand and to exercise your authority over the devil. Jesus also said a believer doesn't need a word of knowledge or to be a minister in order to exercise authority over the devil. Every believer has the authority to use the Name of Jesus and to take

his stand against the devil (Matt. 18:18; Mark 16:17;

Luke 10:19; Phil. 2:9,10).

Jesus explained, "Anytime anyone in the Church or outside the church is doing anything, saying anything, or acting in any way that embarrasses, hinders, harasses, intimidates, deters, or retards the ministry of the Church, you don't have to have discerning of spirits or a word of knowledge, just know it is the devil causing the trouble.

"You are just to command the spirit that's behind the operation against the believer to stop and desist in his maneuvers in My Name—in the Name of Jesus. You don't have to deal with the person; deal with the evil spirit behind the operation."

You see, many people—believers and unbelievers alike—unconsciously yield to the devil. Sometimes due to ignorance, people can innocently become a tool of Satan when they unconsciously yield to him. But people, even believers, can also consciously yield to the devil too.

Although believers have the authority to deal with any evil spirit that's influencing a person to harass the Body of Christ, we don't have the authority to deal with the person causing the problem. Our authority doesn't extend that far because we don't have authority over the human will, and the person may want the evil spirit. No one can get a person delivered if he wants to keep an evil spirit.

That's why binding the evil spirit behind the operation will not get the person causing the problem delivered of evil spirits, for he has free choice and he may want to keep them. But exercising our authority stops the evil spirits in their strategy against a believer.

Problems occur in this area when believers try to deal with people in the natural realm, instead of with evil spirits influencing people in the spiritual realm.

Many times we try to deal with people when we should be dealing with evil spirits, and we get things in a mess.

Now don't misunderstand me. There's a time and a place to deal with people in the natural. But Jesus was talking about those cases where the enemy is working through people to hinder the Church—the Body of Christ. If a person hinders, harasses, or deters the Church, then it is the working of evil spirits through the person.

In dealing in the lives of people to get them delivered of a demon, it's a different situation. In most cases, their own will is involved. What do they want to do about the situation? Do they want to be delivered?

Some people want the situation as it is; they don't want to be free from demons. And in that case, there's nothing you can do about it. When people genuinely want deliverance, you still have to deal with the evil spirit in them by the leading of the Holy Spirit.

On the other side of this issue, we have to realize that not every problem in life is caused by a demon, just as not everything that goes wrong in life is directly caused by a demon either. Of course, the devil is ultimately behind all the evil in the world. But because we live in a world where Satan is god (2 Cor. 4:4), problems, tests, and trial will occur.

Jesus said, "In the world ye shall have tribulation:

but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). He also promised us the victory in every situation: “... thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:57).

I said there are times when people have to be dealt

with in the natural by a person who is in charge, because not everything that happens is caused by an evil spirit. For example, parents need to train and discipline their children in the natural, as well as pray and watch over them spiritually.

But right on the other hand, there is another side to that coin. Many times, good people—even born-again, Spirit-filled people can unconsciously yield to the devil and cause problems in the church. In those instances, you will have to deal with the evil spirit that is causing the problems by exercising your authority in Christ.

In most cases, you should deal with an evil spirit privately. However, occasionally a minister may have to deal publicly in his meeting with the devil operating through a person.

But normally in the privacy of your own prayer closet you can just say, "You foul spirit that's operating in the life of So-and-so, hindering and embarrassing this church (or person), I command you to cease and desist in your maneuvers in Jesus' Name."

I was preaching along these lines in a Full Gospel church, and a neighboring pastor in a larger city was having some problems with certain members of his congregation. The pastor where I was preaching gave him my tapes on this subject to listen to.

A couple of years later, the pastor of that neighboring church told me, "There were three families in my church who were causing all kinds of problems.

In fact, one of them was my deacon, one was my school superintendent, and one of them was a board member.

The deacon was trying to get up a petition to kick me out of the church.

"I had been trying to deal with those three families

for a long time in the natural, but I never got anywhere.

Nothing I did seemed to work; they still caused all kinds of problems in the church. After I heard your tapes, I realized it was an evil spirit influencing these people, causing all the trouble."

You see, the devil can speak to Christians' minds, and they can repeat what the devil is saying and create division and strife (James 3:14-16). The Bible says that Satan is the accuser of the brethren, and he can influence believers to accuse one another (Rev. 12:10).

The pastor told me that in the privacy of his own study, he simply took authority over the evil spirits causing the trouble in his church and commanded those spirits to stop in their maneuvers against him.

That pastor later told me, "Those people had been causing problems for three years, but they changed almost overnight. They were basically good, Christian people. They just didn't realize they were yielding to the devil and that the devil was using them to come against the church. But once I dealt with the evil spirit causing all the problems, those same people are now my staunchest supporters."

I am convinced the Body of Christ has more authority than we've ever exercised. Instead of rising up and using what is rightfully ours, we are too often prone to drift along, hoping things will get better someday.

But we need to remember that the Bible says we wrestle not against flesh and blood (Eph. 6:12). Too much of the time we try to wrestle with flesh and blood

—with human beings—instead of dealing with the evil spirit causing the problem.

Now don't misunderstand me. As I said, there are times you will have to deal with flesh and blood—you will have to deal with people in the natural. But too

much of the time, we're trying to do it all in the natural in the energy of the flesh by wrestling with flesh and blood. But thank God for the Name of Jesus, and for the victory He already won for us over the powers of darkness!