Destroy The Works Of The Devil

Open your Bibles to 1 John chapter 3, meet me at verse 8, towards the back of the Bible, 1 John chapter 3, meet me at verse 8. And the word of the Lord says, he who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. A few weeks ago, a pastor friend of mine sent me an email regarding his son. His son was diagnosed with a tumor.

And his son is about 9 or 10 years old. they had been running back and forth to the doctors trying to find out what was going on he had some symptoms and they could not alleviate the symptoms he had and when they took him to the doctors the doctors discovered that he had a tumor and so he reached out to me with an email talked to me a little bit about it but then he made some statements within the email that was sort of like, I'm going to just wait on God to move in this situation.

It's a situation that it's under control, but the tumor could do whatever it wants to do, and I'm just kind of posturing in a position waiting on God. And when he said that, we met for lunch after the text, and I ended up asking him, can I provide you some feedback based on the email you read?

If you are ever engaged with someone and you want to show them maybe something that you see or something from your vantage point or maybe even provide feedback, you never want to start out by saying, I disagree with what you said. Because that always starts an argument. Any type of rhetoric along those lines is combative, and it will ignite defensiveness. Even in your relationships, spouse, friendships, whatever, you never want to start out with, I disagree.

It immediately gets people ready to defend their point of view. You want to be a little more gentle than that, especially when you're trying to bridge, walk over a bridge, or create a bridge to walk over to connect with someone else. And so what I said to him was, may I provide you some feedback on what you said? He's like, man, yeah, definitely. I want to hear what you have to say. And I began to talk to him about the tumor that his son was diagnosed with.

Now, the important thing regarding this is we have to understand and realize some things as we are operating in the earth. We are, especially if you've given your life to the Lord, you are here on an assignment. And part of your assignment is to destroy the works of the devil. The scripture we just read simply said Jesus' purpose, his reason for existence, the reason he was made visible, the reason he was manifested is so that he can destroy the works of the devil.

Now that word destroy simply means to command it, to stop, to annihilate it, and to overcome it with everything that you have. Sometimes we use this analogy that one football team destroyed the other football team. Well, that's not true because the next week that the team that lost is going to play again. They did not get destroyed. But when we're talking about destroying, we're talking about. Causing something or someone to no longer have an impact in your life.

And if you understand the devil, you will understand that he is a terrorist. He is only out for destruction. He does not want to patty cake you and play around with you. He is after you and your life. In John chapter 10, verse 10, the same author of 1 John 3, 8, John 10, 10 says, The thief does not come except to kill and to steal and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly.

The thief is the enemy, Satan himself, and his tactic, his purpose is always to steal, to kill, and to destroy. Jesus said, my purpose is to give you life and to give you life more abundantly, to cause you to enjoy life. Now, Jesus drew a line in the sand. And when he drew this line in the sand, he said, on this side, if you are encountering stealing, killing, and destroying, we can attribute that to the thief.

On the other side of the line, if it's life and life more abundantly, we can attribute that to Jesus. And so we have to make this determination, what is occurring in my life? If it's stealing, if it's taking, if it's killing, if it's sacrificing, if it's destroying, that is the thief in operation in my life.

Life but conversely if it is life if it is giving if it is building life if it is constructing life if it is the sanctity of life if it is preserving life if it is increasing in life then that is Jesus and that's what I want and so this line has to be drawn in the sand Jesus appeared and was made visible to destroy the works of the devil. Anytime there's stealing, anytime there's killing, and anytime there's destruction, Jesus is saying, I am going to destroy the works of the devil.

He's determined to destroy it. And you and I as saints of God, you and I are co-laborers with Christ. You and I are partners with him. There requires participation when we're talking about out life and life more abundantly because the thief is a kleptomaniac. He's a terrorist. He can't help but continue to steal. And notice the scripture doesn't say that he robs, which means he walks up to you and bops you in the head and takes it. No, he's a thief. He's sneaky.

He secretly comes and tries to take any and everything that's going on in your life. And the primary way he does that is through thoughts. Then, once he introduced thoughts on the inside of us, then he can begin to have his way. And a lot of times what happens is the enemy will use people.

The enemy will use people to get you in a position so that he can steal your peace, steal your joy steal your your your your sanctity that he can get you out of your place in in in god not not not stealing your salvation necessarily but getting you out of that place where you just don't feel close to god anymore because of all the distractions that are taking place if you you understand what I'm saying, say amen. And this thief, Satan himself, he wants to destroy your life with sickness and.

And disease. He wants to destroy your marriage. He wants to destroy your relationships. He wants to destroy relationships between teenagers and parents. He wants to destroy relationships, husband and wife. He will destroy relationships if you will allow him. And if you are married and you and your wife are arguing and bickering and fighting, you need to recognize your spouse is not your opponent, there is a thief.

And that thief is the devil himself trying to come in and disassociate the union that you and your spouse have. Now, if you are single and you are dating a person and you are argumentative and you are fighting and you are fussing, then you need to break up with that person and never get with them again. Because if you're dating and you're experiencing that, that will not last in a marriage. In a dating process, you should be wearing rose-colored glasses, that everything is so perfect.

I love talking to people who are about to get married because they think they're so perfect for each other, and you're trying to talk them, kind of give them a little sense, but they don't know it because they're so in love. But if you're fighting all the time, break up with them because that is not something you want to walk And the thief wants to steal, kill, and destroy. And Jesus is determined to put an end to what the thief is trying to do in your life.

But he's going to operate and work with you and I in order to get this accomplished. Somebody say amen. Amen. Now, in order to fight, I told you about the story of my friend, pastor friend, and he told me about his son. He had gotten into a posture of just waiting. He wasn't in a posture of fighting. He got into waiting, and I asked him permission, could I talk about this, okay? And he said, yeah, you can.

And so, he was waiting on God to do something versus combating the thief who was coming to steal, kill, and destroy. And let's take a look here in Luke chapter 5, and I want you to see verse, I believe it's verse 12 and verse 13. Watch this, Luke chapter 5, verse 12 and verse 13. It says, and it happened when he was in a certain city that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus and he fell on his face and implored him saying,

Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean. Look at verse 13. And he put out his hand and touched him, saying, I am willing be cleansed. Immediately the leprosy left him. I want to talk to you about this passage of scripture because I think it's important to understand what is going on here. If you don't know what the will of God is, then you won't fight the enemy. If you are unsure of the will of God, then you won't fight the enemy when he comes your way.

If you think God is behind all of the negativity happening in your life, then you won't fight the enemy when he comes your way. And we see here that this passage of scripture that Luke is a physician. Luke wrote this book and he's a doctor and he has diagnosed this man approaching Jesus with stage four leprosy. And this man runs up to Jesus He's just full of leprosy. And he says, Lord, if you are willing... You can heal me. Now notice he did not address if you are able.

Because God is able. And he knew that God was able. And he saw God in Jesus. And Jesus is the word. So he came to God. He came to the word. And he asked, if you're willing, you can make me clean.

Today there are a number of denominations and theologians asking this question today is God willing they'll pray prayers like Lord if it just be your will make me clean if it's your will heal me if it's your will help me if it's your will and they're unsure of the will of God so therefore they don't fight when the enemy comes out against them what I want to do today day and over the next couple of weeks is teach you how to fight,

teach you how to combat the enemy, teach you how to go after things that rightfully belongs to you and resist the devil so that he'll flee from you. Somebody say amen. And so if you don't know the will of God, you won't fight any type of adversity that comes your way. And so my pastor friend, he didn't know what the will of God I was. So he's sitting back and he's going to allow the tumor to do whatever the tumor wants to do because he didn't know the will of God.

I have a friend who called me, this was a couple of years ago, and he said to me, he has a 19-year-old son and his 19-year-old son is in great shape, okay? This is a good looking dude, okay? I mean, muscular, great shape. He called me up. He said, my son has just experienced two strokes, 19 years old, two strokes. And so I said, oh my goodness. I said, how did y'all know? We saw him slurring, this, that, and the third, rushed him to the hospital, so on and so forth.

He had gotten to the point where he couldn't even walk. And then when they got him to the hospital, so on and so forth, they actually kept him there for weeks in the hospital, couldn't walk, was pushed around in a wheelchair. And how many of you know how devastating that would be to hear of your in shape. Muscular, young son experiencing, a stroke. Matter of fact, two strokes. And so he was in the hospital for a while, but I began to talk to him. Here's the difference.

This man knew that the will of God was for his son to be healthy. He knew that the will of God was for his son to come out of this stroke with no trace of a stroke. He knew that the will of God was for his son to be strong and vibrant and for his son to accomplish the dreams and goals that God had placed on the inside of their head. There was something about God that he knew regarding his son. And so he didn't let up. He began to speak over his son.

He began to talk to his son, you are strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. And although he was crying while he was doing, he was touching his son and said, son, it is God's will for you to be strong. And over a process of time, his son now has no trace of a stroke whatsoever. Glory be. Come on, you can put your hands together. No. No trace. I'm talking about no trace.

You can't even see the enemy at all involved in this. His son can drive, and now he's going to be a firefighter, praise God. When they said people that have strokes can't be firefighters, he's going after a firefighter position. Come on, somebody say amen. Man, when you know what the will of God is, you will fight anything contrary to the will of God. And so this leper went to Jesus and he said, if it's your will.

Now, he's a nameless man. I believe God did that on purpose when he wrote the scripture because he's nameless. So he wasn't talking to anybody specifically when Jesus responded. He's talking to all of us when he responded. And he went to him and said, if it's your will, you can make me clean. And that question is being asked today. Is it God's will? And people don't know the will of God. They don't understand the will of God. They don't know what God has for them. They don't know John 10.10.

The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But Jesus came to give life and life more abundantly. They don't know the will of God. So they'll let the thief do whatever the thief wants to do. But somebody say, not me. Say, not my household. So, and so the man knew. He said, I know he's able, but I don't know if he's willing. So this leper, he says, God is able, but I question his willingness.

In church, I'll tell you, I would rather serve a God who is willing yet unable than to serve a God who is able yet unwilling. Do you hear what I just said? Say amen to that. I said say amen to that. I would rather serve a God who was willing yet unable versus being able yet unwilling. But aren't you glad that our God is willing and he's able? Somebody say amen. And so what he did was he bowed down to Jesus and asked the age old question that people are even asking today.

Is it the will of God? And Jesus said it once and for all. He turns to the leper and he touches him. Now, you're not supposed to touch a leper. There's a stigma there. You might get leprosy if you touch the leper. I mean, lepers are supposed to stay away. Lepers are known to be contagious and you're not supposed to touch them. But he turns and he touches the leper and he speaks to him. And you know the first thing he says to him? I will.

If you read other translations it says I am willing you read some and it says I really want to he says I will it is my will he said it once and for all it is my will. Be healed now Hebrews tells us Jesus is the same yesterday today and forever Forever. He is the same. So if he told this man, it is my will to heal you, but he tells you it is not my will to heal you, then Jesus is no longer the same.

Jesus now has changed. But if he is no respecter of persons, and if he is not biased, and scriptures tell us all that, then if he's willing to heal this young leper who comes to him saying, if it's your will, it's my will, then he's willing to heal you today. He's willing to provide for you today. He's willing to support you today. He's willing to aid you today. he is willing. Somebody say he's willing. And so what does he do?

The leper receives the willingness of Jesus and his ability and he gets up no longer having leprosy. Leprosy gone, he's healed. Why? Because Jesus is willing and Jesus is able. And when you recognize that God is willing, then you will fight for the will of God. There's a, about 10 years ago now, I was thinking about this story this morning. Young man in my neighborhood, 26-year-old, just got married, excited.

Matter of fact, the Hollies introduced me to this couple, and they would come over the house, and we would talk to them and have a good time, Just a young couple. And the man found out as going just through a normal routine to the doctor, 26, that he had stage four lymphoma, that he literally had a death sentence. He came and told me about it. Well, you know what I said? The Lord is willing and he's able to heal you. Let me help you. Let me walk this thing through with you.

I've got testimonies in my ministry and in my own life that God is willing and he's able. Well, he went to his church and his pastor told him that God is unwilling and that it was the will of God for him to have stage four lymphoma. And this is a very large church in our city. This is the will of God for him to have it. So what do you think he did or how did he respond to hearing the news from his man of God that it is God's will for me to have this cancer? How do you respond to that?

If you believe it, you simply say, well, Lord, let your will be done in my life. And then what do you do? You don't fight it. So in that case, this young man who was changed his diet, was doing some things that he knew to do, taking medication, all those things he knew to do to fight this cancer, begin to say, Lord, your will be done in my life. Because pastor said, this is your will to be done. The man started eating hot dog after hot dog after hot dog.

One time he and I went somewhere, we went to a football game. And I was, you know, I'm believing God with him. I thought we were believing God together except he ordered three hot dogs. That's the worst thing you can order when you're in a battle. I wish I could talk to you like that, you know, like we're on a cruise ship but we're not on a cruise ship. We're in a battle. And I turned to him, he's a grown man. I let him do what he wanted to do. He's a grown man.

He stopped, he changed his diet and started going back to eating what he would normally eat. Then he's in the hospital, blood pressure high, losing weight next thing you know he dies on his wife's birthday and in the moment while he was dying the people in the room with them were saying don't fight it let the will of God be done in your life his wife became suicidal because how can you serve a God who has determined to kill you with cancer.

And how are you going to love God and serve God who wants you dead of cancer? No. What happened is he was told a lie. And because he was told a lie, he no longer had any fight in him.

So if he was told that you can be healed and you can overcome this and you are the head and not to tell and you are above and not believe and Jesus the Christ wants to heal you he would begin to fight it but what happens is when we don't know the will of God or we believe the opposite of the will of God and and what was Jesus's purpose you ask well what is the will of God to destroy the works of the devil sickness and disease is a work of the devil not one time in

the Bible did Jesus give anybody sickness and disease. You can't show me one verse that Jesus gave anybody sickness and disease. He always took it away. So if he told this man it's his will for sickness and disease to not be in your life, and let's just dare say, if it's his will for sickness to heal the man, then we have to say that it's not his will for the man to have leprosy. He says my will to heal you then we have to say it's not my will that you have leprosy.

You've got to know what the will of God is and then get the word of God. And I'll talk about it over the next several weeks. And get the word of God and begin to fight anything that's contrary to what the word of God says is about you. Come on, somebody say amen. I began to talk to my pastor friend. And I said, can I give you some feedback on what you just said? He goes, man, yeah. Yeah. I said, what would you do if this sickness and disease was a person? And it's it's harassing your son.

And it's a it's a human being harassed. What would you do? Because I would fight that person until I killed him. I said, why won't you do that in the spirit? Why are you sitting waiting for God to do something when you have the right to fight sickness and disease or any enemy that tries to come into your life? Why? When he sat back, he says, I have goosebumps. I said, man, you fight that sickness and disease. How do you do it? You're fighting with the word of God.

You use the sword of the spirit. You open up your mouth and you talk to it and you command it. You don't have a conversation with it. You command it to leave. You command it to go. You command it and you do everything in the natural that you know to do. In the natural, you do everything like there is no God. But in the spirit, you do everything like nothing in the natural can do anything. You do it at the same time. And you fight and you fight and you fight.

And you say, well, pastor, what happens if you die? I mean, I know people that thought they died. Were they saved? Were they saved? Well, they went to heaven. Somebody say amen to that. But you don't go out without a fight. Are you listening to me today? day. You fight and you fight and you see the word of God come to pass. There is a difference between those that believe this word and it shall come to pass and those that don't.

I'm thinking about Josh and Jeannie here who were told they couldn't have Rachel who's laid up on her dad right now. You guys, the doctor said you can't have a baby. Well, they said it's the the will of God for us to have children. So what do they do? They got in the Word, and they said, it's God's will, and begin to declare the Word, and next you know, here comes Rachel, and next you know, here comes Desmond, and might be one more coming. No, I don't just play.

You fight it with the word of God, and you come against any and every satanic force that's against what God has said belongs to you. I was talking to a friend of mine, and he was telling me how he was trained to be a pilot. He's an airplane pilot, and he went through instructions as to what the instructor was doing and how hard it was and how he had to learn this, that, and the third. I don't know the terminology, but he was talking about it, and he had to sit in class.

And about six, eight months later, he jumped in his first flight by himself, so on and so forth, and it was great. And I was sitting there listening to him, and the Spirit of God spoke to me.

He said, over the next couple weeks, I want you to teach your people how to fight in the Spirit. Spirit, and we're going to talk about that, how to fight in the Spirit, but the first thing we have to know, it is God's will for me to be healed. It is God's will for me to be prosperous. It is God's will for me to have a great marriage. It is God's will for me to succeed and advance. If you see it in the Word, it is His will, and everything else is contrary to the will of God, and you fight it.

Now, there might be seasons that, man, I'm not on the mountaintop like I'm supposed to be. You just keep fighting. There might be times where I'm not experiencing what I'm saying. You just keep fighting. There might be times where I don't see it coming to pass. You just keep fighting. Come on, somebody say amen to that.

Say, I'm a fighter. And when you continue to fight, when you continue to stand against the enemy and his tactics, you are in the process of destroying the works of the devil. You're destroying the works of the devil as you're fighting, you're destroying his works, and your job is to advance and then occupy. Advance and then occupy. Advance and then occupy. It might be little by little, but you see the progress, and you say, it's a process, but we're making progress.

And you advance, and you occupy. And when my friend, whose son was 19, had the stroke, he said, I'm seeing, we're speaking to him, but there's a little progress here. Now he can stand up. And even though he's walking to us on the wall, when he would go to them, he would have to lean on the wall and walk around the house because he couldn't stand straight up. But you used to couldn't get out the wheelchairs. Now he's using the wall. And then when they would go places,

he said he would have to hold on to me. And they would walk around the store. He was holding on, holding on to his dad. And now he doesn't need any of that. Somebody say amen. He fought. He didn't say, well, whatever happens will happen. He fought. And you're going to have to get some fortitude, some, can I use this word, guts, and say, I am not going to let the devil keep running around in my life. You are not fighting flesh and blood.

You're fighting principalities and powers and rulers of the dark age. And when you stand up and say, I'm no longer going to have this back pain anymore. I'm going to begin to talk to my back. I'm no longer going to have this stomach pain.

I'm going to do everything I can in the natural and then I'm going to talk to my stomach are you listening to me and you'll see progress but if you stay quiet, and you just let the devil do whatever you want to do he is a terrorist and he will take you out if you let him. If you let him he'll take you out but how many in the house today matter of fact if you are in the house today you're not going to let the devil take you out I want you to stand to your feet right now.

If you're in the house and you say, I'm not going to let him take me out. I'm not going to let him have his way in my life. I'm not going to let him have his way in my family. Somebody's going to have to get a little upset about what's going on in their life. Somebody's going to have to get a little frustrated about what's going on in their family member's life and say, we're not going to allow it. We're not going to allow it. It's God's will. It's life and life more abundant is his will.

And I'm not going to allow it. and this is how you experience true life.